{"id":3027,"date":"2015-01-11T08:45:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T13:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=3027"},"modified":"2015-01-11T08:01:57","modified_gmt":"2015-01-11T13:01:57","slug":"episodes-hollywood-reverend-al","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/episodes-hollywood-reverend-al\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201c<\/span>Episodes,\u201d Hollywood And Reverend Al"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

\"Season<\/a>

Sea\u00adson 4 of \u201cEpisodes,\u201d pre\u00admieres tonight, a fun\u00adny, smart and dead-on satire of Hol\u00adly\u00adwood. [Cred\u00adit: Showtime]<\/p><\/div>MATT<\/span> LEBLANC<\/span>\u2019S EX-WIFE<\/span>: You were arrest\u00aded for dri\u00adving drunk with our kids in the car!<\/em>\n

LEBLANC<\/span>: Yeah, well, when you say it that way, it sounds terrible.<\/em><\/p>\n

Scene from Sea\u00adson 3 of \u201cEpisodes<\/a>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The fourth sea\u00adson of \u201cEpisodes\u201d pre\u00admieres tonight on Show\u00adtime, promis\u00ading anoth\u00ader sump\u00adtu\u00adous feast of Hol\u00adly\u00adwood send-ups. David Crane\u2019s (\u201cFriends,\u201d \u201cJoey\u201d) hand\u00adi\u00adwork has it all: self-obsessed actors, self-impor\u00adtant exec\u00adu\u00adtives, mawk\u00adish phoni\u00adness and blood\u00adless betray\u00adals, all set among ubiq\u00adui\u00adtous lies and decep\u00adtions.  Crane\u2019s satire is pitch-per\u00adfect: over\u00addrawn enough to be fun\u00adny, but real enough to be (almost) true.<\/p>\n

The show tells the sto\u00adry of a British hus\u00adband-and-wife writ\u00ading team (Sean and Bev\u00ader\u00adly Lin\u00adcoln, played by Stephen Man\u00adgan and Tam\u00adsin Greig), whose hit BBC<\/span> com\u00ade\u00addy (\u201cLyman\u2019s Boys\u201d) attracts the atten\u00adtion of cloy\u00ading and mild\u00adly creepy net\u00adwork exec\u00adu\u00adtive Merc Lapidus (John Pankow).  Merc flies to Lon\u00addon to attend the British ver\u00adsion of the Emmy Awards, of which Sean and Bev\u00ader\u00adly have won a clutch.  Merc approach\u00ades them at the after-party.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I LOVE<\/span> your show,\u201d Merc tells them.  \u201cI want to have sex with your show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean is intrigued, Bev\u00ader\u00adly repulsed.  Both suc\u00adcumb to Merc\u2019s flat\u00adter\u00adies and move to Hol\u00adly\u00adwood, where the net\u00adwork hous\u00ades them in a man\u00adsion that most recent\u00adly had been used as the set for the network\u2019s knock-off of \u201cThe Bach\u00ade\u00adlor.\u201d  Its sty\u00adro\u00adfoam Greek columns are a fit\u00adting metaphor for a world where every\u00adthing looks real but noth\u00ading is.<\/p>\n

The wit\u00adty and world\u00adly Lon\u00addon\u00aders are ingenues in that world.  It soon emerges that Merc has nev\u00ader seen their show, though he does ful\u00adfill his wish of hav\u00ading sex with it: he screws it.  He orders that Matt LeBlanc be cast as the pro\u00adtag\u00ado\u00adnist.  LeBlanc and Merc con\u00adspire to trans\u00adform \u201cLyman\u2019s Boys\u201d from a sto\u00adry about a stodgy head\u00admas\u00adter of an exclu\u00adsive British boys school with an unre\u00adquit\u00aded obses\u00adsion for the school\u2019s doughty les\u00adbian librar\u00adi\u00adan to one about a hock\u00adey coach\u2019s (LeBlanc) pur\u00adsuit of a school librar\u00adi\u00adan bet\u00adter suit\u00aded to LeBlanc\u2019s appetites \u2014 a lit\u00adtle old\u00ader and sur\u00adgi\u00adcal\u00adly enhanced, but still hot and decid\u00aded\u00adly het\u00adero\u00adsex\u00adu\u00adal (played by Mircea Mon\u00adroe).  Thus does \u201cLyman\u2019s Boys\u201d mutate into \u201cPucks!\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sean and Bev\u00ader\u00adly are hor\u00adri\u00adfied at the dis\u00adas\u00adtrous muta\u00adtion, but it is noth\u00ading com\u00adpared with the dis\u00adas\u00adters that await them away from the set.  LeBlanc is the epi\u00adcen\u00adter of their mis\u00adfor\u00adtune. In his cheer\u00adful self-absorp\u00adtion, LeBlanc is thor\u00adough\u00adly amoral, inca\u00adpable of remorse and obliv\u00adi\u00adous to the con\u00adse\u00adquences of his actions \u2013 the mar\u00adriages he wrecks, the careers he ruins, the per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal may\u00adhem his every word and ges\u00adture seem to inflict.<\/p>\n

By the end of the first sea\u00adson, he\u2019d bed\u00added Bev\u00ader\u00adly.  By the end of the sec\u00adond sea\u00adson, he\u2019d bed\u00added Merc\u2019s wife (played by Genevieve O\u2019Reilly).  Not that Merc didn\u2019t deserve it.  His wife Jamie recent\u00adly lost her sight and is Hollywood\u2019s notion of a saint, brave\u00adly per\u00adse\u00adver\u00ading through her dis\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty and pour\u00ading her\u00adself into every styl\u00adish cause, from rape pre\u00adven\u00adtion to sav\u00ading an obscure species of bees.<\/p>\n

Merc has been cheat\u00ading on Jamie for years with his perky lieu\u00adtenant, Car\u00adol (Kath\u00adleen Rose Perkins), who uses her girl\u00adish and slight\u00adly goofy charm to mas\u00adsage egos and coax writ\u00aders and actors into yield\u00ading to Merc\u2019s loopy demands, all the while yield\u00ading to Merc\u2019s equal\u00adly loopy sex\u00adu\u00adal demands.<\/p>\n

But it is LeBlanc\u2019s comedic skills that make the show.  Play\u00ading a hyper\u00adbol\u00adic ver\u00adsion of him\u00adself, LeBlanc takes nar\u00adcis\u00adsism to anoth\u00ader dimen\u00adsion.  He is a black hole of neu\u00adroses, van\u00adi\u00adty and com\u00adpul\u00adsive behav\u00adiors \u2014 sex addict, alco\u00adholic, prob\u00adlem gam\u00adbler \u2013 inex\u00adorably draw\u00ading oth\u00aders into his force field of patholo\u00adgies.  In mid\u00addle age, Joey has mor\u00adphed into Lucifer and a wicked\u00adly fun\u00adny one at that.<\/p>\n

And while Merc, too, is an exag\u00adger\u00adat\u00aded char\u00adac\u00adter, one could imag\u00adine him very much at home with Sony Pic\u00adtures execs as they went into cri\u00adsis mode last month.  Their com\u00adput\u00aders had been hacked, in appar\u00adent retal\u00adi\u00ada\u00adtion for the impend\u00ading release of \u201cThe Inter\u00adview,\u201d a medi\u00adoc\u00adrity notable only for its provo\u00adca\u00adtion of North Kore\u00ada\u2019s \u201cDear Leader,\u201d Kim Jong-un.  But what sent Sony\u2019s C\u2011suite into DEFCON<\/span> 1 mode was the leak of racial\u00adly tinged emails<\/a> between net\u00adwork suits.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Should I ask him if he liked \u2018Djan\u00adgo\u2019?\u201d Sony Pic\u00adtures Enter\u00adtain\u00adment Co-Chair\u00adman Amy Pas\u00adcal emailed one of her col\u00adleagues before a fundrais\u00ading break\u00adfast at which Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma spoke.  In case her col\u00adleague didn\u2019t get the joke, she sug\u00adgest\u00aded that per\u00adhaps the Pres\u00adi\u00addent may also have enjoyed \u201cThe But\u00adler\u201d or \u201cThink Like A Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pas\u00adcal was quick to repent her trans\u00adgres\u00adsion, once the emails were made pub\u00adlic.  \u201cThe con\u00adtent of my emails,\u201d she wrote, \u201cwere insen\u00adsi\u00adtive and inap\u00adpro\u00adpri\u00adate but are not an accu\u00adrate reflec\u00adtion of who I am,\u201d employ\u00ading a phrase that has become the canon\u00adi\u00adcal post-mod\u00adern mea cul\u00adpa<\/em>.  Beat your wife?  Dri\u00adve drunk?  Make a remark to which an inter\u00adest group takes offense?  Repeat after me: \u201cThat\u2019s not who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for\u00admu\u00adla\u00adic apolo\u00adgies wouldn\u2019t do for Rev. Al Sharp\u00adton, for whom indul\u00adgences are nev\u00ader free.  Pas\u00adcal was forced to make a pil\u00adgrim\u00adage to New York to beg the Rev\u00aderend for the remis\u00adsion of her sins.  She came bear\u00ading the sin\u00adcer\u00adest token of her pen\u00adi\u00adtence: the will\u00ading\u00adness to estab\u00adlish a \u201cwork\u00ading group<\/a>\u201d that would, of course, include His Emi\u00adnence, Rev\u00aderend Al.<\/p>\n

Nine\u00adty min\u00adutes lat\u00ader, Sharp\u00adton emerged from the pri\u00advate audi\u00adence and pro\u00adnounced it a good start.  His work\u00ading group, he said<\/a>,<\/span> \u201cwill see if we can come up with a plan to deal with\u201d Sony\u2019s sins and those of all of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

But he did not grant the wretched Amy Pas\u00adcal abso\u00adlu\u00adtion.  \u201cSo the jury is still out on where we go with Amy,\u201d Sharp\u00adton declared.<\/p>\n

Pas\u00adcal is still hostage to the Rev\u00aderend Al\u2019s demands.  Her soul may yet be sprung from pur\u00adga\u00adto\u00adry, but only if her com\u00adpa\u00adny finds a way to meet those demands.  Per\u00adhaps future Sony pro\u00adduc\u00adtions will be required to bear Sharpton\u2019s impri\u00admatur<\/em>,<\/span> the eccle\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adti\u00adcal seal assur\u00ading the faith\u00adful that a work is cer\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adably ortho\u00addox and with\u00adout heresy.<\/p>\n

The fourth sea\u00adson of \u201cEpisodes\u201d wrapped up its shoot\u00ading in Octo\u00adber, near\u00adly two months before the Sony flap broke.  Too bad.  In David Crane\u2019s hands, this brew of North Kore\u00adan mega\u00adlo\u00adma\u00adni\u00adacs, craven exec\u00adu\u00adtives, leaked emails and race-bait\u00ading char\u00adla\u00adtans would have become mor\u00adbid\u00adly funny.<\/p>\n

Maybe in sea\u00adson five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MATT<\/span> LEBLANC<\/span>\u2019S EX-WIFE<\/span>: You were arrest\u00aded for dri\u00adving drunk with our kids in the car! LEBLANC<\/span>: Yeah, well, when you say it that way, it sounds ter\u00adri\u00adble. Scene from Sea\u00adson 3 of \u201cEpisodes\u201d The fourth sea\u00adson of \u201cEpisodes\u201d pre\u00admieres tonight on \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1048,1047,1049,75,159],"tags":[1050,1057,1063,1051,1059,1055,1056,1060,1062,1052,1058,71,1064,1053,1054,1061],"class_list":["post-3027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-episodes","category-hollywood","category-matt-leblanc","category-pope","category-president-obama","tag-episodes","tag-al-sharpton","tag-amy-pascal","tag-david-crane","tag-genevieve-oreilly","tag-greig","tag-john-pankow","tag-kathleen-rose-perkins","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-matt-leblanc","tag-mircea-monroe","tag-showtime","tag-sony-pictures","tag-stephen-mangan","tag-tamsin","tag-the-interview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t