The Universe and Me

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Desperately trying to...

Huff. Season 1. To Showtime and all other DVD makers out there, please can you put English subtitles on your products? It’s not that all the crazy rock music I’ve listened to all my life has destroyed my hearing. It’s that I live on one of the main streets in town and there’s nonstop traffic going by my house all day long. Even with the windows shut, it’s still a constant background noise. And then someone in the neighbourhood decides their lawn needs mowing or the leaves need clearing. And then my refrigerator starts running and I’m left desperately trying to remember high school Spanish class and decipher the Español subtitles because I can’t hear half of what the actors are saying even with the volume blaring. Enough on that.

As for the show, HBO and Showtime sure know how to create compelling drama and comedy. Something I really liked and thought was superbly done in this one was the lifelike continuity. Characters and situations kept recurring in often coincidental and unexpected ways that happen in real life. All the characters here are flawed and therefore more human. Also, I don’t know if it was a tribute to the writers or the actor portraying Russell or both, but it was amazing how such a messed up, piggish, childish creep of a character could also make you feel bad for him and hope he could get himself straightened out and have something, anything go right. The season ending cliffhanger was enough to give a viewer whiplash. Remarkably well done. That this brilliantly written and acted show has been cancelled after its second season due to poor ratings, is an example of everything that is wrong with television.

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