Watching Showtime > going outside
But Just Barely
Showtime's original series will never be as good as HBO's, but they might develop a substantial following just because you have to assume that eventually there's not going to be anything on HBO. Think about it: this is already the last seasons of the Sopranos and Deadwood, and it's always the last season of the Wire. Six Feet Under is already long gone.
Will whatever new series HBO comes up with to replace them be as good? Who knows. Big Love, which I enjoy, isn't as good as any of those other shows, I don't think. This would seem as opportune a moment as any for Showtime to stake its claim on Sunday night TV, but I think it's obvious they just don't have the talent. They've had quite a few series at this point and none of them have been as good as the ones on HBO.
That said, their last few attempts have probably been as close as they're going to get, and are all fairly entertaining in their own right. This past season of Huff, which went off a few months ago and may have been canceled, reminded me of some of the bad seasons of Six Feet Under. In a good way, of course. Nullus. And this summer's new series Brotherhood is easily their best yet, uncharismatic lead actors notwithstanding.
There was a time last summer when I thought Weeds might be the show to take them to that proverbial next level, but rewatching the first season on demand and catching last nights season premier more or less brought it back down to earth. When they get going with something, like the first few episodes with stoner brother-in-law Andy and the hot deaf broad (don't front), it can be as amusing as anything on TV.
But when they've got nothing, it can grate quite a bit, as last night's episode so clearly revealed. I'm sure part of it was just a matter of them trying to tie up several threads from last summer, but so far it doesn't appear as if they've got anything particularly interesting lined up for this season. The parts with her banging a DEA agent and the kooky Asian fellow blowing up the bakery both seemed conveniently less than likely.
