Editor's Note: Last week, we shared two of the fall's most anticipated returning series. Here, we review two of the new pilots that have us hooked. This year, the networks premiered roughly 20 new series. So far, there have been two casualties. Here's hoping that the following new gems survive the annual fall new pilot slaughter.
Running Wilde (Tues., 9:30 p.m., FOX)
Widely advertised as the heir to cult hit "Arrested Development," Fox's quirky new comedy "Running Wilde" certainly has big shoes to fill. And while the new show hasn't managed to capture the bizarre humor perfected in "Arrested Development" quite yet, the first two episodes of the show have built successfully on various elements of its FOX predecessor.
The most obvious comparison to be drawn between the shows is the fact that "Wilde" borrows actors and writers from "Arrested Development." Will Arnett whose rendering of the entitled and oblivious Gob Bluth on "Arrested Development" garnered critical and popular acclaim returns to his wacky antics and unbridled narcissism as the leading male on FOX's new sitcom. Arnett's character, Steve Wilde, is essentially Gob as an only child.
The spoiled heir to the fortune of a major oil corporation, Steve is oblivious to the workings of the real world. He spends his time ordering around his butler and concocting schemes that rival even Gob's Segway-riding shenanigans. In the pilot, for example, Steve decides to throw a party for himself, where Wilde Oil will present him with an award for being a humanitarian. The self-bestowed award is a trope that was utilized frequently on "Arrested Development," and in "Wilde" it serves not only as a humorous instance of hypocrisy, but also as an important plot device.
Steve wants to be recognized as a humanitarian in order to impress Emmy Kadubic (Keri Russell), his activist ex-girlfriend from his teenage years. The party is the perfect excuse for the pair to reunite, drawing Emmy away from her humanitarian work in the jungle. Emmy and Steve make an odd couple. She is the daughter of one of Wilde's former housekeepers, and as a teenager she refused to enter the Wilde mansion, claiming to be repelled by its gross excess. A young Steve charmed her, however, by "building" a tree house where the two could meet.
"It's the first thing I'd ever built on my own," Steve reminisces. "Every step. The plans. Telling the guy to make it. Telling him I changed my mind and I wanted to put it in another tree."
Although she is not known as a comedian, Russell is hilariously uptight and hypocritical as Emmy, delivering all lines to or about Steve with a mixture of confusion and condescension. The short monologue in which Emmy explains her relationship with Steve to her eco-terrorist boyfriend Andy (played by "Arrested Development" alum David Cross) is one of the comedic highlights of the pilot.
"I knew the son, Steven, a long time ago. I mean it's not like it was romantic. Which is not to say that it was purely physical. I don't even remember the physical part. That's not why I liked him is what I mean. I didn't like him. The point is he is a spoiled rich kid, and I doubt he's become some great humanitarian."
Emmy's doubts, of course, are confirmed when she shows up at Steve's party to find him just as lazy and uncharitable as ever. She does, however, find a new humanitarian project for herself: Steve.
"Steve, I think I can make you a better man," Emmy vows. "Not if I can make you a worse woman first," Steve replies. Who will succeed? Considering the lovableness of the many "worse" characters on "Arrested Development," I'm hoping for the latter.
Caitlin Kennedy
Boardwalk Empire (Sun., 9 p.m., HBO)
Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese, the two most distinguished executive producers attached to HBO's ambitious new series "Boardwalk Empire" have a lot to live up to. Even before its pilot, "Empire" was already drawing comparisons to previous HBO epics "Deadwood" and "The Sopranos." Winter was both a writer and executive producer of "The Sopranos" the godfather (no pun intended) of television crime dramas and Scorsese (also the director of the pilot) has directed timeless mobster classics, including "Mean Streets" (1973), "Goodfellas" (1990), "Casino" (1995), "Gangs of New York" (2002) and "The Departed" (2006).
I'm pleased to say that the first three episodes of the series, which began airing Sept. 19, live up to the show's heavily promoted promise.
The strength of the program, which has been very much pronounced thus far, lies in its depiction of a true story blended with just the right number of fictional liberties to maintain a constant level of excitement.
In the show, viewers are blasted with the unambiguous zeitgeist of the "roaring" 1920s prohibition, women's suffrage and post-war malaise all make their way onto the screen. This period in American history sufficiently compelling in itself that it hardly calls for enhancement by fictional turns of plot is jazzed up by the elements that are essential to all popular television, namely graphic violence and soft-core sex.
"Boardwalk Empire" follows the semi-fictional treasurer of Atlantic City, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (played by Steve Buscemi and based on the historical figure Enoch "Nucky" Johnson) as he establishes his control of both legal and underworld Atlantic City at the dawn of prohibition.
Like Tony Soprano before him, Nucky is constantly put in the moral quagmire of balancing the brutal at times, immoral demands of his job with his own sense of humanism. In one of the more compelling subplots, while ruling Atlantic City with a heavy hand, Nucky finds it in himself to help a pregnant, immigrant housewife (Kelly Macdonald) encumbered by poverty, children and an abusive, alcoholic, gambling husband.
Plot and thematic elements aside, "Boardwalk Empire" thrives well on its production value: the pilot, according to the New York Post, purportedly ran through a budget of $50 million. It is thus little surprise that the show reproduces the 1920s in cinematic quality, through its stunning cinematography and set and costume design.
The use of the Atlantic City boardwalk as a prism through which to examine a historical era naturally draws comparison to the supremely successful program "Mad Men," which uses an advertising agency to explore the culture of the early 1960s. Another comparison, which is a little premature with respect to "Boardwalk Empire" to discuss at length, is how the various characters, all interconnected, respectively depict a distinct aspect of the era.
"Boardwalk Empire" has certainly lived up to its promise so far. That being said, most shows, at least those that get renewed for a second season so shortly after their premieres (as is the case for "Boardwalk Empire"), begin strong.
The common pitfall: as the show and its characters develop, the writers run out of new, exciting material, and the plot becomes insipid and repetitive.
Fortunately, history tells us that with "Boardwalk Empire," there's plenty more to come.
