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IFC Films released an alternate version of THE TRIP's poster.

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Every Thursday, media savant T Tara Turk goes deep inside cable TV to reveal Video On Demand's Hidden Gems so even the busiest of our readers can get the most out of On Demand TV. Tell Tara what VOD shows you think deserves her attention.

6 Shows You Won't Demand This Summer (VOD Hidden Gem)
By T. Tara Turk

Last week I gave you some shows that you might be very happy demanding while you’re soaking in the glow of a summer finally here (and either a heat that might kill you or a humidity that might wish you were dead or in Antartica). This week there are a few shows that I think you might not demand no matter how hot or how much you can’t breathe outside and why.

Bad Girls Club (Oxygen)
The only reason this show should still be on is if you’re teaching your daughter how NOT to be when she grows up. Each season, the antics get more embarrassing and closer to arrest warrant behavior. The real tragedy? These girls think they are reality stars.

Entourage (HBO)
It’s the last season I know so I shouldn’t really have this on the list except for the fact that it should’ve ended a season or two ago. Vince and the gang have gone through a lot and most of it has been enjoying (though I don’t love the explicit for no reason sex seasons thanks) with the cameos and the name dropping and privelage.

Will you die if you don’t see another season of the same? No. Should HBO make a movie starring Vince for some real meta tripping? Yes!

Bachelor Pad (ABC)
I’m in a minority because I hate “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” I find watching regular people on dates uncomfortable so several people competing for one they don’t know on television no less is incredibly uncomfortable. I’d rather watch a webisode of eHarmony dates.

But a second season of these fame diggers competing for money under one roof? The spotlight withdrawl they are set up for is going to be tremendous. Please someone call Dr. Drew.

To read the full list and learn our DEMAND IT, RISK IT or SKIP IT grade, sign up for On Demand Weekly's Free Email Newsletter

 

 

- T. Tara Turk


T. Tara Turk is a novelist/playwright/screenwriter, living in LA with her boyfriend and dog - all three successful TV addicts. You can find her at www.ttaraturk.com or follow her on Twitter @ttaraturk.

 

 

 

 

More VOD Hidden Gems...

The West Indies cricketing team of the '70s/'80s will forever be recognised in history as one of the greatest teams in the world, performing on the field at an outstanding level, playing with a symbolic declaration against racism and fighting for equality. Did you ever put down the success on the field to luck?
I can tell you, we worked hard enough to get where we wanted to get at that time. It wasn‟t a luck thing. This was all about the fact that we were fitter, [had a] sense of professionalism and also there was a sense of all that pride, and putting that combination of all those things together created that team.

Your team's success was during a time of race-riots, civil unrest and Apartheid. Did you feel all that happening when you were on the field and how did you use the game to not just overcome it, however help other people suffering this injustice?
You are conscious [of it], everywhere where you had suffering of people of your colour, South Africa, wherever, I always felt conscious about it. For anyone in the team who wasn‟t aware of some of this stuff that was going on worldwide and where we, as people were on the wrong end of the stick most times, it was pretty common for me to try as an individual, to try and instil some of this belief – what we are here for and what we can achieve. We have an avenue to accomplish that and that avenue is the god-given talent we were given through the game of cricket.

So that was one way of sending that message that I think we are on an equal par in here, not superior or inferior in any way but on a level par.

As well as your cricketing talent, you are held in great esteem for refusing to play in South Africa during the apartheid, despite them offering you a „blank cheque.‟ How important was it for you to take a stand as a West Indian Cricketer and publically reject the regime?
At that time they were rather desperate because they were starved of international cricketers or sportsmen of high standards.

I think [they] felt confident that I would sign but I wanted to find out a few things - one of the things that was on the table was being an „honorary white‟. How can a black man be an honorary white man? No money in this world would help me go to South Africa in that sense. If I was to give them my natural status. I was going to sit anywhere on a train I wanted to sit. I was going to go anywhere that I wanted to go. That is the privilege of human beings so there were a few things on the table that just didn‟t feel right.

When we look at the South Africa situation, I was offered a lot of money to tour that part of the world [but] because of what was going on in South Africa in terms of the apartheid regime… all that to me whatever you achieve as a cricketer, I would like to think that is one of my greatest innings – rather than scoring that at Lords or the ARG - to have made such a significant contribution, it may be tiny, but having said no to the apartheid regime in South Africa, not going, that to me is worth more than any triple century, double century whatever, the fastest century. And that is outside the border of cricket of where cricket is concerned – cricket gave me the platform for that.

The West Indies is a collection of several islands, however when people talk about it, they often refer to the nations represented in the West Indies Cricket team. As citizens of different countries, did you feel united on the field not only playing the game, but also representing unity and fighting against persecution?

I can tell you one thing is [that] when we are playing and got on that field we put aside all the differences and the issues that the islands had, and to me I felt at the time what our politicians couldn‟t achieve we could… and did actually, in the end. Bringing that force together, uniting that region together itself. Wherever the West Indies were performing, wherever we were, the closeness of all the islands, all in partnership wanting to know what went on. I think our team played a lot in the so-called integrating factor. Whoever said sport is not a powerful force?

I can tell you that sport is seriously powerful because I have been involved in that to see the transformation of individuals who come speaking to you, individuals who are passionately tell you how much they enjoy what you guys are doing out there because collectively everyone could speak as a unit. The West Indies cricket did that more than anything else in my opinion.

I felt that, I felt a huge responsibility. Because whenever you perform, I could always imagine the noise of the various islands. I could see, just visually see the passion and how people felt about the achievement.

With colonialism, the English also brought over cricket, which essentially the West Indies used to battle them. Did it make you and the team feel proud by beating them at their own game?
Well you shouldn‟t have been the colonial master that you did, then by coming and giving us an opportunity to [learn]. So we were fortunate to be given an opportunity and help through our colonial past to play the game – and this is the opportunity that you gave us! How I look at it in this light is that having invaded our land you left a game and we became reasonably good at it. That‟s one benefit! [smiles]

You should look at it that way, that you actually had a foot in it. Rather than be totally ignorant to the fact of what are these guys doing in this game of cricket and been doing this and doing that. You should be satisfied you gave us the opportunity – these are things you expected to do especially when you were colonial masters then and these are the things you should have done and did and should feel proud of.

Viv Richards / FIRE IN BABYLON (Tribeca Film)

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: THE TRIP (IFC Films).

Stay At Home For THE TRIP On Demand
By Chris Claro

From star vehicles A MIGHTY HEART and JUDE to curiosity CODE 46 and the sexually explicit 9 SONGS, Michael Winterbottom’s filmography feels like the Netflix queue of a blindfolded, maybe drunk subscriber.

Michael Winterbottom / THE TRIP (IFC Films)

Winterbottom’s latest, THE TRIP, does nothing to dispel the director’s aura of eclecticism. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon star as “themselves,” traversing the English countryside on a restaurant review tour. Between meals, Coogan deals with relationship issues and charms every woman he meets, it seems. The minimally plotted film is a pared-down rendition of the partially improvised six-episode series that aired in the UK.

Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon / THE TRIP (IFC Films)

A shambling study of the ennui of the privileged, with an ancillary, airless story, THE TRIP earns its comparison to CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM in its willingness to show Coogan as a bit of a prick. While Brydon is happily married and riding shotgun on a lark, Coogan is burdened not only with problems at home, but his desire to be taken more seriously as an actor.

The scenes that deal with the actor’s insecurity are the film’s most ponderous, and Coogan’s self-regard would be insufferable if not for his facility as a comic. THE TRIP is at its best when Winterbottom lets his actors breathe as they shuttle from one eatery to the next. Coogan and Brydon are adept mimics, and their caricatures of Sean Connery, Richard Burton, and Anthony Hopkins, are stinging, spot-on impressions.

Both men also do a deadly Michael Caine, but each attacks the performance, hilariously, from a completely different angle.

The Movies On Demand (MOD) July preview has arrived. Highlights of the new release schedule of Independent films for July, 2011 include two infamous “road trip” documentaries: MAGIC TRIP about the famed author Ken Kesey’s legendary psychedelic bus trip and CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP, O’Brien’s 32-city comedy tour after he was fired from "The Tonight Show." Cable viewers can catch many of these before or same day they hit theaters or DVD.