Being Upfront

I'm furiously trying to digest the incoming information on the 2003 network television schedules, and as all the nets announce their line-ups I'll have grids and analysis ready. In the meantime, a couple of amazing series are almost winding down this week, one for this season and one for good.

At 8pm on UPN, it's the next-to-the-last Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and this one looks like a great episode, with explosions, action, and the return of Angel to help Buffy go out on a grand note. I've loved this show from the very beginning and though it's time for it to go, it's been a lovely ride. Remember when, if you were a fan of Buffy, people used to make fun of you? Really. Even working in TV, where you'd think some of the people would have a clue, those of us who liked it were few and far between, and now look at it...scholars write treatises, blah blah blah. I guess it's common knowledge that Spike will be moving over to Angel, which should please fans of the droll faux-British vampire. Anyhow, don't miss this penultimate Buffy outing.

And at 9pm on Fox, also nearing the end of the line is 24, the always classy, ultra-exciting and almost-too-close-to-reality-for-comfort action series. I'm horrified to admit that I've missed so many episodes this year that I haven't a clue what's going on, and who knows if anybody's going to repeat them this summer -- nobody, I gather -- but a show this good will be around for a long time, at the very least on DVD. I still think it's amazing how Kiefer Sutherland totally regained all his lost credibility and critical standing with this show, when previous to 24 it had been quite fashionable to knock his performances, many of which were outstanding. He's back on top where he belongs, and we can only wonder what conniptions he'll suffer next season. Tick...tick...tick. Can't wait!

I Wish...I Wish

-- that somebody would run the taped (filmed?) version of the London stage revival of Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg starring Eddie Izzard and Victoria Hamilton, that was telecast by the BBC4 last fall. It's the very same play that garnered four Tony nominations the other day, including a couple for Izzard and Hamilton for their acting. The reviews have been nothing short of spectacular, and I can only imagine how amazing Izzard must be in his role. He's one of the most brilliant and versatile entertainers out there, and though he does look fetching in a dress, it's great to see him getting acclaim for more than just being a transvestite comic. (If you're looking for an intriguing and special movie to rent when you've tired of all the bloated crap, check out the Peter Bogdanovich-directed The Cat's Meow, where Eddie plays Charlie Chaplin. Wonderful!)

The fact that these performers (and essentially the entire production) have been captured on tape in their tour-de-force roles is magic, and let's all hope that we get the chance to see it over here, and soon! This would seem to be a perfect opportunity for one of the higher-reaching nets to do us all a favor. Paging Trio...Bravo...HBO...BBC America.....

 
Culling Cult TV

I’ve got a little semantic beef with The Biography Channel this week. Monday thru Thursday, and again on Saturday night, they’re presenting a selection of bios under the banner “Cult TV Stars” but some of the subjects are far from cult. Contrary to the way Biography is using it, Cult TV doesn’t properly refer to just any old television show or star. You’ve gotta have that certain something, the respect of the TV cognoscenti, public and critical, to make Cult status. Many have tried, and plenty have succeeded, but it’s not a label to be applied lightly. Tonight’s Tim Allen? Hardly Cult TV material. His Home Improvement was as mainstream as they come; only his pre-TV druggie days might marginally nominate him for cult status, but it’s not enough. Robert Reed, also on tonight? Now that I buy. The Brady Bunch can rightfully claim its Cult status. Dick Van Patten from Eight is Enough? Nope…that show has no cult. Fans, maybe, but no cult, only some tragic backstories. There’s a difference.

Tomorrow it’s Melissa Gilbert, Tracey Gold and Kim Fields. Sorry, no cult for these gals or their shows. On Wednesday, Ted Danson, Alan Alda and Noah Wyle. All fine fellas, but nary a cult among them. They are the dead center of mainstream TV, not the fanatical fringe, all veterans of immensely popular wide appeal shows. On Thursday we’re asked to consider Peter Falk, Raymond Burr and Angela Lansbury as Cult TV icons. Columbo has been incredibly long-lived and Falk is great, but there’s not that Cult thing going. He’s too popular with too many normal people, usually a great attribute but not so in the Cult world. Now, Raymond Burr almost qualifies, for his role as wheelchair bound detective Ironside, but the show has had no significant revival anywhere at anytime. It’s not a cult, even though maybe it should be, and need we try at all to justify Angela Lansbury as a cult? No…never gonna happen. Great actress, no cult figure.

Biography finally gets it together on Saturday, when they accurately bestow Cult status on Elizabeth Montgomery, Julie Newmar and Yvonne DeCarlo. Bewitched, Batman, and The Munsters clearly fit the definition, and these ladies are legitimate cult icons. They’re weird and wonderful, and that’s part of what makes Cult TV special.

However, the best bet in the Cult TV world tonight is NBC’s TV movie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three’s Company. I’ve never been a big fan of the series, but will confess to having watched the E True Hollywood Story about the show, and there’s always a creepy fascination to watching unknowns impersonating very familiar cultural icons, like with last week's Lucy movie. This is clearly junk TV, but hey, as far as I’m concerned, the only justification any network has to give as to why something is on is that they think somebody’s going to watch it, and that’s a safe conclusion here.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

The History Channel is the place to catch some fascinating infotainment tonight. Starting at 8pm, there’s a double dose of R. Lee Ermey’s Mail Call, then the two-hour The True Story of Black Hawk Down, based on author Mark Bowden’s book which spawned the theatrical movie. You can’t get a better three hours than that. Plus they do encores late at night, so you get a second chance to watch in case you're slumming with the Three's Company movie during primetime.

 
False Fanny Alert!

Don't blame the messenger; BBC America didn't run the Manchild episode it had listed on its website tonight, so Anthony Head's tush didn't make its promised appearance. I had checked the episode listings on BBCA, DirecTV and Digiguide, and believe me, I'm as disappointed as can be that we didn't get the chance to watch this terrific episode of Manchild. Sorry about that!

 
Coping with Coupling

I’ve read several recent bits in the trade papers regarding one of NBC’s possible shows for next year, the American remake of the British comedy hit Coupling, and from the way they’re describing it, I hardly recognize the hilarious and overwhelmingly goofy series that I really love a lot. It’s been airing on BBC America here for some time, premiered in Britain back in early 2000, has completed its third season – for a total of 22 episodes so far -- and seems assured to continue. The winner of several international TV awards and much popular acclaim, Coupling was pegged by a while ago by NBC as a plausible inheritor of the Friends audience once that show departs next year, and they’ve been working (and re-working) on a pilot.

The articles of late focus on the naughty bits of Coupling, which as you might expect from the title, are what this show is all over. Words like provocative and racy are being bandied about, but what I’m not reading are descriptors like classic farce, unremittingly silly, or typical absurd British fare, any of which more accurately describe the goings on. Sure, it’s about three women and three men, most of whom have slept with each other at one point (to varying degrees of success), and the heart of the show is definitely well below the belt, but geez, you’d think this was on-camera penetration from all the hoopla it’s generating. The NY Daily News, in an article about the fuss, highlighted an incident in the pilot where a couple tries to have sex in a bathroom stall. I guess this sounds shocking or scandalous, but in the original Coupling this sequence was pure slapstick, with slamming stall doors, silly noises, misunderstood verbal exchanges and everything else you need to create comic mayhem. Daring? Racy? Yeah, I suppose you could call it that – if you were about ten years old -- but mostly it was just funny, as played by the skilled Coupling acting ensemble.

We may have performers over here who can maneuver like troupers through the conventions of situation comedy, but Coupling, as written by Steven Moffat, is pure farce, and that’s a different animal. Our sitcoms may have some elements of farce, and Coupling has definite touches of sitcom, but down to the rhythm of the dialogue and sheer nuttiness of the plotting, they’re just not the same.

I love Coupling, and if you haven’t yet checked out the original, it’s time you did. Here’s a little character primer to get you going:

Steve: Played by Jack Davenport (who will be seen this summer in the new movie The Pirates of the Caribbean; you can see him for a moment in the trailer that’s in theaters now), Steve is probably the most normal of the guy trio. He used to date the loony Jane, now is with Susan (or not, depending where the episode cycle is), and is prone to getting nervous when confronted by…well, a lot of things, especially Susan.

Patrick: Played by Ben Miles (whom you might have seen in the new recent version of The Forsyte Saga), Patrick is shallow -- really shallow -- and his most notable characteristics are 1.) being a Tory, and 2.) having an enormous penis. Which makes him, in Americanese, basically a Republican with a big dick.

Jeff: Played by Richard Coyle (my favorite of the whole cast), Jeff is sort of a Kramer-esque character, full of out-there theories and phrases, also prone to getting nervous and putting his foot well into his mouth. He’s Steve’s porn buddy – the friend designated to rush into your apartment and take away the naughty videos if you’re ever killed in an accident – Susan’s coworker, and a source of much of the insane merriment generated in the series. His accent, if you don’t recognize it, is Welsh, though Richard Coyle isn’t.

Susan: Played by the ravishing Sarah Alexander, she of the mesmerizing cat-like eyes, Susan is forthright, liberated, not easily shocked, and in love with Steve. She used to date Patrick, basically for the sex, and like Steve, is the most normal of female Coupling contingent. Her best friend is Sally, one time in a restaurant she flashed her breasts to her five friends and a passing waiter, and is as sharp as they get.

Jane: Played by Gina Bellman, Jane would be terrifying if…well, she is kind of terrifying, actually. Completely obsessed with her ex-boyfriend Steve, harboring a semi-delusion that she’s lesbian or at the very least bisexual, especially because she knows men love thinking about lesbians, and generally inclined towards stalking, picking out the wrong men and annoying everybody in sight, Jane is nuts, but grows on you.

Sally: Played by Kate Isitt, Sally is the character I have the hardest time getting into; she’s a beauty consultant, overly concerned with her aging neck, and doles out smiles the way Elaine Benes allotted sponges – very sparingly. She’s lovely but impossibly vain, and seems, along with Patrick, to have the least interesting take on things. At some point in the series they get together, which seems like a perfect match.

The episode playing on BBC America this week, and I mean all this week (see times below) is the hilarious “Sex, Death & Nudity,” one of my favorites. Featuring some primo Jeff with his explanation of “The Giggle Loop,” lots of inappropriate and highly amusing funeral antics, and rude general mayhem, this one’s everything’s that right about Coupling. And after you love it, I’m not sure your first reaction will be “Gee, they sure should remake this with an American cast.” I think you’ll understand that Coupling’s unique charms aren’t going to be easy to duplicate, but cheers to NBC for wanting to, at least.

Coupling airs on BBC America tonight, Sunday, at 11:20pm and again at 2:20am, then on Friday at 9:40pm, 12m and 4:40a. Visit the Coupling site on BBC America for more information.

Here’s a great website all about Richard Coyle, who plays Jeff.

And here’s a wonderful article from London’s The Guardian newspaper which explains in fascinating detail the whole farce thing as it relates to Coupling.


Gile’s Fanny Alert

For those of you who love the soon-to-be-no-more Buffy the Vampire Slayer, don’t miss tonight’s Manchild on BBC America. It’s a super episode, during a huge chunk of which Anthony Head – Giles to you Buffy fans and James to those of you who watch him on Manchild, and I think we might construct a fairly impressive Venn diagram on that one – runs around naked except for an apron. I’m telling you, folks, you just don’t see this kind of casual, hilarious, and completely germane partial nudity on American TV, because we just can’t handle it. We make an ass into something dramatic and sexual – a very special gluteus maximus, if you will -- while over there it’s just somebody’s bottom. This is a particularly funny segment of Manchild and might turn you into a watcher – the TV kind, not the vampire hunter kind – if you’re not already.

Manchild airs tonight at 10pm and again at 1am. Check out the BBC America Manchild website for more information and airtimes, and my blog of 4/13 for an expanded review and recommendation.