’’I Love My Wife’’...... thats the theme song for this new show on Zee English called The Mind of the Married Man . Well , actually its an HBO production , but in India it is shown on Zee english every Monday at 11 PM . I have to admit , I was quite impressed with the teasers that were coming on , prior to the commencement of the series . They were promoting the series with quotes like ’’ It takes almost a genius to be a good husband’’ ----------Balzac and it truly seemed different .
Mike Binder directs the serial and acts as the protagonist Micky Barnes .And each episode is separate anecdote from his morally challenged life . He does love his wife Donna played by Sonya Walger , but every now and then couldn’t help but look at all the hot ladies at work or even off it and fantasize about them in an erotic sort of way . There is his sexy , blonde, flirtatious assistant Missy , played by Ivana Milicevic who unintentionally keeps drawing too much attention towards herself . Micky is always trying to consolidate his moral and ethical dilemmas and at the same time having an alibi ready to produce to his suspicious wife who’s watching every move he makes . Micky is a columnist in a newspaper supervised by editor Randall Evans played by M. Emmet Walsh , the grumpy old guy absolutely imperative in any television series . Micky’s friends at work include Jake Berman (played by Jake Weber)
a shameless philanderer , Kevin (played by Doug Williams ) and Doug ( played by Taylor Nichols . Each of these characters add respective new dimensions to the show .But is that enough ?
I first saw Mike Binder in a not-so-famous movie on cable called , ’’The Search For John Gissing’’ . The movie was not fabulous , but I liked Binder’s thoughtful acting and his unusual expressions . Which is exactly why I liked the first few episodes of the programmes although the subject matters were below-average . But once I got over that , I started realising just how many drawbacks the show suffered from . The concept is tired . Ok, he’s a happily married man who doesn’t know if he should cheat on his wife. That’s fine for an episode or two, that’s fine for a movie, but every week? He’s married to a beautiful wife , but he still looks around . He whines about it every week . You’d be forced to scream out.....’’DO IT ALREADY ! JUST DO IT’’ . The show was advertised as a male variation on the cutting-edge HBO comedy series Sex and the City....but from what I gather , the makers have got terribly confused ideas about feminism and chauvinism . The protagonist and most male characters are ’’typical’’ men who want to sleep around with anything that walks and is not male . I just want to know which ’’ism’’ supports that view .On the whole , men need to cheat, but women don’t, now thats what the makers call a ’’male perspective’’ ! The male community might have to say a few things about that .
The direction , also , becomes sloppy at a few places . For example , there was one sequence when Jake tells Micky , that whenever he is distracted by women he should masturbate and release the tension . Micky tries to implement that ............. right inside the bathroom of his assistant and leaves the door open while he’s at it . Invariably he gets caught . Now , tell me if that’s sane .
Its supposed to be a comedy but it doesn’t really make you laugh . If you really want to see something funny there are a zillion sitcoms on TV that’d make you laugh your hearts out .This particular serial was supposed to be an answer to the question ’’Can married men survive in modern times ? ’’ ...the answer is yet to be found .
All in all , this show suffers from , sloppy direction , tired concept and an overdose of sex incorporated at all the wrong places . If you want something funny , I’d rather you did not watch this show as laughing is the last thing you’d be doing after watching it . That’s why , after a promising start the show is gradually fading out .