I’ll be the first one to admit that we here at low culture often take potshots at marketing, PR, and advertising executives. I mean, it’s so easy when they throw so much shit at us hoping something—anything—will stick.
Well, for once, I wanna compliment one of these unsung wordsmiths for a job well done. I just saw a poster for premium cable also-ran Showtime‘s newest series, The L Word and found it surprisingly, pleasingly clever. “Same Sex. Different City,” the ad says, above the sort of airbrushed promotional photo we’ve come to expect from ads for everything from TV programs to perfumes to clothing lines. I was impressed by how deft the copy was, how effortlessly it compressed so many ideas. I genuinely thought it was well done.
I can’t say anything about the show itself, which stars the once phenomenally hot Pam Grier who’s gone on to become something of a hip directors’ shorthand for “badass older chick.” It also features Mia Kirshner, who was decent in Atom Egoyan‘s Exotica, but seems to have been overlooked in favor her more talented A-list doppelganger, Jennifer Connelly. Anyway, I don’t get Showtime, so I’ll have to take your word for whether or not this show is even watchable.
I actually had the channel for a short time when Time Warner Cable was making amends for leaving me in the dark for over a week and I didn’t see much worth my money. I did, however, manage to watch the entire first season of Out of Order back-to-back in a fit of Huffmania. (To belabor the puns, I found it rather Stolzifying.) I wasn’t too impressed with the series’ tone of self-seriousness cut with self-awareness: it was just too knowing for me to care about, too melodramatic for me to laugh with. Also, I found the way Donna and Wayne Powers bit the hand that fed them by mocking F. Gary Gray and his hacky Italian Job annoying: if you guys were too good to (re-)write such a shitty script, you should’ve skipped the assignment—if you sold out big time to do it, just keep it to yourselves. (According to this week’s Times, Out of Order was not renewed.)
The L Word premieres January 18th. Reviews TK…
Categories
9 replies on “The Good L Word”
hmmm. the ad agency where madam j works does stuff for showtime, and i know that she had to write ad copy for this show. i don’t know if she actually wrote that copy, but it’s entirely possible that she did.
-mark
You kinda got off topic there, Matty, but let me say I am SOOOO excited about that show! I might have to get cable (also ’cause TVLand is going to start showing the Carol Burnett Show!!!!).
Whoa– I just looked at the site, and the description of the first episode or so sounds hot! Lesbianism, bisexuality, threesomes, ovulation . . . .
Also, how well do all y’all at know your celesbians? I can figure out that the lesbian with the shag hairdo who’s a hairdresser is at least “inspired by” $600-a-cut barber Sally Hershberger. Anyone got anything else?
Showtime does the stuff that is too edgy for HBO, which, in this case, appears to be a good thing. I don’t get SHO either, and I’m regretting it a bit.
I thought the L word was “loser,” like when you make the L sign with your fingers.
Whoa. How hot do the trailers look? Of course, in between the sex scenes (all of which are in said trailers), the cast probably sits in easy chairs and discusses their feelings. Still, I’ll give it a shot.
I just went to the LA premiere of the pilot episode of the L Word at the Bing Theatre.
I have one thing to say: Dial 1 877 L WORD NOW and order up that steamy Showtime Channel—this is the show that’s going to finally put that sorry-excuse-for-a-cable-network on the MAP !
The pilot has everything that’s been missing from most TV programming—great fuckin’ writing, great film directors, substantive plotlines, style, wit and most importantly, talented and believable hotties: 8 women and one lucky dude (played by the chameleon-like actor, Eric Mabius).
I kept waiting for the 2hour pilot to start sucking but it got better as the show went on. I really didn’t expect to like this—just tagged along with a friend who was invited—I mean who is going to say “no” to a screening of a new series full of beautiful lesbians (yes, and one lucky dude).
The show is going to be on January 18 (Sunday nights @ 10pm).
Check it out…
This is going to be a great show. So many people need a show like this to help them with thier feelings. Also to show other people that it doesnt matter what sex you love, all that matters is that theres love. I think it’s great that America is having more and more gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender shows movies and more. We need more accpetance in this world. Next is same-sex marriages being allowed. Maybe if President Bush wasnt such a Prick. Thank you to all the people who accept or atleast try to accept and especially to the people who make show and movies like the L Word possible.
This show is a very regrettable sample of the cultural decadence we are submerged. The worse is that we are “training” future generations to get even deeper into the same “S”. It is unbelievable what people with a lot of money is capable of doing just to get even more money. Believe it or not I have nothing against homosexuality. Do your own stuff in your home. Propaganda is not needed. A shame that makes me doubt if capitalism has gone too far.
bollocks to the person above (alex) The L word is somthing lesbians have been waiting for a long time, its not propaganda, were not trying to recruit new lesbo’s. its a program for lesbians, or for men whjo love women, or even for women who are comfortable in themselves and dont feel threatened by a bit of honesty.
the program is defining. its showing the world were here, this is how we live and were just like the rest of the world.
the more people see the more people become comfortable with it. if you dont like seeing lesbians on TV or outside of their houses then stay the hell in yours with your tv off.