Great music gives a stale story some pizazz in FX’s ‘Fosse/Verdon’ series
FX’s latest biographical limited series set in showbiz’s past, the story of choreographer Bob Fosse and his actress/dancer wife Gwen Verdon, isn’t as fun or juicy as FX’s “Feud,” which chronicled the relationship of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
“Fosse/Verdon” (10 p.m. Tuesday) proves to be a darker, more sorrowful meditation on the personal and professional lives of artists, but the eight-episode series benefits from Broadway tunes and re-created dance numbers from the pair’s many successful productions.
Actress Michelle Williams, coming off her role in the hit movie musical “The Greatest Showman,” turns in a particularly impressive performance as Verdon, whose influence on her husband’s work “Fosse/Verdon” is eager to showcase.
“I just know how to speak Bob,” Verdon explains to a producer (Paul Reiser) frustrated with Fosse’s exactitude. “It’s my native tongue.”
It definitely helps to have some knowledge of the pair, their projects — “Damn Yankees,” “Sweet Charity,” “Cabaret” — and their lives going into the first episode of FX’s series, which jumps around in time.
“Fosse/Verdon” somewhat frustratingly doesn’t label the years of the time jumps in its premiere but instead offers a countdown to Fosse’s death: “18 years left.” In episode two, which focuses more on Verdon, time is referenced mostly in terms of the number of days since Verdon won her first Tony Award. These odd calculations seem different for the sake of being different with the side effect of unnecessarily sowing confusion. (I wasn’t that familiar with the couple, especially Verdon, and generally tracked with “Fosse/Verdon” but admit to Googling some details, particularly around when certain films were made because the show offered little help in that area.)
Sam Rockwell (“Vice”) squints and nods as Fosse, cigarette constantly dangling from his lip like another appendage. Fosse gets flashbacks to his childhood and verbal abuse by his taskmaster father, but that doesn’t do much to explain his tendency toward infidelity, a major theme through the first five episodes. Episode four posits that “nothing will ever be
enough” to satisfy Fosse personally or professionally, which is as deep as that analysis gets.
Later episodes begin to explore the impact of fame and chasing success on Fosse and Verdon’s daughter, Nicole (Blake Baumgartner). Their real-life daughter, Nicole Fosse, is an executive producer on this series, which is at its most engaging when we see Fosse and Verdon at work as opposed to moping bouts of melodrama between projects.
Episode one, written by executive producer Steven Levenson (”Dear Evan Hansen”), is largely about Fosse’s experience making and in the aftermath of the movie flop “Sweet Charity” and later filming “Cabaret.” Episode two goes back to when Verdon and Fosse first met on Broadway’s “Damn Yankees,” sizing one another up in dance rehearsal.
Occasionally the use of music, particularly when paired with imagination sequences (see: episode four), brings to mind a Ryan Murphy production, but unlike Mr. Murphy’s “The People vs. O.J. Simpson,” which focused on race, or “Feud,” with its take on Hollywood ageism and sexism, “Fosse/ Verdon” doesn’t have a lot to say beyond, “artists, aren’t they complicated and mercurial?” — a theme viewers have seen many times before.
CBS’s ‘The Code’
The CBS military legal drama “The Code” (9 p.m. Tuesday before moving to 9 p.m. Mondays on April 15, KDKA-TV) is a “JAG” reboot in all but its title and characters. The procedural court cases, military backdrop (U.S. Marine Corps instead of the Navy) and character relationships will all seem familiar to “JAG” viewers.
Based at Judge Advocate General HQ in Quantico, Va., the series follows the investigations/courtroom trials of Capt. John “Abe” Abraham (Australian actor Luke Mitchell, whose American accent never wavers), a Marine prosecutor who often faces off against defense attorney Capt. Maya Dobbins (Anna Wood) with whom he has clear chemistry for what producers surely hope will be a longsimmering, slow-to-blossom romance.
Dana Delany (“China Beach”), who deserves so much better, plays the tough-but-compassionate JAG commanding officer.
There’s not much to cracking “The Code,” which is a paint-by-numbers show if ever there was one.
Of local note
A podcast devoted to the 2007-08 Pittsburgh-set Fox sitcom “Back to You” launched this week. Podcast creator Jackson Murphy considers the show, starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, “the greatest oneseason sitcom in TV history.”
The website MisterRogers.org, created by Pittsburgh’s Fred Rogers Productions, was nominated for a Webby Award (vote.webbyawards.com) this week alongside TV websites from Conan O’Brien and Syfy’s “Krypton.”
Channel 4’s Mike Clark and Shannon Perrine host “A Project CommUNITY Town Hall: Parkland to Pittsburgh: Stronger Together” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WTAE-TV), featuring a 10person panel that includes a survivor of the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting and survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Kept/rebooted
NBC renewed “Law & Order: SVU” for a recordbreaking 21st season, defeating the 20-season run of “Gunsmoke” (1955-75).
Netflix revives 2011-13 British series “Top Boy,” about a group of street-smart drug dealers, for a new 10-episode third season to debut later this year.
Netflix renewed “Umbrella Academy” and “After Life” for second seasons.
BET renewed “Boomerang” and “American Soul” for second seasons.
Channel surfing
Series creator Dan Fogelman called Tuesday’s third season “This Is Us” finale “the midpoint of the series,” which suggests the plan is for the show to end after season six. … Comcast Xfinity’s annual Watchathon Week returns April 8-14 giving subscribers free on-demand access to episodes of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Acorn TV’s “Manhunt” and more. … Showtime’s limited series “Escape at Dannemora,” which was partially filmed in Pittsburgh, will be out on DVD April 16. … Digital subchannel MeTV, carried in Pittsburgh on WPXI-TV’s Channel 11.2, launches its first original series, “Collector’s Call” (10 p.m. Sunday), featuring host Lisa Whelchel (“Facts of Life”) introducing collectors of pop culture memorabilia that gets appraised by professionals.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column responds to questions about “Bull,” “The Blacklist,” “When Calls the Heart,” “Jay Leno’s Garage” and the longest-tenured local TV news talent in the Pittsburgh market. This week’s Tuned In Journal includes posts on The CW’s “In the Dark.” Read online-only TV content at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/ arts-entertainment-living/ tuned-in.