Showtime’s newest original series, Going to California (debuting 10 p.m. EST Thursday) really isn’t that bad. It’s just forced. The writing is tight at times–nicely quirky–but unoriginality grubs its way into the mix, giving way to cliché on key occasions.
However, if you’re a music fan–particularly of late 1970s and 1980s rock-you’ll love this show. The Gin Blossoms’ “Found Out About You” opens the show, good and loud, and some Journey classics soon follow. Aerosmith and Bon Jovi pop up just a matter of minutes later, and quickly, you realize music’s quite important to this series, shaping the story’s progression. Very energetic background tunes.
As for plot, the show follows two young friends (played by Sam Trammell and Brad Henke) in search of their heartbroken friend, who decides to venture cross-country after being dumped by his longtime girlfriend. The twosome travels to Memphis in the show’s debut episode, and come across some colorful characters along the way.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen these characters before.
NFL defensive great Lawrence Taylor turns up as a cross-dressing homosexual named Iris, but if you’ve seen Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you’ve already seen the performance. An Elvis freak also joins in–but you’ve seen that about 12,000 times. Don’t focus on the ancillary characters if you want to enjoy this series. Instead, think back to your high-school days and all of the mindless romps you once went on and kick back and reminisce. The teen-age discourse is right on.
Ultimately, dialogue is the real joy, here. Quick one-liners erupt at will, keeping each scene fresh and surprisingly humorous. The stabs at drama fall short–as do the aforementioned attempts at shocking us with bizarre characters–but the comedy is strong.
It’s not easy to criticize this series, so I won’t. Give it a shot. Pour a drink, think of high school and relax. That’s the point of this show.
