“The Greatest American Hero” was one of the dumbest shows ever on television. I of course loved it and considered it to be both a documentary and guidebook for a great life.

There is no moan louder than someone of a previous generation complaining about something being remade, redone or of sequels and prequels inspiring a new take on an old idea. I should know – because most of the crying is from people of my age or older. Complaining about the alleged lack of imagination of creative teams is a common refrain – and misguided, in my opinion.

“There’s nothing new under the sun.” Ever heard that saying? It’s older than your grandmother’s dentures. It seems that people complaining about remakes are themselves guilty of repeating the same tired cliché?

There are great reasons to turn to an old idea for inspiration. Using something familiar is a sound basis for a new adaption; familiarity and echoes of similarity hearken us back to when we were younger and ostensibly purer. Being able to take something known and trusted and make it fresh and invigorating is a tough task for everyone involved. It’s true – many fail miserably. But they tried. Sometimes, they do it better, with more creativity, and with verve. So often, though, they aren’t given a chance, as people turn their backs on the opportunity to think of something they love in a different way. People love revisiting the people, places, and memories of their pasts. Writers and studios know this and respond with what people want to see.

Most people watch the same litany of shows. Rarely do people flourish and branch out to new genres and types of movies and television as they age. While many might tune in to 15 different shows over time, the truth is that many of those shows are just vague versions of other shows. I won’t make the oft-repeated joke about the 47 iterations of “CSI: Bathroom Break” shows.

As people age, there is a tendency for them to stop being interested in new music. “Music is all crap nowadays.” Or, “The golden days of music were back when…” It’s not true – it is just that we close our minds and ears off to things that don’t fit into the grooves of repeated “normal” that we’ve grown accustomed to. So, we lose the chance to find nuggets of greatness even among piles of dreck. We tune in to the same classic stations, oldies marathons, and retro-music. (Complaining about the music of the day is a direct symptom of getting old at heart.) While I’m on the subject, it is also why there are weirdos claiming that vinyl is better, 8-tracks were more pure in spirit, or that mp3 format is like listening to your mother-in-law read the IRS tax code while gargling.

And we complain about the lack of originality. It’s not “them,” it is “us” who is the problem.

I look forward to the re-imagined “The Greatest American Hero.” They might fail and they might succeed. I figure if one of favorite songs is a mashup of “Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles mixed with “Girls, Girls, Girls” by Motley Crue (who I loathed when I was younger), I might find something delightful in just about anything – if I keep my mind youthful in spirit and stop learning over and over that I really have no idea what I MIGHT like if I give it an honest chance.

PS: For any old fogeys reading this, a “mashup” is a juxtaposition of two distinct songs, usually done via melody, rhythm and lyrics.

This show was evocative of the dread of my youth. That I understood the character “Danny” (portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn) so well should not surprise anyone who knows me: his character was an amalgam of several people of my youth. Sissy Spacek and Sam Shepard were stellar, but Ben as “Danny” stole the show. For those who know me intimately, the comparison to actual people will be obvious, except for those who don’t relish seeing themselves reflected in such a harsh light. We can all be Danny to some degree; most of us, however, reach a point where our destructive tendencies become impossible to manage or we drive away the people who should be close to us.

The show feels a slow-building book, one in which you expect the very worst. You root for a person’s better version to emerge – instead it slams you repeatedly across the forehead with the dread certainty that some people have no redemption. You begin to cheer for bad people who stay true to their nature, while hoping for those who are fooling themselves will be forced to face their choices. As each participant in the family realizes too late, Danny had no place at the table and that hoping for the best of him, even with good intentions, resulted in worse consequences. Each of them has to face their own demons, magnified by the family member who isn’t playing by their rules.

It is impossible for me to accurately capture how the building dread perfectly echoes the necessity of violence. In essence, “Bloodline” vividly spells out the ways that mean folk walk the earth, wearing the camouflage of normalcy, hiding their fangs – and how families only see what they allow themselves to see.

The inevitable violence took too long to bloom; however, it was not possible to look away from the impending explosion. The show takes the time to develop. The pages turn, one by one, until you are hoping to be there to witness the fruits of everyone’s willful ignorance. No matter how non-violent you are, you will be demanding that someone wake up and provide some righteous anger.

I used the picture of the matriarch and patriarch of the family sitting on the porch, as it contrasts the dark theme of the show. Nothing about this show is peaceful, even though it’s set in picturesque Florida, a place where normal people go to escape. For the Rayburn family, their history is there to greet them no matter where they temporarily flee to.

“Bloodline” was in most ways better than all other Netflix original shows.

Although I imagine that every person on the planet has at least heard of “The Wire,” I’m still surprised that many haven’t heard much about it or even tried to watch it. Even though I don’t necessarily place much credence in popularity or critical review, “The Wire” has placed high or on top of many polls of enumerating ‘the best of.’

The Wikipedia Page
The Wire IMDB

The wikipedia and IMDB links are for anyone who is interested in taking a cursory glance at that details of the show.

“The Wire” is a slow-starter. Despite its crime backdrop, the show is really a look at how people think, react and live. It’s meticulously realistic and relates to anyone watching.

I count this show as one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Rest in peace, Omar! (The best ‘bad’ guy ever on television.)

STOP reading now if your sensibilities are injured by profanity. You have been warned!

(By way of preface, I love this show, at risk of darkening my reputation and maligning my own character!)

Deadwood is an older HBO series, one which sometimes gets overlooked against stalwarts such as “Six Feet Under” or “The Sopranos.” I recently started re-watching the entire series. It is a much better series now that I’m older. There were some themes that I didn’t quite understand through my first viewing many years ago. Now that my wife has been exposed to so many accents and strange modes of speech, she doesn’t find it a chore to decipher the complexity of Deadwood with me. I’m so glad that she’s watching it with me.

Despite its frontier setting, Deadwood is one of those rare shows which owes much of its appeal to the subtle words of wisdom littered throughout the dialogue. Many of the characters are on the show are so apparently ‘gross’ on the surface that we sometimes forget that intelligence and wit don’t always arrive in pretty containers. (They are quite often covered in mud and guarded by a snarling rat.) Many fans of the show don’t know that the creator originally was to use the same themes in a show based in Roman times but due to HBO already sponsoring “Rome,” the creator adapted the ideas to a similarly-themed time and place. The series at its heart is supposed to detail how any group of people move away from chaos toward organization.

Ian McShane had the meatiest part, the one of Al Swearengen. Some might argue that Timothy Olyphant had the best role as Seth Bullock, but I disagree entirely. Al’s character is one of the most authentic roles I’ve ever seen in television. Al was also a real person historically and is reputed to have been brutal. Whatever the real reach of his tendency toward anger, I much prefer the television-inspired version HBO brought to life. Al’s villain in this show is at least consistent to his nature, as well as having an astute understanding of the what drives people (and it usually isn’t what they say it is.)

One reason I linked to my original profanity blog is that Deadwood has one of the highest cursing frequencies in television. The “F-bomb” is used so often that it almost gets ignored. At the time, the creator, David Milch, got a lot of attention for such blatant cursing. Personally, I think it makes the show much more credible. If you watch the show and listen attentively, you’ll note that much of the true message is conveyed by those who tend to speak the most coarsely.

The real word of surprise in Deadwood is the word “cocksucker.” This is not your typical dinner party word. In Deadwood, it is used incessantly. “Cocksucker” was on of my dad’s favorite words. A few of my earliest memories involve my dad convincing me to go approach one of my religiously-inclined elders and utter the word in their presence. While no match in style, my dad would have agreed that he had much in common with Al Swearengen. He certainly had some physical attributes in common.

A Few Quotes from Deadwood…

Al Swearengen: Pain or damage don’t end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man… and give some back.

Al Swearengen: In life you have to do a lot of things you don’t fucking want to do. Many times, that’s what the fuck life is… one vile fucking task after another.

Al Swearengen: Announcin’ your plans is a good way to hear god laugh.

Calamity Jane: Maybe I will have a fuckin’ drink, for sociability’s sake and ’cause I’m a fuckin’ drunk.
Joanie Stubbs: What’s your preference?
Calamity Jane: That it ain’t been previously swallowed.

E.B. Farnum: Some ancient Italian maxim fits our situation, whose particulars escape me.
Francis Wolcott: Is the gist that I’m shit out of luck?
E.B. Farnum: Did they speak that way then?

Hugo Jarry: And you, Mr. Wolcott, I find you the most severe disappointment of all.
Francis Wolcott: Often to myself, as well.

Miles Anderson: God bless you, Mr. Swearengen.
Al Swearengen: Well, not likely. But my prospects have just improved.

Cy Tolliver: Sayin’ questions in that tone and pointin’ your finger at me will get you told to fuck yourself.

Al Swearengen: I wouldn’t trust a man who wouldn’t try to steal a little.

Al Swearengen: What’s your partner so mad about all the time?
Sol Star: He’s not mad.
Al Swearengen: He’s got a mean way of being happy.

A.W. Merrick: Why did you strike me? 
Doc Cochran: To secure your attention.

While watching some shows, I get annoyed by the way they are segmented, especially around commercial breaks. I admit that I don’t watch much TV that includes commercials, even on DVR.

A growing trend that bugs me is what I have named the “precap.” I know this word already exists, but not in the sense I use it. A “precap” is the tendency of a show to show us what is going to happen after the commercial; after the commercial break, we then see what happened before and what is yet to come. Sometimes, the same material is referenced several times before being shown. Ugh!

I have to learn new ways to stop noticing this trend, as it is slowly killing the little enjoyment I can glean from a few TV shows.

An Appreciation of “Six Feet Under” 8 Years After Its Death

“Six Feet Under” IMDB Page

My wife and I recently started watching this brilliant show – again.

It is one of the ‘perfect’ shows, taken as a whole. The series finale is certainly the best episode of television I’ve ever witnessed.

Below is Sia’s “Breathe Me,” the song that so eloquently accompanies the last few minutes of the show as it draws its final breath. Anyone who can watch the series and then the finale without tearing up is either subhuman or superhuman!

Sometimes, a great quote can set my brain on fire with truth and simplicity. I think this is very common for most people. The problem is that we too often have weak memories or don’t understand that a great quote has just expressed a sublime truth to us.

Frank Costello: [laughs] … How’s your mother?
Man in Costello’s Bar: Oh… I’m afraid she’s on her way out.
Frank Costello: [walks away] We all are. Act accordingly.
[smiles and his straightens tie]
            From “The Departed”

Sergeant Dignam: I’m the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy.
            From “The Departed”

“All the time you spend tryin to get back what’s been took from you there’s more goin out the door. After a while you just try and get a tourniquet on it.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men 

 “I think sometimes people would rather have a bad answer about things than no answer at all.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

“Ever step you take is forever. You cant make it go away. None of it. You understand what I’m sayin?”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

“If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men