Tag: CBS

Posted in Books, Doctor Who, Environment, Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

What Happens In Space Stays In Space

Posted on by D. Parker

How did your space mission go?
Quiet as space itself, oh, except for being impregnated by an alien life force. Other than that, a-ok.

When I first heard about the CBS TV series Extant it sounded like it had it all.
Oscar-winner Halle Berry, amazing in everything.

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Goran Visnjic who was the McDreamy of his day, in ER.

Grace Gummer, being the daughter of Meryl Streep, I see why she went into acting. Hiroyuki Sanada, guess he needed something to do while we wait forever for the next season of Helix. Camryn Manheim, why isn’t she in more?

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Pierce Gagnon, only 9, but we’ll see a lot more of him. Michael O’Neill, who’s been in so much you’ll feel like you know him. And more. The cast is out of this world.
Producer, Steven Spielberg.

Space is vast, sometimes bringing it to Earth, for TV viewing, can be hit or miss.

Our fascination with space is insatiable, from Star Trek in all its various forms to Doctor Who,

1ex16Battlestar Galactica, Lost In Space, V,
Jetsons, Space: 1999, Farscape, Firefly,

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Transformers, The 4400, Alien Nation,
Falling Skies, Star Wars, The X-Files,

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Roswell, Lexx, G-Force, Superfriends, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, Family Guy, The Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy, Torchwood, Red Dwarf, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Earth 2, Crusade, Starhunter, Lexx, The Starlost, Cowboy Bebop, Space: Above and Beyond, Babylon 5, and more.

As a space fan I’m loathe to admit, maybe we should focus a bit more on how we’re destroying the earth and less on how to get away from the mess we’ve made.

Extant explores more than space, it attempts to explore human emotions, reactions, thought processes, even delving into what makes us human.

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Is Extant full of new ideas? No.
Are the older ideas reprocessed and revisited in a way that makes them refreshing? So far, mostly.

This show isn’t really about aliens, androids, space, conspiracies, a futuristic Earth, it’s about people. It’s about how we act and interact. How we love, hate, fear, dream, hope, and dare to imagine. It’s about understanding that everything comes at a cost. Hopefully we learn that lesson before it’s too late.

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Posted in Political, Televison, Uncategorized

All In The Family…Guy

Posted on by D. Parker

1all15Toned down for American primetime, All in the Family still managed to rock TV land.

Based on the controversial BBC series, Till Death Us Do Part (created by Johnny Speight) and warmed up with The Honeymooners and The Flintstones, nothing had prepared us for Archie Bunker (played by the apparently sweet Carroll O’Connor).1all17

Archie was a complicated guy.
Clearly bigoted and uncouth, he was also honest and hard-working, often expressing opinions people were thinking, but couldn’t go against the politically correct times to say.
He was also an excellent way to hold a mirror up to bigotry and prejudice without shoving it down people’s throats.

This show rammed through contentious and taboo subjects, including but not limited to: racism, homosexuality, rape, miscarriage, abortion, women’s liberation, menopause, breast cancer, impotence, the Vietnam War and more.

Archie was a scared man. His comfy chair world had been turned on its head.
He knew his place and everyone else knew their place. Until they didn’t.
Archie didn’t understand why everything he felt was right in the world, especially his world, had to change.

His long-suffering wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) was patient in ways no one, including their daughter, Gloria (Sally Struthers) could understand. Despite their many issues, it was clear they all loved each other deeply.

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Gloria’s hippie husband, Mike/Meathead (Rob Reiner) highlighted the clash between The Greatest Generation (Archie as a WWII vet) and Baby Boomers, the struggle between the old guard and young people who wanted to change the world…Archie’s snug little world.

1all13And then there were the spinoffs. The Jeffersons  movin’ on up to the East Side.
Edith’s cousin, Maude (the incomparable Bea Arthur) visiting then getting a hilarious spinoff. And Good Times was a dy-no-mite spinoff from Maude. And more…

Taped in multi-camera format in front of a live studio audience, All in the Family never failed to break new ground.
I loved that they never used canned laughter. I’d prefer not to hear any laughter, but if I must, let it be genuine.

Family Guy pays tribute to All in the Family with its opening sequence of Lois and Peter playing the piano, and various other similarities…then again, the whole show is a pop culture fart. Of course, they’ve taken it much further, boldly going where even TV censors, after dying of exhaustion, knew they could go.

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American Dad! (created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman) is an absurd animated emulation, though since the All in the Family players were more caricatures than characters, it makes sense. And they added Roger and Klaus; who can complain?1all2

All in the Family and its official and unofficial offspring influence so many; although, looking around the world today, I think a lot of the messages are being missed, or misinterpreted.

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Posted in Televison, Uncategorized

THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW

Posted on by D. Parker

Still one of the funniest shows ever to grace the small screen.

Went with the Wind still cracks me up; a classic. Loved As the Stomach Turns.

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Never did get the Tarzan call though. And never thought Mama’s Family was even slightly funny.carol5

Some of the best moments were the cast’s inability to keep a straight face, especially Harvey Korman. There was so much ad-libbing you could just see some cast and guests trying to keep up. I’m giggling thinking of Tim Conway as the old man.

Amazing guest stars over the years, so funny to see Steve Martin and Betty White together.

Also,

Madeline Kahn, Shirley McLaine, Vincent Prince,

James Stewart, Bob Newhart, Roddy MacDowall,

Jerry Lewis, Rich Little, Paul Lynde, Ricardo Montalban,

Debbie Reynolds, George Carlin, Shirley Jones,

Jonathan Winters, The Smothers Brothers, Sonny & Cher,

Barbara Eden, Leonard Nimoy, Robin Williams, Alan Alda, carol4

Dick Van Dyke, Buddy Ebsen, Rock Hudson, Janet Jackson,

Kenneth Mars, Wayne Rogers, Telly Savalas, Phil Silvers, Maggie Smith, 

Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, Sammy Davis Jr., Don Adams and so many more.

Posted in Televison, Uncategorized

AMERICAN GOTHIC

Posted on by D. Parker

amgoth1No, I’m not talking about the showdown between the Democrats and the Republicans…although there are similarities.

I mean the short-lived, but much-loved TV series, American Gothic, brainchild of Shaun Cassidy.
Wow, being Joe Hardy on the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries sure messed him up.
Or maybe having David Cassidy for a bro.  Or was it Da Doo Ron Ron?
Whatever, this show was seriously hair-raising (see what I did there, back to Shaun Cassidy and his big hair) and wickedly cool. amgoth3

Gary Cole was evil, but in a you’re-hot-way, as Sheriff Buck.

The cast was impressive including:amgoth2

Gary Cole (Office Space, The Brady Bunch movies, VEEP, True Blood, The Good Wife, Chuck, Hop, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby),
Jake Weber (Elementary, Medium, House, Pelican Brief, Pushing Tin),
Lucas Black (X-Files, Jarhead),
Paige Turco (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, All My Children, Damages),
Brenda Blakke (The Mentalist, CSI, Star Trek: TNG),
Sarah Paulson (12 Years A Slave, Serenity, American Horror Story – Murder House, Asylum and Coven),
Nick Searcy (Justified, Cast Away, The Ugly Truth).
Bruce Campbell sure got bugged.
22 episodes was not nearly enough.

This show was sadly way ahead of its time.

Replay this now and it would be a huge hit.

amgoth4Supernatural amusement that should have gone on and on and on.