Leap Years

I guess any show that depicts minorities runs the risk of stereotyping, but I think compared to other portrayal of minorities in the media, Leap Years is leap years ahead. I mean, consider wildly popular The Sopranos and Will & Grace and their respective portrayal of Italian Americans and gays. Or the portrayal of minorities on Sex in the City. Oh wait - they're all white because we know what a white town New York is.

I for one am glad that the black and hispanic characters are NOT portrayed as poor or lazy, but rather middle class, hard working and well educated. And the gay guy is not THAT arty. He writes screenplays, but he also becomes a therapist, and has a policeman boyfriend. It's not like he's an effeminate sounding interior decorator. And Athena is a diva performer, but she's also likable (at least I think so).

In fact, I find all of the characters intensely more likable and the format more original than the insipid characters and constant babble about vaginas/orgasms/breasts on Sex in the City. (No one is as annoying as Sarah Jessica Parker!). Or yet another mafia/lawyer/hospital show.

The characters are intellectual - I like that. The women don't act like they found their personal philosophies watching Maybelline commercials and Cosmo articles, and the guys aren't the product of NFL promos and Playboy.

Its been quite a while since this aired, and my memory is not what it used to be. However, I do remember enjoying this show very much. The structure was not what viewers were used to at the time and that was unfortunate. Now we embrace shows like, "This Is Us", that follow a similar structure. This was a well written, and acted, ensemble piece. If only the episodes were available for purchase or viewing today. That particular group, their stories, felt a little like family.. family. The good and the bad.

In a recurring series it's important to actually have main characters that the audience likes, and this bunch isn't very likable. Campos (who was the best thing about 'Jesse') and Garbiras are -- as actors, but their characters are also tiresome. The gimmick of jumping back and forth in time also wears thin, and makes skipping an episode no big deal since the story is already so disjointed.

The premise for this series sounded pretty interesting: five people have their stories told as the timeline jumps forward and backward, giving us insight into where they were and where they are headed. But the potential for something fun and unique is basically squandered by pretty standard storytelling and plots: The nebbishy Jewish guy, the confused arty homosexual, the career-obsessed lawyer, the trashy actress. The plotlines are fairly standard, the flashforwards (to 2008) are generally uninventive as futurism, and while the acting is generally adequate, it doesn't excite your interest and make you want to come back. The show should be given a chance to develop, but it needs to make substantial strides quickly if it wants to gin up the loyalty of Queer as Folk or Sex and the City.

This show has one of the more original premise attached to it, five friends and their relationship over 15 years, only it is presented to us as a series of flash forwards and flashbacks from 1993 to 2001 to 2008. The show itself is somewhat weak in that the characters are generally stereotypes (the whiny rich Jewish guy, the diva who becomes a victim of her ego and greed, the arty gay guy, the poor kid who makes good only to become what he used to despise) but the actors do a fairly good job of fleshing them out. The plots can be a tad confusing if you are just catching an episode with all the jumps forward and back, but once you catch a couple of episodes things become clear.