Stuff I Watched: Bored To Death
April 6, 2011 3 Comments
The launch of Sky Atlantic was one of the most exciting televisual events for years. All of HBO’s content on one channel, along with the best of Sky’s other US imports? What wasn’t to love about it? OK, so many people objected to Murdoch’s monopoly, but from a programming perspective, it was all gold.
The reality, for me, hasn’t lived up to the expectations. I gave up on a number of shows after one or two episodes, out of boredom (Blue Bloods, Big Love, How to Make it in America). I made it up to episode 4 of Boardwalk Empire only because I was convinced it would suddenly get better. It didn’t. It’s one of the most crushing disappointments in recent TV history. Some stuff I love, but I’ve seen before and enough times not to watch again (Battlestar Galactica, Curb Your Enthusiasm). There’s another batch of shows that I’d like to watch, but they’ve not shown them from the first season (24, Weeds, Entourage). The only programmes I’ve been watching are The Sopranos – which is amazing, but I’ve seen them all before – and Treme. It has to be said that Treme is excellent – the cast, script and style are all up to the standard you would expect from the creators of The Wire – but it is still a slight disappointment because I don’t yet love it (very harsh, but true).
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Thankfully, I’ve just added a show to the list, the excellent Bored To Death (Mondays, 22:20), possibly the saviour of the channel.
OK, that last comment was total hyperbole, but I’m trying to make an exciting post here, so bear with me.
Bored To Death is a bit of an odd-fish, but in a good way, like a surprise chippy tea, rather than a haddock left to rot in an air vent. It’s ostensibly an off-beat detective show; frustrated, borderline alcoholic writer, Jonathan Ames (a parallel universe version of show creator, writer Jonathan Ames) turns private investigator after his girlfriend leaves him. So far, so like a million other gimmicky detective shows. What sets this apart is two-fold. Firstly, it has the atmosphere of a really cool, indie-flick. The fictional Jonathan is even played by cool, indie-flick actor Jason Schwartzman. The second thing that separates it from the pack is that it’s really funny. With the overall “indie” vibe of the series – replete with quirky sidekicks ably played by Ted Danson and Zach ”I wonder what that’s worth as Scrabble” Galifianakis – it could get away with only being marginally funny and generating knowing titters from clever character interaction. It doesn’t; it’s hilarious. Each episode is only a half-hour long, and it’s effectively just an unusual sitcom.
So, I’ve probably over-hyped it now and ruined it for you all, but give it a try anyway. There have only been two episodes screened, so far, and you can probably catch the second on a repeat. Sometimes, repeats are your friend.
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I don’t have access to Sky Atlantic (I’m on Team Virgin), and I was pretty disappointed about it. Now, though? I think I’d like Bored To Death, and I would probably have given Boardwalk Empire and Treme a go, but in fact not having Sky A has freed me up to watch other things (most notably The Killing).
I am, however, entirely comfortable with HBO and others selling their shows to the highest bidder. “Content costs money” will in due course be the principle over which the defining media battles are fought. If you’ve paid $20m to make the first episode of Boardwalk Empire, you need to get that back before you can think about making a profit. If you’re paying good journalists to produce a newspaper, you need to make money out of their writing in some way.
I’m sure you would have found time to squeeze in The Killing anyway – it’s the job of the TV addict! Do you have plans to seek out any of the shows from Sky Atlantic? They’re pretty major TV events, so I’m intrigued to know whether you’re willing to just go completely without them.
I totally agree about them selling to the highest bidder – if they don’t have the money, then they can’t make those programmes. It’s one of the reasons that I support the licence fee, we’d have no decent British television without it and when we do it well, it’s excellent.
It’s a relief, as a Sky subscriber, that they made Sky Atlantic part of their standard bundle of channels. There was a good chance that they would have gone down the “premium” route.
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