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Mar. 30th, 2012 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seekingferretShows I'm watching that nobody else is:
-Battleground. It's a new Hulu-produced series about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin.
You ever see that episode of the West Wing, "A Good Day"? It's one of my favorite West Wing episodes, a compressed ball of happiness and hijinks and sincere belief in the power of process. No, it's not as dramatic and emotionally powerful as the great Sorkin episodes, and yes, some of the characters are a bit ooc, but... every plotline is funny. Every plotline puts a smile on my face. Toby collaborating with a teenager on REVOLUTION!. Kate threatening nuclear war on Canada. Josh envying Cliff's office. Donna sleeping in the VPs office. Cliff outsmarting Haffley with a sleepover. Goofy, genuine fun.
Battleground is a show where every episode is patterned after "A Good Day". It doesn't say anything deep about politics and policy. It's all tricky political maneuvering and no substance. Typical storylines involve elaborate bluffs to trick opponents into confessing political liabilities, or recruiting Thai takeout menu delivery people to rapidly blanket a campus with fliers. But for the same reason as "A Good Day", I love it. I'm invested in the characters and I'm invested in the idea that good process matters as much as good policy toward actually getting things done, and I'm invested in the happy underdog warriors against the political machine.
-House of Lies. This Showtime black comedy about a team of consultants.
The cast is amazing- Don Cheadle stars, Kristen Bell plays second banana, Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec) is goofy and clever as their analyst, and the ensemble chemistry is amazing. Plus we get a great performance by Richard Schiff as the total bastard who runs the company.
The writing is terrible, and it's weighed down by an unobnoxious cinematic trick involving time freezing as Don Cheadle infodumps at us. But for some reason that mostly involves Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell I was still watching at Episode 12 when the shit hit the fan and the show delivered its most emotionally credible episode. Don Cheadle's been playing this character who skates as close to the edge as possible at all times, and for eleven episodes he's been somehow getting through to the happy ending when the credit rolls. In episode twelve, he falls over the edge, and there is a late scene of him bottoming out that is shockingly moving, given how much of an emotionally crippled asshole the character is.
Also, Cheadle's character was definitely not originally written for a black man, and was therefore named the hilariously hamish Marty Kaan. This means that every episode has the bonus frisson of "maybe they'll reveal he has a Jewish grandfather" for me, which always makes me enjoy a show more.
-Battleground. It's a new Hulu-produced series about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin.
You ever see that episode of the West Wing, "A Good Day"? It's one of my favorite West Wing episodes, a compressed ball of happiness and hijinks and sincere belief in the power of process. No, it's not as dramatic and emotionally powerful as the great Sorkin episodes, and yes, some of the characters are a bit ooc, but... every plotline is funny. Every plotline puts a smile on my face. Toby collaborating with a teenager on REVOLUTION!. Kate threatening nuclear war on Canada. Josh envying Cliff's office. Donna sleeping in the VPs office. Cliff outsmarting Haffley with a sleepover. Goofy, genuine fun.
Battleground is a show where every episode is patterned after "A Good Day". It doesn't say anything deep about politics and policy. It's all tricky political maneuvering and no substance. Typical storylines involve elaborate bluffs to trick opponents into confessing political liabilities, or recruiting Thai takeout menu delivery people to rapidly blanket a campus with fliers. But for the same reason as "A Good Day", I love it. I'm invested in the characters and I'm invested in the idea that good process matters as much as good policy toward actually getting things done, and I'm invested in the happy underdog warriors against the political machine.
-House of Lies. This Showtime black comedy about a team of consultants.
The cast is amazing- Don Cheadle stars, Kristen Bell plays second banana, Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec) is goofy and clever as their analyst, and the ensemble chemistry is amazing. Plus we get a great performance by Richard Schiff as the total bastard who runs the company.
The writing is terrible, and it's weighed down by an unobnoxious cinematic trick involving time freezing as Don Cheadle infodumps at us. But for some reason that mostly involves Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell I was still watching at Episode 12 when the shit hit the fan and the show delivered its most emotionally credible episode. Don Cheadle's been playing this character who skates as close to the edge as possible at all times, and for eleven episodes he's been somehow getting through to the happy ending when the credit rolls. In episode twelve, he falls over the edge, and there is a late scene of him bottoming out that is shockingly moving, given how much of an emotionally crippled asshole the character is.
Also, Cheadle's character was definitely not originally written for a black man, and was therefore named the hilariously hamish Marty Kaan. This means that every episode has the bonus frisson of "maybe they'll reveal he has a Jewish grandfather" for me, which always makes me enjoy a show more.