With changes, there's a new lease on Glass' 'Life'

On radio, This American Life is a treasure - a brilliantly conceived form of quirky, true-life storytelling that has spawned a host of imitators and stands with the finest work the medium has delivered.

But on TV last year, not so brilliant. While the first season on Showtime was promising, mistakes were made - even host and executive producer Ira Glass says so.

"I mean, I feel proud of what we did in the first season, but we definitely were still finding our way, figuring what works as a television story and what doesn't," Glass says.

"There are some stories where I really adore the people in the stories, and the stories have nice moments, but now I don't think we would have done those stories, because they don't have that much of an emotional arc or not that much happens in front of the camera. In the early episodes, you can tell we're sweating every second of the construction of the stories."

The Baltimore-born, public radio star describes Season 2, which begins Sunday on the premium cable channel, as "looser, funnier and more confident." The good news for those seeking a form of nonfiction TV storytelling that runs deeper than the History Channel's UFO Hunters: He's right, and then some.

The improvement is considerable, and it starts with the photography. The storytelling is still as attuned to the ear as to the eye, but this year, the pictures consistently reinforce Glass' off-beat point of view - and occasionally add a touch of visual poetry all their own.

The first of two segments in Sunday's episode focuses on city teens who find a sense of empowerment on horseback in North Philadelphia. It opens with a tunnellike look down a narrow street of graffiti-scarred, boarded-up rowhouses. Think of the imagery that defined HBO's The Wire.

Then, on a cross street at the far end of the block, a posse of riders slowly clomps into view. The composition is stunning, and the urge to follow the riders as they disappear out of sight is irresistible.

The segment runs only a little more than four minutes, but it is transporting. The final lyrical images of the teenagers riding at a gallop through a city park soars off the screen. It is almost as if Glass and his fellow producers offer this brief opening tease to announce how much they have learned about painting with pictures instead of words.

The main story offers a full serving of all the narrative nutrients that the 1.7 million weekly public radio fans have come to expect of This American Life. The focus is a young man in his 20s who has spinal muscular atrophy - a disease that leaves him unable to speak or breathe without the help of machines. He is bedridden and totally dependent for around-the-clock care from his mother, who sleeps on the floor in her adult son's bedroom.

And then one day, the young man decides he wants "to get away from his mom," in the words of Glass.

This American Life chronicles his journey of "escape," starting with an ad on Craigslist seeking new caretakers.

Daring, intimate and unsettling, the story is ultimately profound and uplifting as Glass interviews and narrates with irony, empathy, irreverence and wit. No one is likely to criticize this segment for not having an emotional arc, as the young man literally risks his life to find the freedom of adulthood.

Glass and his troupe will be offering a preview and discussion of the new TV season in a live broadcast tonight in movie theaters coast to coast - including two in the Baltimore area (Bel Air Cinema Stadium 14 in Abingdon and Snowden Square Stadium 14 in Columbia).

The program, which will emanate from New York, will include guests, storytelling, questions and answers, and clips from coming episodes, according to Glass, who is using the same technology that the Metropolitan Opera has employed to bring its productions to a national audience.

"I'm going to treat this thing just like I do when we tour and do the radio show live onstage," Glass says. "I'm going to just cross my fingers and hope everything comes out OK."

david.zurawik@baltsun.com

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