This weekend I caught the new Vh1 series “So NoTORIous” loosely based on the real life and starring the butt of more than her share of Hollywood jokes, Tori Spelling. When I first heard about the show I thought it was Spelling’s desperate and pathetic grab at attention and stardom. Her acting talent was never stellar, she was the ultimate spoiled daddy’s little rich girl, spent the annual budget of some small countries on her flop wedding, and came across like a stereotypical dingy blonde. As skeptical as I was at the start of the first episode, I completely changed my opinion by the end of it.
“So NoTORIous” is a brilliant, witty and superbly funny show. Spelling shows that she’s not what everyone has said about her all these years, and she does it by actually portraying herself exactly as she has been perceived in the past. By showing off her insecurities, her lackluster acting talent, the depth and breadth of how her father spoiled her, her longing to be perceived as normal and the motives of the friends that surround her; Spelling shows that she’s no dingy blonde.
The show is full of quick quips that capture Spelling’s desire for a real life and how she is held back by her family, friends, the media and the general public. Everywhere she goes she is the brunt of a “Tori Spelling” joke, some of the worst come from her mother the iconic Loni Anderson and her friends; Janey played brilliantly bitchy and manipulative by Brennan Hesser and Sasan the Gay-Iranian-Muslim played with adorable panache and eager enthusiasm by Zachary Quinto. Through each episode Tori’s friends lovingly deprecate her as in Episode #3 when Tori is e-mailing Steven Soderbergh for a part and Sasan comments “Yes, there’s nothing more desperate than an e-mail from Tori Spelling.”
What “So NoTORIous” shows is that sometimes by making yourself the butt of the joke; control is taken away from those who mock you and given back to you. Self deprecation can be the highest form of self-flattery and can be the strongest weapon against those who find fault in you. It shows that you have confidence and are willing to roll with the punches. People like to pick on those who don’t fight back and also those that lash back. But by jumping into the fray and poking fun at yourself, it takes the fun away from others and you are taken more seriously. Though Tori Spelling may always be what she has always been, she has taken control of her life and career and shown that she is more that what is at first glance.
Tori, I wish you the best of luck with your new show. It’s brilliant and you’ve got a consummate fan in me. I have set my DVR to permanent record of “So NoTORIous” on Vh1.
Posted by Michael Rogers on April 11, 2006 10:39 AM
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