Reviews

Brisco County was truly *different*, something television so seldom does and when it does, so seldom gets right. They got it right in spades with this goofy, off-beat series. If you like clever humor and good writing with a little weirdness thrown into the mix, this series may be for you.

It's a western, but don't let that fool you. The anachronisms alone are worth watching it for - the blimp episode with comments about "Stairway to Heaven". Brisco yelling, "pull over, pull over!" to someone speeding through town - on horseback! The episodes with Terry Bradshaw.

It was a breath of fresh air with a fabulous cast. Special kudos to Bruce Campbell and Julius Carry and an honorable mention to Billy Drago. Buy it on DVD.

Ah, Deadwood. Not so much a television series as an opera without music, Deadwood is painted on a very broad canvas. Is it Swearengen's soliloquies to the severed head in a box? What about E. B. and his eloquent rants at fate or the bone deep brutality of Tolliver? Perhaps it's the earthy, pragmatic Trixie or Calamity Jane, who manages to be both world-weary and innocent. Maybe it's David Milch's Shakespearean language. Whatever it is, Deadwood ranks as one of the best and most unusual series in television history.

If you are a fan of great character actors or just excellent acting in general, this is the series for you because Deadwood is all about the people. That may sound obvious, but Deadwood's brilliance comes entirely from its characters and what they have to say. You could set them on the moon and they would still fascinate.

Noting a few of my favorites, Ian McShane has always been fabulous but what fun to see him as the foul-mouthed Al Swearengen. He dominates the town by sheer force of personality. Of course, Al is also very intelligent and frequently finds himself surrounded by idiots - a couple of said idiots wonderfully played by William Sanderson and W. Earl Brown. Powers Boothe, who excels at charismatic villains (anyone remember him as Jim Jones?) has fun with Cy Tolliver. A couple of (to me) unknowns who turn in great work are Robin Weigert as Jane and Paula Malcomson as Trixie. And then there's the Doc; Brad Dourif in a long overdue role. Garret Dillahunt, so creepy as Wolcott, needs to be careful he doesn't get type-cast – unless he really is that bent???? And John Hawkes and Gerald McRaney and Titus Welliver and . . . and . . . ! The whole cast is just wonderful.

If you love acting and intelligent dialog and you can tolerate some of the foulest language you'll hear on television, rent the DVDs and watch this series. It is truly one of a kind.

Shame on you, ABC!

Invasion. *sigh*. I don't know why I haven't completely given up on watching network television. Invariably , I'll find one or two shows a season I enjoy and inevitably, they get canceled. This time, it's ABC who gets the raspberry. They had a really great, quirky show from the fertile mind of Shaun Cassidy (also responsible for the excellent, and even shorter-lived series American Gothic) and spent the entire season preempting it every month or so for dismal and poorly written crime dramas like Evidence. The studio executives must have rocks in their heads, why else would they do this to a series where each episode relies so heavily on the episode preceding it? Invasion is a series that requires attention. As a viewer, you really need to *watch* it. This isn't a show you can catch while wandering back and forth through the living room. It relies too heavily on very subtle performances and tiny details to come to life.

Another BIG raspberry to ABC for losing some brilliant talent. Cassidy managed to lure the fabulous film actor William Fichtner to the small screen with a role worthy of his considerable abilities, and then basically sabotaged the show. If you are considering purchasing the DVD of the series, it's worth every penny just for Fichtner's performance as the disturbingly ambiguous Sheriff Underlay. There are layers on layers on layers here and he should have been nominated for an Emmy. ABC's loss is FOX's gain as Mr. Fichtner is now equally fabulous as the newest character on Prison Break.

Fichtner has some excellent support in newcomer (at least to me) Kari Machett, a lovely Canadian actress who is convincing as Underlay's wife, Mariel – a woman with some *really* unusual family problems. Two other new faces worthy of mention are Tyler Labine as Dave the Blogger. Labine turns what could have been a caricature into a character and sails through his role with a breezy humor. Nathan Baesel was also promising as the one-armed, naive deputy who learns about trust the hard way.

The rest of the cast is variable. Eddie Cibrian is strong as Russell, the obvious hero of the series, and provides a solid anchor for the surrounding action. The actors playing the kids are serviceable if not exceptional. The one weak link is Lisa Sheridan as Larkin. She's gorgeous but needs to spend some time with an acting coach.

Overall, Invasion was a very good series and deserved better from its network. One of the great things about watching it on DVD is not having to wait a week (or month!) to get the next installment. I'm sorry we loyal viewers will never really know what Cassidy had up his sleeve for season two – unless ABC decides to let us off the hook by making a TV movie to tie things up (please, please).

Okay, this turned out to be better than I expected. I did not watch the series during its first-run regular season but picked it up on DVD because one of my favorite character actors, William Fichtner, is joining the cast for season two. I'm glad I did. I'd have been completely lost if I'd tried to pick it up without having seen season one.

That said, the show is clever, improbable, inaccurate, compelling and intriguing. The dialog is solid; the performances range from good to fabulous and the plot line is wonderfully bizarre and circuitous. If you like shows which keep you guessing (i.e. Lost, Invasion), you should enjoy Prison Break. However, you must be prepared to do some suspension of disbelief, (what prison on earth would allow a Death Row prisoner with a week to live out on a work program????) and just go with the premise.