I was reluctant and loathe

To start watching The Hour on BBC America.  First, because, after reading a review in the SF Chron, it seemed The Hour was another Mad Men rip-off like Pan-Am and however many others there are.  And, second, because I would have to watch the program with commercials, which I simply cannot abide these days.  We tend to dvr everything in this house, just so we can skip the ads.  (Love you RedZone! No commercials ever!)

Abi Morgan.  Yeah, how about a photograph of the writer once in a while?

But David Thomson wrote some nice things about it in his blog for The New Republic and mentioned how you can see it commercial-free onDemand with Xfinity (Comcast.)  (Thomson spelled Xfinity wrong, by the way.  He spelled it Exfinity.  But, is not that cute? Thomson lives in the City and we have the same cable provider.)  So, I watched the first three episodes of Season One last night.

(Sigh, and audible grin.)  It is great, of course.  Here is the amazing British cast, many of them big favorites of mine:  Dominic West (McNutty in The Wire, barely in Chicago); Ben Whishaw (I'm Not There); Romola Garai; Juliet Stevenson (so many things: Drowning by Numbers, Truly Madly Deeply, Inspector Lewis, A Place of Execution, Miss Marple, Bend It Like Beckham, When Did You Last See Your Father, etc, ... ); Burn Gorman (fantastic in Bleak House); Anna Chancellor (Miss Marple, Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis!); Oona Chaplin (Game of Thrones and The Devil's Double); and Julian Rhind-Tutt (Poirot, Miss Marple, and AbFab).  Plus, The Hour is part of the BBC America Dramaville Series, so each episode is hosted and introduced by Idris Elba ("Stringer" Bell in The Wire, The Office, 28 Weeks Later, Law and Order, and AbFab.)

It is similar to Mad Men in style, with plenty of red lipstick and nylons for everyone! There is not as much sex as in Mad Men, though, and The Hour is told in a much more traditional, theatrical storytelling type of way.  The show is about a newsmagazine program, complete with a love triangle that features a woman producer, a privileged dense anchor, and a slightly unhinged journalist.  So, there is the Broadcast News similarity, as well.

The performances are great.  Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai are the real stand outs here. And it looks great, shot in a louche candlelit sort of a way, plus the script is chock full of fabulous dialogue, written by Abi Morgan (Ms Morgan is also a playwright, but she has two movie scripts coming out next month, Shame -- cowritten with the director, Steve McQueen -- and The Iron Lady.  So we'll be hearing a lot more about Ms Morgan very soon.)  The whole thing is a fabulous fun entertainment and much more my cup of tea than Mad Men.  But that is probably just me.

You should definitely check it out.  The Wife and I will finish Season One tonight with a big bowl of popcorn.

Kisses,
xxxoooxxx


Ardent