I wasn't going to post about this because I am a huge fan of Boston Legal. However, when I woke up this morning and it was still on my mind, I had to write it down to get it out of my brain. That, by the way, is how you people end up with 90% of these posts.
For whatever reason, the powers that be who run this show chose to present a Disney-ized version of New Orleans nightlife and accents to the rest of the country in this episode. A year and a half ago, this might have flown with people who have never been to New Orleans. Hopefully, now, people know a little more about the soul of the city than what was portrayed on this episode .
Here's a comment I left on another blog last night:
I was so mad!!! This is a great television show with an undoubtedly huge budget and they couldn't even find one single person with an authentic New Orleans accent?! I would have been happy if EITHER of them remotely sounded like someone from New Orleans. They both sounded like actors in a BAD local theater production of a Tennessee Williams play.
Then there was that farce they tried to call a New Orleans jazz club with Denny Crane onstage. It was so obviously someone's Walt Disney imagined version of a New Orleans club right down to all the wholesome, well-dressed patrons that I would have laughed if it hadn't been so sad.
12 comments:
I had the exact same reaction. I almost didn't watch because of the heartbreaking real situation at Memorial (three blocks from my son's house) that the show's trial mimicked, but I watched anyway and was equally disgusted. It's like they were *trying* to do something valuable and important by bringing attention to the scope of what happened and they ended up cartooning it so badly that it became insulting. I was cringing the whole time, and, honestly, I fell asleep before it ended. Did their doctor get convicted?
Sophmom - Their doctor didn't get convicted and, although James Spader did his usual excellent job with the closing arguments, it was so overshadowed by the rest of the episode that it didn't have the impact on me that it probably should have.
Although BL is one of my favorite shows, I didn't see it. It sounds as though they really missed the mark on this one.
Speaking of bad "Tennessee Williams" accents, I have a problem with that in "The Closer." I like the show, love the story lines, but Kyra Sedgwick's exaggerated accent just makes me crazy. I've never heard anybody talk like that around here, where Southern accents rule.
Serena Joy - I heard The Closer was a good show so I tried to watch it but I couldn't get past Kyra Sedgwick's accent and I ordinarily really like her acting.
I know what you mean, Laurie. She's a good actress, but that fake accent just makes "real" Southern girls want to choke her.
Serena Joy - Like ladies, of course.
Happens all the time Laurie, here the fake Aussie accents and the obligatory shot of the snake, kangaroo and kookaburra nearly make us chunder.
Here's the thing. Boston Legal is a cartoon. That's the joy of it. Their Texan accents suck, Bostonian accents suck, British accents suck, Cajun-Creole-Coonass accents suck. Ever bit of the show is "Disney-ized." It is a great television show, but only because it is, like the recent Texas gubernatorial candidate, Kinky Friedman, an equal opportunity offender. This post borders on the politically correct; i.e. "Nobody should play Geronimo but a 100% Native American." I think the episode dealt with a legitimate issue raised by the response (or lack thereof) post-Katrina in a dignified manner. Were they supposed to hire Dr. John to play the D.A. just so the small percentage of fans who know "an authentic New Orleans accent" would be fooled? I don't think so. Last week on ER, there was a displaced Katrina victim with no accent whatsoever. I'm sure they exist, thanks to one of the many quizzes provided by this blog. Certainly, there are degrees of every regional accent. Perhaps the D.A. and the judge were extreme caricatures, but that doesn't mean there aren't some people in N.O. who sound like that. If they hired my Grandma to play a Texan everyone in Texas would scream that "We don't sound like that!" Wow, I guess I've been invited to my last New Orleans trip now, huh?
Um...I can't follow that.
I missed it altogether.
Peter - I know exactly what you mean. I'm from Texas, remember? :)
Pokerboss - A fake, badly done New Orleans accent would have been preferable to a generic overdone southern accent and, although, this show is cartoon-ish, they usually do a better job on the more serious story line of the night.
Grimm - It's really a good show. This episode just pissed me off.
Somehow I haven't seen an episode yet but people keep telling me I should watch it.
I'll be sure to skip this episode, though!
LoryKC - It was a pretty weak episode overall, in my opinion.
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