White Lotus S3 has to wait, because I seriously cannot stop watching Parenthood (2010-2015). Finishing up season 3 now. Directed/created by Ron Howard and you can see there is a craftsperson at work.
It’s about the lives of the broader Braverman family, from babies to high school kids, and from stressed out working parents to retired grandparents. All lives offer lots of laughs and drama.
Initially the show gives off some Gilmore Girls’ vibes, what with Lauren Graham re-doing her role as neurotic single mom. But the other actors quickly draw you in. And actually for me the lesser known actors make the most impact, like Crosby and Jasmine, and grandma.
It’s all very real, honest, and well made. Nothing spectacular, but as said, all else has to wait while I finish this all.
At this point, Lynch had largely left the series in Mark Frost’s hands. And it’s now that we really start in with all the PLOT in the story, and boy there’s a lot of it. An abusive husband who married the 16 year old waitress. The waitress was seeing Laura’s boyfriend Bobby. Laura was cheating on Bobby with James, who really loved Donna, etc. There are various other romances, betrayals, switching alignments, and scheming that really get going here. And it’s also in this stretch where the series genuinely commits to the odd, magical/supernatural aspects of the story that had only been hinted at thus far.
I remember distinctly how all my college/post college friends and I were absolutely glued to the series, using the local BBS’s and the relatively young system of internet newsgroups. We poured over every detail, taped episodes to watch them to try and find other clues. They published supplemental material like The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and Tourists Guide to Twin Peaks that we dutifully consumed over the next couple years.
So much of it seems almost camp, now. I think most of that was intentional, but at 21, I didn’t really have the cultural background to fully recognize it. 90’s irony hadn’t quite reached its peak.
Next week will be eps 7 and 8. And hopefully, by early next month, I’ll have blu ray boxed set, so I can run through season 2, Fire Walk With Me, and The Return.
The SNL 50 concert at Radio City Music Hall (I had to sign up for a free trial of Instacart bundled with a free trial of Peacock to watch this. I don’t regret it.)
I am enjoying it, but it’s a dated format with some VERY dated performers. (I’m old, I guess.)
Highlights: (1) The Roots as the house band, which means they got to play a lot of very different styles, (2) David Byrne singing Bowie’s Heroes, and then returning to back up Robyn on “Dancing on My Own,” (3) Brandi Carlisle completely killing it, (4) Bonnie Raitt completely killing it, (5) Dobro master Jerry Douglas getting a star turn on a cover of “The Boxer,” (6) SNL alums Ana Gasteyer and Will Ferrell’s skit playing middle-school music teachers (this should’ve been on the main broadcast Sunday night!) and hilariously covering both Doechii and Kendrick Lamar, (7) freaking CHER coming out in her full 80s getup from the “Turn Back Time” video and gamely singing it live and the audience losing it, (8) Jack White closing the show with an excellent and very “this is how rock and roll is done” performance , (9) Lady Gaga and Adam Sandler duetting on the infamous SNL skit originally with Justin Timberlake, “Dick in a Box.”
Lowlights: (1) Host Jimmy Fallon (ugh,) (2) Miley Cyrus, whose voice makes sets my teeth on edge, (3) Mumford and Sons (yawn) getting multiple songs to the far superior Carlisle’s one song, (4) the disappointing singing voice of the great Ms. Lauryn Hill, who did her best, but… (5) Arcade Fire crawling out of their hole, (6) Snoop, fresh from performing at the inauguration of a racist fascist, (7) Post Malone fronting the now-frequently-reuniting surviving members of Nirvana. They did it best at the RnR HOF with a selection of female singers (Joan Jett, St. Vincent, Kim goddamn Gordon, Lorde.) Post was a no for me, dog.
Also tried watching 9 Perfect Strangers. Nope. Terrible dialogue & boring AF, despite a reasonably talented cast. Fell asleep early in the 3rd episode. Glad I didn’t subject my PIC to this.
Oopsadaisy. Mea maxima culpa. I’ve only ever seen him in roles where he plays a Brit (i.e. Fleabag, Sherlock, etc.), or, in the above case, a Pennsylvanian
Ooof. Yeah. both British and Irish folks will, let’s say, have strong feelings if you confuse one for the other. ESPECIALLY if you follow that up with “What? It’s all the UK, right?”
I have a pretty good handle on accents, and he’s clearly brilliant at faking any number of them. As many actors from the general area (UK, Scotland, Wales, Ireland) seem to be.
What are some of your favorite Andrew Scott movies/shows? We have A Different Man in our queue ATM, and we’ve seen Fleabag, Ripley, Sherlock, the above mentioned A Dark Place and… holy shit, he was in Saving Private Ryan??
i’ve been checking out the new E.R. drama The Pitt. it’s fairly grounded in it’s storytelling and less character based than ER was back in the day. a close friend of mine is an ER nurse and thinks it gets most of the medical depictions correct. i can see avoiding this show b/c it is definitely a bummer (but is punctuated with enough humanity to keep this viewer watching).
Yeah, it’s big hit over on Pajiba. I’m just full up on medical dramas. Too much real life medical drama these days. I do love St. Denis which is very funny and what I need right now.
And first episode of new season of Family Guy was solid. I love content that makes fun of Tom Cruise and Hollywood’s hideous misogyny. It’s a parody of top Gun and you know who plays TC.
After seeing the Superb Owl bit, I looked up What We Do in the Shadows and started to binge watch it. Very well written and produced, spoofing the vampire genre, with some laugh out loud stuff.
