No one in my book groups is watching, and neither is anyone from the Six Feet Under or Deadwood groups.
So there’s no one for me to cyber-high-five after last week’s episode, when Valerie slipped out of her phony persona for a split second to tell the Lincoln Navigator guy she was going to put him out on the highway if he didn’t shut up. The smile on husband Marky Mark’s face was priceless.
(It was right up there with the episode when Hyacinth’s Bucket’s husband told her to shut up and get in the car.)
I think it’s freakin’ brilliant. Is Valerie (and her big smile) just too annoying?
I’ve been following the show and while I find it somewhat absorbing in amusing in the cringe-inducing mode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I wish there were more good moments for Valerie. The first several episodes were just one moment of humilation after another, and while Valerie kind of deserves a little of it, I keep wishing she would defend herself more and tell someone to where to go once in a while…especially that cocky, too-cool-for-school writer that always treats her like crap. I keep hoping the show will have a moment when Valerie just goes off on him.
I did like the smile from her husband when she finally dropped the polite facade fpr a moment.
I haven’t heard or read any interviews with Kudrow, about what she’s trying to do here. I’d like to see Valerie buck up and grow a pair, but maybe that’s not the point of the show.
I started out pretty much disliking the character – narcissistic, clueless, vapid, shallow, opportunistic – but she’s got a kicked puppy thing going now, and I want to see her kick some ass. Especially the writer you mentioned. Do you think that’s where they’re going? I sure hope HBO sticks with the show long enough for that to happen.
I hope so. I think the season finale, at least, needs to end on some kind of triumphant note for Valerie. It can’t just be all about humiliation for Valerie, there needs to be some catharsis.
CYE works because Larry gives out at least as much abuse as he gets, so you never feel too sorry for him or feel bad about laughing at him.
I have been watching, only because I think Kudrow is very talented and wanted to see where she is going with this show. There was actually a few articles in the last few weeks calling this a show people should be watching.
I found it interesting that, FINALLY, in the last episode, it looks like she was starting to grow a spine. I am hoping she becomes the smiling bitch on wheels when she returns and realizes she has nothing to lose by trying. Looks like her hubby would enjoy seeing that as well.
Will be interesting to see how this season wraps up.
Anybody know how many more shows this season, and if it is coming back again next season?
I’ve been watching it. It was really funny at first but lately I’ve just been feeling sorry for Val. The acting is very good, especially by Kudrow and the guy who plays Micky. I hope they start to turn the character around like they started to do last week. I really want to feel better about what’s happening to that poor lady.
I am TOTALLY impressed by The Comeback and Entourage. I don’t catch them until the reruns on Monday, but it’s inked into my schedule now. I get excited for both shows.
They both just take a while to grow on you. You gotta get by the quirks.
Kudrow has been amazing. The “Navigator” stuff was really funny. They finally do seem to be breaking through the tension between “what she wants the world to see” and “who she is”. The episode where she wrote her own show was painful (the one with Tom Selleck). Paulie G. is great. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen “hatred” (or disdain) like him to Valerie in any other show.
I don’t know whether they’ll show it, but my prediction is that if it happens then Paulie G will just turn his back and walk away like he has before. He’s pretty much impervious to anything Valerie might say because he essentially treats her as if she doesn’t exist.
Kudrow and Michael Patrick King did an extensive interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air (http://freshair.npr.org).
A lot of the times, I do feel sorry for Valerie, but then the show always reminds you that whatever abuse she’s getting is not entirely out of her hands – she’s the one who chooses to stay in the soulless Hollywood business.
It’s an interesting contrast to Entourage, in which the guys are just whooping it up. I wonder how bitter and damaged those guys will be after a couple of years.
I find that show painful to watch and yet I believe I’ve seen every episode. I finally decided I wasn’t enjoying the show at all and wasn’t going to watch it. My daughter convinced me I’d love this episode.