Grid Effect

So, was I the only one bored senseless by last nights episode? Honestly, after a significant binge the night before and a day full of yardwork leading up to the HBO Sunday night block, I damn near fell asleep during “Manic Monday”. Actually, I am probably pinning too much responsibility on the activities preceding Sunday’s viewing. Considering The Sopranos kept my attention even with its probing, often stand still pacing, I was fully engaged for the entire hour.

But despite the total runtime of last nights episode, 21 minutes after recap and opening credits, somehow I still felt like I was watching Roots. If there was anything about Amanda that interested me other than her looks (and even then, she’s expendable, much like LA this show is chock full of female eye-candy, it’s never ruined the series before, not sure why it should now) it might be redeemable. But what do we know about the character? She is divorced and her ex-husband wants the dog, and… well, now she prostitutes herself to gain favor with clients (can’t imagine why the husband would be vindictive).

Not a whole lot of substance there. Also, she’s tempremental, annoying and overtly literal. All the time. And given her lack of development it begs the question, is her contribution to the series dramatic or comedic. It can’t be dramatic, because nothing is really at stake. Vince and her could part ways right now and they would both go onto live relatively comfortable lives with no regret. So I guess she’s around for comic relief, but why the hell do I watch it if I never laugh?

I imagine the character is still somewhat peripheral (even though her or conversation about her ate up at least half the screentime in this episode) because she isn’t in it for the long haul. But if I wanted to watch all of the male leads being overly complacent with their female counterparts, I would watch every series on CBS and ABC.

Ari was kind of going through the same painstaking minutia that Vince & Co. were. Answering to his therapist, his wife, Babs, at least there was an explanation for why he was so behaving so abnormally: he’s depressed. And when a megalomaniac such as Ari has a bout with depression, he tends to be fairly dysfunctional (ask anyone on involved with The Sopranos). He did have a few solid rants, however (twice directed at his psychiatrist, one of those also congruently at his wife), which helped to make the episode tolerable, but hardly saved it.

Honestly, is the demo for this series so shallow where even the agent has to be superficially entertaining? It’s a distinct possibility, but being a card-carrying member of said demographic, maybe the producers/writers are mistaken. When it comes to a character as integral as “agent”, comedy should trump aethsetic appeal. Especially when the series is billed as such.

Other notes:

-Drama’s prevailing misogynistic wisdom speaks to his age.

-Ari’s line during his first rant, “First off, I didn’t go to the Lakers game because they were playing the fucking Bobcats!” Is perfectly applicable. As having been to a couple Bobcats games, I can assure you its worth staying home.

-Has any one note character been as derailed as the Lasik guy? That was brutal.

Anyhow, next week looks like a vast improvement (something I haven’t said about the previews for the past two episodes), which is almost necessary at this point to keep me awake.