It's time to make time for Showtime
Chicago Sun-Times, Sep 30, 2007 by Doug Elfman
Is it time to switch from HBO to Showtime? Maybe. Showtime totally gets the short end of the pop culture stick, because its original series used to be lame-ish. Yet, it's now created two potential classic TV shows in "Dexter" and "Californication," and that's two more than you'll find on CBS and ABC combined. In addition, "Weeds" is solid, with moments of excellence.
What's so great about HBO right now? "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" are great. "Real Time with Bill Maher" is cool. But everything else is "eh."
"John from Cincinnati"? That was a bust. "Da Ali G Show"? Hilarious, but there are no plans to bring it back.
So here's my official recommendation as a TV critic. Unless you're addicted to HBO's movie slate, switch to Showtime for a few months. Give "Californication," "Dexter" and "Weeds" a shot. If you're not hooked, switch back to HBO.
I will offer this caveat: Don't bother with Showtime if you don't like shows about serial killing ("Dexter"), serial humping ("Californication") or serial pot-selling ("Weeds").
Of the three series, I may love "Dexter" the most, but then again, I'm just as jazzed about David Duchovny's "Californication." It's wildly amusing. Hank (Duchovny -- awesome) jumps from one naked romp to another, while mired in booze, unvarnished truth and self- indulgence.
At times, it's shockingly funny, like when a lover punched Hank in the face during sex, and Hank, after getting his bearings, laughed heartily. Hank's ex-girlfriend recently spied a condom in his kitchen and asked, "Magnum? You have a growth spurt?"
Just as often, it's unbelievably thinky but not crammed down your throat. The other week, we heard a voiceover of a high school girl reading her creative-writing paper:
"Here we are," she thought, "at the edge of the world, the very edge of Western civilization, and all of us are so desperate to feel something, anything, that we keep falling into each other and f--- ing our way toward the end of days."
That about sums up the nihilism of the show, although it's not accurate to call "Californication" merely nihilistic. It's erotic, romantic, hedonistic, caring, feministic, narcissistic and written close to the conscious subconscious, as if it's the organized stream of consciousness of a genius.
And that's a peek at Showtime shows. They remind me somewhat of 1970s cinema, those lionized films that presented entertaining general fiction as something deeper and more real than the broader fantasy-romance-mysteries of the following decades, in both movies and TV.
If I can say one more thing, it's that everyone to whom I've personally recommended "Dexter" and "Californication" has come back with praise. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll love them. But it's something.
Is it time to switch from HBO to Showtime? Maybe. Showtime totally gets the short end of the pop culture stick, because its original series used to be lame-ish. Yet, it's now created two potential classic TV shows in "Dexter" and "Californication," and that's two more than you'll find on CBS and ABC combined. In addition, "Weeds" is solid, with moments of excellence.
What's so great about HBO right now? "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" are great. "Real Time with Bill Maher" is cool. But everything else is "eh."
"John from Cincinnati"? That was a bust. "Da Ali G Show"? Hilarious, but there are no plans to bring it back.
So here's my official recommendation as a TV critic. Unless you're addicted to HBO's movie slate, switch to Showtime for a few months. Give "Californication," "Dexter" and "Weeds" a shot. If you're not hooked, switch back to HBO.
I will offer this caveat: Don't bother with Showtime if you don't like shows about serial killing ("Dexter"), serial humping ("Californication") or serial pot-selling ("Weeds").
Of the three series, I may love "Dexter" the most, but then again, I'm just as jazzed about David Duchovny's "Californication." It's wildly amusing. Hank (Duchovny -- awesome) jumps from one naked romp to another, while mired in booze, unvarnished truth and self- indulgence.
At times, it's shockingly funny, like when a lover punched Hank in the face during sex, and Hank, after getting his bearings, laughed heartily. Hank's ex-girlfriend recently spied a condom in his kitchen and asked, "Magnum? You have a growth spurt?"
Just as often, it's unbelievably thinky but not crammed down your throat. The other week, we heard a voiceover of a high school girl reading her creative-writing paper:
"Here we are," she thought, "at the edge of the world, the very edge of Western civilization, and all of us are so desperate to feel something, anything, that we keep falling into each other and f--- ing our way toward the end of days."
That about sums up the nihilism of the show, although it's not accurate to call "Californication" merely nihilistic. It's erotic, romantic, hedonistic, caring, feministic, narcissistic and written close to the conscious subconscious, as if it's the organized stream of consciousness of a genius.
And that's a peek at Showtime shows. They remind me somewhat of 1970s cinema, those lionized films that presented entertaining general fiction as something deeper and more real than the broader fantasy-romance-mysteries of the following decades, in both movies and TV.
If I can say one more thing, it's that everyone to whom I've personally recommended "Dexter" and "Californication" has come back with praise. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll love them. But it's something.
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