Limited TV

There are a couple of new "limited series" premiering this  week.  

The first (starting tonight, Sunday) is Galavant, which appears to be basically a satirical musical comedy about knights in the time of around King Arthur.   Most notable is the team behind it.  The music is by Alan Menken  (whose many credits are Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Little Shop of Horrors and Hairspray), with lyrics by Glen Slater (who co-wrote the songs for Tangled -- with Menken -- which was fairly good.)  The script is by Dan Fogelman, who wrote Crazy Stupid Love”, Tangled and Cars.  As far as I can tell, it’s eight episodes over four weeks.

I’ve only seen one review in USA Today, which wasn’t great, basically complaining that the show didn’t seem focused on what it was spoofing.    But that’s just one word, and I have no idea how their reviewer's taste runs, so who knows?

However, ABC ran a special today on the "making of" the series, and during a break in  the NFL post-season game I turned it on -- and watched for about eight minutes.  The three or four songs they showed extended excerpts of were hilarious.  Now, of course, those might have been the best clips, but it sure beats them begin dismal.

Regardless, I certainly hope it does well, under any condition.  But I have no idea how the audience will respond, especially with no name stars.

The other new, limited seven-part series is Agent Carter, based on a character in the Captain America movie, which I didn't see, because of...well, no interest.  But what interests me about this series is its star, British actress Hayley Atwell.

I first saw her about 4-5 years ago as basically a day player in a BBC mini-series, on screen for about a minute.  And she was so gorgeous and so wonderful that I wrote to the producer of a movie I'm developing from one of my screenplays that we should keep an eye on her.  For someone to be that good is such a small, nothing role speaks volumes about her talent.

There are a couple of new "limited series" premiering this  week.  

The first (starting tonight, Sunday) is Galavant, which appears to be basically a satirical musical comedy about knights in the time of around King Arthur.   Most notable is the team behind it.  The music is by Alan Menken  (whose many credits are Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Little Shop of Horrors and Hairspray), with lyrics by Glen Slater (who co-wrote the songs for Tangled -- with Menken -- which was fairly good.)  The script is by Dan Fogelman, who wrote Crazy Stupid Love”, Tangled and Cars.  As far as I can tell, it’s eight episodes over four weeks.

I’ve only seen one review in USA Today, which wasn’t great, basically complaining that the show didn’t seem focused on what it was spoofing.    But that’s just one word, and I have no idea how their reviewer's taste runs, so who knows?

However, ABC ran a special today on the "making of" the series, and during a break in  the NFL post-season game I turned it on -- and watched for about eight minutes.  The three or four songs they showed extended excerpts of were hilarious.  Now, of course, those might have been the best clips, but it sure beats them begin dismal.

The other new, limited seven-part series is Agent Carter, based on a character in the Captain America movie, which I didn't see, because of...well, no interest.  But what interests me about this series is its star, British actress Hayley Atwell.

I first saw her about 4-5 years ago as basically a day player in a BBC mini-series, on screen for about a minute.  And she was so gorgeous and so wonderful that I wrote to the producer of a movie I'm developing from one of my screenplays that we should keep an eye on her.  For someone to be that good is such a small, nothing role speaks volumes about her talent.

I've since seen her in a new of far more prominent productions.  The female lead in the recent film version of Brideshead Revisted; a mediocre Masterpiece Classic miniseries on PBS, Any Human Heart, with Jim Broadbent and Matthew Macfadyen, in which she was the only thing that shined; Mansfield Park (based on the Jane Austen novel), and a wonderful dramatic comedy, How About You..., where she held her own opposite Brenda Fricker, Vanessa Redgrave and Joss Acklund, as an irresponsible young woman who circumstances put her temporarily in charge of a small independent-living facility for half a dozen elderly resisdents.

I have no doubt that Agent Carter won't test her acting ability.  But if anyone can bring charm and humanity to what, I suspect, is likely a pretty one dimensional role, it's her.  Mainly, I'm just glad she's getting some well-deserved attention.  Though I admit that I've also been hoping she';d remain a well-guarded secret until we were ready to make some casting offers...