The Chris Isaak Show

Yep, Showtime has done it again, managed to cancel one of the very few reasons to even watch their network.





This show was funny, interesting, and just enough of the 'soap' quality to keep you coming back. The characters were quirky, witty, funny .. and layed back. This was a good 45 minutes of enjoyable tv. ( Kind of had the same quality as our friends in Mayberry.)





Now we're looking for the DVD set ....

The Chris Isaak Show is simply unsurpassed. Not quite reality, not quite fiction. It follows the life of Chris Isaak (played by Chris Isaak) and his band, Silvertone (played by Silvertone, with the exception of actor Jed Rees playing the fictional Anson). But they have scripts, actual episodes, plotlines and story arcs...





This series is what got me into Chris Isaak's music. The concerts in each episode are perfectly done and don't feel wedged in. It's just... something these characters do.





I loved the wackiness of some of the plotlines. The show was rooted in reality and skewed into the bizarre, which made it extraordinarily fun to watch. I mean, take this for example: when he needed advice or guidance, Chris went and talked to a naked mermaid who may or may not have actually been real!





Chris, Kenney Dale Johnson, Rowland Salley and Herschel Yatovitz are professional musicians and you shouldn't expect them to act very well. But since they're playing people named Chris, Kenney, Rowland and Herschel, maybe it came easier. Because you don't get the feeling these guys are musicians pretending to be actors. They ARE actors, playing these characters. When I first started watching and I wasn't a fan of Isaak's music, I thought his entire band was made up of actors. Then I got a CD and said, "Hey, that's the guy who plays Kenney!" :D





I especially love how they weren't afraid to make fun of themselves in the series. No egos here, especially not on Chris (one episode had him celebrate a record going gold, then showed him at home rolling pennies!)





The little quirks were what made the show much fun: The alien-head that Chris kept Tang in, for one. The wacky musician cameos (Bret Michaels, Blake Shelton, Gloria Estefan) where the artists played themselves and got to poke a little fun at themselves in the process were always fun to watch.





The fact that so many people were playing themselves gave all the fictional events and surreality a feeling of "Wow, could this actually happen? Heaven help Chris if it did!"





In short, it was a unique show and I mourn it's passing (although I believe it was due to Isaak's desire to spend more time touring and recording, so no harm there!). I can't wait for the DVDs!