Sneaky Pete was originally offered to CBS, who turned it down before Amazon gave it a home. This much is apparent from the show's storytelling, as it pads out what could have been a two hour film into a 10 hour series with diverting subplots and busy work to keep supporting characters spinning. There are times when you sense that it would be too quick for characters to move from A to B, so they have them tread water with narrative contrivances (eg the parole officer who has a decent amount of time committed to his presence and then abruptly disappears midway through the show).
The pilot episode, shot prior to the rest of the episodes, had some beautiful visuals but the rest of the program is aesthetically quite flat and procedural. It looks like something you would find on CBS, but with some f-bombs dropped in.
Ribisi is good, although his constant random lemon sucking facial contortions at inappropriate times are an odd choice for the character. To be a convincing con man one would think you shouldn't draw attention to yourself, but he often looks like a bad De Niro impersonator in an SNL sketch. Beyond that, he's fun to watch and brings more to the character than the script affords.
Bryan Cranston was so brilliant in Breaking Bad but one gets the sense that his producer credit on Sneaky Pete caused him to be surrounded by too many yes men that wouldn't tell him to keep things in check. His scenery-chewing gangster is tonally wrong for the show, and every time the main story randomly cuts away to his storyline it really beaks the momentum and doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. There's a particularly awkward nine minute (!) monologue in episode 4 that you can tell Cranston thought was going to be an Emmy moment, but it simply doesn't work, because his character for whatever reason just never seems particularly threatening or intimidating. He's a bit of a cliché, and I think Cranston is an incredibly gifted actor but I believe he let his ego get the best of him here and perhaps the role should have been reduced or been cast with another actor. Some of the misfiring also comes down to the writing - the dialogue in the monologue, for example, just isn't that good.
I'm being a bit harsh on Sneaky Pete, but that's because in today's streaming era, TV is at an all-time high water mark and shows must push harder than ever before to stand out. Pete comes packaged appealingly - an Amazon original series with a strong cast and talented producers (Graham Yost and David Shore) - but it ultimately feels like a show that would have felt more at home on a basic cable network, and never quite feels like more than just a passable one-time binge.
The pilot episode, shot prior to the rest of the episodes, had some beautiful visuals but the rest of the program is aesthetically quite flat and procedural. It looks like something you would find on CBS, but with some f-bombs dropped in.
Ribisi is good, although his constant random lemon sucking facial contortions at inappropriate times are an odd choice for the character. To be a convincing con man one would think you shouldn't draw attention to yourself, but he often looks like a bad De Niro impersonator in an SNL sketch. Beyond that, he's fun to watch and brings more to the character than the script affords.
Bryan Cranston was so brilliant in Breaking Bad but one gets the sense that his producer credit on Sneaky Pete caused him to be surrounded by too many yes men that wouldn't tell him to keep things in check. His scenery-chewing gangster is tonally wrong for the show, and every time the main story randomly cuts away to his storyline it really beaks the momentum and doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. There's a particularly awkward nine minute (!) monologue in episode 4 that you can tell Cranston thought was going to be an Emmy moment, but it simply doesn't work, because his character for whatever reason just never seems particularly threatening or intimidating. He's a bit of a cliché, and I think Cranston is an incredibly gifted actor but I believe he let his ego get the best of him here and perhaps the role should have been reduced or been cast with another actor. Some of the misfiring also comes down to the writing - the dialogue in the monologue, for example, just isn't that good.
I'm being a bit harsh on Sneaky Pete, but that's because in today's streaming era, TV is at an all-time high water mark and shows must push harder than ever before to stand out. Pete comes packaged appealingly - an Amazon original series with a strong cast and talented producers (Graham Yost and David Shore) - but it ultimately feels like a show that would have felt more at home on a basic cable network, and never quite feels like more than just a passable one-time binge.