Blunt Talk
Season 1 Episode 2: “I Experience Shame and Anticipate Punishment”
Directed by Tristram Shapeero
Created and written by Jonathan Ames
Starring Patrick Stewart, Adrian Scarborough, Richard Lewis, Jacki Weaver, Timm Sharp, Dolly Wells, Karan Soni, Mary Holland
Starz
Air Date: Saturday, August 29th, 2015, 9:00pm

Blunt Talk is a brand new series from Starz, debuting this Saturday evening, but as a promotion, they’re offering the first two episodes free on the Starz website. In Episode 1 (see our full review, we are introduced to Walter Blunt, played by the magnificent Patrick Stewart. Blunt is a cable news host with an addiction problem. In just the show’s first 30-minutes we witnessed him ingest alcohol, Ambien, cocaine, speed, and marijuana chocolate. Suffice to say, these things have an adverse affect on him. He is pulled over and charged with solicitation, drunk driving, and assaulting a police officer. When he gets to interview himself (yep, you read that right) live on the air, he begs for forgiveness only to pass out on air.

Episode 2 begins with Stewart dancing through a showgirls routine while out on the studio floor. Last episode, he recited Hamlet at gunpoint while high as a kite. Now he’s a dancer. The man is certainly multi-talented. The best part, after he awakes, he FINISHES the show and sends to commercial! Once at home with manservant Harry (Adrian Scarborough), Blunt decides his near-death experience must be a new beginning. He must be a better father to… the American people… oh and his own children. Harry offers to read to him; the choices are Winnie the Pooh or the Koran!!! I almost did a spit-take on that line.

Trying to rehab himself through the calming art of painting (Harry naked), Walter is interrupted by his new porn-director neighbor. This comes back to be a benefit after being assigned to cover a hurricane in Galveston, TX. After some airport restroom complications affect his plans, he needs someone “discreet and dishonest” to help him get his assignment done. Everything tried goes wrong, of course, including the hurricane. Day one on the comeback trail did not go as planned for Walter Blunt.

Blunt Talk will be a success because of the sheer awesomeness of Stewart. His British accent resonates and makes everything funnier. He reports the news like it’s Shakespeare, and his reactions are classic. He commands the screen with his presence alone.

Go to Starz online and watch the first two episodes for free, or just tune in Saturday night August 22nd, at 9:00pm ET for the cable premiere of Blunt Talk. This can be for Starz what Shameless and Californication are to Showtime.