TiVo Community Forums Archives - Anyone....... LUCKY?

TiVoCommunity.com
(c)opyright 1995-2005 All rights reserved
indexcheckTC
This area is a static history of posts in the TiVo Community Forum Archive.
This archive history was made for the simple indexing of search sites like Google.

Pages:1

Anyone....... LUCKY?
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: Family

This series begins tonite and received a good write up in today's Boston Globe. Considering it FX's first venture.... The Shield..... you'd have to give this a shot.

Posted by: MannyVjr

I'll record the pilot and judge from there. All reviews are coming positive, so I think i'll give it a chance.

Posted by: ungarod

I am looking forward to this show - FX has a good track record in my book, and I've liked John Corbett since Northern Exposure.

Should be enjoyable!

Posted by: andyf

I'm looking forward to it and have set a SP. But only 30 min eps? How can they tell a story in 30 mins.

Posted by: dcborn61

If you think all the reviews have been positive, read this from Tom Shales in the Washington Post. I get the feeling he didn't like it!

------------------

'Lucky'

"Lucky," a new dramatic comedy on the FX cable network, may fail as a TV show, but it does have potential as an energy-draining device. Anyone feeling excessively cheery or zippy -- hard to imagine in these tiring times -- might want to tune in to be taken down a peg. Or eight.

Baldly derivative of "Leaving Las Vegas," "Atlantic City" and almost anything by Quentin Tarantino, "Lucky" stars John Corbett, once a citizen of "Northern Exposure" (more recently the groom in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), as Michael "Lucky" Linkletter, the world's champion poker player and also a compulsive gambler trying to quit. You'd think his first step would be to move away from Las Vegas, but no, that's where the series is set, so he stays.

In the off-putting half-hour premiere at 10 tonight, we discover that Lucky's most annoying habit is not gambling but talking to himself in bathroom mirrors. Corbett, looking startlingly portly, can't make these chats work, but then few actors could. They're embarrassing.

Lucky wins a million bucks for his poker prowess in the opening scene and announces he intends to marry the "beautiful lady" he loves. We leap forward a year; Lucky is broke, the beautiful lady is dead, and Lucky has become a Vegas wallflower. He's a sodden, existential lump with no particular plan except to pay back a loan he got to cover his wife's funeral expenses.

What energy the show emits, rather than sucks up, comes from Lucky's Laurel-and-Hardy buddies Mutha (Craig Robinson) and Vinny (Billy Gardell), a couple of ne'er-do-wells who stumble from one cockeyed scheme to another, ne'er doing well, of course. Unfortunately they are introduced tonight doing the old rock-paper-scissors bit that "Seinfeld" wore out back in the '90s. But next week they have more fun when they crash a convention of orthopedic surgeons in search of free food and saps to scam.

Rather predictably, the grifters become griftees, but there are still some off-the-wall laughs along the way. This subplot is far more involving than the main story of the episode, Lucky's being taken for a ride by a seductive con artist named Amy (Andrea Roth). It's not a good sign when you want the star to get lost so you can hang with the second bananas.

The show, created by executive producers Robb and Mark Cullen, tries too hard to be quirky and cool and seems pseudo-seedy at best. A supposedly colorful lowlife named Joey Legs (yes, there are "Sopranos" influences, too), played by the grating Dan Hedaya, tosses off such goofy observations as, of a newspaper comic strip, "That Marmaduke, what a clever dog he is!"

Then there's Seymour Cassel as something called the Trake, named after the tracheotomy that left him with a hole in his throat -- through which he smokes cigarettes. Oy. There are too many times in "Lucky" when you want to say, "Oh, come on" and go surfing for something a lot less precious.

As usual on FX, the language is cruder than that on most broadcast-network shows. It's all shot with a nervous hand-held camera that makes the image bobble pointlessly.

"Lucky" lives up to its title in one sense: It's already received not one but two rave reviews from the New York Post, and both prior to the day of the premiere. Why, how very very fortunate. Fortunate but perhaps not surprising: The Post, like FX, is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. domain. How convenient for Murdoch to own networks and a cheering section of "critics" to adore their output.

All critics, however, are bound to appreciate FX's highly superior press materials and the fact that preview copies of its major programs arrive on DVDs, not VHS tapes -- though in the case of a loser like "Lucky," this is akin to opening a box from Tiffany's and finding somebody's old gallstone inside.

Posted by: Family

I can tell you this much... I hate the title.

Posted by: davidmin

I've been checking reviews too, and Salon had a negative. It seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it type show. I'll give it a try.

David

Posted by: BryanRDC

I have a pal who is a network exec. He spends most of the summer viewing pilots with his network exec pals, deciding what his network should buy from production companies.

Back in July of last year I went to LA for his 40th birthday party, and as we sat on his patio drinking a beer he told me about some of the shows he'd seen. He raved about Lucky, told me his network was going to pass but to look for it on cable this spring. I've got my SP set; based on my friend's report I suspect I'll like it.

Posted by: uncdrew

I've been waiting for this one for weeks. Since it's advertised during 'The Shield', I know i'm associating my pleasure of that show onto 'Lucky'. But I like that actor, and am fascinated by Vegas and gambling.

Please, please, please be good. /crosses fingers

Posted by: DLiquid

I'm just glad this isn't a series based on the book Lucky that I recently read. Let's hope the Cullens do a better job imitating Quentin Tarantino than Push, Nevada creators did imitating David Lynch.

Posted by: dengel

So... any thoughts? I found it so-so.... I'll still watch a couple more before deciding if I like it or not...

d.

Posted by: Lori

I thought it was a-ight. Pilots aren't usually the pinnacle of any series' quality, though, so I am going to give it some time. John Corbett is a bit of a babe, so that gets it a little slack as well. :)

Posted by: lwong

I thought it was okay. I'll definitely watch the next episode but I don't know if it will stay a Season Pass.

One thing that confused me was the money he owed his in-laws. Initially, he said he owed them $5K. Then after he got his $2K bonus, he said he needed another $2.5K. Maybe, he already had the $500 to make the total of $5K. But then, at the end, he borrowed $8K from the Mafia guy. Did I miss something?

Posted by: uncdrew

I was quite pleased. Laughed out loud several times, and liked the odd-ball characters at the GA meeting.

Posted by: VegasVic

Not bad for a pilot. It takes awhile for viewers (and writers) to get a handle on the characters. If Shales hated it I figured it might be decent.

Posted by: BBQ Chicken

Oh man the part with the guy getting hit by the cars was absolutely hilarious, I have high hopes for this show.

Posted by: avaloncourt

quote:
Originally posted by BBQ Chicken
Oh man the part with the guy getting hit by the cars was absolutely hilarious, I have high hopes for this show.

That one killed me too. I was howling. "This might take a while."

Posted by: innocentfreak

Without watching the pilot yet I am looking forward to the show, but am I the only one surprised by the fact that it is only 30 minutes?

Posted by: brahamt

quote:
Originally posted by avaloncourt
That one killed me too. I was howling. "This might take a while."

This was absolutely the funniest moment of the show. It caught me a little off guard as I thought he was going to stick someone up.

The show is a bit of a downer, but I will continue watching. Not bad for a pilot.

Posted by: ClutchBrake

I had seen the "This might take a while." bit on the commercials so that spoiled it a bit for me. It was still funny though.
My favorite line from last night was "Say goodnight, Ed."

Posted by: ScaryMike

quote:
Originally posted by lwong
One thing that confused me was the money he owed his in-laws. Initially, he said he owed them $5K. Then after he got his $2K bonus, he said he needed another $2.5K. Maybe, he already had the $500 to make the total of $5K. But then, at the end, he borrowed $8K from the Mafia guy. Did I miss something?

He never said he owed them 5k. He needed to get five thousands MORE dollars to pay them off. He already had some of the money saved up (stored in his freezer) and when he got robbed, he lost all 8k. So he had to borrow the whole amount.

At least, thats how I saw it.
-Mike

Posted by: ClutchBrake

I saw it as he owed them 5K. He was supposed to get a $5K bonus from his boss. His boss gave him $2K. He then told his buddies he needed $2500. This would put him at a total of $4500. He must have $500 of his own money.
So, with $2K from his boss, $2500 from his friend, and $500 of his own money he now has $5K. He gets robbed and loses all $5K.
He now goes to Dan Hedaya's character and borrows $8K. My guess is that the distribution of the $8K is as follows: $5K for in-laws, $2500 to repay his friend, $500 for himself to live on until he gets another job.

Am I the only one who thinks it is possible that Dan Hedaya's character set him up so that he would have to come back to him for money? He knew way too much about the situation from the get-go. I think he really wanted to get Lucky on a leash so he could make him play for him.

Posted by: VegasVic

quote:
Originally posted by ClutchBrake

Am I the only one who thinks it is possible that Dan Hedaya's character set him up so that he would have to come back to him for money? He knew way too much about the situation from the get-go. I think he really wanted to get Lucky on a leash so he could make him play for him.

That's exactly how loan sharks operate.

Posted by: uncdrew

quote:
Originally posted by ClutchBrake
Am I the only one who thinks it is possible that Dan Hedaya's character set him up so that he would have to come back to him for money? He knew way too much about the situation from the get-go. I think he really wanted to get Lucky on a leash so he could make him play for him.

That's exactly what's happening...

(I think)

Posted by: MannyVjr

quote:
Originally posted by BBQ Chicken
Oh man the part with the guy getting hit by the cars was absolutely hilarious.

I couldn't stop laughing for awhile when I saw that scene, and then he had the cojones to ask him for change.