The third season of Friday Night Lights has made for good viewing these days, mostly due Tami and Eric Taylor, who struggle on a daily basis to deal with the drama that is Dillon High School.
Connie Britton's Tami is the new high school principal this season and quickly learned -- when she took on the football fans' predilection for shoveling money toward the football program instead of academics (the football boosters raised thousands of dollars for an unnecessary Jumbotron for the football stadium which Tami tried to reallocate to academics to avert teacher layoffs) -- that she'll have to chose her battles more carefully.
Kyle Chandler's Eric has had an intellectual and emotional decision to make this season as he was torn between whether he should promote a stand-out freshman quarterback with a rich, pushy father at the expense of the senior quarterback who lives with his grandmother who's slowly succumbing to Alzheimer's, or dementia or something of that nature. (I think Coach Taylor made the wrong choice in elevating J.D. McCoy by the way -- J.D.'s going to snap -- and will pay the price when his father tries to hijack the football program.)
The changing power dynamic of the Taylor marriage, now that Tami is Eric's boss, has been intriguing, a game-changer.
Most touching storyline thus far in season three: Watching Jason Street delude himself into thinking that he can renovate and flip Buddy Garrity's house in order to earn enough money to support his girlfriend and son.
UPDATE: Guess I was wrong about the Jason Street is deluded crack. This past Friday's episode had Jason succeed at flipping the Garrity house and making some cash. I adored the twist of having him run into a former teammate and his almost-agent, and how it got him to thinking about becoming a sports agent himself. If he steals his former teammate as his first client, Jason's story could have a happy ending.
Why are you loving Friday Night Lights this season?
Don't worry everybody. Joe Biden's got it covered. Federal bailout money won't be wasted, President Barack Obama told us last night, because he's put the vice president in charge of a "tough, unprecedented oversight effort." And, as the president added, "Nobody messes with Joe." So we're all set.
But seriously folks, President Obama, invoking an upbeat and optimistic tone that called upon America's can-do spirit, told a joint session of Congress last night, "We will rebuild. We will recover." He hopes that the barrels of federal dollars contained in the various stimulus packages will truly jump-start the economy. He says now's the time to "act boldly" and to fix the health care system, double the production of green fuel, halve the federal deficit within four years, raise taxes only on a tiny fraction of Americas, give soldiers better pay and better benefits, pull troops out of Iraq, move some more into Afghanistan, improve the nation's schools and, oh yeah, beat cancer.
Now I'm an optimist who loves to see an ambitious agenda fueled by smart, innovative ideas, determination and the ability to see that people of all ideological stripes have something worthy to offer. But when I listened to President Obama last night, I kept wondering how in the world we could implement and achieve even half of what he put on the table last night. Is it even possible? To do everything he talked about? Simultaneously?
For the past few weeks, I've been voraciously consuming articles and editorials about Obama's economic proposals, including the ginormous bailout bills, and watched the now-infamous CNBC commentator Rick Santelli off-the-cuff speech where he scoffed at the notion of bailing out the ailing mortgages of people who bought more house than they could really afford. Across the board, there seems to be confusion, uncertainty and no clear path out of this thicket of daily reports about the Dow's latest drop, the jobless numbers spiking and the businesses shutting down. Just yesterday, news reports contained dire info about Target's steep decline in profits.
New York Times columnist David Brooks last week was critical of the bailout for homeowners who've defaulted or are behind on their mortgages, saying the federal plan rewards bad behavior, but asked what other choice do we really have if we're to stop the economic hemorrhaging. ". . . [T]he sad reality is that in these circumstances government has to spend money on precisely those sectors that have been swinging most wildly -- housing, finance, etc. It has to help stabilize people who have been idiots."
President Obama last night said we've arrived at a national "day of reckoning" and that it's time to pay the price for living a lifestyle beyond our means for so long. We need to grow up and settle the bill. After listening to his prescription to pull us out of what some commentators are frighteningly likening to a modern day Great Depression, I find myself agreeing with the New York Daily News'sentiment on today's front page, "Hope He's Right." Americans are giving President Obama high approval numbers because the majority of them are taking a leap of faith; we're praying that he's right.
But then articles like today's Maureen Dowd column about the gross misuse of federal stimulus money are published (a bank that got $1.5 billion in bailout money and fired 450 employees "flew hundreds of clients and employees to Los Angeles last week and treated them to four days of posh hotel rooms, salmon and filet mignon dinners, music concerts, a PGA golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club with Mercedes shuttle rides and Tiffany swag bags") and steam starts pouring out of my ears. Where's Joe Biden? He's got to get on the case, pronto! Want to restore Americans' confidence, then the Obama folks need to put an end to this kind of this abuse ASAP.
. . . in all its glory, the snarky Ben Stiller shtick where he impersonated Joaquin Phoenix's odd appearance on David Letterman.
I'm still on the fence as to whether Phoenix was doing a bit of his own or whether it was real, but either way, Stiller was perfection. (Link to video here.)
Watched the 47-hour Oscar telecast last night. Why is it when it seems as though the show's producers are sincerely making attempts to trim the program's time, it seems even longer?
The good: Kate Winslet winning her first Oscar, Winslet's father loudly whistling so she could locate him in the crowd, Tina Fey & Steve Martin cracking up the place, Ben Stiller doing a spot-on Joaquin Phoenix and those cute-as-a-button Slumdog Millionaire kids who were collecting stars' autographs.
The so-so: Enough with the camera shots of Bragelina (particularly when Jennifer Aniston was on stage, steps away from them . . . just tacky), the too-long dance number (even though the HSM duo was very earnest) and, while I loved the individual speeches to the actor/actress nominees -- it was like giving each actor, most of whom would go home without a statue, a thoughtful, touching, individualized gift -- it tacked on too much time. The Academy Awards ended after midnight. My DVR stopped recording just when they were making the mini-speeches about the Best Actress nominees, so I was lucky to be able to switch over to live TV so as not to miss too much.
As for my own personal Oscar picks? Per usual, I stunk at predicting the winners, while my husband -- a casual pop culture observer who I force-march through countless films, particularly of the indie ilk -- thoroughly trounced me. I'd selected the top nine categories and out of those, I successfully identified four winners. The husband? He got seven of the winners.
Among those I accurately predicted: Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire; Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (though you'd have to have been a moron to bet against a Ledger win); Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Best Animated Feature, WALL-E.
I know what you're thinking . . . how could such a self-professed Winslet fan have bet against her to win for The Reader? Well, I thought that perhaps the Academy voters didn't want to go with the "sure thing." Plus Winslet's on the cover of this week's Time Magazine (printed BEFORE the Oscars were aired) under the headline, "Best Actress." I thought it seemed TOO predictable. I decided to be wild and pick Meryl Streep for Best Actress for Doubt. My bad.
I also thought that while Sean Penn collected raves for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, that voters would go for the feel-good comeback story that is Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Wrong-o. As for picking the WALL-E Original Screenplay and The Reader Adapted Screenplay, incorrect on both counts.
Oh well. So I'm not very good at prognosticating when it comes to contests like this, which is why I always fare so poorly with my brackets during the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I tend to overthink all my choices, then allow my own personal biases to seep in. Bet you want me in your basketball pool, don't ya?
It's taken me two days and two viewings of Lostbefore I've been able to write a post here about the most recent episode. (Plus I took my three February vacationing kids to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop yesterday and lost more than a few brain cells in the process.)
That being said . . . Wednesday's episode, "316," was one of the best and provocative installments I've seen in this series. So many elements came together and spurred questions:
Take the likening of John Locke to Jesus and Jack Shephard to Doubting Thomas (aka -- Thomas the Apostle), as well as having Locke serve as a stand-in for Jack's deceased father Christian on the flight.
The mysterious call made by a blood-spattered Ben to Jack from the pay phone at a marina. (Given that Penny and Desmond had docked their boat in LA, is it possible that Ben hurt or killed Penny as he promised he would?).
The uncertainty of what happened to Aaron (with Claire's mother?), coupled with the implied sexual relations between Kate and Jack after Kate told Jack not to ask about Aaron again. Did Kate become pregnant, representing the pregnant Claire on the flight?
Ben was reading Ulysses by James Joyce on the doomed flight; the book has chapters entitled "Hades" and "Penelope."
How, exactly, did the Losties got back to the island? (Was there an explosion? a crash?)
The single line of Locke's suicide note -- "I wish you had believed me." -- references the lack of belief that Jack, called the man of science in season two, had in Locke, the man of faith, about not leaving the island. This episode was entitled "316" which is also a Biblical passage, John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
As I tried to take this all in, I was, simply, blown away. After I watched the episode a second time, I went online and looked up a number of other folks' analyses and found these to be among the best:
-- Entertainment Weekly-- which called this the "proverbial pilot episode for a whole new chapter of the show" -- had loads of amazing details and offered various connections between plot points. -- Pop Candy's commenters provided great grist for discussion. -- Jezebel and New York Magazineprovided fabulously insightful episode wrap-ups.
Here's ABC's Lost Untangled video to help explain "316" (link to video here):
I still feel as though I need to read up more on Thomas the Apostle and Ulysses in order to prepare for next week's episode, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," which, going by ABC's previews, has Locke wearing a Jesus-like cloak and includes a scene where someone is kneeling in front of him. (Ben?) Link to preview for next episode here.
I've got a 10-year-old daughter who has several posters of the Jonas Brothers decorating the walls of her bedroom. (I get a kick out of embarrassing her by occasionally walking into her room, putting my hand over my heart and shrieking, "Oh! Joe Jonas! I looovvvve you!")
Despite the fact that she's distinctly unimpressed with my fawning girl impression ("You're too old to like Joe Jonas!" she chastises.), my daughter's been counting down the days until Disney's Jonas Brothers' 3-D Concert film appears in theaters on February 27 for a "special limited engagement." (This seems like it'll be eeriely similar to the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3-D concert film extravaganza of last year where I had to buy tickets in advance and then wait in a big line in order to get seats in the theater because it wasn't going to be in theaters long.)
The fact that a couple of my daughters' other favorite singers -- Taylor Swift and Disney Channel star Demi Lovato -- also appear in the film only adds to her excitement . . . as did the appearance of the J-Bros in the Hannah flick did last year. Does this mean we'll be seeing some other up-and-coming youth star in a Taylor Swift 3-D movie NEXT year? (Link to the video is here.)
While praising the much-improved seasons of two popular, primetime dramas that have unfolded since January, USA Today's Robert Bianco says that Lost and 24 are "remarkably good," and "the two best shows on TV."
"Because it fell further from grace, the course corrections at 24 are probably more noticeable. In place of the hysterics and overdone family histrionics of the last go-round, we have a stripped-down plot that frees Jack (the reliably terrific Kiefer Sutherland) from back-story build-up and returns the show to its roots."
On Lost, he said:
"If people seem less happy with Lost, it may be because the show rejected more-readily grasped answers to its mystery (dream, purgatory, alien abduction) in favor of a smarter but more complicated solution . . . And you can think of Lost now as the network equivalent of The Wire, a challenging show telling its story in its own way, and brilliantly."
Are Lost and 24 the best shows on TV? That would leave out 30 Rock, and doesn't include, I'd think, Mad Men, which isn't currently airing new episodes.
President's Day. February school vacation + 3 kids at home making me crazy = The dog ate my homework. My bad on not getting this Desperate Housewivespost up more promptly. But it's never too late to wax on at length about the Wisteria Lane gals . . .
Generally, I've been pleased with the last few episodes, now that the writers have dispensed with the Scavos-in-daytime-TVesque-peril-following-absurd-love-affair-and-faux-murder-accusations. It's been a relief to see that Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) is starting to return to a quasi-likable character again, though she'd not quite there yet. I'm likewise happy to see that the writers have been effectively folding the current economic realities into the Housewives' stories. It lends an air of audience connectedness to some of the characters that had been woefully lacking, which explains why the dowdy Gabby Solis, frustrated by parenting two young girls, resonated much more with me than any other character during the season.
This past Sunday's fresh episode, "In a World Where the Kings are Employers," the grounded storyline trend continued when Susan Mayer had her first working mom conflict when her son was sick and both she and her ex-husband Mike Delfino, were supposed to work. They attempted to one-up each other over in order to figure out who'd stay home with the sick kid. Susan won out but Mike pawned the kid off on his girlfriend Katherine Mayfair. It was entertaining watching Susan trying to "compete" with Katherine over who's the best domestic engineer, a competition Susan could lose to even Edie Britt or Mrs. McCluskey's dead cat. The tension between Susan and Katherine this week was certainly more realistic than Susan's attempt to steal Katherine's fake pearl necklace last week.
The Gabby-Carlos storyline -- where Gabby blackmailed Carlos' boss into giving Carlos the company's only bonus in exchange for her not mentioning to the boss' pregnant wife that he was stepping out on her -- was mildly amusing. However I'm still in mourning for paunchy, poor Gabby. She had more kick. I would've invited that Gabby over for coffee.
*Spoiler alert!*
I'm sure many of you have heard about the impending departure of Nicollette Sheridan and her character Edie. Rumor has it that Edie will meet her demise at the hands of her nutty, mysterious husband Dave, who killed his therapist and covered the murder by setting fire to a bar many episodes back. (This was the fire Porter Scavo was accused of setting.) I like Dave Williams, played with verve by Neal McDonough. I hope the writers give Edie a decent send-off.
Are you saddened to hear that Edie will be leaving the show? Are you pleased with how season five has been playing out, or disappointed?
Now I love movies as much as any movie fan. And, as a sucker for major creative awards shows (Golden Globes, Oscars, Emmys), I'm usually anxious to see for myself the films and TV programs the critics and those who bestow awards think were outstanding in a given year.
So when I read about AMC Theaters' Best Picture Showcase event on Saturday, February 21 -- where all five of the films nominated for Best Picture will be shown consecutively, starting in the morning and running until late into the evening -- you would think I'd be all over that. For $30 you get a ticket to all five movies -- Milk, The Reader (See still photo above), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon -- and a free large popcorn with unlimited refills, but come on, how much popcorn can you eat in one day?
The first film starts at 10:30 in the morning, the last film starts at 9:45 p.m. That's a long haul, particularly if all you've eaten is popcorn all day, or those overpriced, microwaved pizzas. Maybe I'm showing my age here, but I don't know that I could stay awake for approximately 10 hours of movies. That's a lot of movie.
If you had the free time to devote an entire Saturday to Best Picture nominees, do you think you could make it through a marathon like this one? I've heard of people doing a marathon watching of 24 -- staying awake for nearly 24 hours to watch an entire season of the Jack Bauer drama -- but at least those folks watch the program in private homes. This movie marathon would be 10+ hours in a movie theater.
I walked into the film Revolutionary Road (starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio) with the notion in my head that it would be very similar to Mad Men. When it wasn't -- tones were vastly different, characters motivated by different things, etc. -- I thought that my frame of reference was off, that I shouldn't be comparing the film and the TV program.
But once I started watching Mad Men's first season again on DVD, it smacked me in the face: The two female leads, Kate Winslet's April Wheeler and January Jones' Betty Draper, had comparable, soul-crushing experiences. Both were college educated, had lived in cities, had careers and then . . . the melancholy settled in. My weekly Pop Culture & Politics column over on Mommy Track'd compares the two characters.
Want to watch Jack Bauer & Co. each week with fans who view 24 through a sarcastic lens? You might want to visit columnist Dave Barry's blog, where each week, Barry and his own merry band of followers live-blog each episode by making pithy, smart alecky remarks.
After a snarky recap, ("During the shootout Renee the highly competent FBI agent rescued the Matobos, who are going to meet with President Woman President for a scene that will no doubt feature riveting White House dialogue. Meanwhile Dubaku went to his apartment, where his girlfriend, who apparently does not watch the show and thus is not aware that he is evil, dropped by to say she was going to make his lasagna."), Barry blogs via a series of updates.
What does he say? "Stepping over the line? Jack was BORN over the line." A minute later, Barry quoted an FBI agent, "'Rules are what make us better.' Who writes this stuff?" When Bauer and the other rogue agents were in the Oval Office with the president, Barry wrote, "Right. They would of course leave suspected enemy agents alone with the President!"
The folks who post comments add their thoughts, no holes barred. One wrote, "Trust me . . . help me . . . seems like I've heard that before. Oh, yeah! My last bad date." Another, mocked the FBI guy, "Why do I feel Pepe Le Pew would be more effective than Agent Larry will be?" Commenting on agent Renee Walker, nicknamed "Freckles," using rough interrogation methods like Jack, another wrote, "This is like Luke and Leia. That girl is Jack's secret twin sister."
It's a fun way to watch 24, particularly in moments when it strains credulity.
I'm starting to really like these quirky, sarcastic Lost Untangled videos with their action figures and paper cut-out characters. The voices are priceless, particularly the voice for Ben. It cracks me up.
The ABC/Lost folks just put out a new video deconstructing the latest episode, "This Place is Death." (Link to the video is here.)
I've seen excerpts on cable news of the Joaquin Phoenix interview on David Letterman last night and thought that perhaps some of the interview was taken out of context. I didn't see it live. After watching Lost last night -- it was fantastic by the way -- I went directly to bed and promptly dreamt about Lost all night long.
Then I watched the whole interview on YouTube. The TV excerpts perfectly captured the weirdness of the Phoenix appearance. (Link to the video is here.)
The beard, the hair, the mumbling, the spaced-outness, it HAD to be an act, right? Phoenix certainly wasn't like this during the promo of Walk the Line.
After watching this, I was reminded of how Letterman deftly handled the tenseness of this awkward interview with a recalcitrant, potty-mouthed Madonna in the mid-1990s.
What do you think, was this a bit or something else?
*SomeGrey'sspoilers below. . . You've been warned!*
The writing has been on the wall for some time.
T.R. Knight has been unhappy that his George O'Malley has seemed liked persona non grata on Grey's Anatomy these days. During the last episode, if you blinked, you missed him. And with a two-hour Grey's-Private Practice crossover extravaganza slated for this Thursday, I'm not expecting George to have much more airtime. If he does, I'll be very surprised.
Katherine Heigl -- who publicly lamented the fact that her character, Izzie Stevens, had a cruddy story arc last season -- has been rewarded by having her character talk and have "sex" with her dead finance Denny Duquette, who is likely, according to news reports, the manifestation of some type of brain tumor or something of that ilk. While we mercifully didn't see Denny last week, I fully expect that the next time we see him, Izzie's head will have exploded. Will that mean the end of her character? Who the heck knows?
The internet has been abuzz over the past few days with reports that both Knight and Heigl's characters will soon leave Grey's. Entertainment Weekly'sMichael Ausiello echoed those reports -- ". . . all indications are that it will happen. The only question is when." -- adding that show creator Shonda Rhimes may want "Heigl and Knight to briefly reprise their roles next season." That would rule out the possibility of Izzie dying from a brain tumor or aneurysm this Thursday, unless, of course, she's slated to return as a ghost to haunt Alex Karev, who'll have had two serious girlfriends leave following serious medical problems.
Those who've commented on Ausiello's article at EW.com are all over the map about what they think about the possibility of these two original characters leaving, but many are in agreement that Grey's isn't what it used to be.
Entertainment Weeklypromises us that the Lost writers have got an actual master plan and know what they're doing with this whole time travel, back-and-forth stuff.
Its cover story this week says that while season five has been a bit of a head-scratcher thus far, now that the writers have a definitive series end date and they've been creatively unleashed, freed to devise a jam-packed, mind-blowing conclusion for this maddeningly wonderfully confusing drama:
"Though the show was confusing before? Try this on for size: Time travel. Quantum physics. Hydrogen bombs. And a Da Vinci Code-meets-Foucault's Pendulum-meets-Weekend at Bernie's conspiracy to save (or destroy) the world, the linchpin of which involves U-Hauling the corpse of John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) back to the Island. When the gloriously strange saga of Lost finally concludes next year, season 5 is likely to be remembered as the one when the series came out of the closet and declared itself."
The article tries to soothe fans' concerns by encouraging Losties to be patient. Matthew Fox, who plays Dr. Jack Shephard, says there will be a pay off for sticking with the tangle of storytelling:
"There will be many, many answers, lots of things from past seasons that left the audience thinking, 'That's never going to pay off' -- but it does, in really cool ways that make you go 'Holy s---!' The season has a real feeling of things coming together, and it builds a groundswell of momentum for the end of the show."
Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin Kwon, also urges fans to hold on, no matter how challenging the first half of this season has been, saying, ". . . I like how the writers are showing allegiance to the true fans. The people who stayed with us are being rewarded with the more complicated and nuanced storytelling that they've been hungering for."
I can only hope that they're all correct because those high expectations they've just set with this "master plan" business, they're going to be hard to meet.
Cuddy + New Baby = Angst . . . at least on the Fox show House, which dealt very bluntly and realistically in its past few episodes with the scary, not-so-nice feelings that sometimes accompany parenthood.
I dedicated this week's Pop Culture & Politics column to Dr. Lisa Cuddy's transition from being a single-minded, high-powered career gal, to being a career gal with a new baby.
Desperate Housewives' writers deftly told stories about the Wisteria Lane ladies through the lens of economics this week on a very micro scale. 'Twas a very timely, money-centric episode which examined money, or lack thereof, from different perspectives.
On the big bucks, high roller side was Bree Van de Kamp Hodge who -- now that her first cookbook is in its second printing and she's secured a multi-book deal with her publisher -- bought a beautiful new Lexus that can park itself in the driveway and has a mini-fridge which Bree said was big enough for a bottle of champagne, never mind the small detail that Bree's an alcoholic. I suppose it could be sparkling water she places in the fridge . . .
There was also the back-on-top-of-the-world Solis family, complete with Gabby Solis who, much to my chagrin, has returned to her glam designer duds after she pressured Carlos into taking a job he didn't want simply because she wanted money again. (I happened to agree with Edie Britt when she told Gabby that she liked her better when she was poor and paunchy.)
On the just-scraping-by side were Lynette Scavo, who's family pizzeria is faring so poorly that Tom had to sell his midlife crisis mobile for the cash, and Susan Mayer, who wanted to send her son to a private school because he's getting lost academically in his public school, but couldn't afford the recent tuition increase.
I admired the way the writers had Lynette and Susan cope with their financial woes. After Bree insisted on giving Lynette $20,000 (Bree felt badly about gushing over her new ride after learning that the Scavos were broke), Lynette wisely called the money a loan and promised to pay it back. Their brief flirtation with Bree serving as a 15 percent investor in Scavos Pizzeria went over as well as sprinkling heavily processed, powdered Parmesan cheese onto one of Bree's famous four cheese pizzas.
After a silly scene where Susan tried to steal what she thought was a real pearl necklace that Katherine Mayfair received from Mike Delfino, the father of her child who said he was strapped and couldn't afford to chip in any more money for their son's private education, Susan became relentlessly self-reliant. Susan told the school's headmaster that she'd be willing to take a job, any job at the school in order to qualify for half-price tuition for children of employees. Impressed by her pluck, the headmaster offered her a post as a teaching assistant in an arts class, a job for which he said she was overqualified. (Ever notice how we're hardly ever shown Susan at work as a children's book illustrator?)
Did you like this money episode, or are you of the opinion that with all the dire economic news we read and see every day, you don't want to see it in your entertainment?
So many good shows were aired this week that I thought I'd weigh in on some of them:
*Warning, big spoilers from recently aired episodes*
Heroes
Back after a rather lackluster first half of the season, Heroesseems as though it might be able to successfully reboot itself. Here's to hoping.
The pre-Christmas episodes seemed too crowded, too erratic, too . . . I don't know, too not like the first stellar season. But Heroes is beginning a new chapter -- where those with powers are being rounded up at the order of the senator-hypocrite who himself has powers and, in earlier episodes, wanted to manufacture an army of superheroes to serve him --and many of the original characters are banding together. And that's a good thing.
I found it ironic that in the last episode, the heroes had to be saved by the cheerleader. Maybe the cheerleader can save Heroes.
24
The previous season of 24was so disappointing. I was the designated 24 blogger for a TV web site during season six and was running out of ways to say that Jack Bauer & Co., as well as the second Palmer president, were completely unbelievable, almost laughable.
When this season started, my expectations were very low. I wasn't even sure if I'd be sticking around, given what happened during season six. During the past season, a nuclear bomb was detonated in hour four, and after that, nothing could really match that moment's intensity and it all seemed downhill, dramatically speaking, as the Bauer family of thugs storyline landed with an unimpressive thud. But I think the writers may have learned from that mistake and have made a strategically good move thus far in having the tension and major "wow" moments unfold gradually, as they ratchet up the intensity. Plus this season's president isn't a wimp, a weasel or succumbing to weird medical conditions. She just has a wacky spouse. But then again, we've been down that the wacky presidential spouse road before.
One completely unrelated observation: As an admirerer of the canceled Once & Again, I found it amusing to see the actors who played Jake and Tiffany reunited on this show, with both of them working for the FBI.
Lost
Finally! Ben Linus has returned to his evil manipulative form in trying to engineer the circumstances that would inevitable lead to the reunion of the Oceanic 6 and, he's planning, a return to the island. (That return part remains to be seen.) The most recent episode was much more to my liking than the last one as it focused more on the original Lostcastaways, plus Ben & Juliet. There was emotionally poignancy (Sawyer seeing Kate and Claire when the island time traveled to Aaron's birth) and we learned that Jin did indeed survive.
While reading up on the last episode, I found this funny, sarcastic video , featuring the Lost crew in the form of action figures and cardboard cut-outs, plus a box of chocolates, which attempts to "untangle" some of the confusing aspects of the show:
30 Rock
Are you a Generalissimo? If you are, then you too stand of chance of dating Jon Hamm, that is if you're Liz Lemon's brand of Generalissimo. While I'm a huge Tina Fey and Hamm fan (that phrase just sounds funny doesn't it, "Hamm fan?"), Alec Baldwin absolutely stole this 30 Rockepisode with his obsession with a Telemundo soap. Played to perfection. Made Hamm almost an afterthought. ALMOST.
Grey's Anatomy
Attention Grey'swriters: I, a fan from day one, am sick of seeing dead and deathly ill children and their parents in nearly every episode recently. (This applies to Private Practice as well.) I want to be dazzled by characters' wordplay, sarcasm, crazy antics and Meredith's introspective darkness (I'm one of the approximately three Grey's fans who find her tendency to overanalyze charming). No mas with the dead or nearly dead kids. Okay? Or do I have to sick the Generalissimo on Seattle Grace?
By the way, anyone notice that Hamm's longtime girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt, was also featured on a guest spot on a show airing Thursday night at the same time as 30 Rock? She was the pregnant woman on Grey's, which was also ironic because she was the lead for the sitcom Notes from the Underbelly, about a woman pregnant for the first time, and, as far as I know, Westfeldt doesn't have kids. Nothing like a little friendly competition between guest stars.
When I first saw a still image of MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, co-host of the AM political chat show Morning Joe, interviewing Virginia Senator Jim Webb about the stimulus package while holding a baby on her lap (the executive producer's infant NOT hers), I thought:
"That's what I looked like when I interviewed people on the phone for articles from my home office when my kids were babies, only the interviewees couldn't see that I was holding a baby. And I made liberal use of the 'mute' button."
However it's extremely unusual -- outside of lifestyle shows, like The View -- to see a news/commentary anchorperson hold an infant on the air, especially while interviewing someone like a U.S. senator. Luckily, the baby never cried. Brzezinski and the other MSNBC panelists asked intelligent questions. The senator didn't appear bothered, distracted or off message. So as long as the baby didn't fuss, I didn't necessarily see the problem with the baby being there, even though it was an odd sight. (For the record, none of my babies would've EVER sat so quietly for as long as that baby did.)
Meanwhile a slew of commenters over on the Huffington Post are eviscerating Brzeznski for being unprofessional and for insulting the senator by having the baby on her lap, despite the fact that Morning Joe has always been a very loose and informal program. Just look at how its namesake, Joe Scarborough, is dressed; he isn't wearing a tie or a jacket and you can see he's wearing a white T beneath his shirt. The program often reminds me of being at a bar and having a couple of drinks with really smart friends and robustly talking politics at length, with a little bit of Red Sox baseball tossed in for good measure. Only Morning Joe takes place in the morning, around cups of coffee and in front of national television cameras.
See for yourself. What do you think of this interview? Weird? Unprofessional? Much ado about nothing?
The phrase "beggars can't be choosers" isn't a cliche for nothing. When I read that some folks are balking at the Obama administration's proposal to cap executive salaries at $500,000 for CEOs who went hat-in-hand to the federal government asking for federal bailout money -- taxpayer money, money taken from families who are hurting under tough economic times -- I grew very irritated.
In today's New York Times, a managing director of a "compensation consulting firm" said the proposal is "pretty draconian -- $500,000 is not a lot of money, particularly if there is no bonus." Addressing President Obama's public declaration that CEOs accepting multi-million dollar bonuses after receiving federal bailout money were "shameful," JP Morgan's CEO said the president was being unfair.
Seriously, you don't want the federal government to dictate your salary to you, then don't take federal money. Don't whine and tell people it's not fair. At least you still have a job.
Will Stimulus Package Stimulate?
After I read the Wall Street Journal'sarticle detailing the House version of the massive federal stimulus package which will cost more than the Iraq War, I wanted to know how, exactly, $335 million for STD prevention programs, $75 million for smoking cessation programs and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts would stimulate the economy. The societal value of those programs notwithstanding, how does cutting down on smoking help address the American financial mess and put people back to work?
Then I read another WSJ piece which analyzed some of the projects on the U.S. Conference of Mayors wish list for federal funding and how many jobs some of them would create: -- $4.5 million for a Florida eco-park would create an estimated 50 jobs -- $500,000 for a California dog park, seven jobs -- $1.8 million for Virginia tennis courts, 38 jobs
An analysis from Forbeschallenged whether and how instantly stimulating this package might be to the economy. USA Todaysaid many of the Obama proposals "will take years to have full impact" and quoted the Congressional Budget Office as saying that 64 percent of the stimulus package will be put to use within two years.
Let's just say that taken together, these articles aren't instilling me with great confidence in this stimulus plan.
The Associated Press snagged an interview with Lost's Evangeline Lilly, who plays Kate, where she discussed upcoming episodes (hinting about how Kate handles parenting Aaron), interesting tidbits about shooting the show (Josh Holloway who plays Sawyer had to shoot the first five episodes while barefoot in the jungle) and about how she loves Lost's character development and relationships, but isn't a huge fan of the sci-fi twists like time traveling.
The video includes scenes from future episodes, including one where Kate is talking with the lawyer (we don't know the identity of his client) who says she's been ordered by a court to surrender a blood sample to prove she's not Aaron's mother. (Link to the video is here.)
Caroline Kennedy exited the odd campaign for the U.S. Senate -- where the only person whose vote was required was New York Gov. David Paterson's who'd be appointing Hillary Clinton's replacement -- was ugly and odd.
While I was pleased to see an active work-life balancer in the form of 42-year-old Kirsten Gillibrand get the nod (she has a 5-year-old and a baby, to whom she gave birth during her second year as a Congresswoman), I was saddened by the collapse of the Kennedy bid.
Yes, like many Americans, I too watched the Super Bowl. Kind of. I was at least in the room when it was on. (I had no rooting interest in either team so I was disinterested.) Thought the ads were horrendous. The Doritos spot really ticked me off, especially when my sons and daughter were watching as a guy crunched on a Dorito chip and a woman's clothes magically came off revealing a black bra and panties. Fabulous. Thank you NBC. Even the 3-D ad -- we were all wearing our special glasses -- didn't wow me. What, did all the Don Drapers take vacations?
Super Bowl aside, I also dabbled in other pop culture offerings . . .
Revolutionary Road Went to see Revolutionary Road with my husband. It, um, well, it wasn't what I expected it would be, and I'm speaking as a huge fan of Kate Winslet. As I was exiting the theater I heard people laughing at the film, and not in a good way. My husband declared it awful but I wasn't willing to go that far. I didn't buy Leonardo DiCaprio in his role -- too much of a babyface to sell the character -- but I thought Winslet was good. (My husband thought she overacted.) After all the articles I've read comparing Revolutionary Road to Mad Men, I came to the conclusion that they're nothing alike.
Big Love Finally caught up on the new Big Loveepisodes and, for the most part, thought they were well done, though the third episode was too jam-packed for my taste. Sometimes I think the Big Love writers occasionally tackle too many subjects and overload an episode.
Likes thus far: Sarah Henrickson -- the bright-eyed teenaged daughter who's appalled and repulsed by her parents' polygamy -- wants to flee Utah and attend college in Arizona but now finds herself pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's baby. Margene Henrickson, the naive third wife, is taking a shining to her family's gaming business but may have been thrown off-kilter by the death of her alcoholic mother. The intertwining of the stories of the underaged girls from the Juniper Creek compound who were forced to marry creepy, gross old men, and the Henricksons. Dislikes: Wanda, Bill Henrickson's psychotic sister-in-law. Lois and Frank Henrickson's twisted, violent relationship. Rhonda Volmer, the schemer. Whenever these characters come on screen, I start getting antsy for the focus to go back to the Henricksons.
I'm on the fence about the whole adding-a-fourth-wife story. In season two, I admired how Barb Henrickson stood up to Bill and told him he manipulated her when she was life-threateningly ill with cancer into becoming a polygamist. Her recent health scare aside, I don't see how or why she's suddenly on board with adding another wife.
Friday Night Lights The new season of Friday Night Lightsis just getting going and I'm riveted by the dramatically altered power dynamic between the two central characters, Tami and Eric Taylor. Now that Tami Taylor's the high school principal and wields a great deal of clout -- which included her bid to reallocate funds intended for a jumbotron screen for the football stadium and instead give the money to academics -- her husband Eric's power status as the high school football coach is diminished, at least in the Taylor household.
