The Grid

the grid is fabulous -- beautifully written: Raza to Emily "Sex like love is an act of devotion," beautifully acted -- wonderful television. Go TNT! By the way, I believe that Raza Michael's name is Piter Marek. The casting is diverse as are the locations. The Grid could have very easily been a theatrical movie, albeit, it would have had to be shorten. But that is why television is great, especially when it is allowed to be great. TNT but together an intelligent piece of entertainment. The characters are very well drawn out. We are already seeing the many different shades of people that live in this vast world of ours. The Grid lets us see that not everyone of a particular culture or ethnicity is bad. And please Raza Michaels is Piter Marek.

This is a pretty good series, and as a South Asian American (with Muslim heritage) I was intrigued by it. The best acting is done by the Brits and the Raza Michaels character.

And to the viewer who said it shows only Muslim terrorists- that is not true. Akil (the young scared Brit) does not practice Islam- his brother Hamid does. Kaz (the American blonde) turns to Islam because he has a bad relationship with his dad. These (youngish) guys have seen the "bad" side of life (jail/racism/poverty, or whatnot). So they look for a solution. Maybe they get into religion. Maybe violence. Or both. There are no easy solutions and all people are not black/white in their ways- and this show opens up about that.

"The Grid" (we never really know to what the title refers) is a 6x45 min miniseries action/drama about international terrorism. The bad guys are a rogue terror cell operating out of Yemen, deploying operatives to the UK and the US where they are to attack with sarin nerve gas. The good guys are a joint task force of Brits and US Federal agents who are out to stop the bad guys. The film leapfrogs incessantly from Yemen to London to Washington to Saudi Arabia to Chicago, etc. globe trotting in a surprisingly well orchestrated conglomeration of good vs evil Muslims, interagency wrangling, boyish suicide bombers, covert ops, murder, love, and much more given this US/UK co-op's budgetary constraints. On the upside, "The Grid" gets busy and stays busy sufficient to engross and make some of the obvious histrionics easily overlooked as it provides an acceptable overview of the amorphous nature of terrorist cells and the international agency cooperation required to effectively cope with this 21 century threat. On the downside the film is difficult to follow at times, somewhat disjointed in an effort to be all things to all people, pushes the believability envelope occasionally, and is generally too pat to be real. Overall, "The Grid" is an acceptable miniseries worth a look for those who can commit to a 4.5 hour small screen watch. Those who enjoy this miniseries should also check out "Traffic (2004)". (B-)

What a pity to write in all that long distance control of on-the-spot special forces operations via voice and monitor. Can you imagine hard-arsed Delta and SAS troopers taking direct orders from pushy females watching monitors from several thousand miles away? Especially females that keep on falling in love with their operatives all over the place? And Julie Margulies was straight out of a Hollywood daytime soap - the bitch-maneater, on top of the job, ruthless, uncompromising... Hair never out of place, cute hats, purposeful big-shoulders walk. Puhlease! And why superimpose dozens of subtitles without giving viewers time enough to actually read them. There's a rule about this and it's based on basic intelligence: subtitles are there to be read - if you don't want to give enough time to read them, then simply refrain from using them at all. Who was the brain behind this? Despite all, The Grid was very well made and deserved something a whole lot better in the acting and directorial department. Shame.

Just before THE GRID was broadcast I came to this page and found out that THE GRID was a BBC / American co-production and had first been screened on US television . This utterly surprised me since all the trailers seemed to make a big thing about the British cast ( Most notably Bernard Hill who not only appeared in every trailer for this but every single trailer for the Olympic games too ) but upon watching the first episode it becomes very obvious the amount of American involvement in this drama . This might not have been a bad thing since American television has brought us some great dramas in the last few years ( Am I the only Brit who loved OZ ? ) but THE GRID isn't one of them

Despite having only one director and two credited writers THE GRID feels it was produced by a commitee numbering several hundred people and this shows through on screen

Will it appeal to Tom Clancy junkies ? - Check

Are there bedhopping scenes to appeal to SEX AND THE CITY fans ? - Check

Are there both good and bad Muslim characters to show that not all Muslims are terrorists . We don't want allegations of racism with this show - Check

This is a drama /thriller that is trying to appeal to the entire TV audience on both sides of the Atlantic and this is where the mini series fails . Maren Jackson might be a hot American babe while Emily Tuthill will appeal to those viewers who like frosty English ice maidens but are their sex lives that important to the plot ? ( A plot which I thought was overstretched ) Mind you when you've got dialogue like

" Come to spoil the tea party ? "

" I've no intention of spoiling your tea party . I drink my tea in Long Island - Ice cold "

I guess you might expect a bit of sex since it sounds like it came out of a blue movie

So THE GRID fails down to the fact there seems to be too many cooks pouring some iced tea