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Hercules Says If You’re Missing MAD MEN Or THE WIRE, You Should Maybe Have A Gander At BROTHERHOOD Already!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
Showtime’s “Brotherhood” hasn’t been a winner in the ratings so far, but it's been big with the critics and I'm hopeful it'll find an audience with its third season, launching tonight on Showtime. As the record numbers for “Weeds,” “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” and “Dexter” attest, more people are looking to Showtime for series TV, and the pay channel is airing “Brotherhood” at 8 p.m. Sundays, where it will compete with football, reality shows and cartoons rather than fresh episodes of ABC and CBS’ popular Sunday-night dramas.
The tale of two fast-climbing Rhode Island brothers – one’s a corrupt politician, the other’s a mob boss – “Brotherhood” comes roaring back tonight with both Caffees forced to make bold career moves.
Lead sibs Michael and Tommy are now estranged (though they still manage to appear together at least once an episode). The ne’er-do-well cousin from Ireland still has the hots for the violent, erratic and murderous Michael Caffee’s girl Kath. Powerful and deadly gangster Freddie Cork, betrayed by Michael, is getting out on bail, and none too happy to find Michael has usurped his business. Cop and childhood friend Deco Giggs is offered a new job investigating political corruption. And Tommy’s wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish) is taking a break from drugging and sleeping around to get pregnant with a fourth kid.
Is it as good as “Mad Men” or “The Wire”? Not remotely! But I find it a compelling enough substitute; maybe you will as well.
To anticipate the question, there is a parcel of nudity in the season’s first two episodes, but neither “The X-Files” vet Gish nor “The West Wing’s” Janel Moloney cavort nakedly. For that you’ll have to wait and hope or just get your hands on the first- and second-season DVDs.
Series vet Henry Bromell (“Northern Exposure,” “Chicago Hope,” “Homicide,” “Carnivale”) scripts the season opener, which comes with an ending compelling enough to lure viewers back next Sunday. Series mastermind Blake Masters scripts 3.2, a better installment that follows Michael growing into his new job, Freddie coping with his diminished lifestyle and mother Rose Caffee enduring a vexing tangle with managed health care.
Showtime only ordered eight third-season episodes, so I’m hopeful Masters is packing the episodes tighter than ever.
Entertainment Weekly gives season three an “A-minus” and says:
… If Brotherhood isn't as brilliant as The Wire, it's just as believable. The cast is so solid, you'd never guess they hail from England (Isaacs), Australia (Clarke), Ireland (Flanagan), Hollywood royalty (Gish), and bad teen comedies (the spectacular Embry). They feel like they've always been sitting in this sad little corner of Providence, waiting for the show to start. …
The Associated Press says:
… splendid drama … There’s high-rev conflict and violence in "Brotherhood," and that keeps it exciting. But it’s grounded in realism any viewer will already know and recognize as truth. …
The New York Times says:
… begins its third exceptional season … Among its many virtues, “Brotherhood” isn’t in the business of life lessons.
The Philadelphia Daily News says:
… "Brotherhood," like "The Wire," is a story about how things actually work in places where the politics is nearly always personal and the personal nearly always political. … based on the two episodes I've seen, this season, a rebuilding one for several characters, seems to be taking a less sudsy approach, focusing instead on the devilish details of how the system works (and doesn't) that can only make "Brotherhood's" realpolitik that much more real. …
Variety says:
… a gritty, competently executed, occasionally gripping crime series that never quite rises to the lofty pay TV standards established by "The Sopranos" and "The Wire." …
8 p.m. Sunday. Showtime.
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which is why we shouldn't watch any other show ever. first.
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Nov 02, 2008 1:25:28 AM CST
"Is it as good as “Mad Men” or “The Wire”? Not remotely!"
by alonzo mosely
Herc, for once, is absolutely correct. Not a 'top drawer' show by any means, it is still a solid and enjoyable series...
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Mad Men and The Wire are in a league of their own, but Brotherhood is still head and shoulders above stuff like Dexter or Sons of Anarchy, and i like those shows too.
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And Clay Davis for President, too!
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Sounds good.
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And why is every crime related tv series being compared to the wire?!? It was a good series, but it's not the end all to be all as many have hyped.Jeebsus!
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You've embarrassed yourself.
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I just found the first series depressing... It's fucking miserable...
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Of course not, no other programme comes close BUT it is very very very good. Definitely on a par with Mad Men and other similar - in tone - shows. Well worth checking out.
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I mean, since this site has this obsession of comparing totally different shows against each other, why not? Talking about Mad Men compared to Dexter or Brotherhood to The Wire. So is Brotherhood as good as Three's Company? Is it as good as Fantasy Island? Is it as good as Manimal?
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Is it better than Barney Miller or Cowboy Bebop?
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I saw season two of Brotherhood. A very strong series, but not "The Wire" or "Mad Men" strong.
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...but he's much better as an Englishman than as an American - the American accent and demeanor leeches all his lovely personality, wit and, well, scariness out completely. As for the rest of the Brotherhood cast, with the exception of Gish (whom I still like because of Agent Reyes), they're absolutely deadly, particularly the big-headed guy who plays Isaacs' brother. They had to go all the way to Australia to find this guy? Jesus. Anyway, my husband is a fan of the show (he has friends who live in Providence), but I've never been able to get into it the way I fell in love with Mad Men. Maybe I'll Tifaux it tonight and see if I can change my mind. I do love me some Isaacs.
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Still enjoyed it, but my God it was heavy going at times. The second season wasn't a non-stop chuckle fest either, but it did lighten up slightly. The episode where Michael accompanied the assassin on a job was just terrific, especially when he fantasized about killing him at the end.
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I doubt it. Will we ever see another gay character as cool as Omar Little? Impossible.
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but I would definitely put it in league with The Wire, and I don't put many shows in that catergory. I forgot this was starting a new year tonight, so thanks AICN for the reminder.
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I watched most of the 1st season, didn't watch the second, don't feel like I'm missing much. It's very solid and not bad at all, but nothing special and not particularly compelling. It's very similar to Dexter in that way. To even consider it in the same zip code as The Wire is heresy. And to the guy higher up the talkback: yes, The Wire really is the be-all end-all, that is pretty much exactly the words I would have chosen.
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being from new zealand and all.... anyway, im gonna download the shit out of season 1 tonight! oh yeah!!!
cant say Mad Men does anything for me.. but the wire was outstanding. oh yeah - sons of anarchy is fuckin great watching! -
Just sayin
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However, I have been a big fan of Brotherhood since season one. It definitely deserves to be mentioned with some of the great dramas of the past ten years. Love the bleak grittiness of the show. They do a great job of exploring the moral gray areas that virtually every character seem to exist in.
Being an Irish guy and a Providence resident just adds to my enjoyment of the show. They have the accents and the attitude down pretty well. And the loose influence of Whitey and Billy Bulger's story is always in the back of my mind. -
Not as good perhaps, but I was watching Tommy Carcetti run for office (catching up on DVD) at the same time Tommy Caffee was running for office and I'd often blur the two shows together.
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Mostly good concepts - better than HBO for the most part. Unfortunately, all of the shows I've seen share a few traits that really turn me off:
1) Good leads, terrible supporting acting (Dexter being the very best example of this);
2) Amateurish direction (Weeds consistently looks like it was shot by a freshman at NYU).
3) Spotty story quality (Dexter seems to be good every OTHER ep.)
HBO shows don't seem to have these problems nearly as often. -
Embarassed myself you say?aww hell naw.Exagerrate?Oh yeaahhh.Frankly, I'm just sick of all the Wire hype and to be honest, Brotherhood does not surpass Wire in terms of story and character development.But I put The Shield over Wire any- fucking-time-of-the-day.The last episode of the Wire was a bit of a letdown.Where's the pathos?Where's the "oh, shit" moment...ok beside Omar getting popped.Anyway Brotherhood stands on it's own and shouldn't be compared to wire or especially the Sapronos (citing another shitty finale,whassup with that HBO?)
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Not from the first season I watched and gave up on. That second season must really have grounded the writing and dialed back the characters. My thoughts would have been more like, "as believable as Dexter", giving Brotherhood the slight edge.
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