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December 08, 2004
Huff (Showtime Original Series)
Must mention the new Showtime original series HUFF, starring the ever-delightful Hank Azaria as well as my all-time favorite actor, Oliver Platt. Azaria plays Dr. Craig "Huff" Huffstodt, a psychiatrist who has a young patient commit suicide in his office. The story revolves around this story and Huff's feelings of guilt and sadness surrounding the event. Another aspect is his relationship with his sometimes overbearing mother, his wife, and his son. That and his friendship with Oliver Platt's character, a selfish drugging, boozing, sex-addicted lawyer who is constantly doing something bad for him.
I wasn't too excited about the show and actually let the first 5 episodes gather on the DVR on the cable box. I have watched the first four episodes, and I love the show. Great acting, great writing, a wonderful opening with a spot on theme by W.G. Snuffy Walden (who also did the music for Sports Night, which had superb scoring). Even the opening sequence itself is amazing, with a number of various odd artistic shots- each event in each box is supposed to be a separate thought in Huff's head, as far as I can tell.
The wife in the series, played by an actress I don't think I've seen before is wonderful, she's funny, she's sexy, she adds a lot to what Azaria has going with all of this. Add Blythe Danner as the mother and a homeless Hungarian who keeps popping up everywhere, asking Huff for constant favors, and you've got great television.
The show has already been given a 13 episode first season order, and let's hope we see more seasons to come. Like many Showtime original series' Huff is not like anything else you'll see on TV. There's a certain quality to the shows Showtime creates (they've had numerous gems and a few that are just plain bad- like the raunchy Queer As Folk and The L Word- two shows created merely to push a homosexual agenda.) Anyhow, if you have Showtime, I urge you to check the show out. They should be reairing all the episodes eventually, and you need to see it in order- it's worth the wait to catch them on reruns.
The Showtime HUFF site is here.
Plus, the show's musical composer's site is here.
I found an article relating to TV theme songs that mentions HUFF here.
Posted by Josh at December 8, 2004 07:12 AM