Moving On: Life after HBO

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Television

October 28, 2008

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Call me loyal. I tend to follow baseball players after they leave ‘my’ team (the A’s) on the money trail to greener outfields. Along the same lines, I am more apt to watch a show featuring actors who formerly starred on some of my favorite HBO series’, even if only for a guest stint.

Case in point…

DEADWOOD
Dayton Callie (Sons of Anarchy)
Kim Dickens (Lost)
Garret Dillahunt (Damages, Life)
Paula Malcomson (Lost)
Timothy Olyphant (Damages; 2009)
Molly Parker (Swingtown)
William Sanderson (True Blood)
Robin Weigert (Lost, Life)
Titus Welliver (Life)

EXTRAS
Ashley Jensen (Ugly Betty)

OZ
Kirk Acevedo (Fringe)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost)
Zjelko Ivanek (Damages)
Harold Perrineau (Lost)
Lauren Velez (Dexter)
Dean Winters (30 Rock, Rescue Me)
David Zayas (Dexter)

SIX FEET UNDER
Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money)
Freddy Rodriguez (Ugly Betty)

SOPRANOS
Edie Falco (30 Rock, Nurse Jackie; 2009)
Drea De Matteo (Sons of Anarchy)
Michael Imperioli (Life on Mars)

Obviously there are more actors from these shows who have appeared on others, but even I don’t have time to watch them all. I tried but never got into Big Love or The Wire, and I did not watch Carnivale or Rome.

It’s quite sad that I only watch 2 HBO shows now: Flight of the Conchords and True Blood. With fantastic fare such as Dexter, Weeds and next year’s The United States of Tara on Showtime, I can only imagine the pressure behind the scenes at HBO these days.

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Welcome to the ‘United States of Tara’ with Toni Collette

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Television

October 25, 2008

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Toni Collette is the latest Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting, for The Sixth Sense) to make a career transition to the small screen and join a television series. I am a big fan of many of her films, especially Muriel’s Wedding and About a Boy, The Hours and Little Miss Sunshine, so her name alone is a huge sell for me.

The United States of Tara, debuting on Showtime after the holidays, is scripted and executive produced by author/ Oscar winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno). The pilot was actually based on an idea by Steven Spielberg, and his involvement with the show appears to be as a co-executive producer.

As evidenced by both the trailer
and promo photo above, Collette plays a character who suffers from
dissociative identity disorder (no longer referred to as multiple personalities). This series looks to be an intriguing dark comedy with great potential; it follows her family as they cope with the dysfunction caused by Collette’s behavior. Co-starring John Corbett (Northern Exposure, Sex & The City) as her husband, it will air in half hour episodes beginning January 18, 2009.

My interest is piqued and I will be setting a Season Pass. Watch the trailer and let me know what you think.

Happy Saturday!

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Early Report Card: Fall TV Thus Far

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Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Television

October 9, 2008

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Even though a few of my favorite shows have yet to return (30 Rock, Samantha Who) and a new series debuts tonight (Life on Mars), I have been pretty underwhelmed with Fall Television thus far…with a few exceptions.

Admittedly, it’s early; I’ve only seen an episode or two of each. But here is how I would grade each right now:

  • Bones: B (Zach’s return as a Hannibal Lecter type consultant works for me)
  • Brothers & Sisters: A- (love the cast & chemistry)
  • Chuck: C (I gave up on it last season & tried again to no avail)
  • Desperate Housewives: C (flash forwards work…on Lost)
  • Dexter: A (characters, script, cast – all consistently compelling)
  • Dirty Sexy Money: B (so far, so good)
  • Entourage: C (forward movement for Vince would be nice)
  • The Ex List: B (charming & worth a look, even though CBS blew it w/timeslot)
  • Fringe: A (saving grace of the season)
  • Grey’s Anatomy: B (wish: less Meredith, more Yang)
  • Heroes: C (yikes; really disappointed with each ep since premiere)
  • House: B+ (more Thirteen please)
  • Life: B (like the addition of Donal Logue)
  • Lipstick Jungle: B (new to my TV radar, pleasant surprise)
  • The Office: B+ (thank you Amy Ryan and the gas station surprise)
  • Private Practice: B (more serious tone & medical cases = great improvement)
  • Pushing Daisies: B+ (a rare gem of positive energy)
  • Saturday Night Live: C- (if it weren’t for Tina Fey, I’d stop watching altogether)
  • Sons of Anarchy: B- (lost interest for now, will catch marathon in the future)
  • True Blood: B (getting better & more intriguing each work)
  • Ugly Betty: B (Mark & Amanda are my Jack & Karen)

Reality Shows
I still haven’t watched the entire 2 hour season premiere of Survivor, but I think that setting will prove to be an interesting challenge and I’ll tune in online at some point.  I catch every other episode of The Amazing Race but it just doesn’t hold my interest week after week any longer. Even Project Runway has been less than stellar this season; none of the contestants has truly stood out with a great personality or as the most talented. Thank goodness for the return of Top Chef; Season 5 debuts next month on Bravo.

Am I alone here, or do you also feel a little let down by some returning shows?

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I Love to Hate You: Favorite TV Psychopaths

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Television

October 7, 2008

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The sheer delight I experience while watching Dexter is a tad disturbing, and I wanted to explore why 4 of my favorite television characters of all time are murderous psychopaths.

Alphabetically, of course…

BENJAMIN LINUS (LOST)

One of the most brilliantly manipulative men to ever grace the small screen, we rarely see Ben actually kill anyone. His particular genius is the emotional exploitation of everyone in the vicinity. Ben is equally charming and diabolical, and we are privy to every maneuver he makes as they percolate behind those infamous eyes.

DEXTER MORGAN (DEXTER)

I don’t know if it is because he preys upon and kills those who have committed heinous crimes, but somehow Dexter does not come across as malicious as others on this list. He brings a sense of humanity to his homicides, as asinine as that sounds.

TONY SOPRANO (THE SOPRANOS)

Morally bankrupt yet tremendously conflicted (enough to secretly seek the counsel of a psychiatrist), Tony was America’s preeminent paterfamilias for six seasons. Similar to Dexter, I find Tony to be intensely compelling because of his antithetical duplicity; dedicated to family while fulfilling a personal responsibility to protect them from people…just like him.

AL SWEARENGEN (DEADWOOD)

I’m not sure there is anything remotely redeeming about Swearengen, but I just love the curmudgeonly c*cksucker. Blatantly (almost comically) devoid of remorse, I attribute this character’s irresistible evil to Ian McShane’s sheer talent and onscreen presence.

In Contention
 
Although some would argue that Sylar (Heroes) belongs with this bunch, I would argue that he is more of a caricature than a character.

So – who am I missing? Which repulsive gentlemen are you surprisingly captivated by on TV?

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Exploring ‘Life on Mars’ (Thursdays on ABC)

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Television

October 5, 2008

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The new series Life on Mars debuts this Thursday on ABC at 10pm PST, following Grey’s Anatomy. While I never watched the original UK version of the show, the premise is intriguing and this American adaptation seems promising.

Here is the official description from ABC.com:

Where were you in 1973? NYPD Detective Sam Tyler finds
himself in the cultural hotbed of New York City in the tumultuous times
of the Vietnam War, Watergate, women’s lib and the civil and gay rights
movements – without a cell phone, computer, PDA or MP3 player –
suddenly hurtled back in time when he’s ripped from 2008 after being
hit by a car while chasing down a criminal. He’s trying mightily to
understand what has just happened to him and how he can get back “home.”

Last week, I had the opportunity to listen in on a teleconference call with lead Jason O’Mara (who was recently on both Men in Trees and Grey’s) and co-executive producer Josh Appelbaum (October Road, Alias). The creators of this show were huge fans of the original, and aim to honor the spirit and tone of the British series; in addition to relocating it to New York, there will only be “one key change to the mythology.”

The show is set in the 1970′s, and Appelbaum talked about the importance of portraying that era authentically (rather than with parody and stereotype); evoking nostalgia a la The French Connection and Serpico. They are huge fans of Mad Men, and recognize that everything from the set and costume details to the soundtrack and NY dialects are significant to the success of the series.

In addition to O’Mara, the stellar cast includes veteran film actor Harvey Keitel (in his very first foray into series television), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Gretchen Mol (3:10 to Yuma, The Notorious Bettie Page), Jonathan Murphy (October Road) and Lisa Bonet (High Fidelity, Enemy of the State).

Although it was not initially on my radar of new shows to set a TiVO Season Pass for, after listening to O’Mara’s enthusiasm for the series and Appelbaum’s perspective on this unconventional version of the NY detective genre, I will definitely be tuning in every week to Life on Mars and recommend that you do the same!

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