The “Boss” pilot has been online a week already, so I’ll my othoughts short.
Kelsey Grammer, who seems to be morphing into Fred Dalton Thompson these days, is terrific as a troubled and non-Frasier-y mayor of Chicago, but what really impresses me here is the script by Farhad Safinia (“Apocalypto”) and direction by Gus Van Sant (“Milk”).
... tightly written and intensely acted ... The good news, if you can ever call a true horror show good, is that by the time Mayor Tom Kane actually calls himself bad, we are already battered and reeling from the shock of how awful, or how destroyed, almost everyone here is. …
... a swing-for-the fences drama that can be as reflexively cynical and brutal about politics as The West Wing was reflexively hopeful and earnest. It’s ambitious and operatic, certainly one of the most interesting and potentially promising offerings in a mostly cautious season of new fall shows. …
... knowing the broad strokes didn't entirely prepare me for the intensity and magnetism of Grammer's performance. ... suffers a bit for having to remind people that they're watching a pay cable drama, with nudity and/or sex scenes so gratuitous as to be laughable. …
... The role of Kane lets Grammer present his dramatic bona fides and put his 'Frasier' (and, er, 'Hank') personas to rest, and he's so good as the driven politician that he alone is almost reason enough to tune in. The problem is, the show that's been built around the actor (who's also a producer on the project) isn't nearly as interesting as what Grammer brings to the screen, and the sluggish pacing and melodramatic excesses of 'Boss' could put off those drawn in by the actor's confident star turn. ...
… a smart look at political power brokers that gets silly on the subjects of sex and violence. ... …
… This ability to project opposing forces is one reason Grammer has been so successful in comedy — he can play the fool and still remain an alpha male. It's also why he is now able to breathe life into Frasier Crane's hard-hearted doppelganger, Chicago Mayor Tom Kane... if the writers have overly epic ambitions, they also have a collective eye for detail. The pilot, directed by Gus Van Sant, is visually rich and textured, opening as it does in an abandoned slaughterhouse. ...
... has my vote for the best new show of the season. ... “He understood something basic about all people,” Kane said of Cermak. “They want to be led.” They want to be entertained, too, and “Boss” gets the job done. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... the best new fall series. It's a captivating political drama that contains echoes of "The Sopranos," "The Wire" and "Breaking Bad" … Kane is a fascinating TV monster, perfect for an era of political cynicism and disappointment. But TV viewers who watch "Boss" probably won't be disappointed and even those who are wary of latching onto a new series have reason to give the show a chance: Starz renewed "Boss" for a second season weeks before tonight's series premiere. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... a stunning new dramatic series ... as big, bold and complexly two-fisted as the city it celebrates. It marks an obvious departure for Grammer after years of sitcom work, an expansion of Van Sant's interests to television and, most of all, a coming of age for the cable channel … When you have a story as thoroughly involving as this one, evoking both "King Lear" and "Citizen Kane," and when the performances are this good, "Boss" almost directs itself. …
... at once the most cynical and most captivating portrayal of American politics ever presented on television. ... If Boss has a television ancestor, it’s not the idealist-streaked-with-pragmatism West Wing but the dark and relentlessly cynical The Wire, in which self-interested urban politicians, cops and prosecutors were as corrupt as the drug gangs they pursued. …
... works hard to resist the usual “this is how we do things in Chicago” nonsense and dutifully aims for a somewhat “Wire”-esque believability. Yet it can also feel like a burden to watch. Everyone here is pretty despicable, which gets old quick. ...
... Unlikable characters are practically the norm on cable dramas — shows from “Damages” to “Dexter” star monsters of one sort or another — yet they all have some element that draws viewers to them. Publicly charming, privately vile, Kane treats everyone in his orbit with everything from whiplash harangues to outbursts of violence. His illness is the only detail that might render him sympathetic, but his spitefulness prevents that. ...
… “Boss’’ is so hard-hitting and so willing to challenge viewers, it begins to put Starz in another league of cable identity, alongside AMC, FX, HBO, and Showtime. One or two more similarly ambitious series and Starz will be remade. … It is not an optimistic hour of TV, so much as a strong, cool rebuttal to “The West Wing.’’ …
... I kept hoping would get better or more interesting the more I watched. No such luck. This series is most notable for giving Kelsey Grammer (Frasier who?) a wonderfully meaty dramatic workout. ...
… Boss does have one big card to play in its favor, and that's the Boss himself, Kelsey Grammer, in his first dramatic series starring role. Playing Chicago Mayor Tom Kane, Grammer proves what we should have known from all those Frasier Emmys: He's not just a great comic actor, he's a great actor, period. ... Some of the intrigue is cleverly done, but none of it connects to characters we care about. ...
... certainly creates a showy role for star/producer Kelsey Grammer as a ruthless Windy City mayor diagnosed with a debilitating disease, adding a "Breaking Bad," nothing-to-lose quality to his serialized story. Still, the show labors under the weight of familiar political-movie cliches, offsetting its polished look -- and Gus Van Sant's unorthodox direction of the pilot -- with a been-there, seen-that feel. …
... For HBO, it was The Sopranos; for Showtime, it was Dexter; for FX, it was The Shield; and for AMC, it was Mad Men. … those were game-changers. And now Starz has its channel-defining series in Boss, a wholly impressive new drama that comes out of the gate with gravitas, swagger, originality and intrigue. ...
10 p.m. Friday. Starz.
