All That Jazz

I just finished watching the first season of "Homeland", which is a critically-acclaimed ShowTime series that stars Damien Lewis (Life, Band of Brothers), Claire Danes (Romeo + Juliet, Brokedown Palace) and Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope, The Princess Bride).  The show is about a marine who was held captive by Al-Quaeda for eight years, who is finally rescued and brought home.  He's hailed a hero by nearly all, except an elite few, who have information that an American POW has been turned.  The entire first season has them and us, the audience, debating whether this information is true, that he's plotting some sort of terrorist event on U.S. soil, or if the info is false, and this American hero is being further persecuted.  The premise sounds like fantastic television viewing, doesn't it?  However, I was unable to really get into the program for the first four hour-long episodes, due to, what I believe, was the score of the show.

For those unaware, the "score" refers to the music that assists the dialogue and action on the screen.  In some cases, the viewer is unaware that there's even any music playing, though it plays an intricate part of the viewing experience.  For example, if you watch a scary horror flick with the sound shut off, the horrific images seem less frightening that they do with the sound turned way up.  Musical cues force the mind to follow the direction of the play.  However, the chosen music for "Homeland" was jazz.

I know very little about jazz, so I'm not going to knock it.  There's a lot of big names, throughout history associated with this musical style and it seems to be popular with lots of people, but I found it to be overwhelming in some instances, almost to the point of distracting me from what was going on in the show.  Not to toot my own horn, but I regard myself as being fairly astute when it comes to noticing nuances and interesting facts in my television and movie viewing, but admittedly, I found it difficult to maintain my attention.  It wasn't until the action began to outweigh the musical score, that I was able to ignore the shitty music and become intrigued with the characters and story.

I guess I can see (or hear) some of the attraction that people have in this musical genre, as a lot of the beats were uplifting and fast-paced, but it is definitely not my genre of music.  The city where I currently reside, holds a Jazz Festival every summer, to which I never attend, but I understand it's quite popular as traffic seems to be completely f*cked.

All-in-all, I got through the season and it's left me craving for more.  I'm not sure when Season Two will hit the store shelves, but I'll be there to pick it up when it does.  There's one thing that I am thankful for, in regards to the score of "Homeland", and that it wasn't backed by country music.  That shit will just turn you gay!!!