Ah, the death of the American dream.
You read my advance review of the first four episodes of HBO's Hung, which premiered last night after True Blood, but now that it's aired, I'm curious to know what you thought of the Dmitry Lipkin/Colette Burson-created dramedy series.
Did you buy Thomas Jane as a sad sack high school basketball coach and fallen golden boy forced to rely on his, er, sizable endowment in order to make ends meet? Did you think that he and Tanya (Jane Adams) would have fallen into bed and into business together as quickly as they did? Do you think their Happiness Consultant idea has any chance of survival in these tough economic times? Did you wonder whether Ray and Jessica (Anne Heche) were ever happy together?
And, most importantly, will you be tune in again to watch another episode?
Talk back here.
thanks for you honest review, Jace.
I thought it preposterous and boring. If it wasn;t on HBO it would have been universally panned.
wont be watching. was stupid. tom jane clearly isn't hung if you get my drift.
Not the typical HBO "ground breaking" show. For a show about male prostitution, Hung was very tame and dull.
As I watched Jane move from his miserable life as a coach into a miserable life as a prostitute, I wondered to myself why am I making my life more miserable by watching this?
Did anyone else burst into hysterics when, in the second episode, Tom Jane's character actually said, "I just want my kids back"?
Maybe it is because I am from a different culture (even if we are "Americanising," but I found the blackness in the humour very enjoyable. I especially liked the choice of music for key scenes, really added to the layers of enjoyment.
Certainly come of it is a little cliché but it does do more than just entertain. The social commentary reflected through the show is also entertaining, but for a different reason. I am looking forward to the next episode.
The pilot episode (directed by Alexander Payne)was sublime. The opener showed the destruction of the stadium and the vacant, abandoned structures of the Motor City. This once great town has fallen on hard times and has languished for decades. The despair is palpable.The voiceover set the tone: America is in decline. It is not our parents's world anymore.
I've seen 4 episodes so far. The huband and wife team of Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson are on to something. Let's see in what direction they take this show.
One major concern: Detroit is an overwhelmingly Black city, but you'd never know it watching this. The coach's H.S. is located in the suburbs--how convenient. Sadly, like "Seinfeld" and so many shows before this, the city is whitened up and not truly represented.