TV Beginnings

We have one more movie left in our Heists and Capers season, and then we’re moving on to a series of TV shows to look at how they build communities of characters, and how they’re developed over time. We’ll watch two episodes of each show back-to-back; to make things easier, we’ve compiled a list of links to where the episodes can be watched online. Of course, you can also join in if you own the DVDs.

Burn Notice
A spy recently disavowed by the US Government uses his Special Ops training to help others in trouble.
S01E01 “Pilot”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($1.99)
S01E10 “False Flag” : Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($1.99)

Life
A former police officer returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years.
S01E01 “Merit Badge”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($2.99)
S01E08 “Farthingale”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($2.99)

In Plain Sight
Mary Shannon is a U.S. Marshal in the witness protection program who spends her time relocating federal witnesses.
S01E01 “Pilot”: Amazon ($1.99) | Netflix (Free*) | iTunes ($2.99)
S01E04 “Trojan Horst”: Amazon ($1.99) | Netflix (Free) | iTunes ($2.99)

Leverage
A crew of high-tech crooks attempt to steal from wealthy criminals and corrupt businessmen.
S01E01 “The Nigerian Job”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($2.99)
S01E11 “The Juror #6 Job”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($2.99)

White Collar
A white collar criminal agrees to help the FBI catch other white collar criminals using his expertise as an art and securities thief, counterfeiter and racketeer.
S01E01 “Pilot”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes (Free)
S01E05 “The Portrait”: Amazon ($1.99) | iTunes ($2.99)

*The first three seasons of In Plain Sight are available to Netflix subscribers via their Watch Instantly service.

Alastair

11 responses to “TV Beginnings”

  1. Well, I think I’ll have to join in since I own 4 of the 5 series and have watched the last repeatedly! Good choices. 🙂

  2. These are pretty obscure in the UK, so I’ll be sitting this one out.

    I caught Life though, on account of Damian Lewis – good series, great characters, but a bit up itself in terms of structure. It constantly takes you out of the main story for an irrelevant bit about the series arc. Interesting gimmick.

  3. I *just* got home from Target, and Life season one is FIVE DOLLARS in the store. The website claims it’s out of stock, but they had seven or eight on the shelf there, so they must be clearing them out.

    That’s the whole season for less than the cost of buying two HD episodes on iTunes! You can’t beat that.

    PS: It was on an endbase with a bunch of cheap movies, not in the TV section, so you might have to hunt for it a little.

  4. Whoa. Everybody buy it. It’s wonderful. The ending of the season is rushed because of the writer’s strike, but hell, the pilot is worth five bucks. I already own the DVD or I’d be out there.

  5. This should be fun, I’ve seen all of these and am really looking forward to watching them again. Sad you guys decided to switch the second White Collar episode because I love the insurance investigator, but if I remember right I really liked this one too. I bought the first season of Life for $15 a few weeks ago, but I’m not complaining; it’s worth it.

  6. Alastair pointed out that the original White Collar episode was from the second season, and all the other episodes we were watching were from the first season.

    Stephanie, I really have to go back and look at the movie again, but I thought everything paid off. What loose ends did you see? Or what wasn’t used regularly?

  8. Thanks Molly! I haven’t seen any of these. I watch very little tv now. Caslte is it during the seasion and I’ve been catching up on Chuck and Big Bang Theory via dvd during the off season.

  10. I am so excited! I haven’t seen Life, but the other four are absolute favorites of mine, especially Leverage!

  11. Jenny asked:
    Stephanie, I really have to go back and look at the movie again, but I thought everything paid off. What loose ends did you see? Or what wasn’t used regularly?

    I had to go back and look at what I asked. Serious mommy-brain issues. You could’ve left me hanging and I never would’ve noticed:)

    I think I was referring to the pattern actually. I guess I thought there would still be a structure in the pattern and while I was watching the movie I kept trying to anticipate when it would shift. It just felt like they stuck around in a story/ POV/[whatever you call it] until it didn’t suit them and not until it didn’t suit the story.

    I still get what they were trying to do and I appreciate how the patterned structure allowed them the room to do things they couldn’t do with a linear story. I’m just a Bear of Little Brain and I think this might’ve been more than I can unravel on one viewing.

    Once again, thanks for the post over on Argh.