laura Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you really are a fan....wow...i cant remember half
> of that...
>
> all i will say about season 3 is that its just as
> good as the first two seasons....
>
> " yasureyabetcha! "


Yeah, that show really captured my interest. Also, remember, I got the dvd sets, so I could watch a lot of the shows with commentary, along with all the interviews.

What really impressed me was how young the entire staff of Kudos productions is, and they're all so capable and brilliant. With a limited budget, they really got it that most of the money would go into writing and computer graphics. I loved listening to the writers and script editors talking about that process, with some of shows requiring many script changes along the way. It was great listening to director Barrett Nalluri explaining his set and directing choices as Pinteresque or film-schoolish; that guy is going to go a long way.. and my favorite writer is Howard Brenton because he has such a depth of experience with many kinds of films and tv shows.. he knows his stuff.

I know I'll miss Tom and Danny and Zoe after they leave the show, but I've read that Rupert Penry-Jones is really hot, so I suspect it'll be OK. I really liked the character of Tessa Phillips, played by Jenny Agutter, who last I saw left for parts unknown after screwing Harry out of megabucks and betraying a civilian woman helping Tom with a case. I don't know if I can ever forgive her for that, but her complex, flawed character really makes the show so much more interesting.

Shows like this don't get much traction here in the USA because of the way tv networks are so closely linked with government and propaganda. Right before GulfWar I, around 1990 or 1991, there was a great spy show with American operatives working in the Middle East, and it was yanked immediately after the USA decided to prepare for war with Iraq.

That might be why the recent hit, The Agency, was pulled after two brief seasons. Alias doesn't really count because it's so off the wall, though very imaginative and fun to watch.

I also remember a very brave, subversive series made in the UK in the late sixties called The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan. That might well be the best tv series ever made for orignality, cutting edge ideas, and brilliant scripts... pure genius. Of course, anything by Dennis Potter trumps just about everything in the social and musical arena, but comparing it to The Prisoner would be like trying to compare apples and oranges.. even though The Prisoner does prefigure a bit some of the things Potter did with mixing genres.

I have to hand it to you Brits; you know how to stage and film one tour de force after another. Thank God you're willing to share. :-)

Sue