Stop LOOKING For Now

Article first published as Stop LOOKING For Now on TheTVKing.

HBO's Looking has semi-accurately been dubbed Girls with gay men. Both of the half hour dramedies feature authentic, unique voices, profiling personalities of a generation that haven't made in onto TV all that much yet. They're realistic-ish, or at least the characters are, and the episodes do draw the viewer in quite effectively, whether because we're seeing ourselves or someone we know in the parts.

Looking, which aired its first season finale, "Looking Glass," this week, has a little more self-awareness, playing a bit to sitcom tropes, but acknowledging it does so. When one of the guys on Looking identifies themselves as a woman from The Golden Girls or Sex and the City, we can see this. It is also clear that Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and Richie (Raul Castillo) view themselves as Ross and Rachel from Friends.

This latter parallel is mentioned in an earlier episode, then shows up again in the finale when Patrick and Richie are on a break and Patrick has a sexual tryst before they get back together. Frustrated fans will surely be screaming at the screen "They were on a break!" when the news comes out and Richie gets mad, which has to happen.

I don't think Looking completely rips off Friends, though. For one, Patrick's affair is with his boss, Kevin (Russell Tovey), someone more integral to his life than a random copy girl. And while the timing is a bit too coincidental, there's no way the dynamic will play out the same way moving forward, with Patrick and Richie alternately pining for one another while the other tries to move on for the next nine years.

This is because the guys in Looking are aware of their television predecessors and are influenced, but not defined, by them. Patrick may be more likely to end up in a Ross situation because he knows who Ross is and identifies with him. But real life isn't TV, and Looking strives for that real life aspect, so while the scenario may begin the same as on the beloved sitcom, it likely will quickly branch out into something else.

Let's hope the love triangle isn't resolved too quickly, though. Should Patrick be with Richie or Kevin? We've seen an entire installment of Patrick and Richie just being happy together, and that was fantastic. We've also seen emotional moments between Patrick and Kevin, and there is definitely a strong connection there. Plus, Patrick is able to bottom for Kevin, something he struggles with for Richie, though Kevin already has the boss relationship with Patrick, so that may have something to do with it. I'd really like to see how they get along as a couple before making a decision. I hope Looking keeps both men in Patrick's life around long enough to explore this fully, and since Patrick and Kevin will be series regulars in year two, that seems likely.

Dom's (Murray Bartlett) new beau, Lynn (Scott Bakula), should also stay, though Bakula hasn't been contracted to do so. Dom's pop-up restaurant succeeds because of Lynn, even as Dom drives Lynn away from the event. Yet, Dom is able to realize this by the end of the half hour, and when Lynn says he doesn't want to work together any more, Dom pursues the older man romantically. Mixing business and pleasure is messy and that may not work for them, but Lynn does seem to bring out the best of all sides of Dom, helping him find his potential, so Lynn would be welcome to stick around for awhile in some capacity.

One of the best moments in "Looking Glass" is when Doris (Lauren Weedman) fights for Dom to Lynn. Doris has been a relatively small supporting character up until now, but this scene will make any viewer instantly fall for her. She has also been upgraded to main player for the sophomore run, and after seeing this side of her, I am anxious for more from Dom's bestie.

The third couple in the show, I am completely done with. Frank (O.T. Fagbenle) kicks out Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) after only living together a short time. Agustin completely deserves it, acting like a total ass all season, going behind his boyfriend's back and whining about his art instead of making something. Perhaps the creative types are just this unstable and it's needed for great work, but it makes them nearly impossible to be around.

I'm surprised Patrick takes Agustin back in so easily. After all, Agustin has been a jerk towards Patrick, too, especially where Richie, whom Patrick still loves, is concerned. Yet, there's definitely a lot of history between the two prior to Looking's start, so that must play into Patrick's willingness to forgive without an apology being offered. If Agustin is sticking around, and he is one of the leads, unlike Frank, we need to start seeing the elements in him that Patrick and Dom like. They have been in short supply in year one.

The fact that eight short entries can suck fans in so fully to these characters shows quite a bit of skill in the acting and writing departments. Looking is a compelling, intelligent series that is both enjoyable and fresh. If you missed this initial run, check it out on HBOGo or when it inevitably reruns. You'll want to be caught up before the second round, which will presumably air early next year.

When Good Shows Go Bad

Article first published as When Good Shows Go Bad on Blogcritics.


NBC's The Office was once one of the most praised, funniest sitcoms on network television. Community, on the same channel, was a brilliant, creative, original show that broke all the traditional bounds of what sitcoms were capable of. FOX's House was an intelligent character study wrapped in a medical procedural. What do these all have in common? They were great shows that fell apart in the end.

Although I list House, which I still enjoyed through to the end, even if I admit I see the point many make about the creative sagging of the final couple of years, this is usually more of a sitcom problem. A show that is funny and beloved will frequently age and tarnish. I think it's something about a certain type of comedy that just begins to wear thin over time. Jokes are only good for so long, and then they stop getting a laugh out of us. If a comedy series doesn't adapt and grow with its audience, rather than deliver the same thing over and over again, it begins to wither and die.

This isn't a new phenomenon. Many criticized Friends as it approached its end, frustrated with an unrealistic Joey / Rachel romance. The Seinfeld series finale is renowned for how much it disappointed fans. But it's also not going away, as The Office and Community prove. A show that once delighted can go sour.

Perhaps it's a lack of passion. A new show runner may feel edgy and their creative juices may flow, but they can get tired after awhile of working with the same characters and premises. Or new writing staffs may come in and just not understand what makes the characters tick.

The latter is definitely true for Community. Abed used to be the linchpin that made the series work. Even in the installments that could be considered filler, his keen eye and specific viewpoint always made things rise above what seemed to be happening on the surface. Now in its fourth year, with series creator Dan Harmon ousted from the project, Abed is easily the worst character in the ensemble, and the show suffers mightily for it. It may go off the air for good this week, with no fanfare and a very unsatisfying ending.


The Office, on the other hand, is taking its victory lap. It struggled to find its way after losing the star of the show, Steve Carell, and his wonderful Michael Scott. After over a year of floundering, the team threw in the towel and began gearing up to send the characters grandly off into the sunset. It's made the show seem a little better, with the players having some direction and the plot getting movement. But it's curtain call, which, while well deserved, should have come much earlier.

A series can pull itself out of a creative rut. After several strong initial seasons, CBS's How I Met Your Mother spiraled into unfunny drivel for a few years. It clawed its way back to being good by adding emotional heft. This was present in the beginning of the show, of course, before disappearing, but now it's the bread and butter of every installment, with the drama being of a far better quality than the comedy. Even as the final push begins, as next season will be its last, all the major stories are based on pathos, not gags.

But reinvention isn't always possible. Sometimes it's better just to end things, whether the show's story gets tied up or not. NBC pulled Heroes after a fourth season cliffhanger, and ABC didn't give Brothers & Sisters its due five years in. But neither of these series were worth watching anymore, and the networks decided to cut their losses and move on. This outraged fans, but most soon forgot about it.

Maybe we'll never know exactly why our favorite shows can't remain our favorite shows forever. For every Lost and Battlestar Galactica, which maintained quality through the finish line, even with polarizing swan songs, there are plenty like The X-Files or Veronica Mars, which just never recaptured what once made them so special. I'm sorry Veronica Mars fans, I've donated to the Kickstarted campaign and am greatly looking forward to the film, but it's true that each of the three seasons was weaker than the one before it. Storytelling is a tricky thing.


I do think series tend to be better if they maintain one creative vision. Gilmore Girls and The West Wing faltered after losing their guiding person (though the latter eventually found its stride again). A single voice having control allows better consistency than a production team; ask George R.R. Martin. However, if The Walking Dead can continue to thrive, even though it is now on its fourth show runner, this can't adequately explain away the phenomenon.

Taste is not only varied, it is fickle. Catching lightening in the bottle takes a high degree of skill and luck, but to cultivate that lightening and to not let it burn out for one hundred and fifty or two hundred episodes is a very rare feat. Maybe this could be solved with shorter seasons, like the cable channels tend to do, as you'll notice I've mainly talked about programs on the broadcast networks. But systems are slow to change, and there doesn't seem to be movement on that front.

Awesome television that doesn't age well will always be a part of life, sadly. For now, I guess we just enjoy what's good while it lasts.

No Friends for Episodes

Showtime's Episodes continues to provide chapters of a wonderful, ongoing story week after week. In the latest entry, Beverly (Tamsin Greig) and Sean (Stephen Mangan) finally reconnect, Matt (Matt LeBlanc) finds out what his former Friends co-stars really think of him, and Morning (Mircea Monroe) gets a fix to her problem.

Poor Morning. It's interesting that Episodes takes someone so pretty and tarnish her so. On modern television, many of the actors are of above average beauty, and especially in Hollywood, looks mean a lot. Yet, Episodes is brave enough to not only screw up Morning's prettiness for a single episode, but to draw it out in an extended arc. Kudos to the writers and Monroe for going down this path, terrifically skewering this tradition of the industry.

Of course, Monroe isn't the only pretty face on Episodes. Los Angeles is full of them, and several more appear on the show. Matt's current problem is one in particular named Labia (Sophie Rundle), who shows a lot more than her face. She is Matt's stalker, and this week, she is prancing around his kitchen in only a pair of panties, baking him cookies. One would think that Matt, horn dog that he is, would like this turn of events, and he doesn't complain too loudly. But he does kick her out.

Matt is a player, and this is the reason that he can't embrace Labia. It's not that she's too crazy for him, which should be the main sticking point. It's that he doesn't want to only sleep with her, even if she is hot, and he doesn't want her hanging around constantly, which is what would happen even more after sex.

However, how Matt treats Labia also reveals his good side. Yes, he does threaten to call the cops. But that isn't his immediate response. And he tries really hard to get her to leave without threats at first. He isn't overly mean. He's tough, but fair.

Until he tosses off the one-liner "But you didn't!" in response to her assertion that she would die for him, which does go kinda low, considering they met when she was a Make-A-Wish kid with cancer.

This inability to resist the insult, and not even realize how wrong it is, is a major theme in Matt's life. He obviously doesn't consider it a big deal, but his former Friends co-stars do, none of them agreeing to appear in the show within a show, Pucks! Nor in Episodes for that matter. One wonders if perhaps the reason viewers only see Matt's side of the conversation is because it kind of ruins the "real" Matt in the show if those other Friends, who surely don't actually hate Matt, who is playing a caricature of himself, are glimpsed in the episode.

One Friends guy, James Michael Tyler (himself), who played ever-present Gunther, does come on Pucks! Matt is anything but grateful, taking some misplaced anger out on Tyler. Why can't Matt ever just say thanks? Why does he push? What drives this need to be liked, which is counterproductive, considering the way that he goes about achieving it?

Matt takes advantage of the couple of people that do not currently hate him, but probably will again soon enough, when he gets Sean and Beverly to write a speech he's supposed to give in honor of the slimy Merc (John Pankow). Matt acts like he appreciates their efforts, but wants the script early so he can send it back for rewrites if he's not pleased, which goes against the spirit of a favor. If he treats everyone like this, it's no wonder he's alone!

Sean and Beverly find it exceedingly difficult to write something nice about Merc, give what a low life, two-faced, scum bag he is. But they don't accept the job for Merc, and they don't really do it for Matt, either, though their innate generosity and kindness, not yet completely eroded by Hollywood, do probably play a small part. Instead, they do it to spend time together, as each has shown a tenderness to their ex-spouse as of late.

It must be incredibly hard to work so closely with an ex. Normally, when a couple breaks up, they can go their separate ways. Sean and Beverly still have to write Pucks! Somehow, they've found a way to be more than civil towards each other, which makes their reunion inevitable. But because this is a TV show, there must be a number of bumps and misunderstandings along the way.

Which is why, in the middle of getting busy, Sean stops and refuses to go through with it, not ready to forgive Beverly for her accidental indiscretion. It's a tease to viewers, who want them together, but not an unexpected one. Sean has already had a little taste of another woman, and Beverly has Morning's brother in the wings, so that'll kill some more time. The two have to get back together. Just not yet, of course.

Episodes also stars the hilarious Kathleen Rose Perkins. Catch new episodes Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET on Showtime.

If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Check out my new website, JeromeWetzel.com! First published on TheTVKing

Episodes - "Episode 1"

For frequent mini-reviews and occasional TV news, follow Jerome on Twitter.


     I love the concept of Showtime and BBC2's Episodes. As someone who likes both British and American television, and will gladly watch both versions when one of the 'across the pond' shows is remade here, a tongue in cheek look at a remake is clever. I'm not sure about the execution, though. After only viewing the first episode (of seven), I felt like the whole story barely got started.

     The episode began when Beverly (Tamsin Greig) left her husband, Sean (Stephen Mangan) after catching him wanking to another woman. Beverly then almost crashes her car into Matt LeBlanc (Matt LeBlanc, as a pseudo version of himself). The sequence is extended, taking up a good portion of the episode, but fairly unconnected to the rest, which takes place seven weeks earlier. I'm sure that the scene is going to be the end of the season, but it should have been much shorter, or left out entirely. It was too long to be a simple hook, and didn't explain anything at all.

     Most of the episode concerned Bev and Sean coming to America to remake their popular British show, Lyman's Boys. They are wooed into a deal by Merc Lapidus (John Pankow, Mad About You), a shady Hollywood exec who just tells them what they want to hear. He hasn't actually watched their show, though he raves about it, which does provide one funny line after they find out that tidbit. He also presents the show to them as a done deal that they will control, and when they arrive, they discover otherwise. In fact, they don't learn the truth from Merc, who has little time for them, but from Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins), who is really going to be working with them on a regular basis instead.

     The first big obstacle, and apparently the main story of the first episode, though it got only a small portion of the screen time, is that Merc won't sign Julian Bullard (the legendary Richard Griffiths) to reprise his role as the star of Lyman's Boys. According to Bev and Sean, Julian is the show, but Merc, again, only pretending he'd watched, insists Julian fly all the way out to L.A. to audition for the part, and then proclaims him 'too English'. When Julian tries re-reading with an American accent, even he knows it's a disaster. Instead, Carol suggests Matt LeBlanc for the role, which the couple are less than thrilled about. I couldn't even tell if they knew who he was.

     And that's really all we got. There was barely any Matt in the episode, even though this has been billed largely as his vehicle. A confused couple shows up in America and doesn't get what they expect. That's how I felt as a viewer, confused and my expectations not met. I'm not saying this is a bad show, but I don't know that it's a good one. I'm more left with, 'That's it?' than a solid opinion. I feel like more of the series must be viewed before I can render judgment. I like Bev, Sean, Carol, and even Merc as characters, but I don't feel I've even met Matt yet.

     There is another cast member as well, Head of Comedy, Morning Randolph (Mircea Monroe). Perhaps because she was not yet fleshed out either, I felt like she was a one-joke comic relief player. Not that there's anything wrong with that, if it's done well, and I saw no reason to complain as of yet.

     I guess my biggest criticism is that I expect a pilot to set up the series for me, introduce me to the characters, let me know what to expect. As a pilot, "Episode 1" failed in most of that regard. It sort of felt like it assumed the viewer had prior knowledge, and just took off, not at a fast pace, but at an unexplained one. I'm interested enough to check out next week's offering, and hopefully I will have a better understanding then.

     Episodes airs Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. on Showtime.

Article first published as TV Review: Episodes - "Episode 1" on Blogcritics.

100 Questions sparks a few more

     NBC's newest sitcom is 100 Questions.  Premiering last Thursday with "What Brought You Here?", it's a sitcom with a definite number of episodes already set: 100.  Each episode concerns one of the 100 questions a dating service asks our main character, and she gives lengthy answers in flashback.  Considering it's a summer series, it seems unlikely that it will complete it's goal, though to be fair, Seinfeld was a summer show.  So was the brilliant Better Off Ted, although it only got to run eleven episodes during the normal tv year.  But that's the problem.  If it is soon canceled, as it is likely to be, it won't hit but a few of the aforementioned queries.  If it miraculously gains momentum and is a huge hit, it will be expected to go well over 100.  So someone picked a completely wrong number on this one.

     The show itself is not bad.  It should loose the laugh track immediately, as that was definitely the most annoying part about it.  But it does have a fun cast of characters that seems a cross between Friends and How I Met Your Mother.  Charlotte (Sophie Winkleman) is the Brit at the center of the group, and the one telling the story.  Her friends include a slutty ditz, Jill (Collette Wolfe), heartbroken Leslie (Smith Cho), suave former-rich boy Wayne (David Walton) and geeky straight man Mike (Christopher Moynihan, the creator and writer of the show).  Each fits nicely in their little group of chums, though I suspect they may try a Wayne - Charlotte romance should the series continue.  I found funny qualities already in each character, and the actors can all handle the comedy.  Their dynamics was much more interesting than the plot unfolding, which is not a bad thing for a new series.  Even the match company guy, Andrew (Michael Benjamin Washington) adds his own humorous quips.

     I do wonder at the format.  It has not been made clear after only one episode if the flashbacks will be sequential or not.  I would argue for not, as it frees up the writing staff to be a lot more creative, however I doubt audience would be able to stomach it.  It would be too hard to develop a cohesive linear story of the characters, and that would seem necessary to build a fan base.  The audience has to care about who they're watching, and most people won't do that if they spend all their time confused about how each segment fits among the previous ones.  Unless the placement isn't important, and the jokes kick it up another couple of notches, and then they can do whatever they want.

     As far as summer shows go, this will probably be among the best.  If it aired during the regular season, I would likely rank it in the middle of the pack.  However, as I always say, it's hard to judge what a series will be by it's pilot, and that is all I have seen so far.  Please check out 100 Questions Thursday nights at 8:30 on NBC to find out the answers to the queries I posed.