I watched about ten minutes of Viva Laughlin, which was notable for being the most horrifically bad television to have ever assaulted my eyeballs. And ears. Cuz it’s a musical. It’s already been canceled.
I have to say that, having read the blurb that the show was going to be on, I was both interested enough to make note of the date of the premiere, and certain it would be cancelled. It’s a musical. About a casino owner. Except it’s also a drama. Y’know, like Cop Rock. So you had to kind of guess. Except it was, in every way, more awful than you could picture. Okay, let me put it this way: The stars lip-synched to well-known songs. I mean it. “Viva Las Vegas” and “Sympathy for the Devil” with very bad choreography while walking through plot points with jazz hands. Oh. My. Gods.
Moonlight may have made it all the way to the half-hour mark. Except, y’know, one hour show. The lead actor is a screaming nightmare of bland. The plot unfolds like an amalgam of every other plot you’ve heard of. And in that style of pretty people on pretty TV, everyone looks alike. Awful.
K-ville fared better. One might legitimately like this show. “One” meaning not me. The acting was excellent and the cast has chops. The cinematography (can you say that about TV?) was wonderful, gritty and appealing. But the relationships felt very forced and the plot was very cliched. It was all just-another-cop-show except for the cut-above quality. Can’t be bothered to come back to this one.
My one true pleasure of the fall season is Life. I am loving every minute of this. Damien Lewis is fascinating, I just want to watch and watch and watch him. Adam Arkin is, of course, welcome on any show I’m watching. In fact, maybe he should do a guest spot on all of them. And Christina Hendricks has a recurring role.
The show is doing a good job of blending back story, character development, and murder-of-the-week. The only thing wrong that I see is two of the three primary female characters are that bland-pretty-we-all-look-alike type. Why can’t I see more interesting women, dammit?
The premise is that police officer Charlie Crews was convicted of murder and spent twelve years in jail. Freed because of DNA evidence and the work of his devoted lawyer, he’s been paid a large settlement and his badge has been restored. Now Charlie is trying to solve the crime he was convicted of, trying to adjust to life on the outside, solving crimes, and having a personal life. It’s all rather intricate and usually handled with some delicacy.
Other than that, there’s nothing much going on. Grey’s Anatomy is not quite as bad as the latter half of last season, but the magic is gone. ER is actually better than last season, and in many ways has a lot of juice. In other ways, it’s a lot like, am I still watching this thing? But yes, I am.
My wife loved “Viva Laughlin”‘s musical numbers. To her that was the highlight of the show. To me, they detracted from the whole thing. But, I have to say th ey were unique.
I do have to feel badly for Hugh Jackman. Anyone who can go from Wolverine on the big screen to Curly in “Oklahoma!” is a very talented actor and singer, and they wouldn’t let him sing. Gotta be frustrating. And now to have a cancellation under his belt too….
I am liking Life too. It’s very interesting.
I adore Jackman, and I was excited about the idea of a musical, although I was sure it would tank with most viewers. But this was just very badly executed. All that lip-syncing! And such cliched song choices! And such cheesy choreography! If you want to break the boundaries of television, you have to be creative, not cheesy.
But this was just very badly executed. All that lip-syncing! And such cliched song choices! And such cheesy choreography!
We have Moulin Rouge to thank for this. Remember, it ‘brought back the musical’.
At least in Moulin Rouge, everyone was doing their own singing. And it had Ewan McGregor.
Viva Laughlin was a remake of a series on BBC, Viva Blackpool, which started David Tennant, the current Doctor Who. It was definitely better in its original incarnation.
My one true pleasure of the season is Pushing Daisies, which might be whimsy overload for some, but it’s just perfect for me. And unlike my most beloved show that mashed together some very odd components (Firefly), it’s already been picked up for a full season.
Is Life on Wednesday nights at 10? I’ve been watching Dirty Sexy Money because of residual love for Peter Krause from his stints on 6 Feet Under and The Lost Room, and because it has Glenn Fitzgerald, but I might give Life a chance next week – I loved Damien Lewis in Band of Brothers.
In Moulin Rouge they not only sang their own songs, the songs were reconceptualized, they were given a context and arrangement unique to the movies. Viva Laughlin was singing/lip-synching along to the original hit. It was unbearable.
That is indeed when Life is on, maurinsky. I have DVR, so I can do two conflicting shows.
I’m kinda sorry I missed Viva Laughlin. The previews, and what I’ve read of it, made it seem like the kind of horror that has to be seen.
Re Cop Rock: I watched two episodes of it. It was as bad as advertised, but what was odd was that the musical numbers were actually quite compelling. It was the dramatic parts of the show that were godawful, as if all the creative energy had been expended on the songs, while they had forgotten there needed to be a script surrounding them.
I think the real origin of the whole lipsynching/drama idea was the work of Dennis Potter. I loved the original BBC production of Pennies From Heaven (with Bob Hoskins), where the conceit worked brilliantly. But then there was The Singing Detective, which I didn’t like. Maybe it’s the kind of idea that only works once.