YOU COULD BE A PART-TIME MODEL: Matt's right -- Entourage is just going through the success-porn motions right now, with even lovable loser Johnny Drama's TV success cresting and Vince's career seemingly, inexplicably, off of fraud hold (though Matt gives too much credit to the Elvis Mitchell cameo, since the show didn't convey any sense that it knows why Elvis Mitchell is so cool; the Brian Grazer cameo outside the Grill was much more knowing). John from Cincinnati, which I fought everybody on this blog to claim as my own, has packed about an episode's worth of plot twists into six or seven episodes, but has counterbalanced that by packing six or seven episodes' worth of totally random screaming and wooden acting into each episode. Big Love, and I know I'll get some dissent here, just seems like it's content to be a mediocre show, taking its cues from its fervently beige leading family and moderating both its humor and its conflict so that it is only pleasantly subversive.
To me, there is no doubt that the best show on HBO right now is Flight of the Conchords. Yes, I find it annoying that so much of the material comes straight from the duo's stand-up, but the deeper they get into the season -- and the further from being able to sketch literally around the songs -- the better the show becomes, I think. I find myself repeatedly chuckling at the exaggerated cultural differences (the Americans mistaking "dead" for "did" and "Brett" for "Britt"; the Heger-like awe and hatred of Australians), the reversal of the characters' expected roles (lumbering band-leader Jemaine, who looks like what you'd get if you spliced together the genes of Mick Jagger and Eric Bogosian, is flighty and passive-aggressive; frail Brett is sensible and aloof), and just the dumb exchanges between the leads and the supporting cast (especially Mal, or perhaps Mel, the band's lone fan). The show is not brilliant, but it's consistently amusing and it may be the only reason not to cancel HBO until Curb returns.
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