Reviews

This was a low budget 16 episode filler in Australia at it's release. It was popular enough that it went into production of two progams a week for 7 series/seasons. I believe as it's popularity caught on, the budget went up for it's time. The actors and showrunners were excellent in the coverage of subject matter and personal stories that are very much still at issue today. There is some dated material/subjects tho it makes it a bit more endearing. There's a good dose of comedic interaction between the prisoners and their guards/governors. I started to watch and thought, I'll do the 16, then it was 100, 200, etc. Difficult not to become attached to the characters and care about them. It does have some violence that would have made it a bleep fest in the USA back in it's time. Tho, tame by today's standards. I'm not one for "soap operas" (daytime anyway) tho I fully admit I fell right in. One of my favorite relationships is young Doreen and elderly Lizzy.. you'll have you favorites too. I give it high marks for becoming (decades ago) an international cult show which you can binge or view an episode at a time. Like most long running shows, you will miss some characters who leave over the years as you meet new ones. I didn't think I'd like it, yet I can say I became a fan.

After viewing one episode; I won't be watching anymore. I had thought decades later the show might grow with life as it is today, have a bit of societal edge. The original was disappointing when I was younger and thought it akin to overdosing to syrup of ipecac in it's overtly cleansed, laugh tracked, sugary diatribe reminiscent of '50s sitcoms. At a minimum Leave It To Beaver or Father Knows Best can mindfully be placed into the societal time frame they were made. Actually in some situations they were a bit more edgy considering they were produced 50+ years ago. While I believe it's good to have programming for conservative Christian viewers.. doesn't this audience rely heavily on years of re-runs; or the Disney Channel and Nick; as well as Christian networks that run older Andy Griffith, Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, etc., fare. Some of the tame new shows on these networks at least take place using current societal situations and at a minimum are new and different. This really has a flavor of the short run original cast remakes of Leave It To Beaver, Gilligans Island, etc. You have a chance to see the aged actors evoking the original with little change. It doesn't work. Think of several remakes like the Addams Family.. re-imagined with new actors and freshened to a current time. My review may not be fair considering I was not an original fan.. though I wanted to be a new fan of this "new" rendition.

There was great atmosphere, talent, CGI and graphics in general. The story could have made sense, it did not. I think the best acting was Dev Patel and the actor that bought "Chappie" alive. High ratings and fairly positive IMDb user reviews.. what could be wrong. The ENTIRETY of the media this is stored on. Majorly disappointed. Overall I trust IMDd contributors and am not usually led astray. I must be missing something to be so at odds with the majority here. Why the level of celebrity was utilized in such a shockingly bad venture must certainly have been done for the respect they had with a ranking executive, simply for the paycheck or a favor they owed the producer/director for a past job they've been chosen for. If not, I have no idea why they chose this script/project. Chappie isn't a film that a majority of parents would allow for very young audience due to violence, language and it's visual reference to language throughout. It's somewhat limited to an older teen to twenty something audience and this might be why I didn't find it worth the two hours I watched it. Though it does have some comedic value, it's not a comedic film. I have become ever more interested in Sci Fi and this tag might have been what pulled me in. The genre is certainly enjoying a high point lately continuing on the large screen as well as extremely good programming on the small screen.

I remember watching this with my sister and parents when it was first broadcast on TV. For it's time it pushed the envelope though realizing by today's standards it's kitschy with innuendo and a carefully crafted script to keep it within broadcast standards of the time. It was very good, and did a fair job of scaring some kids to not try drugs. I think the most our group did as teens was 8 people sharing a joint which had no effect; though, sadly I did know friends and kids in school to totally screw up with drugs, a couple died. It served it;s purpose at the time, it would be fodder to today's teens that hear much worse watching television commercials, that are barraged worse than the drug culture of the late 60's early 70's. I love Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplanes original version of Go Ask Alice "White Rabbit" which they did not use in the film.

While it's limited run to perhaps see if there's an audience; it's been a good filler before the summer returns and new series begin for their season. It beats a reality show IMO; the questions are difficult compared to most. I have to admit I've realized I know more than I think I do, I just have to hear many of the answers to knock my forehead and say.. oh yeah! It's a lot of trivia stored in the back of our minds. Though, there's quite a few where you learn something you actually haven't heard anything about. Fun for trivia and to pass an hour. Two shows were two hours long, that was a bit much. I would watch it again if it came back on. After 1-2 shows, the pace is faster than it seems when you start out and I personally think Richard Quest did a decent job hosting the show. It seems most have bits and pieces from the many game/trivia shows we've watched in our time. Best I can drum up for a game show.

It's working on many levels, especially with premium cable, Netflix and now Amazon Prime. The issues I have with American Crime after three episodes is, it's far too slow and the commercials break any continuity you start building. If this is planned at 11 episodes the Brits could do it in 5 and it would be a better, perhaps even a grittier program. The special effects (if you can call them this) are more in line with high school, college film editing courses.. distracting; I know they're using it to hide curse words because it's broadcast but use them or stick with broadcast standards. So far it's too drawn out and had the opportunity of coming close to HBO's True Detective. I'm disappointed. When you see as many commercials promoting the upcoming show and twice as many after it's started it's not a good sign. This pilot season will be it's only season. Unless it picks up and as viewers we can connect more with the characters where you become interested to the point of wanting to advocate for them all is lost. Producers only need look at Luther, Broadchurch, Vera, etc., it can be done. Why those shows are not shown here without being Americanized like Broadchurch being remade into Gracepoint; it was nowhere near as good and was made several episodes longer which did not at all make it a better viewing experience.

..especially now that we've had a good eight episodes for characters to develop and become better known to us; it's not merely period drama. The atmosphere inside and out of the Knickerbocker are what you can imagine NYC being at the turn of the previous century. While Mr. Owen is the primary, the secondary players in this program are equally as keen to pull you into their part of the 1900 world. The amount of swindling and payoffs is believable although disheartening. The Knicks benefactor placing his daughter in charge seems to be a bit of a stretch until you think of early pioneering women in medicine; she however is only there to keep her busy until her father see's her married off producing children. I do not believe she'll so easily fall to his whims. She just might be the only honest and caring person in the hierarchy at the facility. All of this is done with usual drama to keep a story line going, yet.. again, it's all consuming with the care people received back in the day. It's no wonder it took most of the last century for people to stop avoiding hospitals. Many checked in, and never checked out. They were the guinea pigs in the testing grounds for what was to come later. Though I will not be around to see whatever a hospital procedural might be on (television?) 86 years from now; it would be interesting if they found the medicine of today as torturous as we find theirs to be in 1900. Very good program. You have characters to admire, to detest, to feel pity for, to rally, etc. It's interesting that the same human traits of their time are still in practice a century later.

People have summed up this show fairly well and why I'm watching this summer "fill in" that will more than likely not be renewed is perplexing. If for no other reason, there's not much on and I don't like reality shows. So, what do I do, watch a badly dramatized reality show. After seven shows, there's been no real explanation of the hosts disappearance and what exactly is the layout of the land. For these city slickers, they are in for a rude of awakening when the cold hits. They better get some survival skills very quickly and try not so hard to be compared to Lost that in the end might have been a disappointment to many, however.. this many shows into Lost we had an idea of what the Island and character background was about. This show in a Canadian woodlands "Syberia" mystery is taking far too long to make sense of it's survival challenge.

There's many British shows now running in the USA that have done very well. The Office, Dancing With the Stars, etc. This one is a reconstruction of a decent Brit sitcom.. however, not a long running program (White Van Man) that aired for a two series run in the UK. White Van Man has a higher IMDb rating and deserves it. I watched it last year. While I realize that British humor and accepted language there cannot be televised to an American broadcast TV audiences; in cleaning it up and casting it differently they've taken away what could have been a very funny series. The addition of the Aunt, cousin and neighbor in the first episode really doesn't serve any purpose and it's wasted talent for Leah Remini who in the right program can be very funny. I don't give this a full season and certainly don't think it will be renewed. There was a lot more construction gone awry in the original and it gave a reason for the show to be about small business one van handymen.

I might have had a dimmer view of Ms. Lauper. While I enjoyed her anthems of years past I made the assumption that she was a bit dim. This program certainly puts her in the drivers seat of her career, she's stern, caring, passionate. Being a person that doesn't watch much reality..I find her personally connected to what is most important to her, yet her work many times keeps her away from the very thing (family) that is obviously paramount to her while balancing career and the many aspects of that career. Her husband while giving up his acting career really is the thread that holds the cloth together for this family. Their son is treated to many things that most children/teenagers would only dream of and reacts as I suppose most 14 year old boys do. While he receives much from this life; he also has to tolerate his mothers throngs of fans so he deals with a trade off. I've enjoyed the program since it premiered. I didn't expect I would, however, I have more understanding of this little spunky lady and her long suffering husband who seems to take everything in stride.

..You'll find it with Lt. Joe Kenda. He recounts the investigations while deadpanning it to the camera. His voice does not become overtly emotive to make the story more than it is. He simply in an almost monotone (not negatively) voice explains how he and his team methodically worked each case. Like with any vocation taken seriously, he proves his years of deduction, singling things out which obviously during his career he developed an inane ability to profile a killers motive and if they're a one off or will be a repeat offender. I find it difficult not to like this man; I doubt he changes for anyone. After a couple episodes you can tell that steely detective heart really cared about his victims and how he loathed those responsible. With Kenda you could be president or pauper; a life has been taken and he would be your voice as he has been for approximately 400 murder cases.

I've recently watched UB Abroad; episodes from Canada, Australia, and the UK. All in all, I find the Executives to be less pious in general and although frustrated by some tasks that are new to them; they tend to take in the hard working individual contributors with less overt being higher level than them. They take more note of what's being done in various processes and appreciate the hard work their people do in a positive manner. Yes, it seems they continue to somehow find the people that have had high levels of life altering situations outside of work.. however, the briefings at the end seem more heartfelt and there isn't the high level compensation gifts from the U.S. version, many times, it's an improvement in a process the person works in. I've given up on the U.S. version finding it far too set up "reality". Perhaps the longer these programs go on, people will have a good idea if some middle aged person comes in with cameras looking to start a new career, it's probably the boss doing the UB program.