Sometimes, when you really love a television show through the years it can feel like you’re watching your child live his or her life.  Their hopes, their dreams are all put out there in front of you with vivid precision and you feel the joy of their successes and the pain of their failures as if they’re your own.  For those of us with paternal feelings toward HBO’s polygamist drama Big Love, it’s been a rollercoaster ride since the beginning.  The show was introduced to the world as a comedic drama about a man with three wives; a modern, ecclesiastical Three’s Company perhaps. Quickly, it became clear that Big Love was something much different.  Sure, there was the almost sitcom element of a man juggling three women and trying to meet all of their different needs, but there was something much more.  The campy opening credits with the Beach Boys theme song and ice skating sequence reminded us each episode to expect, if nothing else, a romp.  However, there were glimpses of this dark fantasy-type world of religious cultism and human subjugation, crazed and alienated fringe communities with their own set of rules and values that haunted the show’s main characters.  Other components of the show proved to be masterful.  With brilliant acting from an ensemble of character actors whose years of experience seemed to finally give way to this opportunity to shine.  As well as, a dark and magical sounding score by Mark Mothersbaugh and David Byrne, coupled with a genuine southern country and rock soundtrack featuring everything from Neko Case and Arlo Guthrie to the Misfits.   Big Love stood as a show that proved the importance of small details.  It continued that way for two groundbreaking seasons, always on an upward trajectory, and then last year, went tumbling down into a rut that could only be described as a kind of puberty.

In the fourth season, we the audience were put through a political campaign plot line that served to prod and annoy more than anything else, and an incestuous artificial insemination subterfuge that left us feeling like an over-worried parent, hoping it was all just a phase.  It seemed that even the show’s actors were starting to rebel when Chloe Sevigny, whose role as Nicolette Grant won her a Golden Globe lashed out in an interview, about how ridiculous the show had gotten.

Unfortunately, this was right when the world has started paying attention.  Those who’d caught on to Big Love early on had been spreading the word for years that this was on of the best shows on Television.  This, plus recognition from award shows had everyone tuning in at the most inopportune time.  Luckily, season four had its moments, and certain components were still in place.   Still, this wasn’t the Big Love that fans has been describing all those years, and it was announced a few months ago, that the upcoming fifth season, would be the show’s last.  A fully formed HBO original series is generally six seasons.  Still, the show would have a one season left to return to it’s glory, to put this beautifully fleshed out world to bed and perhaps deliver a history making series finale.  Sunday evening at 10PM, when the final season of Big Love began, long time fans let out a loud, “No!” at the very first frame of airtime.

What seemed like the greatest signifier of the show’s jaunt astray was the decision to replace its beloved, campy title sequence.  Last season introduced an entirely new opening and theme song.  The Engineers spacey track, “Home” accompanied by images of the cast falling through a black void, opened the doomed fourth season and, returned this Sunday to open the final season, thereby leading us all to think that the producers, like the show’s characters in that cursed title sequence, were still lost in the darkness.

While the political campaign plot last season had a “head in the clouds,” feel that irritated viewers, seeing the backlash of this polygamist coming out, felt much more grounded in reality.  The Henrickson’s are now in greater turmoil than ever before.  The family has become the black sheep of their community, their kids are being harassed at school and even Bill’s employee’s are turning on him.  Worst of all, each of Bill’s three wives has their own gripe.

Margene, who resisted coming to out to the world last season because of her burgeoning career was a TV jewelry saleswoman, has now been ostracized by the press as a jewelry “hawker,” and has been fired by the network, sans severance.  Margene begins this season in a state of constant dismay, but it seems that might she might soon find solace from a sales guru played by Grant Show (Melrose Place’s answer to Luke Perry.)  To see Margene swept up into the world of multi-level marketing, a cult in it’s own rite, won’t be unlike watching a beloved character fall victim to drug addiction, and should make for interesting final path for Margene.

Nikki, of all the wives, is perhaps the most okay with the current state of Henrickson family.  She spends most of premier episode protecting her children.  When her son Wayne is attacked at school, she scares the young bully into running into a pole and breaking his teeth.  Meanwhile, she lies to protect her daughter, Cara Lynn, from the truth that her grandmother recently burned her father and stepmother alive.  All of these things stand to illustrate the skewed way in which Nikki deals with the world.  Her disregard for social norms in bullying a young boy, and nonchalantly lying to her daughter about her dad’s murder, are shockingly normal for this woman who grew up in a gypsy-like, existence on the compound, which acts as something like “The Enchanted Forest” of the Big Love world.  However, Nikki’s one gripe with her family life is something that stands in direct opposition to her compound upbringing.  Nikki who grew up in a place where a man is expected to have at least three wives, is now tired of sharing her husband with two other women.

Then there’s Barb, the master matriarch, the first wife, who’s been the family’s glue since the beginning of the show, the Atlas to the Hendrickson’s world. Last season, however, in a completely out of character move, Barb attempted to sabotage her husband’s campaign, and then announced that she no longer felt as though she needed him.  In this season, we’re seeing Barb try to re-experience her life.  Be it Fundamentalism, or Mormon life in general, Barb is attempting to distance herself from her old life, starting with the “no drinking” aspect of Mormonism.  Marge buys a bottle of wine, first, she claims, to cook with, but then in a classic Big Love moment, we witness Barb, sitting in her kitchen with a boombox placed beside a bottle of wine on the kitchen table, blasting music as she pours a glass.  Our prediction: Barb converts to reform Judaism, becoming one of those hippy female rabbi’s who’s teaches yoga and sells homemade mezuzahs and menorahs.  Thus far, Barb is the Big Love character most likely to become a Jew although actress Ginifer Goodwin is actually Jewish and Barb’s mother on the show is played none other than Ellen Burnstyn.

This episode deals very little with one of the most intriguing aspects of the Big Love world: the compound of Juniper Creek, which is now led by Prophet Albert Grant, or Alby, who spent last season carrying on a homosexual affair and then mourning his lover’s suicide.  All we really see from the compound this episode is Albert returning from the dessert claiming he’s been cleansed and intends to cleanse the faith. He then expresses an intense hatred toward Bill Henrickson.  Bill more than ever is becoming a man with a lot on his plate.

Big Love is a show about people who are different from the majority of those around them, both in their beliefs and lifestyle.  Sometimes they are proud and sometimes they are ashamed, they deal with the fundamentalists by whom the world judges them, and with the temptation to blend in with their peers.  As fans, we find ourselves identifying so deeply with these people whose beliefs are so far from our own.  It’s the crux of Big Love, and an experience, that’s often eye opening at, and sometimes religious.

The post Jews Watching Big Love: Surviving Puberty appeared first on Jewcy.

It’s pretty standard for the networks to use all their heavy artillery during the Fall/early Winter months, and start throwing their b-team up after the new year.  But the TV battlefield has drastically changed, forcing network to stay on their game year-round.

Here’s why you’ve still reasons to yearn for that couch and put off finishing one of those big Jewish books for another day.

Big Love’s Final Act

For those who’ve never tuned in to Big Love because the premise didn’t seem like enough of a lure, you’ve missed out on one of the best shows on television.  Whether or not polygamy fascinates you, Big Love is worth watching more for the incredibly elaborate and fleshed out world that creators Mark Olsen and Will Scheffer have established within the show.  More interesting than polygamy in Big Love is the corruption that exists within the small splinter religion that most of the show’s characters belong to, corruption that mirrors many real life religious splinter groups.  Also, as we’ve said on Jewcy before, Big Love’s ensemble includes some of the most talented actors working on TV.  In fact, right now there’s only one other TV program that rivals Big Love in that regard, Breaking Bad, which doesn’t begin until July.  The subject TV show finales has been highly scrutinized in recent years, the finale’s of Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and The Wire have all made rather indelible marks, so it will be interesting to see if Big Love manages to do the same.  Lets just hope they find a new theme song/credits sequence or switch back to the old one.

The Return of TV’s New Best Comedy?

When Parks and Recreation began, it was perceived with almost universal ambivalence.  At that point, almost the entire TV watching world had fallen in love with Amy Poehler and Human Giant fans were psyched that Aziz Ansari had a new vehicle.  But the show seemed like a poor spin off of The Office, and for a couple of episodes, it was.  Then, during Parks and Recreation’s Season 1 finale, everything clicked into place and people decided that the show at least deserved a second season.  Ever since, Parks and Recreation has been hitting a no, delivering a pitch perfect season of deadpan comedy while maintaining enough drama for us to care about the characters.  Aziz and Aubrey Plaza have continued to shine outside of the show, which will either help or hinder this next season and now with the addition of Party Down star, Adam Scott to the cast, the show is rife with heavy hitters. If they manage to keep up the momentum, Community will have a rival for TV’s best new comedy.

More Gratuitous Sex!

Ever have that moment where you’re watching a show  and it dawns on you what it is that you’re watching?  For instance, you’re in the middle of an episode of Entourage, watching the gang gorilla step their way into some fancy party and you realize, “This is just one big fantasy for assholes!”

I’d assume that by now, most people have figured out that Californication is exactly like Entourage in that regard, a fantasy, a mode for viewers to live vicariously through the show’s protagonist, only for dads.  Hank Moody with his survived hairline, shades and cool older guy boot shoes, can miraculously have sex with anybody without having to express his desires at all, it’s sort of like dreaming of owning a La-Z-Boy that turns into a toilet.  The show has become a veritable live action version of Maxim Magazine, showcasing every gorgeous young new Hollywood actress — most notably, the unforgettable Madeline Zima. As soon as we see an attractive woman on Californication, we know that she’ll soon be having sex with Hank. There’s got to be a drinking game here.

TV Crack

Generally, reality TV can be characterized as a guilty pleasure, but there is a certain brand of reality TV, a kind that makes no bones about what it is, so self-acceptingly gratuitous and miserable, that it can only be described as TV Crack.  Two of the year’s best batches of TV Crack are still to come.  Jersey Shore: a show that most people hate on principle, but some like because they don’t know any better and a select few enjoy because of it’s almost John Waters over-top-ness, started last night and will keep us warm and tan through months of cold Thursdays to come.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is another of the awful, yet self aware reality shows, but this particular installment is special because of what we know is about to happen.  Camille is one of the housewives who, as the season begins, happens to be married to and completely enveloped by the life of Kelsey Grammar (you remember, tossed salads and scrambled eggs!)  However, in a bit a dramatic irony, we the viewer know that the couple splits during the course of the show, when Camille finds out that her husband has what Tony Soprano would call, a “goumar.”

Perhaps the best example of TV Crack is Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club, a show that puts both The Sopranos and Jerry Springer to shame with its gratuitous violence.  The brainchild of The Read World co creator, Jonathan Murray, this show is so self aware in how blatant it is, how lacking in any kind of theme or redeeming value it is, that it’s unrelentingly brilliant.  Bad Girls Club is merely a bunch of emotionally unstable women in a house, period.  Best of all, during the reunion shows, host Perez Hilton reserves the right to douse the girls with water or Silly String if they get out of line.  Think of it this way, if you’re going to rot your brain, don’t be half-assed about it.

More Excuses to Make a Mess

Top Chef can be either fantastic, or dreck, depending on the season, the theme and the characters/contestants.  This season, Top Chef All Stars gives us chefs who almost won in past seasons of the show, making for some of the hungriest and most talented competitors thus far.  My pick for the show’s winner: Chef Richard Blais.

On the other end of the dial, Chopped continues to flourish as “the cooking show that could.”  The network behind Chopped isn’t quite as big and the challenger and competition isn’t as elaborate, but Chopped manages to put out a show that’s as entertaining, if not more so than Top Chef, by keeping it simple, and by casting interesting and quirky contestants to battle it out.  Just remember, both shows have better kitchens than you do, and people who get paid to clean up the mess.

Lastly, Storage Wars is a new show based on one of the most fascinating recent episodes of This American Life, which followed around people who buy neglected storage units.  It turns out that if you miss three months of rent, they sell your stuff, and there are people who make a hobby out of buying it up.  A lot of them get junk, stuff soaked in urine or gnawed at by rats, but some manage to nab new naked photo’s of Parris Hilton or abandoned cars.  Just remember, if you find your garage packed in a few months with stuff you bought at storage auctions, there’s a show A&E that might help you, it’s called Hoarders.

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