How did I miss this? Paramount TV actually puts out something good and I don’t find it til a year later.
Yet another cop show, but different somehow. Fast paced without being MTVishly annoying, gritty and funny, well written and with the best characters I’ve seen in a decade played by very good actors.
Weird, wild, and wonderful.
Mark Valley plays Detective Eddie Arlette with just the right amount of smarmy humour and quick witted ingenuity. Even when things go horibly wrong for him, he somehow has the abilty to make it all work out in the end. Cliche? Sure. But well done cliche. His winning smile somehow makes everything not quite up to par about this series (which isn’t much, mind you) seem inconsequential.
Julian Rhind-Tutt as his Scotland Yard partner Monty Pippin is both straight laced and wickedly deviant. The fact that he resembles Michael Jackson actually adds to his off key appeal.
Sienna Miller as troublesome flatmate Fiona is as good an actress as she is good looking. And is she ever good looking! Almost (but not quite) the most beautiful woman in the entire future and past history of the space time continuum. Her jibes and one liners are beautifully offset by her character’s introspection.
The 3rd most beautiful woman ever, Rachael Buckley, is cast as the sensual but enigmatic Moneypenny type secretary. Not a lot of acting, but she could win an Emmy by just standing there.
Then we have Colin Salmon as wonderful as ever, and an ensemble of regular-ish guests like Rudy played by Alexie Sayle (remember him?) to square out the deal.
Good stories done by good actors. Different, but not off puttingly different.
A+ in my book. Anyone else seen this? Any chance it’ll be back?
BRAVO broadcated this on reruns , and I believe it was succesfull.
I found the bravo sight and inputted the first line of your post into the Engish/Cockny translator, and got this. http://www.bravotv.com/Keen_Eddie/Translator/
A+ in me Captain Hook. Anyone else Pearly Queen this? Any chance it'll be Hammer and Tack?
I loved it. And saying that, I do think that the stylistic elements of the directing and whatnot would have gotten kind of tiresome after a while, but as far as writing and acting, I thought it was a great show. I don’t believe it’ll ever be back, but you can get your nostalgic fix watching the DVDs. I do.
It started on FOX/TV in 2003 and Bravo picked up the remaining shows in 2004. I never saw it til I was given these DVDs about a month ago. 13 episode total, so it never got through the first season. Pity, in my opinion. This was yet another good show that FOX was able to kill.
I was excited to see that Keen Eddie is now on Region 1 DVD in a 4-disc set! I’ve seen the first two discs and they are as good as I remembered. Very reminiscent of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which I also loved.
I’ll be sad when I run out of these DVDs, Tv Tome says Bravo will rerun the reruns but doubts it’ll ever get picked up.
American writers and producers shooting in the UK with mostly UK actors and other staff. I wonder if that contributes to its different feel.
Thankfully, all the mains are involved in new things, so I’ll get a little bit of a fix that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rik Mayall wsn’t involved in this somehow, since it already has an obvious Young Ones tie in. WOOF!
Give Boston Legal more than just a chance. I was guilty myself of judging it an Ally McBeal rip-off, and I was sorely mistaken. It’s got something good going on; one of which is, of course, Mark Valley.
BTW, I always thought that Mark Valley and Sienna Miller had great chemistry on Keen Eddie. I know they fought a lot, which got a little bit tiresome for me, but when they had their more pensive and emotional moments, I actually believed them. Also, I should have spoken more highly of Julian Rhind-Tutt above. He’s perfect.
I never watched Ally McBeal OR The Practice, not once. But I love Boston Legal for James Spader and William Shatner’s characters, and their chemistry. Valley’s role is relatively small and almost thankless in comparison, and he’s usually portrayed as an “alpha male” rival for Alan Shore (Spader)–a character the viewers are naturally not going to like as much. But it’s still a great show.
It was one of the rare merely watchable shows. Usually I either fall in love with a program or want to hurl something at the TV (or at least have to force myself from making disparaging comments about it if a friend is watching it at their house.) But I tuned into Keen Eddie when it was on, and it was okay to just watch and sit through, very enjoyable. Therefore it was doomed.