PTR Senior Staff Writer
Comic GeniusWhew! That's over.
"That" being the underwhelmed malaise in which I found myself after watching last week's episode of The Closer. (Seriously, I don't like it when my shows go off their mark; and, contrary to what one might think, I really DON'T like having to bag on them to get back on track).
Nonetheless, we returned to fine form with this week's offering.
Why?
Comic genius.
Even after five seasons, the comedy-heavy episodes this show still comes up with prove to be some of the most entertaining. From the get-go, the writers have consistently struck that precise balance in not being TOO funny whilst trying to solve a murder. In fact, I think they're right up there with the good folks over at Bones, who also have this knack for capitalizing on the strength of their cast's chemistry, which in turn allows for genius timing and dialogue delivery.
And when it's all working like a charm, it's the best stuff on the tube.
And, it doesn't get much better than a mentally unstable guy (which puts it lightly) posing as a Detective Richard (make that Dick) Tracy investigating the death of a reality show numnut called Intrigue who just so happened to specialize in showing men how to pick up women in a bar, bang the lights out of them, then leave them the next morning (seriously, Sanchez? You want to be like THIS with women?) only to have his producer turn on him given the show was SO bad she was going to lose her career over it.
Obviously, Mark Burnett passed on THAT show, eh? (Love ya', Mark!)
Seriously, the whole spin on just how ridiculous the reality show genre has gotten cracked me up. And the producer getting in over her head with a host who ended up being a complete jackarse was a nice swipe at nearly every reality show contestant who ends being WAY too much to handle once they actually get on camera. Add the producer's screaming former assistant, and I found myself just laughing right out loud.
But credit must be given to the whole routine with wanna-be Detective Dick Tracy. Totally.stupidly.funny.brilliant.
Sure, maybe farfetched, but hey, it's television. People have impersonated police officers in real life in a less convincing fashion - and done far WORSE things in the process. I thought the initial fooling of Pope, Provenza and Flynn at the crime scene was awfully good - seeing as they all seemed to be sleepwalking through their day anyways. Tracy's interaction with BJ and Co. had this knat-flying-in-your-face feel; you wanted to swat at it but couldn't quite get it. I loved they had to pretend to treat him LIKE a detective so they could get the case solved.
Eps like this prove this show has so much more left to give.
No more undewhelmed malaise in them here parts.
New episodes of The Closer air Mondays at 9 p.m. on TNT. For the scoop on the series, head on over to the show's official site.
The Good and Bad About Lawyers
Over and over again, we hear people say, "I hate lawyers." Or, "I'd never want to be a lawyer."
Raising the Bar manages to show us why this is true BUT ALSO why some lawyers are good.And necessary.
Especially to fight for those of us who may not know any better.
Take this week's example: a guy taken to the cleaners (and I do mean cleaners, folks) by his lawyer, who managed to bill out so much of his time in "expenses" and "prep" that he ended up taking 99% of his client's settlement against a hospital's negligence for treatment of said client's wife that it left said client with a mere 1% of the settlement.
So make that: Lawyer gets $370,000; client gets $3,700.
Ouch.
The fact said lawyer had a history of taking his other clients to the cleaners makes for a double-ouch.
I confess I took a small amount of pride in Jerry managing to win this case. His hands were tied from nearly every angle - including the fact said client ran down lawyer with his taxi cab (given lawyer wouldn't return calls and/or even TALK to said client after running away with the settlement). But in a sign of the ever developing maturity of the character, Jerry kept his cool (yes, really), made his case to the jury and WON.
Notch one back for the good lawyers in the world.
Which Jerry is.
In other news ... sooooo, Bobbi is now divorced (yay!), and she's about to get cozy with Jerry (double yay!) only to find her now ex-husband having hanged himself in the living room of her apartment after signing the divorce papers (bummer). Actually, not really a bummer. Truth be told, Gavin was getting to be Evan Lawson-esque in annoyingness - sans all the chatter. Perhaps they should've hung out?
In Teddy Sears news ... my bud Rich Woolsley actually took the easy way out with a client this week. WTF? He didn't even ask the client why he had broken into the medical lab (which was, in fact, to steal back his wife's tainted urine sample so she wouldn't lose her job as a result of random drug testing that would've busted her for ONE try of a joint). He ASSUMED the client was there to steal medical equipment to sell on the black market. Rich, Rich, Rich ... what happened, buddy? Thank you, Marcus for agreeing to a do-over.
New episodes of Raising the Bar air Mondays at 10 p.m. on TNT. For the scoop on the series, head on over to the show's official site
1 comment:
I didn’t like this episode at all.
I don’t care for the out and out comedy episodes on The Closer, or Bones. In both cases I want the comedy, when present, to contrast to the drama and not to replace it as the show’s focus.
In the beginning of the series (if my memory serves) the comedy mainly arose from the quirks of BJ – such as, her not knowing L.A. and being uncomfortable driving in the traffic and her love affair with candy. These were used to contrast with her absolute competence in investigation and interrogation.
Now when an episode opens with Flynn and Provenza you know you are going to see the Two Stooges. This time they made it Three with the addition of Pope.
(As an aside, the “subtle” knock on the respect that Pope is held in by BJ is justified. Why would the other cops respect him? Most of Pope’s pronouncements are on press and/or public relations, i.e. the perception of police work and not the reality. And BJ completely and openly ignores any order he issues if it suits her convenience and suffers no repercussions for doing so. What is to respect?)
As for Dick Tracy, he made no sense at all. If he were a nut job who really thought he was a detective, why use an alias? Why obtain and use real officers’ business cards? Those are the actions of someone who knows he is a pretend cop. People do play at being cops because they want to catch bad guys (and here in Philly they just arrested a guy who pretended to be a priest to console the family of a slain officer and also to be part of the services at the Cathedral), but they don’t continue with the charade when the real police catch them at it. His actions are contradictory.
Also the shrieking “girlfriend” made no sense and was very annoying. She knows exactly who the victim was and what he does and she still acts like he was her true love? That is unbelievable. I can buy she wanted to find out what, if anything, made the guy special, not that she fell in love with him.
Post a Comment