mendoman
08-04-2006, 12:14 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/11-05-2002/entertainment/col/dbianculli/story/440631p-371027c.html
Please help show David Bianculli the truth about Lucky Louie.
http://i4.tinypic.com/23m4rpc.jpg
davidbianculli@comcast.net
A pair of aces & a not
very 'Lucky Louie'
Adrian Grenier in HBO's 'Entourage,' which continues to captivate.
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
"Deadwood." Sunday nights at 9, HBO. [4 STARS]
"Entourage." Sunday nights at 10, HBO. [3 1/2 STARS]
"Lucky Louie." Sunday nights at 10:30, HBO. [ZERO STARS]
This summer, Sunday nights on HBO, for me, are an exercise is disbelief.
Week after week, I can't believe how intense "Deadwood" has remained, how enjoyable "Entourage" has become - and how astoundingly unfunny "Lucky Louie" has remained.
On the one hand, I can't believe HBO made "Lucky Louie" (Sunday nights at 10:30) in the first place and certainly can't understand, once finished episodes of this juvenile sitcom were delivered by star and creator Louis C.K., why the network continued to televise them. Yes, the rules and economics of pay cable are different - but if ABC can torpedo "The One" and "Master of Champions" after only a couple of airings, can't HBO exercise the same laudable sort of mercy killing?
With a ratio of loud laugh track to horrible writing and acting that rivals such legendary sitcom duds as "Unhappily Ever After" and "Pauly," "Lucky Louie" is like an exercise in anti-humor.
I watch it, each week, because it follows two of the best shows on television right now and out of a feeling that it must improve.
Yet it doesn't.
The decision by HBO executives to continue to televise "Lucky Louie" is as baffling as the network's decision to pull the plug on "Deadwood" after this season, and wrapping things up with a pair of telemovies. (The season ends for "Deadwood," as it does for "Entourage," on Aug. 27 - the same night as the Emmy Awards.) It's hard to imagine reaching those decisions if people there actually were watching the shows.
"Deadwood" (Sunday nights at 9), as unfurled by David Milch and company, is nothing short of amazing. Everything we wanted from "The Sopranos" this year and didn't get, in terms of establishing a major crisis and building to an excruciatingly powerful climax, "Deadwood" has delivered in spades.
Gerald McRaney, as wealthy, reptilian George Hearst, is such a superb villain that he has all of the show's powerful alpha males - up to and including Ian McShane's Al Swearengen, who lost a finger to the guy - retreating, regrouping and, most uncharacteristically of all, teaming up against this common foe.
Last week's episode ended with Hearst's hired guns, all 25 of them, riding into town, suggesting a major bloodbath in the season's final four episodes.
It's a funny, intense, surprising, lyrical, crude, violent and wild, wild West, and dozens of the characters and performers are worth their weight in Dakota gold. If you're missing it, you're missing TV's best summer treat.
A close second, though, is "Entourage," in which the gang of five - Vince, his three hangers-on buddies and abrasive agent Ari - has delivered at full potential this year. The "Aquaman" opening grosses, and the subplots involving Turtle's rapper, Drama's acting career, E's three-way and Ari's power play are all playing out satisfyingly and unpredictably.
The four most recent episodes of "Entourage" and the most recent "Deadwood" are shown tonight in prime time (beginning at 8), so there's still time to jump aboard.
Just remember to jump away before "Lucky Louie" shows up.
Originally published on August 4, 2006
Please help show David Bianculli the truth about Lucky Louie.
http://i4.tinypic.com/23m4rpc.jpg
davidbianculli@comcast.net
A pair of aces & a not
very 'Lucky Louie'
Adrian Grenier in HBO's 'Entourage,' which continues to captivate.
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
"Deadwood." Sunday nights at 9, HBO. [4 STARS]
"Entourage." Sunday nights at 10, HBO. [3 1/2 STARS]
"Lucky Louie." Sunday nights at 10:30, HBO. [ZERO STARS]
This summer, Sunday nights on HBO, for me, are an exercise is disbelief.
Week after week, I can't believe how intense "Deadwood" has remained, how enjoyable "Entourage" has become - and how astoundingly unfunny "Lucky Louie" has remained.
On the one hand, I can't believe HBO made "Lucky Louie" (Sunday nights at 10:30) in the first place and certainly can't understand, once finished episodes of this juvenile sitcom were delivered by star and creator Louis C.K., why the network continued to televise them. Yes, the rules and economics of pay cable are different - but if ABC can torpedo "The One" and "Master of Champions" after only a couple of airings, can't HBO exercise the same laudable sort of mercy killing?
With a ratio of loud laugh track to horrible writing and acting that rivals such legendary sitcom duds as "Unhappily Ever After" and "Pauly," "Lucky Louie" is like an exercise in anti-humor.
I watch it, each week, because it follows two of the best shows on television right now and out of a feeling that it must improve.
Yet it doesn't.
The decision by HBO executives to continue to televise "Lucky Louie" is as baffling as the network's decision to pull the plug on "Deadwood" after this season, and wrapping things up with a pair of telemovies. (The season ends for "Deadwood," as it does for "Entourage," on Aug. 27 - the same night as the Emmy Awards.) It's hard to imagine reaching those decisions if people there actually were watching the shows.
"Deadwood" (Sunday nights at 9), as unfurled by David Milch and company, is nothing short of amazing. Everything we wanted from "The Sopranos" this year and didn't get, in terms of establishing a major crisis and building to an excruciatingly powerful climax, "Deadwood" has delivered in spades.
Gerald McRaney, as wealthy, reptilian George Hearst, is such a superb villain that he has all of the show's powerful alpha males - up to and including Ian McShane's Al Swearengen, who lost a finger to the guy - retreating, regrouping and, most uncharacteristically of all, teaming up against this common foe.
Last week's episode ended with Hearst's hired guns, all 25 of them, riding into town, suggesting a major bloodbath in the season's final four episodes.
It's a funny, intense, surprising, lyrical, crude, violent and wild, wild West, and dozens of the characters and performers are worth their weight in Dakota gold. If you're missing it, you're missing TV's best summer treat.
A close second, though, is "Entourage," in which the gang of five - Vince, his three hangers-on buddies and abrasive agent Ari - has delivered at full potential this year. The "Aquaman" opening grosses, and the subplots involving Turtle's rapper, Drama's acting career, E's three-way and Ari's power play are all playing out satisfyingly and unpredictably.
The four most recent episodes of "Entourage" and the most recent "Deadwood" are shown tonight in prime time (beginning at 8), so there's still time to jump aboard.
Just remember to jump away before "Lucky Louie" shows up.
Originally published on August 4, 2006