The Best 2007 Series on Television: AMC's Mad Men Tops The List; Runners-Up: Dexter, Ugly Betty, Californication, Pushing Daisies and More January 1, 2008
Two shows this year stand out as pure appointment tv. These series required no DVR’ing; the air time was burned in my brain - Showtime’s Dexter and AMC’s Mad Men.
Because of the rich setting, superb ensemble cast, and feature film production values, Mad Men edged out Dexter as my pick for the best scripted series of 2007. 42 year-old creator Matt Weiner (the Emmy-winning executive producer of TheSopranos) is channeling an intimate period piece, set circa 1960 in a Manhattan ad agency.
The Mad Men season finale contains one of the most memorable scenes in the history of television. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the maestro of the Sterling Cooper agency, pitches Kodak on an ad campaign, using photos of his own beautiful wife and children as models. (Giving away the name of the Kodak product here would spoil the clip, posted below.)
Draper’s client presentation is a metaphor for his fathomless, tragic yearning for love and family and home. The scene wraps up Draper's season-long character trajectory.
Sterling Cooper's media buyer, Harry Crane (Rich Sommer), recently locked out of the house by his wife, bolts at the end of this unforgettable scene.
If you screen just one clip, watch this one. Watch and weep and envy the genius of Matt Weiner. This is the stuff of Emmys.
Check out Rich Sommer's blog. And his new baby, born December 13! awwww.
Here's the Christmas card Rich sent to his co-workers, designed by the very talented Dyna Moe.
Says Rich on his site: "Notice the chip and dip? And Matt Weiner's face on the record sleeve?"
Much more about Dexter later. But first, after so much discussion of UST-abuse (unresolved sexual tension) in my immediate past post, it's only fair to point out where writers have succeeded in updating an old theme.
Ugly Betty is appointment tv because the series rarely disappoints. It’s another perfectly cast show, from the imperfectly beautiful America Ferrera right down to John Cho as Kenny, the wanna-be hipster. We don’t see Cho often enough, perhaps because he’s busy with his film career (Harold and Kumar etc.) but Cho fires up the screen when he’s around. (Short, fun ABC sneak peek below.)
After a one-season build-up, Betty and her endearingly nerdy love-interest Henry (Christopher Gorham), finally co-habit. They’re a nerdy match made in heaven, although there’s trouble dead-ahead because Henry will soon return to Tuscon. It’s tender Nerd!UST.
Grey's Anatomy Shonda Rhimes, and lots of other showrunners for that matter, could learn a thing or two from the Ugly Betty team. UglyBetty proves that a show can resolve UST, walk the knife edge of tension, and still move forward in an entirely satisfying way. From the start, audiences rooted for Betty and Henry.
Henry is adorable, and the chemistry between America Ferrera and Christopher Gorham lights up the screen.
And then there are the guest stars, like the underappreciated Mo’Nique in her hilarious guest spot as the weekend security guard who wants some of Henry’s sugah-stick. (Mo' Nique is a very talented woman. Check out her performance in the film Shadowboxer, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Helen Mirren.)
Or Betty White’s recent appearance, clipped here (by fans, I think). White says she adores her fans “except for the few sickos who write lesbian fan-fiction about me and Bea Arthur.”
lol!
The writers' insiderish Internet jokes make Ugly Betty non-stop, delicious fun.
One of the hyphenates who truly understands UST, and is beautifully, elegantly mining the theme, is Bryan Fuller in Pushing Daisies. UST is the heart and soul of Pushing Daisies. It could have been another "I-love-you, I-love-you-not" audience whipsaw a la Grey's Anatomy. Fuller’s characters don’t tap dance, they commune. They’re smitten. It’s Fuller’s way of exploring romantic love and overcoming obstacles to intimacy.
Like the writers of Ugly Betty, Bryan Fuller writes as if he adores and respects his audience. He lavishes his audience with one snappy scene and voice-over after another. He treats viewer like they have a sharp mind and a good heart. Bryan Fuller is Robert McKee’s embodiment of the cardinal rule: “Story is about respect, not disdain, for the audience.”
While Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy taunt with UST, Ugly Betty and Pushing Daisies are a come hither.
Another series that rests on a solid UST foundation is Calfornication. Californication is variation on the Divorced!UST theme. (See my previous post about Divorced!UST in Desperate Housewives,Women’s Murder Club etc.)
Okay – not even divorced, exactly. Hank and his true love, Karen, never actually tied the knot. Hank has commitment issues, so he never married Karen. Karen drifts off and becomes engaged to Bill.
On top of this familiar platform, the writers are shamelessly outrageous. The toked-up pre-nuptial conversation between Karen and her best friend Marcy was howlingly funny and on target – I wish someone would post it on youtube it - but the outrageousness does mask the fact that this series is actually pretty basic in some ways.
Hank is a “tragically flawed with good heart.” That’s an actual line of dialog in the finale, breaking another cardinal, writing rule - “show don’t tell" (McKee, page 334), something the writers do a lot in this series.
But it feels more like someone in the writers’ room said to themselves – “WTF! I’m gonna break this rule, just like my characters engage in a lot of inappropriate behavior.”
They get high a lot, do the b/d thing with their hot secretaries, and otherwise misbehave, like the Entourage boys. (But here the women misbehave too.)
The characters have little sense of decorum, so it seems like the writers decided to defiantly take down a few sacred cows too.
Hank carries a torch for Karen (his ex), except when he’s having long, drizzly, syrupy phone conversations with his precocious daughter, or showing off his manly side by defending his Karen’s honor - by punching out a party-goer after the chump called her the “c” word.
It’s sweaty, unshaven David Duchovny-with-jowels UST. He’s not exactly attractive.
“That sh*t’s f*cked up,” as Marcy said.
So, Hank tries to woo Karen back, but experiments with plenty of other women in the meantime, as witnessed here in one of the more wacky Californication scenes.
Still, in the end, after 12 episodes, there is no sense that the writers are dissing their audience. It’s like they’re saying, hey! It’s a beautiful, southern California day. Let’s hop in the convertible and take a fast ride down Highway One. And let’s break some f*cking rules!
And I happily jumped in to ride shotgun.
In the last seconds of the finale, the writers resolved the UST. Slinging her high heels and hiking her wedding dress, Karen runs from her wedding reception. She hops into the back of the Hank’s now iconic one-headlight Porsche. “Go, Go!” she yells. “Quick, before I change my f*cking mind!”
The re-united family careens down the street into the night. (clip below) The writers will probably start the cycle all over again next year. Most likely Karen will walk out on Hank (again) probably when she finally discovers the series' season-long big secret. Hank – oops! - slept with Bill’s sixteen year-old daughter (unaware of the age and relation at the time).
Two of the best series on television – Dexter and Mad Men – are blessedly free of the stale cat/mouse romances, so cynically over-played in most broadcast net series. The relationship between Dexter’s sister Deb and Lundy, the visiting FBI agent, unfolded organically. It was sweet and healing - Deb regained her faith in relationships after falling in love with the Ice Truck Killer and Lundy allowed himself to feel again after the death of his wife.
Dexter soared both creatively and ratings-wise in ’07, its sophomore season. It’s rare when a dramatic series tops its freshman outing, but Dexter gained momentum.
Step by inexorable step, up the character development ladder – using the clever device of substance-abuse recovery (of all things!) - the writers grew Dexter beyond the “code of Harry,” the guidance laid out by his adopted father.
Michael C. Hall as Dexter goes from sensitive to sinister in zero to sixty. While Mad Men is the best series on television, Hall is the best lead in a drama. His range is vast. And his voice inflection, injecting a edge of dark humor into bleak place, is spot on. Voice-overs are now commonplace on television but they mostly detract. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Rob Owen recently addressed this trend). On Dexter, the v.o. is a key element that allows the audience access to Dexter's troubled interior.
Because Dexter is more of whole experience than a single episode, I’m hard pressed to name one scene over another. The brilliance is in the totality, the delicate block-building and planning, a long crescendo leading to the explosive finale. Season two Dexter was a tour du force of scripting.
If the very last beautiful scenes of the finale felt oh, so real, they were. As reported by Rob Owen, the scenes were filmed in Paris. Thank you Clyde Phillips (showrunner) for wisely budgeting for an overseas shoot, giving the series that added sheen of authenticity.
Dexter used no cheesy gimmicks (video games), no tornadoes or weddings. The explosion in the finale could not have gone any other way. (Lila, Dexter’s new girlfriend, was a pyromaniac.)
Dexter is as close to perfect as it gets on television.
Brotherhood is another gimmick-free series. At first, the drama seemed like it might be too much The Sopranos meets Providence. It is but…not really. Like The Wire (in Baltimore), the jagged setting of an overlooked and decaying east coast setting colors the story and characters. (I wish Saving Grace could use Oklahoma City to the same effect.)
Here, Divorced!UST is no contrived plot device. Eileen and Tommy struggle to salvage their marriage. And Jason Isaacs as Michael Caffee - the complicated, tragic criminal brother - is brilliant.
Isaacs is another transplanted Brit (raised in Liverpool). But unlike other U.K. transplants - Bionic Woman’s Michelle Ryan or Moonlight’s Sophia Myles - Isaacs wears the peculiar Rhode Island persona like a second skin. Emmy nomination anyone? Move over Hugh Laurie.
Series that respect the audience’s tolerances and use UST judiciously and/or cleverly or tongue-in-cheekly, and also avoid gimmicks (like video games) - Pushing Daisies, Ugly Betty, Californication, Mad Men, Dexter, Saving Grace,Brotherhood - are the best shows on television.
There are two networks I’d like to single out for 2007 appreciation: AMC and Showtime. AMC recognized the value of Mad Men and renewed the series in spite of the iffy ratings. Matt Weiner says the network has been supportive of his artistic vision.
And Showtime has been brazen lately - growing, pushing, shoving the envelope every which way.
I can’t wait to see what’s next for both of these networks.
