It’s been such a long time since I made an update on what I’m currently watching on TV. In fact, my last proper round-up was in December!
The Mini TV Catch Up
Before I get to the point of this post, I’ll do a quick mini-round up.
I’ve ditched a lot of TV this year. The likes of White Collar, Hawaii Five-O, Awake, Touch, The Killing, Alcatraz, Falling Skies (decided I won’t be starting that one up again. Sanity has prevailed!) and the US version of Shameless. I swear there’s more. There was an overwhelming sense of relief when I decided to quit these shows.
Back to The Bridge
The point of this post? The Bridge. A new TV show that’s started on BBC4 a couple of weeks ago, which has got me hooked. Earlier this week, Scott over at Front Room Cinema professed his love for the show and I felt the need to share mine. Why? This show is fantastic.
It’s a Scandinavian import – a Swedish/Danish crime/mystery/thriller. A body is found on the bridge that links Sweden with Denmark and the mystery goes from there.
What is it with all of this Scandinavian imports recently? TrollHunter, Headhunters, Rare Exports (Which I’ve yet to see but really want to!), The Killing, Wallander, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Borgen. There are so many. I’m not complaining. I’m enjoying it all. I wish I had seen the original The Killing, but I knew about it just a little bit too late.
The Bridge isn’t your typical crime/thriller TV show. Well, not for this side of the sea. Maybe for those guys over there. I love the colour palette of the show. The pacing is near on perfect. Each episode is a solid hour-long, but never feels like it.
It’s not all serious
In amongst all the drama, there’s a surprising amount of humour. For me, the humour comes from the character of Saga Noren.
The Swedish detective on the case. She’s not exactly people friendly. Yet, she’s an incredible detective. She’s blunt, to the point and maybe a little bit tactless. Which is where her humour comes from.
The Bridge isn’t the kind of show you can dip in and out of. You need to be watching every single episode. Though, after you’ve seen the first one, I doubt you’d not want to.
I can see this getting turned into an American series in no time. Which is a shame. So before that gets turned into the next bandwagon, get on to the original! You can catch up on BBC iPlayer right now.
There’s a new couple of episodes on tonight, so I’m going to get settled in for some Scandinavian TV gold.
That’s so cool that you are a Hawaii 5-0 fan. I see them filming all the time. and between you and me, I only watch the show to see where they are filming. LOL Kinda crazy and weird, uh? In between filming, I always see Scott Cain everywhere! I have yet to bump into Alex O’Loughlin.
I used to Love H50. I zoned out of it after it just got repetitive. Even though Alex O’Loughlin is very nice to look at! And Hawaii just looks amazing! So awesome you get to see them filming though – very exciting!
Scott Caan is fantastic – he made me laugh a lot in the show.
Just found it. Thanks for the heads up. This is just the thing I need to help me “bridge” the gap between the finales of my shows and the start of…. blah…. summer TV. If it’s half as good as the original version of The Killing (it’s by the creators so why wouldn’t it be?) then I’m thinking this will be brilliant.
It is excellent. They’re rattling through them here with 2 episodes a week. I definitely think you’ll enjoy this one Jason.
Martin is a very human character that is well-played. Saga, and her “quirk”, are mesmerizing. The whole bar pickup sequence was brilliant. I devoured the first 2 episodes and now I’m having difficulty putting off the rest of the series. Brits are so lucky to have these original, foreign shows piped into their homes with subtitles.
Definitely lucky. Though, it’s always about finding them. They’re never very well advertised. I happened on The Bridge by luck, and glad I did.
Really glad you’re enjoying it! I’m a little bit jealous that you’re getting through them and don’t have to wait a week for your next fill!
Just love how they’re developing Martin and Saga, and their relationship as partners.
“There was an overwhelming sense of relief when I decided to quit these shows”… I know this feeling! And I’m really close to do it with The Killing, 30 Rock and Touch. Perhaps with Falling Skies too, but I want to give it another chance first.
As for Shameless US, I love the second half of season two. Why did you quit it?
Oh, btw, you got me: I’m going to give The Bridge a try!
I was going to attempt to give Falling Skies one more chance, but I was so disappointed with the season 1 finale and all the sappy episodes, I just want to call it quits.
I really enjoyed the US version of Shameless but when the new season started I didn’t feel like I needed to watch it. So, figured that was a sign that I clearly won’t miss it. I definitely enjoyed, but clearly not enough.
The Bridge is excellent! Well worth it. Hope you enjoy it!
Im super late to all this Scandinavian bandwagon but I will jump aboard one day. Have heard a lot about this Bridge show and still need to watch one version of The Killing. I hera the Danish version is the one to go for.
On the other hand Rare Exports was great , I hope you see it sometime! And I’ve finally got TrollHunter from Lovefilm to watch this weekend which I can’t wat to see!
I’m pretty late too, Pete! But I’m running alongside it now trying to catch up.
Hope you see Trollhunter soon! It is awesome. Such a great little film!
I think me and Mad Men have a really interesting relationship. I love the show and always look forward to its premier. Then I start to miss episodes and then eventually the season ends. I end picking up the full season and loving it all over again.
Right now I’m just really focused on HBO on Sunday nights with Game of Thrones, Veep, and Girls.
I’ve heard people love Awake, but its not for me. Then there’s New Girl which I enjoy but isn’t must watch TV.
Interesting to hear about the TV in your area.
I adore Mad Men. It’s all about the cable shows for me too. I was meaning to give Veep a go, is it any good? I tried the first ep of Girls, but the characters frustrated me. I couldn’t put myself through another episode.
Awake sounded like it could be brilliant. Great premise. But they’ve wasted it on turning it into a procedural.
Veep is okay. It’s getting worse as the weeks go on unfortunately. I’m not surprised you have an issue with the characters in Girls. They are almost too real and reflect a very scary sense of what it’s like the 20-something’s right now in America. The whole job crisis is the center of this story and I have to admit to knowing what they’re going through. I’ll continue to cover both Veep and Girls on my weekly Monday piece so stop by if you want to know how the shows are going.
Cheers Max, I’ll keep an eye on your Monday pieces. I think i’ll give Veep a miss, but keep tabs on Girls.
This does sound intriguing but as I’m still catching up on TWO BBC shows, and Downton Abbey is next, it might be a while before I can get into this one.
I never got into Downton Abbey, but I swear it’s bigger in the States than it is here in the UK.
Add this to the list. It’ll be worth it. I hope!
I adore Downton Abbey, but then again I’m from America as you said. I was addicted and can’t wait for new episodes to come out.
It totally missed my radar. Don’t know why!
Both you AND Scott mention The Bridge. Seems like I really have to check it out now.
Yes. Yes you do. It’s now law 😉
HAH Thanks for the linkage Jaina! The Bridge just gets better and better episode by episode. I love that SAGA with her problems is never mocked or disapproved. The how approach is brilliant.
🙂
Exactly! People accept her, even her new partner Martin. They just go along with it because they know that she’s incredibly good at her job.
Love where they left last weekend’s episode. Makes staying in on Saturday night worth it.
Bit behind on some of my email, hence the late response, but I gave the box set of this to my girlfriend as a mother’s day present. We’ve only managed to watch the first episode, but I was hooked. She wasn’t as much, so hope that changes. Now to find time to watch all of it 🙂
Awesome! Glad to see at least you enjoyed it 🙂 It gets a lot better. The end of the season felt a little rushed for me, in terms of character development, but it’s one of the best crime thrillers I’ve seen in a long time.