Everything That Could Possibly Have Gone Wrong ....
.... Went wrong with this production
I only caught the first couple of episodes of MAKING WAVES . I never saw the third episode and as I write this in the mid Autumn ITV hasn't broadcast the final three remaining episodes . I can't say I'll be too upset if they don't either but I doubt if it would have flopped so badly if it wasn't for these reasons
1 ) Bad marketing . MAKING WAVES was heavily hyped with trailers showing a warship meaning that much of the potential audience thought they'd be watching some military action adventure and so decided to miss it . It's only those who thought it was going to be a military adventure series who tuned in only to be bitterly disappointed that it's a very slow watered down ( Geddit ? ) version of SOLDIER SOLDIER
2 ) Bad scheduling . Bad enough that it was shown in the middle of Summer but was shown opposite THE LONG FIRM an outstanding gangster drama and possibly the best thing the BBC had produced for years
The stories themselves were uninteresting with the first episode introducing us to the characters with a subplot of illegal immigrants hiding on a ship that's slowly sinking . If I remember correctly the second episode opens in the control room with the warship coming under attack :
" Sir an exocet missile has been launched "
" Hard to starboard "
" It's no use sir "
" Hard to starboard "
" Impact sir . We've been hit "
The captain turns to his crew and replies
" Right we all could have been killed because you lot couldn't get your bloody fingers out "
Wow they weren't under attack after all . It's just like the opening of STAR TREK 2 when we thought the Starship Enterprise had been destroyed and a trick on the audience that had long been overused by then . It should also be pointed out that the trailers for the episode had shown us that it was an audience trick all along . When you've got this type of carelessness from ITV it's superfluous to mention the not very good camera work
I only caught the first couple of episodes of MAKING WAVES . I never saw the third episode and as I write this in the mid Autumn ITV hasn't broadcast the final three remaining episodes . I can't say I'll be too upset if they don't either but I doubt if it would have flopped so badly if it wasn't for these reasons
1 ) Bad marketing . MAKING WAVES was heavily hyped with trailers showing a warship meaning that much of the potential audience thought they'd be watching some military action adventure and so decided to miss it . It's only those who thought it was going to be a military adventure series who tuned in only to be bitterly disappointed that it's a very slow watered down ( Geddit ? ) version of SOLDIER SOLDIER
2 ) Bad scheduling . Bad enough that it was shown in the middle of Summer but was shown opposite THE LONG FIRM an outstanding gangster drama and possibly the best thing the BBC had produced for years
The stories themselves were uninteresting with the first episode introducing us to the characters with a subplot of illegal immigrants hiding on a ship that's slowly sinking . If I remember correctly the second episode opens in the control room with the warship coming under attack :
" Sir an exocet missile has been launched "
" Hard to starboard "
" It's no use sir "
" Hard to starboard "
" Impact sir . We've been hit "
The captain turns to his crew and replies
" Right we all could have been killed because you lot couldn't get your bloody fingers out "
Wow they weren't under attack after all . It's just like the opening of STAR TREK 2 when we thought the Starship Enterprise had been destroyed and a trick on the audience that had long been overused by then . It should also be pointed out that the trailers for the episode had shown us that it was an audience trick all along . When you've got this type of carelessness from ITV it's superfluous to mention the not very good camera work
- Theo Robertson
- Oct 6, 2004