Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) is a writer who keeps talking about writing his second novel but he has not quite gotten around to it. He also occasionally writes for a magazine where he is good friends with his boss, George Christopher (Ted Danson). They hang out and even smoke pot together. And it is because Jonathan loves smoking pot and drinking white wine a little too much that his girlfriend Suzanne (Olivia Thirlby) moves out…
Jonathan’s best friend is Ray (Zach Galifianakis), a not-so-employed comic book creator. Ray has a girlfriend, Leah (Heather Burns), who has two kids of her own and his biggest problem is that they haven’t had sex for a couple of weeks. And even though Ray is probably not the most rational person around, he does find Jonathan’s new “job” insane.
Trying to cope with Suzanne leaving, Jonathan posts on Craiglist, saying that he is not a licensed, yet affordable and capable private detective. And he soon finds his first client…
This is a comedy series from HBO and even though it is not as daring as Sex and The City or True Blood, it is quite an entertaining show. I didn’t use to like Jason Schwartzman as he had made a habit of playing annoying parts; but here he is perfect as Jonathan and with all his flaws, Jonathan is a likeable character. Ray is more amusing than hilarious but it works. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Ray is played by Zach Galifianakis ,who you do remember from The Hangover where he plays Alan, the weirdest of the bunch. I just want to laugh as soon as I see his face.
Ted Danson is a charming actor who fits both comedy and drama equally well and his George is an original, interesting and often entertaining character.
This is not a sitcom and not exactly a laugh-out-loud comedy but each episode gets more entertaining and fun to watch. Episode 2 is definitely funnier than episode 1 and having seen 3 episodes so far, 3 is my favorite.
The show is created by Jonathan Ames who has named the leading character after himself. So I am guessing there is some relation to his real life. The first season only has 8 episodes but the show will be back for season 2. Bored to Death is a really refreshing and sweet show for both men and women.
Fun note: In episode 2, the client that hires Jonathan is played by Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig and in episode 3, the movie Broken Flowers’s writer/director Jim Jarmusch makes a guest appearance as himself.
Give this refreshing show a shot. Rated at 8.3 on IMDB.