Thursday, January 04, 2007

Two Reviews

OK, so even FX is allowed a mis-step once in a while.

I saw "dirt" on Tuesday night and was rather underwhelmed. As I previously posted, it's not like tabloid journalism is one of my favorite subjects anyway, but I was at least open to the idea that it would provide interesting storylines.

It didn't.

Perhaps what most surprised me about "dirt" was the apathy I felt. I didn't even hate the awful people it portrayed enough to care. I was pretty indifferent through the whole thing, rarely shocked or even stimulated. And the whole Ian Hart psycho photographer storyline seemed like it belonged in a different show.

Courtney Cox wasn't bad as the lead, but it was if the writer's couldn't decide in making her really evil or just misunderstood.

Unlike "The Shield" or "Rescue Me," "dirt" doesn't show the characters wrestling with moral ambiguity, the most compelling aspects of those shows.

"Knights of Prosperity" was also different than I expected. It didn't have the sitcom feel that I thought it might, and that's both a good and a bad thing. Good, because it makes the show more interesting. Bad, because I think fewer people will stick with it because of that.

TV fans are already balking at the prospect of serialized shows. You can get away with it with a show like "Lost" or "24," where the action forces you to stay with it. I don't know if that will be the case with a half-hour comedy, especially one in such a horrible timeslot. ABC did the producers of this show no favor.

I did love the gambling action with the dreidls, however.

THURSDAY'S BEST BETS: "Ugly Betty" (ABC, 8 p.m.) returns with its first new episode of 2007, as does the NBC block of comedies.

CBS proceduralists get new episodes of "CSI" at 9 p.m. and "Shark" at 10 p.m., while viewers also get a new "ER" (NBC, 10 p.m.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i thought dirt was interesting, but just didn't have enough in the series opener. i will probably give it another try though. sometimes these shows just take a couple episodes to come into their own.


also zodin2008, i think the class is funny.

Phillip Ramati said...

I also think "The Class" is funny, just uneven.

I may give "Dirt" one more chance, haven't decided yet.

NBC still has the best group of comedies, bar none, and if you need any evidence, just look at Thursday's episodes, especially "Earl" with the Cops parody and "The Office." (Dwight's line to a crying Pam, especially).

I don't see "Knights" in that class, but it's worth another look.