Grid Effect

For a series that could have probably gotten by being nothing more than a run of double-entendres and dick jokes, if the pilot episode is anything to go by, Hung strives to be much more than the low-brow comedy that most show-runners would fall back on. We wouldn’t expect anything less from HBO, but it would probably be much more viable commercially if they had gone that route (a blue collar Entourage, is probably the best way to describe it).

Tom Jane plays Ray Drucker, a man that is, in all manners of speaking, kind of down on his luck. He teaches history and coach’s a terrible high school basketball team, his wife left him for a rich acquaintance of their’s from high school that they never liked, and his son and daughter resent him because his house caught on fire and he’s sleeping outside in a tent, as a result of your average teenager being a heartless goon, he now has to earn their approval as well.

These, combined with many confirmations that you are well-endowed, are apparently the necessary steps to becoming a male escort. If you watched last night, the entire series is basically a PSA for why no one, especially no guy, should ever go into teaching. It might sound appealing coming out of college, what with summer’s off and a steady income. But with so little upward mobility, there’s a good chance you have the same earning power at 45 as you do at 25, and that results in a broken marriage and turning tricks.

Or, as the opening monologue would suggest, it could be a parable about the death of the American dream. Either way, Ray’s life is in a rut, and after attending a “How to get rich” seminar and running into a former one night stand (Tanya, it’s unclear if he slept with this woman while he was married), her hurled insult as he leaves her house and the advice to use your “one great tool” to realize your financial aspirations, Ray decides to put his unusually large member to work.

It's not exactly the Bunny Ranch, but it'll do.

Things do not come so naturally for Ray, as you might imagine, as his first client rejects him after looking through her peephole and slipping him $50 under the door for leaving a basketball game he was supposed to be coaching. After an efficient stalking job by Tanya, he enlists her help to improve his marketing, which is some comically embarrassing ad in a newspaper for “Big Donnie”. In short, she becomes his pimp. The business aspect is left there, and we close with Tommy giving the $50 from his failed attempt at whoring to his kid to buy a concert ticket (something his step-dad already covered).

In short, there is a lot to like about Hung, the least of which being Anne Heche (who seems to be almost universally despised in her role), the best of which is Tom Jane, who absolutely owns every scene he is in. Right now the dialog feels rather stifled, and that may be a part of the character introduction, but at the moment the only person who speaks with any authority or says anything that catches us off-guard is Ray, and we can’t tell if it’s because Jane is playing the part so effectively or if everyone else seems to be trotting out tired superlatives every time they open their mouths, but he carried the pilot episode. Yes, we’ve come a long way since Ghost Rider.

Like we suggested before, the series looks to be multi-faceted and thought-provoking. There is plenty of humor in it, but it’s derived from the perspective of a downtrodden middle-aged man whose all but given up hope that his life is ever going to improve. And the tragedy, even though it’s delivered in a lighthearted manner, is palpable. It’s the perfect blend of the two genres without feeling forced or overwrought or misplaced.

There are also plenty of small caveats to this show to like. For starters, setting it in Detroit, which is ground-zero for the current/pending collapse of the American economy. He shuffles about from depressing casino hotels to his lakeside house to the dilapidated school that employs him. It feels very rust-belt and the city, much like Ray, gives off the feel of desperation.

Anyhow, if you couldn’t tell, we enjoyed the pilot. This is definitely going into the weekly rotation as we continue to look for new series’ to recap. The best news, though, is that HBO is officially hitting stride again and is ready to reclaim the title of best original programming back from AMC (piss off, Showtime fans). Much like Ray Drucker, the former pro-baseball hopeful and Central Florida scholarship recipient, HBO is trying to garner the same respect they once commanded. The process has just been a little slow in the making since The Sopranos and The Wire went off the air. But our protagonist and the once great cable network are now using their worldly gifts (which happens to be Ray’s cock, in both instances), to their advantage.