Bloodless Coup

Mike Damus on Popular

I am making my way through the second season of Popular right now. I am doing this extremely slowly since, while the first season was filled with delicious camp and a never-ending flood of 80's pop culture references, the first half of season two is a dreadful bore. It's composed of months of "very special" storylines, be it cough syrup addiction, body image issues or a kid fighting leukemia. I think certain Christian groups might find a lot to enjoy here (though they might be troubled at the casting of Ann-Margaret as God), but this show's best moments are when it is deliriously silly and storylines prominently feature Mary Cherry and Nicole Julian being unhinged or sinister and looking fabulous as they do it. Having recently sat through the close to unbearable leukemia episodes I did find one thing about them to enjoy though - Mike Damus's portrayal of Clarence, Harrison's sick roomie at the hospital and, eventually, would-be guardian angel (here's a needless hint - these episodes first ran around Christmas). While most of the guys on this show are complete bores (that's probably mostly the fault of the writers who seem much more interested in illustrating the lives of bitchy and/or hopelessly insecure girls; I actually sort of like the guy who plays Josh, the school's golden jock) as Clarence Damus is a huge breath of fresh air. He's energetic, compelling, and, once he's dead, well, it doesn't hurt that he's very cute. He also benefits from having the sort of huge eyes that are probably helpful in conveying all sorts of emotions. I really wish that he'd been a regular on the show. Though of course then he'd have been saddled with the dialogue and storylines of season 2 ... and judging from the first half of the season, that would be a harsh fate. I'm really hoping the show improves before I get to the end (it was only on for 2 seasons).

If you are interested you can find my reviews of season 1 here and here.