By Curt Schleier
Hello. Allow me to introduce myself. I am a full time freedom fighter. I travel the globe searching for oppressed people to help. Times were a little slow for me after the downfall of the Soviet block, but thankfully things have picked up recently. As you can imagine, freedom fighting is a very strenuous and stressful job, so whenever I get the opportunity, I take out my CIA satellite receiver and zonk out on TV. That is (besides taking apart and putting back together a variety of weapons while I am blindfolded) my main area of expertise.
On the plus side, this has been a pretty good TV year overall, but there are two standout shows, one a sophomore comedy and the other a new drama. Both swept me away.
The comedy is 30 ROCK, a surprise winner of an EMMY last year. I say surprise because members of the Television Academy rarely honor shows watched by so few people. But the numbers are less a function of the show’s quality than the quality of the audience. 30 ROCK is faced with the stiff competition. Viewers have to decide between SUVIVOR and UGLY BETTY on the one hand and 30 Rock on the other. Let’s see: an intelligent comedy or a mindless reality show? Which will I pick? Most of you of course have selected mindless entertainment.
Am I suggesting that if you watch SURVIVOR you lack intelligence? I’ll let you figure that out for yourself, pea brain.
30 ROCK is subversive. Nothing escapes its rapier wit – including its corporate boss, GE. The actors are brilliant. I know this is Tina Fey’s show, but she gives the best lines to Alex Baldwin, who, apparently when not yelling at his daughter, is not only a fine actor but one who possesses impeccable comic timing.
If you have missed the show, take advantage of the writer’s strike and holidays to watch 30 ROCK reruns. They’re also available on line.
The best drama is SAVING GRACE, the story of a cynical Oklahoma City police detective tortured by the bombings there where she lost both her father and her sister. She was also abused – i.e. raped – by a priest when she was a child. She attempts to blot out these memories with promiscuity and booze -- and for the most part does a good job.
I know that doesn’t sound like the basis of a good TV, but there’s more. God has assigned a last chance angel to try to redeem her soul. It’s a tough job.
Part of each episode of course is the crime, and Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) and crew generally do an admirable job solving it. But the heart of the show is the eternal question of faith. After the Oklahoma City bombing, after 9/11, after a Holocaust is it still possible to believe, If God exists, how can he or she permit such senseless violence and death? It’s an interesting question that sets SAVING GRACE far above the typical TV cops and robbers drama. Another point that demands mention is that Holly Hunter is brilliant as Det. Hanadarko. This is the role she was born to play.
If picking the best shows was easy, picking the worst is even simpler. What was HBO thinking in 2007? JOHN FROM CINCINNATI was so indecipherably obtuse it’s difficult to figure out what was wrong with it. And to follow that with TELL ME YOU LOVE ME is an example of network self-flagellation. What surprises me is that there were positive reviews of this series about a group of self-absorbed, uncaring, stupid people. The dialogue was mostly psychobabble. People, if you cannot find yourself, look in the mirror. That’s where you are. End of story.
Oh, yes, did I wish you all a Happy Holidays and New Year?