Post by pinkhamster on Dec 14, 2009 2:40:20 GMT -5
Hi! I've posted some positive reactions to the show over at the Chronic Rift forums. Thought I'd finally speak up over here...
I'm really enjoying "HG World." Was very skeptical that I would like a drama produced as a labor of love by people not getting paid, as I am very cranky and have major problems with the majority of the professionally produced TV shows and movies out there. But this show works for me. Actually, it might not be an accident that I prefer this to the more luxuriously produced Hollywood dramas, as this show has the space to tell its story more fully than an hour-and-a-half action movie and doesn't have the investor/studio pressure bearing on its creative decisions like movies and TV shows, so it's not dumbed down to what a producer with money thinks the most people want to see (or, in this case, hear).
Jay Smith's script contains occasional tributes to classic zombie movies (such as "gimme some sugar" in the latest episode), but it isn't dragged down by the nostalgia, a fate which has befallen other productions such as last year's Channel 4 miniseries "Dead Set," which was a British "Dawn of the Dead" on the set of the "Big Brother" reality show without likable characters or much in the way of anything new to say. The scene of the UN troops detonating buildings in Season Zero, Episode Three was dramatically fresh, tense, and darkly humorous. The scene with Gray coming back with half a face in the latest episode was outrageous and amusing while still tinged with enough surreal queasiness to avoid falling into meaningless farce.
I'll not stretch the flattery and say the acting is universally perfect, but there are a lot of appealing characters here and no small part of that is thanks to the people playing them. There are a lot of interesting scenes where duos of characters make a big impression: Ronni and Hicks (a mixture of humorous observations on relationships with genuine affection), Dogberry and Hicks (Dogberry's voice is like nothing I've ever heard before), Gray and Derrik (these guys had me laughing a lot), McInnes and Grant (there is something wonderful about the strange affinity and counterpoint of drastically different formal styles of speaking between these men), Todd Rage and his crazy guests (Jonas Drew, the coldly seductive HGW Corporation rep, and Van Hawkins). The constables and their bosses are a strange lot as well. (Not intending to leave anyone out here [and I know I have] -- these were just the first that came to mind and I'm going on too long already.)
I guess I should wrap this up. Just wanted to stop in and say that your work is being appreciated out here. Thank you for making something I really enjoy when I find a new meaty and satisfying chunk has arrived on iTunes.
I'm really enjoying "HG World." Was very skeptical that I would like a drama produced as a labor of love by people not getting paid, as I am very cranky and have major problems with the majority of the professionally produced TV shows and movies out there. But this show works for me. Actually, it might not be an accident that I prefer this to the more luxuriously produced Hollywood dramas, as this show has the space to tell its story more fully than an hour-and-a-half action movie and doesn't have the investor/studio pressure bearing on its creative decisions like movies and TV shows, so it's not dumbed down to what a producer with money thinks the most people want to see (or, in this case, hear).
Jay Smith's script contains occasional tributes to classic zombie movies (such as "gimme some sugar" in the latest episode), but it isn't dragged down by the nostalgia, a fate which has befallen other productions such as last year's Channel 4 miniseries "Dead Set," which was a British "Dawn of the Dead" on the set of the "Big Brother" reality show without likable characters or much in the way of anything new to say. The scene of the UN troops detonating buildings in Season Zero, Episode Three was dramatically fresh, tense, and darkly humorous. The scene with Gray coming back with half a face in the latest episode was outrageous and amusing while still tinged with enough surreal queasiness to avoid falling into meaningless farce.
I'll not stretch the flattery and say the acting is universally perfect, but there are a lot of appealing characters here and no small part of that is thanks to the people playing them. There are a lot of interesting scenes where duos of characters make a big impression: Ronni and Hicks (a mixture of humorous observations on relationships with genuine affection), Dogberry and Hicks (Dogberry's voice is like nothing I've ever heard before), Gray and Derrik (these guys had me laughing a lot), McInnes and Grant (there is something wonderful about the strange affinity and counterpoint of drastically different formal styles of speaking between these men), Todd Rage and his crazy guests (Jonas Drew, the coldly seductive HGW Corporation rep, and Van Hawkins). The constables and their bosses are a strange lot as well. (Not intending to leave anyone out here [and I know I have] -- these were just the first that came to mind and I'm going on too long already.)
I guess I should wrap this up. Just wanted to stop in and say that your work is being appreciated out here. Thank you for making something I really enjoy when I find a new meaty and satisfying chunk has arrived on iTunes.