Americans' Tender Sensibilities

I just read this article in the New York Times about "Ashes to Ashes," which I watched on BBCAmerica last night. Apparently Americans just can't take the actual dialogue of DCI Gene Hunt and BBCAmerica decided to edit it. Crap! "[Hunt's face can be seen on] coffee mugs, T-shirts and bottle openers emblazoned with one of Gene Hunt’s most famous run-on slurs, “You Great, Soft, Cissy, Girly, Nancy, French Bender, Man United Supporting Poof.” (BBC America has chosen to clean up his juicily phrased, almost poetically off-color outbursts.)" That's really too bad because that sounds like it would be really entertaining. I never watched "Life on Mars" (this is a sequel to that show), but I'd really like to, especially as it stars John Simm (I loved him as the Master in Dr. Who), but apparently it's not available on DVD in the US, so I'll have to resort to other methods, whenever I get around to it.

I was intrigued by the premiere episode, but I couldn't help wondering why Alex Drake, the lead female character, (Keeley Hawes from MI-5, another show I loved) kept her over-the-top 80's makeup and costume after the first day of her arrival in the 80's, since her contemporary dress and look was very restrained. Sadly, I'm old enough that the 1981 setting has quite a bit of nostalgia for me. It's funny to hear the old songs and see all the old technology (wow, a Sony Walkman!, VCRs!, rotary phones! desktop computers that can only play Pong) and remember when that was all we had.



NYTimes Review of "Ashes to Ashes"

I'll be watching The L Word finale tonight, which I'm sure will be just as ridiculous as the rest of the show. There's no way they can resolve all the open-ended plot points in one hour. So disappointed in Ilene Chaiken. This show could have been so much better.