Dear Michelle,
Are you watching Dirty Sexy Money? I really enjoyed the premiere, thought episode two was just OK but oddly early with some of the revelations (the affair, Nick accusing Trip), and now after episode three I'm kind of wondering, where is this show going?
Peter Krause is excellent here, and Nick's search for his dad's murderer is one of the few actual "storylines"...but it gets only a few moments of screen time in each show. And there seems to be an odd conflict of tone from scene to scene. Are we supposed to think these people are ridiculous, not necessarily because they're rich, but because of how they think they can act because they're rich? (Say, when Karen a) lies about the tape then b) admits to the tape then c) whispers "tell Daddy I didn't know the camera was there...) Or are we supposed to find them sentimental and sweet and learn to like them despite their richness? (Say, the scene with Juliet and Jeremy (yum) up on the roof, where she's thaking him for sticking up for her and he says well you're my sister and they're holding hands...)
Other than Nick's search and maybe Paddy's run for Senate, which has gotten more screen time as the weeks have gone by, there don't seem to be many actual storylines. Whether or not Brian's wife finds out that the "orphan" is his child or not doesn't seem very consequential. Paddy having a tranny mistress...well I thought it was odd that they didn't have an actress as his wife in one scene or another until episode three (and we still have yet to see them interact) but again that seems a sidestory that could be dealt with and dismissed speedily.
So what's the show working toward? What's its point? I certainly don't know yet and I'd have to wonder whether the show does either. I'm enjoying watching it but with sort of a) a jaded eye and b) a certain level of disengagement/disinterest. Entertaining, but not heart-engaging.
And as for the heart-engaging-to-the-point-of-breaking, Friday Night Lights is really floundering right now. And not just for me, but in the ratings, where it had a serious dropoff from episode one. Everything feels very disjointed here, the same people who didn't get any screentime in episode one were missing from episode two as well, it seemed like there were 97 million more commercials than usual (and I HATE the halfway "here's what happened on the show so far tonight" thing they're doing this year. HATE IT.), and the bad decisions by the writers/producers/etc. seem more and more like network stunts.
It's so disheartening I can hardly bear to write about it, and if you go read Alan Sepinwall's post, I'd have to say I agree with pretty much everything he said.
- Landry did not have to kill someone for Tyra and him to become close(r). And they are dragging this out way too long. Suddenly Tyra has no screen time with anyone else? And has gone from being sooo strong at the end of last season to this?
- Matt and Julie's breakup, Julie's acting out, still seem very true to teenage-dom. Their conversation by the pool was just torture to watch. "I think we need to talk." "Ok. Talk." "You didn't do anything." "I know I didn't do anything." Ow Ow Ow.
- Lyla is still, I think, not quite where she's going to be. The christianity turn seems an overreaction to the family turmoil but I think the show is playing it out hilariously, particularly Tim trying to distract her during prayer. They had some nice moments tonight with her dad. "I've seen a lot of alcoholics in my time. He's not an alcoholic. He's just sad."
- Did you notice that Herc is gone? He has a bit role on Bionic Woman. I miss Herc. (Never thought I'd say that.)
- Tami is really struggling, and Coach left a great job for a shithole job. Not only for shithole spoiled college players but also to be treated like crap by the other coaches and basically used for his moral standing. (Could any of the rest of them made that speech at the hearing? I think not. They were just mad the kid got caught, not that he did it in the first place.) From the previews, looks like they're about to tie up this storyline faster than any of the other issues going on. His return to Dillon cannot come soon enough.
Since none of the writers' "try to grab headlines with THIS" storylines are working too well, do you think they'll lay off them and go back to the true-to-life, small-town heartbreaks that made this such a great show last year? Seeing Tami slap Julie in the previews makes me think not.
I AM SO FRUSTRATED WITH THIS SHOW RIGHT NOW. It still has a big piece of my heart, but it's wranglng the shit out of it. I had a long, hard, miserable week, and to come home to that on Friday night? It's almost more than I can take. What did you think?
Smooches...
