Change Your Image
billiehaiduk
Reviews
Brooklyn South (1997)
Disappointing Pilot Led to a Snoozefest of a Show
The pilot to Brooklyn South was one of the most hyped-up of all time; what with the TV-MA rating and the promise of "intensity".
Unfortunately, it completely failed to deliver on the promise as the shoot-out was poorly filmed and uninvolving. Staging in particular was much to blame for the lack of impact as the whole thing looked as fake as possible (of course the director was given an Emmy to show once again that awards care about hype, not quality).
As to the death of an officer, given that we hadn't met him before it fell flat dramatically.
POTENTIAL SPOILER To follow up, the writers made much to do over whether a murderer who had been shot seven times died of being kicked in the ribs. The audience's answer: to leave the show in droves, and who could blame them? Seven bullets in the body and the guy dies of a kick in the ribs? How realistic is that? Clearly the writers were thinking Albert Louima, but they forgot Louima was pretty much an innocent victim while their cop-killer was... well, a cop-killer. Hard to feel any angst over his well-deserved death.
After that the show meandered, hampered by a ridiculously huge cast (thirteen main characters by the end of the show) meaning that even as the first season ended nobody cared about any of those strangers.
Overall a big waste of resources.
The Office (2005)
Unwatchable
The depth of tastelessness NBC executives have sunk to never cease to amaze me. Sure, they're making a lot less money now that Thursday has turned into "Must-Avoid TV" but really... does anyone think that the way out of ratings insignificance is re-newing a show that is so badly and cheaply made, its only value is in its "it's edgy" lying marketing campaign and the fact it's incredibly cheap to produce.
What's next? A web-cam in a real office? That would cut down on actor fees...
Wait I shouldn't give them bad ideas, because after all, we're talking about the executives that swallowed their own PR that The Office is somehow a great funny show, when in reality, it's unwatchable pap.
Memo to Jeff Zucker: hire real writers and directors next time and maybe you'll have a hit.