coles_notes

Widely considered a pioneer in what would become modern celebrity reality television and ushering in a new era for the format, The Osbournes does exactly as it states, following the day-to-day life of now infamous Osbourne family of kids Kelly and Jack, mom Sharon, and of course the dad, Ozzy himself. Pitched by Sharon to MTV execs after their successful episode of the same network's Cribs, the series is raw and unfiltered; giving true insight into the family, as they deal with mundane troubles like ordering a new Bently, organizing a concert, or learning how to make easy mac. Jam packed with swearing and vulgarity, most of which was fairly bold for tv at the time, it shocked some viewers into a fandom, demanding more, and making it a 4 season run before leaving the air. As someone with a bunch of series on the go at any given time, I was a bit into this one already when we all got the sad news of Ozzy's passing, and finishing it up this past weekend I will say I now have a much greater respect for the man, and certainly perspective of his family. Season one starts off as many fledgling formats do, with some struggles, as while I must give it praise for how truly unfiltered it was, it also means as a narrative things are quite disjointed from scene to scene. It was clear producers had hours upon hours of footage of the family and without knowing what would be a hit just stitched together whatever interactions seemed zaniest, leaving us with a sort of awkward, cringy, and somewhat stressful clip show of Osbourne moments. Which again, was understandably a hit at the time and got it renewed for a double length 20 episode season 2. The series hits it stride as it introduces more narrative threads for each episode, giving us set ups and pay offs, be it Jack getting his license, Kelly recording a song, Sharon planning an episode of her simultaneously produced The Sharon Osbourne Show. Now with the whole family nearly as famous and interesting as Ozzy, the show can focus more on their on-goings, for both its good and bad. With this they also re-enforce a reality tv classic, adding lots of contextual fibbing by the editors, like faking a quad bike accident, bringing in a pet psychic, or just generally making up interactions not as they played out, but in ways that would play best in the episode. A lean away from the reality part of reality tv. All said, the family can at times be quite difficult to watch for me, though I understand that itself was a draw for many of its viewers. The kids are so spoiled and detached from reality in ways that only makes you feel for their upbringing, and Sharon, while a powerhouse, can at times just seem outright mean to her husband as she blows off his opinions or perspectives. Ozzy is a truly a star and the centrepiece of any scene he's in, but it's also difficult to watch him struggle as he tries to communicate, exercise, or just generally function around the house. In the end he feels the most grounded, thoughtful, and genuine of the family, which is saying a lot, and the series finale wrap up episode with Dr. Phil himself brought a lot of that home. Defining the early 2000s cable televisions landscape and of course the genre to come; this series ran so the Kardashians could fly. A difficult one to judge, it was fun having it on in the background as I did chores, and when paying strict attention it can be a fun hate watch, but if you view it with a sympathetic lens it ends up being more disappointing and stressful than anything else, at least for me. I'd certainly recommend flipping on an episode or two if you've never seen it, just to see what you missed out on and if you're already a fan of this style reality tv it is of course a staple.

A short 6 episode 44 minute mini-series created, written, and directed by Ken Finkleman and airing on CBC, fresh off the attempted revival of his previous hit The Newsroom. I liked The Newsroom for what it was, and so going into this expected much a similar style of comedy, which we got in the sense its definitely still Finkleman's dialogue, characters, and set ups, but I would not call this a comedy at its forefront. An air of satire wafts about, but what we have is primarily a mystery drama following the Chateau Rousseau, a luxurious hotel in Montreal, and all the varied staff and tenants within. There really are a lot of characters, from a half dozen recurring guests, that many plus hotel staff, not to mentioned the through line plot of the series involving the hotel owner, her family, and a series of murders occurring within the hotel. Each episode typically also features a new hotel guest with some b-plot, and surprisingly, a musical number, although only one per episode. The musical number always took me off guard, its such a strange occurrence each time it happens, but I guess I must admit none were particularly bad, just weird given the surrounding series. The directing is good, probably its most notable aspect, there's some interesting choices anyway. It definitely feels a bit artsy, experimental. Some of the characters are a bit cardboard and superficial, and some others just outright poorly written, but the plots and dialogue are generally fun and unique, provided you can follow them. Which is really the series ultimate downfall, its just a bit too complicated and stuffed full of interweaving plots and characters; it was hard enough to follow when binging, I can't imagine someone watching week-to-week as it aired. Again none of its really laugh out loud funny, nor is it intended to be, and the drama is a bit sappy for something that's trying to be serious, so I'm not quite sure what tone Finkleman was ultimately trying for. Honestly, I'm not sure about this one, probably wouldn't recommend to most.

Created by the great Glen A. Larson for ABC, we have Automan, the automatic man (Chuck Wagner), a holographic being built by computer whiz and police officer Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz Jr.), a super cop for the digital age. Along with his trusty sidekick Cursor, a floating dot of light who can generate a physical hologram anything into the real world, the three take on crime syndicates, mob bosses, and even the odd biker gang as they clean up the streets of California. Automan himself features extremely reflective clothing, with a deep blue neon glow added in post, similarly styled to his multiple vehicles throughout, but primarily a Lamborghini Countach again with the classic neon straight lines overlayed all its edges. Heavily inspired by and riding the hype driven by the previous year's Tron, the show tries hard to capture that aesthetic (and audience), without doing anything particularly new with the police procedural format. They hear about bad guys, find bad guys, defeat bad guys, rinse and repeat. The dialog is not great, stuff we've all heard before and is often questionable, and the plots are nothing but 80s tropes and stereotypes. The CGI was fine for what it was, although for how expensive it probably was in modern day it looked pretty cheap. The creator, Glen A. Larson, known for his many other sci-fi 80s tv classics such as Knight Rider and Battlestar Galactica, this brings a much more generic beat to his plots, and in its single season before a quick cancelation we don't get much character development for any of the leads. There are hints at something interesting as Automan begins to learn about new things that he wasn't prepared for with his training, and hearing how they were talking about an artificial intelligence even then lines up for with some conversations much more common today, although the majority of it is still the similar schlock we're used to from this time period and never really goes anywhere. Finally this brings us to the secondary lead, played by Desi Arnaz Jr, yes the prodigal son of the famous duo, his namesake and the wonderful Lucille Ball. Unfortunately Jr got none of the acting or comedic chops of Lucille, but all of them of Desi, which does not bode well if you've seen their acting. Arnaz Jr just unfortunately can not say a single line or have a single reaction believably, in the slightest, to the point its the most entertaining part of this series, it makes so hammy, in the most unintended ways. Honestly its great, for none of the right reasons, but if you like d-tier 80s stuff to throw on in the background it was a blast and in many ways perfect.