Rude Awakening

this was a great show... I think of it with relation to REAL life experiences. Hope to see it on air again. VERY good show. It could even be thought of as a session in therapy for anyone who actually has some of the issues addressed in the episodes. Or it can be seen as a way to understand friends with these same problems. Love, life, family, drinking,drugs... real life problems. The last episode did get to my senses... and I cried. The acting was superb... the writing was original... Why did the producers take this show off the air. I wonder if the censors disapproved. It's heart-warming to see real life reenacted through TV. I like not having to go to live theater to have this experience. In fact, shows like "Rent" are allowing more audiences to see another 'real life' experience by showing the story in a film.

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.

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.....