This is the place to discuss HBO's new show Bored To Death

Jason Schwartzman is Jonathan Ames? Zak Galifianakis, Ted Danson, etc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnAN5MzENDc

Anybody know anything about this?

could be good...?

better than hung?

hung is kind of ok but not great in any way.

okay this show is created by jonathan ames and stars schwartzman in a role of the same name.

Pilot is good. Also: Young Marble Giants all over the soundtrack.

ted danson is kind of underrated these days imo

is he? pretty strong presence in curb... damages...

this had some funny moments and could have potential, but man i wish anyone but Jason Schwartzman was the lead. I feel like he hasn't been remotely good or watchable in anything since Rushmore.

something felt really off about this, not sure what. it wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be and it kind of reminded me of that Andy Dick show where be became a private eye but not as good. but, it could get better.

i would like more zach

it kind of reminded me of that Andy Dick show where be became a private eye but not as good.

if you mean Andy Richter's "Andy Barker, P.I." then yes, totally, on the money.

man i wish anyone but Jason Schwartzman was the lead

this is something I find funny about the whole concept, actually -- that the character is some version of a "Jonathan Ames," but presented in the usual way writers are presented on TV, as sort of meek and neurotic and ineffectual and bumbling, the kind of character Schwartzman usually plays. but of course the actual Jonathan Ames is about twice that size, actually does box, is not awkward about prostitutes, etc. ... this isn't a problem with the show or anything, but it's kind of interesting to watch, I suppose in terms of how Ames fictionalizes himself.

That disconnect intrigued me.

as a send-up, if it is a send up, it is a bit too affectionate. dire soundtrack.

episode 3 pretty great. jarmusch on a bicycle A+

i dunno, abandoning the premise to chase a MacGuffin involving a celebrity cameo in the 3rd episode is a pretty bad sign

i like how it isn't tied down to a case-of-the-week format

episode 3 pretty great. jarmusch on a bicycle A+

^^^^ on this

Picked up for a second season. I'm enjoying this very much.

i would like more zach

― just sayin, Monday, September 21, 2009 1:17 AM

but i've only seen 2 eps

discussion about this show led to the revelation that jason schwartzman was once the drummer for phantom planet wtf

duh

i used to have major crush on schwartzman and then his band did oc song and it was all downhill

that was their best song!

i keep waiting for this show to get good but so far its kind of meh! ill stick w/ it though.

definitely needs more galifianakis. ted danson is great. and so is ZGs girlfriend.

still have a major crush on schwartzmann, u guys are haters. i haven't seen this yet, though.

did they switch the order of the episodes or something? he had way longer hair in yesterdays ep than the one before it.

i dont really have a problem with schwartzman just with his hair

Can someone let me know when this starts getting good? I watched the first 2 or 3 eps and they are just so lifeless and boring. I expect way more from Ames. :(

tbh i kind of wish it was less ames-ish. i sort of want it to just be a straight-up comedy instead of this weird awkward half-hour.

i like j schartz okay but this show feels likes its too classy to make actual jokes so it can only really hint at them

zach galifianakis, human of the decade y'all

i think he is my new crush of shame!

i would literally watch him do anything (no homo???)

i love the question marks

i'm open-minded.

Parker Posey and Bebe Neuwirth in the same episode = automatic win

romany malco!

schwartzman is so weird

"you're like a buff Samuel Beckett"

why do they keep having great guest stars like romany malco and patton oswalt... and then not do anything with them

this show feels likes its too classy to make actual jokes so it can only really hint at them

I definitely know what you mean by this, but I find myself liking that about it -- it's not jokey or antic but I find myself laughing pretty loudly at most episodes. I think it took me a couple episodes to really settle into the tone it's taking, but at this point I'm really liking that tone.

(Also I can't tell if the show has cooled off on the thing that used to bug me, or if I'm just used to it now: at first it seemed way too guyish, almost boringly and solipsistically focused in on the "issues" of its three men. I think it's actually gotten better or broader, somehow, or maybe just started making fun of the characters for exactly the problem more often.) (e.g., the bit about the magazine losing women readers: "so what are you going to do, hire more women writers?" "oh, that's actually a really great idea. but first I need to change myself...")

I'll also totally admit that I just like this show's frame of reference. Because it's similar to mine, and that's not a usual thing on television. That's not some big point in the show's favor, but, you know -- if there are going to be literary jokes on television, I will dutifully line up as part of a niche market and enjoy them.

i was laughing pretty hard at danson and galifianakis getting high in the car last night. i think yesterdays episode was one of the best yet, actually--i felt like schwartzmann finally had the character nailed in a way that was sympathetic and funny but also, you know, a kind of oblivious narcissist

i think this was by far the best episode yet

^^ ya, definitely. I was about to give up on this show after the one w/ the Russian ex-con/jilted lover, but they seem to have hit their stride in the last couple weeks. Really looking forward to next week's boxing match (I hope it actually goes down).

i think this ep was great because it didn't have to waste too much time setting up the detective case - we knew the background of ray's sperm and the lesbians, and so the story could just flow more naturally. loved the rivalry w/ the douchey reviewer and editor! that's the i'm a pic guy, right?

i'm a pic guy - ???

I'm all for self-conscious writerly dialog in sitcoms, but it is difficult to pull off. I feel like they were really missing the mark w/ the tone in much of the initial 4 or 5 episodes, but the writer/actor/character synthesis is finally starting to gel & the comedy has really opened up as a result - esp. in the case of Ray/ZG.

Also, after this week's episode, I'm convinced that the show will flow more smoothly if they expand the sleuthing element across multiple-episode narrative arcs, as opposed to the case-a-week format which, frankly, they weren't handling very well imo.

oops i meant "i'm a pc" - from the mac commercials

I was uncertain of Danson's character at first, but he's now my fave.

god, kind of ploughing thru this.

funnier if it was about a grizzled pi moonlighting as a shitty writer.

is this still on? i know NOBODY who watches this.

no just torrents.

jonathan ames is one talentless dick

dats a p tite pun

first season got better when [SPOILER?] ted danson joined zach g and jason s on the cases

never has a title seemed so apt.

just pushed to the finish of ep 4. i've been hot and cold abt entourage but im not sure that was ever as lame as what i just saw. with entourage it's basically four shitty actors = ari+ guests. this is three generally good people + guests, and it's just awful.

rather watch yo teach amirite.

this show was a complete disaster, is HBO bringing it back? it needs to be seriously retooled if so. all the acting and everything is fine, the show just doesn't have any idea what it is about.

what a disaster for HBO.

rly tho.

i think i read they are bringing it back, though.

the show just doesn't have any idea what it is about.

yep.

i think the show wants to be as confused and aimless as it is, not that i'm defending it on those grounds. if anything it makes me dislike it more.

Anybody watching season 2? Enjoyed then first episode, looks like more of a story going on.

Yeah, I like it. Kind of hope there isn't too much story, because it's the lackadaisical pacing of the first season that I enjoyed so much.

yeah first episode of the new season was nice, made me wonder if it's gotten better or i'm just not as annoyed by what i didn't like about it before

Renewed for a Third Season.

this is actually surprisingly great right now

yeah, i almost hated it first the season, coming close to loving it now. maybe they've embraced their sitcomminess more now?

loved the Ames parents from the Herc/Jim Norton episode! Hope to see more of them. Also hope to see more Cheers alumni. (Bebe "Lillith" Neuwirth was in two episodes last season.)

love this show

It is excellent and just about the only thing I look forward to watching at the moment (now that Inbetweeners is gone forever and with the honourable exception of 30R). Ted Danson is A+.

sitcomminess maybe, it's definitely aimed more towards being funny than the first season. danson, galifianakis and schwartzman are all a+

Danson really is quite good in this show.

been checking this out after reading the thread. really enjoying it.

"Jonathan! I'm like a child again, look!"

Is "George" based on (Ames's real-life friend) George Plimpton?

nvm

'The real Jonathan Ames says he modeled the character after George Plimpton, who "just struck me as this incredible New York character, not unlike Ted with his beautiful beacon of white hair. Whenever you would go to a party at the Paris Review, you'd be, like, 'There's George Plimpton.' He just seemed to glow. And it's the same thing with Ted. You're always, like, 'There's Ted,' and you want to go near him."'
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/09/ted_danson_talks_bored_to_deat.html

Series 3 tonite. Looks good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLmbhIm0df0

but of course the actual Jonathan Ames is about twice that size

a rare sighting of nabisco offtm, going by Ames looking tiny next to Schwartzmann when he turns up

I've tried twice to watch and enjoy this show and it just hasn't happened. Maybe more Danson and Galifianakis would help

watch the one from the first season where they team up (by getting stoned in the car while Jonathan goes on a case)

Oh man, I came here to see how people liked the start of this season, and see I am being CHALLENGED on the subject of spacial relations.

I stand by this:

http://guydavis.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/schwartzman-ames.jpg

I mean, not "twice," obviously, and probably skinnier than Schwartzman, but I definitely know which one I'd rather fight

he's blatantly wearing TWO COATS to try and make up for the tiny naked frame we've seen in the show!

It's true, he looks skinny lately -- image search something from his stunt-boxing days, though! He was reasonably imposing. And possibly literally twice as wide as now? At least 40%.

found a youtube of him boxing (post-Bored To Death), and he's skinny-framed, but HOLY CRAP at his biceps!

Loving this season and episodes 3 and 4 were really great (with ep.3 edging it).

just started S3 and man I love this show. ZG was so good with the baby.

wacky zach parenting misadventures is imo the show's only serious bum note right now

i think I missed some of season 2 becaues I don't remember the stabbing thing, but it doesn't seem like it matters anyway.

this show is weird, it's in it's 3rd year and I still feel like it never got over that mix of not knowing what it wanted to be....it's never that funny, just kind of amusing.

So apparently they're going to do a movie: http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/jonathan-ames-board-to-death-movie-interview.html

would be nice if they do, but i won't hold my breath. still waiting for a Party Down movie too, who knows.

I needed something lighthearted that I could watch without really being absorbed and I saw someone’s comment elsewhere about this being a work of stoner art so I jumped in as that’s thematically appropriate for my cold winter evenings

I like it? All of the characters have really obvious but not-annoying shticks, even Schwartzmann as the lead seems like he floats out of the scene half the time. Danson’s character enthusiastically wanting to do or try whatever everyone else is doing (“I’ve always wanted to try a colonic”) is a decent bit.

The intro where it’s clear the lead fumbled his relationship but you can’t tell quite why, only for you to find out his ex is going to Al-Anon, and he only thinks that the guy he’s tailing who is also going to Al-Anon is cheating with her was perfect to show how addled his brain is and why she left. But he’s only smoking a little and drinking white wine!

classic stoner premise, the guys (Danson, Schwartzman, Galifinakis) all come off as kind of dumb if functional and eventually you realize the rest of the world is kind of normal and they’re supposed to be fucking up but manage to mostly fail at that

I recall liking this a lot at the time - I must've, I bought it on DVD! Also Ames' other show Blunt Talk with SirPatStew was not too bad.

I cant recall much of either of 'em anymore.