John Byrne checks out the return of Boardwalk Empire, the latest from former Grey's Anatomy star Eric Dane, a modern take on a traditional Sunday night variety show, and Selina Meyer's ascendancy to the White House.
Reviewed: Boardwalk Empire (Saturdays, Sky Atlantic); The Last Ship (Fridays, Sky 1); Sunday Night at the Palladium (Sundays, UTV & TV3); Veep (Wednesdays, Sky Atlantic)
September's the month for major change on TV and the ninth month of 2014 isn't going to be any different. As the autumn schedules begin to get into full swing, there's the double delight of relishing the return of favourite shows and anticipating some new ones.
Sitting firmly in the former slot, Boardwalk Empire (Saturdays, Sky Atlantic) is back for its fifth and final season. Although it never hit the popularity levels or became as cool as shows such as Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, this stylish gangster drama has been largely a joy to watch. There are sterling performances from a cast led by Steve Buscemi, with some great short-term turns from the likes of Bobby Cannavale, who was fantastic as season three sociopath-in-residence, Gyp Rosetti.
Fans, of course, are hoping that this final run delivers on its promise – and if the season five opener is a barometer, it's going to be quite a ride. The show has skipped forward seven years, the 1920s are over, Prohibition is on its last legs, and many of the show's central characters are going through what these days is euphemistically called 'change'. Nucky Thompson's in Cuba with Sally, looking to strike a deal to bring rum to the USA, Chalky White's serving time on a chain gang, murderous Mafia moves are afoot in New York (so, nothing new there, bar the odd fresh corpse).
In flashbacks to 1884, a young Nucky's apprenticeship in politics and dodgy dealing begins as he starts a working relationship with the Commodore, who is at the top of his powers in Atlantic City. It's a mix of him losing his innocence and learning the ropes in order to, as he puts it, "get myself ahead". Corruption comes in small steps, and in coins before notes.
Beautifully shot and crafted, this was a lavish reintroduction to the world of US organised crime, early 20th Century style. Nothing changes, really. People get greedy, people get guns, people get killed. New people come along and the cycle begins again.
Boardwalk Empire is very well made, but the relentless nihilism isn't getting any easier to take. And you just know Nucky Thompson's attempts at reinventing himself as Johnny Legit just won't create anything but more carnage. This is not Saturday night viewing, and in future I'm recording it for Murderous Mondays, when the mood at home's suitably a bit darker.
On a lighter note, there's new US drama The Last Ship (Fridays, Sky 1), starring Eric Dane, who was the popular Dr Mark 'McSteamy' Sloan on Grey's Anatomy. Given that Micheal Bay, of Transformers' fame, is executive producer, I tuned into this show expecting lots of action, plenty of platitudes and references to 'Merka, freedom and the like, and I wasn't disappointed.
The plot is run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic: a lone US Navy ship on a radio-free, four-month mission has managed to avoid a worldwide pandemic that has killed off around 80% of the planet's population. The crew – led by Eric Dane's dashing captain, Tom Chandler – are now tasked with finding an antidote while blowing up lots of stuff.
The gung-ho factor is boosted by Adam Baldwin. In Firefly and Chuck he played a sandpaper-voiced guy who does most of his talking with a weapon – same story here. He plays Chandler's right-hand man, Mike Slattery. They're rounded-off by Rhona Mitra as Dr Rachel Scott, the scientist type on board who's got the chemistry skills to save what's left of humankind. After a busy week, it's a good wind-down to watch something undemanding, eye-catching and pacey, so I'll be back for more - until they inevitably lose the plot.
Entertainment was most certainly the name of the game on Sunday Night at the Palladium (Sundays, UTV and TV3). It's yet another throwback to a different era, when people wanted to climax their weekends with some songs, a few jokes, on-stage trickery, and a host with the most, to keep it rolling merrily along after the obligatory OTT opening.
To the backing of (what else?) Pharrell Williams’s Happy, Stephen Mulhern danced and grinned his way through a venue packed with up-for-it punters, who stood, clapped and grinned like their lives depended on it.
Then Canadian singer Bryan Adams came on for a live version of his 1984 hit Run to You but it failed to dampen the crowd's enthusiasm. Little Mix followed but were a little flat, while tenor Alfie Boe kept the crowd happy with a song from Les Miserables. The other acts were from somewhere in between Butlin's and Las Vegas, ranging from Les Beaux Freres (two lads who relentlessly hid their nakedness behind a pair of towels), a quick-changing act called David and Dania, and a dull bit of stand-up from Alan Davies.
The hour sauntered amiably along, but this reboot is at the early stages in its development. It's not that it's disjointed, but it takes a while for a show of such disparate parts to truly knit itself together. And it's on too early (7pm) to get that 'I'll put the kettle on' feel going amongst viewers. Still: no harm done. I've sat through much worse. Splash, for example.
Veep (Wednesdays, Sky Atlantic) is much more up my street. This US version of the BBC's sardonic political comedy The Thick of It has enjoyed a great third season, with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss superb in the title role - but this final episode left me less knocked out than usual. I'm worried that the show may have peaked.
Selina Meyer's landed the POTUS job she always wanted (it's rarely a good sign when a show reaches its main character's goal), but from her misfiring inauguration to a squeaky-shoed first Address to the Nation, to her failure in a Democratic Party primary, it's not quite the Oval Office bed of roses she may have envisaged. Nothing ever is, is it?
The characters portrayed in Veep are almost universally awful, self-serving sewer rats, and it's their cynical-but-smart vocabulary that makes Veep so much fun. Best line of the episode? While being admired as she mingles with civilians, one of her aides (I think it was Amy) remarks: "She is so good at making people believe she is good with people."
If only real politicians were half as much fun.
John Byrne
