We have just finished the first three episodes of the Swedish version of Wallander. I can't remember seeing many stronger series on US or British TV.
The casting is magnificent. The three leads--the actors who play Wallander, Linda Wallander and her love interest--are outstanding.
The TV writers and Mankell seem to have a real grasp of how to integrate the personal lives of the Wallanders with the case they are working on. The police never seem to just follow their nose around until they discover the culprit. (I do get tired of police interviewing suspects for 90 minutes). And all of these episodes draw on Swedish life/history in the crimes committed.
If you have only seen the British version of Wallander, this seems superior to me. You do have to read subtitles, but you quickly forget you're reading it.
What is your favorite imported series of crime fiction? This may come right after Morse for me.
21 comments:
Sandra and I are watching the original Prime Suspect right now on Netflix. She has seen them and I have not. I really like what I've seen so far. (and yes, we liked the U.S. version when it was on too, but for different reasons)
We also watched as many episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest as Netflix had (three seasons if I remember right). I really liked that one too.
Breaking Bad. ;)
My favorite import is SHERLOCK, hands down, but my second favorite is the more obscure NEW TRICKS. Three retired officers come back to the police as consultants to help close old cases. Not as original as SHERLOCK but very entertaining.
We haven't seen this yet but it has to be better than the incredibly depressing Branagh version, which made me suicidal just watching it.
We've seen all the seasons of NEW TRICKS and this last one was the weakest as far as scripts.
Two other British shows I'd recommend besides PRIME SUSPECT:
SANDBAGGERS with Roy Marsden
MI-5 (British title: SPOOKS) with Peter Firth
We're also watching the Italian/Sicilian Insp. Montalbano series, based on the series by Andrea Camilleri.
There are many British comedies we watch, regularly or intermittently, as well.
Jeff M.
I love the first few seasons of Prime Suspect and watched them over again recently. They held up well. And the U.S. version was becoming better just as they yanked it. Like they have so many other great shows!
I was able to watch some of Da Vinci on Canadian television. Good show.
Breaking Bad is in my top three ever.
I will look for NEW TRICKS at my library. Also SANDBAGGERS and MI-5.
I'll have to check this out, Patti. I enjoy the Mankell novels.
And I'd pick the Avengers or Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes.
I recommend the Scandanavian films for "The Girl Who ..." Each movie is more than 2 hrs long, while it looks like the USA is doing just the first movie. For weird, check out the Inspector Brunetti DVDs; Leon is American, Brunetti is Italian, and the DVDs were all made by Germans -- and you get "Ciao" and "Sehr gut!" in the same sentences. But my favorite of all are the 22 episodes of Commissario Montalbano DVDs, ten years worth, and each one is about 2 hours long. Why, yes, I have watched all forty-plus hours of gorgeous Sicily. I cannot recommend the series enough! (BTW, the novels are brilliant, too.)
If I can ever join Netflix again, I will watch these. So far the only deal they offer us is one movie a month for $15.99. No one can tell us why.
I bought the first collected set of Montalbanos from amazon.uk and the next will be out in September.
Jeff M.
We have never bought a dvd. The library is our only source.
You can see MI-5 on public stations, even as Detroit PBS refuses to affiliate with MHz Worldview, so you haven't been able to see the Swedish WALLANDER films over the last several years, among much other goodness (even with the streaming feed now available from MHz WV, but you need to upgrade your computer and monitor for that).
MONTALBANO has been on MHz almost as consistently as the Bruno Cremer MAIGRETs.
NEW TRICKS also syndicated to PBS stations. The fourth season of the series begins on Detroit PBS on August 26, repeating on September 2. MI-5 (SPOOKS) is on later on Detroit PBS on the same nights.
I don't think I have MHZ on our cable system. But I will check.
Detroit PBS just raises money most hours of the evening. Romney can't do them much more harm.
My PBS for the 26th shows pledge programming as usual.
Well, since WTVS hasn't affiliated with MHz Worldview, on one of its digital feeds, nope...you could be watching the Italian Mafia drama THE OCTOPUS right now online:
https://www.mhznetworks.org/mhz-worldview/live
If your cable system pulled in the PBS group signals from Flint or Grand Rapids or carried the Lansing cable channel The Link, these are the current Michigan affiliates of MHz Worldview...
They have always been a bad affiliate but now they are beyond the pale.
Also our Comcast is chintzy.
Um...well, unless WTVS Detroit is lying to us here, no, they're running in primetime on the 26th:
8/26/2012
07:00 PM New Tricks 401 Casualty
8PM Poirot 106
9PM Masterpiece Mystery! 4123 Inspector Lewis: The Mind Has Mountains
10:30PM MI-5 509
is it your cable guide that is telling you it's all pledgers? Not a cable guide we feed info, if so...
August 26 is the first day After the pledge period...and, yeah, Comcast is no more inclined than Verizon to pull in "marginal"/distant signals they're not required to...
Sorry, it ain't THE OCTOPUS right now, but DON MATTEO, an Italian FATHER DOWLING...
Post a Comment