Reviewed: TFI Friday (Friday, Channel 4); Later . . . with Jools Holland (Friday, BBC Two); The Returned (Friday, Channel 4); Fargo (Monday, Channel 4)
Normally I wouldn't be in favour of reviving TV shows. Like things that have sell-by dates, they are almost exclusively of their time. The Prisoner is an ideal example. The original, starring the late Patrick McGoohan, was a cerebral symbol of Sixties' paranoia, quite unique and compelling, as well as truly groundbreaking. The 2009 remake was dreadful. Ironside was so bad it didn't even cross the Atlantic. Charlie's Angels was the TV reboot from hell. I'll give you Hawaii 5-0, but only because they kept the theme tune.
So could TFI Friday (Friday, Channel 4) do what very few shows have done and have a successful second coming? Last summer's 20th anniversary special was great fun, but I remember at the time hoping they wouldn't greenlight a revival of the series, but of course Channel 4 did just that a few days after the special.
It was no surprise to see a couple of musical heavy-hitters in the shape of U2 and Take That guesting on the first show of the new run, but what TFI was always good at, like its spiritual predecessor, 1980s' The Tube, was in presenting current acts that are either interesting or about to break through to the mainstream.
With that in mind, Slaves and Sound Of Sirens were far more compelling than the Bono, Gary Barlow and co. And while Slaves been around a while, they're hardly a household name and have a bit of an edge. The latter are acoustic and far less abrasive, and getting on this show can't do them any harm at all. Job done.
The non-musical guests were interesting, if fleeting. Steve Coogan performed a more than passable impression of a bottle of Prosecco being opened and poured, and recounted a pre-fame meeting with Morrissey where the latter bought him a pint.
Saoirse Ronan added to the Irish presence, although her Dublin accent (she's not actually a Dub) seemed a little more pronounced than usual. Perhaps it was down to the proximity of a pint of stout. Like all the other interviews, it was over almost before it started. But, ah, the puppies!
There was plenty of quirky stuff, although it was far more PC than in the past. The slide down the stairs was good fun, especially when Howard from Take That took the gungey plunge. At least I think it was Howard. Blimey, that hour flew in. Next Friday's guests include Justin Bieber, Dawn French and US duo Macklemore & Lewis. Whether Chris Evans has the legs for another nine episodes is another matter, but that was a solid start.
There was more music to savour later on that night in Later . . . with Jools (Friday, BBC Two). It was the first show of the current run that I'd seen, and as usual it was a mixed bag. Only Jools Holland could get away with having Irish folkies Lynched, slick soulster John Newman, angry oul' lads Sleaford Mods, and songwriter extraordinaire Burt Bacharach.
I had neither seen nor heard of Lynched before. They looked a bit too Glasto for my liking, lots of piercings and that, but the racket they made was hugely impressive. The missus was hugely unimpressed by Everything Everything, although I've seen worse: Radiohead, for example. Is prog rock really making a comeback? We live in dangerous times, folks.
Two very different dramas returned for a second season in recent days and both came carrying a lot of weight of the expectational variety. The Returned (Friday, More 4) arrived first, and was long overdue as season one had been and gone in 2013.
That first season was superb, as it treated its subject matter – people coming back from the dead – with a poignancy that's sadly lacking in the American remake, which is an extremely pale and frankly insulting imitation. Its achingly human treatment of the phenomenon of the dead coming back to life, and its effect on those who'd suffered loss, was both unique and moving.
Unfortunately, the final episode revealed little and was disappointing. So the show's second season needed to impress from the start. To be honest, I'm not sure what's going on, but that was what it was like last time around. The Returned is like the proverbial artichoke: full of layers.
The village is pretty dormant, there are only some familiar faces about, but as the episode ends, it looks like the walking dead are about to take over. But my interest is positively piqued. There's a gloomy, menacing atmosphere about this show that makes it compelling.
The walking dead are nowhere to be seen in Fargo (Monday, Channel 4), but the second season of the show inspired by the Coen brothers' film of the same name began with, quite literally, a splattering of dead bodies. No one's coming back to life here.
Like True Detective, it's got a whole new premise and a different cast from its opening run, and it's set in 1979. Although Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton left some huge boots to fill, their replacements certainly make an impressive list.
Kirsten Dunst, Ted Danson, Jean Smart, Patrick Wilson, Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation), Burn Notice’s Jeffrey Donovan, and Jesse Plemons (Landry in Friday Night Lights). Kieran Culkin also featured - but not for long.
He plays Rye Gerhardt, the youngest of three brothers in a criminal family, who ends up shooting dead a judge and two staff in a Waffle Hut diner. After polishing off the waitress, who had managed to escape across the road despite being shot, Rye was then hit by a passing car.
Later on, viewers discover that the driver of the car was beautician Peggy Blomquist (Kirsten Dunst), who brought the injured Rye home, he attacks her husband Ed (Plemons), who kills him. Looks like her and her hubby's mundane existence is well and truly over and the real fun's about to begin.
In typical Fargo fashion, the opening episode was full of the Minnesota verbal mannerisms that made the original such a great film. The juxtaposition of bad guys doing mad things, good people doing bad things, and everyone talking like English isn't their first language, makes this show irresistible.
A fine opening, and even Ted Danson's Minnesota accent sounded pretty credible. More, please.
John Byrne
