"You try to make everything perfect for everybody." - Beth Huffstodt (Paget Brewster) to her husband after he purchases a Rockefeller Center-sized Christmas tree
Huff: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jude Clement
Psychiatrist Craig "Huff" Huffstodt (The Simpsons' Hank Azaria) could use the services of a good psychiatrist himself. One of Huff's patients - a fifteen year old boy - just committed suicide in Huff's office after disastrously following his advice to come out to his emotionally distant parents. Another of his patients secretly hires Huff's party planner wife Beth (Andy Richter Controls the Universe's Paget Brewster) and then tries to kill her. His seemingly perfect son Byrd (Anton Yelchin) has started sneaking girls into his bedroom and attending "rainbow parties" (in which each female wears a different color lipstick and the males attempt to collect as many colors as they can on a certain part of their anatomy). Huff's bitter, brittle mother Izzy (Blythe Danner) makes his life miserable from her perch in his guest house while her own home is being renovated. His younger brother Teddy (Andy Comeau) is institutionalized for schizophrenia. Huff's best friend Russell Tupper (Deadline's Oliver Platt) is a lawyer who never met a drug - or a hooker - he didn't like.
Huff tries to help them all while ignoring his own problems. The idea of a mental health professional who tries to aid everyone around him while avoiding his own needs is not a new one - see The Bob Newhart Show, Frasier, Arrested Development, and even I Dream of Jeannie. The theme has been explored so often that it has almost become a cliché. It doesn't help that Huff is only comfortable expressing his problems to his institutionalized sibling, or that he receives advice from a homeless Hungarian (Jack Laufer) who may or may not be a figment of his imagination.
The series' most interesting, fully drawn character is Izzy. Like a velvet-sheathed dagger, she seems harmless and soft until she strikes a fatal blow. Expressions of empathy and understanding are usually followed by barbed insults delivered by Danner in perfect sotto voce, honeyed tones. When she learns of the shooting in Huff's office, she expresses mild concern before throwing a bombshell at her son and his wife: "Poor tortured little homosexual. Thank God you outgrew that stage." Izzy then exits, leaving her family in stunned silence. The character becomes more complex as the season goes on. We learn more about her relationship with Teddy, her feelings about being dumped by her husband, and, when her best friend suffers a stroke, her views on the true meaning of friendship. Danner deservedly won an Emmy for her showy yet subtle performance as Izzy in season one.
Equally irresistible is Oliver Platt's Russell. Russell's the kind of guy who hires a hooker to "smack [his] ass" and has so much fun hires her again even after she steals his TV. Of course the stolen TV gives him the opportunity to have a cocaine/ecstasy/oxycontin party with the electronics store workers delivering his new set. He is a walking id, but even as his behavior worsens (an orgy with midget porn stars, anyone?) we are exposed to his more human side, as when he has to deal with the after effects of his party with the electronics store employees and when he turns to a surprising source for comfort and solace.
Unfortunately, the series' title character is one of its least interesting. Even some of the secondary characters would top Huff on my list of favorites from the show. Huff is almost always onscreen, but often he leaves little impression.
The series is often perversely funny (as when a flashback to Huff's youth has him masturbating to Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On") but lacks focus. Individual episodes present masterful blends of humor and tragedy. Step back and look at the entire season, however, and the holes begin to show. Characters and plotlines sometimes just peter out with no satisfying end. Granted, people and situations do have a tendency to drift in and out of our lives randomly, but a TV series needs a bit more structure and consistency.
It isn't uncommon to love a movie or play while we're watching it, but to lose that feeling later when thinking back on what we saw and realizing that there isn't all that much to think about. That's the case with Huff: The Complete First Season. Ultimately, it isn't as terrific as it seems while we're watching it, but boy is it engrossing in the moment.
Guest stars in season one include Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks), Harry Groener (Dear John), Swoosie Kurtz (Sisters), Faith Prince, Stephen Spinella, Annie Potts (Designing Women), Robert Forster (Karen Sisco), Bonnie Bartlett (Little House on the Prairie), Kevin Dunn (Bette), and Hal Linden (Barney Miller).
The thirteen episodes that make up Huff: The Complete First Season are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in two slim, clear keepcases, each of which holds two discs. The front covers each feature large publicity shots of Hank Azaria and smaller pictures of the show's other stars. The back covers include episode titles and film-style production credits. The double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the cases and feature production photos and plot synopses. The actual discs feature the photos of the shows stars: Azaria on disc one, Brewster on disc two, Platt on disc three, and Danner on disc four. The two keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which highlights a large photo of Azaria and smaller photos of the rest of the cast.
The inventive DVD menus mimic the show's opening credits combined with a Rorschach test theme. Viewers can play all episodes or choose an individual episode. Although there are no scene selection menus, chapter stops are included.
