Rude Awakening

Before this show aired in Finland, the channel aired these commercials, like, "Billie Frank drinks.. and has casual sex!" The voice of the presenter suggested that this was portrayed as something admirable. I thought I wouldn't watch such crap. But I happened to see one episode and was instantly hooked. The show just seemed real to me - the characters were rude, imperfect and at times completely selfish; there was no laugh track and the dialogue was more natural than on other shows; the humour was somehow very original, it stemmed from the characters' personalities in a natural way. Sexuality was dealt with in a daring way. Sherilyn Fenn was great as the imperfect Billie, Dave and Jackie were also brilliant characters, and of course Trudy who was really the second star of the show.

The topic and the way it was handled seemed realistic to me. I don't have much knowledge about the AA or alcoholism, but it just rang true to me how Billie's lifelong addiction and relapse was portrayed as an ongoing problem she needs to work against her whole life. On so many shows, you have this token alcoholic character (soap operas in particular) who goes on a drinking binge in one episode and recovers in the next. This show dared to show a more accurate portrayal: the long-term effects, the desperation for a fix and the ugliness of it all wasn't glossed over. It's a daring topic especially for a comedy, but they pulled it off. I felt like I could see life through the eyes of an alcoholic - and be entertained at the same time. Kudos.

When the show stopped being about the AA and decided to "move on" into Dave's bar, it got blah for me. Some of the edge was lost when it was no longer about addiction. It turned into a relationship comedy instead, and that is the end of many fine shows. Haley was cute, but essentially just a babbling, bumbling character who didn't add much to the mix. Tim Curry as Trudy's new boyfriend was good, but not good enough to keep the show funny. And what was all that crap about Marcus and his marriage crisis? Hey, let's add a new character who looks good without a shirt. Oh look, his wife's a bitch! Don't you wish we made an episode all about him? The last season was full of "emotional" moments that just seemed sappy to me. The whole marriage plot was the worst. The irony is that when the show dealt with genuine difficult things and touching themes, it was never sappy. When it started to deal with "touching" imaginary situations and love triangles, it lost its edge and became a sappy regular comedy. The only interesting theme in the last season was that Trudy was facing the truth about her addiction - but would she be funny anymore if she quit drinking? I doubt it. Characters like her don't need a "serious" side; they're tragic in themselves, that's why they're funny.

But the last season can't wipe away what this show did in the first ones. One of the most daring and genuine comedies I've ever seen. Highly recommended.

From the storylines to the characters, Rude Awakening is awesome. I love this show, and to the first comment on the page, it's awful? No way. The characters, almost all of them alcoholics, well...former alcoholics sort of...they have something to them that just makes you wanna watch every week. I think this is definitely one of Showtime's best series, and I hope it stays on for some time to come. I must say, I hate this season's version of the theme song at the start of the show--AWFUL...it sounds like a drunk sang it! Other than that, Billie cracks me up every episode, and Dave...Dave is the man. I haven't seen him outside of Rude Awakening very often, but I think he is a great, funny actor, who keeps me watching week after week. I sometimes find myself wishing to be in Dave's shows...what a great life he has. Run the coffee bar, get into the sack with Billie, run the coffee bar.....

Perhaps one of the most "difficult" television series to ever make it into production, Showtime's "Rude Awakening" is worth the effort it takes to warm up to a cast of flawed, occasionally unlikable, and all-too-human characters.

The material is a look at addiction, sex, and dysfunctional families, filtered through a sitcom sensibility. Sherilyn Fenn's Billie Frank is habitually self-destructive, with a gift for making the wrong choice at every given opportunity, and most of the addiction, sex, and dysfunction revolves around her.

What makes Billie a watchable, sympathetic creation is her ability to spot her own culpability in her failures, and her sputtering, stuttering romance with Jonathan Penner's Dave. Penner gets a lot of mileage out of the show's thinnest major character, the owner of a coffee shop and the person who helped guide Billie into a 12-step program, but his function is mostly just to stand around and trade hyper-sexual barbs with Fenn.

Lynn Redgrave, on the other hand, is in full diva mode with Trudy, Bille's mother. And it is indeed a sight to behold; intensely, bitingly funny, cruel, and relentlessly self-involved, Trudy is a work of art. Unlike her daughter, Redgrave's character has no saving grace, but somehow remains the most compelling thing on the screen at any given moment.

Without question, RA's run has been uneven. When it wanders away from its central themes, the show can easily begin to look like the most painful sort of cable comedy, with little more than explicit language but like its main character, when "Rude Awakening" finds its feet and takes a clear-eyed look at where it is and where it hopes to go, it can make for a funny, intense half-hour of entertainment.

This is, in my opinion, Showtime's best show. Its not fake and completely unreal like so many other television shows. The topic they are dealing with is real and they are showing what alcoholism is really like and, that you can overcome your addiction.

They also show the other side of alcoholism; the addiction and dependency on the alcohol which is wonderfully played by Lynn Redgrave. Trudy Frank (Lynn) is a hilarious drunk who loves young men and sex. Lynn alone adds a bit of class to this wonderfully frank show, even though her character is anything but the perfect mother.

Jonathon Penner is also excellent as Dave, who owns a coffee shop and is a recovering alcoholic himself. Mario VanPeebles is also featured.

I saw the season premiere and I couldn't stop laughing. Sure the show had it's serious moments, but it was funnier more than it was dramatic. I liked Billie's (Sherilyn Fenn's) friend, Maureen (a guest appearance by off and on actress/singer Taylor Dayne). Taylor was great as Billie's druggie friend. I just hope that her role is a recurring one. If you who loved "Seinfeld" and adore "Veronica's Closet" then this show is definitely for you. Of course, you have to get Showtime before you can watch it.