Showing posts with label The Big C. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Big C. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Notes on Pop Culture: 'Parenthood,' 'Shameless' & My TV Golden Globe Picks
Parenthood: Feelin’ the Guilt
The current Adam and Kristina Braverman storyline on Parenthood -- they banned their 16-year-old daughter Haddie from seeing a 19-year-old recovering alcoholic who has his own apartment and was emancipated when he was 16 -- is playing out in interesting ways.
This week, Kristina was trying to assuage her guilt about making Haddie break up with her boyfriend Alex by making her pancakes and offering to give Haddie's room a make-over. Little does Kristina know that Haddie is continuing to see Alex behind her back.
When Haddie's parents eventually learn that she’s lying to them, I’ll be curious to see what they’ll do to their class president daughter who gets good grades and is otherwise a model citizen, except that she lies to her parents about boys (and has done so in the past). Given that stern, strict parenting isn’t all that in vogue these days, where Parenthood will go with this is an open question.
My review of the latest episode on CliqueClack TV can be found here.
Speaking of Parenthood, I dedicated my pop culture column on Mommy Tracked this week to how Parenthood and other primetime TV shows are depicting the raising of teenagers as a harrowing proposition.
Shameless, Surprisingly NOT a Downer
Take an alcoholic single father of six, Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), who was abandoned by his wife and is on disability and who drinks all the disability checks at a local pub, and the new Showtime drama Shameless has the makings for one, damned depressing show, especially when Frank is frequently brought home by the cops with urine-saturated pants and left to sleep it off on the floor.
Frank's oldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) is the only reason why the Gallagher family functions at all and why the children haven't been taken away by child protective services yet. And Fiona's a reckless twentysomething who likes to party hard. Fiona, who totes her baby brother to work with her where she cleans motel rooms, does the family's laundry, cooks and makes sure everyone, even the 8-year-old, contributes money so they can pay their electric bill when Frank's blown his monthly disability check.
So why did the pilot episode of this show surprise me? By the time I got to the end of it, I was smiling. It was actually uplifting to see that children, who are living in poverty and in awful circumstances, are somehow soldiering on, together, as a family trying to care for its own. The Gallaghers, Frank notwithstanding, have a whole lot more heart than, say, the Gavins on Rescue Me.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Notes on Pop Culture: Mad at 'Mad Men,' Don Draper & Co. in Cartoons, 'The Big C' Finally Comes Clean
Mad at Mad Men
After allowing myself to stew about the Mad Men season four finale for a few days, I wrote this piece over on Mommy Tracked. The more I thought about the fourth season in its entirety, the more I became annoyed with how Betty Draper Frances was depicted as a distinctly unlikeable, unsympathetic character, as well as with Don’s choice of a substitute mate.
Other critics, including New York Magazine’s Emily Nussbaum, likewise weren't overjoyed with what has become of Betty ("While the ladies around her bloom, Betty hardens. Her character . . . gets even icier, vainer, more alien – nearly camp at times") and the New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante observed, in light of Don’s proposal to Megan, that the show exacted “vengeance on Faye for her lack of maternal instinct” and that Betty was portrayed negatively because of “her horrific one.”
The most interesting thing I discovered while researching my column: In season one, Don told Betty that she was a better mother than “anyone else in the world,” adding, “I would’ve given anything to have had a mother like you, beautiful and kind and filled with love, like an angel.”
Don Draper & Co., Cartoon Style
I’m still trying to figure out if this is some kind of a joke . . . but the internet is buzzing about these picture books that the UK's The Poke has created based on chain-smoking, expletive-spewing Mad Men characters.
The Poke has posted images of "Mr. Draper," "Little Miss Joan," "Mr. Campbell," "Little Miss Betty" and "Little Miss Peggy," and has posted the complete 17-page version of a book called “Mr. Sterling Gets Angry” in which there’s a debate over who drinks more whiskey, smokes more cigarettes and has more “inappropriate sex,” Roger Sterling or Don “I’m a goddamn sex machine in a suit” Draper.
I’d love to get these in print.
The Big C Finally Comes Clean
It finally happened, 10 episodes into The Big C’s freshman season on Showtime. Laura Linney’s Cathy Jamison character, who has spent most of the season not telling her husband and son that she has a serious, fatal case of melanoma -- and instead of getting treatment she had an affair, got her first bikini wax, bought a red sports car, took Ecstasy and punished her husband to the point where he finally asked for a divorce – finally told her husband, in the closing seconds of the episode, that she has cancer. NOW, things are going to get interesting. I reviewed this episode, “Divine Intervention” on CliqueClack TV.
Image credits: The Poke.
After allowing myself to stew about the Mad Men season four finale for a few days, I wrote this piece over on Mommy Tracked. The more I thought about the fourth season in its entirety, the more I became annoyed with how Betty Draper Frances was depicted as a distinctly unlikeable, unsympathetic character, as well as with Don’s choice of a substitute mate.
Other critics, including New York Magazine’s Emily Nussbaum, likewise weren't overjoyed with what has become of Betty ("While the ladies around her bloom, Betty hardens. Her character . . . gets even icier, vainer, more alien – nearly camp at times") and the New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante observed, in light of Don’s proposal to Megan, that the show exacted “vengeance on Faye for her lack of maternal instinct” and that Betty was portrayed negatively because of “her horrific one.”
The most interesting thing I discovered while researching my column: In season one, Don told Betty that she was a better mother than “anyone else in the world,” adding, “I would’ve given anything to have had a mother like you, beautiful and kind and filled with love, like an angel.”
Don Draper & Co., Cartoon Style
I’m still trying to figure out if this is some kind of a joke . . . but the internet is buzzing about these picture books that the UK's The Poke has created based on chain-smoking, expletive-spewing Mad Men characters.
The Poke has posted images of "Mr. Draper," "Little Miss Joan," "Mr. Campbell," "Little Miss Betty" and "Little Miss Peggy," and has posted the complete 17-page version of a book called “Mr. Sterling Gets Angry” in which there’s a debate over who drinks more whiskey, smokes more cigarettes and has more “inappropriate sex,” Roger Sterling or Don “I’m a goddamn sex machine in a suit” Draper.
I’d love to get these in print.
The Big C Finally Comes Clean
It finally happened, 10 episodes into The Big C’s freshman season on Showtime. Laura Linney’s Cathy Jamison character, who has spent most of the season not telling her husband and son that she has a serious, fatal case of melanoma -- and instead of getting treatment she had an affair, got her first bikini wax, bought a red sports car, took Ecstasy and punished her husband to the point where he finally asked for a divorce – finally told her husband, in the closing seconds of the episode, that she has cancer. NOW, things are going to get interesting. I reviewed this episode, “Divine Intervention” on CliqueClack TV.
Image credits: The Poke.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
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
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.
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 |
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.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Notes on Pop Culture: Bye-Bye 'My Boys,' 'The Big C' Gets Crazy, Fall TV Previews
Just as news about the reported sexual harassment of a female sports journalist is making headlines nationwide (I’ll write more about that in another post), TBS goes and cancels the comedy My Boys, whose lead character PJ Franklin, (Jordana Spiro) is a sporty woman who's also a sports reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. That just stinks. I was fond of PJ.
The Big C Gets Crazy
While the latest episode of The Big C showcased Laura Linney’s cancer patient acting all wild, crazy and impulsive by emptying her 401K, buying a red convertible (without researching it in Consumer Reports first!), splurging on pricey champagne, bribing a restaurant waitress to keep her wine glass full during lunch and pretending to be her dermatologist’s girlfriend when she forced herself to accompany him on his house hunting trip, I wondered in my episode review on CliqueClack TV whether the show can keep this particular thread going: Watching Cathy go through various iterations of acting on every whim as a response to her dire cancer diagnosis.
Fall TV Previews
I surveyed the new and returning fall shows in my pop culture column this week. The show I’m most anxious to see: Modern Family. Can't. Wait.
After last season’s gripping finale, I’m looking forward to Grey’s Anatomy’s return as well. (There are abundant spoilers floating around about a wedding between a particularly challenged Grey's couple in the season seven premiere.)
One show about which I’m on the fence: Desperate Housewives.
I’m also intrigued by The Event but fear it may be a let-down a la FlashForward.
What fall shows are you looking forward to seeing?
Image credit: TBS via Entertainment Weekly.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, August 23, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, August 13, 2010
We'll Be Back After This Brief Blogging Break . . .
I'll be taking the upcoming week off from my writing/blogging duties so you'll have to save up all your Mad Men comments, thoughts on the new Weeds premiere (this Sunday), the pilot episode of The Big C (also this Sunday), the antics on Rescue Me and any other breaking pop culture/politics stories that might've been discussed on this internet watercooler for when I return . . . like if another airline attendant goes berserk or Levi Johnston announces his intentions to marry someone else/run for another Alaskan public office/get someone else pregnant/pose nude for another publication.
I promise I'll post two separate Mad Men episode reviews and catch up on what I've missed while I was re-charging my caffeine-laden brain.
Ciao peeps.
I promise I'll post two separate Mad Men episode reviews and catch up on what I've missed while I was re-charging my caffeine-laden brain.
Ciao peeps.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
'Weeds' and 'The Big C' Combo Promo: Which Mom Has It Worse?
Which character has it worse: The married high school teacher/mom of a teen who has terminal skin cancer and isn't telling anyone about it as she unravels and acts out (declaring she's only going to have "desserts and liquor" at a restaurant), or the on-the-run, drug-dealing mom of three who married a powerful, drug-dealing politician, had his baby, then fled when her middle son killed an aide to her husband who threatened her kids?
You decide.
You decide.
Laura Linney and 'The Big C'
Getting a tiny glimpse into how she thinks, as I did while reading this particular article, was like taking in a big gulp of fresh air given all the garbage spewed by actresses/celebrities who frequently tell the rest of us peasants how we should live our lives, how we should look, how we should act and how we should eat while they live their own pampered little lives.
Consider what the 46-year-old Linney had to say about “the privilege of aging,” a touchy subject for Hollywood actresses who seem to be largely Botoxed, surgically altered and plumped and generally messed-around-with in order to look as though they’ve discovered the antidote to aging (while the likes of George Clooney gray and wrinkle and still winds up on lists of sexy celebs). Here’s what the Times’ Frank Bruni wrote:
“As we sat in the new Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant ABC Kitchen, [Linney] worked her way through a curious pea-centric line-up of pea soup and pea salad and talked about aging, and about her mystification and frustration with so many people’s rebellion against it. She conceded that sagging skin, waning energy and creaky joints aren’t fun, but said that the early deaths of beloved friends had opened her eyes to the fact that growing old is the greatest of blessings. ‘A lot of people don’t get that privilege,’ she said. ‘And there’s an extreme disrespect toward that that’s cuckoo.’
I asked her how many friends had died, and who, but she waved the question away: I’d crossed into one of those no-fly zones. ‘A lot of people,’ she said. ‘And I miss them.’ She added that whenever she realizes that she’s about to complain about aging, ‘I imagine them taking me by my shoulders and shaking me: ‘Snap out of it!’”
Aging as a blessing. What a wonderfully, down-to-earth way of looking at things. That makes me just want to watch her more, especially as she takes the reins of a new, dark Showtime drama, The Big C, about a high school history teacher with a terminal case of skin cancer who, at least early on, not only refuses to tell her family about it, but decides to stop being so timid and restrained -- so very suburban about everything --and embraces life. Linney’s character, the 42-year-old wife and mother of a teen, is named Cathy (like the Cathy comic) and, based on the previews, seems as though she's going to unleash her true self in interesting ways, kind of like the opposite of the melodramatic story of Izzie Stevens'/Grey’s Anatomy skin cancer.
The Big C premieres on Monday, Aug. 16 at 10:30 after the season premiere of Weeds. Showtime has posted the pilot episode online at its web site. You can watch it here to see if Linney’s turn as a cancer patient has you as intrigued as I am.
Image credit: Hendrik Kerstens/New York Times.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Showtime Releases Promo for New Dramedy 'The Big C'
Whenever I think of Laura Linney, I envision her as either in her Emmy winning role of Abigail Adams in the fabulous HBO mini-series John Adams or as the angsty, off-beat mom in The Squid and the Whale. But based on the freshly released trailer for her upcoming Showtime dramedy The Big C -- which is slated to begin this summer -- I think that may change.
Linney's high school teacher character is, according to Showtime's web site, "a reserved suburban wife and mother whose recent cancer diagnosis forces her to shake up her life and find hope, humor and the light side of a dark situation, while managing her immature but well-meaning husband, played by Oliver Platt."
Finding humor in cancer seems like it could be a risky proposition, particularly if the writers have Linney's character's cancer be terminal, as writers have with the Breaking Bad lead character. But can cancer be funny? We'll have to see. Showtime's already managed to walk a fine line and have a show about a suburban mom struggling with multiple personalities work -- plus net its star an Emmy -- so who knows?
Showtime just released a preview -- featuring Gabourey Sidibe (from Precious) as one of her students -- what do you think, can a comedy about a cancer patient work?
Linney's high school teacher character is, according to Showtime's web site, "a reserved suburban wife and mother whose recent cancer diagnosis forces her to shake up her life and find hope, humor and the light side of a dark situation, while managing her immature but well-meaning husband, played by Oliver Platt."
Finding humor in cancer seems like it could be a risky proposition, particularly if the writers have Linney's character's cancer be terminal, as writers have with the Breaking Bad lead character. But can cancer be funny? We'll have to see. Showtime's already managed to walk a fine line and have a show about a suburban mom struggling with multiple personalities work -- plus net its star an Emmy -- so who knows?
Showtime just released a preview -- featuring Gabourey Sidibe (from Precious) as one of her students -- what do you think, can a comedy about a cancer patient work?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)