Ray Donovan

[CBStew]

I can't believe that no one has posted about this show. They don't get any better than this.  I haven't liked any thing that John Voight has done after Midnight Cowboy.  His performance in this is stunningly good.  Rarely have I seen such a contemptible character.  Liev Schreiver is equally strong in his role.  His character is no saint either.  The result is an intense hour of drama.   Ray Donovan is a "fixer" for an entertainment law firm.  He has a staff of people who violate the law to achieve the results wanted by the clients of the law firm.  The lawyers are corrupt.  The clients are corrupt.  The people whose rights are violated are corrupt.

Voight plays Donovan's father.  He has been released from a 20 year prison term.  His first act  upon getting out of prison is to murder the priest who abused one of his other sons.  Except he murdered the wrong priest.  No matter, he says, if he didn't violate my son he violated someone else's son.  He was engineered into prison by Ray Donovan, who hates his father and wants him back in prison.  But apparently Voight was extracted from prison by a DOJ agent on condition that Voight finds a way of setting up the  lawyers who employ Donovan and Donovan himself.  This is a very intense show not merely for the involved plot, but for the outstanding acting of Schreiver and Voight.

[Internet Apex]

I'll give it a shot on the free intertubes and see how it goes. Sounds promising.

[ChuckD]

Seconding Stew's recommendation here. Voight's scene where he sits in on Bunchie's meeting is truly something to behold.

[Internet Apex]

I watched the first two episodes last night. It's got some promise. I don't like the clunky ambiguity around the motivation of every single character on the show (except for Lee and maybe Bunchy I guess). They all routinely do things that are apparently contrary to who I think they are as a character. Maybe the entire point of the show is to depict people who are unpredictable and will do surprising things on a whim and cause others to clean up the mess afterward. I don't know. I'm giving it 2.5 out of 4 after two episodes and I'm willing to keep going with middling expectations. The Sopranos this is not. I'm putting in John From Cincinnati territory for now.

[CBStew]

I watched the first two episodes last night. It's got some promise. I don't like the clunky ambiguity around the motivation of every single character on the show (except for Lee and maybe Bunchy I guess). They all routinely do things that are apparently contrary to who I think they are as a character. Maybe the entire point of the show is to depict people who are unpredictable and will do surprising things on a whim and cause others to clean up the mess afterward. I don't know. I'm giving it 2.5 out of 4 after two episodes and I'm willing to keep going with middling expectations. The Sopranos this is not. I'm putting in John From Cincinnati territory for now.

The Sopranos relied for sustenance on low hanging fruit.  I am not denying that it was a great show. But it was the Mafia, after all.  The show didn't get points for "degree of difficulty."   Ray Donovan, on the other hand, is about the corruption of our culture.  There is not a decent person in the script.  So far there is almost no character who, if given the choice between doing the right thing and doing something evil for personal gain, will choose doing the right thing.  The exception may be Ray's Parkinson afflicted brother who may break it off with his girlfriend since he found out she is married and has a child, but I hold out hope that he will do something vile in retaliation. Perhaps it is too predictable, but watching bad situations deteriorate to terrible situations has a fascination for me. 

[Internet Apex]

I watched the first two episodes last night. It's got some promise. I don't like the clunky ambiguity around the motivation of every single character on the show (except for Lee and maybe Bunchy I guess). They all routinely do things that are apparently contrary to who I think they are as a character. Maybe the entire point of the show is to depict people who are unpredictable and will do surprising things on a whim and cause others to clean up the mess afterward. I don't know. I'm giving it 2.5 out of 4 after two episodes and I'm willing to keep going with middling expectations. The Sopranos this is not. I'm putting in John From Cincinnati territory for now.

The Sopranos relied for sustenance on low hanging fruit.  I am not denying that it was a great show. But it was the Mafia, after all.  The show didn't get points for "degree of difficulty."   Ray Donovan, on the other hand, is about the corruption of our culture.  There is not a decent person in the script.  So far there is almost no character who, if given the choice between doing the right thing and doing something evil for personal gain, will choose doing the right thing.  The exception may be Ray's Parkinson afflicted brother who may break it off with his girlfriend since he found out she is married and has a child, but I hold out hope that he will do something vile in retaliation. Perhaps it is too predictable, but watching bad situations deteriorate to terrible situations has a fascination for me.  

You don't think all the violence and gaysecks and cocksucking and Hollywood celebrity intrigue is low-hanging fruit? The Sopranos consisted of characters that were fascinating on deep intellectual and emotional levels. This show better make me give a shit about one of the characters, hopefully Ray, or risk devolving into a crime/action/dickflick that runs about nine hours too long.

It's as if the makers of "Lights Out" butthurt that their show lasted only one season on F/X pitched it to Showtime and promised one penis in a mouth (or at least the suggestion of and discussion of such) for every 10 minutes of screen time. Oh, and murder.

So far this show blows, which is fine, because a mouth's a mouth. But don't let it fuck you in the ass because that's how you get sick.

[CBStew]

I watched the first two episodes last night. It's got some promise. I don't like the clunky ambiguity around the motivation of every single character on the show (except for Lee and maybe Bunchy I guess). They all routinely do things that are apparently contrary to who I think they are as a character. Maybe the entire point of the show is to depict people who are unpredictable and will do surprising things on a whim and cause others to clean up the mess afterward. I don't know. I'm giving it 2.5 out of 4 after two episodes and I'm willing to keep going with middling expectations. The Sopranos this is not. I'm putting in John From Cincinnati territory for now.

The Sopranos relied for sustenance on low hanging fruit.  I am not denying that it was a great show. But it was the Mafia, after all.  The show didn't get points for "degree of difficulty."   Ray Donovan, on the other hand, is about the corruption of our culture.  There is not a decent person in the script.  So far there is almost no character who, if given the choice between doing the right thing and doing something evil for personal gain, will choose doing the right thing.  The exception may be Ray's Parkinson afflicted brother who may break it off with his girlfriend since he found out she is married and has a child, but I hold out hope that he will do something vile in retaliation. Perhaps it is too predictable, but watching bad situations deteriorate to terrible situations has a fascination for me. 

You don't think all the violence and gaysecks and cocksucking and Hollywood celebrity intrigue is low-hanging fruit? The Sopranos consisted of characters that were fascinating on deep intellectual and emotional levels. This show better make me give a shit about one of the characters, hopefully Ray, or risk devolving into a crime/action/dickflick that runs about nine hours too long.

Sex in Hollywood?  Yes.  Violence in Hollywood?  Not really.  The real intrigue in Hollywood takes place in corporate offices.  (Hollywood is not unique in that sense.)  I am not particularly interested in seeing a TV series about corporate intrigue.  They couldn't make a decent replica of Wall Street.  Ray Donovan is about the dark side of people who happen to be in Hollywood.  It makes you wonder how low people can go.  I think that it takes place in Hollywood because it lets them show rich, attractive, well dressed, self-absorbed characters.  But it could easily be about almost any industry or profession.  I don't know if you saw last night's show yet, but there is a great scene where Donovan's wife is being given uninvited therapy by a pushy "life coach", and after a few minutes of highly uncomfortable interrogation, she breaks it off by calling the "therapist" a nosy cunt.  It was a very satisfying resolution to the scene.

[Internet Apex]

I watched the first two episodes last night. It's got some promise. I don't like the clunky ambiguity around the motivation of every single character on the show (except for Lee and maybe Bunchy I guess). They all routinely do things that are apparently contrary to who I think they are as a character. Maybe the entire point of the show is to depict people who are unpredictable and will do surprising things on a whim and cause others to clean up the mess afterward. I don't know. I'm giving it 2.5 out of 4 after two episodes and I'm willing to keep going with middling expectations. The Sopranos this is not. I'm putting in John From Cincinnati territory for now.

The Sopranos relied for sustenance on low hanging fruit.  I am not denying that it was a great show. But it was the Mafia, after all.  The show didn't get points for "degree of difficulty."   Ray Donovan, on the other hand, is about the corruption of our culture.  There is not a decent person in the script.  So far there is almost no character who, if given the choice between doing the right thing and doing something evil for personal gain, will choose doing the right thing.  The exception may be Ray's Parkinson afflicted brother who may break it off with his girlfriend since he found out she is married and has a child, but I hold out hope that he will do something vile in retaliation. Perhaps it is too predictable, but watching bad situations deteriorate to terrible situations has a fascination for me. 

You don't think all the violence and gaysecks and cocksucking and Hollywood celebrity intrigue is low-hanging fruit? The Sopranos consisted of characters that were fascinating on deep intellectual and emotional levels. This show better make me give a shit about one of the characters, hopefully Ray, or risk devolving into a crime/action/dickflick that runs about nine hours too long.

Sex in Hollywood?  Yes.  Violence in Hollywood?  Not really.  The real intrigue in Hollywood takes place in corporate offices.  (Hollywood is not unique in that sense.)  I am not particularly interested in seeing a TV series about corporate intrigue.  They couldn't make a decent replica of Wall Street.  Ray Donovan is about the dark side of people who happen to be in Hollywood.  It makes you wonder how low people can go.  I think that it takes place in Hollywood because it lets them show rich, attractive, well dressed, self-absorbed characters.  But it could easily be about almost any industry or profession.  I don't know if you saw last night's show yet, but there is a great scene where Donovan's wife is being given uninvited therapy by a pushy "life coach", and after a few minutes of highly uncomfortable interrogation, she breaks it off by calling the "therapist" a nosy cunt.  It was a very satisfying resolution to the scene.

Something something cunt. Something something cocksucker. The writing on this show is borderline. Deadwood it is not.

[CBStew]

There have been two episodes in this new season.  The devious and slimy FBI agent who was going to put Donovan and everyone else in prison was assassinated by Ray's father, (Jon Voight), who, up to that point was the agent's collaborator.  Frankly, I don't understand the motivation for the killing.  More and more the series seems to be about the Voight character, and to a lesser extent, Ray's wristwatches.   In each episode Ray sorts through his cases of wristwatches to decide which one he will wear that day.  Ray has now corrupted a probation officer with a bribe of $15000 and one of his dozens of expensive wristwatches, to virtually incarcerate his father.  Except for that, Donovan appears to be the most ethical and moral of the characters.  He loves his wife and children, his wristwatches, and if he had a dog I am sure that he would love that as well.  Outside of killing priests, Donovan is a really nice guy.  I don't know where this story is going.

[InternetApex]

There have been two episodes in this new season.  The devious and slimy FBI agent who was going to put Donovan and everyone else in prison was assassinated by Ray's father, (Jon Voight), who, up to that point was the agent's collaborator.  Frankly, I don't understand the motivation for the killing.  More and more the series seems to be about the Voight character, and to a lesser extent, Ray's wristwatches.   In each episode Ray sorts through his cases of wristwatches to decide which one he will wear that day.  Ray has now corrupted a probation officer with a bribe of $15000 and one of his dozens of expensive wristwatches, to virtually incarcerate his father.  Except for that, Donovan appears to be the most ethical and moral of the characters.  He loves his wife and children, his wristwatches, and if he had a dog I am sure that he would love that as well.  Outside of killing priests, Donovan is a really nice guy.  I don't know where this story is going.

I haven't been tuning in but I'll bet a fairly decent Ironman wristwatch that this post is the best thing about this entire show.

[CBStew]

This show has been slow lately, but Last night's episode was outstanding.  Check out the rerun. 

[Quality Start Machine]

This show has been slow lately, but Last night's episode was outstanding.  Check out the rerun. 

[CBStew]

Season finale.  I think that there must have been very difficult contract renewal negotiations, so they decided "the hell with it" and killed off a bunch of characters rather than engage in further discussions.