I’ve really been enjoying Bored to Death since it moved past its underwhelming pilot; I love its laid-back charm and its low-stakes detective drama, and, well, any comedy with a scene that climaxes in someone hurling a vial of semen sample across a room is bound to win my heart. The show is so intensely, specifically Brooklyn-centric, though, that I had to question whether this was objective critical appreciation, or whether it was colored by being jazzed at seeing Jason Schwartzman in a skateboard chase across an industrial canal a few blocks from my house. (Next week’s episode includes a scene set at a fictional version of my and Adrian Grenier’s food co-op.)
Last night’s episode served as kind of a control group, since it mostly took place in New Jersey, with some stopover in Manhattan, and it was one of the show’s strongest. I love the intergenerational chemistry between Ted Danson’s man-child and Jason Schwarzman and Zach Galifianakis’s child-men, and the show seems to have found its screwball-noir tone. Are any Tuned Inlanders following it? [Update: If you are, you owe it to yourself to be reading creator Jonathan Ames’ morning-after thoughts at HBO.] And how do you think Curb Your Enthusiasm is holding up?