Why eat your cake in a closet, when you can watch it on TV?

On the day that you receive this edition of the Sun Day, you can trust that I’ll be a very happy man indeed. You might wonder why I say this. Maybe I struck it rich in the Lotto (my ticket bought at Drendel’s Corner, of course), and I’m taking a very early retirement (33 is old enough, right?).

Unfortunately, that’s not it, but I’m buzzing with excitement anyway because tomorrow or on January 27 (depending when you read this), my second favorite TV show of the year premiers for its second…or third season; it just depends on how you want to look at it.

I’m not the biggest TV show watcher out there. In fact, I’ve mentioned before in another Happy Trails that I find TV and TVs rather loathsome in most instances. But given my interests, I have an appreciation for quality shows (equate it to a man who has an appreciation for fine wines, but isn’t indulgent in his pursuits) and like to have at least one good show per viewing season to settle into to take my mind off work for at least one night a week.

Shortly before I opened the Sun Day in April of 2010, the aftershock of the 2007/2008 Writer’s Guild of America strike was still wreaking havoc on programming. That mixed with the economy tanking, TV was a mess. Some shows were cancelled, some forgotten about by viewers, some traded to other networks, some seasons trimmed, and others shuffled around the year, causing delays upwards of a year or more between seasons for some shows. The latter happened to one of my other favorite TV shows, and I was looking at a long gap between January and July that I’d have to idle through without a single show to look forward to.

Then I came across a trailer for the series premier of the new Spartacus, which was set to launch in January of 2010. I said to myself, “Hey, this might be something.”

As with any new show, I approached Spartacus with caution offset by a good deal of patience for the cast and crew to work out the initial kinks and really stretch their legs to see if they can walk the walk. (I know, I say that like I’m the authority. But I do know a thing or two about storytelling.)

So how do I put this next part?

In short, the show borderlined on terrible. The special effects and the overall look were rather remarkable (think 300). But the acting was flat, almost forced and hardly convincing, and the plot lines were flimsy at best, despite their attempt to maintain historical accuracy to the real story of Spartacus.

But within one episode, I was hooked on Spartacus like a fish that had to be clubbed out of his misery to get the hook out of his throat. I took the bait.

Spartacus is not TV. It’s junk food for the eyes and ears. A guilty pleasure, like eating cake in a closet. Fine, the acting has gotten better and the story lines have developed and intensified, but the show rides on outright and gratuitous violence, language, and, of course, nudity (of both women and men equally, which is practically unprecedented).

I’m a liberal storyteller and condone the use of violence, language, and nudity when they’re relative to the scene and actually have a point of being there. Used right, they add realism. How many times has a credit card company ripped you off, and you said in return, “Oh, gosh darn it. Ummm…you’re not being fair.”

I have an almost abhorrence to violence, language, and nudity when they’re used as crutches; when the writer can’t think of another vehicle to maintain my interest other than showing me brute force rather than using it to his advantage in writing. I like storytelling that hits me over the head and says, “Hey, buddy, you listen here.”

But what really gets me about Spartacus isn’t the show itself. It’s the Starz network that produces it.

Spartacus was renewed for a second season after one episode. Did you read that correct? One episode! That’s practically unheard of when there are better shows who wait year after year to see if the numbers call for renewal. On top of that, during production of Spartacus season two, lead actor Andy Whitfield was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, delaying shooting indefinitely. Rather than letting the show idle (and I’m not saying they should have), Starz set up a second mini season as a prequel to season one, which featured the gladiator school before Spartacus appeared. It was now a show called Spartacus without Spartacus in it! It did, however, have more violence, language, and nudity. Sadly, Whitfield succumbed to his cancer and died on September 11 of last year. But before he did, he gave his blessing to Starz to recast Spartacus, and the show was renewed for another season, which premiers on January 27, hence the questionable season two or three. We don’t really know.

The fact is, Spartacus busted out of the gates, faced legitimate setbacks that would have otherwise killed better shows, and worked three seasons out of a network in the space of one season, when a show like Sons of Anarchy (FX network) that delivers good acting and even better writing time and time again wonders at the end of every season, Will we be picked up for another season? Sons of Anarchy is going on 5 seasons of wondering that next year!

For all this and despite that watching Spartacus goes against my best judgment, I can’t keep my hand out of the cookie jar with this show. Hey, they say everything is all right in moderation.

Chris La Pelusa
Managing Editor
TV Critic

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