Posted on January 11, 2011 at 8:59 pm
The repeat of the duets episode of Glee reminded me of how much I enjoyed Kurt and Rachel singing “Happy Days are Here Again” and “Get Happy.” I wonder how many viewers know that it was inspired by the classic duet with Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.
Enjoy!
Posted on January 9, 2011 at 9:50 am
Craig Tomashoff’ has a thoughtful article in TV Guide about the portrayal of religion and spirituality on television. It has some surprising examples. The often-outrageous animated series “The Simpsons” was praised for using “Christian faith, religion and questions about God” as recurring themes.
At first glance, it seems odd that a child-choking, beer-swilling glutton who has embodied all seven deadly sins could be considered a shining example of a man of faith. Then again, as the Vatican paper explained, the Simpson family “recites prayers before meals and, in their own way, believes in the life thereafter.” Even Melissa Henson, director of communications for the Parents Television Council, says, “The Simpsons is one of the more balanced treatments of faith-based characters that you’ll see. Flanders seems like a dork, but he’s sincere.”
Most prime-time elevision shows are designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience and producers worry that identifying characters with a particular religious faith will be controversial, offending both those who share that faith and those who do not. The result is a pervasive cynicism on television with regard to faith and people of faith.
A recent TV Guide Magazine poll found that 59 percent of readers believe religion and faith-based characters aren’t being treated fairly on prime time. As one respondent put it, “So often, religious people (read: Christians) are portrayed as crackpot, hypocritical, ultraconservative nutjobs.”
Thomashoff points to “Community’ as an example of inclusion and “The Middle,” “Lost,” and “The Good Wife” as shows that grapple with questions of faith in a sincere and respectful way. “Hellcats” has a Christian character whose faith leads her to decide not to have sex with her boyfriend. And Will Scheffer of the polygamous HBO drama “Big Love” says, “Faith is our main theme. All our characters will be struggling and questioning, but in a way that won’t be off-putting to viewers, whether they be atheists or true believers.” Stories — whether drama or comedy — are about conflict. When television writers and producers portray the struggles of their characters to find meaning and direction, questions of religion and spirituality provide an authenticity and connection to viewers.
Posted on January 8, 2011 at 1:39 pm
We don’t often see death in comic strips and sit-coms. But on “How I Met Your Mother,” Marshall Erickson (Jason Segal) lost his beloved father Marvin (played by Bill Fagerbakke). And the title character in Garry Trudeau’s comic strip, currently celebrating its 40th anniversary of publication, lost his feisty mother Daisy. In both cases, the deaths occurred out of sight but the audience shared in the loss as we see the impact on the characters that to some of us feel like family.
Doonesbury has run a week of strips about the memorial service for Daisy, mostly focusing on the insensitive behavior of Mike’s ex-wife J.J. and his brother. In “How I Met Your Mother,” Marshall, who was very close to his parents, got the bad news in the last moment of the episode. I hope future shows will show Marshall and his wife Lily as they try to understand their loss and find a way to keep the best of Marshall’s father close to them.
I admire both Doonesbury and “How I Met Your Mother” for their willingness to bring the challenges of parental loss to their stories.
Posted on January 6, 2011 at 8:00 am
The latest in the WalMart and P&G-sponsored Family Movie Night series is “Change of Plans,” starring “American Idol’s” Brooke White as a free-spirited singer married to an engineer and pilot (Joe Flanigan of “Stargate Atlantis”). When her one-time best friend, a Peace Corps volunteer, is killed, the couple find themselves guardians for her four children. They agree to suspend their casual lifestyle temporarily while a permanent home is found for them, but, well, there’s a change of plans.
White has a natural ease and sparkle on screen and the show gives her a chance to sing as well. The saga of children thrust upon carefree characters and a relationship that evolves from thinking of them as an inconvenience to thinking of them as family is a well-established one, but there are some nice moments and I especially liked the interactions with the children, three adopted from Guatemala, Uganda, and China. They bring their own cultures to the story (“football” means something different everywhere but America and African drums can work well in a pop song). Jayme Lynn Evans, who plays the oldest of the children, has some lovely moments as she moves from resentful caretaker of the younger kids to acknowledge her own vulnerability and sense of loss.
I really appreciate the commitment to movies that families can watch together and look forward to more.
Watch the trailer here and be entered to win a big-screen TV.
Posted on January 3, 2011 at 1:11 pm
The lovely actress Anne Francis has died at age 80. She is best remembered for two classic movies in which she had the only female role, the post-WWII drama Bad Day at Black Rock with Spencer Tracy and the first big-budget studio outer-space film, Forbidden Planet inspired by Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” A stunning beauty with a provocative birthmark near her lip, Francis had a confident but unassuming directness that was very appealing.
She also appeared as the sympathetic best friend of Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” with Barbra Streisand. But those of us of a certain age remember her most fondly as one of television’s earliest female action heroes, Honey West, a private eye with a pet ocelot and a sidekick who sat in the surveillance van while she beat up the bad guys.
Our thoughts are with her friends and family as we remember her fondly.
