Friday, May 18th, 2012
Fans of Aurelio Zen played so well by Rufus Sewell are fuming. Some want to indulge in displays of emotion to cause traffic chaos near the Colosseum. Or at least make eye-watering abusive hand-gestures Italian-style to new BBC controller Danny Cohen. Who laughably, wants more ‘blue collar’ style dramas on a channel which is staffed without a working class person in plain sight!
The show enjoyed good write-ups and good ratings – similar to those of Wallander, which was made by the same production company, Left Bank. Yet for some reason, this won’t cut it.
What a waste, say aficionados of the well-placed but principled detective who might not be the slickest but gets the job done. While corrupt colleagues are placing bets on who’ll be first to bed the secretary. Actually it’s Zen who pulls this off too. But some guys don’t have all the luck. Easy-to-relate-to Zen was living with his mama beforehand!
Happily, there’s now reason to believe that Zen is migrating – just as the detective did from his native Venice to Rome. For Left Bank is quite rightly locked in talks with other networks with a view to continuing the series. And let’s hope it is successful.
It’s bad enough that Rome’s finest had to hand in his badge in the first place. But the thought that he’ll never get another gig? Now that really would be a crime.
Do UK readers want to see Aurelio Zen back on his Roman beat? Or would you prefer to see your licence fee spent on more repeats? Comments welcome
Related posts:
Tags: aurelio zen, bbc detective, Colosseum, Danny Cohen, ladolce vita, Left Bank, Rome, Rufus Sewell, Venice, Wallander, zen
I agree. Axing Rufus, how dare they!
Of course we want Aurelio Zen back on the screen. I’m still furious at the Beeb to even think of axing such a classy, humorous, stylish and well-written series – to say nothing of gorgeous Rufus Sewell in smart suits!
Commiting a crime is not far from my mind. To axe Zen was a capital crime itself.
I want Aurelio back too. I’m usually not a crime/mystery fan but this had the exact right mixture of crime and suspense and romance and of course gorgeous Rufus Sewell.
A crime indeed to axe Zen. I hope another channel picks it up and we can continue to enjoy the wonderful production. Danny Cohen is evidently drumming down the BBC and can’t appreciate a quality made programme, even when it is right in front of him. Shame on you BBC!
I am absolutley furious about the bbc axing Zen I have been complaining everywhere. I also phoned the complaints at bbc. Also points of view and every blog. Can somebody tell me how the bbc are getting away with this when we the viewers are paying dannyboys wages. I am so angry at the bbc i have not watched any bbc channels since. Bring back the wonderfull Zen.
i also have been absolutely furious about the bbc axing ‘zen’ and i also having been complaining as much as possible. ‘zen’ was a really classy, stylish, entertaining, intelligent programme. really original and with the excellent rufus sewell – so missing from our tv screens since ‘charles II’ and ‘the taming of the shrew’. of course we shall now all be stunned with ‘exciting new projects’ featuring the ‘eastenders/holby/casualty/spooks’ etc, etc, same old tired faces. yawn, yawn, blah, blah, same old lowest common denominator, poor quality drivel. danny cohen you are a fool and we pay the fee, listen up, it’s over your time to go.
Family Guy….American Dad….Hotter Than My Daughter….Snog Marry Avoid?….Two Pints of Lager. With Friday nights a Groundhog Day Hell of this pap back-to-back….this is BBC3, the legacy of Danny Cohen who’s now running BBC1 and recently ‘making his mark’, axed both Lark Rise…and Zen. Yet another who’s been chasing the ‘youth audience’ this time at BBC3 and has won plaudits for doing just that. And yes, perhaps BBC1 has too many ‘bonnet’ dramas but in the wake of ‘Spiral, Wallander, The Killing, Inspector Montalban, there’s an obvious audience for crafted, thoughtful, whisper it, ‘european’ character-driven programmes. So axing Zen is a classic mistake…new boy in the room, knee jerk response. And why does the BBC have this obsession with youth audiences and ratings? It’s not as if the BBC is a commercial channel needing to prove to advertisers that it’s programming justifies advertising rates.
Jana Bennett, the director of BBC Vision said of Cohen “He has a deep understanding of public service broadcasting and a finely developed sense of what audiences of all ages are looking for, things which are hugely important as controller of the UK’s most popular channel.” Where does he get this ‘understanding’? Did he ask the audience? Obviously not. Like most of the BBC, they have no interest in listening to their audiences at any level, why should they? They’re funded by a public they routinely ignore, they do what they like with licence payers money (er 400 staff to Glastonbury? 437 staff to Bejing olympics? . They run it like a personal fiefdom with no consideration for the public. Who co-incidentally, pay their inflated salaries. Wake up BBC….it’s the digital age. Time to listen.
I am absolutely fuming that the BBC have decided to decommission the new series of Zen. What a fabulous, stylish, refreshing new programme, revitalising our Sunday evenings. Everyone that I know enjoyed it and was eagerly looking forward to seeing more. The arrogance of Danny Cohen to ignore the viewing public who pay his fat salary is incomprehensible. Rufus Sewell is excellent in the part of Aurelio Zen as are the other members of the cast making this a must be made future series. We are all waiting for someone to give the go ahead to put it back on our t.v. screens. Goodbye to the BBC if all they can muster up is Waking the Dead on a Sunday and Monday evenings. Yawn…