cellogirl Reviews

Legend (1995)

One silver lining in the black cloud of "Legend"'s cancellation

[26 March 2005]

Like everyone else who's posted here, I reveled in "Legend." It was one of the few TV shows on any network that I made an effort to see every week. I've also been kicking myself for ten years that I didn't record it when it aired! John de Lancie & Richard Dean Anderson had wonderful chemistry, & it was obvious how much fun RDA had, finally getting to flex his comedic muscles after seven years as straight-arrow MacGyver.

The bright side, if any, to "Legend"s cancellation is that it freed Richard Dean Anderson up to work on "Stargate SG-1" the following year. How drab would television be had he not gone down _that_ path? The first time de Lancie showed up on "Stargate SG-1," I giggled & thought "It's Bartok!"

Sleepers (1991)

A definite keeper: good thing I had the VCR running!

[2 August 2002]

More than a decade after its first airing on "Masterpiece Theatre," I still pull out my copy of "Sleepers" to watch once a year or so.

"Sleepers" has it all: wonderfully witty, satiric commentary on post-Cold War politics; superb acting by Nigel Havers & Warren Clarke & Company, in turns farcical, funny, & poignant; a script that pokes fun at the Yanks, the Brits, the Soviets, & all of our cultures simultaneously. It's a travesty that it's never surfaced on video or DVD, & that it got a mere passing mention in the recent "Masterpiece Theatre" anniversary book. "Sleepers" is one of the finest, & unfortunately most overlooked, installments of the "Masterpiece Theatre" series.

Now if you'll excuse me, Episodes 3 & 4 are cued up in the VCR & awaiting my return to the sofa....