Mad Dogs

<> This Pilot show is excellent. The acting is top notch and the tension built to an incredible crescendo, all whilst set in a stunning location. I have to admit the show was slow to get going, but that is something that is missing from T.V and film these days. Rather than jumping straight in to mindless action, the script writers, directors/producers took the time to introduce the characters, allowing you to connect with them and ultimately care about their situation. It's a risky roll of the dice, for a pilot episode, and the production team deserve to be commended for that. I hope this show gets picked up!

I was not expecting the end sequence of events at all, what the heck was with the head mask? Who is the lady introduced at the end? These questions need answering! I don't think I have been so gripped by a pilot episode since the first episode of Breaking Bad or Dexter, and look how great those shows turned out! :)

I reviewed the US version of Mad Dogs after seeing the first, pilot episode, and what I wrote then still more or less stands and this is it. But I have added a few more comments at the end after watching another six to qualify that.

I'm rather baffled why the U.S. has a compulsion to remake films and, as here, series and doesn't just present its audiences with the original. The remakes are often quite good, but why remake them? But anyhow...

I've seen all three seasons of the original Brit version of Mad Dogs and I can't recommend it highly enough for often very funny sly humour, suspense, intrigue and sheer entertainment. And I'm happy to report that this remake is almost as good - at least in the first few episodes - most probably because the Brit creator, Cris Cole, is again at the helm. That is a relief after seeing so many films (from all around the world) which eventually let you down. As I say the humour, very British humour I have to say, does travel well, and might have you laughing out loud on occasion, but it is far more than just a black comedy. The first episode starts off slowly and quietly, then 42 minutes in . . . I can recommend this. The casting is excellent, the dialogue natural and the story quite bizarre. Don't hesitate, please, treat yourselves.

POSTSCRIPT: For the US market, the producers have tinkered a little - well, tinkered quite a lot - syncopating the original plots and expanding the story, introducing new characters and, it has to be said, in the process they created something of a different animal. Whereas in the original British version the humour - very black and often unobtrusive - was a continual thread throughout (until the two- episode finale which was something of a letdown) and formed the series backbone, for the US the humour is more or less abandoned as a central trope and the series becomes more of an action piece. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does lose a little of its edge as a result. But then it is intended for a different market and culture.

Another difference is that despite the utterly bizarre plot twists and very silly situations the four characters find themselves in, in the original version it all somehow holds together well - it's as though they are caught in a one-way system and there's no turning back. Conversely the new version increasingly doesn't quite hold together: there are several points where the four could all have disentangled themselves quite well by a word here and there, and that they didn't has more to do with making a TV series than anything else.

The twists don't grow out of the situations the four find themselves in - and their very stupid decisions - but from the necessity to keep the story going and interesting. That's rather a shame, as it loses something rather neat. It also becomes as it goes on, plotwise, something of a mess - folk get around Belize with an ease and at a speed which is only possible on TV. But such quibbles won't, I'm sure, disturb your average US viewer. The Brit version, though didn't take the easy way out and just kept it all going, following its own logic, which was some achievement. The final episodes here see everything tied up a little too neatly which is a shame and out of keeping with the original wackiness. Sad to say the US version doesn't quite convince

However, despite those drawbacks your average viewer should enjoy this, but I must stress that for a real treat and a rather tighter piece of work you should seek out the British version which doesn't quite cut corners so easily.

Judging a show off of just seeing the pilot is usually tough (some quality series have started out with a mediocre pilot emerging into an awesome show...)

However-Mad Dogs nailed it!!

Intriguing plot kept my attention throughout the entire episode, while trying to figure out what might be coming next/what direction they might go with the series.

Fantastic cast!!! Owning their roles in the first episode.

When can we expect the full first season to be released?!

Leaving us hanging, Amazon!

Must see more - STAT!! :)

I really like it. It's well produced with snappy writing and a good cast....just like the original British series. Ben Chaplin from the original series is actually in this version too.

Wikipedia - Mad Dogs (TV series)

"Mad Dogs is a British black comedy and psychological thriller television series, written and created by Cris Cole, that began airing on Sky1 on 10 February 2011, and ended on 29 December 2013 after four series and 14 episodes"

Which brings me back to the advertising on Amazon. This is billed as an "Amazon Original Series"....WHAT PART OF IT IS ORIGINAL?

Are we to assume that because Americans haven't seen it before, it is original?

Yes, cringe you will. A lot. Think 'Weekend at Bernie's' only darker, much darker! But it's a small price to pay for this roller coaster fun ride, a remake of Cris Cole's show from 2011 with the same name.

Only this time around we're in Puerto Rico (not Mallorca) and by that I mean 'Belize' of course. Regardless, the setting is gorgeous. A welcome escape into a perfect world that unravels into madness a short while into the pilot. Thanks to a solid cast, perfectly mismatched to never solve a single situation with good common sense, you'll follow their downhill adventure - which will make you either yell at the screen in frustration, or laugh out loud - depending on how you watch a show like this: as drama with a sense of humor, or pure comedy.

The predecessor of this show is still going strong at the time of this little review, so we can safely assume that there is enough madness in the book to keep this brilliant set of characters busy for a few more seasons.

Better than expected with interesting and unpredictable story lines - another strong show in Amazon's line-up.