Low Winter Sun (new AMC police drama starring Mark Strong & Lennie James)

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by COLD_COBRA_

Remember when they all laughed at you AMC? When hbo turned down Mad Men, when they all said Breaking Bad was dumb? That walking dead will flop, that the killing is in seattle, and everyone there is always at the costco? Remember? Pepperridge farm remembers.

Funny thing, so far, the only AMC series that has really grabbed me is Rubicon, which was (commercially) their stunning failure. Well, I do like Hell on Wheels to some degree, but it varies too much in quality.

Actually, my favorite AMC original series was their first, back in the mid-90s, Remember WENN.

I'm definitely giving Low Winter Sun a try, as I like the cast. And I liked the original British production -- although Strong's and Brian McCardle's accents were so thick I had a hard time understanding them without subtitles.

[hagios]

I like •Breaking Bad, •Comic Book Men, •Hell on Wheels, •The Killing, •Small Town Security, •Talking Bad, •Talking Dead,
•The Walking Dead, & hopefully •Low Winter Sun!!!

AMC

[WhySoCereal]

This isn't too bad actually.

[djgeneral]

found it sort of boring and really had no idea what was going on. I'll have to read some recaps and rewatch.

[WhySoCereal]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

found it sort of boring and really had no idea what was going on. I'll have to read some recaps and rewatch.

It seemed like a third or fourth episode, not a pilot.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by WhySoCereal

It seemed like a third or fourth episode, not a pilot.

Actually, it's almost exactly like the beginning of the original British mini-series.

[djariya]

I liked the Pilot, but it did feel like you were just jumping into the middle of an episode without much setup.

Lennie James and Mark Strong were solid. I liked Joe Geddes speech to Agnew about things that are black and white. James IMO is a brilliant actor.

Funny to see Michael McGrady here as the "victim" He's also on Ray Donovan as Frank.

Athena Karkanis isn't really well known in the States except maybe her role in the Saw movies, but I've always found her quite hot. Nice to see her here.

[Lemmy Lugosi]

I didn't hate it, but it seems soooo lacking when you follow BB with this.

[Black Mamba]

This should be interesting. I'll follow along for a few more weeks and see how it plays out. I want to like it, I was happy with the pilot, so we'll see. I have high standards though, a cop(s) killing another cop draws automatic comparisons to The Shield.

[djgeneral]

Originally Posted by djariya

Athena Karkanis isn't really well known in the States except maybe her role in the Saw movies, but I've always found her quite hot. Nice to see her here.

I loved her in The Best Years it was a great college drama series back in 2007. She was one of the leads along with the incredible Charity Shea.

[djariya]

I know AMC put this after Breaking Bad to give it a good lead-in. But, it's kind of unfair to put a new "dark" rookie drama after something that has a solid fan base and is critically acclaimed as Breaking Bad. It's just going to lead to really unfair comparisons. Plus, it's on at 10pm and most are pretty tired by then and from what I saw last night, this is a slow burn show that you kind of need to pay attention to and not half ass watch it.

Hopefully AMC will be patient. This show won't automatically get heated message board and water cooler talk right away.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by djariya

I liked the Pilot, but it did feel like you were just jumping into the middle of an episode without much setup.

As I said before this pilot is pretty much exactly like the original. Even a lot of the dialogue is reproduced verbatim. Well, allowing for "translation" from Scottish idiom to American.

The original used the in media res narrative approach, which means it starts off "in the middle of things", and what comes before is revealed in flashback and exposition. So it's not surprising that the US version is doing the same.

There will have to be some changes made, though. Without going into possible spoiler territory, the original was definitely written to be a one-off mini-series (it aired in Britain in two 90-minute parts). If AMC intends this to be more than just a 10-episode remake of the mini-series, it'll have to play out a bit differently. Which is fine by me.

Actually, it's already playing out slightly differently. The criminals that McCann was dealing with are introduced earlier in the US version than they were in the UK version. It remains to be seen how close the young drug-thugs and the "Old Man" are to the criminals in the original.

[djgeneral]

I didn't really understand who the other young criminals were. But I guess we don't really know much? Or did I just miss something? Like how are they related to the main characters and what are there current attentions...basically what is everything we know about them? I got the rest of the story, but that was puzzling to me a bit. Mainly because I was too excited after watching Breaking Bad lol

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

I didn't really understand who the other young criminals were. But I guess we don't really know much? Or did I just miss something? Like how are they related to the main characters and what are there current attentions...basically what is everything we know about them? I got the rest of the story, but that was puzzling to me a bit. Mainly because I was too excited after watching Breaking Bad lol

From what happened, this is what seems to be the case: The young criminals were working with McCann (the detective who Agnew and Geddes killed). They tipped him off about the coke in the house, and he was going to raid the place, bringing in a little of the coke as evidence, and giving the rest to the criminals to sell. Dialogue suggests that the man in the house they shot worked for "the Old Man", and for reasons that admittedly seem vague, busting this operation was going to help put the Old Man away. Which is what the young criminals wanted. They appear to be under the thumb of "the Old Man", and don't want to be. I assume that they move product for him, which would account for the payment that the woman gave him. Unless that's just a pay-off they make so that he lets them operate on their own.

[djgeneral]

Thanks. I was thinking it was something along those lines.

[N8DOGG]

As a rule, TV shows only have one episode to impress me. My time is valuable and television is filled with such garbage. Most of which leaves me wondering how it even gets aired. How the hell someone can dedicate their time to be entertained by things so brainless is beyond me. With that being said, I'm hooked!

[bootsy]

Originally Posted by N8DOGG

As a rule, TV shows only have one episode to impress me.

Many great shows wouldn't make it under 'this rule'.

[djgeneral]

Originally Posted by bootsy

Many great shows wouldn't make it under 'this rule'.

Yeah, I've never heard of that rule. You always give TV shows at least 3 episodes. You at least NEVER judge by the Pilot. That is often filmed months before the rest of the season and before the show really has its footing. Always give a show 3 epiisodes

[bootsy]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

Yeah, I've never heard of that rule. You always give TV shows at least 3 episodes. You at least NEVER judge by the Pilot. That is often filmed months before the rest of the season and before the show really has its footing. Always give a show 3 epiisodes

I think that's a good rule 3-5 episodes. Although in some cases I give shows an entire season to see how they wrap up the first season.

[djariya]

Originally Posted by djgeneral

Yeah, I've never heard of that rule. You always give TV shows at least 3 episodes. You at least NEVER judge by the Pilot. That is often filmed months before the rest of the season and before the show really has its footing. Always give a show 3 epiisodes

Sometimes a Pilot is filmed anywhere from 6 months to 1 year before they actually begin series production. It's before the showrunner even hires a writing staff. So IMO you really can't judge a series by 1 episode.