Showtime: Not Ready For Showtime
Posted on | April 18, 2006 at 9:17 pm | 6 Comments
Now in its second season, the Showtime series Huff is still trying to be Showtime’s best stab at an HBO-like series (specifically Six Feet Under), yet it still isn’t quite getting it. Sure, it unexpectedly won a couple of Emmys and all, but there’s something about it that is not connecting with me. The main problem is that the show is an incredible downer. It is relentlessly grim, with not enough humor laced between the depressing scenes to liven things up. There is not enough character insight coming out of the depression to make it seem like it was worth it. Like SFU, it features a dysfunctional family. But unlike SFU, the dysfunctions seemed contrived and non-too-subtle. The whole show is just melodrama piled on top of melodrama. The title character, played by Hank Azaria, is a psychiatrist who suffered a devastating blow when one of his patients killed himself in front of him during a session. This happened during the first show of the first season, but the effects still linger. In some recurring incredibly boring scenes, he speaks with a salt-of-the-earth imaginary (or is he??… ho-hum) character who gives him sage advice about living his life. Luckily there’s only been one of those scenes so far this season.
Another of Huff’s patients went stalkeriffic and tried to kill Huff’s wife Beth. Beth has a mother dying of cancer and is going through her own midlife crisis. Their son Byrd likes to break into strangers’ houses to see how they live. Huff’s brother Teddy is a schizophrenic who escapes at inopportune times and causes havoc. Huff’s mother Izzy (Blythe Danner, who won an Emmy for the role) is a bitter alcoholic who can’t deal with the fact that her husband left her and her schizophrenic son tried to strangle her. Huff’s best friend Russell is a high-powered lawyer with huge appetites who is addicted to everything possible. He also provides the few comedy relief moments in the series. The only well-adjusted character on the show is Huff’s receptionist Paula, who is such a stereotypical speech-making religious fanatic that she’s a caricature and most of her scenes are cliched.
If anything, the second season has been even more depressing than the first. Although it is finally starting to lighten up a bit, especially since Beth’s mom had an unbelievable last minute cancer remission, just when she was seemingly mere hours from dying. But for some reason, that has made Beth feel even worse. Even the Russell scenes have been downers, as he is involved with a client who has a whole host of unusual problems (recurring guest star Sharon Stone, in full-on Extreme Acting please-give-me-an-Emmy mode, who I guess has finally figured out that she’s never going to get an Oscar). Sometimes it is just such a pain to watch this show, as the scenes seem to go on forever, and the people just talk talk talk with long silences and lingering looks between rants. At least SFU knew when to shut up and move on. The season premiere was almost two hours long and every second dragged.
So why do I keep watching it? The performances are generally pretty good and the ensemble works well together. Two in particular really work for me. One of them is not Blythe Danner. Her character is just too unreal and obnoxious, and her performance seems too much like Emmy-bait (which obviously worked). However, Oliver Platt, as Russell the lawyer/best friend, does his usual great job, and like I said, gives the show its few light moments. Even though his character is a pathetic jerk, he brings a lot of humanity to the role. But mostly I keep coming back every week to see the luminous Paget Brewster as Beth. I’ve admired the actress ever since her roles in the low budget movie The Specials and in the TV show Andy Richter Controls The Universe (one of the best sitcoms ever – why isn’t that on DVD?). Looking at her IMDB entry, I see that I had forgotten she was also in several episodes of Friends as her first big acting gig. This is the first time I’ve seen her in primarily a dramatic role, and she makes the character very believable, though I still have trouble figuring her out. And she looks great. So, the two of them are enough to keep me tuning in each week. That and the hope that things will turn around. They have pretty decent guest stars also, including Anjelica Huston next week.
The whole unrelenting grimness thing seems to be a Showtime trademark. The just-ended season of The L Word was also melodrama-to-the-max, even more so than previous seasons. More nudity, less crying, please. The show Weeds (soon coming back for a second season) is billed as a comedy, but is one of the most depressing shows I’ve ever seen. It is saved by the writing though, and the performance of Mary Louise Parker, who manages to be stoic and emotional at the same time.
They keep trying, but apparently Showtime will always be the Avis to HBO’s Hertz. I’m not sure why this is, as they are able to attract the talent, but they just don’t put it to good use. They try to make it look like they’re doing something trailblazing, but it always ends up just imitative and dull. I wish I knew what the problem is. I bet the Showtime executives wish they knew too.
(On the bright side of Showtime, there’s always Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and the delightfully gory and generally humorous anthology Masters Of Horror. And the sexy “reality show” Family Business is coming back soon for another season. I should also mention that HBO’s own shot at an SFU replacement, Big Love, is more entertaining than the Showtime melodramas – again, HBO just knows how to get it right. They don’t linger on a scene or a mood.)
Latre.
Comments
6 Responses to “Showtime: Not Ready For Showtime”
April 18th, 2006 @ 9:48 pm
Didn’t “Stargate” begin on Showtime? HBO should have picked up “Babylon 5″ – or Firefly…
April 19th, 2006 @ 8:10 am
Didn’t “Stargate” begin on Showtime?
I rest my case…
April 19th, 2006 @ 9:25 am
I liked the first season of Huff a bit more than you did, I think, but not enough to keep paying for ShowTime. I might end up renting Season 2 sometime though .I agree Oliver Platt is one of the highlights of the show, but I also really like Huff himself. Weeds was ok. MLP is great, but most of the other characters didn’t resonate very strongly with me. I did enjoy the arc with the teenage son and the hearing-impaired girl very much though. The only really HBO quality level original drama I think Showtime has done was Queer as Folk, and that was a little erratic towards the end.
April 19th, 2006 @ 9:58 am
What is this “TV” people keep talking about?
April 19th, 2006 @ 10:04 am
Bill: TV = Transvestites (people who like to clothe themselves in the vestiments traditionally associated with the opposite gender).
Alan: QaF had its moments and was more lighthearted/less grim than most Showtime fare, but it was still pretty melodramatic. A bit too soap opera-ish. Agreed moreso towards the end.
April 19th, 2006 @ 1:54 pm
So, I hate to think what HDTV might be . . .