Virginia Postrel ponders the sartorial choices of Joan Campbell, a CIA chief played by Kari Matchett on "Covert Affairs."
Joan ... never covers her arms. Is this a new form of power dressing? Is it Michelle Obama's influence? Or is it yet another Hollywood fantasy? (They've been putting female detectives in tank tops for years. But at least they also have jackets.) You'd think that Langley's air conditioning alone would dictate more coverage.
Othershave alsonoticed. And it's not just the lack of sleeves. Matchett's character also sports plunging necklines with a concomitant bralessness that's extremely distracting. And not in a good way--if you're looking to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the show, that is. If you're just there to see Matchett's assets, you're in luck.
Played by the terrific Christine Baranski, whom I adore, Diane always looks both elegant and professional. It helps that Christine Baranski can really wear clothes.
Baranski's older than Matchett and her character is likely richer, so maybe Joan would do better to use the title character as her inspiration. Julianna Margulies seldom shows as much as an elbow at work, yet she still manages to look gorgeous.
To take an art gallery owner about to run a controversial show about women and Islam. An art gallery owner who was stoned to death. And make her murderer a band of Christian fundamentalists, led by a man who runs a camp (aka "a school for fanatics"). And to let him get off because one of the jurors consulted a Bible during deliberations.
She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.
The highlight for me of the last two weeks has been watching Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy give smoldering glances to Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. No one ever smoldered better than Mr. Firth, who really doesn't have much else to do in the first half of the series. but he does it to such good purpose.
In the book, we become aware that Darcy is becoming attracted to Elizabeth with this passage in the first chapter:
Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of this she was perfectly unaware; to her he was only the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with.
In the miniseries we only see Darcy looking more and more attentively at Lizzie until, at an assembly given by Sir William Lucas, he is approached by one of Mr. Bingley's sisters.
"I can guess the subject of your reverie."
"I should imagine not."
"You are considering how insupportable it would be to pass many evenings in this manner-- in such society; and indeed I am quite of you opinion. I was never more annoyed! The insipidity, and yet the noise-- the nothingness, and yet the self-importance of all those people! What would I give to hear your strictures on them!"
"You conjecture is totally wrong, I assure you. My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow."
Miss Bingley immediately fixed her eyes on his face, a desired he would tell her what lady had the credit of inspiring such reflections. Mr. Darcy replied with great intrepidity:
"Miss Elizabeth Bennet."
For the next couple of hours we see Mr. Darcy struggle against his growing attraction until finally, he absolutely blows and proposes to Lizzie. But there's no narrator to tell us that Darcy is falling in love with Eliza, just a series of looks that grow in intensity with each meeting. It's as though Mr. Darcy were a volcano; for ages he's been emitting smoke, but no one sees anything amiss until he erupts with a proposal--a very insulting proposal, to be sure.
This video gets the proposal, but it omits the beginning of the scene, when Darcy enters the room and starts pacing about like a maniac until he finally comes out with it.
Anytime a work of art is adapted for the screen there are bound to be disappointments. In this version of P&P, I gradually found myself liking Elizabeth more and more--much like Mr. Darcy does--but I can't say Jennifer Ehle would be my first choice to play Lizzie. That goes double for the actress who plays Jane Bennett, Susannah Harker.
It is universally acknowledged that Miss Bennet is beautiful, possessing even features and beautiful coloring. And while Harker is rather sweet looking, she doesn't look anything like the Miss Bennet I pictured: I always thought of her as having the features and coloring of Grace Kelly.
Yet, even though I'd never heard of Colin Firth at the time, if you asked me after reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time to draw a picture of Mr. Darcy I'm quite certain I would have drawn a perfect likeness of Colin Firth.
I kind of like Meredith Viera. She does a good job on "Today," which I now watch somewhat regularly thanks to my unfortunate employment situation.
I could never stand Katie Couric who has all but dropped from my personal radar. These days, in fact, I'm always astonished to hear that Couric's still alive, a fact about which I'm occasionally reminded when I see a promo for the news.
As a recent public service announcement on TV suggested. My grandfather is 96 and in a committed relationship. But, you know, even if he weren't, I wouldn't.
It's time to take a long, hard look at his record. I maintain that even the most devoted Fred fans must admit that Fred has nothing on Steven Hill when it comes to "Law & Order" DAs. Sure, Fred had a folksy appeal, but I for one had a hard time suspending my disbelief. It's almost unthinkable that Manhattanites would vote for a southern conservative for DA. But Steven Hill as Adam Schiff was a living, breathing New York pol. I enjoyed watching him walk the fine line between pleasing his constituents and running the DA's office.
I almost missed this controversy about last week's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance?" Which really annoys me seeing as how I actually watch the show religiously--well maybe not religiously since I missed the episode in question and forgot to set my DVR, but regularly anyway.
It seems one choreographer had the 10 dancers each do the same anti-war solo and people are miffed. I'd be miffed, too, if I had to sit through 10 solos danced to "Waiting for the World to Change." And not just because I support the war.
But because if there's one thing I learned while watching the show it's that solos suck. The second thing I've learned is that if any routine has a message behind it, it sucks. Add those two together, multiply by 10 and throw in handmade t-shirts emblazoned with meaningful words like "compassion" or "unity" and you've got a degree of suckitude that massively exceeds the FCC guidelines. Oh, and the routine ended with the dancer flashing the peace sign (video here). I'm telling you this is the sort of programming for which those parental controls are mandatory. No one should force a sweet, innocent child to watch such twaddle.
Bloggers are also upset that another of the show's choreographers wore a Marine uniform blouse with upside down insignia on it. The choreographer in question, Mia Michaels, has apologized and said she didn't realize that wearing the blouse, which was a gift, would offend anyone. But some people wonder whether Michaels wore the garment on purpose to bolster the anti-war solos. My advice to them: Watch the show, listen to Mia Michaels expound on the meaning (see above) of some piece of choreography and you'll understand that such a message never even entered her mind, such as it is.
According to Mike Walker’s column in the National Enquirer, there’s a hush-hush talk show in the works at Fox to star beleaguered controversial ex-talk show hosts Rosie O’Donnell and Don “nappy headed hos” Imus! The two were said to made fast friends when Fox sent Rosie down to Don Imus’ ranch for children with cancer in New Mexico.
For the past couple of days, I've been watching old episodes of "The Rifleman" on TV. I'm too young to have seen it the first time around, but I remember the show being on on Saturday afternoons--maybe after morning cartoons?--when I was a kid.
The show ran from 1958-1963 and tries to embrace both the feel good values of the 1960s and the traditional values of the Western. This Wikipedia entry nails it.
The various episodes of The Rifleman promote fair play toward one's opponents, neighborliness, equal rights, and the need to use violence in a highly controlled manner ("A man doesn't run from a fight, Mark," McCain tells his son, "But that doesn't mean you go looking to run TO one!"). In other words, the program's villains tend to be those who cheat, who refuse to help people down on their luck, who hold bigoted attitudes, and who see violence as a first resort rather than the final option. Indeed, a curious aspect of the program is that when they meet African-Americans, the people of North Fork are truly color-blind. In "The Most Amazing Man", a black man (played by Sammy Davis, Jr.) checks into the only hotel in town; for the entire show, no one notices his race. Not only is this noteworthy for the 1880s setting, it was radical for Hollywood of the early 1960s. While the message was clear, it was neither heavy-handed nor universal. A certain amount of xenophobia drifts around North Fork, however, forcing McCain to defend the right of a Chinese immigrant to open a laundry ("The Queue") and the right of an Argentine family to buy a ranch ("The Gaucho"). This racial liberalism does not extend to villains, however. The Mexicans in "The Vaqueros" are indolent, dangerous, and speak in the way of most Mexican outlaws in Westerns of the time.
Thanks to the glorious interweb I know also know that the show's star, Chuck Conners played both professional baseball and basketball, having been on both the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Anyway, I'm enjoying the reruns--much to the chagrin of my son who can't get over the corny dialogue. I don't know why it's appealing, exactly, but I do like the fact that it's a drama that's only a half hour long and it's shown without commercials but with the commercial fade outs so it's like a very short play in several acts. Maybe I just like seeing the hunky Chuck Connors shoot his rifle.
In fact, the only equipment Jack Reacher carries is a fold-up toothbrush.
Reacher, the hero of 10 and counting novels by Lee Child, is a former Army MP who left the military around the time folks were talking about the peace dividend. Now, he's a drifter who generally only stays in one place for a week before hopping a bus to wherever it takes him. A military brat who never set foot in the US until he was 9, Reacher's exploring the country for the first time.
He buys a new set of clothes every few days rather than do laundry and owns nothing but the aforementioned toothbrush. (I don't think Reacher needs to floss: Gingivitis wouldn't dream of attacking Reacher's gums.) I believe he washes out his unmentionables on occasion, but sometimes he'll just shower with his clothes on, like he did in the last novel I read to counter the relentless 100-degree heat.
He reminds me of Jack Bauer because he's an implacable foe, who will kill whoever needs to be killed without a trace of remorse. And, of course, he's always on the side of the angels so the people Reacher kills need killing. He's also got superhuman abilities like Bauer. For instance, Reacher doesn't own a watch, but he always knows exactly what time it is, thanks to an uncanny internal clock. But whereas Jack Bauer goes 24 hours without eating, sleeping or going to the bathroom, Jack Reacher can sleep at will. I don't recall him ever sleeping standing up, but he can and will lie down and get some shuteye if he's got 15 minutes to kill before taking out a den of bad guys. And the internal clock saves him from being late to the party.
Jack Bauer You are Jack Bauer!!! You always save the day, you have a sexy voice, and have the longest days too often. Almost all of your love interest's die or just get sick of your need to save the world. Your not afraid of sticking it to the man, and if people would listen to you things would get done a lot faster.
he new season features radical Muslims as the bad guys. Not Presbyterians. Not animists. Not Shintoists. Not Buddhists. Not Seventh-day Adventists. Not Rosicrucians. No, the characters fighting the U.S. have thick Arabic or African accents, and they have no compunction about killing children, the unarmed, the innocent, the unsuspecting. CAIR has once again complained, but Fox seems uninterested in accommodating them this time out.
This new season of "24" taught me many things. Firstly, in the world of "24," Muslims have it pretty bad, as they're either terrorists or borderline Uncle Toms. But on the bright side, African-Americans have it pretty good on the racial ladder. Secondly, I learned that the entire national security apparatus talks in intense whispers, even when ordering takeout. And thirdly, regardless of whether you care to see a reflection of our nation in the mirror of one of its most popular dramas, explosions remain, as always, extremely cool. Will Jack Bauer deliver us from Armageddon? Or will the Republic fall into terrorist-inspired anarchy? Tune in, prepare to tune in again and again, and ask yourself: What have you done in the past 24 hours?
