Product: State Of Play (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Why BBC America is worthwhile TV
It is shows like this that make cable or satellite TV worth the extra expense from over the air broadcast.There was a time the US made decent mini-series, but as the public airwaves became less for the public and more for the broadcasters' profit margins, the downhill spiral of quality began, and now we are the land of such high brow programing as Are You Smarter Than a Third Grader? Or watching people prostitute themselves for their 15 minutes of fame by appearing on shows like The Apprentice, or Survivor.Our cable and day time TV, even worse, Dr. Phil? Please, give me the chance to be on TV and I'll let you rip me apart emotionally. But if one surfs long enough, you can find outstanding shows.The Brits don't do long dragged out series, the original Office, six episodes per season, two seasons. MI-5, six episodes per season and we are up to six seasons. Wire In The Blood, Silent Witness, six episodes per season and still going strong. Life on Mars which sadly the writers only allowed two seasons of 6 episodes each, concluded this year. All fine shows, made without the being lowered to lowest common denominator.State Of Play is not only in the same class as those shows referenced above, but in fact may surpass. Others have set out the plot line, and intrigue so I won't revisit or reveal more.However, I strongly suggest purchasing and viewing this excellent mini-series because as with anything of any quality, American producers have grabbed a hold of this and are going to turn it into a movie. And not like the Lord of the Rings kind of movie where all of the plots and subplots play out over three movies. No, they are going to take 350 minutes of high drama, political intrigue, and the presses inability to provide objective coverage without undue influence, and if we are lucky, we will receive 120 minutes, or approximately 1/3 of the story.Save yourself the trouble of paying for a cheap knockoff, and watch the real thing. Turn off those "reality" shows, tell Dr. Phil that pop psychology as entertainment is not only unethical, but pathetic, not just on the part of the shows' guests, but on the host himself.BBC may only be able to keep producing quality shows if their viewer ship extends beyond their advertising free public airwaves. Yep, advertising free, like PBS used to be.I've seen this on BBCA but out of my loyalty for quality TV, I'm buying not one set, but two. One for me, one for someone as a gift.