The Boys

I've just found an old tape from 1995 and i'm taking a look at Law and Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni with much more hair, quite young, playing a writer who's had a bestseller (called Slopes) on the NYTimes bestseller list for 11 weeks, now he's moved into a small country town to try writing the follow-up. He buys the house that Ed left behind, the fourth member of a group of friends who ask him to enter their group of friends and expect him to play the role Ed used to play.

Its all a bit tense. I don't think Christopher's really comfortable with comedy. The concept of trying to get a group of friends to get over their friend's death is quite unpleasant and not particularly ripe for escapist comedy. Its an interesting dramatic situation, and Meloni makes you identify with his character.

I can see why its been sort of forgotten, having been pulled after only five episodes going to air (and one left unaired) but its good fun as a curio.

In many ways this show never got a fair chance. It aired on network TV at a time when programming executives, fearful of new viewing options stealing their viewers, felt they couldn't afford to let a series find an audience. If it wasn't a hit right out of the gate, it was canceled.

Which in this case borders on tragedy. The actors were well cast, the directing did a great job of telling the story of a newbie trying to break into an established group, but it's the writing that took this show over the top. More than one of the episodes felt like a really good one act play.

In a way I'm glad it didn't stay on the air any longer than what it did. I think the newbie would at some point have to become comfortable with the established group of old men, and they with him. When that inevitably happened the show would have changed. Better to just enjoy the episodes that were so expertly done.