Television, network programing in particular, is hard pressed to make you do anything, much less think. Or feel.
But two recent short form projects did exactly that.
–‘The Casual Vacancy” on HBO, is a three-part miniseries based on an adult book by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
It’s set in the sort of small British village of the sort so bucolic that it may only exist in myth and literature. But the villagers themselves are not just ethnically diverse, but in their viewpoints as well.
The title refers to a vacancy on a local council, about to vote on turning a community center that provides crucial services, including drug counseling, into a spa for the wealthy. As the two sides wage a campaign to win the vacancy, their very human flaws and secrets are exposed in revealing ways.
The pro-spa group is in the pocket of the town’s aristocracy, the opposition is a well-meaning but scatterbrained bunch. Floating beneath this battle are those who would be affected by the change, the impact of which we see in want of a nail fashion.
The resolution is heartbreaking with a dollop of optimism. Watch the trailer for the series below.
The show repeats on HBO, and can be seen on the pay cable channel’s streaming services.
—“Billy & Billie” has a problematic premise. It’s about a love affair between siblings – step siblings to be specific. They have different parents, who married when the siblings were in their teens. But they were raised together and relationship, once word of it gets out, scandalizes friends and family.
He, played by Adam Brody, is a magazine editor and she, played by Lisa Joyce, is a freelance artist.
Both are fiercely intelligent and stubbornly independent and are smart mouthed and fast talking in the tradition of the playwright Neil Labute, who created the show. But they are also vulnerable to a fault.
The (often profane) stop and start dialogue and various interactions feel spontaneous and improvised, but with momentum and direction.
Both actors are scarily good, but particularly Joyce, a Chicago native and Steppenwolf alum who made her Broadway debut with former Milwaukeean Mark Rylance in “La Bete.”
The ten episode first season aired on DirecTV’s Audience Network, and subscribers can stream it there. Presumably, somewhere along the line, it will become generally available. Watch for it.
Tags: Audience Network, Billy & Billie, DirecTV, HBO, The Casual Vacancy Posted by