Drift Reality

It was over five years ago that a close friend from University visited me in DC. Like some other homosexuals I knew, this particular friend had come out of the closet in University and was telling me about her new life, fully immersed in the lesbian community.

I eagerly listened with the predictable and tacky excitement of a heterosexual male in their twenties to an amorous story my friend was recounting and when the retelling was complete managed a very profound response:

“Boy, lesbians are hot.”

My friend eyed me broodingly for several moments, as if deciding whether to lambaste me or ignore me, before finally deciding to be patient with an idiot and help me understand that,

“The heterosexual male sexual fantasy of two women together is sort of annoying to most lesbians.”

“Oh,” I responded eloquently.

That was probably one of my first lessons in lesbian culture and has stuck with me throughout the years.

In the past few weeks it has certainly popped up in my head as I have been recently introduced to the Showtime series, the L Word and I am not ashamed to admit that I have more or less become a fan of the show. The reason it has popped up in my head is because I would argue that the L Word supports my initial, naïve notion that lesbians are hot. At the same time, to reduce the value of a tremendously well written and produced series to a sophomoric male observation would be completely unjust.

So in honor of my new favorite show, I would like to present the following list of 5 things I think about the L Word:

1. The production crew behind the L Word is terrific – Cast aside, I think the L Word has a great production crew. Up until the current season, I feel like the writing has been top-notch. Additionally, I feel like the photography work is of a pretty high caliber for television and the direction is pretty solid as well. This season I sort of feel like the characters are falling into predictable patterns and I have sort of a feeling of déjà vu while experiencing some of the sub-plots but I don’t want to dwell on the negative. Over the six or seven seasons that the show has been running, I think the production work has been excellent.

2. The L Word is a cultural centerpiece - There are times when a television show develops such socio-cultural gravity that I would consider it to be a centerpiece. You can tell this has happened when people start:

A) Planning social events around the show - I know as a fact that there are L Word parties that happen and I have heard that you can hear a pin drop during these parties while the show is actually on.

B) Start defining themselves according to characters on the show – Have you ever heard someone say “Yeah, I’m sort of like Joey from Friends?” I have, and I instantly decided I did not like the person who said that to me – not only because they just said they bear all the traits of an individual who for all intents and purposes is mentally handicapped, but because they just used a character from the show Friends to define themselves. At any rate, my sense is that this phenomenon has already taken place with the L Word in the lesbian community.

C) Discussing and recounting the show uncontrollably – When I was in High School, I remember the day after Seinfeld, everyone would be re-enacting scenes from the show and laughing hilariously. Well, I am sure that in the aftermath of a new L Word Episode, there is a notable percentage of content in the collective conversations that occur between lesbians that is exclusively devoted to what just happened on the L Word.

3. The L Word suffers from CFS (Chronic Mainstream Fiction Syndrome) – Back in the 90s, Friends was criticized for unrealistically portraying what it would be like for a group of friends living in the City – they were too attractive, too happy and had too much disposable time and income. The same goes for other popular television series (Seinfeld is exempt however). Well, the exact same criticisms could be applied to the L Word. The cast is unrealistically attractive, successful and seem to have too much time on their hands. Although this makes for great, entertaining television it also can detract from the empathy that is possible – evident in my compulsive fast-forwarding of any scene involving Bette and her Father from season 2, a sub-plot I am sorry to say I simply found boring in its attempt to conjure gravity.

Not your typical lesbians

4. The L word manages to balance the real with the utopic in a tasteful manner – Yes I realize I just said I couldn’t empathize with the show because I did not believe that it presented a realistic texture to life and this point seems rather contradictory in nature. Then again, being truly entertained by a show and being truly moved by a show are very different things. For instance, I would love to spend a week (or a month) in the utopic image portrayed by the HBO series Entourage but have not really thought about the show (nor any of its characters) for one second when it isn’t on. There is something to be said for embellishing life on-screen and offering utopia to the world. At the same time, you are walking a fine line because the more you embellish and adorn, the less substance is left. I would offer this final point as a recognition that the L Word has managed to walk the tightrope between style and substance for several years now – and I hope they continue to do so for several more.

5. The L Word is not just for lesbians - I don’t feel embarassed saying I enjoy the show because the fact of the matter is that it is good dramatic television and I know as a fact that other heterosexual guys watch the show. I can assure you if the L Word didn’t have broad appeal, Showtime would have never slotted it at 9PM on a Sunday evening. The fact that they slot it at that time means that their research indicates that a large population of people watch and enjoy the show. The fact that the only people I hear who are vocal about the show are lesbians and women simply means that there is a large population of people in different demographics - including heterosexual males - who enjoy the show.

Back in 2001, a little-known actor named Ricky Gervais co-produced a series with a littler-known producer/director named Stephen Merchant, which presented a comical perspective on the banality of life in an office.

The show received a great deal of both public and critical acclaim. After only two seasons The Office had turned into a global franchise, garnering numerous awards, spawning French and US adaptations and propelling Gervais and Merchant to super-stardom.

In 2005, the duo anted up once again and created Extras, a series co-produced by HBO and the BBC. This time the subject matter was the periphery of showbiz. The texture of Extras is a bit more gritty than The Office although the depth of both far supersede anything on American television.

In season 1, Extras traces the life of Gervais as he struggles to build a career as an actor. The season culminates when Gervais’ script is well received by the BBC who decide to produce his show (ironically about life in an office).

During the second season of Extras, Gervais has attained success through his television show but no credibility. His struggle is carried through the series finale, the culmination of which is an incredibly moving and honest soliloquy in which Gervais rails against the entertainment industry and laments the trajectory of his career.

I recommend purchasing the series on DVD because it is that good. I’ve embedded a clip of Gervais’ climactic speech because I believe it actually stands on its own as an acute commentary on today’s fixation with celebrities:

As an ardent fan of HBO television programming for the past several years, I was initially reticent to check out a new program on Showtime starring David Duchovny, who hadn’t done anything in the public domain to speak of in the past several years. Even worse, it was set in Los Angeles, which was starting to get a little boring to me after years of watching different perspectives on LA in Entourage and Curb your Enthusiasm.

Owing to the inelasticy of time I simply wasn’t that interested in adding anything new to my schedule.

Still, it was recommended to me by someone whose sensibility I trust and I decided to give it a shot. Several weeks later, I am absolutely hooked to what I think is the best new show on television (I’m using television to refer collectively to cable and television programming).

Duchovny doing his impression of a puffer fish

Because I bitch and moan so frequently in my writing and create lists of why things suck, I decided it would be nice to switch things up a bit and jot down the top five reasons why I think Californication is the best show on television currently:

1. The Writing is first rate. The show is written by a relatively veteran team of Tom Kapinos, Gina Fattore and Eric Weinberg who have all worked on television projects like Dawson’s Creek (Kapinos and Fattore) and Gilmore Girls (Fattore) that have managed to create a sense of depth in their storylines and characters. Considering the show is about a struggling writer living in Los Angeles, attempting to maintain some degree of artistic credibility while dealing with the fact that he has sold out it is likely that the writing team has some fodder to work with.
2. Perspective on LA - Unlike Entourage, which paints LA in a fairly positive light - as a light-hearted playground for the rich and beautiful, Californication (which is also from the perspective of an East coast transplant) explores the superficiality and grim cynicism of a city and people that have come to fully embrace the commodification of arts and entertainment. You almost get the feeling that the writers, as well as Duchovny (who like Hank Moody is from New York City), are using the show to vent their frustrations with a city that has brought them wealth and fame for their trade, while simultaneously confining them into corporate frameworks.
3. Duchovny / Hank Moody - Although I think Duchovny is probably a bit egomaniacal and doesn’t seem to have any discernible range of character, there is something incredibly charismatic about his portrayal of Hank Moody. Duchovny finds a way to make you like and actually root for a self-destructive, self-absorbed, alcoholic philanderer. Even when he is snorting lines of cocaine off a hooker’s back, there is something oddly amusing about him and of course it has a lot to do with Duchovny. On a related note, the beaten-up outdated Porsche that Moody drives is a stroke of genius.  It is just such a perfect metaphor for Moody’s character.
4. Editing - I don’t think the editing is really ground-breaking, but it is consistently solid. It doesn’t strive to accomplish more than what is possible within the constraints of the production. In the show’s culmination, when Natascha McElhone’s character reads the letter from Moody’s Father that he never opened, while the grainy 8MM footage runs on screen, I thought to myself, a little cliché but still fits the creative framework of the show and is actually pretty touching.  I think a lot of the show is like this actually not really ground-breaking but tremendously solid and the net effect is pretty impressive.
5. Timing - From a competitive standpoint, Californication couldn’t have been better timed. Entourage’s lackluster season 4 just ended a few weeks ago, Curb your Enthusiasm is on the decline, and there is no discernible competition (no offense to people who like the show Tell Me You Love Me, but I get my daily fill of hearing about problematic relationships every time I talk to a friend on the phone and guess what? It isn’t that fun or entertaining).

To be fair, the show does seem to have some narrative constraints that may limit its shelf life to two or three seasons (before it starts smelling stale): There is probably an excessive focus on Duchovny’s perspective and the one really compelling storyline is Duchovny’s relationship with McElhone’s character. Although I wouldn’t put it past the writers to figure out a way to creatively expand the narrative structure.

Ultimately, I think Californication is as good as it gets right now.

To be honest, I think it was a brilliant ending.  When I watched it last night I knew that it was going to be immediately thrashed by critics and fans for being anti-climactic but I think it was perfect.

Everyone assumed that Tony was going to die in the final episode, to the point at which the majority of the debate was over how he was going to die and who was going to kill him.  No one ever imagined that he would make it through okay.

The final scene was also a thing of beauty.  The moment he put the Journey song on the jukebox you began to imagine that this was going to be the soundtrack to his demise.  Then, his family began walking into the restaurant and as he shared moments with his family members, you imagined that he would go out a happy man.  Then, Meadow had trouble parking and you thought to yourself that she would somehow be the lone Soprano to make it through alive.  Finally, a mobster-ish guy walks into the restaurant and begins eyeing Tony Soprano and you imagine that this will be the his executioner.

Then, Meadow walks into the restaurant and nothing and everything happens at the same time.

Here is the thing though: during those final few minutes you experienced what it must be like to step into Tony’s shoes and experience all these seemingly mundane activities that you or I take for granted, while in the back of your mind realizing that any moment could be your last.  It is that lingering sense of doom that accompanies everything he does and the gift that is bequeathed in the final episode is that you really empathize with Tony Soprano.

I think it is brilliant - and I think the way they built up the audience expectations through subtle innuendo only to play upon that expectation in the final scene - is also a masterful stroke.

I’m probably alone in saying this but I absolutely loved the way the Sopranos ended.

It just struck me: AJ is going to kill Tony in the final episode.  You heard it here first.