June 15, 2007

What to Watch: Coming Up on Cable

Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein

Paging Dr. Melfi: Can HBO snap viewers out of their post-Sopranos funk?

The season 4 premiere of HBO's Entourage (Sunday, June 17 at 10pm) is different from anything we’ve seen to date from the well-received comedy/drama series. The series consistently shifts from concentrating on its plot line to an emphasis on its characters. These two episodes are squarely in the camp of the former. Tonight’s ep is a faux documentary about the making of Medellin, the movie the boys have risked their entire savings to produce. M*A*S*H did this much better, although the Entourage cast does a good job, too. Next Sunday’s installment revolves around finishing the film, and leaves the all-important question unresolved: Is Medellin a good film?

The June 17th episode of Entourage is followed by the premiere of Flight of the Conchords (10:30pm). A few years back, with Deadwood, Carnivale, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, HBO was the depression network. Even last year’s comedy, Lucky Louie, was mostly a downer, focusing on a couple of working stiffs whose professional life and home life were usually anything but lucky.

The ascension last year of Entourage, which let viewers escape into the life of a rising Hollywood star, Big Love, an escape of a different sort, and the return of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm seemed to have pushed the Box past its blues, at least temporarily.

With the dysfunctional John From Cincinnati, which premiered last Sunday after The Sopranos' finale, and Flight of the Conchords, a wry comedy about two musicians from New Zealand struggling to make it in NY, HBO is in danger of slipping back to its former depressive state. All this despite, last Sunday, shedding depression’s poster boy, Tony Soprano, who fell into such a funk he eventually faded to black. (Whether Sopranos fans can snap out their post-finale funk is another matter...)

Making things worse, Big Love will become much more serious than its first season, with Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) facing a bevy of problems on Monday nights this season both inside and outside his family, stemming mostly from his polygamous union with three wives. 

Conchords is an unusual mix of music and deadpan humor. Its stars, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, are so dour they make Bob Newhart and Garry Shandling seem like the ebullient life of the party.

If part of the reason people watch television is to escape, then HBO is taking a creative chance with this series. The situation in Flight of the Conchords is bleak—gigs are few and the lads’ fan base consists of one person, and even her motivation is questionable. The lack of income from music forces Bret to begin “a career,” holding signs on the street.

This low-budget production will probably appeal to the relatively few who enjoyed the dry sense of humor of HBO’s Extras. It's not a thigh slapping or belly laughing comedy series. Instead it’s a sly grin type of funny, a chuckle here, a smile there. But it probably won’t be enough to relieve HBO's—or its subscribers'—depression.

Man Caves: Tony Soprano would approve

• SATURDAY, JUNE 16

Man Caves, 1pm ET, DIY. The perfect way to get in the mood for Father’s Day, gather the fellas to build within a family’s home a “man cave” — a guys-only section, complete with pool tables, bar, entertainment center etc. Tony Soprano would approve. This new series starts today with a block of shows that includes the building of a Boston Celtics-inspired bar. It culminates at 3pm when former Baltimore Ravens’ gargantuan defensive lineman (and Sopranos alum) Tony “The Goose” Siragusa joins a crew of old college buddies outside Boston to make sure everyone’s working hard to put together a workout room in this particular man cave.

50 Funniest Women Alive, 8pm ET, Oxygen. Some good counter-programming by Oxygen, sticking it to the Father’s Day crowd with this countdown special. It’s the type of show you’ve seen often on E! (A reverse countdown of the list, interspersed with clips of the honoree in action and talking heads, many of whom you’ve never heard of, paying tribute.) The chief point of interest here are some of the questionable names on the list. (Spoiler alert: don't read on if you intend to watch and don't want to spoil the surprise.) America Ferrera at #50? While you could argue for Cameron Diaz (35) and Kim Cattrall (34), can you mount a case for Teri Hatcher (46)? And then there’s Kelly Ripa, who hosts this show, but is also #6 on the list (hmmm). And while we love her work as a sidekick to Larry David, we’d never put David’s TV wife, Cheryl Hines, on this list, but there she is at 42. On the other hand, Hines’ work is her own, since much of Curb’s dialogue is improvised. The list gets more realistic when it places Tina Fey at 39 and Tracey Ullman at 32, and its final five include Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Carol Burnett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ellen DeGeneres. Now that’s more like it.

Confessions of a Matchmaker, 10pm, A&E. Purists will bemoan the fact that A&E, which began life as a channel with highbrow ARTS programming, is running a reality show about a tough-love matchmaker and her clients. Not to worry — Confessions is a few steps above shows about families of mob bosses. The question we’d ask is where does A&E find people willing to expose their private dealings with a matchmaker, including the dates they go on, to a television audience? Why would you want the nation to know you have a strong sex drive?

A&E'S matchmaker, Patti Novak, is more like a therapist as she works to improve her clients before she sends them out on a date, criticizing their looks and weight, for example. She also matches based on her gut, no computers or online profiles here. The sad thing for viewers is, the matchmaker’s advice is hardly what can be called pearls of wisdom. Don’t get wasted on a first date, she advises one client; don’t talk with your mouth full of food, she tells another.

She advises a 41-year-old virgin to not mention it: “Shut the f*&k up! It’s not cute,” she tells him. Later she screams, “You’ll never get laid if you don’t conquer your insecurities.” Patti pairs him with an attractive divorcee with “a sex drive that is off the charts,” as Novak puts it. Later she pushes him in a different direction. And to think, earlier this week, albeit in a 4a.m. timeslot, A&E Classroom ran a fascinating special on another person who based his life’s work on counseling others—Sigmund Freud.      

The History Channel: Chillin' on Father's Day

• SUNDAY, JUNE 17

The Trial of Tony Blair, 8pm, BBC America. It's hard to know how to react to this fictional drama about Tony Blair’s exit from Britain's top job. Set in 2010, instead of his current exit from 10 Downing Street, it certainly makes its main point—the deployment of British troops to Iraq was morally wrong—but it piles on, making Blair (and his wife) look like the most petty, egotistical, snobby, vindictive couple ever. The Blairs are dreadful to their personal staff and use foul language almost as frequently as Tony Soprano. Worse, both Blairs are made to seem out of touch with the public. Fortunately, for the sake of balance, no politico is spared. All are gutless and expedient, lacking any core values. Political staff also take a lot of hits here.

Going so far over the top to make Blair and his cohorts look bad overwhelms the serious points this show makes. On the other hand, at times it's delicious fun to take whacks at people in power. Also amusing is playing "what if" and predicting what happens to world affairs a few years from now (hint: on our side of the pond, America has its first female president, and, yes, she's the wife of a former commander-in-chief, and she's not happy about Iraq and wants someone to pay...) When most television fare is frivolous, it's refreshing to see a political drama like this that probes important issues. We wish this one had surrounded its probing with more realistic portrayals.

Daddy’s Girl, 8pm ET, TV One. The opening of this special about Laila Ali, the champ’s daughter and a champ herself, moves directly to the issue of the day. Laila tells us that while her dad was a great boxer, he wasn’t nearly as good as a father. While this airs on Father's Day, this film doesn’t bash Muhammad Ali's parenting skills. It centers on his daughter, whose story, from reform school to champion female boxer, is remarkable and inspiring. The main action in this well-made and somewhat disjointed documentary, which includes plenty of boxing footage, surrounds Ms. Ali’s visit to South Africa for a fight earlier this year. After watching this program, several things are clear: Laila’s a beauty, as a woman and as a 175-pound boxer. She’s also inherited her father’s intensity, quickness and power in the ring and his ability for public speaking.

Ice Road Truckers, 10pm, The History Channel. Discovery hit it big with fisherman battling icy waters to catch Alaskan crabs, so why not a reality/documentary series about truckers traversing frozen lakes to transport equipment and supplies to remote parts of Canada? But on The History Channel? Does this series, which is fairly interesting, have anything remotely to do with history in the conventional sense? Perhaps the argument is that these truckers' stories are contemporary history or intense personal histories. Regardless, the payoff for fishermen and truckers is the potential for big money in exchange for a brief amount of time worked. The booty for the cable networks is ratings, of course. It’s hard to say whether or not this well-made series will pull the numbers for History that Deadliest Catch does on Discovery.

Being on the sea seems, right or wrong, to be more dangerous than driving over frozen roads. Falling into the frozen waters for even a few minutes can kill a fisherman. But the truckers are also vulnerable. Engines fail in the extreme temperatures. Truckers sometimes exceed speed limits and jackknife. Problems like these don’t sound dire, but in 30-degree temperatures they can be. The worst case, of course, is that trucks and truckers sometimes fall through the ice. (Perhaps A&E should do a separate series on the divers who swim in frozen waters to recover the truckers and their rigs.)

Meadowlands, 10pm, Showtime. We will describe the plot outline of this compelling new eight-part series from Britain that’s reminiscent of Twin Peaks and The Stepford Wives, although we know it doesn’t sound like much. This is one series where the viewer must watch an episode or two, preferably from the beginning (easily done since Showtime will run replays all week and put episodes on demand quickly). Chances are plenty of viewers will be hooked.

The premise is that a family of four has been sent to a planned community called Meadowlands that, in fact, is wired and monitored to the hilt. The family, now called the Brogans, is in the witness protection program. The neighbors, we assume, are former criminals. They are also strange folk (naturally). Really, they are very strange.
Add to that Mr. Brogan, a government agent of some sort, has assorted flashbacks, mostly to a fire that destroyed his previous home. OK, those are the basics. Hooked? We didn’t think so. But trust us.

TNT's The Closer: Open for business

• MONDAY, JUNE 18

The Closer, season 3 premiere, 9pm, TNT. This ratings hit represents formulaic television at its best. The good guys always win; the cases can all be solved in 60 minutes; and the loveable lugs surrounding deputy chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick, one of TV’s most alluring 42-year-old females) are a diverse crew in terms of their ethnic makeup, gender, style and philosophy.

But this formula isn’t automatic. Viewers will realize that next month when TNT premieres Saving Grace (on July 18) which hews closely to The Closer’s game plan, going with a slightly more unorthodox, but no less sexy, female cop, played by Holly Hunter.

So, why is Grace headed for a life of mediocrity while The Closer, whose season 3 premiere tonight returns the series to an excellent level, seems destined for another ratings-grabbing season? The Closer’s writing is just a tad crisper and more intelligent than Grace. This makes its ensemble characters more interesting. And on The Closer, police work, to a large extent, is the attraction. The cases on The Closer contain a slew of twists, whereas Grace’s are less mysterious and less compelling. Oh, and Brenda isn’t followed by an angel plucked from a Harley-Davidson catalogue, as is Holly Hunter’s Grace.

Making News Texas Style, 9pm, TV Guide Network. We decided to give this reality/docu series about a Midland, Texas, CBS affiliate another chance this week. After all, this is TV Guide Network’s first foray into a reality series. Unfortunately, the weaknesses of week one’s pilot are evident in ep 2, which premieres tonight. The storytelling is long-winded, lacks depth and is stretched out to fit a 1-hour slot. In addition, it seems the nature of TV Guide Network’s viewers, who are tuning in to quickly check listings, has led the producers of this series to recap the action constantly. For channel surfers this is fine. For viewers who’ve been watching this series from the start, it’s cumbersome.

In tonight’s ep, two stories make up the bulk of the hour. One is interesting—a double murderer/sex offender is fleeing police—while the other is merely titillating, featuring the station's sports director hoodwinked into playing in a charity basketball game against local Hooters girls. While the stories unwind, before and after the commercial breaks we’re inundated with reminders of what we’ve already seen. Although it's tedious, we’re guessing at least some portion of the viewing audience won’t mind seeing another close up of the sports director’s comely opponents, cavorting in their buttock-hugging shorts.

Heartland, series premiere, 10pm, TNT. Perhaps buoyed by the success of ER reruns, TNT tries its hand with an original medical melodrama. Of course, the differences between ER, which, at its height, was one of NBC’s best, and Heartland are huge.

ER was and continues to be an ensemble show. NBC has the money to make such a show successful. TNT, with a smaller budget, makes Heartland a vehicle for Treat Williams, whose rugged handsomeness remains and smugly smooth delivery are his most vital assets. Once we find out whether the Williams’ Dr. Nathaniel Grant, a gifted organ transplant surgeon, has saved the patient du jour (in the pilot he does — what a surprise) and whom he sleeps with (his ex-wife or the sexy nurse whose age is about half his), the episode’s over.
 
It’ll be interesting to see where Heartland goes from here. Will it develop the characters around Williams? The relationship between Williams and his ex, Kate Armstrong (Kari Matchett), seems the most promising and complicated. Still attractive, the former Ms Grant works in the hospital as an organ recovery coordinator, putting her in close quarters with her ex-husband. Usually the surgeon and the coordinator act professionally around each other. When they don’t, we get a taste of the type of marital discord that could inject life into the otherwise mundane Heartland.  
    

All times ET/PT unless otherwise noted.