TV

I’ve been catching up on last year’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, about which I have. It isn’t the masterpiece it once was, or perhaps (three episodes in) I see no gathering momentum, simply a solid funny half-hour of comedy. Its familiar rhythms and pacing and gags may not startle, but I’m still happy to see ’em.

I also either accepted the suckerbait or made an efficient decision, and ordered up the NBC promo disc for two new shows, available only on Netflix. The first was “Kidnapped,” a quite acceptable pilot for a season-extended thriller about hostage and ransoms and all that. Good cast (Delroy Lindo a standout, Jeremy Sisto a surprise, and some maybe interesting supporting roles for Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany, Mykelti Williamson; James Urbaniak popped up as an urbane, taciturn killer). Some occasionally fine writing. And a pervasive sense of familiarity. It doesn’t lack pop–it just isn’t much of a draw for a season-long commitment. I think I’d rather re-rent Ransom, which despite Mel Gibson and lackluster Ronnie-Howard direction, has a helluva script by Richard Price and the inestimably good baddie Gary Sinise, before he got CSIed into dullsville.

The draw was actually Aaron Sorkin’s new tv drama about tv. The SNL-inspired “Live from Studio 60” has some real potential. Its strengths are the often excellent biting, syncopated patter fans of “Sports Night” and “The West Wing” will continue to drool over. Example: Steven Weber’s slimy exec cautions Perry against embarrassing the network at a news conference; Perry says something about “Live coverage of two guys masturbating couldn’t embarrass this network;” then Amanda Peet’s cool, *good* exec notes that she already has a show about two masturbators in development. All whipped out four times the normal speed of conversation.

And Sorkin draws in a cool crowd, some of whom already shine: Amanda Peet was surprisingly sharp, Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry play the kind of sniping roles they excel at, Steven Weber oozed all over. There’s enough promise in the set-up of drama and backstory, and the supporting roles (here’s hoping D.L. Hughley gets some fair play, and that the Christian comedy star is more than a neatly-packaged “surprise” contrast with the show’s predominant liberal sentiment, like that one short blond Republican who was moved to the basement of “The West Wing” before disappearing entirely).

The bad: while well-written, Judd Hirsch gets an onscreen “meltdown” that even the characters keep tying to Paddy Chayefsky. Amanda Peet, after watching newsreporters cite Network while covering the meltdown, says “Well, at least they get Paddy Chayefsky. That’s a good sign.” But is it a good sign that a show that seems to want to (re?)discover what tv might be great at not only recycles but then cites the recycling and then comments on the citing of the recycling? I’m also enormously skeptical about my willingness to watch a show that develops the kind of Sorkinized romantic passion (so often effective on “West Wing”) for… television? Umm …. I can buy some of the rage, but am I supposed to be rooting for the heroism of the occasional telexecutive? Or network comedy writers? I’m willing to see, anyway. But.

There’s more than enough to bring me back, for a few episodes–and probably more. Plus, I imagine Sorkin will write every episode, as he usually does, and that’s always a good thing, at least ’til he burns out.

14 thoughts on “TV”

  1. I can buy some of the rage, but am I supposed to be rooting for the heroism of the occasional telexecutive? Or network comedy writers? I’m willing to see, anyway.

    But isn’t that what Sports Night was also trying to do? I agree with you – and in fact I never watched Sports Night – but most tv shows have characters that aren’t involved in noble pursuits. It’s about the only show I’m interested in seeing; oh yeah – also its “funny” version starring Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, but I’m guessing one or both may be cancelled before i ever get around to seeing them

  5. ah, i get it. mike has curbed his enthusiasm about curb your enthusiasm. very clever. a thousand apologies! english, she is my stepmother tongue!

  6. With the nice vague title of TV on this thread, I’d like to ask who the hell is buying all of these idiotic DVD box sets of every TV show ever made?

    I watch more TV than I should. Or rather I flip channels a lot and watch some Comedy Central and actual news, if I can find any.

    But I almost never feel the need to own a box set of TV shows.
    League of Gentlemen I bought (I’d never seen it on TV) and the occasional Adult Swim series might be nice, though they’re on all the time, and easily recordable/watchable.

    Take a look at this release schedule for just the next few months:
    http://aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=24166
    Really? YOu need Season 4 of Hogan’s Heroes? And Season 5 of Third Rock from the Sun and the Jeffersons (not together mind you – I’d buy that.)

    Just looking at all of that makes me ill. Will they start releasing DVD sets of daytime soap operas? Episodes 3200-3240 of All My Children? Seasons 17 & 18 of The People’s Court? I’m thinking I should do something more with my life… Maybe write that sit-com about the sassy robot…

  7. i buy the simpsons and kids in the hall sets. only so i can feel better about having frittered my 20s, and much money, away on taping them from tv before i’d ever heard of dvd.

  8. I own two box sets: “Freeks and Geeks” and the BBC’s “The Singing Detective.” I too wonder who’s watching all these dvds. That being said, I’ve never moved past the first ep in F&G though someday I feel certain I’ll want to return to it. Wait . . . I do have a box set of “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” which Cate has devoured two or three times over.

  9. Hmm. I did own “Alias” one, thinking it was that good, but I was wrong, and gave it away as a present. I have some of the cartoon shows–Aqua Teen, Venture Bros–and three comedy shows (Upright Citizens Brigade, Strangers with Candy, and the original Office) because it is highly likely that I could watch them again, even if not high, and still not recall originally seeing them. (They have enough strange information to make reviewings often just as intriguing as first shots.)

    I am, however, pretty addicted to renting these shows. Don’t know who’s buying ’em, but there are any number of shows I didn’t have the patience to catch on tv but have gladly caught up with since–and not just HBO or Showtime stuff. I have “Invasion” and “Arrested Development” coming up on the queue, along with “MI: 5” (which I hear is good but am skeptical).

    I think if I had the dough I’d definitely buy Pee Wee, Monty Python, Dave Chappelle (the Found episodes), Fawlty Towers (which I watch fairly often as is). But dramas… hm. Most of Dennis Potter would be worth it, but I’m not sure how often I’d try to rewatch.

    Wow. This comment was terribly boring. I feel like a blogger.

  11. Anyone watch or like the old BBC adaptations of John Le Carre’s books? We just finished the 6 hour Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guinness and a bunch of semi-recognizable British actors.

    It was excellent. Smiley’s People is up next, and I’ve read it’s not quite up to par with Tinker Tailor, but I can’t imagine it will actually be bad.

    I thought this had been mentioned on the blog before, but I couldn’t find it.

    Other than one shoot-out early on in Czechoslovakia, there’s nary a shot fired, and barely a gun drawn. It’s full of bureaucratic squabbling and power struggles.

    The Russkies appear only in the most peripheral of ways, mainly their effects are felt in the influence they wield over their double-agents, once of which is now in the top rung of England’s secret service. Alec Guinness made movies after this, of course – it came out in 1979 and Smiley’s People in ’82 – but this has to be seen as a particularly slow victroy lap of fine acting to cap a career. It’s a huge part of his character that he not react to what other people say. I imagine it’s drilled into any spy never to give way info with facial expressions. It makes Guinness’ performance (and the rest of the cast) that much more remarkable that they can convey so much with self-imposed masks.

  12. Tinker Tailor was a great BBC adaptation. I even own it. It is pretty astonishing that the book and the adaptation are able to tell the story and keep you on the edge of your seat through a set of what are, essentially, interviews between Guinness and the main participants in the events.

    Smiley’s People is less good, but then the book is a lot less good.

    It was never filmed (sadly) but the very best Le Carre account of bureaucratic squabbling is a meeting of several government departments in The Honorable Schoolboy.

  14. Anyone watch/like House?

    I watched an episode and a half last night and kind of dug it. It kept may attention at least, but it seems that the “medical mystery” would get old. At least Quincy went on dates. I like the idea that this is the same guy who played Bertie Wooster and that now he’s a big American TV star. How odd is that?

    I might watch it some more though. Looks like David Morse will be on an upcoming episode which will keep me busy trying to find any St Elsewhere references. (the first season of which is out on DVD…

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