The Hour Season Two is Superb

Over the last six weeks I have been watching what might be the best television show I have seen in years. In it's second season the BBC America show The Hour is simply amazing. Cramming more storyline into six weeks than most full length series this years story arc centered around the coming of the nuclear age in the late fifties. Contrasted against a crime wave both issues provide the backdrop for the shows characters to move through.

What characters they are. Aggressive young journalist in training returns to the news team from a sojourn in America and France with a young French wife. His long simmering relationship with his producer and friend Belle Rowley must be set aside but by the end of this season we are left to wonder if these two will ever find their way.

Outside of that the character of Hector Madden played by Dominic West goes through a long journey this season. Having been caught in a scandal he sees his relationship with his wife suffer a death blow, is courted by another news network, and in the end suffers a humiliation few men could stand with grace, perhaps in a belief that is the product of his own behavior and something deserved.

Backstories abound. A new news director has joined the show and he too has a secret. Combining these complex characters with a nuanced, fast moving storyline rife with historical connections this show can be challenging.

One must dedicate themselves to paying attention. The first couple of episodes leave you wondering where the show is going, by the time you realize where that is, and how tangled the web is, you are hooked.

Loving Mad Men, enjoying Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, there is no doubt in my mind that this show is far and away the winner for Best Drama of the year.

Boardwalk Empire Season One

A few years ago, before I got sick, some friends of mine at work and I would have lunch each day. One of the subjects that would often come up, especially on Mondays, would be rehash of whatever show we might be watching. Sunday nights being the night for Mad Men, and earlier The Sopranos, there was often much to talk about.

In the interim since becoming sick, I have missed those daily conversations. Recently my wife and I finished Season One of Boardwalk Empire and it is safe to say that were we all still working and having lunch together this show would top our Monday lunchtime conversations.

It is quite frequent that when watching a great new show we think it might be the best thing we have seen. Certainly for those of us that watch a few of the Cable Series that have become such an omnipresent part of television our first love will always be The Sopranos. I myself have become a little more discerning, recently rebuffing The Wire, never embracing True Blood, ditching HBO for the summer to the chagrin of The Newsroom but we have embraced Game of Thrones, and now might be ready to call Boardwalk Empire the best of the lot.

As a history buff there is a lot to love in this show. Historical figures met in season one include Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and at least on the outskirts of the plot, Presidential candidate Warren G Harding. His young mistress and baby's mother has a much more prominent role. The show belongs however to Steve Buscemi. Buscemi has had some memorable rolls, from being shot by his Cousin Tony on the porch of the hideout in The Sopranos, to the classic movie Fargo but in Boardwalk Empire he has landed his role.

Buscemi's Nucky Thompson runs Atlantic City in 1920 just as prohibition becomes law. There are too many great performances in this show to mention. For me perhaps one of the most unique characters is a relatively small role played Jack Huston as Richard Harrow. Harrow is a badly disfigured World War One Veteran, half his face and an eye are gone, this is covered up by a set of glasses that feature a fake eye as well as a piece of skin that sets over the hole. He was a marksman and soon finds a home on the payroll.

As the season progresses Nucky finds himself squeezed by New York and then by the rising chance of " his mayor" and his sheriff ( his brother) might be ousted by reform minded Democrats.

The plots are multi faceted as well. The show is shot beautifully, feels authentic, and the cast is superb.

As Season One ends we see that the betrayals to Nucky and the threats to his power base are just beginning. Season Two is set to be available on Netflix on August 28 and we are anxiously awaiting it's arrival in hopes of finishing Season Two before we shut of Netflix during the school year.

If you have not seen this show you are missing the best show on television. It is time to catch up.

Big Love on HBO Go

I have closely followed the battle between Time Warner and HBO over Time Warner's use of the HBO Go app on the Ipad. This is an incredible service. For those of us who enjoy the HBO series as much as anything they might see on television this is great news.

While allowing the on demand broadcast of the movies and programs being shown on any given month the real carrot in this programming is the feature that allows one to watch any of the series and any episode thereof on demand on their Ipad.

We in our house watched The Sopranos and thought it was a great show. My friends and i would dissect each episode each Monday at lunch. We never will hear the name Christopher again without hearing Tony's take on it.

The Wire and Six Feet Under were shows that we missed the first time around. The Wire especially is considered one of the best shows ever on television and I look forward to watching that. First and foremost however we are watching the final season of Big Love. Last night we watched the the final episode of Season 4 to reaquaint ourselves thought reacquainting may be too much for anyone on a show with this much going on. Still we look forward to watching the end of the series.

After that there will be two seasons of Boardwalk Empire to catch up on. The on demand feature is a great feature. This just takes us further down the the road of being able to watch what we want, when we want, where we want.

It is just the beginning.

Men of a Certain Age

In our quest to find interesting things to watch on that rare occasion where we get to sit down at the same time..usually around 10:30 at night my wife picked up the first disc in this series on Netflix. It was one of those shows we had always intended to watch but the truth is that more and more the idea of watching a show when it is originally on is completely foreign.

Today with the advent of DVD if you miss a couple episodes at the beginning of a show you can just wait for the DVD release. For us this year we did not hook up HBO for the last season of Big Love nor for Boardwalk Empire. In both cases we made this choice so that we could watch the show later on DVD. The fact is watching TV shows in four episode spurts is more convenient that waiting for a episode each week.

So that is my dissertation of the changing nature of watching television. On this show, Men of a Certain Age, Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher play three longtime friends meeting the quandaries of middle age.

I have earlier discussed my affection for Ray Romano. This show does not dissipate that like in anyway. Bakula is likable and Braugher is well known as a stellar actor from his days on Homicide.

One episode into the show I care about the characters. I want to know what happens. I want to know if Joe ( Ray Romano) ever meets the fantasy woman. And yes for those that have seen the show I do want to know if "they" are real. My guess is no.

This is a very good show.