A Man. And His Blog.

Interesting that the series finale ended with the goodbye of one of the characters. I don’t know if it was planned, if Illeana Douglas really wanted to get out of the show (after all, she didn’t appear in the last two episodes), or if this was some sort of a closer for ACTION. Because at the end, this episode worked as a series finale better than I would have expected.

But the episode was still average. Again, there are some creepy brothers in the center of all attention, after Peter (Jay Mohr) was already dealing with creepy twins once – definitely looks like a repeat of a story, and this in the first season already. Lazy writing. I found Peter’s next conflict interesting though, despite the fact that I should have had a lot of suspension of belief to buy that no one checked about the status of Adam’s script. Yeah, it’s a good topic for such a show, but seriously… In the middle of the production, there’s suddenly suing going on, because Adam sold the script twice? And he didn’t tell anyone? And the law suit came so late? Sorry, but even in this comedy world it just seems stupid. But hey, as long as it brings Peter into stress again, including rage and another heart attack (that’s what the scene with Adam [Jarrad Paul] looked like), I’ll take it.

And that’s it. That was literally the only story in this episode. There wasn’t much about the movie production anymore, and even Guy (Terry Rhoads) as a new director was wasted. I loved the “he’s so gay, I’ll bet money he’s straight” bit, but there was nothing more. In addition, the final scene was way too dramatic again, but I blame that on it serving as the finale for the show (which worked). But it showed again that ACTION might have served better as an hour-long satire on Hollywood, where the drama elements would have had much time to develop.

13 episodes ACTION, and I learned that I overestimated the cult status of the show. I was blended by the critics who said this show was awesome, even though it wasn’t with its inconsistency of situational comedy, satire and drama. At the end it never really worked, and most of the time I was bored. Every now and then I could understand Peter as a character, and I was feeling with him, but most of the time he was way too much of an asshole. I prefer the escapades of Ari Gold, because he was still a likable character behind his rage. I won’t miss this show. Jay Mohr did a good job, and I wanna see him on another show (let’s see when I’m coming to Grandview), but I wouldn’t tell that everything was super awesome here. Instead I just say that ACTION is a TV show you don’t have to see, but if you want some Hollywood action for a couple of episodes, you should grab this show. And don’t be sad if you don’t like it. The end. Next show please. 6/10

The kill moment

Wendy says goodbye to the audience

Hello, comedy. Welcome back. That’s how I want to see the show, and that’s how the writers should have written the show from the beginning. No dark scenes, no drama, a little bit of satire, and some over-the-top parts, which defined the series during the first couple of episodes.

But I can’t get why Adam (Jarrad Paul) suddenly changed his character. In the previous episode, he was so into the fact he had written the script and basically had the artistic integrity he so much loved in the first part of the season, and now all of a sudden he fucks exactly that and becomes a producer? I got it was explained with money, but somehow I don’t like that change. It made a good story, and finally Adam shows some balls again (him firing the catering gut at the end was great), but logically speaking it made no sense. But anyway, I should think much of it, otherwise I’m getting crazy.

Because the rest of the episode was actually good. I totally love Reagan (Jennifer Lyons). She’s complete crap as a character, scared of anything, sexy as hell, but doesn’t want to do nudity, and is totally reserved. A typical sitcom character, which is a bit misplaced in a show like this (she would be the goddess in a multicam comedy though), but I don’t care because I love her. What a shame that the show hasn’t found her sooner, giving her appearances during the first episodes. But there’s some interaction missing with Holden (Fab Filippo). He is kind of the idiot guy now, who wants to be a sex symbol and former drug addict, but can’t get his act straight. At the moment, both Holden and Reagan only interact with Peter (Jay Mohr), which is … well, lame. Why not letting Reagan and Holden do something, except having sex in front of the camera?

In addition, the whole nudity thing was cool. When Reagan stood there with tape on her tits, I was laughing, and when she talked with her uncle to Peter about the nudity scenes in the movie, I could imagine how ACTION would have looked like, if the writers knew from the beginning where to go with it. These are great moments, but they are barely used. Or most of the times not good at all. 7/10

Taped-off tits. And I thought this was the unrated DVD box...

Adam shows balls again

Hmm, looks like the last episode was just a one-shot. This episode was so different from the other ones, the comedy was missing, and somehow this show became a mystic horror show for a second. As if the writers tried everything to define the show, but never found a direction.

And I was so happy about the last episode, because it started the story of the shooting, but now I’m pretty much pissed, because it stopped the story again. And it pretty much repeated earlier storylines. Holden (Fab Filippo) is back to his drugs, Titus (R. Lee Ermey) is dead, and there’s no way for the characters to have some happiness during the next two episodes, because everything seems so fucked-up. And with it, the comedy of the show kind of vanishes – I wasn’t laughing one single time in the episode. And I really don’t know if the cut of the comedy was on purpose, or if the darker tone of the story killed the genre of the show.

I mean, I wasn’t even interested in Titus dying. When Connie (Amy Aquino) showed up, I was happy about her return first, but then this whole scene (especially with the thunder all the time, making this episode look like a Halloween special) became really macabre, I didn’t know whether to take it all seriously, or to see it as a part of the comedy. That scene really was the center of all attention, and obviously the scene where the writers and producers didn’t know where to go with the show. It doesn’t fit into it, it feels forced, too dramatic, too dark, and there wasn’t even a sense of a satirical subtone. I really don’t know the meaning of this scene, except it being part of a story, where Peter (Jay Mohr) again has to fight the battle of having a nice and proper movie production.

The rest of the episode was okay though. How Peter came back to the living was super lame though, but I like that Jane (Cindy Ambuehl) is still part of his life. The visits with the soon-to-be parents group were nice, and I was stunned to see a very young Maya Rudolph there. In addition, I still like that Jenny (Erin Daniels, would she have been a regular, when the season would have been back-9′d?) is part of the show, and that her hilarious conflict with Stuart (Jack Plotnick) continues. Would be nice for one of the last two episodes to play on that, because a back-and-forth to gain Peter’s trust could be awesome for a comedy like this. But before that, the writers should finally find the tone for the show. Again, I do not wonder why it was cancelled. But now it looks so different from the first episodes… 5/10

You don't see the black boxes in front of the breasts here

This was Maya Rudolph's face in the 90s!

Holy motherfucker. Who’d have thought that? Best episode of this series, and this because Peter (Jay Mohr) is finally a likable character (well, he was understood by me this time), and because the story arc of the show has reached the production of the movie. As if the writers finally want to tell a story and not write a sitcom.

Seriously, almost everything worked here. The returns of Titus (R. Lee Ermey) and Reagan (Jennifer Lyons) were great, because I didn’t even expect them to return (though cast as director and sex symbol for “Gun Club”), and I didn’t even expect for Jenny (Erin Daniels) to return as well. As if the past couple of episodes have created a bunch of recurring characters, which make the story look more (ful)filled. I like ACTION this way. Finally it has a purpose, and finally the characters are acting with each other. I didn’t even mind that Wendy was missing.

The shooting of the first scene was hilarious. “We have a bird”, Titus killing the bird, which was in fact a serious actor (I rofl’d myself, when the “manager” of the bird came to talk to Peter), Reagan crying, because everybody was staring at her (her tragic puppy face in the trailer was to cry for), Holden (Fab Filippo) scared that his dick is too small for the movie, and finally Holden drunk and roping himself on the ground. It worked for the comedy, because it wasn’t over the top, and it worked because it was actually funny without being way too funny, like the writers tried in the episodes before. What a shame that the past of ACTION wasn’t working like this episode – no wonder why this show flopped, when it tried too much to be a persiflage of Hollywood instead of telling a story like here. The little rivalry plot between Jenny and Stuart (Jack Plotnick) alone is the perfect example of this. All of a sudden, there is more stuff happening than just in Peter’s life alone. I imagine that the writers were thinking of way more in this stage of the show.

I don’t know why the episode needed the cliffhanger of Peter dying. It’s kinda fitting for an end of the show, and for this episode to be the last one aired on FOX (and if you seriously want to cancel this show while watching, at least close with this episode). But for the long run, the cliffhanger was just misplaced. It brought a bit too much drama into the comedy, which still does not fit well with the tone of the show.

But hey, ACTION is finally there where I wanted to have it all along. Hopefully the next and last three episodes will be like this one. 8.5/10

Reagan shows her donut-filled puppy face

Adam shows his balls

Whoa, boring episode. And I don’t even know why it failed. I was actually good for once to have the movie story out of the way for once and tell a complete different arc. The thing is just that: That “complete different arc” didn’t work for me in this show. All of a sudden, the writers just abandon the crazy stuff, and be realistic (well…) for once? Seems like the they have finally figured out that ACTION as a crazy behind-the-scenes comedy wasn’t working much.

And this after the whole rumor thing was actually interesting. It was a perfect thing to write about for a Hollywood show, and the characters were just suited for a story like this. But first I wanna know how the rumors were actually born, since they seemed so random, and second they didn’t even have consequences. Peter (Jay Mohr) allegedly just had a frog up his ass, and he just wonders why this is in the press. There is a rumor about Holden’s fake ass, but we don’t even see him here to let the consequences of the rumor act within the story. Instead, all the rumors just happened to be there, and nothing did anybody against it. Or even hysterically laughed about it. Peter didn’t even realize he was the talked-about topic in town, even though somebody in his status as a movie producer he should have noticed.

But I kinda liked the return of Jane (Cindy Ambuehl) and that she gave Peter a more personal story, which almost turned out to be an ongoing storyline. I liked that, in the world of Peter sleeping with every woman he meets, he still has an anchor in his life that he can fall back to. That the anchor falls back to Bobby (Lee Arenberg) though makes it a bit hilarious, but I wasn’t laughing. And unfortunately the episode missed to create a special bond between Peter and Jenny (Erin Daniels). Instead Jenny was just there (like the rumors), slept with Peter, got a job, didn’t get the job after all, got the job anyway and slept with Wendy (Illeana Douglas) at the end – too much stuff happened with Jenny, and there was no focus. Lame. Except when this story was actually preparing Erin for THE L WORD…

Same goes with Adam (Jarrad Paul). Now that he got a bit of self-confidence, he could finally step up to the producers. But what does he do? Asks the secretary out on a date. Super-lame. But maybe those stories were done for the big picture of the show. After all I don’t think that the writers were believing 100 percent that ACTION gets cancelled after the next four episodes. 5.5/10

A fine-looking woman, am I right?

A good-looking couple, don't ya think?

Well, was this a flashback episode or a statement from the writers and producers that this show would fail on a major network from the beginning? 22 of the 23 minutes tell me the first thing, the last minute tells me the other thing. And on top of that, this episode tried to be dramatic.

Which worked. Surprisingly. I never would have thought in a million years that Peter (Jay Mohr) and Wendy’s (Illeana Douglas) relationship would develop to a new level. Though I’m expecting for it to fall flat in the next episode again, it was pretty nice to have a serious Wendy for once, and to have her hear talk about her relationship with Peter in a serious way. Away from the hooker business, on to Peter as a potential boyfriend. Which he won’t have, because it sucks to have a girlfriend. Quite a nice story. And the only one, which was working for my taste.

Because the rest was boring. Well, except Reagan’s (Jennifer Lyons) story. Even though the whole “sexy girl is fat” thing was already chewed on in numerous other comedy movies and TV shows. But the whole story involving Reagan, and Holden (Fab Filippo) going back to his drug trip let ACTION look like a surreal Hollywood satire again, which doesn’t take its story seriously, and which never tries to be honest in at least one situation. Adam’s (Jarrad Paul) story was the perfect example for it, when he was sitting in the security’s office. He said he is there because he wrote a movie – when this isn’t a statement about how Hollywood treats the writers, then I don’t know. Yeah, it was kinda funny, but ten years after the joke was made, I see that everybody has done it already. Which makes the joke super old. And unfunny.

Anyway, what was actually interesting about the episode? Maybe the last minute, where the writers just wrote what was wrong and right about the show. Basically a “fuck you” note to the viewers, who missed this show, and a “thank you” to all, who have made it a failure in the ratings. I wonder what the FOX executives were thinking when they saw this episode. Since it wasn’t really about them, were they actually thinking about what was said in this episode? Like “Damn, why did we bought and greenlit this show?”-like? No wonder they didn’t air this episode… 6/10

Holden goes full on crazy during the table read

She ain't a fattie anymore. She's fuckable now

It was a fine episode, and I was surprised that I wasn’t annoyed by Peter (Jay Mohr) this time. Thanks to his daughter Georgia (Sara Paxton), who defines the apple falling not far from the tree. And thanks to her, Peter seemed pretty normal.

In retrospective, including Georgia was a cool idea. I either have forgotten that Peter has a daughter, or the writers mentioned it for the first time here. First I was surprised and shocked that a guy like Peter has a daughter, and then I was shocked (but not surprised, because it was predictable) that Georgia was like Peter: opening her mouth way too far and insulting people. She literally inherited the attitude from her father. And since Georgia was so cool in this episode, I wonder if she has more appearances in the last six episodes of the show. Because Peter is in fact needing a woman in his life, who keeps him in check – pretty similar to the strong female characters on ENTOURAGE like Mrs. Ari.

The rest of the episode was good. The Silverstein brothers (Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar) were hilarious, and I just loved them for jumping on the opportunity to make a movie with Buffy, but ended up in summer camp, just because it’s what they are doing. Here I would hope that characters like the Silverstein brothers would have a recurring appearance in ACTION, since they bring the comedy and they could be a running gag. Unfortunately for the bigger part of the episode, Peter’s search for a director was not really that interesting. Titus (R. Lee Ermey) could have been an interesting character, but instead the episode misses to connect Titus with both Peter and Holden (Fab Filippo), and makes him an unlikable character like all the rest of the cast. In addition, I could not buy into the situation he told he was in. So, he was fucking a male Glenn Close in Mexico and decided to go back into the business, even working with another drug addict, because that seems to be what he is doing all the time. Sorry, but that was neither funny nor clever. Just annoying. There was no character scene at all, instead the episode was pushing for the punchline here.

At least I know now that I probably wouldn’t have liked this show back then. And that I will never like unlikable characters. They are just jokes, they never develop as characters, and they are mostly not funny. With it, those unlikable characters never meet their counterparts. In here, Peter met his daughter, in ENTOURAGE, Ari met Lizzie and his wife. But the rest? Nada. 6.5/10

Stupid brothers look stupid

Something fishy is going on here

Yep, this show is becoming boring. Or maybe I’m just not getting the brutal humor of it. I’m still understanding all about the satirization of Hollywood, the movie business, and the world of agencies and actors and what they think about all this shit, but it’s not funny. It’s only loosely connected with a proper story. And the story doesn’t really get forward here.

Finally the writers started to answer the question about the casting of Beverly Hills Gun Club. I liked how they were talking about Neil Patrick Harris and Leo DiCaprio, especially judging their stardom today from ten or so years ago. But that was all of it. Holden (Fab Filippo) wasn’t really that much of a character, and he transformed into a shitty character like the guy, who was hiring for the movie. There could have been some satire as well, but somehow I wasn’t able to separate the Hollywood satire of a star in treatment because of drugs, and the actual story of Holden getting the job in the movie. Firs, nobody was really discussing the movie with Holden, instead he was just cast in it, because of his name (like in real-life, tadaa). Second, no one seemed to care about his addiction. Not even Adam (Jarrad Paul), whom he was connected with in the second half of the episode. There was definitely some comedy hidden in there, but nothing came out of it.

The minor arc of Peter (Jay Mohr) and his fear of having cancer was alright though. It brought some drama into the comedy mix, and I actually liked his plead to God at the end. And it was even more nice to connect the cancer story with the $3 million smoking advertisement, especially since there was a message in it: Not even Peter is able to get $3 million, so that the characters in the movie can smoke some smokes and make the 13-year-old kids hungry for smoke. Peter is a dickass-character, but at least he has some proud left in his brain.

Scott Wolf was cool though. What a shame that there aren’t much celebrity stints in the series, and that there are so short. I remember Sandra Bullock kicking Peter’s ass, now Scott wanted him to kill him. But I really have one question here: Is Scott really that small? I have to check that right now… 5.5/10

Small Scott is brutal to big Dragon

Holden does ... something other than working

The episode was alright, though I have finally understand why it never worked for the audience: The stories really are over the top, until it is painfully visible, and the characters are not likable. Not even Adam (Jarrad Paul), since he seems to lack of intelligence, while the others lack of being … good.

No wonder why ACTION was cancelled during the first season. TV shows with antagonists are always difficult to get and to understand, and don’t tell me that Peter (Jay Mohr) is not an antagonist. He’s such an asshole, a dick, a creep and a loser, it makes my head hurt. Sometimes he’s actually a good person, like in the cold open in court, when he told the judges what the American people want to see, but in the rest of the episode he was the main character of a TV show full of antagonists. And I don’t know why I’m getting this fact after five episodes.

The story was okay. Nice that Adam was in the focus of it, even though it was a bit ridiculous that everybody loved Adam and his script. It had a few funny moments though, especially with Marty (Jeff Yagher) blowing off Steven Spielberg on the phone, because he’s “talking to Adam Rafkin”. That kinda looked like Marty would be a gay character, having the hots for Adam and trying everything to get him to IAA, as well as into bed (it would fit with Cole in the last episode). Unfortunately, the writers did a lot of shit with Remi (René Ashton). There we had the tiny possibility of Adam getting a somewhat serious storyline – change of the talent agency, a girlfriend, his script being liked, him getting recognition in Hollywood – but at the end it was neither developing nor funny in the second half of the episode. Yeah, it was boring. And it was so not a surprise, when Wendy (Illeana Douglas) came over and “told” Adam that she used to work with Remi. Meaning that she’s a hooker. Not a surprise, not funny. And the chance of letting Adam have an ongoing storyline is wasted.

Peter’s storyline was wasted too. And definitely not funny. The writers already failed to deliver a proper reason why Peter’s credibility went down (I would have expected for the Americans to sheer him to Presidency after his stunt in court), and in addition, him having to do charity events was lame too. He throws away a kid with German measles (predictable), he doesn’t care about David Hasselhoff during a charity auction (damn, the gags were missing here, though I loved the connection between Michael Jackson and Disneyland), and at the end he gets the idea of getting violence off the street and in the movies. Will it hold for another episode? I don’t think so.

Yeah, that seems to be the first “hatable” episode of the series. Didn’t like it much, wasn’t funny much, and I’m already missing ENTOURAGE. 5/10

It's a new form of campaigns

This episode had sex between a troubled writer and a former hooker

It was a surprisingly good and funny episode, and I could not believe to see that a gay storyline like this in a comedy show was handled so well. Okay, there wasn’t time and it wasn’t the genre to handle such a storyline, but it was not over the top. Especially since it was part of the story and had Peter (Jay Mohr) in a ridiculously funny situation, when he had to fire Cole (Richard Burgi) in the most nice way everybody could have been fired. I couldn’t stop smiling, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what the “special night” between Peter and Cole was about. Peter called it a moment, Wendy (Illeana Douglas) called it a long session. Unfortunately this was one of the parts in the series, where the story turned out to be everything but realistic.

The Sandra Bullock teaser was hilarious. I loved her in kick-ass mode, and thanks to Peter being an asshole and stuff, I was rooting for her. Storylines like this could be in the center of events, but then the Hollywood stars couldn’t play a cameo anymore, and instead guest star for good. And I really wanted that story to continue throughout the episode – after all there was a sex tape with Peter and Sandy out. A good idea for a scandalous storyline (plus making fun of the real scandals in Hollywood), but it was just in the teaser.

Adam’s (Jarrad Paul) storyline came short. Of course his character is in a state of showing what the movie business is all about, but he could have tolerated some more screentime. At least the episode mentioned how “Hollywood” doesn’t like older actors, wants to go young and therefore recast. It could have been funnier though. I was only laughing about Momo’s (Edouard Saad) goats, but that wasn’t even part of the story.

There needs to be a similar series, when I’m finished with this one, and ENTOURAGE. I would kinda miss the genre… 7.5/10

Sandy is about to kick some ass

A truly gay moment