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« k-kegn's Blog
Viva Laughlin
I'm sure there's a lot of "worst show ever!" posts about Viva Laughlin out there right now. Me? I'm gonna stick with it until CBS cancels it which may be in a day or two.
Ya see I'm a big fan of Blackpool which was a BBC/BBC America miniseries that Viva Laughlin is based on.
I got a copy of it last year from a co-worker who was a David Tennant [Doctor Who] fan like myself. I really enjoyed Blackpool.
It's weird, a bit cheesy, but so much fun.
It starred David Morrisey as Ripley Holden, Sarah Parrish as Natalie Holden, and Tennant as Peter Carlisle.Terrific performances from all three of them.
I keep seeing comparisons to Cop Rock and yeah it might be like that for others but for me when I saw Blackpool it reminded me of Moulin Rouge.
When I first saw Moulin Rouge I didn't know what to expect. In the first scene I thought it was teetering on lame.Then Kylie Minogue flew up to the screen and said "Hello! I'm the green fairy!" and that's when it just clicked for me. At that point I laughed and thought I'm going to enjoy this ride cause that's what it was. I also remember the audiences reactions.It was spilt down the middle. You loved it or you hated it.I felt that Blackpool was the same way. Viva Laughlin could be too, although I think it's more "hate" at this point.
Blackpool's Ripley Holden was such a horrible character, really mean. But I loved him though. He was outrageous and had Elvis mutton chops and was singing his heart out to Queen's "Don't Stop me Now". That jerk was a blast. I couldn't believe I was rooting for him but I was.
Then you have scruffy Scottish Tennant with his burned out rumpled detective act. Both were very colorful characters that were mesmerizing on screen.
I think Viva Laughlin is trying. At least it's different. I can think of other shows that are much worse with flat dialogue and pretty cardboard actors.
I like to see Laughlin improve. The U.S. version characters are not as quirky and dark as the originals.It really needs a darker edge. There's too much glitz in this version. Blackpool didn't have hot showgirls. It had regular folks doing the numbers and that was part of it's charm.
Still I liked Hugh and loved seeing D.B. Woodside again. That man is always cool.
Thought the Melanie Griffith number was forced.
Ah well. I'm hope it's going to click. I'll probably tune in just to see how far they go --or how far they can go before CBS pulls it-- in their storylines. I'm curious to see what they keep from the orignal plot.
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Oct 19, 2007 3:35 AM
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Yo! Great write-up! I totally forgot that this was on last night. I'll see if I can see it online...but even if I don't entirely hate it, I'm not sure that I'll be able to hack that much Melanie Griffith every week...especially a singing Melanie Griffith. But I'll try.
I put Viva Blackpool in my Netflix queue, it does sound interesting in that Moulin Rouge kinda way. But unfortunately it's never been released on DVD...which is weird considering that David Tennant is such a big friggin' deal these days. You'd think the Beeb would've dumped every d*mned thing the guy's ever been in onto DVD by now.
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Oct 19, 2007 7:05 PM
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I'm shocked that BBC America hasn't released it on their merchandise website.
It really was a blast. The only thing going against it for US viewers were some strong northern accent and some UK slang. I had to rewind on some dialogue that Ripley was saying at times.
Tennant's eats constantly in the flick. In almost every scene he's in, he's got a donut or cotton candy in his hand.It was pretty funny as the episodes went on to see what he was eating.
I noticed they kept that trait in his US version last night.
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Oct 19, 2007 7:44 PM
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