Homeland is a show that’s vacillated between gripping and ludicrous on, almost, a season by season basis. Season 6, ending in a couple of weeks, is something of a return to form as the perpetually anguished Clare Danes finds herself back in the USA and thrust into an attempted coup by the counter-terrorism division of the CIA led, lacking only horns and a pointed tail, by F. Murray Abrahams.
Obviously produced prior to the November election — the show features a female President in Waiting — the best thing about it is it’s portrayal of mass hacking. Not so much because it’s accurate — I really don’t know — but because Jake Weber does a brilliant job of playing Steve Bannen, or someone very like him. Weber’s one of those actors who I always recognise, but can never remember where from. He’s, surprisingly, a Brit who’s done tons of US TV. Turns out that I last saw him was as a semi-regular in Hell on Wheels. Here, as the gleefully ethics-free Brett O’Keefe he runs a factory full of sock-puppets spreading vicious lies across the globe. Not a huge part unfortunately, but exceedingly well played and worth looking out for.
The Good Fight, is the follow up to the long-running NBC series The Good Wife. In essentials it follows the model of the previous show. It takes place in a large Chicago law firm, and each episode includes a specific case. A handful of regulars, and several occasional characters are included. In some ways the form is as predictable as Haiku - in a Law and Order-ish kind of way. It is however different in one essential, it’s no longer on network TV it’s on cable, which doesn’t just mean we now get four letter words. It was was obvious if you watched the The Good Wife regularly, producer/showrunners Michelle and Robert King had leftish sympathies, now it’s almost emblazoned on the credits. Not that it’s at all polemic. The show deals with current issues in an entertaining but (I think) legally accurate way. This week it was how does Google (a pseudonym used obv) ban alt-right commentary without contravening First Amendment rights.
Another good thing about The Good Fight, is that, unlike Homeland, each episode feels as if it was made yesterday. For example the consequences of Trump, stated or implied, appear in every single episode. This often makes it seem like an extension of conversations that take place here or other articulate forums. No bad thing at all.
Obviously produced prior to the November election — the show features a female President in Waiting — the best thing about it is it’s portrayal of mass hacking. Not so much because it’s accurate — I really don’t know — but because Jake Weber does a brilliant job of playing Steve Bannen, or someone very like him. Weber’s one of those actors who I always recognise, but can never remember where from. He’s, surprisingly, a Brit who’s done tons of US TV. Turns out that I last saw him was as a semi-regular in Hell on Wheels. Here, as the gleefully ethics-free Brett O’Keefe he runs a factory full of sock-puppets spreading vicious lies across the globe. Not a huge part unfortunately, but exceedingly well played and worth looking out for.
The Good Fight, is the follow up to the long-running NBC series The Good Wife. In essentials it follows the model of the previous show. It takes place in a large Chicago law firm, and each episode includes a specific case. A handful of regulars, and several occasional characters are included. In some ways the form is as predictable as Haiku - in a Law and Order-ish kind of way. It is however different in one essential, it’s no longer on network TV it’s on cable, which doesn’t just mean we now get four letter words. It was was obvious if you watched the The Good Wife regularly, producer/showrunners Michelle and Robert King had leftish sympathies, now it’s almost emblazoned on the credits. Not that it’s at all polemic. The show deals with current issues in an entertaining but (I think) legally accurate way. This week it was how does Google (a pseudonym used obv) ban alt-right commentary without contravening First Amendment rights.
Another good thing about The Good Fight, is that, unlike Homeland, each episode feels as if it was made yesterday. For example the consequences of Trump, stated or implied, appear in every single episode. This often makes it seem like an extension of conversations that take place here or other articulate forums. No bad thing at all.
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