Now on Netflix Instant

Sure, birds are falling from the sky, but there are some positives about the New Year. Netflix has started streaming all seasons of the too often forgotten Larry Sanders Show, for example.

A forerunner to cynical comedies like Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, this HBO classic still makes me laugh even if the references (Ghost, Jodie Whatley, the first Bush Administration) are dated.

Garry Shandling, a pioneer in comedy, plays egocentric incredibly well as a third tier talk show host in this behind the scenes satire. No one says “horse shit” and gets drunk quite like Rip Torn as Artie, the show’s producer and while Jeffery Tambor’s work as George Bluth (on Arrested) is great, his portrayal of side kick Hank Kingsley is a revelation in pathetic, weak, and very funny assholery. Familiar faces like Janeane Garofalo and Jeremy Piven round out the cast in their pre-famous days.

I am enjoying revisited the show immensely and think those fans of the aforementioned shows who haven’t watched it the first time around will be delighted. Makes me wish Shandling was still working on HBO.

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Posted on January 9, 2011

Aired on BBC

When I tell people I’ve been watching Skins (available on Netflix instant) and they ask “Oh, is that any good” I always say, “Well, I like it…” The reason for the qualification is because it depends on your threshold for teenage drama. My threshold is extremely high – I will watch tween Disney Channel movies made for eight year olds with glee, so for me, Skins is on the sophisticated end of the spectrum.

If you like the new generation of Degrassi but didn’t think it went far enough with the dirty bits, this British show is for you. Foul mouthed and extreme – it’s an exaggerated take on wild adolescence. Almost cartoonish at times – with adults and foreigners getting the brunt of stereotypes – it focuses on partying and sexual adventures but doesn’t skirt the serious stuff either (mental illness, abandonment, etc…)

I was enjoying it fine, but became more of a die hard fan by the end of season one, which ends with a bang and a musical number… Heart!

Am on to season two now and can’t wait to see what Sid, my favorite character, and all his friends are up to.

MTV is doing an American version, but because I like the way things sound with British accents, I am sure it is going to suck.

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Posted on December 12, 2010

on AMC

On the plus side, in a sea of boring, routine cop and lawyer dramas littering the new season of television, a gory action drama about battling zombies is welcome entertainment no matter how derivative it is. The Walking Dead boasts awesomely gruesome and impressive makeup and effects and an extremely uncompromising devotion to making things as grim and violent as they want (another example that AMC answers to no one in their original series).

If you ever wondered exactly what shooting a zombie in the head would look like from every angle in slow motion, your days of wondering are over. You’ll get the chance to study the event over and over, starting with a young girl missing her lower jaw.

On the negative side, the pilot really didn’t add anything new to the worn out genre and called to mind other recent, more inventive zombie flicks like Dawn of the Dead and particularly the excellent 28 Days Later (only with an FX caliber hunk Andrew Lincoln rather than the handsome waif Cillian Murphy waking up in a hospital to utter destruction). Is there a strong central character with special skills that will help him survive? Of course. Are some of the only other survivors his wife and son? Yep. Does he find stoic fathers and kids wise beyond their years along the way? Sure thing.

Hopefully, with an entire season to expand on the story, which is based on the comic book series of the same name, the show can spread out and find new ways to tell a living dead story beyond the themes and characters we’ve learned to expect. And even if it follows predictable plot lines, I’ll still tune in – because it’s sure to be more fun than most shows out there.

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Posted on November 2, 2010

A Circus

Last night’s circus of a Gubernatorial debate was entertaining, if not sparking all the fireworks I was hoping for. Seven candidates, each getting a few minutes to answer questions (or more often, go off on tangents unrelated to the questions) equals a totally uninformative couple of hours but it was no waste of time if you love crazy people. First of all, I’d like to know how they managed to make it look like archival footage from 1983, particularly the opening shots of host Doug Geed – maybe it was a subtle nod to the days of Cuomo’s papa? Anyways…

Coumo was fine. He will win and I think/hope he’ll do a decent job in a very tough political and financial environment. Paladino was barely present. Obviously without poncing on the urge to get rage-y the man is a doddering nothing. He even got up during people’s final words to take a piss!!! It was frankly disappointing. I assumed he’d have some choice words and unplanned moments of insanity, but instead he just seemed like some irritated old guy (who still doesn’t like gays).

The crazy came from The Rent Is Too Damn High candidate Jimmy McMillan who sports dashingly pro-wrestler style facial hair (I do not mean that as an insult) and a pair of gloves. Not just any gloves, but the kind of gloves murderers wear in Italian horror movies and Murder She Wrote. Among his memorable quotes were “You want to marry a shoe, I’ll marry you” and “I am the governor. I want full control.” At one point he also mentioned a pinky and the brain type plan to mow down mountains upstate to set up his own cable network and power plant.

Kristin Davis read her Roger Stone zingers from a notebook like a junior high girl giving a book report, but, I’ll admit they were pretty funny. Howie actually had some progressive ideas that were more interesting than most people’s dry rhetoric. Unfortunately, he’s never going to win and he expressed these ideas without convincing anyone even with his Steel Magnolias accent. Barron was eloquent enough but usually off topic and Warren Redlich was initially actually cringe inducing. His whining “I’m no politician” speeches called to mind Albert Brooks if he weren’t funny. To his credit, he got a little better as the evening went on.

A one on one debate between Paladino and Coumo would have in many ways been more interesting and helpful to voters  – though I see neither one accepting NY1’s invitation – Cuomo because he’s a lock for the position (proven in this debate) and Paladino because he probably realized how badly he’d be beaten.

Of course all of this is leading up to November 2 – a big voting day that I hope all of you make sure to participate in!

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Posted on October 19, 2010

Aired on Sundance

The fashion world is often viewed as a most glamorous one and there is certainly no shortage of glamour in the behind the scenes documentary, Signe Chanel: the Chanel head quarters in Paris house bright, incredible work spaces, the clothes themselves are almost inexplicably gorgeous (a wedding dress that will in particular make you gasp), and the mastermind himself Karl Lagerfeld is bejewelled and sunglassed at the height of impeccable style. However, it’s the true labor, care and dedicated hard work that goes into this collection (a memorably exquisite Fall 2004 collection) that film maker Loic Prigent, who also made the Day Before series I previously recommended, is most intrigued by. The seamstresses are every bit as important as Karl at the house of Chanel and to watch them interpret his free form, beautiful sketches into three dimensional pieces of couturier art is absolutely fascinating.

One of the most interesting characters revealed in the show is Madame Pouzieux , an elderly farmer who also creates the signature Chanel braids on her remote farm on a loom she invented herself over forty years ago. A local shoe maker with his made to order cobble shop and a beading house where women tirelessly bead one garment for days and nights with little rest are also given rare center stage in an industry obsessed with the rich, famous and showy. The humble awe he treats these tailors, seamstresses, shoe makers, beaders and braiders makes for a most intimate and slightly heart stopping look at fashion. It’s certainly one of the most interesting things I have seen on TV recently and a must for fashion fanatics – though just as recommended to those that turn their nose at fashion as art (isn’t it curious that those people often have no problem appreciating other art forms?).

Shot simply and beautifully on video, this feels intimate and you become involved in the arduous process of making a collection. It aired on Sundance during NY fashion week but is unfortunately not listed to be airing again soon but you can watch via youtube or on DVD from Amazon UK if you have a region 2 player. It’d worth seeking out this joyous ode to haute couture.

Click here for the rest of Signe Chanel

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Posted on October 5, 2010