In Canada: Sundays, 8pm ET/MT, HBO Canada
Never let it be said that “What have you been watching this week?” has no effect. Last Friday, MoreTears pointed out that a new Canadian show called Good Dog had escaped my notice (I was on holiday when it started, to be fair) and I should give it a try. Well, I have, so here’s a review of the first episode at least.
Now Ken Finkleman is probably a name you won’t know unless you’re Canadian. Amongst other things, he was the creator of CBC’s The Newsroom, which first aired in 1996 and was revived nearly a decade later in 2004. A sort of cross between Larry Sanders, The Office and Drop the Dead Donkey, The Newsroom was a darkly satirical show looking at TV news broadcasting and starred Finkleman as a slightly mild-mannered TV producer called George.
Well, George is back – although this might be a different George altogether, even if he is played by Ken Finkleman and is a TV producer who’s obsessed with ratings – in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Hang on, it’s not Curb Your Enthusiasm. Maybe it’s Lead Balloon?
Because we have here something that’s suspiciously like both – so suspiciously, that most of the first episode is about how similar the show is to Curb Your Enthusiasm. Because we’re in meta-land here.
See, George the TV producer has this great idea for a reality TV show in which he and his 30-year-old model girlfriend (Lauren Lee Smith – Riley from one season of CSI, as well as things such as The Listener and Mutant X) are the stars. It’ll follow him and her around, doing their thing. And that’s about the extent of his idea.
As a result, the network is worried. They don’t even live together, so how’s that going to work? Of course, she can’t move in because she has kids and he hates kids, which makes the network worry their relationship won’t last. So to get the show on the road, George proposes to his girlfriend and she – and her kids, her dog, her Austrian nanny and her furniture – all move in.
That causes George all manner of grumbles.
If you’re in Canada, you can watch some clips of it over here, but if you’re not, here’s Ken Finkleman talking about the news for 15 minutes, instead.
