A few notes on recent TV.
NBC’s Smash:
I wanted to like you. Really, I did. As a gay man who can’t stand Glee, I’ve been feeling left out of the club for years. But I’m over it. Unlike a lot of folks, I like both Debra Messing and Katharine McPhee as Julia and Karen, respectively. But Julia flipping out about her son smoking pot, in 2012? Totally and utterly unbelievable, and Messing seems like she’s on the verge of laughing each time she is forced to treat it like a capital case. Let’s not even talk about Ellis, or even worse, Dev. Ugh Dev.
Lilyhammer:
This one you may not have heard of, but it’s Netflix’s first foray into original programming. Starring Steven Van Zandt (of Springsteen *and* Sopranos fame) as a mobster who moves to Norway as part of the witness protection program, the series is comedically very fun. It manages to strike the balance between drama and comedy that The Sopranos was so good at, which is an impressive feat.
Greg Palmer 