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August 3, 2007
What to Watch: Coming Up on Cable
Seth reviews GSN's Grand Slam, TNT's The Company, BBC America's Jekyll and more weekend cable highlights.
Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein
COMPANY MEN: TNT goes inside the CIA.
• FRIDAY, AUG. 3
Fallen, 8pm, ABC Family.
After a 1-year wait, we get parts II (Saturday) and III (Sunday) of this supernatural saga — really, three two-hour movies — about fallen angels. To refresh our memories, last year’s Part I reruns tonight. Paul Wesley is perfect as a teen angel (literally) named Aaron Corbett, who is being pursued by the Powers, who (naturally) want him dead. Worth a look.
• SATURDAY, AUG. 4
Grand Slam, Series premiere, 7pm ET, GSN.
It’s so simple a concept, it’s hard to know why we haven’t seen it before. Get the top winners from various quiz-type shows (Jeopardy!, The World Series of Pop Culture, Weakest Link, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, etc) and pit them against each other. GSN has done the leg work, supplying a set (the usual blue-lighted affair you’ll recognize from Link and Millionaire), ranking each of the contestants by how much money they’d won and dragging in sarcastic and sometimes funny Dennis Miller—who’s more snarky than we’ve ever seen him—and attractive but limited Amanda Byram as co-hosts. The resulting series, a lightning-fast contest of trivia, math and language skills, is addicting. And hard.
The first segment of tonight’s opening round, with Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings (you know, the guy who kept winning for several months), is amazing. We know Jennings is a machine when it comes to the mix of history and trivia that Jeopardy offers. But who knew he was hiding a calculator in his head? The man rattles off math problems in a few seconds. At some point the viewer is reduced to frustration and awe—the questions are going by so fast, and some are so difficult, that you stop trying to answer them yourself, and just sit and watch the sparks fly from Jennings’ brain. The other method of watching this show is to be like I am with the quiz during the intermission of The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. If I can answer just one part of the multi-part queries, I am a happy camper.
But back to Slam, facing Jennings (a seemingly thankless task) is Victor Lee, a winning team member from VH1’s The World Series of Pop Culture. While you expect Jennings to be tough to beat, and he doesn’t disappoint, you can’t have too much faith in Lee. Or, for that matter, the lower ranked challenger that follows the Jennings-Lee match, Weakest Link’s top winner Michelle Kitt. Is it nerves, the pace, the format (Kitt claims Grand Slam’s structure most closely resembles Link’s), which should give her the edge? Whatever, Lee and Kitt do much more than acquit themselves well tonight, and reveal another phase of Slam that tracks with March Madness—the rankings don’t necessarily mean much.
Jekyll, series premiere, 8pm, BBC America.
Discriminating though we are, we’re guilty at times of heaping too much praise upon BBC America. Please notice we’ve been reticent for several months. It’s time to break the silence. Steven Moffat, who created the often hilarious series Coupling, is a blunt man (he recently blasted NBC for screwing up the American version of Coupling). He’s also got a wicked sense of humor, a slightly vulgar vocabulary (especially when assisted by champagne) and a feral creativity. This combination, plus the acting of BBCA regular James Nesbitt, makes the Hyde character a well-spoken madman with the wry sensibility of Hannibal Lecter. Anthony Hopkins plays a better psycho, but not by much.
Moffat’s also added modern twists to the 1886 R.L. Stevenson story, most of which are useful. The result is a nearly believable tale that Moffat describes accurately as mixing a modern horror story and The Odd Couple. This four-part, loosely adapted, modern-day retelling is worth watching just for the protagonist, a descendant of Dr. Jekyll called Dr. Jackman, played wonderfully by Nesbitt. He knows his alter ego is a dangerous character but feels modern surveillance technology will keep the monster in check. Early on, his biggest issue is explaining his extended absences to the wife and kids. And, darn, when Hyde goes out for a night on the town, can’t he leave a note for his alter ego noting where he parked the car?
• SUNDAY, AUG. 5
The Company, 3-part miniseries premiere, 8pm, TNT.
TNT gets points for raising the standard, forgoing obvious subjects for a summer bio pic (Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise or Britney Spears) and instead hanging love stories and other dramas on the shoulders of talented bureaucrats from the CIA’s formative years. A stand-out cast that features Michael Keaton, Chris O’Donnell, Alfred Molina and good marketing will grab ratings, but this clichéd spy spiel—which runs over three consecutive Sundays—is a drama, not a substitute for history class.
Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane, Series premiere, 8pm, Style.
Pardon us for not wanting to see reality on a reality series. It just seems that the life of fashionista Kimora Lee Simmons isn’t much more fab than the daily existence of other women who are both high-powered business executives and single mothers—Kimora and hip hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons divorced in March ’06, although he and Kimora seem to have a friendly relationship and Mr. Simmons is seen during the pilot episode tonight.
Frankly, although the 29-year-old Ms. Simmons has a retinue who cook her meals, clean her huge homes (one in NJ, another in LA), drive and fly her, manage her schedule and help her relax (her wellness coach maneuvers her into yoga positions that border on the erotic), this doesn’t seem like a fab lane life.
During the pilot we see Kimora taking meetings about her clothing line, Baby Phat, and being particularly difficult with her professional and personal staff. Are the producers trying to tell us that Kimora is a perfectionist, or merely a difficult employer? One segment has Kimora’s personal chef telling us how, based on his years of cooking for her, he knows madam’s preferences. The subsequent segment shows a disturbed Kimora. “Who put mangoes in my yogurt parfait? You know I don’t like mangoes.” Later Kimora objects to a salad topped with chicken. “I want [the chicken and vegetables] on separate plates,” she complains.
Still, living in two mansions, flying in a private jet, having assistants pack your army of Louis Vuitton bags [with outfits based on photographs made by a stylist] when you travel and being the first (and only) multiethnic woman to have a successful fashion empire ain’t a bad gig. Also tonight the CEO and creative director of the Baby Phat clothing brand is honored by having a Barbie doll made in her image.
But this life seems to lack the glamour of the fab lane, although there’s no doubt this is a well-supported life. Listening to Kimora at TCA and during the pilot it’s clear she’s had her fill of clubbing and red carpets, for the time being, at least. Her biggest pleasure, she says tonight, is being mommy to her young daughters, Ming and Aoki. During much of tonight’s show Kimora is seen rushing, balancing her home and work life, a delicate dance that plenty of working mothers, executives or not, will recognize. For that reason and others they may regularly tune in to Kimora’s show—if they can find the time.
The Business, Season 2 premiere, 11pm; The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, Season 2 premiere, 11:30pm, IFC.
We’ll admit it, while we found some giggles in season one of these sitcoms, the initial eps in season 2 seem several levels above last year’s shows. Both series season two openers aren’t bad, with Woodman the better of the two as the girls appear to be lesbians for the sake of selling a film idea.
Episode #2 in each series is superior, though. In Woodman, the appearance of Big Love’s Mary Kay Place as Jackie Woodman’s mother adds a veteran comedic voice to the festivities (she’ll also direct some episodes this season).
In The Business, episode 2 is a one-joke pony, but it’s a taboo that most series avoid—the sexual fantasy of seeing desirable co-workers in the buff. Even uptight movie producer Julia (Kathleen Sullivan) succumbs to the amorous tide of events. Parents lock up your daughters, especially if they’re interns at Vic’s Flicks, the dysfunctional but successful indie film company at the center of The Business.
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