Love Is All Around

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" debuted on CBS fifty years ago today, and I don't know if I can say anything about the series that hasn't already been said.  It was a groundbreaking sitcom that put a woman, Mary Richards, in the center of the storylines as the principal character.  She took charge of her life and was able to juggle work as an associate producer, later a full producer of a local TV-news show, and as part of an ensemble cast that included male and female characters of various strengths and idiosyncrasies , Mary Tyler Moore was able to redefine the situation comedy as we know it.  The acting, the writing, the production - I could go on.

In honor of this momentous anniversary, I present the very first episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" - "Love Is All Around," which aired on CBS on Saturday, September 19, 1970 at 9:30 PM Eastern.  You're welcome :-)

Roseanne's Reboot Is Booted

Roseanne Barr had it all.  A successful comeback.  A reboot of her late-eighties/early-nineties sitcom.  Eighteen million people watching.  A cash cow for ABC.  Then Barr wrote a racist tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarratt and blamed it on medication.

What prompted Barr to lash out at an adviser to a President who left office in January 2017 is unknown.  But I don't think it was Ambien.

This isn't the first time Valerie Jarratt was on the receiving end of a spew of hatred that came out of nowhere.  When she was on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show, as you will recall, to talk about helping young black men get ahead, Billo went on an anti-rap rant even though the topic had nothing to do with rap. 

Just like Roseanne's racism has nothing to do with over-the-counter sleep medicine.  (Oh yeah, O'Reilly is long since gone for an unrelated incident.)

Quite frankly, I don't know why ABC wanted to give the most vulgar and the most unlettered comedian in these United States a reboot of her old TV series when the network knew she was a loose cannon.  But then, controversy draws viewers to TV, and more viewers mean more ad revenue, and ABC was profiting handsomely from the reboot of "Roseanne."  ABC could have stood behind her and accepted her non-apology - and kept making all of that money from her show - but the network did the right thing and got rid of her.  

In a bizarre twist of fate, this comes less than three decades after Jackie Mason's sitcom "Chicken Soup" premiered on ABC and earned solid ratings because it followed . . . "Roseanne."  It was produced by the same production company that gave us "Roseanne" as well.  Then Mason, campaigning in the 1989 New York City mayoral election for Republican nominee Rudolph Giuliani, referred to Democratic nominee David Dinkins, aiming to become the first black mayor of New York City,  as a "shvartzer."  Accused of racism, Mason, a Jew, explained that "shvartzer" merely means "black man" in Yiddish and was not meant to be disparaging.  Jews who spoke Yiddish and who peppered their English-language speech with Yiddish words defended Mason, but the fact that Yiddish-language ethnic references are sometimes used disparagingly - in Yiddish, the word "Americaner," for example, is a disparaging term for an Americanized Jew, I've been led to understand - didn't help his case.

On the same day Dinkins was elected mayor of New York, in November 1989, "Chicken Soup" had its last serving.  A few days later ABC canceled it with the official explanation that the network realized the show was only getting good ratings because it followed "Roseanne."  Everyone knew what the real reason was (and by the way, "Chicken Soup" was a substandard show, but had Mason not opened his mouth, it would have stayed on for as long as its ratings were respectable).  This time, "Roseanne" was itself canceled, and there was no sugar-coating the reason why . . . and Mason's "shvartzer" comment seems harmless by comparison.  Ironically, the negative publicity Roseanne Barr received overshadowed the series finale of ABC's "The Middle," which ended its nine-year run following . . . "Roseanne."

Oy vey.  

Back in 1989, no one felt sorry for Jackie Mason, whom New Jersey Star-Ledger TV critic Jerry Krupnick said "shot himself in the mouth."  While I feel sorry for Barr's co-stars, who distanced themselves from her like vampires from garlic, I don't feel sorry for Roseanne herself.  She shot herself in the tweet. 

Happy "Parenthood" Endings

I was surprised to learn that the TV series "Parenthood" was ending its season three months early. Yet, I was eager to watch the season finale this past Tuesday. And, with so many continuing storylines loaded with drama in this season, I expected an even balance of happy and sad endings - especially given the storyline about Julia and Joel prepared to adopt the baby boy of Zoe, the former barista girl at Julia's law firm, only for Zoe to change her mind at the last nanosecond and keep her baby once it was born.

Not too surprisingly, it all turned out very differently. I haven't seen so many happy endings since "The Wonderful World of Disney."

As everyone already knew, Crosby and Jasmine finally got married. (A black gospel group performing a Bob Dylan song at this interracial wedding was a nice touch.) The only losers were the people they dumped for each other, although Jasmine's boyfriend, Doctor Joe, took it much better than Crosby's girlfriend, the cute cellist working at Crosby and Adam's recording studio. Speaking of which, a persistent recording company representative offered more than two million dollars to buy the studio, with Adam ready to sell but Crosby refusing to. Ultimately, Crosby relented, and the sale was tentatively made pending paperwork and forms to be processed . . . until Adam announced at the wedding reception that he changed his mind - also at the last nanosecond - and decided that working with his brother and having a beautiful wife and three children were more important than money.

Sarah broke up with her boyfriend, a teacher about twenty years her junior, when she realized she didn't want a baby and he did. But they reconciled at the wedding reception, and now they're engaged. They're going to worry about starting a family later, if it ever comes to that. While this was going on, Sarah's daughter Amber returned to work on Berkeley city council candidate Bob Little's campaign after almost having an affair with him, and Sarah's son Drew consummated his relationship with his girlfriend Amy. There might be a poison pill there in the form of an unintended pregnancy; ironically, Sarah could become a grandmother first, then still have a child of her own. That would strengthen the parallel between Sarah and her counterpart in the movie Parenthood, Helen Buckman (played by Dianne Wiest), who went through the same thing.

Incredible. Apart from the prospect of Drew becoming a teenage dad, there wasn't one hint of a sad or shocking ending or plot twist to keep us guessing until September. Certainly, Julia and Joel's unsuccessful adoption efforts had to be the one sad coda in this season finale. (Ironically, a similar storyline on ABC's "Modern Family" - gay couple Mitchell and Cam's unsuccessful efforts to adopt a son - is being played up not for drama but for laughs, as their efforts increasingly resemble those of Charlie Brown trying to kick Lucy's football.)

In fact, the 2011-12 season finale of "Parenthood" ended with Julia and Joel bringing in a foster son older than their own biological daughter.

I don't like this - numerous storylines neatly tied up with little to build up anticipation for the next season. Some of the resolutions were more appropriate for a series finale rather than a season finale, which makes me wonder if "Parenthood" will be back in the fall. It is an NBC series, and that alone is enough reason to doubt its fate. A big shakeup at fourth-place NBC for the 2012-13 season has been promised by its Comcast overlords; it will be a miracle if even only a handful of the shows currently in NBC's lineup survive it.

More Parenthood Issues

NBC's "Parenthood" has taken quite an interesting turn in the past couple of weeks. While other NBC shows have been failing simply for being on NBC, "Parenthood" continues to be intriguing . . . though not always for the right reasons. I'll explain shortly.

In the latest plot twist, the two Braverman brothers, Adam and Crosby, have apparently switched personalities; the cautious Adam has become more reckless, and the irresponsible Crosby has become the adult in the room. The two brothers have opened a recording studio together, and when they make an attempt at accommodating neo-soul and hip-hop artist Cee Lo Green (who played himself) for a session, Adam is convinced they can pull everything together in a day or two; Crosby, who knows a thing or two about professional recording, is aware of the logistical difficulties involved and gets impatient with Adam for his naïveté. They manage to pull the Cee Lo Green session off, after more than a few hitches, but the married Adam's self-control unravels to the point where he ends up engaged in a passionate kiss with Rachel, his and Crosby's new secretary. Crosby, whose sexual selfishness destroyed his engagement to Jasmine, manages to avoid such temptations. In the next episode, Adam's wife Kristina finds out about his indiscretion. If the pattern holds, the series will go on hiatus for December, and so a huge cliffhanger is in the offing for next Tuesday.

And while all this is going on, Julia is going to adopt the unborn child of the barista girl at her law firm after all. The unwed mother-to-be didn't want to give her baby to anyone she knew personally . . . until she saw first-hand what great parents Julia and her husband were to their little girl.

Now for a more unwelcome turn. For much of the show's existence so far, interracial relationships have been part of the storylines. As noted, Crosby and Jasmine broke up acrimoniously. But Adam's daughter Haddie suddenly found herself unattached when her black boyfriend Alex felt he had no alternative but to break up with her after being arrested for assault. Although cleared of the charges, he decided that his violent past was too much of an impediment in his and Haddie's relationship. Alex has completely disappeared. Meanwhile, Jasmine has begun dating a pediatrician who, like herself, is black, although Crosby is jealous not because of Jasmine but because of his and Jasmine's son, whom he feels is spending way too much time with her new boyfriend. Oh yeah, there have been recent episodes where Joy Bryant, who plays Jasmine, doesn't show up at all - or she makes an appearance that feels more like a walk-on.

I'm suspecting that, despite the increase in the number of interracial unions in America - and even the President of the United States is a product of one - advertisers are still reluctant to sponsor a show that deals with them. Both NBC and the writers and producers of "Parenthood" must have caved in to outside pressure, as the show seems to be deviating further from this once-vital plot device. I'm pining for the days when Norman Lear could put an interracial couple on one of his shows and make viewers like it, but in an age of growing ethnic paranoia, and at a time when NBC is one Nielsen report away from being liquidated, the pressure to avoid the exploration of such relationships on "Parenthood" must be too great for producers Jason Katims, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer to withstand. (Remember, this is all speculation; I can't say for sure that this is the case.)

Oh, yeah, few if any of NBC's other current shows are meeting their ridiculously low expectations . . .but that's another post.

Come Fly With Me

I finally got around to seeing "Pan Am," the new ABC series ripping off "Mad Men" with its ironically nostalgic look back on the early 1960s, and I hope "Mad Men" producer Matthew Weiner loves being ripped off.  Because "Pan Am" is a pretty good ripoff.  (I think now I'm being ironic.) 

As noted, "Pan Am" involves a group of stewardesses and a couple of cocky pilots working for the now-defunct airline of that name, and how in the early sixties - 1963, to be precise - a stewardess position was one of the very few ways women could make a career for themselves and those who did become stewardesses made the most and the best of it.  This show pretty much depicts their female protagonists in a sympathetic light.  (One stewardess character is even a CIA operative, to take advantage of the Cold War mentality of the time.) And star Christina Ricci, as purser Maggie Ryan, doesn't come across as a movie star denigrating herself by appearing on the small screen; she's as dignified here on American television as Judi Dench was in playing a sitcom role (Jean in "As Time Goes By") on British television. 

Sadly, none of this pre-feminist subtext is likely to matter to viewers. As with "Mad Men," which causes viwers to be nostalgic without irony by showing twentysomethings occupying career-oriented entry-level jobs in the 1960s (while twentysomethings occupy Wall Street today), "Pan Am" will likely cause viewers to pine for those earlier times, before airline deregulation in 1978.  Like, wow - airline travel used to be elegant and refined? Coach class seats were comfortable?  Blankets were available on overnight trips?  Stewardesses actually paid attention to you - and served you edible meals? Passengers could actually enter the cockpit? And, when you boarded a plane, you didn't have to take off your shoes?? Sadly, 9/11 changed a lot of that, as well as deregulation, but at least today women can be pilots.  They can't be navigators, though - the three-man crew shown in "Pan Am" is also a thing of the past, the navigator's job rendered obsolete by computers in the same way that Pan Am itself was rendered obsolete by competition and mergers. 

As a series, "Pan Am" is likely to be the best historical drama you'll see on broadcast television, though NBC's "Parenthood," set in the present, is still the best drama on broadcast TV overall.  (Not that it matters to a network - NBC - having entered its eighth season in last place.)

Parenthood Issues

The second full season of "Parenthood,"  having started a week before the 2011-12 season, did so with a few surprises and some rather intriguing plot lines. 

Despite indications to the contrary back in April, when the previous season ended, Crosby and Jasmine are not back together.  Not yet, anyway.  Yes, Crosby bought a house for himself, Jasmine, and their son, and yes, Jasmine came to look at it in the last episode of the previous season, but it turns out they're still living separate lives, even as they're still trying to raise their kid together.  Crosby is hoping a new real estate venture - restoring a recording studio popular with legendary San Francisco bands - will pay off, and he even has his brother Adam, having lost his job, on board, but Crosby seems to be trying to re-create a glorious rock and roll past that can never be brought back.  But maybe that's just me.  Meanwhile, Adam has to figure out how to bring in some money to help is growing family, what with his wife Kristina about to have a baby and all.

Adam and Crosby's sister Julia wants to adopt a baby, and she works up the gall and the nerve to ask the pregnant, single barista girl at her law firm if she can adopt her unborn baby.  The answer? "No."  And Adam's daughter Haddie has to deal with her boyfriend Alex having to go to trial for hitting someone who was harassing him at a party, only to find out that he has a criminal record - he robbed someone.  

This is getting interesting . . . hopefully interesting enough to warrant Emmy nominations next year.  "Parenthood" kind of hasn't won any Emmys yet.  But as long as the cable-TV Emmy darling "Mad Men" is still not back, this is probably the best drama you're going to see on television right now.

And some folks don't have cable.

"Parenthood" Issues

Last week's episode of "Parenthood" wasn't as intensely devoted to the prom night plot I described as I thought it would be, but it did leave some tantalizing clues as to where Maddie and Alex's relationship is going - clearly to a place Adam and Kristina (Maddie's parents) don't want it to go.

Crosby decided to buy a house - a cheap house that needs a lot of work - to convince Jasmine that he's serious about rebuilding a relationship with her and becoming a responsible family man. This latter point, of course, is contradicted by his impulsive purchase, and Jasmine and their son Jabbar were nowhere to be seen. Crosby is also growing a beard, a sign that he's in a downward spiral. (Asked what the period of the Beatles's breakup was like, Paul McCartney described it as being "crazy. Insane. Half the reason I grew the beard.")

Meanwhile, Sara is under pressure to turn her good play into a great one, even as she has to tend to her daughter Amber's mood swings and disappointment over failing to get accepted into any colleges despite her intelligence. The previews for tonight's episode show Amber acting out.

Oh yeah, she apparently gets into an appalling car crash.

This doesn't look good . . ..

Parents In the 'Hood

I don't know if this means that NBC is finally regaining its relevance, but its comedy-drama "Parenthood" is easily one of the best series of the 2009-10 season, and one that we can expect to stick around for awhile. Although it's co-produced by Ron Howard and is reported to be based on his 1989 movie of the same name, and although there's a slight similarity in some of the characters and ongoing story lines, the only thing "Parenthood" the TV series really has in common with Parenthood the film, apart from Ron Howard's association, is its title.

Instead of following the Buckmans of Kirkwood, Missouri, the extended family featured in the movie, "Parenthood" follows the Bravermans of Berkeley, California. The family is headed by patriarch Zeek Braverman (played by veteran actor Craig T. Nelson), a free spirit who has tried his hand at many careers and professions and distinguished himself at none of them, his wife Camille (played by the always wonderful Bonnie Bedelia) and their grown children, all of whom have their own immediate families.

The sons, Adam (Peter Krause) and Crosby (Dax Shepard) are as alike as night and day. Adam is a corporate professional who strives to keep his family happy but has to deal with his rebellious teenage daughter, and he and his wife Kristina (Monica Potter) find their lives becoming more complicated when their son is diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. "Parenthood" has already gotten plaudits for this step by bringing to light a condition not normally talked about or depicted in any way. Crosby, a recording engineer with a Peter Pan complex, suddenly has to grow up and be responsible when his former lover, a dancer named Jasmine, returns to Berkeley and informs him that their fling from five years earlier produced a son, whom he now races (gladly, it turns out) to catch up with and be a father to.

Oh yeah, Jasmine is black - she's played by Joy Bryant - and of course Crosby is white, and so NBC has brought to prime time a subplot involving a child who's both biracial and illegitimate. More reently, Crosby and Jasmine have renewed interest in each other and ended up in bed together, breaking another TV taboo - that of depicting interracial sex.

Zeek and Camille's daughters are no less interesting. Julia (Erika Christensen) is a successful lawyer and her husband Joel (Sam Jaeger) plays "househusband" by raising their precocious daughter. Sarah (played by the always wonderful Lauren Graham) can only dream of having her sister's success. A single mom, divorced from a man who pays no attention to their children (leaving their son withdrawn), Sarah has to move in with her parents and work at bartending jobs to keep her family going even as she deals with a daughter who has trouble with school as well as her bitter son. Sarah's economic plight is displayed best by her car - a Chevrolet Chevette, which she drives in the first couple of episodes. The Chevette, for the record, hasn't been produced since 1986; when I started watching the show, I thought it was set at an earlier time than the present. But, given that an old Chevette is all Sarah can afford, it seems appropriate that her car soon dies on her completely and she suddenly has to worry about how she's going to replace it.

NBC has already announced the renewal of "Parenthood" for a second season. That's good news, not only because it marks the return of Lauren Graham to series television, and this time on a real network. (A low-rated, emaciated, directionless, humiliated NBC is still preferable to a CW at the height of its broadcasting abilities.) It's good news because it deals with touchy subjects and personal issues- career choices, race, and, as noted, Asperger syndrome - and deals with them in an intelligent, touching way. "Parenthood" is able to explore these issues more deeply as an ongoing TV series than the movie could have, and the movie, released in 1989, only glossed over less controversial topics while only acknowledging more controversial subjects in passing. (In the movie, Tom Hulce plays an irresponsible dad with a biracial son, but his black girlfriend is never depicted.) There was an earlier attempt at making a TV series out of the movie in the early nineties, but that didn't go anywhere. Now co-producing a series anyone can relate to, because the issues dealt with are as diverse as this extended family, Ron Howard can count on this "Parenthood" being around in the long term, unlike Sarah's Chevette.