Bravo Gaining Some Bravado, Just In Time

This summer has been very, very good for Bravo, and it couldn’t come at a better time. The hard-to-pin-down network – home for NBC leftovers? Artsy? Ballsy? – finally’s got itself a hit, and a big one. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has goosed Bravo’s ratings and profile the past few weeks, and it hasn’t hurt that NBC has chosen to air cut-down half-hour versions of the show after Will & Grace on several Thursdays. And perhaps more amazingly – in that reality isn’t quite the big deal it used to be – the numbers have been solid.

Why this is so opportune for Bravo is that their big ticket – no, make that huge ticket – item The West Wing will be joining the schedule beginning this coming Monday, after a special West Wing Weekend starting tomorrow. Now, not to piss off people who think The West Wing is the greatest series ever (and there are plenty of folks who do), but it is my considered and learned opinion, after many years of watching series live and die in reruns, that TWW will be a huge dud for Bravo. It’s precisely the kind of show that doesn’t repeat well – serialized, talky, intricate, “brilliant” – and there’s no reason to believe that some kind of heretofore unknown atmospheric anomaly will cause things to go otherwise.

Heck, the major networks are even getting anxious about the growing un-repeatability of many of their series, even the ones that work the first time around. Do you think they’d be spending so much money in the summer if repeats were holding up? Sure, cable went in took some advantage of rerun season to make hay for themselves, but it’s probably more about viewer attention thresholds, lack of desire to discover what you might have skipped during the fall, and the general nature of a lot of TV drama today that is changing the pattern.

“Good” drama usually has a hard time making it on the back end; has anyone ever compared the relationship between dramas that win Emmys and the ones that tank when they go into reruns? I would imagine it’s a pretty high correlation (one that doesn’t apply to comedies, of course). A short pause while I do some quickie web surfing to research, and…well, there’s a long, distinguished and down-in-flames line of quality drama winners that failed to pull their weight in syndication or cable afterlife: Hill Street Blues, Lou Grant, Cagney & Lacey, Picket Fences, L.A. Law, Northern Exposure, Thirtysomething, The Practice, NYPD Blue, and ER; only Law & Order’s win a few years ago broke the curse. The West Wing wouldn’t appear to have anything more going for it than that other long list, and in fact is in somewhat worse shape because it already started a decline – loss of creator, cast changes -- while still on network this last season. Not good.

Anyway, if you’re Bravo, and you spent $1.2 million bucks per episode for The West Wing, you’ve got to be pretty pleased that your new crazy little tooty-fruity reality show has gone through the roof, at least cable’s lower-hanging one. Now you’ve got a bunch of new viewers who are suddenly aware of your network and seeing your promos, and boy, is that good news when you’re hoping (against hope, I’m sad to say) that they will rekindle their love for, or discover for the first time, The West Wing. Stranger things have happened, but in any case it’s good to see an underdog network (if we can call anything connected with NBC underdoggish) get a break like this.

And they owe it all Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the hour-long makeover show with a tremendous gimmick that obviously’s appealing to a lot of viewers. I’d been avoiding the show – extreme hype overdose, and I’m not much of a makeover show fan – but finally decided I needed to see what the fuss was about. Best thing about it: terrific casting. No doubt these fellas know their stuff, but that isn’t always enough. I was expecting my nightmare version of the quintet – Jack from Will & Grace, Anna Nicole Smith’s hideous pouting house decorator, Christopher Lowell, Richard Simmons, and Isaac Mizrahi, all together in a room, browbeating some poor hetero male – but instead QEftSG has put together a telegenic and basically likable group with a decent amount of heart. I’m not crazy about the clothing guy Carson – he’s a bit much for me – but even he manages to get over himself enough to share his wisdom with a generous spirit.

The show feels long to me at an hour, and though I haven’t caught one of the trimmed-down NBC versions, I can see where a half-hour mini-makeover could cull out some great moments and reduce the chatter. And for some primetime network exposure, that’s a small price to pay. Bravo to Bravo for coming up with this and its dating show companion Boy Meets Boy (not sure I’ll ever get around to watching that one), and just in the nick of time.

Bravo bows The West Wing with their West Wing Weekend, staring Thursday with their special on Presidential movie-watching, then into some movies (including perpetual viewer favorite The American President, lucky again for them), and a mini-marathon of the first six TWW episodes on Sunday. Unlucky for them is that on Sunday morning the lead-in to the first episode is the black hole of Paid Programming, and four hours of it; they should have slotted something else in-between to give the series a fighting chance, but hey, they’ll be running the episodes again beginning Monday at 7pm and 11pm, with an encore of the same episode the next day at 12n, so not to worry.

I don’t see how Bravo’s brush with The West Wing can have anything but an ultimately unhappy ending (especially so in their Accounting Department), but I’m thinking happy thoughts for the network and hoping they can buck history.

Check out Bravo’s The West Wing website for all sorts of info about the show.

For the entire line-up of the West Wing Weekend, try here.

If you need to know more, more, more about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Bravo has a nice site about the phenom.


Creative and Hilarious Friend Alert

Recommended Reading: If you’re in the mood for a droll short story about artificial insemination and TV – and who wouldn’t be? -- check out my old pal Jack Pendarvis’ wonderful offering here on the literary mag Missisippi Review’s website.

 
More Brit Brilliance in Drama Duo

Well, after spending a good chunk of this past weekend watching Trio’s presentation of the brilliant blast-from-the-past miniseries I, Claudius, I’m all ready to climb back on the British is Better bandwagon, and boy, have I got some wonderful shows to prove my case.

In case you need to get warmed up for this upcoming drama-laden TV season, you couldn’t do any better than to catch a couple of terrific British series that are airing on cable this summer. Just a word of warning, though; you’re going to be spoiled rotten, and I’ll bet those new American shows will look a little thin and ordinary after you sample what they’re doing over there.

If you’re a fan of Jag and love all things military, then BBC America’s Red Cap will be your cuppa tea. Set in the British Army’s Special Investigation Branch, these are the folks who investigate crimes committed by and against members of the army, and the SIB is just as gung ho as the lads in the field. The twist here is that Red Cap’s main character is a woman, Sgt. Jo McDonagh, a character who says she was inspired to join the Army by Linda Hamilton in Terminator, and she’s not kidding. Played by the fit and lovely Tamzin Outhwaite (if you were a Brit soap fan you’d know her from EastEnders), Jo is one tough cookie and has little patience for bureaucracy or sexism, both of which she comes up against in the SIB. On hand to provide professional sparks and a bit of sexual sizzle is James Thornton as Staff Sgt . Roper, Jo’s fellow SIB-ling and action man extraordinaire.

BBC America’s been airing this since July, but even if you’ve missed the show so far, jump right in; they’ll probably replay the earlier episodes soon. Red Cap has been praised as an intelligent and action-packed drama; especially if you’ve only been watching U.S. series, it’s enlightening to see what quality drama looks like in another country. You might just get hooked on the attractive cast, somewhat exotic setting, and relatable plot points. Get ready to set your cap for Red Cap!

A&E has the other great BBC drama on its summer schedule, MI-5 – called Spooks in the UK – about the inner workings of MI-5, the British defensive security intelligence agency. Renamed for airing here because the term Spooks would bring the CIA too much to mind – unfortunate indeed, since America already had its chance to embrace a CIA-set drama with CBS’ The Agency (now cancelled) – MI-5 has been a hit over in the UK for two years now, and it’s a real treat that we’re getting a chance to see it. Tackling up-to-the-minute and ripped-right-out-of-the-headlines issues and incidents – Muslim extremists, Colombian drug cartels, Right-To-Life lunatics, visiting US Presidents, suicide bombers – MI-5 give us a chance to get a little bit of an international spin on terrorism, albeit fictionally.

Starring the fetching Keely Hawes as Zoe Reynolds – if you saw her in BBC America’s shredited but still engrossing lesbian-themed mini Tipping The Velvet, you know she’s wonderful – along with Matthew MacFadyen (Enigma), Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, and Danny Oyelowo, MI-5 boasts one of those uniformly excellent casts that are a matter of course over there. Along with the gripping plot developments, ceaseless tension and a grim eye on the world of terror out there, MI-5 is tangible proof that Americans aren’t the only ones scared of – and willing to do something about -- the particular brand of bad guys roaming the globe today.

Consider yourself very lucky that these two series have landed over here, and don’t let the opportunity pass you by to expand your viewing options!

Red Cap airs on BBC America Mondays at 9pm (encore of previous episode at 10pm), with repeats at 12a & 1a, and 4a & 5a, plus plays on Saturdays. Check out the BBC America Red Cap website for more information.

Also highly recommended is the original BBC Red Cap site, which has even more features and great info on the show.

MI-5 aka Spooks airs on A&E Tuesdays at 10pm, with an encore at 2am, plus one on Saturday nights at 11pm. Check out the A&E MI-5 website for more info.

Definitely take a look at the BBC Spooks website, including superb episodic information with a question section that puts episode plots in the context of real life and gives detailed and current-event laden explanations. Don’t miss it!