Reviewed: Game of Thrones
(Monday, Sky Atlantic)
While there may not be too many people watching it (in fairness, the audiences for anything outside of the main Irish and British channels is almost universally splintered a thousand ways and individually tiny), Sky Atlantic has been pretty impressive since it hyped its HBO way into our homes a couple of months ago.
'Boardwalk Empire' came and went and just about justified the hype; 'Blue Bloods' is one of the better cops-by-numbers’ show (although not a patch on the superior 'Detroit 1-8-7', which unfortunately looks doomed); 'Bored to Death' is patchy-but-good; 'Treme' is a fascinating piece of work that really brought the flavour of New Orleans into the front room; and 'Entourage' was 'Entourage' (God bless Ari Gold and Drama). Elsewhere, repeats. Good ones, but repeats nonetheless.
With Steve Buscemi and co off air, the new channel needed a little new impetus to keep it in the headlines, and so comes 'Game of Thrones', HBO’s latest drama, a kind-of Tudors-meets-LOTR-meets-Spartacus spectacular.
Sure, the by now standard ingredients were there: violence, sex, swearing. But not a lot of them, really. Which was a relief. Not because I’ve anything against beheadings, bare flesh or bold words. To be honest, I’m bored with them after the overload that was 'Spartacus', the Starz homage to the fantasies of frisky 14-year-old boys.
But that’s not to say that 'Games of Thrones' lacked a certain swagger or style. The novels are typically dense (so I’m told – life’s too short, etc), and presumably much had to be edited down to fit in with the constraints of a ten-part, one-hour TV show; but it bounced along merrily, thanks to a solid cast led by the always-earthy Sean Bean. Visually it worked well, too - especially in the impressively spooky opening sequence.
The OMG moment at the end of the pilot was a nice touch, as the previous hour had led me to assume that young Bran Stark was going to be a leading character one day. Well, not unless he grows wings between episodes one and two, after discovering that Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime are Very Special Friends Indeed.
All in all, 'Game of Thrones' passed a pleasant hour, but it needs to show a little more meat than flesh in order to become something other than an X-rated Dungeons and Dragons.
New this week
Arena: Produced by George Martin (Monday, BBC TWO)
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! A superb Easter Monday treat for Beatle fans, beginning with this Arena special about Beatles’ producer George Martin. Martin’s wife Judy, son Giles, surviving Mop Tops Paul and Ringo, Michael Palin and Rolf Harris are among the many contributors. Later at 11.15pm you can catch the Fab Four’s legendary first movie, A Hard Day’s Night.
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Monday, UTV)
This looks tidy. The best-selling book by Kate Summerscale, based on a true story about an infamous murder in a Victorian country house, has been adapted for ITV and stars Paddy Considine, Peter Capaldi and Emma Fielding. Jack Whicher (Considine) of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, is sent to investigate the killing of a child at Road Hill House in rural Wiltshire.
Back this week
The Secret Millionaires (Tuesday, Channel 4)
Not a big fan of this series, but there is a certain Capraesque quality to a show where someone gives away money to a deserving other. First up, Sean Gallagher, who 12 years ago risked his life savings to set up his own IT recruitment agency and now – as as result of never coming to terms with his sister’s death 25 years ago following an epileptic seizure – he wants to give a little back, going on an undercover journey to Middlesbrough.
Worth waiting up for
Bad time. Great show.
No Ordinary Family (Tuesday/Wednesday, RTÉ Two)
When I first heard about this show I was more baffled than intrigued. Michael Chiklis, your man from ‘The Shield’? Julie Benz, your one from ‘Dexter’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’? In a family show about super heroes? But just a couple of episodes into its run on British satellite channel Watch were enough to convince me that this was one worth watching.
For starters, there’s a great chemistry between Chiklis and Benz, who play husband and wife Jim and Stephanie Powell, a couple whose family develops a variety of super powers after they’re involved in a plane crash over the Amazon. No Ordinary Family makes for excellent family viewing (ideally with pre or early teens as it deals with what could be called ‘parental issues’), and has touches of ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Smallville’ (the same writing team is involved) and the old Disney classic, ‘Swiss Family Robinson’. Got it? Good.
So set the recorder for the spectacularly late time of 3.10am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and enjoy at your leisure.
Guest star of the week
This week's guest on ‘Piers Morgan's Life Stories’ (Saturday, UTV) is Ann Widdecombe, a former British Conservative Party politician who has latterly been a novelist, and an occasional TV star. Joining Jools Holland for ‘Later . . .’ (Tuesday and Friday, BBC TWO) are PJ Harvey, who makes her ninth appearance, and Swedish singer Lykke Li. Friday’s ‘Paul O'Grady Live’ (UTV) has Queen of the Jungle Stacey Solomon and comedian/presenter Alan Carr. Best of all, if you’re a ‘Fringe’ fan, is the return (Wednesday, Sky One) of Irish actress Orla Brady as Peter’s mother, Elizabeth Bishop.
Casting Couch Corner
Who’s heading to what show
American cable channel TNT’s Dallas reboot is starting to look more and more like a revival. Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, and Linda Gray (Bobby, JR and Sue Ellen in the original) were already signed, and now they’ve been joined by two other former Dallas stars, Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing) and Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs) . . . On the subject of old shows, former Star Trek actor John De Lancie (who played Q on The Next Generation and Voyager) will be in the new season of Torchwood, due on BBC ONE this summer, as will Seinfeld's Wayne Knight, Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson and Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose . . . Lord of the Rings and Hobbit star Elijah Wood will head the cast of barking-mad FX sitcom Wilfred. Wood plays a suicidal manic-depressive, while Jason Gann (reviving his role in the Australian original) is a dog who’s also a man. Exactly.
Sat Nav
Satellite Highlights
In Treatment (Friday, Sky Atlantic)
What a fantastic show. The first season was on 3e a couple of years ago, and although it was heavy going, In Treatment was riveting TV. Gabriel Byrne is excellent as therapist Dr Paul Weston, who comes into season two coping with divorce and has set up a new practice in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, Sky Atlantic aren’t showing In Treatment across week nights (as it was in the USA and on 3e), and are instead showing double episodes every Friday.
Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Thursday, BBC FOUR)
If every channel was as good as BBC FOUR I’d never leave the house. This documentary tells the story of the creator of Oz: L Frank Baum, a Chicago businessman, journalist, chicken breeder, actor, boutique owner, Hollywood movie director and lifelong fan of all things innovative and technological.
What You Watched
RTÉ One and RTÉ Two's top 20 programmes (viewed as live) for the week ending 20.03.2011
RTÉ One
1 The All Ireland Talent Show Sunday 744
2 Fair City Sunday 661
3 The Late, Late Show Friday 640
4 The All Ireland Talent Show Sunday 602
5 Fair City Thursday 591
6 Fair City Tuesday 574
7 Fair City Wednesday 548
8 Dragons' Den Sunday 541
9 The AITS – Backstage Sunday 534
10 Winning Streak Saturday 522
11 Off the Rails – On Tour Wednesday 467
12 EastEnders Monday 465
13 Prime Time Tuesday 452
14 The Saturday Night Show Saturday 451
15 EastEnders Thursday 445
16 EastEnders Tuesday 438
17 From here to Maternity Tuesday 420
18 Nationwide Monday 414
19 Families in the Wild Monday 413
20 Dermot's Secret Garden Thursday 389
It’s a rare occurrence that The Late Late Show is knocked down to third place, but The All Ireland Talent Show and Sunday’s Fair City both gained impressively, while The Late Late dropped almost 100,000 viewers.
Elsewhere, Prime Time took a dip (down nearly 100,000), while Off the Rails – On Tour moved up seven places and The Saturday Night Show lost almost 50,000.
RTÉ Two
1 Six Nations Rugby Saturday 689
2 Desperate Housewives Tuesday 415
3 Six Nations Rugby Saturday 300
4 Pro Box Live Saturday 299
5 Anonymous Monday 282
6 Katherine Lynch’s Wagons Den Tuesday 255
7 Grey's Anatomy Tuesday 253
8 Six Nations Rugby Saturday 234
9 Home and Away Monday 202
10 Home and Away Friday 198
11 Home and Away Tuesday 198
12 Home and Away Wednesday 195
13 Anonymous Sunday 195
14 Criminal Minds Monday 185
15 The Republic of Telly Monday 182
16 The Rock Sunday 156
17 Champions League Live Wednesday 152
18 The Cheltenham Festival Thursday 133
19 CSI Thursday 113
20 The Simpsons Sunday 107
No change in the top two, although the Six Nations scored impressively with figures up nearly 200,000 on the previous week. Grey’s Anatomy slipped for the second week in succesion, while The Republic of Telly dropped five places with 26,000 fewer viewers.
