Two quick notes, on television series, one of which deserves your attention:
I rewatched (mostly) the mid-’90s Fox Hollywood comedy Action, starring Jay Mohr as a Joel Silver-esque producer of shit films; it made waves, sort of, for its potty-mouth (bleeped when shown but uncensored here) and its gleeful scabrous sensibility. Some of it is very, very funny–a sequence in a bar, as Mohr gets drunk and rants about his latest failure, then gets slapped by Salma Hayek while he tries to suck up. Some of it is a bit too frantic… its writer came off of Larry Sanders, I believe, and some of that show’s energy/wit is there, but only a reasonable percentage — worth a look, but not great.
Truly great–truly, truly wonderfully great–is Cartoon Network’s silly hommage to Johnny Quest-style ‘sixties action cartoons, The Venture Brothers. The creators are coming off of work on The Tick (another short-lived Fox comedy), and they have caught whatever Ben Edlund had — the show is as funny, if not funnier, and a gleeful send-up of action heroics and cartoon conventions. The main characters are the numbskull Hardy-Boys-ish sons of a washed-up “super-scientist” who doesn’t really like his offspring (voiced, perfectly, by James Urbaniak); the Ventures are assisted by the perfect manly Brock Samson, who is given voice by Patrick Warburton, who can do no wrong. And the villains, thus far, are equally sublime: the Monarch, a whiny Butterfly villain, has a significant other named Dr. Girlfriend, who’s drawn like something out of a Conan comic but sounds like Harvey Fierstein; Orpheus, whose “Dracula-guy” look and portentous proclamations are offset by his paternalistic obsessive worry about his goth daughter.
What makes Venture extra-special are two other factors. Its look–from the credits on through each show–is a finely-drawn hommage to those old shows, complete with strange angles, split-screens, garish colors. And it is actually a character-driven show, not just gags a-plenty; each week (I’m rushing through the dvd of season one) the boys and the others actually seem to develop some complexity and intriguing emotional depth. Despite being never less than ridiculous, they are not just one-note jokes. Highly recommended. Mauer–you especially. Buy it; I know you’ll like it.
Oh, I love what i’ve seen of the Venture Brothers. I have to admit that I was surprised by it, in that I didn’t know that anyone spent as much time as a grown-up pondering the many facets of Johnny Quest, which was easily the best Hanna-Barbera show ever, with the best music.
Mike – how can you not mention Dr. Girlfriend’s sexy Jackie O fetish?
Since Reynolds mentioned Patrick Warburton, I’ll ask if anyone here has seen his one starring role, as far as I know, the very funny, stylish and odd film from 2000 called The Woman Chaser?
We saw it in a theater when it came out b/c the preview was so intriguing. IMDB says it has not ever been released on DVD or VHS, so I’d be surprised. But I may have come across it again on cable at some point. It’s film noir-ish, quite beautifully shot. They didn’t spend a lot of money on it, but it was all done quite well. It’s based on a novel by the guy who wrote Miami Blues, which I think is a film Reynolds likes. (he also wrote Cockfighter, which I’ve not seen, but it does star Warren Oates, so I’m sure M. Frisoli has.
Anyway, from what I remember Warburton is a car salesman who decides to become a director. Artistic integrity ensues. If IFC or Sundance are playing it, it’s well worth checking out.
I think the guy who wrote Miami Blues is Charles Willeford. and strange that you mention Cockfighter, Mark–it is number eight on my netflix cue.
I put Cockfighter in my queue–didn’t know it was out. Willeford’s a helluva writer.
Back to comedy–we just watched the first episode of Showtime’s Weeds, about a suburban widow (Mary Louise Parker) dealing pot and dealing with her two sons, terrible neighbors (especially the delightfully nasty Elizabeth Perkins), etc. Very funny… has anyone seen this? It’s really damn solid in its set-up of characters and situation, and I could easily see the show growing; in fact, for what is only a half-hour show, it provides a tremendous amount of detailed history and personality for each of the players.
please a minute of non-silence for mickey spillane who turned the noir novel into a fascist diatribe
I’ve seen the first six episodes of “Weeds” and I think its a great half hour comedy series (watched it all in the car yesterday). The writing is smart, the actors game and playful, the emotions genuine. I particularly like the way it handles race, and Mary Louise Parker is a revelation . . . always. But I think it is the return of Elizabeth Perkins that makes the show. And Minneapolis son Justin Kirk arrives in episde 3 and he’s a hoot (you might remember him from Mike Nichols adaptation of Angels in America).
I’m halfway through season two of The Venture Bros, and it may be the funniest show on television. I was particularly struck by an episode called “Escape to the House of Mummies, Part II”–there was no part 1 (we just get a wonderful “Last week’s episode” opener), and I’ve never seen a time machine used as a throwaway plot line just so someone can get Edgar Allen Poe into a headlock (“Man, that guy’s got a melon!”) and later use him for a lovely Empire Strikes Back joke. I never know where the show is going–it’s loopy as hell–but the characters are, as I noted above, carefully and respectfully given dimensions; they ain’t there as vehicles for whatever shtick this week’s writer imagined, but instead develop particular personalities over the seasons.
God I love this show.
While young Hank Venture uses a air-dryer in a restroom to remove the wet stain from his crotch, he yells, appreciatively, “It’s like a guy with a fever is yelling at my pants!” Now that’s writing.