The End...For Now

It's time to take a break again, but I will continue watching and logging my favorite shows.  Stay tuned...

Normal Lear on PBS

Tonight on PBS's American Masters you can learn more about a great comedy writer in Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.  I have listened in on many interviews of Mr. Lear over the years, but it will be nice to watch this documentary sum it up and share more stories from his friends.  Here is a summary of what to expect from PBS:

With unprecedented access to Lear, his work and his massive personal archives, American Masters — Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You combines stories from his turbulent childhood and early career with his groundbreaking TV success (All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude) and social activism. The documentary also features colorful stories from Lear’s family, friends and collaborators, including John Amos, George Clooney, Alan Horn, Bill Moyers, Rob Reiner, Phil Rosenthal and Russell Simmons, as well as cinéma vérité moments with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Jon Stewart, Amy Poehler and Lena Dunham.

Breaking down the fourth wall to create an evocative collage where past and present intermingle, Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp, 12th & Delaware, DETROPIA for Independent Lens) reveal a psychologically rich man whose extraordinary contributions emerge from both his personal story and his own self-professed childlike view of the world. Just Another Version of You traces how a poor Jewish kid from Connecticut started writing for The Colgate Comedy Hour with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, created All in the Family and became one of TV’s most successful showrunners. All character-driven, with theatrical sets and live audiences, Lear’s TV series changed not only the face of national television but the content of national discourse. Bringing provocative subjects like war, poverty and prejudice to 120 million viewers every week, Lear proved that social change was possible through an unlikely prism – laughter – and created some of the greatest moments in television history.

All in the Family and his other shows remain as a time capsule covering past events, and it is needed just as much today, though I am not sure the show could be made today in our politically correct environment.  That said, it is possible we are still discussing these issues in a new way.  

Whether you are watching Black-ish, Just Off the Boat, or The Real O'Neils, the sitcom stories today tend to be told by the groups feeling the outsider pressure rather than the outsiders stating their obnoxious views (except for The Simpsons, of course).  Maybe that integrates the audience into the world of the "other" and is a more effective way to change views.  Maybe.  But I still look back on Norman Lear as a master of the craft who changed television and, more importantly, changed America by holding a mirror up to us and making us cringe.  Homer Simpson cannot replace Archie Bunker in this regard.

Man With a Bad Plan?

Maybe you need another family comedy this fall.  And maybe you miss Matt LeBlanc.  And maybe you forgot about all the other great new TV shows premiering this fall that clearly eliminate the need for this comedy.  If so, CBS's Man With a Plan, premiering tomorrow night, is for you. 

It is basically about a father that finds it hard to raise three children while his wife is at work. That's it. Nothing too difficult here.  It makes Friends sound pretty complex by comparison. 

I am not recommending it, but just sharing the news. You have been warned.

Perfectly Nicole

Last month a terrific comedy started on MTV, though the press has said too little about it. As with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, you have a loveable woman operating in her own world, though instead of living in a hole in the ground like Kimmy, Nichole lives in a bubble of her own making where wigs are required, work is optional, and boyfriends are abundant.

The series is call Loosely Exactly Nicole and stars Nicole Byer as the lead and Jacob Wysocki as Devin, her enabling roommate.  The two reside in Hollywood where they are still too self-involved to know they are in a wasteland of broken dreams.  Nicole still attends auditions between babysitting marketing various drugs knowing she will be found someday.

Devin also has his own wacky story-line as a gay man trying to find his romantic partner, or at least an interested evening.  He is fun to watch as he tries to educate those around him about gay culture and fashion on a $2 budget.

This duo creates plenty of adventures, only slightly tempered by Nicole's more grounded friend Veronica (played by Jen D'Angelo).  

It's a nice break from more predictable comedies, and adult in nature (so hide the kids).

Give Nichole a try. 

Who is Dirk Gently?

The full name of BBC America's new series is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

, so the role of Mr. Gently may be clear now. But what is a "holistic" detective agency? Maybe just knowing the story originated with Douglas Adams of "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is enough to understand that nothing will make sense in this series.

Starring Samuel Barnett as detective Dirk Gently and Elijah Wood as his assistant Todd, the new series premiering tomorrow (Oct 22) will have plenty of of strange encounters and related investigations. 

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Wood admitted he was not an Adams fan but was drawn in anyway:

No. In fact, I’ve not read any Douglas Adams. I’m certainly familiar with him as a pop culture reference. My entry point was quite literally the pilot script that [creator] Max Landis had written. I had never read anything like it — certainly not seen anything like it on television that resembled it.. 

Take a look at this clip showing when  Dirk first meets Todd. This unique duo and show reboots Sherlock Holmes in a very strange way.  I hope it will find its audience, again.  

Be There for Black Mirror

We will soon learn whether Netflix did us a favor taking in the third season of the series Black Mirror, basically a British Twilight Zone, which premieres tomorrow. 

Netflix has already committed to six episodes in season three and another six in season four, compared to the first two seasons that were three episodes apiece. That is not much of a risk given the series popularity. 

Here is a summary of the "Nosedive," the first episode of the new season, as described by Charlie Brooker, the series creator, in Entertainment Weekly;

An insecure office worker (Bryce Dallas Howard) lives in a world in which everyone obsessively ranks and rates every tiny social interaction. She thinks she finally may have found a way to rank alongside her friend (Alice Eve), who’s one of society’s elites. At first glance, this sounds like a classic Black Mirror setup — an existing tech element taken to a horrifying new extreme. But Brooker says it’s one of the most unusual episodes he’s done. “Each episode this season is a different genre; this one is a social satire,” Brooker says. “It’s got a creepy serenity to it and won’t be what people expect.” 

I am very hopeful that Netlix understands the magic of the first two seasons and does not stray too far.  If so, we have more great stories to keep us up at night. 

The Great Pumpkin Returns

It's that time of year again for a viewing of the classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. You can watch it tonight on ABC.

It's hard to believe the holiday cartoon has been on the air for 50 years.  And still, I cannot think of another Halloween special that comes even close to replacing it.  Of course, I cannot think of many Halloween specials. Like Thanksgiving, if it wasn't for Charles Schultz we would have little on TV for a family to mark the occasion. 

So just sit back and enjoy the show.