Category: Television

Why Chris Evans Had to Leave Top Gear

Daniel SimmsLeave a comment

After weeks of online criticism and falling ratings, Chris Evans has stepped down as Top Gear host. Short of a biblical turnaround, the future looked bleak for his continuing presence on the motoring show. But it isn’t just viewing figures that led to his demise.

There are several factors that have come into play. All of these have created the perfect storm, for an imperfect revival of a major BBC asset. The most obvious is the declining viewing figures. Evans himself never helped his own corner here.

The first show drew 4.7m on the night (0.3m below the prelaunch target Evans had set). On the face of it, this was acceptable. But the ginger one took to Twitter to defend the numbers. Hammering home “facts”. A 23% audience share, 12% higher than launch of the previous series.

When the figures continued to drop, he added that TV viewing habits had changed. That people consumed on the iPlayer. Again, not entirely untrue but it fails to acknowledge that a successful, well received broadcast, maintains a relatively unchanged viewership. Last night’s show brought home 1.9m.

Add all the iPlayer views you want, that isn’t acceptable.

In many ways Chris Evans is the David Moyes to Jeremy Clarkson’s Sir Alex Ferguson. It was always going to be a tough job to fill. Couple this with another disadvantage he had in comparison to his predecessor – chemistry with is co-hosts – and he was always doomed.

Rumours circulated that Matt Le Blanc threatened to walk if Evans remained. In the face of so many personal attacks, the BBC had to lean on Evans to leave.
That leaning would have intensified in the wake of sexual abuse claims; which Evans seriously denies. The allegations refer back to a time in the 90s, and could be heard within the next few weeks.

After Operation Yewtree, and the way the corporation hounded, a later to be cleared, Sir Cliff Richard, they couldn’t take the risk that a failing show was about to face scandal. His radio show is an easier plug to pull if required further down the line.

Ratings, ruptures and red top headlines. He had to go.

What is most baffling is how one of British television’s greatest pioneers became so entrenched in a nostalgia trip. His version of Top Gear should have been about reinvention. The nods to the past subtle or sublime. Instead he was living in a nightmarish version of Quantum Leap, where everybody found him too loud, the show too dull.

Chris Evans can bounce back from this but it will require a project that enables him to tread new ground. Not the safe path he was so eager to stay on.

Finding Carter – Season 1 – Episode 1

Daniel SimmsLeave a comment

I may be a damn fine reviewer but I’m not a police procedural expert, however, I feel well equipped enough to say Finding Carter isn’t a realistic representation of what would occur if a missing girl was discovered, thirteen years after her kidnap.

After being picked up by the police with all her mates for trespassing on a fairground, Carter watches her pals go home while she waits for her mother to collect her from custody. Problem is, she’s been identified as a missing person and the police are waiting for child protective services.

In this show, protective services protect the child by dropping a massive bombshell: Your mom, isn’t your mom. She robbed you. And by the way, your real folks are here and they’re taking you home.

She even pleads that she isn’t ready. But any delay would slow the show, and we couldn’t have that.

Her real mom is Hurley’s girlfriend from Lost. She was more believable in that show as the crazy-turned-sensible-chaperone to the big guy. Here she plays the bad mom to Carter’s lovable thief mom. But even her rendition as a cop is more realistic than how the show pops Carter into a brand new family and within a day is perfectly comfortable.

She enjoys immediate immersion into the family dynamic and appears in no way phased by the 100% change to her situation. One character even says, “Wow! You must be majorly freaked out.” Yeah, she should be but if she was, it’d get in the way of taking her newly discovered sister to a party. So she goes to the party – without a care in the world.

If the show was carrying a deeper hidden message about the adaptability of children, and how Carter is the product of her experiences, including those that have been supressed and known only by the subconscious mind, this sequence would be a powerful metaphor. But this is MTV produced for a teen audience, rather than examine human factors, it’s more important to throw in some love interests.

There is a moment Carter tells the new mean Mom she is loveless and hasn’t displayed any affection to her family. New brother explains she is like this because of Carter’s kidnap. Rather than be touching, it’s MTV’s way of reminding us, Carter was kidnapped, the unfortunate family has suffered ever since.

Unnecessary twist alert! New Mom was having an affair with a cop she was using to follow Carter. She was going to leave her husband but can’t now. Oh, let that resentment build. Layered, MTV. Layered. Just so happens Carter’s latest love interest is the son of said cop.

The Mom that raised Carter, Lori Stevens, risks capture to arrive at Carter’s new (and deliberate) place of work just to see her. And also to dangle the there’s-more-to-this-than-you-realise carrot.

Whether that is enough to pull you back for more will depend on how much you have bought into the mess so far. I’m tempted because sometimes, when things are so bad and ludicrous, it almost makes them good.

4/10

The Leftovers – Season 2 – Episode 10

Daniel SimmsLeave a comment

So an extended episode attempts to wrap up what has been an enthralling season. Even with the extra minutes, nobody expects all the answers. But things look bleak for Jarden as a whole and in particular Kevin Garvey, whose handprint on the girls’ car has now been identified. Oh yeah, and he’s been a little bit dead for an episode.

In a move that is either deus ex machina or a necessary plot device (I’ll let you decide), Kevin suddenly remembers the missing girls faked their disappearance. How that sits with you could change the perception of an entire season.

Knowing this doesn’t stop John Murphy shooting him and leaving Kev for dead . . . again.

So we head back to that strange hotel (afterlife or not?) where he once again finds a way to escape back to reality.

Once back on familiar ground the Guilty Remnants have enacted their plan. The illusion of a Miracle Town has given way to all-out anarchy. Peace has been destroyed and this time the cult has a strong foothold over a town.

Kevin and John makes friends, as you do after a friendly shooting, and pull together.

The ending is emotional and it’s easy to feel that Kevin has been on a journey. It all just feels a little contrived.

7/10

The Leftovers – Season 2 – Episode 9

Daniel SimmsLeave a comment

After taking a leap of faith and entering an unknown realm, episode 9 brings the viewer crashing back to reality. In doing so the real antagonists of the show resume their reign of terror. It means the full return of the Guilty Remnants.

We get a final bit of backstory about how Liv Tyler’s character, Meg, became disillusioned and then self-radicalised. This goes in unison with catching up with Tom Garvey. From the backstory we learn Meg has already been to Jarden with her husband, and with a desperate Tom in tow, she intends to return.

Finally, we get to see the plot the cult have been working to all along. They have become much harsher under Meg’s rule. At one point she orders a public stoning. The parallels to terrorism are deliberate and used to great effect.

After all the fantastical elements of Kevin’s journey, this is the harsh reality that awaits the characters.

The Guilty Remnants arrive in Jarden to end any sense of Eden and inflict their idea of hell. With it they bring answers about the missing girls.

8/10

Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle – Review

Christopher William Kinsey1 Comment

Steve Coogan returned to our screens this week with the greatest comedy creation ever. That’s no small tag but Alan Partridge deserves it. The expectation to live up to the legacy is almost as hard as writing a spoiler free(ish) review. But here goes.

Within the opening seconds it is clear Coogan will deliver on expectation. The mockumentary format, last utilised in Welcome to the Places of My Life, sees a downtrodden Alan referring back to his breakdown in Mid Morning Matters.

He replays the sheep-shagging comment incident and backs it up with another slip-up, filmed on a mobile phone during a dinner speech. This was Partridge putting positive spin on a bad situation. His mission now: to discover how he had become so distant from the “chavs” he poked fun at.

Even in the prologue there are hidden gems. Cycling down the YouTube page of the dinner video, the viewer sees a series of angry comments, beneath one Lynn Benfield asks a naïve question. It’s a good touch and a nod to the past.

Before the halfway point there are enough one-liners to refresh the storage banks of Partridgeisms. This is great news for a man that uses around twenty a day. From the ladies on the tills at Tescos having the mental and physical dexterity of fighter pilots to “the 9/11 debacle,” it’s clear Coogan and his writing team is on top form.

He takes a trip to Manchester, to see how those on the rough side of life live. There, he mingles with street gangs and parties with them. The morning after he conducts an interview with the Manchester Mayor. Yes, he rehashes the dub over interview gag from Welcome to the Places of My Life but it isn’t through laziness. In jokes go hand-in-hand with the familiarity Partridge has earned over the years.

The scenes here give Alan the chance to be his cringe-worthy best. The more self-aware Coogan has become, the more self-deprecating he can be through the medium of Alan.

He also mingles with those that have, the well-to-do. Once again he manages to show how he can be awkward and fail to fit into any social scenario (but we’d all love to have him in ours). Watching a farmer, he reflects back to his time at Tesco with the already classic line: “What is a trolley man but a shepherd of the town?”

It shouldn’t be understated how good Scissored Isle is. It combines all the best elements of new Partridge and leaves the viewer hankering for more. There’ll never be a third season of I’m Alan Partridge but one-offs like this make it bearable. It manages to strike a balance for the old generation of fans and includes fresh takes on the character, some that could be seen as slap-stick.

A once divisive character now has enough to please everyone.

Coogan seems at ease in Alan’s skin now. There’s no shame in playing the role and the comfort shows in the performance. Hopefully it means many more years of an ever-changing but always familiar Partridge on our screens, both big and small.

9/10