Just a friendly reminder for those of you in LA area that I will be hosting a Pop Culture evening at 55 Degree Wine in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
It’s not too late to RSVP or simply stop by!
I hope to see you there, and will report back here this weekend with photos and details!
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Today I have reached two milestones. This is my 500th blog post (on this site), and I have 815 Facebook friends as of this morning (Lost fans will recognize why that number is significant)!
And I wanted to thank you. Yes, you. For leaving comments, referring your friends, listening by reading and returning time and again. Without you I would quite literally be talking to myself on paper.
I realize that it can be a huge commitment for some to read blogs, let alone two of them. There are millions of others out there, thousands of which cover pop culture and Lost. I truly appreciate every set of eyes upon these pages.
Clearly, I’m feeling rather sentimental. In addition to the day’s online milestones, I decided it was time to share something of a more personal nature.
Without getting too detailed and entering TMI territory…in a few weeks I will be having major surgery to remove a non-cancerous mass that is 7.5 cm wide (imagine a small, filled water balloon) and obstructing essential areas. My friend Jaime has aptly assigned it a name – Fiona. She is my ogre, and once we’ve parted ways, my life and health will greatly improve. I’ve never been a fan of Cameron Diaz anyway…
It’s all about perspective. As I’ve mentioned on this site before, a very good friend is undergoing chemo and radiation for a brain tumor. I am blessed to have her in my life, and her strength and spirit are an inspiration. Thus, I consider myself very lucky to have a benign mass, and am not afraid to endure both the procedure and long recovery.
So I will be home for 4-6 weeks starting in early November; stay tuned for very random movie reviews and blog entries written while under the influence of (prescribed) meds. Once again I will turn to you for DVD recommendations, from fabulous indies to guilty pleasure comedies!
You all rock and allow me to roll. Thanks again, and see you soon.
- Jo
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Even though a few of my favorite shows have yet to return (30 Rock, Samantha Who) and a new series debuts tonight (Life on Mars), I have been pretty underwhelmed with Fall Television thus far…with a few exceptions.
Admittedly, it’s early; I’ve only seen an episode or two of each. But here is how I would grade each right now:
Reality Shows
I still haven’t watched the entire 2 hour season premiere of Survivor, but I think that setting will prove to be an interesting challenge and I’ll tune in online at some point. I catch every other episode of The Amazing Race but it just doesn’t hold my interest week after week any longer. Even Project Runway has been less than stellar this season; none of the contestants has truly stood out with a great personality or as the most talented. Thank goodness for the return of Top Chef; Season 5 debuts next month on Bravo.
Am I alone here, or do you also feel a little let down by some returning shows?
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The sheer delight I experience while watching Dexter is a tad disturbing, and I wanted to explore why 4 of my favorite television characters of all time are murderous psychopaths.
Alphabetically, of course…
BENJAMIN LINUS (LOST)
One of the most brilliantly manipulative men to ever grace the small screen, we rarely see Ben actually kill anyone. His particular genius is the emotional exploitation of everyone in the vicinity. Ben is equally charming and diabolical, and we are privy to every maneuver he makes as they percolate behind those infamous eyes.
DEXTER MORGAN (DEXTER)
I don’t know if it is because he preys upon and kills those who have committed heinous crimes, but somehow Dexter does not come across as malicious as others on this list. He brings a sense of humanity to his homicides, as asinine as that sounds.
TONY SOPRANO (THE SOPRANOS)
Morally bankrupt yet tremendously conflicted (enough to secretly seek the counsel of a psychiatrist), Tony was America’s preeminent paterfamilias for six seasons. Similar to Dexter, I find Tony to be intensely compelling because of his antithetical duplicity; dedicated to family while fulfilling a personal responsibility to protect them from people…just like him.
AL SWEARENGEN (DEADWOOD)
I’m not sure there is anything remotely redeeming about Swearengen, but I just love the curmudgeonly c*cksucker. Blatantly (almost comically) devoid of remorse, I attribute this character’s irresistible evil to Ian McShane’s sheer talent and onscreen presence.
In Contention
Although some would argue that Sylar (Heroes) belongs with this bunch, I would argue that he is more of a caricature than a character.
So – who am I missing? Which repulsive gentlemen are you surprisingly captivated by on TV?
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The new series Life on Mars debuts this Thursday on ABC at 10pm PST, following Grey’s Anatomy. While I never watched the original UK version of the show, the premise is intriguing and this American adaptation seems promising.
Here is the official description from ABC.com:
Where were you in 1973? NYPD Detective Sam Tyler finds
himself in the cultural hotbed of New York City in the tumultuous times
of the Vietnam War, Watergate, women’s lib and the civil and gay rights
movements – without a cell phone, computer, PDA or MP3 player –
suddenly hurtled back in time when he’s ripped from 2008 after being
hit by a car while chasing down a criminal. He’s trying mightily to
understand what has just happened to him and how he can get back “home.”
Last week, I had the opportunity to listen in on a teleconference call with lead Jason O’Mara (who was recently on both Men in Trees and Grey’s) and co-executive producer Josh Appelbaum (October Road, Alias). The creators of this show were huge fans of the original, and aim to honor the spirit and tone of the British series; in addition to relocating it to New York, there will only be “one key change to the mythology.”
The show is set in the 1970′s, and Appelbaum talked about the importance of portraying that era authentically (rather than with parody and stereotype); evoking nostalgia a la The French Connection and Serpico. They are huge fans of Mad Men, and recognize that everything from the set and costume details to the soundtrack and NY dialects are significant to the success of the series.
In addition to O’Mara, the stellar cast includes veteran film actor Harvey Keitel (in his very first foray into series television), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Gretchen Mol (3:10 to Yuma, The Notorious Bettie Page), Jonathan Murphy (October Road) and Lisa Bonet (High Fidelity, Enemy of the State).
Although it was not initially on my radar of new shows to set a TiVO Season Pass for, after listening to O’Mara’s enthusiasm for the series and Appelbaum’s perspective on this unconventional version of the NY detective genre, I will definitely be tuning in every week to Life on Mars and recommend that you do the same!
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