Category: Draft

TV Draft Round 6 – Pick 4 – Dave Selects – Ed

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Dave at https://soundday.wordpress.com/

Illusionist David Copperfield once made the Statue of Liberty seem to disappear in front of a live audience.  Perhaps I should give him a call and see if he could make a terrific TV show reappear.

In this day and age of bargain-priced DVD sets of just about everything ever to grace or disgrace the boob tube screen, cable networks galore and a new streaming service every week offering up even old chestnuts like Green Acres and Dad’s Army for insomniac subscribers, you’d think a hit show from this century would be easy to find. Hard to avoid even, perhaps. Particularly if it starred one of the leads in one of this decade’s most popular shows,  was created by TV “royalty” and kicked off the careers of a couple of movie stars plus the star of the most popular sitcom going these days. Sadly you’d be wrong.

Despite having Modern Family‘s “Claire’ (Julie Bowen) as the female lead, being the first place anyone saw Jim Parsons (now Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory) or Justin Long on the screen, despite being a product of David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants,  and having the Foo Fighters do the theme song, Ed has become a ghost. TV’s equivalent of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker – well-loved but known these days only through rumors, memories of old-timers and grainy photos. That bugged me back in 2005 after it ended; it bugs me more now. It was one of the few shows of that era that I made a point of watching every week …ironically until the finale, on a night in which I was working and …yes, my VCR malfunctioned!!

 Ed (not to be confused with the similarly-titled movie, Ed TV)  was a rather brilliant but hard to define show that ran for 83 episodes from 2000 through early 2004 on NBC. It was a dramedy before that term – or genre- was well-known. A drama with a sense of humor; a comedy that at times could be heart-wrenching at times. Lovable, Relatable. Quirky as Seinfeld but a version where the characters weren’t obnoxiously self-absorbed and were dropped into a small town.  It was also could be seen as something of a male bookkend to The Gilmore Girls which debuted the same autumn. Just like Ed, Lorelei and Rory, those Gilmore Girls had oddball small-towners to contend with, lots of music and main characters looking for love. Unlike Ed, however, The Gilmore Girls live on in Walmart discount video bins, Sunday afternoon reruns and most notably, in a limited four-episode resurrection from Netflix. All accomplished while averaging only a little over half the number of viewers as  Ed scored in its first run. The TV gods aren’t always fair.

Ed was several shows in one really, a somewhat risky proposition for TV of the day.  Romance, workplace dramas, lightweight legal eagles. Sounds messy, yet it worked. Wonderfully.

The central story was based on Ed Stevens (played by the affable Canadian actor Tom Cavanagh, little known outside of his homeland at the time. In Canada he starred in a series of popular Labatt beer ads in the ’90s) and his search for love.  Ed was a big money, big city lawyer, we’re told, who had one bad day. A missed comma in a business contract cost his firm millions and led to him being fired. When he returned home early after being sacked, he found his pretty wife in bed with a stranger.  Ed decides he’s had enough of that life, and – cue the TV show’s beginning – returns to his hometown, Stuckeyville, a smallish town in Ohio stuck in a Frank Capra movie.

Having tasted a good deal of failure in his life, but also some success after his school days, he decides to look up his high school crush, Carol (played by Bowen.) He falls back in love with her and spends four seasons wooing her with up-and-down results and the sexual chemistry of David and Maddie from Moonlighting…another show someone should cover here, by the way!

Of course, just as in real life, there was more to both their lives than their oft-thwarted attraction to each other. Ed needs to do something to keep busy and as he’s a lawyer, he goes into practise in Stuckeyville. But instead of working on behalf of big business, as in his past life, he looks after the town’s good people … the gal being sued by her lecherous used car dealer boss for back wages after she turns down his advances; the beloved Stuckeyville Stan, magician whose tricks are being explained to the town by a malicious rival… even Carol’s boyfriend (played by a pre-Mad Men John Slattery) when the rival was falsely accused of causing a car crash. In short, the good guy everyone loves.  Oh, and since he liked bowling, he decided to buy the town bowling alley and work from there!

Stuckeybowl offered up its own storylines and weird but pleasant characters and stories, most notably the good-hearted Phil, (Michael Ian Black), the highly ambitious but quite so clever manager. Kind of like a slightly less obnoxious and better coiffed Kramer, Phil always seemed to have plans which were big on dreaming but not quite so much on practicality. He of course tested Ed’s patience but the lawyer grinned and bore it, being far too nice to fire people.

Carol had become a school teacher since Ed left town, and the other half of the story  involved her work and the high schoolers she taught, as well as her co-workers, including her best friend Molly and in the first couple of years, Slattery as the principal and her beau. Two of the high schoolers are Warren and Diane, high school nerds played by Justin Long (before the Apple ads) and Ginnifer Goodwin, some nine years before they sizzled together in He’s Just Not That Into You.  Warren has a thing for Carol, which frustrates Ed, but doesn’t stop him from trying to help the youth find his way … and see that his soulmate is his classmate, Diane.

And of course, Ed has a school buddy too – Mike. Mike is now married and a young doctor struggling to win respect from the townspeople and the crusty old doctor, Dr. Jerome whom we always expect to prescribe leeches or bloodletting. Of course the old goat gets Mike’s goat… while quietly admiring and pushing the young one to be the best he can be.

Mike and Ed hang out together and relive their youth, often with a running series of “ten dollar bets” in which one bets the other ten bucks to do something crazy. Mike bets Ed he can’t meow loud enough in a park to make a stranger turn around, bets Ed he won’t play “It’s Raining Men” on his bowling alley jukebox on a busy night and so on. Ed inevitably is not one to turn down a challenge.  At the end of the day, they all tend to hang out in the neighborhood pub, The Smiling Goat, rather like the characters in How I Met Your Mother socialized at their bar, albeit with a lot less intoxication in Stuckeyville. Oh, and yep, …Mother‘s Neil Patrick Harris showed up on Ed too, as a competing bowling alley lawyer. Jim Parsons, Rena Sofer and Kelly Ripa all made appearances before becoming household names.

 For all the laughs and romance, from time to time the show broached serious material. Perhaps a decade before it became trendy or even polite, it dealt with obesity with sensitivity, with Carol’s friend Molly (Jana Marie Hupp) being a little curvier than most and at times fighting prejudices because of it. Then there was Mark, a school kid who was largely unpopular and always self-conscious because of his own  more-than-ample weight, leading him to consider gastric bypass surgery (which the actor, Michael Genadry had in real life.)  Fast forward to today when This Is Us is called “brave” and ground-breaking for having plus-sized Chrissy Metz as one of its stars.

Critics adored Ed. I did too. I’d happily buy a box set of it on DVD… were such a thing available.

The rest of the public liked it, but not as much as the critics and I. It typically ranked in the middle of the ratings, with an average of between 10 million (in its first season, when it was in an unfavorable Sunday night slot against The Simpsons and Touched by an Angel) and 8 million in its last few months. It bears mentioning that if a show had those numbers these days, it would be a blockbuster hit. The aforementioned This Is Us averaged 5.4 million viewers at its peak, according to Nielsen, about the same as the apparent breakout hit of the decade, Black-ish. Even stalwards like Grey’s Anatomy dip below 10 million some weeks.

All of which might make its cancelation  marginally understandable …after all, how many quirky characters can one small town offer up, and sooner or later we knew Ed and Carol had to figure out what we all knew –  that they belonged together.  What makes no sense is that the show has disappeared into the ether in a time when almost every program ever made is available in any number of formats.

Fans and creators Rob Burnett (formerly the head writer at Letterman) and Jon Beckerman have constantly been reported as disappointed to quite pissed off the show hasn’t made it onto the DVD shelves or Netflix playlist yet.  We’re told problems with doing so abound, owing to the show’s unusual production (David Letterman’s company, NBC and Viacom were all part-owners and distributors creating some problems on figuring out the copyright, costs and revenue-sharing)  and with another one of the show’s appealing features – the music.  It seemed there was always music playing on the show. In the bowling alley, in the cars, in the bar… even background music to serious walks in the snow to think!  A number of great tunes, largely ’90’s alt rock ones but including at time everything from classic rock to old fashioned torch songs, appeared in the show. I used to try and track the songs episode by episode. It was a chore! From K’s Choice to Weezer to the theme by the Foo Fighters…even a big set with a song by Toronto’s Blue Rodeo (there were a few nods to Cavanaugh’s real-life Canadian background, including him drinking the Labatt’s beer he once pitched at his bar) . It made the show as good-sounding as it was looking. But…, all that music, as the creators of WKRP In Cincinnati likewise found out, makes the legal work more difficult. Every musician or publisher needs to be individually negotiated with in terms of future royalties, which is why a lot of non-descript elevator music appears in WKRP videos instead of the old Foreigner, Earth Wind and Fire and Stones stuff you might have remembered hearing Johnny and Venus spin. So far, no one’s seemed to find it worth trying to do the paperwork and make all those calls to have it happen and from what I understand, the music in the bar and the bowling alley wasn’t an overdub…it was actually being played on the set while they filmed, making covering it up much more difficult.

Whatever the reason, I wish they could put the differences aside and sign some papers and bring back Ed for those of us who remember it fondly. The sweet, gentle comedy was especially refreshing by the second season when the world was thrown into disarray (the season premiere was scheduled for Sep. 12, 2001 and was pushed back by three weeks by… well, you remember) . Its light-heartedness and big-hearted message seems needed and once more.  Paging David Copperfield… or maybe Viacom and NBC should go bowl a few frames and get a certain small town lawyer to draw up the papers.

Although Ed is still unavailable streaming or on DVD , I do see that a number of episodes of it have appeared on You Tube recently. I haven’t yet checked them out, so I can’t attest to how high the quality of picture or sound is, but it gives me some encouragement that the show may not be lost entirely now.

TV Draft Round 6 – Pick 3 – Lisa Selects – My Name Is Earl

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Lisa at https://tao-talk.com/

My Name Is Earll.-l.-r. Catalina, Darnell, Joy, Randy, and Earl

My Name is Earl (2005-2009) 96 episodes, originally on NBC.
S1 24e
S2 23e
S3 22e
S4 27e

Starring:
Jason Lee is Earl Hickey, the star of the show and also acts as narrator. Earl has been a no-good boozer, junkie, thief, and all-around sleazebag; he has hurt a lot of people along the way. When Earl wins the lotto, against all odds, he thanks God and commits his life to steps 8 & 9 in the 12-step program, where you make a list of those you have wronged and make amends to them. The whole premise of the show is how he seeks out and finds those he has harmed and tries to make amends to them, if possible.
Ethan Suplee is Randy Hickey, Earl’s needy brother and faithful sidekick.
Jaime Pressly is Joy Turner, Earl’s ex-wife, who is now married to Darnell. Joy is a ditzy blonde, loud, and has a lot of unfulfilled dreams. She has some charm but it takes awhile to find her heart.
Nadine Velazquez is Catalina, a friend of Earl’s and a maid at the hotel Earl and Randy eventually live at.
Eddie Steeples is Darnell “Crab Man” Turner, Joy’s husband and a cook at the bar that they all like to hang out at. Darnell is a cool guy with a certain type of zen wisdom to him. I can’t remember why, but he is in a witness protection program.
Trey Carlisle is Earl, Jr. Funny thing is, he looks just like Darnell.

Well-known actors that put in appearances for mostly one or two episodes: Burt Reynolds, Beau Bridges, Michael Rapaport, Craig T. Nelson, Marlee Matlin, John Leguizamo, Norm MacDonald, Ben Foster, Erik Estrada, Geraldo Rivera, Montel Williams, Clint Howard, Dax Shepard, Jon Favreau, Juliette Lewis, Christian Slater, Amy Sedaris, Roseanne Barr, John Waters, Charles S. Dutton, David Arquette, Jerry VanDyke, Betty White, Danny Glover, Joan Van Ark, Bernie Kopell, Don Swayze (Patrick’s brother,) Howie Mandel, Paris Hilton, Scoot McNairy, Michael Pena, Tiffany Haddish, Trace Adkins, Timothy Olyphant, and Morgan Fairchild. There are dozens upon dozens of other actors that show up also.

Directors: directed by a long list of directors
Writers: Gregory Thomas Garcia wrote all 96 but there is also a long list of contributing writers for the show
Genres: comedy
Synopsis: As stated above, Earl wins the lotto, decides to get clean, then determines to find those he’s done wrong to during his druggie villain days and try to make amends to them. Earl has done a fearless inventory and has made a list. As he has hurt many along the way, it’s a long list. His sidekick brother, Randy, sometimes helps but often mucks it up. Joy and Darnell are always in the picture in some way to either help or hinder. The voice of reason in what is often chaos is Earl’s friend, Catalina.
Impressions: It’s been awhile since I saw the show, but I remember it fondly. I remember laughing often and also being genuinely touched in the serious moments when Earl and those he wronged have their small moments of truth, sincerity, and what some might call mutual spiritual redemption and/or peacemaking. I like the often-messy atmosphere of real life, where anything can and does happen. Jason Lee as Earl stole my heart from the beginning.
Grade: 9
Awards: Won 5 Primetime Emmys. Another 10 wins & 74 nominations.

From imdb trivia:
The items in Earl’s list shown during the opening sequence read as follows: – 56: Stole liquor from liquor store. – 57: Told Joy Dan Dodd messed himself on the (rest cut out of frame). – 58: Fixed a high school football game. – 59: Everything I did to Dad. – 60: Pulled fire alarm – 61: Stole Mom’s car (but I gave it back). – 62: Faked death to break-up with a girl. – 63: Wasted electricity. – 64: Spray painted the bridge. – 65: Cost Dad the election. – 66: Let mice out at school play. – 67: Stole beer from a golfer. – 68: Blew up mailboxes. 69: Cheated on school tests a lot.

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TV Draft Round 6 – Pick 2 – Paula Selects – Tell Me Your Secrets

Tell Me Your Secrets

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Paula at http://paulalight.com

Tell Me Your Secrets

I recently binged this thriller drama series on Prime, and I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with it. None of the characters are likeable, not even in a Tony Soprano funny but loveable mafia thug way, but it was hard to look away from the show. The story was strangely compelling, and I needed to know what happened to these fictional people I didn’t like at all! I guess that makes the writing successful.

The series was created by Harriet Warner and premiered on Prime in February 2021. There are four main characters: Emma Hall (played by Lily Rabe), Mary Barlow (Amy Brenneman), John Tyler (Hamish Linklater), and Peter Guillory (Enrique Murciano). I would also argue that there is a fifth main character, shown only in flashback, and that is Christopher (Kit) Parker, played by Xavier Samuel.

The show begins with the imprisoned Karen Miller agreeing to give up some info on Kit Parker, her former boyfriend who is also in prison for murder, and thus Karen is rewarded with a new identity as Emma Hall and placed into witness protection. One of the first problems for Emma is that due to PTSD she is able only to summon up vague flashes of unreliable memories, though it appears she is trying to cooperate with Peter, her parole officer. Some of her flashbacks make her appear to be an accomplice to Kit’s abductions/murders, and other times she seems like a victim who narrowly escaped, though Emma isn’t sure and neither are we. Peter sets her up in an old house in Saint James, Louisiana, which is located conveniently close to his own residence. It turns out that he has an unsavory history involving some other locals, and this takes a while to untangle, and he seems creepier as time goes by. Emma finds work in her former profession as a hairstylist, and she makes a few friends as well as enemies. Soon Emma becomes romantically involved with a local police officer, Tom Johnston (played by Marque Richardson), which brings a new set of complications. We also discover that Kit killed himself in his cell after reading a goodbye letter from Karen (who is now Emma), and Emma’s reaction is confusing. Did she love him, or was she terrified by him? Maybe both.

Simultaneously, back in Texas, Mary is obsessed with finding her missing daughter Theresa. She believes that, unlike Kit’s other victims, Theresa is still alive somewhere. Her husband and son disagree and urge Mary to accept that Theresa is dead and move on, but she refuses. John Tyler, a convicted serial rapist who has done his time, shows up at Mary’s foundation one day for a meeting and offers his services to help women feel safer, as he says he knows all an abductor’s tricks, and supposedly his motivation is redemption for his past crimes. Mary says no thanks because he won’t specifically focus on Theresa, but a bit later in the episode when Mary offers him a job with an expense account to find Karen (Emma) instead, John agrees. It is driving Mary nuts that the system is helping Karen (Emma) create a new life after they failed to find Theresa ~ and Mary believes that Karen (Emma) helped Kit with his abductions.

OK, so this might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually found John to be the most interesting character, though of course he’s still a bad guy overall. But his motivations are layered, while the other characters are much less complex. Mary is just an annoying beyotch, though I can certainly understand her unrelenting focus on her daughter. Emma grates on my nerves with her wishy-washy behaviors and bad decisions. Peter begins to seem more and more sinister as the episodes roll on and not in a sexy way despite his appearance. Some of the side stories are fascinating in their own right, such as the complex dynamics within one of the town’s prominent families, the Lords. Bodie Lord (played by Richard Thomas) has an increasingly dramatic role in the second half of S1. Emma has a run-in with Bodie’s daughter Rose (Chiara Aurelia), due to breaking up a fight, and her mother Diana (Katherine Willis), due to a hair coloring mishap, but Emma and Rose eventually become friends. The girl Rose was fighting with turns up dead, and when Emma shows Pete where she found the body, the body has disappeared. Meanwhile, John methodically runs down every possible lead within Karen’s former life to try to locate her in the present time with her new identity. It’s fascinating how he manipulates people, and you can easily see how his skills can be used for bad or good.

But what absolutely blew me away, and made the whole series worthwhile, was the E10 season finale. In no way did I ever see that coming! Honestly, I don’t know how the writers could top that shocker in a second season, but we’ll see. So far, no word on whether S2 will be happening.

Side note: some may find the storyline involving Bodie particularly relevant due to the current SCOTUS leak regarding Roe v Wade.

~*~

Paula Light is a poet, novelist, flash fiction fan, cupcake connoisseur, mom, grandma, cat mommy, etc. Her blog can be found at http://paulalight.com.

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TV Draft Round 6 – Pick 1 – Max Selects – The Twilight Zone

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Max at https://powerpop.blog

There are a few older shows that a younger generation has heard of…I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, All In The Family, and a few others…but The Twilight Zone…  most generations have actually watched. It still stands up today.  I was reminded of how great of a show it was when I recently went through every episode on this blog.

The Twilight Zone contained 156 episodes and I graded them on a 1-5 scale and out of those episodes…I only had 4 total episodes that were under a 3. How many TV shows have that kind of ratio? Not that I am the official grade on The Twilight Zone but there are not many bad ones…even in IMDB’s 1-10 ratings there are only 3 episodes graded below 6.

I’ve seen reviews on every episode and they differ like night and day. People get passionate talking about this show. “Hey, do you know the one where all the guy wanted to do was read but broke his glasses?” “Yea but what about the one with Captain Kirk…oh yea I mean Shatner in the plane with the monster on the wing?” “How about the one where the humans find the alien cookbook that was called To Serve Man” “That’s a good one but do you remember the episode about the beautiful woman getting her bandages off of her eyes and everyone else is ugly?”

I’ve read reviews of my personal favorite episodes and they might be the polar opposites of someone else. They are all over the map because they mean something different to everyone.

The way Rod Serling handled social injustice, racial bigotry, the Cold War, McCarthyism, consumerism, and hatred with a science fiction twist was outstanding. He did this without preaching, exaggeration, or shoving his views on people. He used the art of subtlety that has been lost through the years. It was the way he could convey these thoughts that didn’t drive people away from the message… but brought them closer to it. In turn, he brings us closer to each other.

In a 1959 interview when the show just started, Mike Wallace suggested to Serling that by working on this series he had “given up on writing anything important for television.” Wallace missed the point of the show entirely. Serling DID write important material for the show…but through science fiction. It’s the only way censors and advertisers would allow it.

This show is hands down my favorite TV show of all time. I never get tired of it….even after over a year of posting about the show. Rod Serling was a fantastic writer and he picked some great writers like Richard Matheson, Earl Hamner Jr, Charles Beaumont, and  George Clayton Johnson to contribute to the show. The show ages well and the black and white only adds to it.

The Twilight Zone has been revived a few times. In the 80s and 2000s but they didn’t come close to the original. A movie was made in 1983 called Twilight Zone: The Movie but again… it didn’t scratch the surface of the original series.

TV can be a vast wasteland but Serling believed TV could matter. He refused to cater to the lowest denominator. He wrote intelligent stories and screenplays to challenge his viewers. He went to battle with the network censors, executives,  and advertisers to improve and protect the show. He succeeded in creating a show that still resonates today.

You could always depend on a twist in the smart scripts. Sometimes the guilty finger would point at the viewer… we would find out who the monster really was… it would be us… the human race. We all know the twists now, but the sense of justice is why The Twilight Zone is still relevant, and we keep coming back for more.

“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space, and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone.”

“A sickness known as hate; not a virus, not a microbe, not a germ – but a sickness nonetheless, highly contagious, deadly in its effects. Don’t look for it in the Twilight Zone – look for it in a mirror. Look for it before the light goes out altogether.”
― Rod Serling

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 8 – Mike -Selects – Mad Men

05 Mad Men

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Mike at https://musiccitymike.net

Mad Men

As was the case with my previous draft pick, Breaking Bad, AMC’s Mad Men was one of the few other shows in recent memory whose brilliance found me watching regularly as it ran every week. Mad Men also undoubtedly holds the record for the show generating the most morning after talk in the office.

If the show is unfamiliar to you, the “Mad” is short for Madison Avenue and the series is a look at the high-pressure world of advertising centered in Manhattan in the 1960s. Pun intended, “mad” is also an apt description of the behavior the “men” in the show exhibit.

In assessing Mad Men’s appeal, there are several reasons for my loving this show. The first no doubt has to do with my age and having lived through its period setting of this historic decade. Visually, through the styles of dress and the décor of both home and office, the show brilliantly captures of the feel of the era. Like another current show that I enjoy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I am just captivated by the vibrant imagery that so captures the visuals of the 60s. Perhaps it’s just my long-lost nostalgia for those days?

Although I had yet to join the work force until the late 70s, Mad Men also so accurately depicts the office politics as they were back then. First and foremost were the ways men treated women and the way alcohol was a primal part of the business world back then. It was also a time when it seemed like everyone smoked and without ever getting a mean look, they smoked everywhere.

Front and center was Jon Hamm’s lead role as Don Draper, a man whose behavior was as easily despised as his creativity was admired.  The train wreck of his career from his puzzling self-destructive behavior, fueled by his booze-driven lust for women, was inevitable. You see it coming and wonder when he will hit bottom and whether he will recover.

The rest of the cast is equally appealing, and the ladies really steal the show in terms of presenting the evolution of women through the decade. This was true both at home through the character of Draper’s wife Betty played by January Jones and at work by the sexy but savvy Joan Harris played by Christina Henricks and the naive but otherwise smart, Peggy Olson, played by Elizabeth Moss. Joan struggles and eventually attains success despite having to overcome the beauty nature has given her while Peggy ultimately overcomes the hand she was dealt from her sheltered upbringing.

As for the other guys, John Slattery’s Roger Sterling was akin to Draper in terms of despicability while Vincent Kartheiser’s Pete Campbell faults took the cake due to the massive layer of immaturity that he could never overcome. And what a delight to see Broadway legend Robert Morse come out of hiding with a recurring role and even gift us with a dream sequence musical number!

The top appeal of Mad Men however though may be how actual history gets interwoven into its storylines. It was fun to see notable events and figures pass through as it was for emerging fashions and changing trends. All this also created great viewer anticipation as the years flew by. You knew that sooner or later we’d see JFK, The Beatles, and the space program.

And without spoiling anything, actual advertising history makes its way into one of the greatest endings in TV series history. Mad Men also featured one of the most infectious opening sequences of all time combining slick instrumental music to a clever graphic animation.

Kudos to show creator Matthew Weiner for seven brilliant seasons. Deservedly, Mad Men won 16 Emmys. It’s another show that I look to repeating in its entirety.

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 7 – John Selects – CSI: Miami

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by John from https://thesoundofonehandtyping.com

  • Show: CSI: Miami
  • Network: CBS
  • Seasons: 10, 2002-2012

When CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (also known as CSI: Las Vegas) turned out to be such a hit when it debuted at the start of the new millennium, its producers said, “Hey! Let’s do a whole lot of them! Same thing, just in different cities!” Or perhaps it was the suits at CBS who said it. Anyway, no doubt they got together and decided that the second show should be set somewhere with a lot of violent crime and a lot of good-looking people (primarily women) running around scantily clad. So, they chose Miami, associated (rightly or wrongly) with illegal trade in both drugs and firearms and with lots of good-looking people running around in swimwear. As an added bonus, Miami is a city with a large Caribbean population, thus bringing that demographic into play.

The result was a show that played heavily on stereotypes and featured much more blood and carnage than its predecessor. Unlike its predecessor, which relied heavily on quirky crimes and equally quirky CSI’s solving them, CSI: Miami relied primarily on stories of gang wars waged by opposing drug kingpins who spent most of their time lounging by their swimming pools, surrounded by pneumatically-gifted and surgically-enhanced women in skimpy swimwear, while their footsoldiers went out and wreaked havoc on each other, and often innocent bystanders. Okay, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, but the longer the show was on the air, the more one-dimensional it became.

The Miami-Dade CSI’s were led by Lt. Horatio Caine, played by NYPD Blue alum David Caruso. David obviously prepared for the part by watching all of the “Dirty Harry” movies and episodes of (the original) Hawaii Five-O, because the character of Caine came off as a cross between Clint Eastwood and Jack Lord, in other words, a laid-back hard ass.

Just as the original CSI had Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) as a counterpart for Gil Grissom (William Petersen), the original plan was to have Caine have a female counterpart as well. After Sela Ward (who eventually joined the cast of CSI:NY) turned that role down, the job was given to Kim Delaney, another NYPD Blue alum. She was gone after ten episodes, officially because there was “no chemistry” between her character and Caine. Rumor had it, however, that Caruso wanted her out.

Assisting Caine was Calleigh Duquesne, a petite, blonde, blue-eyed, and stunningly beautiful young woman played by the equally petite, blonde, blue-eyed, and stunningly beautiful Emily Procter. Calleigh was originally from New Orleans (although she sounded like she was from North Carolina, as is Ms. Procter) and joined the Miami CSI’s as a ballistics expert. The appeal was obvious: a beautiful blonde Southern girl who liked guns. Calleigh’s father was a down-on-his-luck attorney from New Orleans who drank a lot.

Calleigh had an on-again, off-again relationship with fellow CSI Eric Delko, played by Adam Rodriguez. Delko was a dedicated and responsible CSI who was frequently called on to don a scuba suit and look for evidence underwater. Tim Speedle (played by Rory Cochrane), on the other hand, though he was an excellent CSI, was a bit blasé about maintaining his pistol, which eventually led to his death. He was replaced by Ryan Wolfe (played by Jonathan Togo), who was obsessive-compulsive about maintaining his gun (and just about everything else).

Halfway through the series, a second female CSI, Natalia Boa Vista (played by the quite lovely Eva LaRue), was added to the cast to run around with Calleigh to crime scenes dressed as though they were going to a nightclub, in revealing tops, white pants, and high heels. Lt. Frank Tripp (played by Rex Linn) was a semi-regular member of the cast who was finally added to the permanent cast.

The Miami CSI’s were more likely than their Las Vegas counterparts to get involved in doing actual police work. With Caine in particular, you wondered “is this a CSI or a plainclothes cop?” Many of the relationships in the stories were with Caine, either family members such as Yelina Salas (played by Sofia Milos), who was his sister-in-law, and Julia Winston (played by Elizabeth Berkley from Saved By The Bell), who played a woman he had had an affair with, resulting in a son (played by, of all people, Justin Bieber).

For all of its faults (and I’ve barely scratched the surface here), CSI: Miami was fairly well-received, doing fairly well in the ratings and earning its share of awards, and it continues to be popular in syndication. The stories were generally well thought-out, although the execution was at times heavy-handed.

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 6 – Max Selects – The Andy Griffith Show

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Max at https://powerpop.blog

There has been so much written about this show and the writing will never stop. It was a show about the quirky citizens of a fictional town called Mayberry. The Andy Griffith Show is not just another show. The series will be around long after we are gone and still being discovered by future generations.

Some of the love I have for the show is about escapism. The low pressure of living in Mayberry is attractive. A place where you are allowed to live slowly and friends are only a few miles away. Nowadays our lives are so full of technology and rush that it would be tempting to walk through the screen to join Andy and Opie fishing out on Meyers Lake.

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Mayberry was based on a small North Carolina town called Mount Airey where Andy grew up. Griffith has also said that although the show was in the sixties, Mayberry had a 1930s-1940s feel to it. When I’m asked where I grew up, I’ll say in a town kind of like Mayberry and they get what I’m saying.

The episode that best explains the show is… Man In A Hurry. A businessman’s car breaks down two miles from Mayberry on a Sunday. He has a business appointment in Charlotte the next morning. He walks to town and finds it deserted until church lets out. The garage is also closed on Sunday. Gomer is working but can only pump gas and Wally refuses to repair the car until Monday. The stranger can’t believe the pace of life in Mayberry and everyone’s lack of urgency. Andy tries to talk him into spending the night and getting the car fixed on Monday… he won’t have any of this non-sense… first but then he slowly realizes what great lives these people lead and ends up staying a little while longer than he could have.

Andy Griffith and Don Knotts were a great comedy team. I wish they would have made a few movies together. Knotts wanted to do that but Griffith always backed away from it. You can put them up there with other great comedy teams. Andy was a great straight man and Don played off of him well.

I’ve seen parents play episodes to their kids for lessons, schools play episodes for students, and heard of preachers writing sermons around episodes. The humor wasn’t dirty but it wasn’t sterile either. Most if not all of the first 5 season episodes are classics. It’s a show that you can catch at any time. During a rainout, between movies, and a binge-watch.

Dillards

The show offered a little of everything… One of the things I liked was the bluegrass music of The Dillards who appeared on the show as the Darlings. Denver Pyle played Briscoe Darling Jr. and played the jug with the Dillards. They were and STILL are a bluegrass band that tours and releases albums.

Andy had many girlfriends throughout the show. There was Ellie and she gave Andy all he could handle. Ellie, unfortunately, left after the first season. He saw the county nurse Mary Simpson (My favorite), Peggy McMillian, and then he met Helen Crump. Personally, I never liked Helen as much. Her nickname from some fans was Helen Grump because she could be a grump quite often. Andy ended up marrying Helen in the last season.

Thelma Lou was one of my favorite characters of the show. She put up with Barney’s shenanigans but was always there for him. Barney was foolish for letting her go but they finally got married. It didn’t happen on the show’s original run but they finally tied the knot in the reunion movie.

Aunt Bee

Then there was Aunt Bee Taylor. She took care of Andy and Opie and made sure they were fed well and came home to a clean house. Aunt Bee had a smile for everyone unless you got on her bad side. She could be stubborn and formidable when angered and she commanded the utmost respect from everyone. She was in a way, everyone’s Aunt.

Gomer and Goober

The two characters from Wally’s gas station were Gomer Pyle and Goober. Goober was a great mechanic and Gomer mostly filled your tank up with a story to go along with it. They were not the sharpest tools in the shed but both had hearts of gold and added to the show’s comedy.

Opie

Andy’s son from his only marriage was Opie Taylor. You never found out how Opie’s mother passed away but she did before we got to meet the Taylors. Opie is a super kid and Andy raised him the right way. He is kind and polite and when he does something wrong he usually had the sense to recognize that and correct the problem.

Otis Campbell

Otis Campbell… Otis was a good guy with only one problem. He was the town drunk. Andy and Barney knew him so well that they let Otis grab the jail key and let himself in when he was a bit intoxicated. During the reunion movie made in the 80s, he had given up the booze and was selling ice cream.

Seasons 1-5 were in Black and White with Don Knotts as Barney Fife. Don’s last season was the 5th season and seasons 6-8 were in color.  I have all of the Griffith Show episodes but I will admit…I don’t really watch the color episodes as much as the black and white ones. Yes, there are some good later episodes but it’s Andy. He walks around Mayberry like he is owed money. Andy later admitted on many of the later episodes he was going through the motions.

He started to get a little tenser on screen in the 5th season but Barney was still there and kept things light. In the 6th season with Barney gone, Andy acted impatient with his fellow quirky citizens where at one time he enjoyed them. The show just changed dramatically with color. It remained at number 1 but it just wasn’t the same.

It was one of the most successful television shows ever. The Series went out on top and had a successful spinoff called Mayberry RFD.

In the early 70s Mayberry RFD and other shows such as  The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Mister Ed, Lassie, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw were canceled because of the rural purge the network did… everything that had a tree got canceled it seemed. More important shows were coming like All In The Family and others but there was always room for others. In syndication these shows do great.

So follow me to Mayberry and don’t look back.

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 5 – Dave Selects – Emergency

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Dave at https://soundday.wordpress.com/

TV shows are of course, first and foremost entertainment. But once in awhile they rise above just that and can actually create change for the better. Maybe even save lives. Recently, I’ve rediscovered one such show… and a lot of memories from my childhood!

Over-the-air station COZI-TV shows nothing but oldies. It’s the television version of a Golden Oldies radio station. Andy Griffin, Magnum PI, MASH… they’re all there. And recently, a fave of eight, nine-year old me, Emergency.

Emergency was the brainchild of Jack Webb, no surprise to those who had watched his earlier show, Adam 12, picked earlier in this by Max. The two had a similar overall feel and they even showed up in cameos on each other’s shows occasionally. While Adam 12 showed the day-to-day routines of two L.A. cops, Emergency dealt with an L.A. fire station, the goings on within it and on their runs. In particular, the show which ran on NBC from 1972-77 (plus six made for TV movies through 1979) focused on two paramedics who although firemen, responded to medical calls and were trained in medical care. Roy Desoto (actor Kevin Tighe) was the blonde, easy-going one while his partner who set many a lady’s heart a-flutter (and would later be immortalized in a Tubes song) was John Gage, played by dark and oft-brooding Randolph Mantooth. The rest of the firemen on their shift at “Station 51”, as well as the doctors and nurses of the local hospital ER were supporting characters. Those included real-life husband and wife Bobby Troup and Julie London, both of whom had music careers as well as acting ones; they portrayed the senior doctor (Dr. Early) and head nurse (Dixie) at the local ER the rescue squad took patients to. The plot outline was not unlike Adam 12, with its two patrol car cop buddies who spend a lot of time discussing life and responding to nuisance calls interspersed with a few high-tension emergency calls.

On Emergency, we follow along with John and Roy as they deal with mundane, everyday issues like John’s insomnia or Roy’s wondering about where to take his kids on holiday, interspersed with a few siren-screaming runs to heart attacks and snakebites, and fewer still infernos to respond to and help people survive. It really gave a feel for what it was like to be responding to a factory on fire, or trying to resuce people stuck in a car that was at the bottom of a cliff, or be surrounded by huge wildfires the whole department was trying to contain. Of course, like Adam 12, it was full of afros, moustaches and conservative morality… youth smoking “grass” laced with pesticides freaked out and confounded doctors with their life-threatening illnesses; doctors jumped in to keep lying parents from their frightened and bruised children while doling out counseling about dealing with stress. (It did, however, coming a bit later than Adam 12, miss out on stripy bell-bottom fashion and bad guys who said things like “you’re a jive cop!” or “say your prayers… I’m gonna send you to pig heaven, copper!”)

Part drama, part light-comedy, mixed with a small amount of action… it’s a far reach from the action shows and movies that are in favor now. But somehow, it worked. We cared about the characters lives… and learned.

Emergency was made by sticklers for detail. Mantooth said “Bob Cinader, who (co) created and produced the show said ‘we’re not going to make anything up. We have to get all the rescues from real fireman’s logs.” Mantooth and Tighe both took real paramedic courses, although they didn’t take the tests to be certified as such, and rode along with real L.A. firemen extensively. The exterior shots used a real L.A. fire station (Station 127 in Carson) and a real hospital nearby. Producers got to borrow an authentic L.A. pumper truck ( the Engine 51 in the show) and apparently, on a few shots forgot to relabel it as such, meaning the eagle-eyed viewer could sometimes see Station 51 responding in a differently-numbered truck. Driven by an actor, Dick Hammer, who played… Dick Hammer. You see, Hammer not only used his real name, he played his own role in real life – he was an actual L.A. fireman, thus having fire training and a license to drive the large vehicles. They opted for realism, which certainly helped us believe the episodes and feel engaged.

Roy and John, the paramedics, went to their medical calls in a modified pickup with all sorts of medical supplies, and radios to the hospital. Since they had medical training, they could undertake medical procedures like give IVs or CPR with the doctor’s instructions over the radio. At the time, the paramedic trucks were new and few and far between, so L.A. couldn’t loan them one. Thus the show got the blueprints and built an authentic replica themselves, and stocked it with the real equipment the true first responders used in the day.

It was interesting. It gave us a look at the ordinary work of fire-fighters and paramedics and some of the crazy calls they had to deal with. And in a small way, it changed the world.

Not only did Emergency pave the way for later, more action-packed shows like E.R. and Station 19, it changed society as well.

ME TV point out that when the show first aired, there were only 12 – one dozen – fire departments with paramedics in the entire country. (I was surprised to read that my particular hometown in Canada was the very first in that country to have paramedics in their fire department, that being in 1971). Then California governor Ronald Reagan had only signed legislation allowing for firemen to be trained as paramedics the previous year and L.A., Seattle and Miami were the only notable large urban areas in the U.S. with them at the time. What’s more, ambulances were largely nothing more than taxis for sick and injured people. The personnel on them did little besides get the patient to doctors and help down the road. By the end of the show in mid-’77, fully half of all Americans were within 10 minutes of responding fully-trained paramedics. Lives were saved…. and one has to imagine that Emergency was behind it. It’s hard to innumerate, but oral history suggests a lot of fire departments and city councils got on board to train their firemen and supply them with medical gear when people started wanting their town to have its own John Gage, Roy Desoto and Squad 51. A University of Baltimore study says “ample evidence suggests a conclusion that the TV show was a primary factor that fueled…paramedic training.” EMS World call Randy Mantooth the “goodwill ambassador” for their profession and point out “for all the popularity of classic shows such as the Honeymooners and Gunsmoke, the number of people they inspired to become bus drivers or sheriffs was probably small.” Not so Emergency. Schools offering the training to be paramedics saw a surge of applicants shortly after the show premiered.

Pretty cool. A little bit campy, a little comic, a little bit educational. Bits of high excitement, and lots of cool retro vehicles and fashions. I still enjoy it. What’s more, it was a show that changed history and made life safer. And still is interesting to watch close to 50 years on. Methinks we’ll never be saying that about the Kardashians.

…

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 2 – Keith Selects – 30 Rock

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Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Keith at https://nostalgicitalian.com/

For this round of the TV Show Draft, I figured I would jump ahead a few years to prove that I watch shows that aired after 1980! There are very few shows that actually make me laugh out loud. For this round, I want to feature one of them – 30 Rock.

The show aired on NBC from 2006-2013 and was created by Tina Fey (who also starred on the show). It was based on many of her experiences while working as a writer on Saturday Night Live (SNL). The show was actually produced by SNL’s Lorne Michaels, and the character of Jack Donaghy is said to be loosely based on Michaels.

The show was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards every year it was on the air. It won for Outstanding Comedy series in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2009, the show was nominated for a whopping 22 Primetime Emmy Awards – the most in a single year for a comedy series. The Associated Press once wrote, “NBC’s Thursday night comedy block – made up of My Name Is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, and 30 Rock – is consistently the best night of prime time viewing for any network!”

In the first episode of the series, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is the head writer for an NBC comedy series, The Girlie Show. It stars her best friend, Jenna Marone (Jane Krakowski). When Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) enters as the new NBC Executive, he begins to revamp things at the network, including The Girlie Show. In the episode, he forces Liz to hire the very unpredictable (and sometimes crazy) Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) as the new star of the show, which will now be called TGS with Tracy Jordan.

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A typical episode would feature the rigors of writing a comedy show, the jealousy of Jenna after being forced to share stardom with Tracy, Tracy’s immature behavior, arguments between Jack and Liz, and pokes fun at NBC’s parent company (at the time) General Electric.

As with many of the shows being featured throughout the draft, 30 Rock is one of those shows that features a wonderful ensemble cast – each with their own distinct and unique personality. The blending of these personalities is just one of the many reasons why this show is so funny. Wikipedia has a wonderful description of each cast member (here are a few):

  • Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) – a “sexually frightened know-it-all” and head writer of TGS
  • Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) – the loose-cannon, crazy, and unpredictable star of TGS
  • Jenna Marone (Jane Krakowski) – original star of the Girlie Show, now co-star of TGS. She is Liz’s constantly attention-seeking, arrogant, and clueless best friend.
  • Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) – the cheerful, obedient, Southern-born NBC page who “lives for television.”
  • Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) – the decisive, controlling, suave, and occasionally senseless network executive who constantly interferes with the on goings of TGS.

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In the 7 seasons that 30 Rock was on the air, there are thousands of laughs, ridiculous story lines, hundreds of catchphrases, and quirky characters. So what makes it such a funny show? Here are just a few reasons.

Rapid Fire Humor

Today, most comedy shows are designed for a laugh or two. Long build ups with poor payoffs which basically allows the viewer to watch without really having to pay attention. 30 Rock, however, was like watching a stand-up comic. The jokes (and insults) come at you one after another! Those lines are often delivered in a straight manor by the actor. It is reminiscent of the movie Airplane! where the actors are spouting off silly lines with a serious tone and deadpan. I feel like every time I watch an episode, I catch something I miss (just like when I watch Airplane!).

Lots and Lots of Guest Stars and Cameos

I’ve always loved to see actors appear on Saturday Night Live and do some off the wall character. Many of the guest stars on 30 Rock did just that. Some of the stars who appeared over 7 seasons include: Edie Falco, Jennifer Aniston, Selma Hayek, John Lithgow, Megan Mullally, Peter Dinklage, Steve Martin, Julianne Moore, Jon Bon Jovi, Matt Damon, James Franco, Susan Sarandon, Alan Alda, Ice-T, Richard Belzer, Michael Keaton, Paul Giamatti, and Buck Henry!

Other guest stars appeared as themselves – Buzz Aldrin, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Al Gore, for example. Recurring characters included Chris Parnell as Dr. Leo Spaceman (pronounced “spa-che-man), Jason Sudeikis as one of Liz’s boyfriends, Dean Winters as Liz’s ex-boyfriend, Will Arnett as Devon Banks (a guy out for Jack’s job), Rip Torn as Jack’s boss and mentor, and the great Elaine Stritch as Jack’s mother.

The Running Gags and Catchprases

Tina Fey loves a good running joke and there were plenty on 30 Rock. Some of them even spilled over into use in pop culture. For example:

“Blergh” is a handy expression you can use when the network won’t let you swear on TV. It is not a coincidence that it is also the brand of furniture from Ikea that Liz Lemon buys! Google trends suggests that 30 Rock pushed the word into the mainstream after it appeared in Season 1’s 2007 episode “Cleveland.” As it often happens with slang, blergh has become so prevalent, people will probably forget where it came from.

“Deal Breaker” is not a new phrase. It has roots dating back to 1979, and it was a Harlen Coben Book title in the 90’s. However, it gained new popularity after 30 Rock used it to describe relationships. Fey’s character write a book the points out all the “deal breakers” in relationships (“He never takes off his socks? Dealbreaker!”)

“I want to go to there” is a phrase that is exclusive to 30 Rock. We even know where it came from: Tina Fey got the odd grammatical construction from her young daughter Alice, and it quickly became one of 30 Rock’s most repeated quotes.

The “EGOT.” In 2008, Tim Long wrote a piece for Vanity Fair about Philip Michael Thomas, who, Long said used to wear a gold medal that simply said “EGOT,” which stood for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony,” awards Thomas planned to win in the next five years. The following year on 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan finds a diamond EGOT necklace and sets out to join the elite ranks of such all-around winners. Tracy reached his goal in Season 5, and, thanks to 30 Rock, the EGOT has become a term used in the entertainment biz today.

“Good God” is a phrase that is often used by Jack in various situations. The 30 Rock YouTube page has a video compilation of some of his best “Good God” moments. My favorite was spoken to an ill Liz Lemon after she get’s in Jack’s face and speaks. Jack simply says, “Good God, Lemon. Your breath! When did you find time to eat a diaper you found on the beach?”

So Quotable

30 Rock is one of those shows that you really just have to watch. I find it really hard to describe WHY you should watch it other than the reasons above. Baldwin was simply hilarious on the show, as was Tina Fey. The cast works so well together and the insane situations that are presented are so ridiculous, you can’t NOT watch. There are so many little “toss ins” and “cut aways” involved. A cast member will say something – the camera cuts to a brief scene – and back to where it cut away. Those “toss in” jokes never cease to make me double over in laughter.

At the same time, the writing and deliver of the dialogue is just brilliant. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite lines:

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Jack Donaghy

“I’m not a creative type like you, with your work sneakers and left-handedness.”

“What’s wrong, Lemon? When I see you chew your nails like that, it’s either you’re very anxious, or you handled some ham earlier.”

“I only pass gas once a year, for an hour, atop a mountain in Switzerland.”

“Never go with a hippie to a second location.”

“Ambition is the willingness to kill the things you love and eat them to survive. Haven’t you ever read my throw pillow?”

“We all have ways of coping. I use sex and awesomeness.”

“The world is made by those who control their own destiny. It isn’t made by those who don’t do, it’s made by those who do do. Which is what made me the man I am. I do do.”

Tina-Fey-1-1024x683Liz Lemon

“We have a show tonight. I’ve never missed a show. Not even the time I had that virus they kept saying only raccoons get.”

“Now I’m heading home for a nooner, which is what I call having pancakes for lunch.”

“Why are my arms so weak? It’s like I did that pushup last year for nothing!”

“I also have a lot of imaginary arguments with couples on House Hunters: Why can’t people look past paint color?”

“You can’t solve all your problems by shooting someone or setting a stranger on fire.”

“Fine, I’ll be okay. I got other ideas, like a microbrewery that also serves frozen yogurt. I’mma call it… Microsoft.”

30 Rock - Season 7
30 ROCK — “A Goon’s Deed in a Weary World” Episode 711 — Pictured: (l-r) Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney — (Photo by: Ali Goldstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)

Tracy Jordan and Jenna Marone

Tracy:

“Here’s some advice I wish I woulda got when I was your age: Live every week like it’s Shark Week.”

“I’m not going to rehearse. I’m going to get a sandwich and then eat it on the toilet.”

“I watched Boston Legal 9 times before I realized it wasn’t a new Star Trek.”

“I’m gonna say to you what I say to all my sharks right before they die: Let’s go outside.”

“Liz Lemon, I may hug people too hard and get lost at malls, but I’m not an idiot.”

Jenna:

“We’re actors. If we didn’t exist, how would people know who to vote for?”

“Listen up, fives, a ten is speaking.”

“Your new vibe is a double edged sword, much like the one Mickey Rourke tried to kill me with.”

“Okay I’ll do it, but only for the attention.”

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Kenneth Parcell

“But comedy is just as important as drama. People need to laugh, especially in these tough times. And after all, isn’t laughter the best medicine? Except for insulin, Spironolactone, and Bupropion, which I have for you whenever you’re ready, sir.”

“There are only two things I love in this world: everybody and television.”

In Closing

In a 2018 article for Business Insider, 30 Rock was listed as one of the Top 20 shows who have won the most Emmy Awards. It had 16 wins and was nominated 103 times. To me, I’ve never really paid attention to whether or not a show was a big “award winner.” What is important is how it makes me feel. 30 Rock was a show that ALWAYS made me laugh – even the bad episodes had good stuff in them. I could always count on being in a good mood after watching it.

This is a show I wish had lasted longer than 7 seasons …

TV Draft Round 5 – Pick 1 – Vic Selects – Sisters

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Photo Credit: Pinterest

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Vic at https://cosmic-observation.com/blog-posts/

I didn’t catch the first season of this show during its original run but, started watching during season two (it was a while before I got to see season one). I was immediately hooked by the quirky interaction between the sisters and their day to day lives in Winnetka, IL and, I was already a Patricia Kalember fan due to the short-lived Kay O’Brien TV show. ~Vic

Created by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, the series begins one year after the death of the family’s father, Dr. Thomas Reed, a workaholic, played in flashbacks by three different actors but, mostly by Peter White. The matriarch of the family is Beatrice (Elizabeth Hoffman), a long-suffering, neglected wife, who turns to alcohol to deal with the doctor’s multiple affairs. She has four daughters:

☆ Alexandra…”Alex” (Swoosie Kurtz), the eldest. She married a plastic surgeon that had affairs on her and she divorced him, retaining some wealth. After battling breast cancer, she became a talk show host. She frequently butts heads her daughter, Reed Halsey (played by three different actresses, most notably Ashley Judd). She eventually remarries.

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New grouping with Charley, on the left.

Image Credit: TMDb

☆ Theodora…”Teddy” (Sela Ward), the second daughter. At the beginning of the series, she is returning from California and is shocked to discover that her ex-husband, Mitch, is engaged to her youngest sister, Frankie. She, drunk, temporarily, stops the wedding with a shotgun (she inherited Beatrice’s drinking habits). An artist in school, she becomes a fashion designer, helming three different companies. She goes on to marry twice more…to Det. James Falconer (George Clooney), the cop that investigated her daughter Cat’s rape (he was killed in an explosion) and Dr. Gabriel Sorenson (Stephen Collins), the doctor that saved her life when she was shot in the head.

☆ Georgiana…”Georgie” (Patricia Kalember), the third daughter. She is the stay-at-home mom with the most level head of all the sisters. A part-time real estate agent, she is the one the other sisters come to for guidance. She and her husband, John, have two sons, the youngest surviving leukemia. She carries and gives birth to Thomas George, Frankie & Mitch’s son. After trouble with her first son, she has an affair with her therapist, separates from John, has a second affair with a much younger classmate in college and, eventually returns to John.

☆ Francesca…”Frankie” (Julianne Phillips…Springsteen’s first wife), the fourth daughter. She is a highly paid executive, a workaholic like her father and discovered that she was infertile. Georgie becomes her surrogate for her baby. Her work habits break apart her marriage to Mitch. Afterwards, she quits her job and buys a local diner. She eventually moves to Japan for another job.

☆ Charlotte…”Charley” (a doctor, originally played by Jo Anderson, then Sheila Kelley) as the unknown, fifth, illegitimate daughter that shows up in the fourth season, looking for a bone marrow donation (a shift in the story-line as Julianne Phillips prepared to leave the show). The nicknames are a product of their father wanting boys and never getting one. The four older sisters tagged Charlotte with her own nickname.

Supporting Characters:
★ John Witsig (Garrett M. Brown), Georgie’s husband.
★ Mitch Margolis (Ed Marinaro), Teddy’s high school sweetheart, ex-husband & Frankie’s ex-husband.
★ Catherine “Cat” Margolis (Heather McAdam), Teddy & Mitch’s daughter that goes on to be a cop.

Much of the show is full of flashbacks, particularly the interactions of the sisters growing up.

Trivia Bits:
♦ Patricia Kalember’s husband in real life, Daniel Gerroll, had a recurring role in season five. He played psychiatrist Dr. David Caspian, who was counseling her character Georgie.
♦ Julianne Phillips and Patricia Kalember also co-starred in Fletch Lives.
♦ Elizabeth Hoffman was a minor, recurring character on Stargate SG-1 and played Eleanor Roosevelt in two mini-series: The Winds of War (1983) and War & Remembrance (1988-1989).

Scene & Opening Theme

TV Draft Round 4 – Pick 6 – Dave Selects – Friends

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 7 rounds will be posted here. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Dave from https://soundday.wordpress.com/

Some of our other participants have picked highly excellent, but “boutique” shows. Ones which are brilliant, and critically-praised, but not hugely viewed, often due to appearing on pay cable stations or obscure streaming services. This is actually great because it’s giving some of us insight into shows we’ve heard about but not seen. But for my second pick, I’ll stick with the 1990s and stick with a show of mass appeal…more mass appeal now than back then, one might guess: Friends. It was a show I sometimes watched, and quite liked back in the day but have watched a good deal more and come to enjoy more in the years since it ended. (In that it was somewhat like one of its companion shows on NBC, Seinfeld, looked at by Music City Mike already.)

NBC’s Thursday night lineup in the ’90s was a TV equivalent to baseball’s ’61 Yankees… a seemingly unstoppable powerhouse that kept throwing superstar after superstar at you. By 1993, it was already a juggernaut in the ratings and with critics with the combo of Seinfeld and Frasier. But they needed something to keep the momentum throughout the night and had had some difficulty finding another prime-time comedy to keep viewers on the Peacock network. Enter Marta Kauffman and David Crane,a couple of, well, friends who were writers. Struggling ones at that.

“We wanted to write something we would watch,” Kauffman said. They were in their early-30s and Crane says “not long before, we’d been living in New York, not doing TV. We’d been living it.” So they set upon the idea of a group of people like themselves who were out on their own but single, starting to find their way in the world with little but their close friends to help them through.

They came up with the basic idea and a few test scripts and pitched it to Fox, who said “it’s funny, but it’s not Fox funny. Can you make it more adult?” Instead, they landed at NBC, who saw some potential with it. Which was prescient of them, since like so many shows, the pilot was…well, not great. It was OK, but only hinted at the depth of the characters and the laughs that it would soon create. It might have been unwatchable if Rachel had stayed the spoiled princess, Ross the always sadsack downer or Joey the macho stud. Happily the characters and dialog evolved and quickly found their stride only a few weeks in.

As most know, the show revolved around a main cast of six “friends”…an unusually large ensemble for a sitcom that didn’t have one main star, ala say Bill Cosby on his eponymous show. There were the guys – Joey, the proudly Italian ladies-man and struggling actor; Chandler, the sarcastic and oft-frustrated office “suit” and Ross, the nerdy and awkward professor – and the girls. They were Monica, Ross’ sister, a compulsive neat freak and talented cook; Phoebe, the artsy-fartsy ’60s throwback hippie singer, and Rachel, the rich fashionista cut off from her family money and learning life lessons. With a “heart of gold” would be a modifier applied to all six. Through ten seasons, 1994- 2004, and 236 episodes they struggled with ordinary problems like so many of their fans – finding romantic partners, or at least dates, getting a good job, trying to keep afloat financially, and the like. All the while talking a lot and hanging out at the Central Perk, a local coffee shop. (Jennfier Aniston, “Rachel” once commented that it would be impossible to set it in the present day because it would now just be six people sitting staring at their phones.)  At times they’d fight, but in the end, like the famous Rembrandts theme song (“I’ll Be There For You”) suggests, they were always there for each other.

Time magazine noted “the well-hidden secret of the show was that it was called ‘Friends’ and was really about family.” Or to put it another way, that when you get to be an adult, your friends can be your family, the rock you can rely on. In that it rather duplicated Seinfeld, or Frasier’s predecessor, Cheers. And like those shows, a good deal of the appeal was how perfect the actors chosen were for the roles. Unlike those two, by a few episodes in you were always rooting for those characters.  It seemed like lightning struck in the casting. The creators had written the Ross part specifically with David Schwimmer in mind… they actually figured he would be the break-out star of the series. The others all came about by chance. They envisioned Courteney Cox to be Rachel, not Monica, but she liked the other role better. They liked Jennifer Aniston, but she was under contract to another, thankfully short-lived show at the time so they figured she wouldn’t be available. She was. Nancy McKeon was their first choice for Monica, but that fell through, and so on and so on. Now it seems impossible to think of Monica being anyone but Courteney, or anyone but Matt Leblanc being Joey, etc. And Jennifer Aniston? So intertwined with her character was she that her haircut swept the nation and was called “the Rachel.”

All six of the characters were flawed, and often not good at their jobs. The only thing as bad as Phoebe’s singing might be Joey’s on-stage acting chops or Ross’ attempt to win over students by speaking in a fake British accent. But their flaws made them seem like people we all knew and loved…or maybe, like ourselves. As years went by, they became our friends. We wanted Joey to keep that role on Days of Our Lives, we wanted Chandler to find a way not to be transferred to Tulsa, and of course, we wanted Ross and Rachel to figure out that they were in love with each other and just get together! I mean, come on – Ross said Rachel’s name instead of the girl he was supposed to be marrying (Emily) during his wedding vows!

Interestingly, just before Season 8 was about to begin, the world was shaken by 9/11. This posed a dilemma for the series, set in Manhattan. They didn’t know how to approach it. Finally, NBC decided “9/11 did happen in the World of Friends, but it would be acknowledged only by visual clues”… Joey sometimes wore an “NYFD” t-shirt, newspapers appeared on tables, the etch-a-sketch on Joey and Chandler’s door had more patriotic images on it but “no one would want to see ‘the one with the terrorist attack.’”  It hit the actors hard, like everybody else, and they had to reconcile their job with the reality of the world. Lisa Kudrow, “Phoebe,” said “we’re not curing cancer. It’s not a big deal. But you know what? When you can offer people a break from some such a devastating reality, that is a big deal.” Aniston echoed, “this was the one place in the world it was still OK to laugh.”  It was a big deal. The show, already a top 10 ratings hit, became the most-watched on television that season (the last sitcom to earn that distinction) and won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy. The series finale, in which yes, Rachel didn’t get on the plane (and leave for France, rather, coming back to be with Ross) was the most-viewed regular TV episode of this century so far.

Like I said, I watched it at times then but appreciate it more now. Actually, thinking back, I was often too busy living my own version of Friends when it was on to tune in. Hanging out with buddies, looking for a lasting love, working late in the store, you name it.  When I was fortunate enough to find my lasting love, it turned out Friends was one of her all-time favorite shows. She used to tell people back then not to call on Thursday until after 7:30 (it aired at 7PM in Central time, 8 in the East where I was watching) because she was tied up…with “friends”.  We love watching reruns together, and when it left Netflix, I got her the set of DVDS. Or got us the set. I laugh at Ross’s consternation at his boss eating his Moist-maker sandwich or barista Gunther’s longing for Rachel (I guess I could relate to Gunther on that one!) as much as my sweetie does. If grilled cheese sandwiches might be a “comfort food”, Friends is “comfort watching” to us.

A couple of parting thoughts about Friends. First, to me it seems rather like most sitcoms these days have a tendency to copy it, but not as successfully. Groups of funny, inseparable friends.  How I Met Your Mother… group of late-20-something friends who hang out together in a neighborhood bar and have little to do with their biological families. The at times cloying Big Bang Theory? Don’t get me started. Friends who are family to themselves, the nerdy professorial type destined to be with the super-sexy but sweet blonde (who like Rachel struggles as a waitress but finally finds success in a professional career), guys with no musical talent but abundant arrogance playing in the comic book store (much like both Ross and his keyboards and Phoebe’s bad songwriting)… they even stole the story of the male character who tried to get a spray on tan to impress a woman and ended up bright orange by accident.

And secondly, the show got back together in the right way. That is to say, by not regrouping. As much as they were being pressured to do a reunion, like so many other comedies from Will and Grace to Gilmore Girls had done, Friends decided to leave things as they were. There was the much-hyped reunion show last year,of course, but it was dealt with smartly… the six actors got back together and reminisced, showed a few classic clips and talked about what it was like back then. Brilliant restraint, because the magic of Friends was the characters remain forever young, and then left on high notes …they were happy, moving away from their New York apartment building to start new lives, full of love and optimism. Just as NBC realized we didn’t need “the one with the terrorist attack”, the cast understood we didn’t want “the one where Ross needs viagra now” or “the one with Gunther’s funeral.”  They knew not to overstay their welcome, and leave us laughing.

TV Draft Round 4 – Pick 4 – Paula Selects – Six Feet Under

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 7 rounds will be posted here. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Paula from http://paulalight.com

Six Feet Under

Six Feet Under is probably my favorite television series of all time. But do you know what? I never want to rewatch it. I’ve rewatched Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc., but I prefer that 6FU remain pure in my mind without getting tarnished by new thoughts. Because I always have new thoughts about old faves! (Info source for this post is from Wikipedia.)

Anyway, 6FU was created by Alan Ball and premiered on HBO June 3, 2001 (my mom’s birthday). It ran for five seasons with 63 episodes. Each show begins with an unusual death of some kind and continues from there. The pilot kicks off with the death of Nathaniel Fisher, Sr. (played by Richard Jenkins), patriarch of the Fisher family, as he tries to light a cigarette while driving. Fisher is the owner of a Los Angeles mortuary and leaves behind a wife, 2 sons, and a daughter. The eldest son, Nate (played by Peter Krause) is estranged from the family but still returns for the funeral ~ on the flight he meets Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) and has sex with her. This isn’t a one-time fling, as she is a recurring character with interesting storylines of her own, including some with her psycho brother Billy (Jeremy Sisto).

Probably the most interesting character is the second son David (Michael C. Hall), who seems to be a straight-laced, rule-following conservative, but he is actually leading a double life as a gay man with a sexy boyfriend, police officer Keith (Mathew St. Patrick). David wants to keep the funeral home going, but Nate wants to sell it and skedaddle… he has second thoughts when his father’s ghost appears (perhaps his subconscious, as the show generally does not dive into the supernatural). David fights to keep his sexual orientation a secret, which upsets Keith to the point that he breaks off the relationship. David then goes on a series of dates, which I found personally amusing, as they mirrored my own horrifying dating experiences.

The mom Ruth (Frances Conroy) has a secret boyfriend and decides she doesn’t want anything further to do with the mortuary, though as a psychologist, she has opinions about everything. I found her character to be annoying and my least favorite, while others I’ve talked to about the show have the opposite opinion! Claire (Lauren Ambrose) is still in high school and consumed with the typical drugs and boyfriend gossipy drama as one might predict. She becomes more interesting as the episodes roll on and develops an attraction to Billy, which is scary. I don’t want to give away too much, but the Brenda/Billy situation is bizarre and fascinating. Federico, the corpse artist (played by Freddy Rodriguez) is interesting as well and has some funny lines.

While this show is obviously about dealing with death and the practicalities surrounding funeral arrangements, it’s also about family and relationships, and how complex and interrelated life events can be. I highly recommend it ~ and oh my gosh the finale is to die for! I’m sorry but no one can touch this ending, which is the best episode in TV history. Six Feet Under rightfully received high praise for both writing and acting and drew high ratings for HBO. It won many awards ~ 9 Emmys, 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 3 Golden Globes, and a Peabody. Fabulous show!

~*~

Paula Light is a poet, novelist, flash fiction fan, cupcake connoisseur, mom, grandma, cat mommy, etc. Her blog can be found at http://paulalight.com.

TV Draft Round 4 – Pick 1 – Mike Selects – Breaking Bad

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 7 rounds will be posted here. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Mike from https://musiccitymike.net

Breaking Bad

Like many other TV bingers these days, there are few, if any, series that I watch in real time. After all, who has the patience to wait a week (or at a season’s end, over the summer) for the next episode to see what happens next in a suspenseful show. However, I did make an exception for the wild escapades of high school chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine maker Walter White on AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Why? Well, the plot was just so unique and more so, its production, especially in terms of camera work, was nothing short of spectacular. The ways that producer Vince Gilligan found to use the camera were ground-breaking. Come on, who would have ever thought of filming from the inside of a refrigerator!

Before I get to the tragic tale of Mr. White, there’s also the music. I don’t think I have ever been so taken by the impact of soundtrack songs like I was in Breaking Bad.  There are two magic moments that come to mind. I still get chills running down my spine when I think of how Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion” and Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” were used to such stunning effects. For the unfamiliar, it may help to know that Mr. White’s “product” had a unique-to-meth blue color. And the Badfinger song’s opening line of “Guess I got what I deserve” show appropriately set the show’s final scene. (Kudos also to local Nashville band The Silver Seas for getting their fab song “Catch Yer Own Train” into Season One.)

As with my fave series, The Sopranos, here we go again with White and his former student and now partner-in-crime, Jessie Pinkman, falling into the unavoidable anti-hero role. However, seeing all this suspense and drama from a first-person perspective was the only way to go for Breaking Bad. And how could you not resist rooting for a guy who simply was trying to get some extra money together for his family before he died of cancer.

What really makes the show so habit forming is how what starts out as such a simple innocent way to make a few bucks steamrolls into a monster enterprise attracting a cadre of despicable characters. This includes the metamorphosis of meek Walter into the evil Heisenberg. Even his demure wife gets into the act to help when the couple finds itself with an accumulation of cash larger than most banks. While the show is full of violence galore, it’s these same things that also gives the show more laughs than you’d ever expect in a crime drama. For me, the funniest moment was when screwball meth-head Badger explains how the pizza place they just ordered from passes on the savings by not cutting its slices.

But, Breaking Bad also uses the often employed, but head-scratching literary device of coincidence.  What are the odds that a guy who takes up making meth in Albuquerque, New Mexico would also have a brother-in-law who is the local head of the DEA who heads the task force hunting down the guy behind the new blue meth showing up on the streets! I’ll save the spoilers as to how these two end up.

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, as Walter and Jesse respectively, both put in career-defining roles. And the supporting cast was just as spectacular, including Bob Odinkirk as sleazy lawyer, Saul Goodman, who would wind up with his own spin-off show, Better Call Saul, which is just about to start airing its final season.

I hope that all fans of the show did get to see the enjoyable El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, a Netflix sequel to the show that continues the story of Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman character. And as for the prequal of Better Call Saul, we fans look forward to hopefully seeing White and Pinkman appear on the show as its timeline moves forward and the show runs its course. And on a possible sad note, maybe we will find out why Saul’s lady friend, Kim Wexler, never made it to the Breaking Bad days.

In concluding, let me just say that this show is just so darn good that it is no surprise that in 2013 it entered the Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed TV show of all-time. That’s no surprise since how many shows have ever achieved the success of having each episode followed by a live recap and analysis show every week!

TV Draft Recap Rounds 1 & 2

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 8 rounds will be posted here. We will have 64 different TV Shows by 8 different writers. I hope you will enjoy it! 

This is a recap of rounds one and two that were held earlier. Hope you will join us on April 11, 2022… Monday at 9am CST to kick it off. 

Round 1TV ShowWho PostedHome Site
1.Doctor WhoVichttps://cosmic-observation.com/blog-posts/
2.The Sopranos Mikehttps://musiccitymike.net
3.Bozo’s Circus Johnhttps://thesoundofonehandtyping.com 
4.Barney MillerMaxhttps://powerpop.blog
5.The WireKirkhttps://slicethelife.com/
6.Police SquadKeithhttps://nostalgicitalian.com/
7.Only Murders in the Building (OMITB)Paulahttp://paulalight.com
Round 2
1.The Odd CoupleMikehttps://musiccitymike.net
2.Cartoon TownJohnhttps://thesoundofonehandtyping.com 
3.Fawlty TowersMaxhttps://powerpop.blog
4.Rockford FilesKirkhttps://slicethelife.com/
5.Mission ImpossibleKeithhttps://nostalgicitalian.com/
6.FireflyVichttps://cosmic-observation.com/blog-posts/