Time for another TV Reviews post while I am editing the pictures and video from the Anniston Christmas Parade. This post will talk about two mini-series that people have been talking about! Warning, this post features some graphic videos, young ones should not read below this!
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde is a special four-hour miniseries that aired on A&E, History, and Lifetime on Sunday and Monday night. The series starred Emile Hirsch as Clyde Barrow and Holliday Grainger as Bonnie Parker. The two-part TV movie is based on the true story of Clyde Barrow, a charismatic convicted armed robber who sweeps Bonnie Parker, an impressionable, petite, small-town waitress, off her feet; the two embark on one of the most infamous crime sprees in history in the early 1930’s.
The special drew around 10 million viewers on the three networks combined and I thought the series was pretty good! Everything from the vehicles, weapons, buildings, and even the clothing were modeled around the Great Depression. So I thought the creators did a good job with that! The acting was very good as well! I thought Emile Hirsch and Holliday Grainger played Bonnie and Clyde perfectly! I also liked the other actors like the police who were so concentrated on catching these two criminals!
Even though the acting and scenery was great, I still caught a few flaws. Like seeing cable and phone lines on the power poles, and lots of power lines. This happened during the Great Depression in the South, and many rural areas still did not have access to electric power. Most people would never notice these things, so I am not going to take any points off of this great special just because of that. Overall, the A&E Networks produced a wonderful special to add to their great mini-series collection. Bonnie and Clyde is cable’s best miniseries opening in ratings since 2006’s Broken Trail, outside of History’s Hatfields & McCoys and The Bible. I can believe that! The producers made sure this special was violent during the shooting scenes, man, Bonnie and Clyde were shot like crazy! This video is kind of graphic!
Bonnie and Clyde will repeat on the A&E Networks like Lifetime and History Channel for the next few weeks. To learn more go to: http://www.aetv.com/bonnie-and-clyde
Mob City
Mob City is a television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940’s Los Angeles as chronicled in the book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City by John Buntin. The series stars Jon Bernthal, Milo Ventimiglia, Neal McDonough, and others as the criminals and the police are in a war against each other. The one thing right off the bat I did not like was the numerous commercials! Seriously, after about five minutes of the show, bam!, another commercial. I would recommend you watch this show via a DVR so you can skip those commercials!
Mob City is the true story of a decades-long conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department, under the determined leadership of Police Chief William Parker, and ruthless criminal elements led by Mickey Cohen, a one-time boxer who rose to the top of L.A.’s criminal world. The series is a fast-paced crime drama set in Los Angeles during the 1940s and ’50s. It is a world of glamorous movie stars, powerful studio heads, returning war heroes, a powerful and corrupt police force, and an even more dangerous criminal network determined to make L.A. its West Coast base.
I thought this series was way too slow-paced for my taste. Sure, the mob bosses are intent on shooting just about everyone if they screw them. Like during that carousel scene, where the mob were shooting other people while the music was playing in the background. The show focused more on the dialogue between the police and the mob instead of concentrating on the action. And that is what the people want, they want to see action! That is why shows like The Walking Dead do well! Ratings were good for the first week, but dropped a lot during the second week. So Mob City is something that will be like a one-hit wonder.
Yes, the scenery and clothing were great! I just don’t know why TNT can produce better dramas. Most of the dramas on that network just don’t live up to the people’s expectations. Maybe TNT needs to take lessons from FX, AMC, and A&E, and produce some better dramas! Mob City airs on Wednesday night on TNT. To learn more go to: http://www.tntdrama.com/series/mob-city/
Related articles
- TV Review: Bonnie and Clyde return in a new miniseries, but they’re shooting blanks (avclub.com)
- Weekend TV Review: Bonnie & Clyde (seattlepi.com)
- Review: TNT’s ‘Mob City’ revels in blood, sex and gangsters (hispanicbusiness.com)
- TV Recap: Mob City, ‘Red Light’ & ‘His Banana Majesty’ (pop-break.com)
- TV Review: Mob City is a reminder of why holiday burn-offs were invented (avclub.com)
