No FEUD Over This One

Article first published as FEUD Review on Seat42F.

Ryan Murphy, who has had great success with the anthology series format on FX in American Horror Story and American Crime Story, brings his next show to television tonight in FEUD. The first season is subtitled BETTE AND JOAN, and covers the film the two legendary actresses made together, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? As you might expect, FEUD is excellent.

Jessica Lange (Big Fish, Horace and Pete) has been Murphy’s muse before, and as a grand lady herself, it makes sense for her to play Joan Crawford, the catalyst that gets the plot moving. Once a big Hollywood star, now a widow who hasn’t worked in awhile, Joan is disappointed by the dearth of strong roles for women of a certain age and sets out to force her own picture through. Latching onto the book What Ever Happened To Baby Jane, she recruits director Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina, The Normal Heart, Spider-Man 2) and her long-time rival, Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise, The Lovely Bones), to help with her comeback. That’s where this story begins.

I cannot emphasize enough the quality of acting in FEUD. Alongside Molina, we get Judy Davis (Maria Antoinette), Jackie Hoffman (Birdman), Stanley Tucci (Spotlight), Alison Wright (The Americans), Kathy Bates (American Horror Story), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago), Reed Diamond (Underground), Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men), and more. Each delivers a quality, layered performance that greatly enhances the world of the series and puts the audience right into this time and place, both familiar and interesting.

None of these actors compare, though, to our two leads. Sarandon and Lange are masterful here, as they have been so often in the past. These are two ladies who can capture a moment like few others. There’s a bit in the pilot in which Lange, as Crawford, has to act in a scene for the movie, and she is brilliant, highlighting the actress as much as the character.

There’s a certain parallel that cannot be avoided that Sarandon and Lange are women of a certain age, just as Bette and Joan were. The difference here is that they can get good work, as evidenced by both FEUD and all of the other projects they continue to do. The very existence of this show proves how far things have come.

Yet, at the same time, the sexism highlighted in FEUD is still an issue, timely in its expression. While Hollywood may be getting better, there is still a long way to go, and with the current political climate, some of the small-mindedness is currently front and center.

Those themes aside, though, FEUD would stand on its own in any time simply because it involves terrific performers doing impressive things in a highly-stylized, yet crumbling, world. The glamor that everyone wants to pretend is there stands in stark contrast to the reality of pretend that reigns in Los Angeles. FEUD shows us both sides, the charade and what’s behind it, in delightful ways. Far from being fake, the actress’ (and others’) attempts to present their best selves is calculated and says a lot about the authentic personalities behind it, which each shot seemingly carefully constructed for maximum dynamic impact.

I’ve only watched one episode so far, but I can already tell that Ryan Murphy has done it again. Far from complaining about all his varied works on the network, I appreciate that he keeps churning out such good stuff with such a strong cast month after month. We’re in the golden age of television, and FEUD is a worthy example of that era. Expect to see it garner a lot of nominations, and hopefully even wins, come award season.

FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN premieres tonight at 10/9c on FX.

The New Normal Slightly Too Normal in Season Finale

Article first published as The New Normal Slightly Too Normal in Season Finale on TheTVKing.

NBC's freshman sitcom The New Normal completed its freshman run with a pair of episodes this week, "Finding Name-O" and "The Big Day." While not exactly a two-part story, these installments do flow well together, as Bryan (Andrew Rannells) and David (Justin Bartha) talk about baby names and prepare for their wedding, and then see the birth of their son and say their vows.

My issue with the episode, especially "The Big Day," is that The New Normal follows the traditional sitcom tropes. Right as Bryan and David are getting ready to say "I do," Goldie (Georgia King) goes into labor. Not only is this not the first show ever to have such an occurrence happen, it's not even the first series in the past month to use the scenario. As such, it feels completely stale and rote.

But maybe that's a good thing. The New Normal wants to show that an extended family, including two gay men raising a child, is just as typical as any other clan. By using such a familiar, played-to-death scenario for their year's final half hour, they seem even more like other programs on television.

However, I like to think they can do a little better, and they often do. There is plenty of sweetness and originality present throughout the first year of the series, including in these two chapters.

For instance, I love that Goldie decides not to go back to Clay (Jayson Blair) before the end, avoiding a predictable summer cliffhanger or a retread of a romance we've been shown is dead. Clay really is trying to change and be there for Goldie and Shania (Bebe Wood), but he has a lot to make up for. Someday, he may earn his place back at Goldie's side, but for now, it would be foolish of her to reconcile with a lazy, irresponsible ex, and she wisely chooses not to.

What's more, she is encouraged not to by those around her, who love and care about her. Sitcoms are the breeding ground for families made up of friends, which is sort of an artificial concept. The New Normal makes it feel authentic, though, and by reminding us how much Goldie has touched everyone's lives, and how much growth has happened for the characters this year, we see that this show will allow change and development much more so than many of its peers.

I also think it's important to have such a wonderful example of a steady gay couple on television. Bryan and David love each other, and even when the bicker, they both compromise to go out of their way and keep their relationship strong. This not only sets a great example for young gay viewers, but also may help the more closed-minded members of our society dispel some ugly and untrue myths about homosexuals, which linger mostly among the older generation.

The character that speaks to that the most is Jane (Ellen Barkin), of course. Jane arrives on the West Coast with some stubborn, Mid-Western opinions. (Disclaimer: I live in the Mid-West, and these are far from universally shared). After a little exposure to people outside of her small community, she sees that she is wrong, and she now understands a different point of view. She'll continue to be grump and coarse and have great one-liners, but she's a different person than in the first episode, and has become sort a role model.

The New Normal is hilarious, and there are plenty of funny moments in "Finding Name-O" and "The Big Day." Most of them involve the grooms' mothers (Jackie Hoffman and Mary Kay Place), who are both hilarious in their own right, and in totally different ways. We also get the return of Michael Hitchcock and John Benjamin Hickey.

The show is serious and touching, too. Among the best scenes in these episode are when Bryan and David agree on a name, Jane thanks Goldie for bringing her out to California, Jane and Rocky (NeNe Leakes) party together at the wedding, and when "Beautiful Boy" plays during the rush to the hospital for the baby's birth.

It does such a bit that Jane is not included in the beach wedding. I wonder why that was done.

I do wonder if there will be any objection from the Catholic community that a priest ends up performing the gay wedding ceremony. The Catholic Church is definitely an institution that is well behind the times on such issues (another disclaimer: I was raised to be Catholic), and it's fantastic to see someone playing a priest push for change in his own small way, but I could see some being upset about this. However, those are probably also the same people who wouldn't watch this show in the first place, so hopefully bad nothing comes of it.

The first year of The New Normal is relatively strong over all, with wonderful characters and heart-warming stories, and I look forward very much to a second batch of episodes next fall. If the show gets picked up, that is, which it deserves to be, but that is very much up in the air at this point. If you've enjoyed it, as I have, feel free to encourage NBC to renew The New Normal.