Another Stab at Fargo

Tonight (April 15th) the FX network brings another take on the Coen Brothers' Fargo.  Luckily, this is not a remake of the 1996 movie but instead a similar dark story in a similar setting.  And best of all, the Coen Brothers are still involved, insuring it will have some staying power.  Even better, you have an excellent cast that includes Billy Bob Thorton and Martin Freeman (Sherlock and The Hobbit).  Having Mr. Thornton play evil incarnate is easy to envision, but casting Mr. Freeman as a Minnesotan seems like quite the challenge and should be fun to behold.

Here is the basic story from FX:

 An original adaptation of the Academy Award®-winning feature film, Fargo features an all-new “true crime” story and follows a new case and new characters, all entrenched in the trademark humor, murder and “Minnesota nice” that made the film an enduring classic. Oscar® winner Billy Bob Thornton stars as “Lorne Malvo,” a rootless, manipulative man who meets and forever changes the life of small town insurance salesman “Lester Nygaard,” played by BAFTA Award® winner and Emmy®-nominated Martin Freeman. Colin Hanks plays Duluth Police Deputy “Gus Grimly,” a single dad who must choose between his own personal safety and his duty as a policeman when he comes face-to-face with a killer. Allison Tolman also stars as “Molly Solverson,” an ambitious Bemidji deputy.

This ten-part series should be worth a look in these days of overbrimming TV schedules.

The Stories of Some of Our Favorite Comedians

Season four of PBS's Pioneers of Television begins April 15th with "Standup to Sitcom," an episode that discussed the transition from standup comic to sitcom favorite.  It will include interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne Barr, Tim Allen, Ray Romano, and Bob Newhart.  

Here is a quick summary from PBS:

In the later half of the 20th century, a generation of standup comics laughed their way into millions of American living rooms. From early appearances on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show to Emmy-award winning onscreen performances, these comedians used humor and determination to redefine the television sitcom.
 
It takes more than a network contract to bring a comic’s stage act to life on the small screen. The life of a standup comic revolves around a nightly set, a rehearsed routine of jokes told to an unpredictable audience within a network of venues. Each stop on the tour provides a new experience for the comic, new possibilities to interact with a fresh audience, scope out a different comedy scene and hone their craft. Though getting laughs remains the ultimate goal, developing and starring in a hit television sitcom is worlds away from a career as a standup comedian.

Legendary performers like Bob Newhart, Jerry Seinfeld and Roseanne Barr took a risk by adapting their well-honed standup personas for mainstream television audiences. As their careers took off, they left the comedy club for the studio lot, learning to transform 20 minute sets into half hour scripts, share the floor with a cast of supporting characters and perform take after take in front of a crew of opinionated writers, producers and directors. Through hard work and endless creativity, these funny folks lead their sitcom families to the forefront of television entertainment and forever impacted the sitcom genre.

Of course, one of my favorite transitional comics not mentioned above is Louis C.K.  The fourth season of his television show Louie returns to FX on May 5th.  In the meantime, I will watch the PBS program and learn a little more about the other great comics of our era.

Mad Man Returns to AMC

Tonight (April 13th) you can catch the premiere of the seventh season of AMC's Mad Man.  This is technically the last season, though it will be broken up over the length of a year with seven episodes this year and the final seven next year.  It is frustrating the way this show has been stretched out, but unlike most shows it can get away with this behavior because we all want to know what happens to Don Draper (or whatever he calls himself these days).

And that's the point.  The perfectly presented and packaged Don came unraveled last season disappointing his daughter (again), friends (if he really has any), and firm (he is now on extended vacation).  What will the new Don do now?  Even his retreat to California has been cut off.  He has been cornered and exposed.

Since Matthew Weiner, the creator of the series, shares little about the upcoming show, all we can do is mine the backstory of the actors themselves.  Jon Hamm luckily has none of the Don drama in his background, as he stated in this AMC interview:

Don’s pursuit of happiness has been a big part of the thematic structure of the show. I usually refer to it as his pursuit of peace. He’s coming from such a crazy, damaged childhood/adolescent life that it’s hard for him to find peace in any way shape or form. It’s easier for me. I come from a relatively stable existence. I, certainly — and everyone — have their stuff that comes from growing up… It serves to define us in many ways. I think I’m a much more happy and peaceful man than our Mr. Draper.

In a day of movie trailers that give away the entire plot and discourage us from spending two hours watching less interesting scenes, maybe this is the better approach.  And unlike House of Cards, we cannot binge watch these episodes but instead experience the slow unwrapping of the story.  Just as well.  Mad Men represents a different time and Mr. Weiner still respects the need for suspense and weekly discussions in the office to discuss the latest episode.  I tend to agree.

RIP: Television Without Pity

Over the years I have browsed the TV commentary on many sites, including Television Without Pity.  Sadly, as the New York Times recently reported, the website has posted its last comment.  Fortunately, the archives will continue to be available for interested readers who may be late to a show but still want some good commentary.

My blog linked to this from almost the very beginning, and I will keep it that way to encourage everyone to check it out.  And just before we move on, I would like to take a piece on one of my favorite shows, Southland, from the site's blog "Brilliant But Cancelled" to demonstrate the site's writing as well as to plug Southland again (much as they did in this piece):

Southland dealt both with the high intensity of bringing down the bad guys -- or of being the bad guys -- and with mundanities, like setting up roadblocks or doling out parking tickets. Obviously, the show had lots of drama, but it didn't pretend that all its characters were superheroes. Most importantly, it looked real. Southland used actual ex-gang members as extras, and shot on location in LA. Additionally, the show was faithful to the actual day-to-day grind of being a police officer; not every case got solved, and even when suspects were caught, it didn't mean that everyone's lives were magically better. All this made the show seem like a slice right out of real life... but for some viewers, real life isn't as good to watch as comfortable TV tropes.

And if you are interested in learning more about someone who worked at Television Without Pity, you can visit Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic's blogpost,"Recapping for Television Without Pity Turned Me Into a Writer."  All I can say in the end is, brilliant but cancelled.

AMC's Turn Brings an Earlier War to our Living Rooms

With all the attention on modern wars and related security risks in the news, we still lack television programs that discuss America at war, be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, the World Wars, or the Civil War.  Where is the new MASH, China Beach, or even Hogan's Heroes?  We seem to be recreating the Civil War in NBC's Revolution, but I am talking about the past stories and not our fears of the future.  

Maybe things are changing with tomorrow night's (April 6) broadcast of AMC's series Turn.  This new program, starring Jamie Bell, is a look at America's Revolutionary War, with specific focus on American spying in British-occupied Long Island.  History knows this small group of American spies as the Culper Spy Ring, which was set up under the order of General George Washington to monitor British activities.  

What is also also interesting is that the spy ring was so secret that Americans did not really learn of it until the 1930s when a trunk of old letters was found in a family home.  The letters are now in the Library of Congress. 

And if you are interested in the book that inspired the series - Alexander Rose's Washington's Spies -  you can learn more about the author and his writing here. You may also want to read a short article on the spy ring in John A. Burke and Andrea Meyer's article "Spies of the Revolution."

A Full Weekend of HBO: Dragons, Geeks, and a Veep

This Sunday (April 6) will be a busy night of new and returning shows on HBO.  Here is a quick run down so you can prepare yourself and clear your schedule:

-- Game of Thrones:  Season four is back and darker than ever, which is pretty scary given the events of last season.  Can the Starks recover after more bloody losses?  Will King Joffrey ever get what's coming to him?  Will the growing dragons ever cross the sea?  Can man stop the coming carnage of winter from beyond the wall?  And can we remember all of the past stories in time to pick it up again on Sunday?  Well, there is an answer to the last question already.  HBO provides a viewers guide to help summarize the events to date, TV Guide has catch-up articles on the Starks and Lannisters, or you can simply watch Honest Trailer for a humorous summary of the action to date.  

-- Silicon Valley:  So we get a new shows about geeks in Silicon Valley trying to convince investors to pony up money for their great idea.  Sound familiar?  It should, since Amazon has already blazed the trail with Betas, though there is always room for another version of the story. 

-- Veep:  If you need simple comedy in a warped Washington way, the return of Veep will satisfy your needs.  Unlike the over-the-top seriousness of House of Cards, Veep is primarily about the upset and ignored rather than the movers and shakers. 

Another Comedy Entry by James Van Der Beek

On  Monday (March 31) I watched the premiere of CBS' Friends with Better Lives, a new comedy vehicle for James Van Der Beek.  You can watch the pilot for yourself on the CBS website. 

Overall, it was not a bad combination of friends with relationships in various stages.  I am just not sure any of them have a life that I want to follow on a weekly basis.  Here is the basic set up:

FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES is a romantic comedy about six friends at different stages in their lives - married, divorced, newly engaged and single - who are outwardly happy, but secretly questioning if their friends have it better. Andi and Bobby are happily married with a toddler and another baby on the way, but at times long for the days when they had less responsibility and more fun; Will is newly single and preaching the bachelor lifestyle, but still pining for his ex-wife; Jules and Lowell are high on their passionate new relationship; and Kate has a successful career but may have a breakdown when she finds out her last remaining single friend, Jules, just got engaged. When it comes to relationships, these six friends are finding it a challenge to look at each other without wondering... who really has the better life? 

Much attention has been given to James Van Der Beek, whose earlier attempt at comedy after the long ago Dawson's Creek was Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.  In the Monday night pilot he did okay playing the divorced Will and best friend of Bobby.  But  Kevin Connolly's Bobby is a solid character that I find more interesting, if only because Connolly plays him so well as with a little bit of Michael J. Fox and Bob Newhart blended in.  And it is nice to see him outside of HBO's Entourage with a new set of friends, though he is still one of the few adults in the room.  

I also liked Zoe Lister-Jones' character Kate, the overworked single female finding every man falls short of her expectations.  Her dramatic facial expressions, thin skin, and interplay with Van Der Beek's Bobby is fun to watch.  

So I guess the show had its moments, but I probably won't watch many more of them.  Given the disappearance of new shows before they get their legs, it will be interesting if this series makes it through a first season.  Check it out while you can.