Categorie archief: Televisie

TV Dungeon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(1997 – 2003, USA)

Creator: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, David Boreanaz

7 Seasons (144 Episodes)

‘In every generation, there is a chosen one. She alone shall stand against the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.’

Specialists in the television medium consider Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be a genius show. In a poll ‘The 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time’ by Empire Magazine, it became second only after The Simpsons. Why this eminent status? Because it is daring, intelligent and superbly entertaining television.

Teenager Buffy Summers and her single mum move from L.A to small town Sunnydale, which just happens to be built on the Hellmouth; the perfect breeding ground for demons, vampires and all other sorts of nasties. Buffy soon learns that she is more than just an ordinary high school girl. She is the chosen one. The Slayer.

Slayers have been around since the beginning of time to fight the forces of darkness. In Sunnydale, this means one hell of a mammoth task. Luckily, Buffy is aided in her ass-kicking mission by Giles, the high school’s librarian and her watcher. A group of friends, including a lesbian witch, an ex-vengeance demon and a turned vampire also join the fight against evil.

For many people, their teenage and young adolescent years were hard and confusing. This certainly applies for Buffy and her close friends. All typical problems for this age group are personified in the form of monsters. A creepy stepdad turns out to be literally a robot; a boyfriends turns evil after the first time; etc. These clever metaphors are only one element in making this a terrific show.

What really makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer superb are the characters. From heroes Buffy, Willow and Xander, who go through enormous developments as they grow up, to mythological vampires like Angel and Spike, who have complex and detailed background stories.

Major credits also go to creator Joss Whedon for integrating every supernatural story ever invented and more into his series. Every episode is like a small horror film of its own. And they are always suspenseful, surprising and very often…funny.

In every season, Buffy and her friends (friendship is a major theme in Buffy) have to overcome new fears and challenges. There is always a new super villain to deal with. But that aside, there are plenty of issues having to do with growing up. Buffy’s tragic romance with good vampire Angel is a perfect example of this, but there are many, many more. As the characters become older, the show becomes darker and more adult.

The final result is a dynamic mix of high school drama, horror and action. Warning: Buffy is addicting stuff, but with 144 episodes, there is more than enough to go around. Once you get into it, the Scooby gang will become an important group of people in your life, and you will sincerely miss them once you have completed the show.

Of course, you can always do a re-watch, which I plan to do very soon.

TV Dungeon: The Wire

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(2004 – 2006, USA)

Creator: David Simon
Cast: Dominic West, John Doman, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Deirdre Lovejoy, Sonja Sohn, Dominic Lombarozzi, Seth Gilliam, Clarke Peters, Andre Royo, Michael K. Williams

5 Seasons (60 Episodes)

It took a while before The Wire was noticed by critics and TV-enthusiasts alike. Not until later seasons, it was recognized and acknowledged as one of the best shows to ever hit the airwaves. Barack Obama, for one, called it his favorite television show of all time. For his five season strong social epic, former Baltimore crime reporter David Simon didn’t leave one corner of his city untouched. The Wire provides full insight into the whole spectrum of drug trade, law enforcement, politics, the working class, the school system and the media.

In the show’s first season, a special Baltimore police unit puts in place a wiretap on the drug empire, run by Avon Barksdale. Principle characters on both sides of the law are introduced: Jim McNulty, a smart Irish cop with authority problems and Stringer Bell, Barksdale’s first lieutenant, are just two of the many characters that are somehow involved in ‘the game’, a word used to describe the drug trade, which is a major social problem in Baltimore’s large slums.

The Wire takes its time to establish plotlines and characters, not just in the first season but throughout the series. But whenever it delivers punches, it is nothing short of amazing. There are few shows that dare to take this much time for build-up and risk losing viewers than The Wire does. There are also few shows that deliver such captivating details and immensely satisfying pay-off to those who invested their time to get into it. The final episodes of each season are especially enjoyable as the carefully laid-out plotlines are concluded and new stories take off.

Some critics have described The Wire as a modern version of a Charles Dickens story. This seems like a fair assessment. The often tragic tales of young delinquents, in which adults and authorities are unable to change the problem, are told in a very transparent and moving way. At times it becomes painfully frustrating to see all solutions fail and young drug traders rise, while the older ones get killed or go to jail (or both in case of one memorable character).

Every season focuses on another group that is part of the problem. That is why the show is called The Wire (besides the wiretap): it provides its audience with the opportunity to listen in on all the involved parties, whether it be cops, dealers, dockworkers, politicians, teachers, social workers or journalists. By closely observing the many different characters’ private and professional lives, remarkable insight is given into the larger context of Baltimore’s massive social problems.

All of the show’s characters serve a clear purpose and are portrayed excellently by the talented cast. A standout character is Omar Little, a modern Robin Hood of sorts who robs drug traders for a living. Not only is this anti-hero black, ruthless and intelligent, he is also a homosexual. America’s nightmare indeed. A brilliant move in the show’s casting is also the usage of real-life cops and criminals, adding to the show’s great authenticity.

David Simon and his team have really achieved to make something very fresh and truly original out of what initially looked like just another cop show. Besides academic insight, The Wire also offers tremendous entertainment, mainly achieved through compelling character studies, intriguing conflicts, a unique atmosphere and genius writing. The timing of the plot twists and many surprises is always precisely right. The Wire is just essential television.

TV Dungeon: Oz

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(1997 – 2003, USA)

Creator: Tom Fontana
Cast: Ernie Hudson, Harold Perrineau, Lee Tergesen, J.K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Terry Kinney, Eamonn Walker, Kirk Acevedo

6 Seasons (56 Episodes)

Welcome to Oz! A high security federal prison, called Oswald State Correctional Facility (‘Oz’ in slang). This series is set entirely in a section of this nightmarish prison called Emerald City, run by its creator Tim McManus. Em City is an experiment, whereby various criminal gangs of different ethnicity (blacks, Latino’s, Italian wiseguys, white supremacists, etc) are put together to live in a simulated society. To say that this experiment doesn’t run too smoothly would be somewhat of an understatement.

Because like outside of the prison, the aim of every criminal group or individual is to gain in power. When stripped of almost everything, other means must be used to achieve this, such as rape or violence. This quest for power runs through Oz like a red line. But there are other matters that the inmates pursue, like love, success or even redemption.

The problem is jealousy. Humans of whom everything is taken away, tend to get disagreeable about other people’s achievements. So whenever they sense a shred of happiness around another inmate, they will take the cause away indefinitely. This doesn’t only apply to prisoners, but to the guards as well. Like the one guard who gets a pro-basketball contract. His ankles are slices, putting him out of the game for good.

Plainly put, once you get into Oz, you’re a dead man. Sometimes literally. If Oz teaches us one thing, it is that inside Emerald City, anybody can die at any given time. Even main characters! The ones that manage to survive have to deal with the harrowing psychological effects of prison life. If they ever get out, they are likely to return. Sometimes by their own doing, or by the doing of a fellow inmate who likes to keep them around.

Absolutely hopeless.

Oz, that was there even before TV-gamechanger The Sopranos, is the show that put pay channel Home Box Office (HBO) firmly on the map. It differentiates itself from typical network shows by allowing things to unfold naturally. That means shocking content at times: rapes, gruesome violence, male frontal nudity and homosexual relations are not filtered out for the audience. That gives the series a very raw feel to it. It may be unpleasant at times, it is also very addicting.

What starts out as a realistic show, becomes more fantastical in later seasons. It is stunning either way. While the main goal of Oz, seems to be making a political statement, it also manages to provide superbly entertaining drama. This is mainly due to the brilliantly realized characters, both inmates and staff, that know how to surprise the audience every time.

Some of those characters are present from the start like Beecher, Schillinger, O’Reilly, Alvarez, Adabisi and Kareem Said. Logically their personal stories and relationships are the most fascinating, but what Oz also does very well is keeping the in- and outflow of inmates up to a pleasant level. It is not really possible to explain some of the characters’ stories as it would do injustice to the writing, but believe the reviewer: it is fascinating.

Watching Oz is basically like observing a monkey cage. There is a brawl every few minutes and the smartest inmates (best schemers) live the longest. If you’re up for great drama with a message, Oz is your fix. Just don’t get too attached to any of the characters.

TV Dungeon: The Office (UK)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(2001 – 2003, UK)

Creator: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Cast: Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis, Ewan MacIntosh, Ben Bradshaw, Emma Louise Manton

2 Seasons + Christmas Specials (14 Episodes)

Have you ever been in a truly embarrassing situation? Like saying something very wrong to exactly the wrong person? What if you would have been ignorant of the embarrassment, would that make you feel better or worse? Obviously better. Ignorance is bliss. But if you wouldn’t feel the embarrassment, you would probably say wrong things a whole lot more often and other people would feel embarrassment for you. Such is the case with David Brent (Ricky Gervais).

David Brent is the regional manager of paper wholesaler Wernham-Hogg in Slough. He is one of television’s greatest characters. His main motivation in life is to be popular among his office underlings. He is at his happiest when somebody laughs at his painfully unfunny jokes. That aside, he wants them to be impressed by his laid-back management style. All he ever does however, is keeping people from working. Neither does he perform any work himself. He is too busy cracking jokes or inventing ludicrous office activities.

What makes it worse is Brent’s misplaced confidence. Everybody obviously finds him super annoying, yet he genuinely believes he is popular and people find him hilarious. This leads to some profoundly embarrassing moments. Sometimes it is almost too painful to watch, like his motivational speech about management at another company. No manager would ever want to get the David Brent label, but he is still recognizable in everyday people. At the same time he is unique.

Brent is not alone in his ridiculousness. His skeleton-faced supporter Gareth who is second-in-command at the company is an almost equally laughable character, be it less painful than Brent. Then there is Brent’s so-called buddy Chris ‘Finchy’ Finch, who is one of the most obnoxious persons to ever appear on TV. Poor Tim and Dawn, an account manager and receptionist who have to deal with these people in a sometimes scary universe. Their series-spanning romantic plot is one the greatest ever created for the small screen.

The Office is a magnificent black comedy. There are many, often subtle, jokes and moments of great hilarity. It is also more than a comedy, sometimes almost like a message about existentialism. Many of us, have to spend a huge amount of out lives at a horrible depressing place (Slough) between people we can barely stand. Luckily there is humour in this, or suicide rates would go up dramatically.

When watching this, don’t expect an ordinary sitcom though. The Office requires some resilience against horrible humiliations. The reward are the final Christmas Specials that end the show on a very positive note. This move by the creators has been criticized because of the spectacular fall David Brent makes in season 2. The execution however of the two-episode finale is so fantastic that it can be instantly forgiven. The Office is comedy genius. Make sure to watch it several times catch some of the brilliant subtext the makers provide.