By quite a distance, my favourite television program of the 1990s was Between The Lines. Neil Pearson, Tom Georgeson, Siobhan Redmond and especially Tony Doyle as Deakin, were simply sensational in the Beeb's internal affairs police thriller which ran here in 1994 (Season 1) and 1995 (Season 2).
There was a Season 3, but despite loving the show I never saw it, which brings me ever so artfully to my point: if you love good television programs, stop watching television.
How's that?
Well, for a start, I'm not talking about schedule shifts, cuts, or advertisements; it's a given (mainly commercial) TV stations in Australia will butcher their product. No, what I'm talking about are three words that came to mind over the course of watching the DVDs of The Wire and Rome - expectation, situation and momentum.
(Not at Rome Season 2 yet, Wicky. Nor did Season 1 entirely deliver on its potential.)
When I first saw BTL Season 1 back in 1994 it grabbed me like only the great shows can. But Season 2, aired the next year, was nowhere near as good. Was it bad? No, I don't think so. S1 was simply much more enjoyable than S2.
Nor am I suggesting BTL had vaulted the toothy fish (carcharodon carcharias). That term's better applied to sit-coms that have tried in vain to wring any last vestige of amusement out of what may or, more pointedly, may not have once been a successful show. BTL S2 was nowhere near that bad. What I'm suggesting is that had S2 run hot on the heels of S1 then I would have continued to enjoy it to around the same degree as S1, without batting an eyelid, because I was in the same time, place, mindset and had the viewing momentum.
The long break between S1 and S2 allowed me time to overexcite that dreaded 'sense of anticipation'. Shows are never as good as you want them to be, they just are what they are. Allow time for your expectations to build up and you'll almost always be disappointed. Thus S2 was a lesser experience than S1.
A change to a much busier job also meant Tuesday nights at home watching telly were a less relaxing affair than they had been when I was plugging away at the previous year's vegie job. (There's a whole post in "What's the best job for watching TV?") The same thing happened with Cracker which, coincidentally, also ran in 1994 and 1995. Season 1 was fabulous, Season 2 much less so.
My advice to those of you with the money to buy DVDs, or with a talent for theft, is get the DVDs. Watch the episodes one after the other, like I have with The Wire. (The elder is right.) Don't give the bastard a chance to disappoint you. The Wire is fantastic, but I'm going to watch it, and watch it, and watch it until it's done. All in one time in one place. The same goes for Battlestar Galactica. Who'd have thought a show that was a remake of a cheap series that was based on a cheap movie would be this good. Sure, it's got the odd dumb moments - Starbuck going from pilot to biologist to fly the Cylon fighter, for one - but it's a ripper.
Watching Lovejoy at the moment which I'd never shown any interest in before. Weird thing about it is Season 1 was made in 1986 then the next in 1991 with other seasons following soon after. Season 2 is very good and as good as the first lot but watching Season 3 which is on at the moment it starts to try and be too likeable and cosy.
B/W The Lines was top shelf. I have a vague but lasting impression of Peter Postletwaite riding in on a tank in the first episode I saw.
Posted by: RT | 22 February 2007 at 13:59
Lovejoy is dreadful now, but I liked it when I lived in Geraldton ... groan ... 20 years ago. Tempis fugit, etc.
Posted by: Tony.T | 22 February 2007 at 14:19
Postlethwaite was certainly in BTL, and last week on Foxtel I spotted him as a barber in The Duellists.
Posted by: Tony.T | 22 February 2007 at 15:26
Speaking of, I'm about half way through "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" the book David Simon wrote when he hung out with the Baltimore PH homicide squad for a year as a journo. Twas the direct inspiration for Homicide Life on the Streets and is the also the hole world of The Wire right there in print.
Amazing book.
Posted by: Amanda | 22 February 2007 at 16:04
Baltimore Pee DEE, that should be, not the acidic/alkaline thingo.
Posted by: Amanda | 22 February 2007 at 16:06
Sounds just the thing. I've been meaning to get that book, and also the one he wrote with Ed Burns, and also the mini series The Corner, and also a couple of books by George Pelecanos since I saw that Q&A on the extras disc at the end of Series 3.
Posted by: Tony.T | 22 February 2007 at 16:22
This is quite spooky, Tone. Firstly you mention "The Parallax View" and now "Between The Lines", two of my all time favs. Check out "Three Days of the Condor", it's also deserving of an honourable mention.
If memory serves series 3 of BTL was a major disappointment(Nowadays it would be winning awards, but a serious comedown from the first two)
The critics loved BTL but viewing figures were poorish - the great British public were too busy masturbating over dreary tripe like Inspector Morse and that Frost crap.
Tony Doyle died not long after series 3 - a terrific actor. Up there with the great Ray McNally in my book.
Posted by: woody | 22 February 2007 at 20:01
Season 2 of Rome is not quite up to the first, but its still enjoyable. Less hot sex but more violence and madness.
Posted by: Scott Wickstein | 22 February 2007 at 20:13
Disagree with you about "Three Days of the Condor", Woody. Loved it when I saw it in about 1980, five or so years after it was released, but a recent revisit on cable telly was very disappointing. It had dated badly. Rarely have I liked Faye Dunaway, either, even in Network where she was magnificently malevolent.
In fact, while I loved many Robert Redford films from that period - The Great Waldo Pepper, All The President's Men, Brubaker through to The Natural - all have massively disappointed on subsequent viewings. Especially The Natural which I absolutely loved in about 1985 but which I now think is absolute rubbish. And not just in light of reading the book; if you've read it, you'll know exactly what I mean.
Redford is just too, too hammy. He can't act and most of his films are hokey tripe.
The exception, of course, is The Sting which is a fine film in spite of him.
You're smack bang in my territory, though, with Ray McAnally. A superb character actor and main support actor. A Very British Coup is one of the great TV series. (Jim Carter's in it, too, as a slimy polly caught with his pants down.)
Wicky, I'm looking forward to catching up with it, even though S1 wasn't as good as it should have been. Violence and madness is always a bonus.
Posted by: Tony.T | 22 February 2007 at 20:50
Speaking of Dunaway, Towering Inferno is on Movie Greats right now. What a silly film. Fun, though, in that gaudy coloured seventies way. We Maay Never Burn Like This Again. I still remember OJ chucking a cat out of an 80th story window to see if it landed on its feet. (In Mad Magazine.)
TI prevented me from ever being able to climb into a flying fox or breeches boy (Spelling?).
I actually preferred the work safety film Hospitals Don't Burn Down.
Posted by: Tony.T | 22 February 2007 at 21:07
The only TV I watch with regularity besides sport is Lost which I haven't watched on free to air since the end of the 1st season.
Like Twin Peaks 1st season, Lost suffers with commercial TV format and is immeasurably better when downloaded from the US without ads.
The 3rd season the producers made the first 6 episodes straight up and aired them over 6 weeks took a 2 - 3 month break during which they created the rest of season 3 to again run in consecutive weeks which has just started 2 weeks ago. This is a much better method than the sporadic stop start nature we had to contend with in the 1st two seasons. Whats more I believe agreement has been reached that there will be a max 5 seasons which means there should be no shark jumping with an end in sight and resolution to be found.
Posted by: pat | 23 February 2007 at 08:32
I missed it last night but starting last night was a 3 episode series on SBS of Kurt Wallander - of Henning Mankell books.
I've no idea how it translates to the screen, but if it's only half as good as the books I'll be happy (ish)
Posted by: Francis Xavier Holden | 23 February 2007 at 12:13
Pat: One doy I'll work out how to get TV shows off of the internet.
FX: What, you mean the flying guy in the circus?
Posted by: Tony.T | 23 February 2007 at 13:35
1) Get a Bit Torrent client like Azureus (google it)
2) Go to Mininova.org and search for TV, Movies etc find what you want & download the torrent.
3) OPen the torrent and away you go. May need to check your NAT but Azureus explains it all.
4) Get WinAvi if you want to convert avi or mpeg whatever to DVD
Posted by: pat | 23 February 2007 at 13:56
I recommend none of the above.
Posted by: pat | 23 February 2007 at 13:57
Yes BTL was great TV and while the third series did suffer by comparison with the first 2, it was still excellent viewing compared to most other cop shows - although by then poor old Deakin was being forced by British Intelligence to go undercover among neo-nazi groups and blacl market arms dealers. And it had a very dark and ambigious conclusion.
Another good TV series from around that time is Sleepers.
Posted by: Nabakov | 23 February 2007 at 14:26
Sleepers was must-see Sundee tellee when I was living in Carnegie back in 1991, waay back in those grim, grim days before Foxtel and DVDs.
Like Telefon, but better, because Warren Clarke is better than Chuck Bronson.
Posted by: Tony.T | 23 February 2007 at 18:16
yuk yuk
I also got the new Gary Disher yesterday.
Posted by: Francis Xavier Holden | 23 February 2007 at 21:33
Well for those of us who like to wallow in nostalgia I recommend season one of King Fu - yes I am talking about "when you can snatch the pebble from my hand, creme de menthe, creme de cacao and cream, you can leave"...
There was probably never a pebble in his teacher's hand (until 15 year after that intial meeting when it was time for Kwai Chang to leave - they can be wily and inscrutable these msytical Oriental teachers) but that did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying a revisit to the bigoted Old West and marvelling at Caine's serenity.
If, as legend has it, Bruce Lee brainstormed the idea with the producers (not Bialystock & Bloom) only to see David Carradine get the whole enchilada I must say that I cannot see Mr Lee displaying the required calmness, quietness and diffidence maybe (??) that Carradine shows... but I digress.
I managed to snare the entire 1st season of 23 eps for $15 at ye olde JB Hiye Fiye and then today found the 2nd season at the same price... except the 1st season is now priced at the semi-mind-boggling price of $65.
Still... teaching oneself the value of inner peace and eternal tranquility does not come cheaply!!
Not only that but one is treated to a 'spot the future star' game as we got Jodie Foster (and others not famous enough to remember) in the first season, and I am looking forward to Han, sorry Indiana, sorry Harrison Ford in season 2. And also to a comeback by the hugley under-rated Tina Louise.
OK.. amply-bosomed then.
Ahhh.. where was I??
Yes!!
Kung Fu - brilliant nostalgia and strangely enjoyable and calm-inducing.
Highly recommended.
Posted by: The Green Man | 26 February 2007 at 01:38
Inner peace up your arse! Just don't call me fuckin' Grasshopper.
Posted by: K.C.Caine | 28 February 2007 at 14:10
Nice one TT...
Posted by: The Green Man | 28 February 2007 at 15:47
I know not this TT of which you write, my Green one.
Posted by: K.C.Caine | 01 March 2007 at 10:00