showtime originals-related stories
Posted Nov 10th 2009 2:10AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E07)
"L.A. has made us soft. You used to be able to run for Lexington Avenue with the best of them. Elbowing the investment wankers out of the way. Your cell phone in one hand, mammoth ball sack in the other hand, Hollywood Reporter between your teeth. Not even breathing so you wouldn't inhale the $&*$ing piss stench." - Hank to Charlie
So now that the No. 1 Missus wants the family back, with Hank included, he's got to get the rest of his conquests out of his system. In the real world, such a thing would be easy to do. Call each one of them up, tell them it's been fun but we've all got to settle down eventually and this is that time. Hang up the phone and never leave your home or greet another human being in person until the big settle down day.
But this is television. Nothing is ever that simple, especially for a cat like Hank Moody, a man who sees simple as a wussy excuse to go through life.
Continue reading Review: Californication - So Here's The Thing...
Posted Nov 4th 2009 6:00AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S03E06) "L.A. is no place to raise a daughter...or a dad." - Hank to Karen
If I ever procreate and God curses me by turning said offspring into a female teenager, the last place I would raise her is Los Angeles. In fact, I would get as far away from that cesspool of pretentiousness and greed as possible; its literal polar opposite, in fact. That's right, I'd actually raise her in the Indian Ocean.
The idea had always been hidden in the back of my brain, but it was yanked into my consciousness by Becca and her snooty, drugged-up pal Chelsea. Both of them are really starting to piss me off. They are vapid, whiny and annoying. In other words, they are perfect Californians.
Continue reading Review: Californication - Glass Houses
Posted Nov 4th 2009 5:20AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Dexter, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E06) "We both have skeletons, which means we both get a closet to keep them in." - Dexter on him and Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer
Now that Dexter and his faithful followers have discovered Trinity's true identity as a family raising, student teaching, hymn congregation leading all around nice guy, it's made him twice as creepy. The fact that he can turn such a blind eye towards causing so much painful mayhem and in the blink of that eye pretend that everything is all rainbows and jellybeans twists my spine into a monkey fist. John Lithgow has not only reached into the bloody depths of this depraved character, but he's done a marvelous job of walking around in his skin, both figuratively and (I sure hope not) literally.
Now that Dexter is on the hunt, he seems more reserved, held back and less willing to pounce on his weakened prey. I'm sure part of him feels the need to put this man out of our misery and avenge the attack on his sister, but now he sees him as a mentor, a role model, a zen-like Yoda who can teach him how to strengthen his mask while he's doing the bidding of his "Dark Passenger." But will this moment of philosophy for madmen drag things down to a screeching halt?
Continue reading Review: Dexter - If I Had a Hammer
Posted Oct 13th 2009 9:06PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Dexter, Reality-Free
One of the joys in reviewing the new season of Showtime's
Dexter has been in the preparation. I did just re-watched the previous season. I watched all the other seasons, read every interview I could find and even dove into a couple of reviews, both good and bad. I even got an advanced copy of the
Dexter video game for the iPhone.
But while watching that iconic opening of Dexter's mourning routine, I noticed the credit to Jeff Lindsay, the author of the first
Dexter novel
Darkly Dreaming Dexter on which the whole show is based. I picked it up in the library and even though I knew most of what happened from the show's first season, it was still a very enjoyable read. It was dark, funny, foreboding and every other adjective you would expect to hear from a review of a great mystery novel.
The best part is that even if you watch the show, you can still enjoy the books since they take very different paths that still provide plenty of good twists and turns. Any
Dexter fan would enjoy them.
Posted Oct 9th 2009 7:23PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Paul Provenza is what comics would call a "comic's comic," so he's a perfect pick for Showtime's new comedian chat show.
The comedian and film director will host a new Showtime show next year called
Behind the Green Room Door. It's a talk show featuring a rotating panel of comics having the kinds of hardcore conversations that can only be heard in dressing rooms and empty comedy club bars.
And if you've never been to a comedy club, then you can get an idea of the conversation when you realize Provenza directed the acclaimed comedy documentary
The Aristocrats. And if you've never heard of
The Aristocrats and you're sensitive to foul language, you might want to see if your DVR comes with ear plugs and a soul scraper.
Posted Sep 28th 2009 1:04AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(
S0301) - What's with all the parent plotlines on Showtime? First
Dexter Morgan becomes a new father, and now Hank Moody on
Californication? Granted, it's the perfect penance for a man who has flaunted the consequences of the reproductive act more than the entire British royal family, but it seems eerily similar and way overdone in the world of television.
It does, however, work as an obstacle and a vehicle for conflict for Hank, whose only daughter Becca moves into that awkward living hell on Earth known as "teenagerhood." The opening scene of Hank catching Becca and her new best friend Chelsea stoned out of their gourds pretty much set the tone for some, if not most, of Hank's problems.
How can he tell her to do as he says while still doing what and who he loves most?
Continue reading Californication: Wish You Were Here (season premiere)
Posted Sep 28th 2009 12:52AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Dexter, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S0401) "Who knew life could get so ... unsimple?" - Dexter Morgan
Moving an unsuspecting serial killer to the burbs sounds like a pitch for a UPN sitcom. "What happens when a wacky serial killer moves into the wackiest suburban neighborhood in the wackiest town in America? You've got 'A Real Cutup.'"
Instead, this is where we find loveable ol' Dexter Morgan, played by Michael C. Hall, at the beginning of the fourth season of Showtime's most popular Sunday night drama that isn't all drama. It still plays heavy on the complex emotions and relationships that make Dexter's life so interesting, but it also features shimmers of laughter as Dexter tries to juggle the life of a father, wife, blood spatter expert, and avenging serial killer without relying too much on one device or character.
The promos for the new season probably made you think, as did I, that Dexter would go from kill room to kill room with a baby slung across his torso in a cute little mini rubber smock and welding mask.
Continue reading Dexter: Living the Dream (season premiere)
Posted Sep 25th 2009 2:05PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Dexter, Software, Reality-Free
Fans of TV's
Dexter have been clamoring for the release of the video game version for quite awhile, ever since
news of the game's development first hits the stands. But just like the show's title character would say, patience and preparation pays off when you're trying to execute the perfect kill.
Dexter the Game would feel like just another run-of-the-mill TV to video game translation if it hit the Xbox Live Arcade or the Playstation Network. But this slice and dice retelling of the Showtime show's first season is special because it's on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
That's right, the touch screen manna from Steve Jobs' heaven now lets you cut up evildoers with a bone saw with the flick of your finger. Now you can fulfill the needs of your own "Dark Passenger" without having to max out your Home Depot card on visqueen and power tools or thin the pet population of your neighbors' backyards.
Continue reading Dexter the Game -- video game review
Posted Jul 16th 2006 11:01PM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Showtime, Premium Cable, Brotherhood
(
S01E02) Genesis 27:29: "Let peoples serve you, and nations pay you homage; Be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you."
Series creator, Blake Masters, has
spoken about the actors he cast as brothers Tom and Mike Caffee as carrying "the idea they're not boys anymore, that they should know better." This idea comes to the forefront tonight as Tommy and wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish) separately grapple with a couple of the more depressing aspects of adulthood: compromise and hypocrisy. Eileen thinks she might have an STD and gets to feel small and cheap at least three times this week: once as usual when she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror while rendezvousing with her f-buddy at the motel, once when her doctor tells her not to worry -- Tom "would never cheat on her," and once when she jambs a towel under the door of the bathroom, dorm-room style, so she can smoke weed while Tommy sleeps. Being a politician's wife sucks.
Now, I keep going back and forth over which Caffee brother behaved more despicably this week:
Continue reading Brotherhood: Genesis 27:29
Posted Jul 10th 2006 10:01AM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Showtime, Premium Cable, Brotherhood
(S01E01) Mark 8:36: "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"
Showtime's answer to
The Sopranos and
The Wire premiers, and it is all about family.
Family Tawwwmmy! Family! "Everybody knows how important that is to you," a union rep and mob flunky tells nice-brother-with-a-dark-side Tom Caffee (
Jason Clarke). He is the slightly dough-faced one, an elected state-representative about to blackmailed by the mob boss Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman) into handing over some snowplow contracts in order to save his brother's life.
Or something like that.
I like Tom immediately, if only because I am slightly dough-faced myself. Mike, the other Caffee brother, the chiseled, hunky one, is played by the another Jason (
Jason Isaacs). He is the bad brother with a good side. They call him Three "Pawt" Mike, cause he plays three parts: judge, jury & executioner. Maybe Four-Parts Mike is more appropriate if you include surgeon: Quentin Tarantino would appreciate what Mikey can do with an ear. The lads are products of all-white, blue-collar neighborhood "The Hill," - that's the mean streets of Providence, Rhode Island to you and me, but I don't see Mike Farrell anywhere.
Continue reading Brotherhood: Mark 8:36 (series premiere)
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