HUFF: THE COMPLETE 1ST SEASON - DVD review

This made-for-Showtime television production has a slick, big-screen feel to it, with scene construction, pacing, dialogue, and shocking, quirky elements that could have come right out of "The Sopranos" or "Six Feet Under." It's cable, so there's plenty of foul language and sexual content, as well as some nudity and violence. And the filmmakers seem to take full advantage of that, crafting scene after scene that you'd never see on network TV.

"Huff" stars Hank Azaria ("The Simpsons") as Craig Huffstodt, a psychiatrist whose life takes a nosedive in episode one. Just as death stunned viewers in the first installment of "Six Feet Under," writer-creator Robert Lowry gets everyone's attention with a graphic suicide. Before we even get to know what Huff's normal life is/was like, we're introduced to a changed man—one who's rattled when the 15-year-old boy he's counseling kills himself in his office because the boy felt that Huff was siding with the parents, who berated him when he revealed his homosexuality. But this is also a comic show, as is made perfectly clear when a narcoleptic patient is handed her bill, starts laughing, and promptly passes out. Azaria plays both straight man and tongue-in-cheek humorist in this wry comedy-drama, which weaves together so many plots and characters that it comes darned close to being an ensemble work. At times it's a straight shrink show, at times it's like a CSI show, sometimes it has the quick pacing of "The West Wing," while other times it's a sensitive family relationship show. Director Scott Winant's credits include "thirtysomething" and "The West Wing," and it shows. No matter how kinky or gimmicky the action gets, people and relationships remain a focus.

Paget Brewster plays Huff's wife, Beth, whose relationship with her husband is the most normal thing in this show. Meanwhile, Anton Yelchin is the couple's strange-bird of a teenaged son, named, appropriately, Byrd. To give you some sense of Byrd's problems and the general tone of "Huff," in one memorable episode Byrd goes to a "blow-job party" and is discovered when his mom finds lipstick on his tidy-whities. "Soprano"-lovers will see in Blythe Danner, who stars as Izzy, Huff's meddling mother who's moved into the guest house above the garage, an echo of Tony Soprano's odd mom. But the real wild card in this deck is Oliver Platt, who clearly enjoys himself as Russell, an amoral attorney who snorts coke, swills booze, hooks up with hookers, and gets passed-out prostrate more often than Byrd masturbates. He's only slightly more moral on the job, as Huff discovers when he has to hire him to mediate on his behalf in a wrongful death investigation. Truth? What's that? Though Azaria and Danner revel in their roles, Platt is the fun one to watch. But you can never really go to the kitchen or bathroom without pressing pause, because you never know when an outrageous line will pop up. Example? When Beth gets into it with Izzy over her husband and her mother-in-law's son, she shouts, "You haven't taken your tit out of the man's mouth for 42 years. It's amazing the man's still upright."

All 13 episodes from season one begin with Huff talking to a patient and end with him talking with his schizophrenic, room-bound brother, Teddy (Andy Comeau). In the middle, strewn like land mines in Huff's life, are appearances and run-ins with a homeless Hungarian composer (Jack Laufer) who may be real, but because he disappears so quickly we're also led to believe that he might just as well be a figment of Huff's tortured imagination—a way for him to help someone after failing miserably to help that 15-year-old boy in his office. But to tell you the truth, I found the homeless Hungarian episodes heavy-handed and annoying—a gimmick in a show that's really so good that it didn't need one. Huff's time in the office is also not as interesting as the time he spends outside of it, and that's certainly a reflection of Lowry's own fascinations.

But the show's strength is its energy and its ability to surprise. Platt supercharges the show, but his antics will put off more than a few viewers. Put plainly, he's a sexist pig who also happily admits in an interview, when asked if he drinks, "Yeah, I've been known to knock down a few." Pressed to say how many per week, he says, almost proudly, "Sixty or 80," just as he happily admits to using pot, cocaine, and ecstasy. If logic prevailed, there would be nothing that Huff and Russell have in common, and their friendship would be hard to believe. But this is television, and chemistry is the only bottom line. And boy, do Huff and Russell have chemistry, as well as parallel situations. Just as Huff slides big-time this first season in a decline that has him questioning his own mental state, Russell spirals downward into an abyss of addiction.

1) "Pilot"—Forget mid-life crisis. Huff has a life crisis when a patient commits suicide in his office.

2) "Assault and Pepper"—As Huff grapples with a bipolar patient, he's sued by the parents of the boy who committed suicide. Meanwhile, Russel ends up with a hooker who leaves him in cuffs.

3) "Lipstick on Your Panties"—Fourteen-year-old Byrd makes the household come unglued when it's revealed he attended a blow-job party.

4) "Control"—When Huff's bipolar patient takes the witness stand, he expects the worst. Meanwhile, Beth gets into it with Izzy over privacy issues.

5) "Flashpants"—Huff's estranged father uses him to communicate with his mom, while Russell tries to sober up a high-profile TV-star client.

6) "Is She Dead?"—Russell's latest client is a girl he picked up at the liquor store. Meanwhile, Huff worries when he learns that Teddy, his schizophrenic brother, turned up missing on a field trip.

7) "That Fucking Cabin"—Huff keeps having dreams, and they're telling him to take a father-son camping trip with his father and son. Russell tries to detox while dealing with a volatile client.

8) "Cold Day in Shanghai"—Huff starts to have sexual fantasies, and not about his wife. Byrd, meanwhile, gets pressure to swipe drugs from his father, and Beth has her own run-in with the cops.

9) "Christmas is Ruined"—Beth's hypercompetitive sister and dying mother visit, and put a damper on the holidays.

10) "The Good Doctor"—Huff wrestles with temptation when a sexy young pharmaceutical rep seems willing to do anything to make a sale. Meanwhile, Beth discovers something unsettling in Izzy's closet.

11) "The Sample Closet"—Feeling guilty over his almost-infidelity, Huff gets overly defensive and suspects Beth of having an affair with a young client of hers.

12) "All the King's Horses"—Russell thinks he may have fathered a child while on ecstasy. Meanwhile, Huff and Beth grow farther apart as her mother comes to stay with them.

13) "Crazy Nuts & All Fucked Up"—Is the psychiatrist sane? People wonder, when a series of events seems to point to the whole family being just a little "off."

Video: "Huff" is mastered in High Definition and it looks great in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors are rich, and there's almost zero grain.

Audio: The audio is also quite good, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles and closed captioning. As with the video quality, there's a fullness and richness to the sound. No complaints here.

Extras: The first season comes packaged on four discs in two clear keep-cases housed in a cardboard sleeve. Disc one features a commentary on the pilot episode by Lowry and director Winant, which is just a notch or two above average. They admit to never having done one of these before, but despite an awkward and slow start they get more comfortable as the episode progresses. It's fascinating to hear how they conceived of Russell as a blond stud, but bowed to Azaria's request that they consider Platt for the role. When the portly actor strode in, their jaws apparently dropped—though now they admit that he brings a dimension to the part that a pretty boy or hunk simply couldn't have. They also share the series bottom line: "Some people really don't start living until they realize they're dying." Huff feels fragile and suddenly mortal after the boy's suicide, and that, they say, is what makes him reevaluate his life and relationships and all his priorities. As for the "rainbow party" with blowjobs? "I heard it on Oprah," Lowry says. "I don't make this stuff up." Rounding out disc one extras is a behind-the-therapy featurette in which Azaria mainly talks about Platt.

Disc two has another Lowry/Winant commentary on "Is She Dead?" that's again just slightly above average, plus three deleted scenes that are cobbled together. In two short features, the filmmakers talk about what it takes to make an artificial situation (with set and actors) real, while in another featurette we hear how they approached transitions and the show's visual style.

Disc three has a Lowry/Winant commentary for "Christmas is Ruined," and disc four has one for "Crazy Nuts & All Fucked Up" that includes Azaria and Platt. With four of them talking, there's not as much freedom for any of them to "cut up," but there are entertaining moments nonetheless.

Bottom Line: "Huff" won't appeal to all viewers. There's plenty of profanity, and a major character is a real sleezeball who loves being a sleezeball. Some of the devices seem overly derivative, since we've seen them now on shows like "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under," but I'd have to say that in terms of overall quality and the strength of the writing, performances, and cinematography, "Huff" is in the same ballpark as those popular HBO shows. Maybe not as heavy a hitter, mind you, but it's certainly on the same playing field.