Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Eastbound and Down...i Love you

It's close to 2 AM and I'm a little stoned on cough medicine but I wanted to write about what I just saw with the season finale of Eastbound and Down.

I know the show is not perfect, I'm sure it has it's critics. But there is so much about it that is so inspiring to me to watch.

I love that it is mean, Southern, unapologetic, filled with drugs and self destruction and ultimately with zero redemption for its main character. And that is why i Love it so much. The show is made for an audience of 8 guys, they made what they thought was good- not what they thought people wanted. I don't know if they accomplished what they set out to do, because I have no idea what that could be. But what they did do was make a comedy that doesn't pander to what people may be able to handle or not- or create a series arc that leaves you feeling like you just had a good time or grew in some way. Or ended on some half-assed cliffhanger you can't wait to see wrap up. They has the nerve to wrap things up, which should be a standard- but somehow isn't.

TV is really a whorehouse. Most everything on it is a stinking sack of shit without any soul or integrity, made by people that should not be allowed to leave the house- much less reach a mass audience. Full of second guessing and doubt and bad ideas that are just rehashes or worse ideas. But this series was really a fuck you to TV's shittiness and no balls attitude to generating more horseshit. What the show really does, what really gets my blood pumping-is that it inspires me to keep trudging through the festering pool that is the entertainment business to get a chance to be part of something that sticks it to an audience like these guys just stuck it to me.

Seeing shows like The Wire, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Mad Men and now Eastbound And Down make me think that there really is a place in TV to do something that couldn't be done just a few years ago- unless you made something animated that only cost $2. TV finally has avenues, like feature films and short films do- to make something that doesn't have the goal of reaching everyone out there that turns on the tube. The goal is to reach a specific audience, and that's fucking awesome.
So even if you don't dig this show the way I do, you should at least understand what I'm saying here, man. Do what you think is good and keep doing it. Even if the audience is just you.