Question: I am writing in response to a letter posted in your 6/26 column concerning Rescue Me. While I found Tommy's attack on Janet upsetting, I also feel you have to remember everything that Tommy has gone through recently: his son's death rite, his wife blaming him for it, his own brother sleeping with his wife, his father's declining health and his own attempts to stay off booze and cigarettes. While I am not saying this is an excuse, I am simply pointing out that the man has hit his breaking point and temporarily lost it. Rape is not about sex but about control. His life is absolutely out of control, and this was not something that he had planned out. It happened out of blind rage. As for the grin when he drove away, I think that was meant for his brother, which was tacky, but I think his feelings were very testosterone-driven and an in-your-face, "I did Janet while she was with you" sort of thing. Yes, Tommy is very hard to take at times, but there is a good person at the core, ...
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FX has lost its appetite for Starved. The network has opted not to renew the critically thrashed eating-disorder satire for a second season. However, fellow freshman comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will be back.
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Question: I have a question about FX's Starved. I originally stumbled upon it when I discovered that the übertalented Broadway actress Laura Benanti was in it. I think she's one of the only good things about the show. I don't really consider the show a comedy because it seems like all the jokes take place in the first five minutes. To be fair, the show has improved since the pilot, especially when they focus less on Eric Schaeffer's Sam character and more on the lives of the other three, who come off as more sympathetic. Don't you think the show would work a lot better if it focused less on the gross-out humor and more on the relationships?
Answer: In a word, yes. Because, as you noted, it just isn't funny. But even a shift in emphasis probably wouldn't be enough to make this unpleasant show very palatable ...
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Question: Are you following Lisa Kudrow's HBO show, The Comeback? It's almost like we're supposed to laugh at all of the embarrassment that Lisa's character must go through. It's not really funny, but at the same time I don't feel pity for her character, either. What's your take on the show?
Answer: It's one of the weirdest, least satisfying shows I've ever had the bad luck to experience. Kudrow is, as always, terrific, but I find the show painfully obvious (not painful in a good or poignant or hilarious way, as some of the show's defenders seem to argue). I've had friends in the industry tell me they enjoy The Comeback because the details are so real. That may be true, but again, it doesn't tell me anything new about the soul-crushing world of show business or the insipidity of network sitcoms or the phony world of reality TV. Case in point: When her young costars were upset by the network retooling and the addition of two idiotic new comics to the cast, and they suggested skipping
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Question: I am so excited to see a network like FX that for once takes chances on racy shows! Even after seeing only a few episodes each, I love the FX shows Starved, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Over There! I love how Starved takes a twisted look at diet obsession and how Philadelphia brings us back to real honest comedy, which often lies in the common stupidity of mankind. And Over There takes a chilling look at the not-too-farfetched realities of the war in Iraq. I am glad there is a network out there that isn't afraid to take a chance and can have such risky and different shows all at the same time. Looking forward to the fall, when we will find out the fate of Christian on Nip/Tuck! How do you feel about these shows and the network?
Answer: It's hardly a secret that I am a major champion of FX, especially its dramas, including Over There, which is probably its riskiest show yet, at least in terms of timing. I tend to find their shows exhilarating, daring and extremely
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FX has renewed Morgan Spurlock's docu-series 30 Days for a second season. Averaging more than a million viewers a week, 30 Days fared far better than FX's new comedies Starved and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which tumbled to 981,000 and 840,000 viewers respectively in their second weeks. The news was better over at HBO, where Entourage nabbed a series-high 2.6 million viewers Sunday. Yes, the boys have arrived.
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Question: After watching the first episodes of Starved and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I just have one question. What was FX thinking when they took Lucky off the air? Do networks ever consider what their options are when considering the fate of slow-starting shows?
Answer: I take your point to be that Lucky is far superior to either of the two comedies currently airing on FX, but in Lucky's case, it wasn't its long-term potential that was the problem, but FX's timing. Lucky was doomed because there was no other half-hour show to pair it with, so it was basically stranded and died. Still, given its downbeat (but authentic and compelling) tone, I'm thinking it would have been a tough sell even if paired with one of this summer's shows. Comedy is looking to be FX's toughest challenge — at least in the half-hour form. Many weeks, Nip/Tuck and especially Rescue Me are among the funniest shows on TV ...
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Question: You don't seem to have a consistent position on whether offensive television is a good or bad thing. In your review of FX's Starved, you wrote: "Leading off the hour, Starved is, um, hard to swallow and possibly FX's most appallingly offensive series ever." However, in your Ask Matt column, you responded to one submission with: "What in the world does anyone tune in to Family Guy for if not to witness tasteless humor cranked into overdrive? I'd be offended if it weren't offensive." Why does Family Guy get applauded for its offensive content, but Starved gets criticized?
Answer: Again, different shows, different approaches, different effects. And besides, I don't feel I was applauding Family Guy necessarily by pointing out the irony of the situation, in which people were writing in this summer to say they were shocked, shocked by some of Family Guy's rude, crude gags — as in: What did they expect? I'm frankly a bit weary of that show these days, and have no argument with those
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Question: You were quick to describe Starved as "the one FX show that crosses the line of outrageous indulgence," while you were not appalled by the most recent Big Brother eating contest? I know I can't save all the lives in Niger with the cakes and sweets they threw away, but how about you stepping up to the plate and expressing what I honestly believe would be your disdain?
Answer: What is it with the accusatory tone this week? For one thing, I wrote the Starved review long before that silly episode of Big Brother aired, and food aside, I don't see the connection. And I took a vow this summer that I would just ignore Big Brother in print altogether (although I do tune in once in a while out of morbid fascination that it still exists). I was beginning to bore myself with my predictable contempt for that show. Yes, I suppose the waste of food in that episode could earn my disdain, but more to the point, it's the waste of time that really bothers me about Big Brother ...
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