Not to get all political on you, but….getting a little political on you…
This weekend, the parents and I finally continued our West Wing watching. (First time for me, second for them. It’s only taken us two years to get through three seasons and one episode!) We watched the season four opener, “20 Hours In America.”
There’s a lot I loved about this episode. Lily Tomlin, Charlie getting a decent story line again, Lily Tomlin, the fact that Josh, Donna and Toby just didn’t rent a damn car, Lily Tomlin, Josh screaming into the phone for Sam to wake up, CJ mourning the loss of Mark Harmon, any time President Bartlet spoke…
But what surprised me the most about this episode is how much it relates to our world today. It originally aired in September, 2002 – roughly six years ago. Not too far in the past, but far enough for the resemblances to be sort of striking.
– They are facing an economic crisis, with the Dow plunging over 200 points.
– It’s election season.
– The show opens up with a campaign stop in Indiana, where Josh, Donna and Toby are left behind, and have to interact with farmers and the people of rural America, or, shall we say, Real America.
– Toby and Josh spend most of the episode arguing over what is the best campaign strategy – being elite or playing to the masses.
You could say that Aaron Sorkin was a visionary, or you could say that things never really change, but either way, I was both blown away and touched by the similarities, and how the characters handled their respective situations.
What I was most blown away by was the similarities to fictional president Jed Bartlet and real-life presidential candidate Barack Obama. Particularly in this scene. (Which also had me thinking, how on earth did Martin Sheen lose to James Gandolfini EVERY YEAR?)
Compare his fictional speech to this real one:
It seems like something Aaron Sorkin would write, but it’s reality.
By the end of today, this guy could actually be our president-elect. He could run the country for the next four years. It’s like having the real President Bartlet in office. The dude even has a Charlie!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
And if he should lose, at least there is always Aaron Sorkin’s fictional world. (Which, considering it contains Josh Lyman, ain’t too bad.) (OMG, if Obama wins, I hope he gets a Josh Lyman.)
Video of the Day:From the same episode, why Richard Schiff and Aaron Sorkin are awesome.
It’s back! After months and months and MONTHS…and months…30 Rock is finally back on tonight for its third season.
I’ll admit it – I was a latecomer to 30 Rock. I only started watching last year, after it won the Emmy for best comedy. It took me a few episodes to get into the mindset of the series, but once I got it, I never looked back.
30 Rock, much like Arrested Development, has a very specific brand of humor. If you don’t watch regularly, you’ll probably miss a lot of the jokes. But, unlike Arrested Development, I don’t think it’s hard to jump into. And for anyone out there who is like me – mid-20s (yes, 27 is still mid-20s, dammit!), single, working on a career, no so lucky in love, wears black glasses – you will relate to Liz Lemon. You will love Liz Lemon. Liz Lemon is you, she is me, she is the Every Woman. She is the Mary Tyler Moore of our generation. And she’s played by the always awesome Tina Fey, so you really can’t go wrong.
And if that doesn’t turn you onto the show, watch for Alec Baldwin. Say what you will about him personally, he is one talented son of a bitch.
And if the combination of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey STILL doesn’t have you watching, tune in for the excellent supporting cast – Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, and Jack McBrayer, among others.
And if THAT doesn’t convince you, here are some of my favorite 30 Rock moments.
Jack impersonates Tracy’s entire family. (I personally think this is what won Baldwin the Emmy this year.)
Kenneth becomes addicted to coffee, and decides to leave the big city to go back home to Georgia. And…then there’s music.
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Liz decides to disclose all her secret stuff to Floyd, after inadvertently finding out his secret stuff. (BTW, this originally aired in 2006, before John McCain became…well, who he is today. Don’t judge Liz for it.)
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Of course, the infamous Cleveland plot line, which I love. We’d all like to flee to the Cleave, right?
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Last, but not least, there is what is probably my favorite thing ever on 30 Rock – Liz and her beloved sandwich. She can do it. She can have it all!
Yesterday was spent like any decent Sunday after a busy week should be spent: Making food for the upcoming week. I made muffins, I made soup, I even made a pie. (The crust isn’t the best, but hey, it tastes just fine, which is what counts.) I had spent the first part of the day sleeping and watching a crap-load of Mad About You, and finally, finally, felt caught up enough on sleep and rest from the previous week to attempt being productive. So I made my way to the kitchen, where I stayed for the next several hours.
When engaged in such activities, I require background noise. I started with my iPod, but wanted to sit on the couch and relax while waiting for the muffins to cook. So I made the mistake of turning on the TV. It was set to Bravo (not at all shocking; my roommate and I watch Bravo all the time), and playing Good Will Hunting. So, clearly, there it had to stay for the duration of the movie. See, it’s one of THOSE movies.
You know what I’m talking about, right? Those movies or episodes of TV that you have to watch all the way through, no matter what you have going on, what part you tuned in on, no matter how many times you’ve seen it already. Even if you actually own it and could easily get out the DVD and watch commercial-free from the beginning, you sit and watch. Yeah, THOSE.
Fortunately, I started pretty far into the movie, and fortunately, I can see and hear the TV from my kitchen, so I wasn’t glued to the couch.
I don’t know what it is about Good Will Hunting. I think I’ve actually seen it in its entirety twice, but any time I’m flipping channels and catch it, I can’t help myself. I have to stop and watch. If anything, for the scene between Matt Damon and Robin Williams toward then end. You know the scene:
“Will, it’s not your fault.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“No, listen to me. It’s not your fault.”
…and so on, until Will starts bawling, as do I.
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to turn it on at the start of this scene:
That scene is why, no matter how many bad films he does, a part of me will always kinda love Ben Affleck.
Other THOSE movies/TV on my list include:
– When Harry Met Sally
– The Shawshank Redemption
– The following episodes of Friends: “The One With the Break Up” “The One With the Embryos” and “The One With the Prom Video”
– U2:ZooTV – Father of the Bride – The Princess Bride (On TV just the other week! And I watched, because I had to hear the words, “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.”)
– The40-Year Old Virgin
– Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, and
– Any episode of Sex and the City from season 4 on. Therefore, I try to avoid the CW, TBS, etc., around the times when SaTC might be on, because syndication has butchered them, and it pisses me off. And yet, if it’s on…I have to watch. Hey, I didn’t say this was a healthy thing.
Any I missed? What keeps you glued to the set, day or night, rain or shine, even if you’ve already seen it 100 times?
Video of the Day: Because I missed this part yesterday, because I don’t actually own this movie, and because it’s beautiful:
My recent post regarding opening titles reignited my interest in Mad About You. So, I’ve been re watching the first season slowly. I’ll watch two, maybe three episodes a night before going to bed. At 22 minutes, it’s a nice, relaxing way to get sleepy, without a huge time constraint. (Sex and the City is another excellent pre-bed option, BTW, as is Friends. You don’t have to pay TOO much attention, and there’s funny and there’s pretty people. Just a little tip from me to you.)
Anyway, I’m loving this re watch. While the show is dated in its references and clothing choices (Jamie wears flannel shirts all the time. Man, I miss being able to wear flannel shirts.) the relationship between Jamie and Paul Buchman is timeless. While it does delve into the “cartoonish” trap of sitcoms on occasion (getting stuck selling tokens to subway passengers; befriending an eccentric billionaire played by a very over-the-top and annoying Jerry Lewis), for the most part, it’s a sweet vignette of married life in New York. The show is at its best when it just focuses on what it’s like to share a life withsomeone – buying a couch together, dealing with neighbors, having parents visit.
While watching this week, I had a flashback to the first time I ever saw Mad About You. I couldn’t believe I still remembered it, but there’s a little slot in my mind reserved for this specific memory.
I had to be in sixth or seventh grade, and it was a Friday night. Mad About You spent most of its time on Tuesday nights, but it must have aired on Fridays in early seasons. Or maybe it was being rerun. Either way, I am positive it was Friday. I had spent the evening at a friend’s house, and was getting ready for bed. For some reason, the 12-inch portable TV we got for my dad, back when portable TVs were a big thing, was in my bedroom. It had twelve channels. There was no remote; the different channels were on top of the TV, along with a power button, and you switched channels by selecting the different buttons. A lot of them repeated. I think there were maybe five different channels in total.
Anyway. It was 9:30 on Friday, and I decided to see what was on. But, it was 9:30 on Friday, so nothing was on. (Well, I guess TGIF was, but according to Wikipedia, the 9:30 slot was filled with Camp Wilder, which I don’t think I ever watched.) So I turned over to NBC, and watched two people trying to find each other in New York. The man had tickets to The Who’s Tommy, in celebration of his wife’s 30th birthday. Only he wanted to surprise her so he didn’t tell her what they were doing, and somehow their meeting arrangements got mixed up, and they lost each other. This was before cell phones. Remember that? At the end of the show, they found each other somehow, and sat in the subway, getting serenaded by an a capella group. That was the 8th episode of the second season of Mad About You, entitled “Surprise.” I remember loving it, but watching it with caution, the volume turned down, occasionally switch the channel. Why? Because my parents were very strict about TV – the classic example of this is being forbidden to watch Facts of Life– and I was scared that this was “too racy” for my 12-year old self. So, the next day, I cautiously asked my father if he had ever seen some show called Mad About You, only to be met with enthusiasm. “Oh, yeah!” he said. “That’s a great show.”
And thus, my years-long love affair with Mad About You began.
But that’s not the only first time I remember.
There’s the first time I saw Friends – I’d heard about it from a friend at school, but didn’t watch until the season 1 finale. I subsequently spent all summer catching up, falling in love with Ross and Rachel, laughing at Chandler, scratching my head at Phoebe.
There’s the first time I caught a glimpse of Gilmore Girls, senior year of college. I was doing homework, trying to find something to put on in the background. Flipping channels, I saw a woman standing in an unfinished kitchen, a man with a French accent and a woman with red hair frantic in the background. The woman took a phone call, and then stared reverently at a gum wrapper, while the camera panned out. That’s it. That’s all I saw. But even then, I remember being struck – this was something special. For some reason, I then changed the channel, which is a shame, because had I watched, I would have seen “The Incredible Sinking Lorelais”, one of the best episodes of the series. But, all’s well that ends well – a few months later, I started watching the show from the beginning. And when I got to the Sinking Lorelais, I remembered the scene perfectly.
Another pivotal moment in my young TV life was the first time I saw Lois and Clark. Laugh if you must, but Pre-teen Sarah loved that show. It was a spring Sunday night. My mom was working and my sister was out. My father and I were having dinner by ourselves (cheese omelettes and thin French Fries). Flipping channels, we settled on a Superman-themed show. “I’ve seen this once of twice before,” my dad said. “It’s not bad.” We watched, and I was transfixed. The superman guy was stuck at the Daily Planet withhis coworkers. They were being held hostage, and superman had to play along or else risk giving away his identity. In the end, he saved them, even the guy that Lois woman was on a date with. He seemed like bad news. The moment in which I became absolutely smitten was when Superman saved Lois, and slowly flies her to freedom. They look at each other tenderly, but then of course Superman has to go away, and when Clark comes around, he’s all but forgotten.
If only my dad knew what he was getting into.
There’s a lot of other “firsts” in TV I remember – Buffy, HIMYM, Cosby, A Different World, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.
Mostly, I just can’t believe I remember Mad About You and Lois and Clark so vividly. That was 1993, dude. 15 years ago. Crazy.
Video of the Day: Classic TV Clip
Well, classic to me. In remembering my first foray into the world of Stars Hollow, I remembered this lovely scene, from “The Incredible Sinking Lorlais.” Imagine a world where I’d never seen this. Unthinkable. Thank god I decided to start watching the show.
Last night, for the first time in three weeks, I had no plans. It was glorious. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy going out on a Friday night and having a good time. But sometimes, it’s nice to just chill at home. Considering the fact that I’ve got a busy week ahead of me – lots to do at work, plus a friend visiting – I was more than happy to have a break. So I decided to catch up the TV I missed this week, including the latest episode of Dexter.
Now. I don’t know how many of you watch the show. I will be the first to admit that it’s not for everyone – it can be kinda gory, there’s lots of death, the main character is a sociopath – but I love it. Michael C. Hall gives an impeccable performance very week, it has a very strong supporting cast, and the writing is, for the most part, flawless. It doesn’t hurt that Mr. MCH is a hottie, either. See?
Yum. BTW, did anyone see the ad campaign for season three? Check it out. Genius, I tell ya. Genius.
Despite all my Dexter love, I haven’t been as excited about season three. Until last night.
At the end of last season, Dexter decided he had outgrown the Code of Harry, and wanted to distance himself from his abnormal upbringing. At the beginning of this season, we see Dexter trying to do things his way. He doesn’t celebrate his late father’s birthday with his sister, Deb. He starts spending more time with his girlfriend, Rita, and her two kids. And all this distancing is great until he accidentally kills someone…innocent.
I thought this was going to be the set up for season three. Dexter kills an innocent man, strikes an odd relationship with the victim’s brother (played by Jimmy Smits), and the mystery of the season is trying to find Freebo, suspected killer of Oscar Prado, who was really Dexter’s innocent victim. And Dexter also killed Freebo in the second episode, because Dexter thought that Freebo was responsible for killing his girlfriend so…where was this circuitous storyline going? Seemed like a tilted version of season two, and not nearly as interesting.
Well, I was wrong. This week we learn that there is a new killer in town, responsible for killing Freebo’s girlfriend and a second victim in the same manner. (Got all that?)
Meanwhile, Rita is pregnant. Ehh?
So, why did this episode freak me out? Because Dexter’s weekly victim turned out not be a fellow killer, but a pedophile. And pedophile stories? Make my skin crawl. Whether is Nabakov doing the storytelling, or Desperate Housewives, I can’t stand it. It’s disgusting, it’s creepy, and it’s bone chilling. And on a show like Dexter, with top-notch acting, editing, set design, you name it, it’s even more bone chilling, because it’s done so well.
See for yourself. (Dude comes in around 3:30)
Despite getting the willies, I loved the episode. Finally, the season seems to be taking direction. A real mystery is set up, suspects are laid out (is it Miguel Prado? Why is he being so nice to Dexter? Is it the new guy in the PD? Or maybe the narc Deb’s been using?), and Dexter, in his own very fucked up way, decides he wants to be a father. The odd thing about this last plot line is that Dexter will probably be a very good father. He has killer instincts (haha), he is fiercely protective, he loves kids and is good with them…there’s just that whole serial killer thing working against him.
I wasn’t too happy with the whole pregnancy story line at first. First of all, it was painfully obvious where they were going in the premier. Second, the writers turned Rita, who had grown incredibly strong these last two seasons, back to the insecure, dependent woman we first met. However, I liked that the writers had Dexter explore his serious reservations about raising a child. And, let’s be honest, they are valid. Will the kid get his demonic side? If we look back at the first season, I’d say no – remember the sweet little boy Dexter was before? His circumstances made him who he was, not his DNA.
I’m just wondering how they are going to handle the whole marriage/living together situation. You know it’ll come up. And what is Dexter supposed to do? If he moves in, he can’t stalk his prey at home or stay out all night. But he can’t exactly not move in, either.
As for the mystery arc of the season, I’m glad they’ve flushed it out. And I’m hooked now, because I have a feeling we’ve already met the killer, we just don’t know it.
But, guys? Stay away from the pedophile story lines, okay? I know confronting the guy was Dexter’s way of realizing how much he cared about Rita’s kids, how much he cares about Rita, and that he does in fact want to be a father, but…creepy, guys. Creepy. *shudder*
Video of the Day:
On a much happier note: Michael asked out Holly! It’s about time! Did anyone else besides me (and Holly) get a little teary? I’m dying for Amy Ryan to stick around through the rest of the season. I know she’s a big star and the chances are slim, but I’m crossing my fingers. She fits in so perfectly, and has great chemistry with Steve Carell. This episode reminded me why The Office is one of my favorite shows, and why I love Steve Carell. He plays the wounded man so well, and as an audience member, I feel so much for him. I was SO glad he didn’t bow down to Jan yet again, and finally grew a pair and did what he wanted. Hopefully, he will chase that feeling.
Retrowatching 