Fargo

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

What's Martin Freeman doing in this? Totally ruined the first fifteen for me as I struggled to get my head around Freeman channeling William H Macy with the full Hicksville accent ("Ja!"). Even beyond just how bizarre that casting is where did Freeman find the time to star in another TV show? And then there's Billy Bob who appears to be channelling Charlie Sheens brief turn in Ferris Buellers Day Off. I swear that's what he's doing. Think about it when you're watching the scene where he chats to Freeman in the hospital. Probably totally ruined that bit for you now... Shame they couldn't get McDormand. That character was crying out for her own tv show.

Anyway this is damned entertaining stuff. Beginning with the notorious "based on a true story" spiel from the film it all feels very familiar. Lots of people saying "Ja", two police- one male, one tubby and female- puzzling their way through a mystery based around a car crashed on the side of a snowy highway. At the beginning it really feels like its successfully mimicking the films strange mixture of small town charm and brutal violence. It loses the way somewhere along the line though. The films sense of dread being traded in for Wes Anderson style quirkiness.. I hate Wes Anderson.

Still this is sharp television. No idea how they are going to get a series out of it or even if this is an on running story. If they just picked up a new one next week it wouldn't hugely surprise me.

BTW I'm sure we had a Fargo thread already didn't we? I did search.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Yeah, I don't know where the hell they're going with this...and Martin's always gonna be the Lock, Stock guy...but I was entertained all to hell when I saw this first episode.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

How gtood was this show?!! The best show of the last couple of years and there's been some damned fine television the last couple years.

I drifted in and out for the first half dozen episodes. I really detest 'quirky' and this was verging on turning into Wes Anderson for telly at times but it was always still good, then it got very good and then hit that high white note a few times through the last few episodes.

It's all rather brilliant the way that it riffs on Fargo the movie while still being it's own beast. Fargo had this horrible sense of brutishly, stupid, inevitable violence contrasted with the comforts of home all the weasels are keen to escape from. And god those comforts looked like something to escape from- however happy Margie and her husband were- so you couldn't really blame the weasels. That's all still here. It feels less real of course. No one s being fooled this ones a true story despite the spiel at the start.

Brilliant performances here as you've come to expect from A grade telly. Billy Bob is the best villian since Ledger's Joker. Freeman's transitin from hapless boob to- well I don't want to ruin it for anybody- was brilliantly handled by all. Allison Tolman, never heard of her, may never again as she doesn't look like like star material, well, she was great.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I have nothing to add to this but "Spot On". They really brought it home in the last few episodes.

[Todd Jordan Smut is good. Find all posts View Profile Close Todd Jordan]

Yeah I liked how it ended. Great stuff. I'm finding I like one season shows.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

No official release date but I dig the proposed Blu-ray cover art.



I stole that from Amazon. It's too big. Oh well.

[Nolando Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nolando]

I recorded this whole series and haven't watched it at all - except, at our regular post-band practice bar, I saw the end of the finale. So much for spoilers.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Press release!

Fargo Season 1
An original adaptation of the Academy Award®-winning feature film, Fargo has been nominated for 18 Emmys, including Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or Movie for Executive Producer Noah Hawley, Outstanding Lead Actor nominations for Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Colin Hanks, Outstanding Supporting Actress for newcomer Allison Tolman, and two Outstanding Directing noms, one for Adam Bernstein and one for Colin Bucksey. Fargo also won a 2014 Critic's Choice Award for Best Mini-Series.

The first instalment of Fargo features an all-new “true crime” story and follows a new case and new characters, all entrenched in the trademark humor, murder and “Minnesota nice” that made the film an enduring classic. Oscar® winner Billy Bob Thornton stars as “Lorne Malvo,” a rootless, manipulative man who meets and forever changes the life of small town insurance salesman “Lester Nygaard,” played by BAFTA Award® winner and Emmy®-nominated Martin Freeman. Colin Hanks plays Duluth Police Deputy “Gus Grimly,” a single dad who must choose between his own personal safety and his duty as a policeman when he comes face-to-face with a killer. Allison Tolman also stars as “Molly Solverson,” an ambitious Bemidji deputy. Fargo is written by Noah Hawley. Hawley, Warren Littlefield, Joel & Ethan Coen and Geyer Kosinski serve as executive producers.

Fargo is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions for the FX Network in the U.S., with MGM Television acting as the lead studio and worldwide distributor of the series.

Fans that purchase the Fargo Blu-ray or DVD will also receive an exclusive knit cap as a free gift. Comic-Con fans will be the first to get their hands on the Fargo knit cap when they pre-order the hit mini-series at the Fox booth #4229 while supplies last.

Special Features
● Audio Commentary on "The Crocodile's Dilemma" featuring Executive Producer Noah Hawley and Billy Bob Thornton
● Audio Commentary on "Eating the Blame" featuring Executive Producer Noah Hawley and Billy Bob Thornton
● Audio Commentary on "The Heap" featuring Executive Producer Noah Hawley and Allison Tolman
● This is a True Story
● Greetings From Bemidji
● Shades of Green
● Deleted Scenes

Fargo Season 1 Blu-ray
Street Date: October 14, 2014
Prebook Date: September 10, 2014
Screen Format: Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD-MA
Spanish 5.1 DD
Subtitles: English/Spanish/French
Total Run Time: 541 minutes
U.S. Rating: TV-MA
Closed Captioned: Yes

Fargo Season 1 DVD
Street Date: October 14, 2014
Prebook Date: September 10, 2014
Screen Format: Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DD
Spanish 5.1 DD
Subtitles: English/Spanish/French
Total Run Time: 541 minutes
U.S. Rating: TV-MA
Closed Captioned: Yes

[sukebanboy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sukebanboy]

Seems like SEASON 2 will be a PREQUEL series.....

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

Since everyone is hyping this so much, I just bought the first season on DVD as it was on sale. I shall report back when I have seen it.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

I loved the first episode. Never saw the rest because someone canceled my recording so they could record My Five wives or some other shit off TLC.

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

Two episodes in, I am intreagued but not amazed. I shall continue with a couple more tonight and see how I feel. I will report back here from time to time until I have made up my mind on this.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Took me a few to get into it.

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

So I finnished this. Liked it. Didn't love it. It was a bit overhyped. It moved at to slow a pace, and the accents and rural setting humour got a bit worn by the last episode. But overall it was a nice little story.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I'm almost done with the first season and have enjoyed this for the most part. I like the pace, and the narrative flows very nicely. I can't watch more than one or two episodes in quick succession though. The rural stereotypes grate after a while, and I'm finding Tolman's performance as Molly a little too filled with 'quirk' (I have to agree with Dom about when television does 'quirky'); I'm always glad when the show cuts back to Malvo or Gus Grimley (whose hangdog expression anchors much of the show after the mid-way point, I feel). Freeman's character is the show's true monster, imo, and watching him develop is fascinating.