The Art Of War... "American Gods"

American Gods (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Ian McShane, Crispin Glover, Pablo Schreiber, Bruce Langley, Orlando Jones,

Created by Bryan Fuller & Michael Green

The Story:

Shadow Moon (Whittle) is released from prison early after his wife, Laura (Browning) dies in an accident. Traveling to the funeral, he encounters a mysterious drifter, Mr. Wednesday (McShane) who employs Shadow as his right hand man. However, there is much that Shadow doesn't know about Wednesday, but all will slowly be revealed as the two travel across America together.

Man oh man, that was something else.

With Season One being only 8 episodes long, I decided to wait until the season was over to review it.

That is some crazy stuff right there!

From the opening of the first episode that literally made me jump with fright when the Vikings came ashore, I'd have to say I was hooked from the start.

Based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, it's the story of the gods of old that were brought to America by immigrants confronting the gods of 21st century America.

There's a war brewing and Wednesday needs recruits if the old gods stand a chance of surviving.

The cast is superb, and though Ricky Whittle is the lead, I tuned in for McShane, and he doesn't disappoint, as per the usual with him in any role. The supporting players are great, and by the end of the season, the duo of Mad Sweeney (Schreiber) and Dead Wife (Browning) would steal the show. Another great addition was Mr. Nancy (Jones) who electrifies the 2nd episode with his coming to America tale, and comes back strong narrating the season finale story about the purpose of needing a queen in the war.

You'll need Starz to see this one, or you'll have to wait until the discs become available for rent/purchase later.

Not sure where it goes from here, but as one who has always enjoyed mythology, I can't wait to see where these gods take us.

Final Grade: B+

April Showers Bring May Flowers... "Pushing Daisies"

Pushing Daisies (2007)

TV PG

Starring Lee Pace, Anna Friel, Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Jim Dale

Created by Bryan Fuller

The Story:

Ned (Pace) has a gift, but it comes with a price.  He can touch anything that was alive, but is now dead.  It comes back to life.  If it remains alive past 60 seconds, something else must die in its place.  Should he touch that thing again, it dies.  He makes his living as a pie maker, bringing dead fruit back to the peak of ripeness.  When his gift is discovered by a private investigator (McBride) the two team up to solve cases by asking the deceased who killed them, then solving the crimes and splitting the rewards.  This works out great until Ned attempts to solve the case of the death of his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Friel) and cannot bear to let her die again.

What a great show.

I never saw it when it aired, and apparently very few others did either, as ABC pulled it during the second season, even before all the episodes could air.

Even though it was a critical smash.

How lame.

However, if you've got Amazon Prime, you can enjoy the entire run for free.

Which, is more than worth the price of admission.

It's smart. Well written. Fun.

The downside?

You will crave pie by watching every episode.

Yum.

And it ends much, much too soon.

The cast is pitch perfect.  I was only familiar with McBride and Chenoweth prior to the show.  Pace makes an excellent leading man, and looking through his credits, there's more work of his to enjoy out there.

Bryan Fuller apparently has a fascination with death, as this followed his Showtime creation, Dead Like Me. 

Currently, he's working on Hannibal for NBC.

Apparently, Bryan Fuller has issues.

:)

However, it's usually enjoyable television watching him attempt to work these issues out on the small screen.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No reason to purchase, I've got Prime! Now that we've finished both seasons, we'll probably come back and give it a spin again every so often to revisit some old friends.