Review: Showtime's 'Meadowlands'

June 14, 02:46 PM

Inscrutability is the watchword of the day when it comes to new premium cable programming.

Two episodes into John From Cincinnati, I'm still trying to make heads or tails of HBO's new metaphysical, drug-addled, surfer drama. I'm a little deeper into Showtime's new dysfunctional suburban series Meadowlands and the show's biggest mysteries remain decidedly fuzzy for me.

That doesn't mean I'm not intrigued, though the risk of quirkiness-for-the-sake-of-quirkiness is rampant in the early Meadowlands installments.

The first, and perhaps biggest, mystery of Meadowlands is what the show is doing on Showtime in the first place. A co-production with the United Kingdom's Channel 4, Meadowlands looks, sounds and feels very British. The statement that it feels like something you'd see on BBC America rather than Showtime isn't an insult. Even if Meadowlands has shades of Weeds (in the cookie-cutter small town setting) or The Tudors (the accents, I guess), it isn't exactly on-brand.

Created by Robert Murphy, Meadowlands begins with a splendid opening image -- Danny (David Morrissey) and Evelyn (Lucy Cohu) Brogan and their 17-year-old twins Zoe (Felicity Jones) and Mark (Harry Treadway) are let out of an unmarked car in the middle of a bucolic neighborhood, blindfolded. The Brogans, we immediately discover, have been placed in Witness Protection -- Danny, a bartender, took money from the wrong people, which had something to do with the fire that left Mark, already a highly functioning autistic, a glove-wearing mute. The Brogans soon discover that their new neighbors are also just a bit unusual. There's Brenda (Melanie Hill), the local gossip and mother to the allegedly irresistible Jezebel (Ella Smith). There's leering, perverse, potentially dangerous Jack (Tom Hardy), the local handyman (Jack-of-all-Trades, he calls himself). Watching over all of the residents of Meadowlands is the benignly psychotic local sheriff Bernard Wintersgill (Ralph Brown).

The first episode of Meadowlands will remind more than a few viewers of FX's recent dark comedy The Riches, with the not-so-perfect family running from their past to a superficially pristine new location that isn't so perfect either -- "New house, new life, new us, eh," is Danny's first line. As the Brogans come to realize the truth about their new home, there are plenty of opportunities for suburban satire and bizarre quirkiness, though the undercurrent of potential violence is never far from the surface. That undercurrent is pretty much overflowing by the second and third episodes, which become increasingly dark and decreasingly funny, slightly to the show's detriment. Even in the midst of murder, Twin Peaks found a way to inject levity, which is where Meadowlands occasionally flounders.

The actors with the best grasp on the ideal tone are Brown and Hardy, whose live-wire performances break through the occasional blahs. Brown, in particular, has just a bit of Al Swearengen about him, managing to be threatening without losing the twinkle in his eye. Morrissey, Cohu and Jones are a good stable core, though Treadway's character is weighed down by a nearly unbearable number of affectations.

Based on the number of similar shows I've referenced (without even getting into the classic The Prisoner), you may think Meadowlands is pretty derivative, but there's an intriguing sense that it's trying to find its own voice. Perhaps by the end, we'll even understand what it's doing on Showtime.

Meadowlands premieres on Sunday, June 17 at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Check back after the first episode and let us know your thoughts...

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Comments (9)

Comments

I've seen the first four episodes of Meadowlands, and really enjoyed them - The Prisoner on Twin Peaks, indeed, with maybe Dexter dropping by, too... http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/05/preview-intriguingly-miasmic.html

Much better that John from Cinti, so far ... http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/06/some-thoughts-on-john-from-cincinnati.html

Paul Levinson | Jun 16, 2007 11:42:41 AM | #

It's Harry Treadaway, not Treadway.

Agnieszka | Jun 16, 2007 1:45:31 PM | #

I just watched the first episode and I'm hooked. I must admit I was thinking Twin Peaks a lot of the time, but to me - that's a great thing.

Jane | Jun 17, 2007 5:30:25 PM | #

Love the show. Becoming more nd more obvious is the fact that the Doctor is the father of Zoe and Mark. Not only are they the image of him, but his outbursts of love, etc. for Evelyn seems to imply that when Danny said he never quetioned her when she went on her outings with her friends, she must have gotten soooooo drunk, she and gorgeous Doc did it and Zoe and Mark were the result.
I miss Jack. Just as he was to make a breakthrough, dead. Hope it was for good purpose. The way it's going, I think it probably was.
Hoping they will continue this series, but then again, just when you begin to love something on SHO, they cancel it: ala:Huff. Please writers don't run out of ideas for Dexter, the newest masterpiece on Cable T.V. or WEEDS. If you do, you just might as well call it quits and let HBO buy you out.

Bonnie Robinson | Jul 17, 2007 12:02:13 AM | #

I so love Meadowlands, the cast is okay but I must admit that is Mark(Harry Treadaway) that I am looking forward to seeing weekly...he is evolving every episode can't wait to see how he wakes up next.
John From Cinn enjoy it very much but if they kill off Sean I just think that it would be a big mistake.

Catherine | Jul 18, 2007 9:22:46 PM | #

I Love Meadowlands, where I can watch new episodes? Has Showtime cancelled it?

MeadowlandsLover | Aug 27, 2007 7:58:11 AM | #

Oh,yes indeed.. this is worthy
of a peek a boo .. or two ..
of you, who enjoy a romp of
som"thin, with a little,sexy,
scary,steven king,twin peaks,
page turn"n,not the norm,kinda
people!..(you know who ya are}
luv,luv,it!want some more, is
that goin" to happen?
I"m waiting with bated'breath..(It"s about time,I have intriging series
to tune into' (californication w\ standing of course, that's some damn good dialouge, and writing I thought it was a lost art..)
seems the good ones always {shows} keep ya,wanting..
or wondering... P.S
come on,let us in you know, you want too ... let us watch.. more.
Luv, wait"n for.. More,MeadowlandS..