Der Job

It's 20 years since "The Job" aired on ABC and those dimwitted nitwits cancelled this unparalleled brilliant comedy series after 19 perfect pitched episodes. In my wisdom I bought the DVDs and find the show to be as funny and relevant today. Dennis Leary and Peter Tolan never compromised on their vision. The scripts and the jokes are sharp, fast, sophisticated and hilarious. The cast, oh the cast, so perfect, so completely comfortable with themselves in their characters, convey so much in a smirk, an ebrow raised, a flared nostril. This is one of the best comedies ever produced for American TV. An immediate classic. Subsequently, came Leary's "Rescue Me," but the characters did not have the same depth and most too adolescent for my taste. Nothing comes close to "The Job."

...it's been three years, and I still miss this show. Watching the premiere of "Rescue Me" on FX last night only reminded me of how badly I miss Leary's NyQuil-addicted cop. No matter what else he does from this point on, I will always measure all shows by "The Job." It's funny how something so short lived can have such an impact - the show constantly comes up in conversations at work and when I'm out with friends. I've yet to find someone who didn't like the show, so I'm not sure how it is the network did.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. Those of us who watched the show can appreciate it for what it truly was - Leary at his best.

It's hard to believe that ABC, a network owned by the Disney Corporation, a network that once harbored television's most irritating character, Steve Urkel, a network that gave birth to long-running entertainment tumors like "Full House," could come up with not ONE of the greatest genre-pushing television shows of all time, but TWO, in a period as short as three years, and cancel them both. The first was "Sports Night" a series that has rightfully been called "one of the greatest things in the history of television;" the second was "The Job."

What IS "The Job?" Is it a sitcom? Is it a drama? Is it a 'dramady?' The answer to all of these questions is 'yes.' "The Job" is all of these things and more, a concoction of acting, writing, and production so perfect, that the very idea that it could come into being so soon after the demise of "Sports Night" practically defies all possibility, and yet it happened. And yet it had a wonderful timeslot. And yet it was canceled.

"The Job" stars Denis Leary in what could have and SHOULD have been his first real niche role outside of standup and performance art-comedy: A New York Police detective named Mike McNeil with a drinking problem, a smoking problem, and a drug problem, who has a wife and kids, but also has a mistress on the side, and a wandering eye. The perfect anti-hero.

Surrounding Leary is an equally-talented cast that comes together just as seamlessly as, again, "Sports Night." Bill Nunn is Leary's partner, Terrence "Pip" Phillips, the good-conscience-with-a-halo to McNeil's horns-tail-and-pitchfork, chiding him for his bad behavior while simultaneously envying him a but. Lenny Clarke delivers his familiar big, goofy police officer role without flaw, often drawing some of the loudest laughs. Diane Farr shows that she has razor-sharp acting skills to go along with her extremely good looks. Adam Ferrara is, as usual, hilarious.

But don't let all the comments about how funny this show is throw you off: as was said, it's NOT just a sitcom. It also carries all the elements more familiar in drama-territory wonderfully.

And just when shows like this were giving television viewers with an ounce of good taste a chance to dance around on TGIF's grave like Evil Homer Simpson, all that "family friendly" programming has to rise back out of the ground like half-decayed zombies and take big, fatal bites out of the skulls of more daring and innovative programming like "the Job," all under the command of Mickey Mouse, Zombie Master.

ABC should be proud of themselves for bringing this show into existence in the first place, but that pride should be more than obliterated by their decision to heartlessly yank it away just as we were all starting to enjoy it. They should be ASHAMED of themselves for once again caving to the lowest common denominator and dropping this one, as if their treatment of "Sports Night" wasn't bad enough.

Let's hope Comedy Central's weeklong special showings of "the Job" a few months ago were an indicator that Denis Leary took note of what happened to "Sports Night" and was smart enough to get a hook-up for his show with that network as a backup plan. It may be the last chance for cutting-edge shows such as this to protect intelligent viewers from a new wave of Urkels and Tanners sucking (extra emphasis on that) what little brains are left out of television with a bendy-straw.

This short lived half hour lasted for parts of two seasons. It has been called a Sitcom, but was it really? It had no added sound laugh track. It was not filmed in front of a live audience in order to get their reaction. All incidents portrayed, although some what exaggerated, could occur in one of our big cities.

The attitudes and interaction of characters were the greatest source of both the laughs and the heart of the stories. The characters ranged from being manic (Leary's character) to very lazy, as portrayed by the old,kinda paunchy detective. Whereas Leary was high strung and even overloaded in his life, the other guy would avoid work at all costs.

In our favourite episode, the older detective and his partner are wrapped up in trying to dump off a corpse that they think was dragged into their precinct by an equally lazy but highly conniving detective named Fennessey from an adjacent precinct.

Leary's Detective was burning the candle at both ends.He was high strung, edgy. It didn't take much to get his 'Irish' up.(loose his temper) He was married with family, but also had a girlfriend on the side. He exercised to keep in shape, yet was a chain smoker. It looked as though he was headed for a heart attack. It was only a matter of time.

But,alas! The network intervened and we can only wonder what was in store for this Detective Squad. "THE JOB" got the ax and has not been seen in re-runs or video since. It's too bad. A lot of cops* said the series was closer to real life than one would have thought.

* The author (now retired) is a 34 year veteran of the Chicago Police Department.He served his time in some of the most impoverished,crime ridden neighborhoods in the country, as well as in the Central Business District (The Loop). During his career he was assigned to Patrol Division, Traffic Division, Youth Division and The Missing Persons Bureau of The Detective Division.

This type of show is not supposed to happen on television. This is the type of edginess usually reserved for independent film. This is what only HBO is supposed to do. Fact is that Denis Leary has managed to come up with one of the best television shows ever, easily joining the ranks of THE SOPRANOS, OZ, ED etc.. Kudos the gang at ABC for showing that NYPD Blue was not a fluke, and to Mr. Leary and his gang for creating a truly unique viewing experience. My only complaint is that the show is not long enough ... an hour would make it better, but I can't wait for the next episode!