Blogger's had a lot of problems the last few days, but here are the latest column links: On Wednesday, I wrote about HBO's first traditional sitcom
"Lucky Louie" (and my negative opinion landed me in the middle of a contentious interview on Opie & Anthony's radio show this morning). Today is an
all-"Sopranos" mailbag, and the opening letter makes a lot of good points about the one part of the finale I neglected to mention: Tony visiting Phil in the hospital.
Die in a fire.
ReplyDeleteI thought you handled yourself very well on the O and A show. For what it's worth a large majority of the show's fans turned heel on Jimmy for the way he handled the situation.
ReplyDeleteYou came off about as well as could be expected, given the odds that were stacked against you.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems you and Norton were at an impasse: he was trying to make the point that the cheesy sets and stock situations were meant as a satire of the traditional sitcom format and (if I'm reading you right) your point was that "why would you satirize something that was crap to begin with?".
I just watched the first episode (available here), and I liked it a lot more than you did. But your point was that either something makes you laugh or it doesn't, and this didn't. That's basically the only real answer you can give. He was trying to use logic or something, like "How can you laugh at this but not this." He's just too close to it, I think. I did like his character, though.
ReplyDeleteJim, as you say and as I tried to tell Norton yesterday, comedy is subjective. And as I tried to convey in the review, I did find parts of it funny. I definitely didn't hate it nearly as much as Tim Goodman, who says it might be the worst HBO show ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd in an amusing twist, given the O&A kerfuffle yesterday, the guy on TV Tattle linked to my review, highlighting only the portion where I called it "refreshing."
I figured those guys would give you credit for being honest. They pride themselves on saying what they think and not sugar-coating it, and they should give you credit for going on the air and giving your honest opinion without trying to spare Norton's feelings.
ReplyDeleteI finally saw "Lucky Louie" last night and found it to be mostly a suckfest. A few funny things, but mostly unfunny. Or if they find something funny, like the little girl asking daddy, "Why?", they run it into the ground. Too bad because I like Louis C.K.'s stand-up, but I won't be watching this show.
ReplyDeleteAnd that Norton guy is ug-leee (snerk).