I’ve been neglecting this blog lately, with so many other things taking up my time, so I’ve decided to give it some love tonight with a review of Sky Atlantic’s latest big import. Problem is, I’ve been out all evening and had several glasses of white wine (which turns out to be quite apt), so this is going to be a bit of a rubbish review with probably more proofing errors than nromal.
Bored to Death has taken almost two years to reach our shores, having debuted on HBO back in 2009. It stars Jason Schwartzman as a struggling writer who moonlights as an amateur private eye, with Ted Danson and the beardy one from The Hangover as his boss and best friend.
Schwartzman plays white wine and weed loving Jonathan Ames, who shares his name with the writer of the series and, after being dumped by his girlfriend, reads a little too much Raymond Chandler. In and moment of darkness he advertises his services as a private detective on Craigslist and takes up the case of a missing woman, which turns out to be a little less straightforward than he first envisaged.
It was a fairly slow start but a fun subversion of the usual detective tropes – slipping the barman ten bucks only just did the trick and the man behind the counter in the seedy hotel was as unhelpful as possible. There weren’t as many funny moments as I’d expected, especially with the calibre of the cast, but there was something loveable and charming about this first episode, with Schwartzman being particularly engaging, so I’ll certainly be back for more next week. Perhaps it’s a grower, and while this didn’t seem to be the amazingly good new show it was advertised to be, there’s lots of potential for it to be better, and funnier, in the weeks to come.
As for the blog, I apologise for the neglect which has continued, if not worsened, with this post. I promise to give it a bit of a sprucing up at some point in the next few weeks.
Transmission 