I want my heroes . . . well, heroic. ...they inevitably have to be honest and morally straight.
You sound very much like STEVE DITKO (seven minute listen, starting at 19:31).
JD DeLuzio > Commander BensonJune 10, 2025 at 7:56am
I won't, then, talk about how great Breaking Bad is, but I don't see Walter White as a hero, except in the sense of maincharacter/protagonist. The show makes him impressive, but, by the end, it's a five-season tragedy, which has far more in common with a certain Scottish King as depicted in Shakespeare's play.
During the final stretch of my career, I was inevitably described as, "that teacher who looks like Walter White."
Apart from finishing the third season of Black Mirror (I watch about a season a year since I started. Probably pick up that pace so that I don't end up watching something that's too much like we actually end up),* I returned to my select viewing of the highest-rated episodes of Route 66. "The Opponent" features Darren McGavin, Ed Asner, Al Lewis, and Lois Nettleton (she's less iconic, but her lengthy career makes her one of those, "oh, it's that gal" actresses).
*See anything online. Or see the current administration this weekend on Ca.
I finished watching the final season of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu. It was excellent, as was the entire season. I wonder if it lost a lot of viewers due to the years-long gap between it and the previous season. I have also been enjoying Poker Face on Peacock.
JD DeLuzio > Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)June 9, 2025 at 1:52pm
We liked the book and the first season, which did a decent job of adapting it. Skeptical of the second season, we went in... Okay, good, even if it undercuts the ending of Season One. Season Three lost us and we never picked it up again. Maybe we should. I was not a fan of Atwood's sequel novel-- my wife liked it more-- so I'm not that stoked to watch a loose adaptation of that which will also be in continuity with the divergent series itself. However, the show has certainly grown a following, and I can respect that.
We just finished Andor, and it lived up to the hype. It's thoughtful, long-form storytelling, and knowing the end (in Rogue One) made it bittersweet. And because the series does lead directly into Rogue One, we did a re-watch of that. (We did not progress to A New Hope, because we've seen it enough.)
It's too bad that Andor was compressed from five seasons to two, but maybe that sharpened the writing. It didn't feel rushed, and there were tons of scenes that existed just to visit with the characters and barely propelled the plot. In fact, some important plot bits happened off-screen, and you just had to catch up. If Andor had lasted all five seasons, we'd probably have long scenes letting those plot points play out, instead of just jumping to "One Year Later" three times. Maybe this is a lesson in compressed storytelling that "prestige TV" needs to learn.
As to Rogue One, I remember being sort of surprised that it had such a downer of an ending. But that didn't bother me then, nor does it now, as it's probably my favorite Star Wars movie. (The original trilogy was a live-action cartoon, the prequels seemed written for children, and the sequels just seemed a mess. Han Solo simply could not work without at 35-year-old Harrison Ford in the lead, and that being impossible, they shouldn't have tried.)
There were a couple of bits that didn't hold up. The second-most jarring to me was Jyn Erso going from hostile to committed after one speech by Cassian. She was the obvious star of the movie (although Gabriel Luna almost stole it from her), so it had to happen, but it was a what th-!? moment for me on the couch, that I don't remember having in the theater in 2016. I tried a thought experiment of reversing the gender roles, and that felt vaguely like some other war movies or Westerns I'd seen, where the cynical outsider learns to think beyond his selfish needs to do the right thing. I'm having trouble with examples -- maybe Pike in The Wild Bunch? -- but it feels familiar. But saying of Jyn's sudden conversion that it's been done a lot before is actually an argument to do it differently. Whatever, it seemed abrupt the second time through.
The most jarring thing, though, was the CGI Princess Leia. I don't remember my reaction in 2016, but it was jarringly Uncanny Valley on the small screen. Her eyes were just ... weird. The CGI Grand Moff Tarkin wasn't perfect, but while I was aware of its artificiality, it was done well enough that it didn't take me out of the movie.
One other remark I feel the need to make: There was a line in the first Star Wars movie (A New Hope) where someone, probably Leia, remarks that a lot of people died to get them the Death Star information. It was a throwaway line to me in 1977, because the whole movie was such a cartoon, that of course she'd spout a cliche like that. But it's almost like the Star Wars creative team took that one line and made it the operational principle of both Andor and Rogue One. A lot of people died in Rogue One, including (shocking at the time) the two principals. If you look at Rogue One in hindsight, it's hard to find anyone who DOES survive. The few that do are ones that appear in the original trilogy, like Mon Motha. Then you watch Andor, and the same is true. I can name the survivors on the fingers of one hand.
But that's one thing that makes the show so bittersweet. You're watching people whose ends you know (or can guess) in the private moments of their lives, and you begin to treasure those FOR them, knowing how few of them there will be. As I said, excellent long-term storytelling that focuses on people rather than plot.
Here's a question for the Commander (or anyone else who'd care to field it). Are you familiar with Honey West? For those who are not, it's a one-season, mid-'60s spin-off of Burke's Law featuring a female private eye. I was able to watch it, once, in the '90s, loaned to me by a friend of mine who sold hard-to-find vintage TV shows on VHS. From what I remember about it (and judging from your list on the previous page), Honey West would seem to be right in your wheelhouse.
Aye, friend Jeff, I am most familiar with Honey West (ABC, 1965-6)---though I'll confess it wasn't until years later that I knew that her character had appeared in a book series by Forrest and Gloria Fickling. The show wasn't, technically, a spin-off of Burke's Law---a spin-off occurs when a regular character on one series graduates to his own show---and Honey West appeared in only one episode of Burke's Law, "Who Killed the Jackpot?" This was a back-door pilot for her character.
As Burke's Law fans learnt in that episode, and as viewers were brought up to speed in the first episode of Honey West, Honey inherited the majority share of her father's private-detective business after his death. She also inherits his junior partner, Sam Bolt. Besides the alluring Anne Francis as a female P.I. starring rôle, the other two things which made this private-eye show stand out was (1) the use of (then-)high-tech hardware (an electronic-surveillance van) and James Bond-type gimmicks (an exploding compact, lipstick-radio, garter-belt gasmask); and (2) the interaction between Honey and Sam, which was often contentious. It that sense, it was Moonlighting before there was Moonlighting.
For the series' first sixteen or seventeen episodes, the show adhered to a taut, serious formula. But, by March, 1966 or so, the first effects of Batmania hit (Batman having débuted in January of 1966, and the scripts crept into camp-hood. I don't know if Honey West wouldn't have been cancelled anyway, but the shift to broad humour (pun not intended) didn't help.
Honey West was, indeed, on my list for re-watching; however, in our Roku offerings, there's a fee charged to see it and I'm too cheap to pay to watch a television show. Though, it dawned on me, as I was writing this, that I can probably find it on YouTube. After all five or so years ago, YouTube had the entire run of Longstreet, and if it has that, it will probably have Honey.
Replies
I want my heroes . . . well, heroic. ...they inevitably have to be honest and morally straight.
You sound very much like STEVE DITKO (seven minute listen, starting at 19:31).
I won't, then, talk about how great Breaking Bad is, but I don't see Walter White as a hero, except in the sense of main character/protagonist. The show makes him impressive, but, by the end, it's a five-season tragedy, which has far more in common with a certain Scottish King as depicted in Shakespeare's play.
During the final stretch of my career, I was inevitably described as, "that teacher who looks like Walter White."
Apart from finishing the third season of Black Mirror (I watch about a season a year since I started. Probably pick up that pace so that I don't end up watching something that's too much like we actually end up),* I returned to my select viewing of the highest-rated episodes of Route 66. "The Opponent" features Darren McGavin, Ed Asner, Al Lewis, and Lois Nettleton (she's less iconic, but her lengthy career makes her one of those, "oh, it's that gal" actresses).
*See anything online. Or see the current administration this weekend on Ca.
I finished watching the final season of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu. It was excellent, as was the entire season. I wonder if it lost a lot of viewers due to the years-long gap between it and the previous season. I have also been enjoying Poker Face on Peacock.
We liked the book and the first season, which did a decent job of adapting it. Skeptical of the second season, we went in... Okay, good, even if it undercuts the ending of Season One. Season Three lost us and we never picked it up again. Maybe we should. I was not a fan of Atwood's sequel novel-- my wife liked it more-- so I'm not that stoked to watch a loose adaptation of that which will also be in continuity with the divergent series itself. However, the show has certainly grown a following, and I can respect that.
We just finished Andor, and it lived up to the hype. It's thoughtful, long-form storytelling, and knowing the end (in Rogue One) made it bittersweet. And because the series does lead directly into Rogue One, we did a re-watch of that. (We did not progress to A New Hope, because we've seen it enough.)
It's too bad that Andor was compressed from five seasons to two, but maybe that sharpened the writing. It didn't feel rushed, and there were tons of scenes that existed just to visit with the characters and barely propelled the plot. In fact, some important plot bits happened off-screen, and you just had to catch up. If Andor had lasted all five seasons, we'd probably have long scenes letting those plot points play out, instead of just jumping to "One Year Later" three times. Maybe this is a lesson in compressed storytelling that "prestige TV" needs to learn.
As to Rogue One, I remember being sort of surprised that it had such a downer of an ending. But that didn't bother me then, nor does it now, as it's probably my favorite Star Wars movie. (The original trilogy was a live-action cartoon, the prequels seemed written for children, and the sequels just seemed a mess. Han Solo simply could not work without at 35-year-old Harrison Ford in the lead, and that being impossible, they shouldn't have tried.)
There were a couple of bits that didn't hold up. The second-most jarring to me was Jyn Erso going from hostile to committed after one speech by Cassian. She was the obvious star of the movie (although Gabriel Luna almost stole it from her), so it had to happen, but it was a what th-!? moment for me on the couch, that I don't remember having in the theater in 2016. I tried a thought experiment of reversing the gender roles, and that felt vaguely like some other war movies or Westerns I'd seen, where the cynical outsider learns to think beyond his selfish needs to do the right thing. I'm having trouble with examples -- maybe Pike in The Wild Bunch? -- but it feels familiar. But saying of Jyn's sudden conversion that it's been done a lot before is actually an argument to do it differently. Whatever, it seemed abrupt the second time through.
The most jarring thing, though, was the CGI Princess Leia. I don't remember my reaction in 2016, but it was jarringly Uncanny Valley on the small screen. Her eyes were just ... weird. The CGI Grand Moff Tarkin wasn't perfect, but while I was aware of its artificiality, it was done well enough that it didn't take me out of the movie.
One other remark I feel the need to make: There was a line in the first Star Wars movie (A New Hope) where someone, probably Leia, remarks that a lot of people died to get them the Death Star information. It was a throwaway line to me in 1977, because the whole movie was such a cartoon, that of course she'd spout a cliche like that. But it's almost like the Star Wars creative team took that one line and made it the operational principle of both Andor and Rogue One. A lot of people died in Rogue One, including (shocking at the time) the two principals. If you look at Rogue One in hindsight, it's hard to find anyone who DOES survive. The few that do are ones that appear in the original trilogy, like Mon Motha. Then you watch Andor, and the same is true. I can name the survivors on the fingers of one hand.
But that's one thing that makes the show so bittersweet. You're watching people whose ends you know (or can guess) in the private moments of their lives, and you begin to treasure those FOR them, knowing how few of them there will be. As I said, excellent long-term storytelling that focuses on people rather than plot.
Here's a question for the Commander (or anyone else who'd care to field it). Are you familiar with Honey West? For those who are not, it's a one-season, mid-'60s spin-off of Burke's Law featuring a female private eye. I was able to watch it, once, in the '90s, loaned to me by a friend of mine who sold hard-to-find vintage TV shows on VHS. From what I remember about it (and judging from your list on the previous page), Honey West would seem to be right in your wheelhouse.
Aye, friend Jeff, I am most familiar with Honey West (ABC, 1965-6)---though I'll confess it wasn't until years later that I knew that her character had appeared in a book series by Forrest and Gloria Fickling. The show wasn't, technically, a spin-off of Burke's Law---a spin-off occurs when a regular character on one series graduates to his own show---and Honey West appeared in only one episode of Burke's Law, "Who Killed the Jackpot?" This was a back-door pilot for her character.
As Burke's Law fans learnt in that episode, and as viewers were brought up to speed in the first episode of Honey West, Honey inherited the majority share of her father's private-detective business after his death. She also inherits his junior partner, Sam Bolt. Besides the alluring Anne Francis as a female P.I. starring rôle, the other two things which made this private-eye show stand out was (1) the use of (then-)high-tech hardware (an electronic-surveillance van) and James Bond-type gimmicks (an exploding compact, lipstick-radio, garter-belt gasmask); and (2) the interaction between Honey and Sam, which was often contentious. It that sense, it was Moonlighting before there was Moonlighting.
For the series' first sixteen or seventeen episodes, the show adhered to a taut, serious formula. But, by March, 1966 or so, the first effects of Batmania hit (Batman having débuted in January of 1966, and the scripts crept into camp-hood. I don't know if Honey West wouldn't have been cancelled anyway, but the shift to broad humour (pun not intended) didn't help.
Honey West was, indeed, on my list for re-watching; however, in our Roku offerings, there's a fee charged to see it and I'm too cheap to pay to watch a television show. Though, it dawned on me, as I was writing this, that I can probably find it on YouTube. After all five or so years ago, YouTube had the entire run of Longstreet, and if it has that, it will probably have Honey.
There are, indeed, 27 episodes of Honey West available for free on YouTube (as well as the Burke's Law "back-door" pilot).
I thnk I watch at least a few of these myself.
The recently-dropped Netflix documentary on Rob Ford, former mayor of Toronto, populist, scandal-magnet.
(and one of the few times that a Canadian politician was being regularly referenced by American late-night comedians)
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