TV Extravaganza: 30 Rock, The Americans, Parenthood

Well, my last post went over like a lead balloon.  Apparently not a lot of 1980's game show enthusiasts trolling my corner of the web or among my loyal fans.  Oh well, I enjoyed the walk down whammy lane.

Moving on.

Let's talk TV.  Three things:

1.  Yesterday was the series finale of 30 Rock.  To which I can only say, blerg.  My wife and I have been fans of Tina Fey's brainchild since the beginning, thanks to Jenna Fischer--no, really (thank you MySpace)--and it has been one fun ride.  No show could match 30 Rock's jokes-per-minute pace, save for maybe Arrested Developement but the cats at TGS are the champs by volume (thanks to AD's tragically short run).  There have been so many great gags and throw-away lines over it's seven seasons that it's immently rewatchable.  I love watching old episodes and culling out new one-liners for every occasions.  I'd love to have the comedic mind-grapes of Tina Fey and her slew of writers.

Besides the terrific jokes, what made 30 Rock unique was there was never any of that cliche' staple of the sitcom of the two leads of opposite sex ever hooking up.  Fey's frazzeled and trying-to-have-it-all Liz Lemon and Alec Baldwin's Vice President of East Coast Televison and Microwave Progarmming Jack Donaghy were close plutonically, rare in TV shows, and well, life, I guess.  But as weird and unlikely buddies, Fey, the liberal "artist" with a degree in Theater Tech and an unhealthy relationship with ham, and Baldwin, as the conservative corporate raider with mommy issues and a perfect head suit, had more on screen chemistry than most TV "couples."

Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy are two of the greatest television characters ever.  There supporing cast was pretty great too.  Tracy Morgan's Tracy Jordan is the hilarious amalgem of every crazy celebrity to grace the headlines of TMZ, and Morgan is alarmingly natural in the role.  Jenna Maroney, played by Jane Krakowski, is equally insane, never growing out of the paranoid insecurity of a second-rate child star from Florida.  Results were mixed with Jenna, but still solid comedic chops from Krakowski.  The ancillary characters were great too:  applefaced goon and possibly immortal Kenneth the page, balding submits-to-dominant-exercise-dummies Pete, Twofer, Frank, and even Lutz.

Though comedy was obviously king, 30 Rock had no shortage of heart and was adept at pulling it off without being cloying or precious.  The end of the penultimate episode is the perfect example, a heartwarming final moment that is still funny and so 30 Rock.

I will miss Liz and Jack and the rest of the TGS gang.

2.  Watched the pilot for the new FX show The Americans.  Pretty great.  It stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, Soviet spies living as a married American couple in early 1980's Washington, DC.  When I first heard about this show I was very excited, as I love Cold War era spy stuff, but I was concerned with the casting of Keri Russell.  I haven't seen her in much, I was never a Felicity watcher, but the with few times I'd seen her in something and her cutsie look, I wasn't sure if she had the gravitas to play a ruthless KGB operative.  Uh, wrong.  She's like Shaft; a bad motha--shut your mouth!  Granted, it's only been one episode, but she is ruthless and intense.  Rhys is more than solid as well, but as the softer touch of the two.  It's a pretty clever plan by the producers, to make the husband the half of the spy couple who seems more enticed by the American way of life.

From the looks of the pilot, the series will feature plenty of action, some intense old school cloak-and-dagger stuff, the mental toll of duty to county and possiblity of the good life as a defector, the moral ambiguity of the espionage game on both sides, not to mention the equally ambiguous nature of a family life built on a lie.  The couple has two pre-teen kids who don't know what their parents really are and at times it appears Elizabeth and Philip aren't really sure who or what they are either.

It was a great opening to the series and I'm looking forward to more.

3.  The wife and I finally started watching Parenthood the other night.  Not the Ron Howard directed movie, but the Ron Howard produced TV show.  We had watched the first couple episodes a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, but for some reason never followed up with it.  Inspired by a Grantland article encouraging binge watching it, we gave it nother go and ended up mini-binging the first four episodes in one shot.

Couldn't be more different than The Americans, or Breaking Bad  or Mad Men or the host of other acclaimed TV dramas of the past several years.  And I think that's why I like it.  While I do love many of those shows, they're all pretty dark and heavy, so it's nice to have a drama that is a little more lighthearted and a lot more relatable.  Not that Parenthood is all giggles and smiles, like any real family the Braverman's have real family problems, and the show has gotten a repuation as an eye-wetter, but tonally it is much different from any of those other shows.  Sometimes something good happens!  And very few people die or get their feet run over by riding lawnmowers.

The performances feel authentic.  Peter Krause, Monica Potter, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepherd, Lauren Graham, and the rest of the cast are all great.  They seem like they might actually be a real family.

It's a family drama that rings true as it warms the heart and wets the eyes.  Looking forward to binge watching some more soon.

The Shootist

Its hard to imagine a more fitting final film for a well known movie star then director Don Siegel's The Shootist starring John Wayne.  It's 1901 and the West, for the most part, has already been won.  Many towns of the West now boast running water, electric lights, telephones, and, soon, electrified street cars.  The once Wild West is becoming increasingly tamed.

The Duke plays aging gunslinger J.B. Books, a legend from that bygone era rapidly fading away into history, when men settled their differences with hot lead.  To further underscore the transition from one epoch to another, both in the history portrayed in the movie and the history of movies, a series of clips from John Wayne westerns through the decades stands in as evidence of J.B. Books' exploits in the Old West.  Diagnosed with a cancer of an advanced nature, Books arrives in Carson City for a second opinion from a trusted friend, Doc Hostetler, played by Jimmy Stewart.  Hostetler not only confirms the original diagnosis, but paints a vivid and painful picture of what Brooks can expect in his few remaining weeks and insinuates that for a man of courage there are other, much less painful ways to die.

Brooks takes up residence in the boarding house of widow Bond Rogers, played by Laruen Bacall, and her hot headed son Gillom, played by Ron Howard.  Brooks hopes to live out his final days in peace, anonymously in Carson City.  No such luck.  Before long word gets around the legend has moved into town, much to the chagrin of both Rogers and the loquacious Sheriff Thibido, played by Harry Morgan, who both fear his presence will bring to town those who wish to settle old scores or take up new ones now that Brooks is wasting away with disease.  Their fears are not without merit, as Brooks encounters old enemies and makes new ones upon his arrival, and there is at least one attempt on his life at the boarding house.

Besides the assassins  Books is beset with fortune seekers of every kind.  Books encounters newspaper men, aspiring gunmen, even an old flame, all looking to make a name, and a dollar, for themselves by cashing in on Books' legend.

There are only a couple of scenes of gunplay, as the movie is really a character study of Brooks as he takes stock of what his life has been in his dying days.  This is arguably The Dukes best acting performance, right up there with his role as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers and his two turns as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn.   John Wayne isn't for everybody, but I've always liked him, and no one can deny his place as one of movies all time legends.  He's a more reflective sort in The Shootist, as I suppose dying men often are, and you have to think that given the circumstances John Wayne must have seen quite a bit of himself in J.B. Books and vice versa.  Yet, he is without a doubt still John Wayne, quick with a quip and a gun, taking no lip from anybody.

As Books lives out his final days, his relationship with Bond is contentious--she does not approve of his life of work--but as two lonely souls brought together in the face of death, they develop a mutual respect which may have become something more if not for Books' dire diagnosis.  Then again, maybe if he wasn't at death's door he wouldn't have softened enough for a respectable woman like Bond.  Books also forges a relationship with her son, Gillom, who idolizes the legend of Books and thinks he knows the sort of man Books is and wants to emulate him.  He discovers he might not have what it takes, or even the desire to acquire it, to be a man like Books.  And maybe Books isn't exactly what Gillom thought he was in the first place.

In the end, Books decides that Doc Hostetler was right, and there are other ways to meet his finality then his insides being eaten away, and he engineers the final act of his life to that end.

If a western can be heartfelt and still be a western, this is it.  Great performances all around and a fitting end to a legendary career in the movies.

Here's a trailer: