Devotees of the well-organized creative minutia of Wes Anderson, the humor of Spike Jonze, the mixed media daring of Michel Gondry and the experimental free-for-all of Neistat Brothers inspirations Jean-Luc Godard and Hunter S. Thompson are sure to delight in television’s debut “handmade home movie TV show.”
Although on the surface, HBO’s newest Friday night series The Neistat Brothers looks like it could play as an installation exhibit at your local museum of contemporary art, you’re quick to discover that it’s filled with the same sense of wonder that caused most of us to pick up video cameras at a young age and start rolling… um, tape.
As the two introduce us to the mad method behind their mini-movies, filming and adventuring for four weeks and diligently editing for two in their downtown Manhattan studio, 368 Broadway, their enthusiasm for the craft of filmmaking becomes infectious. Soon they take journeys ranging in scale from the dollar store with one’s son and another trip to Amsterdam in order to share their ideas with us over the course of an eight episode season.
Quick to discern that -- although it’s about the lives of the brothers -- it’s never about whom they really are and therefore not a (yawn) reality series, The Neistat Brothers is a cheery blend of creative mischief and innovative mayhem that must be experienced in order to describe.
Veterans of short filmmaking since they used their tax returns to buy iMac DV computers before maxing out their credit cards to fill their hands with cameras, the two who are perhaps most famous for a short work they did about the batteries in an iPod, compare their interest in their work to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in which a trade was made for the chance or opportunity to achieve something great.
With roughly seven short films and interstitial movies complete with a corresponding theme “baked together in iMovie” to comprise each episode, the brothers Van and Casey admirably give YouTube a run for its overexposed money by primarily using cameras (both still and moving) that most of us use to shoot our family and friends with on a regular basis before going off on their filmed escapades that encompass everything from model boat racing to showing us “A Cool Thing About a Garbage Truck.”
And throughout, they interweave the story of how one brother met their spouse and then tracked down their biological dad at the age of thirty-two to making a movie with their budding filmmaker son, racing their Olympic skier assistant to Amsterdam on a maple syrup expedition or reenacting a scene from The Shining.
And after just two episodes, I'm confident that the series that took a full year to make, promises to be as filled with smiles as it is a celebration of artistic exploration, which proves once again why HBO is as usual several steps ahead of the curve when it comes to intellectual programming we didn’t even know we were missing.
FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.
In the words of Divya (Reshma Shetty), “the cold war’s still raging” between the brothers after Hank (Mark Feuerstein) and Evan (Paulo Costanzo) find that HankMed’s entire savings have been swindled by their untrustworthy father, following Evan’s judgmental lapse to trust the man who helped bring them into the world.
And while checks are bouncing and Hank avoids Divya’s calls as well as his appointment to take care of the family situation as the second season of Royal Pains begins, soon the “Robin Hood of Medicine” is back in full swing, reminding America why he’s become our knight in a shiny white coat (when that is, he’s not wearing Hamptons beach apparel).
As a concierge doctor to the rich and an on-call physician to everyone else including his mysteriously ill landlord Boris (Campbell Scott), Hank finds himself up to his neck in work revolving around one unusually accident prone infomercial spokesperson who seems to have a different ailment every time Divya’s phone rings.
With Marcia Gay Harden making the life of Dr. Jill Casey (Jill Flint) miserable at the local hospital thanks to the young woman’s insistence to put the comfort and needs of patients before the tantrums and paychecks of spoiled surgeons, Jill is all too eager to become even more professionally entangled by HankMed despite her romantically rocky relationship with the leading man.
In a pleasant prescription of sunny fun and feverish medical drama complete with some of the most bizarre cases you’ll find on that side of New York, Royal Pains tricks you into assuming it’s all business as usual until-- much like in the outlandish emergencies Hank is able to instantly piece together-- the series produces a side effect we weren’t expecting at all in one killer of an ending sure to lead to USA Network addiction this summer. Luckily, however, there’s a cure for what ails you and HankMed’s got it in spades.
FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I viewed an online screener of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.
Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) may be a captured spy at the start of the fourth season of Matt Nix’s wildly inventive Mission Impossible meets MacGyver series Burn Notice, but the one thing we know about Westen by now is that he’s not going to stay captured for long.
Temporarily brought into custody at what the outside world may assume is a document processing plant that truly doubles as a secret holding center for VIPs (very important prisoners), Westen is persuaded to work alongside the agency that burned him by the mysterious and charismatic Vaughn (Robert Wisdom) who assures Westen that the government has plenty of use for burned spies since people without direct ties can cross lines that those on the paper trail cannot.
And soon enough, the two begin going after an illegal weapons salesman, which we realize is just step one in what Vaughn describes as “a new kind of problem” for our national security that will consume Michael in this summer’s return to USA Network’s hit series.
Finding himself drawn into another more urgent battle by Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and Sam (Bruce Campbell) who are in over their heads protecting a lawyer from Miami’s toughest biker gang who’ve gotten the greenlight to end their client’s life, Sam reassures their pal that although their reunion for their captured friend is brief, “this whole business here needs a little Michael Westen” before arming him to the teeth in a high speed pursuit.
Deftly balancing adventure with the building plot concerning Westen’s fate now that he’s begun putting the pieces together regarding who burned him and why, the season gets off to an action packed start with the same trademark tongue-in-cheek narration about Fiona infiltrating a group running on “testosterone and motor oil” that we’ve come to appreciate whenever the temperatures rise and Nix’s series once again takes to the airwaves.
FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I viewed an online screener of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.
Oil, we're reminded in the premiere episode of History Channel's America: The Story of Us, wasn't always the driving force behind our global economy. Following the original “hell on Earth” time of starvation and lack of resources that left only sixty of the original five hundred settlers alive roughly four hundred years ago, it wasn't oil but rather timber that was the backbone of our international trade and economy.
However, thanks to the revolutionary efforts of settler John Rolfe who arrived with both a plan to prosper and a more open mind to make friends with the natives by marrying Pocahontas, the settlers started to thrive. Tobacco became the element that our land was built upon since as we now know, everyone had become addicted ensuring that the demand would never waver.
Yet when the colonists began to flourish so much that their lifespans increased along with their height and income compared to unhealthier statistics back home in England, the King sent in the Red Coats to get “a bigger piece of the pie” by increasing taxation until the rebels unified into a nation of Americans ready to stand their ground.
One of the unmissable television events of 2010, History Channel's ambitious and sweeping epic of a documentary which will be given free of charge to every school in the country, combines CGI, live action recreations, models, animation, celebrity and scholarly interview footage and the narration of Liev Schreiber to tell the audacious, challenging, bloody, inspiring and surprising story of four hundred years of the United States of America.
Broken up into twelve hour- long episodes and airing six consecutive Sunday evenings beginning on April 25th at 9pm ET/PT and running through Memorial Day, America: The Story of Us, which was made with the generous cooperation of our national and local museums, libraries and more will open with remarks from President Barack Obama.
The series bring us all the way back to the days when temperatures were two degrees cooler, bison roamed the land and Jamestown was being established up through too the Boston Massacre, our first continental congresses, and the resolve of rebellious citizens in all thirteen colonies to take up arms against the world's most powerful military force during the Revolutionary War.
In the words of President Obama, throughout this stunningly crafted and compelling work that truly ensures you feel a sense of urgent immediacy in the events rather than a dry lecture, we're reminded that “our American story has never been inevitable. It was made possible by ordinary people who kept their moral compass pointed straight and true when the way seemed treacherous; when the climb seemed steep; and when the future seemed uncertain.”
Paying tribute to as Obama noted in the press release, “a fundamental part of our American character... to remake ourselves – and our nation – to fit our larger dreams,” the History Channel's painstakingly crafted effort is gripping right from the start.
Likewise, it serves as a very welcome living textbook to reacquaint us with the story of our past from the people's perspective so that we can respect it, learn from it, and use the knowledge of it in our pursuits for the next chapter of the nation we call home.
Episode Guide: (Courtesy of History Channel)
1 - REBELS
In 1607 a small group of English adventurers lands in Jamestown. Thirteen years later the Pilgrims settle in Plymouth, New England. These men and women are all driven by the promise of a new life; all face huge dangers from disease, starvation and conflict. The two colonies are very different, yet in time both grow. One man’s entrepreneurial dream, tobacco, and the first African Americans, turn the swamps of the South into a land of opportunity. The hardworking and resourceful Puritans forge the North into a trading powerhouse with shipbuilding at its core. Within 100 years they have the highest standard of living in the world: testament to a unique American spirit. Yet success and wealth prompt British jealousy, taxation, resistance and then war. This is the story of how, over seven generations, a group of European settlers survive against all odds, claw themselves up, and then turn against their colonial masters. A diverse group of men, women and children are about to become truly American. 2 - REVOLUTION
July 9, 1776 – the Declaration of Independence is read to crowds in New York. Offshore, over 400 ships bristling with soldiers and guns are massing. It is the largest British invasion force until D-Day. America’s thirteen colonies have taken on the might of the world’s leading superpower. Within months, George Washington’s army has been decimated and defeat seems inevitable. Yet by 1783, America is free. It is a conflict that tests the resolve of Patriot soldiers to the breaking point. It takes us from the trenches of Manhattan, to the harsh winter camp of Valley Forge, and from the forests along the Hudson, to the spy-ridden streets of occupied New York and finally, to victory at Yorktown. American forces learn the hard way how to master the landscape, new weapons, and unconventional battle tactics. And with this elite force, forged through revolution, Washington saps the strength of the British Army to prevail in what has become a titanic battle of wills. As the British leave, a new nation, the United States of America, is born. 3 - WESTWARD
As the American nation is born, a vast continent lies to the west of the mountains, waiting to be explored and exploited. Yet this land is not empty – Native American Indians are spread across the land mass, as are Spanish colonists and French explorers. For the pioneers who set out to confront these lands, following trailblazers like Daniel Boone, the conquest of the West is a story of courage and hardship that forges the character of America. Armed with knowledge from hardened mountain men like Jedediah Smith, millions of Americans keep heading ever westward. Their journeys by wagon train are fraught with danger, across distances never imagined possible. But the allure of adventure, opportunity and economic gain is too strong. While some struggle to create new lives on the frontier, others are rewarded with riches on a scale never seen before, as the world rushes in to mine California’s gold. America now stretches from “sea to shining sea.” And when American pioneers master the waters of the Mississippi basin with a radical invention, the steamboat, a new era opens. 4 - DIVISION
America becomes a nation at the moment a revolution in commerce and industry sweeps across the western world. The construction of the Erie Canal – an audacious feat of engineering achieved against the odds with black-powder and hard work – results in hundreds of workmen being killed, but the pay-off is immense. This vast new country, rich in resources, experiences rapid change in trade, transport and manufacturing, quickly turning America into one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. New York booms, the factory town of Lowell becomes the cradle of the American industrial revolution, and in the South, with the invention of the cotton gin, cotton is king. Now two different Americas, united in prosperity but divided by culture, face each other across a growing gulf. The issue is slavery. It underpins the prosperity of the South, but the North, though complicit, shows growing unease. There are violent clashes in Kansas. Abolitionist John Brown carries out a suicidal mission to try to end slavery in Virginia. He fails. With the election of Abraham Lincoln the stage is set for war. 5 - CIVIL WAR
The Civil War rages. The terrible new technology of the minie ball is devastating Union and Confederate forces alike. It is 20th-century technology meeting 18th-century tactics and the result is a death toll never before seen on American soil. But the strict discipline and unshakeable belief in their cause have welded Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army into a formidable force. And Lee is the ultimate military commander. His victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run leads him to within 20 miles of Washington and it looks as if the Union might lose. But President Abraham Lincoln is fighting a very different kind of war – one of technological innovation and military centralization. It’s a war that General Lee can’t even see. Lincoln uses the rail network, the telegram, supply lines, and even advances in battlefield medicine and the media to mobilize men and machines as never before to fight the world’s first technological war. As the battle reaches its bloody climax at Atlanta the industrial capacity of the North is harnessed as Lincoln declares “Total War.” With General William Sherman’s March to the Sea, the South is definitively crushed. The industrial might that sees the Union prevail now leaves America poised to explode into the 20th century as a global superpower. 6 - HEARTLAND
In 1869 the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America, more than two thousand miles apart, are linked by continuous metal rails. The Transcontinental Railroad – the world’s first – is the most ambitious human enterprise since the Great Wall of China, and much of it is built by Chinese laborers. The railroad doesn’t just change the lives of Americans, it alters the entire ecology of the continent, and there are casualties. The vast Plains, where buffalo roam and Native Americans civilizations flourish, become home to farmers who build houses of grass – until daring loggers in the North drive lumber down the rivers to build the new homes and cities of the Midwest. It’s the railroad that creates a new American icon – the cowboy – who trails cattle thousands of miles to meet the railheads and bring food to the East. But a simple new invention will change the lives of settlers, cowboys and Native Americans: barbed wire. Steel rails and now steel wire parcel up the Plains. In less than a quarter of a century, the heartland is transformed – not by the gun, but by railroad, fence, and plow. 7 - CITIES
Between 1880 and 1930, nearly 24 million new immigrants arrive in America. Many go to work building a new frontier: the modern city, and one of America’s greatest inventions. The high cost of land in cities like New York and Chicago means the only way to build is up. A new kind of building, the skyscraper, is made possible by steel. Produced on a massive scale by Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie, steel production underpins the infrastructure of the modern city. This new urban frontier draws rural migrants and newly arrived immigrant workers. For many, the Statue of Liberty is their first sight of the New World and Ellis Island is the gateway to the American Dream. The lawless city offers opportunities for many, astronomical wealth for a few. Police chief Thomas Byrnes uses his violent new innovation, “the third degree,” to keep a lid on crime. The millions flocking to urban areas often experience terrible conditions in disease-ridden tenements. Jacob Riis, photographer and reformer, brings their plight to the world with his groundbreaking photographs in the book “How the Other Half Lives.” Workers in new high rise factories become urban martyrs in New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, as the city struggles to make these new buildings safe. Powered by steel and electricity, the city begins to be tamed and defined by mass transportation, stunning skylines, electric light...and the innovative, industrious American spirit.
8 - BOOM
In 1910 California, a column of oil nearly 200 feet high explodes out of a derrick and sets off a chain of events that will turn America into a superpower. Oil production doubles overnight and prices plummet from $2 to 3 cents a barrel. Quick to capitalize on this abundant cheap fuel is Henry Ford, a maverick entrepreneur who vows to bring the motor car to the masses. In 1900 there are 8,000 cars in the country. By 1930 there are over 20 million. As the population becomes more mobile, the entire shape of America changes. Cities grow as centers of industry, creating new opportunities, and new challenges. In one of the greatest engineering projects of the century, thousands of workers divert enough water hundreds of miles across a desert to quench sprawling Los Angeles’ thirst. Mass production and job opportunities prompted by the First World War draw African Americans to northern cities like Chicago, but racial conflict follows. Many Americans see the burgeoning cities as havens of vice, and chief among them is drink. A popular campaign to ban alcohol succeeds, yet when it comes, Prohibition triggers a wave of organized crime. One man set to benefit is Al Capone. He makes the equivalent of $1,500 a minute from bootleg alcohol. For a time he seems untouchable. But even he is not above the law. 9 - BUST
In October 1929, the Twenties boom crashes on Wall Street. Between 1929 and 1932, $2 billion in deposits evaporate. The American Dream has become a nightmare. The Crash coincides with the start of the Great Depression. Unemployment rises to more than one-fourth of the workforce and as confidence in U.S. banks disintegrates, bank closures sweep the nation. On the Great Plains, economic difficulties are compounded by natural disaster. Years of intensive plowing and severe drought dry out the land. Vast dust storms fill the skies and drive people west. Inaugurated in the depths of the depression, new president Franklin D. Roosevelt starts to turn things around. The New Deal and public works projects save America from despair and destitution. The construction of the Hoover Dam and Mount Rushmore employs thousands of men and signals recovery and hope for the future. However, world conflict is brewing in Europe – brought home to Americans by the symbolic boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. 10 - WWII
It is 1939 and while war breaks out in Europe, America remains mired in a ten-year depression. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings America into world war, changing the nation from an isolationist continent to a global player – and ensuring economic prosperity once more. America launches a war effort – and as always, bigger is better. The nation taps into the vast manufacturing reserves that have been idle for ten years: factories, electrical plants, railroads. The war gives jobs to seven million unemployed, half of them women nicknamed “Rosie the Riveters.” By 1944, the U.S. is producing 40% of the world’s armaments, having developed the jeep, radar, and Norden bombsight. The might of America’s strategy and supplies turns the tide of war. The U.S. Air Force launches pioneering daylight bombing raids over occupied Europe in B-17 bombers. Under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower, D-Day is an astonishing success. In 1945, war in the Pacific is brought to a close by the ultimate piece of technology, the atomic bomb. A new world order has been created – and America has changed forever. 11 - BOOMERS 12 - MILLENNIUM
These two episodes look at the defining moments from 1945 onwards and trace them back to their antecedents in earlier American history. Some of America’s most prominent faces share their ideas on the definitive moments in American history, and reflect on what has made us who we are. This turbulent period, so recent in memory, also shines a light on what is best and most inspiring about being American. We tell the story of post-war America, including the building of the interstate highways and suburbia, the tensions of the Cold War, the euphoria of the Civil Rights movement, hippies and counterculture, the dark hours of Vietnam and Watergate, the Reagan era, Silicon Valley and the groundbreaking election of Barack Obama. Following the theme of technological innovation throughout the series we’ll look at how the U.S. landed humans on the moon and contributed to enormous technological inventions like the Internet. But above all, we’ll look at what has endured through 400 years in the American character.
Two of USA's Favorite Shows Return on August 7, 2009 Monk Begins to Solve His Last Cases in the Final Season and Shawn & Gus Take Witty Aim at The Mentalist
Although he was very gracious and humble, in a recent interview, Tony Shalhoub revealed that the flip-side to starring in a series about a man with OCD is that at times, it can bring out the obsessive side in Monk's most ardent fans.
Perhaps channeling some of these experiences and of course putting his own Tony Shalhoub/Adrian Monk spin on things, in the surprisingly lighthearted opener of the eighth and final season of USA Network's award-winning series, we meet Adrian Monk as a super fan.
Not unlike the Tobey Maguire character in the film Pleasantville who can describe in excessive detail the dialogue, plotlines and inner-workings of his favorite show-- in Monk's case, he's fixated on the escapist Brady Bunch-like fare he preferred to his dysfunctional family growing up.
So similar to Brady Bunch that-- I could be mistaken-- but I believe the same music was used and more than a few faux "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" jokes were made with a new cast of characters and the catchphrase "shucky-darn," Monk finds himself living out his wildest fan fantasies after he becomes the bodyguard of one of the series' child stars.
Having just published a salacious tell-all book that Monk hasn't had time to read but Natalie has only to discover that it's so filthy that the book is filled with possible suspects, the woman that Monk still envisions as the character on his beloved series at first humors the detective by watching a few classic episodes with him but his groupie act wears thin fast.
Asking more questions about the show than who could possibly be trying to murder the actress, Monk's usual knack for detection is threatened by his blind worship of the woman. To this end he makes a few mistakes as a result including not only ignoring the motive that's just been printed hot off the presses by avoiding cracking the book open but also by letting the actress check into a hotel after her life is threatened one more time.
When a bullet rips into the fantasy and the book offers Monk a reality check, he realizes that he can't always believe what he sees on TV and intriguingly by celebrating Monk's surprising love of television comfort food, the show's producers are celebrating the idea of the series as comfort food as well.
Although it makes sense to kick off the closing set of episodes with some more of the show's instantly recognizable standalone formulaic work with a fun and innocuous beginning, despite this it's nonetheless a hardly memorable premiere in comparison to some of the previous openers of seasons past.
Yet, there's still a method to the brilliant writers' decision to open this way when you know they could've really thrown us for a loop if they'd wanted-- since by presenting Adrian in a state that seems to be pretty peaceful and contented and by giving him the chance to make us laugh, subconsciously it guarantees that the series will move into darker terrain later.
Likewise, even the title of "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show" seems to be a way to salute the fans. Thus, fittingly it applauds those who relish in the show's familiarity and non-challenging paradigm that's made this dysfunctional faux family feel like an extension of their real family. Of course, additionally it has significance since, while on the one hand it subtly thanks viewers for making it their favorite show... on the other of course, it reminds us via Shalhoub's Monk to remember not to get obsessed and realize that it's only a TV series after all.
Psych
Premiere Episode Review: "Extradition: British Columbia"
I've never seen The Mentalist but it's been a fascinating week and a half since I was fortunate enough to view Psych's Season 4 premiere episode for review as I watched the media camps divide as though it was the newest and hottest battle since Seth Rogen took on the creator of Entourage.
Of course, when you begin taking into consideration which magazines, newspapers and other outlets are owned by which corporations and tie it all into a ribbon as they get tighter and tighter into a noose which leads to the CBS network that is home to The Mentalist, you understand where some of the (ahem) objective anti-Psych criticisms are coming from in this day, age and fear of downsizing.
Yet the bottom line is that Psych went the fake psychic route first and just saying the plotline aloud of a "fake psychic solves crimes" demands that you take a comedic approach which creator Steve Franks has done to masterful effect since the series began in 2006.
Likewise, the series has only gotten stronger with each passing year as it began incorporating rapid fire screwball dialogue we haven't seen since the days of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Amy Sherman-Palladino's Gilmore Girls. Furthermore, they've seasoned the ingenious scripts with a cast filled with entirely likable characters which in itself is amazingly rare as typically shows always seem to feel the need to utilize at least one jerk to be the generic "sarcastic guy" to generate laughter. And obviously the Psych trademark has become to do all this while filling it to chock full with pop-culture references that make it something truly special and downright joyous indeed.
A show that's so infectious and multi-layered with its reference heavy humor that even cast mates including this year's recurring guest performer Rachael Leigh Cook shared in a recent interview that she was a fan before even she appeared on the series-- season four's premiere makes the most of its British Columbia filming location by setting the typically Santa Barbara based series there.
With Gus tagging along on what he soon realizes was intended as Shawn's elaborately planned romantic vacation with his girlfriend (Cook) when her schedule changes at the last minute-- soon the two are brought on the trail of an art heist in this play not only on The Mentalist but also Entrapment, The Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair as the guys cite everything from Miller's Crossing to Dr. Zhivago while pursuing the illusive thief played by Cary Elwes.
Forever disappearing off balconies or using a Baked Alaska as a diversion, Elwes' notoriously smooth criminal has long been an obsession of Detective Lassiter. Becoming an uncharacteristic man of action, Lassiter decides to use some of the 325 days of unused vacation time he has stored up to see the man in the flesh, bringing his partner Jules along in order to take advantage of her frequent flier miles.
Overall, while the elaborate heist set-up and cinematic look of the show feels a bit out-of-place as one of the traditional standalone episodes, it's also wonderfully welcome to shake things up as the cast acknowledges this directly joke-wise when for example Gus has to slither through security sensors a la Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment or Cameron Diaz in Charlie's Angels.
Similar to the unexpected and unpredictable re-introduction to Adrian Monk-- seeing Shawn and Gus on a romantic Canadian adventure pursuing an art thief was quite a surprise for a longtime fan. Yet likewise it was one that seemed to move beyond the "gimmick" of taking on another show whether it was via Monk's twisted Brady Bunch or Psych's play on Mentalist rather well. Moreover, it did so in a way that made the premiere feel much more polished and far more entertaining than Monk's this time around. And in the same token, it marked a great return for those viewers who are Psyched to play another round of catch that in-joke with Shawn and Gus once again.
“Spies aren’t trained to fight fair; spies are trained to win,” former CIA operative Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) explains in season three’s opening episode “Friends and Family.”
Utilizing the same “My name is Michael Westen,” self-deprecating narration that precedes every episode-- allowing new viewers to catch up every week and join the legions of fans that have made this incredibly hip non-traditional spy series the number one show in all of cable television-- Burn Notice seamlessly picks up the thread of the previous storyline.
Yet by this point, Westen’s memorable introduction has become much more than just a staple of the series. In fact, his ongoing narration throughout the show has evolved into a Burn Notice trademark. Likewise it's one that’s actually just as important as not simply the chemistry of the show’s lead actors (Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell), but it also serves as the ideal partner to Burn’s sexy, fast-paced cinematic visuals to ingeniously counter the explosions, chases, and gun-play in the Miami setting.
Unexpectedly tongue-in-cheek and filled with dryly funny observations, blithely acerbic throwaway spy-speak that makes explosives and torture sound like gardening tips and kitchen recipes-- it’s the screenplay’s ability to underplay the rather extraordinary events that give the show its wholly original spin of letting you inside the rather strange landscape of spies and ex-spies.
And of course, the show focus on one burned spy in particular with Donovan’s tremendously acted Michael Westen. Westen-- now cut off from his old employer of the US government—has teamed up with his “trigger happy ex-girlfriend,” in the form of the stunningly beautiful IRA trained explosives expert Fiona (Scent of a Woman’s Gabrielle Anwar) alongside the scene-stealing and humorous “washed-up military intelligence contact” Sam (Bruce Campbell, basically playing a subtle variation of “Bruce Campbell”).
Free from both the water in which he plummeted at the end of season two as well as “from interference by the organization that burned him,” Michael’s troubles are far from over as he still freelances to get by alongside a much feistier and far more flirtatious and emotionally invested Fiona as well as Sam, who’s currently residing with Michael’s mother Madeline (Sharon Gless) to help repair her still mostly blown up home.
When an old friend appears out of the woodwork requesting Westen’s assistance, he accepts the job despite Fiona’s suspicions which results in action galore from a high-kicking fight, a fall from a glass window, and one massive truck explosion.
Unfortunately however, when big things go “boom,” it’s hard for the local law enforcement to look the other way and Michael finds a new nemesis in the form of a twisted “stalker with a badge,” Miami Police Detective Michelle Paxson (Moon Bloodgood, fresh off her turn in Terminator Salvation).
To this end, Paxson dedicates all of her efforts to putting a stop to Michael, Fiona, and Sam’s extracurricular faux law enforcement activities. Nearly right after she's introduced, she busts Fi for bounty hunting without a license, harasses everyone Michael is or has ever been associated with, drags him into the station for endless questioning in a strange interplay that hints she may be attracted to her suspect, and prompts the group to try and hastily move a stash of C4 from a storage facility before the police warrant arrives.
Temporarily able to stay one step ahead of her, Burn Notice begins building into far more complicated plot structures with the second and third intricately written and breathlessly paced episodes “Question & Answer” and “End Run.”
Still annoyed that Paxson has cost Fiona a payday with her bounty, she quickly accepts a job to “knock some sense” into a woman’s husband and intervene in a domestic situation. Grudgingly Michael goes along much to the chagrin of his mother who’s planning to throw her son his first ever birthday party (forgetting that in sixth grade the one she remembered was for a different kid).
With the idea that Paxson could be trying to get into his C4 stash at anytime, the last thing Michael wants to do is play a heavy in a husband and wife custody disagreement but Fiona’s case takes a turn when the child involved is abducted and held for diamonds.
Employing Sam to impersonate a bad cop (which Michael gamely explains in his narration is much less work than playing a good one), they pull a controversial “reverse interrogation” technique where once again Michael is tortured to try and get information in the most puzzling of ways.
Incredibly violent yet unspeakably clever and easily the strongest of the three episodes I screened in the new season so far-- I was stunned when Nix and company decided to layer on even more perilous double-crosses and scores to settle in another hostage drama “End Run” that brings Michael’s brother Nate (Seth Peterson) back to the show.
Overall, Burn Notice is routinely at its best when it goes to great lengths to involve the three main cast mates in the same situation and even more so in episodes like “Question & Answer” when they layer several cases and angles into the roughly forty-two minute running time.
And as far as the new addition goes, it’s safe to say that Paxson will be around for awhile at least until they can figure out either what she wants or how to distract her enough aside from one humorous attempt to do so with finances in the third episode. Likewise the sexual tension building once more between Michael and Fiona is getting as sultry as the Miami heat as we see just in the first three episodes alone and to his immense credit, Nix’s vision for the action drama is wonderfully still intact.
Even though it’s always a struggle to keep the tempo and plot-lines when one obstacle is pushed out of the way-- as Westen realizes he no longer needs to fear being foiled by the group that burned him-- admirably the shows seems to be incorporating new dilemmas in a believable way (for example, I’m guessing that “End Run” will have a follow-up at some point).
Additionally by getting that one plot point out of the way regarding Michael's "burn," it’s the ideal time to start tuning in now as not only does Westen’s opening narration help bring you up to speed but in many cases it’s a great transitional time to jump in.
And in fact, I can attest to this myself, having only seen a handful of episodes before my season three triple play invited me in with the promise by Westen that—just like a spy who wants to win-- the show will never fight fair, managing to challenge us in one of the smartest and most entertaining hours currently playing on television.
Last year USA Network added two new shows to its impressive roster of Monk, Psych and Burn Notice. In doing so, they launched Debra Messing’s The Starter Wife (which was spun-off from the channel’s Emmy Award winning miniseries of the same name) along with its New Mexico set Witness Protection Program action dramady In Plain Sight starring Mary McCormack as one unforgettable U.S. Marshal.
And furthering the #1 basic cable network’s commitment to delivering high quality entertainment that coincide with the channel’s promise of “characters welcome,” this summer USA introduces us to its newest endeavor via series creator Andrew Lenchewski’s Royal Pains.
The third medical program premiering this season following the end of USA’s parent company-- NBC Universal’s-- wildly successful drama E.R., yet the only one of the trio (including Showtime’s Nurse Jackie starring Edie Falco and TNT’s Hawthorne with Jada Pinkett Smith) that deals with a male MD protagonist and is primarily set outside the hospital, Royal Pains takes a rather unusual approach to the genre that’s glimpsed immediately when the pilot begins.
With basic cable’s top-rated show Burn Notice serving as its lead-in, Royal Pains debuts on Thursday, June 4 at 10/9 central with limited commercial interruption for its 75 minute premiere (essentially giving viewers 2 episodes for the price of one) on the network that’s available in 94 million American homes.
Chronicling the tale of talented, quick thinking, and altruistic E.R. doctor Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) who loses his position after he’s blamed for the death of the hospital’s wealthiest benefactor. Bursting into the hospital on his day off with a patient in tow who’d collapsed near the doc on a basketball court—when Hank is ordered to leave the youth to take care of the wealthy patient, Hank stabilizes the latter and logically returns to the more perilous and urgent case in order to save the younger man’s life.
However, after a freak accident occurs and the other man ends up dead, Hank discovers he’s not only blacklisted from every hospital in the area and now the target of endless lawsuits but that his relationship with his superficial fiancé has fallen apart as well when his lack of title fails to match her couture as the right “male” accessory.
Wallowing in self-pity; Hank is jolted out of his depression by his younger brother Evan (series scene-stealer Paulo Costanzo--gifted with the funniest off-the-wall lines) who persuades Hank to accompany him to the Hamptons for a weekend of Memorial Day parties. Reluctant to leave the house, when Evan reminds his brother that his Netflix account has been frozen and he’s out of booze, Hank travels along only to get much more than he bargained for when the long weekend turns into an indefinite move after an incident at a party finds Hank reminded of his Hippocratic oath to save a young woman from death.
Impressed by his ability to pull a MacGyver (one of the show’s most amusing plot techniques which is used at least four times in the pilot) by employing everyday objects as unexpected lifesaving devices, he catches the eye of the mysterious Hamptons resident Boris (Campbell Scott). When news that a hot new MD has arrived, Hank’s BlackBerry nearly blows out its battery in his first twenty-four hours of vacation as he makes the rounds catering to those in need.
With the Hamptons crowd mistaking Hank for a “concierge doctor,” a.k.a. the doctors on demand private physicians for hire that cater to the whims of the privileged and insanely rich—he’s endlessly urged along by his brother and CPA Evan along with Divya (Reshma Shetty) who shows up with the cute but aggressive goal to become his physician’s assistant.
Altruistic and good-natured—the sort of Frank Capra like dream doctor who puts patients before payments—initially Hank worries about the ethics involved regarding the payments (as Scott’s Boris for example gives him a gold brick). However, when he has the opportunity to save the life of a young, incredibly mature yet overly lonely and ignored hemophiliac teen and he’s charmed by the beauty of the Hamptons’ hospital administrator Jill (Jill Flint) who sees Hank as an ideal candidate to assist her in the fight against unequal medical care, he grudgingly concedes to stick around for awhile forming HankMed alongside Evan and Divya.
As the first official scripted original series from Universal Cable Productions for the USA Network, Royal Pains seems to make an ideal addition to the channel’s line-up of characters with strong moral and ethical compasses who find themselves fighting against the system whether it’s in the way that Michael and Fiona go places the cops won’t on Burn Notice or the guys on Psych help solve cases by noticing the little things-- Royal Pains shows a great deal of promise.
Visually breathtaking and the first episode is in fact helmed by a Burn Notice director that adds to the segue between the two shows with some long sweeping shots, inventive camera angles, and terrific editing that blends music and visuals in a rapid and exciting fashion, it’s also naturally heightened with the gorgeousness of the Hamptons location.
While initially I feared that it was going to be a simple tongue-in-cheek look of the trivialities of the Botox and Viagra set, I admire the way that at least in a subtextual form, the show hints about the class inequities of the setting as the rich can helicopter themselves to the best facilities in the world and the janitors and housekeepers who keep their lives running must settle for whatever is close.
Of course, to see how fully this plot is developed we’ll have to see the way the rest of the season’s run of thirteen total episodes plays out but based on my initial experience with the premiere, it looks as though all involved have their heart—as well as Hank’s—in exactly the right place.
Fortunately, some of the guess-work has been taken away as Film Intuition was graciously included in some conference call Q&As with producers Andrew Lenchweski and Michael Rauch as well as star Mark Feuerstein. Below you’ll find some of the highlights:
Q&A Coverage
On Casting
Re: Mark Feuerstein:
Lenchweski: We knew from the beginning we needed a guy who could bring the competency of a physician, so we could, see that credibly, and then play the consequences of that decision that you referenced at the top of the pilot, both in terms of the humanity of it, the drama of it, and then the comedy that I think was needed to bounce him back from that rock bottom that he hit when his brother came and scooped him up and took him out to the Hamptons. I think as soon as Mark came in and auditioned for the role, we gave him a few of those critical scenes. The moment of that difficult decision in the yard, the moment of depression in his apartment, and then that first moment out in the Hamptons, and he hit all of those colors brilliantly.
Re: Paulo Costanzo:
Lenchweski: He came and auditioned for us here in LA. We saw about 50 or 60 people and he was the third one we saw, and it just didn’t get any better than that. He brought a brilliant comedic take to the character and notably, this character is actually written originally as Hank’s best friend, and as soon as he walked in, we said, well, he can’t be his best friend, he looks too much like his brother. So the next thought was, okay, let's rewrite the script. And Evan became Hank’s brother.
Feuerstein: Paulo Costanzo is insane, and I love every part of his insanity. He is someone with no filter, whatever is appearing in his brain will come out of his mouth, and I love that about him and I love the way that that translates into his portrayal of Evan Lawson. Evan Lawson as a character is someone who, I don’t know, he’s sort of on some level the opposite of Hank. He doesn’t think about anything before he does it. He loves money. He loves the good life. He’s sort of living the Dionysian fantasy, and we’ve put him the perfect place to live it out. So, Paulo Costanzo only is perfect to play a part like that, because he is Dionysus himself.
Re: Campbell Scott
Lenchewski: We sent him the script, he read it, and he agreed to do it. I think that's another one of the great advantages of filming in New York is that we have access to a completely different talent pool, being so close to the Broadway community and to actors who live in New York and tend to like to and want to work there, and Campbell happens to be one of those guys, and it's been an enormous thrill to be able to work with him.
Rauch: And just to add to that, aside from being an incredible actor, he's a fantastic guy. He's just an incredibly positive presence to have on the set.
Feuerstein: I love Campbell Scott. Before we did the show I only loved him as an actor, and really admired his work; now I love him as a person. It’s a dream to work with him, not just because he’s so professional and he shows up and he is like beyond perfection on the first take and then the second one is even more brilliant than the last, but also because nobody else could perform this very odd role of a German baron named Boris in the Hamptons. But somehow in his person and in his delivery every line comes out in the most nuanced, unique, original way.
And Paulo and I, who are already living the male fantasy in the show, are living out the actor fantasy when we get to perform with Campbell, because any actor would dream to do a scene with Campbell Scott, he’s just one of the best actors we have. And when he says a word, like my name, “I have plans for you, Hank,” or when we’re talking about the scene where he has a shark in his basement, that’s all I’ll say for now, and he’s looking at it and he talks about how sharks have buoyancy, and he just has fun with the word. He just says, “Yes, these sharks, they have so much buoyancy.” Then there’s a line where I’m doing a scene with Paulo, and he says, “Because Hank, the best things in life are free.” No one can do the delivery the way he does it, but it makes you stand there, wonder what the hell just happened, why am I scared, and who am I dealing with, and then when you stop and they yell, “Cut,” you go, “I’m dealing with the most brilliant actor I’ve ever gotten to work with.”
So, in conclusion, it’s pretty good. I like working with Campbell Scott. He’s amazing.
On The Creation of the Series
Lenchewski: The idea came, actually, from a friend of mine who was telling me about a concierge doctor that his family had begun to use, and he asked me whether I thought it would be a good idea for a TV show and I said it wouldn’t, I thought it would be the perfect idea for a TV show. And so we, along with two of our other executive producers, Paul Frank and Rich Frank, we went off and pitched it to a few networks, and USA was the one that really, most strongly embraced what it was. And I went off and wrote the script, we shot the pilot last September, got picked up the series in January, and we’ve just begun production within the past couple months and we're now about to start shooting our fifth episode.
On Medical Accuracy
Lenchewski: We have a tremendous medical advisor, his name is Dr. Irv Danesh, and he is an ER physician outside of Boston, and he spends time with us out here in the writer’s room in LA, he spends time on the set anytime we're shooting medical scenes, and he spends a lot of time with the writers by phone and e-mail; and everything that we do medically either comes from him or filters through him and, as Michael touched on earlier, authenticity, both in terms of the location and the medicine, is of tremendous importance to us.
One of our senior writers, Carol Flint, was one of the senior writers on ER for the first four seasons of that show and she likes to say there are only so many things that can go wrong with the human body, so I think there's a lot of overlaps between the world of emergency medicine that Hank used to practice in, and the one that our medical advisor Irv Danesh practices in, and the one that Hank now practices in as a concierge doctor in the Hamptons. Another thing that Irv brings to the table, which has just been a huge asset to the storytelling, is this enormous sense of creativity, we call it the MacGyver aspect of the show, where if you’ve seen the pilot, Hank, when he's in Tucker’s house, asks for the bottle of vodka and a zip lock bag and a sharp pointy knife; and so I think you’ll be seeing a lot more of that. It's something that we enjoy writing and from what we can tell so far, the audience will really enjoy seeing, and I think that allows us to really elevate the stakes of the kinds of medical cases we can deal with outside of a hospital and in people’s homes, so I think that's going to be one of the really fun things to explore.
On The Hamptons & Location Shooting In NY
Rauch:: This show does take place in New York, and especially in the Hamptons, and we really wanted to have the authenticity of that as opposed to shooting it in Toronto for New York, or even LA for New York, and the environment is such a critical element of the show… Those locations with the landscape and the ocean and just the really beautiful elegance of the Hamptons, felt like it would be such an important layer to the show itself, and also the tax incentive that New York is giving to television shows and films really helped us get it in regarding the budget and the network approving it, was a big deal as well.
Feuerstein: Well, first of all, I grew up in New York City, going to first a public school, then a private school, and when I got to the private school in Manhattan, I learned of what we called “The Promised Land,” which are the Hamptons. I’ve always had an affinity for the Hamptons. I think it is one of the most romantic, beautiful, pristine, exclusive, in a private and kind of meditative way, places on earth.
On The Importance of Being On the USA Network
Feuerstein: Well, it could not be a more perfect network to have Royal Pains on it, and I’ll begin by telling you that I’ve been on my share of network dramas and comedies, and the problem sometimes in a network is they have a single-minded focus on making the show true to whatever genre it is. So, if you’re on a drama, it better be procedural, it better fulfill all the demands of a procedural show, and you better keep those episodes independent, so that if I’m watching the show in seven years as its syndicated on some other cable network, I don’t have to know what happened before or after the episode, and everything is meant to support the procedure. If you’re on, say, a comedy, everything has to be funny and wacky and zany.
But somehow USA has found the perfect marriage of procedural drama and comedy, and they have it in Psych, they have it in Burn Notice, they have it in Monk, they have it in In Plain Sight; every show manages to somehow blend comedy and drama and tell a story that might be slightly serialized. So that you do have to tune in every week to see, say in our case, the relationship between me and my landlord, Boris is at, where my relationship with me and Jill, the romantic relationship that I’m involved in, where we’re at with those. But at the same time every week if you tune in, you’ll watch a medical drama, a medical story told from beginning to middle to end, and it will also satisfy all the demands of a procedure, while giving you all this character, all this story, all this nuance and comedy along the way.
Rauch: To USA’s great credit, I think one of the major reasons for their success, and I think it’s a credit to the cable model in general, is that they're not doing a volume business. They really very carefully hand pick the ideas that they want to pilot, and the pilots that they want to shoot, and the months that we spent waiting weren’t really just waiting, it was really fine-tuning the script and the characters and the vision for where the series would go. So I think that really was a very encouraging process to go through.
Re: Following Burn Notice:
Rauch: I think that USA is very savvy in pairing us with that show. I think there's a lot of shared sensibility. I think there's a lot that the two central characters, the heroes, share in common, guys who have sort of, through no choice of their own left their old lives behind and are now working outside the system to help people in beautiful, sunny locations, surrounded by a cast of quirky and fun characters. So hopefully the shows will work really well together and feed off each other.
Feuerstein: Jace Alexander, who is one of our co-executive producers, and Jace directed the pilot of Burn Notice and he directed the pilot for Royal Pains…
What I love about the way he shot Royal Pains, like there’s one tracking shot that though it doesn’t advance the story as much, it creates this beautiful picture of the world, I think they had to fight to keep that shot. But it’s such an awesome tracking shot through the whole party, as everyone’s looking at me wandering through the party, you get to see the faces of the people who live in the Hamptons, so, the hot ladies, the rich men, the plastic surgeons, the kind of characters who live in the world. And you get to see it through this very cool, very slick camera move that says to the viewer, “This show is going to move along at a fast clip, and it’s going to be fun, and you’re going to get characters and stories along the way.” I think that’s part of USA’s entire aesthetic. So, the camera work is consistent with sort of the message of the entire network, which has its own sort of personality and brand at this point.
The other thing that I wanted to say is that USA is so smart in the way that they market our shows that they’ve actually managed to sort of create this universe … who could in some … live in the same universe. And they’ve done that in a crossover promotion, where Michael Westen, the character from Burn Notice, is actually sending a letter off and in the letter he says, “Hey man, I know what it’s like to come to a new place and set up shop when you don’t anybody and you don’t know the lay of the land. So, here are a few things that might help you. Here’s a bottle of suntan lotion”—which is perfect for him in Miami and me in the Hamptons. “Here’s a pair of sunglasses.” Perfect. “And here’s some C4 explosives.” So, here I am at the end of the promo, staring at a package of clay explosives, not knowing what to do with it, and that, of course, is where our characters diverge. But on all other fronts they’re quite similar. They have a sense of humor, it’s slightly dark, and they’re in this very … and beautiful place, in the case of him, Miami, and in our case, the Hamptons, to do a job. So, somehow USA managed to create this very uniform, very diverse but sort of well-tied-together world.
Walking Movie Encyclopedia at Film Intuition; 3-Time National Award Winning Scribe; Film Reviewer; "Watch With Jen" Podcast Host; Screenwriter; Movie Discussion Host; BA in Film Studies & Communication.
