ADVISORY

Sinusitis is my new best friend.

Had just the time to finish my DVD review of Wuthering Heights (with Tom Hardy) for our blog in French before my nose and half of my head started to hate me. Can't tell why, I never did a bad review about them or snarked them on Twitter.

Currently working when possible on a DVD review - in French only, sorry - of L'homme qui revient de loin (1972).

Thank you very much for your fidelity, your trust and your patience.

US NETWORK DRAMAS 2012-2013: ABC

The Alphabet network has six new dramas for the 2012-2013 season.

- 666 PARK AVENUE: Based on a book by Gabriella Pierce. A young couple is hired to manage a historic appartment building whose owners fulfil all the desires, needs and ambitions of their tenants. Apparently neither the guy nor his girlfriend read Rosemary's Baby and The Devil's Advocate or rented the DVDs.

The great Terry O'Quinn (Lost) is Gavin Doran, the owner, and Vanessa Williams (Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty) plays his wife. At some point the couple has enough and moves to Stepford.

- LAST RESORT: Created by Shawn Ryan (The Shield). The crew of a U.S. ballistic missile sub refuses to use its nuclear weapons on Pakistan without confirmation and is fired upon in return and hit. Now renegades, they set up camp on the exotic island of Sainte Marina and declare themselves an independent nuclear nation as they try to clear their names. Apparently those men and women didn't rent Crimson Tide or The Rock on DVD. More seriously, sounds like a concept for a lavish miniseries or a movie of the week. The pilot looks epic, after all it's directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale).

The excellent Andre Braugher stars as Captain Marcus Chaplin. Robert Patrick guest stars. Amongst the cast there is Dichen Lachman. Hope her neck feels better since Torchwood: Miracle Day.

- MISTRESSES: Starring Alyssa Milano. From the network who brought to you Desperate Housewives comes this "salacious new drama about a group of friends caught in storms of excitement and self-discovery, secrecy and betrayal, and bound by the complex relationships they’ve created".

Adapted from the BBC television series, which says it all. Next, please...

- NASHVILLE: Rivalry between a country music female legend and "the young and sexy future" of the genre. Starring Connie Britton, Hayden Pannetiere (Heroes) and the legendary Powers Boothe. Would certainly be more interesting with a murder and Columbo on the case.

- RED WIDOW: This one is based on Penoza, a Dutch series from Endemol. Because you can't get enough network adaptations of foreign concepts and because it worked so well for Life on Mars or Outrageous Fortune. A woman whose husband is brutally murdered because of an illegal drug business deal faces gangsters and the FBI to learn the truth and protect her children. The presence of Radha Mitchell, Lee Tergesen and Rade Sherbedzija in the cast deserves our attention.

- ZERO HOUR: The wife of a man who publishes a paranormal enthusiast magazine has an antique clock shop. She's abducted and her husband finds a treasure map in one of the shop's clocks. With his two young associates and "a sexy FBI agent" the hero races "against the clock to find his wife and save humanity". Starring Anthony Edwards (ER) as Tom Hanks in The DaVinci Code. The pilot is directed by Pierre Morel (Taken).

Details and trailers:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/2012-12-abc-schedule-comedy-block-on-friday-revenge-gets-housewives-slot/
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/05/15/abc-fall-trailers-nashville-mistresses-more/
http://danowen.blogspot.fr/2012/05/trailers-666-park-ave-last-resort-abc.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d8Kmus_T6o (Zero Hour)

U.S. NETWORK DRAMAS 2012-2013: CBS

The Eye network has four new dramas in store for the 2012-2013 season.

- ELEMENTARY: Widely commented since the announcement of the project. English actor Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) stars as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes in Manhattan alongside Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. Of course this contemporary version of the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle arrives after a gazillion film and TV adaptations, including the acclaimed Sherlock from Steven Moffat and the BBC.

Elementary will inevitably be compared to the Benedict Cumberbatch starrer but networks have a long history with the detective through a consequent number of pilots and TV movies, and even with Holmes influenced shows like House or CBS's The Mentalist. Let's judge this one on its own merits (should there be some) and from the trailer it looks like a typical US procedural with the usual eccentric consultant sleuth. The much talked about idea of a female Watson has been done a couple of times before. Anyway Sherlock itself is not precisely the epitome of originality.

- VEGAS: Inspired by the true story of former Las Vegas Sheriff Ralph Lamb, "a fourth-generation rancher tasked with bringing order to Las Vegas in the 1960s, a gambling and entertainment mecca emerging from the tumbleweeds". Starring Dennis Quaid as Lamb and Michael Chiklis as Vincent Savino, "a ruthless Chicago gangster who plans to make Las Vegas his own".

McCloud meets Crime Story, or Walker, Texas Ranger minus the martial art chops - and Texas. Jason O'Mara (Terra Nova, Life on Mars US) plays the hero's brother and the title is terrible.

- MADE IN JERSEY: From the network who gave The Good Wife to the world comes another legal drama. This one stars Brit actress Janet Montgomery as Martina Garretti, "a young working-class woman who uses her street smarts to compete among her pedigreed Manhattan colleagues at a prestigious New York law firm". Kyle MacLachlan is Donovan Stark, the firm's founder. Next please...

- GOLDEN BOY: From the network who gave Blue Bloods to the world comes this midseason crime drama about "an ambitious cop who becomes the youngest police commissioner in the history of New York City, and the high personal and professional cost he pays to achieve it." Hey, its CBS.

Details and trailers here:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/cbs-2012-13-schedule-two-half-men-moves-to-thursday-the-mentalist-to-sunday/
http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/cbs-first-look-teasers-2012-13-new-shows/