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Tag Archives: television
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 2/6/22 — 2/13/22
It’s been quite a week. The Oscar nominations were announced. The creepiest Winter Games ever have been playing out in China. South Park revealed that some people apparently didn’t understand that Tolkein was named after the author of The Hobibt and Lord of the Rings. (Like, seriously, you guys…..) And the z-list celebs on Celebrity Big Brother revealed themselves to be taking the show way too seriously.
Here’s a few thoughts on what I watched this week:
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
Chaos on a train! Rene thought he and Yvette were going to elope on the Geneva Express but unfortunately, his wife Edith found Rene’s note and thought that it was meant for her. While Rene wandered the train, trying to hook up with his two mistresses without his wife noticing, Herr Flick, Lt. Gruber, and a host of others wandered the train in search for the valuable original copy of the painting known as The Fallen Madonna With The Big Boobies. Things got a bit chaotic on the train and they were even more chaotic back at the Cafe, where Officer Crabtree and his mangled French offered up very little in the way of help. I laughed, I always do.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here. The Amazing Race has been a bit odd this season. Due to the COVID lockdowns, two of the strongest teams ended up dropping out of the race. As a result, we are late into the race and there are currently three strong teams and then two teams that basically can’t even read a road map. The two weaker teams would never have lasted this long in a normal season. I’m going to laugh and laugh if one of them somehow manages to win. As of right now, though, it seems as if the oddly robotic but hyper competent team of Kim & Penn have to be considered the favorites.
BBC World News (Tuesday Morning, BBC)
I watched the Oscar nomination announcements on the BBC because, unlike ABC, the BBC actually showed all of the categories instead of just showing the major nominees. (Add to that, why would anyone want to watch Oscar analysis from George Stephanopoulos?) I have to admit that I enjoyed the BBC’s take on the nominations, which basically amounted to, “Quite a few nominations for Belfast, that’s a win for our side.”
Celebrity Big Brother (CBS and Paramount Plus)
I wrote about Celebrity Big Brother for the Big Brother Blog. I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of celebrity reality competition shows to begin with and Celebrity Big Brother tends to be the worst of them all. Since celebrities really don’t have much at stake in these games, most of them just leave the House when things get too intense, like Chris Kattan did earlier this week. As for the remaining celebrity houseguests, Todd Bridges is an idiot and Toddrick Hall seems to be taking this whole thing just a little bit too seriously. Don’t ruin your brand just to give Julie Chen something to talk about.
King of the Hill (Weekday Afternoon, FXX)
Among the episodes I watched on Monday afternoon, there was one where Hank got to carry the Olympic flame and Dale got a chance to use the flame to light his cigarette. Go, Hank! Go, Dale! That was back when the Olympics were something special.
On Thursday, after getting disgusted with all of the propaganda at the Winter Games, I again turned over to FXX and watched a few episodes of King of the Hill. I watched five episodes, from Lucky trying to sue Dale to Launne getting married to Boomhauer surfing at Corpus Christi. It was fun and took my mind off what Boomhauer would call “the dang ol’ enormity of it all.”
The Love Boat (MeTV, Sunday Afternoon)
Yay! It was a 70s Valentine’s cruise! Love was in the air and cocaine was probably backstage. Sailing on the Love Boat were Patty Duke, Frankie Avalon, Barbie Benton, Denny Evans, Jamie Farr, Ricky Nelson, and Carole White! A computer program that was designed to link everyone to their ideal Valentine’s Day partner caused havoc on the boat but everything worked out in the end. That’s the important thing.
Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
Because I have the world’s worst martyr complex, I wrote about the latest episode of Pam & Tommy here.
South Park (Wednesday Night, Comedy Central)
For the record, I always knew his name was Tolkien. I don’t know what the Hell was wrong with the rest of you.
The Winter Olympics (All Week, NBC and Other Stations)
On Sunday night, I watched figure skating. Even though I’m not as into the Olympics this year as I’ve been in previous years, there’s still no way that I would miss figure skating, curling, yeti hunting, and that weird sport where they ski and shoot a rifle.
On Monday morning, I watched that very sport, with the skiing and the rifle shooting. It still seemed like a strange sport to me but, as I watched, I also realized that it was probably the only Olympic event that James Bond would have enjoyed (and, by that, I mean Roger Moore’s joyful Bond as opposed to Daniel Craig’s whiny Bond) and I was happy about that. Later, I watched some curling and I seriously think I could do well with that sport. I know how to work a broom.
On Wednesday, I watched some skiing and that totally freaked me out, just because I’ve heard so many stories about people slamming into trees. Agck! Then, on Thursday, I watched a bit more curling and that definitely left me less freaked out than the skiing. You can’t hurt anyone with a broom, unless you’re Jackie Chan in an 80s movie.
Saturday morning, I watched some figure skating, which I loved. I also watched some ski jumping and I marveled at how fake the snow looked. Apparently, they’ve been using fake snow for the Winter Olympics because it’s not actually that cold or snowy in Beijing. That’s weird and strange and yet somehow appropriate for these uniquely uninspiring games.
WKRP In Cincinnati (MeTV, Sunday Afternoon)
Radio DJ Johnny Fever got a job hosting a television dance show and sold out his soul to play disco music. Fortunately, Johnny was able to vanquish his evil Rip Tide identity at the end of the episode. At one point, Johnny’s TV boss said that she loved the 60s and would love to “get mellow and listen to the Dead” after the show and I was like, “Oh my God, they allowed people talk about weed on TV back then?” You learn something new every day.
TV Review: Pam & Tommy 1.4 “The Master Beta” (dir by Lake Bell)
“I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
That was my thought after I published my review of the first three episodes of Pam & Tommy. Don’t get me wrong. I stand by everything that I wrote in that review. The first three episodes were relatively well-made and they captured as specific point in time and Lily James was likably earnest as Pam.
Instead, my concern came from the fact that, by reviewing the first three episodes, I had now committed myself to watching and reviewing the entire series. And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was no way that Pam & Tommy could remain interesting for a total of 8 hours, not unless the show abandoned its Ryan Murphy-lite approach and did something really unexpected with its recreation of the story. There’s just not enough there. This is a good 2-hour story but Pam & Tommy is an 8-epiosde miniseries. That’s 8-plus hours of Pam getting upset, Tommy acting like a dumbass, and Rand being every creepy guy who has ever approached you in a bar and started asking you about the book you’re reading. (It would, of course, never occur to him that the main reason you’re reading the book is to avoid talking to guys like him.)
Having now watched the fourth episode, it’s hard not to feel that I was very much correct in my concerns. Don’t get me wrong. The fourth episode had its moments. It featured an enjoyably intense performance from Don Harvey as the legendary Hollywood private investigator, Anthony Pellicano. Once Tommy finally discovers that his safe has been stolen and Pam reminds him about the videotape, Pellicano is the man who they approach to track down the perpetrator. This leads to a scene of Pellicano beating the crap out of Rand and it’s fun to watch. Some of that is because Don Harvey is a master of portraying urbane menace. But I have to admit that a lot of it is because Rand himself is such an annoying character. This episode opened with Seth Rogen, as Rand, wandering around a porn set and trying to reconnect with his estranged wife (Taylor Schilling), who significantly was just trying to read Anne Rice’s latest book when he approached her. Just the sight of Rand, with his mullet and his sad-sack facial expression, was so annoying that it was actually cathartic to see him get tossed around his apartment.
The problem is that the show wants us to feel some sympathy for Rand but there’s nothing sympathetic about him. He’s a loser and the fact that he still loves his wife and still wants to take care of her doesn’t make him any less of a loser. He’s a thief, a guy who accidentally stole a sex tape and then decided to put it online. The fact that he later feels guilty doesn’t change the fact that he did it. There’s as scene in the fourth episode where Rand is upset to see someone else selling bootleg copies of the tape. On the one hand, it’s not a bad scene. There’s an enjoyable irony to Rand discovering that someone has essentially stolen the tape from him after Rand went through so much trouble to steal the tape from Tommy. But the show doesn’t seem to be sure whether it wants us to laugh at Rand’s misfortune or to sympathize with him as he realizes that the consequences of his actions are out of his control. As a character, Rand is not compelling enough for both to be an option.
As for the title characters, both Sebastian Stan and Lily James do their best but I get the feeling that we’ve already learned all the we need to know about them. There was one good moment that examined Pam and Tommy’s different reactions to the release of the sex tape but otherwise, neither Tommy nor Pam are really that interesting as characters. I ended the fourth hour of Pam & Tommy very much aware that there were still four more hours to go. What else, I found myself wondering, could be left to be said?
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/30/22 — 2/5/22
As I promised last week, I spent most of this week getting caught up on movies. Here’s some thoughts on what little television I did watch:
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
Though the episode aired on Sunday, I didn’t get to watch it until Friday and I have to admit that I was a bit out of it at the time, so don’t even ask me to explain just what exactly happened. I do remember that Officer Crabtree had a conversation in which he mangled the French language. I know that happens every episode but still, it always makes me laugh.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here!
The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)
Claytonbot continued to learn human emotions while the bachelorettes continued to accuse each other of not being on the show for the right reasons. Claytonbot even cancelled the cocktail party due to some drama that was definitely totally real and in no way staged. Like, totally, for real.
Bar Rescue (Weekday Mornings, Paramount TV)
I watched an episode on Tuesday. A bartender couldn’t make the perfect Manhattan so Jon Taffer condemned everyone who worked at the bar to Hell.
Celebrity Big Brother (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Night)
I wrote about Celebrity Big Brother, the show that I love to hate, over at the Big Brother Blog.
Football Game: Bengals vs. Chiefs (Sunday Night, Fox)
I was happy when the Bengals won because they wear those cute helmets with the stripes.
Football Games: 49ers vs Rams (Sunday afternoon, CBS)
Everyone’s a winner as far as I’m concerned! Yay! But, on a much more realistic note, the Rams won. Or was it the 49ers? I can’t remember for sure. Either way, congrats.
Full House (Sunday Mornings, MeTV)
I watched two episodes on Sunday. Uncle Jesse was upset that no one cared about his crappy cover band. I have to wonder if the band themselves ever resented having all of Danny Tanner’s bratty children wandering around the place while they were trying to rehearse. Also, why didn’t they rehearse in the garage as opposed to that cramped living room? I haven’t seen that many episodes of Full House but I’m getting the feeling that this show often did not make sense.
The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)
It was a Halloween episode so everyone wore a costume. Woo hoo!
The Office (All Week, Comedy Central)
On Friday, I watched the “Search Committee” episode, which I’ve always considered to be one of those shows biggest mistakes. This was after Michael had left, D’Angelo had died, and Dwight had fired a gun in the office. Jo appointed Gabe, Jim, and Toby to interview applicants to be the new manager and, of course, all of the applicants were played by celebrities. The cameos were distracting and I still don’t understand why James Spader’s bland take on Robert California led to the show being massively restructured during the following season. Of the celebs who interviewed, Ray Romano actually came across like he would have been the best fit for the show’s style but, if I remember correctly, Romano was already on another show at the time. Personally, I think that, instead of trying to find another Steve Carell, they should have just hired some nondescript nobody to play the manager and spent the last seasons of The Office concentrating on the people working there.
I can still remember watching this episode when it originally aired. At the time, I actually felt a bit of dread when Andy Bernard showed up to be interviewed because I knew he was probably going to end up with the job. Andy was a funny character during his first two seasons with the show but, after that, Ed Helms’s performance started to become oddly needy. All of the flaws that made Andy an unfortunate choice to be at the center of the season 8 were present in the “Search Committee” episode.
Finally, I have to ask — why would Jo put Jim on the Committee? How does that make any sense? He already had managerial experience so why didn’t she just promote him?
Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)
Granville seemed to be really upset about something. As usual, Arkwright was too busy obsessing on Nurse Gladys Emmanuel to care. This was definitely an episode that I had seen before.
Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
I wrote about the first three episodes of Pam & Tommy here.
Parking Wars (Tuesday Morning, A&E)
The indie towing guys took a man’s truck and then laughed when the man said that he was going to lose his job and wouldn’t be able to feed his family. What a bunch of scumbags. “I feel bad for him but he came here cussing and I got no sympathy for that.” ANY SYMPATHY, you illiterate fascist!
The View (Weekday Mornings, ABC)
It’s been a very long time since I’ve watched The View but I decided to watch it on Tuesday to see how they would deal with Whoopi Goldberg outing herself as being incredibly ignorant on the subject of the Holocaust. It turns out that they didn’t really deal with it. Whoopi briefly interviewed the president of the ADL, who mentioned that The View had never had a Jewish co-host. The show then went to commercial and we came back with Whoopi and the gang talking about “you know who,” which I guess is their way of referring to Trump. Later, Charlie Day was interviewed. I like Charlie Day. For one thing, he’s not an anti-Semite.
That night, after the show aired, ABC announced that Whoopi would be suspended for two weeks. For the record, I don’t think Whoopi’s comments were malicious, at least not in the way that Nick Cannon’s anti-Semitic comments were. (It’s kind of weird how Nick basically repeated the same anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that have, for centuries, been used to justify the persecution of the Jewish people but, afterwards, was allowed to keep his job as host of The Masked Singer and was also giving his own talk show. Like seriously, how the Hell does that happen?) I think Whoopi’s comments were ignorant and the fact that she doubled down on them, on both the show and apparently later on Colbert, shows the type of arrogance that only comes from never having to deal with anyone openly disagreeing with you. I’d rather that, instead of suspending her and waiting for everything the blow over, The View would have used this opportunity to educate both Goldberg and the show’s viewers. Whoopi Goldberg is 66 years old and, we are constantly told, a smart woman. That she could be so ignorant is definitely a cause for concern.
The Winter Olympics (Weekdays, NBC and other stations)
I’ve tried to watch a little of The Olympics but the whole thing just feels icky this year. As soon as the Olympics Committee guy started quoting John Lennon during the opening ceremonies, I had to look away. I imagine I’ll watch a bit of skating and maybe some curling. But I’m definitely in no way enthusiastic about the Olympics this year.
TV Review: Pam & Tommy Episode 1-3 (dir by Craig Gillipsie)
Currently (and, presumably, forever) available on Hulu, Pam & Tommy is a miniseries about …. well, it’s about many things.
It’s about the mid-90s, a time when people still used terms like “World Wide Web” and where no one thought twice about having to wait two or three minutes for one lousy web site to finish loading. It’s about a time when dial-up internet was still considered to be something of an exotic luxury. It’s about a time when the number one show in the entire world was the critically derided Baywatch and the show’s star, Pamela Anderson, was trying to make the jump from television to film.
It’s also about the early days of online porn and how it was first discovered that people would pay money to watch celebrity sex tapes. It may seem strange to consider that this was something that needed to be discovered but, if you believe Pam & Tommy, apparently no one thought there was an audience for celebrity sex tapes before 1996. Today, of course, celebrity sex tapes are so common place that they’re often leaked by the celebrity themselves. Where would the Kardashians be if not for the celebrity sex tape industry? Could it be that Kim owes as much of her success to Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee as she does to O.J. Simpson? Perhaps, which is a polite way of saying yes.
Pam & Tommy is also about the brief marriage of Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan). When Pam & Tommy begins, Pam, as mentioned above, is the star of the number one show in the world. Despite being a star, she’s not respected as an actress. Instead, she’s usually treated as just being a body. The show’s producers and directors have no trouble cutting her big monologue on a whim but they spend several minutes discussing just how tight her red swimsuit should be. (After cutting her monologue, they condescendingly thank her for being a team player.) Pam has a very earnest and somewhat heart-breaking desire to be taken seriously as an actress. She describes Jane Fonda as being her role model. Meanwhile, Tommy Lee is, for lack of a better term, an idiot. He’s also a drummer for a band that used to be big. He travels with an entourage. His body is covered with tattoos, the majority of which have no meaning to him beyond, “I just thought it looked cool.” Tommy is usually an arrogant bully, the epitome of the spoiled rock star. Occasionally, with Pam, he’s sweet but if this miniseries stays true to what actually happened during Pam and Tommy’s marriage, that sweetness is not going to last.
Finally, Pam & Tommy is the story of Rand Gautheir (Seth Rogen). Much like Tommy, Rand is a moron. However, Rand has neither Tommy’s looks nor his swagger. Instead, he’s just a schlub who works as a carpenter and tries way too hard to present himself as being an intellectual. After Tommy humiliates Rand by firing him from a remodeling job, Rand retaliates by stealing a safe from Tommy’s garage. (Tommy doesn’t even notice that it’s missing.) Inside the safe, Rand finds a sex tape that Tommy and Pam made on their honeymoon. With the help of gangster Butchie Periano (Andrew Dice Clay) and adult film veteran “Uncle” Miltie (Nick Offerman), Rand puts the video on the internet and plans to make a fortune. Rand tells himself that he’s doing it because Tommy didn’t pay him for his work but it’s clear that Rand’s main motivation is jealousy. Why should Tommy get a huge house and a beautiful wife while Rand is stuck in his little apartment? Rand is at least as smart as Tommy. Of course, the same could probably be said of the dog that Pam purchases when she and Tommy return from their honeymoon.
In other words, Pam & Tommy is about a very specific cultural moment. So far, the series is taking a stylized approach to the material, mixing occasionally broad comedy with more dramatic moments. Needless to say, it’s a bit uneven. During the second episode, Tommy actually has a conversation with his penis about whether or not he should marry Pam. It’s a funny idea but the scene itself goes on forever and, ultimately, the whole thing says more about the importance of generating twitter buzz than it does about why Tommy and Pam ended up getting married after knowing each other for only a handful of days. The first three episodes were directed by Craig Gillipsie, who also directed I, Tonya. Much like that film, Pam & Tommy is occasionally insightful but it also sometimes seems to get bogged down in its own condescending attitude towards the people who are at the center of its story.
And yet, there are also enough moments that work in Pam & Tommy that I’ll definitely watch the rest of the show. So far, this is a series that is largely saved by its cast. Seth Rogen has recently been so intent on presenting himself as being the only man in Hollywood with integrity that it’s easy to forget that he’s always been at his most entertaining (and sympathetic) whenever he’s been cast as a complete loser and it’s hard to think of anyone who could be a bigger loser than the character he plays in Pam & Tommy. Sebastian Stan plays Tommy as being a destructive manchild and, for the first two episodes, he’s pretty obnoxious. By the third episode, though, Stan is given a few quieter scenes and he manages to suggest that there’s something more to Tommy than just rock star bravado. And finally, Lily James gives a wonderfully empathetic performance as Pamela Anderson, capturing her earnest desire to be something more than just a sex symbol.
The first three episodes of Pam & Tommy dropped on Hulu this week. The remaining five episodes will be released on a weekly basis. I don’t really know how you get 8 episodes out of this particular story but I guess I’ll find out soon. Hopefully, the show will continue to focus on the best thing that it has going for it, its cast.
2021 In Review: 10 Good Things That I Saw On Television
I probably watched too much television in 2021. Oh well, such is life! Here are a few things that I enjoyed:
- The third and fourth seasons of Cobra Kai
Who would have guessed that The Karate Kid would eventually inspire one of the best shows on television? The show’s mix of comedy and drama is nearly perfect and, for that matter, so are the performances of William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Martin Kove, and Thomas Ian Griffith.
2. WandaVision
The Marvel television series have been pretty hit-and-miss for me but WandaVision was definitely a hit.
3. The Oscars
The Steven Soderbergh-produced ceremony was such a train wreck that it became oddly fascinating to watch. To be honest, the entire ceremony felt like a wonderful example of hubris. The ceremony was obviously designed to show the way to the future and, instead, it just made us long for the past. In many ways, it was the perfect symbol for America in 2021.
4 & 5. Allo Allo and Yes, Minister
Discovering these classic British sitcoms on PBS was definitely one of the highlights of the year for me!
6. America’s Most Wanted
It didn’t last very long but the America’s Most Wanted revival featured some really cool CGI.
7. Gangs of London
This British crime show was complex but always compelling.
8. The Ultimate Surfer
This silly reality show featured a lot of good-looking people getting wet. What more can you ask for?
9. The final season of The Walking Dead got off to a good start.
Everything has to end sometimes.
10. Dexter: New Blood
Dexter is back! But for how long?
Lisa Marie’s 2021 In Review:
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/23/22 — 1/29/22
Another week in January essentially means another week of allergies and sneezing. I watched quite a few movies this week but I also catched a few shows. When you’re feeling under the weather, it’s sometimes more fun to watch something that’s only going to require 30 minutes of your attention as opposed to 132 of them.
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
The show started with Rene nearly blowing up the cafe while trying to hide the stolen land mines and it ended with Herr Flick and Von Smallhousen trapped on a British airplane flying high over occupied France. Along the way, Crabtree tried to speak French and the British airmen hid in a barrel. It was all good fun. I laughed.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday, CBS)
I wrote about the latest episode of The Amazing Race here! Switzerland, as I mentioned in my write up, is a beautiful country. The scenery is gorgeous and the people understand the value of staying on schedule.
The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)
This week on The Bachelor, the women went to group therapy and Clayton continued to try to understand and replicate human behavior. Seriously, they should just call him the Claytonbot. I keep expecting him to ask someone why humans laughs and cry.
Bar Rescue (Monday Morning, Paramount TV)
Jon Taffer rescued a karaoke bar. Yay! A world without music is not a world for any of us.
Football Game: Buccaneers vs. Rams (Sunday Evening, NBC)
If only both teams could have won! Seriously, from what I’ve seen of it, football is the most depressing sport ever because the players on the team that doesn’t win always end up sitting there and crying while the other team is celebrating. That sucks. If I was the coach, I would make sure that every game ended in a tie so that everyone could be a winner.
Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)
God, this was a bad show. I watched the first four episodes of the show on Sunday afternoon. I felt kind of bad about not liking it but it was just so painfully cutesy. The first episode of the series featured John Stamos and the goofy guy moving in with John Stamos. The second episode featured John Stamos and his band trying to practice while two of Bob Saget’s daughters danced around. (The band sounded terrible.) The third episode featured …. I don’t even remember. I know it was during the third or the fourth episode that the school year started. Candace Cameron was upset about being put in a gifted class. John Stamos hit on a teacher. I can’t remember what the goofy one did.
From what I understand, the first four episodes are apparently the show’s highpoint so I can’t imagine what the rest of the series must have been like.
King of the Hill (Weekday Afternoons, FXX)
I watched three episodes of this classic on Friday. Things got started with Grillstravaganza, in which Bobby temporarily fell under the influence of Joe Jack. This was followed by the episode where Mr. Strickland briefly got involved with Luanne’s pool-based bible study group. And then the final episode I watched featured Hank taking over the middle school’s organic garden. Anything that featured Hank trying to motivate the apathetic students at the middle school was always funny. Hank’s work at the organic garden may have been a success but he was still perturbed when he ended up getting added to the mailing list of a hippie food store called Passages.
Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)
Granville discovered that he had a cousin and she used to be able to communicate with the spirit world. Unfortunately, Granville’s spirit had already been too thoroughly broken for him to take much comfort in that knowledge.
Parking Wars (Monday Morning, A&E)
On Monday morning, as I watched the parking cops go out of their way to harass the citizens of Philadelphia, it occurred to me that most of these episodes were filmed over ten years ago. I wonder how many of these people still work for the government and how many have retired. How many are receiving a pension and how many are still walking the sidewalks and saying, “I’m just doing my job here?” Hopefully, they’re all retired and collecting a pension. It has to be kind of a sad existence, though. How does anyone sleep soundly with the knowledge that they were a part of the system?
Seinfeld (Weekdays, Comedy Central)
I watched two episodes on Friday afternoon. George and Jerry flew out to Hollywood to see Kramer. kamer, meanwhile, was arrested for being a serial killer. The real killer was Clint Howard, who was briefly arrested but who escaped police custody after George and Jerry accidentally left the backdoor of a police car unlocked. It was all kind of dark, to be honest.
Silk Stalkings (Tubi)
On Monday, I got back to binging my favorite 90s show about attractive detectives investigating half-naked criminals. The first episode featured Chris falling for a duplicitous skip tracer who, it turned out, was actually just a hitwoman. Oh, Chris! Everyone knows you and Rita are in love! The next episode featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a vice cop. They suspected that it may have been a cop-on-cop killing and, of course, it all linked up to Chris’s past. It was kind of a dull episode, to be honest. It wasn’t quite trashy enough. Oh well!
I didn’t return to the show until Thursday. The first episode I watched opened with the brutal murder of a wealthy married couple. At first, Chris and Rita thought that the murders had been committed by the couple’s twin sons but eventually, it was discovered that it was actually the work of the maid and a hitman. That episode was enjoyably sordid. The episode that followed was a bit less interesting. Chris and Rita investigated a gang of jewel thieves, one of whom was played by a youngish Tobin Bell. It was all a bit bland but the chemistry between Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture kept things fun.
Lisa Marie’s Week in Television: 1/16/22 — 1/22/22
I made a specific decision not watch too much TV this week (and next) so that I could concentrate on getting caught up on the films of 2021. I made an exception for The Amazing Race, because I write about it for another site. And, on Thursday, I did turn on the TV because I’ve had a long-standing argument with a friend of mine about whether or not The United States of Al is real show or just a twitter meme. It turns out that it’s real!
Anyway, here’s a few thoughts on what little I watched.
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
In occupied France, the search for the stolen money was replaced by the search for the stolen landmines. Rene continued to try to run his cafe and cheat on his wife in peace while Michelle and the Resistance continued to insist that, as the bravest man in all of France, Rene had a responsibility to continually put his life in danger. Along the way, Michelle said, “I shall say this only once,” and Herr Flick and Van Smallhousen disguised themselves as monks. The comedy on this show is very broad but it’s also very well-acted so I can’t help but laugh.
Crabtree referred to the bombs as being “bongs.” Again, it made me laugh.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
I wrote about the restart of the race here! I shall miss Anthony and Spencer the most.
B Positive (Thursday Night, CBS)
This is one of Chuck Lorre’s many depressing sitcoms. Imagine Mom but instead of being a bunch of drunks, all of the characters are terminally ill. Anyway, I watched this week’s episode just to confirm to myself that this show actually exists. And it does. I didn’t pay much attention to the episode, though. For some reason, what I did see reminded me of those annoying commercials that Kate McKinnon does for Verizon.
Who doesn’t love a comedy about people dying scared and alone?
Football Game: Cowboys vs 49 (Sunday Afternoon, CBS)
My initial reaction to Dallas’s loss went something like this: “Congrats on cheating your way to victory, San Francisco. Must be great to have the officials on your side. Well, you guys got the victory but at least my city is a nice place to live so we’ll call it a draw.”
Fortunately, it has since been explained to me what happened during the final minutes of the game and I now understand that the Cowboys lost because they made a lot of sloppy and stupid mistakes. So, a sincere congrats to the 49ers and to the Cowboys: Stop screwing up!
Full House (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)
MeTV showed four episodes of Full House as a part of their tribute to Bob Saget. I watched all four and My God, that was a bad show. Saget was likable, though. And I liked both John Stamos and Lori Loughlin and even Candace Cameron did her best to bring some sort of reality to the over-the-top cutesiness of the show. But everyone else was pretty obnoxious and the dialogue was so painfully sweet that it was impossible to listen to without cringing. I do have to admit that the audience’s habit of responding to everything by going, “Awwwww!’ did make me smile a little.
Ghosts (Thursday Night, CBS)
Ghosts is about a couple who live in a haunted house with a bunch of quirky ghosts. Cute concept but it gets old quickly. Why can’t the scoutmaster ghost take that stupid arrow out of his neck? This week, one of the ghosts discovered that she had the power to end people to Hell which … eh. Like I said, it got old quickly.
Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)
Arkwright was obsessed with Nurse Gladys Emmanuel. Granville was depressed. I’m pretty sure that Sunday was not the first that I had seen this episode.
The United States of Al (Thursday Night, CBS)
I watched an episode of this show just to see if it actually existed. Apparently, it’s been on the air for a year or two but I have never met anyone who has actually watched the show. Earlier this year, there was some twitter excitement over an extremely mawkish commercial for the show’s new season but that was pretty much it. I always suspected that the commercial was actually some sort of viral prank but I guess I was wrong.
Anyway, this is about a veteran who lives with Al, who was his interpreter in Afghanistan. It’s a culture clash comedy. The main theme seems to be that Al is annoying af. It’s also a Chuck Lorre sitcom so the show actually deals with serious issue in a cartoonish way. This week’s episode featured Al getting addicted to online poker. His roommate sprayed him with a garden hose until he snapped out of it.
Yep, this is a real show.
Oh! And the episode ended with one of those stupid Chuck Lorre title cards for people who want to hit pause and discover what Chuck thinks about the world. It was something about Liz Cheney. It was like five or six words long but that proved to be too many for my ADD. Oh well!
Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 1/9/22 — 1/15/22
Another week and I have yet to watch the latest season of Cobra Kai. What can I tell you? This was a busy week and I was sick for a good deal of it. No, not COVID sick. Instead, I was just sick with the cold and the allergies that I get hit with every January. You would think that would lead to me having a lot of extra time in which I would have nothing to do but watch all the latest shows but it didn’t quite work out that way.
Anyway, I’m feeling better now and David Lynch’s birthday is next Thursday so this upcoming week is going to be a good one.
Here’s my week in television.
Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)
LeClerc was nearly executed in the town square by Herr Flick. Apparently, it was because Flick is still searching for the stolen money. (To be honest, it can be a bit difficult to keep up with everyone’s motivations on Allo Allo.) Fortunately, the British bombers flew over the town just in time to provide a distraction. “The bummers!” Office Crabtree announced, in his mangled French, “Just in the nock of tome!” LeClerc escaped with his life but the British airmen are still stuck at Rene’s café.
The Amazing Race (Wednesday Night, CBS)
The Amazing Race went to Scotland this week, which made me feel very nostalgic for the last time that I was in Scotland. Unfortunately, at the end of this leg of the race, Phil announced that shooting was being suspended due to the COVID lockdowns. The action then picked up over a year later, with the remaining teams gathering in Switzerland to continue the race. Unfortunately, not all of the teams could return, including my favorite, the team of Anthony and Spencer. Boo hoo. Anyway, I reviewed this week’s episode here!
The Bachelor (Monday Night, ABC)
This Monday, I watched the Bachelor while also watching a Steven Seagal film. I’m still trying to decide which leading man had less charisma. Seagal is pretty boring but Clayton is just like a piece of cement that can speak in barely legible sentences.
Bar Rescue (Weekday Morning, Paramount)
I had this on the TV for background noise on Thursday morning. While Windows updated, I listened to Jon Taffer yell at an owner who forgot to call a cab for a drunk guy. Usually, I think Taffer needs to calm down but, in this case, he did have a point.
The Brady Bunch (Sunday Morning, MeTV)
On Sunday, MeTV aired four episodes of The Brady Bunch and they all featured Alice being taken for granted. In the first two episodes, her boyfriend took her for granted. In the next two, the family took her for granted and even drove her to quit at one point. The new maid wasn’t as nice as Alice so the family went down to Alice’s new waitressing job and basically got her fired. What a bunch of jerks. Why did Alice put with all that? Was the money that good?
Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)
I wrote about the series finale here! For the record, I refuse to believe that Dexter’s dead.
Judge Steve Harvey (Monday and Tuesday Night, ABC)
I watched this new series on Monday. It came on after The Bachelor and I was too busy (or maybe lazy) to change the channel. I can’t really say I paid that much attention to it. Why would you air a cheesy courtroom show in Primetime? Why would you get Steve Harvey to be the judge? Why, why, why?
By the way, since Steve Harvey is now an ABC employee, you know he’s going to end up hosting the Oscars right? The Oscars are going to come back from commercial and Steve’s going to say, “If you ain’t thanking God in your speech, that Oscar’s not going to provide much comfort while you’re burning in Hell.”
King of the Hill (Weekdays, FXX)
I watched a few episodes of King of the Hill on Sunday afternoon. My favorite of them was the two-part episode where Hank was briefly a murder suspect and he feared that, due to accidentally taking one hit off a joint, he might be guilty. “My God, I’m hearing things. That’s a side effect of the marijuana poisoning.”
The Larry Sanders Show (HBOMax)
This is a 90s sitcom that aired on HBO, about a neurotic talk show host (Garry Shandling), his sleazy sidekick (Jeffrey Tambor), his profane producer (Rip Torn), and the show’s staff. Jeff loves this show so we watched two episodes on Sunday morning. The first one we watched featured Larry freaking out over David Duchovny having a crush on him. The second one featured Larry’s sidekick, Hank, freaking out because one of his sex tapes had been stolen. In short, there were a lot of people freaking out. Both episodes were pretty funny, though the whole thing was definitely a relic of a different era. (The highlight of the second episode was a bizarre conversation between Norm McDonald and Henry Winkler. Winkler thought Hank’s sex tape was an exercise video. McDonald said, “Hank’s got a huge cock,” in that Canadian way of his. Winkler replied, “Then why is he so upset?” Trust me, it was funny.) Rip Torn was hilarious as Larry’s producer. That said, I don’t think I would have wanted to spend any time with any of the characters on The Larry Sanders Show. They were all funny but kind of mean. They probably would have made me cry.
The Love Boat (Sunday Evening, MeTV)
MeTV paid tribute to Betty White on Sunday by showing a 1984 episode of The Love Boat, in which she was a passenger. Also on the Boat for that cruise: Carol Channing, Rue McClanahan, Michelle Phillips, Cesar Romero, Alan Thicke, Dick Van Patten, and Fred Willard.
Betty White and Carol Channing played showbiz veterans who were trying to convince Cesar Romero to publish White’s memoirs. Thicke played a man who was trying to convince his ex-wife (Phillips) to marry Fred Willard so he wouldn’t have to pay any more alimony. Meanwhile, in a totally serious subplot, Dick Van Patten played an abusive salesman married to McClanahan. The serious subplot was kind of jarring when mixed in with scenes of White and Channing singing and Fred Willard doing his amiable goof routine.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Sunday Afternoon, MeTV)
MeTV showed four episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, all featuring Betty White in the role of Sue Anne Nivens. Needless to say, they were all funny but it was hard to watch them without considering that the entire cast is now gone.
Mom (Weekday Afternoon, Paramount)
On Thursday, I forgot the change the channel before Paramount started their two-hour Mom bloc. All four of the episodes dealt with the moms and their friends freaking out over people smoking weed. The few time that I’ve seen Mom have made me happy that I don’t have an addictive personality because I don’t think I could handle being a Recovery person.
The Office (Weekday Evenings, Freeform)
I’m happy to say that The Office is now on FreeForm, so I can watch it without having to deal with Comedy Central’s weird, mental health commercials. (“The past two years have been difficult for everyone….” Yeah, no shit. That’s why I’m watching your station, so I can escape for a few hours.) I watched a few episodes from Season 4 on Wednesday and then a few from Season 5 on Friday.
Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)
While Arkwright cheated his customers and sold them spoiled food, Granville swept the store in quiet misery.
Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules (Saturday Morning, E!)
The children of celebrities work at a ranch, that’s the plot of this show. On the episode I saw, Billy Bob Thornton’s son was fascinated by a cow giving birth. Then everyone went back to their cabin and talked about how difficult it was being only relatively famous.
Silk Stalkings (Tubi)
On Sunday morning, I decided to get back to binging Silk Stalkings, the 90s show about half-naked people committing crimes. The first episode that I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a hair dresser. At first, they thought it was mob-related but then it turned out to be relationship related. This was actually an episode that I had seen before but it was still enjoyable to rewatch. The second one I watched featured Chris and Rita investigating the murder of a surgeon and again, this turned out to be one that I had seen before. (Both episodes previously aired on ZLiving while I was dealing with that terrible sinus infection last year.) Still, even if it was a rewatch, it was still enjoyable. Silk Stalkings was delightfully trashy.
The first episode that I watched on Monday was another one that I saw last summer, while I was dealing with that sinus infection. (Yuck. I hate word sinus and I hate the word infection.) A real estate tycoon was beaten to death by a baseball bat and all the suspicion fell on the baseball player that Rita happened to be dating. This was followed by an episode in which an obnoxious radio talk show host bullied people into committing murder and suicide. It was a well-done episode. Rodger Bumpass (who is perhaps best-known for voicing Squidward Tentacles on Spongebob) was perfectly cast as the evil talk show host. The third episode I watched involved Chris and Rita solving a homicide that was witnessed by a teenage runaway. Rita encouraged the runaway to get back in school. Good for Rita! Finally, the fourth episode featured Rita investigating the murder of a friend’s nanny. I didn’t really pay much attention to it but, from what I saw, everyone appeared to be having fun.
On Tuesday, I got things started with an episode that featured Chris and Rita investigating a murder at an exclusive casino. Chris got to wear a tux while Rita went undercover as a dealer. They were so cute together! This was followed by an episode with Rita and Chris investigated the death of a drug dealer, despite the fact that the new DA wanted them to lay off the case because it might make the department look bad. It was a bit of bland episode, to be honest. The third episode was considerably better, as it featured Chris shooting a suspect and then the suspect’s sister trying to get revenge by seducing him. It was trashy and fun. Even more trashy and fun was the final episode that I watched on Tuesday, in which a prostitute witnessed a murder and Chris and Rita ended up investigating a judge.
I didn’t watch the show on Wednesday but I did return to it on Thursday. The first episode I watched featured Chris, Rita, and their captain (played by Broadway legend Ben Vereen) going undercover to bust a bunch of drug dealer who were working out of a club. Vereen seemed to be having a lot of fun and that made this otherwise pedestrian episode entertaining. This was followed by an episode that found Chris and Rita going undercover yet again, this time on the set of a trashy film shoot. It turned out that one of the actresses on the film was Chris’s mother! It was a fun episode.
On Friday, the first episode that I watched featured the great Patrick Muldoon as a serial rapist who had just been released from prison. Chris and Rita made sure that he didn’t go back to prison by sending him to the graveyard instead. Muldoon, in his younger years, was always perfectly cast as a villain and this episode was effectively disturbing. Rita and Chris’s fury felt real and cathartic. At its best, Silk Stalkings was trash with a conscience. That was followed by an episode where Chris and Rita went undercover as a married couple and were totally adorable as they solved the murder of a man who was found on the beach wearing a tuxedo.
I did not watch the show on Saturday but I look forward to returning to it over the course of the upcoming week!
WKRP In Cincinnati (DVD)
This 70s sitcom dealt with the daily life at a radio station in Cincinnati. Jeff loves this show so we watched a few episodes on Sunday morning. One dealt with a man in a pig costume painting the station’s lobby. Another one featured the station manager running unsuccessfully for city council. And the third one featured the station’s ad guy appearing on an early reality show called Real Families. WKRP was a pretty funny show. Like The Larry Sanders Show, it was very much a show of its time. Unlike The Larry Sanders Show, the show’s characters were really likable and I would have probably enjoyed working with them. No one would have made me cry.
Miniseries Review: Ford: The Man and The Machine (dir by Allan Eastman)
Henry Ford changed the world, for both the better and the worst.
Starting from his own small workshop in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford designed the first mass-produced automobile. He transformed cars from being a luxury item to being something that nearly every family owned. He created the concept of the assembly line. He argued that workers needed to be paid a livable wage and he also advocated for an 8-hour workday. At a time when every facet of American life was heavily segregated, he encouraged his factories an auto dealerships to hire black employees. He was a pacifist, who took part in a widely-ridiculed but apparently sincere effort to try to convince the leaders of the world to just stop fighting.
Unfortunately, Henry Ford was also something of an unhinged lunatic, a man whose skill at engineering and his empathy for his underpaid workers did not necessarily translate into a sophisticated understanding of anything else. When the workers in his factories tried to unionize, Ford employed violent strike breakers and he felt that most of the population were like a children and therefore incapable of governing themselves. He understood how to make car but he also fell for all sorts of quack science and was a believer in reincarnation.
Worst of all, he was a rabid anti-Semite, who blamed almost all of the world’s problems on “Jewish bankers” and who played a huge role in popularizing a scurrilous work called The Protocols of Elder Zion in America. Claiming to lay out the details of a Jewish plot to secretly control the world, The Protocols were a ludicrous document but many people believed them because they were promoted by Henry Ford, who was as big a celebrity in the early 20th Century as all of the social media influencers are today. All these years later, The Protocols are still cited by anti-Semites. A series of anti-Semitic editorials (which Ford later claimed to have signed off on but not actually written) were published in Germany under the title The International Jew, the World’s Foremost Problem. Hitler wrote of his admiration for Ford in Mein Kampf. Ford, it should be noted, did keep his distance from Hitler, though whether that was due to a personal distaste or the threat of an economic boycott is not known. (Jewish leaders had already organized one successful boycott of Ford in the 20s, which led to Ford closing down his newspaper and offering up an apology.) At the Nuremberg Trials, many of the Nazis said that they had first been introduced to anti-Semitism through the writings of Henry Ford. Reportedly, when Ford saw newsreel footage of the concentration camps, he was so overcome with emotion that he collapsed from a stroke.
(Two years ago, when Nick Cannon regurgitated the usual anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on a podcast, he was pretty much saying the exact same thing that Henry Ford said at the start of the 20th Century. Later, under threat of economic boycott, both Ford and Cannon would off up half-hearted apologies for their statements. Ford continued to make cars. Cannon continues to host a handful of television shows. How does that work?)
First broadcast over two nights in 1987, Ford: The Man and the Machine was a Canadian miniseries about the long and controversial life of Henry Ford. Cliff Robertson played Henry Ford. Hope Lange played his wife while Heather Thomas played his mistress. R.H. Thomson played Ford’s son, the sensitive Edsel. Michael Ironside played Harry Bennett, a sinister figure who was hired to break up union activity and who eventually became Ford’s right-hand man. If I remember correctly, I believe Canadian law actually required that Michael Ironside appear in almost every Canadian film and television show made in the 80s and the 90s. His glowering presence and menacing line delivery practically shouted out, “Don’t mess with Canada,” and he does bring a note of genuine danger to his performance here.
Ford: The Man and the Machine opens in the late 20s, with an aging Henry Ford already starting to lose control of his mental faculties. A series of flashbacks then show how Ford built his first engine, his first car, and eventually his first factory. We watch as Ford goes from being an enthusiastic, self-taught engineer to being one of the most powerful men in the world. Along the way, Ford grows arrogant. The same stubbornness that led to his early success also leads to his later problems. For all of his ability, Ford’s ego and his refusal to reconsider his conclusions leaves him vulnerable to both flattery and manipulation, whether it’s coming from the White House of Woodrow Wilson, from his own executives, or from the authoritarians who rose to power in Europe following the first World War. As portrayed in the movie, he’s a loving father who also flies into a rage when Edsel designs a car on his own. He loves his wife but he keeps a mistress. He loves his family but he’ll always prefer to spend time working on his cars than spending time with them. Henry Ford changes the world but his own hubris makes it impossible for him to change with it.
The miniseries is built around Cliff Robertson’s performance as Ford and Robertson does an excellent job in the role, convincingly playing Ford as he goes from being an enthusiastic dreamer to a paranoid millionaire to a doddering old man, a Bidenesque figuredhead who is only nominally in charge of his own company. Neither the film nor Robertson shy away from showing us Henry Ford’s flaws. Instead, both the production and the actor offer up a portrait of a complex man who transformed the way that people lived but who couldn’t escape from his own prejudices and resentments. Ford: The Man and The Machine is a history lesson but it’s a valuable one. If you’re a student of history, you’ll find much to think about in this miniseires.
For the record, I do drive a Ford and it’s a good car. However, I tell myself that it’s named after Gerald Ford.
Through the Shattered Lens 