Sunday Night Lament - Too much to watch!

[Meryl]

Once in awhile, it seems the networks have a meeting and decide to schedule everything I want to see on the same night.  Anyone else have this feeling?  Here's the lineup tonight:

7:00    Dateline: "Going for the Gold" (2-hour special interviewing Golden Globe nominees) on NBC

8:00    The Amazing Race on CBS

           Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Pilot episode) on Fox

9:00     Masterpiece Theater: Jane Austen's "Persuasion" (First episode) on PBS

           The Golden Globes on NBC

            "Comanche Moon" (First of 3-part Western written by McMurtry/Ossana) on CBS


Since I don't have the technical setup to watch and record, I'll have to do a lot of channel flipping!  On the plus side, maybe I'll finally be motivated to figure out how to download and watch stuff on my computer. 

[Meryl]

Well, I watched the first hour of GG interviews (okay), then flipped back and forth between "Amazing Race" (yay, the obnoxious Jen and her long-suffering boyfriend got eliminated)  and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (really good!  Tomorrow there's another episode at 9:00, which I recommend to any "Terminator" fans).

Ended up sticking with "Persuasion," which was very good, though not quite as good as the version with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root that came out a few years ago.  This version was shorter, I think.  I did very much like the look of it, though.  Everybody looked like they really made their clothes and styled their own hair--there wasn't that Hollywood sheen to everything.

What I saw of "Comanche Moon" looked pretty standard, but a cut above some of the Western sagas I've seen.  Not as good as the original "Lonesome Dove" by a longshot, but it was nice to see Karl Urban in a good role.  Guess who played Steve Zahn's girlfriend?  Our own Cassie, Linda Cardellini.  I kept expecting her to say "I don't get you, Ennis del Mar" any second.  Oddest thing was Val Kilmer being kept prisoner by some Indians in a cage hanging over a cliff, and he sang Papageno's aria from "Magic Flute" in German and Guglielmo's aria from "Cosi fan tutte" in Italian to keep himself entertained.  That's certainly the last thing I expected to see in a Western!  Part II ( of 3, I think) is on Tuesday night.

[David]

I try to watch shows like the Amazing Race over the others because they will rerun the others at a later date.    The Amazing Race never gets replayed.   

[Jeff Wrangler]

What I saw of "Comanche Moon" looked pretty standard, but a cut above some of the Western sagas I've seen.  Not as good as the original "Lonesome Dove" by a longshot, but it was nice to see Karl Urban in a good role.  Guess who played Steve Zahn's girlfriend?  Our own Cassie, Linda Cardellini.  I kept expecting her to say "I don't get you, Ennis del Mar" any second.  Oddest thing was Val Kilmer being kept prisoner by some Indians in a cage hanging over a cliff, and he sang Papageno's aria from "Magic Flute" in German and Guglielmo's aria from "Cosi fan tutte" in Italian to keep himself entertained.  That's certainly the last thing I expected to see in a Western!  Part II ( of 3, I think) is on Tuesday night.

It was kind of amusing to see Cassie Cartwright in a hoopskirt. 

Part II will be broadcast Tuesday.

Edit to add a couple more things after doing some research at IMDb:

Not being a LOTR fan, I wasn't really familiar with Karl Urban, whom I'm liking as Woodrow Call. I was laugh-out-loud surprised to learn from IMDb that he had appeared as Julius Ceasar in both Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. I remember him as Ceasar--I remember the haircut! 

Elizabeth Banks (Maggie) is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Spoiler Comment:

This is the kind of historical fiction that makes me want to research more of the history. The notion of Comanches attacking the state capital of Texas as late as 1858 sounds a bit far-fetched to me. I'd like to know if that really happened. I couldn't find anything in my own library at home to prove or disprove it.

[Meryl]

I try to watch shows like the Amazing Race over the others because they will rerun the others at a later date.    The Amazing Race never gets replayed. 

Exactly, David.  We might see some of the players turn up in later racing groups, but these episodes just don't play well as repeats.  Maybe they will appear on cable at some point, though.

[Meryl]

Not being a LOTR fan, I wasn't really familiar with Karl Urban, whom I'm liking as Woodrow Call. I was laugh-out-loud surprised to learn from IMDb that he had appeared as Julius Ceasar in both Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. I remember him as Ceasar--I remember the haircut! 

Elizabeth Banks (Maggie) is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Spoiler Comment:

This is the kind of historical fiction that makes me want to research more of the history. The notion of Comanches attacking the state capital of Texas as late as 1858 sounds a bit far-fetched to me. I'd like to know if that really happened. I couldn't find anything in my own library at home to prove or disprove it.

Yes, I went through that "where have I seen that guy" thing when I saw him in LOTR and was LOL that he'd been in the Xena series.  I think he may have even played Cupid in a couple of episodes. 

One good role he's had since LOTR is as the villain in the second Jason Bourne movie.  He played a bad Russian agent. 

I'm glad you saw the "Comanche Moon," too.  I have only the vaguest idea of the story line.  Let me know if your research turns up anything helpful. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Re: Karl Urban

Yes, I went through that "where have I seen that guy" thing when I saw him in LOTR and was LOL that he'd been in the Xena series.  I think he may have even played Cupid in a couple of episodes.  

Yes, he did. Those appearances are included in his listing at IMDb.

[Front-Ranger]

Any comments about the windup of Commache Moon? I missed 90% of it due to teenage shenanigans in my household.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Any comments about the windup of Commache Moon? I missed 90% of it due to teenage shenanigans in my household.

Final installment airs tonight (Wednesday). I'm enjoying it. At one point last night I more than half expected Linda Cardelini to say to Steve Zahn, "I just don't get you, Gus McCrae." 

Thanks to our Texas history researcher extraordinaire moremojo, it appears that the Comanche raid on Austin is a figment of Larry McMurtry's imagination.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Final installment airs tonight (Wednesday).

Spoiler (except the series is over):

I was watching Wednesday night and thinking I could see something Woodrow Call had in common with Ennis. Call could probably have had more happiness in his life if he had brought himself to marry Maggie Tilton, but he didn't.