Sally and I made a point of watching a new show on the FOX network last evening. It’s called The Return of Jezebel James, and we wanted it to be a good one because we like both Lauren Ambrose (from watching reruns of Six Feet Under on Bravo) and Parker Posey (mostly from Christopher Guest movies, but also from her role on Will & Grace).
Alas, it was not a good one. Two episodes aired back-to-back, and each was stilted, forced, contrived…you get the idea. The scenes between Posey and her character’s almost-boyfriend were the worst, but there were plenty of bad ones from which to choose.
The second episode was slightly better than the first, and that was in large part due to Dianne Wiest. As Sally put it, Wiest was the only one who seemed comfortable in her own skin. I’d chalk it up to experience, but the other actors didn’t just start last week. Lauren Ambrose gets runner-up; I don’t know what happened to Parker Posey. Maybe she’s better at quirky, supporting roles than at playing the “normal” one? That’s an oversimplification, but I’m not an entertainment critic.
Perhaps this show will grow, and go somewhere, and actually become funny or something. After the first two episodes, though, I’m not holding my breath.
