You know how much I hate to disagree with you Grabs, especially since I didn’t get you a wedding present, but I just can’t go along with your superlatives. I might agree that it is probably the best of the new shows for this television season, but that’s primarily due to the unbelievably crappy list of shows that have debuted over the past couple of weeks, and not necessarily because this show is so great.
It does exhibit some incredibly innovative visual techniques, and the basic story lines are very creative, but I think the writing and acting falls short on a few levels. It’s either the clumsiness of the dialogs, or the poor timing of the actors (the two leads in this case, Lee Pace as Ned and Anna Friel as Chuck), that make the show drag on unnecessarily.
On the other hand, Chi McBride as Emerson, Swoozie Kurtz as the aunt and the actress who plays the neighbor and worker who’s in love with Ned (sorry don’t know her name, although after last night’s performance of Helplessly Devoted, which was wonderful, I plan to find out) help to make the show tremendously more exciting and interesting.
If the two leads could garner even a portion of the energy that Sarah Jessica Parker and Pierce Brosnan exacted in Mars Attacks where they played corporeally handicapped lovers, this show would move up a hundredfold in my opinion. But Ned and Chuck are only an item because of the narration, not the dialog or body language.
But the sets, cinematography, and direction of scenes is top notch for the small screen. Some of the artwork reminded me of Tim Burton in many respects, of Edward Scissorhands and Willy Wonka specifically. Visually stimulating is an understatement for this show, and that’s probably the best thing I can about this show so far.
But I’ll continue to watch it in the hopes that the actors mature into the roles, afterall, Sienfeld was almost cancelled within the first two years.
