A Drama More Tortuous Than Reality

My wife watches the TV show Parenthood, which means I generally get to watch it too. This is great, because Parenthood is the worst drama on TV (even worse than Downton Abbey). Other shows may be more formulaic (e.g. CSI: Pension Plan, NCIS: GPS, and pretty much the whole CBS prime time schedule), but those shows are superior because they don't raise expectations by pretending to be more than the glossy B-movies that they are. Parenthood unfortunately seems to believe that it has something to say. This in itself isn't a bad thing, but the devil's in the details - one particular detail, as it happens. Because Parenthood has something to say, every single character seems to have something to say, and they do so with a complete lack of subtext. Everyone says exactly what's on their mind all the time. Putting aside that this isn't how real life works, it isn't how drama works either. Drama - at least good drama - lives in the space between the characters' words and their intentions. When done well, the exploration of that tension yields a marvelous imitation of life and its constant parade of ambiguity. The only ambiguity the writers of Parenthood offer is the question of whether they even know how the word is spelled.

Down on Downton

The general consensus is that the first series of Downtown Abbey is a marvelous British period drama but the second run dipped in quality and turned into a soap opera. While there is some truth in that view, it overlooks one key thing not just about Downtown Abbey but also British period dramas in general. Most of the beloved costume dramas from the UK have a strong streak of soap opera in them.

This is as true of programs based on books like Brideshead Revisted and Poldark as it is of the show that Downtown Abbey most resembles - the original Upstairs Downstairs. It's also just as true of the first series of Downtown Abbey meaning that, while there was a distinct dip in quality between the first and second series, it would be a mistake to attribute it to the show suddenly becoming a soap opera. The real culprit seemed to be a lack of focus on the part of the writer, weaving in so many plot threads that not only was it was sometimes unclear which ones we should care about some of those we clearly are meant to focus on felt rushed such as the problems encountered by Mr. Bates late in the series.

Despite that, you have to give credit to the actors for continuing to approach even the more preposterous plot lines with conviction. This is most apparent with Brendan Coyle as Mr. Bates whose dignified performance is a stark contrast with the sensationalistic storyline he's been given. Coyle also starkly contrasts with Maggie Smith as the Countess, whose role has largely degenerated into throwing out pretentiously pithy comments every so often whether the story calls for it or not.

With the third series of Downtown Abbey premiering on PBS tonight, too long after its UK run for most American fans, the biggest question is not what will happen to Bates but rather whether it will be more like the first or the second. Whichever turns out to be the case, the new series is sure to have one thing in common with the previous ones, it will be the classiest soap opera on TV, and that's not a bad thing.

Nothing Bleak But the Title

One of the surest signs of loving something, whether it’s a type of music or genre of literature, is being able to laugh at its eccentricities and conventions and clichés. This is why the best parodies, for example A Mighty Wind and Christopher Guest's other faux-documentaries, tend to be the ones that display an obvious affection for their sources of inspiration. When done right, the end result is a piece of work that goes beyond just being a laugh to being a strong example of the genre itself.

Period drama is ripe for this sort of treatment, but there are surprisingly few examples outside of sketch comedy programs with an occasional Downton Abbey send-up. Aside from Blackadder very few shows have really run with this approach for a full-length series. Among the exceptions, perhaps the best recent example isn't a TV series but rather the product of BBC Radio.

If you've ever wondered what kind of story Charles Dickens would have come up with if he’d written sitcoms instead of serialized novels, the BBC Radio series Bleak Expectations is the show for you. As written by Cambridge Footlights alumnus Mark Evans, the adventures of Sir Philip Bin (who goes by the very Dickensian nickname Pip to his friends, families and enemies) is not just laugh-out-loud funny but also a compelling tale of good versus evil in the finest tradition of Dickens.

Aided by a cast that includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Anthony Head as Pip’s evil guardian Mr. Gently Benevolent and veteran actor Geoffrey Whitehead (who recently appeared in the Martin Clunes remake of Reggie Perrin) as numerous members of the sadistic Hardthrasher family, Evans’ scripts have great fun with the Dickensian settings and plots. What really makes Bleak Expectations worth seeking out, though, is that underneath the sly and knowing remarks from the characters and the outrageous twists of fortune is an engaging enjoyable story where you want to find out what happens in the next episode. In this respect, it’s like so many of the Dickens works that inspired it, just a bit funnier.

Synergy?

If there was an award for bungling corporate synergy, NBC-Universal (or whatever they call themselves nowadays) would be the clear front-runner today. Over the weekend, Saturday Night Live featured a hilarious send-up of the UK drama series Downton Abbey, which is itself produced by a company that’s owned by NBC-Universal. Not surprisingly, considering that Downton Abbey’s ratings on PBS rival those of many things NBC shows in prime-time, this sketch got a lot of attention. One of the venues for this attention was the web-site of NBC’s Today Show, which also included a video clip of that sketch. Or, at least it did earlier today.

As of this writing, if you attempt to play the clip, you get a message explaining that the clip is no longer available due to a copyright claim by NBC. Yes, that’s right a video that features an excerpt from an NBC show that utilizes footage from another NBC show has now been removed from an NBC-owned web-site due to a copyright claim by NBC. I couldn't tell you what the leading book on the topic of corporate synergy is, but I’m confident that this approach is not in it, except perhaps as a warning.