If you’ve ever worked in politics or journalism, chances are good that you had as hard a time as I had with the over-the-top antics on the first season of “Boss.”
While Kelsey Grammer chewed the scenery, his alter-ego, Mayor Tom Kane, ate up the opposition — or maimed them, at the very least.
And the brave reporter Sam Miller (Troy Garity)? He was more of a crusader than a Templar knight, for God’s sake.
Having lived in both worlds in real life (newspapers and politics — not the Crusades), it was obvious from the get-go that not much here had anything to do with real life.
But because TV premieres this off-season are slower than dial-up, I thought I’d give “Boss” another look — fully expecting to happily throw fruits and sports objects at the TV.
But instead, I ate the fruit and didn’t bother with the sports equipment. I’m here to say I suddenly seemed to care about this show and the despicable characters that inhabit its world.
For starters, the season’s first episode is pretty damned riveting. Mayor Tom Kane (not to be confused with the former New Jersey governor who pronounced his name the same way) is really beginning to display the symptoms of Lewy body dementia.
He’s seeing things that aren’t there — and imagining scenarios that aren’t happening. These two symptoms are, of course, very common in mayors who don’t even suffer from dementia.
Take NYC’s current mayor, Mike Bloomberg, who sees bikers who aren’t there in bike lanes, and pedestrians who aren’t there sitting in seating areas in the middle of the street.
As for Kane and the show, however, hallucinations are both a good and a bad thing. Tonight’s episode, for example, ends with a giant shocker. But it will leave you wondering if the shocker of an incident actually happened or if it’s all in Kane’s mind.
We viewers won’t be hanging around long if most of the scary, juicy good stuff ends up being hallucinations.
But there’s no question about the reality of another scenario. Miller (who is now the editor of the paper), finds out being editor doesn’t mean being free to do whatever you want.
He’s confronted by the paper’s owner, who tells him in no uncertain terms that his exposé on the mayor’s redevelopment plan has cast two developers who happen to be big advertisers in a bad light.
“You might consider apologizing for your misguided opinion and ask them to reconsider pulling ads from our publication,” he demands.
That same conversation happened to me once at a former paper, and it’s why I’m no longer at that former paper.
The other players are all in sync with Grammer’s Kane now, too. Especially interesting are Kane’s scheming wife, Meredith (Connie Nielsen); his protégé, gubernatorial wannabe, Ben Zajac (Jeff Hephner); and two new aides Mona (Sanaa Lathan) and Ian (Jonathan Groff).
It all seems almost real. Almost.