Despite a few of us still holding onto the hope that John From Cincinnati will rise to the occasion before its first (and likely only) season comes to an end, it’s quite clear that it will never be the heir to HBO’s now vacant Sunday Night throne. Flight of the Conchords ensures that the evening remains destination watching, but it can’t very well replace The Sopranos. The pay network is without a flagship for the first time in over a decade, and everyone keeps talking about which of their upcoming programs might fill the fabled cement shoes. Yet no one talks of Big Love.
Amidst annoyingly scrutinized finales, over-hyped launches and shows that have fallen into unacknowledged creative crap-holes, Big Love silently plugs along as the real star of HBO – its modesty almost in tune with that of the devout family in portrays. Critics are divided, audiences are turned off by the premise and Tuesday morning water coolers are dominated by fools rehashing Hell’s Kitchen and Two and a Half Men reruns. It hardly seems fair. Luckily, yesterday’s refreshing confirmation of a third season and an upcoming move back to Sundays might mean that HBO is ready to move their eggs into Big Love’s most deserving basket – and with good reason.
The caliber of the acting and writing improves almost every week, their successful juxtaposition of humor and anxiety is almost unparalleled and with the appearance of the Mormon mob (or Mor-mob, if you will), Big Love seems to be getting more Sopranos-y by the minute. The sinister waif of a man, Roman Grant, is no longer the only creep claiming to be the one true prophet. Dueling sects of polygamist Mormons are about to get dirty, and our dear protagonists (whose lifestyle seems strangely acceptable now) are caught in the middle. For a nice dose of absurd humor, they’ve even added sex scenes choreographed to Avril Lavigne and a transgendered Mormon henchman who likes to brand those who her cross her like cattle.
In a promo more fitting for Desperate Housewives, next week promises Big Love’s “most dramatic episode ever” that “everyone will be talking about.” I don’t doubt that former is true, but they’ll have to win a few more people over before they achieve the latter.