by | May 6, 2011

Media Maven’s State of the Union Address

Dear friends and faithful readers!  It’s been nearly 6 months since I last deigned to sit at my computer at share with you my thoughts and feelings on, well, anything.  The time has come at last to break radio silence.

First, I’d like to kick of my State of the Union Address by offering you an explanation as to why I’ve been so neglectful in posting.  Simply put, American media — tv, film, and music — ain’t doin’ it for me right now.  Perennial TV favorites like 24 and Lost are gone.  Once strong pillars of comedy like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Office have grown stale and tired with age.  Great shows like Mad Men and Rescue Me have been on hiatus.  I haven’t been excited about or seen a great movie in months.  And I could fill the rest of this post with a rant about the sorry state of affairs in today’s music world.  But suffice it to say that I have not been posting because I have not been inspired to post.  There are a things here and there that have tickled me (we’ll get to those), but generally, I’ve been out of the flow because it seems like what was a golden age of TV just a few years ago has almost completely dried up, and the film industry has essentially decided to leave January-May for nothing but the lamest of fare.

There is, however, a silver lining.  Let me take you through the tv series I have enjoyed since last I posted and some of the series I am currently enjoying.   This, in my opinion, is the best of what tv has had to offer over the last six months:

What WAS good:

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena – This 6 episode prequel to last year’s “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” was outstanding.  Like the original, this season featured terrific acting across the board, high levels of intense drama, explosive scenes of sex and violence, and insanely top notch writing.   Gods of the Arena actually took the blood and sex a whole new level — I haven’t seen that many threesomes on TV since might nighttime in middle school Cinemax days.  And the complex plots (by Battiatus) and plot twists were second to none, perhaps even sharper than in Season 1.  But what really set the show apart was its brilliant use of the prequel format.  When I posted about the film Inception, I said that what I loved most about it was that I’d never seen a film make such full and glorious use of the cinematic format — it gave you everything the medium of film could possibly offer as a form of creative expression.  Likewise, Spartacus took full advantage of the prequel format in a way I’d never seen before on any level, by taking the two most important elements of a prequel and knocking them both out of the park.

The real fun and intrigue of the prequel format comes in two places: Chiefly, you have the “ohhh, so THAT’S why ___ is ___ now” factor.  As in “ohhh, so that’s why Crixus’ hair is so short now!” or “ohhh, so that’s why Asher’s crippled”, etc.  Gods of the Arena had me “ohhhh”ing at ludicrously high rate.  But there is also the complimentary element of “Okay, we know ___ has to end up like ___,” and Gods of the Arena played with this idea in a way more satisfying than any I’ve ever seen.  We knew Animeus had to end up Doctore, but how?  We knew Crixus had to go from bottom of the food chain to champion of Capua, but how?  And best of all, we knew Gannacus had to disappear before the season ended, and the writers threw in the absolute perfect twist/solution, that left everyone content. (SPOILER – Gannacus is an actual figure from history who had a large part to play in the Spartacus rebellion, so I dare say we haven’t seen the last of him!)

Sadly, Andy Whitfield, the actor who plays Spartacus, is battling cancer – the same cancer that forced the producers to think up this Spartacus-less prequel.  The role has been recast, however, and Season 2 (or 3, whatever you want to call it) of Spartacus will be back… but not until 2012.  Major bummer.  I’d say that Spartacus: Gods of the Arena was the best 6 hours of tv I watched all winter.

Top Chef All-Stars  – One of, if not THE, best seasons of Top Chef ever.  The level of competition was ridiculously high, the challenges of the wall insane, and the level of personal investment in the contestants at an all-time high.  With certain reality shows, like the current season of The Amazing Race (more on that in a bit), an all-star season can mean a more boring season — the participants know the game much better, are much better equipped to deal with challenges, and have smoothed out their mistakes from the first time through.  For Top Chef All-Stars, the producers combated this potentially boring comfort zone by taking the game to a whole new level.  From challenges like cooking a dish based on your genealogy, to catching your own fish at sea,  the “cheftestants” (LUDICROUS compound word of the 21st century), were hounded at every turn.  The personalities and storylines of the competitors were engrossing and well documented, the guest judges terrific, and the finale as suspenseful as any I’ve ever seen on this program.  Just an all-around terrific season from one of TV’s finest and most consistent reality programs.

Boardwalk Empire – I regret that I never posted about this rich and exciting HBO series while it was on — I know a lot of you probably gave up on the show after a few episodes, and I might’ve counseled you to stick with it.  Yes, it was a bit of slow burner — certain storylines took quite a while to develop, and the momentum leading into the sizzling season finale didn’t really pick up until the 4th or 3rd to last episode.  But once the show picked up speed, it was rocking and rolling, and the finale set the stage for an awesome second season — nearly everyone’s allegiance is in question at this point, no one is telling the truth, and of course, you have the quintessential element of nearly every HBO drama — the characters are NEVER cut and dry, good or evil, black or white.  There’s a little bit of good and a little bit of bad in all of us, and that’s reflected quite satisfyingly in Boardwalk Empire, especially in its central protagonist, Enoch Thompson (Steve Buscemi).  The guy is charitable, polite, sensitive, compassionate… and a greedy, ruthless, and crafty crime boss.  Everyone else is a variation of the same — and these twisted, unpredictable, and fickle characters make for some damn good tv.  Can’t wait for season two next fall.

Dexter/Big Love/Walking Dead/Breaking Bad – I’m a season behind on all four of these shows.  Super lame, but I suppose that’s what summer is for.  I can’t comment on how any of these most reason seasons were, but I’ll bet they were good!  Just wanted to explain why they weren’t being mentioned.

What IS good:

Survivor: Redemption Island – Yes, I’m leading off with a reality show, and currently, one of only two shows I simply must watch the night it airs because I can’t wait another second between episodes.  I don’t care if you’ve never watched Survivor, you’ve always watched Survivor, or if, like me, you used to watch then gave it up after a while — this season has been absolutely outstanding.  From the second Russell and Boston Rob appeared on the island and were assigned to their respective tribes, the show has had its foot on the gas and has never let up.  In my opinion, what makes any given season of Survivor interesting is how many different ways the game is being played — the more varied the approaches of the individual participants, the more explosive and exciting the game will be.  This season, we have had the pleasure of watching a half dozen different approaches to the game play out: we had Russell, Stephanie, and Krista try to play the game Russell’s way — didn’t work out so hot for them… because of the way the rest of Zapatera chose to play.  They formed an alliance against their own tribe and THREW A CHALLENGE to get rid of Russell, which opened the door for Omatepe to pull off the greatest massacre of a rival tribe in Survivor history.  You’ve got Matt, aka blond surfer Jesus, who has only spent 7 of his 30 days in the actual game, and basically a month by himself on Redemption Island.  Insane!!  He is TERRIBLE at actually playing the game of Survivor, but he is awesome at surviving, which means he actually IS good at Survivor (follow that?).  The way Matt played himself back onto Redemption Island was mind-boggling to watch and made for incredible television.  Next there’s Grant, Natalie and Ashley, three of the Omatepe Six, who have competed hard in challenges (Grant in particular has straight dominated several) and been perfect soldiers under the Boston Rob regime.

And then we have the heart of this season, Phillip and Boston Rob.  Phillip may be the craziest or the smartest player ever, it’s impossible to tell at this point.  Who is the Phillip to believe?  The one who lucidly tells the camera that the entire “batshit crazy” thing is totally an act to ensure he makes it to the final with Rob?  Or the one who puts a feather in his headband, speaks of dream messages from his dead ancestors, and insists he was a high-ranking CIA agent?  It’s literally impossible to know at this point.  Either way, Phillip has made for some absolutely amazing television – I could watch this dude play Survivor every year.  And then you have Boston Rob, who has, without any shred of doubt, proved himself to be the best player in the history of Survivor.  The dude has straight dominated this season — he has essentially handpicked the elimination of every single player eliminated from the game, he has his allies following his every word, he’s had a hidden immunity idol for weeks, he’s won a bunch of challenges (none more important than this week’s, which was simply an epic finish), and his to-camera confessionals are  a window into the mind of a genius.    If zombies wiped out our world and we needed someone to lead the survivors, I’d want Boston Rob to be the first mayor of New Town.  He is the Michael Jordan of Survivor — he just plays the game on another level, and no one will ever surpass him.  But there still remains the ultimate mystery and drive of the season: Does being the best mean that Rob is going to win?  There are no guarantees, and it wouldn’t be the first time Rob’s played a great game only to lose it all.  The producers are capitalizing on their sparkling gem of a cast to give us a wild ride week in and week out.  Also, Jeff Probst has been KILLING IT — his “group therapy” at tribal council following the Steve/Phillip racial blowout was nothing short of masterful.  I frickin’ love this show.

The Killing – Speaking of “killing it”, AMC’s new dark and gritty crime drama has me hooked.  AMC has essentially reached HBO status in my book — if they make it, I’ll watch it.  Their track record for original dramas is impeccable (I didn’t watch Rubicon, but those who did loved it) and The Killing is no exception.  The pilot was a bit slow, but episodes 2-4 flew by in a flurry of clues, red herrings, macguffins, you name it.  I thought last week’s episode lost some momentum, and I think that  the Richmond campaign will always be slow and somewhat uninteresting until it ties in more obviously with the Larson murder,  but I’m still loving the show.  It’s graciously un-talky for a cop show — no clammy cop banter, no chit chat around the office or in the car — heck, there’s hardly much talking at all.  Just lots of fascinating detective work, lots of lying, and lots of grieving.  The show is not for the faint of heart — the whole thing is centered around the question “Who Killed Rosie Larson?”, so if the brutal murder of a teenage girl and the subsequent suffering of her grieving family is too much for you to handle, obviously this isn’t the show for you.  But if you can handle the darkness, I promise it’s well worth the ride.

The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business/Top Chef Masters – Both of these shows are franchises I love. I just don’t love their current iterations.  I still watch both religiously, and certainly do enjoy them, but I think these seasons in particular are somewhat lackluster.  I mentioned before why I feel Amazing Race is not up to its usual level of amazingness — the competitors are too well versed in the game by now and too similar to one another — All the teams are either parent/child or young, same-sex friends (Kynt and Vyxsin are dating, but still of an age with everyone else; and Kisha and Jen are sisters, but still).  It’s too homogeneous, the competitiveness between the remaining teams to friendly, and the challenges (aside from last week’s foray into the Alps) have been most unmemorable.  Top Chef Masters will never be Top Chef, but this season in particular has been a bit soft.  It seems the level of “Master” has dropped since seasons 1 + 2 — while all the chefs are successful and renowned, few (if any) are considered to truly be at the very top of the culinary world.  The judges as well can’t hold a candle to the Top Chef regulars, though I think Curtis has been an excellent host and a nice upgrade from last year.  Perhaps things will heat up as the field of competitors dwindles, but for now, to steal a culinary term, the show is a bit undercooked (kill me).  However, despite, these shortcomings, both shows remain entertaining and, along with Survivor,  are the only reality shows I watch.

Community – The only comedy doing anything original right now.  Sometimes they take a crack at something and whiff big time, but more often then not, they’re smashing dingers out of all the ballpark.  There has never been a tv series in the history of television that shift its narrative paradigm from episode to episode.  They play with all the cliches and tropes of film and television in such a fresh and fun way that it makes the show fun to watch no matter what.  My one gripe is that the characters aren’t funny enough across the board — the sum is much greater than the individual parts.  The show is much bigger than its leads–  in fact, quite often, the biggest laughs come from recurring characters like Leonard, Starburns, the Dean, and John Oliver (does his character even have a name?).    But the real joy is in the show itself — one week it’s in claymation, one week it’s a fake clip show, one week is a western-style paintball war.  You never know what you’re gonna get, but it’s always gonna be entertaining.  And for the record, Chevy is killing it.

Game of Thrones – The other show besides Survivor that I simply must watch the night it airs, Game of Thrones is a dream come true for me.  The George R.R. Martin books upon which the series is based are my favorite books of all time.  The fictional world of Westeros is as rich and complex as our own, it’s characters all so distinctive, fully realized, and flawed — like us.  The sweeping plot twists and turns with seemingly reckless abandon, though of course it’s all brilliantly connected and as suspenseful and gripping as fiction can get.  The highest compliment I can pay the series is that it’s doing the books justice.  Thank god HBO is behind it, because I can’t imagine anyone else getting it right.  Visually, it’s as perfect an interpretation of Martin’s vision as you could ever hope for.  The cast is terrific, the writing economical and sharp, and the story unparalleled.  If you haven’t watched yet, please start.  It’s only been 3 episodes, so you’re not far behind.  If you’re looking for some summer reading, look no further.  I’m in the middle of re-reading the third book in the series (“A Storm of Swords”) in anticipation of the fifth book finally being released this July.  I’m enjoying this second read even more than first — it’s so damn satisfying, and like many before have said, it’s like crack on paper; I hate putting it down and look forward to picking it up again each night.  Great books, great series, great addition to the Sunday lineup — I’m a happy camper.

What did I miss?  What shows have you been loving?  Any movies?  Please leave a comment below!

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Filed under AMC, Boardwalk Empire, Bravo, CBS, Community, Game of Thrones, HBO, NBC, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Starz, Survivor, television, The Amazing Race, The Killing, Top Chef

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by | October 18, 2010

Mad Men – Season 4, Episode 13: “Tomorrowland”

This post doesn’t need to be long (it probably will be) because we’re all thinking the same thing:  a) Mad Men is so ludicrously head and shoulders above every other show on tv that they might as well just give them the next few years worth of Emmys in one shot, b) last night’s finale was totally and wonderfully insane and finely danced the border between believability and jumping the shark (more later) and c) Season Four of Mad Men was among the finest single season’s of television in recent memory.  It’s incredibly rare to find a show that gets better and better as the years go by — usually, the first season is the strongest and the following seasons are spent trying to regain that level of success.  But as with everything else, Mad Men broke the formula and gave us 13 weeks of riveting programming of the absolute finest quality.  We had the best episode ever (“The Suitcase“), we had one unpredictable plot twist after another, and we had characters flat out reinventing themselves 4 seasons into the series.  I could gush for an hour, so let’s just dive in:

- Betty Draper Francis — Obviously, Season 4 has not been the season of Betty.  We’ve only caught her in a scene or two each episode,  but when we have seen her, she has brought fire and fury into each and every moment.  It’s safe to say that Betty has done a complete turnaround from the woman she was at the beginning of this series.  She’s still immature, a big kid playing house, but her inability to deal with her problems in a calm and adult manner have blasted through her once sparkling exterior.  She makes her husband Henry, who is already the most reasonable man of the 1960′s, look downright saintly in comparison.  She feels so wronged all the time, like no one’s ever on her side, as Henry put it so succinctly last night. She ‘s a horrible, horrible mother to Sally, and in true Mad Men fashion, there’s enough colors and layers to Matthew Weiner’s writing and January Jones’ fierce portrayal to induce rampant speculation and analysis.  Is she jealous of young Sally’s youth and freedom?  Does she simply take out her frustration at her wildly changing life on Sally because it’s easy?  Does she resent Sally for the relationship she shared with Betty’s father Gene, who may or may not have molested Betty?  She fires poor Carla, she moves Sally away to keep her from making a friend, and at the end of the episode, manufactures a moment for her to be alone with Don.

It’s easy to point fingers at Don as a man who doesn’t know what he wants, as someone who bounces from fling to fling without worrying about the collateral damage.  But Betty is just as fickle, if not more so.  She’s unhappy in her marriage (and rightly so), but she sure doesn’t seem happy in her new life either.  Is Betty too broken to ever be happy?  Wait for Season 5…

-Peggy Olson — I wish we had more room for Peggy, but the finale relegated her to a small throwaway B-story with Ken, as they sign a new client for SCDP… I mean SDP.  However, as usual, Elisabeth Moss gives us a picture worth a thousand words as she hugs Don in his office.  What did her expression say?  Is she jealous of Megan’s new inside track through the business ranks?  Is she disappointed that she won’t be the new Mrs. Draper?  Is she content simply to be Don’s close friend and confidante?  Wait for Season 5…

-Harry Crane is a creepy weirdo.  Remember when Rich Sommer, who plays Harry, did a guest spot on The Office a few years back as Pam’s art school buddy and he was equally creepy and weird?  Guy’s cornered the market…

-Joanie Harris — She kept the baby!  Surprise, bitches!  Of any of the plot twists, this was the most predictable and I think they might’ve waited a bit too long to drop it on us.  I understand them wanting to reveal the news to us in a dramatic way by including it in the finale, but that faux-abortion was like four weeks ago, and at this point, it’s just not where the show’s focus is.  I would’ve rather seen Trudy Campbell give birth than watch this scene get oddly wedged into the episode.

-Dr. Faye Miller – I’m gonna miss this broad.  She seemed like exactly what Don needed– she’s intelligent, sensual, supportive, calm, pretty, blonde, professional.  So what was missing?  I’ll tell ya what..

-Megan Calvay — … she was too good for him!  Megan is perfect for Don because she’s everything Faye is, but she’s younger and more likely to bend to Don’s will.  She’s a great catch to be sure, but Don clearly doesn’t know a thing about her (“Can I tell your mother?”  “Do you speak French?”), and like Faye said, Don’s all about beginnings.  What happens to poor Megan when they’re not in romantic California, surrounded by smiling kids, spending their first blissful nights together? Wait for Season 5…

-Don Draper — I thought Jon Hamm killed it last night.  He took what could’ve been a totally unbelievable plot twist (it barely passed the believability test by a hair) and grounded it in reality.  I didn’t want to buy it at first — it felt like a shark jump, it was too fast, it made no sense… but Jon Hamm made it make sense to me.  I believed him.  I believed that he believed this to be the right move in his heart.  Is it insane?  Yes.  Is it going to end badly?  Probably, but there’s no way to know for sure.  Don is trying to be a better man, but old habits die hard.  I guess we’ll have to just… Wait for Season 5…

-And of course, John Slattery, as always, delivers the episode’s most hilarious lines– Don:“Miss Calvay and I are getting married.”  Roger: “Who the hell’s that?”   Don: “Megan.”   Roger: “Megan out there?” — Genius lines, genius delivery.

A terrific end to an outstanding A+ of a season.  It sucks that we won’t have another Mad Men for 9 months, but I do love the 13 episode seasons — its the perfect length to jam pack every episode with action and see the very strongest storylines through to their logical conclusions.  Congrats to everyone at Mad Men for an amazing year.  My Tivo and I will miss you desperately.

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by | September 24, 2010

Community: Season 2, Episode 1 — “Anthropology 101″

This is going to be a shorter post, but I had to get it out there: Community has cemented itself as my favorite of the NBC comedies.  It’s fresher and smarter than 30 Rock, it’s more surreal and clever than The Office and it’s got much hotter leading ladies than both (sorry, but it’s a factor!)

Last night’s premieres were very indicative of where these 3 series are right now.  The Office felt stale and precious to me.  I wasn’t a fan of the lip dub Office cold open — look how cute we are, we do internet videos as an office!  Eh.  And again, the only real comedy I loved came from Michael Scott, aka Steve Carrell, who is leaving the show after this season.  30 Rock, in my opinion, is finished.  I think they’ve mined all the gold they’re going to get out of that show and they’ve bled it dry.  They’ve got nothing left to give.

And then you’ve got Community.  The perfect blend of whimsy, absurdity, realism, diversity  and heart.  Now, last night’s episode was far from perfect.  I thought they went a little too far with Abed’s meta analysis, but that’s general an aspect of this show I adore.  A quick explanation — “meta” refers to moments when the reality of the characters in the show purposefully comments on or mirrors the reality of the show’s creators.  For instance, when Abed discussed how the Britta/Jeff relationship bores people and they should have more adventures like the time they played paintball (which was my favorite episode last season for sure), that’s a meta comment on the feedback the Community writers must’ve gotten about the series.

I also am soooo sick of Betty White.  We get it.  It’s funny because she’s old.  Hilarious.  Can we move on now?  I have nothing against Betty White the actress, but please people, let’s stop using her and debasing her and laughing at her for being old and saying/doing young people things.  I can’t take it anymore.  NBC Universal, this is your warning.  No more Betty White.

But that stuff aside, we got hilarious comedy all over the place: Toy Story 3 joke (the highlight), “White Man Says” and everyone immediately reading it on their cellphones, Starburns wearing a hat, Chang’s ridiculous Gollum monologue (scene?) the Cranberries impersonator, etc.  Right now, this show has more imagination than every other comedy on television combined.  They’re not afraid to do insane things (again, Cranberries impersonator), but we buy it because at the end of the day, the show is so grounded by the real emotions of the characters.

Community is the new Office. It’s got heart, it’s got a cast of all shapes and sizes, it’s got absurdity, it’s got a new take on comedy.  Community is the new 30 Rock.  It’s totally off the wall, it has it’s own language, it’s young and it’s fresh.  Joel McHale is no Carrell or Fey, which is probably the biggest element blocking it from exploding.  But for my money, there’s no better way to spend 22 minutes than watching an episode of Community, my favorite comedy on tv.

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by | September 20, 2010

To See or Not To See: The Town

I’ll start off with my verdict — The Town, the weekend’s #1 movie, directed by/written by/starring Ben Affleck is certainly a SEE.  In fact, it’s one of the stronger offerings of 2010.  It’s the definition of a B+: solid writing, solid directing, solid acting, solid cinematography, but lacking the innovation, creativity and emotional resonance to kick into A-level stratosphere (which, for me, is occupied in 2010 only by Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World — nothing else has come close, and these two are really A+ movies for the ages, no matter what year they were released in).

The good: The cast is pretty terrific.  Much like Inception, director Ben Affleck has found a team of talented thespians who are well known, but still on the edges on true Hollywood stardom — stars in the making.  Point for Affleck.  Jeremy Renner and Blake Lively, in particular, are stand-outs.  Jeremy Renner is really as badass as they come.  The dude is going to have a long, fruitful Hollywood career, no doubt.  Ben Affleck is no slouch either, and he does an admirably B+ job holding this film up.

The story is suspenseful and tight, with the highlights being the perfectly executed bank heists.  Affleck does a great job of taking us in to the world of Charlestown, Boston a.k.a. the bank robbery capital of America.  It’s an intriguing choice of subject and one which has never been explored before.  The washed out whites and greys of the photography mirror the bleak outlook for the Charlestown inhabitants, and paint an appropriately murky backdrop for the tale as it unfolds.

The bad: The basic character beats of the story are very generic.  Despite the uniqueness of the Charlestown backdrop, this movie feels very familiar– guy stuck in his small town, guy tries to break free, his past won’t let him, blah blah blah.  My biggest gripe is with the Ben Affleck/Rebecca Hall dynamic.  As a couple, they have absolutely no chemistry and their romance felt weak and unbelievable (They only kiss once!)  And there’s no courtship — it just goes from “hello” to “i guess they’re dating?”  That whole part of the story, which was a good 40% of the film, was pretty hollow and for me, the main factor that kept it out of A-level territory.

There haven’t been a ton of good movies this year.  It’s no Gone Baby Gone, but The Town is the best movie of it’s kind this year and will definitely leave you feeling satisfied and entertained… at least until Catfish comes out.

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by | September 17, 2010

FX Comedy debuts: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia & The League

I don’t usually lump shows together in a single post, but oddly, I found that my reactions to the Season 6 premiere of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the Season 2 premiere of The League were startlingly similar.

1. $$$ – FX has quietly gone from a network with no comedies to suddenly finding itself with a treasure trove of comedy gold.  Aside from Sunny and The League, they’ve added the hilarious Louie, the surprisingly popular Archer, this season’s Terriers and there are a few more in development.  With their first ever real comedy block in place, FX decided to pour way more money into these shows than ever before and unfortunately, that was what I noticed more than anything else.  On It’s Always Sunny, I was struck by all the new locations — we spent about 30 seconds in the bar before moving the whole shebang into Dee’s apartment, Frank’s apartment, Dennis’s apartment, the courthouse, the gym and of course, Subway.  Maybe it’s just my HDTV, but I thought the overall production design was of a much higher quality than I’m used to — the makeup, costumes, set dressings, etc. all seemed enhanced, which for a show about a bunch of selfish a-holes in a dive bar, felt a little weird.  The League was even more over the top, with an ostentatious trip to Vegas and a funny if unnecessary/ridiculous appearance from Chad Ochocinco.  I understand wanting to go big with a season premiere, but it all felt a little unnecessary to me.  Comedies are supposed to be cheap and small.  Nobody ever laughed more because an episode of a comedy took place at a beautiful Las Vegas casino.  It’s The League, not Entourage.

2.Weak character choices — I thought that pretty much every character on both shows was a shell of his former self.  On The League, nobody but Paul Scheer had a distinguishable personality trait.  Taco did, I suppose, but he only spoke about three times, aside from his unfunny, unnatural “music video” with Ocho (more on that in a bit).  What’s the difference between Ruxin, Pete and married guy in this episode?  Nothing.  They were 100% interchangeable.  In fact, the real star of this episode was the Wife character.  Here’s a hint Jeff Schaffer, creator of The League: the dudes watching this show do not care about the Wife character.  They care so little about her, they refer to her as The Wife character.  They love her when she gives a fantasy tip (even if its as ludicrous and unrealistic as drafting Miles Austin in the fifth round.  Please.) and when she walks naked down an alley as part of a bet.  But as the focal point of an episode where she’s trying to join their league?  No thanks.

On Sunny, things were even worse.  Clearly, there was a conscious effort, whether by the network or the writers, to make the characters on this show more personable and less, well, horrible.  FAIL.  No one watches Sunny to relate to, empathize with or even care the tiniest bit about the characters.  We watch so we can say “God, they are such selfish assholes!  I can’t believe they did that!  That’s hilarious!”  No one wants to see Dennis try to be nice to a girl.  No one wants to see Mac carry his own underdeveloped storyline based solely on his beyond-the-realm-of-believability stupidity.  And most importantly, no one wants to see Charlie be reasonable, cool, nice, rational or successful.  Are you kidding me?!  You’re gonna have Charlie be the most normal character?!?!  What happened to “Wild card, bitches!”??  It’s like all the actors collectively decided they wanted to start getting considered for movie roles, so they better start acting like normal people.  FAIL.  I can’t think of a single more detrimental decision to me liking this show than having the characters be tame, likeable or anything other than the biggest, most selfish pricks in the entire world.

3. “It’s The League, not Entourage.” — Continuing the above trends, I thought both shows really moved away from their usual bread and butter.  The went from small, specific, character-driven comedies to fancy-shmancy, broader, plot-driven bland-a-thons.  I realize they might be trying to be grab more viewers by making the shows look better and make the characters more likeable, but that strategy simply won’t work with these two series.  Moreover, if  you’re going to try to make The League look like Entourage, you need to go all the way and shoot it as such.  I thought The League was atrociously directed.  You’re not going to see a scene of the 5 dudes from Entourage standing in a line looking at each other.  Yet, that’s what we had last night.  Repeatedly.  The 5 guys literally standing in a line — poolside, on the casino floor, in the hotel room — as the camera awkwardly moved around, trying to figure out how to shoot 5 motionless guys talking to one another.  It works fine when you’re sitting on a couch.  But when you’re standing in a bustling casino?  No, sir.

Also, I’m all for trying to incorporate Jon LaJoie’s comedic music skills into the show, but they’ve got to do it seamlessly and unobtrusively, just like they did with his hysterical “Birthday Song” in the pilot.  Literally segueing from a normal scene into a full-on poolside music video doesn’t work.  It feels heavy-handed, wildly unnatural, and to top it off, the song wasn’t the least bit funny.  Really?  A whole episode about The Wife and the big comedic climax is Andre falling on his trophy?  That’s the best they could do?  Talk about going with your very first idea.

As for Sunny, I think they’re walking a dangerous path.  Next week needs to really swing back in the right direction — Dennis better be a total asshole to Maureen Ponderosa because he’s just not funny when he’s trying to hide his distaste.  Since when does Dennis Reynolds hide his distaste for anyone or anything?  That’s what makes him so great!  Dee better turn it up a notch.  Mac better turn it up a notch.  And Charlie better act like f’ing Charlie, not play himself.  Let’s get back to what made this show so hilarious in the first place.  It’s season 6, not exactly time to try and reinvent the wheel.  It’s only the first episode of both shows, but let’s hope they only broke the bank to make a splash with the season premieres and that the slip-ups in these episodes don’t become damning patterns…

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by | September 14, 2010

To See or Not To See: FX’s Terriers

So I check out FX’s newest show, Terriers, last week, and I’m pretty satisfied with the pilot.  From the producers of Ocean’s Eleven (Ted Griffin) and The Shield (Shawn Ryan), the show is exactly what its creators’ work suggests: it’s a cop show with a twist, and the slick, quick dialogue of a casino caper.  The pilot was pretty much everything a pilot should be: we know the characters — they’re well drawn out, we know their history (aside from how our two main characters started working together), we know what drives them and we know about the women in their lives (great to see 4400 alum Laura Allen back in action).  And as far as procedurals go, this show appears to be taking the Veronica Mars model of one season-long mystery being the main crux of the show, with mini-episodic mysteries likely to pop up in the interim.  I thought that structure worked terrifically with VMars, but they also had an incredibly dynamic leading lady and a terrific supporting cast.  It remains to be seen whether Terriers can match that level of excellence and distinguish itself from other detective shows on television.

For now, I’m going to say it’s definitely worth another watch — I like to give every show 3 episodes to win me over if I can.  Pilots have so much heavy lifting to do, and Terriers admirably laid everything out on the table for an enjoyable series, although I think the title and ad campaign are atrocious and won’t be doing FX any favors trying to build an audience.  I also thought it was bit more vanilla than I’d like, but again, it’s only been 44 minutes.  So my verdict is to give this one a shot, at least for a few more weeks.  Hopefully by then, this mangy dog will prove to have a little more bite.

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by | September 7, 2010

Mad Men — Season 4, Episode 7: “The Suitcase”

Television is rarely transcendent.  It can be powerful, hilarious, moving, groan-inducing, disgusting — but it rarely has the depth of character/story/emotion plus the execution required to become a truly transcendent piece of media, one that rises above the crop and stays with you forever.  This week’s episode of Mad Men, was not only transcendent, but may very well have been the best episode of television I’ve ever watched.  I know I throw a lot of “best evers” around on this site (here’s a recent one), but never before in history have I watched an episode of tv and been so moved and stunned and impressed that I immediately rewound it and watched the entire episode over again.  That’s what I did last night — back to back viewings of “The Suitcase.”  I cannot wait to watch it again.  Might as well bust out the 2011 Emmy now, because this episode was flawless.  FLAWLESS.

What creator/writer Matthew Weiner does amazing well (aside from, you know, creating Mad Men and just generally being a genius), is subtext and metaphor.  In general on this series, but especially with Weiner written episodes (such as the iconic season 1 finale “The Wheel”), the advertising item in question, in this case a Samsonite suitcase, is the metaphorical crux of the episode.  This episode was all about the suitcase — about the baggage we carry with us,  how hard we try to keep that baggage locked up, and how eventually, the dirty laundry inside is bound to come spilling out once that tough exterior is cracked.

This episode, after three seasons focused primarily on family life, got us back to the heart of this series: Don + Peggy.  That’s what Mad Men is — if you quietly exited every other character (as they so gracefully did in this episode), stripped away the more trivial stuff and just got to the heart of this show, you’d find the private, tortured Don and his mirror — his protege, the equally ambitious and equally lonely Peggy.  In season one, Don saw Peggy at her absolute lowest, and was there for her.  No judgment, no gratitude expected — just there for her.  In “The Suitcase,” Peggy returns the favor — she sees Don on his knees, bowing to the porcelain god; weeping helplessly at his desk; passed out on her lap.  Peggy has now gone where no man or woman has ever truly gone before, not even Anna Draper or Don’s ex-wife Betty — into the heart and soul of the man.

And god, did it feel good!  These two have been quietly crying out for each other for years, two lone souls who have finally cemented their deep connection that each so desperately craved and needed.  It took some screaming, some crying, some drunken fist fighting, some laughing — in one night, these two go through the full range of emotions and truly bare their souls to one another, in a way that forever links them in a close, indelible bond.  As human beings, we all constantly search for this kind of connection — someone who will hold our hair after too many drinks and elevator rides, someone who will quietly rub our back in times of despair, someone who will tell us how they truly feel about us.  And finally, Peggy and Don have that in each other.

There was more beautiful metaphor and subtext — Peggy taking Don into the Men’s room instead of the Woman’s, a metaphor for the completion of Peggy’s journey into the inner circles of this man’s world of advertising — for it’s this night, May 25, 1965, that Peggy finally owns up completely to who she is — a career-driven woman who’d rather spend her birthday at the office with the boss she so desperately hopes to impress and learn from and connect with, than with her boyfriend and family.  There was Don telling Peggy to leave his door open at the end of the episode, a metaphor for the new chapter in their blossoming friendship, one of openness and truly honest communication.  There was more obvious suitcase metaphor as well — Don’s uncle telling him that a suitcase means being ready to leave at any moment, and then seeing the ghost of Anna Draper with her suitcase in hand, packed and ready for her new journey to “a better place.”  And then there was the backdrop of the whole episode — the iconic Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston fight — in which the smart-talking upstart knocks out the slow moving more experienced old-timer, a situation that effectively mirrors both Peggy’s current rise, as well as Don’s position in the advertising world.  Just layer after layer of metaphor — find me another tv show that does that!  I dare you!

For the rest of the subtext, you need to look at the faces of Elisabeth Moss and Jon Hamm, who turned in absolutely astounding performances.  I’ve always been a fan of both, but after “The Suitcase,” I couldn’t have more respect and adoration for them as actors, especially Moss.  Good lord, can this woman act.  Moss’s nuanced performance was as beautiful and difficult a piece of acting as I’ve ever seen on the small screen.  So many complex thoughts and emotions crossed her face during the course of that episode — anger, despair, worry, compassion, satisfaction, curiosity, indignation, petulance, remorse, on and on and on — and she nailed each and every turn with the ease and grace of Picasso drawing a line.  Jon Hamm was equally wonderful, though he had a bit less ground to cover than Peggy, seeing as he was pretty much bottoming out the whole episode.  Matthew Weiner’s dialogue was perfect to the letter, but what I loved most about this episode, and what I’m sure was carefully scripted as well, was all that was communicated simply by looks: Peggy and Don’s tear-inducing hand hold, Peggy’s shimmering look as she decides whether to follow Duck or Don, the look of concern in Peggy’s face as she asks Don about his phone call, the look on Don’s face as he notices Peggy watching him cry, the look of satisfaction on Peggy’s face when she wakes up form what turned out to be a pretty great birthday after all — again, I could go on and on.   Bottom line: You will not see this level of brilliance and execution anywhere else.  You will not see such fine writing, such fine directing and such fine acting, both in leads and in support (great work from the ensemble in this one, especially Roger and Duck) intersect in such a sophisticated and perfectly executed way.  As far as I’m concerned, any episode without Don/Peggy at this point will be a disappointment for me because the two of them together is such precious gold.

As characters, I love them both so much more now after this episode.  We can all relate to their pain — Peggy, wanting to get out from under the thumb of her family, wanting to make a name for herself, wanting recognition for her work, wanting someone to know her and love her for her, wanting her mentor’s approval — and Don, wanting someone to connect to, someone to share his true self with, someone he can trust and respect, someone to care about him.  I guess that’s what it really comes down to — we all want someone to love us as we truly are at our deepest, darkest, most despondent moments.  We all want someone to connect with– whether its over a birthday dinner, a shared passion, a drink– someone we can be refreshingly honest with, both about ourselves and about that person.  Peggy and Don have that now, after struggling alone in the dark without each other for so long, and because of Matt Weiner and Elisabeth Moss and Jon Hamm and director Jennifer Getzinger, we all got to share a little piece of that beautiful connection.  For letting me be a part those honest and wonderful moments, I will forever be grateful to Mad Men, which with “The Suitcase,” cemented itself in my mind as truly the greatest show on tv.

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by | September 1, 2010

Rescue Me — Season 6, Episode 10: “A.D.D.”

For those of you keeping track, yes, there were only 10 episodes of what was supposed to be the final season of Rescue Me, one of the most overlooked and underrated shows of the last decade.  However, creators Peter Tolan and Dennis Leary decided to split season 6 into two seasons, so that the true final season would be airing in 2011 to coincide with the tenth anniversary of September 11th, the catalyst and emotional center of the entire series.  So instead of a true finale last night, we got a sort-of half-ending to the half-season, though it really felt more like a season premiere to me than a finale.  Allow me to explain…

Last week’s episode, “Goodbye,” should’ve been the finale.  We ended on a horrifying cliffhanger, as the giant saw blade crashed down on young Damian’s head, just as he reneged on his decision to leave firefighting for good.  Tommy was rededicating himself to his family, despite the hint that there might be some connection deep down still between he and Sheila, Lt. Ken Shea was back on the job despite his second heart attack and the looming danger of a reccurence, and the house was just getting settled back into the status quo.  Sounds like a great place to end  a season, right?

Instead, I feel that Tolan/Leary and Co. totally jumped the shark and delivered an episode so jarring that it felt forced and out of place, both content-wise and tonally.  The episode takes place in some undisclosed time weeks or months after Damian’s accident.  In the time since, Mickey has been m.i.a., Tom has been neglecting his family to spend time with Sheila and a now braindead/paralyzed Damian, and everyone except for Tom and Sheila seems to have COMPLETELY moved on from the trauma of Damian’s accident.  Can you name one other show where you’ve seen an unspecified leap in time from one episode to another within one season?  It’s unheard of, and with good reason.  I spent half the episode trying to figure out what time we were in and why the hell they skimmed over those nondescript weeks/months.  I understand that Rescue Me has dealt with death and trauma extensively in prior seasons, usually with great skill and honesty, and that perhaps they wanted to get right back to business without more hospital scenes, emotional meltdowns, questioning of God, etc.  But my question is simple: Why?  Isn’t that what drama is?  Isn’t this brutally honest look at human emotion Rescue Me‘s bread and butter?  Isn’t the exploration of how we cope with trauma and regret what this show has excelled in more than any other show I’ve ever seen?  Why the hell would they want to skip over the meaty dramatic stuff to get right back to the same old, ho hum routine stuff?  I wanted to see Lieu deal with the guilt that Damian’s condition is entirely his fault; I wanted to see Janet have to show compassion to Sheila; I wanted to see Tommy spiral out of control.  Instead, Lieu was happily getting drunk, Janet couldn’t care less, and Tommy looked the healthiest and most composed he’s ever been.

Which brings me to my next point — I absolutely HATE the nonchalant way with which all the characters regarded Damian, and in a larger sense, the show’s creators.  It began by using Damian’s condition as a shocking reveal in the episode’s first scene.  We see Sheila and Tommy talking about moving on, assuming that Damian is dead, then BAM, reveal a paralyzed Damian in the corner.  To use someone’s paralysis as a shock value move felt cheap and forced to me.  Was I shocked?  Yes.  But I was more shocked that the writers would use the essential destruction of a major character in such a callous way.  “… then we pull back and BAM.  The kid’s paralyzed!  We’ll totally catch them by surprise!  Isn’t that an awesome idea?”  Again, it just didn’t feel like the Rescue Me I’m used to.

But then we’ve got the guys in the firehouse goofing about him, cracking jokes, taking him to a bar, ditching him for chicks; we’ve got his first cousins Janet, Colleen and Katie not giving a rat’s ass if he’s alive or dead; we’ve got Lieu, who’s fault it is, merrily drinking and refusing to retire; we’ve got Tommy finding out that Janet may be pregnant — um, hello.  DAMIAN IS BRAINDEAD!  Nobody thinks this is serious?  They’re more upset that Pat Mahoney got his plaque on bathroom than they are that Damian is frickin paralyzed.  How is that realistic at all?  It felt jokey, fake, forced and flat out weird to me.  Maybe I’d be able to buy it if I’d gotten at least one scene of the guys acting sad about it first, struggling to deal with the tragedy, helping out Sheila, anything.  But to jump right to “okay, we’re over it and cracking jokes now b/c we’ve accepted it and moved on,” without even indicating how much time has passed, felt cheap and totally unearned.

Then we get the random added storyline that Janet might be pregnant again, which felt like another shock value, unearned plot move to me.  We’re moving on to something new already?  Who cares???  Damian is braindead!  Why isn’t this the focal point of the show?  And if they don’t want it to be, why have it happen at all?  Why pull such a major stunt with a major character and then skip the part where everyone deals with it?  It doesn’t make any sense!  Why are we already introducing new plot points?  Is there such a thing as a double shark jump?  No wonder this episode was called “A.D.D.”

The two redeeming parts of the episode for me were Sheila’s opening phone call and Mickey’s speech to Tommy at the firehouse.  These were the type of honest emotional moments I’ve come to expect and appreciate from this series.  I also loved Tommy getting stuck on the phone with Sheila and having to imitate Damian’s gargles — that was an honest comedic moment, something someone might actually do in that situation, and I thought Leary played the hesitation and moment of “well, I’m too far into this lie now not to imitate him” perfectly.  Biggest laugh of the show for sure.

All in all, I think this penultimate season of Rescue Me has been a bit uneven for me.  There hasn’t really been a strong emotional throughline for Tommy, and thus we haven’t really had anything to latch onto.  What’s his journey been this year?  The answer is that he hasn’t had one.  It’s been all about minor storylines — Colleen’s bender, Franco getting too close to Janet, Lieu’s health, Pat Mahoney, Damian’s decision — peppered with moments of Tommy (such as my favorite scene of the year, when Tommy silently drinks a bottle of whisky in his car for 3 minutes — f’ing brilliant).  Do I still love Rescue Me?  Absolutely.  Despite the bumps, it’s still one of the best shows on television — its the best balance of drama and comedy in one show that I’ve ever seen by a long shot, it’s got by far the best ensemble cast on television, it’s excellence at exploring honest and brutal human emotion and tragedy is unparalleled, and it’s incredibly innovative and always willing to take risks.  I just wish that they’d stuck to their formula a bit more this year — Tommy dealing with his demons and everyone else feeding into that central story, not the other way around.

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by | August 12, 2010

Top Chef D.C.: Season 7, Episode 9: “Restaurant Wars”

The self-titled “Beast” Kenny Gilbert got the boot last night from Top Chef.  I say good riddance.  If you’re going to break one of the cardinal rules of Top Chef, you’re going to go home.  Here is a description of the rule Kenny broke, plus a few more to keep you future contestants off the chopping block.

1. Listen to the Judges: When you’re in the middle or the bottom for 3-4 straight weeks, it’s time to stop saying “I’m the best chef here” and finding ways to blame everyone else around you.  Kenny refused to believe, even for an instant, that his food was less than perfection.  Even as the executive chef of the Blue Team’s restaurant, when he delivered by far their two worst dishes, he refused to discuss or acknowledge his shortcomings, focusing only on Alex.  Maybe if he would’ve shown some humility, apologized for his food, and explained how much he was helping everyone else because of his job as executive chef (and maybe he didn’t have to help Amanda — who’s dish was the only other in the running to send her packing), just maybe he could’ve saved his skin.   There’s a reason hubris is a tragic flaw — no one ever came out on top by denying their limitations and flaws.

2. Never Sacrifice Your Dish for Your Teammates: It’s a cooking competition, not a teamwork competition.  This season’s Jacqueline Lombard, who tried to make a banana pudding WITHOUT F’ING BANANAS,  is only one of many Top Chef casualties to fall prey to this treacherous temptation.  Rule numero uno for success is to worry about your own dish.  Nobody ever loses Top Chef for having the best food, but they certainly do go home for making banana-less banana pudding.

3. If You’ve Never Made Dessert Before, Don’t Start Now: This is probably the most commonly broken rule, no matter how mindbogglingly stupid it is.  How many times have we seen weak, foolish competitors take themselves right out of the game by attempting the oh-so-difficult dessert course… WHEN THEY NEVER MAKE DESSERT.  It’s one thing if you’re Kelly, who has shown her prowess with chocolate ganache twice now — clearly, the woman knows ganache.  It’s another if you’re some schmuck like this season’s first loser, John Somerville, and you’re ousted ON THE FIRST CHALLENGE with a dessert YOU DON’T USUALLY MAKE.  Come on!  Stick to your guns man!  Note that both the first two contestants out this year, as well as Kenny with his giant goat cheese fried mound, failed on desserts.  Just don’t make them!  It’s that simple!

4. “This Dish Really Kills at My Restaurant”: This isn’t your restaurant.  This is Top F**king Chef.  Like any good offensive athlete will tell you, you must read what the defense gives you and react accordingly.  Don’t show up with some dish that you really love and force it into this competition as soon as some challenge gives you an excuse.  You will not win.  You need to mold your cooking to the challenge, not vice versa.  Andrea Curto-Randazzo lost with this fallacy this season, but many more have fallen before her.  The best example of this unfortunate choice comes from Season 2 of Top Chef Masters, when Chef Susan Feniger lost for her Kaya Toast, a dish that people love at her LA restaurant, Street.  I’ve eaten this Kaya Toast about 5 times — it’s absolutely delicious, one of my favorite dishes in the city (seriously – go to Street and eat it.  It’s addictive).  But it’s not complex or elegant in the least, and so, by trying to bring her crowd-pleaser into a competition of master chefs, she doomed herself to failure.

5. Execute, Execute, Execute: You will not go home if your dish isn’t bad.  It’s as simple as that.  Your dish has to be amazing to win, but to just stay in the game, your dish only has to be not bad.  If you’re going to cook beef (cough Amanda cough), cook it to the right temperature.  If you’re going to make lamb chops, clean the meat correctly and don’t undercook it.  That’s it.  It doesn’t matter if it’s the least inventive piece of lamb in history.  If you execute correctly, you will not be sent home, at least not until the final 4-5 chefs are left.  There will always be someone else who makes something terrible, someone who bites off more than they can chew, as it were.  Just make sure your dish tastes good enough and is well-executed technically and you will COAST to the finals.

Can you think of any other rules?  Make sure they apply to more than one season, and leave them in the comments!

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by | August 10, 2010

To See or Not to See: The Other Guys

“To See or Not to See” is a new segment on MMM — a very brief post that answers the titular question as quickly as possible, to save you from any unnecessary trips to the cinema/concert hall/couch.


THE OTHER GUYS: NOT TO SEE

The Other Guys, the latest offering from the tag team of Will Ferrel and Adam McKay, is certainly the worst of their esteemed partnerships.  The first two acts of the movie are very funny — a couple of good quotables here and there (“The reviews were horrible” and the “lion/tuna” run being stand-outs), some very funny “what the f?” moments (such as Samuel L. Jackson and The Rock leaping off a building to their deaths for no apparent reason), and some pretty good cop movie parody moments (loved the hyper-stylized getting drunk montage).  But the tone was WILDLY uneven, and the final 45 minutes of the movie are painfully long and unfunny and ultimately doom this movie to second-tier status.  They could’ve cut a good 25 minutes out of this thing, tightened it up from 2 hours, and had a much leaner, funnier comedy on their hands.  For whatever reason, they didn’t, and that relegates this one to DVD rental/We’ve Got Nothing Else to Do Tonight status.  You could do a lot worse, but you could do a LOT better.

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