Posted on 02/12/2012 6:29:15 AM PST by KeyLargo
Review: Netflix and Hulu's new scripted originals
Within just over a week, Netflix and Hulu are both debuting their first stabs at original scripted programming.
The shows amount to a milestone in Internet television, an early sign of the leveling between broadcasting and streaming. Programming options between TV and the Web are increasingly separated by little more than the "video source" button on your remote.
But the most salient thing about the new offerings from Netflix and Hulu are just how "TV" they are.
Earlier this week, Netflix released all eight episodes of "Lilyhammer," a fish-out-of-water drama starring Steve Van Zandt ("The Sopranos") as a New York mobster relocated to Norway. On Tuesday, Hulu will premiere "Battleground," a faux-documentary sitcom about the young operatives of a middling political campaign in Wisconsin.
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
Funny stuff.
HOEP
In this image released by Netflix, Steven Van Zandt is shown in a scene from "Lillyhammer. Both Netflix and Hulu are debuting their first stabs at original scripted programming. Netflix has released all eight episodes of "Lilyhammer" a fish-out-of-water drama with Steve Van Zandt, and on Tuesday, Hulu will premiere "Battleground," an "Office"-style political faux-documentary. (AP Photo/Netflix)
Battleground will be on Hulu Plus — the subscription service, if I read the promos correctly.
Lilyhammer. I watched the first episode and didn’t really care for the content/actors. Additionally, if I am going to read, I’ll read a book, not subtitles. The subtitles were too many and light text on light background, making many of them unreadable. And the lengthy ones were on screen too short of a time to actually read.
I watched the trailer. Well most of it anyway.
My summary:
Lots of foul language, violence and sex plus, I assume, a story. Same old HBO/Showtime formula. No thanks.
I’m going to stick to Downton Abbey - great story, great acting, great scenery, no sex, no violence and the real adult language like the one we speak at my house.
DIY Television
Lilyhammer Acquired By BBC Four
News
BBC Four to air Norwegian/American black comedy.
Posted 6th February 2012, 2:31pm in TV
Sales company SevenOne International have announced that the BBC have nabbed the rights to black-comedy drama, Lilyhammer.
The show is the first original series to launch on streaming site Netflix in the US, Canada and Latin America. Brits will get the chance to see the show on BBC Four.
Deadline report that the show, starring The Sopranos star, Steve Van Zandt is produced by Norwegian company Rubicon and posted record ratings when it launched in Norway last month, the best for a Norwegian made drama series ever.
Van Zandt is co-creator and executive produced the series which is about an American mobster, turned informer, who goes into witness protection and choses the Norwegian town of Lillehammer in which to hide and make a new life for himself.
Famous for his role as Silvio in The Sopranos, Van Zandt is familar to music fans as a long standing member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.
BBC Four controller, Richard Klein had this to say, “Lilyhammer mixes sharp wit and American big city ways with the beauty of the Norwegian mountains and folksy nature of a small town - a perfect combination for a razor-sharp drama about cutural mores. I am delighted that BBC Four has acquired this drama and I am sure our viewers are going to have a good time!”
With Scandinavian dramas such as The Killing, Borgen and Wallander all finding a home on the channel the BBC’s head of program acquisitions, Sue Deeks concluded that, “Lilyhammer is fresh, funny and offbeat -it makes a highly original addition to BBC Four’s rich Scandinavian drama slate.”
http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/television/lilyhammer-acquired-by-bbc-four/
Never heard of it, but the trailer looks great. Just added it to my Netflix queue. Thanks for the tip.
Definitely entertaining once I got it. Kind of a Dark American Mobster turned Businessman Superhero in Liberal Land.
Van Zant can’t act but he’s had a big enough presence to carry it for the 3 episodes I saw. There’s even a mean version of Barney Fife.
It has the potential to get very silly. Time will tell.
I enjoyed Lilyhammer and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any and all...except some of the tight @sses here. If you are offended by positive results from violence, nudity, some cursing and R-rated sex, don’t watch it.
It’s a good yarn with a surprising ending.
I may just watch that today. Yeah Silvio cracked me up on the Sopranos! I knew he was a bad guy, but you just had to laugh at his character. Although it pissed me off when he killed that beautiful blonde. It made me sick to my stomach. I don’t know if that is the Chivalry in my DNA or what?
It kind of reminds me of two black comedies.
One being, “American Psycho” and “Reservoir Dogs”.
Both very dark comedy movies...
I may just watch that today. Yeah Silvio cracked me up on the Sopranos! I knew he was a bad guy, but you just had to laugh at his character. Although it pissed me off when he killed that beautiful blonde. It made me sick to my stomach. I don’t know if that is the Chivalry in my DNA or what?
It kind of reminds me of two black comedies.
One being, “American Psycho” and “Reservoir Dogs”.
Both very dark comedy movies...
I’ve watched all eight episodes ... looking forward to Season 2.
I’ve watched all eight episodes ... looking forward to Season 2.
"Just when I thougth I was out...they pull me back in!"
Well, you might like the second episode where he slaps around a snotty moslem in the men's room. The Norwegian cop also goes around the dance floor with the same moslem in a diner.
It's about as politically incorrect as anything I've seen in quite a while.
if I am going to read, I’ll read a book, not subtitles. The subtitles were too many and light text on light background, making many of them unreadable
I think they somewhat go away in subsequent episodes as we get the picture that he's in a foreign country where English isn't the main language.
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