Unless you’re among that collection of people convinced their vote in American Idol actually makes a difference, the sad truth of television is that there’s a definite limit to how interactive a medium it truly is. For most of us, if we truly want to feel like we’re participating in a show or a movie, we have to play a drinking game, at which point the attention we pay to minutiae in whatever we’re watching spikes drastically (and then plummets again a few rounds later). In which case, maybe it’s perfect that Zane Lamprey came along and created Drinking Made Easy, a TV show dedicated to the appreciation of drinking that turns it into both an art and a basis for three guys goofing around and sampling the creative things people in the United States have done to liquor. It’s a drinking game, game show, and a Food Network program all blended into a mostly satisfying cocktail.
Zane Lamprey and his two friends Stephen McKenna and Marc Ryan travel the country, dedicating episodes to a different American city each time. Whether it’s Austin or New York City, they track down two or three unique concoctions offered at a local bar and then learn how to make them. Meanwhile, Stephen usually goes off and finds a restaurant with a ridiculous food challenge, like eating 9 huge plates of breakfast burrito, and tests his stomach’s mettle (where he almost always fails). To close out the episode, Zane and Stephen go head to head in a competition for six six-packs.
The bits work well and Drinking Made Easy is both entertaining and educational. Most of the show plays like a blooper reel with Zane saying and doing whatever he can to keep the show light as his host tutors him in the creation of the next alcoholic beverage. If any of the drinks strike your interest, the show lays out the ingredients and steps required to make each one, so you can follow along in losing your sobriety.
Where the show stumbles is its transitions, because it jumps about from one section to the next in ways that make each episode feel fragmented. One second you’re with Zane in the basement of a liquor enthusiasts brewing center and the next you’re at a Mexican restaurant with Stephen as he gnaws his way through the biggest whatever they can cook up. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it all beyond a basic formula for the bits. It may very well be better if you watch the show as Zane and company intended: according to the rules for the show’s official drinking game. At which point, you probably won’t give a damn that it’s so scatterbrained, but will you appreciate the comedy?
DVD Bonus Features
Deleted scenes and some audio commentaries offer a few extra laughs, but the best featurette is the gang's makeshift "comedy tour".
"Drinking Made Easy: Season 1" is on sale October 4, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Reality. Directed by Zane Lamprey. Written by Zane Lamprey, Erik Tilly. Starring Zane Lamprey, Wes Dubois, Stephen Mckenna, Marc Ryan.
