All the good series (we're talking genre drama here) are coming to an end. It's as if the planners have all gone on holiday, clicked the repeat icon on a computer and let it do the programming. Oh well, I thought, at least I'll have time to catch up with the ever growing pile of DVDs, like Game of Thrones Season 2 and recorded from Sky Season Three.
But wait! What's this? New series are starting. Interesting series. Favourite series. Surely not! But yes, it is true.
There's Top of the Lake on BBC2 on Saturdays, New Zealand's answer to the glum Nordic crime sagas. But interesting. In English. Written and directed by Jane Campion. With a good cast.
And from the semi-sublime to the quasi-ridiculous there's my old favourite (trans: I own Seasons 1-7 on DVD) Supernatural Season 8 on Sky Living on Wednesdays. And not just one episode but two. And they're preceded by Castle which is coming to then end of its current run so I'm not sure if I can count that.
The Bro's are back!
Tuesday nights are just as good with new seasons of Falling Skies (S.3) and Body of Proof (S.3). FS is okay (aliens conquer Earth, resistance fights back) but I wouldn't shed a tear if it wasn't renewed. BoP falls into the I like it but not enough to buy the DVDs I mainly like it for its attractive mature star Dana Delany. This season her previous love interest, a younger man, is no longer on the scene and the police team of black woman cop and fat balding male cop (both likeable characters) have been replaced by hip handsome intelligent young ethnic cop and grizzled vet who has a past with our heroine. Only two episodes so far, judgment reserved. These are on at the same time.
The bearded hero is back!
The bitch is back!
Following them on Sky Atlantic at 10pm is th eponymous Ray Donovan starring Liev Schreiber. Ray is a tough Hollywood fixer -"You think you're only client to have woken up next to a dead body?"- but with a deeply hidden soft side. It's as much a family story as seamy Hollywood drama. Brother Butchy is a substance abuser. Brother (forget his name) is an ex-boxer turned trainer who has Parkinsons. He's played by Eddie Marsan the British character actor who is in just about every drama on British tv; it may be one of Equity's rules, or maybe it's just because Marsan is so good although the characters he plays tend not be. An odd choice for a Hollywood drama perhaps but this never occurs to you while he's actually on screen. And then there's Donovan's hated father Mickey just out of prison after twenty years and one of the first things he does is murder a priest. Donovan wants him well away from his family for reasons not stated, though it's implied he drove his own daughter to suicide, and Donovan doesn't get his wish. Daddy Dear is played with frightening skill by John Voight and may be the vilest character on TV this year.
And then there's the Hollywood coverups like the macho young male actor who likes sucking the cocks of shemales, one of whom is blackmailing him. Underused so far is Katherine Moenig as his lesbian researcher, hardly a stretch for her.
Only two episodes and I'm hooked. Ten more to go.
Daddy's back!
Summer's looking good.
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