Category: Television

  • Personal Review, The BEATLES: Get Back (Part 1)

    There were many things I was looking forward to this Thanksgiving, and one of the biggest was watching, The BEATLES: Get Back. As a stupidly huge BEATLES fan, I had known for some time about Peter Jackson’s documentary about the LET IT BE documentary. I had been waiting and waiting, and then I got very excited when it changed from a single movie to a three-part series that would be on Disney+. And yes, I made my family watch it on Thanksgiving night…

    Or at least tried to…

    When I pulled up the first episode, and saw that it was two and a half hours long, I knew my wife and daughter weren’t going to make it. I was right. About thirty minutes in, they were like, maybe this is something dad should watch alone. And they weren’t wrong.

    Even though other critics have been saying that this eight-hour mini-series is for serious and casual fans, I have to disagree. This is a deep dive for huge fans, and there is no shame in that. Making an album is kind’a boring. They play the song over and over, and then spend a lot of time talking about what they should do, and then they play the song over and over. Boom! That’s how albums are made, and it is long, hard work.

    Now, for us stupidly obsessive fans… This thing is like heaven. Watching them work, and try out ideas, and then fart around for a while, and then try the song again. John, Paul and George had been playing together over ten years, and with Ringo for at least seven, so the ease in which they could just pick up a song, shout out chord changes and go, was stupefying. They are only in their late 20’s, and they are that good. I think the other aspect I really enjoyed having confirmed was seeing that they were an actual good band. Not just recording artists, but a band that could play.

    As for the arch of the episodes, the first one is a bit tough to get through. Even though Jackson and the PR for this show had spun the story that footage of The BEATLES shows that they weren’t actually on the verge of breaking up, and there was so much fun and love between them. I respectfully have to disagree. The first part shows that they all weren’t hip on being in this band anymore. I mean, George walked out. What I will agree with is that when they are playing music together, they do look like they are having a blast. But once they stop and start talking about managers and anything other than songs, the tension starts to show.

    In the second episode, when George brought Billy Preston in, it changed everything for the better. Preston had an ease and cool confidence, so when joined them at the Apple Recording Studio, man, he just brought an energy to the band that they all feed off of. People start showing up on time, and happy. The songs start clicking, and it is really exciting to watch all of them work.

    When we get to the final episode, and the rooftop concert, it’s a blast, and so heartbreaking. It’s great because once they get going, you can just see that the four of them love it. Love the songs, playing together, being out there, just being together. It’s heartbreaking because, the band only has about a year left, and if they could have got their shit together, they could have toured for Abbey Road, but in the end, it’s the last time they played together as a band.

    There are so many deep dives I could do on these three parts, especially how awesome and great Mal Evans was. (Seriously, is there a bio on Mal, or a movie or anything on that guy? He is the greatest behind the scenes guy of all time.) For that, Peter Jackson did a great job. I have a feeling in a year or two a “Director’s Cut” of this will come out which will be like fifteen hours long with more songs and outtakes. And yes, I will line up to see that as well.

    For me, I got what I wanted. What I wanted to see was that four friends, who really did love and care for each other, would get together and do something really cool, and have a lot of fun doing it. I was not disappointed.

  • Wildfires and Personal Freedom

    Every Sunday morning, we watch Sunday Morning on CBS. (This isn’t a plug, so just follow me on this.) But this past Sunday, the show wasn’t on, as there was a London NFL game, in Tottenham Stadium of all places. We switched over to Paramount+ (This still isn’t a plug,) to see if we could watch Sunday Morning. It wasn’t on, but what was playing was a long documentary on the California wildfires of the past couple of years. I would share a clip, but I can’t seem to find it on the CBS News website.

    I’m sharing this for a couple of reasons. First, I learned the role modern logging is playing in creating forests that are prone to explosive wildfires, due to their planting of new trees, which are too close to each other making dangerous combustible zones. Second, and I was sort of aware of this but never had it explained in this detail, are the techniques that Native Americans used, such as seasonal burns, cutting low branches, and preparing dwellings in defense of wildfires. Third, the doc showed how people who prepared their homes for wildfires were more likely to survive them.

    And that’s the kicker; there are proven techniques people can do to save their homes and communities. I’m talking about the Five-Feet Rule, which is pretty simple and non-intrusive. The logic is rather clear; if every home in a neighborhood did this, then the likelihood of the community going up in flames is greatly decreased.

    Sadly, the documentary showed, again and again, how communities would refuse to adopt these rules because they don’t want to government telling them what to do. Even when Cal-Fire offered to help people prep their homes, on a purely volunteer basis, people still refused. The people claimed they were defending their freedom from government intervention.

    But is it that? If a fire comes through, and they lose their home, won’t they expect the government to help them out? To get back on their feet. How can you defend freedom by refusing government help in one situation, but retain your freedom by taking government help in a different situation? It doesn’t seem to line up to me.

  • Personal Review: McCartney 3,2,1

    I’m a huge Beatle fan. I have listened to every album, bootleg, and out take that I could get my hands on. I have read books on the band, on their recording techniques, and individual biographies. Once in college, I spent a day in the library reading old magazine articles from the 60’s about them. I even played George Harrison in a play, not that that has anything to do with this, but I thought I would just add it.

    I had known about the HULU McCartney 3,2,1 for some time, but I just never got around to it. Not that I wasn’t interested in it, but Summer was Summer, and things got away from me. But, now that life is calmer, I was able to dedicate some time, and I wanted to dedicate time and focus on this.

    The show is just Rick Rubin asking Paul McCartney questions about his songs – Beatles and solo work – and then listen to the songs as the two guys break down the different tracks on each song. This didn’t strike me as a show for casual Beatles fans, but more like a deep dive for those of us who know about the Beatles process of using a four-track, and how they were excited to get an eight-track at Abbey Road, and all the crazy wizardry they, and the engineers like Geoff Emerick, and producer George Martin, could come up with. So, on that level, it was pretty in-depth. Also, Rubin’s producer’s ear, as well as clearly being a huge fan, helped in bringing up question about the dualistic sound the Beatles loved to play with.

    I enjoyed it greatly, but I was reminded about one very clear fact; the last guy standing gets to tell the story. (I am aware that Ringo could chime in, but what I get from him is that he’s happy with his version of the story. Nothing to add.) I’m not saying Paul was lying in the show, but I think he was clearly smoothing over some edges. No stories of disagreements, or late-night sessions that ended in frustration, only to be picked up again the next day with new and different ideas. But on the flip side of that, I do think Paul was the most complementary and honest in saying that many of his songs were influenced and made better by the other three.

    And in the end, isn’t that what happens to everyone as they age and look back; We remember the good parts and start to forget about the bad stuff. Luckily, there are tons of good songs to remember.

  • Personal Review: The Real World, Season 1, 1992

    The wife and I have been looking for a TV show to watch at night. Something to wash the pallet clean at the end of the day, but not too serious, but also not totally dumbed down. After searching around all the streaming services, we landed on The Real World from MTV on Paramount+.

    When we started season 1, which took place in 1992 New York City, it was a fun reminder of what early 90’s life was like, as we were in high school when the show premiered, and it was a neat snap shot of what pre-Giuliani New York was like. Also, this was the show that birthed the “reality” genre, so to go back to the source, so to speak, was enlightening; not only for the way things were, but how they are now.

    I was 15 when I watched the show originally, and my memory of the show had holes, but it was rather intact. Now, 44-year-old me watched it with a more cynical eye, and found the show slanted to a very specific perspective.

    Of the seven cast members, six of them were currently living in New York at the start of the show, while one member, Julie, was from out of town, Alabama, but she has aspirations to be in New York as a dancer. Thus, the fish out of water storyline that followed through the whole season. The other six members were all in the arts, at the start of their careers; one writer, three musicians, one painter, and one model. A very liberal arts group.

    15-year-old me remembered that this was my first experience with seeing people of my generation pursing the arts, and struggling. Before this show, if I wanted to see young people in the arts, it was either the Lost Generation of the 20’s, the Beats of the 50’s or the Hippies in the 60’s. What the 44-year-old me saw was that some of the people were working much harder than others. My memory of the show was that it had a very voyeuristic quality, but remained true to the proposition that it was showing people being “real.” Older me, having experienced other “reality” shows, could see the manipulation of the cast and certain situations.

    As I finished the first season, it was much tamer than I remembered. Knowing what is coming down the pipe with the reality television genre, you can see the start of how things will be edited and presented to have a desired effect. It was like a quarter of the way through the season, the producers realized that this wasn’t a documentary, but a story that needed to be compelling, so the audience would tune in next week.

  • Personal Review: WandaVision (Spoilers!)

    (You are warned! SPOILERS AHEAD! And this is a long one.)

    So, I finished WandaVision last night, and nothing was ruined for me; No internet troll, no idiot fanboy friend, and no spoiler reveiling headline. I was able to watch, and enjoy what unfolded. Just like our ancestors of old.

    The first thing is that I am really surprised at how much I enjoyed WandaVision, as it made me look forward to Friday night. The group of people who put this together did a great job of keeping the story well paced, revealing this mystery piece by piece. I wasn’t sure at first, to be honest. The first two episodes moved slowly, but as the show progressed, it did feel like a runaway train, building speed, and you knew it was headed for a crash of a climax. I keep thinking that at some point I will get tired of superhero shows/movies, because Martin Scorsese is right; you know the good guy always wins, so there is nothing really at stake or in peril. Yeah…

    …But what I enjoyed most was that this was a superhero story about grief and mourning. I think when it comes to “big ‘splosion movies” like Hollywood makes, not a whole lot of time is given to the emotional toll that these trials and losses have on the characters. (I remember when Carrie Fisher said that Princess Leia was the strongest character in Star Wars because Leia was captured, tortured, watched her home planet get destroyed which killed her parents and family and friends, got in a shoot-out, still had time to empathize with Luke’s loss of Ben, and then went on to help lead the attack on the Death Star which caused her to, yet again, face imminent death. And through all of that, she never broke down. That’s an emotionally strong character.) When you think about Wanda, that character has been through too much grief; parents, brother, and her partner in Vision. How would a character with unlimited power deal with all of that death? As she went through the stages of grief, why wouldn’t she use her powers?

    Grief doesn’t make sense. As I watched this show, it made me think about how I have grieved for my mother. Clearly, if I could bring her back I would do it, but I know that will never happen. But I do sometimes find myself having the fleeting thought that I might still get a phone call or text from her. It’s a thought that enters my mind, only to be quickly dismissed by logic, but it lasts long enough for there to be a catch in my throat, and that sad sinking feeling in my stomach. My grief doesn’t stop me from functioning, because my kid makes me keep going, but my grief is always below the surface. It’s a sadness that always seems to be in the back of the room, just out of the corner of my eye. It holds me back from being very excited about anything, or opening myself up to any deeper emotions, or even the joy of looking forward to something.

    And that is the thing that WandaVision did for me. When I figured out this was a show about Wanda’s grief and how it had manifested itself, I didn’t run from it. Watching this show was admitting that it was going to bring up things in me that are still raw. Two and a half years after my mother’s death, I can talk about it, but I’m still not ready to feel that pain again. Watching Wanda and Vision say goodbye to their boys, that hurt. Watching Wanda and Vision say goodbye to each other, oh that hurt as well. But what hurt most was watching that red energy field contracting; the inevitable visual end, the looming death, that was moving toward them. That image for me was how my mother’s death felt. As she lay almost comatose in hospice, we all knew death was coming. We couldn’t stop it, and as every minute ticked by, we knew it was getting closer. I would have done anything to stop it. But I couldn’t. That hurts still.

    WandaVision ended up being something more than I thought it could be. What I thought would be a one note joke of being trapped in old TV shows, or a vehicle to set up “Phase 4” or “Phase 5,” actually was one of the better shows that I have seen a in long time. There was something at stake, and there was peril. Sure, that bad guy was defeated, but the grief survived. Grief can be a gift, as it does show us who and how deeply we truly loved, but if grief is not confronted, it can destroy us.