And, surprisingly so, considering it premiered in the largely panned summer season. I actually think, barring the offerings from cable networks, that The Philanthropist could end up being the granddaddy of summer-time scripted programming. Or am I ignoring lots of stuff?
I agree with Debbie that, by and large, the show is very enjoyable. But, I’m a little confused at just how big everything seems to be. I had some semblance of an idea of what the show was about going in, but I didn’t expect each episode to be a mini-movie, full of refugee camps, shootouts, sex-traders, and kidnappers. Honestly, I thought that the premiere, what with Teddy Rist (James Purefoy) trying to get medicine to some poor people in Africa, was as big as the show intended to get. Apparently, I was wrong.
I couldn’t quite say if I’d be enjoying The Philanthropist were it airing during the regular TV season, which I suppose is a barometer that a good show really needs to clear. While the show’s interesting, the cast is strong, and the conceits are new, there’s still something a bit too packaged about it all, for lack of a better word.
Distasteful shilling The last two episodes have begun with short cold-opens for Microsoft’s Bing. Very blatant, very stupid, and very gross. I thought the idea was to incorporate products into a show….
Poor choice of story-telling format I was with Debbie in the premiere, what with Teddy telling the bartender about what had happened to him. But every week? It’s just a little dumb. This is no voice-over work, ala Burn Notice; instead this is a structural piece of the telling of the story that seems a bit stupid. Why can’t the episode just play out in front of us?
Contention that you see coming a mile away Between Teddy and his partner, Philip Maidstone (Jesse L. Martin), that is. The fact that it’s manifesting itself in Philip’s being jealous of Teddy’s philanthropic endeavors … wow. That’s moronic, and a really bad path for the writers to be sending Martin down. Why waste his talent on pettiness? And, talk about an obvious place for the show to have gone.
There’s also the poor casting of Philip’s wife, Olivia Maidstone. Neve Campbell is a beautiful woman, but she’s never been much of an actress (see, or rather don’t, Wild Things). That she’s meant to be caught in a tug-of-war between Philip and Teddy, is both predictable, and a waste of time.
On the other hand, how about finding more for Michael K. Williams (as Dax) to do? Omar Little (The Wire) is nobody’s bodyguard. Let the man grow.
And yet, even with the corporate packaging, and the “A” gets you to “B” plots, The Philanthropist is a winner, because all Teddy’s looking to do is good. It’s a bit difficult to reconcile the fact that he’d still be an irresponsible party-boy, while simultaneously running from bullets in Nigeria, but hey, NBC’s been without a hit for a really long time … they forget how to do it sometimes.
Another plus is that, aside from some of the central relationships, there isn’t much serialized about the show, so jumping in now, or watching sporadically, won’t really leave you lost.
The Philanthropist airs Wednesdays at 10, on NBC. Come see what Teddy has in store for Kosovo next week.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jul 17, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
I love James Purefoy and i like Jess L Martin but i don’t about this show…maybe these actors deserve better i don’t know what to think..
*POST AUTHOR*
For whatever it’s worth, this is what Martin decided to do after leaving Law & Order, so, I don’t know, maybe there’s something coming that will surprise you.
I have to admit, I just recently started watching the show and was surprised it’s doing better than ‘The Listener.’ However, I will continue to watch it for the summer. I also have an old school crush on Jesse Martin. I don’t think Martin’s character is jealous of Teddy’s philanthropy but of the fact he gets to be ‘superman’ while Philip plays ‘Clark Kent.’ I actually think the triangle is believable, albeit predictable: Philip feels insecure as CK and thinks Teddy’s SM will steal his Lois Lane. I like Neve in the lead, but sometimes I’m unclear of her role. She’s supposed to be the head of the Foundation, but then sometimes she works as the head of PR and as a VP who Teddy and Philip should run decisions by. Clearly, it’s to augment the tension, but I worked for a corporation’s foundation, and lemme tell you, the head’s office wasn’t that luxurious. I know Teddy’s supposed to be Bruce Wayne, but with all of the money he spent in the last three weeks (including 250k for a planeride for the pilot), he should technically be on the way to personal bankruptcy.
*POST AUTHOR*
You could be right, but I got the feeling that Philip begrudged Teddy’s ability to simply “do what he wanted”, which in this case was his philanthropy. It may be a bigger part of your Clark Kent/Superman comparison, but if it wasn’t about the philanthropy, he wouldn’t have made that stupid move with the bartender and his kid, right?
I actually don’t think I saw Philip insecure in regards to his wife and Teddy. If he really thinks that his partner could do that to him…. I meant more that Olivia was in between the two’s struggle for business versus do-gooder. Sorry I wasn’t clearer on that.
I don’t know about bankruptcy (he’s a billionaire), but you have a fair point. Money’s never used as a realistic barometer on TV, unfortunately. It’s the old argument of, how would Monica and Rachel (Friends) have seriously been able to afford that apartment, even with rent-control courtesy of Monica’s grandmother?
I stopped watching it.
If he really wanted to help people, why waste it on places where he needs to spend money to fly hit private jet halfway across the world and bribe all kinds of officials.
The money spent on that could be helping a lot of people in places that are closer and not as corrupt.
Of course, then there’s no conflict, and no story to tell…
*POST AUTHOR*
There’s always going to be that argument, but most places in the world where people need the help are half-a-world away, and are in the trouble they’re in because of their corrupt officials (thus the bribes).
Yes, the episode eventually took him to a Baltic State, but a recent episode started out in Paris. I think it made the point that this happens everywhere, and wherever that it may, Teddy will be there. I also would guess that at least one episode will be based right here in the USA.
Is that Omar I see in the pic? I wasn’t gonna click on this clack but then I saw Omar, I thought he was in the wind… Cool I’ll check this show out.
*POST AUTHOR*
Don’t expect a huge role from him, but, yeah, it was nice to see him again. ;-)
When a show looks interesting, I’ll usually give it at least six episodes before I think about dropping it. I like the actors, so watched the pilot until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I was surprised to find I was only four minutes in; it felt more like twenty. Let it rest a few days and gave it a second chance. Seven minutes.
Am I reading correctly that the annoying bartender is there every week plus it’s front-loaded with those execrable search engine ads? I never imagined a show could be this antithetical to me.
*POST AUTHOR*
Sorry; not the bartender, but a similar situation where Teddy (or Philip) is telling the story to a third-party. It’s the format that’s reused … the exact set-up would have just been ridiculous.
But, yes, AJ (Teddy’s assistant, or whatever) has now twice “Binged” something in the cold open. Pretty crass. Plus, who wants to “Bing” anything?
Easy, you take “Google” which is a verb people actually use in real life, add the “cha-ching” of your corporate payola, and you get “B*ng” (I refuse to ever type that actual word).
*POST AUTHOR*
I had a support chat with someone at Microsoft last night, and I was tempted to drop the word “Google” all over the discussion, even as a non sequitur. But I was afraid they’d reach through the screen and “Bing” me. :)
Bing is ok is you like more of the same.
Lets try calling it searching.
I’m a real philanthropist (volunteer :)) and the show is good.
I get tired of hering Bing & Google all the time when there are sites out there with less marketing power that actually give back to the community.
Infospace just launched a site that supports The Humane Society (
https://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/san_nicolas_cats_072209.html)
, Petfinder, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters
Check it out – https://www.dogreatgood.com
Thats the kind of site I like to support.
Tay
*POST AUTHOR*
It is what it is, because Bing is a major sponsor, thus the conversation thread.
However, Taylor, you have a point … https://www.goodsearch.com is a fantastic way to search and raise money for charity. The problem with these search engines is the (relatively) low number of sites in their indices, but they’re worth a look!