Once upon a time there was a man called Lew Grade, then Sir Lew Grade and finally Lord Grade. He was king of a magic land called ITC/ATV and he felt it his incumbent duty to fill the land with enjoyable, slick and stylish television and to fill the TV with a new breed of stars. So he begat "The Saint", "Man of the World", "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "William Tell" and "The Buccaneers" and "Danger Man" which in turn led to Patrick McGoohan creating "The Prisoner" and "Man In A Suitcase" and "The Champions" and everything Gerry Anderson ever did, and he doth create much merriment with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore in "The Persuaders". And there was much rejoicing around the world.
But in the 1980's, the mighty British networks eschewed all this to give us 2 hour long plodding whodunit dramas in small English towns, and depressing "urban" dramas, and dire conspiracy theory dramas, and flouncy costume dramas with ham acting and the evil ones said that soap operas were the highest form of drama and that the future was reality TV where the public and spotty youths with hand held camcorders would be the stars of tomorrow. And the people were not happy.
Fairy tales aside, "Hustle" is something Lew Grade would have presided over, with perhaps Monty Berman on producing duties and Dennis Spooner as script editor and it's what British TV has been crying out for since, oh, maybe the demise of "The Professionals". It's fun, acted with aplomb, witty and uses a lot of wink to the audience trickery that "Moonlighting" was so adept at and if anyone knocks that great show I'm going to have to ask them to step outside. And just to re-enforce the idea that "Hustle" is a return to classic escapist TV entertainment, it's got Robert Vaughn in it! I'd gladly watch this over the overrated "No Angels" and "Shameless".
But in the 1980's, the mighty British networks eschewed all this to give us 2 hour long plodding whodunit dramas in small English towns, and depressing "urban" dramas, and dire conspiracy theory dramas, and flouncy costume dramas with ham acting and the evil ones said that soap operas were the highest form of drama and that the future was reality TV where the public and spotty youths with hand held camcorders would be the stars of tomorrow. And the people were not happy.
Fairy tales aside, "Hustle" is something Lew Grade would have presided over, with perhaps Monty Berman on producing duties and Dennis Spooner as script editor and it's what British TV has been crying out for since, oh, maybe the demise of "The Professionals". It's fun, acted with aplomb, witty and uses a lot of wink to the audience trickery that "Moonlighting" was so adept at and if anyone knocks that great show I'm going to have to ask them to step outside. And just to re-enforce the idea that "Hustle" is a return to classic escapist TV entertainment, it's got Robert Vaughn in it! I'd gladly watch this over the overrated "No Angels" and "Shameless".