Notes on Pop Culture: Dysfunctional Showtime Moms, Cancer on TV, Binging on 'Covert Affairs'

Dysfunctional Showtime Moms

When the Wall Street Journal ran a story this past spring saying that Showtime was cultivating a slate of shows featuring dysfunctional, strong women, building on the success of Weeds, I think they were underplaying it.

After watching the first few episodes of the new season of Weeds and the new Laura Linney cancer dramedy The Big C, on top of what they've with Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie and Toni Collette’s United States of Tara the word "dysfunctional" doesn’t quite cover it. I wrote about Showtime's off-beat moms in my latest pop culture column this week.

Cancer on TV

Speaking of The Big C, watching Linney’s Cathy Jamison -- who’s upending her life in the wake of her stage 4 cancer diagnosis -- got me thinking about TV characters and cancer and how other characters dealt with the news.

As I thought about TV and cancer, for some reason, my mind kept going to Charlie Salinger from the 1990s show Party of Five. While Charlie didn't immediately shake things up in his life when he learned he had cancer, he did make some changes after he went into remission. (The video below features the scene where Charlie learned he'd gone into remission and shared the news with his family.)

My CliqueClack TV post looked at Charlie, Kitty Walker from Brothers & Sisters, Lynette Scavo from Desperate Housewives, Walter White from Breaking Bad and Izzie Stevens from Grey’s Anatomy.



Binging on Covert Affairs

I’d only seen a small number of episodes of USA’s new CIA drama Covert Affairs up until this week, when I decided to binge on them. It’s not Alias. Annie Walker is certainly no Sydney Bristow. But Covert Affairs is kind of light, kind of unexpectedly twisty and fun to watch, plus I get to see actors whom I've admired from other shows, like Anna Dudek (who’s fierce on Big Love, was conniving on House and is distinctly 60s suburban mom on Mad Men), Sendhil Ramamurthy (who was the mysterious researcher on Heroes), Peter Gallagher (of late from Rescue Me where he was an unconventional priest), Kari Matchett (who’d been turned into an alien but didn’t know it on Invasion and a political advisor on 24), plus I got to see D.W. Moffett. (Joe McCoy on Friday Night Lights)

Covert Affairs has been renewed for a second season.

'Parenthood' Enters the Family Drama Arena

The premiere episode of Parenthood, which aired last night on NBC was, like most pilots, overloaded with storylines designed to introduce each character and place them into some kind of context. Once the introductory business is out of the way, the real test of whether a show's got staying power is by watching the next few episodes. I'll be looking to see whether the show can and will delve into what makes each of these characters tick. But I think it has promise.

That being said, in my Pop Culture column on Mommy Tracked I pleaded with the show's writers to NOT -- I repeat, NOT -- go down the road of cliche when it comes to working moms and will refrain from demonizing them. There's this one character who's a workaholic lawyer mom, Julia Braverman-Graham (Erika Christensen), and because she's always fielding work calls, messing with her BlackBerry and working long hours, her young daughter openly favors her at-home dad. A similar dynamic was played out on Brothers & Sisters a few years ago with the Sarah Wheedon Walker (Rachel Griffiths) character, and Sarah was threatened with the loss of custody of her children during her divorce proceedings because of the long hours she worked. Brooke Shields' movie mogul character in Lipstick Jungle also suffered similarly for trying to thrive in a tough career while raising children.

Meanwhile, over on CliqueClack TV, I compared Lauren Graham's iconic role of Lorelai Gilmore in the Gilmore Girls to her new Parenthood character, Sarah Braverman. While I initially found that there are more differences than similarities between the two characters, after watching the preview below which NBC just put on its web site and seeing that Sarah's potentially interested in dating her 16-year-old daughter's teacher . . . well that scenario was played out in the first season of Gilmore Girls. (Remember Max Medina? You can refresh your memory with repeats of season one currently airing on ABC Family.) If Sarah starts dating her daughter Amber's high school English teacher, there's a distinct possibility that I may have to reassess my conclusion about just how much Sarah and Lorelai have in common.



What did you think about the Parenthood premiere?

Politics, Tough on Families in Real Life and on TV

While politics dominated the national news last week in the wake of the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race -- and now the victor's family is experiencing the tabloidish spotlight, even as the candidate's TV journalist spouse intentionally and purposefully sought to keep her distance from her husband's campaign with the exception of appearing with him on election night -- I devoted my Pop Culture and Politics column this week to TV dramas which are delving into the political arena and dramatizing the impact of running for office on a family with kids.

I looked at The Good Wife and how Julianna Margulies' character's family has been ravaged by the political enemies made by her incarcerated, unfaithful politician of a husband.

On Brothers & Sisters, Kitty Walker, former TV talking head and a new mom whose cancer recently went into remission, is thinking of running for either Congress or her husband's U.S. Senate seat, which he's just announced he's not running for again.

As for Big Love, polygamist Bill Henrickson -- who's got three wives and ties to a polygamist compound -- thinks he can hide two of his wives (and their six kids) until he wins a State Senate campaign. This week, he spent the whole episode running around Washington, D.C. trying to meet with a Utah congressman in order to secure his endorsement, getting blown off by a powerful lobbyist (whom he ticked off by assuming that she was a secretary) and then crashed a fundraiser in order to get a word in with the congressman. Then his second wife, who accompanied him on his D.C. trip, got briefly detained by authorities because she was carrying a gun in her purse. Oh, and his wife's daughter (not his) was still wearing distinctly out-of-place polygamist compound-wear. Yeah, politics are going to be a piece of cake for the Henrickson family.

Image credit: CBS.

Getting Political on 'Big Love' and 'Brothers & Sisters'

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episodes of Big Love and Brothers & Sisters.*

"I know we used to talk about public service, it was something we dreamed of, but Bill, that was three marriages ago," Barb Henrickson to her husband Bill who’s thinking of running for State Senate despite the fact that they’re married to two other women.

Caught up on some Sunday night TV – watched the first two hours of 24, but hours three and four are still sitting on my DVR – and noticed that election fever has not only gripped my home state of Massachusetts (Have you heard that there’s a Senate race today in the Bay State?), but has popped up as a big theme in the recent episodes of Big Love and Brothers & Sisters.

Bill Runs for State Senate

Big Love’s second episode of its fourth season was a substantial improvement over the premiere, which seemed too enamored of the idea of toting the Romansicle all around the southwest in his white hat (a la Weekend at Bernie’s) and was drowning in gallows humor. This fresh installment assuaded my concerns over the direction of the show in the wake of its stellar season last year, going a little deeper and providing more meaningful storylines.

In the new episode, “Greater Good,” everyone, it seemed, has grown very tired of hiding -- their lifestyle, their beliefs, their ambitions -- and are opting (in a few cases) to openly own their own choices and to live in the light, as Bill “Church of Me” Henrickson would say.

For Bill, living in the light means, somewhat incongruously, running for State Senate in order to improve the image of polygamist families and to protect their rights against other politicians who’d like polygamists to be rounded up and imprisoned. Though Bill’s initial campaign plan was to pretend as though he and Barb were going to return to the LDS church and deny that they were living in polygamy for the entirety of his term if he's elected, Bill had a change of heart, mostly because his eldest daughter Sarah decided not elope because her mother disapproved. Sarah opted to stand tall and own her decision, marrying, at age 18, in her family’s backyard with a justice of the peace. Bill’s current campaign plan is to hoodwink Utah voters into voting for him and, once he’s elected, come out of the polygamist closet. Politically, that sounds like a disaster, but it’ll make for great TV.

Kitty to Toss Hat Into Ring

As for Brothers & Sisters, there’s always been a political component from the get-go. In the pilot episode, Kitty Walker (now McCallister) was a conservative TV political pundit who, in short order, was hired by Senator Robert McCallister to work on his presidential campaign.

That seems like a long time ago. Look at all that's happened since then: Kitty and Robert got married, Kitty penned a controversial political book, the duo underwent infertility treatments and then the adoption process, Robert had a heart attack on the day of his son’s birth, the two become estranged to the brink of divorce when Robert decided to run for governor without consulting his wife, Kitty flirted with having an affair, then Kitty was diagnosed with cancer, had an experimental treatment and is now in remission. (Gotta love soapy nighttime dramas.)

In the latest episode, “Run Baby Run,” Robert cited his heart attack and his wife’s cancer (plus his own lack of political fire in his belly) as his reason to withdraw from politics altogether after his Senate term is completed. And just as he’s exiting the tough world of politics, Kitty, who’s still sporting a head scarf because she lost her hair from chemo treatments, is considering jumping into the fray, considering a seat in the U.S. Congress. Robert thinks she should aim higher, like for his own U.S. Senate seat.

This could provide ample dramatic material, watching a cancer survivor and mother of a baby run for office alongside her ex-pol husband. As we’ve seen from recent political books (Game Change immediately comes to mind), these kinds of campaigns can be brutal, especially on families. To see a fictional female candidate who has a baby campaign for office could be illuminating, if the writers choose to go the ripped-from-the-headlines route. And with the Henrickson family likely to come under intense scrutiny on Big Love, we could see fascinating dramatizations of the impact of political races on candidates and their loved ones. Can’t wait.

Image credit: Ron Tom/ABC.

The Edwardsing of 'Brothers & Sisters'

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episode of Brothers & Sisters.*

Are the writers of Brothers & Sisters trying to inject a bit of the real life John and Elizabeth Edwards drama into the ABC show's storyline?


Main character Kitty Walker McCallister (Calista Flockhart) -- who just adopted a baby boy with her husband Sen. Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe), who’s running for California governor -- was diagnosed with lymphoma several weeks ago. The McCallister marriage had been on the rocks following the senator’s heart attack (yeah, this is a healthy family) which occurred on the same day their son was born. As Sen. McCallister forged ahead with a gubernatorial bid without first consulting his wife, he also emotionally withdrew from her, the woman who once served as his communications director. So Kitty turned to a fellow at-home parent and had an "emotional" affair with him, but broke it off and decided to work on the marriage. Robert and Kitty just were starting to repair the breach when Kitty was diagnosed.

Here’s where the similarities to the Edwards family come into play: In the latest episode, it seemed as though Robert wanted to simply let his gubernatorial campaign wither away. He refused to field questions or respond to attacks which criticized him for continuing to run for governor while his wife was sick and they had a baby at home. Meanwhile, Kitty actively urged him to continue the campaign and decided to stage an impromptu TV interview to express her full support of his bid for governor, hoping to blunt the criticism.

All I kept thinking about during that most recent episode was John and Elizabeth Edwards – minus John’s cheating and his love child – and how much flak they received when it was revealed early on in John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign that Elizabeth’s cancer had returned and had metasticized. There were all manner of loud voices attacking the couple for continuing the campaign in the wake of her dire diagnoses, and for bringing their young children along for the ride. Elizabeth herself was called a “terrible mother” for campaigning while sick and one blogger wrote: “Elizabeth, I don’t like the choices you’ve made. Take your kids home. Get off the freaking campaign trail.”



How will the campaign and the cancer treatment play out on Brothers & Sisters? Will there be continued political backlash against the candidate who keeps forging ahead with his campaign while his wife is sick at home with cancer and trying to care for their infant son?

Image credit: Randy Holmes/ABC.

Why Do I Like 'New Adventures of Old Christine' But Not 'Cougar Town?'

That's the subject of this week's pop culture & politics column over on Mommy Track'd: How I can find Julia Louis-Dreyfus' kooky, desperate, fortysomething divorced mom on The New Adventures of Old Christine charming but be repelled by Courteney Cox's kooky, desperate, fortysomething divorced mom on Cougar Town. (I also looked at how other divorced moms in their late-30s/40s are portrayed on TV on Brothers & Sisters and Private Practice.)

I think part of the problem is that when I watched the satirical Cougar Town pilot episode (other than loathing the name), I felt as though this was a show about a man's perspective on what life is like for a divorced woman in her 40s, and that she's mocked for being in her situation. Old Christine, on the other hand, takes a woman's perspective and frames Louis-Dreyfus' oddball behavior into a Lucille Ball-type depiction of slapstick humor. Put more simply: When I watched Cougar Town I cringed. When I watched Old Christine's premiere, I laughed.

This clip from the Old Christine premiere reminded me of something you might have seen on I Love Lucy. Christine (Louis-Dreyfus) couldn't get comfortable on an airplane and the airline attendant wouldn't give her a pillow, so she took matters into her own hands:



When I saw this scene from Cougar Town (which came after a scene where Cox was examining her body in the bathroom mirror and finding it lacking in the sexy department), I wasn't laughing.



What do you think of depictions of divorced, fortysomething moms on TV? About Cougar Town, New Adventures of Old Christine?

'Desperate' Mondays: The Story of Lucie and Jessie

So Desperate Housewives last night glossed over the absurdity that was the battle between the depressed Tom Scavo and his wife Lynette after their family pizzeria went belly-up over who should seek a PR/marketing job in order to support their family of four. They just pretended that the whole Tom-guzzling-the-beer-on-the-front-lawn-in-his-bathrobe never happened.

Okay. I'll go along with this just as long as we can pretend that the Lynette of the past two seasons never really happened. If the Lynette character can regain her previous mojo, I'm willing to forget the bad years. Whaddya say DH writers?

But the Orson-is-a-kleptomaniac storyline? I liked him better as a sad little sack of a husband trying to redeem himself after doing time in the Big House. I preferred the middle-of-the-road Orson to the creepy Orson from last season or this new disturbed Orson. What is it with Bree Van de Kamp Hodge that she attracts nuts, like the killer pharmacist and now Orson, who nearly killed Mike Delfino when he intentionally ran him down and has now resorting to stealing things from his neighbor to keep his control freak of a wife unhinged?



Speaking of crazy, please tell me that I didn't witness the foreshadowing of Katherine Mayfair's murder at the hand of Dave Williams on the camping trip? (It was about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the forehead. However if the writers DON'T go down this road, I'll be pleasantly surprised.)

And, I feel compelled to comment on the much ballyhooed gal-on-gal kiss between Gabby Solis and Susan Mayer. What a publicity stunt. A cheap, disingenuous one at that. It reminded me of the misleading promo ABC ran for Brothers & Sisters when they claimed that during the show's two-hour extravaganza would feature a shocking death. That was technically correct, if you go to the Bill Clinton school of what constitutes the truth. Rob Lowe's character Robert McCallister did flatline during a heart attack, but he was revived in the Emergency Room. I felt totally sandbagged again by ABC last night. I think the DH writers are done a disservice by such disingenuous ABC promotions, using the "I Kissed a Girl" tune. . . maybe they need to hire Lynette.

Image credit: ABC.

Golden Globe TV Nominations: Mad Men!

Finally! January Jones, who regularly knocks it out of the park as the betrayed suburban housewife and mother Betty Draper on Mad Men, finally got some props from the people in the business of doling out awards.

When the Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning, Jones, along with the delicious Jon Hamm who plays her cad of a husband Don Draper, were officially placed on the shortlist to receive awards, as was their AMC show in the drama category. (Hamm won for best actor the last time around, as did Mad Men for best show, but because of the writers' strike and the canceled awards ceremony, Hamm was robbed of his chance to make a speech.)

Other TV standout nominations: HBO's intense therapy drama, In Treatment, received the most award nominations of any show at five, including one for the therapist in chief, Gabriel Byrne and one for best drama.

Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and 30 Rock are up for awards in the comedy arena, up against fellow NBC show The Office.

Brothers & Sisters' matriarch, Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, who plays Fields' daughter, were nominated in the drama category.

House, as well as its star, Hugh Laurie also received drama nominations.

Shut out of the award nominations: Anyone from Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and, one of my favorites, Big Love.

Anyone left off the list who you think was robbed this season?

Image credit: AMC.