Showtime has carved out a very specific niche for its sitcom (well, half hour shows because sitcom would insinuate that it was actually funny) with very unlikeable lead characters. It started with a drug dealing suburbanite and since then included a sex addicted writer and a pill popping nurse. Considering our current situation, the lead of their new show House of Lies may be the channel’s least likeable yet: a management consultant who helps those who destroyed our economy keep their yachts and high bonuses. But hey, on the flip side, Veronica Mars is back on the small screen.
To show you just how morally corrupt the character on the show are, it is based on a book whose full title is House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time
. Don Cheadle (Boogie Nights
) is the lead douchebag of the second ranked firm in the nation (naturally his ex-wife Dawn Olivieri (Veronica Mars
) is the head of number one). Just do not ask me what his underling Kristen Bell (Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical
), Ben Schwartz (Undercovers
), Josh Lawson (The Wedding Party
) do other than insult each other and waste client’s money (the crew makes it rain in a strip club in the first episode).We also get to see Cheadle off the clock and he may actually be a worse person at home than when he is getting paid. He lives with his son with Olivieri, who is having some identity issues (he is trying out for the role of Sandy in the school’s production of Grease
) and his father who did about as good a job raising his son as Cheadle did. In both worlds Cheadle has a penchant for breaking the fourth wall that gets annoying really early. But hey, Veronica Mars is back on the small screen where she can curse like a sailor (which I learned firsthand she does in real life) and remove more clothing (which unfortunately she does not utilize in the first episode). House of Lies premieres Sunday at 10:00 on Showtime. For those that cannot wait and do not mind a little censorship, you can watch the first episode free on iTunes, Sho.com, you cable providers On Demand channel, or just watch it now on YouTube below:
I didn't like this either, unless they're funny there's no reason to enjoy a bunch of assholes walking around being assholes.
ReplyDeleteThe only amusing line was from one of the non-Don Cheadle men on the team who asked "Did she put up a fight?" after his argument with the principal about his kid's play.
Other than that it didn't seem like they even tried for comedy.
Well there is one reason to enjoy: Kristen Bell. If there is one person that can make this enjoyable, it is her. But yeah, none of Showtime's "comedies" really try all that hard to be funny.
ReplyDelete