I enjoyed Julian Sanchez’s take on HBO’s new K Street, in K Street Cred — particularly this bit:
The promise of camera-hungry politicos doing unscripted cameos had Beltway junkies feverishly dreaming of an unholy Crossfire/Temptation Island hybrid that would make Dr. Moreau blush.
He nails one of the show’s problems:
What we see on the screen is a second-order simulacrum — people playing out ultra-self-conscious reproductions of public personas that are already elaborate constructs. The result is not only unconvincing, but vaguely eerie. In one scene, Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) is supposed to be at least mildly peeved to learn that James Carville, an analyst at a consulting firm Nickles employs, has taken on a pro bono gig prepping Howard Dean for the Democratic primary debate. Yet even the lines in which he’s meant to be voicing his severest displeasure are delivered in unnaturally serene, modulated tones, and he manages to keep a wide shit-eating grin plastered on his mug the whole time.
I also strongly agree with another issue: “There’s also an enormous amount of inside baseball here.” I don’t “breathe politics,” so most of the subtext was lost on me.