Great piece, Jon. You really zoned in on the high points not just of the episode but perhaps the whole series. Betty's monologue was one of the most brilliant sustained pieces of acting I've ever seen, so many subtle shifts as she attempts to find her heart and send a message to her husband via the treacherous shrink. Heartbreaking. Then Don's pitch just ripped your guts out. Has TV ever presented a more complex character?
And the juxtaposition of all of that with Peggy, unwillingly bringing another lonely soul into this world.
I did not expect to see the Sopranos topped in my lifetime. I especially didn't expect to see it topped -- perhaps -- in the same year.
For all you TV beat writers, this show has surely made the new season of network shows seem especially pale and uninspired.
Definitely a great two hours of TV last night, and Mad Men really nailed it. Btw, I recently caught an (interesting but uneven) indie film from a few years back, called "Virgin," and was trying to figure out where I'd seen its star before. Ah yes, Elisabeth Moss, Peggy. Quite a different role for her but she's equally good. Vincent Kartheiser (Pete) has gone through the indie route, too. Great cast but the writing's superb. Not sure it's at Sopranos levels yet but it's up there.
A brilliant episode. I loved the look on the Kodak people's faces. Harry stood out the last two episodes too. I really want to see where his story goes. I knew Peggy was pregnant, but all the way to term? That was something. And it certainly looks like she wants nothing to do with the baby. How is that going to work out?
I was curious to know how other people felt about Californication so I found this [ http://tinyurl.com/2x9y5w ] I definitely noticed the contrast from the papers an ordinary people.
After Friday Night Lights aired last night, I was on the phone with a friend who talked about the bad attitude of Smash and said that that seems to be the way a lot of black athletes act today, and he hates it. He called it the "Hip Hop 'I'm the Center of the Universe!'" attitude. I told him that that sounded a bit racist, but he said no, it's a character and cultural issue that nowadays seems to be a problem for athletes of one particular race more than the rest, that he never had any problems with black athletes in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and even well into the 90's. When we heard the rumors about Matt Kemp having an attitude problem that nobody would ever define, I wonder if what people like Jeff Kent were getting at is that Kemp is basically like Smash Williams in FNL.
has anybody seen the movie "Control" (Jon Looking at you, but if somebody else has seen it please reply) is it worth while? the trailer looks pretty darn good but a review from somebody here would be appreciated.
13 - But at least on the field, Kemp hasn't come close to looking like Smash. Nor has Loney, etc. further illustrating your friend's point as a pointless generalization. Just like Kent's attitude problem isn't representative of white athletes.
Unfortunately, I've gotta go the other way on "Control," which I found to be a tedious slog. In my opinion, a much, much, much better take on similar material was Michael Winterbottom's "24 Hour Party People." If you haven't seen that one, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Perhaps this has been brought up before, but is our television season going to go up in smoke before it really gets going because of the looming writers strike? I've read in some places that the TV moguls are already writing this season off as dead. (See http://tinyurl.com/3yqnq2)
If the season for The Office gets aborted after only a half-dozen episodes, I'm going to be seriously depressed.
http://www.officetally.com/the-office-money
And the juxtaposition of all of that with Peggy, unwillingly bringing another lonely soul into this world.
I did not expect to see the Sopranos topped in my lifetime. I especially didn't expect to see it topped -- perhaps -- in the same year.
For all you TV beat writers, this show has surely made the new season of network shows seem especially pale and uninspired.
When does next season start?
http://tinyurl.com/yo5dhl
Except for Smash.
13 - But at least on the field, Kemp hasn't come close to looking like Smash. Nor has Loney, etc. further illustrating your friend's point as a pointless generalization. Just like Kent's attitude problem isn't representative of white athletes.
Unfortunately, I've gotta go the other way on "Control," which I found to be a tedious slog. In my opinion, a much, much, much better take on similar material was Michael Winterbottom's "24 Hour Party People." If you haven't seen that one, I can't recommend it highly enough.
If the season for The Office gets aborted after only a half-dozen episodes, I'm going to be seriously depressed.
The impact is more likely to be felt in 2008.
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