What was on TV? Sat, April 30, 2005

20 years ago,

Earlier Sucker Free City (recorded)

This was a failed TV pilot, and understand why Showtime declined to pick it up despite its pedigree (Spike Lee directed this). There is just way too much going on. It tries to paint a portait of San Francisco that encompasses the Chinese mafia, white boys doing credit card fraud, and street gangs in Hunter's Point. It never hangs together. And one of the perils of doing this interconnected stories thing is that one of the stories might outshine the others. So it is here. Every time Ken Leung was onscreen as a rising member of the Chinese mafia, I was riveted. And every time he wasn't onscreen, I was asking, "Where is Ken Leung?"

Leung is absolutely terrific in this. Full of resentment and false bravado. I immediately wanted to follow him for more episodes, which I could not say about any of the other characters (even Anthony Mackie, who is pretty good as the main character in the Hunter's Point storyline). And the world of the Chinese mafia is so interesting. I have seen stories of white collar crime and gentrification and street gangs, better stories than the one we get here. But the San Fransico Chinese mafia? That's a setting ripe for exploration. And while he's in the Chinese mafia, he's having an affair with a Stanford med student, and his hunger to be part of that world is all too clear. He's such a great character, the whole show should have been about him.

Outside of Ken Leung, it was a true pleasure to see the city where I grew up captured on film by Spike Lee of all people! This was shot when I was in fourth or fifth grade, so the city in this movie is the one that shaped me. It was a joy to see it. The ugly digital film aesthetic so particular to the early 2000s only adds to the effect.

One more thing (spoilers warning, I guess): a kid dies in this! What a rookie mistake. As all the best crime shows (The Wire, Breaking Bad) teach us, you do not kill a kid in the pilot You have to build to that moral even horizon! And killing a kid in your first episode implies that this is going to be a regular occurrence. And who wants to sign up for a show where kids die on the regular? The news is depressing enough.

8:30 Warm Springs on HBO

In interviews Kenneth Branagh said he took this role because he was a huge fan of The West Wing. And that tracks. It takes place in the years before FDR was elected, when he was recovering from polio at the titular springs and not in the halls of power. But the Great Man, the badass wife (Cynthia Nixon), and the team of great actors supporting the Great Man (Kathy Bates, Tim Blake Nelson, David Paymer, Jane Alexander), it's all very West Wing. And it's good in the same way The West Wing is good: handsomely made, earnest, and brilliantly acted (Branagh, Bates, and Paymer are particular standouts). But it's not as good as The West Wing, and I couldn't help but wish I were hearing these actors spout proper Sorkinese. Or else seeing a proper series about FDR, that would have a chance to delve into his wheeling and dealing and policymaking, and also into Eleanor's political contributions and lesbian affairs. Seriously, they hired Cynthia Nixon and declined to depict Eleanor's lesbian exploits. What a waste.

What Else Was On

The slasher film Man-Thing was originally intended for a theatrical release, but it turned out so badly that it ended up on the Sci-Fi Channel instead. The movie was an officially licensed Marvel project, based on the character of the same name. It had the logo on it and everything. A fascinating relic of a time when Marvel, directionless and struggling, decided to make a slasher starring one of its C-list characters. Imagine if it had been good and/or successful! I'd like to visit that alternate universe.

TiVo Status

Two episodes of Mystery! 2 hours.

Music, 20 years ago

I don't think any of the characters in Sucker Free City were cool enough to be at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' iconic 2004 concert at the Fillmore. Their loss.