{"id":502,"date":"2006-04-05T00:16:29","date_gmt":"2006-04-05T04:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/archives\/2006\/04\/04\/science-fiction-authors-say-smart-things-sagan-on-tv\/"},"modified":"2007-03-26T13:51:19","modified_gmt":"2007-03-26T17:51:19","slug":"science-fiction-authors-say-smart-things-sagan-on-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2006\/04\/05\/science-fiction-authors-say-smart-things-sagan-on-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Science Fiction Authors Say Smart Things: Sagan on TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over on his blog<\/a> science fiction writer Nick Sagan<\/a> (author of fun books Idlewild<\/a>, Edenborn<\/a>, and forthcoming Everfree<\/a>) has a post about his favourite TV shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, while all five shows he lists are good shows, his numbers 5, 4, 3, and 2 would not make my list of “all time best” shows. (How can you make a list of all time best shows and not include Sandbaggers<\/a>?)<\/p>\n

However, we agree on what the all time best television show ever is, which means that Sagan is saying smart things. (Yes, I think that agreeing with me in matters of subjective taste is a sign of raw intelligence. Check out the ego on me.)<\/p>\n

\"Fitz\"<\/p>\n

1: Cracker<\/em> (1993-1996)<\/strong><\/a>
\nFirst off, do not<\/u> confuse this amazing U.K. show with the ill-fated U.S. show of the same name. This is the original Cracker<\/i><\/a>, starring Robbie Coltrane<\/a>. If you only know Coltrane<\/a> as Hagrid from the Harry Potter<\/i> films<\/a>, you really haven’t seen what the man can do. This is the role that won him three BAFTA awards–1994, 1995 & 1996–for best actor in a TV series. He plays Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald, expert in criminal behavior. Fitz cracks cases, punctures alibis and catches criminals–a well-honed, natural talent, which almost makes up for his vast assortment of character flaws. <\/p>\n

Many shows are centered around detectives profiling violent criminals, getting into the mind of serial killers, rapists, etc. Cracker<\/i><\/a> is the show those shows aspire to be. The cast deserves massive credit, but it’s the storytelling that’s off the scale. Jimmy McGovern<\/a> is an incredible talent, something of a magician as far as I’m concerned. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over on his blog science fiction writer Nick Sagan (author of fun books Idlewild, Edenborn, and forthcoming Everfree) has a post about his favourite TV shows. Now, while all five shows he lists are good shows, his numbers 5, 4, 3, and 2 would not make my list of “all time best” shows. (How can you make a list of… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,7,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-reviews","category-people-say-smart-things","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5UQvw-86","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}