Easy Money

I decided to give CW's "Easy Money" a try solely because it had Laurie Metcalfe in the cast. She always manages to create great characters regardless of whatever else is going on around her. It was worth a look, I figured.

I was pleasantly surprised by the show, given that it's had no critical press whatsoever. I think what's a little off-putting at first is that the photography is very flat, and looks almost as if videotaped. And the show's setting is in a slowly running to seed suburban strip mall, which doesn't exactly lead you to think that anything profound is going to unfold.

But as I watched I began to see that the photography is eminently suitable for the unvarnished suburban scenes, which not only centers on strip malls, but indoor shopping malls and a second tier local community college.

As for the characters and their story, well..it's shaping up to be slightly more Shakespearian than anything set in a seedy suburban setting has a right to be. Laurie Metcalfe plays the "Lady Macbeth" of Payday Loans. She's been carefully guiding (manipulating) her two sons and one daughter, who all work for her in the family business. Like Al Swearingen, she's at once morally repugnant and still somehow likable. In the first episode, her brightest son, the one who best understands the management of the business, finds out that he's not related by blood.

If this sounds familiar, then it is. It's very similar to the story that's being told in "Dirty Sexy Money", only in a slightly more declasse neighborhood. "Easy Money" has an equally skilled cast as the one in "Dirty Sexy Money", and with each episode, the screw turns slightly on Morgan Buffkin, the smart son, just as it does on Nick George, the put upon lawyer. The writing is understated, the humor is dry, and the soundtrack kicks ass.

Sadly, the show has almost no viewership at all, and I don't have any hope that I'll be seeing much more of it. It's smartness is too subtle not only for the masses, but apparently even for TV critics.

The show also answers the burning question of whatever happened to Judge Reinhold.

This is the best show on CW currently IMHO. Jeff Hephner reminds me a little of Matthew Fox on "Lost" and he could even carry this show, but he doesn't need to because the rest of the cast is so good.

The subject matter is off-putting. It's about seedy shylocks. If half the people who might otherwise watch this show owe money to such people themselves, why would they want to watch a show about them? Even so, you have to admire Morgan, Hephner's character, because he refuses to physically hurt anybody who owes money. Instead, he uses psychology and, yes, under-handed trickery to get money from his customers. The trouble is that you see the look on their faces, and you know that even though he didn't break their bones, he hurt them all the same. (In the case of a customer named Yapp, there is nothing subtle about his pain, he is comically over the top with it.) Making Morgan sympathetic would seem a hard sell, but this show does make him seem like someone who is in a dirty business who nevertheless tries hard to keep it as clean as he can. Maybe the addition of the Mamayo brothers to the cast of characters helps: these rival loan sharks are NOT above breaking a deadbeat customer's legs. Even Morgan's crooked mother seems honest compared to them.

Against this unhappy drama, the comic aspect of the show is of such a dry nature that when I was asked if the show is funny, I had to think about it. Yes, it is funny, but so was the Sopranos right up until Tony murdered someone with his bare hands in an early episode. The grim subject matter of "Easy Money" is so, well, grim, that the dry humor, which is funny when it happens, is forced into the back seat by the high stakes drama. Morgan doesn't really want to do what he is doing or be who he has been as long as he can remember. In the second episode, his friend who works at the mall's book store tells Morgan that what he is agonizing over is an opportunity to become whatever he wants to be. Apparently the friend has heard Morgan express the desire before to leave his way of life before, but he has always thought he was trapped by his family ties.

The people Morgan deals with are either crooked or miserable or both. There is humor in their behavior, but it is sad. A lot of them are too stupid to know that they are doomed. Their antics are only comical as long as you forget that, in the long run, they will end tragically.

All of that is reason to understand misgivings about this show, but it so well done that the show rises above the material. Both episodes seen so far have been as good or, often, better than what is on the big networks.

Don't write this show off without giving it a chance.

I will watch anything that has Marsha Thomason in it. That is what went wrong with the show "Vegas". They let her get away. I had never even heard about this show I was just clicking down the list of shows she has been in when I saw that this has a few full episodes. I am glad it did. This is a really good show with a great cast. Kinda like a "Sanford and son" meets "Dallas". I am surprised it only did one season. After all it had Marsha Thomason in it. Unfortunately, I have only seen the first few episodes so far. Does anybody know why this is no longer on the air? Did Marsha Thomason leave or something? I feel this happens with a lot of really good shows. The network fails to advertise it enough and then they sit back and wonder why no one is watching. If anybody has the other episodes please let me know at Brainwave68@yahoo.com. If Marsha reads this feel free to send me an autographed picture. <(*_*)> Thanx

Now that I've seen all eight episodes of Easy Money, I'm addicted. I'm hoping the show will finds its way to DVD so I can purchase the set and keep this classic forever. I've taken loans from pay day loan stores and paid those horrific fees. Unlike this show, nobody from the company hunts you down; the employees make annoying phone calls then submit your pre-dated check for payment. But I live in Chicago. The premise of this show--Morgan (Jeff Hephner)and his mom, Bobette (Laurie Metcalfe), hunt down deadbeat customers and retrieve the money (the principle plus 25% interest per week)--is believable because the setting is South Nile, a suburban area in the Southwest where strip and indoor malls pass for local culture.

The show failed to attract the number of viewers it deserved because of poor marketing from the CW network and airing it opposite Desperate Housewives. Moreover, this was not a CW type of show. There were no horny teenagers in angst worried about popularity and purchasing designer labels. The relationships in this show were often layered and messy. Bobette was a matriarch whose Machiavellian manipulations kept both business and family afloat. Furthermmore, the viewer saw how the business affected Bufkins' position in the community: They were somewhat marginalized and viewed with contempt by the very people who used their services. The show implied this marginalization was probably the reason Morgan's siblings, Cooper and Brandy, had parasitic spouses. No one of quality would stay with a Bufkin. Morgan did become involved with a beautiful doctoral candidate, but he was circumspect about his profession.

The viewer had to pay attention to the body language of the actors. Gestures conveyed meaning that carried the plot, unlike some shows where the actors constantly talk and explain. Hephner's wonderful eyes and strong body expressed emotions in instances where a lesser actor would have needed lengthy dialogue.

This show was well written and well acted. The viewer was taken into the local setting and slow pace of the Southwest, as well as the lives of desperate clients who never grasped that money couldn't buy self-respect. The viewer saw how the Bufkins, as Morgan explained, preyed on weaknesses, but managed to show concern for their customers. The show was about contradictions, conundrums, and complications. Anyone interested in quality television should give it a viewing. I recommend episodes 4, 7, and 8.