The new HBO series "Bored to Death" wants to be a lot of things. Only time will tell if it pulls all of this off, but the first episode is certainly promising, and much of that promise comes in the form of the three leads.

Here's the setup: Writer Jonathan Ames is trying to follow up his debut novel, but can't seem to get going. His girlfriend leaves him in the opening moments of the first episode in part because he drinks too much and smokes too much pot. A chance encounter with Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely (it was in one of the many stacks of books that seem to be the only thing left in his apartment after his girlfriend takes all of her stuff) leads him to list his services on Craigslist as a private detective. He gets his first case soon thereafter, and we're off.

Here on TIRBD each week, I'll dissect the new episode with commentary, criticism and a recap.

So, back to that name. Yes, this Jonathan Ames is that Jonathan Ames. Well, sort of. In a bit of confusing meta-fiction, the real writer Jonathan Ames found himself in somewhat similar circumstances at one point, but rather than advertise himself as a PI, he write a story called "Bored to Death" in which a writer named Jonathan Ames does so (you can find it in McSweeney's 24 (which also features some great Donald Barthelme-related content) or in Ames' new collection, The Double Life is Twice as Good. Confused? Five minutes into the first episode, you won't be. The conceit of Ames writing about Ames goes away because the persona has been placed the capable hands (body?) of Jason Schwartzman.

Schwartzman, still best known as Max from "Rushmore," seems finally to have found another role worthy of his talents. As Ames, he is funny, earnest, sweet, romantic (in all senses of the word) and just naive enough to think he can pull this off. By day he is a struggling novelist and magazine writer. His editor is the very funny Ted Danson. Ames (the real Ames, that is), says he wrote the character of George Christopher to be a sort of Christopher Hitchens-George Plimpton hybrid. For those of us in flyover states who know these men by their writing more than their personalities, that matters little. What we have in George is a guy who best typifies the show title: He is rich, successful and bored to death. His role seems to be as a sort of reverse mentor who wants to live vicariously through Jonathan's exploits. Oh, and he likes to smoke pot. A lot. The type of magazine isn't explained in the opening, though Ames' assignment to interview people at a gallery opening makes one think of New York or some such society rag.

Jonathan's best friend is Ray Hueston, a web comic artist based on Ames' real-life friend and collaborator Dean Haspiel (the two created The Alcoholic, Ames' graphic novel from earlier this year). As a nice touch, Haspiel is creating all of Ray's comic art shown on the show. Ray, too, is bored, craving sex from a girlfriend who is too tired from her job and kids to satisfy him. Played by Zach Galifianakis, he's a wiseass with issues. With Schwartzman playing more of a straight man, it seems Galifianakis and Danson will fight each week to see who can deliver the best zingers. These two are as well-cast as Schwartzman, and the chemistry among these three, already evident, will ultimately drive this show.

So, back to that original thought: the many things this show hopes to be. It's obviously a comedy first and foremost. But it also has significant dramatic elements, dealing with notions of male arrested development, the ennui of the upper class and, if one stretches, the way communication is affected by technology (is this the first Craigslist-driven show?). Beyond that, there is the crime/noir element. Ames' case in this first episode, a missing persons' quest of a sort, is more about introducing us to the PI's quirks than about finding someone, so it remains to be seen how much of the writer Ames' affinity for noir and detective fiction (he claims to have come upon the idea while reading noir giant David Goodis) shines through. This is billed as a "noir-otic comedy;" we got comedy and neurotic behavior in the first episode. Let's see what they do about "noir" from here on out.

There is much fodder in the depiction of a modern guy modeling his PI actions on those of the pulp heroes of the 40s and 50s. That is explored briefly here when Jonathan is admonished by a cop to stop what he's doing. Here's hoping there is much more where that came from.

Lastly, the theme song, "Bored to Death," was written by Schwartzman and Ames and recorded by Schwartzman under his nom du rock, Coconut Records.

Best lines:

Girlfriend: I told you months ago that if we were going to make this work you had to stop drinking and smoking pot, and you didn't.
Jonathan: It's dangerous to go cold turkey. I'm down to white wine.

George: Men face reality; women don't. That's why we need to drink.

Ray (outside a coffee shop, to Jonathan): Some early-morning post-natal yoga class exploded. It's like a nursery in there.

Labels: Bored to Death, HBO, Jason Schwartzman, Jonathan Ames, Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis