Brendan Gleeson is set as the lead in The Money , David
Milch’s latest drama project for HBO. With Gleeson on board,
The Money has received a formal pilot order. Written by
Milch, The Money is a show about wealth and corruption
among the super elite focusing on American mogul and
patriarch James Castman (Gleeson) who wields power and
influence to expand his media empire and control his family.
Milch is executive producing with Art & John Linson (Sons Of Anarchy ) and Frank Rich, who has a deal at HBO. Justin Chadwick is set to direct the pilot and co- executive produce with Eric Roth and Sarah Caplan.
Source: deadline
Milch is executive producing with Art & John Linson (Sons Of Anarchy ) and Frank Rich, who has a deal at HBO. Justin Chadwick is set to direct the pilot and co- executive produce with Eric Roth and Sarah Caplan.
Source: deadline
David Milch + Brendan Gleeson = AWSOME
ReplyDeleteMilch is such a unique producers when it comes to his series. Luck and Deadwood was quality as long it lasted. It was "old", but at the same time done so well it was something different than the "old". Kinda weird explanation maybe.
Whilst more David Milch is always welcomed this seems like it could yet another male anti-hero show and frankly they are getting a bit boring both Ray Donovan and Low Winter Sun disappointed me. I think with Breaking Bad ending and SOA end in sight cable drama could take a break from this trope.
ReplyDeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteI love me some Brendan Gleeson and David Milch is usually awesome!
While I'm inclined to agree that the male anti-hero might be a little overplayed... I think that most of the best recent television series involve either an anti-hero or a broken-hero and while Ray Donovan was a big disappointment, I don't think the trope is at fault. (Can't speak to Low Winter yet...)
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, if networks decide to shelve male anti-heros, you can bet we won't be seeing more female anti-heros any time soon. Which, would be devastating to me. I absolutely adore watching Edie Falco as a trampy drug-addled nurse with a heart of gold and felt the biggest decline in quality coincided with her shift from anti-hero towards reformed anti-hero.
I say, long live the anti-heroes, the broke-down shells of people and just hope that the next ones offer us a little more variation than Donovan has and a little more bravery than Nurse Jackie.
Whilst I do love Nurse Jackie, the new shows I've found most interesting are very female centric but in a different way, like Orphan Black, The Fall, Orange Is The New Black, and Homeland/The Americans (both have male/female leads but the female characters are way more interesting). I tend to like broken messed up characters as well but sometimes a change is good and I feel like having the same clichéd mess of a man could do with a rest. Probably won't happen though.
ReplyDeleteSee, I can agree with you on Homeland (and presumably The Americans although I have yet to get around to watching that one)... I also enjoyed watching Nancy Botwin's particular brand of 'messed up chicka'- but Orange is the New Black did nothing for me (the protagonist that is, Piper Swift... Aha tv humour..) and a couple of the side-ladies and their personal tales of prison woe made me cringe.... I haven't totally given up on the series, just felt I needed a hiatus before watching the remaining four or five episodes... The others mentioned have hit my radar but not enough to force me to watch something other than old series I once loved...
ReplyDeleteTo our larger discussion, a round-about conclusion can be found in noting that I love watching Mireille Enos and season after season I find myself thoroughly entertained. I didn't mind the Rosie Larsen debacle because in my estimation, the Killing's actual driving force- the murder plot and the mystery as a whole, is way less compelling than watching Enos make "I'm damaged faces" chain-smoking in a world of dusty blue infini-rain . This leads me to believe that I have zero business complaining about any anti-hero trope... Whether I like it or not, I'm addicted to the anti-hero, and I'd put up with twelve minute variations on the off-chance that three might make for really really great TV...
Now, assuming this indecently long post hasn't already bored you to tears, it was in another thread, a poll wherein the question of which character you might like to be for a day, which brought me to the following realization:
Typical male anti-hero= broken, but always somewhat salved often with liquor, drugs, and LADIES, often of the 900 variety.... Whereas the female equivalents are typically only, or chiefly soothed by focusing all or most of their attention on either a romantic affair (doomed), or most often: Career/purpose/"their gift"...
I think I could do with a couple "broken" female protagonists that don't subsist on talent/gift/work tunnel-vision, and a couple less debaucherous male protagonists in this particular sub-genre....
But, it seems to me that the characters can be strikingly similar in personality or problems without the audience feeling cheated and bored by a cookie-cutter stock-screw-up provided the rest of the series is varied enough. One show that comes to mind, which, despite the debauchery, and all-too-familiar power-hungry male lead felt new somehow:
House of Lies, Marty Kahn... It took me about six episodes into the first season to reap any kind of reward for tuning in, but I stuck with it and am tremendously glad I did. Cheadle's character is not unique but something about the construct of the series combined with a talented actor made the moments in between weird misguided scatological humour feel incredibly powerful and sincere (a feat which is kind of incredible given that the first season was so littered with feces (pun intended, the scripts had endless problems that they continue to work through)
I'm re-watching the practice and Marty would fit right in there...
Simply put (Hah, after all that blather...): Find a way to switch up
your show's cinematic traits, format, general plot, slash up gender lines or give the anti-hero some new blemishes and VOILA: the trope remains a viable and possibly even delightful trend that can keep on giving for years to
come.
Besides, what's the alternative? Just a hero, going around town doing good and being good? Blech. Where's the fun in that?
Thoughts?
Sorry I only just saw this reply, Disqus sometimes does funny things! This won't nearly be as long because its a Sunday night and I'm tired.
ReplyDeleteI guess the anti-hero is definitely here to stay I know what you mean if they can switch it up then I'm all for it. I mean I love Justified but it works the genre well because Raylan is more like a flawed hero and Boyd is the anti-hero of the piece but then Walton Goggins is so damn charming he makes it feel fresh.
And in the end its about doing something different and I think that is my problem with a couple of these new shows they aren't really giving us anything new, its the same spin on a tired story now if they were to do something interesting with it then I would definitely give it a chance. I mean I show The Money could end up being great and like you I am a bit of an anti-hero addict so I tend to always check out the pilots at least.