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Review of Keen Eddie, pilot episode
There used to be great summer replacement shows that you could count on to get you through the dog days, when nothing else was on. It seems like more and more it’s reality TV, which I loathe with the white-hot passion of a thousand burning suns, and I fondly remember the days when such series as Northern Exposure and Seinfeld (when it was good) and a few others showed up and even survived. Last year we got the delightful Monk (coming back soon), and there was a kind of spring/summer hybrid series before that called the American Embassy that I really enjoyed, but which Fox did not stick with. A favorite a few years ago was the peculiar and wonderful G vs. E, which later went to Sci-Fi and was called Good vs. Evil (who can resist the delicious Richard Brooks with a full ‘70s ‘fro?).
Fewer and fewer good drama or comedy series seem to be getting that summer treatment, though. EW used to devote a whole section to summer shows, which I notice I haven’t seen yet, so I wonder if they’ve abandoned the concept since it’s all reality, all the time. Which is why I tuned in eagerly to Keen Eddie last night on Fox, even though I’d heard somewhat negative things about it. It’s about a NYC detective named Eddie Arlette who screws up a major drug bust with some English characters, and so they send him to England as punishment and to finish the job. He’s abrasive, stupid, annoying, and often funny as of course all American cops have to be (I’m suddenly in mind of that horrid show set in Britain with the American guy cop and the blonde chick cop... what the hell was that called? It had a short life in syndication over a decade ago). Naturally I had to watch it since it was set in London (I don’t get BBC America so my quotient of Brit TV is far lower than I would prefer, and PBS these days seems to only show crap like inspirational programming), and was rewarded with a number of my favorite second-tier character actors making appearances, a funny script, and some really nice cinemtography that while not original, was put together in a lively, engaging style.
Despite knowing better, I really enjoyed this pilot. It was derivative in the extreme, shot in a total Guy Ritchie circa Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels style — all fast-zoom, flash-cut, slo-mo, camera-whip style. It used the flashing, micro-edited interstitials that Angel uses. It had dialog straight of a Ritchie movie too, just without the swearing, but keeping the peculiar, hilarious criminals. Every cop show cliché, and every fish out of water, ugly American cliché as well, not to mention the love-hate sexual tension between him and his reluctant flatmate, another icy blonde chick. But the thing is, it still made me laugh out loud a number of times, and despite the embarrassment factor (Eddie really is often stupid beyond words, and arrogantly so, which makes me cringe in horror), I enjoyed him as a character (he has the most startlingly green eyes I think I’ve ever seen, they border on freaky). His dog Pete is funny as well, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s an English bull terrier, my favorite kind, even down to how they get him out of the lengthy British quarantine. All the secondary characters are either hilarious themselves, or great straight men for the funny stuff.
When he set his matchbook map of Manhattan on fire in the opening set, I burst out laughing, and that really felt good considering how down in the dumps I’ve been over Buffy being gone. The characters have a nice flavor — one scene has Eddie being hung from a meat hook in a van, having a lengthy discussion with a crime boss who clearly can’t find good help, and it’s just a great little set piece where you get to know the crime boss just from his exasperated reactions and the way he and Eddie chat like it’s another day at the office. Eddie’s “partner” is truly one of the most peculiar and freakish people I’ve ever seen presented on an American show, which was was simply sublime and wonderfully risky From the moment he takes Eddie to a swinger’s club and starts dancing in his black leather underpants, you know you’re in for one seriously deranged guy, although a guy who happens to look like a woman in drag and who is also a protector of small animals, not to mention a really savvy cop. I think I’m going to like DI Monty Pippin a lot. Their “boss” is one of my favorite character actors over there, Colin Salmon, and it’s so lovely to see him in a role with some authority. I loved it when Eddie asked Pippin if the guv was gay, and Pippin responded with “He’s just going places.” I have no idea what would motivate an exchange like that, but it made me laugh at its delightful non-sequiturishness.
Sometimes I get a little weary of Americans always being stupid about Brit culture, and one would think that if Eddie’s superiors were sending him over to clean up his mess, they might have at least given him a guide book and a backgrounder on how the English police system works, but that’s a fairly minor quibble overall. Not all the dialog sparkles and not all the set-ups work, but overall, it gives me something to look forward to on Tuesday nights. There will be the usual huge-lipped babes like last night’s, where their lips arrive in the room before the rest of their bodies; and probably more straight-outta Ritchie film tricks showing up, but if they keep up the teasing tone and the mix of drama and humor, and allow Eddie to learn a few things now and then (not to mention the British cops learn from him), it should be worth 13 weeks of my summer (plus, I think it’s going to be a very viddable show). If only Fox will show all 13 eps — judging by their lack of support for... well, anything not reality or 24, and the way they treated the American Embassy, I’m not sure we’ll get to see them all. Tune in while you can.
There used to be great summer replacement shows that you could count on to get you through the dog days, when nothing else was on. It seems like more and more it’s reality TV, which I loathe with the white-hot passion of a thousand burning suns, and I fondly remember the days when such series as Northern Exposure and Seinfeld (when it was good) and a few others showed up and even survived. Last year we got the delightful Monk (coming back soon), and there was a kind of spring/summer hybrid series before that called the American Embassy that I really enjoyed, but which Fox did not stick with. A favorite a few years ago was the peculiar and wonderful G vs. E, which later went to Sci-Fi and was called Good vs. Evil (who can resist the delicious Richard Brooks with a full ‘70s ‘fro?).
Fewer and fewer good drama or comedy series seem to be getting that summer treatment, though. EW used to devote a whole section to summer shows, which I notice I haven’t seen yet, so I wonder if they’ve abandoned the concept since it’s all reality, all the time. Which is why I tuned in eagerly to Keen Eddie last night on Fox, even though I’d heard somewhat negative things about it. It’s about a NYC detective named Eddie Arlette who screws up a major drug bust with some English characters, and so they send him to England as punishment and to finish the job. He’s abrasive, stupid, annoying, and often funny as of course all American cops have to be (I’m suddenly in mind of that horrid show set in Britain with the American guy cop and the blonde chick cop... what the hell was that called? It had a short life in syndication over a decade ago). Naturally I had to watch it since it was set in London (I don’t get BBC America so my quotient of Brit TV is far lower than I would prefer, and PBS these days seems to only show crap like inspirational programming), and was rewarded with a number of my favorite second-tier character actors making appearances, a funny script, and some really nice cinemtography that while not original, was put together in a lively, engaging style.
Despite knowing better, I really enjoyed this pilot. It was derivative in the extreme, shot in a total Guy Ritchie circa Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels style — all fast-zoom, flash-cut, slo-mo, camera-whip style. It used the flashing, micro-edited interstitials that Angel uses. It had dialog straight of a Ritchie movie too, just without the swearing, but keeping the peculiar, hilarious criminals. Every cop show cliché, and every fish out of water, ugly American cliché as well, not to mention the love-hate sexual tension between him and his reluctant flatmate, another icy blonde chick. But the thing is, it still made me laugh out loud a number of times, and despite the embarrassment factor (Eddie really is often stupid beyond words, and arrogantly so, which makes me cringe in horror), I enjoyed him as a character (he has the most startlingly green eyes I think I’ve ever seen, they border on freaky). His dog Pete is funny as well, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s an English bull terrier, my favorite kind, even down to how they get him out of the lengthy British quarantine. All the secondary characters are either hilarious themselves, or great straight men for the funny stuff.
When he set his matchbook map of Manhattan on fire in the opening set, I burst out laughing, and that really felt good considering how down in the dumps I’ve been over Buffy being gone. The characters have a nice flavor — one scene has Eddie being hung from a meat hook in a van, having a lengthy discussion with a crime boss who clearly can’t find good help, and it’s just a great little set piece where you get to know the crime boss just from his exasperated reactions and the way he and Eddie chat like it’s another day at the office. Eddie’s “partner” is truly one of the most peculiar and freakish people I’ve ever seen presented on an American show, which was was simply sublime and wonderfully risky From the moment he takes Eddie to a swinger’s club and starts dancing in his black leather underpants, you know you’re in for one seriously deranged guy, although a guy who happens to look like a woman in drag and who is also a protector of small animals, not to mention a really savvy cop. I think I’m going to like DI Monty Pippin a lot. Their “boss” is one of my favorite character actors over there, Colin Salmon, and it’s so lovely to see him in a role with some authority. I loved it when Eddie asked Pippin if the guv was gay, and Pippin responded with “He’s just going places.” I have no idea what would motivate an exchange like that, but it made me laugh at its delightful non-sequiturishness.
Sometimes I get a little weary of Americans always being stupid about Brit culture, and one would think that if Eddie’s superiors were sending him over to clean up his mess, they might have at least given him a guide book and a backgrounder on how the English police system works, but that’s a fairly minor quibble overall. Not all the dialog sparkles and not all the set-ups work, but overall, it gives me something to look forward to on Tuesday nights. There will be the usual huge-lipped babes like last night’s, where their lips arrive in the room before the rest of their bodies; and probably more straight-outta Ritchie film tricks showing up, but if they keep up the teasing tone and the mix of drama and humor, and allow Eddie to learn a few things now and then (not to mention the British cops learn from him), it should be worth 13 weeks of my summer (plus, I think it’s going to be a very viddable show). If only Fox will show all 13 eps — judging by their lack of support for... well, anything not reality or 24, and the way they treated the American Embassy, I’m not sure we’ll get to see them all. Tune in while you can.
