Summer Heights High: Hyperreality High

With the HBO import Summer Heights High, Australian comedian Chris Lilley should be applauded for perhaps the highest degree of difficulty ever attempted in an half-hour comedy series. Not only is Lilley the creator and writer here, but he also plays three of the main characters, with a similar abandon that UK chameleon (and previous HBO vet) Tracy Ullman has shown in her past series. Set up as another typical high school reality program, SHH uses a documentary style to depict the goings on at a high school (secondary school) in Australia, focusing in on three fictional characters inhabited by Lilley. Think the UK original The Office and the mockumentary films of Christopher Guest only sprinkled with a lot more non-actors, and you're in the ballpark.

The first of Lilley's characters that grabs you is the drama teacher, 'Mr. G.,' as it owes a bit to Waiting for Guffman's Corky St. Clair in both flamboyance and the belief that his genius will win the day. It's here that a lot of subtle jokes whip past the casual viewer, like a series of posters for plays that he has written and produced, like Ian Thorpe: The Man, The Music, The Water, IKEA - The Musical: A furniture song and dance spectacular and his greatest triumph Tsunamorama, the Tsunami tragedy set to the music of Bananarama.

The other two characters are a lot more difficult to swallow, initially, in that they're students in the school, and in one case a different sex, and in the other a different race. Ja'mie (pronounced "Jah-may") is a private school exchange student, the sort of empty-headed girl of privelage that every 90210 clone has ("oh, you've got wheelchair people. It's so cute!") The other student Lilley plays is the Tongan bully Jonah, who by about the third episode, sort of becomes the centerpiece of the series. He's crass, sullen and genuinely unable to understand why he's being punished when he's providing a much needed lightening of mood ("it's not interruption - it's entertainment!") Lilley completely inhabits this character with his mumbling and breakdancing, and it's with Jonah that the strength of the series lies, as we find more about Jonah and what makes him tick.

At first, it's hard not to be taken aback by both the talent and gall of Lilley playing these three characters, but after three episodes you start to forget and the oddity gives in to the comedy of the story -- so I encourage you to watch more than just two episodes before bailing. It's unfortunate for HBO, though, that this is a hurdle that most viewers won't be able to get past, likely meaning it will end up with Little Britain USA in the HBO comedy scrap heap (a fate it doesn't remotely deserve).

'Summer Heights High' debuts on HBO Sunday, November 9, at 10:30PM

A musical note: The series did produce one bonafide hit in Australia, with the song "Naughty Girl" from a Mr G production:

Ear on TV: Week of September 3

Tonight, HBO is bringing Justin back... to television, where he got his start as a Mousekateer all those years ago. Recorded live in Madison Square Garden a couple weeks ago (August 17,) Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow is a portrait of the artist on top of the world. He's been nominated for seven MTV VMA awards, dating Jessica Biel, opening a restaurant (Southern Hospitality,) featured on 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology" and set to appear on a highly anticipated duet with Madonna. Meanwhile, he's been preforming live all over the world to rave reviews, and HBO captures the magic here utilizing 43 cameras to paint the scene.

"The director told me, 'You broke the HBO concert special record for most cameras used,'" says Timberlake. "We actually had cameras onstage, underneath the stage... I think there was one in my butt - anywhere you can put a camera!" he added. It promises to be an entertaining event - save for the colonoscopy camera angle, of course.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel Live is bringing the love this week, with performances from gypsy punkers Gogol Bordello, friends of the show Rilo Kiley, and a special performance from the eclectic New Orleans band Galactic, featuring guest rapper Lyrics Born.

And finally, Live from Abbey Road finally airs their best episode, featuring Gnarls Barkley and The Killers, as it's season finale. No word on whether they'll be a second season, but by saving GB's zany antics for the end, their certainly putting their best face backward.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, September 3
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: El-P (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Grinderman (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Lily Allen (REPEAT)
HBO: Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveShow: Justin Timberlake, Timbaland
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Feist (REPEAT)
Tuesday, September 4
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Gogol Bordello
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Patti Scialfa
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Rodrigo y Gabriela
Wednesday, September 5
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Rilo Kiley
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Dinosaur Jr.
Thursday, September 6
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Galactic w/ Lyrics Born
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Kings of Leon
NBC: >Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Patti Scialfa
SUNDANCE: Live From Abbey Road: The Feeling, Gnarls Barkley, The Killers
Friday, September 7
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Arctic Monkeys
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Joe Henry
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Hot Hot Heat
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Ben Kweller
Saturday, September 8
PBS: Austin City Limits: Los Lonely Boys, The Gourds (REPEAT)

tags: music, television, soundtrack, talk shows, justin timberlake, gogol bordello, rilo kiley, indie rock, rhapsody

Making with the big and huge

On the second day, he died and was risen from the dead. And then on the eighth day, he disappeared, with the frat boy and the bird. Like some f*d up holy trinity (yes, my altar boy is showing.)

The lines and circle stick men are propagating, while the crazy characters that surround Shaun find themselves confronting their worst fears. Shaun being gone is already Cissy's worst fear. Mitch, Tina, Freddy, Barry, the Doctor and Bill all get in touch on their fears. Those closest to John (Kai and Butchie) see it in a positive light, and Butchie goes out to look for John and Shaun by surfing. As Butchie looks for a wave that might be coming with the duo, Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Coming" plays (signaling John's return??) I doubt it's a coincidence that it's a Stax song playing, given that label's big 50th anniversary.

tags: john from cincinnati, television, hbo, soundtrack, jfc, sam and dave, stax, rhapsody

Logic is a limping stepchild

With this latest episode of John From Cincinnati one has to imagine that JFC could very well be short for Jesus F*cking Christ - both the prophet and the exclamation. Towards the end of the episode, creator David Milch calls David Lynch on the surreal, and raises him a sermon on the mount, with John (as astral projection) delivering what very well could be the Rosetta Stone of the whole series.

Without spoiling it too much, it sheds more light on the interconnectedness of the ensemble, and features 'my father's words,' lots of ones and zeros, the dawn of man, details of the Yost family's past, present, and a hint of future - "we are coming 9/11/14." Which begs a few questions: Did Milch just announce the date of the second coming? Does that mean the series requires seven seasons to get us there? Is it a coincidence that it's marked by the 13-year anniversary of the attack on the twin towers? Or is this simply a reference to the Bible passage Hebrews 9:11-14, which details redemption through Christ? And finally, can GILF Cissy Yost (Rebecca DeMornay) "show me how it's done?"

As to why JFC refuses to progress in logic fashion, Milch recently said: "The tactics of fictive persuasion have nothing to do with reasoned discourse." Furthermore:

The important point that I'm trying to make is that storytelling has nothing, whatsoever, to do with logic. Logic is a limping stepchild of the true processes of the spirit. It's an illusion. It's a defective little parlor trick. Associations are the way that we perceive. Electrical connections caused by the juxtapositions of experience. That's the way we are really built, and storytelling takes into account that truth.

Meanwhile, the show is anchored by John Coltrane's heated version of "My Favorite Things", which ends the episode. The song is the perfect metaphor for JFC: Something that is simple at it's base, yet it's given incredible complexity for the audience to chew on (even if most wind up spitting it out initially.) Freddy also plays the song on his tenor sax, exclaiming "this is how I relax!" Actor Dayton Callie actually used to play sax for a living, so his rendition, while a tad rusty, was his own stunt. Similarly, during John's surreal sermon, Ed O'Neill (as Bill) is actually throwing down some licks on the harmonica, jamming with Callie on the sax. So there's more music on the set then just Milch's dialogue.

For those that passed on this series after a couple episodes, they're showing the past three back-to-back-to-back this Thursday. If you're a fan of Lost, Twin Peaks and Deadwood and haven't stuck with the show, consider yourself warned. The disparate characters and their oddball speech are like the million of actions that come together to form a perfect wave that crashes on the beach, and it's quite beautiful now that we're able to pull back and see it coming. Even it takes seven years.

tags: playlist, john from cincinnati, television, hbo, soundtrack, jfc, john coltrane, theology, bible, rhapsody

Why James Dean died and Paulie lives on

If there's something the first three episodes of this final (half) season have in common, it's the theme of father-son relationships, and the need to have a successor. First it was Bobby, who disappointed Tony by stepping into a Soprano argument. Then it was Christopher, who used his movie Cleaver to skewer Tony. This last one ("Remember When," S6E15,) has a reversal for Tony in that he takes on the role of son. He's still disappointed though, embarrassed that he ever looked up to Paulie as a father-figure.

When Paulie first appears, he's bringing up the paper, which we all know now to be a metaphor for being the 'boss.' When Tony announced he wasn't going to bring up the paper anymore last week ("it's too dangerous,") it gave me goosebumps. First, it serves as a metaphor for more thoughts of stepping down, but it also means we get to see more characters bring up the paper, and metaphorically try on the 'boss' hat. When Tony sees Paulie bringing up the paper, he realizes the tragedy of Paulie. Here's someone that Tony idolized coming up in the mob, and now some twenty odd years later, he's still no closer to being the boss. This, and the road trip they take together, pushes Tony to brink of wacking him. In Tony's mind, though, it would be more euthanasia then murder. David Essex's "Rock On" plays in the car as they drive together, and the references to James Dean are important here. Paulie is a sad anachronysm of style with his white shoes and slicked back hair. James Dean had to die to preserve that image of cool that exists. Paulie lives on, seemingly forever stuck in that moment in time, and can't stop talking about the past (Tony to Paulie - "Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.")

The title of the episode ("Remember When,") says a lot about the music selection. Like "Rock On," all the songs (aside from the Cuban ones, which are more for setting then meaning,) deal with nostalgia. Diana Ross' "Touch Me In the Morning" looks back on a love that's ending, and at the time I was thinking of the series ending, but now it might have also been a subtle foreshadow on Tony's relationship with Paulie. Meanwhile, Gino Vanelli's "I Just Wanna Stop" tries to stop time back to when things were better, and that needs no further explanation. Then there's the theme to Terms of Endearment, which plays while Tony and Paulie talk about the old days with Tony's dad. While the film is ostensibly about the mother-daughter relationship, it's still a dysfunctional parent-to-child reference, so we'll roll with it.

The other father-son metaphor playing through the episode was of Uncle Junior and his prison (therapy center) friend Carter Chong. Junior's getting a taste of some of his old action, by setting up poker games and selling smuggled candy bars and sodas to the other patient/inmates. Chong is helping him, and looking to Junior as a proxy father figure. Little does Junior know, though, that Chong killed his father and when Junior starts to not live up to Chong's expectations of the gangster persona he idolized in him earlier (sound familiar?) then he goes nuts and tries to kill him. Chong broke where Tony was able to hold strong, which begs the question - does Dr Melfi have an opening in her schedule?

Playlist: The Sopranos - Ep 615
1. "Rock On" - David Essex - Tony and Paulie drive into Virginia
2. "Touch Me In The Morning" - Diana Ross - T and P check into a hotel
3. "I Just Wanna Stop" - Gino Vannelli - T and P go to a pub
4. "Terms Of Endearment (Main Theme)" - T and P recall when P and Tony's dad made trips south
5. "El Botellon" - Don Diego y su Orquesta Tropical - T and P meet with Beansie in Miami
6. "Mimi" - Cubanismo! - T and P and Beansie back at the hotel restaurant with lady friends
7. "Sing! Sing! Sing!" - Gene Krupa - Uncle Junior rocks in his chair, dissapointed... through credits

More: Anyone else notice the white shoes running away from the hit on 'Doc', the NY crime boss? Fashion kills. Elsewhere, Tony walking through his tomatoes in his bathrobe delivered more Godfather chills. That's three-for-three on these final episodes with references to the mother of all crime dramas.

Previously: Leave it to Cleaver (Episode 614)

tags: playlist, the sopranos, television, hbo, soundtrack, james dean, david essex, the godfather, movies, rhapsody

From easy to stranglehold in twelve acts

Like that other HBO series, Entourage premieres the second part of their season (their third) this Sunday, and the DVD of the first part hit the shelves this week... by my calculations, that gives you now just four days to hug it out with the collection. Musically, the show packs in a tremendous amount of music for a 30-minute program, and the track choices are more then just a backdrop of partying in Hollywood.

Playlist: Entourage - Season 3, Pt 1

Take for instance how the season begins and ends. It all begins with Ghostface Killah's request to "Be Easy," which is indicitive of the mood the gang's all in. Vinnie's blockbuster Aquaman is about to open, the money's flowing and the stardom is a heartbeat away. The season ends with Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold," and without spoiling too much, most of that goodwill seems now to be up in the air.

So how did we get from easy to stranglehold? In the first few episodes, everythings mostly copacetic. Songs like Joe Cocker's "Feelin' Alright," "I Just Want to Celebrate" from Rare Earth and Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String" are all in sync with the gang riding the wave of fame and fortune. Eric's managing a star now, Turtle's got his own biz now managing the up and coming rap star Saigon, and Ari's new business is breaking ground. But then things start to get interesting. Notice how the songs (in general) get more conflicted and dramatic, and aside from the diversion with The Ramones ("Blitzkrieg Bop," "Rockaway Beach" are used in conjunction with a Joey Ramone bio film pitch,) it progresses steadily until we're led to the introspection of TV on the Radio's "Staring at the Sun," which was as profound a moment as the show has had in it's three seasons thus far.

What do we have to expect with this second part coming up? More specific then the usual great hip-hop, classic rock and indie rock, I'd venture to guess that Kings of Leon will be in the mix, as they've featured the band in each season (and they have a new album out this very week... coincidence?) Here's the teaser trailer for what's to come.

Full tracklisting
HBO's episode-by-episode music and scenes

tags: playlist, entourage, television, hbo, soundtrack, ted nugent, kings of leon, ghostface, indie rock, rap, hip-hop, the ramones, tvotr