0/5

The buzz is on 30 minutes

New US cable dramas are reaffirming the might of the 30 minute format.

Nurse-JackieThe buzz on new American shows is all being directed towards cable shows Nurse Jackie and Hung right now. Each series has humor, drama and emotional moments.

Nurse Jackie features Sopranos actress Edie Falco as a no-fuss emergency room nurse. The premiere was Showtime’s most-successful premiere ever and the network immediately picked up the series for a second season. At just 30 minutes it follows the recent success of In Treatment‘s slimmer format.

NY Times said:
“Nurse Jackie” doesn’t look like the average network medical drama, but it does follow the formula of many premium cable shows, taking a knowing and at times dark, sardonic look at the classic themes of love, life and work. It has one of the most talented actresses on television as its lead, and yet over all “Nurse Jackie” is surprisingly, and disconcertingly, off key. This is a drama draped in black humor that doesn’t know when to be funny.

But Variety said:
“Nurse Jackie” administers an odd cocktail — one that starts out potent but loses some fizz with each successive round. “The Sopranos'” Edie Falco is clearly the straw that stirs the drink as a cranky, pill-popping nurse surrounded by an assortment of eccentric characters. Yet after the promising, twisty premiere (which makes especially good use of the theme from “Valley of the Dolls”), the series becomes hard-to-define in mostly the wrong ways — a half-hour that’s not particularly funny, simply dark and bleak, yet without much high-stakes drama. Alas, even Showtime can’t quite live by “quirky” alone.

Then there’s HBO’s Hung, at a more conventional 60 minutes, starring Thomas Jane as a well-endowed struggling high school basketball coach who resorts to prostitution. It also stars Anne Heche.

LA Times said:
For a half-hour HBO show about male prostitution, “Hung” tends to keep its clothes on and move v-e-r-y s s-l-o-w-l-y. Lipkin and Burson appear more interested in the pitted, shrunken but still heroically vital human spirit than naked butts and intercourse. Which is admirable, but if you’re looking for the male version of, say, “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” or even the raciness of “Weeds,” look elsewhere. Sex in early episodes of “Hung” is surprisingly non-graphic and certainly non-erotic. The nakedness is more of an emotional sort. Heche is, as usual, tightly wound and slightly mad, though watching her attempt to connect with her children — Damon is a goth, Darby is dating a loser and both are maestros of not-quite-sullen silence — is a writhe-in-your-seat pleasure.

Hollywood Reporter said:
The show is pretty darned funny, especially once you get past the 45-minute pilot and into the half-hour regular episodes (smaller is better, actually). The leads are a classic screwball couple, washed out and made hangdog by the system but fighting back in their own uniquely American fashion. Co-creator Dmitry Lipkin (“The Riches”) again raises his unique periscope to peer into the darker corners of suburbia, crafting characters worth following even at their most repulsive.

Variety said:
When the series was announced, “Hung” sounded like a one-note, made-for-pay-TV joke — indulging director Alexander Payne and company to engage in a bit of “Boogie Nights” humor. Yet the series that emerges proves not only timely in its look at a member of Detroit’s disappearing middle class but, in addition to being wryly funny, shows off an unexpected organ — the one generally associated with love, not lust. Boasting fine performances by Thomas Jane and Jane Adams, coupled with sharp writing, “Hung” really does offer those willing to pay for it (HBO, that is) a bountiful package.

Amended.

7 Responses

  1. I can’t watch Nurse Jackie. I really don’t enjoy Edie Falco and her character in this does not appeal. I’m surprised Hung is having success. I thought it was a funny idea but was shocked (positively) when they green lit a season. I won’t watch it however. Like Dexter it doesn’t feel like it has a positive message.

    Give me Weeds any day. Nancy is a good person who has good intentions (that said this season like the last is so confusing and she has been removed from relatability and is less likeable but I still love her) and I worry every episode what will happen next and hope the show creators do what has to happen which is she eventually digs herself out of trouble and finds happily ever after.

    For Weeds to end negatively with her dying or going to prison or the kids dying, her continuing to struggle as a dealer… it would defeat the whole point of this show. From day one this has been her quest to free herself of crime and financial oblivion and to deny her that would be a enormous let down in the end because we’ve been made to empathise with her so much.

  2. Looks like that doctors show with Justin Clarke ( from a few years back) was ahead of its time. It was a half hour show, which I thought was strange at the time.

  3. I love Nurse Jackie…I think it’s such an awesome show (only seen first 4 episodes but the comedy and the drama in it are at exactly the right mix!)

  4. i love nurse jackie. the last episode had me rolling around the floor lauging. god it is a great show.

    i watched hung this week and not so impressed IMO. will give it one more episode.

    nurse jackie is amazing. watch it.

  5. I just saw the pilot for Hung. Looks like a decent show. Sianoa Smit-McPhee (formerly on Neighbours) plays one of the twins of Thomas Jane’s character in the show.

Leave a Reply