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RAY RICHMOND
TV critics know what they like, but they're sure about what they hate.
So when asked to name both their favorite and least favorite new shows on basic cable, it was clear what show really got under their skins.
Jackass, MTV's outlandish, stunt-driven, pseudo-reality, half-hour series created by director Spike Jones, shows high ratings do not equal high praise.
In a survey of 11 critics conducted last month, four named Jackass as their least favorite new series, a pretty amazing feat, given that only five episodes had aired at that point.
Call it the South Park syndrome. "I hate that it makes me feel old to detest something as just plain stupid as this show," says TV Guide critic Matt Roush of Jackass, "but I can't help it. I really, truly, honestly hate this show - and I have serious trouble taking anyone seriously who doesn't have the same opinion."
Detroit Free Press TV critic Mike Duffy couldn't agree more.
"Be careful what you ask for," Duffy cautions the show's producers and MTV programming executives. "A show with this sort of title is begging for critical abuse."
Duffy and Roush were joined by USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco and Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun-Times in relegating Jackass to the very bottom of the cable heap.
For those who have yet to experience Jackass, it stars gonzo host Johnny Knoxville, a go-for-broke guy whose stunts have included showering himself with feces from an upturned outhouse and grilling steak on his fire-retardant-clad body. (Cry not for Knoxville, who just nabbed $1 million to star in a forthcoming feature film entitled, simply, Tree.)
Much to the chagrin of the Jackass-bashing foursome, the show's annoying antics have sparked the biggest numbers of any entertainment series to launch on basic cable this year. And it's packing in more of MTV's male 12-34 target demographic than any other show in the network's history.
The Jackass ratings coup comes as decidedly dreadful news for Roush, in particular.
"What really steams me about this `comedy' romp are the repeated shots of young people ramming their bikes into trees and bushes," the TV Guide critic gripes. "Kids jumping off rooftops onto trampolines and nearly maiming themselves, laughing as they wince ... The show is reprehensible, but no matter how many disclaimers they run, (it's) also dangerous. It makes reckless and foolish physical peril look like a gas."
Duffy, on the other hand, says Jackass makes him wax nostalgic: "It makes one pine for the subtle, sophisticated wit of Tom Green."
On a more positive note, the TV critics surveyed were bullish on Bull, the Wall Street drama that premiered on TNT over the summer. Bull was the favorite choice of Hollywood Reporter TV critic Barry Garron and USA Today's Bianco, while it was listed as a runner-up for top pick by Duffy.
Bianco praises Bull as "a fairly faithful replica of a mid-level network drama." Duffy calls it "a solid, intelligently done mainstream drama."
Garron felt the show outshines a broadcast rival.
"It speaks volumes for cable that the TNT drama about stocks and traders is immeasurably better than its broadcast network counterpart, The Street, on Fox," he says. "When it comes to smart writing, textured performances and a winning sensibility, Bull corners the market."
Also gaining multiple mentions as a cable favorite was Lifetime's Civil Rights-era drama series, Any Day Now. It was the favorite selection of both Daily Variety TV critic Laura Fries and Miki Turner of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.
Fries lauds the show for its "stellar acting," which she feels has been "totally under-appreciated." Turner singles out series lead Lorraine Toussaint as "one of the most underrated (performers) on television" while noting that "the chemistry she has with Annie Potts is just magic." Turner took her plaudits for Any Day Now a step further, calling it "the only series on TV that speaks to me as a forty-something African-American woman."
Also gaining votes as a basic cable must-see was Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a favorite of Duffy as well as Rosenthal of the Sun-Times.
Duffy commended Stewart's "droll, merrily irreverent wit" on a show that "offers a refreshing jolt of wacky sanity in an increasingly surreal media and political environment."
A handful of other new series received positive mentions.
Critics polled named a range of shows as their top picks for best basic cable shows, such as Farscape on the Sci-Fi Channel; Food Network's cult smash Iron Chef; the offbeat USA Network hour Cover Me; The World's Most Dangerous Places on Travel Channel; the raunchy FX comedy Son of the Beach, co-executive produced by Howard Stern; and Nickelodeon's new Nicktoon series, Pelswick. Comedy Central's rude South Park also landed a pair of thumbs-ups, one as a favorite and a second as runner-up.
Expressing his fondness for the animated Pelswick - which centers on a boy in a wheelchair (he prefers the term "permanently seated") - Los Angeles Daily News critic David Kronke says, "There are a lot of gross-out jokes, some funny, some obviously aimed just at kids. On top of that it has a positive message, but I don't hold that against it."
TV Guide's Roush lists USA's Cover Me as his top series choice on basic cable. Creator-producer Shaun Cassidy's quirky style "is perfect for the land of cable," Roush argues. "I just like the way the show blends its humor and suspense with the trappings of what looks like a typical family drama."
Meanwhile, David Bianculli of the New York Daily News casts his vote for Sci-Fi's Farscape.
"It has impressed me a lot with its increasingly original stories and high-caliber acting," says Bianculli. "I like it for the same reasons I'm such a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: sly comedy mixed with genuine drama and suspense, wonderful special effects and costumes and an original vision that rewards loyal viewers."
Besides singling out Jackass for a drubbing, critics had a hard time nominating only one show as their least favorite cable pick.
It's not that there is a dearth of dreadful shows; quite the contrary, reducing the list of possibilities to but a single choice made many a little bit crazy.
"It's like asking someone to identify the leaf of poison oak you hate the most," quips Bianculli. Kronke of the L.A. Daily News adds, "I could choose pretty much anything on E!, QVC or the Game Show Network."
Nonetheless, the critics persevered, four of them picking Jackass and two (including Bianculli and the Hollywood Reporter's Garron) naming the World Wrestling Federation shows Raw is War and War Zone on TNN - as the least palatable shows running on basic.
"Nothing drives me quite as crazy as the Jamaican psychic in those late-night commercials," admits Bianculli, "but the WWF is a good place to start defining the bottom of the TV barrel."
Agrees Garron: "Yes, professional wrestling has plenty of fans. But, then, so does cockfighting and female genital mutilation."
Also garnering votes in the least fave category were the Lifetime rookie drama Strong Medicine; the Melissa Etheridge-hosted Lifetime paranormal series, Beyond Chance (dubbed "inexplicable and hokey" by Fries of Daily Variety); the long-running USA Network toon Duckman; and Lexx from Sci-Fi Channel.
Of Lexx, Kronke grouses, "I guess the idea is that it's supposed to be funny. But it's not - not even remotely. How funny can a forlorn, unsuccessful horndog be in the 25th century if he's not funny now? What really (irks) me about shows like this is that even my dullard, talent-free, imagination-impaired brother could do better."
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