PUBLIC MORALS Cartoonish, But Good

Article originally published as PUBLIC MORALS Review on Seat42F.
 

TNT goes in a bit of a different direction with PUBLIC MORALS. A 1960s-set crime drama from Edward Burns (Saving Private Ryan, The Brothers McMullen), it tells the tale of cops and robbers in New York City. It’s the Mad Men era, but this is the other side of the tracks, those lower income people who think the laws are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Does the series work?

Well, at first I was taken aback by the style. It’s very specific and consistent, but comes across as cartoonish. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, though. After watching the pilot, it is clear that the characters and plot are in this same vein, so the costumes and set decoration match the tone that the series is going for well. While PUBLIC MORALS is a hyper reality, no one ever said every TV show must be totally grounded.

The main reason I quickly got over my hesitation and embraced PUBLIC MORALS is because of the cast. Burns not only writes and directs, but stars as Terry Muldoon, who isn’t in charge, but is definitely the most defined force in this world, feeling totally authentic for the piece. Burns has surrounded himself with an excellent ensemble including Michael Rapaport (Justified), Robert Knepper (Prison Break), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Castle), Neal McDonough (Desperate Housewives), Brian Dennehy (First Blood), Elizabeth Masucci (Shame), Timothy Hutton (Leverage), Wass Stevens (The Wrestler), Katrina Bowden (30 Rock), and more. Many of these supporting players are doing some of the best work I’ve ever seen from them, and those that already have impressive resumes feel like they get this project and meld in seamlessly.

Together, they create a complex world that thrives on shades of gray. As Burns says to his son, the line between hero and asshole is a thin one, with the cops substituting the letter of the law for their own moral code, and working hand in hand with the bad guys when the bad guys stay in line. There are a number of differing relationships between the characters, and PUBLIC MORALS does a good job of painting its reality in just that first hour.

Once introduced to the status quo, the show also spends little time upheaving it. A new officer joins the plain clothes force, and it’s hard to tell if he’s going to be on board with their schemes or a hindrance. Someone who seems like a main character in this initial installment is killed off at the end, which will surely shake up several of the other players and provide a driving force through the season.

PUBLIC MORALS isn’t as brilliantly groundbreaking or as beautifully artistic of many of the cable shows on the air, and it feels a bit strange to be praising it, as those high-quality, original dramas make up much of what I gravitate towards. TNT doesn’t really have any of those, so that’s not surprising. Not everything that happens is realistic, and while some of the story is a slow boil, there’s a lot of fast talking and bits of action, too, so it never gets boring. True Detective or The Killing, this is not.

However, the program knows what it is and makes the best example of the genre that it can, and there’s a lot to be said for that. When coupled with magnetic personalities that suck the viewer right into the world, I find little to complain about. Honestly, I went into this expecting little, and now plan on setting a season pass on my TiVo because I really want to find out what happens next. That’s just about all I can ask for from a pilot, and I look forward to seeing what they do with the rest of the season.

PUBLIC MORALS premieres Tuesday, August 25^th at 10 p.m. ET on TNT.

30 Rock scarfs down its "Last Lunch"

Article first published as 30 Rock scarfs down its "Last Lunch" on TheTVKing.

Last night was the one hour series finale of NBC's 30 Rock. In a double length episode entitled "Hogcock!" and "Last Lunch," the cast that works behind the scenes at a late night sketch comedy show, in which we rarely see what the sketches are about, take their final bow, bringing us a few emotional payoffs along the way.

Last week's episode, "A Goon's Deed in a Weary World," felt like a series finale. The Girlie Show is facing cancellation, and the cast and crew band together to make sure the show shuts down so that Liz (Tina Fey) could get to the airport to meet her kids. It was heartwarming, funny, and it would have been pretty darn good if 30 Rock chose to end there.

Instead, the final hour feels forced and off for much of the episode. The entire gambit to make one last episode of TGS cheapens the way the series ends, and comes across as contrived to pull all the characters back together, instead of letting them go their separate ways. Most of the staff, save the bosses, haven't even left the premises yet, taking their sweet time packing up! It doesn't make sense, and is wholly unsatisfying.

The entire premise hinges on Tracy's (Tracy Morgan) contract stipulating that he will be paid thirty million dollars if TGS doesn't film 150 episodes (30 Rock only made 139, by the way), one episode short of where they stopped. It's fine that Tracy is the one mucking things up for everyone; that makes sense, given his character. It's just a shame that this is the way the series decides to have him cause trouble.

Tracy resists doing the show because he doesn't want to say goodbye to everyone. This leads to one of the best moments in the finale, where Liz and Tracy have a heart to heart in a strip club, and Liz admits that she will miss him. This scene is fantastic, a real pay-off between the two characters, and a prime opportunity for Tracy to really open up, as he is at his best when he shows some vulnerability.

I just wish Liz's story played out a little better. Last week, she gets the escape she needs, finally getting away from the job that drives her crazy. This week, she realizes she misses the craziness and is drawn back in, even ending up directing a sitcom you just know she doesn't believe in in the "One Year Later" sequence. Where is Liz's happy ending? Why does her path to peace not stick? Are we supposed to believe she will always be so miserable? Fans don't want that for someone they've come to care about so much!

The dilemma surrounding Liz's plot is twice as bad for Jack (Alec Baldwin). We see Jack not satisfied with his achievement of his dreams, finally in charge of Kabletown. To compensate, he rounds out his life, which only makes him feel like he isn't devoting himself fully to work, keeping him from the goals he desires. His reaction is to go crazy and quit his job, heading off on a boat. This takes things a little too far, even for Jack, and makes one think that when he ends up back in the corporate world, he will still never feel good about where he is in his life and what he does.

Don't get me wrong; I love the scene at the water where Liz and Jack express their non-romantic love for one another. I also love the catalyst for that moment, when Liz and Jack bitingly rip into one another, declaring that they are nothing more than two people who worked together for a time, and don't mean anything. Dramatic, meaty stuff for a relationship that has been the driving force of the series. This story is what we need from the two leads in the final episode, and reinforces just how much they mean to one another. But why is the filler in between these two amazing bits so bad?

Other great stuff: Tracy tells Jenna (Jane Krakowski) he is going out for cigarettes, Tracy's dad finally comes home from buying cigarettes, Jenna realizes what she will miss most is her mirror, Jenna sings the "Rural Juror" song, Jenna is greeted in L.A. by beautiful young women including one that looks just like Cerie (Katrina Bowden), Jenna admitting she has never met Mickey Rourke, Jonathan (Maulik Pancholy) celebrating the dissolution of Liz and Jack's friendship, Tracy releasing Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) from his promise to always be there for Tracy, finding out that Pete's (Scott Adsit) attempt to fake his death didn't work.

Other things that didn't work: everything with Lutz (John Lutz), Jack cheapening his feelings for both Elisa (Salma Hayek) and Nancy (Julianne Moore), Kenneth running the network in such a strict way and still seemingly succeeding, Liz and Criss (James Marsden) in the chat room and park meetup, the lack of so many recurring characters who still mean something to the leads, like Paul and Angie.

I think the main problem with the 30 Rock finale is that it should have stuck to a half hour format. Seeing how the characters end up, especially in the flash forward in the tag, is wonderful, and there are several terrific connections between characters, with goodbyes that mean something. But tossing in the extra episode of TGS and the subplots for minor characters, such as the writers' story, where they battle Lutz for lunch, slows down the episode, and ruins it.

Overall, I ended up being underwhelmed and disappointed. For a series I love so much, and coming at the end of a fantastic season, I expected more depth, or at least more good jokes, and less filler.

Ah, well. It's over now. Unless somehow Tracy Morgan has a similar contract clause, and NBC is forced to make 11 more episodes?

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