TV business

Bad writing, bad acting and bad direction are the three prongs of anti-talent that skewer the viewer and roast him slowly over the fires of television hell while watching this piece of dreck.

Why is it that HBO is the stronghold of quality original programming, while Showtime comes up with shows that wouldn't survive half a season on UPN?

I watched one of these shows on a VHS cassette that I found at a thrift store. I liked the energy of the cast, and thought that the idea of a behind the scenes look at a TV network had potential, but found that the attempt to parody the network TV selection process itself came across as insensitive at times. As with many Showtime and HBO releases, I noticed that the percentage of swear words was significantly higher than one hears in real life. I can't help wondering if this might be a reason for the show's demise. Still, two years is not a bad run for a TV show these days, and I'm sure the percentage of swear words used in Hollywood and the TV industry is in fact greater than the use of such words in the general population, so in this sense the show may be said to mirror reality.

I couldn't help thinking that there were many inside jokes being presented on the screen. The episode I watched, "White Woman's Burden" presents some openly racist dialogue thinly disguised as satire. Is it possible that the underlying themes of racism and sexual orientation were found to be too controversial even for Showtime? If so, then maybe this show has potential to make a comeback as a full length feature film.

If anything prevents this show from reaching a wide audience, it's the extremely upscale lifestyles of the cast. Everyone seems to be living in an artificial reality dominated by big money, the struggle for power, and gangsters. Yet it looks enough like the reality in the Television industry that maybe it offended some of the same people whose support it needed to continue in production. Overall, I think this show has great potential and I liked the honest attempt to present a behind the scenes look at network television. Possibly this show may illustrate some of the reasons for network television's shrinking audience.

Now, I don't know much about how t.v. networks run and the people who work there, but I have a feeling it's a lot like Beggars and Choosers! From Rob Malone, network president, down to Lori Volpone, vice president of development-- the characters are both smart and funny. The series gives you an inside view of how a network runs, and how everyone working there deals with the trials and tribulations of life on the inside.

Inside of this little fictional network, LGT, you see that it's very disfunctional, in a way that most could never imagine. Everyone and their brother are busy backstabbing everyone outside of the network to get ahead in the network, and doing everything they can think of to everyone outside of the network to get the network ahead as a team. Make sense? Maybe not...but it's network television, who said it made sense. All you have to know is this: the characters are funny, the acting is above top notch, and the storylines will keep you glued to the set every week. The show has a good way of keeping you involved...you're always hoping the network pulls thru and their ratings go up, and you find yourself hoping that the people trying to keep this from happening lose, and in the end, they usually do. You can't help but watch, and when you do, you can't help but stay by the t.v. till it's all over and the problems have been resolved. It's a great show with an awesome cast, and if you wanna get into the business, it might be a good learning tool as well. If you haven't seen the show already, watch it, it tends to grow on you.

If a DVD was available, I'd buy the whole set in a heartbeat. I have some of the episodes on VHS, complete with commercials, and too hard to locate on my tapes. Plus they aren't in order! I am not in "the business" but I found the satire clever and funny, the acting terrific, and the whole thing strangely both believable and outrageous. I think the biggest problem with the show, during its original run, was that there was so little marketing for it. I found it by accident and thought it sounded interesting, so I watched the first episode, and was hooked immediately. Most of my friends had never heard of it, until I told them about it. Maybe if there had been more hype, more people would have watched it. Also, in my area (Toronto) it was only on TV once a week, Friday nights at midnight. A lot of the audience who would enjoy this show are out on Friday nights.

Anyway, I was devastated when it was cancelled. Special favourite performances were from Lori, Malcolm, Larry the drag queen, and Brad, plus of course Rob and Cecile. Also Mr. Ludden and the fabulous Lydia Ludden.

Some favourite moments were when Mr. Ludden came out of his coma, when Parker Meridien died, when Kendall was getting people to throw out their TVs. And who could forget Lori and the Russian mobster.

I really hope a DVD comes out before the show becomes a pile of archival garbage in Showtime's back storage room.

Mixed up sperm and Russian gangsters aside (and every satire from Jonathan Swift to Arrested Development needs its exaggerations) B&C is pretty accurate about the angst- ridden life of TV execs in LA- believe me, I know, I have been there.

The swearing, if anything, is underdone - there are many places in America where cuss words are reserved for special occasions, but not in the Marines, the police or TV network head offices. The back-stabbing and social competition, too, is more prevalent than on, say, a Kentucky farm or at a Sunday morning bake sale, even on a Sunday morning.

Which, as one commentator wisely said, is maybe why this (and, lets be honest, HBO"s brilliant Larry Sanders) did not travel far beyond its natural constituency - LA and its media buddies in New York and London, and a few college grads, freaks and geeks aware enough to appreciate that all offices share the touch of evil. The same people who can watch either the BBC original of the NBC remake of The Office and recognize it as a kind of everyday life.

But TV-land is a degree nastier than working for a paper products firm because it's driven by the fear of 99% unemployment and the final one percent skilled/lucky.insane enough to have a job, being paid $250,000 a year plus, will do everything short of murder to hold onto that. Few would do that for a job paying minimum wage.

Anyway, hey, we got two fun-filled seasons out of this, which I suspect actually made no economic sense. I would guess B&C getting picked up for a second series was all about Showtime execs enjoying the in-jokes and critical kudos rather than the audience numbers. maybe it has a protector on a higher board which kept it alive longer than it would have survived on basic cable or mainstream TV.

PS The Showtime premium cable channel is almost HBO, but, somehow, routinely manages to lose its grip on some great novel programming- Dead Like Me, like B&C RIP after two series, Kistie Alley's Fat Actress (opened big and brave, shrinking faster than she is), etc.

Showtime, right now, is the almost brilliant channel, that may one day be a lesson taught in business schools.

PPS - Also Beggars and Choosers was and remains funny. And that is tough to get right.