Arenas4812 I got this as suggestion after House of Cards and Damages. I loved Damages the most,but this was good! I worked in Chicago politics for about a year, and the back biting is pretty real. The scheming is true, and it reminded of what people will do to get to the top of state government. It's crazy. Kelsey Grammar's all the powerful mayor of Chicago, and believe or not, he tries to control the whole state. The only issue is that he can't, so we have to see how he works his way through the state's different divisions to get tasks done. It's very good, and appealed to me the most because I worked in that environment. Some of it's more real than you'd think. Season One had some filler episodes, but I like the drug dealing boyfriend of his daughter. The projects turned into condos storyline is similar to the truth to. Especially trying to get the African American Democrats on his side. Season Two's pretty good, I'm really surprised they didn't continue this show on or wrap this up. Overall, It's worth a watch!

paul2001sw-1 As an American political drama, 'Boss' has two obvious precedents: 'The Wire', and the real life political drama currently underway in Washington DC. 'The Wire' was written by a journalist who knew everything about Baltimore, and felt very real: it's politicians were often shown as corrupt and ambitious, but also trying to do their best for their city while held by overwhelming constraints. I mention real, national politics to make one specific point: that whatever the personal issues, the fight between the President and Congress is dramatic because it's not just a story of clashing egos: there is a huge ideological and policy gulf between Obama and the tea-partiers. And in this respect 'Boss' is very disappointing. For the "Boss" himself, a fictional Chicago mayor, politics is all about horse-trading, making deals, staying in power. But in spite of the fine (and false) sounding speeches the candidates make, there's little sense of anything being at stake beyond the careers of the characters; for sure, Mayor Kane is a Democrat (Democrats have Chicago sewn up in the real world); but after watching a whole series, I have little sense of what Kane is in politics to do, or the real world factors outside the political arena limiting his ability to do so. Indeed, the series portrayal of the real world in general is quite weak, it's a cardboard land occasionally visited by its political protagonists, a place they go to mine votes, but not somewhere a viewer can really believe exists. This wouldn't matter is the remaining element, the political deal making, was convincing, but it isn't. Some examples: (i) the mayor asks key people to deliver votes for him, but how they do this is never made clear (ii) the mayor is implicated in a pollution scandal, so his response is to publicise how much another city is suffering, so that he can appear its rescuer (iii) when the scandal doesn't go away, he regains popularity by deliberately arresting his own daughter (iv) when his aide is caught leaking, he has the aide murdered, virtually at the aide's own request. This is a fantasy version of machine politics, and the back-plot (the mayor has a terminal disease) is simultaneously unnecessary and underdeveloped. Add some over-tricksy direction (lots of scenes cut out of temporal order for no particular reason) and the result is a decidedly patchy drama: there's promise in the premise, but it's played out as sanctimonious soap opera.

kwmuter 10 minutes into the first episode of the 2nd season (the first time I ever saw Boss) I was completely hooked.1. The story/plot is powerful and interesting. While it is delightfully twisting, intricate, shocking, and complicated, I was able to "jump aboard" without seeing the first season. (Damn! I sure wish I had seen season one...)2. Kelsey Grammar just blows me away. His portrayal of Kane is just fantastic. Wow. He must be seen.Having said all this, I just read that it's been cancelled, and the last episode I just watched is the last one. Period. What the hell?!! It never fails. As soon as some quality television comes along, I get sucked in, then it gets cancelled due to poor ratings. It never fails. And it never fails to tick me off. Just take a look at all of the other user ratings for this show... I'm not the only one who is captivated by the excellence of the writing, acting, and production of "Boss". What gives? What the heck is wrong with the t.v. viewing public/audience?!! I suppose the cancellation of great shows like "Boss" makes room on the schedule for what the viewers all really want and need: More Honey Boo-Boo spin-offs. More Kardashians. More "Housewives of XXX". Perhaps some more hoarders, ghost hunters, rose bearing bachelors, or dancing c-list "celebrities", Great. The viewing public is getting just what it apparently wants, and just what it deserves. God forbid some quality drama sneaks in there somewhere.

russmillerwy-957-682439 You have to hand it to Boss's creators for pioneering a unique style of cinematography and sound. Nearly all of Boss's scenes are shot as close-ups of whoever's speaking, regardless of what else is going on. For those of us who like surround sound, this is the first TV series I've ever heard that really takes advantage of it. It makes you feel right in the middle of the scene, as if standing right in front of that close-up. Kelsey Grammar also ditches his Frazier persona and we almost forget where we know him from. Like Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle, Grammar's going to get a box full of awards statues for his new dramatic work.Unfortunately, the devil's in the character of the characters. Nearly everyone involved is cold, calculating, and incapable of inspiring our empathy. The Boss himself rules through intimidation and secret violence. His wife, the daughter of the old mayor, is a political prop with no feelings for her husband at all, only a desire to enjoy the glamorous civic business life that active first ladies receive. His estranged daughter (played by a former British model who slips in and out of accent like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard) is a minister recovering (on and off) from drug addiction. She has turned her icy back on the parents who threw the first icy punch when they shut their dope fiend daughter out. Beyond that are the cynical operatives, mannequin-shaped strategists who double as whores, and, yes, even black- gloved assassins who do the boss's dirty work. Like most premium cable dramatic series, smatterings of full body makeup soft porn appear once or twice an episode as a substitute for emotional intimacy, and even it is icy cold.It's hard to imagine politics in any American city, even Chicago, being quite so without warmth, soul, or redemption. In Russia, Mexico, or China, sure, but not in a place where politicians who hire assassins get investigative task forces assigned to them by the feds. The lack of sympathetic characters at first made me wonder who to root for, but somewhere around episode 5 I just decided to hell with all of them. They're too unlikable to keep watching. I'm tempted to, based on some of the other reviews I've seen about season 2, but the lack of morality is, well, demoralizing.PostScript: A lot of reviewers have compared Boss to The Wire, which is hands down my favorite show of all time. IMHO, a deep, dark, and funny masterpiece. My take? The Wire had a sense of humor. It also had a way of making even its most bloodthirsty and treacherous villains human and vulnerable so that even if and when they die, we regret their passing. The Wire has a much richer palette of characters. It introduced us to entire city full of cops, junkies, drug dealers, stick up crews, teachers, reporters, kids, politicians, and longshoremen, many of whom never actually share a scene or know of the others' existence. Best of all, none of them were comic book stereotypes, and all of them were using their brains to get up to speed or, more often, to work the system and get over. The Boss does make its way around, but the focus is really all about the Boss and his intimates. While no one in Boss is a stereotype, either, we just never seem to get to know anyone very well. So that's a big part of why it's hard to really feel for any of them. None of them has a sense of humor, only a sense of anger.