If this season’s TV line-up gives any indication of how the decade will be remembered, the 2010s are going to be filled with broke families, financial anxiety, emasculated stay-at-home men, and class warfare.
Staff Report
Young and UnderemployedGone are the days of Ross and Rachel slurping down $4 lattes in New York’s Greenwich Village while working nebulous jobs and going home to improbably spacious downtown lofts. In CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, the characters must now schlep out to BrooklynGone are the days of Ross and Rachel slurping down $4 lattes in New York’s Greenwich Village while working nebulous jobs and going home to improbably spacious downtown lofts. In CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, the characters must now schlep out to Brooklyn and work service jobs to pay for the chance to live in the Big Apple (a situation that rings true for most young New Yorkers). Kat Dennings (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Thor) and Beth Behrs play the struggling urbanites slaving away at a neighborhood dinner as they try to save enough to open their own business, but find that life keeps getting in the way. Entrepreneurship, it seems, is the only way to make it out of the recession.CBSThere’s More to Life Than Your CareerIn HBO’s Enlightened, David Lynch’s muse Laura Dern comes to TV (one of many examples of actors that have jumped ship to the small screen) playing a high powered exec working for a massive global conglomerate who suffers a break down and realizeIn HBO’s Enlightened, David Lynch’s muse Laura Dern comes to TV (one of many examples of actors that have jumped ship to the small screen) playing a high powered exec working for a massive global conglomerate who suffers a break down and realizes there are more important things in life than her career and money. Though this plot is at least as old as Ebenezer Scrooge, it seems to be getting a lot of play in the age of the Great Recession where Wall Street execs were forced to give up their fat bonuses and reevaluate the meaning of life. New shows such as Starz’ Boss, The CW’s Hart of Dixie, and CBS’ A Gifted Man all offering variations of the “life isn’t all about work” theme.HBOThe Man CrisisThe so called “Mancession” is getting a fair share of play this season. Previous sitcoms have focused on schlubby men married to improbably attractive stay-at-home moms who shook their heads in exasperation at their husband’s lunkhead ways, the new modelThe so called “Mancession” is getting a fair share of play this season. Previous sitcoms have focused on schlubby men married to improbably attractive stay-at-home moms who shook their heads in exasperation at their husband’s lunkhead ways, the new model is to have the schlubby man shake his head in exasperation at an increasingly feminized world. ABC gives us a double dose of this dynamic with Last Man Standing and Man Up, while CBS’s How To Be A Gentlemen has a metrosexual magazine editor is taught to grunt and sweat like the rest of us. But ABC takes the (beef) cake by combining the employment crisis with the crisis of masculinity in Work It. Taking a page out of early 80’s Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies, the show features two out of work car salesmen who dress as women to snag jobs as pharmaceutical reps.CBSFinding Comfort in the PastRetreating to “better times” of the past is a fairly standard strategy for Hollywood (there’s a reason the comforting family fare of Happy Days, The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie were such big hits during the aftermath of the sRetreating to “better times” of the past is a fairly standard strategy for Hollywood (there’s a reason the comforting family fare of Happy Days, The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie were such big hits during the aftermath of the sexual revolution). Several shows this season look backwards with ABC’s Pan Am longing for the days when you could simply walk onto a plane (without removing your shoes), light up a cigarette, and hit on a stewardess without fear, while NBC’s The Playboy Club longs for the days when objectifying women was nothing to be ashamed of, both taking a page from AMC’s runaway success Mad Men.ABCEscaping to a FantasyLiving in hard times means turning to entertainment for escape. NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s Once Upon A Time retreat into the world of fairy tales…but Fox’s Terra Nova sends its characters back in time to an age when life was simplerLiving in hard times means turning to entertainment for escape. NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s Once Upon A Time retreat into the world of fairy tales…but Fox’s Terra Nova sends its characters back in time to an age when life was simpler…the age of the dinosaurs. After the earth is rendered uninhabitable by our excesses, the protagonist must go back in time to a time before man corrupted the planet…presumably so they can start corrupting it even earlier.FoxHistory Always Repeats ItselfAMC’s Hell on Wheels also takes a look backwards, but less for comfort and more to see how we got into this mess to begin with. The series focuses on the building of the transcontinental railroad, a time when a large corporation uses its power toAMC’s Hell on Wheels also takes a look backwards, but less for comfort and more to see how we got into this mess to begin with. The series focuses on the building of the transcontinental railroad, a time when a large corporation uses its power to serve its own interests. Meanwhile, the working populace, rattled by a rapidly changing social dynamic in the wake of The Civil War, is motivated by fear, greed, racism and religion to create a growing schism between the two groups…we are talking about the 1870’s, right?FoxMore Money, More ProblemsIf Revenge hopes that viewers will tune into watch the wealthy get their just desserts, CW’s Ringer plays the “grass is not always greener” card. Sarah Michelle Gellar makes her long awaited return to TV as twins with the improbably IrisIf Revenge hopes that viewers will tune into watch the wealthy get their just desserts, CW’s Ringer plays the “grass is not always greener” card. Sarah Michelle Gellar makes her long awaited return to TV as twins with the improbably Irish names of Siobhan and Bridget. One’s rich, one’s poor. When the rich one (Siobhan, if you care) goes missing the poor one assumes her identity and discovers that, gasp, rich people have problems too. Bernie Madoff would agree – if only he could watch the show from his cell.The CW
