Slings & Arrows - Season 1
by Peter Wellington
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Don McKellar, Martha Burns, Paul GrossDirector: Peter Wellington
Brand: Acorn
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 276 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: ACORN MEDIA
Movie Reviews of Slings & Arrows - Season 1
Movie Review: A superb little series that deals with wonderfully large issues
Summary: 5 Stars
I must confess that I only recently learned of this series when I TV critic whose opinion I respect put it in his list of his favorite TV series along with such critically acclaimed shows such as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. I was quite taken aback. I am a big fan of both of those Peabody Award winning shows, both of them chosen in December by the American Film Institute as one of the ten finest shows on TV. I was intrigued that a show that I had never heard of was included along with them. So I delved into the matter and learned all I needed to know to want to see it.
I won't rehash the contents of the show because so many here have done that. I would, however, like to comment on one aspect of the show that certainly contributes to its success and that is the extreme brevity of each of its seasons. This is a deliciously well-written show with taut, sharply told story arcs. But it works not despite its short length but because of it. Many reviewers here unjustifiably slam American television. It is unjustified because it paints the entirety of American television with too broad a brush. Yes, there are some terrible shows, but there are also a number of amazingly good shows. The two shows I mentioned above are great examples, though neither gets many viewers. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is wildly regarded as one of the most penetrating analyses of American society and small town life in decades. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (saddled with one of the silliest names in the history of TV) focuses on political and international issues better than many news programs (and has garnered an astonishing amount of respect from both critics and especially television producers and writers). Shows like THE OFFICE, which against all odds turned out to be every bit as good as the BBC original (something that has astonished me). THE WIRE and THE SOPRANOS features writing as sharp as anything you will find anywhere. VERONICA MARS is an exceedingly well-written show, though it has been hampered by network interference. I could go on for sometime in this vein. If you haven't watched THE WIRE or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (which is not, by the way, best appreciated by Sci-fi fans, who tend to be confused by the series) or FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS or UGL BETTY or recent series like ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, you might not be in a very good position to make general statements about the state of current American television. One could cherry pick and make American TV look dreadful, but one could also cherry pick and make it sound like the best thing since Charles Dickens. On the other hand, an English friend once told me that we shouldn't think too highly of British television; we wouldn't, he said, think very much of the stuff that didn't make it across the Atlantic. And furthermore, he said the best thing on British TV tended to be American imports.
I was trying to get at why SLINGS AND ARROWS succeeds so marvelously, but by a round about method. Though there are many successful American shows, there are a large number that fail simply because they are shoved into an uncongenial format. An example is PRISON BREAK, which enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining first season, but a terminally silly second season. Many critics -- and I think they are right -- that PRISON BREAK should have been a 22-episode first season followed by a 13 episode second season. American studios resist such arrangements because it precludes syndication. SLINGS AND ARROWS will never be syndicated. If it goes what for it is another full season it will have a grand total of 24 episodes. The optimal minimum number for syndication is usually regarded as 100, though some do manage with less. But many of these shows would be better off with fewer episodes. As magnificent as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is, the producers have been frustrated with the demands of the studio to pad seasons out. Coupled with network demands for episodes that don't require much previous knowledge of what has been happening on the show (ignoring the blatant fact that it is precisely the involved back story that keeps the show's fanatically involved fan base coming back) you end up with 3 or 4 episodes a season that dangle incongruently apart from all the rest. Fans, writers, producers, and critics all acknowledge that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA would be better if it consisted of 13 episodes a season instead of 20, but network pressure gets in the way of what everyone knows would be best for the show. Another example is LOST, a show with a great premise whose overall narrative has been harmed by network demands to stretch the narrative over more rather than fewer seasons (I think LOST should end after one or two more seasons, though I fear ABC will exert pressure to keep it alive for three or four more years).
Imagine SLINGS AND ARROWS if it were 22 episodes a season. It is almost impossible to do so. It is hard to imagine the writing staying as sharp, the arcs as tight, or the production as edgy. It would decline in quality, we'd start seeing a string of weak episodes, and we'd see the kinds of compromises shows like BATTLSTAR has to make to keep the network happy.
So, in a way, SLINGS AND ARROWS in the context of television ends up playing about the same kind of role the Shakespeare festival plays in the context of the series. It resists the corporation pressure to water down quality to maximize profitability. I would like to see a lot more television on a smaller scale. I deny that there isn't a great deal of absolutely superb American television. But I think many if not most shows would be improved if they followed SLINGS AND ARROWS and adopted a smaller number of episodes. Actually, there is an example of such a show in the U.S.: THE SOPRANOS. They not only have limited how many episodes they produce, but have sometimes taken nearly two years between seasons. No question there is more freedom to do this on cable. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ended in March but will not return until January. Hopefully, this kind of flexibility will gradually begin to permeate broadcast television as well.
Whatever the state of TV as a whole-heartedly recommend this series. It is exceedingly well-acted, very well written, and a delight at every point. The only downside following this season was that Hollywood discovered Rachel McAdams and stole her from Canada. She was a wonderful presence in the first season, but the show remained strong despite her loss. I would also like to point out that this is a completely Canadian television series. A great deal of television is, of course, filmed in Canada, especially in Vancouver. But virtually all of these shows are American underwritten and produced, usually with American actors in the leads with Canadian actors filling in the supporting roles. Some current leading American TV shows fall into this category including THE L-WORD, MEN IN TREES, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, STARGATE SG-1 and STARGATE ATLANTIS, SMALLVILLE, SUPERNATURAL, and many others. But SLINGS AND ARROWS is 100% Canadian.
Summary of Slings & Arrows - Season 1
Showered with awards and critical acclaim, this darkly comic Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theatre troupe, exposing the high drama, scorching battles, and artistic miracles that happen behind the scenes.Paul Gross (Due South) stars as washed-up actor Geoffrey Tennant, who returns to the New Burbage Theatre?the site of his acting triumph and his career-ending meltdown?to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles. Believing that theatre is meant to provoke not anesthetize, Geoffrey takes on the suits who want to turn the festival into a theme park, a director who runs amuck with Hamlet, and his own demons, including Oliver?who returns to haunt him. Also starring Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, The Notebook), Stephen Ouimette (Mentors), and Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall).
The title of Slings and Arrows, like many of the themes and characters in this show, comes from Shakespeare?s Hamlet. It refers to "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" that the Danish prince suffers, leading him to question whether he is to be or not... you know. It?s a clever title for an inspired show about--what else?--the theatre. Set in the New Burbage Theatre Festival, a fictional Canadian Provincial theatre, a jaded, burnt-out artistic director, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), dies suddenly, and is replaced by a potential genius, his visionary protégé Geoffrey Tennant (Due South's Paul Gross). Geoffrey is legendary at the New Burbage for his awe-inspiring performance of Hamlet there years before, and also because he went mad and now his sanity seems to be hanging by a thread. And oh, by the way, Oliver?s still hanging around as a ghost, but Geoffrey?s the only one who can see him (sound familiar?), and his impulsive reactions and out-loud arguments with Oliver--including one captured while being interviewed for a news program--besides being hilarious, convince the cast and crews he?s really lost it. The show details the daily activities at the festival as they attempt to mount a new production of Hamlet (starring a movie star who?s all face and no talent), and in doing so it employs a huge cast of peripheral characters, including the dysfunctional acting company (rising star Rachel McAdams has a key part), scheming board members, and a neurotic theatre staff, each with their own little subplots interweaving to make one big drama.
This first-season set of the Sundance Channel program contains only six episodes, which is too bad because the series is so excellent it?ll leave you wanting more. The fact that shows of this caliber are rare makes it stand out all the more. The writing is topnotch, with memorable dialogue, biting dark humor, and clever situations that continually point out how absurd real life can get. This one is a real gem, a show that demonstrates ?tis nobler in the mind to laugh at the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, rather than suffer them. --Daniel Vancini
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