The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Donal's picture

    America in Primetime

    By Donal on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 1:40pm | Arts & Entertainment

    America in Primetime is structured around the most compelling shows on television today, unfolding over four hours and weaving between past and present. Each episode focuses on one character archetype that has remained a staple of primetime through the generations – the Independent Woman, the Man of the House, the Misfit, and the Crusader – capturing both the continuity of the character, and the evolution. The finest television today has as its foundation the best television of yesterday.

    The four-part series premieres Sundays, October 30-November 20, 2011, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on PBS.

    We switched to the Independent Woman episode halfway in and saw Roseanne Barr and Laurie Metcalf talking about Roseanne, Sandra Oh talking about Grey's Anatomy, and Juliana Margulies talking about The Good Wife. There were also interviews about Weeds, which I have never seen, and Desperate Housewives, which I wish I had never seen, and Nurse Jackie, which I would have liked to have seen.


    My wife and I have somewhat different tastes in TV, but we both stopped watching the laptops and paid attention. BTW, Omar (Michael K Williams, above) be talkin' 'bout The Wire in Episode 4.

    Topics: 
    Arts & Entertainment

    Comments

    Thanks for the reminder.  Just watched the The Independent Woman episode online.    It was interesting to hear some of the thought processes that produced the shows but my mind kept wandering so I guess it did not enthrall me like it did you. 

    Except for Mary Tyler Moore and Weeds, I have only seen random episodes  Watched MTM when it originally aired and Weeds online just last year on Netflix.  Weeds is pretty quirky and funny the first couple seasons then it gets really raunchy and dark.  I wish I had stopped watching after the subdivision burned.

     


    by EmmaZahn on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 8:57pm

    Probably because I loved MTM and Roseanne, and now follow the Good Wife. Wifey had us watching Grey's a lot, and I liked Sandra Oh.


    by Donal on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 9:08pm

    "Boardwalk Empire" enthusiast here.  "Sons of Anarchy" also, though it's getting lame. 

    "Pan Am" when I want to see a pretty girl.

    When I want to think, I throw in a "Babylon 5" episode.

     


    by Richard the Ele... on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 11:17pm

    America in Primetime is better than I expected, and very upbeat about television's growing potential. It's clear many who work in the medium believe it has supplanted film as "today's literature". Cheaper and faster to make, TV shows are a better mirror of society because they can take the risk of failure. Movies can't -- which is why, ironically, so many fail.

    BTW, if PBS reruns it in your area, do catch the BBC spy drama Page Eight on Masterpiece Contemporary. I saw it last night, and it's worth it for the acting alone (Michael Gambon, Judy Davis, Rachel Weisz, Ralph Fiennes and Bill Nighy (not the science guy). A 21st-century Smiley's People.

    The program's main flaw: the first half has a Wire-like pace to it, then it rushes a bit to get the story told. I later read it was originally conceived as a trilogy, which helps explain that. Still well worth watching.


    by acanuck on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 1:54pm

    We find it really hard to pick movies and go much more for the series. I recorded Page Eight--partner doesn't care for MI5.

    Masterpiece ran three series of "Case Histories" which was pretty good. Also, Aurelio Zen. And my all time favorite, Wallander.

    For anyone liking the culinary theme and light British detective stuff, we like Pie in the Sky, available on netflix.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 2:08pm

    I like Inspector Lewis and Foyle's War.


    by Donal on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 2:14pm

    I'm having trouble with Lewis as honcho having watched all of the Morse series, which I loved. But I like the erudite side kick. Foyle's War is excellent.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 3:17pm

    Hathaway is great, but I think Lewis has grown into the job.


    by Donal on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 7:36pm

    I've read, Oxy, that when Blair was demanding security-service cover for joining Bush's Iraq fiasco, MI5 (unlike MI6) stood its ground. Tell your partner there are echoes of that in Page Eight.


    by acanuck on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 2:37pm

    Thanks, I'll try it.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 3:14pm