Why You Should Watch 'House of Lies'

I recently came across the new Showtime drama, House of Lies, which premiered in January. Fast forward two days later, I've just finished the 12th episode and season finale, which, I will tell you, is superb. Why did I start watching it? It's about management consultants (and not about lawyers or doctors, and that's kind of refreshing), Kristen Bell is in it (and I've loved her since Veronica Mars and her Sloth meltdown on Ellen), Ben Schwartz is in it (he is hilarious as a recurring guest star on my favorite comedy, Parks and Recreation), and, it's on Showtime, the network that airs my current favorite show, Shameless. All in all, it looked like something pretty good to get into. Now that I've finished the season, I think I've gained the right to start bugging people to watch it, and start counter-acting the bad reviews it's gotten. And here's why:

1. The casting for the entire show is perfect. I cannot imagine lead character Marty Kaan being played by anyone but Don Cheadle, and just when you thought Kristen Bell had fallen down a black hole of cheesy romantic comedies (see 'You Again', or 'When in Rome') , she does House of Lies and shows us she's still got acting chops. And guess what, her character here, Jeannie Van Der Hooven, might be even better than Veronica Mars. Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson throw around some of the funniest, most bromantic banter I've seen on a television show. Even the supporting characters are great.
2. The characters are ruthless but not indestructible. In other words, they're believable. They don't pretend they've got some moral high ground to cling to, because they know exactly what their jobs require and they go ahead and do that, because they know bullshit and they know it well. But they're not one-dimensional either, and that's what makes this show really watchable.
3. The father-son relationship veers away from the cliche "dad's busy at work so he doesn't care about me at all" trope. This is one of my favorite aspects of the show. Don Cheadle's character, Marty Kaan is a single father to Roscoe, a 10-year old cross-dressing musical theatre geek. And, he accepts that; he doesn't say a word about the scarves, the skirts or the pink Tory Burch, nor does he stress out over it, and to me, that's gender-issues done right on television. That isn't to say Marty's always there for his son, but he's always ready to defend Roscoe to the hippie principal at his school. Despite him being a dick to most everyone he meets, Marty's a really great dad.
4. The drama is pitch-perfect. It's not too much, it's layered, it's compelling, and it's not black and white. It's smart, it's political, it's slick, but it shows its cracks, and that's why the show is so great beneath its flashy surface of random sex in bathroom stalls, 'travel hookup points', freeze-frame-breaking-the-4th-wall cinematography and ivy-league glamour.

It was recently renewed for Season 2; I'm guessing House of Lies comes back next January, so it's a great time to catch up!

L-R: Josh Lawson, Don Cheadle, Ben Schwartz, Kristen Bell