I tweeted yesterday about the rumor going around that a fourth season of Slings & Arrows might be in the works. Here’s a link to an interview with one of the writers where he says it is, quote “Well, it’s more than a dream, I’ll tell you that much. I’ll stop now, before I’m hoisted by my own petard.
For those that have never seen it, the short-lived Canadian TV series takes place backstage at a fictional Shakespeare theatre festival. If you’ve not seen it, you must drop everything and go watch all 3 seasons. This is not just another random drama that happened to throw some Shakespeare into the background. This is a show *about* Shakespeareans *performing* Shakespeare. The jokes are Shakespeare jokes. You’ve got your overly dramatic Ophelia who throws herself into the river when she’s upset. You’ve got to the bad director who SET THE TEMPEST IN NAZI GERMANY! You’ve got an insane director who sees ghosts. And most of that is just in the first season.
If you have seen it, what do you think of a fourth season? I mean, they kind of swung for the fences in the first three seasons, tackling Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear (with a bit of Romeo and Juliet thrown in for good measure). How do you follow that up?
I watched a couple Youtube clips' worth of Slings and Arrows. They seemed pretty cool.
Awesome!! I cannot wait to see it. I was disappointed when it stopped after 3 seasons.
The whole of the first three seasons is available on Netflix. It is well worth checking out.
Just cos' it's a TV show
centered on Shakespeare, here
is QI, the Shakespeare edition,
from the BBC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJte2IbkZ8
I'll look-up Slings and Arrows.
As long as you're accepting
Shakespeare related TV as sufficiently on topic, here
are a couple of short sketches
from the UK childrens' TV show Horrible Histories, which has
become a hit with parents too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 65Cy4-rfd24&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=Zchaqy2AlnQ
Sean, can you do me the favor of taking down my email address and just sending these links directly? If I post something as a top level story it'll go up quicker (instead of sitting in the moderation queue) and more people will see it.
Thanks!
I'm ambivalent about resuurecting the show. On one hand I certainly would love to see this wonderful cast again with some great new stories.
But can it be done? The arc of the series was Jeffreys psychosis (seeing "ghost" Oliver)and his healing process, which he concluded by forgiving Oliver the sex with his Ellen (and all the other "mind-fucks") and admitting to still love him (or rather both of them) despite that. I don't think the series could work without Oliver while bringing him back would mean Jeffrey has to be pushed over the edge again, and how to manage that? I hope they manage that…