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Kmclellan
Reviews
Law & Order: UK (2009)
Truly awful
Before I start, it should be noted that Bradley Walsh and Jamie Bamber regularly provide good performances. In fact Bradley Walsh should be commended as he always provides something more than just the script in every scene he is in.
The start of a second series has shown an improvement in the police procedural half of the show but rest of the show however is seriously let down by poor scripts and an Americanisation of the English legal system. Since when do barristers have time to go around conducting their own investigations? The whole show comes across as having English accents and London locations substituted into American scripts. No other effort seems to have been made to make the script either English or believable. And there lies the second biggest problem of the series: the unBritishness of the moral issues championed in the show as well as how they are both perceived and handled. When watching the original Law and Order shows that these scripts were taken from one can dismiss the situation and reactions of the actors as being American through ignorance and enjoy the "foreign" show. However, when the _exact_ same show is presented in a familiar setting one realises how ridiculous it really is.
As someone who enjoys Law and Order, and who wishes British shows were more fast paced and American at times, I keep trying to give this show a chance. Unfortunately, a second series in and it is still unbelievable.
Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006)
Love it! Very funny!
Like many here I grew up with Scooby-Doo. Unlike many here who did, I love this show! I think that it has been very well done and thought through. Everything about it marks it as a spin-off which isn't meant to be taken seriously. The formula is simple - it is a parody of other cartoons with a single bad guy trying to get the better of the good guy. By using the well known Shaggy and Scooby-Doo characters it is much easier to engage the viewer with the parody humour from the outset of each 30 minute episode.
There have always been Scooby-Doo spin-offs which have annoyed fans. The classic being the Scooby-Shaggy-Scrappy shorts from the 80's. These spin-offs had their place: They allowed new content to be sold, created new fans, and kept Scooby-Doo merchandise on the shelves. I would agree that "Shaggy & Scooby-Doo: Get a Clue!" doesn't fit in with this traditional role but it is probably what I had always wanted the Scooby-Shaggy-Scrappy shorts to be: an action packed show which focuses on the best/funniest Scooby-Doo characters! Good features of the show: the animation, the voices, the attention to detail, the bad-guys, the "Best Friend" relationship between Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, the constant humour! Bad features: None, although the revamped Mystery Machine is pretty close at times.
Well done Warner Bros. Animation! One of the cleverest cartoons in a long time!