Sat, October 18, 2003

After all that crabby grousing last night about some of the new fall dramas, I feel like some balance is needed. I'm quite a fan of dramatic television because, in the right hands, its long form leads to a far more engaging relationship with the characters and the story than you can get with a feature film. Granted, most of television is not "in the right hands," but in a few special cases it lives up to its potential. Of course, Ed, The West Wing (maybe), and Alias should be on this list, too. But I wanted to focus on some newer ones. (Alias, by the way, is a show I love so much that I refuse to watch it for fear of spoiling its purity. I still haven't seen anything past the first season finale – to put that in perspective, the third season premiered last month – but I'll be watching it all off TiVo soon, so don't tell me what happens!)

Joan of Arcadia

(CBS, 8:00 Fridays)

Believe me, I know. I, too, was prepared to dismiss this show. Besides the cheaply constructed title pun (Why wouldn't Joan notice this? Her name is Joan, she lives in Arcadia, and she talks to god. If she doesn't start referring to herself as Joan of Arcadia soon, it'll be weird.), CBS shows based on spiritual themes have a tendency to skew way mushy. And, as an atheist, I'm not exactly the target demographic for a show about talking to god. (Yes, I'm quite aware of how much I resemble those husky, razor-averse über-feminists with their "womyn" when I write lowercase "god," but try as I might, that capital G just doesn't feel like me. For a while I got away with hiding it at the start of sentences, but that becomes a real bear. I mean, "God being talked to by people is not exactly the type of show for which I, as an atheist, am the target demographic." Come on!)

But Joan has pretty well won me over. Chiefly, it's Amber Tamblyn. (Try saying that seven times fast. No, not six! Seven's the number!) She's the chipmunk-cheeked teenager who plays Joan with just the right blend of sarcastic ennui and genuine vulnerability. Tamblyn (who I'm convinced got her big break in the DreamWorks film The Ring because her name sounds a lot like Amblin) has a tone-perfect relationship with her parents and siblings, and her reaction to the bizarre experience of conversing with god is about as truthful as you could expect. She's cute without being fake, and effective without being dramatic.

What also works for Joan of Arcadia is its relatively hands-off approach to religion. God is portrayed as an omniscient caretaker, but not a miracle worker who can whip up a hurricane or heal a cripple whenever he wants. It's not stated in as many words, but the show seems to say that the benevolent omniscient force is real while the supernatural powers are just fabrications of mankind, a species trying to make sense of its surroundings. (So, they just made a lucky guess that there was a benevolent creator? The show doesn't say.) Wow, could this be the god show for atheists? It's a shrewd marketing move from CBS's standpoint, trying not to leave anybody out by invalidating their belief system. However, it's sometimes hard to tell whether this is genius or laziness. In episode two, god did a little magic with a street lamp. So now he can do miracles? In a show like this, it's important to establish your rules and stick to them.

Also, the show has been remarkably inconsistent about how god appears to Joan. He's always different people, but how? In the first episode, Joan's friends grill her after she talks to god, asking about the cute mystery guy. So, when he shows up, it's not a vision Joan's having, it's a real person. But in episode two, he appears to Joan as a TV anchorman. If it's not just Joan's vision, then everyone in the Arcadia broadcast area saw that? Later, he's piloting a street-sweeper. Between these two, it's apparent that god is taking over the bodies of regular people for a brief period in order to chat with Joan. (Unless he appeared as a random guy in a street cleaner outfit and told the regular guy to take a hike that day.) Then, what happens to those people? Do they remember it? If a third person were present, would he see a different conversation than Joan does (i.e., the same conversation the "embodied" person remembers)? This needs to be figured out; god is supposed to be good, not confusing.

Joe "Fat Tony" Mantegna and Mary "Oh, Emmett" Steenburgen are excellent as Joan's parents; some say they're underused, but I think that's exactly where they need to be, and that's why these two are perfect for their roles. Mantegna lacks the chops to be a real focal point for the show, and Steenburgen's incessant meddling wears out its welcome quickly enough as it is. The reality of the show is Joan's relationship with herself as she grapples with the tasks before her and, through learning what it's like to do something outside of herself, finds out who she might be.

Without a Trace

(CBS, 10:00 Thursdays)

Without a Trace actually started last season, and I kind of slowly discovered it a few episodes in. But it still feels like one of my "new dramas," so it's on the list. I missed a few crucial episodes at the end of last season, so I had forgotten quite how much I enjoy it. (This enthusiasm was quantified for me in unmistakable terms this week when Without a Trace shot on location a few blocks from my office. I noticed the signs on my way in, and I was positively giddy all day. On my way home, I took a walk through the area and scoped out the shoot – the first time I've done that since my sophomore year of film school.) I think one of the main plusses is that it's a procedural show without any real "twist." The way C.S.I. has the twist of being gory or noiry, or Petersen is kind of a nut (actually, I'm guessing at its hook; I haven't seen it), or the way Cold Case is all old cases. It's just the story of the FBI Missing Persons Unit, and they go about trying to find people.

Also, a terrific cast. Anthony LaPaglia didn't seem like a first choice for his role initially, but he's managed to fit into it very well. He's the requisite gruff guy, like Craig T. Nelson in The District or the Guardian in The Guardian. But the supporters really shine. Poppy Montgomery (okay, I'm a tad biased) is great as Samantha, the sexy blonde who doesn't let her physicality get in the way of her commitment to the job. This is cute, because it's a Bruckheimer show, so she was going to be there anyway – they've made the absolute best of it. (I found out this week that her last name is Spade, which is preposterously silly, but by this point I feel so close to the show that my reaction is "Of course!" instead of "Dear god!") Also, there's Marianne Jean-Baptiste as the matronly black woman who doesn't let her matronly blackness get in the way of her commitment to the job, and the sort of latiny heartthrob-y guy who doesn't let his... well, you know. And Eric Close as the Other White Guy. For some reason, the chiseled features and perfect hair always make me think of Eric Close as "television personified." I defy anyone to look at Eric Close and not think, "Yes. Of course. Television." (Also, is he related to Glenn Close? No time to look this up.)

The stories are also very effectively constructed. Somehow they manage to get in the right amount of twists without it feeling like you've been brained with a sail boom and knocked into the Waters of Expositional Trickery. (Is that a red herring that just swam by? I kill me!) And they depict some of the detective work in that engaging, organic way that I appreciated so much on The Wire. Plus, their office has these huge windows that let in a lot of natural light, so the lighting on the main set is just fantastic. It always has this Martha Stewart Beach Cottage feel, like they're sitting on the screen porch solving crime. And I'm not going to pretend it doesn't look great dancing through Samantha's flaxen locks.

Boomtown

(NBC, 10:00 Fridays) (?)

I was actually planning to wait on writing this column, but this week I'm starting to get the very real sense that Boomtown may be headed for cancellation, if it hasn't been cancelled already. This is very sad, because it's an excellent show. Its initial "hook" was that it investigated the same crime from multiple perspectives, but, as so often happens with these utterly superfluous hooks, that's pretty much melted away. What remains is a tremendously compelling set of characters, each of whom is morally relativistic in his own way. David McNorris (Neal McDonough, fulfilling the show's TV "Mc" Quota, twice over!) is an Assistant District Attorney whose political ambitions (and alcoholism) keep him from always wanting to do the right thing. Joel Stevens (Donnie Wahlberg, Underpants Boy from The Sixth Sense) is a detective whose belief in justice sometimes compels him to stretch departmental procedure. Gary Basaraba plays Officer Ray Hechler, and we still don't know the truth about his involvement in the Vista Heights scandal. Somehow, despite all this moral relativism, the show manages not to put anyone in the brightly colored Morally Relativistic sweatshirt and parade them around the way shows like The Lyon's Den do. Thus, it's possible to actually pull for McNorris even when he's on a bender. Although, for me, it's pretty difficult not to pull for McNorris, because I find McDonough compelling with a capital C (followed by a capital "ompelling"). I think it's possibly the ice-blue eyes or the shock-white hair or the chiseled jaw. He suckerpunched my Dramatic Intensity Meter back in Band of Brothers and held it captive all the way through Minority Report and into the trailers for Timeline.

This season reflects some changes for Boomtown – the departure of L.A. Tribune (wink, nudge) writer Andrea Little, who recently ended her affair with David; the transition of cutie EMT Teresa from cutie EMT to cutie cop; and the addition of Vanessa (L.) Williams. Based on all this, I thought Boomtown was guaranteed a few weeks to settle in, but it's been pre-empted twice and TiVo sees no signs of it in the near future, so I'm concerned that maybe NBC has pulled the plug already. Maybe the industry is experiencing a severe shortage of silver.

Anyway, I really hope it will return after the World Series wraps up. So far this season, we haven't even seen Teresa at all, and I'm curious to see how she works out in her new role. The show is (was?) in that terrific sophomore spot where all the characters are set up and their little interpersonal idiosyncrasies are established so now we can focus on shaking them up and seeing what happens. We've got McNorris's alcohol recovery, the romantic spark between Teresa and Joel, the whole Tom situation, and something tells me that all of Fearless's demons are getting ready to come to a head. C'mon NBC! Don't take that away from us! Not in favor of The Lyon's Den!

Unless I'm mistaken, "flaxen locks" is officially our first Holly Shout-Out. (Placing the score squarely at: ARCC Joe Mulder, 4 trillion; everyone else, 5. Nothing personal, kiddies!) This powerfully illustrates the impact of emailing me about how much you enjoy the writing as I'm doing the writing! Thanks!

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