Randomly came across this Variety review of the North Carolina-filmed and -based HBO series, "Eastbound and Down," which we discussed last week.
"The premise isn't all that unusual," writes Cynthia Littleton, "but the setting is. You can tell that the show is shot [in] North Carolina with local extras. The tweens and teens in the middle school scenes don't look like L.A. kids who are angling for their SAG cards.
"McBride, Best and 'Eastbound' co-creator Jody Hill have talked about inventing a new genre dubbed 'Hicksploitation' that introduces the rest of the country to the best and worst of small-town Southern culture. In the same way that the small-town Texas setting of 'Friday Night Lights' was such a breath of fresh air, so is 'Eastbound's' Anytown, North Carolina. (Not that I am remotely comparing 'FNL' to 'Eastbound' in any other way. Not by a country mile.) ..."
3 comments:
They're well on their way already.
Their 2006 "The Foot Fist Way" was about a Concord, NC strip-mall taekwondoe instructor, and Eastbound is set in Shelby, NC.
"My Name is Earl" certainly shows the best and worst of small town Southern culture and does it endearingly.
I've read that Greg Garcia came up with "Earl" while vacationing on the OUter Banks. Two seats over, on the same beach, Nicholas Sparks came up with "Nights in Rodanthe."
OK, I made that last bit up.
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