coachdeah's Reviews

The Orville (2017–2022)

9/10

24 October 2017

Having never been a Seth MacFarlane fan, when the first half of first episode of The Orville seemed to be a ST:TNG rip off, I was angry. How dare he, I thought. How did the ST franchise allow them to get away with this!!

And then I noticed Next Gen's and Voyager's Brannon Braga as executive producer, breathed a tentative sigh of relief, and settled in to pay attention. First episode not great, but the second directed by Voyager's Lt Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) gave us some of the same thought provoking morality situation we've come to expect from Star Trek, and the third episode directed by Braga himself, even more so.

By Episode 5 which is directed by Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) you know you are really in good hands, and begin to wonder about the behind the scenes politics as this show competes with CBS's ST: Discovery that has had such a hard time taking flight, and seems to reflect a much darker philosophy than Roddenberry's legacy should permit.

So I'm willing to tolerate some juvenile MacFarlane humor if that's the price for Braga keeping the ST flame alive.

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9JKL (2017–2018)

3/10

Not Worthy of Mark Feuerstein's Talents

24 October 2017

Loved Cliff Calley on The West Wing. Really loved Hank Lawson on Royal Pains. Not loving 9JKL, although Mark's charm and Linda Lavin's quintessential stereotype of the Jewish mother are occasionally fun, in a kind of cringe-moment way. Elliott Gould adds a sweet if bumbling touch as the henpecked dad.

But sad to say that this sit com is the kind of insult to intelligence that made me leave broadcast channel shows years ago. The brother and sister in law are superfluous. Not sure of the purpose for the door man, although the reality check kid is useful. It must be really hard to write good 22 minute comedy.

I'd much rather see Feuerstein bring his charm and humor to another hour long drama that has something significant to say. Sorry, Mark, this show just isn't worthy of your talents.

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Covert Affairs (2010–2014)

10/10

Unabashed Fan

24 October 2017

Warning: Spoilers

Strong, intelligent female characters balanced with emotionally supportive male characters, plus fast paced, international intrigue made this show one to watch and re-watch.

Casting did a great job of pairing Piper Perabo with Chris Gorham, Oded Fehr and Nic Bishop throughout the 5 seasons for romantic / mission focus tension. Perabo is mesmerizing with few other actors her equal in ability to show innocence one second and cunning the next.

The role was perfect for her. Her scenes with Fehr have that magical X Factor quality. Her scenes with Gorham make you long for a work- friendship like theirs. Her scenes with Bishop make you want a life partner with whom to share life and death adventures.

Chris Gorham's portrayal of a blind computer tech and special ops agent was so excellent that I had to look up whether he is really sighted. In this role he got to show his considerable acting chops in a broad plot range of action, supporter, problem solver, teacher, sorrower, hunter, hunted, and victim. Then you watch him in Out of Practice with Henry Winkler, Stockard Channing and Ty Burrell, and you see that he is also great in comedic roles.

I don't know how well the show portrays the life of covert operatives in the CIA, and I don't really care. As entertainment, Covert Affairs is compelling, and makes you really wonder how much spycraft is going on around us every day.

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Touch (2012–2013)

8/10

The Touch Premise is Compelling Mystery Mixed with Kabbalah

24 October 2017

The Touch concept and style is similar to Heroes, as the audience is taken along on an initially random-seeming flow of oddly intersecting occurrences in widely separate global locations. I found Touch more coherent. You really have to watch every episode of the two seasons to get the full significance of this story.

The center of the story is an autistic savant child and his desperate father, on the run with a kind of mystical mission that is explained by a scholar of the Kabbalah.

Several episodes are more gory than I like, but those moments are well telegraphed so you can look away in advance.

The relationship between the boy and his father must have been hard to play as actors, given that the boy's character could not give much in the way of emotional reactivity for the father actor to respond to. And yet this portrays well what it is like to interact with a person with autism of this sort. The result is at once uncomfortable and endearing.

My one criticism of the show is that I think it is unrealistic that a parent of an autistic child with a tendency to run off would leave him in the care of so many strangers. On the other hand, this was Hollywood, and the show really could not have proceeded without that allowance.

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The Book of Negroes (2015)

10/10

Excellent Weekend Binge Watch

24 October 2017

Based on a bit of true history and a fictionalized book of the same name, this mini-series yields an aspect of the African slave story that I'd not known about before. Set in the late colonial / post-Revolutionary era, the story fills in some gaps left by Alex Haley's Roots chronicle.

No doubt legitimate criticism could be made of the film regarding its perhaps overly romanticized version of real life for African slaves in the colonies, and the multiple, implausible transatlantic voyages of the main character, and the surprise ending. If you can look past those flaws, the movie holds interest and the principal actors give engaging performances.

Two actual copies of the real Book of Negroes exist -- one in the National Archives in London, the other in National Archives in Washington DC.

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