A Duckumentary on PBS

The PBS series Nature only runs a few new episodes a year but when they do it is often must see television. A couple of weeks ago one of those episodes aired. The title of this show called, in a very punny title, A Duckumentary. Hosted by Paul Giamatti whose voice is perfect for voice-overs this was a very enjoyable show.

Speaking of many different duck breeds but focusing primarily on a pair of wood ducks as they make their way through a full year. Filmed perfectly we see the beauty not only of the ducks themselves but there surroundings and learn many interesting facts. My wife, who unlike me and my daughter, is not exactly a nature buff, watched this show with interest which tells you all you need to know about how entrancing this show was.

We learned that ducks spend hours each day on the maintenance of their tail feathers, that they produce the ointment that they treat their feathers with, that the female chooses the male for her mating season before the winter, they spend their winter together before mating in the spring, and, this seems unfair, if she wishes at the last minute she can dump him for another male late in the game.

The most stunning visual, the one we were talking about days later was what happens to wood ducks right after they are born. Mother to be Wood Ducks make a nest in a tree, in a tree that is high, very high, off the ground. The day after the chicks arrive the Mother leaves the nest and goes out into the nearest body of water and calls the ducks. The ducks inside a tree, sixty or seventy feet in the air, then have to go to their mother. Did I mention that ducks cannot fly when they are born. The baby ducks, a day old, then jump out of the tree to the ground, in the video we watched seventy feet. The idea of this is amazing. And yes, baby ducks bounce. Incredible.

It is easy to say, when you enjoy these shows, that more people should see them, that the garbage that is on most networks at most times should be replaced by these shows. Perhaps that is true but for me the fact that this series is available to contrast with those less reputable shows makes it succeed even more so in the contrast.

Take a moment and watch these shows, if you have kids you have a built in excuse. If you do not have kids you might have the time to actually enjoy it.

Lincoln

Lincoln has been as well received as any movie in years. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals most consider Spielberg and much of the cast to be Oscar worthy.

The movie, unlike the book, which examines the whole Lincoln Presidency, centers on the last four months of Lincoln's life. At this time Lincoln is working feverishly toward getting the 13th amendment, that which bans slavery, to be ratified by the House, the Senate having previously done so. Lincoln's fear is that with the war coming to an end that the Emancipation Proclamation might be somehow reversed as an executive order under the War Powers Act. He himself admits to the plausibility of it being reversed due to the murky process by which he was invested with such powers.

One would think this would be an easy thing, the North after all was against slavery. However Democrats, still in sympathy, with their Southern brethren, and if not for slavery against anything that might indicate an equality between the races had consistently held any thought of the amendment at bay. With the war coming to an end Lincoln has a limited time frame. He knows he needs to have the law passed before it can be used as a negotiating point for any Southern delegation.

What follows is a legislative battle that most folks today would not have presumed taking place in that long ago time. We have visions of Lincoln being all powerful, at least in the North, when in actuality he was not a popular figure to some, we think of the North holding hands and freeing the slaves in unison, this also was far from the truth. What transpired was bare-knuckled politics. A lobbying group was contracted by Secretary of State Steward to try to convert the necessary lame-duck Democrats ( those who would be leaving office in March of 1965) to change their previous votes. Nothing was above these men. Bribery, Patronage, even blackmail if necessary. It becomes evident that in the case of the thirteenth amendment one must hope that the end justified the means because it was not a pretty process.

In the end Lincoln who, while it had been attempted to insulate him from the dirty politics of the lobbyists) worked hand in hand with them in gaining the votes necessary. Lincoln was a consummate politician. He knew what buttons to push in almost every case. One gets a strong sense of his personality and also the exasperation of those around him. Always quick with a story, sometimes frustratingly so to those who revered him, and wished him to be more forceful he ran the country like I sometimes think I parent. Trying to show examples that deliver the message in a nice way but never being afraid to deliver the message as poison if need be.

Spielberg's direction is flawless, the soundtrack is elegant and the acting is the best you will find.

Daniel Day Lewis might well earn another Best Actor Oscar. None of us ever saw Lincoln in the flesh or even on video but one cannot walk out of the theater without feeling like you saw a genuine glimpse of the man.

Sally Field is wonderful as the harpy wife Mary Todd Lincoln. With stresses all her life the death of her son in the White House two years ago is a sadness that never leaves her.

Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens continues his string of improbable rolls. It has been a long way from Woodrow Call to this but Jones never misses a step.

Hal Holbrook, still alive, I did not know, plays Francis Blair, a pivotal Republican, not in office, but controlling a large block of votes who Lincoln must win to his cause and then manipulate the events and timing of the bill to stay the course and not lose his support.

Everything about this movie is first rate. The only caution I can provide is that because the movie centers on just one short time period, primarily on one piece of legislation, and the battle to get that bill passed, for those without much of an interest in politics, the process as it were, the movie can get long. For those of us who love history, are political junkies and appreciate a beautifully filmed movie it does not get better than this.

My highest recommendation for this movie.

Everything Must Go

I have watched quite a few movies lately as I have been consistently under the weather and have not reviewed any of them. We will attempt to begin the process of correcting that with a review of the under appreciated Will Ferrell movie from 2011 Everything Must Go.

Based on a Raymond Carver short story Why Don't You Dance. When one says based on, in this case they mean that there is an ever so slight similarity, mainly that both lead characters have a yard sale of their belongings. The story which I had recently read is much shallower in depth and understanding than the movie.

Will Ferrell plays Nick Halsey a salesman who is also an alcoholic. As the movie begins we see Nick being fired from his job for an incident that occurred on a business trip in Denver. After vandalizing his Supervisor's car on the way out of the parking lot and then stopping to buy beer on the way home Nick arrives home to find out that the locks have been changed and his belongings are all over the yard.

Nick settles in to his easy chair in the yard. The next morning when he goes to get more beer he returns to find his company car being repossessed. Life is getting worse. Soon the police show up and Nick when confronted with trouble has them call his sponsor in AA, a Frank Garcia, who is a detective. The detective comes by and gets Nick a three day ticket for a yard sale which will buy him sometime to figure things out.

Over the course of the next few days Nick develops a relationship with a young boy in the neighborhood who is apparently unsupervised for much of the day and a new neighbor across the street who has just moved in and is waiting for her husband to arrive. Along the way we learn more about Nick's relationship with his wife and his sponsor and how even that is not as simple as he might like it to be.

The movie did not do well, being a change of pace for Ferrell perhaps people did not get what they expected. That said Ferrell was cast perfectly in the role. Exceptionally believable as the typical frat boy turned professional but still drinking his life away, this man suddenly hit in the face with reality and the world of grown ups and not knowing how to handle it except to do what he has already done, crawl deeper into his immature ways and drink it away. Ferrell provides depth here one does not expect. One wonders if he ever will get a chance for a serious role or if he is so typecast that can never happen for him. If so it is a loss for as funny as he can be one gets the sense that there is much more talent in Ferrell than we expect in our physical comedians.

This is an interesting, sweet in its own way, dark in another way movie. It is not in anyway like any of the broad comedy one expects from Ferrell. Be warned and enjoy it for what it is.

Judges Judges Everywhere

As I have discussed before our house is doing it's part to keep every singing competition afloat. From Monday to Thursday from Christina to Brittany and back again my wife loves singing shows. Kids need to have their homework done, dogs need to be fed and walked and husbands need to be quiet before the eight o'clock hour strikes.

I do not mind the shows, some performers are better than others but overall it is fine and if she gets enjoyment out of it I am fine with that. What is hard for me sometimes to watch are the judges. I know I have commented on this before so I am not going to revisit their contradictory advice and things of that nature.

I do however want to give a brief rundown of my perceptions of these people we invite into our homes each week.

Starting with The Voice first on the list would be Adam Levine. Truthfully Levine comes off as extremely likable and surprisingly genuine. He is a very good singer, gives solid advice and his back and forths with Blake Shelton seem real and not forced.

Blake Shelton also seems genuine and likable. One gets the sense that Shelton knows that this ride will be over soon, he will be supplanted by the next young gun in the Country line and he is determined to enjoy it. We never really see much more than extremely generic advice from these folks, they are rarely negative, and their exchanges with each other comprise the biggest part of their contribution to the show.

Ce Lo Green is just an odd duck but he is harmless and surprisingly talented. With Green more than any other judge it becomes apparent that he has a great deal of advice for his team members. Christina Aguilera, when I have commented in the past, has been bitchy and generally not nice quite often. This seems to be a bit less this year, she still is a prim a donna but overall she too has been nicer this year.

Overall The Voice is a good show, its singers are good, the premise of picking the team members without seeing them is interesting, and the fact that no truly terrible singers are allowed to audition make the show less exploitative than it's counterparts.

The Fox series X Factor in it's second season added two new judges. Demi Lovato and Britney Spears. Simon Cowell remains Simon Cowell and with that he can be nasty and cutting but this behavior has modified a great deal since this Idol days. LA Reid might be the most pompous man on television but he does know his stuff. I do not find him anything but there on my screen, to me he is not a draw or a reason not to watch. For better or worse the two girls are what brings the audience or drives the audience away. Brittany Spears has been the subject of much comment. In our house we always comment on how she looks that night. It is not always a positive picture. Still an attractive woman, still a talented singer Spears looks extremely uncomfortable in her role. Last week we noticed that in many of her exchanges with her team members she seems to physically recoil from contact with them. Who knows what is up with Brittany.

Still Spears seems like Einstein when compared with Lovato. If I hear her comment one more time that a performance is boring I might have to grab the remote from my wife's hand. It is not her fault. She is in no way a realistic judge. Everything she has sung has been overproduced by mentors, her helping and judging other singers is just a ridiculous notion. I do not know her, she is probably a fine person, she is, however , doing nothing in this show to shine a positive light on her personality or intelligence.

And just think, we are just six weeks from American Idol.

A Walton Family Thanksgiving

In the first half of the nineties CBS returned to Waltons mountain for a Series of television movies. The Waltons, of course, had been a staple of the networks lineup in the seventies and the timing of nostalgia made the movies a good bet to garner a dependable audience.

The first movie in that series was A Walton Family Thanksgiving centering on the family as they gathered together for the holiday in 1963. As any history buff knows this year also coincided with the Kennedy assassination which allows the series, while catching us up with the family members, to show their reactions to the events of that fateful time.

One thing must be said, most child stars do not become great actors and actresses. The young people who played the children on The Waltons certainly are of that group. It would seem that a good portion of them have done no acting whatsoever, not a bad thing, they have moved on and lived there lives, it does however mean that the acting in this sort of a reunion show will be stilted.

Everyone that is remembered from the series makes an appearance. Ike and Corabeth, their daughter Amy, Verdi the black person on Walton's mountain, even Yancy Tucker. With the exception of the departed Will Geer the whole cast returns.

One has to put away the calculator to make this work. The characters of the show, primarily the children, are played younger than they would be in a direct timeline from the original show. At one point even John thinking of Grandpa says to himself Pa, you have been gone 15 years and it seems like just yesterday. Actually on a strict timeline Zeb has gone been gone about twenty years.

Watching Ben try to cry about baby Virginia (somehow she died) or Jim Bob show sadness after a rebuke from Mary Ellen, it is clear that great acting will not be on this show.

Still Ralph Waite is extremely likable and I cannot tell you how much seeing the very old Ellen Corby ( she reminds me of my Mother who died at 88 a couple of years ago) and the show just works.

When we were young it was the family we as kids made fun of while we secretly wanted to be a part of. I grew up a country kid and I could understand a bit of the life these people led and knew that it was a blessed existence if only a life that was lived on a television screen.

As the episode ends and all the family troubles that the children have been struggling with are resolved , as John Kennedy has been laid to rest, as John Boy sits out front with his lady friend and they all say goodnight like they have on every episode one thing becomes clear. For this person, me, this sometimes sarcastic, usually cynical ( though I try not to be as much) person one thing is clear. I still would like to be part of that family. That is why bad acting will make not a hoot of difference to anybody who grew up with this show.

It is a chance to revisit not only our own childhood but for many of us a childhood we dreamed about whilst in it. How many chances do you get to do that in your mid forties.

Pete Townsend on David Letterman

Pete Townsend was on David Letterman last night promoting his new auto biography. I have to say that with a reputation as being a bit of a hard case I was surprised to find him very charming, demonstrative, and overall an excellent interview. Letterman himself seemed surprised to see Pete so willing to tell stories and anecdotes including a very funny discussion of Keith Richards and his inadvertent origination of the Townsend windmill guitar move as well when Keith Moon blew up his drum kit and set Pete's hair on fire, literally.

Who fans, Stones fans, even just David Letterman fans should get online and view this clip.

Fall TV Update

My daughter has always been one who was willing to try new foods. When she was six or seven she would take a bite of something and exclaim how good it was. She would proceed to tell her older brothers that they should try it too. She would keep eating and almost always by the mid point of her serving one noticed her starting to pick at it. Eventually at the end of the meal a good portion of the new food she had treated like the greatest thing since sliced bread would still be on her plate.

When I asked her about this the answer was inevitably a variation on " It was good Daddy, I just got full."

I think that in a sentence sums up not just what I find with most new shows that I originally like and have high hopes for but how the great proportion of people end up when it comes to new shows. What starts out as exciting and promising soon just turns into another vegetable dressed up to look more new and different than it really is.

In the fall I felt that The Last Resort, Vegas and Revolution were well on their way to success. Interestingly the show that I had the least hope for seems to be the only one I am still with, the only show whose ratings are successful.

The Last Resort was the show that started out with the biggest bang. It's original episode was explosive but eventually it became soon apparent that the series just could not maintain the bar it had set. When the show had to develop a plausible plot line about the crew of a nuclear submarine forming their own nuclear armed nation entity it just could not be done. Soon enough ABC was preempting the show and the shows ratings faltered even more. Being placed against the X Factor and The Big Bang Theory it was felt that an audience, a different audience could be carved out. It just did not work. With low ratings and high expenses per episode ABC has cancelled the show and the three episodes sitting on my DVR have been erased. There is no need to invest in a show that is doomed.

Vegas the CBS entry seemed like a sure thing and in fact it is doing well in the ratings and with Dennis Quaid and Michael Chilkis there is no reason to think the show will not be around well after this season. The show with all its promise however has lost this viewer. The payoff of a slight advance of the long term storyline that one receives each week while sifting through a tedious murder mystery is just not worth it. The series might well have been a different show on a cable network. It is not that one needs to extra blood, violence, sex and gore of the cable version, it is just that the weekly story-lines might not have to be so prevalent in a cable series. For that reason this show has lost this viewer.

Revolution continues moving strongly toward it's mid season break. This weeks episode was a little contrived, coming through a Philadelphia subway tunnel suffering from a lack of oxygen the main characters experienced hallucinations but the payoff at the end of the episode was well worth it. A great choice this week too with the featuring of some Led Zeppelin music as well. The ratings have slipped a little recently and one wonders if the show will continue to maintain if not expand it's audience, NBC needs to be sure to not have the upcoming break go too long as viewers have short memories but this series still offers something worth watching each week. As show after show falls off my radar as the season digs in Revolution remains strong with The Walking Dead as the only two series that are must see each week.

The experience of these three shows does however explain in a nutshell why it is so difficult to launch a series and have it be successful on network television. It is a terribly divergent culture, incredibly competitive and with viewers with more options and shorter attention spans than ever before. Instead of bemoaning the number of series that fail perhaps we should stare with wonder that any ever succeed at all in gaining a loyal viewership.