We are 2 hours into 24. The formula has begun again.
Yes, we will be watching American Idol tonight. I am making excuses, as usual.
Monday night is dysfunction night on A&E. Merrie and I watch regularly. The show Intervention has become so popular that most everyone who is selected for the show already knows the interventionists from watching them on TV.
We like watching the Tournament of Roses parade on New Year's morning. I like it because it's not dominated by cartoon-character balloons. It's still primarily a parade, not a television event. I've grown tired of over-produced television events. But why, oh why does the commentary have to be so deliberately and consistently unctuous?
Quote of the day:
“I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”
--John Wayne. (Don’t mention this quote in Orange County or you will immediately be arrested.)
A deadly storm in Myanmar, a world grain crisis, political conflict in Zimbabwe, a presidential primary in Indiana and North Carolina, suicide bombings in Iraq.
And all America is saying to itself, “It’s going to be David versus David in the ‘American Idol’ finale.”
Indeed, let’s get down to the real news. There are four contestants left: two strong ones and two weaker ones. Surely Syesha will be going home this week or next.
And so will Jason, in spite of his “adorable, sensitive, childlike, reggae-guy” thing. These compelling traits evidently have managed to disguise only a passable singing ability and what seems to be either a confused or a cooly ironic disinterest in the competition. Is he stoned or what? He’s a regular shadow of Sanjaya.
Though, fortunately, just a shadow. And not of your smile. Or anyone’s smile.
Overall, “American Idol” has been stronger this year, in both the singing ability of the contestants (yes, Carly went home too early--there are not enough voters for woman rockers) and in the quality of the production. I’d say about three out of four shows this season have been quite entertaining--compared to past years’ average of one out of two.
I like David Archuletta. His voice is truly amazing. Imagine a 17-year-old with a gift like that. He is extraordinary, and I hope he finds his way into a great career.
David Cook is the favorite to win. While his voice is not as singular as the other David, he is more versatile. He is a natural on-stage performer, and he has a strong creative gift for choosing and arranging songs. These are intuitive things that can’t be taught.
He’s probably quite a good songwriter, too. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to hear his original work sometime in the next year.
Four to go.
Or, more correctly, three to go and one to stay.
Quote of the day:
“During the Nineties, and again in the wake of September 11, 2001, I was struck more than once by a perverse contemporary insistence on not understanding the context of our present dilemmas, at home and abroad; on not listening with greater care to some of the wiser heads of earlier decades; on seeking actively to forget rather than remember, to deny continuity and proclaim novelty on every possible occasion. We have become stridently insistent that the past has little of interest to teach us. Ours, we assert, is a new world; its risks and opportunities are without precedent.”
--Tony Judt, in the May 1 New York Review
In the 1960s, just about all of America gathered around the TV on Sunday nights to watch The Ed Sullivan Show.
In 2008, just about all of America gathers around the TV on Tuesday nights to watch American Idol.
AI is an extraordinary phenomenon. In a fragmented TV universe, it is a mass-audience program, drawing tens of millions of viewers a week and dominating the TV ratings.
In some significant ways, it is very much like the variety programs of TV’s first three decades. It features live and unscripted performances, a host and some regular “guests”--the panel of judges.
The interactions among these people and the contestants is a vital element of the show, as is the ever-present theme of the making of a pop star. Added to this is the weekly drama of who will be voted off the competition. The show is widely talked about among friends and coworkers.
It’s fascinating that it has become America’s weekly gathering place, much as Ed Sullivan was some 40 years ago, and Jack Benny was on radio some 30 years before that.
Demi Moore further solidifies her position as one of America's most wacko celebrities. The leech part of the interview is 3:30 into the clip.
Quote of the day:
“In Mainz, Germany, on this day in 1455 began the mass printing of the Gutenberg Bible, the first manuscript in Europe to be printed by movable type. About 180 copies were produced, the Bible contained more than 1,280 pages, and on each page the text was laid out in two 42-line columns. Up until that time, manuscripts were usually copied by scribes, and a handwritten Bible could take one scribe more than a year to prepare. Sometimes woodblock printing was used, but it was also an expensive and time-consuming process. The movable type printing press featured individual blocks with a single character that could be rearranged endlessly. Passages of text would be covered in ink and used to make repeated impressions on paper. The printing press that Johann Gutenberg built was based on the design of presses for wine and paper. It's estimated that more books were produced in the 50 years after the movable type printing press was built than in the 1,000 years before it. Gutenberg's invention is credited with making the Renaissance possible: it allowed classical Greek and Latin texts to be distributed widely. It also made books affordable to lower classes.”
--The Writer’s Almanac
A strong candidate for biggest understatement of all time is that the printing press changed everything.
Until then, writing and reading was mostly for ceremonial recording, recollecting and passing along tradition. These tasks were done by learned clerics. Essentially, almost no one on earth could read beyond a few symbols.
Before Gutenberg, we lived in stratified oral cultures in which information, knowledge and tradition were passed along in groups through speeches, recitations and storytelling.
With the printing press came the gradual shift to an individualistic culture, as ordinary people learned to read and began to learn about the world through internal one-on-one communication with authors and writers.
Simultaneously with the settlement of Jamestown came the King James bible in 1611. As the immigrant population in America grew over the next 200+ years, this book was a fixture in almost every American home.
Its ubiquity made it a sort of early American equivalent to TV.
Speaking of which, the next tectonic communications/culture shift occurred in the 20th century with the advent of broadcast radio and TV. Broadcast radio initially resembled pre-Gutenberg oral culture, except that listening was done primarily individually and within families. Also, there was no interaction.
TV added passivity to individualism as we began to fixate on flickering images transmitted to our homes. Our eyes and ears became fully engaged, if not always our minds.
Then, of course, in the 1990s there’s the spread of the internet....
Quote of the day:
“Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)”
--Ambrose Bierce
“American Idol” is by far the highest-rated show on TV. It really is quite entertaining this season.
Merrie and I skipped many of the early weeks but have been regularly watching the trip from 24 down to 12. It’s true what everyone says that the talent this year is on a higher level. There also are more contestants who seem to be authentically likeable.
There’s a folky singer-songwriter who resembles Joni Mitchell. There’s a boyish 17-year-old singer who combines a terrific voice with genuine down-to-earthness. And there are two woman rockers.
There ARE a few contestants who seem uncomfortable or forced, or who clearly don’t have the strongest voices. The only “country” contestant doesn’t seem to be on the level of most of the others. A couple performers display nervousness on stage, and thus seem out of place.
But these are the exceptions. Many more contestants than usual combine personality and expressiveness with significant vocal talent. It’s sort of like an old-fashioned variety show. And we get to vote for our favorite performer.
Remember “Ed Sullivan”? Would you vote for Topo Gigio? Or the guy with the spinning plates?
Quote of the day:
"Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting me at the end of a long day makes that day happier."
--Kathleen Norris
The HBO series “In Treatment” is unusual in many ways.
First, it is on every weeknight. Other than an occasional 3-part miniseries, I can’t think of another drama series airing every night.
Second, each night of the week is a different storyline. All are linked by Paul the therapist, played by Gabriel Byrne. There are four different patients, and Paul himself talks with a therapist on Friday nights.
Third, HBO has a canny programming strategy. It is running two episodes each weeknight. At 9 p.m. is a replay of last week’s episode, followed by the new episode.
This might sound like a convenient way to avoid missing an episode. And it is. But Merrie and I find ourselves watching the whole hour every week. This show is so good it deserves two viewings.
The most important way this show is different is that each episode features two people in conversation. That’s it. Storylines do unfold, but there is no action, and the setting is always Paul’s office.
“In Treatment” is not for everyone. People who have a hard time with the idea of psychotherapy will have a hard time with this show.
To make matters worse, in early episodes Byrne is so passive that he seems to be uninterested and underacting. What happens as the series develops, however, is really something to behold.
This is an extraordinary and addictive series. It is by far the best thing on television.
Quote of the day:
“I intend to live forever. So far, so good.”
--Steven Wright
Here are a couple of thought-provoking excerpts from a recent column by the Washington Post’s Jim Hoagland.
“Access to the internet gives the generations living today the choice to be the best informed, or the worst informed, human beings in the history of the world--but we will never be able to claim that we were the least informed. Celebrity, slime and crude polemics pour from the electronic faucets as easily as high-minded exegeses.”
Referring to HBO’s “The Wire”:
“This magnificent dramatization of life in Baltimore’s violent ghettoes has systematically shown the failure of the city’s police, schools, unions and politicians to deal with a modern urban crisis.
“This final season focuses on a newsroom in turmoil and the broad failure of the city’s media to reflect the corruption of the institutions they are supposed to cover. The grim results of that inattention show how power unused by the media is just as destructive as its misuse.”
Quote of the day:
“When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half.”
--Gracie Allen
Daily Observations returns after a brief interregnum. Now that William F. Buckley is gone, someone has to use the word. And it might as well be me.
I think his public TV show was on Thursday nights. Somehow, I got hooked. Usually I found myself disagreeing with what he was saying, but “Firing Line” was entertaining, informative and substantial.
It might be hard to imagine William F. Buckley as entertaining, but he was, in so many ways. He was loaded with idiosyncrasies, including the tendency to lean back in his chair at an angle that was mighty odd to see on TV. No interviewer before or since has been as unconcerned with how he looked on camera.
I remember many times being absorbed in his conversation and then suddenly realizing that he might at any moment fall out of his chair if he leaned just a little more.
He always used notes and had a pen in hand throughout the show. His eyebrows were fascinating to watch. And the sound of the carefully-measured, long words drawling out of his mouth always had me coming back for more.
Most important was the meticulous and intellectually rigorous way he handled every subject. Buckley was always well prepared. More important, he always understood current issues in the context of history.
It was extraordinarily refreshing. It’s too bad that this kind of conversation is completely missing on TV or radio. Instead, conservative radio and TV political conversation has become, at its best, character assassination. At its worst it’s some variation of “moronic and immoral liberals pddgghh ditto ditto ditto.”
Quote of the day:
“[RNC Chairman Mike] Duncan and his aides want to be ready to go on the offensive against the Democratic nominee presumptive in an effort to define the opposition candidate on GOP terms. Opposition research is already well along, and the plan is for surrogates to talk to the media around the country while a TV ad campaign in key states and media markets as soon as the Democratic nominee is determined.”
--US News and World Report
I saw the 1982 movie “Gandhi” the other day. I remember seeing it when it was first released, and later watching director David Attenborough accept the Academy award for best picture.
It must’ve been daunting for Ben Kingsley to think of playing the most-influential moral leader of the 20th century. It seems a little odd to say that he does a good job, because his portrayal is so authentic I found myself thinking I was watching Gandhi himself.
After thoroughly enjoying this film, Merrie and I decided to rent the British series “Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy,” which appeared on public television in the 1980s. We had enjoyed it more than the very popular “Jewel in the Crown” series which ran at about the same time.
It’s interesting that both TV series and the movie came out within a few years of each other. They all tell the story surrounding the end of British rule in India in 1947.
Its worth seeing any or all of these productions again in 2008, just because they are all excellent. But there’s another reason.
They all provide valuable perspective on the current situation in Iraq, and in other areas of the world.
When India began planning its independence, violence broke out among its three major population groups: the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. The battles between Hindus and Muslims intensified to the point where there was a real fear of civil war.
Thus the decision was made to partition two parts of the country, creating the Muslim states of east and west Pakistan. The plan for partition created serious new problems as a major Sikh population center was divided.
Also, there were mass migrations of people into and out of the areas to become Pakistan. Violence often broke out between these two columns of refugees, moving in opposite directions.
The leadership of Pakistan was threatened by radical Muslims who claimed they were not getting enough from India. And India’s leaders were threatened by radical Hindus who thought they were giving too much away to the Muslims.
The violence continued for some time after the two nations became independent. About a year later, Gandhi was assassinated by a radical Hindu.
Quote of thee day:
"One can acquire everything in solitude except character."
--Stendhal
If you’ve been reading this from time to time, you probably know about my weakness for real-estate shows. Some people prefer the History Channel, the Weather Channel, the Travel Channel, or ESPN. Me, I prefer the HGTV and TLC shows where people are shopping for real estate.
The “flip” shows are way past their peak, but they have their moments, too. I especially enjoyed TLC’s “Property Ladder,” in which people who almost never know much about what they’re doing buy houses and attempt to fix them up and sell for a profit. It’s now shown a couple times a week in reruns.
I’m not sure why I watch programs like “House Hunters,” “Property Virgins,” “My First Place” and “Buy Me.” I used to think it was because they gave me a chance to see inside so many houses. That’s part of it.
These are very real reality shows. They tell us a lot about our culture--we learn about people’s taste, finances, expectations, and how they live from day to day. On daily display are attitudes about family, money and privacy.
The decisions people make about which houses to buy are endlessly fascinating. There are some common patterns, but each person uses different criteria. Sometimes the two people moving in have different criteria from each other.
There are lots of essential decisions to be made. Close to work, or farther away? Big yard or small yard? Two or three or four bedrooms? Condo or house? City or suburbs? Vintage or new? Ranch or split level? In perfect condition or needs work? Big house or smaller house?
Watching people make these decisions is fascinating and revealing. It tells me a lot about how we Americans think about ourselves.
Quote of the day:
"If I have a good trait, it's probably relentlessness, I'm a hound dog on the prowl. I can't be shook!"
--Bruce Springsteen
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems we really have some excellent, adult movies and TV series going on. Perhaps the most adult and sophisticated of all is “The Wire” on HBO. It just began its fifth and final season.
“The Wire” debuted in the shadow of “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under,” and so never received quite the attention those two series did. Also, it can be a difficult show to watch because of its myriad of characters, plot lines and thick, authentic dialect. It takes a bit of effort.
With the dialect issue, DVDs are very helpful. Just turn on the subtitles.
This series has received a lot of attention recently because of consistent critical lauds and because it’s getting set to end.
The name of the show comes from the wiretaps the cops use to track movements of people they are investigating. This is just a piece of what goes on.
“The Wire” is an unusual venture for TV in a couple respects. First, it is created and produced by former Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon, who is intimately familiar with the workings, politics and language of the city and the streets.
Second, each season has taken on a different city institution. The constant over the seasons has been the story of the police and the drug trade. This was the focus of the first season. Subsequent years have examined organized crime at the port, city government, schools and now, the newspaper.
The writing and the acting may be the best ever shown on television. Considering the complexity of the story lines and the plethora of characters, this is an extraordinary achievement.
When I talked about “The Sopranos” I mentioned a possible comparison with Shakespearean drama. “The Wire” is a much more apt candidate for that comparison.
We see the personal and institutional stories of crime in downtown Baltimore’s run-down streets, city government, the police, reporters and editors, and schools, interwoven into a strongly compelling tapestry of pain, healing, joy, failure, achievement, corruption, friendship, betrayal, shocking tragedy and humor.
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