Sunday, August 28, 2005
Final words
Last Sunday Six Feet Under ended its five year run. When Alan Ball announced that this season would be the show’s last season, I shouted Hallelujah! After suffering through Lisa’s murder, George moving to the bomb shelter and that horrific episode where David is abducted and tortured, I had enough. When the season began it seemed more of the same. There is so much whining, mopey, angst a man can take. It seemed like the show was marinating in its own misery. Then we heard those famous three words, “numb, arm, NARM.”
Nate’s death was the catalyst. The Fishers and their love ones had been stagnant for the past few seasons. Nate’s death finally shook them out of their stupor. Their initial reaction was painful, but they all finally began to put the ghosts of the past behind them and embrace their futures. It was a hopeful ending to the Fisher’s saga. The final montage of the Fisher’s future was momentous.
The series finale was the best one I’ve ever seen. It not only was true to the spirit of the show, but in its own way lifted the show to even a higher level. It provided closure for the show without giving us the ‘and everyone lived happily ever after’ crap. I was personally moved by it. I’d like to offer my congratulations to the cast and crew of Six Feet Under for making one of the best shows in TV history. The show was frustrating at times but its excellence never wavered.
Nate’s death was the catalyst. The Fishers and their love ones had been stagnant for the past few seasons. Nate’s death finally shook them out of their stupor. Their initial reaction was painful, but they all finally began to put the ghosts of the past behind them and embrace their futures. It was a hopeful ending to the Fisher’s saga. The final montage of the Fisher’s future was momentous.
The series finale was the best one I’ve ever seen. It not only was true to the spirit of the show, but in its own way lifted the show to even a higher level. It provided closure for the show without giving us the ‘and everyone lived happily ever after’ crap. I was personally moved by it. I’d like to offer my congratulations to the cast and crew of Six Feet Under for making one of the best shows in TV history. The show was frustrating at times but its excellence never wavered.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
A Lott to Swallow
Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart’s guest was the Honorable Trent Lott, the junior senator from the great state of Mississippi. One of the reasons Mississippi retains its third world status is because of the leadership of men like Trent Lott. I wasn’t going to watch because one of the reasons I left Mississippi was to get away from men like him. So of course I moved to the progressive state of Texas (which goes to prove just how stupid I am).
Trent was there to promote a book he’s just written about his career in politics. I remember the title of the book but I’m not going to help him advertise it here. I have to give it to Trent; he was able to keep his basic racist attitudes to himself. He came off as somewhat moderate in comparison to some of his Republican colleagues in the Senate. That says a lot about his Republican colleagues in the Senate. Since he was in the enemy camp, New York City sitting opposite Jon Stewart, Trent pointed out how he worked well with President Clinton. Something tells me he doesn’t brag about that when he’s at his local Klan, err, I mean political rally in Yazoo City. Jon joked about Pat “Corleone” Robertson and Trent basically distanced himself from Pat. He even spoke about how he tried to find a way to lessen the division over judicial nominations in the Senate and was attacked by some members of the Christian right. Trent was really playing the part of respected elder statesman.
Trent even joked about the “incident” at Strom Thurman’s 100th birthday party. Jon didn’t remind the audience what the “incident” was but I’ll be glad to for those who don’t know or remember. At the birthday party, Trent Lott who had just become the majority leader in the senate said, “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.” In 1948 Strom Thurmond was the presidential nominee of the Dixiecrat Party and ran under the banner of segregation of the races. Trent explained his statement as his way to make an old man happy. That’s what strippers are for Trent. Trent left the Daily Show unscathed; I guess his next stop is The Randi Rhodes Show.
Trent was there to promote a book he’s just written about his career in politics. I remember the title of the book but I’m not going to help him advertise it here. I have to give it to Trent; he was able to keep his basic racist attitudes to himself. He came off as somewhat moderate in comparison to some of his Republican colleagues in the Senate. That says a lot about his Republican colleagues in the Senate. Since he was in the enemy camp, New York City sitting opposite Jon Stewart, Trent pointed out how he worked well with President Clinton. Something tells me he doesn’t brag about that when he’s at his local Klan, err, I mean political rally in Yazoo City. Jon joked about Pat “Corleone” Robertson and Trent basically distanced himself from Pat. He even spoke about how he tried to find a way to lessen the division over judicial nominations in the Senate and was attacked by some members of the Christian right. Trent was really playing the part of respected elder statesman.
Trent even joked about the “incident” at Strom Thurman’s 100th birthday party. Jon didn’t remind the audience what the “incident” was but I’ll be glad to for those who don’t know or remember. At the birthday party, Trent Lott who had just become the majority leader in the senate said, “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.” In 1948 Strom Thurmond was the presidential nominee of the Dixiecrat Party and ran under the banner of segregation of the races. Trent explained his statement as his way to make an old man happy. That’s what strippers are for Trent. Trent left the Daily Show unscathed; I guess his next stop is The Randi Rhodes Show.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The Assassination Will Not Be Televised
Thou shall not kill. You’ve heard that before right. Well it seems that Pat “Sopranos” Robertson hasn’t. On Monday, Pat “Corleone” Robertson called for a hit on Hugo Chavez, leftist President of Venezuela. Rev. “Barzini” Robertson said on his program The Seven Hundred Club:
“You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination … but if [Chavez] thinks we are trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”
“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”
I must have missed Sunday school the morning they were going over the doctrine of assassination. Can you find it in the Sermon on the Mount? It would seem that Pat Robertson has more in common with the mullahs in Iran than he does with Christian ministers in America. The mullahs also like to issue a fatwa on their enemies. Everyone says that Chavez is paranoid and crazy because he says that the US government is planning to assassinate him. I wonder why he would think that. Maybe that little coup in 2002 might have something to do with it. There was a documentary about it called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Chavez was overthrown by the rightwing elites in Venezuela who controlled the privately owned tv stations. ( Rightwing broadcasters, I wonder if there is a pattern there?) Over a million Venezuelans took to the streets to bring him back to power. Some of the leaders of the failed coup had met with US officials’ weeks before the coup. Our government did not condemn the coup and privately expressed disappointment when it failed. Something about having a leftist leader in control of a country with the fourth largest deposit of oil didn’t sit well with the Bush administration. So I’m sure Rev. Robertson was divinely inspired to get Chavez killed so that we can "liberate" their oil reserves like we did in Iraq (without the bother of a war, or is it called “the struggle” this week).
A long time ago my mother was a big fan of Pat Robertson and the 700 Hundred Club. That began to change when she realized how political he was. She finally turned against him when he started going after her boy, Bill Clinton. Mama doesn’t take kindly to attacks on Bill. I hope more Christians will follow my mother’s lead and turn the channel when this guy comes on. Something tells me that is what Jesus would do.
“You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination … but if [Chavez] thinks we are trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”
“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”
I must have missed Sunday school the morning they were going over the doctrine of assassination. Can you find it in the Sermon on the Mount? It would seem that Pat Robertson has more in common with the mullahs in Iran than he does with Christian ministers in America. The mullahs also like to issue a fatwa on their enemies. Everyone says that Chavez is paranoid and crazy because he says that the US government is planning to assassinate him. I wonder why he would think that. Maybe that little coup in 2002 might have something to do with it. There was a documentary about it called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Chavez was overthrown by the rightwing elites in Venezuela who controlled the privately owned tv stations. ( Rightwing broadcasters, I wonder if there is a pattern there?) Over a million Venezuelans took to the streets to bring him back to power. Some of the leaders of the failed coup had met with US officials’ weeks before the coup. Our government did not condemn the coup and privately expressed disappointment when it failed. Something about having a leftist leader in control of a country with the fourth largest deposit of oil didn’t sit well with the Bush administration. So I’m sure Rev. Robertson was divinely inspired to get Chavez killed so that we can "liberate" their oil reserves like we did in Iraq (without the bother of a war, or is it called “the struggle” this week).
A long time ago my mother was a big fan of Pat Robertson and the 700 Hundred Club. That began to change when she realized how political he was. She finally turned against him when he started going after her boy, Bill Clinton. Mama doesn’t take kindly to attacks on Bill. I hope more Christians will follow my mother’s lead and turn the channel when this guy comes on. Something tells me that is what Jesus would do.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
If this is the Real World, send me to the phony one.
As a resident of the ATX (Austin Texas), I was surprised to hear our fair city had been picked for The Real World. Not because I didn't think Austin was big enough or hip enough to host the show, I had just forgotten the show was still on. I haven't watched this show since they were in New York the second time. I'm not a big reality show fan, and usually the formats for these shows grow tired after the first couple of seasons. Still since the show would be taking place in my town, I decided to watch it this season. The sacrifices I make for civic pride.
One thing I'd like to ask long time viewers, have the kids who go on this show become dumber, more shallow, more immature and oblivious than they use to be? Not that they were a bunch of rocket scientist and deep philosophers before, but this crew makes it seem like they were. The debate they had one week about the Iraq war illustrated this. Both sides of the debate were equally misinformed. It wouldn't have hurt if maybe they had read a book about the war, or read some informative articles about it, maybe even watched a news program on it not hosted by Bill O'Reilly. For these kids, that would interfere with drinking and screwing. Can't these kids drink and screw and maybe pick up a book, and watch something other than The Real World?
If you watch this show you'd think that the only thing Austin consisted of is sixth street. They occasionally show pictures of Austin outside of sixth street, but when you see the cast, they are either in their house or at some bar on sixth street. I'm not the Chambers of Commerce so I'm not going to run off all the things they could be doing in Austin, (you can go to this link to find out if you're interested http://www.helloaustin.com), but there's more to do than just roam sixth street.
Anyway last night's program was every parents nightmare, if your daughter is dumb enough, drunk enough and wants to be on TV enough to sleep with someone as repellent as Wes on national TV. I hope that after she saw herself on TV last night she didn't try to jump off a bridge. Of course she might have been proud of herself after seeing it. In that case, try the Frost Bank Tower, the chances of survival are pretty thin.
One thing I'd like to ask long time viewers, have the kids who go on this show become dumber, more shallow, more immature and oblivious than they use to be? Not that they were a bunch of rocket scientist and deep philosophers before, but this crew makes it seem like they were. The debate they had one week about the Iraq war illustrated this. Both sides of the debate were equally misinformed. It wouldn't have hurt if maybe they had read a book about the war, or read some informative articles about it, maybe even watched a news program on it not hosted by Bill O'Reilly. For these kids, that would interfere with drinking and screwing. Can't these kids drink and screw and maybe pick up a book, and watch something other than The Real World?
If you watch this show you'd think that the only thing Austin consisted of is sixth street. They occasionally show pictures of Austin outside of sixth street, but when you see the cast, they are either in their house or at some bar on sixth street. I'm not the Chambers of Commerce so I'm not going to run off all the things they could be doing in Austin, (you can go to this link to find out if you're interested http://www.helloaustin.com), but there's more to do than just roam sixth street.
Anyway last night's program was every parents nightmare, if your daughter is dumb enough, drunk enough and wants to be on TV enough to sleep with someone as repellent as Wes on national TV. I hope that after she saw herself on TV last night she didn't try to jump off a bridge. Of course she might have been proud of herself after seeing it. In that case, try the Frost Bank Tower, the chances of survival are pretty thin.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Are you happy now Nate?
After watching Six Feet Under and later watching Million Dollar Baby, I’m lucky I didn’t have someone euthanize me. If you saw the program last night, six weeks after Nate’s funeral, the entire Fisher clan has gone insane, (or more insane than usual). David is a complete basket case; Claire is drowning her sorrow with booze and drugs, which is dredging out the inner bitch in her. It wasn’t a pretty sight seeing her attack the suicidal Iraq veteran’s mother. I’m against the war too Claire but damn. Ruth was her usual passive-aggressive self trying to keep Maya from Brenda. Now I don’t think Brenda is going to win any mother of the year awards in the future, but I think Maya will be better off with her. She loves Maya, Maya already sees her as her mommy, Brenda of all the characters on the show has been making the most positive change, and considering Ruth’s track record with raising her kids; Brenda can’t do any worse. I really felt sorry for Keith and the boys, Rico and Ted (and it takes a lot to make me feel sorry for a Republican).
That dream sequence between Brenda and Billy had my finger on the remote. If it hadn’t have been a dream I might have ended up watching the 4400. So all you sickos who have wanted to see them get together, you kind of got your wish. Now you can go to your family reunions next summer to scope out your pretty first cousin.
The series finale next week is 75 minutes and they are going to need those extra 15 minutes to try to tie up some of the problems they created last night. I don’t expect everyone to suddenly figure out how to solve their problems and all of them to live happily ever after, but I hope the final message of the show isn’t life is a bitch and then you die.
That dream sequence between Brenda and Billy had my finger on the remote. If it hadn’t have been a dream I might have ended up watching the 4400. So all you sickos who have wanted to see them get together, you kind of got your wish. Now you can go to your family reunions next summer to scope out your pretty first cousin.
The series finale next week is 75 minutes and they are going to need those extra 15 minutes to try to tie up some of the problems they created last night. I don’t expect everyone to suddenly figure out how to solve their problems and all of them to live happily ever after, but I hope the final message of the show isn’t life is a bitch and then you die.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
SciFi Friday
In the last few years Fridays have pretty much been a dead zone on TV. It use to be the networks would have good shows on like The Rockford Files or The X-Files. Now aside from CBS having had the recently cancelled Joan of Arcadia, if you didn't have cable you were probably watching TGIF Friday's on ABC. I guess the networks figured their prime demographics have gone out so why not show something with the Olsen Twins in it. Luckly most of us have cable, so if you're home on Friday night you actually have some great programming to enjoy. I like watching the shows that come on SciFi. Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis are pretty good. I'm really enjoying Stargate SG-1 because Claudia Black and Ben Browder from Farscape have joined the cast. Claudia is just a recurring character so she probably won't be on as much once Amanda Tapping gets back from maternity leave. The stand out program is Battlestar Galactica. Now that's a show worth staying home for. They took the chessy 70's show and made it into an intriguing drama that just happens to take place in space and has robots (sexy robots at that). Sci-Fi is also showing Firefly the cancelled cult classic that was on Fox, (strangely it use to be on Friday nights). So thanks to SciFi, Friday nights are again a good night to watch some TV.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
New Show added
Kbeartv is adding a new show to review this season. The show that is getting this honor is Everybody Hates Chris. I have heard a lot of good things about this show and I'm looking forward to watching it and reviewing it. I will continue to review Girlfriends and The Bernie Mac Show. So I'll see you in September, if not sooner.
