My TV watching can neatly be divided into pre-DVR and post-DVR. I’m not sure I watch anything on TV live anymore. I have my shows set to record, and I watch them at my convenience. Needless to say, I’m not alone in this, and I might even have been the last person to go this route.
So now I watch the action and fast forward thru the commercials. Tomorrow, all will be different – I will watch the Superbowl live and I’ll be tempted to ignore the action and watch the commercials.
Jul 8
Thanks to Netflix we worked our way through the first season of “Mad Men” last week. I heartily recommend the series: it’s well photographed and well acted and takes you back to the early 60’s. Watching adults drink and (drink and drink and) drive–without seatbelts no less–or children playing “spaceman” with the (these are not a toy!) clear plastic dry cleaning bags reminds you of how much has changed in the last four decades or so.
One episode, entitled “Babylon” ends with a cover of Don Mclean‘s Babylon (but get the original) with it’s moving lyrics from Psalm 137:
By the waters, the waters of Babylon.
We lay down and wept, and wept, for thee Zion.
We remember thee, remember thee, remember thee Zion.
YouTube has the segment here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4aAgvQelGI
As I was searching for more information on the song I came across Stephen Vincent Benet’s mesmerizing short story “By The Waters of Babylon” that details a young man’s journey to a ruined New York City, known to his people as “The Place of the Gods” (and the title of the story when originally published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1937). I had read it as a boy and was moved again re-reading this scene:
He was sitting in his chair, by the window, in a room I had not entered before and, for the first moment, I thought that he was alive. Then I saw the skin on the back of his hand–it was like dry leather. The room was shut, hot and dry–no doubt that had kept him as he was. At first I was afraid to approach him–then the fear left me. He was sitting looking out over the city–he was dressed in the clothes of the gods. His age was neither young nor old–I could not tell his age. But there was wisdom in his face and great sadness. You could see that he would have not run away. He had sat at his window, watching his city die–then he himself had died. But it is better to lose one’s life than one’s spirit–and you could see from the face that his spirit had not been lost. I knew, that, if I touched him, he would fall into dust–and yet, there was something unconquered in the face.
I don’t watch Ellen DeGeneris so I missed her emotional meltdown the other day:
For those who missed out on her shaggy-dog edition of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” here’re the condensed version: DeGeneres and her partner adopted Iggy, an adorable Brussels Griffon mix, on Sept. 20. But Iggy didn’t get along the couple’s cats, so after giving it the ol’ celebrity try (about 10 days?), they decided to give him to DeGeneres’s hairdresser and her two daughters. Unfortunately, DeGeneres forgot to tell the pet adoption agency, which requires notification for any change of ownership, and when the agency learned of this transfer, it told DeGeneres she had violated their contract and repossessed the dog.While unpleasant, this kind of story is hardly unusual. What moves it into the realm of OFF/beat is that DeGeneres spent long, painful chunks of airtime dwelling on her clerical error. “I feel totally responsible for it and I’m so sorry. I’m begging them to give that dog back to that family,” she bawled in a near-fetal (albeit seated) position. “It’s not their fault. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have given the dog away.”
As a dog lover, I can relate to how tough it must have been. What I cannot understand, though, is why DeGeneres would bawl her eyes out on national television. And then it hit me like a Great Dane to the chest: damage control.
With her emotional and peremptory elocution, Ellen avoided being mauled by the tabloids and, more important, avoided disappointing her adoring fans. Rather than deny and explain, she confessed and begged forgiveness. And by crying those tears, whether alligator or not, she most likely won over even more fans. Think I’m being too cynical? Watch the video and decide for yourself.
I didn’t watch the video. I did read the comments, and boy were they interesting as they showed a couple of things – the spirit of Bob Ford is alive and well, and a lot people love to complain about how other people get things done.
I’ve adopted a dog from a rescue organization and yes they were extremely thorough — the application was several pages long, the references were actually checked, we had a home visit. We felt it was excessive, but then we aren’t out rescuing dogs. It was made abundantly clear to us that if we were no longer able to keep Trooper, he went back to the agency and no one else. That’s the agreement you make to get the dog. Don’t like it, get a dog from somewhere else.
But back to Ellen D’s meltdown – is it real, or is it for show? I don’t know – how would I? On the one hand, it’s mighty convient as well as excessive, but on the other, most celebrities seem to have emotional issues that cause them to want the attention of celebrityhood.
Oct 2
OK, I’m not the only one disappointed in The War. After watching more episodes, I think what bothers me most is that as a collection of rememberances it’s fine, but all that the ground eye views add up to is a bunch of ground eye views. Overall strategy is rarely discussed, and only to point out the flaws. So what you are left with is a litany of horor, and let’s face it, it doesn’t take long for the litany of war horrors to grow repetative. People die, are horribly maimed, starve, become inured to death and the suffering of others, and just want to kill as many of the enemy as it takes to get them to quit. Oh yeah, generals screw up and don’t mind killing almost as many of their own men as the enemy. There, I’ve summed up the show, except for the part where American soldiers committed atrocities like killing prisoners and civilians and lots of our equipment was substandard.
Why were we fighting? From the show, one would think it was only because the Japanese attacked us. Although, it is informative to discover that even by late 1944 America was growing tired of the enormous casualties (Total American deaths in Iraq and Afganistan wouldn’t even be a week’s worth of American deaths in late 1944). Surely there must have been more to it than that?
Perhaps it’s because my father served on a submarine, but I’m a amazed how the word hasn’t even been mentioned yet (U-boat has as the Second Happy Time got it’s due). Maybe Mr. Burns doesn’t realize that submariners suffered the highest loss rate in the war (which isn’t to minimize the losses or the terrible experiences of the infantry) but had a huge impact on Japan’s ability to wage war. But by golly, I get to hear half the columns written during the war by some newspaperman who’s name I’ve already forgotten.
With all the material, all the footage, all the time, all the money to work with, it should have been amazing. Instead, it’s watchable.
Sep 28
I’m watching The War, and I have to wonder two things: (1) What kind of makeup are they putting on these people, because they look amazingly young for their eighties (full disclosure, my father who signed up with the Navy in 1942 at the age of 17 aand served on submarines doesn’t look near that good), and (2) what kind of nutritional supplemants were the people on, because they remember every last little detail (full disclosure, I haven’t talked too much about with my father about his wartime experiences, but he does remember quite vividly two things — how the Navy screwed him out of two weeks of leave between basic and signalman training, and how much he hated the peacetime Navy following the war — but his memory doesn’t seem near so detailed).
I have time to wonder this because the show alternates between what I like to call action and boredom. Great, I get to see the exact process of recycling a tin can, from removing both ends, to stomping it, to putting it in the tin bin. Can we get back to Gaudalcanal please, before I fall asleep. Marines are dying out there. I’d much rather listen to the guy tell the heartrending story about wishing his best buddy would hurry up and die on Bougainville because the sounds of him dying were keeping him awake than hear about how everybody pitched in on various drives stateside.
The show starts out as the story of 4 American towns in WWII, which is an odd organizational principle, but quickly it doesn’t matter. If they need a veteran to tell a story, why they just don’t mention what his hometown was. David Inouye is interviewed, and he wasn’t from any of the 4 towns, but they wanted a decorated Japanese-American so they got him. The show is an odd hybrid – a mix of on camera remembrance, photos and videos from the time, and voice over from the omniscient narrator. It’s kind of like going to the Golden Corral to eat – there’s a little of something for everybody, the food is good if uneven, but not outstanding.
I have to say though, one thing comes through loud and clear: war is hell, even if it is just or necessary.
Aug 17
If you have fruit of the loins of a certain ripeness, as I do, then you know all about High School Musical — the name implying all the creativity went into the show with nothing left over for the title. I say the smashing success of the movie is due to its complete lack of irony, edge, or other trendiness and the focus on telling a simple story in song and dance. What a concept.
Tonight Disney is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle twice by bringing everybody back for a second installment. Why yes, my daughter is going to a HSM2 party tonight, which I found last night when she wouldn’t let me eat any of the chocolate chip cookies she was cooking for the event. For all I know, I’ll be watching it while eating popcorn. I might even enjoy it.
After reading the New York Times hate piece on it, I’m liking my odds of enjoying it a lot better. And I’m thinking the reviewer will enjoy life in general a lot more once they pull the giant pickle out of their ass and stop worrying about what other people think.
For a pickle-less review, we turn to the LA Times whose reviewer got into the spirit of the show. I’m betting the rhythm is going to get all of us watching tonight.
UPDATE:
Apparently 17.2 million viewers tuned in last night, making HSM2 the highest rated basic cable telecast ever, and beating the original by 10 million viewers. I only saw the first half hour, then it was off to walk the dog, and then Monk, which was when I ate my popcorn. My daughter enjoyed the party but her and her friends take was that it wasn’t near as good as the original (I believe the word “stank” was used).
Dec 20
I admit it, I watch What Not To Wear, but in my defense, it is only with my wife and daughter. And of course there’s How Do I Look, which is similar yet different — which I also only watch when the female Murphys are around. If it’s just me, I watch shows like Dogfights or Modern Marvels, and if it’s just the Murphy Men naturally we watch Mythbusters. Somehow I just stopped watching scripted shows except for Monk or comedy reruns.
But back to How Do I Look — another man watches the show, and given his style sense you’d shouldn’t be surprised by another man who does.
Both shows try to impress the importance of taking some pains with your appearance. The subjects are typically women who don’t, or who do but in the wrong way (e.g. dress far “younger” than they should). The hosts are pretty blunt about the clothing, makeup, and hairstyling choices but are very supportive of the person themselves – with the goal of minimizing the person’s problem areas and maximizing the persons assets. Each episode the hosts first try to teach the subject what kind of clothes are right for them, and then it’s off to hair and makeup. When all is done, we have the reveal (yeah, just like home remodeling shows, which have fallen out of favor at chez Murphy recently) and the transformation from wretched to something better.
What I like abou the shows is that the advice is tailored to the person themselves, they use real people so the audience (i.e. my dauther and other impressionable teenagers) are not given unreasonable expectations about appearence, and the point is about helping average people do a better job at presenting themselves and controlling the message their appearence sends. It’s not like Extreme Makeover etc. where a whole bunch of surgery is used to transform ugly ducklings into swans. The goal on these shows is to help ugly ducklings turn into ducks by making different appearance choices available to anyone.
Sep 18
My two favorite network TV shows (actually, the only two network TV shows I watch) are back, and with an extra dose of diversity. First up, Survivor is back and as I’m sure you know if you’ve kept reading past the word Survivor they’ve divided the contestants by ethnic background. In order to do that, they had to find 5 asian-americans, 5 african-americans, 5 hispanic-americans, and 5 white-americans to appear. They have never had any problems with the white-americans, but they had to recruit extra hard for the others. Interestingly enough the 3 teams that weren’t made up of white-americans immediately worried about representing their people, as if 5 random strangers thrown together for the entertainment benefit of all americans really did somehow represent everybody of that ethnic background.
The Amazing Race launched it’s tenth season last night and while not explicit, they too seem to have worked overtime to assure diversity. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The problem is that after Survivor voted off a black man, The Amazing Race took only 1 show to get rid of the Moslem AND the Hindu teams – with Phil reminding us when the Moslems got the ax halfway through the show that they promised the contestants surprises. Yeah, like early handicappers were picking those two guys to go all the way.
I suppose it’s a sign of progress that a big network like CBS can go out of their way to have minorities suffer embarassing losses on their flagship reality series without worrying about repurcussions.
Sep 15
Yes, I actually watched The Path to 9/11, except a chunk in the middle Sunday night. First up, the negatives. I did manage to catch two glaring errors: a couple of times they talked about scrambling F-16s and they showed the same clip of a F-14. I’m sure Lock-Mart would have been happy to provide a clip of a F-16 taking off. And then when they had the Tomahawk missile strike against Afganistan, they showed video of a Harpoon leaving a canister. I suppose the marketing for the land attack capability in the latest version of Harpoon went much better than I realized. Since I worked on Harpoon for a long while, I admit I enjoyed that goof.
Seriously, while I loved the no commercials, the shaky cam started to seriously annoy long before the end. My head isn’t that unsteady, so it just comes across as fake. And I about laughed outloud towards the end when after the attacks Condoleeza Rice told Richarde Clarke, “Yes boss, we sure do need a strong white man to run things around here.” (Or words to that effect.) Perhaps I’m wrong, but it strikes me that in a meeting with Rice and Cheney in it, Clarke is in fact chopped liver. I think Condi had far more to complain about than Maddy Albright, who came across as tougher than the rest of the Clinton cabinet combined and someone who should be negotiating on behalf of our country. Hell, as peaceful as I am I’d be ready to fix bayonet and charge uphill into machine gun fire if the character in the movie were leading the way.
Could they have found an older looking guy to play Cheney? He’s not a bad looking 65 in real life, but in the movies they always have somebody playing him who looks like he hasn’t smiled in 40 years and has one foot in the grave.
Here’s the real problem with the movie, and any such look back – there are nothing but connected dots. The movie spans 8 years in 3 hours, and only included are the events that matter. So when watching the movie, of course its all so obvious. But in real life, there is all kinds of stuff going on, and separating signal from noise is very hard.
The fault for 9/11 lies squarely with al-Qaida, and neither the Clinton or Bush administrations. Yes, had some things been done differently, we might have been able to sniff out and stop the plot. So rather than looking back to point fingers, we should be looking back to figure out what are the things we can do better. And that just isn’t happening.
Sep 8
It’s getting ugly out there. Real Ugly. All that dispicable letter from the Democatic Senators needs is Luigi Vercotti’s signature “Things break, Colonel.”
I’m sorry if the people who brought us It’s the Ecomony, Stupid!” don’t like a reasonably accurate (hey, it’s TV, it will never be entirely accurate) examination of the past, but so be it. I’m looking forward to the original work, but fully expect ABC to cave.
Just check out Libertas, which has been on top of this story like Tom Maguire on the big Plame-out.
I’m trying hard not to get a case of Leftist Derangment Syndrome, but it gets harder with every provocation.
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