By Troy Brownfield
09.22.02
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Emmy
voters apparently lack two things: vision, and vision.
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Hey, I'm
back. And faster than usual. It's one of those times when
certain things spark my interest, and I believe that I should
cover them.
TV
Time: Last time, I commented on the dearth of originality
in new fall programming. Amazingly, I've already had the opportunity
to watch the first episodes of three new shows that might
actually be worth your time.
Push,
Nevada: Strikingly stylish with wit to spare, "Push" comes
to us from creators Ben Affleck and his Project:Greenlight
buddy Sean Bailey. There's a gimmick attached to the show,
in that viewers can win money if they figure out where the
missing money on the show is located. Forget that part. What's
truly interesting is the show itself. Following IRS agent
John Prufrock (his middle initial is A, of course), the series
takes us to the town of Push, Nevada. Prufrock is on the hunt
for a large amount of missing cash after receiving a mysterious
fax. The entire town is off-kilter in a very Lynchian way,
and the music, editing, and cinematography and top-notch.
I was immensely pleased with one terrific scene of Prufrock
fleeing a burning building, striking out on the highway, then
returning to lay down the law, all set to the massive riffage
of my beloved Social Distortion's cover of Johnny Cash's immortal
"Ring of Fire". It doesn't get much cooler than that. However,
given ABC's treatment of the show's obvious template, Twin
Peaks, back in the day, I'd be surprised if "Push"gets to
hang out for long.
Firefly:
"Buffy" and "Angel" creator Joss Whedon hits Fox with
his third series, and this one might just be a keeper too.
While ostensibly a sci-fi series in the details, this show
is really a western. I mean, come on; the main characters
are outlaws who survive by pulling heists after a civil war,
run a smuggling service with passengers like a preacher, a
doctor, and a licensed prostitute, and pull a train robbery
in the first episode. The captain wears a duster, they use
weapons that look like six-shooters, and there are no aliens
in site. It's "Stagecoach" in "Star Trek" drag. However, Whedon
handles it all in a clever way, indulging in the same kind
of witty dialogue and punchy action that characterize his
other shows. The premise may prohibit the overt pop-culture
riffing and brooding angst that Whedon is famous for, but
I'm sure that he can find a lot of things to work with. Nicest
subtle touch: the exterior shots of the ship in space have
no sound.
John
Doe: Immediately likeable in terms of premise, intellect
and character, John Doe is one of those shows that could possibly
survive under the radar for years. While the initial concept
has been used before ("The Bourne Identity" for example),
it goes in ways you don't expect. A man wakes up in what is
essentially a crater on Horseshoe Island near Seattle; he's
naked, lost, confused and has a small symbol burned onto his
chest. Picked up by a fishing boat full of foreign sailors,
he shocks the fishers by flawlessly speaking their language,
even as he insists he doesn't know it. The thing is, he doesn't
know anything about himself, but he knows everything else,
from the population of Madagascar to how many stitches are
on a baseball. He can tell you MS-DOS in binary code, but
he doesn't know where he's from. On top of that, he's completely
color-blind; we see his point of view in stark, grainy black
and white (the direction by TV and film vet Mimi Leder is
flawless).
After
using his immediate knowledge to build a fortune between the
race track and the stock market, and buying himself an identity
simply as "John Doe", our protagonist's life changes when
he sees the photo of a missing girl on TV. In color. What
follows is the start of what I'm sure will be an ingenious
detective series, as our blank slate with a total mastery
of every fact in the world begins solving crimes. You wonder,
is this guy an angel, an alien, a robot, an experiment? Dominic
Purcell is fantastic in the title role; he conveys an exuberant
combination of excitement and fear regarding his own intelligence.
His presence is commanding, yet he has a terrific regular
guy quality. He's a real find.
Like "Push",
this show might be too smart for its own good. But in my estimation,
any show with lines like "I know everything from the ingredients
of Apple Jacks to the rutting rituals of the Zebra" deserves
a try.
The
Emmys: As I write this, it's still several hours away
from the Television Industry's Night of Back-Patting. Despite
all of their efforts to look hip and cool by nominating the
deserving "Alias" and shows from "HBO", Emmy still comes off
lame by never nominating "Buffy". Okay, they gave Joss Whedon
a nom for writing ONCE, but that's pretty pathetic in the
face of all the critical accolades the show has garnered over
the years. It would be different if there had been startling
or provocative shows against "Buffy" every year, but there
haven't been. Essentially, as one CNN.com piece put it, I
think it comes down to the name. Old-fogey voters have trouble
taking a show named "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" seriously.
I guess we're even; I have trouble taking the increasingly
overwrought "E/R" and "The Practice" seriously, and I have
trouble even watching commercials for "Everybody Loves Raymond".
.
Survivor:
Several observations here. Take your pick.
1) Still waiting for when they say, "You know, screw it; let's
just offer one contestant a week in ritual sacrifice. THAT
will draw ratings."
2) Maybe they should combine "Survivor" and "The Real World".
Remove the element of competition, put all sixteen people
on the tiniest island you can find, and just let them bug
the shit out of each other for four months. "This is the true
story of what happens when people stop being polite and start
eating each other when the food runs out."
3) Survivor 5?! It doesn't matter if they get to ten; they'll
never be as cool as Journey.
4) One guy took a skateboard to the island as his luxury item.
That was actually a good idea, as it saves his teammates the
trouble of looking for something to whack him with for being
a dumbass.
5) There's never any honesty about the region of the world
they're filming in. Don't you wish Jeff Probst would just
say, "Here we are in beautiful Thailand, a hotbed of venereal
disease and home of roughly 60% of the world's child pornography."
Kind of takes that tropical romantic flavor away.
6) Here's another combination idea; combine "Survivor" and
"The Bachelor". Strand thirty women on an island for two months
with no make-up, soap, or hot bathing suits. Similarly, isolate
the bachelor elsewhere in similar conditions. By the time
that they actually meet, you can bet your ass that all shallow
attractions will be out the window.
Just
for the Record: That song by The Who is called "Baba O'Reily",
not "Teenage Wasteland". Even DJs get this wrong. Yeeesh.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief in these parts. For a purely
self-gratifying plug, check out Pulse News at www.comicon.com
for more of Troy's work. Email Troy at psikotyk@aol.com
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