BURN NOTICE

[6.35 - French Time] It looks that Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) will have to retreat in Nepal for good this time. Fox cancels Human Target after two seasons.

Human Target was adapted from a DC comic book by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino. Its character, Christopher Chance, was a private eye/bodyguard who literally endorsed the appearance and personality of his clients to protect them. This was not the first TV adaptation of the comic, in the nineties the team behind The Flash tried for ABC with Rick Springfield as Chance.

The pilot of the 2010 version owed more to Walker Texas Ranger than to the short-lived ABC show. Nothing wrong with Walker (the CSI franchise even borrowed its formal aspect to the Chuck Norris vehicle) but the new Human Target missed the essential: Christopher Chance no longer assumed the identity of his clients. Gone where the masks, the impersonations and the cool Mission: Impossible "peel-off" thing.

As if it wasn't enough, season 2 managed to drop the superb intro composed by Bear McReary for that... theme (1) and brought two new characters. One of them, Ilsa Pucci (!) was played by Brit actress Indira Varma (Luther, Torchwood).

(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIAfec105Sk + http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tol5333xgUs

http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/fox-cancels-human-target/

VIVA LAUGHLIN

Doctor Who - Day of the Moon (Series Six, Episode Two). Amy (Karen Gillan), River Song (Alex Kingston) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) are hunt down by Canton (Mark Sheppard) and his men cross America.

Meanwhile, the Doctor (Matt Smith) is under guard like an "illegal alien" somewhere in Area 51.

[INSERT DATE AND NAME OF THE LOCATION]

Directed by Toby Haynes and written by Doctor Who supremo Steven Moffat, Day of the Moon is the second half of the two-part event series opener marking the first time the show is filmed stateside, thanks to BBC America. And you know what they say, when in Rome... From the pre-credits American TV sci-fi moments (The Invaders, Dark Skies, The X-Files) to Moffat's pre-watershed grindhouse horror movie in the Oswald Cobblepot orphanage and the showdown with the baddies, this is the closest idea of what'd be a Who remake on a network today.

Time can be rewritten and what time can't do, the Nixon Ex Machina will manage (Stuart Milligan with prosthetics as a running gag prez). And even heavy exposition will not prevent some viewers to feel as confused as Dr. Renfrew (Kerry Shale) in this high concept tale of the Big Why built up since the previous series. The words "high concept" should be banned by the television industry anyway. Now, the Doctor knows that the Rogers are here and he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun...

But there's Mark Sheppard as Canton Everett Delaware III. Canton III has the potential Captain Jack Harkness had when he appeared in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (back then a kid with a gas mask was enough). Shepphard deserves his own show or, if the suits can't break the piggy bank for another spin-off, at least an encore.

The little girl glows in the dark? Oh, well... whatever. As long as she can eat meat properly.

http://cathoderaytube.blogspot.com/2011/05/doctor-who-series-6-day-of-moon-review.html

VERA (ITV1)

Julie Armstrong finds her son in a bath of water, murdered and covered with wild flowers. A second body is discovered soon after in water strewn with flowers. Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope and her colleague Sergeant Joe Ashworth investigate.

Justifying the decision to axe the BBC One drama Zen at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch, the channel's controller Danny Cohen suggested that there was too much crime dramas on TV (1). ITV1, home of Midsomer Murders, Lewis, DCI Banks, or The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, added yesterday another detective to its police station: Vera.

The great Brenda Blethyn (Atonement, Saving Grace, Secrets and Lies) is DCI Vera Stanhope in a 4 X 120-minute crime drama adapted from the novels by Ann Cleeves (2). With her Columbo look, her human qualities, her personal demons and her remarkable detective abilities, the lonely Vera is an interesting and likeable character. Not your average female TV detective, DCI Stanhope is reminiscent of DI Frost (David Jason in A Touch of Frost), which is a good point for this new drama series from ITV Studios.

David Leon plays Sergeant Joe Ashworth, her right hand man and sort of surrogate son. Other members of DCI Stanhope's team are DC Holly Lawson (Wunmi Mosaku) and pathologist Billy Cartwright (Paul Ritter). Yesterday's premiere is based on the book Hidden Depths, adapted by Paul Rutman, and directed by Adrian Shergold (Mad Dogs). Gina McKee, Murray Head and Juliet Aubrey are among the guest stars. One of them was not typecast as the murderer, which is another good point. If the camera work could sometimes calm down a bit that would certainly not hurt an otherwise enjoyable drama.

Filmed in Northumberland and Newcastle, Vera is co-financed by Northern Film & Media, and supported by the One North East development agency. Kate Bartlett and Kate Lewis exec produce and Elwen Rowlands is the producer.

(1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/27/tv-crime-drama-bbc1-chief
(2) Except the fourth film, Little Lazarus, which is an original story by Paul Rutman.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/vera/ep01week18/default.html
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/presspacks/vera/default.html
http://www.anncleeves.com/
http://itsacrime.typepad.com/its_a_crime_or_a_mystery/2011/04/a-trailer-for-ann-cleevess-vera-on-itv-and-an-interview-with-brenda-blethyn.html
http://www.northernmedia.org/