Dirt: The Complete First Season (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Do people realize how bitingly smart this show is? I don't think they do, judging by the disparaging comments on how gratuitous, lurid, and tasteless the show is. Guess what? It's a show about sensationalist TABLOIDISM. And the show IS funny: all sharp, bleeding wit--and Lucy Spiller's first instinct is to tear into the first hint of blood in the water.
But what's more amazing is to watch Courtney Cox as the Devil working the room, spinning her wheels and making deals, and then seeing her as the minions and pawns fade away and she's left alone, doubting. Human.
I think that's what this show at its core is about--showing what's human behind the celeb, the humanity behind the monstrous tabloid business, all that seems to be only plastic and spit-shined glamor, deceit and manipulation. The heart of the show lies in Lucy and Don's genuine friendship. Don truly is the "heart and voice" of the show, because it's through him that the show (daringly, honestly, unflinchingly) questions its actions: Why the hell is everyone acting so horribly to each other?
The answer: Because you want them to.
Dirt makes a statement and makes it profoundly--and not by beating you in the head with a soapbox. The show opens up into the hyper-real world that crystallizes the concept of What People Want, this current market of consumers' crushing need for entertainment that deals exclusively in sex, shame, blood, violence, and betrayal: "Who's the fugliest?" "Who's the sluttiest"? "When is that good-girl celeb going to give us a REAL show?" The weekly tabloids, but more than that--this obsession that controls every single aspect of media...and what gives Lucy Spiller, editor of one such "rag" such as Dirt so much *power* in the industry.
Do you hate what you see on-screen when you watch Dirt? Look around. If there's a magazine featuring TomKat's tortured wedded life on your desk, in your hands, hell--if you even know what I'm talking about--you're a part of it. Is there anyone who *isn't*?
This show explores all that. Again, daringly, unflinchingly--and beautifully, with heart. At no point does the show fail to realize just how horrible and desipicable and circus-like this preoccupation is, and I loved just how self-*aware* but not self-*conscious* this show was. It was just so elegantly put together and filled with an idealistic spirit--as unlikely as that may sound to some.
You can't watch Dirt thinking it's just "trashy fun." You won't get it. You won't get nearly what it's worth out of it.
But if you THINK while watching the beautiful art direction, acting, music, setting, plot, character development--it's definitely worth it. And above all, Dirt is honestly engaging and FUN to watch. And PRETTY. Don't let my long-winded review stop you from just enjoying it!

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Enter the secret and salacious world of show business through the back door.Lucy Spiller (Courteney Cox) makes the headlines as the woman Hollywood loves to hate in the darkly comedic drama Dirt. As editor-in-chief of Tinseltown’s most influential magazines, Spiller can make or break the stars.Her obsession with the seamy side of the entertainment industry gives her power over every celebrity in the biz, but leaves her helpless against her own demons.It’s "delirious, dizzy, decadent and altogether delicious," raves The Miami Herald. Dig deep with Dirt: The Complete First Season.Experience every sumptuous episode, plus exciting bonus features you can’t see anywhere else, in this 4-disc box set.It’s tempting television at its best.

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K Street - The Complete Series (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)It's hard to decide which aspect of K Street was the most satisfying...
* The ending was positively brilliant. For all those who would, confidentially, love to stick it to Saudi Arabia, watching the "bad guy" walk away with the loot just pulled my grin from ear to ear.
* The first two episodes verily lifted me out of my chair, mouth agape, asking, "How are they doing this?" Now that time has passed, you'll have to appreciate that these topics were *peaking* as news stories -right as K Street was wrapping production for the week-. For those 'tuned in' to politics and world news, it was a thrill that is indescribable. Carville actually interacting, on camera, live (as in -real life-!) with Howard Dean and Phili mayor Street at the height of their news cycles? You could actually watch C-SPAN (and FOX News! remember the debate?) to see a true-to-life angle of a K Street episode! Beat that!
* There were more cameos than I could enumerate... all A-list Washington insiders. Real senators, real journalists, playing full-blown _parts_ in the week's story. And how brilliant each one was! Never did you feel that they were phoning it in for air time. No, these cameos furthered the pulse of the story.
* There is no way that the season could have been planned as it was... It must have been decided around the 3rd or 4th week that it would be the CIA-informant-leak story that would bring the Carville-Matalin office down. I'm almost certain that the writers could have allowed a much brighter, upbeat story to carry through, but they _abided_ by their dynamic philosophy... as Washington goes, so goes the show. Bravo.
* The cinematography was fantastic. Even when the dialogue faltered, the low off-angle shots kept the tempo steady. And so many extended shots, with only one chance to make it work! I can't remember a failed scene.
* Who could have shone brighter than Carville and Matalin? This was their vehicle, and there is no K Street -concept- without them. Certainly Soderbergh's story took center stage in the second half of the series, leaving Mary and James to simply wonder outloud what the hell was happening... But if you care about politics, you care about the story, because you care about these two people.
* Roger Guenveur Smith (playing Francisco Dupre) is a -star-. His aura is undeniable, his character is the heart of the mystery. He was given these lines, probably sometimes in mid-shot (probably some improvised, on his own), and he *stuck* _every single one_. The actors in the room must have been left breathless.
For all those out there who've ever said or thought, "Now -that's- television." and want to experience that once again, you can't pass this show up. Judge the experiment for yourself... I came in with no expectations and was floored. Regardless, you'll have a better grasp of what works and what doesn't work in dynamic art after one viewing of K St.

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K STREET is an experimental fusion of reality and fiction--an entertaining, fly-on-the-wall look at government, filmed in and around the corridors of power in Washington.The series ventures inside the world of powerful political consultants--a world that few people ever experience first-hand. Produced on location in Washington, D.C., the largely improvised ten-episode series combines fictional characters with appearances by real-life political figures, all centered around the biggest political news of the week.

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