HBO renews Enlightened and cancels three returning shows

Today HBO renewed Enlightened for a second season, which is truly unexpected given the shows abysmal ratings. It may have something to do with Laura Dern's recent Golden Globe nomination for the show or that critics have suddenly started praising it, after trashing the first episodes. It's so clear to me that most major TV critics have very little objectivity, especially when it comes to new shows - even though they claim to only review quality shows. It's weird that whenever an atypical or truly ambitious show has premiered in the past two years, it always takes them a while to realise. But what makes this news stranger is that HBO axed three shows that do better than Enlightened. Bored to Death, Hung and How to Make it in America will not live to see another day. In my opinion none of these cancelled shows were creatively strong on any consistent level, which should never have been good enough for HBO. Hung was the worst and should have been cancelled after its first season, but for whatever reason, and despite critical panning and declining ratings it was renewed twice. Bored to Death and Hung made it to three seasons and How to Make it in American had two.

Any sadness I have about Bored to Death, which I often enjoyed, going off the air is nothing compared to the joy of Enlightened's renewal. It truly makes me believe again that HBO does care primarily about quality, after a few very shaky years for the network. Ever since John From Cincinnati and Tell Me You Love Me were cancelled, they've made and renewed some very mediocre and typical cable shows - the kind you might find on Showtime. With this news, Game of Thrones returning, Luck premiering, Aaron Sorkin's news show being picked up, as well as Veep from the writer of British show The Thick of It, Armando Iannucci. The future of HBO is definitely looking as bright as ever.

Enlightened - S01E02 - Now or Never

"There's a lot of other people here like you who we've had trouble placing"

Now or Never, again written by creator Mike White, who wrote the entire first season before shooting started. It opens on a voice-over with Amy declaring to make positive change at Abbadon (despite being sent down to data-entry), she then explains the visualisation technique and we see a fantasy scene of her work superiors embracing her ideas followed by Amy presenting her products to employees at store-level, receiving cheer and her name chanted. She hugs that little old lady from Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! before her human resources boss Judy invades her fantasy and she 'wakes up' in the boardroom. This sequence was a twist on the voice-overs from the pilot in that we're now more aware of the fact that Amy may not be very enlightened. The sequence makes Amy seem delusional and unrealistic - really, she should be glad to have attained another job at all with Abbadon. On top of that she wants to lead the company to become completely green - for no real reason other than she wants to. The show could also be named Entitled.

When Amy calls her ex-assistant and 'friend' from the bathroom of her new basement workplace she blames her old boss Damon for her placement and calls her new workmates circus freaks - out comes a nerdy-looking woman from one of the cubicles, who hurries out with her head drooped. Amy realises her mistake - but it mirrors the first scene of the pilot where her colleagues were bad-mouthing her and she overhears - it being the catalyst for her breakdown. She's arrogant for thinking she deserves so much more and that she's better than her new workmates. Not only that, she doesn't try to apologise to the girl she just insulted, who could be on the verge of her own mental breakdown - Amy quite often lacks empathy.

There are a few scenes that feel like 'second pilot' scenes (repetition/set-up) but they do this while also adding a great deal of texture to the characters. Amy's interaction with her mum further highlights Helen's rigid and repressed attitude. This time, instead of Amy trying to get acceptance and empathy from Helen, she encourages her to change her lifestyle a little bit - which apparently consists solely of gardening, looking after the dog and watching television. Helen maintains to her daughter that she's happy and it's the way she wants it. In this scene it's hard to take a side because Helen's old and a lot of the elderly have routines and spend little time among others - however, Amy just wants her mum to support and understand her, but Helen refuses to. This scene along with the last they shared in the pilot contain a lot of truth and resonance, as having our parents fail to understand and emotionally support us is something most children have to come to terms with throughout their entire lives. At the end of the scene Helen turns up the volume to The Rockford Files and Amy looks disappointed - it symbolises Helen not wanting to hear what her daughter has to say - if that really needed noting...

The next scene with Levi (Luke Wilson) is also a second-pilot scene but it feels connected to the last scene with Helen and similarly takes on more depth than most second-pilot scenes. Amy is reading her self-help book in her bedroom after talking to her mum, and notices her bookmark for a treatment center. She immediately goes over to Levi's to cook him a healthy dinner and propose that he goes to rehab for drug addiction. She's trying to help Helen and Levi in these scenes - it's still to do with her own happiness, but she's taken on the idea that helping others is the best way to find your own peace. Amy' s careful with her words to Levi and genuinely cares about him but he responds in a way typical to an addict - as well as mentioning an interesting detail, "I remember you wasted - bawling your eyes out - begging to blow me. I think you're hanging on by a very thin thread, with like one finger on the edge of the cliff". This strengthens the argument that Amy doesn't have her shit together at all - an extremely negative thing to say to somebody trying to better themselves, but still, it seems somewhat true. He finishes by saying eventually she'll crack - which Amy defiantly disagrees with - and that his door is always open because he doesn't judge - Levi's clearly rationalised his addiction quite strongly. It's sad that both Helen and Levi can't see or appreciate what Amy's trying to do for them, and that they also can't give Amy what she wants - support. The book Amy's reading in this episode is "Change - Now or Never", which the episode's title references. I imagine the author suggests that the reader unapologetically go after what they want from others - which Amy does so, in every aspect of her life. Perhaps in addition, Amy needs the advice that she has to develop her own self-worth and happiness and it not depend so heavily on others - as it leads to skewed expectations and ultimately disappointment, which Amy has experienced a lot of in the show so far.

Timm Sharp from Undeclared is excellent as Dougie, the kind of douchey and incompetent manager we've probably all dealt with at some stage. His story during lunch about the girl he was with who had tumors in her nose and died was hilarious because of the awful, self-absorbed and blatantly offensive way he told it. Also during lunch Amy sees her old assistant, Krista, there with people, among them her old boss. Amy is furious as she tried to make lunch plans with Krista who blew her off. She storms outside and surprisingly one of her workmates comes after her to see if she's okay. Amy bursts into a self-involved rant about Krista and her old boss, which alienates Connie completely, and she goes back inside with the same impression everybody else has of Amy. Amy was neither shocked or touched that somebody she barely knew would come after her to see if she's okay - she probably believes Connie is less than her and wasn't surprised she would try to make friends with her. Ew, this narcissistic subtext is making me feel dirty.

The next scene back at the basement between Amy and Tyler is brilliant. Tyler asks Amy what her book is about with a smirk on his face. She tells him it's about how the world is messed up, which changes his expression to confused, then as she continues he begins to look slightly bored and asks her "Is it boring?" - which shocks Amy. I found this exchange realistic as most nerds or geeks I've known are extremely detached from emotions and more specifically psychology in general. A lot of them have very little awareness (self or otherwise) in this area. I suppose ignorance can be bliss, however they never truly understand or learn to deal with problems they have, which must be more than a little frustrating and hopeless.

Amy researches some of the negative impacts he company is having and gives a folder of documents to Judy - hoping to fulfill her fantasy sequence from the start of the episode. Her heart is kind of in the right place for being pro-active, but to think this plan would actually land her a job is pretty absurd. She then sees Krista and finds her old office was given to her assistant. Amy explodes at her, confronting her about the lunch and about how people have a problem with her, and about Krista's general dishonesty towards her. Krista being the people-pleasing, narcissistic feeder, takes all of Amy's bullshit and tries to convince her they are still friends. It's a wonderfully written scene that seems to confront their relationship, but eventually doesn't change a thing.

Surprise, surprise - Amy receives a call from Judy telling her how inappropriate it was to give her those documents and how it could get them both fired. Amy is distraught and throws her book into the bin. Then something incredible happens - Tyler asks Amy if he can read it, to which she obliges. She looks around at her workmates as a voice-over begins. "Change will come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow - but it will come. You have to believe. I close my eyes, and see a better world. People there are fearless and connected - they're my friends. I'm there, I'm free, and this earth itself is healed and where nothing suffers." Amy closes her eyes and we are transported to her place of healing, the nightly bonfire by the ocean, and all of the people in her life are there - happy. She smiles and we cut to white. I found this scene so hopeful and beautiful that's it's hard to be cynical, even when you know the world Amy lives in and what her and all of the people around her are like. I believe it's because, when it comes down to it, we all hope for this. Thank you, Mike White.

Enlightened - S01E01 - Pilot

Inspired by Enlightened's main character Amy, exuberantly played by Laura Dern, I'm going to try to drop some of my cynicism for this review. Sure, I could talk about how this is another in a long line of half-hour cable shows fronted by middle-aged women who also executive produce, and which attempt to walk the tightrope between comedy and drama. There are so many now that it seems like a cliche - however, that's not the real issue. The problem is that some of these shows (Nurse Jackie) are only concerned with treading water and being neither here nor there. Understandably, it can be hard to get excited about them anymore, especially since it's mostly what cable has to offer now after partially moving away from hour-long dramas. Just like the 70s New Hollywood film period ended, this golden age of television will come to an end, and I think we're getting closer to meeting it. End cynicism.

Amy Jellicoe is an executive at a big, soulless company named Abaddon (wink, wink...). The show opens to her emotional breakdown at work when her boss, Damon, with who she was having an affair, has her transferred out of her position and department. She overhears some co-workers bitching about her and works up the nerve to busy out of the cubicle and put them in their place. This becomes a catalyst for her storming through the office irate and crying while she tracks down her boss to confront him. He denies her allegations and closes the elevator on her. In a feat of strength that could only be fueled by a mental breakdown, Amy manages to open the fully-closed elevator while screaming a barrage of death threats at him. Laura Dern plays this sequence brilliantly as she immediately attains the vulnerability needed for the character and I empathised with her straight away. Seeing someone at their lowest point must do that.

What follows is a brilliantly directed sequence with Amy having retreated to Hawaii in order to heal. There's a calm voice-over delivered by Amy talking about change and positivity. The sequence doesn't make fun of New Age spirituality, it seems to embrace the cliche activities Amy takes part in. This ambiguity of whether or not the show is an indictment of New Age enlightenment or an embrace, and in turn the ambiguity of the main character is the driving force of the show, and probably it's strongest asset. These half-hour shows really need something intriguing and dramatic at their core, so they don't have to be so reliant on fluff. This is why United States of Tara worked so well. Sure, Nurse Jackie has drug-addiction at it's core, but it's too bogged down by other things and never wants to push the story or the character.

Luke Wilson plays Amy's ex, and seems to be a negative influence on her, and there's not much more I can really say at this point. I'm not sure he had enough screen time in the pilot to rate his performance.

Another of Enlightened's strong points is the mother/daughter dynamic. Amy's mother Helen, played by Laura's real-life mother Diane Ladde, is skeptical of her daughter's new found happiness in their first scene. During their second scene it becomes apparent that Helen doesn't want to fix their relationship, she just wants to avoid. It's a depressing scene, especially when Amy, reaching out, probably worked hard to write something truthful and even her mother won't support her. To make matters worse, Helen takes her dog outside in the middle of Amy's letter. She baby-talks to the dog, "Come on with Momma", and you wonder what kind of mother she really is - and what a mother's duty is. Her simple mothering of her dog is more attractive than being a real mother to her daughter. Subtle bits of dark comedy like this are found throughout this first episode and they feel distinctively Mike White - that stark and awkward realism intertwined with dark comedy. Without this the show would be far more generic, I hope viewers notice these little things and don't write the show off too soon. We'd hate to have another The Comeback on our hands, am I right? Now that I think about it, the two shows are quite similar.

I'm not going to discuss plot-points at this time, because we're dealing with a pilot some people might be on the fence about watching. So to close, Amy's heart is in the right place, she's relentlessly positive and wants to heal old wounds but nobody else in her world seems to want any of it and even act as an antithesis to her. The way she behaves is a little overboard and off-putting, and I'm sure we'll see more and more of a contrast between Amy and the society she is a part of, as fuel for cringe-comedy and also to see how much Amy really can change with all of these influences in her life. Enlightened deals with very big themes that haven't been explored much on television and for that, and its many subtle touches, it's a deserving show.