Well, I guess we know what Barry does on Friday nights. LoL! ---In [email protected], <turquoiseb@...> wrote :
Three new shows that I'd never heard of before appeared on my feed today, and because my work for the week was done and it was raining cats and frogs outside and I didn't want to go out in it, I stayed in and watched the first episode of each of them, and will duly report on my experience here. The first is the one that will be getting the most attention in the US, and in my opinion, with the least reason. It's called "American Crime," and I was underwhelmed. Its values are "All-American," which is to say kinda gross, full of cliches and racial hatred on many levels, and in-your-face, and I doubt I'll be following up on this first episode. YMMV. The second is a BBC Two series set in Australia. It is called "Banished," and I was pleasantly surprised. It's about life in the convict colonies of Australia in 1788, among men and women who have been sent there (many of them unjustly) to live out the rest of their lives in prison colonies where, as one character puts it, "There are too many convicts and too little food, so every one of them who dies is a good thing." In what could be seen as a kind of hell, the filmmakers managed to make this first episode all about compassion and humanity, and how it can shine in the worst of circumstances. I will be continuing to watch this one. The third is the real gem. And a positive review of it will probably sound weird, coming from someone like myself, who many of you have bagged as a soulless, atheistic, low-life, because it's all about cults and prophecies and shit like that. The first episode, in fact, starts with a weird prophecy talking about a red heifer who must be without blemish, who must be sacrificed in some kind of odd, probably demonic rite. Except that it turns out that the prophecy is from the Biblical book of Numbers, the series is set (for this episode) in Jerusalem, and the many people skulking about and trying to bring this prophecy/conspiracy into being are Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Ultra-Crazy Fundamentalist American Preachers and people like that, and the conspiracy they're all working on is designed to bring this evil world to an end. It's a series by the creators of "Homeland" and "Heroes" and it stars an actor I like a lot (Jason Issacs, who was excellent in the short-lived and underappreciated series "Awake"), and it's actually remarkably well scripted, acted, directed, and shot. I'm hooked. It has been compared to "The DaVinci Code," and rightfully in that it milks any number of existing myths and legends for material to play off of, but it's really, really not bad so far, so I'm on the bus, and wouldn't even consider missing future episodes. Oh, by the way, it's called "Dig." The first full episode seems to be available on its IMDB page, for those who might be interested: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3597606/reference http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3597606/reference "Dig" (2015) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3597606/reference http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3597606/reference "Dig" (2015) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3597606/reference With Jason Isaacs, Anne Heche, Angela Bettis. Peter, an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem who, while investigating a murder of a young female archaeologist, uncovers... View on www.imdb.com http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3597606/reference Preview by Yahoo
