Greetings, readers. It's been a while since I've written anything on this blog, but now seems like the appropriate time to write this down. A rather long time ago, I posted a blog entry in which I noted I had purchased the first season of a show called October Road. I was going to sit down and watch it. Low and behold, I didn't, though I find myself wishing I had discovered and written about this gem before.
I bought the show rather on impulse, as it starred one Bryan Greenberg. Aside from the fact that we share a name, I think this guy's great. I've seen him in both The Perfect Score, my pick for one of the best "teen comedies" of all time, and he was also in Prime, which is far and away my favorite romantic comedy ever. I hadn't seen him since Prime, so I did a quick IMDB search to see what he was up to. And it was there I stumbled upon October Road, which was aired by ABC. I read a quick synopsis of the show on Amazon prior to making my purchase. Simply put: Bryan Greenberg + a story about friendship and love = win.
I have at long last, concluded my viewing of season 1... all six episodes of it. I'm anxiously awaiting my copy of season 2.
I find myself struggling to find something to say about this show. Part of what I enjoy most about life is writing. I take pride in my words and my ability to use them. I enjoy critiquing things, whether good or bad. I take a fair amount of pride in the work I put into this blog. And yet, over the course of two nights, every expectation I had, every thing I thought I knew about what a TV show could be, everything I thought I knew about how fictional characters can draw emotions from me, everything was just shattered, and I am left utterly without the words to describe it. It is, in a word, humbling. Imagine that... humbled, by a TV show.
Yet I will try to explain what it is that makes this show so damned special, though it would be naive of me to think that I could do it justice.
Over the course of 6 episodes I was so thoroughly drawn into this world, into these characters lives... I was not just observing. These were not just strange people - these were people I knew, these were my friends, my enemies, my worries and tribulations and triumphs. I laughed with them, I shed tears with them, I drank with them, sang with them, I loved them, and I hated them. SIX episodes.
In essence, the story is about an eighteen year old boy who leaves his home in small town Knight Ridge, Massachusetts, a town with his friends, his girlfriend, and his family, and stays gone for a decade. He returns, a renowned author, whose single book was a memoir of his life in Knight Ridge. The book painted all his childhood friends, girlfriend too, in a harsh light. He finds himself drawn back to his home while suffering from a case of writer's block. And it is here that the story begins, for the show is really about how things have changed in his small town in the last decade, and how, no matter how hard he tries, nothing will ever really be the same.
The story is multi-faceted, constantly shifting between groups of characters and the lives they have built for themselves in the last decade, yet I find myself caring about all the characters and not just cherry-picking the ones I'm interested in. The characters are quirky and fun, but they are also very much down to earth, very much real people.
I would be remiss to skip out on talking about the actors here. Let it be known that the entire cast is awesome. But I'd like to focus for just a moment on the 3 perhaps most important ones. First and foremost is, of course, Nick Garrett, our author of the hour, as played by the brilliant Bryan Greenberg. The man is... I don't have words. Perfect, maybe. It's criminal that he's not seeing more work given his ludicrous amounts of talent. The ever-lovely Laura Prepon plays Hannah Daniels, the girlfriend of 10 years past. Prepon's portrayal of Hannah is just marvelous and by itself would make watching the show worth it. Finally, Aubrey is Nick's other love interest. She's played by the wonderful Odette Yustman, who was also in Cloverfield as Beth McIntyre. She plays this role so well... it's once again difficult to find the correct words to describe it.
It's so hard to write any of this. Describing something is such a left-brained activity, and yet it takes the whole brain to truly appreciate this show for everything that it does so well. The characters are so real, the acting is nigh perfect, the soundtrack, mostly licensed music, was chosen for the emotional impact each song has on the show. Everything here just drips with sincerity and heart, and I have quite simply never experienced anything like what this show has allowed me to experience. The six episodes took me on a wildly turbulent roller coaster ride, emotionally speaking. I laughed out loud to my empty apartment; I got excited and pumped my fist into the hot, summer air; I smiled ruefully at the humor injected in an otherwise sad moment, and yes, a couple of tears dampened the arm of the couch I was curled against during some of the most heartbreaking moments I've seen in any fictional medium.
What can I say? The show is simply powerful. It moves me in ways I would never have expected to have been moved. It plucks at my hearts strings, tickles my funny bone, and does innumerable other things that I could think up clever metaphors for. But those silly descriptions pale in comparison to just the simple, brilliant perfection of this show. While the power of description fails me, I can say that I am truly glad I have found something that has moved me and humbled me so.
Which brings me around to the downside of this whole thing. It is painfully difficult to find truly great TV. I can count on one hand the shows that would fit into that category, and only one of them is currently airing (that would be House, M.D., for the record). The reason it is difficult finding these amazing shows is that they tend to be cancelled really early on in their run. A modern prime time TV audience wants explosions and cool CGI and sex and sexy people. Shows that are about characters simply do not make it. The exception to this rule is the previously mentioned House, which lacks all the things people typically want in a prime time show in favor of characters, and that is why it is so brilliant. Why that show is successful is beyond me, though I can tell you I'm thrilled that it is still on the air.
It truly saddens me to say that ABC cancelled October Road after its second season. The depth of my anger over that rivals the depth of my love for this show. It is always difficult when I find something this freaking good, and it's gone, because other people didn't bother to appreciate everything that makes it special. And make no mistake, this show is special. It is entertainment at its best. It is deep characters with whom I connect. It is lessons about the joy of forgiveness, the things you can find in all the places you aren't looking, the amazing happiness that comes with having good friends, the delicate balance of doing the right thing, the power of love and of the human spirit. October Road does this so deftly, all the while building around a truly wonderful story, one that is both tragic and uplifting..... And once again I am struck with the feeling that the world is a little worse off for missing out on all the things October Road could have turned out to be had it only been given the wings to fly.
But it's just a TV show some of you may be thinking, and that's all right, really. I hardly expect most people to get it. And no offense to those of you who don't. You can have your explosions and your sex, and that is fine by me. But, for people who feel that if you are going to invest time in watching something, it should contain more than just a heaping dose of eye candy, then I highly suggest you find your nearest DVD retailer and pick yourself up a copy of both seasons of October Road.
I promise, you won't regret it.
EDIT: It seems that Bryan Greenberg has landed himself on another TV show. This time he will be one of the leads in HBO's upcoming comedy called How to Make it in America. It's being made by the same folks who created HBO's hit Entourage, so look for HBO to push this one big when it comes around. I don't have TV, but I will definitely be looking to get my hands on some episodes as soon as possible once it comes out.
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