A review (of sorts) of Boris (2007-2010)

E... azione!

Boris is an Italian sitcom that aired on Fox Italy between 2007-2010, for three seasons, and a fourth season on Disney+ in 2022. It’s about the production of an in-universe TV soap opera, The Eyes of The Heart 2. It’s shite, with low-quality melodramatic acting, overused tropes, one-dimensional characters, and when they do try to attempt at actual humour it ends up falling flat and as if it was only there to fill a quota. While it may get high ratings, it’s critically panned, nobody liked working on it, and even the director thinks it’s shit. I should note the preceding few sentences were about The Eyes of The Heart 2.

Boris itself is actually a very entertaining series,and here's why (this only covers the first three seasons):

The premise & characters

The show itself, as I said, follows the production of a shitty soap opera, with it starting with Alessandro, an intern on the first day. He ends up learning very quickly that showbiz isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be. When asking for where the director is, he’s told by the production manager,, Sergio, to go fuck himself, then it cuts to intro. The focus isn’t just on Alessandro, mind you. By the first few episodes you already become well acquainted with much of the troupe that makes up the show.

The characters include all sorts of crew behind the production, alongside the cast of the soap. I’m not really gonna give you a detailed description of all of them, so just watch the intro (which doesn't do that). But I will go on briefly about them. You have characters such as:

And many more, but I’m not bothered to write them! Many of these characters do get their own time to shine, with (most of) them getting time to develop, and get into comedic scenarios. Alessandro dealing with his problems in both work and life, Rene’s constant battle with trying to make a product that satisfies The Network’s fluctuating demands, and later a product of his own passions, Lorenzo trying his best to climb up the job ladder. You start to get invested in these characters with all these plotlines. And I dunno why the hell I saved this part for last, because I think this is the best part of the show:

Boris' commentary on Italian TV

The show is very cynical in its approach of satirising Italian television. The Eyes of the Heart is representative of the many “fictions” on Italian TV during the 90s and 2000s: very cliche, very low quality, and very popular with the public. With this, the show makes a point about how Italians just want slop. Any sort of quality is frowned upon by The Network, and any sort of nuance or discussion is immediately disregarded. To give a Season 1 example, one episode revolves around them having to re edit a pro-abortion scene into an anti-abortion one, so as to not end up angering the more conservative audiences. And there’s also the fact that the show tends to riff on other shows doing things that make them popular: such as having a comic relief character added in, as another soap opera The Network makes is regarded for its humour. And the show’s production is not just fraught with problems from The Network, but there’s also much in-fighting. Stanis, being the narcissist he is, often wants things to not be “Italian”, guests on the set making a ruckus, and guest stars and extras being incompetent (or too competent) at their roles.

All this culminates into the entire production of The Eyes feeling like it’s one man, Rene, the director, versus the system placed upon him. A system prioritising quick, easy to make, non-controversial shit, over actual quality programming, and everytime Rene tries to deviate from the line of low quality, more problems complicate the production. A system that Italians are content with because they’re not sure if a new kind of television is really even possible. A system that the many “The Networks” of Italy (that being Rai and Mediaset and whatnot) are perfectly fine with. A system that Boris itself broke out of, and in turn became Italian comedy gold.

Conclusion - or lack thereof.

Boris is brilliant. And I absolutely recommend it. A very humorous, Italian masterpiece of comedy, with a great set of characters, unique outlook on Italian TV, and an unmentioned very good soundtrack that you should listen to. Kinda get vibes from the OST of Kiki’s Delivery Service, for some reason (accordion, yes.) It even has a theme song by Elio e le Storie Tese!

It is on Disney+, and it is actually hard to watch in English without it. But it is there, all 3 seasons, and Season 4 which I have not gotten to (and will review later, alongside the film. In my region at least. In the US only Season 4 is available, but in Europe all 4 seasons are here. Another note: with the show being Italian, prepare to Google the cultural references sometimes.

…Stop! Buona!

#italy

#comedy