It’s Thanksgiving week and, for some of us, that means stressing out over making the biggest meal of the year and/or trying not to fret about what might happen when you mix an unpredictable group of friends and family members, plus adult beverages, with discussions about the Occupy Wall Street protests or the collapse of the Super Committee, together over a Thanksgiving meal.
Tick . . . Tick . . . Boom.
In honor of screwed up American Thanksgiving get-togethers everywhere, I decided to feature some of my favorite TV show families in my Pop Culture column this week.
Among the Thanksgiving episodes that are highlighted:
The awkwardness of Parenthood’s Thanksgiving gathering when Adam and Sarah’s boss (Billy Baldwin) -- who’d forced Adam to fire people then sold the company -- showed up at the big, holiday dinner.
The first Party of Five Thanksgiving that the Salinger orphans had without their parents after they were killed by a drunk driver. Said drunk driver happened to be released from prison a week before Thanksgiving.
The Middle’s forced “happy family” Thanksgiving dinner where Frankie wanted everyone to be loving and emotionally close to one another, even though her husband Mike didn’t even know that his father had just had hip surgery and didn’t tell anyone, or that his brother’s house had burned down. (This week’s new Thanksgiving episode promises another satirical look at the “traditional” family holiday.)
Michael and Hope Steadman’s lousy first Thanksgiving as parents on thirtysomething when Hope wanted to skip the festivities in order to spend a quiet weekend but Michael wanted the whole gang to gather at the Steadman homestead.
Once and Again’s three Thanksgiving episodes, where nothing ever went quite right, despite the valiant efforts of the main character Lily Manning (Sela Ward).
Image credit: AMC
Mad Men’s dreadful scene last year when Betty, while trying to impress her new mother-in-law, shoved a forkful of sweet potato into her daughter’s mouth to prove that Sally liked them, only to have Sally spit them back onto her plate in dramatic fashion.
(Speaking of Mad Men, the show’s creator has revealed to Grantland how he plans to conclude this amazing series: In present day with Don Draper in his 80s. Poor Jon Hamm. He’s going to be J. Edgar-ized like Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar.)
In addition to the new Middle Thanksgiving episode on Wednesday night, watch for Modern Family’s first stab at Thanksgiving humor.
What are your favorite, family-centric Thanksgiving episodes?
I finally got to set foot inside an actual movie theater last weekend. My plan was to, at long last, catch The Ides of March, the film about the loss of innocence of a political operative (Ryan Gosling)who’s working for a flawed presidential candidate (George Clooney). However the universe and the movie theater people conspired against me and I was unable to see the movie, the one that's perfect for a presidential primary season, that night.
Last Friday was my chance to revel in the political film but when I showed up, money in hand, The Ides of March was only showing at 10 p.m., too late for my husband and I to be out when our 13-year-olds were watching their occasional recalcitrant younger brother. So we wound up seeing J. Edgar instead. (It was an interesting flick, though the film was wildly uneven, unfocused and was grappling for a raison d'être. Leonardo DiCaprio was outstanding however and I was intrigued enough to want to delve more into the events of J. Edgar Hoover’s initial rise in the FBI.)
I still want to see The Ides of March, but seeing as though it’s now playing at awkward times that don’t fit all that well into my schedule, I’m going to have to accept that I may just have to wait until it’s available on DVD/On Demand.
In the meantime, I was able to watch the excellent, infuriating and taut Margin Call – about the 2008 economic crisis -- on its opening weekend only because it was simultaneously released in movie theaters as well as through my cable provider’s On Demand system. Even though I paid a higher price than I would’ve for a movie released on DVD and regular On Demand, it worked out great because, once the kids were all in bed, I got to watch the film at my leisure, at a time that worked out for me.
The On Demand-while-still-in-the-theaters set-up is how I’m planning to see the critical darling Melancholia – about a woman (Kirsten Dunst) who gets married just as the world is about it end – that’s currently playing in theaters. (The title just appeared on the list of new releases on Friday.)
Would I have liked to have see Melancholia and Margin Call in actual theaters with actual other grown-ups and not have to worry about letting the pile of unfolded laundry on the sofa taunt me with its unfoldedness? Of course I would have, plus I would dressed a lot nicer to go out to see the movies than I would to watch them in my living room. But for right now, for the kid-centric space my husband and I are in where we've got youth hockey and hoop games in the mornings and in the evenings, this is where we’re at.
I was very disappointed to see that independent-minded film The Descendants, which is amassing oodles of critical plaudits, hasn’t been made available On Demand-while-still-in-the-theaters like Melancholia. Instead, The Descendants is only playing in “selected” theaters. (Note: If you’re going to go the “selected” theaters route with your movie – meaning the film won’t be run at most movie theaters outside of a handful of big cities – you’ll boost the number of eyeballs watching if you simultaneously make it possible for people like me to watch your film On Demand. I’ll pay a theater price, I just can’t get to the theater, especially when you make it so difficult by limiting the number of showings.)
What films are you anxious to see in the theaters and would you be willing to pay theater prices for the chance to watch it On Demand at home?
Just saw the trailer for The Hunger Games movie, which is slated for release on March 23.
After having read through the book series this past summer at the behest of my twin 13-year-olds, I found the books addicting and oddly compelling, as well as politically intriguing when taken in context with world events over the past few months.
That said, I wasn't sure if the theatrical version would do the books justice, as the Harry Potter film series has done, or whether it would tarnish the series. After watching the trailer, though, I'm optimistic. However my resident teen Hunger Games fans remain skeptical. Very skeptical. My daughter, in particular, has yet to be sold on Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. "She's just not Katniss," my daughter tsked.
The fall TV season is about to go on its typical holiday break which means we’re soon going to be seeing an uptick in repeats through the new year. Grey’s Anatomy, for example, has already aired its last episode of 2011. While I’ve already extolled the virtues of the new shows Homeland and Bosshere, how have other favorite TV shows being doing thus far this season?
Grey’s Anatomy: It’s had an up and down start to its eighth season. While the last episode before the holiday hiatus was solid, the softball one was the weakest episode in some time and the weeks upon weeks of Derek being a sanctimonious withholding jerk were hugely grating, never mind a gigantic turn-off. Made me despise his character. Now that we’ve learned that Meredith and Derek have lost Zola, I’m wondering what horrendous thing the writers are going to do to Meredith next as Teddy mourns her husband and Cristina likely goes into shock again, not long after she regained her emotional equilibrium after the mass shooting. (To read reviews of this season’s episodes thus far, I’ve been reviewing them over on CliqueClack TV.)
The Good Wife: This show seems as though it’s been keeping things on the down-low for a lot of the season thus far. It doesn’t seem to be taking as many chances as it has in the past and the Alicia-Will affair has, with the exception of the season premiere, been mostly under wraps, cloaked in nuanced bits of conversation in Will's glass office or aluded to in coded ways. Their relationship has not been a huge focus of Alicia's world as her attention has been split between her kids and a boatload of casework lately.
The incremental increase in the pressure the angry and jealous Peter Florrick is applying to Will in the form of an investigation into Will's actions has made for good television. Plus we don't really know if Will has been thoroughly on the up-and-up in all his business dealings. I hope the slow build will pay off, much like the big reveal about Kalinda did last season. The writers have got to know that they've raised the stakes with its stellar second second.
Seeing Eli Gold on a regular basis, now that his offices are inside Lockhart/Gardner and hearing his witty one-liners has been a wonderful addition. (The “Here. Comes. Santa.” line in the latest episode was great.) And now that Peter is getting closer to finding out for sure that Alicia and Will are sleeping together, the tension that’s been at a low boil will start to heat up.
Up All Night: I’ve also been reviewing Up All Night, the freshman Christina Applegate and Will Arnett comedy about neurotic new parents. After a bit of charming awkwardness and lack of clarity as to what role the Ava (Maya Rudolph) character should play, the show has hit its creative stride.
Its best show of the season was the latest one where Reagan and Chris had a hard time trying to get away for a romantic evening at a hotel together in order to snap their multi-week romantic dry spell. I also loved seeing Reagan’s therapist parents, Toby from The West Wing and Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom Blythe Danner. I hope they’ll return for guest spots.
Parenthood: Here’s another show that has been hot and cold thus far this season, though it’s had more quality moments than cruddy ones. The latest episode is an example of the quality that we know Parenthood writers can deliver when they want to. They provided Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham) with some meaty material (it’s about damned time) involving her ex-husband Seth (played by the excellent John Corbett), and featured some thoroughly charming, achingly loving scenes between Adam and his wife Kristina who recently gave birth and who is still adjusting to the changes in her body. (I also review this show weekly here.)
What needs work? Figuring out what to do with Jasmine, Amber and Zeek who had the misfortune of having a storyline about starring in erectile dysfunction drug ads. I also hope that my concerns about where they're headed with this whole coffee cart gal adoption thing are misplaced.
Modern Family: As much as it pains me to write this, I’ve been distinctly underwhelmed by this season’s offerings from my favorite comedy, the episode above – where Phil made a string of mistakes when caring for the kids while Claire was trying to launch her bid for City Council (accidentally drugging Alex and giving Luke a shiner) – notwithstanding.
From the episode where Cam tried to pick up a woman just to prove that he could (so uncomfortable and so unfunny) and the one where Jay was acting like a grumpy old man who wouldn’t go out salsa dancing with Gloria (so tired and disappointing), to Claire getting drunk and going out with Cam and Mitchell’s friends, there have been several unfortunate misfires.
I don’t know what to make of the paucity of really strong material as of late -- the expectations are ridiculously high given their Emmy prowess -- but I’ve got my fingers crossed that the Modern Family writers get their mojo back. And soon.
If you get Showtime and/or the Starz Channels, do yourself a favor, start watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, and Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer in a role that’ll make you say, “Frasier who?”
Both shows are unpredictable. Both of them have shocked and intrigued me and left me craving more. Intelligent and challenging, they are two of the best dramatic offerings you’re going to find airing right now.
A half dozen episodes into Homeland, here are a few of the things viewers have witnessed:
A Marine sergeant, who’d been held hostage and was tortured in Afghanistan for eight years, was discovered by U.S. troops, after a CIA agent had been told that a U.S. POW had been turned by the enemy and would be used as a tool to hurt Americans.
That CIA agent, Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) set up surveillance in the home of Marine Sgt. Nick Brody where she obsessively watched all the intimate goings on in his house for several weeks, including relations with his wife Jessica (Morena Baccarin who was the alien leader on V), who’d presumed her husband was dead and took up with Nick’s best friend.
Brody has been secretly reciting Muslim prayers on a prayer rug in his garage and having flashbacks of being held at gunpoint and forced to beat a Marine colleague to death.
Carrie has serious mental health issues that she’s hiding from the CIA and from her dodgy mentor Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) who seems to have a murky past of his own.
Brody’s lead torturer, who has affiliations with a terrorist group, was apprehended and Carrie’s supervisor allowed Brody to speak with him. Shortly thereafter, the torturer committed suicide with a razor blade. It was assumed that someone slipped him a blade. Carrie suspects Brody.
Brody beat the heck out of his former best friend Mike who had become romantically involved with his wife Jessica and later, Brody had drunk sex with Carrie in a car.
Folks who’ve seen the next new episode are raising expectations to lofty heights. I can’t wait.
A few episodes into Boss, a brutal, profane examination of raw political mayoral power at the epicenter of an old school Chicago machine, we’ve seen:
Kingpin Mayor Tom Kane (Grammer) violently grab and twist the ear of a supporter whose underling had made things difficult for one of the mayor’s landmark public projects. Later, the underling who’d gone on TV and caused problems for Kane presented the mayor with a gift box wrapped with a tidy bow. Inside the box? His ears, indicating that he’s now listening. Kane chucked the ears down the garbage disposal in his kitchen sink.
Kane is suffering from a degenerative, fatal disease (Lewy Body Dementia) that will compromise his mental functions, cause hallucinations and confusion, as well as affect physical functions. He's been buying drugs from a drug dealer in darkened parks to try to treat curtail his symptoms.
The neurologist who diagnosed Kane has been assaulted and threatened by a Kane henchman after a pesky newspaper reporter came to visit her and asked questions about the mayor’s health. After that same reporter confronted the mayor’s wife about the neurologist, Kane’s goon demanded that the doctor take her son and flee the city. Immediately.
One of Kane’s key staffers has taken to having brazen, risky, adulterous sex in hallways and stairwells of public venues with a young, charismatic, Kane-backed candidate for governor who has a wife and two young children.
There’s a strange side-story involving Kane’s estranged minister/addict daughter Emma and the icy reaction Kane’s contact with Emma elicited from Kane’s estranged wife Meredith, with whom he no longer shares a bed.
Between Homeland and Boss, I’ve been left wondering where they’ll take me next.
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the federal regulations requiring the grisly images on cigarette packages “go beyond conveying the facts about the health risks of smoking or go beyond that into advocacy – a critical distinction in a case over free speech,” the Associated Press reported.
“It is abundantly clear from viewing these images that the emotional response they were crafted to induce is calculated to provoke the viewer to quit, or never to start smoking – an objective wholly apart from disseminating purely factual and uncontroversial information,” the judge’s opinion said.
Anti-smoking folks are pressing the FDA and the Obama administration to appeal the judge’s temporary injunction against the gross cigarette labels, the AP reported.
Several months ago, I helpfully suggested that if the FDA were indeed successful in getting images of corpses, post-autopsy, smoke-blackened lungs and stomach-churning mouth sores onto cigarette packages, they should consider mandating graphic labels on the outside of motor vehicles depicting the grisly results of bad or drunk driving. When it comes to fatty products like cheese and butter, they could insist that manufacturers slap on photos of fat removed from bodies via liposuction or images of deceased overweight folks on gurneys to try to persuade people to eat right and exercise and avoid fat-filled grub. There could also be federally mandated graphic warning labels about the dangers of sexting on cell and smartphones bearing the image of Anthony Weiner in the Congressional gym.
But thank goodness that this federal judge has put the kibosh on this ridiculous, gross-out mandate business. That means our smartphones are safe from Weiner Twitter shots, at least for now.
Here’s my bottom line when it come to allegations that someone used his office and his power to attempt to intimidate/persuade female underlings/employees to engage in sexual conduct and/or to subject them to sexually harassing language or behavior because they’re women and you’re feeling a bit randy:
If the allegations have merit and the denials don’t hold water (because the stories/explanations vacillate all over the place or because the individual has been deemed to have evaded truth on many occasions) it doesn’t matter what party affiliation comes after their name. Party is irrelevant. I don’t care if you’re U.S. Senator Robert Packwood or President Bill Clinton or GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain. If you have indeed harassed a woman (or women) sexually in the workplace, you should be held accountable for it. If you’re a public figure, you’ve made it difficult if not impossible for the female half of your constituency to believe that you can or will respect them and their rights if you treat your female underlings/employees so shabbily.
But that’s not the approach people always take when it comes to accusations of sexual harassment involving political figures. Some people’s reactions are shaped by their partisan affiliation and they just can’t see past it. If you’re a Democrat and party is more important to you than, say, taking a stand against sexual harassment and abuse of power, you’re going to stand by your man no matter what lip service the politician and the party provide to supporting women in the workplace -- a la Bill Clinton and those groups who continued to support him in the wake of his sex scandals and his administration's trashing of Monica Lewinsky's reputation to try to discredit her. Yet these folks also wanted Sen. Packwood, who’d voted “correctly” on women’s issues, booted from the Senate because he was a Republican, and conservative Clarence Thomas' nomination not to be confirmed to the Supreme Court in light of Anita Hill's testimony.
On the flip side, conservatives who vigorously went after Clinton on issues of character after the Monica Lewinsky scandal (and the Paula Jones one and the Juanita Broaddrick one came to light) are defending GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain and calling the allegations nothing more than a sleazy smear. This sure sounds familiar.
I don’t know whether the allegations against Cain are true. I do know that the organization which he used to run handed two women who claimed he’d sexually harassed them some nice walking away money (one woman got a year’s salary, according to the New York Times). There are now rumblings about a third woman who was allegedly harassed by Cain as well.
Cain has denied the charges. (As, you might note, so did Clinton when it came to Lewinsky and as did former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards when confronted with stories that he got a campaign consultant pregnant and persuaded another staffer to pretend to be the father of the child.) Cain has said he didn’t remember what happened. He said he didn’t really recall if a “settlement” had been paid to the women.
