I'm quite well known for not being a big fan of American television. I love a lot American cinema so its not a cultural prejudice, its just all in all I find American television to be a bit mindless. That's not to suggest that we don't have our fair share of shite but in most cases that tends to be when we try and simulate the well known US format for a sitcom. Whether America invented the sitcom or not, that's another issue but I'm pretty sure they succeeded in perfecting its lame format.
That being said then, you can understand my surprise when I discovered HBO. I don't remember exactly what the first HBO show I saw was but it was between “Tenacious D” or “Curb your Enthusiasm” Although both shows aren't particularly amazing in my opinion they were good enough to get my attention and literally make me laugh out loud which up till that point I had rarely done when US TV was involved.
I have always had a fear though, of long series...es. Films are a medium I can understand. Roughly 2 hours long, taken years to produce and are of high quality. But a series like “LOST” was something that confused me. Not just because of its pathetic and irrational story lines but because of its episode count for a series and the episodes length. The same can be said about ugly Betty. I believe the episodes were around 40 minutes long each and per series there were about 24. 24 episodes? That's about 11 movies worth of material and I had no idea how they could do it. I used to think it brought the quality of a show (writing, acting, directing ect.) to a lower standard … until I saw “Angels in America”
Angels in America is a HBO production starring Al Pacino and Merrill Streep based on a Broadway play of the same name that deals with Aids in the 1980's. It wasn't so much a series as it was a “mini series” which is basically a really long film … six hours to be precise. But they are an amazing six hours that I would recommend to anyone. I don't want to go too much into it as I'm not reviewing it.
Recently I decided to start watching “The Sopranos” as due to my fear of long series...es, I had missed the boat when it was popular. I am only half way through the first series but I can honestly say it's one of the best American shows I have ever seen. It's like a really good Mafia film that never ends, which when you're watching a good movie you don't want it to.
I just felt compelled to write this so I could let America know that I formally forgive it for its barrage of crap sitcoms and day time talk shows. I will also go so far as to say I forgive it for its frankly terrible pilot episodes of “remade” British comedy shows like Red Dwarf and the strangely successful “The Office” remake which I never cared for.
Just remember America, HBO saved your “ass”
But if you ever think about trying to remake a beloved comedy like SPACED again, not even HBO can save you from what I might do ...
