Mon 15 Aug 2011
A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: THE HOUR (Episode One).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Drama[10] Comments
THE HOUR: Episode One. BBC 2 Production. Six part series, 19 July through 23 August 2011. Created and Written by Abi Morgan. Directed by Coky Giedraye. Produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts. Cast: Ben Whishaw as Freddie Lyon, Romola Garai as Bel Rowley, Dominic West as Hector Madden, Vanessa Kirby as Ruth Elias, Anna Chancellor as Lix Storm.
Available on BBCA starting August 17, 2011, as part of the hour-long block called “Dramaville,” hosted by Idris Elba (Luther). The Hour is also available for download at the usual places. Episode one is available now, for free.
It is June 1956. The government has a tight stranglehold on the press, but it is the time of the Cold War and events are about to explode.
A frustrated Freddie Lyons works in the BBC newsreel division where his desire to do “real” news is constantly suppressed. He has a habit of making everyone uncomfortable with his obnoxious behavior, as well as his ability to find news that makes those in power very nervous.
There are plans to develop a new BBC TV news magazine called “The Hour.” Freddie feels betrayed when the position he wanted of Producer goes to his best friend Bel. He is shocked, after all she is just a woman.
Despite the constant sniping and meanness between Freddie and Bel, she fights to get the jerk a job with the new news magazine. Of course, as with any such relationship, everyone but Freddie and Bel realize the two are meant for each other.
As the development of “The Hour” continues and we meet each of the characters, a childhood friend of Freddie’s contacts him. Ruth tells Freddie there is more to the death of a college Professor, who was her secret lover. She warns him about “Them,” that England is no longer a “democracy,” and how she would be killed if “they” knew she had talked to a powerless employee of the BBC.
The production values, the costumes, music, lighting, sets and locations, are of the high quality one has come to expect from British television. The direction was serviceable, but nothing could have saved this episode from the script, a script that was predictable and drowning in cliches.
The cast tried their best to overcome their one dimensional characters:
Freddie, the he is so brilliant we can not survive without him hero. Bel, the woman determined to succeed in a man’s world and fears any personal commitment so she sleeps with married men. Hector, the handsome married anchorman who is attracted to Bel. Liz Storm, the veteran reporter who drinks too much and is there to share old stories and wise advice. The interchangeable white men in power.
The script dooms any possible attempt to make the story interesting. The pace is slow to build suspense, but there is little suspense because we have no reason to care about any of these characters. The script is full of twists and clues that creak with age and overuse, such as the camera intercutting between Ruth dancing with her fiance and the killing of her lover, the references to crossword puzzles, and the ending of this episode that will surprise no one.
Add annoying bits such as Freddie calling Bel, “Miss Moneypenny” and the heavy handed handling of the era’s sexism and racism, and any hope for future episodes is nearly crushed.
August 15th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
This does seem to be one of those pieces of television that everybody hates. The hero is so obnoxious that you can’t stand him, and when we learn that there is a conspiracy afoot you start to feel nostalgic for all the shows that have done this stuff so much better.
August 18th, 2011 at 3:46 am
The characters don’t talk like people, they talk like TV characters (though that is something of a universal failing in British TV drama). When you boil down the numbers, there are just six people involved in a story which apparently involves Britain, Egypt and the Soviet Union, the British government, the BBC and Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Yet it is just the same small coterie we meet time and again. This is not just not very good, it veers towards the rather bad.
August 18th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Yeah, I can only hope it gets better once the action kicks in. Then I read the review at Hollywood Reporter. The critic had seen three of the six episodes, compared it to MAD MEN because it takes place in the past, enjoyed the romance between the three characters, and his only concern was the spy drama could get in the way of the personal drama between the characters.
If the spy drama does not replace the character drama by episode three, then this series holds no interest to me.
I will be spending my time watching 1960s ITV spy dramas on DVD.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:38 am
I think the reviewer for the NEW YORK TIMES has seen all six episodes, but if he has or not, it’s essentially a rave review:
http://tv.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/arts/television/the-hour-on-bbc-with-dominic-west-review.html
I don’t think you need a subscription to read this, but just in case you do, here are the last two paragraphs:
“The Hour†is so good that it seems far too short, and that makes its six-episode arc just right: Some of the most promising series, like “The Killing†on AMC, lose steam midway, slowing down too much ever to recover the initial exhilarating pace.
The plot twists of “The Hour†can at times be puzzling, but the series is never dull. If only there were a few more minutes in “The Hour.â€
August 18th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
The NY TIMES review is available at the link. Interesting. He likes the drama between the characters, but not one word about the actual plot of the show. He comments about the political and social changes of the time, but not what the mystery is about.
Who killed the Professor and why? What is on the cigarette paper and who is it for? Was, as one critic has noted, Ruth’s repeated nose bleeds a sign she used cocaine and is it a clue?
There is hope this series could get better as the story goes along. However, the mystery seems to be the B plot of the series with the A plot focused on the love triangle of Freddy, Bel, and Hector. Three characters that I have watched too many times before to be all that interested.
August 18th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
pfgpowell: this is bad because it is bad, not because it is British. Some Brit TV drama is terrible and stilted sounding, whilst some has beautiful dialogue. Must agree with you about the prog’s badness. They’ve obviously spent huge amounts of money trying to make it look like the 50s, but it never, for one moment, makes you feel that it IS the 1950s.
August 19th, 2011 at 7:18 am
I figured I should give it a try, especially after reading the rave in the Times. But, basically, my attitude was “who cares?” and “boring” and “if I have to spend one more minute watching Freddie throw a tantrum I’ll kick in the screen” so we switched it off.
But then, I didn’t watch MAD MEN either.
August 19th, 2011 at 8:45 am
It is always fun to read the critics approve of a flaw in programs on certain networks that they would have attacked if CBS aired it.
I had a major problem with THE KILLING. Because it was on AMC, critics saw all sorts of wonderful things that were not there and never were there. I kept wondering if any of these critics had ever read a book or understood mysteries because everything they raved about had been done better and often in books. The characters were so thin you did not remember them by their names but their labels: dad of victim, mom, politician, female cop, idiot cop, etc.
I liked what one critic wrote about the comparison of THE HOUR to MAD MEN. He pointed out it was different decades, different plots, different genres, and the only things the two had in common was the characters smoked and drank alot and sexism was featured.
August 19th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
CRITICS LOVE THE HOUR
A YouTube clip from BBCAmerica
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YtaizMNWP88&feature+feedu
August 27th, 2011 at 10:03 am
BBC has picked up THE HOUR for season two. (Deadline.com)
Episode two gave me hope the plot could make this interesting, but the characters, with their tacked on “damaged family” burdens, have shown no signs of becoming likable or interesting .