Fall tv : great returns

Fall season has started with so many shows that I can hardly keep track.

Premieres,new seasons,sitcoms,dramas,soaps,there is something for everyone.

First let me praise my favorites from previous seasons.




1."Boardwalk Empire" is back and it's as good as ever.Excellent cast,Steve Buscemi will follow Tony Soprano and Walter White,Michael Shannon and She Whigham are brilliant as well as Michael K.Williams and Jack Huston.
I am not that thrilled with Jeffrey Wright who is over playing it a bit but let's give him the benefit of the doubt.All in all excellent homogeneous cast and I hope I 'll see more interesting new faces this season.

Casting directors: Meredith Tucker,Ellen Lewis.




2."The Good Wife" had a very good premiere,tragic and intriguing story about death penalty.The cast is strong as always,Julianna Margulies getting better and better as well as  all of her co-stars,especially Christine Baranski and Alan Cumming.New faces would be welcome but not necessary.

Casting director : Mark Saks.




3."Revenge" is back with a vengeance,great prime time soap,my guilty pleasure.The old cast looks good,it seems Gabriel Mann has calmed down,Barry Sloane and Emily Van Camp are still the best and I like the newcomers Justin Hartley and Karine Vanasse. Good soap requires good looking cast,strong chemistry between romantic partners and convincing supporting actors.With the exit of Connor Paolo it seems that they follow those lines.

Casting directors : Elisabeth Barnes,Corbin Bronson and Lisa Soltau.




4."Homeland" one of the best shows on tv,Emmy awarded for great acting performances and praised by critics.The acting ensemble is very well rounded,excellent roles for Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, brilliant veteran  Mandy Patinkin and my personal favorite,the guy I never liked before,Rupert Friend.

Casting directors : Junie Lowry Johnson,Libby Goldstein,Judy Henderson,Craig and Lisa Mae Fincannon.




5."Nashville" is also back and the first episodes are very good.This show shows the real force of great cast,with talents like Connie Britton,Hayden Panettiere,Powers Boothe,Charles Esten and Ed Amatrudo. They pull the weight and save the story that sometimes lacks imagination.Sam Palladio is also good but Clare Bowen not so much.Oliver Hudson is a very welcome addition.

Casting director Jeanie Bacharach.




6."Hart of Dixie" is a shining example of how great cast can save an average show.They are an excellent group with enough quirky faces,handsome men and irritating characters.In a homogenous cast my favorites are Jaime King and Cress Williams.

Casting directors : Molly Lopata,Liz Martinez-Nelson,Erica Berger,great work.




7."Downton Abbey", last but certainly not the least,is one of those television products that every network in the world would like to have.The charm of British upper classes has sold all over the world,this highly refined soap is one of the best UK imports in recent years.The cast is almost flawless,the legends like Maggie Smith rubbing shoulders with exquisite supporting actors Kevin Doyle or Rob James Collier.The Downton cast is simply superb and they keep bringing  in great new faces,like the young Lily James.

All the opulence of British and Irish acting talents can be savoured indefinitely in this perfect tv product.

Casting directors : Jill Trevellick,Daniel Hubbard.

Functional cast : Revenge

"Revenge" is my guilty pleasure, the  glamorous oasis from  the mundane stuff I deal with on daily basis.Oh, the pure nonsense of it all,the clothes,the parties,Emily Thorne and her love triangle,the wonderful voice and accent of Aiden Mathis,the pretension to be more than  a juicy soap, I just love it.

I know Emily VanCamp since she was a serious girl in "Everwood". It was a great series and the two main characters,Emily and Gregory Smith were adorable.

She is pretty,she is commited and a decent actress for exactly the kind of roles she plays.Maybe she is capable of something else but for now she is doing a great job  where she is.I like her self assurance,her poise and elegance and her correct display of emotions.She takes her work seriously and that is admirable.

Her older colleague,the once promising actress Madeleine Stowe,doesn't show the same dedication as Emily.It is probably hard to pass from starring opposite Daniel Day Lewis or Aidan Quinn to the completely ludicrous plots of the Grayson family but even in a character like Victoria Grayson one would expect more than one facial expression.Her beauty might make up for the lack of  effort but her character is written with so many tasks that she should at least try to find her visage no.2.

The rest of the cast of Revenge is functional,with some nice surprises and two terrible, terrible lapses.

Josh Bowman is a good looking guy,his suits always to tight,his body ready to tilt.He looks  like a qb trying to dirige a  financial empire but all in all he is very likeable and he and Emily look very good together.

Henry Czerny is also acceptable as pater families of a completely delusional family.Unlike Stowe, he is dedicated and his looks are great.Nick Wechsler is also doing a good job with all the nonsense he has got to endure.

The nice surprise and by far the best of them is Barry Sloane,the British import.He has energy, emotion and even passion,his voice and accent are irresistible and his physique a very good match to tormented Emily Thorne.

Margarita Levieva and Christa B.Allen are beautiful girls who cope well and Ashley Madekwe could do better.

The two terrible lapses in this otherwise balanced casts are Gabriel Mann and Connor Paolo.I really wanted to like Mann since I love his looks and all the  Nolan Ross allure but unfortunately his grimaces are unbearable.He tries to compensate his lack of conviction with to much physical expressions and fails miserably. It's a pity since the flamboyant character of Nolan Ross is not merely a caricature. And I am sure he could be better with proper guidance since his previous roles prove it.

His complete opposite but equally bad is Connor Paolo.He is stiff,shallow and lifeless.He didn't even put the same effort as in "Gossip girl" so the public can welcome his surprising demise in season two finale.

So a loud whisper to casting department and directors:
- every role is important,every cast has to be compact,don't hesitate to replace the actors who break the harmony of the group
- please take care of the physical appearance of the couples,big girls and frail guys look simply ridiculous together
- Gabriel Mann needs serious improvement  for the next season since Nolan Ross is actually a very interesting character

Update:I am happy to report that Gabriel Mann took some good advice and found a welcoming balance in the season 3 of Revenge.Good for Nolan!

There are some new faces,Karine Vanasse,a very likebale Canadian actress,Justin Hartley,a new hunk on the block,really good looking but somehow flat.Another hot addition is Stephanie Jacobsen,who could probably do much more if they only let her.

Gail O´Grady was a wonderful surprise as well as the edgy but still sexy Olivier Martinez.

The least interesting guest was Annabelle Stephenson.

But in this season Christa B.Allen kinda lost her appeal.She simply didn´t move on like the rest of the main cast,she got stuck in a spoiled little girl cliche.

The rest of the main cast is still wildly amusing,especially Henry Czerny.

And then the 4th season came....first and worst killing Barry Sloane was a terrible mistake since he was the only man with whom Emily Vancamp had some real chemistry.

James Tupper was the big surprise,the suddenly alive David Clarke but unfortunately the guy is nice but really lacks charisma.Brian Hallisay was a nice try as the good looking interest for Emily but,as in the "Client'sList",Brian is simply only into himself.


The best addition was the sultry Elena Satine.





Good bye Revenge and thank You for many hours of pure wicked fun.