Notes from Pop Culture & Politics: Obama's Bad Day, Solid 'Parenthood,' 'The Big C' Gets Emotional

Obama's Bad Day



Does anyone else think that President Obama is having some rather bad luck these days?

Days after the so-called "Dog Whisperer" criticized him for the way he handles his dog Bo, watching the presidential seal fall off of Obama's podium while he was in the middle of a speech seemed to symbolize so many things that are going badly for the president these days, the least of which are the election results that’ll likely not go his way next month. Current presidential approval numbers are a pretty brutal right now, with a recent Rasmussen poll showing that 29 percent of respondents strongly approved of "the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president," while 41 percent strongly disapprove.

Another Solid Parenthood Episode


Image credit: NBC

 Okay, I know I’m at risk of sounding like a fangirl cheerleader here, but last night’s Parenthood was really strong. The Tuesday night drama continues to provide insightful, authentic and relatable stories, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Once and Again.

When you have everyone from educators to parenting “experts” telling parents that they’ve got to be super-involved, always positive and always available to their offspring, it’s no wonder that the parents get upset when they discover that there’s precious little time left to have a life.

See my review of Parenthood’s latest episode, “Date Night” here.

The Big C Gets Emotional

In my episode reviews of The Big C over on CliqueClack TV, a frequent complaint of mine has been that it hasn’t allowed its main character, Laura Linney’s Cathy Jamison, to exhibit much authentic emotion since receiving her cancer diagnosis. Not only has she not told her husband and child about it, but she’s avoided dealing with the messy, ugliness that is raw pain and potential loss of her situation. The show has spent most of its time having its main character go around and check off items on her bucket list, avoiding the intensity of the fear that cancer instills in everyone.

Until the last episode which included a turn of events which greatly pleased me.

Image credit: NBC.

Notes on Pop Culture/Politics: 'Big C' Going it Alone, 'Desperate' Season 7 and Status of Women Now Vs Then

The Big C Going It Alone

After watching the third episode of Showtime’s The Big C, I’m having a tough time figuring out Laura Linney’s character Cathy Jamison. She won’t tell her husband or her teenage son that she has stage four melanoma. She kicked her husband out of the house without explaining to him, or their son, why, other than the fact that she seems to have grown tired of being the responsible, do-gooder, vanilla wife and mother who martyrs herself, taking care of their every need while they take her for granted.

As Cathy continues to act in ways that are uncharacteristic for her, I wonder if she’s secretly waiting for her husband and son to figure out what’s wrong or whether she just wants to act in whatever manner suits her and not be questioned about it. My episode review is over on CliqueClack TV.

Desperate Season 7

ABC has released a promo video for the seventh season of Desperate Housewives and my question is this: Do people care anymore? Adding Vanessa Williams is certainly a good move, but is there any magic left in this once sharp show that deftly satirized the faux perfect life in the ‘burbs? I'm not so sure.



Status of Women Now Vs Then

My Pop Culture and Politics column this week took the occasion of the 90th anniversary of U.S. women’s suffrage to compare what my newly-minted 12-year-old daughter sees when she looks at the world – four female U.S. Supreme Court justices, women as a vast minority of elected office holders and CEOs, women’s sports still treated like the forgotten step-sister to men’s sports, Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” rocking the iTunes singles list – with what I saw when I was 12, way back in the Stone Ages of 1981, when the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice was nominated to the court, when everyone was obsessed with Diana marrying Charles, Olivia Newton-John topped the pop charts with “Physical” and there had been no female candidates on a major national ticket.

Despite some dismal numbers with regard to the number of women in politics, running major businesses and the paucity of media coverage of women's sports, things, as a whole, have markedly improved.

Notes on Pop Culture: 'The Big C' & 'Weeds' Premiere, Divorce on TV

The Big C & Weeds Premiere

Let’s just say this: I’m hopeful about Showtime's The Big C, no matter what Cathy’s diagnosis may be and how much time she may have left. Though the “death comedy” pilot was a tad uneven, I have faith in Laura Linney’s acting and believe that I’m going to love watching her tightly-wound high school teacher, wife and mother dispatch with her play-it-safe way of living her life.

I really liked the follow-up to the show’s very first scene: Cathy offered to pay double for a guy to immediately dig up her backyard and put in a sunken hot tub, barbecue pit and expand the deck. She’d wanted a pool, she’d asked for a pool, but reluctantly agreed to go along with the contractor’s recommendation. Went along to be nice. She said, “That’s fine, just do that,” so as not to make trouble, though she WAS insistent about the work getting started ASAP.

Later, she put her foot down, told him that she didn’t really want to do what he’d suggested and that, damn it, she wanted a pool like she said originally. Bring out the biggest digger you’ve got and get cracking, she said. For those of us who allow ourselves to get steamrolled too often (my hand is up), seeing Cathy muster the courage to assert herself was very satisfying. (Reminded me of the satisfaction drawn from watching fellow cancer patient Walter White on AMC’s Breaking Bad finally stop letting the world walk all over him once he realized his days were numbered with a cancer diagnosis.)

That’s from where I think the joy of watching this show will come, from watching Cathy emerge from her vanilla, suburban slumber. The emphasis is on, well, NOW, that, and enjoying life in a “I’m just having desserts and liquor” kinda way.



As for Weeds’ season six premiere, while I really liked the gallows humor in the season premiere (especially with Andy making all the wrong choices with his short-lived fiancé and the mallet quips), Nancy was starting to bug me with her selfishness. My irritation was given a voice by Shane and Silas who observed that Nancy, in her haste to go on the run with her family, took the time to pack stuff for herself -- including an entire bag of shoes – but didn’t afford either of them the same opportunity. If they’re leaving for good, the least Nancy could’ve done would’ve been to have let them grab a bag, particularly if she was packing shoes.

I’m just surprised that Nancy didn’t have them stop for an iced coffee for herself on the way to Andy’s house to take his van. But then again, she was drunk. And had just learned that her middle son is a killer, so I suppose I should cut her some slack.

Divorce on TV

After watching AMC's Mad Men’s Don Draper and Betty Francis do a pretty poor job of handling their divorce – as their children, especially their daughter Sally, suffer emotionally – I started thinking about how divorce on TV is done, at least these days.

I dedicated my latest pop culture and politics column to divorce in primetime focusing on, not just divorce on Mad Men, but on HBO’s Hung, TNT’s Men of a Certain Age, a trio of ABC dramas (Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters,  Grey’s Anatomy) and Lifetime's Army Wives.