That's exactly what I thought - Desperate Housewives with men.
I didn't think the comedy part was very funny, since the jokes center around rich white men. And the drama side of the show was pretty standard stuff. The guy who's becoming a CEO while his wife's cheating on him caught my interest, I think mostly because the actor brought something to the part. But overall, there's not enough here to continue onward with the show.
That's what I thought; that character was the most interesting to me, and I am also interested to see whether Christopher Titus' character goes somewhere other than "I'm whipped, but I kind of like it."
I saw some bad reviews for it, so was hoping for better. I am actually finishing it up now. It is not bad. I will keep watching it. I like the male-dominated viewpoint of the show, even if one of the early themes is the de-masculation of them. Although that is a pretty realistic theme in today's society, the attempt for men to be de-masculated at every turn.
As a rich white man, I thought some of the jokes were funny. I will say some of the dialog was not the best. "Men are the new women" and other little lines were just bad.
Are you suggesting that only upper-middle class women would find Desperate Housewives funny? Or only poor white men enjoy My Name is Earl? Or only rich black people watched The Cosby Show?
I wanted to watch this show because I have always liked Dylan McDermott and Joshua Malina in what I have seen them do. The other actors are okay, but I wouldn't watch a show just because they were in it.
PajamaFeet said:
Did anyone else think rather than Sex & The City for men it was more like Desperate Housewives with men?
Either analogy works...and that is the problem. They show these men in very emotionally charged situations. Cheating on your wife, being cheated on, being emotionally whipped, and being a single father who cannot tell a tranny from a hooker. But most men I know don't want to see this. They don't want to think about emotional pain, let alone feel it. Why would they seek emotional pain out in their entertainment viewing? Physical pain and suffering, fine...bring it on. Shove Jack Bauer down a hole and watch him get out, fine. Mess with Jack's family, you will only make him mad...you won't like it when he's mad. He gets revenge and we get to feel manly with him. Emotional pain is not necessarily sought out.
Women are different in their entertainment choices. Just as men see people in physical danger and try to figure out "what would I do..." women do the same with emotional engagement. My wife constantly criticizes choices that are made by women on shows as being wrong or misguided. She Friday Morning Quarterbacks Grey's Anatomy with the best of them. But she enjoys the process of working through her own emotions while she watches.
dswallow said:
In the overnight ratings, "Big Shots" got a 7.8/13 in households for #5, but lost 24.64% of that in the second half hour; among adults 18-49 the rating was 4.7 for #4, but lost 35% of the audience in the second half hour.
That seems to indicate a pretty hefty chunk of people gave up on the show after just 30 minutes of viewing.
In the overnight ratings, "Big Shots" got a 7.8/13 in households for #5, but lost 24.64% of that in the second half hour; among adults 18-49 the rating was 4.7 for #4, but lost 35% of the audience in the second half hour.
That seems to indicate a pretty hefty chunk of people gave up on the show after just 30 minutes of viewing.
I stopped watching halfway through, but that was partially because I was sitting at the computer and watching it live, and I knew it was recording in the other room, so I figured I'd switch to something else and catch the rest of my recording later.
However, I'm not sure I'm going to bother. I think I'll let a few eps build up and then see if it's going to stick around.
Here's a question... are there any straight males that enjoyed this show? This may be the marketed as the sex and city for men, but would men watch it?
I went into this expecting to come here afterwards and post "I liked this show better the first time I saw it.... when it was called 'Manchild' ", but it really does stand on it's own.
Here's hoping Molina's character manages to finagle a threesome with his wife and mistress.
I imagine Titus' wife (Janelle was it?) is going to be like Maris from Frasier and Vera from Cheers, someone we constantly hear about but never see (other than the occasional view from behind).
Maybe it's not the comedy "line" so much as most of the jokes the writers could think up were not terribly original.
Am I supposed to laugh at the fact that some pipsqueak guy who runs a big company can only have great sex with someone other than his wife? Or the fact that said mistress turns around and makes friends with the wife? Seen that before.
How about the guy who hooked up with the transsexual and figured it out later? Boy, that was a hoot. Seen that before too.
And the guy who's completely owned by his wife? Haw, haw haw.
The plot line with the guy becoming CEO while losing his wife to an affair isn't original either, but it was at least written and portrayed well. The rest of the show is pretending to be clever, but really pretty banal.
I finally got around to watching the first two shows of this. Pretty funny, I like all the guys, the main 4 guys and the 5th guy (the brit from Dresden Files). I'm going to keep watching!
Maybe it's not the comedy "line" so much as most of the jokes the writers could think up were not terribly original./QUOTE]
Fair enough... I had an epiphiny of sorts recently about tv, and for me it is all about the characters and the writing. The characters can be the actor, the writing or usually a combination of both.
I don't think the writing on this show is very good. If Dylan McDermott makes one more reference to Men being the new Women (2 in 2 episodes), I am going to blow up my TV... That being said.. something enough keeps me coming back... I don't try to take it too seriously..
I totally understand your lack of enjoyment for the comedy in the show.. I was just questioning your very specific, seemingly, reason for not liking it. You don't like it because it is not funny to you, not because it is about rich white guys.
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