Full Of VICE PRINCIPALS

Article first published as VICE PRINCIPALS Review on Seat42F.

I recently was asked to review HBO’s next comedy series, VICE PRINCIPALS. Set at a high school, the half hour weekly series follows two men who hold the job mentioned in the title of the show, and whom both want to move up to full-blown principal if given the opportunity. Of course, they are not given such a chance, and the laughs are supposed to come from their antics as they try and fail to reach that goal, sabotaging themselves as much as one another.

In case you couldn’t tell by the tone of the first paragraph, I did not enjoy VICE PRINCIPALS. Admittedly, I did not enjoy Eastbound & Down, either, which I assume is the closest series the network has had previously to this one. Both were created by Jody Hill (Observe and Report) and Danny McBride (Pineapple Express), and star McBride. Both feature an obnoxious lead that is hard to like, who does things that are rude to others. It’s not my cup of tea.

I say this right out front because humor, unlike drama, is very subjective, and there is clearly an audience for McBride’s work. And it’s not like that I don’t enjoy the actor; I liked him very much in This Is the End. I just don’t get his point of view in these series.

I also chafe at poor depictions of schools. As someone who has worked as an educator, it bums me out that, aside from dedicated pro-teacher movies like Dead Poets Society or Mr. Holland’s Opus, staff members in academia are often treated so poorly in television and film. The vast majority of those who dedicate their lives to helping children are committed to their work. The behavior of McBride’s character, Neal, would never, ever be tolerated in any institution I’ve been in, and he would be promptly fired long before he reached the point of vice principal. I know cop and medical shows aren’t portraying the reality of those jobs, either, but at least they aren’t so negative on the professions.

Besides that, there isn’t a lot I can point to that is valid criticism of the show. It is well constructed. There aren’t any easy plot holes to pick on in the pilot. The cast, which includes Justified’s Walton Goggins as Neal’s main rival, Cougartown’s Busy Philipps as Neal’s ex-wife, Boardwalk Empire’s Shea Whigham as her new man, The New Normal’s Georgina King as a teacher at the school, Devious Maids’ Kimberly Herbert Gregory as the new principal, and Know Thy Enemy’s Sheaun McKinney as a cafeteria worker, is great. The legendary Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Caddyshack, Zombieland) even guest stars in the pilot! Technically, there’s nothing explicitly wrong with the show.

When I see fare like this, it makes me sad for the actors in it, hoping they can find better work soon. Or, selfishly, I’m sad for myself, missing seeing their talent as long as they dedicate their time to a project I’ll never watch when I’ve enjoyed them so much in the past. This is certainly the case with Goggins and Philipps, both of whom I adored in their last works. But if they’re happy and the show does well, then I guess that’s all that matter. Plus, it’s already been announced that VICE PRINCIPALS will only be a two-season show, so their tenure will be relatively brief.

So it will all come down to where you get your sense of humor. I find it hard to pigeonhole exactly what McBride’s is, other than it’s definitely his own. It isn’t overly gross or slapstick or witty or LOL-worthy. It’s just what he finds funny, and it’s good that he gets to represent it on television. I hope he finds his audience, though it clearly does not count me among them.

VICE PRINCIPALS premieres Sunday, July 17^th at 10:30/9:30c on HBO.

Alpha House

Article first published as Alpha House on TheTVKing.

From the mind of Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau comes a new political comedy "Pilot" currently available through Amazon, Alpha House. Alpha House is about a bunch of Republican Senators who share an abode in the Capital during the week, and then return to their wives and children in their home state on the weekends. Together, the men deal with the rigors and ridiculousness of politics in Washington D.C.

The story opens with one of their own, Vernon Smits (Bill Murray, Moonrise Kingdom), getting arrested, but totally unprepared for it because his scheduler screwed up. It's a funny scene, but Murray has to play it so quickly and over the top that what makes him the infamous Bill Murray gets lost in the moment. I really hope this is a character that returns so we can see what type of Senator Bill Murray can create.

With Smits out, the other three, Gil John Biggs (John Goodman, Argo), Robert Bettencourt (Clark Johnson, Homicide: Life on the Street), and Louis Laffer (Matt Malloy, The Bounty Hunter) look for a new roomie. They find one in young, upstart, arrogant Andy Guzman (Mark Consuelos, All My Children), who not only brings his floozy to bang in his first visit to the house, but who skips past seniority to claim a nice bedroom.

This is the makings of lots of conflict and chaos, which should be quite entertaining. Alpha House avoids pigeon-holing or flat characters, so I can't say "Gil is the ____ one" or anything, which means the ways in which this unfolds should actually be unpredictable and exciting. These are real-seeming men, who have a variety of motivations and needs going on at all times, and Alpha House won't be a typical screwball comedy. From shooting guns in the basement to reusing speeches on the Hill, the scenes are funny, but believably so.

The series is smart. There is a lot of political commentary right in the "Pilot." Everything from secret gay Republicans promoting family values to Tea Party primary threats to an old-fashioned talking filibuster is brought up. Alpha House will clearly be a vehicle to point out some of the pitfalls of Washington in an amusing way, and yet, the likely viewer will already know about these elements, and so it will reinforce their thinking, rather than opening eyes.

Trudeau is not a conservative, and while that doesn't openly shine through in Alpha House, with likeable, if flawed, characters, there is likely to be an undertone of judgment against the party the show presents. For this reason, people who would vote for a Gil type will likely not enjoy it. It doesn't stray fall enough away from reality to be a hatchet job, but by gleefully pointing out the cracks in the system and the party, it will turn off a large segment of viewership, even if many of the goofs could be applied to either side, and these guys just happen to be GOP.

That being said, I really hope it gets made. Trudeau has found a very nice balance, aided by a stellar cast, between mocking and telling an intriguing story. I like the way he has set things up, and there is a lot of material here to mine. The stripped-from-the-headlines element will give it the ability to say something about modern politics, and maybe, if it's very lucky, provide a little push towards change.

Alpha House's "Pilot" is available now on Amazon.

The 1st (hopefully of many) Comedy Awards

     With awards shows often hiring comedians to host, and with comedy movies often getting overlooked at the major awards shows, it would make sense that Comedy take their own night to hand out kudos. What's more, since everyone involved is in the business of making people laugh, it is bound to be much, much funnier than other dreary, dragging award galas. It seems like such a no brainer. Yet, it wasn't until this past week that Comedy Central stepped up to host the first ever 'The Comedy Awards', which honored performers and shows from many channels, and aired on several other networks, too. It premiered on television Sunday night, though was filmed a couple of weeks ago.

     Well, of course, success was had! While there was no opening sketch or monologue, the people tapped to introduce and hand out awards were plenty funny. Even the In Memoriam segment showed some of the deceased's funniest moments on screen, celebrating what they did so well, rather than playing sappy music and bringing tears to eyes. Andy Samberg's Lonely Island and Akon performed "I Just Had Sex", which came off even more entertaining than the original Saturday Night Live digital short it was taken from. Jon Cryer also delivered a very classy, amusing bit, playing off current events.

     The sad part is, this show took place in New York, so while all of the New York people were in attendance (Jon Stewart, David Letterman, the cast of 30 Rock, etc.), many L.A. performers couldn't make it. This may be chalked up to first year stumbles, and if the show becomes an anual tradition, more effort to attend among the various nominees will hopefully be made. Because of this, a few major awards were shown only in brief clips, rather than as part of the live broadcast, as the winners were not there to collect them.

     Most winners chose to go for jokes rather than a serious, sentimental speech, which was welcome. Best acceptance speeches of the night go to: Honorable Mention: Kristen Wiig, who thanked several Lornes before getting to Michaels. 3rd place: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, remarking winning an award for South Park, a show that airs on the network giving out the awards, felt awkward. 2nd place: Ty Burrell, representing the mostly-absent Modern Family cast. 1st place: Stephen Colbert, accepting The Daily Show's win, after kicking the real victors off stage, on behalf of all the people sick of being beaten by them for the last eight years.

     Two really big comedy stars were honored with extensive air times. Eddie Murphy was given the Comedy Icon award, and his clip reel reminded viewers that once upon a time, he used to be very funny. Sadly, it appears his acceptance speech was not, as it was thoroughly edited down. Billy Murray presented Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence to David Letterman. The audience went crazy for the elusive Murray. Letterman's speech, on the other hand, went too long and got boring. It's fitting that he won the award, but next time, remember this is a comedy show.
     Other winners included Louis C.K., Childrens' Hospital, Tina Fey, The Other Guys, and Auto-Tune the News for their Bed Intruder Song.

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