Category: TV

Shetland – season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

I finally watched Shetland (2013), the critically acclaimed Scottish crime drama.

Good. Not great.

The first series consists of two episodes, based on the novel Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.

It’s difficult to find anything to complain about. This is serious, well produced television.

Perhaps a little too dire. Not enough levity.

I do like Alison O’Donnell as DS Alison “Tosh” McIntosh. She’s down to earth compared with deadly serious Steven Robertson as DC Sandy Wilson.

Of course I enjoy the remote islands location. And the annual Viking festival.

BUT season 1 was too complicated for me. And the REVEAL was not at all fascinating.

I assume subsequent series are better. Some say season 3 was best of all.

 Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Karen Pirie – season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

I visited St. Andrews, Scotland summer 2024 — and was keen to watch this drama after finding the body was found in the famed cathedral grounds.

What grabbed me first was the unlikely detective, Lauren Lyle as DS Karen Pirie.

So young and seemingly naive.

Karen Pirie is a British crime drama television series based on the Inspector Karen Pirie series of novels by Val McDermid. 

…  a young detective-sergeant, Karen Pirie, is put in charge of what appears to be a twenty-five year-old cold case. An influential podcast series focuses on the case, the unsolved murder of a barmaid, and Pirie is tasked with rexamining it.

Pay attention. The plot is quite complicated with a number of side stories.

The ending has been criticized. Fairly.

The other character I quite liked was Chris Jenks as DC Jason (Mint) Murray. Pirie’s assistant.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Murder in a Small Town – season 1

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

An excellent TV series.

Murder in a Small Town is a Canadian mystery–drama television series which premiered on Global in Canada, and Fox in the United States on September 24, 2024. …

It is based on the Alberg and Cassandra Mysteries, a series of novels by L. R. Wright.

It was filmed at Gibsons on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast.

In Canada, I watched it free (ad supported) on the Global TV website — but it was a pain.

The romance is consummated half way through the first episode.

Rossif Sutherland — son of the Donald — is the small town police chief.

The gorgeous Kristin Kreuk was a gymnast in Vancouver until grade 11. She’s of Dutch and Chinese Jamaican descent.

The entire cast is good.

Mya Lowe as Corporal Edwina Yen is great. You might recognize her from Yellowjackets.

I’m impressed that the show is nuanced on subjects like racism. And sexual harassment.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Prime Suspect: Tennison

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

Excellent British TV.

I was sorry only 1 season was produced.

Prime Suspect 1973 (also known as Prime Suspect: Tennison) is a British television detective drama series starring Stefanie Martini as the young Jane Tennison. It is a prequel to the long-running Prime Suspect series that had starred Helen Mirren. …

Set in Hackney, the series depicts 22-year-old Jane Tennison (Stefanie Martini) as she begins her career as a woman police constable (WPC) in 1973 with the Metropolitan Police Service. At a time when women were beginning to be gradually integrated into the police force, Tennison has to deal with sexism, as well as difficulties in her home life, as her family disapprove of her career choice.

Great television despite at least 2 unbelievably blatant plot holes.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.





Cross – season 1

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

I’m somewhat disappointed.

Excellent source books, the Alex Cross series. Excellent cast. …

I’d fire the writers. This TV drama should have been much better.

In the books, Alex Cross is a savant, using forensic psychology to analyze killers’ minds, delving into victims’ psyches to identify murderers and bring them to justice.

In season 1 he’s no Sherlock. Too angry. Too distracted. His overwhelming grief does not work for me.

He hardly does anything right.

Disappointing.

Isaiah Mustafa as Detective John Sampson, Alex’s Washington, D.C. Metro Police Department partner is very good, however. Much like in the books.

The bad guy — the “fanboy killer” is very well portrayed by Ryan Eggold. That performance cannot be faulted either.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

My GUESS is that the writers will learn from their mistakes. I expect season 2 to be much better.

Gone for Good by Harlan Coben

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

This 2002 book is excellent.

Gone for Good has a complicated and surprising plot.

As a boy, Will Klein had a hero: his older brother, Ken.

Then, on a warm suburban night in the Kleins’ affluent New Jersey neighborhood, a young woman—a girl Will had once loved—was found raped and murdered in her family’s basement.

The prime suspect: Ken Klein.

With the evidence against him overwhelming, Ken simply vanished …

10 years later Will’s girlfriend simply vanishes. Or was she murdered?

Netflix adapted the book into a TV series set in France.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Man on the Inside – season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

Ted Danson really has had an impressive comedy career.

He’s good again in A Man on the Inside.

He plays Charles Nieuwendyk, a bored widower and retired engineering college professor who reluctantly takes a job as an investigative assistant for a private detective to go undercover at Pacific View Retirement Community in San Francisco, in order to find a missing ruby necklace.

Senior citizens naturally make for comedy. Think of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The Bucket List.

It’s fun to see veteran actors like Sally Struthers still motivated to stay on screen.

Two thumbs up.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Excellent.

Ashley Elston was a YA author before this HIT adult novel in 2024.

I assumed First Lie Wins would be just another in the predictable series of psychological thrillers.

It’s much more than that.

“This fast-paced read has everything you could want in a thriller: secret identities, a mysterious boss and a cat & mouse game that kept me guessing the whole way through.”
—Reese Witherspoon

“Prepare to trust no one on this high-speed thrill ride through timelines, identities, and motives as you work to piece together Elston’s expertly crafted puzzle. First Lie Wins is a fun, clever spin on the con artist novel …
—Ashley Winstead, author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour

For me, it started to drag before the end. Many of the twists and turns needed explaining.

She also wanted to set-up for an inevitable sequel.

It’s already being adapted for TV.

Tracker – season 1

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Tracker is … based on the 2019 novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver, one of my favourite authors.

The series stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a skilled survivalist and tracker who earns his living by assisting law enforcement and private citizens in exchange for reward money.

Justin Hartley is that super charismatic guy from This Is Us.

He’s a credible action hero.

This is a cable TV drama on CBS, not streaming.

Therefore it’s written in scenes between commercial breaks. (I don’t watch ads. It now streams on Disney+.)

Simple stories that have to wrap-up in hurry. Easy to watch.

All that said — it’s very popular.

It’s set all over North America, while being filmed in British Columbia.

I quite like Eric Graise as Bobby Exley, Tracker’s hacker.

Tracker is one of the few current cable scripted TV show’s I can recommend.

Abbott Elementary – season 3

On By Rick McIn education, government, humour, TVLeave a comment

I was charmed by season 1.

Enjoyed season 2.

But started to fade by the end of season 3.

Like most sitcoms, every episode is the same.

Abbott Elementary stars 4 ft 11 inch (149.9 cm)​​ Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues, a perpetually optimistic second-grade teacher at the underfunded Abbott Elementary, a predominantly Black school in Philadelphia. 

William Stanford Davis as Mr. Johnson, the school’s eccentric, overqualified and talented, custodian is my favourite character.  Still.

It’s an insight into the American public school system. ReTrumplicans insist on reducing funding for public education, while subsidizing rich kids in private schools.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.