imdb-8006

This series should have gone on. There's a lot about it that's high quality, great production values, terrific long shots of empty cities. The storyline was really barely touched- besides the evil island machinations, there's a whole planet empty and going primitive not just a small piece of English countryside. I particularly liked the character who's so certain she's the government, and seeing it her way is magically always best for everybody. Her patronizing line of bull remains what we hear on the news from our officials every day. I'd like to especially praise the casting in this show-- the faces really fit the character. It's easy to imagine an actor willing to play a weasel like Dexter but to look so genuinely despicable, I do wonder where they get these very unlovely guys. It's not characterization by makeup in this show, it's a casting director with a great sense of face. All in all, it's a mystery to me why this was canceled, I think the decision was a bad mistake.

As a lightweight British post-war comedy, it's fine. David Niven's really charming, Vera-Ellen's trying like crazy. As a musical, it's very odd. There's nearly no 'musical' in it, and when you finally get to the two on-stage numbers near the end, you'll be glad. There's one long imitation Gene Kelly odyssey piece about a little girl in a big city that's strangely small and mean and bad. It looks like it should at the start, but I'd swear there wasn't any choreography design per se, just the general idea of a Kelly avant-garde set. Large scope, small stage, and the routines are so disjointed, you'll wonder how dancers learned the sequences. But as a comedy, it's quite adequate. Vera-Ellen mostly shines as she usually does though it looks like a bit of a struggle to hold onto the lead position. Fortunately for her, pretty soon she'll get a boost from David Niven. He's really the reason you'd want to see this movie, he just couldn't be more forthright, very plainly happy to be there. Caesar Romero's miscast but he's also obviously happy to be working. Both those big presences, Niven's nuanced, Romero's steamrolling, make this a piece of film worth keeping. And of course, as always, the number one attraction is how Vera-Ellen wore the clothes!

Bollywood Hero got poor press, reviews pretty much copied each other, and I didn't find them matching what I saw. It's fun. Chris Kattan, OK not a full range actor, but he's slapstick when he's 'on' and we all fall for slapstick, you're going to have to make a huge effort not to laugh at his movie shoot.

The bus trip's very sweet, the romance not all that unbelievable, when people are around each other stereotypes fade, and it could happen. I liked the grandmother thing, the dance lessons were charming. Though uneven, this grandma escaped much of the condescension usual for a senior in a sitcom. A crochety grandma is hackneyed, but a grandma who actually is passing on info that's useful, if not rejected as just comic, that's pretty darned unusual.

But where this production rises to another level is the finale, I first thought it was going to be a throwaway like the Blues Brothers crew singing Jailhouse Rock. You should see this number- it's honest, it's a joy.

If as some comments say, the miniseries is just for Bollywood neophytes, maybe that shouldn't be a condemnation. Bollywood style is as yet not universally accessible, and crossovers have to build on accessibility.

Surely there;s a fair amount of people who've tried this show because of Nathan Flllion, like I did. Maybe that raises expectations overly much. Nonetheless, It is kind of sad to see him in a very standard, formulaic show. There's just not much going on, even though Susan Sullivan's trying hard to help, Well, there's worse out there. On the up side, it's employment. All actors need regular jobs, even good ones, even good ones who once got lucky enough to get an exceptionally good show. This isn't it. I think many people on this show knows it's average. No one's showing much chemistry. Fillion and Sullivan banter professionally enough, but the show just sort of drones on despite competent supporting actors' upping energy when required. Like I say, sorta sad.

I like Supernova, saw it on public TV when it was new, and I've never forgotten it. That's a show with some power to it, and I'd expect it to be a cult favorite someday.

It's certainly not lowest common denominator comedy, there aren't any belly laughs or one-liners. It can be goofy as well as intellectual, mostly it's just offside. The central character is nervous, neurotic, and though he and everyone else consider him odd-man-out in the place, actually they're all so strange, he fits right in.

For me, the best character was the younger bed partner for the woman heading up the observatory's work. He's indigenous Australian from a very tiny settler's town nearby, and perhaps the most modern-day well adjusted of the bunch. The town's rough pub is the only other setting, and the observatory people can drink as dedicatedly as townspeople who seem to seldom leave the bar.

If you're bored by average sitcoms, I'd recommend this. After all, if you don't like it, you've wasted very little time. It's completely non-mainstream, no doubt that's why the series is so short.