Tagarchief: HBO

25 Years Ago On This Day, Pop Culture History Was Written

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

“It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that, I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”
– Tony Soprano

On January 10, 1999, pay channel HBO launched the pilot episode of The Sopranos, the show that would change television forever. Before this ground breaking phenomenon, movies were far superior to television in terms of intelligent writing, production design and the actors involved. The Sopranos changed all of that.

‘The Sopranos wasn’t the first show to break all the rules’, write Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall in their book ‘The Sopranos Sessions’ (see also Oz and Twin Peaks for example), ‘but it was the first show to do that and still become a massive, enduring hit.’

But what is so good about The Sopranos? Maurice Yacowar in ‘The Sopranos On The Couch’, writes: ‘For openers: it’s brilliantly written, performed, and filmed. Each episode has the polish of an excellent feature film – with a tighter yet more complex, resonant script than most. The show is also relentlessly entertaining. The characters are engrossing, the plot twists astonishing but coherent, and the dialogue mined with ironies and poetic resonance quite beyond what we are used to hearing on the boob tube or even on the commercial cinema these days. Unique for a television series, details connect not just across the hour but across a season and beyond. The viewer has to dig for links and meanings beyond what’s spelled out on the surface and is often left with mysteries. That makes the show more like European cinema – and a complete departure for American television. At the same time, The Sopranos provocatively raises major questions about how and why we live.’

In 2021, I published the ultimate The Sopranos tribute. You can read the highlights from this tribute below:

And if you still haven’t seen the show, it is not too late! It is still available on HBO. Seriously, you’d be a douchebag to miss it.

TV Dungeon: The Wire

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(2004 – 2006, USA)

Creator: David Simon
Cast: Dominic West, John Doman, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Deirdre Lovejoy, Sonja Sohn, Dominic Lombarozzi, Seth Gilliam, Clarke Peters, Andre Royo, Michael K. Williams

5 Seasons (60 Episodes)

It took a while before The Wire was noticed by critics and TV-enthusiasts alike. Not until later seasons, it was recognized and acknowledged as one of the best shows to ever hit the airwaves. Barack Obama, for one, called it his favorite television show of all time. For his five season strong social epic, former Baltimore crime reporter David Simon didn’t leave one corner of his city untouched. The Wire provides full insight into the whole spectrum of drug trade, law enforcement, politics, the working class, the school system and the media.

In the show’s first season, a special Baltimore police unit puts in place a wiretap on the drug empire, run by Avon Barksdale. Principle characters on both sides of the law are introduced: Jim McNulty, a smart Irish cop with authority problems and Stringer Bell, Barksdale’s first lieutenant, are just two of the many characters that are somehow involved in ‘the game’, a word used to describe the drug trade, which is a major social problem in Baltimore’s large slums.

The Wire takes its time to establish plotlines and characters, not just in the first season but throughout the series. But whenever it delivers punches, it is nothing short of amazing. There are few shows that dare to take this much time for build-up and risk losing viewers than The Wire does. There are also few shows that deliver such captivating details and immensely satisfying pay-off to those who invested their time to get into it. The final episodes of each season are especially enjoyable as the carefully laid-out plotlines are concluded and new stories take off.

Some critics have described The Wire as a modern version of a Charles Dickens story. This seems like a fair assessment. The often tragic tales of young delinquents, in which adults and authorities are unable to change the problem, are told in a very transparent and moving way. At times it becomes painfully frustrating to see all solutions fail and young drug traders rise, while the older ones get killed or go to jail (or both in case of one memorable character).

Every season focuses on another group that is part of the problem. That is why the show is called The Wire (besides the wiretap): it provides its audience with the opportunity to listen in on all the involved parties, whether it be cops, dealers, dockworkers, politicians, teachers, social workers or journalists. By closely observing the many different characters’ private and professional lives, remarkable insight is given into the larger context of Baltimore’s massive social problems.

All of the show’s characters serve a clear purpose and are portrayed excellently by the talented cast. A standout character is Omar Little, a modern Robin Hood of sorts who robs drug traders for a living. Not only is this anti-hero black, ruthless and intelligent, he is also a homosexual. America’s nightmare indeed. A brilliant move in the show’s casting is also the usage of real-life cops and criminals, adding to the show’s great authenticity.

David Simon and his team have really achieved to make something very fresh and truly original out of what initially looked like just another cop show. Besides academic insight, The Wire also offers tremendous entertainment, mainly achieved through compelling character studies, intriguing conflicts, a unique atmosphere and genius writing. The timing of the plot twists and many surprises is always precisely right. The Wire is just essential television.

TV Dungeon: Oz

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(1997 – 2003, USA)

Creator: Tom Fontana
Cast: Ernie Hudson, Harold Perrineau, Lee Tergesen, J.K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Terry Kinney, Eamonn Walker, Kirk Acevedo

6 Seasons (56 Episodes)

Welcome to Oz! A high security federal prison, called Oswald State Correctional Facility (‘Oz’ in slang). This series is set entirely in a section of this nightmarish prison called Emerald City, run by its creator Tim McManus. Em City is an experiment, whereby various criminal gangs of different ethnicity (blacks, Latino’s, Italian wiseguys, white supremacists, etc) are put together to live in a simulated society. To say that this experiment doesn’t run too smoothly would be somewhat of an understatement.

Because like outside of the prison, the aim of every criminal group or individual is to gain in power. When stripped of almost everything, other means must be used to achieve this, such as rape or violence. This quest for power runs through Oz like a red line. But there are other matters that the inmates pursue, like love, success or even redemption.

The problem is jealousy. Humans of whom everything is taken away, tend to get disagreeable about other people’s achievements. So whenever they sense a shred of happiness around another inmate, they will take the cause away indefinitely. This doesn’t only apply to prisoners, but to the guards as well. Like the one guard who gets a pro-basketball contract. His ankles are slices, putting him out of the game for good.

Plainly put, once you get into Oz, you’re a dead man. Sometimes literally. If Oz teaches us one thing, it is that inside Emerald City, anybody can die at any given time. Even main characters! The ones that manage to survive have to deal with the harrowing psychological effects of prison life. If they ever get out, they are likely to return. Sometimes by their own doing, or by the doing of a fellow inmate who likes to keep them around.

Absolutely hopeless.

Oz, that was there even before TV-gamechanger The Sopranos, is the show that put pay channel Home Box Office (HBO) firmly on the map. It differentiates itself from typical network shows by allowing things to unfold naturally. That means shocking content at times: rapes, gruesome violence, male frontal nudity and homosexual relations are not filtered out for the audience. That gives the series a very raw feel to it. It may be unpleasant at times, it is also very addicting.

What starts out as a realistic show, becomes more fantastical in later seasons. It is stunning either way. While the main goal of Oz, seems to be making a political statement, it also manages to provide superbly entertaining drama. This is mainly due to the brilliantly realized characters, both inmates and staff, that know how to surprise the audience every time.

Some of those characters are present from the start like Beecher, Schillinger, O’Reilly, Alvarez, Adabisi and Kareem Said. Logically their personal stories and relationships are the most fascinating, but what Oz also does very well is keeping the in- and outflow of inmates up to a pleasant level. It is not really possible to explain some of the characters’ stories as it would do injustice to the writing, but believe the reviewer: it is fascinating.

Watching Oz is basically like observing a monkey cage. There is a brawl every few minutes and the smartest inmates (best schemers) live the longest. If you’re up for great drama with a message, Oz is your fix. Just don’t get too attached to any of the characters.

TV Dungeon: Six Feet Under

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(2001 – 2005, USA)

Creator: Alan Ball
Cast: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick, Freddy Rodriquez, Rachel Griffiths

5 Seasons (63 Episodes)


‘Every Day Above Ground is A Good One’

Alan Ball, the screenplay writer of American Beauty, once again displays his darkly comic view on suburban life (and death) in a series of marvelous splendor. This time around we follow the Fishers, a family that runs a funeral parlor in Los Angeles. After father Nathaniel Sr. (Richard Jenkins) dies in the pilot episode (comically getting crushed by a bus while lighting a smoke in his new hearse), his funeral business is left to his two sons Nate and David.

Nate (Peter Krause), the oldest son, is a good-looking, somewhat egocentric guy who never had much interest in the family business. David (Michael C. Hall) on the other hand has almost made it a sacred task to become a skilled mortician. He is frustrated that his father was always more fond of his brother Nate that he has now left half of his business. But mostly he resents himself for his homosexuality. This is communicated to the audience through conversations between David and his deceased father. Talking to the dead is a normal phenomenon in Six Feet Under. It is also used as a device to let the characters self reflect and express their feelings to the audience.

The youngest sibling is spontaneous daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose) who is introduced while she is taking crystal meth with her new boyfriend Gabe when hearing the news of her fathers death. Mother Ruth, portrayed with great intensity by Frances Conroy, deals with her husband’s loss by throwing herself in a series of relationships. She frequently expresses her strong need to share more with her family, but never really opens up herself. She is a character that can easily switch from sympathetic to sometimes downright abominable. A trait all the major characters in the series share at some point during the five season stretch.

All the characters and their relationships evolve greatly throughout the series. From Nate’s difficult relationship with the initially self-centered Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), a young woman who was exposed to psychiatry at a young age and is now living the self fulfilling prophecy that everything will go wrong, to David’s relationship with the handsome black policeman Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) who also went through a difficult childhood. Then, there is also the ambitious mortician Federico (Freddy Rodriquez), the very conventional and often bourgeois apprentice of Nathaniel Sr. who wants a partnership in the Fisher’s business. Both Ruth and Claire go through several relationships throughout the series that basically all fail at a certain point.

All the cast-members perform exceptionally well. Nate is portrayed with great confidence by Krause, who can switch from selfish to empathetic in no time. Nate’s AVM seizures are nailed with frightening accuracy by Krause. Hall, who hardly had any acting experience at that point in his career, is unforgettable as David, the character that arguably goes through the biggest development during the course of the series. The excellent Conroy and Ambrose as Ruth and Claire complete the dysfunctional Fisher family with their tantrums and occasional outbursts. The regular cast is often accompanied by guest-actors such as Lili Taylor, James Cromwell and Kathy Bates.

The theme death is off course elaborately explored throughout the series. Every episode starts with the death of a one time appearing character. These deaths are always perfectly in line with the feel of the series as they range between sad, dramatic, disturbing and funny. The mourning process is also fantastically observed and much attention has been given to the prosthetic effects used to create the often mutilated corpses that the Fisher’s have to embalm. The themes are all beautifully interwoven and composed with subtle visual symbolism, clever humor and poignant situations. The beautiful cinematography is evident from the brilliant opening credits on to the dreamy sequences later in the series.

There is a political agenda as well. David and Keith struggle with the unfair treatment of homosexuals and Claire’s left-liberal ideas clash with George Bush’s America. Six Feet Under is one of these shows where everything fits in perfectly. The greatest triumph is perhaps the shimmering final act (more specifically the final four episodes of season 5). It is beyond much doubt that Alan Ball and his team of writers, actors and directors have created the most memorable ending to a TV series to date. Not to say that the preceding stuff is not worthwhile. It is a powerhouse series on both comical and dramatic grounds and I urge you strongly to watch it. It might change your outlook on life, and it will certainly affect your view on death.