Blogs and Stories
So Why Aren't You Watching Damages?
Far more than a prescient exploration of American power and its foibles, however, Damages presents one of the most elaborate, unpredictable TV narratives in recent memory, a constantly morphing M.C. Escher puzzle that will, hopefully this week, unlock this season’s mysterious centerpiece: What happened in that hotel room with Ellen, the gun, and Patty? How and why, exactly? “We know point A, we know point Z. The fun of it, for us, is how we get there,” Todd Kessler said.
“It’s not that we have no idea what the ending is. It’s that we have several specific ideas for how the season could end, “Zelman explained. “We leave the possibility of changing our minds.” Their creative process involves script rewrites up until the night before a scene is shot, collaboration with actors, and editing sleights of hands even the actors can’t predict. For the gun scene, they instructed Rose Byrne to perform multiple takes with these open-ended possibilities in mind.
“I felt like I was back in acting class,” Byrne said (in a startlingly thick Australian accent) of the unconventional shoot. “Very nerve-wracking. KZK work in interesting ways. They’re very collaborative [but] they’re very creative in the editing suite. I don’t really know, ultimately, what I’m going to be watching that week. They’re always fucking with the timeline.”
Olyphant, Ellen’s not-who-he-seems love interest, embraces the creative possibilities of working with KZK’s always-remixable scripts. “They have a terrific understanding of basic storytelling,” he said. “Less information is better.”
Tate Donovan, who plays Patty’s loyal, blinders-on lieutenant Tom Shayes and who directed two episodes, said “It’s one of the greatest experiences of my career working on this show. I can tune in and I am just as excited to see what they do with what we shoot as an audience member.” And, despite the intensity of the material, the last-minute rewrites and the A-game professionalism its star brings (“If you do a scene with Glenn Close, you don’t want to be the idiot who doesn’t know his lines.”), Donovan said that the mood on set is “shockingly ridiculous. We all realize that we don’t really know what’s going on. We spend a lot of time trying not to burst into laughter.”
Since Damages—never a ratings powerhouse despite critical acclaim and star power—has been guaranteed a third season, audiences can probably assume that Patty and Ellen will avoid death and extended jail time. But what of…everything else? On serialized shows like Lost and 24, Todd Kessler said, “an audience has been burned in the past. An audience has invested in stories and characters, and then the shows don’t deliver. At the end of the season, they just ask more questions. Our audience wants to believe that they are in good hands.” And they are.
Justin Ravitz has written, edited and/or reported for New York, Out, Us Weekly, Time Out New York, New York Press, Worth and elsewhere. He lives on the Upper East Side and grew up in Bergen County, N.J., and doesn't care who knows.
What Are We About to Pass?
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
10 Power Food Combos
Divya Gugnani is the CEO and founder of BehindtheBurner.com, an emerging culinary media brand that creates expert-based content about food, wine, mixology, and nutrition.
How Barack Beat Bibi
Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, will be published by HarperCollins in June. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Hanks Meets Fonda
Justin Ravitz has written, edited and/or reported for New York, Out, Us Weekly, Time Out New York, New York Press, Worth and elsewhere. He lives on the Upper East Side and grew up in Bergen County, NJ, and doesn't care who knows.
TheRamblingExpatriate
Thank you Mr. Ravitz for this article. This show is premiere television and suffers from minimal marketing. There is simply no better acting in the world than Ms. Close. She does more in the weekly, tricky scripts given to her with a sideways glance than any crash, bang or boom of some of the other shows mentioned. Every person I know who has seen the series is hooked after 15 minutes.
Living abroad I can tell you I look forward to this weekly iTunes download more than any other!
I encourage all fans of this show to get the word out so we can enjoy a 4th season as well.
dsycks
Thank you for pointing out first rate entertainment. Sadly this will most likely follow suit with all the other great shows on TV of late and be deemed too expensive to produce and be slashed from the airwaves.
ApresSki
This is the show the networks need to let people know how much those reality shows SUCK!! You need real actors who know what they're doing.
This show is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo HAWT, I don't even know why there's a column on it. After my 1st viewing, I was hooked and downloaded every show until I had them all! The acting is outstanding and plots textured and complex.
Shame on the networks for not having this in late night instead like Dexter. Go to www.hulu.com, grab some popcorn, something to drink and sitback. Truly pure, intelligent entertainment.
BernieO
I started watching this season after reading a review like this one. However I found I needed to watch last season. It was not available to rent from my local video store but luckily I am a member of blockbuster.com and found it there. It was well worth the effort.
Shotcaller
I watched the first season, and couldn't stomach the dialogue of Glenn Close. It was embarrassing to listen to. Maybe it's improved, but it was enough to send me packing. No comparison with Mad Men, the writing of which is first-rate.
jaguarxjs
'So Why Aren't You Watching Damages?'
Because I have a life.....................................
FNYGY1
Love it, love it, love it! Damages is fantastic. In terms of comparing it to other excellent shows like Mad Men - silly exercise, really. Both are exactly what they set out to do and thus, vastly different shows.
Cforchange
I watch TV only when I want to - get the program out on Hulu or Netflix. Cable and tv by their schedule is a thing of the past.
FancyFrancie
I AM watching. Damages is superb.
AliceJ
I've watched Damages from its inception and my TiVo is set to automatically record it incase I'm not home to watch the show. However I can understand that it's not to everyone taste. Very, very quirky and I get tired of the back and forth timelines. Glenn Close, however, is worth putting up with the things I don't like about the show.
atthemoney
Could it be that many cable providers don't have FX on HD?
Cyclysm
There has never been a better period for television drama, and Damages is proof; a show with high-drama, relevant story lines and an almost unimpeachable cast of quality actors. As for those who don't watch television, you might want to turn in your candlestick for light bulb, your horse for a hybrid and come visit the future - it's a nice place even without the City section (insert: tears).
cheesemonkey
What in God's name are you talking about?
The dialogue in this show is pitiful, and Rose Byrne's Ellen could not be more wooden if she were a carved mannequin (which she now appears to be).
Glenn Close is the only interesting thing in this entire show, and her character is grotesquely unlikable, which makes the whole enterprise tiresome.
No wonder nobody's watching it.
matthewf
Wonderful show, def. better than the other crap that clogs the air waves.
NHBill
I watched the first season and was looking forward to the second but the premier episode left me cold. I moved on. "Breaking Bad" is the best show on TV hands down!
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.