Third Estate Sunday Review

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

TV: The plodding and the scintillating

SYFY's KRYPTON is yet another attempt to imagine life before Superman -- thing is, previous show runners have done it so much better.

The new series takes place on the dying planet of Krypton where Clark Kent's Kal-el has yet to be born but his family already consists of Seg-el and Val-el. Even without a Bag-el, the show's too cheesy for words.

It's slow and plodding, poorly written and badly acted.

When we shared that take with a friend at SYFY, he replied back that we were missing the point of the show -- there's a point? -- and referred us to this "rave." It's not really a rave of what's on the screen. There's a great deal of excitement in the review -- over where the show might go -- including Superman's grandfather Seg-el traveling to the present or the future. The closest to praise of what's currently airing is really just the point that KRYPTON is better than GOTHAM to which many reply back, "What's not better than GOTHAM?"

The show that started with over fourteen million viewers now regularly pulls in . . . less than three million. In all of our travels around the country, speaking out against the wars, we've only ever met one person who felt the need to bring up and praise GOTHAM -- she was a 47-year-old LVN who watches it because her second husband does and her praise for it consisted of it being "not all bad" and her finding Ben McKenzie sexy.

We'll agree on the hotness of McKenzie but not on the "not all bad" judgment. It's bad. It's downright boring. So is KRYPTON. This notion that a key event requires a prequel will, we fear, end with some network fascinated by the prospect of HINDENBURG TRAVEL AGENCY, a show set in 1937 about people who sell tickets for the airship's final, deadly flight. Nothing really happens in the TV show, people who will die just buy tickets from people who sell them but, like just about every other event, some network honcho swears it has built-in appeal and requires a prequel to truly tell the story.

Storytelling requires skill and artistry -- two elements missing in the SYFY show. In fact, KRYPTON is the worst attempt at a pre-Superman story thus far. 1961's THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY -- a one episode pilot starring Johnny Rockwell -- may not feature the state of the art special effects, but it featured an involving storyline. A high school public speaking group has been assigned the topic of what their father's do for a speech. Jimmie Drake gets up and says his father Fred Drake is a doorman for the local movie palace. And that's it. He then asks for permission to leave. The teacher notes the class is almost over and, as everyone begins leaving, Lana Lang (Bunny Henning) tells Clark (Rockwell) that they should walk with Jimmie. Holding hands, Lana and Clark catch up with him only to find Jimmie still upset and, pointing to his father across the street in a new costume, feel there's nothing worth noting about his father. Lana argues that Fred raised Jimmie all by himself and that alone is an accomplishment. At home, Jimmie will confess to his father that he had nothing to say in class and his father will tell him that they are going to get Jimmie through college and into a job he wants and, when that day comes, Fred will be proud. Fred and the movie theater are being watched by three men -- a ringleader and his two underlings who will try to rob it. When Superboy foils the robbery with the help of Fred, Jimmie sees his father in a different light.

That's a story. You can follow it. You can care about it. It's miles ahead of any of the four episodes of KRYPTON we've thus seen. (If you'd like to see THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY, please note, AMAZON PRIME members can stream the episode for free.) It's got plot points and characterizations and is grounded in something resembling reality.

BBC AMERICA's done story right with ORPHAN BLACK and does it again with their new series KILLING EVE. Sandra Oh's wonderful as is Jodie Comer, but a great deal of the credit goes to Phoebe Waller-Bridge who's turned Luke Jennings novellas into strong television.

Sandra Oh's Eve is working for MI5 and is convinced that a serial killer is afoot and that a cover up's taking place. She's smart but, at first, trailing Comer's Villanelle. So much so, that Eve's superiors see her as the one responsible for Villanelle's hospital room massacre in the first episode and, as a result, fire her. This just means she's off the Russian desk and now fronting a team tracking the serial killer. In many ways, the show recalls the Debra Winger and Theresa Russell film noir BLACK WIDOW.

Eve is also part of a long line of female detectives in British TV series -- a line that includes Emma Peel, Tara King and Cathy Gale (THE AVENGERS), Miss Marple (AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MARPLE), Stella Gibson (THE FALL), Jane Tennison (PRIME SUSPECT), Susan Reinhardt (PREY), Vera Stanhope (VERA), Catherine Cawood (HAPPY VALLEY), Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey (SCOTT AND BAILEY), Kate Fleming and Roz Huntley (LINE OF DUTY), Mared Rhys (HINTERLAND), Ellie Miller (BROADCHURCH), Kate Ashurst and Emma Scribbins (MURDER IN SUBURBIA), Anna Travis (ABOVE SUSPICION), Hetty Wainthropp (HETTY WAINTHROPP INVESTIGATES), Clare Blake (THE COMMANDER), Agatha Raisin (AGATHA RAISN) and Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme (ROSEMARY AND THYME).

And KILLING EVE is a part of strong television. In fact, it's so strong it may be the series that five time Emmy nominee Sandra Oh finally wins the award for.

From The TESR Test Kitchen

Over the years, the test kitchen has seen amazing products and appalling ones.

But never anything this bad.

Hanover's Clam Chowder Soup. The absolute worst thing we have ever tasted.

And we were wary to taste it. Fresh from the microwave, there's an oil slick on top. Even after you attack it with a spoon and stir repeatedly, an oil slick reforms when you stop stirring.

The taste is hideous.

Campbell's soup where you add a can of water to it tastes better than this supposed ready to serve, just heat soup.

It's awful. The texture's wrong and, again, there's the oil slick. It's like a little bit of the Exon Valdez is in every spoonful.

Avoid at all cost. The worst product we ever taken into the test kitchen.

10 To Read (C.I.)

This is a new series for THIRD. Each of us will take turns offering ten books we strongly recommend. For some, it may be their ten favorite books. I don't want to present this list as my ten favorite because I didn't give it that kind of thought. These are ten books that I feel nourish, books that I can reach for over and over (Arundhati Roy's latest novel, published only a few months ago, is the only 'new' book to make my list). They have all impacted me, changed me, influenced me and, hopefully, will provide something for other readers as well. I could very easily provide a second list of ten. This is not a ranking, the order is the order they came to mind. I treasure all ten of the books below equally.

1) Alice Walker - POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY

2) Lucy Hughes-Hallett - CLEOPATRA: HISTORIES, DREAMS AND DISTORTIONS

3) Judith N. Shklar - THE FACES OF INJUSTICE

4) Marjorie Rosen - POPCORN VENUS: WOMEN, MOVIES AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

5) Arundhati Roy - THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS: A NOVEL

6) Susan Faludi - BACKLASH: THE UNDECLARED WAR AGAINST AMERICAN WOMAN

7) Joan Didion - POLITICAL FICTIONS

8) Frances Moore Lappe - DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET

9) Nancy Chang SILENCING POLITICAL DISSENT: HOW POST-SEPTEMBER 11 ANTI-TERRORISM MEASURES THREATEN OUT CIVIL LIBERTIES

10) Deborah Amos - ECLIPSE OF THE SUNNIS: POWER, EXILE, AND UPHEAVAL IN THE MIDDLE EAST

10 To Read (Jim)

This is a new feature for THIRD. This go round, we'll offer two. We plan to offer one -- at least one -- a month. We'll each take a turn. C.I. agreed to go first and immediately changed our title ("10 You Have To Read" -- "too bossy," C.I. termed it). My list is ranked based on my favorites with the number one book representing my favorite book. Books one and six were books my grandfather gave me in 8th grade. Books two and eight were books my parents made me -- yes, made me -- read one summer. The rest I came across on my own. I love these ten books!

1) John Steinbeck - IN DUBIOUS BATTLE

2) Maxine Hong Kingston - THE FIFTH BOOK OF PEACE

3) Edith Wharton - THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

4) Joshua Key and Lawrence Hill's THE DESERTER'S TALE: THE STORY OF AN ORDINARY SOLDIER WHO WALKED AWAY FROM THE WAR IN IRAQ

5) Alice Walker - THE COLOR PURPLE

6) Jules Tygiel - BASEBALL'S GREAT EXPERIMENT: JACKIE ROBINSON AND HIS LEGACY

7) Alexandre Dumas - THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

8) Carlos Fuentes - TERRA NOSTRA

9) Octavia E. Butler - FLEDGING

10) David Zzyzx Steinberg - THIS HAS ALL BEEN WONDERFUL: A TRAVEL MONOLOGUE FROM SUMMER 1994: THE YEAR PHISH BECAME PHISH

Ty's Corner

We throw these editions together without a lot of planning. What works best makes it into the edition. But this edition, we start a new feature of favorite books and all I could think was, "Really? This week? When I'm using a Ty's Corner to comment on an e-mail from a Tom Porter?"

Tom's upset with this site, more upset than he's ever been in his life, he confesses. And what's got him so upset?

We have people who will, for example, e-mail to complain that we cover the Iraq War -- people who either can't deal with reality or their own guilt or both. We have people who write to complain about features we've passed on from -- the montages, the comic book coverage, etc. We have been called every name in the book -- some accurately -- but Tom's a near first.

"Snobs." That's what Tom offers. Now Ava and C.I. were accused several times in 2005 of being elitist and addressed it in April 2005:

Contrary to opinions expressed in some e-mails, we don't hate everything. We've praised Faith & Hope, Will & Grace and Medium. In an angry e-mail Kitty accuses us of being "snobs. You refuse to cover any show that doesn't meet your eastern elite standards of 'class.'"

Thanks for sharing, Kitty, but we really don't think "eastern elites" sit around discussing What I Like About You. We could be wrong.

Doug of Salt Lake City encourages us "to step beyond your upper class attitudes, lose some of your elitism and review Blue Collar TV which deals with realities that shock your delicate sensibilities."

If by shocking realities you're referring to the fact that in 2005, a show devoid of leading actresses, humor and even what might pass for wit -- well then call us "upper class." (Who knew?) If pandering to stereotypes (including that the working class includes only men and that they're so dumb they only respond to stereotypical "humor") is your idea of a good time, keep watching Blue Collar TV.

Tom sees as elitist and snobs because of what we cover. He says "your taste in music, movies and TV is too high brow." And I'm wondering what the heck he's talking about.

If you're going to make charges like that in future e-mails, do us both a favor and point to exactly what you're talking about. What music? What movies? What TV?

Or I'll just assume (and I read the bulk of the e-mails) that you've e-mailed the wrong website.

Those other THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW sites?

An e-mail came in asking us what we thought of this mirror site?

We didn't know it existed.

We aren't reposting there.

We have nothing to do with it.

Though unaware of that site, we were aware of the various COMMON ILLS sites around the world -- Russia, Ireland, etc. When we first learned of those sites, some of us were upset. C.I. wasn't. She said the message was the important thing and if it was being reposted that was just fine. Jim then pointed out that with the millions of views THE COMMON ILLS proper gets, it's not like these other sites are hurting traffic.

So if there are other mirror sites, that's fine. We hope they'll add their own content at some point. Put their own stamp on it because that's what it's all about.

When this site started, we were rather unique in many ways. In the years since, the popularity of Ava and C.I.'s writing (their media coverage) has resulted in many copycats -- most of whom flamed out quickly -- oh, you tried so very hard, IN THESE TIMES (to name but one). Ava and C.I. also impacted the current media coverage. Read any of their pieces from the first decade and compare it to what The Water Cooler Set was serving up then and what they serve up now and you'll see the impact Ava and C.I. have had.

When THE MEDIA CHANNEL reposted Ava and C.I.'s "Friendly Faces aren't who we meet" without asking or, for that matter, notifying, we only cared because they had accepted George Soros' money and, since that reposting, we've been repeatedly -- and wrongly -- accused of being on the Soros payroll.

This is not a pay site, there's no charge to read. As such, we see mirror sites as a good thing. Spread the word, absolutely.

But, again, hopefully, you'll add your own voices. It's the only way opinions grow.