Waiting for God: Season 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)Don't be put off by the title - this is one of the best Britcoms to hit the US Shores. This show is totally unique - set in the British retirement community of Bayview, and it's inmates...er, I mean RESIDENTS, are taking steps to NOT gracefully fade away!
I have never laughed aloud so much at a series as I have at the adventures of Stephanie Cole's Diana Trent (spinster & proud of it) and Graham Crowden's Tom (part-time bullfighter on the moon, when he wasn't digging out of Colditz with "Dickie and Johnny"), and their battles against Daniel Hill's "The Idiot Baines" and Janine Duvitski's love-starved Jane. Together with sex-fiend Basil and other inmates, and constantly thwarting the efforts of Tom's revolting family to control them, the antics are pricelss.
What keeps me watching the episodes is the way the characters are presented. Diana puts it thusly: "We are not a group to be managed." Fighting for the respect they deserve - in a society that reveres age in everything but itself - Diana and Tom carve such a niche at Bayview that Harvey spends the entire run of the show trying to chuck them out! Ideas that would be handled with all the tact of a road roller in the US get treated with a sense of decorum. The episode entitled "Scandal," first aired in October of 1993, is proof of that. The final episode of the show ('Two Weddings')is so well done that it literally leaves one's ribs sore from laughing.
I have been hunting for all 47 episodes of the show, which form a total story, with a beginning (Tom's arrival), a middle (the Scandal!), and an end (call it two weddings and a funeral - not the one released). This series is done with wit and taste, and in many ways I am GLAD it never made it across the Atlantic. American producers would have surely messed it up. My home-taped episodes are in danger of wearing out.
Now, FINALLY, there is hope on the horizon in the form of a DVD of Series (Season) 1. I have no idea why BBC won't go ahead and release the whole thing - there are only 45 episodes plus two Christmas specials (only one Christmas special has ever been shown in the US to my knowledge; it was a double length show). If BBC is simply going to release them series by series (or season by season), let's hope that enough of the first one sells!
Once you visit Bayview, you'll want to go back, and seven episodes won't be enough!


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At the Bayview Retirement Village the elderly are expected to grow old gracefully, enjoying their final years in peace, quiet and comfort... but not if Tom (Graham Crowden) and Diana (Stephanie Cole) have anything to do with it! Meet two elderly eccentrics who refuse to put up with the appalling food and condescending staff, in the hilariously cynical BAFTA-nominated comedy that won Stephanie Cole a British Comedy Award in 1992.

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The Mentalist: The Complete First Season (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)This TV show, in its first season, is, like "Life," a police procedural with lots of flavor--in this case, a former phony psychic who, years ago, talking insultingly about a serial killer on his psychic TV show.
The killer was watching the show, apparently, took offense, and proceeded to murder the guy's entire family.
After much soul searching, our hero quit his pseudoprofession and now works with a police agency doing for crimes what Gregory House does for his hospital--solving the cases no one else can solve. He uses his ability to read people and situations that stood him in good stead during his stint as a phony psychic.
Of course, like the cop in "Life" his merry, mischievous exterior conceals an iron core of permanent, near-psychotic rage. The Mentalist works with the police agency he works for in order to find the serial killer to killed his family, and he has told his boss there, in merry seriousness, that if/when he finds the guy, he will take him apart in a way Dexter (as in the HBO series) would admire.
All this is backstory. No spoilers, as I promised. There's considerable interaction with his boss, her boss, and the three person team that also works with the boss, and they're all competently played, seemingly pretty much credible as detectives.
So both this and "Life" have:
1. fine actor in the lead role--with "The Mentalist," Aussie heartthrob Simon Baker, who every woman appears to find irresistable (according to my wife).
2. multilayered plot, with an ongoing story arc on top of the case du jour, and evolving relationships among the team members.
3. light and shadow--lots of comic moments alongside very dark stuff indeed. In painting this would be called chiaroscuro (think Rembrandt paintings of interiors illuminated by candles).
If you like "Life" I'm certain you'll like "The Mentalist" even if the more run of the mill procedurals (all the CSIs for example) don't appeal to you. I'd also put "Bones" in this category FWIW.
And this is about as good as we can expect until Joss Whedon's next show shows up (presumably "Dollhouse" with Eliza Dushku, herself a master of chiaroscuro).


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"A mentalist is a master manipulator of thought and behavior." The mentalist is Patrick Jane (Simon Baker in an acclaimed performance), a celebrity psychic whose wife and child are viciously murdered by an elusive serial killer called Red John. Devastated, Patrick admits his paranormal act is fake, renounces his earlier life and uses his astonishing skills of observation and analysis – talents that made him appear psychically gifted – to bring killers to justice. At crime scenes across California, Patrick now helps an elite team of detectives break their toughest cases. But no matter how many criminals he catches, Patrick never forgets his central goal: Find Red John. And bring him down.

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The Guardian: The First Season Review

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(More customer reviews)4.5 Stars... Be warned, the character Simon Baker plays in this series is edgier than his character in The Mentalist and slightly more abrasive. However, that being said the first season of this legal drama was the strongest. At the time, Baker was billed as a new face with edge from Austrailia and the series got good critical reviews its first year. Baker's seens with Dabney Coleman were amazing to watch as he struggled between goodwill legal work and the call of "the rich firm" run by his father. Alan Rosenberg was good though the character he played was less rich than his characters in other series (Cybil, L.A. Law, Civil Wars). If you like Simon Baker in The Mentalist, and you don't expect him to always play the same exact character, you'll probably enjoy this first season and if like legal shows this series will also be enjoyable. So what happened in the remaining seasons? They retooled the premise to broaden their viewing audience and it watered down the show but this first season is definitely worth watching. I'd also recommend catching the actor in the romantic dramedy: Something New, if you are a fan of his.

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Nick Fallin is a hotshot lawyer working at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh law firm. Unfortunately, the high life has gotten the best of Nick. Arrested for drug use, he's sentenced to do 1,500 hours of community service, somehow to be squeezed into his 24/7 cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings. Reluctantly, he's now The Guardian - a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances.

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The Mentalist: The Complete Second Season (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Mentalist is back and better than ever with 22 new episodes of innovative and manipulative crime-solving techniques. Season two starts off with a bang and keeps on delivering. There are lots twist and turns as Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) manipulates everyone and everything around him to uncover the truth behind the murders.
The story lines are better than ever and manage to develop the background, personalities, and lives of the main characters. We get insight into the childhood issues that drive both Jane and Cho. We get pulled in deeper as we watch the relationships between the characters grow and develop. The chemistry between Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) continues to grow and the energy between them is electric.
This is the one show on TV where there is so much misdirection and redirection that guessing the ending isn't probable, even when all the info is sitting right in front of you.
If you're looking for excellent performances, spectacular writing, and a show where you can't predict what's coming next then this is definitely a show you want to watch.

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California Bureau of Investigation consultant Patrick Jane (Simon Baker in his Emmy-nominated role) has a blatant lack of protocol but is self-assured and driven. The former \'psychic" uses his talent for seeing the clues everyone else misses to solve the most baffling crimes. But there\'s more than crime that makes this season a must-see: Lisbon and Cho reveal hints about their troubled pasts. Violence fells one CBI boss, and the new boss seems more interested in authority than teamwork. And as the Van Pelt-Rigsby relationship heats up, it threatens to cool down their careers. Match wits with the hit series that balances nimble humor with dark thrills.

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