COMMENTARY
Dark humor fills HBO series
Forget the catchy, provocative title of HBO’s new dark comedy, “Hung,” which premieres with a 45-minute opener at 10 p. m. Sunday.
The 10-episode series really is more about the fact that the life of high school coach and history teacher Ray Drecker is hanging by a thread in devastated Detroit than it is about his anatomy.
In other words, if you’re expecting to see a sexy, comic romp, you’re going to be sadly disappointed— especially after the first episode. If you’re not offended by the title, you’re unlikely to be offended by much in the series.
The early episodes really are much more talk than action for the most part. I’ll try and stay away from obvious double entendres, which is something the pilot script unfortunately couldn’t resist doing.
Created by Dmitry Lipkin (FX’s “The Riches”) and Colette Burson, “Hung” stars Thomas Jane (“The Punisher,” HBO’s “61”) as a sympathetic, doomed teacher drowning in debt and trying to keep his head above water like many people in today’s economy. The premise has obvious similarities to Showtime’s “Weeds,” whose female lead is a widow who sells drugs to pay the family bills.
Drecker has two potentially interesting kids who look like they belong to Ozzy Osbourne, daughter Darby (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) and son Damon (Charlie Saxon). They seem to prefer living with him than with their mother, Jessica Haxon (Anne Heche), who has married a dermatologist for money the second time around and desperately tries in vain to connect with her kids.
As if Ray doesn’t have enough problems as a single father, his house catches fire, which forces him to live in a tent. And that upsets the fastidious next-door neighbor with the hot wife.
What’s a poor teacher and decent family guy to do? A former high school hot shot, Drecker takes extreme measures to survive with the help of his new best friend, Tanya Skagle (Jane Adams), who is equally lost in a tough economy.
He becomes a pricey male prostitute, though not without some reservations and some comic missteps in the first four episodes. The moral of the story seems to be that money can’t buy happiness, but you need a reasonable amount to survive.
The subject matter may sound tasteless. You’d hope a high school teacher would have a better moral compass than to risk his full-time career or expose himself to possible jail time by doing something illegal.
However—despite what the promos indicate—the sex is kept to the usual HBO quotient or even below it. The humor comes from Decker’s narration and the uncomfortable situations that he often finds himself in as he pursues his moonlighting career.
Despite the title and R-rated moments, “Hung” actually gives off a pleasant vibe about family and friendship that should work well when it is paired with the return of “Entourage” on July 12. Though it also isn’t as funny as it could be yet, it won’t be difficult to hang around waiting to see if things improve for Ray—and the series.
Rating: 2 1/2out of 4
Reality sci-fi
At 8 p. m. Friday, Fox premieres a two-hour movie, “Virtuality,” from the writer-producers of “Battlestar Galactica” that serves as the pilot for a potential series. Now I’m not much of a sci-fifan. But if there is one thing that I find less interesting than sci-fi, it is reality TV.
Unfortunately, the humorless “Virtuality” has elements of both. There is a reality show within the sci-fiadventure. The series is set in the near future when a spaceship loaded with astronauts is ready to leave our solar system for a 10-year voyage to another star that may be needed when time runs out on Earth.
Several characters talk to the camera a la reality show and they also pass the time by playing virtual reality games that mean just about anything can happen. For example, in the first few minutes a machine gun surfaces in a Civil War battle scene.
There is the usual assortment of romances and games as the commander, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of the short-lived Fox series “New Amsterdam,” decides whether the voyage is “go or no go.” Meanwhile, the show’s characters (and viewers) try to figure out what is real and what is unreal.
The film has long, talky and dull stretches that cry out for action. Meanwhile, the “Big Brother” reality show element —led by a psychiatrist who believes crises “make for very good television”—probably sounded like a better idea than actually is developed.
In the end, “Virtuality” is a visually interesting, complicated mess that one expects will end with Fox deciding the idea of making it a regular series is a “no go.”
Rating: 2 stars
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments
Learn more about our moderation system.