By James Nelson
I’m not kidding either. I’d seen the trailers for Sir Patrick Stewart’s new show, Blunt Talk when they first came out, but at the time I never stopped to think how surreal and unnerving it would be to see Captain Picard snorting cocaine or hooking up with a transexual prostitute. It was really, really weird.
So just image you grew up watching this guy. You respect him and to you he represents not just what a good role model is, but what it looks like to be a man. Then image that you walk in on him at his lowest point, where you see him break in the most combustible and spectacular way. That is what it felt like to watch the first two episodes of Blunt Talk. Don’t get me wrong, the new series has a lot going for it, but the hardest hurdle for me to get over is that the lead actor in this at times raunchy comedy is Patrick Stewart.
Stewart is hilarious in this role as the down on his luck personality anchor at a twenty-four hour broadcasting company, and it’s hard to not draw comparisons to Piers Morgan in some ways (even down to the sets). He uses recreational drugs, as mentioned before hooks up with a prostitute, curses, and has weird sexual fixations, but still does it all with class and obscene levels of etiquette.
The running gags that this show layers into the series I can already tell will lead to some great payoff down the line, from the constant mentioning of the Falklands (of which Walter Blunt was a veteran of the conflict), to the freudian psychiatrist (played by the wonderful Richard Lewis), and what I am sure is to be multiple Star Trek cameos (Brent Spiner is in the first, fifth, and ninth episodes).
The best part of the series though, is the relationship between Blunt and his valet, Harry. Harry was one of Blunt’s subordinates during the Falklands War and is the source of numerous gags, the best of which comes in the second episode and involves a fake newscast and a deal that Blunt is forced to make which involves Harry.
My advice for anyone who wants to watch this show is try and get past the first episode. It is an episode that focuses a lot on Blunt as a character, but the second one gives a lot of time to breath and allows you to get to know the secondary characters more. They really are funny in there own right, and could potentially become as great as the secondary cast of The Office if given the right development.