TELEVISION

Why Darren Young Coming Out Is A Bigger Deal Than You’d Think

Readers of Manhattan Digest, I have a confession to make.

I’m a wrestling fan.

As late as Wednesday night, all of my wrestling related focus was devoted to the awesome potential that this Sunday’s Summerslam card would have, with an intriguing double main event (Indy poster child Daniel Bryan vs. mainstream champ John Cena and a similar mirror in CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar) and an enjoyable undercard. However, some news broke Thursday morning that seems to have taken off: that Darren Young (real name: Fred Rosser) had announced to world via TMZ that he was gay.

Now normally I would be of the sort of person that would brush this sort of news off; after all, I watch wrestling to enjoy glorified stage fights, so needless to say I judge my favorite wrestlers by how they entertain me, not whatever is going on in their personal lives. To do so in this case, however, would be an affront and to completely ignore how traditionally backwards and unenlightened the sports entertainment industry in sensitive matters like these. This is an industry that has had no problem milking effeminate male gimmicks in caricatures for massive heat (see: Exotic Adrian Street, and more recently the very earliest incarnation of Goldust). This trend has continued into today (I don’t know what TNA was aiming for with their booking of the bisexual Orlando Jordan, but whatever it was it made me cringe), as even the smallest of federations have figured out that sending out two guys and dress them like the Backstreet Boys is the easiest way to get the fans to hate them.

Worse yet, this trend has followed into some locker rooms, as one former champion of a major promotion has as recently as May posted a very strongly anti marriage equality tweet that caused a stir within the wrestling community (for being backward, nonetheless). This locker room frat boy attitude is a key part as to why it also took until 2013 for an active athlete in a major league to come out as well.

When you consider the potential hostility of the environment that Rosser had made his announcement in, the announcement suddenly becomes a bigger deal. While attitudes nationally are changing, this announcement is the first step in determining exactly how far professional wrestling has come to combat it’s less enlightened past and how far attitudes have changed in a few short years (the aforementioned Orlando Jordan gimmick was in the way back year of 2010).

Luckily response from WWE brass (and even Cena) has been positive, but it still falls on them to follow up. Furthermore, anyone whom has watched their programming in the last couple of years knows about the company’s strong push of it’s anti-bullying initiative: B.A. Star. However, If Rosser’s sexuality is turned into gimmick fodder for the writing staff, then it will ultimately mean that attitudes towards homosexuality in pro wrestling haven’t changed all that much. Further complicating matters is that Rosser is currently part of the heel tag team “The Prime Time Players”, so it should be an interesting time to see where the fan base falls, as the wrong boos and the wrong catcalls could easily ensure that the wrestling fan base maintains its’ backwards reputation for another generation.

Owner’s Manual is Off Model

by Michael Tyminski

Owner’s Manual: Thursdays at 10 p.m. Eastern on AMC

One of the more subtle underpinnings of TV’s unscripted genre has been the notion of life imitating art. This can come from many possible angles, including: blatant real life knockoffs of hit shows (Real Housewives in all of it’s forms), testing the plausibility of what happens in other media (Mythbusters just did a special devoted to Breaking Bad’s most plausibility-shattering moments), and the increasingly common tactic of finding a cliché or stereotype and running with it (Duck Dynasty feels like “blue collar reality”). It is from that third well that AMC debuts it’s newest show, Owner’s Manual.

Owner’s Manual operates on the age old observational comedy yarn about men being seemingly incapable of asking for directions on anything whether from a book or another person. The show puts this theory to the test by having it’s hosts Ed Sanders and Marcus Hunt try to operate some of the world’s most intricate machinery, with Marcus insisting on being “by-the-book” while Ed is more “on-the-fly”. Each week brings not only the challenge of book vs. instinct, but also forces the two to collaborate in order to complete the week’s challenge.

Our first episode involves our stars trying to learn how to operate a plane in a dogfight not too dissimilar from the Top Gun. In order to make it there, however, Ed and Marcus must perform some basic maneuvers and prove that they can handle gravitation. Marcus aces the first test as Ed passes out almost immediately when the plane goes into a tailspin. However, it’s Ed who seems more adept at feeling his way through loops and spins. The two do ultimately get to dogfight, but it’s Marcus who gets the upper hand solely for knowing the phrase “permission to engage”.

So how does Owner’s Manual play out? Well not as well as you think. While the show is built on book learning vs. gut feeling, but at the end of the day, most of the major learning comes from asking questions, making the distance between Marcus and Ed’s approaches not nearly as far as you’d think. This is made even less distinct when one considers that the second challenge often ends up requiring some sort of teamwork. The end result is a show that ends up showing the primacy of a hybrid approach to tackling any sort of project.

The show’s remedy for this is to have a never ending string of trash talk. Basically, unless something goes horribly wrong mid-challenge, the two only communicate through smack talk, which while entertaining, also ensures that we will never glean any deeper into this rivalry, making this the sort of show that makes you feel like once you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all.

The Final Verdict: Owner’s Manual feels pretty middling. It’s inoffensive, but at the same time often blows it’s own internal logic to smithereens. It sets itself as a hardened rivalry, but ultimately leans on teamwork, co-ordination, and the expertise of others (which doesn’t particularly count for either of it’s supposed methodologies) in order to have successful teamwork. Furthermore, the show seems like the sort of enterprise in which a well constructed SNL sketch would probably capture the show well enough that you would never have to watch it to see what comes next. Skip this one, it’s pretty mediocre in what typically tends to be one of the hottest contested time slots on the dial.

Low Winter Sun Doesn’t Burn So Bright

by Michael Tyminski

Low Winter Sun: Sundays at 10 p.m. Eastern, AMC

One of 2013’s most recurring TV threads is that this year feels like a year of transition. As veteran series either end (Breaking Bad, The Office, Dexter) or are winding down towards a 2014 conclusion (Mad Men, It’s Always Sunny, How I Met Your Mother), networks are trying to tie their new chosen favorites to these aging favorites in order to get viewers to hang along for the ride into the future. We see this tonight in AMC’s attempt to keep the Breaking Bad crowd hooked in with its’ newest entry: Low Winter Sun.

Low Winter Sun delves deeply into a corrupt police force in America’s most dysfunctional city: Detroit. When Detective Frank Agnew (Mark Strong) murders one of his own colleagues in a fit of passion, he finds himself at the mercy of one of his corrupt colleagues in Joe Geddes (Lennie James). Now he must figure out how to navigate the aftermath of his actions as well as the corrupt underworld that can now force his hand.

If there is one word I would use to describe Low Winter Sun, it is competent. By that I mean that on the little technical measures that can affect how a show is perceived, it manages to handle then in a fairly average to above average manner. The camerawork is solid, conveying the grime and emptiness that comes from the show’s setting, contemporary Detroit. The score, similarly enough, conveys this sort of mood, using a lack of fanfare more often than not as well.

The acting is also generally very strong. Lennie James, who plays bad cop Joe Geddes ends up popping off the screen at every opportunity, while playing a character who is one part cop, one part hustler, and one part ruthless sadist. Mark Strong, who also played the lead character in the original British mini-series, excels as Agnew, a conflicted but honest man who realizes that while he was desperate, he was also duped.

So if the surface elements are there and performed well, and the acting is superb, then why is a show like Low Winter Sun fail to resonate on the same level as many of the best dramas on TV (like perhaps it’s lead-in)? Much of that comes from the show’s pacing, as it opens on the climactic murder that the show’s main storyline hinges on (without really doing a sufficient job of showing Agnew’s desperation), before slowing down (to the point where some of the scenes feel like pure filler) only to spike the action with a big twist at the end. Unfortunately, when scenes seem to exist solely to space out plot points as opposed to providing character development or further building the world in which these characters live in, it makes it harder to get attached, especially when they crowd out moments that potentially provide resonance: Frank gets drunk and rambles about why he has to kill a man, but instead of providing some more coherent set-up (maybe devote a couple of scenes instead of a quick and nonsensical flashback?), the show finds room to place a redundant scene of Frank in the bathroom.

The Final Verdict: Low Winter’s Sun feels like a doppelganger for any dark, gritty, urban, contemporary drama in the last few years. All of the surface elements are there: the profanity, the darkness, and the bleakness of the world, but unfortunately it’s not backed by any real plot hook or emotional resonance in order to compel further viewing. This is a shame, as the central pairing of Mark Strong and Lennie James both do superb work. Check it out to see James light up the screen, but I can’t imagine it becoming appointment viewing when there are better options in that time slot.

Big Brother 15- This is some bullshit.

by Ryan Shea

I wrote something similar a little while back regarding Big Brother but since then the level of bullshit and ridiculousness that has happened in the house has gotten so out of control that I really just can’t hold my tongue anymore. The fact that this season has turned into what it has is really the producers to blame but seeing as they are pulling in a decent amount of viewers this year I am sure that they are laughing all the way home, so why would they care who is hating the show this year?

First off, after the double eviction on Thursday night, I can firmly say that the majority of this country feels that there is no one left to root for. Not that there really was in the first place. The men are getting decimated one by one and the two people that went home on Thursday were ones that I was rooting for the go the long haul (Judd in particular). Did anyone else think it was kind of ironic that the two racist pigs in the house got rid of the African Americans each week? Hmmm. Oh and Gina Marie you are a disgusting troll who in the real world could never get a guy like Nick. Saying the things you said about Asians and African Americans, especially what you said to Candice on her way out the door regarding her mother, really shows the kind of person that you are and I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you see how much America hates you and that you got fired from your pageant job (I really am curious to know how in god’s name she got that job in the first place).

This being said, let me break down each person that is left to give my personal opinion on them. Normally I would rank this from who I like the most or who I think is playing the best, but I really think all the people that are left are frankly terrible so let’s just leave it at that-

1. Helen- I was originally Team Helen in Week 3 when she won HOH because I felt that her group was the outcasts that finally got some power. Over the weeks though, her cocky attitude has really rubbed me the wrong way and she is completely in the dark about how Amanda and some other people really want her gone. The icing on the cake came on Thursday night when Aaryn won POV and she said “Girl, you are Janelle. Don’t you realize that?” Or something along those lines. Aaryn being Janelle is like Melissa Joan Hart being Meryl Streep. In other words, not even close. Helen, shut up seriously you are annoying.

2. Aaryn- or shall I say Aryan. Good god girl. The funny thing about her is that if she NEVER said anything racist or did that stupid shit that she did early on in the game most of America would actually be rooting for her. That’s the funniest part. She’s won three HOH’s and a POV and clearly is a smart cookie when it comes to winning things. Unfortunately, she’s listening to what everyone else wants. The fact that BB hasn’t rigged it to get her out so we can all watch that eviction interview like they rigged Jeff winning everything really annoys me because that would be riveting television.

3. Gina Marie- you are a waste of space. You are a joke. America laughs at you. Take Nick’s hat off. Nick- run for the hills dude.

4. Spencer- As a fellow bear, I find Spencer the only attractive man left in the game as he is quite cute. That’s as far as I am going to go about this. He is alone in the game and will be put up every week because these houseguests are going with the majority each time and refuse to put power players up so they will go after him until he gets home. No shot in winning in the game.

5. Jessie- Cute girl but at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of an alliance. Her winning HOH would’ve been crucial as she is the only houseguest left who I feel would go against this majority bullshit, but seeing as she didn’t its a matter of time before she enters jury.

6. Andy- Andy is the most pathetic houseguest they have had in a very long time. He also is another awful example of a gay man playing this game. He can’t keep his mouth shut and tells Amanda everything. He’s formed an alliance with Amanda and McCrae, which is stupid in the sense that if they are in the final three together they aren’t taking Andy. Andy is a true floater that just like some other houseguests can’t make a decision for themselves.

7. Amanda- Girl, you are getting a phenomenal edit this year. In the house, you are a ballistic psychopath who has gone after pretty much everyone and their mom this week. You are another person that I can’t wait to see your reaction when you find out that America put your ass on the block twice and not Judd (who should still be there). Amanda has said some pretty racist stuff in the house too, which I think is unfair for them to not show seeing as Aaryn has gotten the brunt of everything so far. She is the one to beat in my opinion because everyone in this house is scared.

8. McCrae- Amanda’s right hand man. He hasn’t had to do much because of her, so I really see him riding this to the end as I predicted a while back.

9. Elissa- Who?

I really, really hope that someone goes back into this game as they have done in other seasons. If so, bring Judd or Candice back and please have them kick one of these people out. There has been a common thread in the past couple of seasons in that the person that wins the game is generally a likable person both in and outside the game (Ian, Hayden, Jordan, not Rachel). I just hope the show comes to their senses and realizes this and does something about it. Because if Aaryn, Amanda or Gina Marie win this game I will lose it.

It’s easy to get hooked by Broadchurch

by Michael Tyminski

Broadchurch: Wednesdays at 10p.m. Eastern Time on BBC America

One of the perks of sharing a common heritage and common language with Great Britain is that there always seems to be a great amount of cultural exchange coming across the pond. We’ve seen it with music in the past (ever hear of a little band called The Beatles?), but recently we’ve seen it more and more with television. In the last decade we’ve seen a number of breakout hits come from Britain, including The Office (and it’s longer running US adaptation), Downton Abbey, and an explosion in popularity for Doctor Who. Tonight marks the debut of another British show that looks to capture the eye of America (Fox has already greenlit an American version for 2014-15) in Broadchurch.

Broadchurch is a mystery series along the lines of Twin Peaks or The Killing, in that the entire season is devoted to the investigation of one overarching case as opposed to the case-of-the-week model that CBS has made its’ bread-and-butter for the last decade. Following the case are Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) and Alec Hardy (David Tennant), whom not only have to deal with the technical aspect of finding a young boy’s killer, but doing so in a way that keeps an interfering media away.

The first thing you’ll notice with Broadchurch is that the camera work is visually stunning, filled with long tracking shots that convey a sense of busyness and an almost cinematic quality to them. This aspect is only aided by the scenery, as most of the show takes place on a beach set beside a cliff and a quaint seaside village not unlike what you’d expect to see out on the east end of Long Island. The scoring is similarly strong, giving off the eerie vibe that sets the mood for a mystery.

Another strength of the show is the dynamic between its’ leads. There are numerous ways that shows of this ilk tend to differentiate their characters: by the book vs. loose cannon being a classic example, but this is the first time that the dynamic could be described as emotional insider vs. cold and aloof outsider. Of course, the writers also manage to find new twists in which to create difficulties within this partnership as Alec was given a job essentially promised to Ellie, while Ellie’s nephew is responsible for the journalistic tsunami that is about to descend on Broadchurch.

The show is also particularly well acted, with a strong commitment to subtlety. Olivia Colman does a superb job portraying Ellie Miller, whose life goes from normal to upside-down in a matter of minutes between getting jettisoned for her promotion and the death of her son’s best friend, however, this is never overplayed, as Ellie looks like she has keeping it together just enough to trudge on with the investigation while still credibly maintaining the possibility that her emotions can compromise the investigation. Similarly, David Tennant does an equally strong job ensuring that Alec Hardy does not turn into the caricature of the more bureaucratically oriented cop while allowing for the stark differences between himself and Ellie to come forward.

The Final Verdict: 44 minutes in and it’s no surprise that Fox jumped at the opportunity to adapt this show. Visually beautiful, subtly acted, and well written, Broadchurch is the sort of show that The Killing has tried to be for the past three seasons. Debuting in the United States at the quietest time of the TV calendar, I strongly recommend watching it, as it seems to be the sort of captivating high concept crime drama that is otherwise absent on this side of the pond.

Into Quizzers? If So, The Chase Will Catch Your Fancy

by Michael Tyminski

The Chase: Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on GSN

It’s August, the time of year in which the metaphorical new show faucet slows to a trickle. One of the perks of this, however, is that I get to diverge from my regular new TV diet of sitcoms, dramas, and cheap reality shows and look into areas that I don’t necessarily get to give my full attention to. This is particularly evident this week, as this week I instead look in on the debut of some new British TV as well as tonight’s show, which also happens to be a show adapted from across the pond.

The Chase is adapted from the British game show of the same name. Teams of three contestants build a large cash pot by answering a series of rapid fire questions. The contestants then each put their share of the pot on the line against a trivia ringer referred to as “the Chaser” (in this case, Mark “The Beast” Labbett). From there it becomes a race against both time and the Chaser as the contestants look to protect their money as a team in the final chase, with failure to do so costing the team its’ bank.

Brooke Burns, of Dog Eat Dog fame emcees the proceedings with a surprisingly high amount of enthusiasm, something that’s fairly welcome in a world where many such hosts of recent vintage have seemed fairly wooden (Apolo Ohno and Dylan Lane are the worst offenders). Her reaction to some of the more ridiculous questions (most notably that asked: during the Vietnam War which country was headed by a Ho?) seem to allow for her personality to break through, adding a little spontaneity to the proceedings. Unfortunately, her chemistry with the Beast feels off, as her retorts to Labbett’s zingers feel a little forced.

The Beast seems to work as an affable villain, talking just the right level of smack to have you root for the contestants while being just likable enough that one doesn’t feel compelled to change the channel. He also clearly knows his stuff, as even his misses have a certain clear logic that seems familiar to anyone whom has ever taken a scan-tron style test in their lives. The first episode seems to imply that the Beast is his own oddsmaker, as he put much sharper odds on our third contestant, putting 20,000 more on the long path than against a prior contestant.

For those of you who prefer hard quizzers along the lines of Jeopardy!, this show doesn’t necessarily show the same degree of difficulty, but is still suitably difficult enough to play along with. Additionally, the game avoids the painfully slow pace of most of the post-Millionaire era contemporary quizzers (i’m looking at you Greed, and Deal or No Deal) instead moving at a much more rapid clip. Unfortunately, the contestant pool in our first episode seems woefully unaware of contemporary pop culture, missing obvious questions about such fairly well known shows as Breaking Bad, and equally well known musicians such as Katy Perry.

One minor gripe that I can’t get let go of are the buzzer noises in the final chase. Would it really have killed the producers to just let the contestants verbally jump in as opposed to the obnoxious announcer voice announcing the name of the contestant buzzing in?

The Final Verdict: The game show junkie in me couldn’t be happier that this show is on the air. In a TV environment where the only real game shows on TV (or for that matter most of GSN’s original lineup) are either long runners (The Price is Right), rehashes of older shows (Let’s Make A Deal, The Newlywed Game), or shows destined to fail (Take It All), The Chase is a breath of fresh air. It’s always a good sign when a show is renewed prior to it’s debut, and the first couple episodes of The Chase seem to justify this call. Check it out if you’re looking for something to watch, you won’t be disappointed.

Dance Academy Recap: Unreliable Narrator

by David Baxter

Previously, on Dance Academy, Christian was an emo git, Abigail tried to quit, and Kat became bulimic. Catch up week continues! [Read more…] about Dance Academy Recap: Unreliable Narrator

Breaking Bad – The Legend Ends: A Fan’s Look Back

by Peter Foy

So here it finally comes. After six years AMC will begin running Breaking Bad’s final run of eight episodes, and the hype machine is at a all-time high for the celebrated crime drama! Newspapers, blogs, forums and various other media outlets are exploding while reminiscing on the show that has rightfully gone on to be considered one of the very best dramas to ever air on television, and it’s easily the most anticipated series finale since Lost. It’s a particularly massive feeling for me, as Breaking Bad is a show I’ve kept with right from the beginning, unlike many of it’s viewers who tuned in late to party. I watched the show evolve from an underdog (which plenty of people compared to Weeds), into a pop-culture phenomenon (and something no one in their right mind would compare to Weeds!). It’s been a really fascinating process for me, as it really is the first show I’ve watched from start to end while it was airing. All of my other favorite shows (The Wire, The Simpsons, The Sopranos, South Park, Mad Men, etc.) I only started viewing after they had already completed their run, or I caught up with them in later seasons. Breaking Bad is a show that has essentially matured with me, and as early as season 2 people were referring to me as “The Breaking Bad Guy”. I might be sounding overtly dramatic here, but in a way a legacy of my own will be ending with that of Vince Gilligan’s masterful neo-noir-cum-black-comedy-cum-psychodrama, but what a hell of a show we’re talking about.

I remember the first time I heard about Breaking Bad, and now it really does seem to carry the mark of an omen. I saw an article for it in New York Magazine, and it immediately caught my interest. I had watched Malcolm in the Middle as a teen, and was interested to see Bryan Cranston take on a drama. Of more importance however, I was super into crime fiction at the time, as I was reading a lot of crime comics (Criminal, Scalped, Sin City), and just devoured these bloody stories that were certainly removed from reality, but closer to it than the fantasy and sci-fi stories I had previously indulged in. I had started to watch Dexter at that time too and while I was fully enjoying it, I still felt it was missing a bit of the punch that crime comic books had. I decided I’d give Breaking Bad a shot, although I think I never expected to watch more than a few episodes.

Needless to say though, the pilot episode just blew me away. Not only was it’s head-and-shoulders above any other contemporary show in terms of style and mood, but I valued that the show had a black sense of humor and non-linear format to it (not unlike a Vonnegut novel). It didn’t take me long to sing the show’s praises and I did indeed find a small group of friends to watch the series with, all while most other people I recommended it too simply dismissed it for the time being. Unfortunately, due to the writer’s strike Breaking Bad’s run was fairly brief that year, with the first season concluding after just 7 episodes airing. The show wouldn’t return for another whole year, but during that time Breaking Bad’s existence remained a constant fixture in my head.

When season 2 finally did arrive, I found myself even more immersed in the show than even before. The season was even more unpredictable and engaging than the first, and it also made me seek out some connected forms of entertainment. The summer after Breaking Bad season 2 aired, I would go on to watch the entire series of The Wire, upon hearing it was an even better crime show (it was), and shortly after that I would go on to purchase the box set for the brilliant sketch comedy series Mr. Show, after hearing that Breaking Bad actor Bob Odenkirk was best known previously for creating that show. In other words, I’m not just thankful to Vince Gilligan for the hours of entertainment he’s giving me in the form of his own show, but also for introducing me to several other great ones in the process.

When season 3 premiered, I began to not just follow the show’s weekly premieres, but also scourged as many press interviews and reviews as I could. I would tell my friends interesting factoids pertaining to the show’s production, such as how Jessie was originally supposed to be killed in the first season, or how Vince Gilligan had actually cast two ex-conflicts to play as The Twins. I also feel that this was the first season of Breaking Bad that really cranked out “holy shit!” moments like it was the pope’s outhouse, from Hank’s brutal gun battle with The Twins, to the season’s closing image of poor Gabe getting a most untimely fate. I honesty started to feel bad that people hadn’t been watching the show, as this was above-and-beyond the best thing airing on TV at the time. I started to wonder though if the show would primarily remain merely a critic’s darling, or if it ever would obtain the large audience that it so richly deserved…then season 4 happened.

By the end of season 4 it felt like everyone had finally caught up to the fact that Breaking Bad was the bee’s knees. The first three seasons had been put on Netflix shortly beforehand, which gave newcomers the ideal means to get caught up. Not only could they ingest the continuity-heavy show at a swift rate, but they did so in the sanctuary of the internet which promoted conversation and forum discussion. So yes, Breaking Bad had finally found the means to extend their viewership and just in time too, as season 4 was flat out amazing! The tensions, the build up, the pacing, the set pieces, everything about the show’s fourth season was pitch perfect, and it climaxed with one of the most memorable faceoffs (literally) in television history. Also, this was the season that completed Walt’s journey from a sympathetic character into a villain unlike most. His dissent had been immensely twisted, but perfectly calculated by the writers who knew when to pull back when necessary. Walt was no longer sympathetic, but that didn’t make him any less compelling. I was so immensely proud with this season of Breaking Bad, and I also was glad to hear that Vince Gilligan would end the show after a subsequent 16-episode deal. Breaking Bad’s story was finally coming to an end, and I was so eager to see how it would.

Thing is, as the first half of the final season began to rear it’s head, I was starting to realize that maybe I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the newfound popularity Breaking Bad was receiving. Sure, I was glad that Gilligan and his writers were certainly getting more recognition and lucrative gain, but I had a sense of a child-like appreciation for the series, where a part of me wanted to keep it as my little secret. A selfish feeling perhaps, but I noticed there was some backlash to the show when it got popular. As the fifth season aired I was as enthralled by it yet again, but other people I talked to said they were a bit disappointed. They mostly gave me petty reasons for it, such as bringing up why a highly skilled killer like Mike would let someone sneak up behind him, or that they felt the series wasn’t going anywhere anymore as Walter was now pure evil. All of this got me thinking: will people be upset with the show’s ending? Similar series that went on to massive popularity like The Sopranos and Lost had endings that fans complained were half-assed (I agree on the latter but not the former), while less popular shows like The Wire and Six Feet Under had endings that were immediately lauded. When anything gets this popular it’s near impossible to appeal to everyone when it comes time to curtain close, but if there’s one thing I’m sure about Breaking Bad it’s that it won’t leave any loose ends. Throughout the show’s run, I’ve seen Vince and his writers return to story elements you never would of expected, and it all tied so well with the show’s syncopation. If there’s one thing I can count on with the fans, it’s that they want every little last bit of story drained from this thing. THAT will definitely happen.

I will be writing reviews/recaps for each of these eight episodes as they air for this site, and yes I will be calling this column The Legend Ends. It is ostensibly borrowed from the tagline to last summer’s Dark Knight Rises sure, but come on, which franchise do you think deserves that moniker more at this point? Feel free to post predictions on how Sunday’s premiere will go in the comments section of this page. I for one have little idea, and I’d like to keep it that way…for the moment.

Dance Academy Recap: The Chicken Dance

by David Baxter

Second Dance Academy in a row? That’s right folks; we’re playing catch up here! What happens to Tara and the gang?! WHO KNOWS?! [Read more…] about Dance Academy Recap: The Chicken Dance

Netflix’d: Peep Show | British Television Netflix

by Peter Foy

Well, some of you might recall from an earlier edition of my Netflix’d column that I had intended to write a review off of Peep Show. Sadly, I discovered that that wonderful series was no longer streaming, so I put it on hold. Six months later, however, the Netflix gods have done right again and placed Peep Show back onto Netflix’s streaming queue, along with the addition of it’s recently aired 8th season. Ah, the sense for having a second chance is truly a resounding one.

Format: half-hour long sit-com
Created By: Andrew O’Connor, Jessie Armstrong and Sam Bain
Seasons: 8 (48 episodes)
Air Date: 2003-present
Genre: comedy, British Television
Cast: David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Matt King, Paterson Joseph, Neil Fitzmaurice, Isy Suttie, Olivia Colman
Similar Too: The Office, Spaced, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Seinfeld, Party Down

As an entertainment critic, perfection certainly isn’t a word I like to throw around lightly, especially when it comes to talking about sit-coms. Even in our current day-and-age with many reviews already calling it the golden age of television, people can attest that so much studio-approved drek comes out in the form of sit-coms this day, be it Whitney or Who Gives a Fuck About Any of This Shit? Us Writers Aren’t Even Trying (one of those two shows doesn’t actually exist). That said, Peep Show certainly comes closer than most to being the perfect sit-com, as it really reads like a laundry list for ingredients needed to make a great half-hour of comedy. It’s got a sly yet irreverent sense of humor, a consistent tone and laugh rate, highly fleshed out characters, killer scripts, a novel film-making style, and it just goes on and on (also the show lacks a laugh track). If it’s not a perfect comedy, then I will just say this: it’s the best long-running live-action comedy show since Seinfeld.

Set in London, the show focuses on two misanthropic flat-mates that are as flawed as they are lovable. David Mitchell stars as Mark Corrigan, a man who has had plenty of success throughout his career, yet he is simply hopeless when it comes to the opposite sex due to his neurotic nature and lack of self-confidence. His flatmate and old college buddy Jeremy Usborne (Robert Webb), on the other hand, is steadily unemployed yet almost always successful with women. Certainly appearing to be the more well-adjusted of the two, Jeremy has plenty of insecurities of his own, and is often overtly selfish, and a failure at obtaining his life goal of becoming a successful musician. Throughout the series we see these two character develop (perhaps not enough though), as they deal with numerous real-life conundrums such as love, career, family and friendship.

For those of you that have just read the synopsis and are flabbergasted as to why a show would be named Peep Show if it isn’t based around porn shops, well then read on. The show gets its title due to its singular filmmaking style: Virtually every shot in the show is a point-of-view shot from one of it’s characters. We see these characters observe people and the world around them, with the camera even acknowledging it when they bring things to their mouth (I.E. drinking, eating, kissing, etc.). It’s a style that could have grown gimmicky and tiresome after a while, but instead it feels completely organic, and the best part is that it really lets us get inside Mark and Jeremy’s heads. Through voice overs, we hear the thoughts of these two complexly flawed main characters, and it’s a tactic that was borrowed from Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, during the highly memorable scene when subtitles revealed the true thoughts of the characters. Still, it feels really original here in Peep Show, and feels completely in tune with its style.

As novel as the show’s look is, however, it’s the writing that really makes it so utterly fantastic. While certainly British, the show is actually more American-friendly than most of it’s peers as it frequently references American movies, television shows, and even politics (this past season referenced both Bernie Madoff and George W. Bush). What’s more though, is that the show’s writers are just so clever with coming up with episode ideas, and then nailing them down as efficiently as possible. From an episode where Mark ponders if things would be better if he and his boss were homosexual lovers, or Jeremy discovering that he’s really good at poker without even knowing the rules, the show constantly finds ways to subvert the viewer’s expectations. It’s an extremely literate show also, that will always follow up a dick joke with a joke that name drops Emily Brontë, all while exploring issues of contemporary class standings regarding sex, well-being, and psychology. Whether you value the highly sophisticated comedy of Rickey Gervais, or if you’re more drawn to the wacky and irreverent humor of a show like The Simpsons, Peep Show is exactly the type of show to keep you in stitches, and it doesn’t slow down at all. Throughout all it’s 8 (albeit brief) seasons, the show remains fresh and hilarious, and yes re-watchings do reveal even more great jokes.

Rounding it all out, Peep Show has the sort of exceptional cast that you almost never see on American television (I.E. Most of the characters aren’t extraordinarily super good looking). David Mitchell and Robert Webb are fairly recognizable in their home country due to their work on sketch comedy shows, but it’s arguably Peep Show that really shows how intrinsic they are as a comedy duo. Mitchell and Webb feel so in tune with Mark and Jeremey and their Odd Couple-esque relationship that it’s hard to believe that Mitchell and Webb aren’t the primary writers for the show (although they do contribute material).

The secondary cast is fantastic too, with special props going to Matt King’s performance as Super Hans, Jeremy’s drug-abusive band mate. In a way, Super Hans acts as the show’s answer to Family Guy’s Quagmire, as he’s a despicable and decadent man, yet his repulsive behavior is almost always spot-on hilarious, and he’s pretty much an ideal example of a corrupt yet highly watchable character. On the more conventionally affable side, however, in season 5 a new love interest is introduced for Mark in the form of a young woman named Dobby. Played by musician/writer Isy Suttie, the character is simply endearing to watch, with her cute demeanor and winning personality, and she strikes me as the best character addition to a sitcom since Danny DeVito in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Trust me, it’s hard not to develop a celebrity crush on Suttie after watching this show.

Since it’s inception, there have been at least two attempts at making Americanized versions of Peep Show but neither of which have made it past a pilot. In all honesty, I find this to be a relief, as it’s hard to imagine any American channel (even HBO) making a show that feels anywhere near as outstanding as this British original. At eight seasons, Peep Show also proves to be an anomaly amidst some of its Brit-TV peers like The Inbetweeners, Spaced and The Office with none of those series making it even past a third season. Peep Show’s creators really have had a great and fruitful time with making use of the show’s brilliant format and style, and should be proud that they’ve made what could quite possibly be called the most satisfying and all encompassing show to ever air on British television. I started doing this column as I felt a lot of people had Netflix accounts and didn’t know what to watch. While the various movies and tv shows I’ve previously touched on all range from great to excellent, I feel that Peep Show is something special above the whole lot of em’, and it’s pretty much the single best reason to own a Netflix account. Now finish this last sentence, and go watch it immediately!

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