You may have recently read an admission of mine in a previous post, that I've got a soft spot for Sienna Miller. I don't base my choice on anything she's done recently because, frankly, I haven't seen any of it. What I have seen, though, is Fiona Bickerton on the sadly short-lived series, Keen Eddie.Keen Eddie followed American Detective Eddie Arlette (Mark Valley of Boston Legal) who, after screwing up a drug bust back in the States, is sent to help Scotland Yard clean up the mess his mistake brought to London. Along with his assigned British police partner, Inspector Monty Pippin (Julian Rhind-Tutt), Eddie solves the case and is asked to stay with Scotland Yard.
The interesting characters on the show:
Fiona (of course), the daughter to the woman whom Eddie rented his apartment from. Because she's fooling her parents into thinking she's "at university," she needs a place to stay: the same apartment. And because Eddie knows that she's lying to her parents, Fiona has to put up with him and his cat hating, Eddie hating, everything but sleep hating, bull terrier dog, Pete.
Monty Pippin, Eddie's partner. He has a thing for attending wife-swapping parties in and around London. The thing is, the woman he's bringing with him isn't his wife, and she's into the parties, too.
Carol Ross (aka, Miss Moneypenny), the assistant to Superintendent Nathaniel Johnson. Eddie always seems to hear her say something incredibly sexual related at almost every meeting, though nobody else seems to hear what he's hearing.
Johnny Red and One-Ball Bill, owners of the American and Scottish Sticky Wicket Inn. Johnny's Scottish. Bill's American. Because they are co-owners of said pub, and they can't agree on what kind of pub it should be, there's a tape line right through the middle of the place -- one side American, the other side Scottish. While these characters aren't in many episodes, I just loved when they came back into play.
Keen Eddie has/had quite a following, and many were sad to see it go. I'm not sure I know anyone who'd watched at least a couple of episodes and didn't love it. Thankfully, all of the episodes are available on DVD, though it's only a measley 13. I'd hoped it would come back again some day, though Valley's addition to Boston Legal was that real final matchbook on the Keen Eddie map.
Best episode to catch: Episode five, "Sucker Punch"
Quote of the series: "Hey. I'm Eddie. How do you like me so far?"
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2005 @ 9:47AM
Brady Simmons said...
My wife and I loved this show. To bad it was on Fox (e.g. Family Guy, John Doe, Firefly, Futurama, soon to be Arrested Development, etc.). I also think that Sienna Miller had a much better "look" on this show than she has now.
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12-07-2005 @ 10:28AM
Tina said...
I LOVED this show from episode one and even tried to follow it to cable; but alas they yanked it there too. Eddie was hot, Pippin was a stich, and I even liked the Head Inspector who quite funny in his own way.
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12-07-2005 @ 10:42AM
Mark Allen said...
I didn't find the show until it ran on Bravo, and became quite a fan. While the DVD collection is sadly lacking in extras (and lacks the original music), it remains one of my favorites.
Mark Valley is simply gorgeous, and Sienna Miller is terrific.
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12-07-2005 @ 11:06AM
Toby OB said...
Eddie Arlette is a character who should come back if for no other reason than to rescue a great actor like Mark Valley from being wasted on 'Boston Legal'.
FOX bears most of the blame in my opinion as to why the show failed. But as with 'Arrested Development', I also blame the audience.
I've always pictured the general mass of the viewing public (but not you, fellow Squad visitors!) as being thrown for a loop by the kinetic visual style of 'Keen Eddie'. They probably tuned in, thinking "English police show..... slow, leisurely pace like 'Morse' or 'A Touch of Frost'."
Probably suffered a bit of vertigo or whiplash from the camerawork!
If not an actual series, why not an occasional TV movie like FOX did for 'Alien Nation' for awhile?
Thank God for the DVDs!
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12-07-2005 @ 11:13AM
Keith McDuffee said...
Oh, I meant to mention this in my post. Was it just me, or did anyone else think the camerawork in the movie 'Shawn of the Dead' was reminicent of 'Keen Eddie'? Especially the scene where the two guys are trying to figure out what they'll do to rescue their family and friends and wind up back at their favorite pub, drinking a pint.
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12-07-2005 @ 12:01PM
doc said...
Nice summary of Keen Eddie. I do have two minor technical gripes though. I think Eddie was actually renting his place from Fiona's aunt. And didn't the driver of Eddie's Bentley hear Miss Moneypenny?
I agree with Toby that the audience should take part of the blame for Eddie's cancellation. However, I don't think it is because it wasn't what they thought it was going to be. I think they probably never saw it. I don't know why, when we have listings in every major newspaper and on countless websites, people can't be bothered to see what is on.
And count me as another that thinks Mark Valley is being wasted on Boston Legal. Finally, a quick short-lived shout out to another Mark Valley show, Pasadena. :D
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12-07-2005 @ 1:49PM
The Jeremy said...
I loved this show. Especially the Duran Duran themed episode.
Sienna Miller was absolutely hot in this. So much so that I bemoaned when I heard she was not cast as the female companion in the New Doctor Who (although Billie Piper won me over though).
And Colin Salmon rocks. If they ever went for a *multi-cultural* Bond, he'd get first dibs. Granted, he's already been in the franchise, but so was Q before he became Q. And I don't mean John Cleese either.
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12-07-2005 @ 9:51PM
Mark Rabinowitz said...
I agree that this was a fantastic show and I too bemaon its loss. Much like I do with Shannon's Deal. Now there's a "short-lived show" for ya!
Oh and The Jeremy, you're wrong about Desmond Llewelyn and being in Bond as 2 characters. The character he playing in From Russia With Love, Major Boothroyd, was Q's real name so, same character.
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12-07-2005 @ 10:21PM
doc said...
bemaon - verb
express discontent or sorrow over something using chinese curses that you learned by watching firefly
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12-08-2005 @ 6:01AM
Eliot Phillips said...
I'm sure Fox feels justified in their cancelation since they cut it mid season and pushed the OC up which became a roaring success.
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12-11-2005 @ 6:19PM
Mark Rabinowitz said...
Ha ha. Pick on a guy's typo!
:-p
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1-01-2006 @ 9:50PM
Susana said...
I also agree with you that Mark Valley is a great and handsome actor who is being wasted in Boston Legal. When I see him he reminds me of Bruce Willis in Moonlighting. Mark has a natural charm, he is very talented I just hope that some day he will be recognized as the great actor that he is. When I see the struggles of good actors like Mark I remember that there are other people who become famous or have a chance for an acting role in a big movie not for their skills but because they are related to other famous people, an example Tom Hank's son. This is very unfair but at the end it depends on the american people to do some justice and appreciate the good things.
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