June 17
'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' Leaves Lots to the Imagination
Based only on last night's premiere of Showtime's "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," I have to say I'm somewhat ambivalent toward the series.
Maybe I'm being unfair, but it wasn't nearly as sexy as I would have expected. Certainly, Billie Piper, the actress who plays Hannah/Belle is an attractive woman (although I kept saying to myself, "We lost Rose Tyler from 'Doctor Who' for this?"). But somehow, I expected things to be a little bit racier.
I also expected her to be more naked in the emotional sense. I couldn't tell if Hannah/Belle is being honest when she says she likes being a high-class hooker, or if she's just lying to herself.
I think the pilot didn't really do that great a job of establishing Hannah's world, or Belle's. Apparently, though, Hannah has one of her exes as one of her closest friends and hangs out with him a lot. She's careful to separate her real life from that of Belle, where she's really good at figuring out what clients want and giving it to them. But then she gets involved with a client who basically wants someone like Hannah. And there's a sense that Hannah wants him back.
I'll keep watching to see what develops with the show, but I'm not exactly bowled over.
- posted by Raoul