Crisis feels a little far fetched for my liking!
NBC'S LATEST drama/thriller hit our screens to widespread anticipation last week, but I'm not sure if the first episode of Crisis on TV3 lived up to our expectations. I'm a sucker for a juicy plot and this certainly has one as the main plot revolves around a busload of school kids being kidnapped. Not only that, but they include the son of the President of the United States, the daughter of the CEO of a multi million dollar company etc etc. It has all the necessary elements to make it a great thriller - the White House, the FBI, the CIA and throw in a bit of teenage angst and Gillian Anderson and you would think you were on to a winner.
But somehow it left me feeling a little bit disappointed. Relationships within the show are complicated. It turns out that Gillian Anderson isn't really the mother of her daughter, FBI Agent Susie Dunn, played by Rachel Taylor is, and she also happens to be Anderson's sister. Dermot Mulroney plays the part of a father who is estranged from his daughter and chaperoning the whole trip. But it turns out he is the mastermind behind the whole thing. It all seems a bit far fetched, especially the bit when the kidnappers remove the gps tracking devices from the kidnapped kids teeth while they're sedated. Seriously?!
It's hard to see how they're going to stretch this plot over 13 episodes but it has potential. Let's hope Gillian Anderson saves the day!
On benefits and Proud on TV3
The British jobless cost the government €100 million a day in benefits according to the fly on the wall documentary series, On benefits and Proud on TV3 last week. The series producers obviously went to great efforts to scrape the very bottom of the barrel when coming up with the series stars such as Heather, a 37 year old mum of a so many children I lost count, who received €900 a week in benefits and was in line for a six bed €500,000 house from the council. Or there was Sophie and Emma, single mums living in Camden, one of London's most expensive areas, who spent their time visiting nail bars and going out clubbing till 8 am and who reckoned they could come off all benefits if they were earning €30,000 a year. But nothing less, mind!
And what about Julie and Vinny Bienvenue (they had to have made that name up!) from Liverpool who hadn't worked for six years and had no intentions of working for the next sixty I'd say. The only hard graft either of them had ever done was working the system! Julie spent her time smoking fags and giving out about the tight fisted b******s down the council, whilst Vinny lay on the couch, any couch and moaned about the state of the house. The producers worked out that the couple spent more on fags and their TV package each month than they did on food, although you wouldn't have known it from the size of Julie!
It was shocking, scandalous and great bloody TV, the kind that makes you shout “scumbags” at the telly!