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Reviews
Outrageous Fortune (2005)
Very disappointing series...perhaps due to a limited resources?
Not sure if there will be any spoiler alerts, but after having a review not posted, I put that in there just in case.
I get the impression that this series is supposed to be funny...or at least have moments of humor. I have begun the 3rd season (I bought a box set), and I don't think that I have laughed yet. I don't know that I will complete this 3rd season.
There are a lot of sex scenes, but little nudity. A recent episode in the 3rd season had sex scenes between 3 pairs of the principle characters going on simultaneously. As this 3rd season meanders on, I am becoming less and less interested in the characters who remain.
I believe that this is a New Zealand series, and my guess is, they have very limited resources to draw from. Maybe this is the best of NZ; but it is not very good.
My biggest regret is buying the box set without reading the reviews first.
The Fall (2013)
I was very disappointed in this series. Not sure if I am actually including any spoilers.
Generally speaking, I have found that when a series is rated 8 or higher, that I can depend upon that series as being good. Not with this one.
The best part of this show--and I am not offering this up as a joke--is the police procedures of the Belfast police department and the interactions between the various police personnel, from the standpoint of their office and responsibility. That I found to be interesting.
One thing which I have observed in some series is, there is a great deal of sexual activity--often illegal or forbidden activity--found in a series like this. There is a significant amount of interaction between the villain and a 15/16 year old girl. I realize for some people, that may be enticing; but it is there and there is a considerable amount of interaction between these two (nothing explicitly shown, of course, but there are a lot of details which are discussed--particularly by the young girl.
The female lead is a strong woman who is sexually aggressive. Is that not the case for every single strong female lead where there is any sort of a sexual angle?
The villain is very sick and does some very sick and violent things. My own opinion is, his actions are way over the top.
My biggest mistake was, not reading any reviews about this show before I got the DVD.
If you are looking for a "smart thriller" to watch with your older kids...this is not it.
Upper Middle Bogan (2013)
Very funny; but not for kids
The only spoiler here is about 15 minutes into the first episode.
"Upper Middle Bogan" has a number of issues. It has way too many characters to begin with. I think the show would have been better done by spending an episode on one family, an episode with the other family, and THEN, throwing the two families together. More could have been done to differentiate the families.
Because the writing is so clever and the actors are so good, these problems could be set aside. However, the biggest problem for me is, this is the kind of show just designed for parents and their kids to watch together. However, the writers could not help but pepper many episodes with the f-word and with profanity, thus making the show inappropriate for most kids (depending upon the values of the parents). There are also some references of a sexual nature from time to time.
Because the humor works for adults and children both, the writers should have set aside swearing in order to gain a wider audience; or, in the alternative, released an edited version which could be viewed by families.
Each season gets better than the previous season.
Rake (2010)
There is a great deal of profanity, drunkenness, and sex.
The lower rating is for the constant swearing (which most of the characters do). The protagonist, Cleaver Greene, is the worst offender of all; but based upon his character, this is what one might expect.
Sometimes, a script filled with obscenities and profanities simply means that the writers lack imagination; but that is not the case here.
In the original blurb, the emphasis is on the cases which Cleaver takes on; but the real emphasis of the show is upon the self- destructive Cleaver Green and those people associated with him. The cases, for the most part, are secondary to the characters.
Whereas, Cleaver's actions and motivations tend to make sense; some of the secondary characters sometimes do things simply to "drama up" the plot. I have seen this occur in many Australian dramas. It is as if the writer decides, "What we need right now is a good adulterous relationship; followed by a lot of drama." Sometimes it works; and sometimes it feels quite forced.
This is not to say that the series is poorly written; because the writing is generally very good, with the reservations noted. Whereas Cleaver is not always the most likable or sympathetic of characters, the actor who plays him does a tremendous job, so that, even if you sometimes don't like Cleaver, you still have concern for the things which he gets himself into (and the majority of his problems are self-caused).
I have nearly completed the 3rd season; and it is quite funny (but it requires knowledge of the characters to appreciate most of the humor; so, it requires you watching the first two seasons). When humor comes from the characters and their actions and dialogue, that is generally the best humor.
So far, the 3 seasons have their own story arcs, but without them seeing too artificial (as sometimes story arcs can seem).
For those who are in it for the sex scenes, if memory serves there is no nudity or so little that I cannot recall it. Most of the Australian dramas are like this. If I were to guess, most of the top stars have it written into their contract not to do nudity.
This is not a program I would allow children of any age to watch; but it is entertaining. It is certainly not what you would share in a church group.
Tangle (2009)
Better than most; not really for kids or even teens.
So far, I am about half way through the 2nd series.
There are things about this show which are excellent. Most of the Australian shows I have seen of this variety have some big events occurring early on, before we know who the characters are; and it often feels as if the writers cannot think of how to deal with day-to-day events, so they throw in a big event (or 2 or 3) and then write around that.
For most of the 1st series, this show avoided the "big events" and dealt with pretty much normal events in people's lives and their interactions. Most of the characters are interesting, as is the dialogue.
One plus that I would note in this show is, adultery is presented as being a devastating event to a marriage. I have seen several Australian shows where it is presented almost matter-of-factly.
A couple of warnings: most of the characters swear quite a bit, including speaking of God and Jesus Christ without any reverence. There is a fair amount of drug use/abuse (primarily drinking and smoking marijuana among the children and the adults). If I were to base my view of Australians on the shows I have seen, I would think that most people there smoke marijuana, but few get "hooked." And that nearly everyone swears.
I have often wondered if there are writers good enough in Australia to write shows where most of the people do not smoke dope and do not swear and do not commit adultery on a regular basis. If I were to make a guess, that is probably the majority of Australian people who are like that; but they are not generally portrayed that way on the shows that I have seen (I have primarily watched the "human drama" shows with high ratings).
The second series seems unfocused. Whereas, the first seemed to have an arc and some themes; the second series lacks one of the main characters; and seems to lack any sort of unifying theme. Also, the second series introduces some new characters, but, so far, it is not clear who they are or where they are going.
In short, it is a good show with some good writing and acting and some occasional great moments. It is not appropriate for teens (in my opinion) and you would never watch this with a church group.
For those familiar with Showtime or HBO, many Aussie shows seem to feel a need for a lot of sexual activity (I don't recall there being actual nudity), drug use, alcohol abuse, and swearing.
At this point, any disc set that you purchase will require a region free DVD player.