(no subject)
'Drop Dead Diva' or how to transcend the fat joke in 45 minutes
I've been looking for that one great summer show for awhile now. Last year it was 'Middleman' a show so far away from standard that it felt like a personal failure when it went off the air. And this year, I think that show for me is going to be 'Drop Dead Diva' on Lifetime Television. And while Middleman failed because it was too different from it's core viewing audience, DDD will fail only if it can't fulfill it's very deep potential.
The premise is almost unbelievably shallow; Fashion obsessed ditzy dies, breaks heaven's rules and is reborn again in the body of a chubby smart frumpy lawyer. Seems like easy fodder for lazy fat jokes and heavy handed morality about beauty on the inside. And trust me, we do get a lot of that. Blond Deb in the body of Lawyer Jane makes plenty of I'm craving chocolate and why are my cloths so terrible quips. And there is a really bad potential reoccurring joke involving EzCheese. But there's something about the acting of not only the main character, but all of the support characters which makes me feel like this show only had those moment to switch up those expectations later.
What I really like about the show is how Brooke Elliot, the lead actress, really makes what could have been a one dimensional character (Deb in the body of Jane) and really take it past to the unhappiness and loneliness underneath. Likewise, I really really like how the support characters make the personality of Jane (the person she was before she had her brain damaging accident) palpable. We have 2 characters stuck in one and unlike normal attempts to do so, we actually get 2 characters here and that's really hard because one of them is dead.
[Let me take a second to talk about Margaret Cho. Did I not mention that Margaret Cho is on this show as a central character? She plays a role which is so not her standard role (like the information broker in THE LOST ROOM) and instead plays a cool professional that I actually forgot it was her a couple of times. It's kind of like how Kevin Smith is doing a movie that someone else wrote; Taking someone out of their usual groove can sometimes be a testament to do great they can be. And in this case, I really like her character and hope that we see more of that role get fleshed out in episodes to come.]
There is something really interesting in how this show takes some singly shallow characters and goes more than a couple of steps with them. Deb is incredibly ditzy, but her boyfriend does love her and can't get over her death. But the acting make it so you don't feel that it's the normal safe normal tv plot device; you really are interested in why someone like him would care so much about this one dimensional character. You don't just stop at the normal reaction of sad man is sad, you want to know more about him. Likewise, the friend who knows Deb is now Jane isn't just the comic relief character, you actually want to see what their relationship was like and how it's going to be now that something supernatural has happened. The way her boss treats Jane is really amazing considering he only had about three lines of dialog and that gives me hope that the show's writers and creators have something special in store. He really drives home how the pity-the-fat-girl mentalities lies just under the polite face of society. There is a lot of personal dynamics and character growth this show can get to while still giving some decent, but maybe middle of the road law firm drama.
The show isn't without it's failings, but once again I see somethings in the writing and the performances how maybe those failings won't get in the way of this show and may in fact get propel it to greatness. The commentary about physical appearance and how they relate to personality and self-esteem are incredibly forced. But at the same time, I smell a hint of rebellion against heavy handed morality that you could only get from a very subtle satire. The really bitchy law firm antagonist is really crazy stereotypical bitch for no reason and they really need to fix that. But they do telegraph that said character is going to get more screen time and I can't only hope they won't resort to making her the bad guy for the sake of having a bad guy. Ugly Betty managed to take the at work antagonists, Mark and Amanda, and make them their own characters and I really hope that this show can extend that same faith in it's characters.
I'm not a big watcher of Lifetime Television's programing, the only show I watched on this network was 'Strong Medicine'. But Lifetime does make interesting programs with strong female characters and I really do feel that this show can be great BECAUSE of it's very anti-feminist anti-body image premise. I'm betting that smart women can write shows for smart women and over turn the stupid girl stereotype you see in more typical television shows which are focued on women ('The Hills' and 'Real Women of Orange County' I'm looking at you) by exploring why and how those themes are so popular. Finger's crossed.
I've been looking for that one great summer show for awhile now. Last year it was 'Middleman' a show so far away from standard that it felt like a personal failure when it went off the air. And this year, I think that show for me is going to be 'Drop Dead Diva' on Lifetime Television. And while Middleman failed because it was too different from it's core viewing audience, DDD will fail only if it can't fulfill it's very deep potential.
The premise is almost unbelievably shallow; Fashion obsessed ditzy dies, breaks heaven's rules and is reborn again in the body of a chubby smart frumpy lawyer. Seems like easy fodder for lazy fat jokes and heavy handed morality about beauty on the inside. And trust me, we do get a lot of that. Blond Deb in the body of Lawyer Jane makes plenty of I'm craving chocolate and why are my cloths so terrible quips. And there is a really bad potential reoccurring joke involving EzCheese. But there's something about the acting of not only the main character, but all of the support characters which makes me feel like this show only had those moment to switch up those expectations later.
What I really like about the show is how Brooke Elliot, the lead actress, really makes what could have been a one dimensional character (Deb in the body of Jane) and really take it past to the unhappiness and loneliness underneath. Likewise, I really really like how the support characters make the personality of Jane (the person she was before she had her brain damaging accident) palpable. We have 2 characters stuck in one and unlike normal attempts to do so, we actually get 2 characters here and that's really hard because one of them is dead.
[Let me take a second to talk about Margaret Cho. Did I not mention that Margaret Cho is on this show as a central character? She plays a role which is so not her standard role (like the information broker in THE LOST ROOM) and instead plays a cool professional that I actually forgot it was her a couple of times. It's kind of like how Kevin Smith is doing a movie that someone else wrote; Taking someone out of their usual groove can sometimes be a testament to do great they can be. And in this case, I really like her character and hope that we see more of that role get fleshed out in episodes to come.]
There is something really interesting in how this show takes some singly shallow characters and goes more than a couple of steps with them. Deb is incredibly ditzy, but her boyfriend does love her and can't get over her death. But the acting make it so you don't feel that it's the normal safe normal tv plot device; you really are interested in why someone like him would care so much about this one dimensional character. You don't just stop at the normal reaction of sad man is sad, you want to know more about him. Likewise, the friend who knows Deb is now Jane isn't just the comic relief character, you actually want to see what their relationship was like and how it's going to be now that something supernatural has happened. The way her boss treats Jane is really amazing considering he only had about three lines of dialog and that gives me hope that the show's writers and creators have something special in store. He really drives home how the pity-the-fat-girl mentalities lies just under the polite face of society. There is a lot of personal dynamics and character growth this show can get to while still giving some decent, but maybe middle of the road law firm drama.
The show isn't without it's failings, but once again I see somethings in the writing and the performances how maybe those failings won't get in the way of this show and may in fact get propel it to greatness. The commentary about physical appearance and how they relate to personality and self-esteem are incredibly forced. But at the same time, I smell a hint of rebellion against heavy handed morality that you could only get from a very subtle satire. The really bitchy law firm antagonist is really crazy stereotypical bitch for no reason and they really need to fix that. But they do telegraph that said character is going to get more screen time and I can't only hope they won't resort to making her the bad guy for the sake of having a bad guy. Ugly Betty managed to take the at work antagonists, Mark and Amanda, and make them their own characters and I really hope that this show can extend that same faith in it's characters.
I'm not a big watcher of Lifetime Television's programing, the only show I watched on this network was 'Strong Medicine'. But Lifetime does make interesting programs with strong female characters and I really do feel that this show can be great BECAUSE of it's very anti-feminist anti-body image premise. I'm betting that smart women can write shows for smart women and over turn the stupid girl stereotype you see in more typical television shows which are focued on women ('The Hills' and 'Real Women of Orange County' I'm looking at you) by exploring why and how those themes are so popular. Finger's crossed.