Sunday kicked off a the new season for Showtime including two new shows to bookend every red blooded man's favorite Californication, Shameless and Episodes. Shamelesss the hour long drama about a tight-nit group of siblings struggling to keep the lights on and their dead beat drunk dad off the floor. Episodes is the new half hour Matt LeBlanc vehicle about an English TV writing couple who move to LA to adapt their series for American television and have Matt LeBlanc forced upon them by the network.
On Tuesday FX brought us Lights Out, the new boxing drama to love and hate for all the same reasons we love and hate every boxing drama. Holt McCallany plays Patrick "Lights" Leary a former heavyweight champ who five years in to retirement finds himself broke. With three kids, a mortgage and a wife in med school, what's an old fighter to do but put everything on the line for that one last big purse.
The Good
I guess Emmy Rossum was a star before this show, she was in Day After Tomorrow and The Phantom of the Opera. I didn't see either movie so she was a refreshing new face to me. And what a new face it is. Five minutes in and it's obvious she's the real star of the show. I liked brothers Lip and Ian a lot too. There's definitely room for fun and tension between these two. Lip is the schemer of the two and the only family member that knows Ian is gay. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind further exploits these two find themselves in. A dad catching you getting a hummer from his daughter under the dinning room table was quite a start.
The Bad
William H. Macy's Frank was a little too much caricature and not enough character. I think he was supposed to provide a little levity to a depressing situation but came off as over the top and rather pathetic. I don't get the Steve character at all. You have a poor Chicago family based in the realities of the lower class and then you throw in a character out of 'Gone in 60 Seconds' complete with his own slow motion action scene.
Wishful Thinking
I want to see the kids and especially Fiona deal with the realities of her dead beat father. There has to be resentment and buried hatred for what he's done to her and the family towards Frank. At some point, Fiona has to deal with what she's lost by having to be a mother to all these other kids. I really don't care what happens between her and Steve in the future. The less we see of him the better as far as I'm concerned. I hope to see William H. Macy get to develop this character and add a greater level of depth than we got to see in the first episode. I was excited by what I saw from the previews for the upcoming season and I'm looking forward seeing where this goes.
The Good
The Brits had good English accents? It was good to see John Pankow in something. I thought the guy had falling off the Earth since playing Michael J. Fox's buddy Fred Melrose in The Secret of My Success. The first episode was just about as boring as its lead characters.
The Bad
It was dreadfully boring. LA jokes are easy and old. The network supporting characters were the same tired cliches we've seen a thousand times. Crickets lots and lots of crickets.
Wishful Thinking
I'm going to give it another episode before I flush it because the "star" of the show Matt LeBlanc doesn't show up until the next episode. And yes that's how boring the premiere was. We're hoping Matt LeBlanc can save it.
The Good
Holt McCallany owned the role of Lights Leary. Aside from him being a white heavyweight, I had no doubt that he was a retired boxing champ. The boxing scenes, limited number of them there was, were already better than the scenes from The Fighter. Pablo Schreiber and Stacy Keach are both nice as Leary's brother/manager and father respectively. The premiere was mostly spent setting up the back story and issues Leary will have to confront as he gets ready to get back into the ring after a five year layoff.
The Bad
Was it impossible to find an American actress to play Leary's wife. Or at least someone who wouldn't constantly butcher a New York, American or whatever accent she was trying to do. I've never been a Catherine McCormack fan and she's done nothing so far on Lights Out to change that. The story is cliche. Ok it's more than cliche it's basically the only retired boxing champ story there is.
Wishful Thinking
Boxing stories build drama naturally. You're capturing two men who are stepping into an arena to battle one another. As long as the cast delivers solid performances and the director doesn't run the ship aground this series should be a keeper.
Saw shameless tonight. Didn't like it. I now know exactly what Peter Griffin meant when he said "It insists upon itself."
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