As we gear up for the new Fall season (which, to be honest, doesn’t seem like a particularly strong crop this year), let’s take a look at some “in-between” shows that clean up during the low competition months.
Totally Biased…This is W. Kamau Bell’s new show on FX, and if you don’t know who that is (I didn’t), it doesn’t matter. I immediately liked this show because it got Russell Brand’s unwatchable Brand X off the air. And the good news is that it’s much better than Brand X, although that’s not saying much as a dog fucking a watermelon would be a better job than Brand X. But enough about the past…
Totally Biased is another experimental “stand-up comedy” talk show, with Bell usually doing an extended riff on a current topic, then going into a man-on-the-street interview, sometimes a sketch, and finishing with a celebrity interview. So, basically, think of it as a low-budget Daily Show that deals with race 90 percent of the time. Bell doesn’t even pretend to represent both sides (the title IS Totally Biased after all) so I can’t say conservative viewers will have a good time…wait, who cares about them? Grade: B+, with occasional flashes of brilliance as Bell gets gradually more comfortable at this.
Web Therapy…This is the second season of Showtime’s comedy series that stars Lisa Kudrow (seemingly going for the title of “Least likable character on television”) as a dubious, entirely unqualified web therapist that conducts her sessions via webcam. The central gimmick of the show is that the entire thing takes place through webcams, either putting actors on a split screen opposite each other or talking into the same camera. There’s usually a different big name guest star every single episode from Meryl Streep (hilarious, loose, surprising, and sexy as a bimbo sex therapist) to Rosie O’Donnell.
The main problem with this show is right in the center as Kudrow’s Fiona Wallace is not just a despicable person—–which Kudrow knows and revels in—–but that she spreads so much misery to everyone around her. The second another person comes into contact with her, they are blackmailed, bamboozled, ripped off, harassed, and generally fucked over, whether it’s a total celebrity stranger (Conan O’Brien showed up as a vengeful version of himself, adding an easy dose of needed likability to the episode) or a close family member (poor Julia Louis Dreyfuss). After a while the whole experience is a bit numbing, and the comedy style (nasty jabs mixed with awkward situations) seems to be for people that think Ricky Gervais just doesn’t have enough premium cable shows. Grade for the season: C-
Episodes…I know, I know, I’m behind on this show, and the second season finale was a couple weeks back, but who really pays for Showtime every month? Anyway, Episodes finished off their second season in a less dramatically interesting way than their first (when Matt Le Blanc slept with his show’s co-creator and best friend’s wife, Beverly, thus devastating Sean right before their show got picked up by the network), but the overall season was very strong.
Matt Le Blanc shines again as a version of his real life, a shockingly crafty, likable, and vain yet insecure actor rolling in Friends money but now stuck on a ratings-challenged new show he knows sucks (so pretty much exactly like his real life). Overall, the show is an enjoyably sharp satire of Hollywood that, unlike most Showtime comedies, never overdoses on cheap snark and heartless nastiness. Grade for the season: B+