`LOVE SOUP' NEEDS A BIT MORE SPICE.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic British writer David Renwick David Peter Renwick (born 4 September 1951 in Luton, Bedfordshire) is an English television writer, best known for creation of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave and the mystery series Jonathan Creek wants to ensure that absolutely no one misses the point of his new series, ``Love Soup Love Soup is a British television comedy-drama, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC One in the autumn of 2005. It stars Tamsin Greig as Alice Chenery (a role written especially for her) and Michael Landes as Gil Raymond. .'' ``What are the chances that you'll meet that one human being who is right for you?'' muses the eccentric Irene (Trudie Styler Trudie Styler (born 6 January, 1954[1] in Birmingham, England) is an actress and producer. Biography A pupil at North Bromsgrove High School, Worcestershire, England, where one of her teachers was Clifford T. Ward. , Sting's wife) to her neighbor Gil (Michael Landes Michael Christopher Landes[] (born 18 September, 1972) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles of Jimmy Olsen in the first season of , Detective Nicholas O'Malley in Special Unit 2, Officer Thomas Burke in Final Destination 2 ), a neurotic American comedy writer living in England. ``That person could exist, and we may never get to meet them.'' Gil is, to the surprise of no one, enduring that plight in this very series. His mildly amusing tales of romantic woe are juxtaposed jux·ta·pose tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. with the similar experiences of Alice (Tamsin Greig), who runs the perfume counter at a department store. They're seemingly perfect for one another, but how will they ever meet? Clearly, this is a show that will resonate at a time when people are feeling more isolated than ever, when a recent poll showed that Americans have fewer close friends than they did a mere two decades back. And ``Love Soup'' is pleasant enough to sit through. If only it were as funny as it's intended to be. Gil and Alice's misadventures are vaguely engaging; They aspire to a certain ``edginess,'' but in the softest way possible. But Renwick throws viewers curve balls that utterly hang over the plate -- the plot twists are not very twisty; you should be able to predict the outcome of virtually every story line. Greig is charming and Styler is good fun, but Landes is something of a stiff. There's a sequence in tonight's episode in which Gil has an extraordinary amount of trouble in simply urinating. Recounting the anecdote to a potential paramour par·a·mour n. A lover, especially one in an adulterous relationship. [Middle English, from par amour, by way of love, passionately, from Anglo-Norman : par, by , he -- and, by extrapolation (mathematics, algorithm) extrapolation - A mathematical procedure which estimates values of a function for certain desired inputs given values for known inputs. If the desired input is outside the range of the known values this is called extrapolation, if it is inside then , Renwick -- engages in some self-criticism, describing the scene as ``just another example of lazy writing.'' Such a pre-emptive strike at critics doesn't, alas, erase its accuracy. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com LOVE SOUP - Two and one half stars What: Will two people perfect for one another ever actually meet in this romantic comedy? Where: BBC America. When: 7 and 11 tonight. In a nutshell: Pleasant trifle. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion