David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. HBO’s emotional whiplash
There’s a lot of talk in the TV industry about programming compatibility, about “flow.” That’s the idea that the sensibility of one show is not at loggerheads with that of the show that follows it, that a viewer of one show might reasonably want to stick around for whatever comes on next.
“Chuck” into “Heroes” at NBC is a good example of flow. “CSI” into “Without a Trace” on CBS is an excellent example of flow. ABC’s “Ugly Betty” into “Grey’s Anatomy” isn’t bad flow. You get the idea.
But, like they like to say at HBO, it’s not TV. It’s HBO.
Hence, on Sunday, you will witness the most emotionally whipsaw evening of television in, well, ever.
First up is the new series “Tell Me You Love Me,” which got everyone’s panties in a twist at TV Press Tour because the wardrobe budget seems to be awfully small so the actors are naked a lot, and we all know what actors do when they’re naked, and that activity turns up on screen an awful lot. But it’s not what you think – it’s about relationships and feelings and communication and marriage.
In other words, it’s depressing as hell. Only one couple in the show is happy and they don’t really seem happy, just resigned to one another. Even the couples ostensibly in love can barely stand one another.
So, yes, it’s realistic, but in 2007, “realistic” has sort of become a euphemism for “break out the wrists and straight razors.”
Following “Tell Me You Love Me,” naturally, is the sixth-season premiere of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David’s gleefully ridiculous comedy about bad behavior that is so far removed from “realistic” as to exist on a separate plane. These shows will complement one another throughout their runs.
But on Sunday, it gets even odder. For, after Larry David has childishly kvetched his way through another improbably plotted half hour of wackiness, HBO premieres “Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq,” a heartbreaking documentary about soldiers grievously wounded during their tours of combat and struggling to piece their lives together, even though they may be missing pieces of their anatomy. Needless to say, despite the resolve these valiant men and women exhibit, “Alive Day Memories” is even more depressing than “Tell Me You Love Me’s” fictitious characters who can’t get their sh!t together.
Which is not to say that any of these productions are bad – they, in fact, are all quite good to varying degrees. It’s just to recommend that if you watch HBO Sunday night, you might want to wear a neck brace to protect yourself from emotional whiplash.