Lately, as more and more people have been finally discovering these musings, I’m asked what did I consider to be the “apex mountain” point of my life, It’s with more than a touch of wistful irony that I immediately pivot to the early oughts, when my star at FX and what we euphemistically referenced as “emerging networks” was rising at the very same time my personal life and health was arguably at their nadirs.
I’ve waxed nostalgic quite often about the outsized success that THE SHIELD, NIP/TUCK and RESCUE ME had with yours truly having a key role in helping them become populist touchstones. What I frequently gloss over are the things that fell far short of those standards that reminded us that no one ever bats 1.000 and that you have to work really, really hard time and time again no matter how much perceived momentum and gravitas you think you’ve built up. In FX’s case, our big miss was a lamentably cynical and over-the-top half-hour “comedy” called LUCKY. Set in the underbelly of Las Vegas and the seedy world of compulsive gamblers, on paper it had a lot of potential. John Corbett, fresh from his stint as Sarah Jessica Parker’s wet dream Aidan when SEX IN THE CITY was the rage, was the lead, and a still mordidly obese but extremely promising Billy Gardell was the comic relief that stood out amongst the supporting cast and clearly caught Chuck Lorre’s attention. I still remember the overnight promotional junket we got to attend at the coolest hotel in Vegas where Gardell and I shared a couple of cocktails realizing we were probably the only two guys that night that weren’t likely to get laid.
You probably don’t remember it, nor should you–it was poorly received, minimally watched and ultimately erased from the FX legacy even quicker than certain politicians dropped the stories of the Tuskegee airmen from official government websites. Clearly, no one at Apple TV chose to recall it, as they were merely jumping on the bandwagon to adapt the best-selling summer read of the same name authored by Marissa Stapley in 2021 which wound up in just about every cool socially distanced beack goer’s tote bag. It took this long to finally reach air thanks to availabilities, strikes and the fact that Apple indeed had a wealth of riches ahead of it in queue, many of which were justifiably honored at last week’s Emmy awards nominations. Launching it as the first arrow fired after that seminal moment was in hindsight a promotional masterstroke, as was the decision to get out ahead of a head-to-head battle with THE ODYSSEY with a mid-week launch. When beach bags are just as likely to contain Apple devices as physical books and you don’t have to care about Nielsen ratings getting this LUCKY back in the mix om the heart of summer vacay seasib is a pretty savvy move.
Much like the eponymous FX flop, this LUCKY has a pretty yuge and auspiced cast and crew-a point not lost on many of the reviewers who have weighed in in the wake of last night’s two-episode premiere. Creator Jonathan Tropper (YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS), star Anya Taylor-Joy (QUEEN’S GAMBIT) and co-stars Timothy Olyphany (JUSTIFIED) and Annette Bening (you name it) have especially impressive IMDBs. Throw in the beefcake of Drew Starkey and the dogged determination of Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and, much like an Apple device itself, it’s a darn glossy and attention-getting array. But as ROGER EBERT.com’s Brian Tallerico observed, form doesn’t always trump substance:
The true shame here is that “Lucky” has an all-star ensemble, all of whom are doing their best to keep the slow patches moving. Like so many Apple TV shows, the producers opened the wallet for talent and attracted a fantastic cast led by …Taylor-Joy as the title character, Lucky Armstrong, who is introduced in a lavish Vegas suite with her husband, Cary (..Starkey). The two beautiful people also happen to have a duffel bag of cash, hinting they might be living large on money that doesn’t belong to them. After a night on the strip, Lucky awakens to find Cary gone, and he’s taken the money with him. Did he betray her? Or is he in trouble?
Before she knows it, Agents Billie Rand (…Ellis-Taylor) and Eli Gates (Mo McRae) are leading armed officers through the casino in search of Lucky. She barely escapes but jumps out of the frying pan into the fire when she’s caught by mob underling Priscilla Matheson (…Bening), who also happens to be Lucky’s mother-in-law. She wants to know where the money and her son are, with assistance from a tough guy named Dutch Ocampo (Clifton Collins Jr.). Before long, we learn that both Priscilla and Dutch answer to a crime lord named Whittaker, played with chilly precision by William Fichtner.
To be fair, there are those who seemed to glom onto it, as evidenced by the chirpy take from TV LINE’s Dave Nemetz:
I’ve seen the first three episodes — is the TV equivalent of “all gas, no brakes.” Stylish and propulsive, “Lucky” runs on pure adrenaline, delivering a string of heart-pounding action sequences, and is buoyed by Taylor-Joy’s tough but vulnerable lead performance…This all plays out a bit like “The Fugitive,” with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in the Tommy Lee Jones role as no-nonsense FBI agent Rand, tracking Lucky’s every move. There’s some “Run Lola Run” mixed in, too, just in the relentless pacing and punk-rock attitude. (Maybe it’s Lucky’s hair, too.) …The action sequences are where this show really shines, though: The jaw-dropping stunts and death-defying escapes — like a dangerous tussle in a moving car at high speed — will leave you gasping for air right alongside Lucky.
Even VARIETY’s Aramide Tinubu offered some atypically gushy kudos:
Replete with gunfights, car chases and more than a few intriguing grifts, all seven episodes of “Lucky” feature heart-racing sequences that rival those of any worthwhile high-voltage thriller…the show maintains its dynamism because it remains character-driven.
But perhaps because my bar was set so high by the level of completeness, escapism and quality that the likes of WIDOWS BAY, MARGO’S GOT MONEY PROBLEMS and yes, YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS exhibited I netted out much closer to the take offered up by THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s
That the main con in Apple TV’s Lucky takes place before the events of the series, makes no sense, and therefore adds nothing to the principal story isn’t necessarily the only reason nothing in the seven-episode limited series clicks. But it’s representative of the choices made in an adaptation that scraps the entirety of the book being adapted and replaces those elements with motley bits and pieces that fail to generate a consistent tone, theme or pace. It’s a show about an identity-swapping heroine that has no sense of its own identity.
And I found myself vigorously nodding along with Tallerico’s upfront observation:
“Lucky” is one of the most egregious examples of the “Why Isn’t This a Movie” problem of the modern streaming era. After a promising opening episode, it’s another show content to spin its wheels to meet the episode order rather than develop the story at a reasonable pace. With 10-15 minutes of plot and character development per 45-minute episode, it’s a journey during which one is constantly envisioning the great film version of the exact same story, one that cuts away so much of the fat on what could have been a lean and mean thriller. It’s just part of an epidemic of TV writing that feels almost intentionally languid so that people who are doing other things on their phones while they watch don’t have to worry about missing too much when they’re not paying attention.
I kinda suspect some of the powers that be at Apple knew this in advance. Avoiding the urge to put it out there a couple of months earlier for consideration in this year’s Emmy mix minimizes the sorts of comparisons I drew, as evidenced by the general mix of positivity we’ve seen. Maybe they’ve buried the memory of the first LUCKY but I know they remember what it’s like to hit a speed bump when you’re barreling along at a torrid pace. This feels exactly like that, and I regret to say I’m in no rush to see how it all ends.
But I will assure them that I won’t be replacing my viewing time by binge-watching Corbett, Gardell et al even though the temptation to do so was prompted by the revelation that all 13 of those episodes are readily available for free on YouTube (The fact that Disney chose to let those rights expire tells one something about how much they valued it). Some of us do learn from the mistakes of our past.
Until next time…