Will we buy in to "Love Monkey"?

[Bags]

I think this is a show folks around here will love or hate...I can hear the music industry criticisms now.  Or, if the show is successful, the loud calls of "sellout" a la The O.C. of the bands that appear on the show....Personally, I'm interested and open-minded.
 
 January 15, 2006
 'Love Monkey'
 So Long, Stuckeyville . . . Hello, New York!
 
 By NEIL GENZLINGER
 The New York Times
 
 "LOVE MONKEY," a CBS comedy-drama starring Tom Cavanagh, could make a classic case study in how a television show evolves from initial concept to ready-for-prime-time. For one thing, between the first pitch and the pilot episode, the show's main character, Tom Farrell, underwent a career change, and that gave the series a whole different defining element: music.
 
 Michael Rauch, the show's creator, said that the series was inspired by Kyle Smith's novel about the dating foibles of a New York thirtysomething and that its protagonist initially was, as in the book, a tabloid journalist. Somewhere along the line, though, somebody suggested that a different career would make for livelier television, and Farrell became a record industry A&R scout - for "artist and repertory," the guy who looks in clubs and concert halls for music's next big thing. Mr. Rauch said that, having spent a lot of time with a friend who was in the music business, he had no trouble seeing the possibilities.
 
 "There was always something so fascinating to me about that lifestyle," he said. "It was always so rich and so late-night."
 
 And suddenly the show had an unusual hook: "In every episode you're going to see a new band that you probably never heard of," Mr. Rauch said, as Farrell, played by Mr. Cavanagh, goes about his business. And several established music stars are lined up for cameos, like Ben Folds and LeAnn Rimes - a practice Mr. Rauch hopes will catch on and draw even bigger stars. (He said he was working on an episode that would be perfect for Elvis Costello.)
 
 It all takes place in New York, where Mr. Rauch lives, with lots of street scenes shot in the city's hipper neighborhoods. The pilot features a scene in the East Village club CBGB. "The idea visually for me was to use all these neighborhoods where there's so much vibrancy and life that isn't generally shown on TV," Mr. Rauch said.
 
 Mr. Cavanagh - a long way from the bowling alley in Stuckeyville, Ohio, that was the setting for his 2000-4 series "Ed" - is at the center of it all, looking for love and hanging out with a wisecracking group of buddies, among them Jason Priestley and Larenz Tate. The show seems almost as if it was written for Mr. Cavanagh, but Mr. Rauch said the fit of player and part was more a case of serendipity.
 
 One happy accident is that Mr. Cavanagh plays a bit of guitar. "My idea of Tom Farrell was always a failed musician, someone who wanted to be a rock star," Mr. Rauch said, and he hopes to make use of Mr. Cavanagh's musical skills. "In the season finale I'm going to try to get him up onstage playing."
 
 And what about the show's goofy name, which was taken from the book (and is explained, in a fashion, in the pilot)? Mr. Rauch said that at one point in the show's development, there was talk of replacing it. "They asked me to come up with some alternate titles, and I did, but none of them came even close to 'Love Monkey,'" he said. "We all kind of realized we couldn't do better."

[Darth Ed]

I'm looking forward to it and will give it a chance, mostly because I really liked "Ed".

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Darth Ed:
  I really liked "Ed".

I once had a girlfriend's mom describe me as "the paragon of virtue" and then compared me to "Ed."  And I've been called a "Love Monkey" before, so yeah, I'm going to watch it.

[Summerteeth]

Never saw Ed, but I'm sort of intrigued by this.  Plus it has Jason Priestley, who can actually act in the right environs.

[kurosawa-b/w]

I'm also intrigued and plan on tuning in.

[Arlette]

I would love to know what everyone thought.  I don't have television, but would have definitely wanted to catch this if I did.  The NYT writer wasn't feeling it:
 
 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/arts/television/17stan.html?oref=login
 
 The first paragraphs disturb me a bit.......fun/worthwhile women don't like Bob Dylan?  So the show is already farfetched?  
 
 "So it is obviously a farfetched male fantasy when Tom Farrell (Tom Cavanagh), the hero of the new CBS series "Love Monkey," meets a gorgeous, sexy woman in a tight tank top who, unprompted, gives him what she describes with a wanton smile as an "amazing" CD box set: "The Ultimate Bob Dylan."
 
 Then again, why not. New York City is, after all, a dream world for single men."
 
 The last sentence, though, is all too true and not just about NYC:
 
 "And that is perhaps the most dispiriting example of the inequities of urban life: In New York City, even the most boring of men can hold an unmarried woman's rapt attention."

[PigIron]

No.

[Arlette]

Originally posted by PigIron:
  No.

Best reply ever.  You must be exhausted after spending so much time on your response.
 
 I take it that means the show sucked?  (You can simply say yes or no again, I am not going to ask you to reach for more than one syllable.)

[PigIron]

Originally posted by Arlette:
   

Originally posted by PigIron:
  No.

Best reply ever.  You must be exhausted after spending so much time on your response.
 
 I take it that means the show sucked?  (You can simply say yes or no again, I am not going to ask you to reach for more than one syllable.) [/b]

It was a yes or no question!  Anyway, I won't watch it.  It might be a good show - I don't know.  I just have too much to do rather than spend an hour (or half-hour) of my week watching "Love Monkey".  I'm just busy.
 For someone who watches zero television, I know way too much about "Love Monkey" already.  I haven't read about it or heard about it fom friends, but I tuned into the Steelers-Colts game on Saturday, and there was a "Love Monkey" ad (or two) every friggin commercial break and to be honest, that was more than enough.  It just looks like some zany, guy-in-the-city show.  I could be wrong.  Maybe its a reason to believe in network television.  But I don't think I'll find out.

[Darth Ed]

I watched it and liked it, for the most part. The show actually covers much the same territory as CBS's other single-guy-in-New-York show, "How I Met Your Mother", except it's less sitcom-y, of course.
 
 The soundtrack was kind of lame. Tom's raging against corporate rock, but the show's soundtrack was nothing but corporate rock (Interpol, etc.). But it's still just the pilot, so hopefully they'll get some more appropriate, edgier music...

[kurosawa-b/w]

I missed the show. Which was fine since I have too many other shows to keep track of. Anyone else watch the 24 premiere?

[Bags]

From New York Magazine
 
 Television
 Fantasy Island
 What �??Love Monkey�?? lacks.
 
 By Adam Sternbergh
 
 At first glance, crafting a Sex and the City for guys seems obvious, in the way that, say, taking Jaws and setting it in outer space (ergo, Alien) seemed obvious. But Love Monkey, the new hour-long comedy from CBS, demonstrates the perils of such a project: It squirms and bawls like the bastard love child of Candace Bushnell and Nick Hornby. The premise (four guys navigate the thorny�??but hilarious!�??world of urban dating) is pure Carrie Bradshaw, while the star (Tom, played by Ed�??s Tom Cavanagh, a hapless, single A&R guy who�??s just in it for the music) is swiped straight from High Fidelity. The result is a misfit hybrid that�??s hard to believe, let alone love. If you can swallow the idea of a stunted New York music executive who, when listing his idols, peters out with Aretha and the Stones, you might also be willing to buy that he�??s (a) blind to the fact that his attractive gal-pal (Judy Greer) is so obviously right for him and (b) oblivious to the totally shocking secret of his buddy, Jake, the former pro jock who�??s mysteriously girlfriend-free. But what ultimately hampers Love Monkey isn�??t its lack of credibility. It�??s a severe shortage of preposterousness.
 
 Compare it with HBO�??s Entourage, the true SATC for boys. Sex and the City was always less comedy than fantasy, which is what Entourage gets and Love Monkey misses. SATC took Seinfeld�??s urbane-quartet template, then sprinkled it with glitter: great friends, hot guys, unlimited funds. Swap Manhattan with L.A. and Blahniks for baseball caps, and voilà: Entourage. The show�??s often praised for its insider�??s dish, but Entourage unfolds in an imaginary Hollywood�??one where movie star Vince Chase can dine out with Mandy Moore with nary a paparazzo in sight. Yes, the show mentions the occasional �??Page Six�?� item, but for the most part, the seamy side of celebrity�??tabloids, tantrums, hospital trips for �??exhaustion�?��??is wished out of existence. Instead, Entourage is a waking dream of best buds (and good bud), pimped rides, endless after-parties, and conflicts that get hugged out so tidily they�??d make the writers on Family Ties blush. In other words, it�??s about as realistic as a Manhattan where every wardrobe is handpicked by Patricia Field, and there�??s a cab always waiting, especially in the rain. Compared to the denizens of those dreamworlds, the soggy singles of Love Monkey are left stuck at the curb, looking like a bunch of drips.

[vansmack]

It was as if Cameron Crowe had met Nick Hornby and they literally merged Jerry McGuire and High Fidelity and made it a TV show.  The networks, feeling a bit frightened by the male dominated content, made Nick and Cameron add a little bit of Say Anything and About a Boy to make the lead character appeal to women because the content is cleary male dominated.  
 
 And while normally that would sound good to some, it actually made the show very predictible.  
 
 I have written about 15 screenplays that I trashed because I felt there was nothing fresh to them and this was a classic example of something I would have trashed.  Will it work?  Of course.  Is that sad?  Even more so.  And here's why:  for everything that has been done before and keeps getting rehashed, there's a spot for it on network television.  But for everything fresh and new that is just a little bit out there (read: Arrested Development), the networks cancel it.  I just don't get it.  
 
 Is this going to keep me from watching it?  Of course not - I watch more televsion than any human ever should.  Am I ever going to watch it live and make it a priority in my life - no.  I was entertained, enjoyed it a little, but felt like I had seen it already.  And that's a classic difference TiVo makes in todays TV viewing - I wouldn't watch this show but for TiVo.
 
 Not necessarily fair after one episode, but I'd be shocked if I got this wrong.
 
 And one other point that really bothered me - it's 2006 - who still hides the fact that they are gay?  Especially in New York!  Maybe the former pro-athlete thing is a decent reason, but seriously, catch up to the times.  A former pro-athlete keeps it from the public, but his friends would certainly know.  The notion that other males in/around their 30s won't accept him as one of the guys because he is gay is completely contrary to what is really happening in todays liberal urban centers.  If I don't talk to 5 gay guys in my daily routine, it's because I'm visiting The OC.  Things are different in the conservative suburbs.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

I bet Matthew Shephard wishes he had hid his gayness. Many people don't live in liberal urban centers.
 
 

Originally posted by vansmack:
 
 
 And one other point that really bothered me - it's 2006 - who still hides the fact that they are gay?  Especially in New York!  Maybe the former pro-athlete thing is a decent reason, but seriously, catch up to the times.  A former pro-athlete keeps it from the public, but his friends would certainly know.  The notion that other males in/around their 30s won't accept him as one of the guys because he is gay is completely contrary to what is really happening in todays liberal urban centers.  If I don't talk to 5 gay guys in my daily routine, it's because I'm visiting The OC.  Things are different in the conservative suburbs.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Don't Touch the Monkey: Another Uncool Sitcom Tries to Be Hip
 Love Monkey
 
 by Joy Press
 January 17th, 2006 4:56 PM
 
 
 
 If working in the music biz is such a dream job, why have there been so few TV shows set in the field? I can think of just two: the short-lived UPN hip-hop drama Platinum and the awful '80s sitcom Throb, starring a pre-Frasier Jane Leeves. Maybe it's because TV's attempts to nail the concept of cool always turn out to be supremely uncool. Take Love Monkey, a new lite romantic comedy starring googly-faced Tom Cavanagh (star of the series Ed) as Tom Farrell, an indie-label a&r guy looking for love and a few good bands. The novel it's based on was compared to High Fidelity, and some of that Hornby vibe comes through. Tom talks records with his buddies (including a bloated Jason Priestley), makes a mix CD for his pregnant sister to listen to while she's in labor, and bemoans his girlfriend's taste (she likes "vagina music" like Jewel).
 Of course, Tom's idea of hip is utterly square. He makes an idealistic speech about seeking power and originality over schlock then tries to woo Wayne, a marketable teen heartthrob played by Columbia Records' latest product, Teddy Geiger. Instead of satirizing the hypocrisy of the rock world or exploring the inner workings of the decrepit music industry, Love Monkey pursues a retarded idea of rock 'n' roll authenticity, spouting earnest references to Dylan and the Chelsea Hotel at every turn. "You're Wayne and we will try to keep your Wayneness," Tom promises sincerely, damning Love Monkey to the crapper, another failed attempt to use rock as the backdrop for an insipid sitcom.