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Why “Looking” Was Canceled… Regardless of Ratings

Ladies and Gentleman, it is a sad day that the only gay series on pay television (or television) has officially come to an end. This week, it was revealed that the HBO series “Looking” would not be returning for a season three for reasons unspecified by the network itself. They did however reveal plans to wrap the show up in an upcoming TV movie where we will hopefully find out if Patrick’s haircut made him act like an adult and not a pre-pubescent girl, if Eddie & Agustin hopefully go the distance and how many Chickens Dom sold from his window. Whereas this show did have some strong points to it, there were too many negative ones (in my opinion) that led to its demise.

Strong points as to why it could’ve been saved-

It’s the only gay show on television where the characters aren’t supporting roles or competing for a Drag Race title (no shade). As far as television has come, we really have never had the opportunity outside of a select few (Queer As Folk, The L Word) where gays have had the entire perimeter of a show about them. Its insane to think that in 2015 this is actually true, and like it or not, that is why a lot of us watched “Looking”. For all the issues that I saw it have, it remained the only show on television today like it and was met with quite a bit of anticipation, criticism and much more when it premiered in early 2014. Gay characters on television have always been the supporting cast members (Modern Family, Glee, Orange Is The New Black, etc) and in rare cases have been the focal point with a mainly straight supporting cast (Transparent, The McCarthy’s even). HBO and “Looking” had the prime chance to change that and really did a great job in bringing together the LGBT audience to sound off on the show and their own viewpoints. Positive or negative, it really made people talk about a gay show like this for the first time in years. With the emergence of social media, our voices are louder and larger than the days where TLW and QAF were on, so this was the opportunity to have them heard front and center and boy did they ever.

With the exception of “The Comeback”, HBO has always done an amazing job at its cinematography for the shows it produces. I exclude “The Comeback” because it is shot reality style minus the last scene of season 2. “Girls” is shot beautifully in showing New York City in a different amount of locations, and the same thing goes for “Looking”. As cheesy as it sounds, “Looking” kind of inspired me to want to visit San Francisco even more than I did beforehand as the way it was shot really was quite eye-catching. They captured the city and its essence without being stereotypical and shooting in tourist friendly spots like the Golden Gate Bridge for an example. If you remember, people said the same thing about “Sex And The City” as the city really was its 5th character and brought the show to life in ways the characters necessarily couldn’t. As “Looking” tended to be normal and boring at times, the way it was shot never was, and that is something worth noting.

You want to know what happens next of course. Let’s not kid ourselves. As much as this show drove me crazy, I would like to see the conclusion of what happened in the finale- in particular the Eddie/Agustin relationship progressing. Note how I didn’t say Kevin & Patrick? More of that to come later. I think the best part of season two was the former of those two relationships, as Eddie (Daniel Franzese) really did an amazing job at pulling Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez) out of his narrow minded, self absorbed & depressed shell he was in and find that there is a good person inside of all that jadedness. Seeing that bears on television are there but not portrayed the way Daniel did, I was happy to see his addition in season 2 and how their relationship would’ve progressed. Dom wasn’t necessarily a big part of season 2, but I did love Doris & Malik (more to come as well) and would’ve liked to have seen how they progressed too. I know HBO is giving them a movie of sorts to conclude things, but they have said this before. So I’m not holding my breath on that until their is an official release date.

Why It’s Canceled (In My Opinion)-

Please keep in mind that this has been my opinion on the show and how I have seen it. The main point in my opinion is this- the length of time. I am pretty sure it is HBO’s decision and not “Looking’s” creators who determine this, however this sort of a show screams for character development. This couldn’t have been true for this particular season, where the Kevin/Patrick relationship dominated the 25 minutes per episode allotted time amount and the supporting cast barely got a word in edgewise when it comes to their development. The focus of Dom’s maturity from cater-waiter to restaraunt owner when the series ended didn’t develop the way it should’ve, especially with the relationship between him and his best friend Doris. Doris, played brilliantly by Lauren Weedman, deserved way more screen time, in particular with her relationship with Malik. The basis of their relationship relied on both of them telling Dom how much they were in love, yet you never saw them and their relationship issues outside of that. Seeing as the lack of diversity on the show has been a bit prevalent over the course of two seasons, this would’ve been a nice counterpoint to that point in showing what is rarely seen on television- an interracial relationship and its normal issues that everyone else goes through.

Same can be said about Agustin/Eddie. When you introduce a Poz character on the series, and you briefly chatter about the issues of his disease and PrEP, it doesn’t do justice for people who either live with it or are in a serodiscordant relationship. The Halloween Party episode is a clear example of that, as it becomes a discussion for under a minute then goes back into Patrick’s ridiculous shenanigans about being drunk, somewhat single and absolutely stupid. That was the entire season, why not focus on something important and controversial in the gay community that is such a relevant topic as opposed to something we’ve seen all season long? I felt like the show had ample opportunities to really go there when it came to big topics in the gay world and failed on that because of the focus of one storyline.

I feel with Patrick & Kevin you either loved them, or hated them. I’ll take the latter. Not because of Kevin, because of Patrick. This is why the show had its issues is the way that Patrick was written. Jonathan Groff, for as talented as he is, really made the protagonist character of Patrick quite unlikable, frustrating and insanely unbearable throughout. I am aware that main characters have the tendency to do that, yet main characters also have a way to make you root for them even with their mistakes. I never once rooted for Patrick at all throughout the course of two seasons. The way his character came about was like a 21 year old moving from Nowheresville, Alabama to San Francisco and being the fresh face in town. Not a 30 year old who is vastly uneducated and scared of things like AIDS tests, uncut men, douching and a ton of other things that seem to be pretty common for someone his age, no matter where your geographical standpoint is. His incessant whining and frustration with “why doesn’t the world/Richie/Kevin/friends get me” type thing was infuriating at times, especially with the series finale. He had an annoying aspect about making everything about him, most notably the episode where Doris’ father died. Sidenote- was I the only one who thought these three guys would never be friends in real life? I did.

I get how people have said that the fight they had in the finale was realistic in many ways, but his character really rode the pathetic train with his inability to understand that Kevin cheats and prefers open relationships. You know, the one you got into after one episode? Another flaw in the show- how the f do you move in with someone after declaring being together in one episode? If they knew there was a shot of this being a series finale, a good way to intro it would’ve been “Six Months Later” and then reality would’ve been a bit more realistic. It moved at the speed of light for most of it, which made it a bit unnatural with how the characters moved along.

This is just my take on it. Would love to know what yours is.

Get To Know “Looking” Star & Gifted Actor Daniel Franzese

by Ryan Shea

For any person in the late 20’s to early 30’s, they know how much of a fucking rockstar Daniel Franzese is. The uber talented and incredibly handsome actor & activist has been at the forefront of many people’s minds and laughter since he shot to superstardom as the “Too Gay To Function” Damian in the megahit Tina Fey/Lindsay Lohan movie “Mean Girls”. Damian possessed a huge comedic wit in that movie that paired incredibly well in his scenes with Lindsay Lohan and star of Masters Of Sex Lizzy Caplan, that there was no doubt in my mind that he had quite a bright future ahead for himself.

Since Mean Girls, his popularity has continued to be on the rise. He has had guest starring roles on shows like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and my personal favorite TV series, “The Comeback.” He also has launched a hilarious Youtube series called “S**t My Italian Mom Says” which has reached millions of views since its inception. Now Daniel is starring in the 2nd season of HBO’s critically acclaimed series “Looking” in which he plays Eddie Bear, a openly HIV positive counselor in a homeless gay shelter who takes a liking to Agustin’s character, played by Frankie J. Alvarez. Although the show has had its back and forth critiques, something that seems to be a constant with social media and critics is the positive feedback his character gets. He has breathed a new life into the 2nd season of this show, and his ever growing relationship with Agustin’s character on “Looking” is a great distraction from the very present main character’s story lines of Kevin & Patrick.

With the season finale airing tonight at 10PM eastern, 9pm Pacific on HBO, Daniel was nice enough to sit down with me and discuss his rise in the entertainment world, his take on “Looking” and his new series that is debuting on ABC Family this coming fall. Take a look at what the Brooklyn native had to say.

Hey Daniel, thanks for sitting down with me! So I just saw that you went to TBRU (Texas Bear Round Up), one of the biggest bear events in the world. Did you have fun and have you ever gone to one of those events before?

I’ve gone to bear parties before but I have never been to an organized bear event like that, ever. It was absolutely wonderful and the bears there couldn’t have been nicer to me. The friendliest group of people I have ever met. This was a great indication of how I am known in the bear community as there wasn’t a bear there that didn’t recognize me from my work, which was quite the awesome feeling.

Let me ask you about the show you are on at hand and what everyone is talking about, Looking. I’ve been a fan of the show since the first season and when i found out you were going to be on the show I was ecstatic for several different reasons. How did this whole thing start for you?

Well I was having a conversation about the show with my friend Lori Malkin who is a casting director. She asked if I was watching the show, which I wasn’t. When she asked why I said no, I simply replied, “Because they never have bears like me on a gay show like that”. She then followed up simply, “Then why not become the bear on that show?”. I was all about manifesting destiny so I looked up the casting director who happened to be the first one I ever encountered when I did my first movie “Bully” back in 2001. I wrote her an email, sent her some photos, and said “If you ever need a sexy bear!” to which she said “Well, you never know!”. It turns out they were already thinking of the character Eddie and even further thinking of me to play him and then offered me to play the part.

Daniel Franzese, Manhattan Digest — Credit to: Andrew Jefferis

Not only are you the only bear on the show, but your character Eddie is also openly HIV positive which is a big part of your storyline with Agustin’s character, in particular the past two episodes. Can you get a little bit into the process of how you immersed yourself into this character?

My neighbor and one of my best friends Ryan is HIV positive and we have coffee every morning together. I knew him before he was poz and when I was getting the script and talking to him about it. The look on his face said it all as he was so excited that Eddie wasn’t being played as a victim and living a full and well adjusted life. I know that was the intention from the beginning for Andrew Haigh and Michael Lannon was that they wanted Eddie to be someone who just happened to be HIV Positive and that it really wasn’t affecting Agustin’s decision to be with him. Going into that portrayal I was excited more than anything to represent a very underrepresented community.

You surprised a lot of people by doing a full frontal sex scene with Agustin a couple of weeks back on the show. Was that the first time you’ve done a scene like that and was it tough to film?

This is why I think it is good that you brought up the bear community as growing up as the chubby kid who wore my shirt in the pool all the time to having an opportunity in my first movie “Bully” in which I take my shirt off was really uncomfortable for me. I have since then become very comfortable with my body and just from talking about guys in the past who have been into bears that aren’t bears themselves even and where their first inkling of where there attraction to a larger man came from. I heard several people reference James Gandolfini being naked in a film was when they realized they were attracted to bigger guys, and I knew that being part of an underrepresented community that displaying nudity in “Looking” would possibly do that for future generations of guys to see the male form in a different view. We all come from different shapes and sizes and I thought this was a way to see it sexualized in a different way.

Eddie is so vulnerable in that moment and has so many walls up and is trying to figure out if Agustin is really real and can handle his baggage. I think in that moment he feels that “Oh no, this is where the HIV gets in the way and I lose this great thing, that’s why I don’t want to get serious”, and I think its such a difficult moment for him because he is naked.

What is your take on how gay men are portrayed in the entertainment world in 2015? Do you think we have hit our stride or do you think we still have to push forward in order for us to become more normalized to the general viewing public?

I’m not sure that Hollywood will ever get any minority right because it is totally judged off of a bunch of people’s different opinions and based on each individual project. There will always be women that are marginalized, there will be African Americans that are marginalized, and in the same token there are gays that are. I feel like I love the way how “Looking” does it and how they show gay people in that story in San Francisco. We get to see so many kinds of levels of stories and places that straight people live and I think there is a lot of pressure on “Looking” to represent the entire gay community, but I think that they are just telling a story about some people in SF and I think that is interesting in an under-looked at subculture.

Daniel Franzese, Manhatan Digest — Credit to: Andrew Jefferis

On top of looking, you have a new show set to air on ABC Family this coming fall called “Recovery Road”. What can you tell us about it?

One of the coolest things about this is that it is written by my roommate in college Bert V. Royal who wrote the movie “Easy A”. The other show runner Karen DiConcetto is a friend of mine for over ten years who played Snooki in the musical that i co-wrote called “Jersey Shoresical: A Freaking Rock Opera!”. It is so great that I have two of my dearest friends that are going to be creating the part for me. It is about a 17 year old girl named Maddie who has some problems with drinking and drugs in school so she makes a deal with her guidance counselor so they won’t expel her if she spends certain nights and weekends in an adult sober living facility. I play a gay man who has addiction issues contributing to a weight gain; essentially I was a former gogo boy with a cocaine issue.

So these are some pretty deep roles you have been taking lately, however a lot of people know your comedic side from “Mean Girls” and your part on season one of “The Comeback”. Do you prefer the dramatic side of things or the comedy parts?

Well “Recovery Road” is actually a comedy. I think on “Looking” I’m pretty funny and definitely do love comedy. It is my first love. However I love horrors if they are scary and I love comedies if there is drama and dramas if they are poignant and meaningful. I just love good stories so if there is one there that is where I will go ultimately.

On a complete sidenote here, I hope that when they submit you for the Emmys that at least you and Lauren Weedman (Doris) get nominated for Guest Actor & Actress in a Supporting Role because you both really do great work on that show.

Actually, we are being submitted in the supporting categories. I am being submitted for Supporting Actor In A Comedy.

Oh! Well in that sense I hope they give you and “Looking” some love because it has kind of been the same shows winning year after year there and they could use some sprucing up with some new blood. I mean, enough with “Modern Family” winning. In other words… I WANT YOU TO WIN!

Thank you :).

You had a hit on Youtube with the hilarious “S**t Italian Moms Say”. How did that whole thing get started?

My mother was the big inspiration for this, and she is sitting right here next to me while I’m chatting with you. My mom thinks that you said that i might get an Emmy is phenomenal! The “Shit Says” meme was happening everywhere and I was waiting personally for an Italian one to happen. Around the same time, right before the meme happened, my friend Michelle said to me “You can come to my apartment but I don’t have anything to offer, not even a piece of cake”. We laughed for an hour over that and then we thought of all the things we could say or do and then my friend Lisa said “Let’s do this”. We pulled it together one weekend and did two episodes and then the following weekend did another one. It was really fun and hit a million views in six days. It was really fun to watch it unfold.

Besides all of these amazing things, what else do you have going on in 2015?

I have a comedy coming out about five people who get hypnotized while the hypnotist has a heart attack and the people are stuck in its trance. I play a gay man who thinks he is a pregnant woman during this whole thing. Really looking forward to seeing what people think about that.

Thanks again Daniel for sitting down with us and good luck with “Looking” and everything else you have going on!

Thank you so much!

For more on Daniel Franzese, you can check out his official sites here!

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Last Week Tonight’s Formula Works For Oliver

by Michael Tyminski

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Sundays at 11 Eastern on HBO

It’s amazing how late night TV sometimes ends up feeling like the royal family, with a particularly strong emphasis on lines of succession. Leno gave way to Fallon, Letterman will give way to Stephen Colbert. The reason I mention this is because tonight’s show was the end result of what could have easily been a situation that turned into a Leno-Letterman like squabble. After John Oliver’s strong run as guest host of The Daily Show (while Jon Stewart went off to direct a movie), HBO swooped in and gave him a megabucks deal to host his own Daily Show like show. This both tamped down any long term questions of who would succeed Stewart (which would now be reopened courtesy of CBS picking up Colbert) and gave a rapidly rising star (who has had an increasingly strong body of work over the past few years) a payday in line with what he deserved.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver follows a mix of political satire and talk similar to what one would expect from The Daily Show. Both shows open similarly, building around commentary on recent news, though Last Week Tonight? tends to take a slower, more measured approach. It first two acts work similarly (with the second act tending to be a little more focused on one story), before switching to a pre-taped interview in the third segment. The act breaks are composed of pre-taped videos often presented in as an aside (with topics such as John McCain tells the same joke six times in six different places).

So how is Last Week Tonight? Well first and foremost, it tends to be consistently funny, if a little quieter than you’d expect. In lieu of the loudness you get from a Stephen Colbert type, the show instead focuses on Oliver’s razor wit, sarcasm, and flabbergasted reactions to stupidity. The show uses small pieces of original video (there was a funny parody video ripping on the Oregon health markets inability to register a single soul despite blowing $250 million dollars in taxpayer funds on the site), though generally the action never strays far from Oliver, even during the show’s briefer interview segment.

If there is a flaw to the show, it’s that it can become monotonous at points. The act breaks are incredibly short and while Oliver’s style is very easy going, he’s only the only presence on the screen for the vast majority of the show. The act breaks themselves are also incredibly short (maybe 15 to 30 seconds in length, maximum) This is in comparison to The Daily Show, which has a longer interview segment and various correspondents in addition to commercial breaks in order to better break out the show.

The Final Verdict: Last Week Tonight works because it takes much of the Daily Show formula and applies it to Oliver’s own style. The end result is a strong half hour of TV that’s perfect for winding down an otherwise intense Sunday evening of TV. This show has quickly bumped up into watch this territory, as it is a great nightcap to HBO’s powerhouse Sunday night springtime lineup.

Silicon Valley – Pilot Review

by Peter Foy

I am now 26 years old, which means for about three quarterd of my life I’ve known what the internet is, more than half of my life I’ve been using search engines as a primary cause for obtaining information, and that for roughly a third of my life I’ve used social networking sites. You could say I’m very much an organism spawned from the information age, yet in some regards I’m rudimentary for my era. I don’t own a smart phone, nor do I have a twitter account, and for the longest time I thought HTML and JPEG were the same thing. It can be a bit of a perplexing time for someone like me, someone so reliant on technology, yet foreign to it’s mechanisms, that it’s enough to make me want to grab a time machine, and head on over to 1994 (it was more affordable back then too). With that in mind, I can gladly say that if the pilot for HBO’s new half-hour comedy series, Silicon Valley, is truly an inclination towards seeing how the information age really works, then we are in for some exposure that’s intelligent, sympathetic, curious, and damn funny too.

Set in contemporary Silicon Valley (the South Bay Area of California’s Bay Area), the series focuses on five young men living together in a shared ranch-house. The group is led by Ehrlich (T.J. Miller) a man who sold ownership of an idea to a major company early into his career, and has since become a self-proclaimed big-shot, who really just wants to latch onto anybody’s success that comes his way. So enters the show’s central character of Richard (Thomas Middleditch), a shy college dropout who just happens to have accidentally stumbled upon a concept that could net billions of dollars. He’s invented a software that allows songwriters to check their work against the vast body of pre-recorded music to see if there material hits any copyright infringements, but the program serves a higher purpose in that in compresses files without lessening their quality, an innovation that programmers have been striving for. Richard is soon after given two options, where he can either sell his idea for a quick $10 million, or he could accept an offer of $200,000 for a 5% share from venture capitalist Peter Gregory (Christopher Evan Welch) who offers his support and guidance in getting the program off the ground, and beginning his own company.

Right off the bat, Silicon Valley appears to be striving to find humor in how real it is. For one, the show’s team of main characters aren’t portrayed so much as nerds as they are…bros. They use slang language, shoot the shit, drink beer, show off tattoos and smoke pot like so many other post-collegiate North Americans, it’s only they know HTML code, and the value for programming new interface systems. Its a wise move to depict these characters as such, especially seeing that the definition for what a “nerd” is now seems murkier than ever. Also, it’s clear that the show stems from real life experience, as creator Mike Judge did live in Silicon Valley in the 1980s and worked for a startup video card company named Parallax. Although set in the modern day, the fact that Judge hasn’t been a Silicon Valley programmer in almost 30 years doesn’t seem to hamper the show’s authenticity, and the key is that Judge understands that this life is a business, and not unlike most other businesses either.

It’s exactly the type of humor and sense of realism that should be expected from Mike Judge, one of America’s most prolific comedic geniuses. The creator of Beavis and Butthead and Office Space, has time and time again shown us that he puts out work that is capable of providing both low-brow yucks, with a high-brow comprehension of things, and Silicon Valley immediately resounds in this area (who else would write a scene where a character says he’s eating liquid shrimp at an upscale party, and that the taste reminds him of ejacualate…if he knew what ejaculate tasted like). Still the show could also be the next evolutionary step for Mike Judge in regards to his live-action work, as it still carries the reserved flow of his animated canon, while carrying the cynicism towards common standards that was in some of his films. Office Space became a cult-classic due to how it helped office cubicle serfs realize their dilemma, as well as act as an unbridled form of escapism, and his more recent (and not entirely successful) film Idiocracy, showed that he was concerned that society’s binge on media and information overload may eventually leave us all incurably stupid. Silicon Valley may actually end up serving as a spiritual prequel to Idiocracy, if it’s commentary only continues to grow more scathing, and it’s views more universal.

All-in-all, it’s a very strong pilot, and hopefully the show will end up as as a sleeper hit. In recent years, it’s become blatant that HBO’s been looking for a new comedy series to become a flagship for the station (not unlike Curb Your Enthusiam, which isn’t necessarily gone, but HBO has said they’re “Cautiously optimistic” about there being another season), and you can see they’ve been trying to do it with shows like Girls and Veep, that are trying to rewrite the standards for what an HBO show should be. It’s unclear right now if Silicon Valley is trying to do that, but it is more evident that it’s the type of show that only Mike Judge could give us, and seeing that this is his first-time working with a premium channel, it seems likely that this is the very first tv series we’ll see from him that’s presented exactly the way he wants it.

True Detective: Season 1 review

by Peter Foy

“The world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door.”

We watched it, we discussed it, and most of us loved it, and now with the conclusion of season 1, True Detective has become HBO’s latest breakout success. Averaging about 10.9 million viewers across all HBO plays and platforms (and inciting a headline grabbing frustration when HBO GO crashed during the night of the finale), the show instantly found a following, and it’s easy to see why. An atmospheric southern gothic tale about unspeakable evil, True Detective is every bit a well-worn story, just expertly crafted and delivered in a way just unheard of for American television, even on a premium channel. The show’s first season is pretty spectacular, and it’s exactly the type of gritty horror show that HBO has been trying to air for years now….and it isn’t even a traditional horror show!

True Detective’s plot, a story of two very different anti-hero cops and a murder case that will envelop their lives for 17 years, follows a very logical yet still satisfying trajectory. Being interviewed by a younger pair of police officers, the show’s two older protagonists of Rustin “Rust” Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin “Marty” Hart (Woody Harrelson) recount their harrowing account on how they “solved” a mysterious murder back in the 1995, while also seeing the fallout the two have in their personal lives during the early 2000s. Eventually though, the narrative brings us to the show’s contemporary setting of 2012, as we see our two detectives finally reaching a conclusion over their long-gestating homicide case.

Throughout the show’s run, message boards erupted with theories as to what was coming. Many people seemed to think that their was a huge twist at the show’s end (could either Rust or Hart be the real murderer?), and some even expected that the show would take a turn into the supernatural. It’s certainly justifiable to think either of these things, as the show did have us bear witness to Cohle and Hart doing some pretty bad things, and the show had plenty of references to weird horror literature, most directly to Robert W. Chambers 1895 short story collection The King in Yellow. That said, neither of those two theories played out, with the identity of the killer hardly proving to be a shock, and the show didn’t have any overt fantastical elements to it. Throw in the fact that True Detective left many of it’s plot threads still lingering by it’s end, and one could make a case that True Detective ends on a bit of disappointing note. I admit, that I myself was a bit hesitant on giving the season finale any accolades at first, but looking back at it now, the whole series just felt so organic. Rather than being a gimmicky whodunit, True Detective played almost like an existential buddy-cop show instead, and one that really lucked out in the casting department.

Yes, Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey were mesmerizing in their roles, and their chemistry is the real binding for the show’s success. While initially it seems that Hart is the more level-headed of the two detectives as he isn’t spewing pessimism like Cohle is, we quickly discovered he is a very flawed man. He’s an adulterer and a violent hot-head, but we also get inside the character’s personal dilemmas and realize that their is real apathy in this man as well. Matthew McConaughey, an actor who is easily amidst the peak of his career right now, once again gives a fully committed portrayal of a complex lead character here, and it’s so fitting that the season’s finale aired a week after Matthew McConaughey scored his first Oscar win. It’s a decree to the man’s newly relegated position as one of Hollywood’s most elite, and here’s hoping that he’ll be placing an Emmy on his award shelf in about a year from now.

As I said in my review for the pilot, I had predicted that True Detective was going to feel like an eight-hour movie upon it’s completion, as every episode would feature Nic Pizzolatto as writer, and Cary Fukunaga as director. I can now say that the show absolutely felt like that, but I feel it was more due to Fukunaga’s contribution than for Pizzolatto. As consistent and talented a crime writer Nic Pizzolatto is, I feel that this season didn’t entirely escape the trappings of genre tropes, while Fukunaga’s film making was light-years ahead of what we’ve come to expect from the television milieu. He really did shoot the series like a horror film, and has even admitted David Lynch’s Twin Peaks as a crucial influence on the show’s development. What’s more, the show really did look like a film rather than a weekly television serial, due to it’s highly skilled camera work. Hell, the single take tracking shot in episode 4 will probably be discussed in film school classes for many generations to come. It’s understandable that Fukunaga has revealed he will not be returning to the show next season so that he may pursue other film projects, but I feel his presence shall be greatly missed.

So yes, True Detective’s debut season is really something special, and it’s the first new show since Justified to really understand noir storytelling. Pizzolatto and Fukunaga have given viewers a bleak, desolate and insidious world, that’s so rank that one can almost smell the cigarette smoke and booze. While HBO has yet to reveal whether they will order another season or not, giving the show’s fast success it seems like a sure-fire bet that they will. Pizzolatto has explained that True Detective is an anthology season, and that next season will feature an all new cast of characters, setting, and story. It is upsetting that Woodly Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey and Cary Fukunaga will not be returning, but at least they’ve left an ideal blueprint for the series model during this riveting freshman year. True Detective may very well go down as this generation’s Twin Peaks.

HBO’s Looking Goes From Sullen to Spectacular

by Ryan Shea

Manhattan Digest, Looking, HBO, Jonathan Groff, Murray Bartlett — Credit to- Broadway World

Looking Brings Something Real… And So Much More

Not that I am known for doing things prematurely (insert as many jokes as you want to here. That’s why I wrote that), my first article basically loathing HBO’s “Looking” is something that I do regret in many different ways. It was based off of a combination of the endless press the show was getting even before the show premiered, the seemingly lack of men of color on the show and the way people were treating it that really led to that write up. Add a not so great premiere (sorry, not taking that back) and I was quite apprehensive about the show.

Well now that the first season has ended, and it already has been given the green light for season two, my opinion on the show has drastically changed since that first episode. The characters have developed quite well over the past eight episodes, even though each of them are only half an hour long. Whereas I do believe if they made each episode an hour long they could develop even further, I am happy to see where the show has landed and am looking forward to what happens next season.

Manhattan Digest, Murray Bartlett, HBO, Looking — Credit to: The Backlot

Strongest factors of the show-

Murray Bartlett (Dom)- I remember Murray as Oliver Spencer, the gay man who stole Carrie away from Aiden for a short period of time on “Sex And The City”. In the first episode of this series, he came across to me as the a-typical Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen guy, musc/masc and nicely dressed and refusing to accept that he is getting older and turning 40. He consistently went after younger men and got insecure if a simple cater waiter denied him. His character over the 8 episodes did a complete 180 in my opinion, by going through somewhat of a growth in terms of opening up his own restaurant, listening to his friends advice and in the end falling for someone even older than him, Lynn (an uber-hot Scott Bakula). I am really looking forward to seeing how his character plays out in season 2, especially with him and Lynn.

The Supporting Characters (Boyfriends, best friends, coworkers)- Great shows are designed best when the main characters intrigue you but the supporting cast members add that particular something to make the show gel. This works with so many people like Patrick (Jonathan Groff’s) boss and now lover of sorts Kevin (my future husband Russel Tovey), Dom’s roommate and funny lady Doris (Laurel Weedman) who pretty much champions him to open the restaurant and point him in the right direction, and my favorite is Richie (my side boyfriend Raul Castillo) who challenges Patrick in his insecurities and ability to have a grown up relationship, even if Patrick doesn’t know if that what he particularly wants. Although I am bummed with how Richie leaves him in the end, I am hoping that he comes back for Season 2 in some sorts because the show really seemed to pick up steam in the episode that was just about the two of them.

The Dialogue- I love how this is how REAL friends talk to each other, and address their concerns on such a better level than just being like “GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL” every other sentence. All three (Augustin will be mentioned later) really care about each other and keep it real when they have to. No sugar coating necessary. I think the writing for this show is one of its strongest points indeed because it is relatable no matter if you are gay or straight. A lot of these things are what everyday people go through in friendships, relationships and life issues and “Looking” does it really well.

Jonathan Groff, HBO, Looking, Manhattan Digest — Credit to: Ace Show Biz

Factors that could be improved-

Patrick- Love Jonathan Groff and I like that he is being utilized for something outside of his singing voice (Frozen, Glee) and really his acting chops, which he does tremendously. Here is my issue- his character doesn’t make much sense to me. If you watch the show, a lot of the stuff he seems to get into (dealing with an “uncut” guy, awkward dating, flighty attitude towards a lot of things) would be cute if he was a fresh faced 22 year old in San Francisco, but he’s not. He’s 29 and from the episodes have lived there for a while, so I don’t get why they wrote him like that. At the same time, he has had some great moments this year with his growth in his relationship with Richie and his somewhat standing up to the back and forth he has going on with Kevin. I personally hope he ends up with Richie on some level next season, but I hope his maturity continues to improve and he becomes a lot more aware of his behavior as time goes by.

Augustin- Ugh. I get it. Every show needs one character that you can’t stand, or love to hate, etc. Problem with him is that the evolution of his character doesn’t really make any sense. I get how you can do the whole “this is my bottom, can’t get any worse than this” type thing but I keep thinking that each episode is his bottom. It takes his now ex, Frank (awesomely played by O.T. Fagbenle) to tell him what we all feel- spoiled rich kid who is at best a mediocre artist. Yup. Granted he is a good friend to both Dom & Patrick, and I get that, but as a person on the show he really sucks. I hope that the revelation that Frank gave him really makes him improve next season so his sucking ability goes down and he starts to act like an authentic person and not some hipster douchebag that seems to be growing in population.

Official Site

HBO’s Looking- Predictable and Pretentious… as Promised.

by Ryan Shea

Looking, HBO, Manhattan, Manhattan Digest — Credit to: SF Weekly

Looking for… Substance?

HBO’s highly anticipated and publicized show “Looking” premiered last night as the latter part of the comedy hour they are now sharing with “Girls”. There has been a ton of hooplah surrounding “Looking” even before it started, as social media exploded with its accusations of the cast alone looking very one note without much diversity (something that I agree with). Also, to some annoyance, it has been touted by websites such as Buzzfeed as “The Next Great Gay Show” which is a bit premature as I’m sure they only got a screener of the first episode and can only judge so much from that. Seeing as there isn’t much gay shows on TV where we aren’t supporting characters but much more an entire cast, I severely looked forward to dissecting this show to it’s fullest content.

Then I watched it, and my primetime erection went down faster than Chris Christie’s political dreams. This happened for so many reasons honestly, but there is a smidgen of hope I feel for this show as a whole. That hope is Jonathan Groff, who many people know as being Rachel’s love interest on the former hit now please cancel it before I shoot myself “Glee”. He plays Patrick, the lead of the show who starts at the beginning attempting to get fellatio in a park from a rather hot bearish type guy. This was the high point in the show as he nervously answers his phone in the midst of it as he thought it was his “Mother”. Cute.

Here is my problem with his character- the problems he encounters throughout the episode would be cute if he was in the 21-24 age range, but I feel if you are an out and proud gay man at 29- these things shouldn’t be happening to you still. The BJ thing maybe, but the awkward date, the “6 month relationship” and so on and so forth. I just think his character lacks maturity that is made up for in his cuteness and impressionable behavior which is lose it’s gum flavoring very fast if things don’t pick up.

Murray Bartlett, who most gays know as the shoe maven who stole Carrie away from her wing eating time with Aiden on “Sex & The City” plays Som, a pushing 40 waiter who whines and bitches that a twinky 20 something rejected him mainly because of his age. At the end of the show he tries to get redemption on said twink by going to the bar with Patrick to make himself feel better about the rejection. So boring, no depth and if there is one character that should be a one off it’s him.

Lastly the one diverse character we have in this show is Agustin, played by Frankie J. Alvarez, who is Patrick’s roommate. He is in a relationship with Frank, played by OT Fagbenie. They run into the ever so present problem of having an open relationship which seems to be a big topic of debate in the gay community and end the episode not necessarily wanting the same thing. Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

Overall I would give the first episode 3 out of 10. Sorry if it’s harsh, but “Looking” is “Queer As Folk” for the iPhone digital world. The semi digs at bears or guys that don’t fit the size 29 stereotype, the severe lack of diversity ESPECIALLY in a place like San Francisco, and the dialogue which no one really says (“Are You Drug and Disease Free”, on a first date) lead this show to be just like the rest. I am not saying I need to watch this show to find a guy exactly like me, however this show has been done before. So until I see some changes and maturity in the upcoming episodes, my thought process is this.

HBO’s True Detective – Series Premiere Review

by Peter Foy

The TV dry season is officially over! The holidays are behind us, the new year has begun, and once again TV networks are giving us high-quality shows at a weekly rate (please watch Community!). Therefore, it’s also time for people to begin anticipation for the year’s new television debuts, especially in light of the current transitional period TV is going through with several high-profile series winding down to a conclusion this year or next (Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Sons of Anarchy, How I Met Your Mother, etc.). People are all eager to see what the next Breaking Bad could be, which frankly is saying a lot, but fortunately viewers might very well be getting another taste of a brilliant crime series, and quicker than they might of thought. HBO’s new series, True Detective, premiered last night, and if the quality of this pilot is any indication of what’s too continue, then TV’s most prestigious channel may just have another masterpiece on their hands.

Telling the series in a non-linear but concise fashion, the storyline flips between 2012 and flashbacks pertaining to a police investigation regarding a seemingly ritualistic murder back in 1995. The storyline revolves around two Louisiana detectives, one being the relatively straight-laced and humble Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), and the other the more hard-edged and potentially tortured Rust Cohl (Matthew McConaughey). In 2012, both of these detectives are being questioned regarding the 1995 case, with a pair of younger detectives hoping they can shed some light on updating the case file. We see that Martin hasn’t changed too much in the 17 years since the case (besides Harrelson’s loss of a toupee), but Rust has become a sloven alcoholic. It’s clear that there’s more to this case then what’s in the police books, and it’s also clear that we as viewers are going to see all of the details over this season’s eight-episode run.

Created and written by novelist Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, the show immediately lets us know what kind of a story this is. True Detective certainly isn’t averse to using some rudimentary crime-fiction/noir tropes for the pilot, but one can’t shake off the notion that any familiarity in the show is only there to get the ball rolling. There are two aspects of this pilot episode that really stick out as being outstanding, and that’s the acting and the mood, with the latter possibly being the most important card in the whole deck. The show is suitably eerie and grim throughout, and it’s definitely the most potent sense of rural noir that I’ve seen on the small screen in a long while. Expect plenty of consistency in this area too, as all eight of this season’s episodes are written by Pizzolatto and directed by Fukunaga, which makes True Detective another example of how the television medium is becoming more and more like film. I’ll reserve final judgement until watching all of this season, but I have a strong feeling that True Detective is going to feel like an eight hour movie.

It’s no doubt that the show’s star power will call in an immediate fanbase, but in this case that’s another good reason to watch the show. Matthew McCouaughey continues to prove he’s not only one of Hollywood’s best actors, but one of the hardest working as it’s almost impossible to envision how he can appear in a healthy string of movies each year, yet still finds time to star in a TV series. Yet once again he delivers a complex and highly entertaining performance here as detective Rust, who is in some nature a character we’ve seen before, yet also something much deeper. Rust is different from the rest of his police team as he’s distinct in his investigative methods and potentially a better detective, yet through little snippets of the show’s dialogue we find that he has had divorce and violence in his past. His musings on why humanity is doomed and inherently evil are chilling to hear, and provide a great contrast to his partner Martin’s more lenient views. Woody Harrelson once again delivers a sturdy performance here, and it’s enticing to see where this character goes as he uncovers more of the darkness that he seems foreign too, yet Rust seems to be a first hand witness towards. The dynamic of these cops is certainly something that’s been done before, but rich acting, writing and dialogue keep viewers fully immersed in the “chemistry” between McConaughey and Harrelson.

So yes, True Detective has a very strong premiere episode, and word says that the series is only going to get better in the subsequent ones. Pizzolatto has described True Detective as being an anthology series, and he says that if they do get another season that it will involve new characters and a different case. Therefore, we as viewers can rest assured in receiving a complete story in this season, rather then being left with an unsatisfying cliffhanger, a method which other crime shows like The Killing (which Pizzolatto did write for) have been criticized for. At first glance True Detective appears to be a gritty, character-driven, and well executed piece of neo-noir, and here’s hoping that that first impression lasts.

2013: Top 10 TV Shows for the Year

by Peter Foy

December is pretty much the most satisfying month of the year for me, but not for the usual holiday cheer or what have you. As a cultural critic, I get incredibly giddy and anxious about composing a best of the year list, and will often spend so much of December’s 31 days going over and over in my head about what titles deserve what place in my self-coveted spot. Some friends of mine will verify that last year I blew off a post-Christmas party so that I could catch a screening of D’Jango Unchained so that I could write my 2012’s best films list ASAP (Please help if you think I might have a problem. D’Jango Unchained did not even make my top 10 for that year.).

So it comes with great pleasure that I was able to formulate a top 10 list for television shows relatively early in the month. I was a bit hesitant about writing is just now, but as my fellow Manhattan Digest contributor Michael Tyminski just elaborated on (here), we’re currently in a stand-still for weekly quality television at the moment, and we should consider that the best of the year has already happened. Therefore, I feel now is the perfect time to unleash my take on what were my favorite shows of the past year, right before unleashing my gargantuan best-films list at the month’s end(I’m currently aiming for it to be a top-25). Keep in mind I haven’t seen everything that aired this past year, with The Americans, The Bridge, Justified, American Horror Story, and Hannibal being a few of the critically acclaimed shows I missed. You could say I’m unqualified to write this list, but believe it or not, I do have a social life.

10. Masters of Sex

Those that read my review for the Masters of Sex pilot know that I basically saw it as Mad Men-lite, so I’m both glad and surprised to say how strongly the quality of the show shifted during the rest of the season. It really is an intelligent break down on sexual relations of all shapes and forms, without being overtly raunchy or obvious. It certainly isn’t without melodrama (like Nip/Tuck, it’s essentially a sexed-up soap opera), but the acting often surpasses the occasionally hokey writing, with all the cast fully understanding how to find quality tv drama here, and who would have thought Michael Sheen and Liz Caplan would have such chemistry? I even take back what I said about how I felt the film making seemed anachronistic, as the production values do allow the show to look both modern, and a part of the time period it’s depicting. Here’s hoping it doesn’t follow the same pattern of other Showtime series like Dexter and Homeland, which followed up their strong debut seasons with subsequent ones that were more a mixed bag.

9. Parks and Recreation

It’s just so re-assuring to see that this show has remained so strong into it’s 6th year. Maybe it’s the consistently witty writing, or the unique subject matter to fit the now tired faux-documentary format, but I think that it’s more or less because of the cast. They really did pick a dream-team of comics for this show, and I’m hoping my holy trinity (Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, and Nick Offerman) will be getting a very special collaborative episode in the near future. My pick for the best show on network television right now…at least until we see Dan Harmon’s return as showrunner for Community next year.

8. House of Cards

2013 will probably go down as the year web-based-television really took off, and what’s a better show to ring it in than House of Cards. An intimidating political thriller featuring an all-star cast of film actors, the show really demonstrates that Netflix is interested in garnering some of the prestige that HBO has hogged up since The Sopranos. Executive producers David Fincher and Eric Roth, and show runner Beau Willimon clearly wanted to do more than just adapt the British mini-series, and they’ve created a very modern take on Shakespearean drama, in a very seedy and all too present backdrop. Stylish and chilly (albeit a little soulless at times), I for one am really hoping the show doesn’t suffer a sophomore slump next season…but I don’t think that will be a problem.

7. Enlightened

It seems like every year there’s a great show that’s taking off the air way too early, and this year’s was definitely Enlightened. After a rough but entertaining first season, the show really found it’s voice in these final eight episodes, which saw main character Amy try and take down the corporate world that had employed her. Carefully plotted from start to end, the season was thoughtful, angry, cautious, and sweet in a way that’s hardly seen on television, even on HBO. It’s a shame that it didn’t find it’s audience in time to avoid a cancellation, but it can rest peacefully with the likes of Terriers and Party Down with this mantra lain upon it: “We just needed a little bit of time to be brilliant”.

6. Mad Men

I’ll admit the show had a bit of a rough start this season. Seeing Don reading Dante’s Inferno, or hearing Betty make bizarre comments about rape made me think that Matthew Weiner and his writers had finally lost a grip on subtlety. Fortunately though, the show got back to it’s usually excellent standards quickly enough, with episodes that ranged from thematically rich like A Tale of Two Cities, to the deliciously surreal The Crash. A really unexpected ending too, and also one that makes one think that the real face of Don Draper has yet too be uncovered.

5. Orange is the New Black

Jenji Kohan’s fictionalized take on Piper Kerman’s memoir is the best new show of the year by a long shot. While Kohan’s past experience as the creator of Weeds is visible in the show’s sense of humor and strong female characters, it will surprise many how this one season of Orange is the New Black is already so much more complex and subversive than Weeds was throughout its entire eight season run. It’s an examination on ethnicity and gender, as well as a suspenseful serial with no aversion to using cliffhangers, as well as a cheer inducing drama about the power of the human spirit. There’s been much talk over the past few months about how a lot of signature television series are ending soon, but we should rest assured that if Orange is the New Black is the designated torch holder for the likes of Breaking Bad and Mad Men, then there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. This is the reason you got a Netflix account!

4. Game of Thrones

I have to admit that I haven’t been as in love with Game of Thrones as some of you other people. Sure, it’s a show that possibly has the most impressive production values in TV history, and the nerd in me is just so elated to see a beloved series of fantasy novels turned into an exceedingly popular and adult television serial for a premium station. Still though, I have to say that I had found the previous two seasons too removed from reality for me to care too much about the characters. This season, however, changed everything and I did find myself completely immersed in George R.R. Martin’s characters, and the horrible ordeals he puts them through. There were just so many great scenes this season, from Jaime and Brehn’s tear-soaked bath, to Jon Snow’s coupling with Ygritte, and of course there was that little scene in the penultimate episode that made us go straight to our twitter feeds and express how incredible this fucking show is! No need to exaggerate here, Game of Thrones is the best high fantasy epic ever put to screen.

3. Girls

Did Lena Dunham silence the haters for the sophomore season of her rather divisive HBO dramedy…hell no! What we can be thankful for, however, is that Ms. Dunham did indeed step up her game as a writer and director this season, making it even more raw and dirty than the first year, but with far greater pay-off. We witnessed the characters explore issues of sexuality and over-privilege, while also dropping great hints about how unhappy they are underneath their seeming self-regard. People will continue to think Girls is a shallow and niche take on contemporary 20-something life from a jaded and shallow 20-something, but these people seriously needs to see the episode One’s Man Trash, as I feel it’s the most indepth and intrinsic work that Dunham has done to date. Feel free to continue calling the show a pretentious piece of shit, but just don’t call it the new Sex and the City, as it’s a lot closer to being the new Sopranos.

2. Eastbound and Down

I was wary at first about Eastbound and Down returning for another season, as the creators had previous stated that season 3 would be their last. Fortunately though, it didn’t take long into this season to realize there was still more story to be told about Kenny Powers, and in the end this season proved to be an even better ending for this series. Seeing the character regress from a family man back into a debaucherous dick-head just seemed so genuine for the show, but it was also surprising to see the merits this character would achieve as the season went on. It all led up to a finale that was even more grandiose and satisfying than the conclusion for that other brilliant show that ended this year (see below), and really makes me hopeful that Eastbound and Down will be looked at as an influential American comedy in future years, and find a larger audience. It’s a sit-com that re-invented itself each year, told a fluid and progressive story, and managed to be consistently funny, yet a sad and weighty tale as well. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to watch all 29 episodes of the best comedy that HBO has ever aired (with all respect to Curb Your Enthusiasm).

1. Breaking Bad

No surprise, right? Those of you that read my Breaking Bad: The Legend Ends column already know my thought concerning this show’s final batch of episodes, but I would like to make one final comment: The episode Ozymandias, is what I feel really made this series shine. It was just such a devastating and no holds barred episode that used the serialized and organic nature of the show’s entire run to bring it to an all time dramatic high. It really was the episode we had been waiting for since we witnessed Walt make that unfortunate decision to become a meth cook back in the pilot, and the result was the show’s true transgression from brilliant pulp into great tragedy. It was one of the very best episodes a TV show has ever had…and the next two weren’t too shabby either. There, that’s all that remained to be said.

Getting On Adeptly Mixes Drama, Comedy

by Michael Tyminski

Getting On: Sundays at 10 Eastern On HBO

2013 has been a pretty strong year for HBO. Game of Thrones, The Newsroom, Boardwalk Empire, and True Blood each keep churning along, holding the drama side of the ledger together. However, if there’s an area that HBO seems to have made a leap it’s in its comedies. Veep broke out in it’s sophomore year, receiving even some surprise Emmy love. Eastbound and Down made a triumphant return for it’s fourth (and second farewell) season. Even low-rated newcomers Family Tree and Hello, Ladies had managed to score some critical acclaim. HBO is looking to keep that streak going over the course of the winter with it’s newest show: Getting On.

Getting On follows the staff of the fictional Mount Palms hospital in California, where they must take care of those who are aging less than gracefully while fighting through red tape. Amongst the staff members who must deal with these circumstances are the ambitious Dr. Jenna James (Laurie Metcalf) as well as nurses Dawn and Didi (Alex Borstein and Niecy Nash).

The writing on the show is fairly nimble due often juxtaposing the grim nature of death (and end of life care) with a neurotic obsession towards fecal research and the guys who work in the hospital. However, where Getting On truly succeeds is not where these topics merge together, but rather in it’s ability to quickly change tone over the course of three quick scenes, as shown in the last five minutes as it flips from funny, to heartwarming, to tragic all over the course of about two or so minutes while hitting all of the correct notes.

What really stands out, however, is the sheer amount of talent on the principal cast. Laura Metcalf shines as the wild-eyed Dr. James who clearly puts her research ahead of her patients, leading to a glorious breakdown that closes out the show’s second act. Niecy Nash and Alex Borstein both do an excellent job as nurses who are essentially polar opposites of not only each other, but previous roles they’ve played (after 14 years of playing Lois Griffin, hearing Borstein not deliver in a the nasal, shrill Lois Griffin tone felt like a clear departure).

Visually, the show operates in a very cinema verite feel, often mixing in unorthodox camera angles, that one can only assume mimics the look of the geriatric patients from their beds. Similarly, the lighting tends to give off the same sterile, unnatural tinge as one would expect from the geriatric ward of the hospital, though it often comes off dullish, closer to a horror movie in visual tone.

The Final Verdict: Getting On is incredibly dark, but can also be incredibly funny and incredibly sweet as the staff of our fictional hospital seem as brittle as the patients they watch over. The writing is inventive and the cast takes quickly to angles that run counter to their prior television roles. The end result is the sort of show worth watching if you’re into more morbid dramedies and an excellently crafted show, but I can also see this not being for everyone.

hbo

Looking Brings Something Real… And So Much More

Looking for… Substance?

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