At the Hotel

I thought this show was all right. It was more understated in it's comedy but it was worth watching with a nice story and some decent writing and acting. A lot better than most other Canadian shows out there recently.

This is a very Canadian weirdness of a mini-series, more redolent of the BBC mini-series 'The Singing Detective' with Michael Gambon than the US movie of the same name starring Robert Downey Jr.

Alternately, it might be the result of an unrevealed collaboration between two famous Neils: Simon and Gaiman.

Humour darker than black, musical interludes (two of them entirely extra-narrative), deep political and familial machinations, faithful retainers and light-fingered staff, sexual and ethical misconduct, some murders and other less tidy deaths... all against a backdrop of elegant refinement and subdued lighting.

You really have to watch it from the beginning to follow any of the tangled character arcs.

I could have given it an 8 overall, but for a couple of directorial decisions that I found weakened the overall effect. I might watch it again, now that I know what's going on from the start, and see if the director's rationale makes more sense.

Just finished watching it (at 2:33 am, after promising myself I'd only watch 1, instead of the last 3 episodes). Absolutely fantastic.

I've never really been a fan of Finkeleman, but this truly is a great work. The cast is marvelous, the plot brilliantly layered, with characters and stories moving in and out, with a few overall plot threads tying it all together. It's definitely a very different kind of program. Characters break out into musical numbers, there are supernatural occurrences, and other such nonsense (which, of course, make sense in the context of this show).

If you watch the first episode, I guarantee you'll be drawn in, and by the end you'll have enjoyed every minute of it. I highly recommend it for fans of quirky humour/drama.

P.S. Canadian film fans will get a kick out of naming all the guest stars (I won't spoil names - which the cast list here does anyway - but it's more fun to pick them out as they appear in various episodes)