Murphy’s Law – Series One (2001 – 2003/Acorn Media DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: C+
Debuting
as a telefilm in 2001, leading to a five-season (so far) series, Murphy’s Law epitomizes everything that
has gone wrong with British TV, especially when it tries to be U.S. TV. One, imitating the quick cutting does not
work. Two, shaky camerawork is bad. Three, gutted color is bad. Four, having a funny lead (James Nesbitt as
Tom Murphy) only cuts down suspense and any sense of mystery. Five, endless lists of pop culture references
is not real writing or narrative. Sixth
and worst of all, imitating torture porn or the like and trying to bring it up
to “respectability” never works.
This and
much more can be found in the telefilm and across the three DVDs in this new
set that includes all five hour-long shows from 2003. Would the show get better? No. Is
their money in the show? Yes. Does it help?
No. If they did not have the
proper accents, would this not be any other boring U.S. series? Yes. Can
British TV be original again? Not if it
keeps producing formulaic bores like this.
Yes, it
is professionally produced, but so what?
Nesbitt is not bad in the title role, but it never gets better or goes
anywhere. It is not smug per se, but
creator Colin Bateman created the show especially for Nesbitt, but seems to
have relied too much on his character and talent, but not enough on character
development and as compared to Monk
or House, M.D., it is not as strong
an actor-driven show and those shows have better writing.
Unless
you are a real fanatic for such shows, see it at your peril and know you have
seen it all before.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has some motion blur and add the way the
image is often manipulated and you get the idea of the limits. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and
good, but not great and can be slightly harsh at times. The only extra is text on star Nesbitt.
- Nicholas Sheffo