I promised a bit more TV talk this year and though I haven't seen any show that would inspire me to cover it weekly (Mad Men and True Blood are rare beasts, as interesting to write about as they are to watch) here's a quick overview of first impressions of new series.
PRIME SUSPECT
A bit strange to watch this one in the receding shadow of last weekend's Emmy Awards. The whole time I kept thinking "Oh... here's one to shake up the Best Drama Series field next year if it can be shook. And Best Actress, too!"
But then, immediately after it ended, I felt ashamed of this inner golden-winged monologue. Great acting is no promise of statues after all. I must must must remember my own mantra -- difficult as it is to remember whilst enthusiastically prepping for Oscar season -- Great Work Is Its Own Reward. And Maria Bello is her own reward (and so rewarding, too). Which is as it has to be given the cold shoulder from Oscar in the past (The Cooler, A History of Violence).
Prime Suspect, her new show (adapted from the now 20 year old Helen Mirren series) details the murder investigations of the smart abrasive Jane Timoney, the only woman in her homicide department. The first hour had a few script and performance beats with the zing of those 'Clarice Starling surrounded by tall men' visuals in The Silence of the Lambs but Bello just refuses to shrink. Though procedurals never really capture my imagination, character studies do and Bello demands that I keep watching. Her detective is funny without feeling scripted-quippy and unusually capable without seeming infallible (such a danger for protagonist roles in TV and film). Best of all she shades all of Timoney's more typically admirable qualities like confidence, cleverness, intelligence, and femaleness in such a way that they throw shade; her confidence curdles into arrogance, her cleverness veers towards the reckless, her intelligence has zero warmth and her vagina is both interference and scapegoat. Yes, her department is sexist but isn't her cold arrogance and lack of sympathy for co-workers (who have justifiably open wounds in this episode) more than half of the problem in being welcomed into their club?
Click for more on Prime Suspect plus Revenge, Charlie's Angels and two more newbies.
The unusually potent snap of all this character-work plays out beautifully in each successive scene. The episode's final confrontation between Brian F. O'Byrne (Mildred Pierce) and Bello, who have been at odds over the case and interpersonal office dynamics for the entire episode, starts out weary and muted, slips toward wary and mulling and then leaps into warring and menacing. All of this over a "friendly" cup of coffee. This particular scene is A+ work in terms of acting, direction and script-writing. Damnit, I'm thinking about gold statues again! A
A GIFTED MAN
Watched this one, as noted, just for Patrick Wilson. Had nary a clue what it was about only to discover the current trend towards All Things Supernatural has been fused with that ol' chestnut of a foundational character arc: rich man without a soul must find one. Patrick Wilson is an able actor but it's surprisingly less fun to watch him be Golden Boy Asshole than it has been in the past to watch him perfectly capture Golden Boy Innocent Lost. The supporting cast is promising as it includes Emmy winner Margo Martindale ("Carol, Je'Taime") and Julie Benz (Buffy, Dexter). But damn if Jennifer Ehle as his deceased ex-wife doesn't confuse. I think she's meant to be a force wholly for good but damn if she didn't come off like the world's most passive agressive clingy spirit. I'm not displeased to have seen it but this seems super iffy and predictable in terms of a sustainable premise. B-
CHARLIE'S ANGELS
A failure on literally every level from the terrible script to the embarrassing acting "I didn't know my heart could hurt this much." That's funny, bitch. You don't seem very broken up in the next scene or even during this one! My heart breaks a little for headliner Minka Kelly who was engagingl on both Friday Night Lights and Parenthood. The Awfulness is a bafflement considering that Drew Barrymore was involved (at least her name was) and whatever your feelings are about McG and his oeuvre, Drew as a producer at least seemed to understand with the movie versions that Charlie's Angels as a franchise is allowed to be dumb, sloppy and impossibly unrealistic so long as it's A) lots of fun and B) has loads of personality ... or, well, four distinct personalities in Bosley and those three different Angels. Here's an educational note for the dumbasses involved: hair color and ethnicity are not personalities! Look the words up. This new version is like the zombie corpse* of the franchise: 100% devoid of life but still shuffling about. Shoot it in the brainnnnssss! F
'You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.' Actually we love it when you're angry Madeleine. Destroy her!REVENGE
I have nothing to add beyond Mark Blankenship's astute appreciation of its layered bitchtastic setpieces that practically foam with soapy grandeur other than to say SO GLAD MADELEINE STOWE IS BACK. I was rooting so hard for her in the 1990s (if you ask me she was as great as Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans and gave the best performance in 1993's actor-heavy Short Cuts which she never gets any credit at all for) and then she just up and quit. One caveat: Sustainability of premise may be a big problem given that "end goal" plot. A-/B+
RINGER
By now you've surely heard about the instantly famous Super Cheapo production values (that boat scene!) and though Sarah Michelle Gellar has proven her show-carrying abilities over and over again one wonders why she couldn't return in a more worthy vehicle... perhaps an expensive one? The color by numbers character details of the sisters (rich-bitch Siobhan / recovering addict Bridget) and regular flashbacks to underline emotional backstory don't exactly encourage her best instincts as an actor and though the premise and a few of the plot turns are as good as any soapy thrillers could hope to be, it's not really working. A Distraction: everytime we flash back to petulant pouty drunk Bridget I am transported back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer's infamous "Beer Bad" episode... I fully admit this is my problem and not the show's. C-
Did you watch any of these shows ??? Jump in.
*I would totally watch Charlie's Zombies... if someone really wants to shake this hoary franchise up.