Webseries Review: THE TALKING HEAD

Regardless of their personal politics, late night talk show hosts all seemed to agree that George W. Bush gave them no shortage of good material.  Unfortunately, the constitution requires that all Presidents must leave after eight years, no matter how unintentionally hilarious.  The election of Democrat Barack Obama presented an interesting challenge for Jon Stewart and company.  As it turns out, the Democrats have managed to be just as bumbling as their Republican counterparts in many respects, with the Daily Show adjusting accordingly.  But what about all those TV pundits and authors and bloggers who made their living specifically criticizing Bush and Cheney, et al?  Is it possible for a pundit to change his political spots?  In the new web series “The Talking Head”, fictional Bush basher D.L. Poxendor answers “Yes, he can.”


“The Talking Head” comes out firing at the 24 hour cable news cycle with both barrels in it’s first four five minute episodes.  Following the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, the first three episodes show us Poxendor (Robert Bagnell) as he proceeds through “Denial”, “Anger” and “Bargaining” after Obama’s election.  Desperate to stay relevant, he allows his agent (Ossie Mair) to book him on a low rent news show to plug his latest book. The only problem? He has to pretend to be a victim of Vatican sex abuse.  After briefly acknowleding that sex abuse is a “huge issue”, he launches into a promotion of his new book.  Blackballed from the network afterwards, he persuades his ex-lover Aileen (NIkita Ager) to pull some strings to get him on the Glenn Beck Show.  In one of the series funniest bits, it’s revealed that anyone can get on Glenn Beck if they know the secret phone number.  Poxendor books himself on the show, and then proceeds to ignore his agent’s advice by getting blasted drunk before his appearance.


Rather than ruining his career, this turns out to be the best move he could have made. Hungover beyond belief, Poxendor wakes up to find his agent and a mysterious stranger (Jon Polito).  In spite of his disastrous appearance on Glenn Beck, he’s now being offered the chance to become the “liberal version of Stephen Colbert.”  Poxendor accepts, and we’re left to wonder how he’s going to stumble through “Depression” and “Acceptance’, the final two stages of grief, and presumably the next two installments.


“The Talking Head” was directed by Bryan Beasley, and sharply written by Scott F. Butler.  The cable news networks make for a ripe target, and there’s potentially an endless supply of material to be mined.  Bagnell gives a winning performance as Poxendor, although some may find him to be a pretty odious character to hang a whole series on.  A self-professed alcoholic, he clearly has no real political convictions at this point, only a compulsion to be in the spotlight.  Another great moment in the series comes when Aileen, a former Fox News correspondent, claims to have had a change of heart after an appearance where the audience “actually thought I believed what I was saying”.  The writers have certainly given themselves room for Poxendor to grow a similar conscience if they choose, or he could continue as a character that the audience loves to hate.  Either way, the first four installments of “The Talking Head” offer a very funny snapshot of our increasingly saturated cable news culture.


For the first four episodes of “The Talking Head”, log on to www.poxendor.com

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