Reviews

Those who panned just don't understand. Doubt is a fantastic mix of production and direction, the acting adequate and almost lost in the artistry. Katherine Heigel, the big name star is probably the weakest performer and is still adequate. This series is so cleverly done it can be a comedy, black comedy, light hearted courtroom drama; whatever the viewer is in the mood for at the time. Costly production with masterful edits - a shame to cancel but those who panned just don't understand.

Expect a couple of Emmys for "Madoff", about as classy as it gets in the Mini-Series category. We all knew the story as the film unfolded the story in the background and the people in the foreground. This was a 10 had it not been for the loud music over the dialogue and the fact that Dreyfus is just hard to watch, his name being in the dictionary next to "typecasting." The story built nicely with the characters increasing the intensity as it moved along, the second half very noticeably stronger than the first half, which was, obviously, strong enough to invite viewers back. After the first half, in a coincidence one just couldn't invent, I watched Dreyfus being interviewed on Fox News Channel by Megyn Kelly. Yes, Fox News Channel. This goes back to the typecasting comment as, after having seen him live, being asked why he attended a Senator Ted Cruz event and hearing him mumble a few derogatory comments, Dreyfus proved he is not a very pleasant fellow. Not, in fact, nearly as nice as Bernie Madoff.

If you're looking for the equivalent of literary comedy, you're in the wrong place but if you want a half hour to relax and get a few laughs, this program fills the bill. The actors are all compelling, supplying just the right amount of comedic overacting and underacting, well cast, and simple - just no need for a complex job of writing. What it does need is a full hour each week of a longer season as the 21 minute actual viewing time is all too brief. But an hour for comedies has gone by the boards long ago. But it would give them time to dig a little deeper into the silly theme of the week's episode. But I'll take an hour a week for twenty-two to thirty weeks a year if they'll bring it. The audience would buy an hour a week and it's not a hard shoot, as the two main characters would rarely require more than two takes to wrap a scene.

Since it's only the Pilot, I can't write a complete review of the entire 6 episode series but I can say my wife and I won't miss one and will undoubtedly lobby for more episodes. With good to excellent regional dialects, the dreariness of the area in winter and blank stares of the otherwise reasonably intelligent people, it has captured the essence of the movie Fargo, absent, of course the irreplaceable Francis McDormand, who wears the curse of such a huge success by an otherwise rather plain journeyman actor who may never again reach that pinnacle, even as the husband of one of the irrepressible Cohen brothers. Too violent, too much strong language so well done they are basically ignorable in the context. Excellent production values with music which enhances the mood without drowning out the dialogue.

After reading several reviews on IMDb and being Ed Harris fans anyway, we decided to give it a try. We never watch new movies live, always recorded, so that we can scrap them if they are not to our liking. It was easy to see this would be good from the obvious production quality early on and we're not western fans but we had a feeling about this one. The day after we watched it, we again read some but not all of the reviews on this web-site. Some mentioned "moments of humor" or possible under or over-playing of some roles. But we didn't have time to read far enough to locate at least one or two reviews which revealed that this was the Black Comedy of the century. This was the greatest tongue-in-cheek spoof on westerns in the history of movies. If the normal shooting time on a movie of this length and complexity is three weeks, this one took an extra week of "cuts" for the cast to recover from complete break-ups over the fine-line comedy they were filming. Possibly the best Black Comedy ever, just in the way it walked a tightrope in disguising itself as something else to all viewers except those who truly appreciate and understand this art form.