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Reviews
Thriller: Sign It Death (1974)
Best Worst at Cheezy Entertaining
What can I say? It opens with a family of three grown healthy adults sitting down to dinner, when the camera shows (cue weird scary not-scary music) someone hiding behind the curtain, who then takes about 7 full seconds to emerge behind the man (husband?) at the table, in full view of both women at the table, raising a giant pair of scissors over her head before killing him in one blow (and with no blood?!), while the two women just sit there. The murderer then walks over to the older one who continues to sit completely still while again, the murderer raises the scissors slowly over her head and kills her with one blow. Finally, the younger women responds by screaming and attempting to run but, of course, can't open the bloody door, and so she is stabbed in the back once and dies instantly. But the absolute best worst best part is a few seconds later when we see the housekeeper sitting outside real-fake bawling into a handkerchief while the police pull up, wiping away at her tears WITH HER GLASSES STILL ON! What is she wiping at?!? It's so amazing!!
This series is of its time, made almost 50 years ago, with little money and not the greatest scripts BUT it's silly to poorly rate and negatively criticize a show from 1974 because of film quality or cheap sets. I don't think it's necessarily worth purchasing for keeps as the episodes, and occasionally even the stories within each episode, are hit-and-miss. However, there are enough decent stories, however outlandish, in each season, along with a great many recognizable British actors scattered throughout, making this a fun series to watch, especially if it's being shown for free as part of Amazon Prime.
NCIS: New Orleans (2014)
UGH! Terrible Production
Short version: the latest NCIS franchise simply misses the mark. And it's sad to see because this show had (perhaps still has?) potential.
The S1 cast was well chosen: each, individually, a good, seasoned actor. The location was a wonderful idea, with such potential to really showcase the City and it's people and the still-prevalent effects of Hurricane Katrina. BUT it was so ridiculously oversold by the characters, especially in the first episode with all the well known NOLA catch phrases and NOLA jargon just BLAH in your face and then the next episode...nothing, and so it's use as a background 'character' became eye-rolling right from the start. And finally, I thought that even the main storylines pertaining to the crime/investigation part of the show were decently done, but then all the unnecessary secondary and sub-secondary storylines and plot points forced down viewers throats were almost silly and certainly confusing. Highlighting little quirks and backstories so early in the season and then dropping them and not coming back to them at all or not for several episodes was just...mystifying. All the good things about this show fail to successfully combine. It just doesn't work together.
I'm no expert. However, it seems that the main issue with NCIS: NOLA is that it tried to be the original NCIS right out of the gate. In this latest endeavor, everything about the characters and stories feels hurried and forced, like the characters overly-hyping NOLA in S1E1 and then not really bringing much NOLA-specific pieces into the next 2 episodes; introducing main character's secondary storylines in E1-3 instead of allowing them to develop more slowly and more organically over the season; the characters themselves - while individually interesting to a certain extent - are lacking in team chemistry and are given such overdone quirks and issues that it comes off as, well, again...forced.
To have a great TV show, perhaps it must first start out as a good TV show. Great casts start out as good casts that are lucky enough to develop true offscreen chemistry which can't help but shine through in the show itself. Great storylines start off as good stories that are both believable within the setting of the show, and are able to be pulled off in a believable manner by the actors portraying them. I don't believe it can be force-created ("it is written and so it shall be"). Think of how long it took for the original NCIS to find its stride. And once they found it...well, I could feel it, as a viewer.
I tried. I watched episode after episode hoping it would get better. I still hope it gets better but I can't watch it anymore.