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BostonHerald.com - Television & Radio: Desperate ‘Wives’: ‘Footballers’ spinoff drops the ball
Desperate ‘Wives’: ‘Footballers’ spinoff drops the ball
By Mark A. Perigard
Sunday, August 6, 2006
Even the best trash eventually turns rancid.
“The O.C.,” “The Real World” and “Melrose Place” all were fun soaps that reached the period where the game of topping themselves proved to be too much. The shows became parodies of themselves.
“Footballers Wives: Overtime” (debuting tonight at 10 on BBC America) is the unnecessary spinoff of the guilty pleasure “Footballers Wives.” (In the UK, the new show is called “Footballers Wives: Extra Time” - the change was made to accommodate U.S. sports sensibilities.)
Spinoff may not be the correct word - side-along? - as “Overtime” takes about half of “Wives’ ” cast and continues some story lines from the fourth season cliffhanger that aired last week and then drops them for the parent show’s fifth season. (“Footballers Wives” will have no sixth season; the show was recently canceled.)
The half-hour show picks up from Bruno’s (Ben Richards) accidental shooting of Conrad (Ben Price) and the kidnapping of his wife, Lucy (Helen Latham). Both story lines sprint to unconvincing peaks as the spinoff frantically introduces new characters. It doesn’t feel like a TV show as much as a round of speed dating.
Joining up: Bruno’s (forgotten) adult twins, Yasmin (Frances De Costa) and Rees (Marc Hendry), who surprise him on his doorstep. You’d think this tyrant of a husband would ask for a paternity test.
The glory of “Footballers Wives” arose from acid-tongued, long-nailed Tanya Turner (Zoe Lucker), who showed up all-too-briefly in last week’s finale. Tanya is missing here, even at a crucial funeral for a major footy player. That’s unforgivable sloppiness.
“Overtime” brings us her kid sister, Anika Beevor (Georgina Mellor), and while the rot hasn’t fallen far from the tree, this knockoff doesn’t have the same style. She’s involved with a druggie with a rich poppa. You know immediately she’ll be trading up.
BBC America censors will be sweating the debut. The English version provided for review included a liberal dosage of cursing, male frontal nudity, bondage and a sex act with a vacuum cleaner that will compel any male viewer to cross his legs in sympathetic pain.
That warning siren you hear indicates the penalty phase for this franchise has kicked in.
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