Lisa Kudrow Rules

Lisa Kudrow as Fiona Wallice



by Catherine Giordano

Lisa Kudrow is all over our TV screens. 

Web Therapy

Season 4 of Web Therapy is delivering everything we have come to expect from this Showtime series. It is a stunning success--so quirky and funny with not one, but two or three guests stars, on each show.  Lisa Kudrow plays Fiona Wallice, a therapist with “no patience for patients.”  (A new episode premiers on Showtime, Wednesdays, 11pm) 



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So far in Season Four we have had Billy Crystal as Fiona’s new step-father , Gwyneth Paltrow as a new age guru who begins as a patient but becomes a friend/benefactor,  and Jon Hamm as a client who is paid by elderly ladies for phone sex. I’m not going to outline the plots because the fun of the show is watching them unfold and transform and then vanish.  It’s like a magician’s sleight of hand—it moves so quickly.

If you would like to see some of my prior reviews, you can go to Web Therapy on Showtime for an overview and then you can do a search for “Web Therapy” on this web site to see reviews of individual episodes..



Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish

The Comeback

Now you can get a double dose of Lisa Kudrow. Starting on Sunday, November 9, The Comeback, is back. It’s ironic because the show was cancelled  nine years ago and now it is back. The premise is that Valerie Cherish, a fading sitcom actress is participating in a reality show hoping to make a comeback.  Valerie couldn’t be more different from Fiona.  Valerie is so insecure; Fiona is so brash. Kudrow plays Valerie as so fragile it is sometimes painful to watch because Valerie may shatter into a hundred pieces right before your eyes. (Anew episode premieres on HBO, Sundays, 10pm)



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I don’t have any reviews of season I of The Comeback cecause it predates this blog by years.  But you can get up to speed on the Huffington Post.

Real Time with Bill Maher 
And this week we get a triple dose of Lisa Kudrow. She will be a guest on the November 7^th, 2014 edition of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” (HBO, Friday, 10pm.)




 

Showtime’s “Web Therapy” “304 “Case Files”

Mocktails O’Clock

By Catherine Giordano

Meg Ryan as Karen Sharp

The tales of Fiona continue.  Pour yourself a cocktail (or mocktail) and enjoy this review/recap and commentary for Showtime’s “Web Therapy” episode #304, starring Lisa Kudrow, titled “Case Files.”

The show opens with Fiona chatting with mock-friend Gina as they enjoy cocktails (mocktails for the pregnant Gina). I say mock friend because while Gina feels that Fiona is her best friend and confidante, Fiona is only interested in manipulating Gina for her own ends.

Gina is whining about having to go to Paris. She hates France for many reasons.  One reason is that the waiters in restaurants will not let her have coffee before her meal

.

Gina tells Fiona that she wants to have a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. She wants her wedding to immediately follow, also in Las Vegas. She wants a classical wedding so she has chosen Caesar’s Palace as the venue. She wants Fiona to be her matron of honor. She wants herself and Fiona to wear identical white gowns for the ceremony.  She wants Fiona to arrange everything for her special day. Does anyone think this is going to end well?

Next call. A quick one with Keystone Fidelity, the accounting firm for her husband’s campaign, as Fiona tries to get some information concerning the investigation of her possible misuse of campaign finances. She doesn’t have passwords for the accounts so she doesn’t get any information.

Fiona calls Kip for a little camcorder chat to ask for the passwords.  Even though Kip has run off to New Mexico with his lover Ben and is seeking a divorce, he still feels kindly towards Fiona and tries to help her. He tells her the passwords might be in a briefcase that was packed into one of the boxes of things from the campaign office that were packed when the campaign shut down. The boxes were delivered to Fiona’s house.

Ben who has been in another room watching TV is angry when he finds Kip talking to Fiona.  Poor Kip—he seems to like to be in relationships with a partner who is very controlling. Ben is overtly controlling whereas Fiona did it more subtly. Ben hates Fiona probably because he is jealous of Kip’s relationship with her, and tells her quite nastily to sign the divorce papers immediately. Does anyone think Fiona is going to do that?

So now Fiona has what she needs? Not so quick.  Not so simple. Read on.

Fiona calls Jerome who is staying at her apartment in New York to find out where the boxes are. He tells her that all the stuff in the boxes was sold off in a yard sale. He knows who bought it, and he knows the brief case is up for auction on eBay. He plans to swoop in with a last minute bid and get the briefcase. He fails, and someone named karen4kip wins the item.

Fiona also learns that Halley, a onetime girl-friend of Jerome is staying at her New York apartment. Fiona demands that Kip make her leave. Jerome claims that everything is fine, but talk about rubber sheets, and loud knocking sounds and shouts of “I’m coming” coming from the apartment’s bedroom have gotten Fiona very upset. Jerome claims that it is only the doorman knocking on the door with a delivery, and Halley is telling the doorman that she is coming to answer the door.

Fiona’s final conversation is with Karen Sharp, played by Meg Ryan. Karen is a hoarder and one of her collections is centered on Kip. She claims that everything is being archived for posterity, but in actuality Fiona can see that stuff is strewn all over.  Karen refuses to sell the briefcase to Fiona. Wily Fiona realizes that she can play Karen because it becomes evident that Karen is obsessed with Kip. (She asks Fiona a lot of questions about how Kip is as a lover. She is fascinated by the revelation that Kip used to place a cloth over Fiona’s face during lovemaking.) Karen wants to cloth.  Fiona says she can give her a pair of Kip’s running shorts, unwashed, so still redolent with his sweat.  Fiona offers to bring the items to Karen’s house the very next day.

Karen considers this a generous act on Fiona’s part, but clearly Fiona aims to get into the house so she can steal the briefcase or at least the papers with the passwords that she hopes to find inside the briefcase.

The tales of Fiona, mockery extraordinaire.

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Showtime’s Web Therapy #303 “Believe It or Not”

The Universe Has its Way

By Catherine Giordano

Fiona always wants to have her way, but it is clear that sometimes the universe has its way. And apparently the universe doesn’t like Fiona very much.  Why do I say that?  I think it is obvious after viewing Showtime’s Web Therapy, season 3 episode 3, airing on Tuesday August 6, 2013.

Steve Carell as Jackson Pickett "soul searching"

The episode begins with Fiona chatting with Franny, the composer lyricists for “Fiona, The Musical” or should I say former composer/lyricist. Fiona has succeeded in manipulating Franny (played by Megan Mullally)  into getting herself fired from the show.  Now the show has no music and the whole project is shut down.

But not for long. The universe apparently wants this show to go on. There are new investors. One of then is Fiona’s rejected lover, Jackson Pickett (played by Steve Carell) and the other is her wealthy boyfriend Austen Clarke (played by Alan Cummings). 

Fiona has been telling Jackson that she is too good for him—she thinks he is a loser, but on this episode she learns that Jackson could buy and sell her many times over.  He has become rich running a group called Quorum (Scientology, anyone?).This is where all his previously observed psychobabble is coming from.

Fiona also learns that the universe wants her two lovers to meet. Jackson has not met Austen yet, but I don’t think it will be good for Fiona when Austen finds out she had a one-night stand with Pickett. (Of course, Austen had several nights’ stand with Hayley to whom he is now sham-married so his heir will be legitimate when it is born, so perhaps he will be understanding.)  

Back to Franny –it appears that the universe loves Franny. After a chance meeting with Lady Gaga, Franny is now the darling of the pop world.  Lady Gaga, and every other big pop star, wants Franny to write songs for them. In fact, Lady Gaga has paid handsomely for all the songs written for “Fiona, the Musical.”

“Including my songs,” Fiona asks.  “What do you mean,” Franny shoots back. “I wrote every one of these songs. You said so yourself.” Fiona is shut out of any riches that may accrue due to the songs she wrote because she persuaded Franny that Franny wrote them while she was drunk. (See last week’s review.)  Fiona is shut out. This is “the-universe-delights –in-ironic-comeuppances” moment of the week.

Can things get worse?  Yes, they can. It turns out that Hayley is living in Fiona’s New York penthouse—the one gifted to her by Austen. Further, Jerome is there also and he is the one who has gotten Jackson to invest in the musical.

There is one bright spot for Fiona. Robin Griner, the videographer/documentarian for Kip's campaign and Fiona’s one time rival for the affections of Kip may have footage that could help exonerate Fiona who is under investigation for fraud concerning misuse of campaign funds. But Robin extracts a high price form Fiona. She wants an invitation to a gala event that Austen is planning and has numerous other demands. Fiona agrees to give her everything she wants, and Robin agrees to turn over all the footage.

When Robin stands up, Fiona can see that she is pregnant. Robin has married Richard and she is carrying his baby.  This is the same Richard who apparently had a crush on Fiona and whom Fiona manipulated mercilessly, first encouraging and then discouraging, the same Richard who was the accountant for Kip’s campaign. I think the universe is just setting Fiona up to slap her down again. Oh, how the universe loves to play games.

The last chat of the episode is with Jackson again. He has sent Fiona a little contraption—a combination handcuffs and lie detector test. He calls it “soul search.”  Fiona puts the hand cuffs on and Jackson asks her questions.  The device chimes if she tells the truth and buzzes if she is less than honest.  But Jackson, all enthusiastic with his new toy, has put the device on himself, a more advanced model that delivers an electric shock if the wearer lies. Fiona starts asking if his treatments are phony; if Quroum is just a scam.  Jackson tries to deny it, but his yelps of pain as the device delivers electric shocks expose his denials as lies.

Fiona may appear to have gotten the better of Jackson, but if the universe has its way, It won’t last long. The universe takes delight is delivering “comeuppance” to Fiona.

Web Therapy is wonderfully absurd, and Lisa Kudrow makes a magnificent Fiona.  A lot of the show is improvisation, so the plot takes wild twists and turns as the actors try to surprise and challenge each other with bizarre responses. At the end of each episode, we see some outtakes, and we realize how difficult it is for the actors to keep a straight face. 

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Showtime’s Web Therapy #302 “Who Doesn’t Love Musicals”

by Catherine Giordano

The Way It Was

Lisa Kudrow as Fiona
Click here to get the DVD from amazon

Really, People, you have to believe me—this is the best show that you are not watching. If you like smart comedy, watch Showtime’s Web Therapy with Lisa Kudrow—a new episode debuts every Tuesday night at 11 pm. If you missed the previous two seasons get the dvd or order them from NetFlix. or itunes, or amazon or whatever.

This is the way it was on the second episode of season three.

Steve Carell is back as Jackson Pickett, Fiona’s one-night stand who has fallen in love with her. They are both back at their respective homes and having a little video chat.  Fiona puts it as delicately as possible, which is not very delicately, the he “should not aspire to the likes of her.”   “Go find a waitress or a shop clerk,” she tells him.  Also, oh so delicately, she accuses him of stealing her Rolex watch.”  Jackson declares his love in response to the former and his innocence with respect to the latter.

Pickett? Pickett? Where have I heard that name before? Oh, yes, T. Boone Pickett.  Wouldn’t it be a hoot if Jackson is the billionaire’s son or grandson? We see Jackson sitting in a very spacious well-appointed office during his video chat with Fiona indicating that he may be a wealthy successful person.   (Perhaps that is why he laughed when Fiona accused him of stealing her watch.) P.S. Fiona finds her missing watch on her desk right after she ends the chat with Jackson.

Jackson claims to have memories of the future so he knows that Fiona is actually in love with him. He claims that her call was just an excuse to stay in touch with him. He knows that is the way it was.

Fiona’s next chat is with her gay almost ex-husband and his lover Ben. They live in New Mexico now and are big supporters of the NRA. Fiona says that the NRA slogan is “Guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people.”  The conversation is hilarious as Kip and Ben try to correct her, but Fiona, who knows that she is always right, continues to insist that “people with guns kill people.” (And really, isn’t she right?) Eventually the conversation moves on. It seems that Fiona mis-used some campaign funds when Kip was running for Congress (before running away with Ben) and the feds are closing in on her.

Alarmed, Fiona calls Richard who used to handle the campaign finances.  She is trying to get the records. Richard claims that he has shredded them. Fiona becomes increasingly desperate. 

Next Fiona chats with Jerome, her former assistant who had left to run her mother’s rival business, Net Therapy, which was a knock off of her own business, Web Therapy.  Richard is not as he was on the last episode. He looks a mess. It seems that Putsy has sold Net Therapy for mega bucks to a British company and Richard was not part of the package. He is now desperate for work. Fiona plays him into agreeing to work for her again, but at minimum wage with no benefits.  And one other thing—Fiona insists, as a condition of his employment, that Jerome steal Putsy’s client list. Lastly, in “the-push-for-maximum-advantage” moment of the week, she tells Jerome to give her some of the items from his house, a bronze horse from his mantle and a large urn that was sitting on the floor across the room. Fiona doesn’t need this stuff, but she just can’t help herself—when she has someone within her grip she has to squeeze every last ounce from them.

Fiona has a little chat with Franny, the composer/lyricist who is doing the songs for the musical Fiona, a show that will portray Fiona as a very bad person. She evidently took Franny out for drinks and since Franny is a lush anyway, got her very drunk.  Fiona then substituted her own compositions for Franny’s. By the way, the Franny/Fiona’s show tunes satirize show tunes and the whole thing is hilarious.

During the video chat she works on convincing Franny that she actually wrote those new songs.  At first, Franny is dubious because they are very bad songs, but Fiona succeeds in convincing her that this is the way it was—Franny wrote the new songs while drunk the previous night. 

Franny, aided and abetted by Fiona, has a sudden epiphany—she was writing hateful songs about Fiona because she actually hated herself.  It seems, for the moment, that Fiona has been successful in changing her characterization in the musical from bad person to good person.  But she is in push-for maximum-advantage mode, so she plants a seed in Franny’s mind that she should quit the show. Fiona obviously hopes that if Franny quits the whole project will be cancelled.

And that is the way it was on Tuesday July 30^th, 2013 at 11pm on Showtime.

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Showtime’s Web Therapy "Relax Reboot Revenge" #301

by Catherine Giordano

 "Fiona! The Musical"

Fiona’s baaack and Showtime’s got her. And I can’t get enough of her deliciously wicked humor.

Steve Carell on "Web Therapy" playing Jackson Pickett

Season 3, episode 1, of Web Therapy begins with Fiona at a tropical resort, just her and her computer.  And some guy she picked up and spent the night with, Jackson Pickett (played by guest star, Steve Carell.) They are having a video chat with lots of coy double entendres.  Jackson appears smitten; Fiona appears annoyed that Jackson has misinterpreted their night of casual sex. Jackson is in the room with her, sitting next to her, but she insists they communicate by video cam. It’s a figurative way of keeping her distance.

Next, Fiona video chats with Franny Marshall (played by guest star, Megan Mullally). Fiona wrote an autobiography, sold the rights, and has lost all control over the property which is now being turned into a Broadway musical named “Fiona!”  (And we know how much Fiona hates to not be in control of everything and everyone.)

Franny is the composer/lyricist who is writing some deliciously bad songs for the show, song which portray Fiona in a very bad light. Fiona keep suggesting the show should go a little easy on her.  Maybe she is bad, but in the end, the she will be seen to have a heart of gold. Franny seems oblivious to Fiona’s discomfort as she explains there will be no tired clichés in this show—Fiona will be really and truly bad right up to the very end.

Fiona also has a video chat with her former assistant, Jerome, who has left her to work for her mother Putsy Hodge, who has set up a service to compete with Fiona's’s Web Therapy. Putsy’s service is called “Net Therapy. Fiona sputters that her mother can’t just steal her idea to no effect.  What makes it worse is that throughout the call the phone at Net Therapy is ringing off the hook. To Fiona’s chagrin, her mother appears to be far more successful with online therapy than she is.   

Finally, Fiona chats with Gina Sparks, her ditzy former co-worker who was about to reveal some damaging information about her before Fiona manipulated her out of the country and right into the arms of her extremely wealthy Scottish lover, Austen Clarke (played by guest star, Alan Cummings). Gina announces she is now in a family way and Austen joins her on screen to say that they will be married.

Gina leaves and Austen explains to Fiona that he is only marrying Gina so his heir will be legitimate and he wants things to continue between them as before. Fiona is calmly asserts that he will be married and so their affair must end. One small question for Fiona: Weren’t you still married to Kip when your affair with Austen began?  Oh, never mind--Fiona really didn’t mean it--it was just part of her manipulation of Austen. Austen tells her that he has bought her a penthouse in New York City. “Is it in my name?” she coyly asks. Austen assures her that it is in her name and Fiona relents.

Austen tells Fiona that he will divorce Gina as soon as the baby is born. Gina returns to the screen and Fiona tells her that she could get a pre-nup and ask for $75,000 upon the divorce. Austen tries to offer $100,000, but Gina is so thrilled with the $75,000 that she doesn’t hear him.  Every time Fiona manipulates Gina it backfires on her.  This is the “how-will this-come-back-to-bite-Fiona-in the-posterior” moment of the week.  

Web Therapy is apparently the hot show to be on. Lisa Kudrow, the star and producer of Web Therapy, gets some amazing “gets”. Three A-list guest stars in one show!  You have got to get this show.  A recap just cannot capture how delightful this show really is to watch.

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Web Therapy on dvd Season 1 and 2 available on amazon.com
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Web Therapy “Electile Dysfunction” Episode 211

“Electile Dysfunction” is a very clever and appropriate name for the season finale (Season 2 Episode 11) of “Web Therapy.” However, since I always like to rename the episodes in my reviews, I’ll name this one “The Worm Turns.” Fiona pretty much always gets her way, and this episode begins true to form, but by the end, Fiona is so battered that I almost feel sorry for her. I’d probably feel sorrier if I wasn’t laughing so much.

The episode opens with Fiona and a much calmer Newell. During the course of their conversation, we learn several things. Fiona has referred Newell to another therapist. Newell loves his new therapist; I mean really loves his new therapist. He has transferred his lustful fantasies onto the new therapist. Spoiler Alert: Fiona slowly reveals to Newell that the new therapist is Shevan, Fiona’s sister. Then bit by bit, she suggests that it was Shevan that he spied in the bedroom with his father. This is the two-birds-with-one stone moment of the week. She has struck out at Newell—he becomes very agitated again. She has struck out at Shevan, destroying her therapeutic relationship with Newell.

So far, so good for Fiona, but the people whom Fiona has treated like worms begin to turn on her. Fiona is angry with Robin because her old flame Richard is in love with her. (It is hard to see why Richard is in love with Robin, because she has nothing but withering insults for him) Robin announces that she has video tapes of Kip and Ben in “compromising positions.” She attempts blackmail and Fiona fires her.

Naturally, Robin releases the tapes, and Kip is forced to announce that he is suspending his campaign. Fiona must stand with him as he announces his love for Ben Just as in real life, the wife must always stand with her husband and be publically humiliated by the sex scandal.) Fiona stands slightly behind her husband—perhaps that is her little rebellion. I’d say she had a pained smile on her face, but with Fiona that is pretty much how she always looks. Fiona has lost this round.

In the next scene, Fiona’s assistant, Jerome, and his wife, Haley, announce that they have had a meeting with Lifetime, and the network plans to film Fiona’s autobiography as a musical. They describe some of the songs. The lyrics are totally derogatory. This will be a public humiliation for Fiona.

Wait it gets worse. Jerome is going to quit working for Fiona to devote his time to working for Dr. Hodge. We know Dr. Hodge as Fiona’s mother, Putsy. He will be helping Putsy set up her new business, “Net Therapy,” the business Fiona forbade her mother to start. Fiona is very upset to hear this news. Her mother has bested her again.

But it gets worse. Haley will be Jerome’s replacement working for Fiona. Fiona and Haley have a history. Fiona tried to stop Jerome from marrying her by hiding knives and razor blades in Haley’s carry-on bag so airport security would arrest her. And they did. And Haley is unforgiving.

No matter, Fiona reassures herself. She still has Austen. She calls Austen to tell him that Kip has left her, and now they can be together. Austen looks very uncomfortable, and then we find out why. Gina comes into the frame, sits on Austen’s lap, and announces that she is pregnant. Fiona is shocked and looks devastated.

Kip’s announcement of his decision to end his campaign has become a YouTube sensation, with over a million hits. His words have been auto-tuned. The video has been edited to make Kip and Fiona look ridiculous. Pictures have been spliced in. For instance, Kip is shown singing “I like it long and hard” and a picture of sausages on a grill comes up. (Perhaps, before the editing Kip had said, “I’ve worked long and hard.”)

At the end of the show, instead of the usual out-takes (as funny as the show itself), the YouTube video plays over and over. I found that the repetition made it funnier and funnier.

It was a great way to end the season—with Fiona’s comeuppance. But I am not worried by this turn of events. I expect Fiona will rebound back to her old self next season. After all, the show wouldn’t be any fun if Fiona wasn’t a manipulating bitch who crushes everyone who crosses her.

This picture from www.sho.com

Showtime Web Therapy "Stalk Therapy"

Season two Episode 10 of Showtime’s Web Therapy (which aired Sunday Septeber 2, 2012) is so packed with events (and hilarity) that I don’t think I can fit it all into one review. This show continues to entertain and amaze me as it piles one over-the-top scene onto another. It is a marvel of cleverness and fun. There isn’t one likeable character on the show, yet the show itself is immensely likeable.
 

Episode 10 is named “Stalk Therapy” because a man from Fiona’s past, Newell (played by David Shwimmer) is cyber-stalking, as well as in-person stalking, Fiona.  I’m going to rename this episode, “That’s What’s Gonna Happen” because throughout this whole episode, Fiona is either being told, or telling someone else, what is, or is not, going to happen.  

Here’s the story on Newell. Years ago when Fiona was a college student, Newel’s father, a professor at the college, was tutoring her. They hit the sheets more than the books, and Newell spied on them doing some sexual role-playing that was anything but by the book. Newell says this voyeuristic experience was his first sexual experience. He said that witnessing these sexual hi-jinks ruined his life and warped his psyche. Now, as reparation, Newell wants Fiona to participate in a bit of sexual psycho-drama with him. He tells Fiona that the only way he can be cured is to reenact the sexual shenanigans he witnessed with Fiona and his father. She tells him that it is not going to happen, and Newell insists, “That is what is going to happen. Give it up Newell, no one wins with Fiona.

Except Fiona’s mother, Putsy (played by Lily Tomlin). Putsy believes that she has killed her roommate at the “old-folks home”, and is convinced that she is going to prison. Her sock puppet now has dreadlocks and talks like Marlon Brandon. Mom is sporting tattoos including a tear drop to represent the murder she committed. Fiona tells her mother that it is not going to happen, Putsy is not going to prison.

One of the most deleightful things about this show is the rapid about-face of events. A few scenes later, Putsy is back to her old self. Now she’s dressed like Loretta Young, and is maintaining that her roommate’s death was a suicide. There was a suicide note.  The note was dictated by the roommate and written down by Putsy’s sock puppet. Did it happen that way or not?  No matter, Putsy has convinced the police that it was a suicide.

Putsy is back as feisty as ever. She is going to start a new treatment modality, “Net Therapy,” with four-minute psychodrama sessions with sock puppets.  Fiona tells her that it is not going to happen—she can’t just change “Web Therapy” to “Net Therapy” and change 3-minute sessions to 4-minute sessions and say that she has created something new.  But if Putsy wants to make it happen, she will. She recorded a previous web-chat she had with Fiona during which Fiona advised her about covering up her room-mate’s death. This gives her some leverage with Fiona.

This is the “whatever-mama-wants-mama-gets” moment of the week. As I’ve said before, Putsy is the only one who can outmaneuver Fiona.

Richard, Fiona’s former flame, now works for Kip’s campaign. He tells Fiona that he is in love with a co-worker. Fiona, of course, thinks he is talking about her. Fiona tells him that a relationship with her isn’t going to happen. But, Fiona is not the co-worker he is in love with.

Richard (played by Tim Bagley) is in love with Robin (played by Julie Claire), the young woman who Fiona’s husband, Kip, almost had an adulterous relationship with. They went to a hotel for a weekend, but nothing happen because Kip rejected her when he discovered that she wasn’t a transvestite. Fiona gave Robin a job on Kip’s campaign as a videographer, so she wouldn’t expose Kip’s predilections. Richard and Robin want to have a group session with Fiona. That, Fiona says isn’t going to happen.

One thing that is about to happen is Gina (played by Jennifer Elise Cox) becoming a a problem for Fiona once again. Gina, who worked with Fiona when she worked at Lachman Brothers, a corrupt securities firm, has been tricked into taking a job in Alaska by Fiona. But Austen happens to visit this remote outpost, and he has invited Gina to work in his London office. Fiona is not the least bit happy to have Gina working in close proximity to her paramour and benefactor. Will she find a way to keep Gina out in the boonies where her loose lips (and loose sexual morals) can’t do Fiona any harm? 

So what is going to happen?  Tune in next week for the season finale. 

 

 

This picture of Robin and Richard from www.cbspressexpress.com

Showtime's Web Therapy: The Insanity Offense

I love how during the opening credits the webcam turns and faces me.  It makes me feel like I am under the merciless scrutiny of Fiona Wallice.

And Fiona (played by Lisa Kudrow) does have her eyes on the people who populate her world. She’s on the campaign plane for the duration of this episode, but still keeping her eyes on everyone via the webcam.

There are a record number of four guest stars in this episode: Selma, Blair playing the human baby incubator (pregnancy surrogate for Fiona’s assistant, Jerome); Lily Tomlim; playing Fiona’s mother; Conon O’Brian, playing himself; and David Schwimmer, playing Fiona’s patient/stalker /accuser/old flame (I’m not sure what he is), Newell.

The official title of this show is “The Insanity Offense.”  I’m going to rename it “The Criminal Capers” because each of Fiona’s computer contacts are involved in schemes and activities that could land them in prison.

Taking the stars in chronological order, we begin with Selma Blair. While the cat’s away, the mice will play. She is sitting at Fiona’s desk eating from a big bucket of fried chicken (KFC?). Fiona is a bit of a neat freak, so she freaks out over the idea of grease on her desk. An argument ensues, and after a bout of verbal sparring, Fiona accuses the surrogate of a criminal act--faking her pregnancy to get money.

Maybe you’re just fat, Fiona says. “Fat,” screams the enraged surrogate, “I am not fat!” She lifts her blouse, pulls off the padding that made her look pregnant, and shows off her flat abs. Fiona orders her and her “foam baby” out of the house.

Next Fiona speaks with her mother, Putsy. Her mother is in a facility for her supposed (or actual) dementia. She’s dressed like Florence Nightingale and she has a sock puppet on her hand that she calls Putsy Petite. She insists that Fiona speak to the puppet. Putsy, the human one, tells Fiona that she has unintentionally killed her roommate by giving her pills. Putsy obtained the pills by having the other patients feed their meds to Putsy Petite. The sock puppets mouth hole led to a tube which deposited the pills in a jar.

Putsy wants Fiona to declare her insane so she can escape punishment. Fiona is shocked by her mother’s crimes, but not so shocked as she is at the sight of her mother’s bare, somewhat pinkish, buttocks when she turns her back to the camera to check on whether or not her roommate is breathing.  (Putsy ended up in this institution because she had taken to walking around bottomless.)

Fiona asks “Are you wearing a false bottom or have you just had work done?”  I’m labeling this as the-fall-on the floor–laughing moment of the week.

Now Fiona has to deal with Conon O’Brien. Conan has gotten his criminal band members to cut down Fiona’s tree as revenge for Fiona’s refusal to help him trick his sidekick on his show, Andy, into taking more of a backseat role. The tree is being “felled” as she speaks with Conan.

The quick-thinking Fiona tells Conan that the tree has fallen on Jerome. Conan is aghast when he hears that he might be criminally liable. Fiona tells him it is her ethical duty to report him. He begs Fiona not to do this. Fiona says she will keep his secret if he replaces her tree with another 300-year-old tree and let her be a guest on his show so she can promote herself.

Fiona is lying about Jerome, we soon see. Jerome walks into her office and almost gets on camera as Fiona hastily closes the session. 

Finally, Newell is on her computer screen. He is at her house demanding that she open the door. She tries to tell him that she is not at home, but Newell won’t believe her. He’s very agitated and hurls his father-fornicator epitaph at her again. The neighbors have evidently called the police because he is causing such a ruckus, and David scampers away before they arrive.

Every character on the show has committed the offense of being insane, insanely funny, criminally insanely funny.

 

This picture is from www.sho.com

Web Therapy on Showtime Season 2 Episode 8

 My name for this episode is “Fiona Has a Ball.”
 

It’s a pun because in this episode Fiona’s skills at emotional castration emasculation of men is especially evident.

 
It begins with David Schwimmer on the web cam; he is playing Neville Miller, someone from Fiona’s past. Only Fiona doesn’t recognize him (Ouch!) and keeps calling him Newell instead of Neville. (Ouch!  Ouch!)  Neville is devastated by this, so devastated that he goes practically catatonic. At one point he shouts a vulgarity at Fiona several times in a row, replacing the word “mother” with “father” in the well-known MF insult. I’m getting the feeling that Neville will be back, and we will learn how the young Fiona dropped the young Neville as her boyfriend and took up with his father instead. 

Conan O’Brien, playing himself, is her next patient. Just as Fiona diminished Neville by getting his name wrong and failing to recognize him, she now belittles Conon with the same tactics. She pronounces Conan’s name wrong and says she has never heard of him. (Ouch!) She tells him he is having a “mid-life crisis” because he is a failure in the entertainment business (Ouch! Ouch!). She suggests that he is not good-looking enough to be the host of a TV show, and when Conan is shaken by her comments about his looks, she tells him he has self-esteem issues. (Triple Ouch!). She googles him while he is talking.  (Quadruple Ouch!) Then she insinuates that O’Brien’s sidekick, Andy, on “The Conan O’Brien Show” is funnier and more appealing than Conan. She says that Conan is the vegetables and Andy is the dessert. (Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!) How many times can Fiona “rip his balls off"?

I use that phrase, “rip his balls off,” because Conan himself uses it. He is not referring to himself; he is referring to Fiona’s assistant, Jerome. Jerome breaks into the room while Fiona is in session with Conan to tell her some urgent news. Fiona calls him a “colossal idiot,” and she orders him to get out of the room. Her behavior causes Conan to say that Fiona was “cruel.”  He says, “You ripped his balls off, tied a bow around them, and handed them back on a silver tray.” Interesting—he can see the castrating knife when Fiona directs it at someone else, but not when she directs it towards him.

Even Fiona’s former co-worker, Gina, carries the balls theme forward. She is in Nome, Alaska at the job Fiona got for her in order to get her out of town. Gina sends Fiona a video saying she is “freezing her balls off.”  Wait, isn’t that an anatomical impossibility for a woman?  

In the last scene, Fiona and Conan get into a disagreement because Fiona refuses to play a part in O’Brien’s scheme to convince Andy that he should stop stealing Conan’s limelight. They argue, Conan delivers a veiled threat, but backs down saying, “This is a whole new ball of wax.”

We always knew Fiona was brazen and ballsy.  In this episode, we get to peer into her trophy room.   

My “This-sums-up-Fiona-in-a-nutshell” line of the week is spoken during the intro to the show. “Many of the most important names in Hollywood have one thing in common; they picked the wrong therapist.”

 

 

This picture is from www.sho.com

Web Therapy Episode 7 Infanticipation

Are the men in Fiona’s life deliberately trying to annoy her?  The self-centered Fiona might think so.

Her assistant Jerome has hired a surrogate to bear a child for him and his wife. The surrogate, played by Selma Blair ,is pregnant with triplets, and she is in the office.  Since Jerome works from an office in Fiona’s home that means she is in Fiona’s home.  Turns out she is making herself at home wandering about the house and getting into things at will.  For instance, Fiona’s lingerie drawer.

Naturally, Fiona is none too happy about this. She reads Jerome the riot act. First, h how could he and his wife decide to have a baby without consulting with her, Fiona. This is followed by the demand that Jerome’s family had better not interfere with his work.  And finally, she demands that the surrogate not be allowed into her home.

As usual, everyone is talking past each other. It’s like three separate simultaneous monologues. This is something very common on the show. Fiona and many of the other characters are each wrapped up in their own little world that only peripherally touch the worlds of the others.

Fiona’s next conversation is with Ben, the man who is running the campaign for her husband, Kip, who is running for Congress. One of the plot arcs of the show is about Kip being a closeted gay man.  After 17 years marriage Fiona has only recently discovered this.. In this episode, it is slowly, and hilariously, revealed through Ben’s conversation with Fiona that Kip and Ben are having an affair. 

 

Fiona is intent on being “first lady.”  Ben points out to her that even if Kip wins the election, she will not be first lady. The wives of Congressmen are not first ladies. Facts don’t matter to the self-obsessed Fiona; she already sees herself as first lady. I don’t think she is going to allow this affair ruin her chances of being first lady. Will the grandly manipulative Fiona, who always gets what she wants, be able to prevail once again?

Well, there is always Austen. Will Fiona be able keep Austen under her spell?  I can’t wait to find out.

This picture is from www.sho.com

Showtime's Web Therapy: (#15, #16)

Woman to Woman

Have you noticed that Fiona Wallice is sparring with other women a lot lately. She’s had run-ins with her mother, her sister, her husband’s almost tryst partner, her husband’s therapist, her book editor, and in the last few episodes, Kiristen Nobel, a writer, Allegra Farreau, an actress, and Gina, a young, oversexed, somewhat addled woman who worked at the same firm as Fiona when she worked for a Wall Street company which was investigated by SEC.

One thing you need to know about Fiona. You don’t want to tangle with Fiona.  If you do, you will almost certainly lose. You will lose badly. You won’t see it coming until BAM, the knock-out punch. Fiona is the master at revenge.

Kirsten Noble (played by Molly Shannon) is a lot like Fiona, but with a lot less class. She lost her job, she is desperately scrambling to make some money, and she doesn’t care whom she hurts in the process. Fiona meets Kirsten (via webcam, of course) because she wants to promote her husband’s campaign for Congress (and herself, of course) and Kirsten pitches some subtle digs Fiona’s way. Kirsten Is supposed to do a feature story about Fiona for a national magazine. But it turns out that Kirsten is not a magazine writer, instead she has a successful blog called “Neurotic Cornucopia” that deals in scandalous fantasy.

Kirsten posts a story about Fiona being a lesbian. As you might imagine Fiona is none to happy about this. At their next meeting Fiona expresses her displeasure, but Kirsten is undaunted. She’s undaunted until she discovers that her blog is gone from the web.  Fiona’s has gotten her very rich lover, Austen, who just happens to own the company that publishes the blog to shut her out. Fiona gives a jaunty wave and signs off. Kirsten should never have acted derisively towards Fiona.

Allegra Favreau (played by Minnie Driver) happens to find a manuscript of Fiona’s autobiographical book that was left behind on a plane. The publication of Fiona’s book is being postponed until after the election, but Allegra is a famous actress owing to her days as a child star on a T.V. series, and she wants to turn the book into a Lifetime movie in which she would play Fiona. Fiona flies to L.A. to take a few meetings.  Fiona and Allegra attend a party; Fiona knowing that Allegra is an alcoholic, urges Allegra to have a drink. Allegra get totally wasted, behaves disgracefully, and her career is over.  Don’t worry about Fiona. Lifetime still wants to do the movie, but with a different actress.  Allegra never should never have mocked Fiona for being uptight.

Finally, Gina, a sweet girl, with no skills, except , as she freely admits, “bedroom skills.” Gina has been going on job interviews, and during those interviews she talks about Fiona.  Fiona is none to happy to have Gina blabbing about her all over town so she tells Gina to stop looking for a job; she Fiona will get her a job.  Once again she turns to Austen and he provides her with a list of about a dozen jobs at his companies for Gina.  Does Fiona tell Gina about these jobs?  She does not.  Instead she tells Gina that there are no job openings except for one in Nome Alaska.  Gina does not want to go to Nome Alaska.  Fiona tells her that she will be the only woman in the whole town.  Gina now very much wants this job and is ready to leave immediately. Problem solved. For Fiona.  Gina’s problems might just be beginning. Gina should never have been blabbing Fiona’s secrets.

If you’re a woman, you don’t want to get entangled with Fiona.  And you definitely don’t want to go woman to woman with Fiona.

 

[This review covers two episodes from Season 2, “National Exposure” and “Adaption.” I entitled this review "Woman to Woman" because Kirsten Noble says those words to Fiona and that suggested the theme of this review.]

Picture Credit:  http://i4.ytimg.com/sh/wEkAE_CA0f8/showposter.jpg?v=4fe9d1e7

"Web Therapy" "Sister Act"

“Web Therapy” on Showtime continues to delight with its “walking wounded”, bloodied but unbowed”, win-at-all-costs  characters.  Season 2 Episode 4, entitled “Sister Act,” has Fiona sparring with her sister.

Fiona’s sister is named Shevaun. Shevaun is also a therapist. Shevaun is now Fiona’s therapist. Their interaction is devastating for both sisters. 

Shevaun is played by Julia Louis Dreyfus, currently the star of “Veep.” Julia is a great actress and she does a marvelous job of slowly unraveling before our eyes. Like Fiona her modus operandi is ego assassination with a thousand veiled insults and crafty manipulation.  It turns out, as good as she is at these ploys, she is no match for Fiona. Nobody can play this game as well as Fiona.  

Fiona needs to undergo15 hours of therapy in order to get accreditation as a licensed therapist. She had never bothered with this “technicality” before, but now that her husband, Kip, is running for Congress she has to get her house in order, so to speak.

And who will provide this therapy? None other than her sister, Shevaun.  Fiona wants her sister to just sign the paperwork, but Shevaun insists that there must be actual therapy sessions. Further, there will be none of this 3-minute stuff.  It will be 50-minute sessions.

Shevaun is trying to make Fiona face the truth about herself, her unhappy childhood, and her unhappy life. Fiona denies everything, and what she doesn’t deny, she  insists on seeing in a favorable light. The girls go at each other, dredging up things from the past, each insisting that the other one is the one with the unhappy life. 

Neither therapist is succeeding in “breaking” the other until in the penultimate session, Shevaun tells Fiona that red, a color Fiona wears all the time, is just not “her color”.  She says that Fiona only likes red because their mother liked red. This is the thing that takes Fiona down. She becomes so depressed she can’t get out of bed.

But nothing can destroy Fiona. Not for long anyway. Fiona decides that her sister is lying about how red does not suit her, and she rebounds.  She decides Shevaun was only trying to destroy her and vows revenge.

As soon had Shevaun has signed and faxed the paperwork that Fiona needs for accreditation Fiona reveals her nefarious vengeance. Shevaun, like Fiona, has many problems. Presently, she, her unemployed husband ,and their four kids are living with Mother. Shevaun is broke and had nowhere else to go. 

Fiona reveals that she has gotten their mother to give her power of attorney.  She has used this to arrange for Mother, who is no longer mentally competent, to be moved to a care facility. The house has been put up for sale, and Shevaun must vacate the premises immediately. You do not want to get on the bad side of Fiona.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Web Therapy "Publishers Cleaning House"

Season 4 Episode 4

Kip Wallice, the husband of Fiona Wallice, is just as egocentric as his wife. They make great sparring partners.

Kip is running for Congress.  He and Fiona look like the perfect political couple, both good looking, charming, and utterly superficial.

Ben, Kip’s campaign manager, and Fiona have a webcam session to discuss a few things that Fiona should say, and more importantly, should never, ever say, during campaign appearances.  Ben tries to gently guide Fiona to the politically correct positions, and Fiona listens to his advice and expresses her agreement while veering off to positions that will destroy her husband’s campaign. 

Is she really misunderstanding what Ben is trying to tell her or is she deliberately out to sabotage her husband’s candidacy?  Come on, this is Fiona we are talking about!  Do I even need to pose that question?  The poor hapless campaign manager keeps swallowing his objections—he must after all walk on eggshells around the candidate’s wife—as he moves on to the next topic.  The exchange is so funny as Fiona totally overwhelms Ben.

This scene reminds me of real-life political egotists.  Yes, I mean Sarah Palin.  In the HBO movie, “Game Change,” we see her handlers trying to guide her to be the candidate John McCain needs her to be. They have no luck—put her in front of a microphone and a TV camera and she goes rogue. 

It is great how life imitates art and art imitates life.

Be sure to stay for the closing credits.  They are interspersed with hilarious outtakes.  The actors crack each other up as they deadpan outrageous statements as this improvised show is being filmed.

P.S: The title of the episode refers to a book that Fiona has written.  Her "sugar daddy," Austen, has fired his assistant and that clears the way for Fiona to get her book published at his publishing house with a double in her advance.  (Fiona says Austen had doubled her advance; with Fiona you never know if anything she says is true or not.  One of the things that make this show so much fun is her artful self-aggrandizing lying.)