New York's Finest?

There's no shortage of TV po-po shows these days and quality-control needs to be rigorously applied. 'Blue Bloods' (RTE2), a much-trailed NYPD cop drama, revolves around the Irish-American Reagan family, three generations of Poh-Lease, with Tom Selleck as the current Police Commissioner. Donnie Wahlberg plays a distinctly Republican Bull he is counter pointed by his liberal, college-man brother, also a cop. Throw in an Assistant DA sister and 'Cut-me-and-I-bleed-Blarney' ex-cop grandfather and you have the makings of an interesting family dynamic. Sadly, the family scenes are the only original and compelling parts of the programme. Otherwise, 'thetvreviewguy' finds it to be a mish-mash of 'The Wire' without the swearing and the realism and 'Law and Order', without the Order and with 'whodunit' scripts that are clichéd and pat. It's a pity because the family plot-line to 'Blue Bloods' looks like being a real grower (there's been a recent commissioning of a second series). Selleck is watchable and can really act; while 'Magnum' was fun, it could never be accused of gravitas and moral integrity, both of which the actor brings to his role in 'Blue Bloods'. Still, thankfully, it's not CSI - there's no techno or forensics BS. Instead, the writers try to meld to stories into one; the family tale and the shooty, crimey stuff; the joins are by no means seamless. Wahlberg may be role- limited but he does chippy Micks down to a t. 'Blue Bloods' is better than a lot of the garbage out there but it ain't no David Simon show; for 'thetvreviewguy', it ain't no thing.

Dinner, Dinner, Dinner, Dinner...

It had to happen. 'Come Dine with Me Ireland' (TV3) has arrived and it doesn't disappoint, whatever your expectations are. If you're looking for cringe-worthy, face-palm tv, then you've got it by the bucketful - it copies earlier versions, except, this being Ireland, the guests seem to drink even more ('thetvreviewguy' is Irish, he's allowed say things like that); and, if the indications of the first few programmes are correct, they don't mind making complete numpties of themselves either. 'Reality' TV has always been about the selection process; who the producers pick is essential to the ingredients of the show. Naturally, if for you have a dinner party with clashing personalities who all happen to be annoyingly 'me-pointing', you'll be hitting telly jackpot. Now ‘thetvreviewguy’ knows all about the fleeting moment of fame that comes with appearing on the box; he twice captained his college in the not-much lamented 'Challenging Times' (for his US friends that was an Irish version of 'College Quiz Bowl'). So he can understand why mass media exposure has appeal (okay, in the case of 'Challenging Times', a bit less of the 'mass'). But he really doesn't want or need to make a complete tool of himself on national television (having perhaps done so in the past ). 'Come Dine with Me Ireland' hits the high tide mark in reality telly but reaches down to the lows when it comes to LCD entertainment. Not that funny, not that charming, 'Dine with Me' is like a passable but ultimately fruitless first date which won't have you rushing back for a second; more in the 'just good friends' category.

A Bit of a Domestic

'Life of  Riley'(BBC1) follows in the trail of 'Outnumbered' and other domestic, suburban, half-hour long, nuclear/step-family sit-coms.Of course, family life is mostly a round of domesticities, laundry baskets, dinners and humour but the tv portrayals of the family tend to concentrate on the first three items and are slim on the last. Caroline Quentin ('Men Behaving Badly') as the mother/wife 'Maddy Riley' is a fine comic actress and Neil Dudgeon ('A Touch of Frost', 'Midsomer Murders') plays a daft Dad deftly. You won't die laughing but you will smile; 'Life of Riley' never challenges the genre, preferring the comfort of a traditional sit-com structure. There's some good studio audience chuckles coming from intra-generational generated laughs. (Dad is rubbish with new technology, Mum unsuccessfully tries to use her kids argot). Sunday afternoon fare that has 'thetvreviewguy' thinking he could write this kind of stuff if he really wanted to and maybe he should. In the meantime, he'll have to be happy with a lot of mildly-amusing comedy shows and unearthing a few gems here and there. 'Life of Riley' is passable, and in someways, ideal viewing for overcast weather days. If  it gets stressed-out parents some peace for a while then that makes it even better.

It's a Fair Cop Gov

'Scott & Bailey' (ITV) is a passable female buddy-buddy cop show set in up North of Watford. Both characters are modern women who have lives outside of work and the programme jogs along at a medium pace ('Morse' being slow, any 'CSI' being quick).  Both Bailey (Susanne Jones) and Scott (Lesley Sharp) are played well and we have a rolling plot line with a one-off whodunit each week. The detective unit is run by the no-nonsense Inspector featuring a scene-stealing Amelia Bullmore. It's a demographic box ticker - single 30s woman? Check. Working mother? Check. And there's little of the mortuary chic that we get in most cop shows these days (although there is the obligatory post-mortem shot). Pluses: the characters are kind of convincing i.e. not totally incredible and the production values look good. Minuses; no one swears strongly and 48 minutes worth of telly detective investigation time barely opens a murder case book. Perhaps the biggest minus, and concessions being allowed for this being the scene-setting first episode, is that 'Scott & Bailey' is a character, not plot-driven story. And it's distinctly not cerebral, not the 'Wire', not even 'Cagney and Lacey' - which was one of 'thetvreviewguy's favourite eighties tv shows. 'Scott & Bailey' (the ampersand seems very important here) doesn't hit the Sunday night 'murther' vacuum left by 'Taggart'. May be a grower but 'thettvreviewguy' can take or leave it - cop show junkies wil get their fix though.

Miami Prison Blues - Louis Theroux Checks In

Louis Theroux, chronicler of the bizarre and outrageous, scores once again in 'Snitches Get Stitches' (BBC2), a fly on the wall, documentary in the savage hell that is Miami Mega Jail. Technically, all these prisoners are innocent; it's a remand prison. But there's little innocence in an environment where victimisation, stabbing and beatings are common and the guards look on and do little to intervene to prevent this feral culture from thriving. Theroux has matured over the years; previously, he may have once looked like a sensation-seeker, showing us freaks and misfits. But now, you really get the impression he cares. He cares about an obviously disturbed inmate accused of shooting his girlfriend; he never stops asking 'why?' though. The western world is by and large a civilised place; Theroux shows us places where the usual rules don't apply, where when someone asks you 'what shoe size are you?' (as these remand prisoners do), you know you're in for a vicious, senseless beating to take the shoes from your feet. 'Snitches Get Stitches' reminds 'thetvreviewguy' of how thin society's veneer of civilisation can be; how brutality can become common place; how prison, may work as punishment but not as rehabilitation. Most of the prisoners featured in 'Snitches Get Stitches' accept the twisted logic of the inmate code in Miami Mega Jail. Louis Theroux makes a great documentary and he is rapidly developing into an acute observer of society; 'thetvreviewguy' is happy watching Louis documentaries from the safety of his couch.

Not Doing the Business

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The 6 'P's. Know the Market. Watch trends. These somewhat pat phrases sum up 'Business Nightmares' BBC2, an entertaining overview, or re-hash, if you will,  of corporate marketing disasters and failure. The 'New Coke' fiasco? Hear more about it from embarrassed executives and talking head contributions from the likes of Richard Branson and James Dyson. Persil launch underpants-shredding washing powder? Too good to be true, but yes, it did happen. Polaroid not being able to handle to rise of Digital? A sad piece tempered by the fact that the company is making a comeback. Presented by Evan Davies in his usual amiable manner, 'thetvreviewguy' liked the editing and production values in 'Business Nightmares' and liked Davies' potted MBA Strategy module. However, an obvious question is how the BBC were allowed to essentially give free advertising time to mega-brands? Perhaps because the programme was a co-production with the excellent Open University television unit? There really wasn't any new information imparted; no great insights, no killer lines, no exclusives. 'Business Nightmares' is, of course, destined for extensive re-runs in Business Schools for the next couple of years. Essentially, we 'learn' that you have to speculate to accumulate and that successful entrepreneurs do their best to calculate and then minimise risk. The rise and rise of the 'Brand' continues unabated and until consumers learn or, more practically, have time to de-code a barrage of corporate messages and narratives, we will continue to buy brand over quality; most people blind testing the new Coke preferred it to the Old but when told how they would feel about it replacing their favourite sugar water, there was a resounding 'No!'. The next set of results from 'Business Nightmares' is out next week and 'thetvreviewguy' will be tuning in, if only to see how he's not the only one who makes mistakes.

Karl Pilkington - Philosopher for Our Times

Ricky Gervais - huge star. Stephen Merchant - movie career apace. Karl Pilkington? If you're to believe the first two, he's a blithering idiot, moron, twat, arsehole...and these people are his friends. Yet, as fans of Karl will know, he has a unique world-view; stunning in its banality, absurdness and naivety and a laugh-riot. In the animated 'Ricky Gervais Show' (HBO/Channel 4), Pilkington gets the almighty piss taken out of him by Gervais and Merchant, and truth be told, it can be hilarious. Yes Gervais overdoes it on the laughometer and yes the humour can appear cruel and mean...but if Karl's in on the joke, then it's better than 'The Office' for hee-haws and giggles. The thing about Gervais is this; he's creative, funny and smart but his callousness and cruelty grates with 'thetvreviewguy' - he frequently takes a joke too far. 'The Ricky Gervais Show' walks this particular tight-rope. Karl Pilkington wouldn't be the most well-read of blokes, if indeed, he's read any books at all, yet, despite this, he occasionally comes out with an absolute gem of wisdom amongst his moronic and bizarre and guffawable opinions on everything from evolution to philosophy. Ricky Gervais surely knows that Pilkington is the star of the show. While 'thetvreviewguy' won't't be lining up to worship at the 'Genius' Gervais Deity, he likes 'The Ricky Gervais Show' a lot and would particularly like to have a pint with Karl and ask him what's it all about?