Pops Watched TV: DTF ST. LOUIS

 For the past month or so, I’ve been proselytizing HBO’s DTF ST. LOUIS to friends, praising it as being something truly unique in an ocean of streaming television: A pitch black comedy / murder whodunit about sex in the suburbs, middle age ennui, and identity crises that was simultaneously twisted and unexpectedly sweet. Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini play friends caught in a complicated three-way affair that ends in the death of Harbour’s character, Floyd Smernitch. Two detectives, a grizzled older white man played by Richard Jenkins and a young African American woman (Joy Sunday) investigating the case focus on Floyd’s wife, Carol (Cardellini) and best friend, local meteorologist Clark (Bateman), and what initially seems like a typical tale of suburban infidelity leading to murder (for reasons financial or jealousy?) unravels as the details of the three lives are slowly laid bare (literally). 

Harbour is particularly moving as Floyd, a tortured, gentle soul desperately trying to find human connection. His relationship with his stepson, Richard (Arlan Ruf) will rend your heart in all of the ways it can be rended. Bateman evokes middle age weariness in a way that will make anyone who grew up watching him on TV feel every ache and pain they’ve ever endured. Cardellini’s Carol often comes across as cold (particularly towards the climax), making her rare moments of warmth and love have real resonance. The performances are all great, and often startling in their honesty. Which makes the ending (it’s not a spoiler, it’s the setup of the show) all the more painful. 

But not the good kind of dramatic painful. As the show’s final moments played out, I was left asking, What’s the Point? DTF ST. LOUIS goes to great, at time excruciating lengths to show us the complexity in these three characters (Clark’s wife, Eimy is barely in the series, presumably for a reason, although I can’t help but think having her more fleshed out would’ve helped us understand Clark’s situation more), but in the end, all we get is sadness. There’s no catharsis for anyone, no greater understanding of why life is so fucking hard, no silver lining woven into the tragedy. Everyone is just suffering (unless you count the detectives, who grow closer as a result of the investigation). 

Anyone who was frustrated by the conclusion of OZARK will feel familiar pangs of longing for a more just ending with DTF ST. LOUIS, but, as with Bateman’s crime drama, there’s more than enough good here to make it worth watching. But goddamn, it’s not an easy watch.

Pops Watched TV: ADOLESCENCE

I tuned out after two episodes of Netflix' limited series, ADOLESCENCE partially because I’m already depressed enough about what social media has done to society, but also one of the reasons I took a pass on procreating was to avoid this kind of agony. 

But the main reason I couldn’t keep watching was the show’s usage of the supremely tiresome SINGLE SHOT for each episode, which I find a distracting, pretentious trope that negates one of the medium’s primary storytelling tools (being editing). It worked in Alfred Hitchcock’s ROPE (wherein the single apartment setting made it a more subliminal trick that did actually amplify the tension), but every use since then (including BIRDMAN and OLDBOY and yes, even the opening of GOODFELLAS) has just taken me out of the moment as I find myself paying attention to the technical HOW way more than the narrative WHAT (which is not a good thing on which to focus). 

As always, your mileage may vary. Oh, and I keep meaning to ditch Netflix, so this is a good li’l kick in that direction. 

Pops Watched TV and Saw a Movie: DAHMER and BLONDE

 I couldn’t binge DAHMER: MONSTER: THE JEFFREY DAHMER STORY (or whatever) because it was just too much to stomach (no pun intended) more than an hour at a time, so it took me over a week to finish. I wasn’t even going to say anything about it until I watched BLONDE last night and decided to contrast these very different dramatizations of real life tragic figures. 

DAHMER is undeniably a riveting watch, but the many protestations over its humanization of the serial killer are not without merit. Evan Peters is way too likeable an actor to not make you feel some sort of empathy for Dahmer as her struggles with his compulsions. As with every “Based on a True Story” film or TV show, I spend a lot of time wondering what’s real and what’s not. I don’t demand 100% adherence to the facts, I understand the demands of creating dramatic fiction, and these days, all it takes is some quick Googling to separate the apocryphal from the factual. DAHMER mostly sticks to the facts, the biggest creative license being merging a number of the killer’s neighbors into one person, and moving her into the apartment next door. But what fascinates me most about this series isn’t the show itself but our collective fascination with true crime. What is it that draws us into being willing to watch ten hours dedicated to the most horrific, gruesome human behavior we can imagine? Why do we love this shit? I’d watch a ten-part series parsing that sociological phenomenon. 

Meanwhile, on the same platform, BLONDE is being marketed as a simple biopic of Marilyn Monroe, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Instead based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 novel, it’s a fictionalized, highly impressionistic overview of the icon’s mental instability and lifetime of various forms of abuse, presented with far more style than substance. The movie jumps from point to point, leaving exposition as to how Norma Jeane / Marilyn came to be involved with the various men in her life mostly cursory. The movie seems to be far more concerned with recreating iconic images of Monroe than fleshing out a tragic life beyond “unhappy childhood - bad relationships - extreme insecurity - oh, and pills and booze.” But unlike DAHMER, BLONDE feels zero compunction about creating some stories out of whole cloth (which will no doubt lead to even more public confusion among those who treat films like this as gospel). The one saving grace of the movie is Ana de Armas’ magnetic performance (although the decision to have her employ “Marilyn’s” breathy girly voice even in her private life is an odd one). Ironically, the timing of this film kind of works against it, as de Armas is currently Hollywood’s “It Girl,” making it hard to forget that it’s her under the wig and veneers. Ultimately, though, 2011’s MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (starring Michelle Williams) is a far more insightful and personal examination of the actual human being.

Originally posted on social media, Oct. 3, 2022.

Pops Saw a Movie and Watched TV: FANTASIA and BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER

 Here’s a two-part review wherein the only unifying subject matter is animation… and disappointment. 

For some reason, last night I watched Disney’s FANTASIA for the first time in many decades. The 1940 film animates stories to match eight segments of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski (but played in the film by composer Deems Taylor) and performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. My memory of the movie was that is was okay, but it didn’t move me on a deep level. Maybe I was too young, I thought, so I went back last night with a somewhat firmer appreciation of the music used in the movie. 

And I had the same reaction: It’s okay. Honestly, I think my antipathy for Disney is so deeply ingrained that I’m incapable of loving anything that features Mickey Mouse, even in a cameo. But the rest of the segments are just semi-successful to me as well. They mostly have that flat, reined-in feel and/or overabundance of cutesiness that defines Disney animation for me (I confess I fast forwarded past the "Dance of the Hours" ballet. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't.). Only Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” (depicting the early history of Earth through the demise of the dinosaurs [erroneously credited to a global warming dustbowl, as the theory of the comet had yet to be discovered]) and Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” (featuring the demon Chernabog summoning evil spirits from the grave) held my interest. 

(Also I should note that Disney+ adds a disclaimer about the offensive racial imagery in the movie, but the version I saw still edits out all of the shots of Sunflower, the stereotyped black “centaurette”, so… maybe they meant the Chinese dancing mushrooms?)

My own personal prejudice aside, FANTASIA, despite its lofty aspirations, still mostly feels… to me, anyway… uninspired. 

Which, ironically, is how I also—surprisingly—feel about Prime Video’s new series, BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER. When it was announced some years back that Bruce Timm (the creative genius behind the iconic BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES and BATMAN BEYOND) was to helm a new cartoon featuring the Darknight Detective, fanboys collectively wept an ocean of joy-tears. There was no way this could be anything but a new classic (much as I loathe that oxymoronic term). News that the show would be a retro throwback to Batman’s Golden Age caused some raised eyebrows, but few people didn’t think Timm and company could pull it off. 

Well… again… it’s okay. But just okay. It took me a solid month to get through the short ten episode season, which speaks volumes as to my gut reaction to the first few viewings. Glacially paced, with a drab sepia-toned palette, the rather blocky animation lacks the dynamism of the previous efforts from Timm’s teams. Story-wise, familiar characters are revamped (the Penguin is gender-swapped, Commissioner and Babs Gordon are black, Harvey Dent is a jerk, Harley Quinn is not Harley Quinn, it’s all over the place), but it mostly feels like change for its own sake; very few of the alterations feel inspired by story so much as a desire on the part of the producers to not be bored by treading familiar ground (which also explains the absence of some iconic villains… the Joker doesn’t appear until a teaser at the very end of the last episode). 

I dunno. I think perhaps the retro setting was a bad idea. Where do you go? Hardcore Batman fans know the history, so there are expectations… that the producers will no doubt try to subvert again, with probably the same middling results. I think it could’ve been far more exciting if they had simply continued Batman’s adventures in present day, utilizing some of the members of the comic book cast that have been introduced or developed since the last series ended in 1995 (and I don’t necessarily mean picking up where that series left off, they could’ve started fresh). Batman is perhaps the most endlessly-adaptable superhero in the history of the genre, he works in all gradients from silly to super-serious. So it’s disappointing that this latest iteration is so… (see above).

Pops Watched TV: LIGHT & MAGIC

 While I’m normally (and naturally) skeptical of documentaries that have corporate ties to their subject matter, I nonetheless watched LIGHT & MAGIC, the six-part docuseries on Disney+ about ILM, and find myself—somewhat surprisingly—giving it a solid recommendation. 

I often bemoan the death of “movie magic,” just referring to the cynical lack of wonder and awe over how special effects are made anymore, with the catch-all of “it’s all digital” being the answer to every “how did they do that?” But while the most inspiring parts of LIGHT & MAGIC are certainly seeing the ragtag physical effects artists of the 1970s figuring out how to do everything that George Lucas demanded of them for STAR WARS (indeed, Lucas comes across as rather dense here, less a brilliant visionary than a stubborn dreamer who, when told, “We can’t do that,” just said, “You’ll figure it out,” and was lucky that they DID), and there’s a really depressing section on some of those guys finding themselves feeling “extinct” when JURASSIC PARK rendered them obsolete, there’s a surprising turnaround at the end (spoiler alert) wherein some brand new techniques (“the Volume”… look it up) have reintegrated traditional filmmaking into the modern era in a way that many would previously have thought was done. 

For those of us who grew up witnessing the transition from practical to digital effects and ever gave a crap about how any of it was done, or if you just like seeing smart geeks doing creative stuff, check this series out. Hell, it even made me go back and re-watch all of the STAR WARS films.

Originally posted on social media, Aug. 19, 2022

Pops Watched TV: Three Netflix Stand-Up Specials

 I took some time at the drawing board yesterday to catch up on a few Netflix stand-up specials, with predictably mixed results. 

Patton Oswalt's WE ALL SCREAM is another example of how this once-mighty comic voice has fallen into a predictable rut of tiresome self-depreciation and almost rote absurdist similes. A really sad bit of crowd work (in a big theater? No, Patton) just feels like a forced attempt to stay true to his roots, but when one of your bits is about a case of mistaken identity with your groundskeeper, you're really not a man of the people anymore. There are a few good bits, but at this point, it feels like the guy should just stick to voiceovers (even though I find those distractingly annoying as well). 

Iliza Shlesinger's HOT FOREVER is another frustrating example of how this smart and fearless comic simply refuses to step out of her comfort zone of "elder millennial" talking about dumb dating and relationship shit. When she started discussing mating rituals like she was still in college (describing guys' disgusting bedrooms with no bedding other than a crusty sleeping bag on the bed), I gave up and tuned out. I have to assume that the last half of the show was about her recent motherhood, a topic I never need to hear a comedian discuss again. It's a shame because I really like her, but I just can't do the "men are like this / women are like this" stuff anymore. 

Finally, Nick Kroll's LITTLE BIG BOY is hands down the best of the three. While mining some of the same self-deprecating ground as Patton (they both even discuss bouts with diarrhea, if that's your bag), Kroll's work feels more organic and less self-serving than Oswalt's. A bit about everyone being annoyed by their mother is the kind of stinging but hilarious insight that Patton's lacked for many years. I highly recommend at least checking out this bit (it comes in around the 40 minute mark). 

Take these reviews with even more of my "it's all subjective" caveat than normal, as I really can't abide 99% of what passes for comedy. But here ya go.

Originally posted on social media, Oct. 22, 2022

Pops Watched TV: POKER FACE "Rest in Metal"

 First of all, I really like POKER FACE (streaming on Peacock). It’s a fun throwback to 1970s detective shows (right down to the credits which directly homage COLUMBO), and Natasha Lyonne is delightful as Charlie Cale, a woman on the run who can tell when anyone’s lying. You have to suspend disbelief that she happens to stumble upon a murder everywhere she goes, but hey, that’s the show. I can go with it. 

However, episode 4, “Rest in Metal” pushed it a bit too far for me. Chloë Sevigny plays the singer of a washed up heavy metal band who had one giant hit decades ago, but still hits the road every year, playing dive bars and desperate to regain wealth and fame. When their Craigslist-found touring drummer writes a song that they KNOW will put them back on top, they orchestrate an onstage “accident” for him so they can steal “Sucker Punch,” and quickly become a viral sensation (until Charlie, working as their merch girl, figures everything out). 

What makes the episode a fail is that it’s yet another TV show that gets rock and roll wrong. First of all, Doxxxology doesn’t seem like a metal band to me… and “Sucker Punch” is absolutely not metal, it’s a pop tune, which, given its provenance—no spoilers if you haven’t seen it, it’s the episode’s best moment—makes sense, but why make them a metal band? Why not just a rock band? But what’s even tougher to swallow is that within days of performing their stolen song at a dive bar, Doxxxology is being lavished with caviar, champagne, and lucrative contracts by stereotypical record label folks… it’s the fastest music industry rise since Bud Eagle (and cheers to you if you get that reference without Googling it). Again, it could’ve worked without playing into music industry tropes that are about as dated as Doxxxology (what record label is champing at the bit to sign a rock band comprised of 40-something metalheads?!?). It’s just too over the top to feel even remotely believable. 

Anyway. Not every episode is great, but it’s always fun.

Originally posted on social media, Feb. 26, 2023

Pops Watched TV: SHRINKiNG

 I decided to check out Apple TV+’s SHRINKiNG (Jason Segel plays a psychiatrist mourning his dead wife and struggling with professional burnout and an angry daughter) for one reason: To watch Harrison Ford do comedy. But two episodes in, I found myself cringing on the couch with each chirpy quip / obviously improvised cutesy non-sequitur / ham-fisted tear jerking moment, making me look up the show and discover it’s “from the people who brought you TED LASSO.” 

I’ve never watched TED LASSO because every single thing I’ve read about it just screamed, “NOT FOR YOU, KALLI! NOT. FOR. YOU.” I texted the people’s friend, Matt Caputo and asked him, “Hey, is SHRINKiNG like TED LASSO?,” to which he replied in the affirmative, confirming my aversion. 

SHRINKiNG is alternately cloyingly sweet and maudlin, populated with the kind of characters that people in Hollywood think are “real” and relatable, but are as clichéd and predictable as anything in a Marvel movie (there’s the mincing gay best friend and the smart-ass young black co-worker and the crusty but lovable old mentor and the angry teenage daughter and the nosy neighbor and probably more I’ve tried to forget!). I lasted four episodes before I once again wished that streaming services offered a “delete from your ’Keep Watching’ queue” option. 

Sorry, Harrison Ford. I hope you got a nice paycheck for this drek.

Originally posted on social media, March 2, 2023

Pops Watched TV: THE CONSULTANT

Prime’s THE CONSULTANT stars the always-mesmerizing Christoph Waltz as Regus Patoff, the mysterious titular businessman, who takes over running a mobile game company after its young CEO is murdered by a child. Ruling with an utter ignorance of the field, Patoff institutes some harsh and Machiavellian practices, zeroing in on a few employees in particular, but with an unforeseeable endgame. 

The series is based on a book by Bentley Little, so I don’t know if the source is meatier than the show, but after a promising start, THE CONSULTANT wraps up feeling like there are three or four missing episodes…. Without giving any spoilers, Patoff (also, “Regus Patoff?” Really? Wasn’t that a character in ROCKY & BULLWINKLE? Who was fooled by this?!?) has a sinister side that is never fully explored (and there’s a physical explanation for his inability to climb stairs that is so ridiculous on its face that it almost killed the whole thing for me). The series could’ve benefited from leaning a lot harder into some creepy surrealism rather than mostly feeling like an industrial espionage thriller. If there’s a second season, I’ll probably tune in again, but I really hope it gives us more substance.

Originally posted on social media, March 27, 2023

Pops Watched TV: STAR TREK: PICARD

SPOILERS AHEAD: 

I rewatched the finale of STAR TREK: PICARD last night because I was confused by how unmoved I was on my first viewing. I’m a very recent NEXT GENERATION convert, I didn’t love the show in its initial run, but during lockdown, I binged the whole series and finally got it. And what made it ultimately work was the relationships between the characters. 

So the first two seasons of PICARD (which tried, like most modern TREK, to turn the franchise into an action series) left me mostly cold. But this third and final season leaned SO heavily into TNG fan service (bringing back the entire crew with the exception of Wesley Crusher…. Poor Wil Wheaton) that, especially knowing it was the end, actually worked for me (I confess to crying a few times). Except for one, common gripe I have with 21st century genre fiction, which ended up being the centerpiece of the whole story. 

I think my beef is that out of nowhere, Star Trek decides that Picard's true strength lies in being a father, which to me is a slap in the face of the character's entire history and legacy. It's just the latest in a line of modern pop culture bows to mainstream "live laugh love" sensibilities.... Batman, Superman, Iron Man, James Bond, Black Panther, and now Jean-Luc Picard.... it's not enough that they saved the world / universe time and time again, their legacies are inadequate unless they've sired an offspring. This is not a slag against parenthood... it's against patronizing storytelling. 

Prior to the finale, I’d have bet my paycheck (which, granted, is not a lot of money) that the show was going to end with Jean-Luc Picard making the ultimate sacrifice and dying to save the universe. They even had a number of “goodbye” scenes that certainly made it seem that way. But instead, in the ultimate confrontation with the Borg, Picard simply tells his assimilated son that he’s “the piece of me I never knew was missing,” and the power of love severs the tie with the Borg, allowing the crew of the Enterprise to destroy the threat and everyone lives happily ever after. Yawn. 

Picard didn’t have to die. But the ending of the TNG finale, “All Good Things….” was (*to me) a far, far more satisfying conclusion than this was. To make the end of this character's 30-plus year story all about a character we just met? Nope. 

As always, your mileage may vary (particularly if you yourself have kids).

Originally posted on social media, April 26, 2023

Pops Watched TV: WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS

 In the summer and fall of 1973, my afternoon television routine (consisting primarily of Wee Willie Webber’s Colorful Cartoon Club on WPHL-17) was frequently sidelined by my mother’s insistence on watching the Watergate hearings. The following summer, I was at the shore (Dewey Beach, DE) with my parents and grandparents when Richard Nixon resigned his presidency. Watergate was my first political memory, but at the time—aside from the battles it incurred between my lefty Dad and conservative grandmother—I found it really boring. 

Well, guess what, eight-year old me, someday a satirical dramatization of Watergate is going to be your favorite thing on TV. HBO’s WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS totally caught me off guard (despite its VEEP connection)… I was  not expecting a side-splittingly funny black comedy… I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s all the political intrigue and ‘70s social strife mixed in there as well. But the sincere bromance between über-earnest E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux) is played so broadly that it falls just short of the classic WILL: THE MOVIE parody from SCTV (link in comments). 

Apparently the mix of irreverence and an adherence to history (mostly) is causing confusion amongst some viewers. But let’s face it, C.R.E.E.P.  was comprised of some serious buffoons. It all works gloriously for me (I think my father would’ve liked it too… MeMee, not so much). My only complaint about this series is that it’s only five episodes. But I’ll be rewatching as soon as it wraps up.

Originally posted on social media, May 10, 2023

Pops Watched TV: STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS and SUPERMAN & LOIS

NERD ALERT: 

I’m currently rewatching season one of STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS in anticipation of season two premiering on June 15th, and am loving it just as much the second time. Not really being a fan of any other modern iteration of Gene Roddenberry’s brainchild, I had fairly low expectations for this TOS prequel (of sorts), but the superlative casting, throwback sensibility to classic TREK, and (mostly) episodic nature of the series completely won me over, making this not just the best TREK since the underrated ENTERPRISE, but hands down my favorite genre show on TV right now. 

Meanwhile, the third (and probably final*) season of SUPERMAN & LOIS is a real head-scratcher, eschewing the deft balance of adventure and soap opera of the first two seasons for a story that focuses on Lois Lane battling breast cancer (coincidentally getting treatment alongside a supervillain who’s also the secret wife of the season’s big bad, Bruno Mannheim, who’s also coincidentally the father of Natalie Irons’ new boyfriend!). I’m not against bringing some real-life drama into a superhero story, but this season has been so relentlessly downbeat (sad music theme in every episode and Superman doesn’t even appear in costume in one of them!) that I have to sometimes remind myself I’m watching a superhero show. (Additionally, this season finally fell into the Berlanti pattern of revealing secret identities to every other person on the show.)

Watching both of these series at the same time, I’m again frustrated by the fact that almost every superhero (and other genre) show feels the need to tell season-long arcs instead of individual stories. STRANGE NEW WORLDS has reminded us of the power of short-form storytelling in genre television, and I wish S&L had gone that route (it played with it a bit in the first season). If it does indeed fall under the CW cancellation knife, its legacy will mostly be that of a sadly missed opportunity.

* Turned out to not be true, a fourth and NOW final season premieres in 2024. 

Originally posted on social media, June 8, 2023

Pops Watched TV: STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS "Ad Astra Per Aspera"

The second episode of STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS season 2, “Ad Astra Per Aspera” was not just another solid episode of the best TREK in decades, it almost felt to me like a bit of a swipe at some of the things that make me dislike DISCOVERY. 

In the episode, Captain Pike’s “Number One,” Cmdr. Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) is on trial for hiding the fact that she is a genetically-modified Ilyrian from Starfleet (an organization that, in the wake of the Eugenics Wars on Earth, banned such beings from service). In the end (spoiler alert), she is cleared under a Federation law that persecuted beings can be granted asylum by Starfleet, which is in essence what happened with Una. 

The anti-DISCOVERY elements of the episode play out in two ways (three, if you count the ongoing episodic nature of the show): First, desperate to find out how Starfleet discovered Una’s true species, security chief La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) asks Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Gooding) to release the ship’s personal logs to her, which is against Starfleet regulations. Uhura refuses the order. On DISCOVERY, seemingly every crew member flouts Starfleet regs so often that it’s basically anarchy on that ship (this is not to say that the crew of the Enterprise doesn’t break the rules from time to time… both Spock and Pike have done so already… but they have a bit more authority to do so than the young cadet). 

Secondly, while this is a very emotional episode, there are almost no tears shed. The restraint shown by both the characters and the show is (again) in stark contrast to DISCOVERY, which I had to stop watching in part because EVERYONE CRIES IN EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. 

Maybe I’m reading too much into it. But again, despite a super solid first season of SNW, I’ve been so burned by modern TREK again and again that I find myself bracing for the worst. So far, this show has not let me down, and its commitment to honoring Gene Roddenberry’s vision without being a slavish retread makes it appointment television for me, something I haven’t had in many years.

Originally posted on social media, June 25, 2023

Pops Watched TV: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

Three episodes in, it’s confirmed: I fucking cannot abide anything created by Mike Flanagan. Netflix’ limited series, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is the work of a Gen-Xer desperately trying to be embraced by the Z-kidz. It’s a pathetic Poe-dropping wankfest that has absolutely no connection to its supposed source material other than superficial references (SO. MANY. REFERENCES). It’s populated with boring, unlikable characters and peppered with supposedly creepy moments that merely serve to keep the viewer from nodding off from sheer boredom. It makes Roger Corman’s low-budget, loosely adapted 1960s Poe films look like horror classics. I cannot go any further. I regret the two and a half hours I wasted on what I did see. Never again, Mike Flanagan. NEVER. AGAIN.

Originally posted on social media, Oct. 21, 2023

Pops Watched TV: RIP Norman Lear

 Growing up in the 1970s, Normal Lear was a huge part of my television experience. Specifically, ALL IN THE FAMILY, GOOD TIMES, THE JEFFERSONS, MAUDE, SANFORD & SON, and ONE DAY AT A TIME. And while at the time, these network situation comedies just felt like regular television to me, as I got older, I realized how much more than typical tee-vee they actually were, and how lucky I was to have experienced them in real time. 

As a middle class, suburban white kid in a mostly-white town, my exposure to other cultures and lifestyles came—for better or worse—mostly through TV. And while it’s easy for a detached 21st century audience too young to remember rabbit ears to dismiss Lear’s shows as exploitative, or offensive, or superficial, I can tell you that they not only taught me about some serious issues such as bigotry, sexism, class warfare, abortion (yes, abortion), poverty, divorce, substance abuse, Vietnam, ageism, rape (freaking RAPE!), and more, they did so in a way that never felt preachy and actually managed to often be biting, touching (without being treacly), and—most of all—hilarious. This was new. Lear’s shows were not the first smart programs on the tube, but the sheer volume and lasting impact of his now-iconic output left a legacy in the medium that few can touch. 

By all accounts, still smart, sharp, and funny right up until the day he died at 101, Normal Lear deserves to be listed as one of the most important and influential humorists of the 20th century.

Originally posted on social media, Dec. 7, 2023

Pops Watched TV: MR. AND MRS. SMITH

Prime’s MR. & MRS. SMITH reboot is a really odd duck of a TV show. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine play the titular couple, placed together when they join a mysterious agency that engages in spy-like activity. The arranged marriage quickly evolves into a real romance, but problems arise when it turns out they “just want different things.” 

Now, here’s the problem with the show, and it’s pretty deeply rooted: We’re supposed to believe that in order to join this unnamed organization, you have to be some kind of sociopath, lacking in empathy, willing to completely abandon your previous life and all its connections, in addition to, you know, being okay with killing people for reasons you’re never told. And yet, while the only aspect of her previous life Jane seems to hold onto is her cat, John continues to stay in disturbingly frequent touch with his mother, and turns out to have really, REALLY conventional hopes and desires. I mean, I don’t want to spoil it, but… 

Okay, it’s kids. He wants kids (at one point whispering a cringe-inducing "I want to put a baby in you" during an al fresco coitus). And to buy a house (or two). And maybe move his Mom in at some point. All things that would seem to be COMPLETELY anathema to this chosen vocation, desires which would no doubt be disqualifying in a presumably strident screening process. But apparently, we’re supposed to believe that all it takes is lying on your job application to be embedded in this high-end, super-secret society of super assassins. 

It might be a bit easier to swallow if Mr. Smith WERE inept at the assignments, and while not every mission goes smoothly, he certainly has enough facility with weapons and hand-to-hand combat to indicate that he didn’t make this career choice on a whim. So his rather speedy embrace of traditional family values feels… like a fictional construct. Which, of course, it is. 

Now, I love Donald Glover. I think he’s multi-talented and has charm to burn. As his not-quite-as-conventional wife, Maya Erskine is likewise engaging, and they have enough chemistry and comic timing together to keep me tuned in for the whole season, although by the end, it was a bit of a struggle. I doubt I will be coming back for Season 2. Of course, as always, your mileage may vary. 

Especially if you have kids and a mortgage. Which I don’t. So. 

NOTE:
This is the first thing I've posted in a while, I've been lazy / discouraged at the lack of traffic, so I've been posting my reviews of things strictly on my various social media platforms. I realize that even if I'm just using this Blog as an online portfolio, I need to be putting even things like short reviews on here, so look for me to play catch-up on some dusty reviews in the weeks to come. Okay, Scott?