Reviews
by George Vernadakis and R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 3/2/2009 2:00:00 AM
ASHES TO ASHES
(BBC America, Saturday, March 7, 9 p.m.)
On paper, the premise for the new BBC America police drama Ashes To Ashes may sound formulaic: Sexy, smart policewoman teams up with hard-nosed, chauvinist cop, and it’s love/hate at first sight. But this witty, inventive and extraordinarily entertaining import is no routine procedural. It may be the best thing on television, and more deserving of wide U.S. acceptance than most Stateside cop shows.
A follow-up to the acclaimed Life On Mars (since remade for U.S. audiences), Ashes is another sci-fi actioner titled after a David Bowie song. This time, the time traveler at the plot’s center is Detective Inspector Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), a modern-day single mother and member of the London Metropolitan police force who is shot and finds herself in 1981. Convinced that she is in a comatose limbo, Drake sets off to solve the crime that she thinks will get her back to her daughter and the present time.
But the show (like its predecessor) really belongs to Drake’s “new” boss, Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). The former “sheriff of Manchester” has brought his tough-guy tactics and politically incorrect perspective south to London, where he races after local criminals in an Audi Quattro or speedboats down the Thames toting a machine gun.
Besides the terrific scripting and performances, Ashes also looks and sounds great — an ironic, uncanny valentine to the era of New Romantic music, the DeLorean and Charles and Di. —George Vernadakis
HARLEM HEIGHTS
(BET, Monday, March 2, 10 p.m.)
BET’s latest reality series Harlem Heights has a different feel to it than your run-of-the-mill reality show.
The series features eight, young post-college adults trying to realize their dreams, a refreshing change from the typical washed-up celebrities or young, over-the-top celeb wanna-bes that populate most reality shows.
While the first episode introduces the cast members, the action mostly revolves around their emotional and poignant reactions to President Obama’s win on election night. The focus on the relationships between the friends doesn’t really begin until the second episode when we begin to see the closeness — and, in some cases, friction — between the participants. Of course, no reality series is without its drama: the second episode finds the group in the middle of a long-standing rift between aspiring actress Ashlie and “diva” Brooke that comes to a head during Ashlie’s birthday party.
Mostly the show keeps the flow between cast members even-toned — albeit a bit scripted — as it creatively follows the lives of successful young black men and women trying to find their way in the world, with the historic and culturally-rich Harlem as its backdrop. —R. Thomas Umstead
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