nevermind the bricolage

Blowing Up The Telly

I have to say that I find television (well, let me clarify, essentially cable television) quite spectacular these days. I watched the season finale of Mad Men last night and thought it was one of the best hours that I have seen on TV lately. I realize that the show is an acquired taste for many, and that it has a pace and tone that sets it apart, and perhaps makes it hard to watch for some, but for me, it was just great last night. The show has been making quite dramatic turns all season, severed limbs, long-held secrets brought to light, but this week it was full of surprises as the writers brought this season to a close.

I am also quite taken with Bored To Death, a half-hour comedy starring Jason Schwartzman as a writer/private detective, who spends more money solving cases than he earns, and even more time smoking pot with his friends Ray and George (Zach Galfianakis and Ted Danson) than anything else. Pot smoking seems to have become de rigeur in many shows lately, a sign perhaps of either liberal Hollywood corrupting society, or a more honest assessment of just how many people smoke pot these days. It works as a device in this show and underscores the shambolic nature of the characters. It was the season finale of this show as well last night and it didn't disappoint.

True Blood

"what becomes increasingly evident is how the central action and primal scene of the vampire myth is not the vampire's consuming of blood but its own destruction and mutilation. Far more victim of atrocious acts of bodily violation than the perpetrator, the vampire body is a primary site for exploring the methods and the reasons behind the excessively violent and ritualistic use of another's body as a means of articulating social, as well as individual, beliefs, fears, and desires." elizabeth mccarthy.
Speaking of blood (see the earlier post), tonight's episode of True Blood was a revelation. Godric, a two-thousand year-old vampire, renounced his life and waited for the sun to turn him into ash. This after apologizing for all the harm he had done and accompanied by a brief conversation with Sookie (star of the show) about God and whether or not he would be punished, "God doesn't punish, God forgives," she encourages him, and as he evaporates with the rising sun, Lyle Lovett's voice calls out "I will rise up, though I be a dead man."
This was a pretty intense moment, one of many in this show, which seems to get deeper and deeper as the weeks go by. As more and more strange creatures emerge, clothed in human form, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern who is fully-human, which just might be creator Alan Ball's aim. We claim so much for our own humanity but find ourselves confronted by the other who reflects a 'truer' humanity back to us?

Nurse Jackie/Weeds

Cable TV continues to create the stuff that must be seen on the small screen. Showtime's latest contribution to fantastic television is Nurse Jackie, starring Edie Falco (Mrs. Tony Soprano in another tv life), as the show's namesake. Set in an emergency room in the fictional All Saints Hospital, Nurse Jackie offers a half-hour of compelling television, exploring the foibles and vulnerability of the sick and the 'well.' Truth be told, as is pretty much the norm these days, no one is really 'well'--Jackie harbours a secret drug addiction, and the cast of characters around her struggle with every tic, temperament and challenge, known to man. As the show unfolds and our relationship to the characters deepen, we find ourselves drawn into a story of mortality playing out against the backdrop of a hospital.
Existential crisis and faith, seem to be a couple of the more focused story lines threading through this emergency room. In fact, while some of the allusions to religion and faith are nothing more than slight nods in that direction, or predictable dismissal, every week seems to involve some scenario in which the subject of faith and or God are thrown into the mix in such a way as to be undeniably central to the ongoing story arc. I wouldn't want to be the one who throws shallow religious answers into this mix, these characters are way too smart to swallow them and the lives they lead,

Still Lost

Well I tried. But I still can't make head nor tail of what is happening in Lost. The season finale ended with a blinding nuclear explosion (much like my headache!) and now we will have to wait until next year to see if it set everything right...whatever that is supposed to be, and at this stage, I truly don't know. Lost is surely the most enigmatic of television series ever to have been shown on prime-time telly, I am never quite sure if the writers have any more of a clue as to what is happening than I do--two Locke's, the elusive Jacob (god?), so many twists and turns...
( I found the image here)

An African Heart

 I am completely wrapped up in the new HBO show, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. It is such a lovely change of pace from the usual cable channel fare. It is slow, sweet, female-driven, has no sex, no violence, no action or CGI, and it is wonderful. Jill Scott, who plays Precious Ramotswe, the detective of the title, is a revelation, as is the rest of the cast. I love all the parts of Africa that I have seen, and, as the show is shot on location in Botswana, the locale alone is worth the hour. But it's more than that, it is the generosity at the heart of each week's story, the belief that good will win out in the end, that forgiveness is better than justice or judgment, that kindness is a virtue to live by. Religion, although hardly talked up, is in the fabric of the show, maybe it is more of a sense that reason alone is not enough. Either way, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is lovely, did I mention the music and the opening graphics...?

Conchords

I am really enjoy the second season of Flight of the Conchords. Michel Gondry directed an episode a few weeks back and really raised the bar as far as the flight of fantasy music interludes go. It's a quirky, qurky show and seems to illicit love/hate responses as far as viewers go, but I am hooked on the two kiwis trying to make it in NY. This image came from Michael Muller. 

What's So Funny...?!

Must-see TV for me right now is Spectacle with Elvis Costello, yet another great offering from our friend's at the Sundance Channel. It's a music/interview programme, in which Mr. Costello gets to demonstrate both his knack with other people's music and a prodigious knowledge and understanding of the canons of popular music.
Last night's show featured Rufus Wainwright, but it really does not matter who is going to be the guest, the conversation is always rich, and the music is truly wonderful. 
(On a brief aside, I once kissed a girl purely because her name was Allison)

TV

I launched a new class Monday--Theology, Television and Media Culture--exploring the many ways that media culture has re-shaped our lives. I am going to focus quite a lot on television, mainly because it has received scant attention in theological circles. The Film/Theology field has a growing body of work, but television less so, which I think is a little sad, given the pervasiveness of TV. McLuhan will play a part, I like what he has to say about the central nervous system and electronic technology, and we will be doing a fair amount of tv viewing. I think this is a pretty good time for television, the dawn of cable tv has created some wonderful opportunities for serialized viewing and it seems a good moment to be exploring this stuff.

Grumpy

I have been trying to watch a bit more television. I have a good reason, next term I am teaching a new class on theology, television and media culture. The funny thing is, I have been an avid tv watcher my whole life, but lately I struggle to find both the time and the inclination to watch much telly. Or perhaps I should say, the gift of Tivo has helped with the reconfiguration of my television viewing given the rather full work life I am leading these days (2 essentially full-time jobs, not in terms of pay unfortunately, and a part-time teaching job that requires eight hours of class materials a week on top of that). So now I watch in chunks, seldom in real-time, and generally cable programmes.
   That said, I was talking about the telly with Donna today and somehow our conversation turned to a show we both dislike even though it is apparently immensely popular, NCIS, a crime-drama featuring Naval Crime investigators--as if that in itself is not a stretch for a concept! I said that there seems to be one character trait for virtually every central or lead male actor in TV today, they have to be grumpy. Mark Harmon, NCIS--Grumpy, William Peterson, CSI--Grumpy, David Caruso, CSI Miami--Grumpy, Gary Sinise, CSI NY--Grumpy, Chris Melloni, Law&Order SVU--Grumpy, Sam Waterstone, Law&Order--Grumpy, James Gandolfini, Sopranos--Grumpy, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, The Tudors, Grumpy, the list goes on.
    Grumpy is an umbrella term--it also includes, pissy, uptight, cold. Whatever else the show demands it seems that for the male lead at least, that the only requirement is a single emotion, often combined with some kind of savant-like giftedness for sniffing out bad guys. I also said that the only male lead who doesn't seem especially grumpy is Michael Hall in Dexter, where he plays the forensic-serial killer--he's never ever grumpy, he also doesn't seem as angry as all the others, strange isn't it?

Madmen...again

I'm hooked. Season 2 of Madmen is not disappointing. The show is delving more into the lives of the main characters, to some degree it puts the advertising element on the back-burner a bit, but it is making the show richer--Don Draper's 'lost' life is making a comeback big time and looks to explode into something, sometime soon. Will perhaps use an episode or two in my History of Advertising Class as we are venturing into the 60s. I met a lady who directed some of the first series last weekend at the 'teenager's' school.