Saving Grace

I'm far from being a prude, but sometimes I'm still amazed at what cable can get away with (I still remember when Playtex had to show their bras on manikins).

At first, I was reluctant to watch Saving Grace because the commercials portrayed Grace as a lost, angry rebel who finds redemption. But on a friend's recommendation, I gave it a shot and was really impressed. This titillating show offers a little of everything. Grace is tough and indulgent, and makes no apologies for it. I find her to be one of the most real character on TV.

Moving forward, I hope Grace isn't somehow 'saved' and thereby transformed – the fact that she's struggling between her demons and her faith is what makes her character identifiable, and the show a true pleasure to watch.

Just recently over the last month I started to watch TNT's new cable drama series "Saving Grace", because I had read so much about it in the entertainment magazines and tabloids that it was racy and pushed the limits for cable and I agree, but it's highly enjoyable and I like it's theme and the acting is great from Holly Hunter. Holly Hunter the fine veteran actress that she is stars wonderfully as Grace a hard living, hard working, down on her luck, cigarette smoking, beer drinking, bed hopping, redneck Oklahoma City detective that does her best to solve crime and have fun while being sexy as ever. Now talk about a lot of adjectives to describe her character! Aside from the drama and characterization of her the shows theme is around an angel who appears to Grace he's named Earl played brilliant by Leon Rippy he's so caring and he often scolds Grace and he guides her in the right direction and Earl always makes Grace feel guilty about her sinful deeds. Yes the program pushes the envelope it's not "Highway to Heaven" the sex and loving making scenes are racy and raunchy showing plenty of skin really to much bump and grind for cable yet in today's modern age it passes. Also Holly Hunter flashes plenty of skin and she has been shown many times in scenes wearing sexy colored bras that makes it another reason to watch great sex appeal Holly is very sexy for a middle aged woman, and her characters accent has such a nice southern twang. Really one of the better new cable series another winner for TNT this is something an average person can relate to the drama of hard work and hard living with hope from an angel.

I first started watching "Saving Grace" because of Holly Hunter. She is one of my favorite actors, and I don't miss anything she's in.

The show caught me off guard with the rawness of the characters. I know nothing of Oklahoma, so I didn't notice the stereotypes. I appreciated the honesty of the characters. Flawed relationships, unhealthy relationships, work partners turning into bed partners. I think it happens more in law enforcement and medical facilities than most places. Watching the team interact is pretty much on point. I like that.

I also like seeing women over forty acting in a good series. I don't have to watch the twenty-somethings strut around reciting lines as if they were still first year drama students. Lorraine Toussaint and Lauren San Giacomo are wonderful in their supporting roles. I get to see three women who's work I admire and respect.

The subtle religious message is presented in a way that is inoffensive but definitely present. I find Earl to be like John Travolta's Michael, but not nearly as annoying. He's a flawed angel, but not in a way that makes you ask, "How can HE be an angle?!" All I can say is thank whatever deity is listening for giving Ms. Hunter the courage to push forward with this project, and the viewers who gave it a chance.

This was a great show with wonderful actors, mainly good story lines and smart dialogs. It has a lot of cool lines especially for main actress Holly Hunter, who is really adorable as the center of all things in the show. After some time a solo that big would become a bit dull, but luckily there are a lot of great supporting actors, first of all Leon Rippy, who gives some Kind of Oklahoma-Style Angel, a really nice invention with all his southern accent and cowboy behavior.

As everyone knows, the story is about detective Grace Hanadarko, a drinking, smoking, swearing, scrappy fan-girl of all kinds of intercourse in her late 40's, and how she moves away from and back to God, as a result of some mystic incidents, one of them is the appearance of Angel Earl after she killed a pedestrian with her car, driving drunken.

Following the main character's lifestyle, the show is often rude, with graphic sexuality, sometimes offensive against the church or Christian belief. That's why I liked it, plus a good pinch of black humor and serenity, mixed with a sometimes heartbreaking drama.

But don't misunderstand me, the religious side turns out not to be that serene as expected through Grace's statements or actions. On the contrary, this is partially a complete fairy tale about Heaven, God, and angels, and how to bring a black sheep back to the community of believers. There may be a few lines scratching the Christian belief systems, but after all, God sits in limbo, does some incomprehensible things if he wants, but is like the Bible tells us. And he sends Angels like Earl, to rescue people worth being rescued (others may not be worthy enough, so they aren't rescued).

How Grace's universe works, especially the God aspect, is taught us in every episode a little more, like a puzzle, which we have to solve together with Grace. Luckily she is a Police Detective and her best friend Rhetta is a forensic scientist believing in God, Mysteries and Angels. Rhetta collects all the puzzle parts, leading Grace and us to come close to the possible solution(s).

So the message is that there's someone out there who cares for your undying soul, even if you are rude, alcoholic, reckless, sex-addicted and whatsoever. You only have to have a dark secret in your childhood, that made you the way you are, apart from the rest you are basically good-hearted. And if you deny to come back to the herd of god's sheep, he will continue to try.

What the show makes really interesting is, that you can see that everyone has a great love for Grace's so-called flaws or defects, although they are shown as things God (or morality) do not like. When she sleeps with her recently married workmate, which is a sin, when she drinks and laughs and is rude, when she curses or when she does idiotic and immature things out of her provocativeness, she is always sympathetic, even in denying god with the f-word. There is also (mostly) no Devil present, who tries to seduce her. All bad things - in the way bad things are meant by a Christian society - come directly from Grace herself. She is ill-bred and bad socialized, a rebel. The seduction from the Devil comes - if ever - in other ways and may not even intended by the authors.

Between those extremities - on one side the naive sight of morality and on the other side the advanced picture of a modern, strong (and weak at once) woman who does not want to addict herself to questionable common moral values - the show tackles with an astonishing amount of certitude. The degree of moral and religious philosophy is kept very low in words and actions, instead the audience is let (mostly) to decide what's wrong or good with Grace.

It is a real pity that the show was canceled, the reasons are not so clear, it seems not to be a matter of quotes. The last few episodes feel a bit hasty and are not quite in line with the original ideas. Nevertheless I think 'Saving Grace' is something like a milestone in portrayal of a modern woman.

I think that Saving Grace is a part of that current successful plot (bad ass woman working to put everything in order) chosen by TNT to be massive produced and follow the success of The Closer. That's so that way that the creator and the main writer is the same for both series: Nancy Miller. But that's OK, the show stills being a little original, and that's what matters to me.

I can understand why some people are not liking this series so much, I think that perhaps is its southern, pure, dirty and incredulous way to be crude and straight on the stories, something that's not so common on television these days. From the past few years people are forgetting how to produce TV shows, making the shows looks so plastic and fictional that when a realistic series is on TV, people prefer to change the channel. OK, Saving Grace isn't that realistic because there's an angel on it with wings, but the show is working with realistic matters, personal problems and sins (or what we call sins) from different point of views of a few saints and sinners (or what we call saints and sinners). At the same way these are also the same reasons why some other people are liking this show so much.

That's nice to know that this show is getting some attention by now because it has an interesting plot, an amazing cast and dialogs a lot unconventional treating your brains the way it should be treated. This show is not for kids, teenagers, housewives or businessman, but for those audiences looking for something a little different like each one of us. The characters have very well designed personalities and no one is perfect, even Earl, the angel. So, who is right and who is wrong?