Secret Diary of a Call Girl

It’s wrong that Showtime decided to stand behind London's Belle de Jour. The effort to include her among its own elite did not and in fact could not work. It's so British through and through that it's creepy. The series, lasting about three hours, is gone in a flash, leaving only a recurring aftertaste and discomfort, the same that comes after unpleasant intercity travel. Originally a blogged memoir, it left us with anecdotal episode topics peppered with an absurdly clichéd tale of true love outside the craft. Can Belle live without luxury? Is she sacrificing her career for a normal relationship? After two seasons I had to take a proper break to get through the next few minutes, which in London is called a full series. Once again, it all started to cycle back to ground zero, so I really have no idea what material they would want to weave a theme for the potential film that is slowly being announced. I'm supposed to get by on one good joke an hour? Fortunately, Season 4 did just fine without Bambi (or Bam-Bam, as her customer/boyfriend/husband called her), and thanks to Belle's understudy as Madame and her dalliances with Hollywood, there were a few self-parody sequences that were genuinely sweet. Competing with a dominatrix for a client with the help of the song "Keep Young And Beautiful" or having sex with a film critic who likes sex like Dracula from 1931, that really just called for a western-like conversation in a bar, and even that happened in the end. If they’d get a little more fresh wind in the stale environment of British dramedy, I’d be fine. (2009.02.04)

I'm really starting to like Belle/Hannah as time goes on. She's extraordinary, likable, and kind of awful in her own way. But she definitely doesn't lack flair. Some episodes are really very sexual, some less so. It's hard to say which I like better. Anyway, it's fun and I'm curious to see where it goes from here. After the 3rd season, I’m giving it 4.5 stars. It gets better and better..Favorite Characters: Hannah (2011.06.13)