"... sacrifices are easy when you're holding the knife..."
Starz are a US cable channel best-known for unsubtle drama like Spartacus: Blood & Sand and Camelot, but they seem to be moving away into more levelheaded shows with Torchwood: Miracle Day (thinking man's sci-fi) and now the political drama Boss. Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Frasier) stars as the Mayor of Chicago, who is diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition that only his doctor knows about. Connie Britten co-stars as Grammer's screen wife. The series is created by Farhad Safinia (Apocalypto) and the pilot has been directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting). The project was the subject of a fierce bidding war between four networks, before Starz won the Lionsgate-produced series.
What do you make of the trailer? It's gives away nothing but a sense of the tone, but I really like what I'm seeing. Grammer's been trying and failing to find another sitcom to follow Frasier for years now, so deciding to move into dramatic territory feels like a wise, overdue move. He's never struck me as an inherently funny actor, actually, so I'm pleased to see him in something more serious. The trailer makes Boss feel like it's going to be a spiritual remake of Profit (the short-lived 1996 series about a murderous businessman), but the premise sounds more like a political twist on The Big C--which in turn was a feminine, upbeat take on Breaking Bad.
Anyway, this has my attention now, how about you?
Boss begins its eight-episode season on Starz this October.
