Represent Review: 3 fresh Series – watch ’em!
It seems that the rush of being able to rent out series on dvd’s has subsided and that we’re all a bit “over” the housewives, prison break, lost et al. Well my friends are anyway. But now that winter is on it’s way back, it’s time to get back into long dvd marathons – it’s a great excuse to cuddle your way through the cold. We found out about three series which we hadn’t heard of and gave them the once over for you – in order of preference – Entourage, NightyNight and IDeal. Let us know if you know of any more new series to lap up.:
Entourage
We heard about Entourage from a fellow creative friendster who recommended it highly. The first two episodes had me a little doubtful as flashbacks to the shallowness of Beverly Hills 90210 wafted about. Tainted from the gripping viewing of the above-mentioned series like Prison Break, I guess we were looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place. We let go of our expectations and the comedic characters began to grow on us – by episode three we were hooked. Entourage is the story of four friends from Queens, New York, one of whom is the dishy “Vince Chase” (Adrien Grenier) who is cited as the next “it” boy in Hollywood. The other three hangers on are his brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), a struggling actor with some success, “E”, Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly) the responsible friend and wannabe manager and “Turtle” (Jerry Ferara), a lovable and bumbling chubby dude and hustler. The guys are living it up in the ‘Wood and trying to make some moolah, all mooching off Vince’s talent and potential career take-off. Our two favourite roles are definitely played by the smooth agent Ari (Jeremy Piven) – I’ve met a few dodgy Ari’s in my time but this one takes the cake – and my personal favourite, Shauna (Debi Mazar), Vince’s PR star – icy, cutting, witty and no-nonsense – I love her goedspa. The story shows us the ‘backstage’ life of an up-and-coming star in Hollywood, which one never really gets to see and though it’s a comedy, its clear that director Mark Wahlberg has drawn from real life experience as the tale draws you in and makes you smile. Check it out here on HBO.
Nighty Night
We had to take a serious “cringe-break” half-way through this British ‘comedy’ series and are still not brave enough to hire out the second series as we gather our courage for the unbelievably dark and hingeing on sick storyline of this excellent show. Words cannot describe the evil intentions (and unstoppable success) of the clearly disturbed beauty-salon owner Jill Tyrell (Julia Davis) whose gob-smacking destructive behaviour twists the storyline beyond repair. I’ve known a couple of weird people in my time and the leads “reinvention” of herself and her life is reminicent of a typical identity-thief – they bulldoze their way into people’s lives and shamelessly take what they want and try to (embarassingly) claim it as theirs… shame – so sad. But the takers and losers I have met have nothing on this revolting dame although you will feel all the cringe associated with the above profile while observing this blonde bat in action destroying the lives around her that are useful to her. She takes the cake and gives new meaning to the words Single White Goodlooking Female who may do Anything To Take Over Your Life. Problem is she isn’t single and has a poor husband whom she condemns to an early death… well kind of. You need to watch it to believe it. But we warn you, she’s awful, manipulative and mean-spirited. You don’t know whether to hate her or feel terribly sorry for the wench. It’s the kind of series that makes you remember why some shows need a week between episodes. Find out more ’bout Nightynight.
IDeal
This is for all the goof-balls in the house and those who like a bit of a laugh innit. Moz is a small-time although rather fat weed and hash dealer living in a crappy flat somewhere in the UK. The whole series takes place in his flat as we meet all the different people that come to buy, borrow, take or steal from him… He’s going nowhere slowly and the story may be a bit slow-paced for some or mundane for others – we enjoyed lots of it but found it to drag in places. Maybe just a few moments out of the flat would give it the little bit of oomph it needs. But certainly worth a cold and blue Sunday afternoon. It’s on it’s third series in the UK so the Beeb must be doing something right – when will we get a local series that has an original story line and doesn’t just borrow from done ideas? So unoriginal. Mhhm. Smoke it up here on the BBC.
