I DVR'd two new shows last night, Eleventh Hour, and Life on Mars.
I deleted Eleventh Hour less than halfway through. The villain was a bio-engineering (for food) company...and its greedy owner, who doesn't care about people. The plot was a series of expository lectures from the lead characters disguised as dialogue. This had to be written by 18-year-olds (or liberals of any age): Lot's of ignorance and earnestness; no subtlety.
The script had the pernicious CEO make quite good arguments for bio-engineering. Which was brilliant as propaganda actually. They put real and true facts that support bio-engineering in the mouth of an oily villain, so that they seemed like lies and excuses. An impression that will no doubt be left in the minds of an audience ignorant of the facts. And the next time they hear them in a real debate, they will assume they are just lies in the service of profit.
Really, it's a very good pre-emptive strike against truth that undermines your position.
Of course, I don't for a moment think the writers of this graceless lecture series purposefully managed that level of cunning. Nothing else in the show displayed any grasp of wit or craft. They credulously believe any defense of bio-engineering to be lies, and inelegantly shoved those arguments into the mouth of their chosen villain. The End. Run credits.
Nice work Hollywood.
And when people all over the world are dying of starvation because the elites like yourselves allow only small yield and inferior "organic" food to be grown....I'm sure they'll thank you too.
I just couldn't take it. Rufus Sewell. I did love you once.
As for Life on Mars, well, we were instructed not to hate homosexuals.
Now, there's virtuous advice we just don't get often enough, so, I'm glad that Hollywood found a way to get that worthy and critical message to all of us through the novel idea of making it the plot of a television show.
Pass the duct tape please. Head exploding.
If it wasn't for Sarah Connor and the Winchester brothers, I couldn't watch TV at all.
The Gunslinger
I agree--Eleventh Hour makes The New Adventures Of Old Christine look like Masterpiece Theater. The main characters are the most unlikable characters in TV history. I smell a midseason replacement...
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced the only thing worth watching is baseball.
Yes, I give it, like, 6 episodes.
ReplyDeleteToo bad. I like Rufus Sewell. He's entertaining when not constrained by a bad script.
He was lovely in Dark City (as the hero), and A Knight's Tale (as the villain).
He's also English if I'm not mistaken. What's the deal with all these Brits playing Americans in US series? Are they working cheaper, or what??
In general,they're more disciplined than American actors,with less self-indulgent attitudes.In Olivier's autobiography,on making "Marathon Man"'s final chase scene,he noted Dustin Hoffman doing a lot of running between takes (to be "in character",out of breath,etc.),while Sir Larry rested.After completing the scenes,Hoffman complimented him on how Olivier got the same exhausted results needed,and "How did you DO that?" Olivier replied, "ACTING,my dear boy"! The Brits have more of a guild-like system for actors,unlike our "Celebrity Is All" approach.They actually learn the trade,on stage particularly,rather than have movie stardom as their main goal.
ReplyDeletetj, how do you KNOW all this stuff??
ReplyDelete