Dramedy is a word that makes me cringe. It reeks of desperation. I imagine it to be the word a pitch man uses when trying to convince a studio executive that dramas can be comedic or that a comedy can be dramatic. "You know... a damedy!" With a TV history that includes shows like M*A*S*H and Scrubs, it would seem that such a desperate word would be unneeded. Drama is often better with the lightening aspects of comedy, and comedy can be kept from being frivolous by the weight of drama. Unfortunately, "dramedy" is used and The Unusuals was stuck with the label.
Set in NYC, The Unusals presents a homicide division filled with ecentric characters that specializes in not-straight-forward cases. At the center is Detective Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn, Joan of Arcadia), who is trying to shed her socialite past, and Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker), a former baseball player and current diner owner. Other characters include a very Frank Burns-like "top" detective, a man who believes he will die before he turns 43, and other that has a brain tumor and may die in the near future.
The Unusuals premiered in April of 2009. ABC touted the show as the next M*A*S*H and had hopes of it being the next big crime drama. The first episode, like many pilots, is somewhat rough around the edges. It perhaps tries too hard to be funny given absurd situations. The performances are impressive though, especially Renner's. By the third episode, the show settles down. Audiences didn't give the show that long and it was quickly canceled.
All ten episodes of The Unusuals are currently available (as of 1/25/10) online at Hulu and Crackle.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Movie: Strange Days
With a certain Kathryn Bigelow movie coming out on DVD on Jan. 12th and a rather prominent James Cameron movie in the theaters, I felt it apropos to visit a little-seen collaboration of the two: Strange Days.
Released in 1995, Strange Days is set on the day before and the day of New Year's Eve 1999. As a near-future cyberpunk film, the technological advances are modest. The highlighted technology are SQUID decks and clips. SQUID is the ultimate in immersion entertainment. Not only does "playback" visually put you in the action, it sends feedback to your body to make you feel like you are there. Since the inevitable application of playback involves porn and vicarious crime sprees, SQUID devices are extralegal. Sleazy ex-cop Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient) deals in decks and clips, buying from the questionable and selling to the uptight. When a mysterious playback is left for Nero and his contacts end up dead, Nero has to unravel the truth before a race war erupts at turn of the millennium.
Strange Days pulls no punches. It is rated R and deservedly so. It is also a well-told mystery that puts its small amount of sci-fi tech to good use. The writing, provided by Cameron and Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York), is good. While the technology isn't as integrated or ubiquitous as it should be, the fictional 1999 martial-law Los Angeles is well made. Realizing that hand-held cameras would be too shaky and steady cams too bulky to capture true 1st person point of view, Bigelow and Lightstorm Entertainment innovated a new sort of wearable camera.
Despite the action and acting pedigree (the film also features Angela Basset, Juliette Lewis, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Tom Sizemore), it received mixed reviews and a cool audience reception, making only $7.9 million during its short theatrical run. It is currently available on DVD.
Released in 1995, Strange Days is set on the day before and the day of New Year's Eve 1999. As a near-future cyberpunk film, the technological advances are modest. The highlighted technology are SQUID decks and clips. SQUID is the ultimate in immersion entertainment. Not only does "playback" visually put you in the action, it sends feedback to your body to make you feel like you are there. Since the inevitable application of playback involves porn and vicarious crime sprees, SQUID devices are extralegal. Sleazy ex-cop Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes, The English Patient) deals in decks and clips, buying from the questionable and selling to the uptight. When a mysterious playback is left for Nero and his contacts end up dead, Nero has to unravel the truth before a race war erupts at turn of the millennium.
Strange Days pulls no punches. It is rated R and deservedly so. It is also a well-told mystery that puts its small amount of sci-fi tech to good use. The writing, provided by Cameron and Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York), is good. While the technology isn't as integrated or ubiquitous as it should be, the fictional 1999 martial-law Los Angeles is well made. Realizing that hand-held cameras would be too shaky and steady cams too bulky to capture true 1st person point of view, Bigelow and Lightstorm Entertainment innovated a new sort of wearable camera.
Despite the action and acting pedigree (the film also features Angela Basset, Juliette Lewis, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Tom Sizemore), it received mixed reviews and a cool audience reception, making only $7.9 million during its short theatrical run. It is currently available on DVD.
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