Context is everything.
That’s a lesson network executives and producers find themselves learning time and again. Every season we get a few episodes of television born from scripts so swollen with lazy humor and poorly executed premises that critics are left slackjawed at by the idea that the concept even got in front of a rolling camera.
Rarer are the instances in which an episode challenges viewers by employing a plot twist that’s tough to stomach, even exploitative, on the face of it. But when one steps back and considers the entire storyline, said injection of horror can serve as a transformative, powerful engine moving the overall story toward its final destination.
Last week members of the Television Critics Association were presented with examples from diametric opposites of the context spectrum from two series that could not be different: Fox’s yet-to-premiere series “Dads,” and FX’s long established hit “Sons of Anarchy“. Fox has made the pilot for “Dads” available to critics since late May; FX previewed the “Sons” sixth season premiere to TCA members attending the Summer Press Tour.
Again, these two shows have virtually nothing in common — “Dads” is a half-hour network comedy, while “Sons of Anarchy” is a cable drama about an outlaw biker gang. But where the lazily executed comedy on display throughout the “Dads” pilot is what makes it unpalatable, the controversial moment in “Sons of Anarchy’s” season premiere (airing at 10pm on September 10), one that caused quite a bit of debate among a number of critics assembled at Press Tour, arrives after a slow build, is tautly rendered and anything but thoughtless. It’s a twist that feels like a shiv to the gut.
“There’s a lot of blood and guts in my show, you know, and it is a signature of the show,” “Sons” executive producer and showrunner Kurt Sutter admitted to critics, “but it’s also I feel… that nothing is done gratuitously, that the events that happen in the premiere are really the catalyst for the third act of this morality play we’re doing.”
Granted, the immediate reaction of some will not be comprehension and acceptance. Without giving away anything explicit, let’s just say that Sutter revved up and rode the show into a place where the most of the entertainment industry fears to tread: straight into the messy heart of a debate that’s constantly raging in our culture. Calling Sutter a producer who is not afraid to play with fire is a mealy-mouthed assessment; no, Sutter is a man who juggles flame, swallows it, then blows it into our faces, hoping it will singe.
It will be interesting to witness long-time “Sons of Anarchy” fans take in this development. The sixth season is the show’s penultimate, which means the end is in sight and the pieces are being moved around the board in preparation for the endgame. And “Sons” is the kind of show that invites fans to place bets on which characters will get out alive, or out of jail, or whether anyone can get away at all. It has also earned its audience’s trust through the years, taking its characters through an assortment of nasty events and bringing them out the other end of the tunnel in ways that changes the individual’s portrait while also reshaping the plot’s ecosystem.
However, like other antihero tales that came before it, one criticism that has dogged “Sons” to some extent is that these fundamentally horrible people we’ve been rooting for manage to wriggle their way out of an assortment of capital offenses season after season. Sooner or later, we expect everyone has to pay for their crimes… and it’s tough to see a clean way to for the Teller-Morrow extended family to come back from what happens. Is it a bridge too far? Could be. But it’s one many should be willing to cross with Sutter — albeit cautiously.
“The conflict that has fueled the entire series and especially, you know, Charlie (Hunnam)’s character, the idea of ‘Can I really do what I do and follow this path and still show up and be a caring and loving husband, a good and loving father? Can I have all that and still be, you know, the leader of, ultimately, a criminal enterprise?’” Sutter said. “And I think we’re on that trajectory here going into season six, where we have to decide if the answer is yes or no.”
“Dads”, on the other hand, probably won’t be able to count on similar good will among critics. While the pilot will be addressed in greater depth closer to its premiere, its simplistic, offensive racial jokes and the misogynistic stereotypes did not earn it much love. A contentious Thursday afternoon panel fell flat on its face and ended early. Never a good sign, but not a sign that it’ll be cancelled either.
Understand, the “Dads” lineup alone makes us want to love it. It stars Giovanni Ribisi, Seth Green, Martin Mull, Vanessa Lachey and Brenda Song, all folks we generally like. It’s executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, who is well on his way to becoming to Fox what Chuck Lorre is to CBS.
MacFarlane’s animated series dominate Fox’s Sunday night lineup. He’s a multifaceted talent, evident in the fact that he also put his producing heft behind getting “Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey” up and running in the hopes of further cementing Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s position as this generation’s Carl Sagan. He even crooned showtunes in a primetime special. Above all he’s the guy who gave us “Family Guy‘s” self-absorbed, jovial idiot Peter Griffin and Ted, the Dionysian teddy bear best friend of a live-action loser played by Mark Wahlberg. Both are wildly successful slices of entertainment.
It’s important to note those last two credits not only because Fox’s Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly invoked them as a shield against the criticism lobbed in force at “Dads”, but because they provide perfect examples of what’s wrong with the pilot. Reilly, for his part, is comfortable betting on the talent in front of and behind the camera, urging critics to be patient and believe in the long game. “Family Guy” and Ted sailed to success on a torrent of low-brow humor that the sensitive would probably find to be childish and offensive.
“Ted was not an accident. It was not a fluke. ‘Family Guy’ is not an accident or a fluke,” Reilly said. “These guys are going to try to test a lot of boundaries. They are going to try to be equal-opportunity offenders. Do I think all the jokes right now are in calibration in the pilot? I don’t. But I can tell you right now, I have never seen a comedy in which all the jokes are in calibration. That’s the nature of comedy.”
The problem with this argument is that its being made to defend of a live-action comedy. It’s a long-held truth that animated series can use their characters to get away with much racier content than live-action series can. “Family Guy”? Animated. In Ted, the rudest jokes came out of the mouth of what could have been a fabric softener mascot. Indeed, a better idea of the perils “Dads” may face can be found in the bit Wahlberg and Ted did during The 85th Annual Academy Awards, most memorable for the bear’s oddly delivered racial humor. There’s a difference in snorting at those intentional displays of ignorance in a darkened movie theater, where they were part of a weirdly heartwarming story and earned by likable characters, and watching them fall dead in a hot, glaring spotlight before a live audience of millions.
Betting on a series to fail based on its offensiveness or laziness is just silly, of course. (Friendly reminder: “2 Broke Girls” is headed into its third season.) The bigger test will be whether “Dads” can earn a full season pick-up by actually being funny. In its current incarnation, even without the controversial humor, it would fail on that front. But there’s still quite a bit of time between now and its debut. Let’s see whether “Dads” can recalibrate enough to sync up with the wider television audience.
The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards: “I Gotta Go, Bye”
September 23rd, 2013 | Posted by Melanie McFarland in ABC | AMC | Commentary | Emmy Awards | Fall TV | HBO | Live Coverage - (1 Comments)Merritt Wever accepts her Emmy at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.
“Thank you so much. …Thank you so much. … I gotta go, bye.”
Ah, Merritt Wever. In twelve succinct words, the “Nurse Jackie” star and Emmy winner for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy charmed the Spanx off of everyone watching the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards Sunday night, whether in the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles or as one of the 17.6 million viewing from a comfortable couch at home. When host Neil Patrick Harris called Wever’s response to unexpectedly winning the statue the best acceptance speech ever, he wasn’t kidding. It was unexpected, short, and hilarious.
The Emmys telecast itself was blessed with none of those qualities. On paper, at least, it seemed like the production would be entertaining. Harris has proven himself time and again to be an extraordinary host. After previous Emmys ringmaster gigs, some critics declared that he should host all future award shows for all time. As recently as the Tony Awards, the man was killing it.
Why then, midway through a sluggish, bloated telecast when Harris was joined onstage by Nathan Fillion and Sarah Silverman for the song-and-dance number everyone expected at the beginning of the show, did we feel like we were watching the television industry sink into a depressive episode? The heartfelt and personal In Memoriam segments for “All in the Family” star Jean Stapleton, presented by friend and co-star Rob Reiner; “Family Ties” creator Gary David Goldberg, remembered by Michael J. Fox; Jonathan Winters, honored by Robin Williams; Cory Monteith, as remembered by Jane Lynch; and James Gandolfini, touchingly honored by Edie Falco; were not the cause of the torpor. Yes, they forced the festivities to pause, but five more clouds in a dark grey sky shouldn’t take the blame if the rain is already falling.
As one of the producers, Harris shared the responsibility to balance dazzling spectacle with structural efficiency, ensuring that the train would not only get into the station on time but that the view during the journey would at least be pleasant. Instead, this was an awards telecast that emphasized the showiness of the show at the expense of the winners themselves, including unnecessary segments such as his “How I Met Your Mother” co-stars’ pre-recorded skit that created an addiction disorder out Harris’s penchant for hosting awards shows. (As Lily Aldrin might say, irony much, Emmy? Look in the mirror.)
No, the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards telecast was headed off the rails from the beginning, when Harris sat down in a room to supposedly binge watch the season on tens of TV screens, only to stroll out on stage and open with a dud of a monologue highlighted by past hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Lynch and Conan O’Brien joining him to joke about the fact that he was dying up there and they all could have done it better. Har!…Har! Thank goodness Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were in the front row to heckle them, not to mention Kevin Spacey’s short cameo to mug for the camera in the guise of his “House of Cards” character.
Even Sir Elton John could not save the evening with his alleged tribute to Liberace, which began pleasantly with a conversational intro in which he explained why Liberace meant to much to him and to culture in general. But then he segued into a song off of his upcoming album which has absolutely nothing to do with the man he was honoring. At least his Captain Fantastic jacket still sparkles.
And you know things are not going well when a dance number designed to showcase the Outstanding Choreography nominees, which included two modern dancers in hazmat suits harmoniously prancing around the stage in recognition of AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” was actually one of the highlights of the evening.
The misery of it is, when one looks at the actual list of winners, there were plenty of surprises. True, ABC’s “Modern Family” won Best Comedy again, and after a season that was not even its best. But “Breaking Bad” finally won Outstanding Drama just one week prior to its series finale.
All told, HBO took home 27 Emmys this year (out of 108 nominations), with CBS coming in at a distant second with 16. However, the most nominated series, FX’s “American Horror Story: Asylum,” only netted two statues. HBO’s celebrated film “Behind the Candelabra,” on the other hand, walked away with 11.
The individual wins were downright astounding at times, and not necessarily always in a good way. Honestly, Bobby Cannavale trumping Aaron Paul in the Supporting Actor in a Drama race is acceptable; he did some great work on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Anna Gunn‘s victory in the Supporting Actress category over Maggie Smith was brilliant. But Jeff Daniels winning Outstanding Actor in a Drama over Bryan Cranston? Really?
On the other hand, we got Wever. It also was a welcome surprise to see Tony Hale come from behind to seize the hardware from the “Modern Family” actors in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy category. “The Colbert Report’s” win over its friendly competitor “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” in both the Best Writing for a Variety series and Outstanding Variety Series categories is well-deserved after a truly inspired season. Michael Douglas’s jovial acceptance speech for his Outstanding Actor win for “Behind the Candelabra” injected laughter into an evening starved of liveliness, particularly when, in thanking his co-star Matt Damon, he referred to the award as a “two-hander” and asked Matt if he wanted the top or the bottom.
Hale even provided a glorious assist as Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepted the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy for “Veep“, remaining in character behind her as the camera cut to co-star Anna Chlumsky pouting and texting in her seat, putting the cherry on that bit.
Louis-Dreyfus is a repeat winner, as are Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy winner Jim Parsons and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama victor Claire Danes, which is part of the longstanding snore element of the Emmys: if the voters aren’t proving that they’ve stopped watching TV by rewarding the same shows long after their best seasons have passed, they’re proving they’re more content with sticking with a known performer as opposed to branching out to reward a newcomer in a category who deserves recognition.
But perhaps the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will show a bit of boldness next year by giving a vote of confidence to a fresh host. With “How I Met Your Mother” headed into its final season, and following last night’s performance, Neil Patrick Harris needs a rest. As for the nominees who didn’t walk away with an Emmy, there’s always next year.
For the complete list of winners, nominees, photos from the Red Carpet and more, visit IMDb’s Road to the Emmys special section.