The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
On Bewitched
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Luvlylittlewing on October 28, 2013, 11:55:34 am ---Exactly, and there are no dumb characters, although I think American comedy writers are getting away from dumb characters like Rose on "Golden Girls." But the couple in "As Time Goes By" seem a bit stand-offish to me. Or am I judging them by American standards or just my own? Or perhaps they're too old? Or is this off topic? ;D
--- End quote ---
Well, but remember their history--I'm assuming you mean Jean and Lionel--how they lost contact during the Korean War because of a letter that miscarried. I'd be a bit standoffish, too, I think.
And then again maybe it's just because they're British. ... 8)
Luvlylittlewing:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 28, 2013, 12:31:51 pm ---Well, but remember their history--I'm assuming you mean Jean and Lionel--how they lost contact during the Korean War because of a letter that miscarried. I'd be a bit standoffish, too, I think.
And then again maybe it's just because they're British. ... 8)
--- End quote ---
I think its because they're British! :D
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 28, 2013, 10:05:59 am ---Justified has merited a lot of coverage in TV Guide since it first debuted. I've read all the coverage, so, again, odd as it may seem, there really wasn't anything in your description that I really wasn't already aware of. That's how I know about Margot Martindale, from reading about the show in TV Guide. I guess Justified made her into another one of those overnight sensations who's actually been around for years in anonymous/supporting character roles. I ought to check her filmography at IMDb.
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Sorry, I should have guessed that from your MM reference. Yeah, I recognized her at once when she appeared on Justified, though I hadn't known her name before that. She's a very familiar character actor. The only specific role I can recall without looking her up was as Hilary Swank's trailer-trashy mother in Million Dollar Baby.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 28, 2013, 11:03:53 am ---OK, I do tend to get obsessed about these things. ...
In the link below is a very brief mention of what I vaguely remembered about a possible basis in history for Here Come the Brides. I intend to do some more research, but supposedly--at least, according to the National Park Service, a man named Asa Mercer, apparently the first president of the Washington Territorial University, brought a group of 11 marriageable young women to Seattle in 1864, and another group of 34 in 1866. They are known as "the Mercer Girls."
http://www.nps.gov/klse/historyculture/index.htm
Edit to Add:
OK, once I knew what to Google, that didn't take long. Here's the Wikipedia article on the Mercer Girls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_Girls
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Kind of a sad tale about the one woman who didn't get married right away (besides the one who died) because she was "old" at 35. I got married when I was 36!
Here I'd assumed that HCtB was based on a historical whorehouse. But of course "marriageable," in those days, meant not only young but "not a whore."
Now, though, I have to reinstate my insistence that you try Deadwood. I'm always telling people to watch Justified, but I know it's not for everybody, and aside from TO I'm not sure it would necessarily be your cup of tea. Deadwood, however, at least as I understand it, follows fairly closely the actual historical records. So someone like you, interested in history and the West (and again, TO!), I think would find it quite interesting.
The only problem with the series is that it just sort of ends after three seasons, with all sorts of unresolved plot points. It was supposed to continue for a couple more seasons, but HBO canceled it. However, I read somewhere that might be for the best, because the real Deadwood was burned to the ground at some point not long after the events portrayed in the series, which would be sort of a bummer as a TV-series ending.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on October 29, 2013, 09:47:15 am ---Kind of a sad tale about the one woman who didn't get married right away (besides the one who died) because she was "old" at 35. I got married when I was 36!
--- End quote ---
Check this out, though. Elizabeth Ordway apparently had quite a career as a teacher and a women's rights advocate, appearing with no less than Susan B. Anthony herself!
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Seattle-at-150-Ordway-the-unwed-Mercer-Girl-1068916.php
--- Quote ---Here I'd assumed that HCtB was based on a historical whorehouse. But of course "marriageable," in those days, meant not only young but "not a whore."
--- End quote ---
I think that was a logical assumption--especially when I came across articles about a rather colorful early Seattle resident named Dr. David Swinson Maynard, who apparently thought the town needed a good whore house! :o
--- Quote ---The only problem with the series [Deadwood] is that it just sort of ends after three seasons, with all sorts of unresolved plot points. It was supposed to continue for a couple more seasons, but HBO canceled it. However, I read somewhere that might be for the best, because the real Deadwood was burned to the ground at some point not long after the events portrayed in the series, which would be sort of a bummer as a TV-series ending.
--- End quote ---
That's how they ended the second season of Hell on Wheels, with much of the town burned to the ground. Plus they killed off the leading lady. Talk about a bummer of a season ending!
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on October 29, 2013, 11:24:35 am ---That's how they ended the second season of Hell on Wheels, with much of the town burned to the ground. Plus they killed off the leading lady. Talk about a bummer of a season ending!
--- End quote ---
They're getting kind of carried away with that kill-off-a-lead-character approach, I think. That used to be so unheard of (you probably already know this, but actors in small roles on action shows are called "redshirts" after the red shirts worn by lower-rank Star Trek personnel -- whenever a team from the Enterprise headed down to investigate a risky planet, you knew these anonymous actors would die and our heroes would live). When the trend of major characters dying first started (in 24, maybe?) it was novel. But now it's just another way to stir up publicity and interest, the way old TV shows used to use pregnancy. The Walking Dead has killed off way more than half its main characters. (Note to The Walking Dead writing team: If you kill off Daryl, I'm out.)
I'd never watched Game of Thrones, but one day on Twitter and Facebook I saw people posting things like, "OMG, I wish I'd never watched this show!" Sure enough, I learned that a huge slaughter had killed a bunch of main characters. Since then I've seen a couple of episodes but now I know not to get too attached to anyone. But I didn't get that into it anyway, mainly because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on.
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