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Reviews
Billions (2016)
Ooh money and intrigue and bleh
Here we go with another show about how America glorifies the rich and powerful and their complete lack of morals. Yay! Rich person A Bobby Axelrod (pathetic name) is a super intelligent business genius who has taken control of some unimaginative corporation because all of the board died in 9/11 and surprise! Knows how to talk BS to get out of any situation when confronted with 'lesser (poorer) people' who voice any kind of opinion against him.
Powerful person B Chuck Rhoades is the super intelligent US attorney who God forbid is just a US attorney and therefore can do his job, no, because he is powerful he has to like being tied up and have a dominatrix urinate all over him so we can't see that coming back to bite him on the rear......
And this is without me going into rich person A's predictably pretty yet nasty wife (who he married because she's as nasty as he is) and powerful person B's butt snorkeling side kicks who will do anything to support him to further their careers.
We've seen House of Cards people. Try more than 1 degree of separation.
Elementary (2012)
One of the better shows on air
First of all I will say that I'm a big fan of the English show Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman so when I heard of this show set in America with a female Watson I was highly dubious.
However I gave it a chance and I'm very glad that I did. I have read many reviews of people whining about how it's not some identical/faithful reproduction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original works and is therefore a sell out and blah whinge blah, but please people - grow up.
The acting is top notch, Jonny Lee Miller is excellent as a modern day Holmes who's amazing intellect is almost as big a burden as it is a blessing & Lucy Liu is great as she shows both strength and humanity whilst dealing with his arrogance and sociopathic behavior. I like how they don't just make Sherlock some perfect crime solving machine like so many other shows and delve into his struggles with manic behavior and drug addiction.
The supporting cast are great also, Aidan Quinn and Jon Michael Hill as their regular NYPD handlers, then some great cameos by the likes of Ato Essandoh as Sherlock's sponsor, Rhys Ifans as his brother Mycroft & Ophelia Lovibond as his stand in apprentice - Oh, and just when you think it couldn't get any better - John Noble joins the cast for season four.... Say no more!
Agent X (2015)
This show, like what people leave in the toilet is not fit for human consumption
Before watching this show I read a few reviews from the bad column & a few from the good so I didn't come into it expecting very much.
I can only assume that the people who gave this show a 10/10 rating are directly associated with the show in some way - or brain damaged.
I even forced myself to watch more than one episode just to make sure that they didn't change the entire writing staff etc in the second to make it less laughable (in a bad way) but no.
It's like they can only write in cliché - that's it. Nothing else. It's almost impossible NOT to know exactly what's going to happen at any given time so the actors have no chance (and still are worse than you would think). Just think cheap and nasty which is sad because I like a good FBI/CIA/secret agent show.
The whole premise of the show is that agent X is a single person who can be sent on missions by the vice president when something bad happens and they need to act outside legal authority or purview. Basically they are saying that they do the stuff that normal agencies like the FBI CIA etc can't do because they would be hampered by acting within the law.
That on it's own is laughable because it seems like half these agencies like the CIA & NSA already just do whatever the hell they want regardless of the law but in the second episode & he's chasing down terrorists trying to sell like 9 nukes??? Pretty sure that some agencies might get amongst the action just for the hell of it, as much as one guy with no support other than a couple of people in a basement in Washington whilst he's in the middle of Russia can get the job done against like 70 dudes with machine guns....
I mean I get the whole suspend reality thing to differing degrees in some shows but this is just so stupid I sat there saying less savory versions of words like "crap", "rubbish", "what a load of old cobblers" pretty much the whole time.
It was like Scorpion all over again.
Top Gear USA (2008)
Good fun TV
I am a huge fan of the original English Top Gear & like some of the other people who have written reviews here I was very dubious about an American version.
These concerns were valid with the first season or 2 because there was no chemistry between the 3 hosts not to mention they were pretty abysmal when it came to interviewing the guests. That said the first couple of seasons of the UK version were pretty bad compared to what they are now so I thought I'd stick with the USA show - and I'm glad I did. The guys started being more comfortable & began to fit into their unique roles & even got some good chemistry happening.
The show will never be UK top gear because Poms & Yanks come from totally different cultures. Once you sit back and accept that it's Top Gear but instead of the English team doing what the English do well, it's Team USA doing what they do best which is basically more good ol' American razzle dazzle and not as much subtlety when it comes to (well basically anything) things like the hosts winding each other up (e.g. Tanner is not afraid to *literally* flick the other guys in the balls if they get too far in his face) you can really start to enjoy it.
An example of this is at the end of one episode (I think it was season 3 ep 1). Tanner was driving towards the camera in a Corvette Z06 which had been modified into America's fastest police car. As his commentary is winding up he rips the steering wheel sending the Vette into a sweet slow motion 360 while you hear the engine roaring, it was so awesome it made my hair stand up. USA! USA!