Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
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WHAT PEACHES AND WHAT PENUMBRAS! WHOLE FAMILIES SHOPPING AT NIGHT!
Hit the DVD place afterwards tonight, more out of habit than with any particular plan of attack. I mooch around the box sets, aimless now that the Wire’s seemingly endless Bataan Death March is finally over. All have short, non-descriptive titles: House, Rome, Lost, The Shield. I have no idea what any of them are about or if they’re any good. Probably not. Probably not. Outside on George’s Street, I hear shrieks, screams and the clomping of high heels. An ambulance peals past. The other night, on a quiet street, I imagined one silently mount the kerb in front of me. Friendly paramedics beckon me inside. I don’t know that I’d have put up much of a fight to be honest. I really don’t. One of these nights maybe. One of these nights.
November 14th, 2009.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Have you seen the West Wing Eoin you might like it?
November 14th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
One word for you: Deadwood. Possibly, maybe, kinda almost better than The Wire, and definitely funnier.
November 15th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Try Dexter or Lie to me…
November 15th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Have you considered Sufism, just for something different altogether?
November 15th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
@ Matt – isn’t that the one with the most implausibly articulate cast this side of Dawson’s Creek
@ Paul – Yeah, that was there. Must say when I saw Ian McShane dressed up as a cowboy, the words ‘quality programming’ weren’t necessarily the first that sprang to mind.
@ Brian – does either of those have Ted Danson or Charlie Sheen in them??
@ Lisa – does that involve locating my chi by any chance?
Weirdest thing about that DVD shop is they had Brendan O’Carroll’s Hows Your Snowballs there(wonder how many times that’s been rented out?) in the comedy section. I moved it to classic films – between The Magnificent Ambersons and The Maltese Falcon.
November 15th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
No Danson or Sheen in those. Michael C Hall and Tim Roth
November 15th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Well, I’ll have a look out for them so. You reckon Rafa should walk the plank then??
November 15th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
It’s a tough one Eoin. €12m to get rid of him? Or keep him until the end of the season?
November 15th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Perfect Sunday chat after the Irish loss with the round ball and Irish draw with the oval one.
I really liked Rome, the BBC versions had violence and sex cut from em, unlike the HBO cut.
Dexter is fun but the supporting cast tends to be weak with little to do.
Ian McShane was the best thing about Deadwood, it also ends unsatisfyingly with promised tv movies never materialising.
House is overrated.
Lost overrated too, recently got good again and season approaching is the last of it.
West Wing started well enough then got intolerably preachy after 9/11. Heard it got good again towards end but I was never that bothered about it, seemed too idealistic.
The Shield, another solid show. Had its highs and lows but entertaining.
British drama like Cracker and Prime Suspect should be added to the list if you didnt catch it all. Comedies like Spaced, Peep Show, Always Sunny in Philadelphia and I.T. Crowd are also worth catching.
November 15th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Deadwood is wild. The best cast imaginable (Brad Dourif from Cuckoo’s Nest/Wiseblood in the role of a lifetime, f’rinstance) and a bizarre script that could only have sprung from the brain of a recovering heroin addict/born-again Christian like David Milch. Give it a go, watch the first two episodes and see what you think
As to the bloke who says it ‘ended unsatisfyingly’, well, I suppose if you think a load of balls like Rome is great telly, you’ll never see the poetry in Al Swearengen wearily scrubbing blood off the floor of his hellish saloon/brothel for eternity.
November 15th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Could work out a better bargain in the long run than 99% of his signings!
November 15th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Life On Mars is a pretty solid British drama. Generation Kill, made by David Simon, is an intriguing show, if a bit more difficult than The Wire.
November 15th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@Eoin: no chi but the chance to become a whirling dervish.
November 15th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
@Paul – Sorry for stepping on your scary Deadwood love. But when a great show ends without it’s intended ending and we’re left with open ended storylines, I’m left unsatisfied.
Bit harsh on Rome too, a western with great characters, long running storylines, cursing, bloody violence and sex does it for you but the same set in B.C. doesn’t? Is it the togas?
I’ll be cleaning the cooker of grease now, if I cut myself maybe you can write a poem.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
@ Paul/Colin – I’m torn here, I don’t know who to believe…
@ Dawn – “a bit more difficult than the Wire…” Well not to blow my own trumpet here but, if anything, I found The Wire too easy.
So Generation Kill will be a cake walk.
Incidentally, Dawn DeLillo? Kudos…
@ Lisa – while I do find eastern spirituality faaaascinating (like fascinating, but in sarcastic voice) for me it’s the chi or nothing.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
How about the Mennonites then?
I will now leave this conversation as I have absolutely nothing to contribute on the topic of television programmes.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
One of my favourite Christian Anabaptist denominations Lisa, fair play to Dutchman Menno Simons for founding thme.
(Why do I keep having to consult Wikipedia in order not to appear stupid on this comments thread…??)
November 16th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Interesting article here that references pretty much everything we’ve been discussing on here for the last couple of weeks…
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-tv-series-of-the-00s,35256/1/
November 17th, 2009 at 8:46 am
If the paragraph about Deadwood in the AV Club list doesn’t pique your interest, Eoin, I’ll be very surprised indeed. Forget Lovejoy. We’re through the looking-glass here.