Finished Sold...

It wasn't bad. Some of the storylines were a little hard to believe- like Danny selling his childhood home (what a coincidence!), or the big boss turning out to be his real father (ick). But it was cute, sometimes sad, and in some places hilarious. I never knew real estate agents could be so evil!

Bryan Dick was cute as Danny. It was really good to see him play a nice guy, even though Danny seems to be just as capable as backstabbing as the rest of them. Too bad there won't be another series, because that would be interesting to see play out. He is the only character who has a real back story. It's easy to see why he tries to be so honest with his buyers- he doesn't want to see anyone end up like his family- stepdad killing himself because of bankruptcy and his mother putting him in care.

The other characters aren't as well developed. Kris Marshall's Matt is just a slimy asshole who wants to get the best deals for himself, and doesn't care who gets screwed over in the process (including Danny's mother!). He's the one who gets screwed over in the end. Christina Cole's Mel is, on the surface at least, a bitch from hell with similar ambitions to Matt's, though she seemed to have a softer side (especially towards Danny).

The less said about the big boss, Mr. Columbrine, the better. He is truly nasty!

Six episodes is just not enough to tell a story. It would have been nice to have a couple more just to tie things up. The potential Danny/Mel romance would have been cute. It did seem odd to end the show with Danny calmly telling Columbrine he's his son...with no fireworks except for Matt's "You lucky, lucky bastard!" comment. One or two more episodes would have been enough to give the story a more satisfying ending.

Overall it wasn't a great show. It was an intersting idea that didn't altogether succeed or fail. It had a good, solid cast, but the writing needed to be a little bit sharper. I'm still glad I got to see it.



Episode synopsis and recaps:

http://www.tv.com/sold/show/28970/episode.html

House: Joy

From tv.com:

An ailing man suffers from blackouts and sleepwalks, leading the team to wonder if his sleepwalking is a symptom, or how the man is becoming exposed to something else. When the man's daughter grows ill as well, the team must provide a diagnosis before both die. Meanwhile, Cuddy adopts a newborn but when the birth mother displays a rash, she has to make a decision between putting the mother or daughter at risk.

Aw, that was sad. I knew the birth mother would decide to keep her baby. Poor Cuddy. I loved the ending- an argument with House ends up in a rather passionate kiss. House/Cuddy 'shippers rejoice! I will not be surprised if there ends up being a House Junior (or Juniorette) next season- now that Cuddy has seemingly given up the idea of motherhood, she'll end up getting pregnant. It happens!

The case was very interesting. I've never heard of Familial Mediterranean Fever- it sounds bizarre. It was also strange how father and daughter seemed to recover so quickly.

An old review...

I found my brief review of Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky. It was in a locked live journal entry, so I'll just re-post it here:

February 12, 2006

Boy, did I love Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky. It was sooooo good.

All three parts of the story were wonderful. The acting was so good. It just seems to me that young British actors are better than young American actors. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Bryan Dick. He really deserves a huge career. The fact that he's pretty damn good-looking should help a bit!

The story was so sad. Depressing, really. All that unrequited love, disappointments in life...and yet there's still some hope for the characters (well, except maybe for Jenny, the prostitute Bob loves). I just loved the atmosphere. Beautifully done all around.

An addition to my review- Sally Hawkins (as Ella) is pretty damned awesome, too. I'm still kicking myself for missing Persuasion on PBS last year.

Someone put the film up at youtube in several parts- it hasn't been taken down yet. :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljcEOeN9DZg

It's very good, but the book is even better. I think it's available in the U.S. again (it's been out of print for decades)- the author is Patrick Hamilton.

imdb.com entry:

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0446057/

House: Lucky Thirteen

From TV.com:

"Thirteen brings her one-night stand to the hospital after the woman has a seizure. However, the woman admits she slept with Thirteen just so she could get to House and have him diagnose her condition. Meanwhile, House continues to pay Lucas to spy on Wilson."

Yeah, that's about it. Girl on girl action for the guys. The case didn't hold my attention very well, but it's good character stuff for Thirteen (yeah, I know, her name is Dr. Hadley!). She's not dealing with her Huntingdon's diagnosis very well.

Good stuff for House/Wilson and the spy. House and Wilson have resumed their banter rather quickly.

The last bit of the episode was a surprise- Cuddy is adopting a baby! I know she's wanted one because it was set up in previous seasons, but it seems sudden. The preview for next week looks good, and I hope it's not going to be a tragic ending for Cuddy's dream of being a mom.

A little bird told me...

...where I could find Sold online. So I now I have it for a while...

I've only watched two of the six episodes so far. It's not bad. I never thought a show about real estate agents would be interesting, but it's fun. Kris Marshall, as the estate agency's manager, is perfectly slimy and evil. Bryan Dick is his usual adorable self as Danny, the only agent who seems to have a heart or any morals. Finally, he gets to play a good guy...

I'll watch the rest of the episodes later.

A scary British short film...

Shockers: Parents' Night. It aired on Channel 4 in 2001. A friend of mine at live journal sent me a link (gone now), so I watched it. It's a very sad, well acted short about a bullied teen who documents his torture at the hands of his classmates, and his suicide, on his video camera. His mother sees the tape, and takes the gun to the school's parents' night.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0300476/

It's horribly depressing. The end is a bit over the top (I assume it's supposed to be like a horror film!), but the viewer is drawn into the mother's grief and rage.

Shockers was a series of small films, but I've never heard of any of the others.

I was interested in the film because of one of the young stars, Bryan Dick. This is an early appearance of his, and he is chilling as the lead bully. I'd love to see more of his early stuff.

House and SVU, Oct. 14

House: Birthmarks- (from tv.com) "While en route to his father's funeral, House must help the team with a differential diagnosis on a young Chinese girl who has collapsed under mysterious circumstances."

House and Wilson+road trip= classic episode. This made up for last week! The case-of-the-week was interesting, but took a back seat to the return of the House/Wilson friendship. I loved learning about how they met...and that the renewal of their friendship almost mirrored the beginning! Note to self- don't piss off Wilson in a room with large liquor bottles and antique mirrors or windows. :p Finally, Wilson returns to the hospital in his old position.

Best part of the episode: Cuddy pulling a House-like tactic by drugging him to get him in the car to go to the funeral!

Quite sad, of course, too. We already knew House had a poor relationship with his dad. Finding out that his dad wasn't his real dad was no surprise, though. "Mom hated him too!"

The case was a bit icky. How could that woman go through life not knowing she had several nails stuck in her head? Yikes...

SVU- Swing

From Yahoo!T.V.: "When Stabler gets a call to help catch a trespasser, he s shocked when the clues lead him to a suspect in his own family: his daughter Kathleen (Allison Siko). Things get so bad that he seeks help from his estranged mother (Ellen Burstyn)."

This one gets a big old roll eyes from me.



So Kathleen Stabler, brat extraordinaire, has bi-polar disorder. Give me a break. Couldn't the writers be more original, and say she's just an ordinary junkie, thief, liar, and slut? Oh, no, then they would miss an opportunity to delve into Stabler's childhood and his mommy issues. Never mind that the kid has always been trouble, and almost always gets away with things.

I hated this episode. Not even the great Ellen Burstyn (as Grandma Stabler) could save it.

Get rid of that awful ADA. She is a nasty character and the actress SUCKS.

I'm about ready to abandon the show forever. Next week looks even worse...

AND WHERE WAS MUNCH????

Long live Torchwood!

I just picked up the Series Two DVD. It's so nice to have the complete episodes as opposed to the cut versions seen on BBC America. The set has deleted scenes, outtakes (which are a hoot, especially the ones from Adam and Reset), one special feature about the lives and deaths of Captain Jack...but there is a disturbing lack of commentaries. The commentaries on Series One were very interesting. I'm disappointed that there aren't any for Series Two- I would have loved to hear what the cast and crew thought of some of the episodes- especially Exit Wounds. Oh, well.

House and SVU have new episodes tonight. I hope they don't disappoint!

House: Adverse Events

Finally watched it. Shouldn't have bothered. First miss of the season, in my opinion. The case was a bit boring, and I really don't care about the lives of the doclings much. Taub is having trouble in his marriage? Who cares- I want the House/Wilson banter back. I miss Wilson. The bright spot of the episode- the P.I. interacting with Cuddy. Now they would make an interesting pair...

D'oh- missed my shows again.

Well, I remembered to tape House, but haven't had time to watch it yet. I completely forgot to watch SVU, but that's no big deal because it repeats on Saturday night.

There was nothing for me to watch Monday night, so I popped in a BBC drama DVD- Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky. It's from 2005, and aired on BBC America back in 2006. The DVD was only available in Region 2, but I have a multi-region player. I'm glad I have the DVD, because a lot of it was cut out...I reviewed it on my live journal when it first aired. I'll post the review later if I can find it! It might have been one of the things I deleted by mistake last year. Oops.

I also have the recent adaptation of Northhanger Abbey to watch. I'll have to watch it soon, because it's from the library and there's a waiting list. I'm still waiting for Persuasion.