VIETgrlTerifa
07-09-2011, 03:55 AM
I hope I won't be the only one on FSU watching this show when season 4 premieres on Wednesday, July 13.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Damages is a legal thriller surrounding high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes (played by Glenn Close) and her protegee (Rose Byrne, recently of Insidious. Bridesmaids, and X-Men: First Class fame).
What separates this from other legal shows is that every season only follows one case and it's part legal drama and part mystery. It also goes back and forth between flashbacks and the present-day so most of the show is in flashback and you're trying to piece the puzzle with scenes taking place in the present revealing another piece. It's also rare in that for a legal series, there are very few courtroom scenes as most of the show centers on character-driven storylines and behind-the-scenes machinations. The action of the previous season also carry over to the following season as there is a lot of unfinished business between the Glenn Close and Rose Byrne characters that carry on to the next season. For me, every season is like a novel and every episode plays like a chapter.
I also love the fact that they take comedic actors and let them play dramatic roles with surprisingly excellent results. The first season dealt with a large class-action suit against Ted Danson (his best acting, IMO) for insider trading and stealing from his employees. Season 2 has Close reuniting with Big Chill co-star William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden and deals with an environmental case. The third season was a take on Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme with Lily Tomlin, Len Cairou, and Campbell Scott playing a Madoff-like family and Martin Short playing their sleazy attorney.
Here are the trailers for:
Season 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPveoJJfpcg) (Please forgive the cheesy movie trailer voice-over).
Season 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGgv7AomftE)
Season 3 (http://youtu.be/-KR3o9JMWrk)
The above clips are spoiler-ish.
As you can see from my long post that this is actually my favorite tv show and to say I was disappointed when FX decided to cancel it after the third season would have been an understatement. However, by some miracle, not only has Direct TV saved the show, but renewed it for two more seasons. Not only that, but since Direct TV is commercial-free, the episodes will extend to almost a full 60 minutes and the writers have more creative license to take the show into more explicit territory. The trailer for season 4 already looks like it's going into even darker territory than before with John Goodman playing the target of Glenn Close and Rose Byrne in a wrongful death case:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt5x98_u234
I highly encourage people who haven't seen it and who have a Netflix subscription to stream seasons 1 and 2 as it's available on instant stream, and season 3 is coming out on DVD on Tuesday, July 12. I promise you won't be sorry.
Anyway, I was wondering if anybody else followed this show and will follow it. I know it being exclusively available on Direct TV will cut it's already low viewership, but maybe loyal viewers without Direct TV can somehow find other ways to follow it. Not that I'm condoning that sort of thing, ;)
Trivia: Back in 2008, Damages became the first basic cable show along with Mad Men to receive a Best Drama nomination at the Emmy Awards.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Damages is a legal thriller surrounding high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes (played by Glenn Close) and her protegee (Rose Byrne, recently of Insidious. Bridesmaids, and X-Men: First Class fame).
What separates this from other legal shows is that every season only follows one case and it's part legal drama and part mystery. It also goes back and forth between flashbacks and the present-day so most of the show is in flashback and you're trying to piece the puzzle with scenes taking place in the present revealing another piece. It's also rare in that for a legal series, there are very few courtroom scenes as most of the show centers on character-driven storylines and behind-the-scenes machinations. The action of the previous season also carry over to the following season as there is a lot of unfinished business between the Glenn Close and Rose Byrne characters that carry on to the next season. For me, every season is like a novel and every episode plays like a chapter.
I also love the fact that they take comedic actors and let them play dramatic roles with surprisingly excellent results. The first season dealt with a large class-action suit against Ted Danson (his best acting, IMO) for insider trading and stealing from his employees. Season 2 has Close reuniting with Big Chill co-star William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden and deals with an environmental case. The third season was a take on Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme with Lily Tomlin, Len Cairou, and Campbell Scott playing a Madoff-like family and Martin Short playing their sleazy attorney.
Here are the trailers for:
Season 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPveoJJfpcg) (Please forgive the cheesy movie trailer voice-over).
Season 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGgv7AomftE)
Season 3 (http://youtu.be/-KR3o9JMWrk)
The above clips are spoiler-ish.
As you can see from my long post that this is actually my favorite tv show and to say I was disappointed when FX decided to cancel it after the third season would have been an understatement. However, by some miracle, not only has Direct TV saved the show, but renewed it for two more seasons. Not only that, but since Direct TV is commercial-free, the episodes will extend to almost a full 60 minutes and the writers have more creative license to take the show into more explicit territory. The trailer for season 4 already looks like it's going into even darker territory than before with John Goodman playing the target of Glenn Close and Rose Byrne in a wrongful death case:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt5x98_u234
I highly encourage people who haven't seen it and who have a Netflix subscription to stream seasons 1 and 2 as it's available on instant stream, and season 3 is coming out on DVD on Tuesday, July 12. I promise you won't be sorry.
Anyway, I was wondering if anybody else followed this show and will follow it. I know it being exclusively available on Direct TV will cut it's already low viewership, but maybe loyal viewers without Direct TV can somehow find other ways to follow it. Not that I'm condoning that sort of thing, ;)
Trivia: Back in 2008, Damages became the first basic cable show along with Mad Men to receive a Best Drama nomination at the Emmy Awards.