Icon Vs. Icon’s husband and wife team, Delores and Hank Price, Jr., are back in the mix this week with a brand new Pick of The Week. Check out their takes on AMC’s much talked about new series, ‘Preacher.’ If you like what you hear, follow the online ramblings of the dynamic duo on Twitter at @deloresprice80 and @thehenrypricejr.
He said: I’ve never cared much for comic books, yet I’ve always enjoyed comic book characters. Movies, TV shows, video games … anything other than the source material. In fact, pretty much all I watch these days is sourced from comic books. Thus, it’s little surprise I really enjoyed the pilot of AMC’s new show, “Preacher.” Based upon the DC/Vertigo comic of the same name, “Preacher” follows a, uh, preacher named Jesse Custer. I have no idea what the show is about, since I don’t know anything about the source material, but as far as I can tell, there’s some alien and supernatural stuff going on in Texas. They were all in love with dying and they were doing it in Texas, I guess.
There’s Preacher Jesse, who apparently kicked all kinds of ass before he started spreading the Lord’s word. There’s Tulip, Jesse’s former partner in crime who makes bazookas out of tin cans. There’s some poor kid with a mouth that looks like an anus. It’s good he didn’t go to school with Beavis and Butthead. There’s Cassidy, who’s some sort of … not human? There’s a gang of wealthy, well-dressed Jesus freaks on an airplane. Well, there were, anyway. And there are other preachers around the world getting blown up by some sort of alien thing. Is this “Men in Black” meets “The Exorcist” meets “Billy Jack?” There’s a little bit of all of it. I’ve tried not to read much about the comic since I don’t want any spoilers. I have a lot of questions and I don’t really understand what’s going on, but there’s plenty here to keep me watching.
She said: When I check out a new TV show or movie it’s because I randomly saw something about it on TV or the Internet, a friend or podcast mentions it or Hank says something along the lines of, “Have you heard of _____ ? I don’t know if you would like it or not. Want to give it a shot?” Not a ringing endorsement but that’s what happened with “Preacher,” the new original series from AMC.
Hankie Poo shared a little wisdom with me beforehand, saying it’s based on a very popular comic book. He described the pilot episode as “Men In Black” meets “The Exorcist” meets “Billy Jack” – whatever that means. He also told me Seth Rogen is one of the directors, which made me sigh annoyingly loud because Seth Rogen to me is Jennifer Lawrence to others. We get it. We know who you are. OK. Enough.
So, Friday night we sat down in front of the boob tube and checked in on Jesse Custer, aka Preacher, a cigarette smoking, booze drinking man trying to escape his past. Aren’t we all? Ironically enough Preacher speaks just like my cousin who’s a preacher, however that’s where the similarities begin and end. Their accent is the same. That’s it. Preacher ain’t no evangelical, if you catch my drift.
After watching the pilot episode I was skeptical. Writers need to strike a balance in the first show, or first few chapters of a book, to interest you. They need to provide enough reasons for you to return, for you to watch the next episode or keep reading the book. “Preacher” provided too many reasons, leaving me confused as to what was going on. I was almost too confused to care.
You’ve got Jesse Custer, a man with a dark, murky past – as seen when he meets up with Tulip O’Hare, a badass chick who also has a murky past and bites off peoples ears. It’s obvious he’s done some bad shit with her but as to what, we don’t know yet. There’s some alien life force soaring through the skies and making preachers explode but not our Preacher. What the heck. There’s a young man whose face looks like a butthole. There’s this supernatural Irish chap who is being hunted down and befriends Preacher. There’s the redneck wife beater (could be a type of T-shirt or a man) who also reenacts the Civil War and gets his ass beat. There’s the chick who may be into Preacher or just may enjoy smashing iPads in fits of rage in front of her children. There’s Ted Reyerson who has mommy issues and may have been possessed by Preacher.
What on Earth is going on? After chatting with the Hankster I realized watching one episode of a television show isn’t enough. Was it bad? No. I just didn’t know what was going on but, then again, it was the pilot episode. I plan to give “Preacher” one, possibly two more tries. The Price Family Rule – give a book 100 pages and a TV show three episodes except “Lady Dynamite” because that shit is weird.
‘Preacher’ airs at 10/9c on AMC. For more info on ‘Preacher,’ visit the official site for the series at: www.amc.com/preacher.
Jason Price founded the mighty Icon Vs. Icon more than a decade ago. Along the way, he’s assembled an amazing group of like-minded individuals to spread the word on some of the most unique people and projects on the pop culture landscape.
