Watched the first episode of "The Paradise" on PBS last night. I wonder how many "Downton Abbey" knockoffs they will produce in the end? Pretty lightweight but then just before we were catching up on Season 4 of Breaking Bad before starting Season 5. Now, that is absolutely wonderful television!
I'm really proud of the Americans for creating such great shows lately like the new House of Cards and the Sopranos. Nothing Canadian comes to mind for TV ("Dragon's Den makes my flesh crawl...I catch the odd last minute when turning on the news) the but CBC radio has done some pretty fantastic stuff. We now have 800 hours of Otto Lowy's radio program "The Transcontinental". They are pure pleasure to listen to. Jim made a great start in getting Otto Lowy's archives placed at UVic when we were in Victoria and hopefully the CBC will cooperate in making this wonderful program among many other things widely available for people.
I like this review in the New York Times about "The Paradise"
"If soap opera could be sold by the yard, “The Paradise” would be a bolt of beaded polyester chiffon. It’s not silk, but if you’re looking for something a little sexy on a budget, it’ll do."
Rest of the review here:
http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/arts/television/the-paradise-a-british-period-drama-comes-to-pbs.html?_r=0
