Nice guys finish last?
Source:Star Ledger
Date:July 16, 2006
By Alan Sepinwall
Though the members of the TCA share certain universal opinions ("The Sopranos" is brilliant, "Amazing Race: Family Edition" was awful), we're not a hivemind. There are certain TCA Awards nominations each year I'm not happy to be associated with, and sometimes a press conference takes on a tone so contrary to my own take on a show that I almost feel the need to apologize after. Yesterday's session for "Smith," a CBS drama starring Ray Liotta as a master thief hoping to get out of the game after a few more scores, was a classic example.
Produced by John Wells and Christopher Chulack from "ER," it's very dark and uncompromising by CBS standards, if not compared to similar stuff on FX or HBO. During the course of the heist in the pilot (minor spoilers to follow), Liotta and his sidekicks kill an innocent security guard. And in a scene that was a particular bone of contention, Simon Baker (from "The Guardian"), playing a sociopath marksman, is on a surfing holiday in Hawaii when two natives kick him off the beach and knock down his surf board. Smiling and whistling a jaunty tune, Baker walks back to his pickup truck, pulls out a sniper rifle and kills both guys for messing with his vacation. In a later scene, he even kicks a cat.
Personally, when I saw the surfing scene, my attention perked up and I said, "Now that's something you don't see every day on CBS." But where I saw that as a positive, a lot of the other critics had a problem with it and spent most of the session asking Wells and the actors questions about likability and relatability (Why should viewers root for these guys? Will viewers want to watch characters like these every week? etc.). Someone even asked whether they felt they were being held to a different standard than "Rescue Me" or "The Sopranos" because this is on CBS.
Everybody's entitled to their opinion, and there have been plenty of times where I'm in the majority on something and can be surprised when one or two voices in the room make it clear they disagree with what I think. But at an informal cocktail hour shortly after the session, I made a point of approaching Wells and Chulack to let them know that the uncompromising approach to the characters was something I had really enjoyed about the show.
As we stood around talking about different details in the pilot, Liotta wandered over, fuming about the way the session had gone. I can't quote most of it, but suffice it to say he felt the room was being a little harsh. So I said, "Well, not everybody. I was just telling John and Chris that the scene where Simon kills the surfers is the best thing in the whole pilot."
And in a half-second, Liotta's mood completely shifted as he said, "I wouldn't go that far!" and launched into the famous cackle that every "Goodfellas" fan knows by heart.
The moral of the story: actors prefer praise for their projects, especially when it's directed specifically at them.
From NJ.com: Weblogs.
Date:July 16, 2006
By Alan Sepinwall
Though the members of the TCA share certain universal opinions ("The Sopranos" is brilliant, "Amazing Race: Family Edition" was awful), we're not a hivemind. There are certain TCA Awards nominations each year I'm not happy to be associated with, and sometimes a press conference takes on a tone so contrary to my own take on a show that I almost feel the need to apologize after. Yesterday's session for "Smith," a CBS drama starring Ray Liotta as a master thief hoping to get out of the game after a few more scores, was a classic example.
Produced by John Wells and Christopher Chulack from "ER," it's very dark and uncompromising by CBS standards, if not compared to similar stuff on FX or HBO. During the course of the heist in the pilot (minor spoilers to follow), Liotta and his sidekicks kill an innocent security guard. And in a scene that was a particular bone of contention, Simon Baker (from "The Guardian"), playing a sociopath marksman, is on a surfing holiday in Hawaii when two natives kick him off the beach and knock down his surf board. Smiling and whistling a jaunty tune, Baker walks back to his pickup truck, pulls out a sniper rifle and kills both guys for messing with his vacation. In a later scene, he even kicks a cat.
Personally, when I saw the surfing scene, my attention perked up and I said, "Now that's something you don't see every day on CBS." But where I saw that as a positive, a lot of the other critics had a problem with it and spent most of the session asking Wells and the actors questions about likability and relatability (Why should viewers root for these guys? Will viewers want to watch characters like these every week? etc.). Someone even asked whether they felt they were being held to a different standard than "Rescue Me" or "The Sopranos" because this is on CBS.
Everybody's entitled to their opinion, and there have been plenty of times where I'm in the majority on something and can be surprised when one or two voices in the room make it clear they disagree with what I think. But at an informal cocktail hour shortly after the session, I made a point of approaching Wells and Chulack to let them know that the uncompromising approach to the characters was something I had really enjoyed about the show.
As we stood around talking about different details in the pilot, Liotta wandered over, fuming about the way the session had gone. I can't quote most of it, but suffice it to say he felt the room was being a little harsh. So I said, "Well, not everybody. I was just telling John and Chris that the scene where Simon kills the surfers is the best thing in the whole pilot."
And in a half-second, Liotta's mood completely shifted as he said, "I wouldn't go that far!" and launched into the famous cackle that every "Goodfellas" fan knows by heart.
The moral of the story: actors prefer praise for their projects, especially when it's directed specifically at them.
From NJ.com: Weblogs.
posted by nikita | 1:18 AM
<< Home