Huw Saunders

London

Author/Editor at Cultured Vultures

Strong opinions, some of which can be expressed in words.

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Articles

Homer Sapiens: The Simpsons' American Idiot

Jul 4, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

Mayor Quimby: Are these morons getting dumber or just louder? Aide: Dumber, sir. – “Much Apu About Nothing”Professor Lawrence Pierce of the University of Chicago gave voice to a similar sentiment when he wrote in to The Simpsons, saying he thought Homer Simpson got stupider every year. (“That’s not a question, professor!”) The Simpsons has now been on the air for over thirty years.
Hermes Conrad: The Maniac of Futurama

Jul 3, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

You may already be thinking ‘really? Futurama‘s resident bureaucrat, the stuffedest of shirts, a maniac?’, and in principle I agree with you. But mania isn’t just hacking down doors with an axe, and that’s certainly not Hermes Conrad’s MO. Not, at least, without having filed hatchet requisition forms and an application to liquidate the door first.
5 Biggest New TV Shows Of July 2024

Jun 27, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

July it is, and sure enough one of the upcoming shows this month is actually called ‘Sunny’. Had there also been a documentary called ‘Scorcher’ and a farce called ‘Weekend at Margate’ on the slate, this column would basically have written itself. But there is a certain amount of seaside Punch-and-Judy fun to be had this coming month, not least in a historo-drama about Roman gladiators (very much the end-of-the-pier seaside entertainments of their time). 1.
The Big Cigar: Season 1 REVIEW - Stubbed Out

Jun 18, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

“The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat”– ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, Gil-Scott HeronHow best to depict the life and times of Huey P. Newton, the charismatic leader of the Black Panther Party? According to The Big Cigar, it’s by reducing him to an ancillary character within his own story, a man with seemingly no free will who exists to be acted upon by others.
The Outlaws: Season 3 REVIEW - Another Day At The Office

Jun 6, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

This third instalment of The Outlaws – Bristol’s own motley crew – is tricky to lay judgement upon. It’s falling into the formulaic, it’s the third round of by and large the same setup, so yes, this is familiar territory. But the territory is still one that’s very enjoyable. In large part, it’s an exercise in seeing how long Stephen Merchant can play out the same rope.
5 Biggest New TV Shows Of June 2024

Jun 3, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

For fear of filling up these lists with the latest season of some big beast – this June sees the return of House Of The Dragon, for instance – I always try to limit myself to full-on premieres and new properties. Unfortunately, it seems the industry very much saw me coming, and this month sees a sequel show, a remake of a film from the ’90s, a spiritual remake of a cancelled show from Mexico, and the latest Star Wars thing.
Kif Kroker: Zapp Brannigan’s Buddy

May 31, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

Matt Groening’s shows The Simpsons and Futurama are, for the characters therein, in many cases tales of their declines. Mr Burns went senile, Flanders became a religious nut, and Homer Simpson, as Professor Lawrence Pierce of the University of Chicago memorably put it, got stupider every year. When Futurama rolled around, Fry, that show’s own main man, went through a similar process of dumbening – but rattled through this process a great deal faster.
The Responder: Season 2 REVIEW - Intense After Dark

May 10, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

Contra a thinkpiece I wrote in 2022 – in which I stretched a little too hard drawing comparisons between the first season of The Responder and Disco Elysium – Martin Freeman’s professionally exhausted nightshift copper hasn’t magically solved all his problems. In fact, he’s adroit at ginning up new ones, often with hilarious consequences. Yes, it’s more of the same, but that same is quite good.
5 Biggest New TV Shows Of May 2024

Apr 30, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

May Day is traditionally a day of workers’ celebration – so instead of that, May’s new raft of shows are taking on every angle of that narrative favourite the criminal investigation, be it the investigators themselves, the perp fleeing, the unfortunate victim, the victim’s unhappy family, or even the inevitable rubberneckers making a podcast about the events, May has it all.
Shogun: Season 1 REVIEW - Culture War

Apr 26, 2024 | culturedvultures.com | Huw Saunders

In spite of Game Of Thrones’s collapse from grace, TV hasn’t stopped looking for the next one – not least by going ahead with the prequel. So, in making Shogun, a tale of flawed, ambitious figures that’s full of court intrigue and teases a big, explosive climax from minute one, are Disney showing their hands a bit too much? In all honesty, Shogun lacks Thrones’s sprawl, there’s not the wide cascade of factions who all have their own merchandise.