HBO has gotten cold.
It started fifteen years ago with "Dream On". HBO felt that the only way it could hold viewers, establish brand loyalty, was by developing its own shows.
For a moment there, "Dream On" was a good watch. It was more CREATIVE than conventional television. But then it turned into something akin to SNL. Formulaic instead of groundbreaking. A one note joke that never seemed to go anywhere.
But then came "Larry Sanders".
"Larry Sanders" was not as funny as everybody said it was. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is that funny. There are moments during "Curb" when you're lying on your bed, watching this nebbish, and you start to HOWL! In a way you never did watching "Seinfeld". It's almost UNCONTROLLABLE! How did Larry COME UP with this stuff? Watching "Curb" is akin to watching sports. You're alone, but you feel there MUST be other people out there who are experiencing what you are. Hell, that's one of the most enjoyable elements of watching "Curb". Talking to your friends the next day. And reliving those gut-busting guffaws.
"Larry Sanders" was intellectually funny. You rarely laughed out loud. But in your mind you chuckled. At Larry who was so anxious, so vain, yet trying to cover it up. "Larry Sanders" was the breakthrough. It paved the way. Illuminated the paradigm. On HBO, you could attempt, and hopefully ACHIEVE, stuff you didn't have a PRAYER of getting approved elsewhere. Probably because HBO didn't depend on ratings. They wanted not momentary successes, not the stunting of network sitcoms, but shows that would get under people's SKIN, establish BRAND LOYALTY!
And the breakthrough was "The Sopranos".
"The Sopranos" is the best television show ever made.
But it's not usually put in that category. No, "The Sopranos" feels like a MOVIE! It's deep, and rich, and RIGHT in ways that our movies are not. This was the HBO apotheosis. Suddenly, you could state with all earnest that you didn't GO to the movies. Rather, you watched HBO. Which was BETTER than the movies.
And it was.
Today's movies justify their cost by getting the LOOK right. Story is secondary to image. At best, the indie flicks get the FEEL right. And the studio movies are truly network TV, hell, they're oftentimes REMAKES of network TV shows.
Whereas the focus of HBO shows was EXCELLENCE! It was the final EFFECT that mattered. How could you resonate with the public, get under people's skin, without talking down to them or insulting their intelligence. How could you provide a litmus test for the educated American. Something that would make them state, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO WATCH!
Oh, "The Sopranos" was followed by "Six Feet Under". Which is almost as good, but in a completely different way. Then again, there's also the ring of truth. Just as Meadow manipulated Tony and Carmela, Claire was completely ignored by her parents. Yes, every family is fucked up in its own little way. And you could see these fuck-ups, see YOURSELF, in these HBO shows.
But suddenly, HBO lost the formula.
Somehow the notion of STICKING WITH something superseded any evaluation of QUALITY!
One episode of "Carnivale" was enough for EVERYBODY except the outlet itself.
And despite all the kudos for "The Wire", it's PSEUDO-HBO. It ATTEMPTS to look real, but it ends up being even phonier than "Oz".
And then there's the Soderbergh/Clooney stuff. The execrable "K Street". And now the new "Unscripted". I've yet to find a SINGLE PERSON who has watched "Unscripted". And, no wonder. The reviews have been HORRIBLE! And, the reviews matter with HBO.
Furthermore, production schedules have been stretched to such a degree that you're not even convinced your favorite shows are EVER coming back. Sure, there's supposed to be another "Sopranos" season. But I might be married and divorced before it ever hits the air. And there's supposed to be a final "Six Feet Under" too. But they'd better shoot it soon. For Lauren Ambrose, who's already married, might have a baby and be UNABLE to effectively play a college art student.
It's over.
Oh, there's "Deadwood". Decent acting in search of an emotional arc.
No, HBO got complacent. Thought its subscribers were addicted.
But they're not.
I switched to Showtime. At least they run all the episodes in a row, not pausing for holidays and school vacations. AND, Showtime has a season every year. Showtime's series might not be quite as good as the best HBO shows, but they're HUNGRY, and TRYING, in a way that HBO is not.
Lisa canceled HBO. And I know others who are planning to do so.
But I can't. I hold out hope that SOMETHING will come on that will enrich my life.
Yes, I'm the opposite of my peers. I pay for EVERYTHING, I don't want to close one portal, shutting down the possibility of my life being changed by a great show.
And my stubbornness has suddenly paid off.
Not having watched HBO in MONTHS, having wasted the better part of a $100, letting the meter run as I was waiting to be delivered, I have NOW finally been touched. By "Taxicab Confessions".
Oh, along with the highbrow shit, HBO has also got a slew of lowbrow product. Under the philosophy of having something for everybody.
YOU might have been able to watch "G-Sting Divas", but you must not know how to surf the Web. Because there's a LOT more titillation available for free on the Net.
Oh, I did watch some of that Mustang Ranch documentary.
But I'm not much for prostitution. Oh, I wanted to see where the prostitutes were COMING FROM, what was going on inside their brains, but the show focused more on the sexual act. And, as an adult, I'd rather do it myself in real life, with someone interested in me, than watch some asshole pay for it in Nevada.
But "Taxicab Confessions". Which has devolved into a low rent romp...I still have an affection for it.
I got hooked by accident. Flipping the channels and stumbling upon the transit cop talking about a patron getting caught between a subway car and the platform. Oh, it wasn't completely voyeurism, it was the PAIN in the transit cop's face. The HUMAN CONDITION! THAT'S what hooked me.
But then they went to Vegas. And I had to endure partying idiots talking almost exclusively about dope and sex. I was about done. But having read they had gone back to New York, I taped the show Saturday night.
And I'm glad I did.
Oh, I could tell you about squirming as the girl got on top of her inebriated boyfriend and revealed the grossest tattoo I've ever seen. I mean why do people DISFIGURE themselves like this?
Then again, there was the overweight lover and the chubby chaser. She gets laid all the time, but doesn't trust men. Having had her heart broken by the boy she met at age 12.
And there was the couple who were married for years but didn't seem to get along.
But all of the above were missable.
You've got to watch this show for one episode, one segment, with a middle-aged woman.
Unlike most of the rest of the riders, she doesn't look debauched. She almost looks normal. You can't figure out why she's on the show. Her looks must cover up a deep secret. She must be a transsexual.
But no, her story starts out normally.
Her boyfriend broke up with her.
But then there was a twist. He did so because she couldn't disconnect from an old love.
Okay, get ready for bizarredom.
But this was no freak show.
Slowly, this woman started to reveal her story.
The old boyfriend was a fireman. Yes, he ran to the World Trade Center on 9/11.
And he got buried there.
She was freaking out. She was drawn to Ground Zero the way the man is drawn to his wedding house in Springsteen's "Downbound Train". She wasn't thinking. She couldn't help herself. She'd gone to the station. She knew he was at the site. She had to FIND HIM!
Which, of course, was an impossibility.
But people attempt impossible things all the time.
And then, as she's sitting in the back of the cab, this woman starts talking about what the TV networks deemed too intense for America. She started talking about all the people JUMPING out of the towers. How she couldn't comprehend it. They were HUMAN BEINGS! Yet, they were falling through the air. She had to be worried about someone dropping and killing HER!
And then the buildings collapsed.
But her boyfriend was rescued from the debris. Miraculously. Almost by accident.
But that didn't bring them together. They didn't get married like the investment bankers who were nowhere near Ground Zero on that fateful day who figured they had to move on with their lives for they could end any minute. No, she tried to be there for him...but he couldn't handle it. He started treating her horribly. Blaming her for what had happened to him. IRRATIONAL stuff. They finally had to call it quits. But she doesn't blame him. You see he's COMPLETELY FUCKED UP from the ordeal.
Americans are worried they're going to be bombed in their hometowns. Far from the metropolis. But the people who were actually there...they've been traumatized in such a way that they'll probably never recover. And for all the reams of words trying to explain what happened, all the efforts to be there for those affected, really, they're just a band-aid. Because we find the truth too scary. Like concentration camp survivors and Vietnam war veterans, the survivors of 9/11 have had their lives changed forever, and nobody else can really understand, they don't WANT to understand.
That's the power of the moving image. That's the power of the documentary. You can capture a truth that eludes almost all of the Hollywood schlock. You can capture LIFE ITSELF!
I've got an intense fascination with people's stories. How did they get HERE? What did their parents do for a living? Did they go to college? Have their hearts been broken? I used to get this information in records, from the music culture. But somehow, the powers that be feel there's no market for this. Even though it broke not only rock, but rap. Both of which have become a caricature of themselves.
I don't think HBO's about to break out of its slump. I think like the Lakers, they're in for a long fallow period.
Then again, the outlet still seems able to make a three pointer now and again.
If you disconnected HBO, sign back up. If you haven't let your subscription lapse, TiVo this show. THIS is art. THIS is the human condition. THIS is what we want to see.
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