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.

The Hour

There might be no greater way to get your movie, album, book or show to be seen than to get it on the Entertainment Weekly Must List. Once that happens there is a good chance that a significant amount of people will at least give you a chance.

Yesterday after seeing an endorsement of the show The Hour, which airs on BBC America my wife and I gave it a look. The show centers on 1956 England and specifically on a male and female member of a Newsreel production company hoping to land on the staff of a newsmagazine start up called The Hour.

Comapred in reviews to Mad Men one can see the connection. The accents are a bit hard to follow at times and this show is clearly more political than Mad Men but I found it quite interesting. There is a love triangle brewing, pretty people and spies too.

This show is part of what BBC sells as Dramaville, a slot on Wednesday nights at 10 pm where a series might last for six to eight weeks. I have read that the BBC after the completion of The Hour on The BBC has stated there will be another round of episodes filmed. We also have been told of the three series to follow The Hour which will take Dramaville to the end of the year.

An interesting way to watch a show, none of the time slot foolishness, repeats, and shows on hiatus that we have come to expect here in America. This often sabatoges shows here, Men of a Certain Age being a prime example.

We will be watching the rest of the show.