The Sopranos/Big Love/Huff
The three best hours on television, and a whole lot better than anything you might see in your local multiplex these days, too. HBO’s bellwether series, in its sixth and final season, had its best episode yet last week, touching on such hot-button topics as Hollywood pitch meetings, celebrity entitlement, award show gift baskets and how to prepare a rabbit old-world style, featuring no less than Doogie Howser buddy Vinnie Delpino (Max Cassella) as a sleazy low-level mobster pulling credit card fraud at the expense of John Ventimiglia’s hilariously put-upon restaurateur Artie Bucco.
The horrified look on Ben Kingsley’s face when Chris accosts him in the elevator about getting into the Luxury Lounge as the Sexy Beast realizes he’s up against the real thing and Lauren Bacall cursing after getting mugged for her gift basket outside the Beverly Hilton are alone worth the price of a subscription.
Big Love is also picking up steam, as its dark Twin Peaks-like secrets begin to unfold, with the much-hassled Bill Paxton admitting that things are spinning out of control, which isn’t a surprise when you consider the man answers to three rather idiosyncratic wives - one of whom he’s having an “affair” with. It’s not quite the sexual paradise you might think, even with the ravishing Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin in the house(s).
Some fans are complaining that Showtime’s Huff has jumped the shark, but I don’t agree. Oliver Platt is still a wonderfully alive character, with all his contradictions, and I’m intrigued by Hank Azaria’s schizophrenic brother played by Andy Comeau, though not everyone else apparently is. It’s another searing epater le bourgeois examination of upper-middle-class foibles, impeccably acted and not afraid to wear a heart on its sleeve, even if it is sometimes misplaced.
Bruce Springsteen, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (Columbia)
Everything old is new again. Reminiscent of Dylan’s early-’90s covers albums Good As I Been to You and World Gone Wrong as much as Bob’s work with The Band on The Basement Tapes, the Boss’ tribute to traditional songs associated with Pete Seeger as well as his roots in folk, country and gospel-blues might seems like a reaction against the major philosophical statements of The Rising and Devils and Dust, or just a chance to recharge his creative batteries.
Indeed, the half-hour DVD that accompanies this DualDisc features the Boss singing the praises of making good-time music with friends and family in the relaxed, Music From Big Pink-like setting of his New Jersey farmhouse.
Article comments
1 - Philip Chubak
I was at the concert! David was absolutely fantastic. It was the best show I'd seen since the Wall. But, you obviously don't know what you are talking about. The creative genius behind PF has been, is, and will always be Roger Waters. So you ask which one's pink, well of course it's Roger. By the commment about the concert settling the issue of which one's pink, you have demonstrated that you have not appreciated the real quality of PF and what has brought it to life. The wall would not have existed without Waters. And if you review the credits before the Wall, you'll see that the great majority of songs that amounted to something were written by Roger. The genius of PF is not just the music. It's as much the lyrics. And with Waters, the band is just another band that gets it's highs by borrowing the stuff that was Pink Floyd.
2 - Philip Chubak
Correction. In the last sentence I meant "without Waters" not with. Great apologies.