TV: A lead -- not a star, never a star -- implodes

As an actress, Meryl Streep is damn lucky we're in the midst of a pandemic.  Few other performers can make that claim but as her career continues to falter, few notice.  In fact, some might even think she seems of the times and with it, 'hip' -- to use slang from an earlier era.  

 

 

 

NETFLIX's THE PROM crashed and burned upon release earlier this month.  The reviews were largely blistering and Meryl's oddity in the film was THE PROM's biggest problem -- after it's misdirected script that turned the main character, a young woman who wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom, into a plot device for promised hilarity delivered by an adult drama crowd -- hilarity that never did ensue.  Meryl's performance as a Broadway actress was hollow and laugh-free and she sported the worst hairstyle of her career which is really saying something after her Emo Phillips aspiration when she played the lead in 1988's A CRY IN THE DARK.   

Explaining her bizarre hair color and coif, Meryl 'confided' in everyone during the filming that she was basing her over-the-top character on theater diva Patti LuPone.  The truth is, Patti would never play a Broadway star in the frumpy -- but brightly colored -- wardrobe Meryl insisted upon wearing.  Equally true, Patti grasps that a role as a diva requires pep and energy -- two qualities that Meryl has never been known to deliver.

Meryl Streep exists in a tiny frame, when you think about it.  She has no brava performance.  Despite all the films she's made, for example, she never delivers.  She's never come alive on the screen, she's never given a most-talked-about performance.  She's not -- and never has been -- a star.  Stars sell tickets.  Stars are the stuff of dreams.  Dreams?  The most Meryl can hope for is someone musing about her -- briefly -- while doing the laundry.  

Think about it.  In the 20th century, a time when Meryl acted in 27 feature films, she doesn't stand out.  Jane Fonda's Academy Award winning performance in KLUTE sets the standard for acting in the 20th century.  Other notable performances by actresses that century would include Bette Davis in both ALL ABOUT EVE and THE LETTER, Diane Keaton in LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR, SHOOT THE MOON, REDS and LOVE AND DEATH, Judy Garland in A STAR IS BORN, Barbra Streisand in FUNNY GIRL, UP THE SANDBOX and THE WAY WE WERE, Lily Tomlin in THE LATE SHOW and NASHVILLE, Jessica Lange in FRANCES, TOOTSIE, CRIMES OF THE HEART, MUSIC BOX and SWEET DREAMS, Diana Ross in LADY SINGS THE BLUES, Michelle Pfeiffer in DANGEROUS LIASONS, THE RUSSIA HOUSE, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS and BATMAN RETURNS, Elizabeth Taylor in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?,  Marilyn Monroe in SOME LIKE IT HOT, Katharine Hepburn in MORNING GLORY and PHILADELPHIA STORY, Vivien Leigh in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, Dorothy Dandridge in CARMEN JONES, Joan Crawford in SUDDEN FEAR and MILDRED PIERCE, Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, Faye Dunaway in NETWORK, BONNIE & CLYDE and, yes, MOMMIE DEAREST --  We could go on and on.

These are career defining performances, these are performances that exceed the promise of film, exceed the expectations of the audience, enrapture us all.  

And yet, even if we continued our list for 100 more examples of actresses who delivered on screen -- and we easily could -- we still wouldn't arrive at Meryl Streep.  

For all the praise that has been heaped upon her, for all the nominations and awards she's won, there's nothing there.  Greer Garson won awards too -- the world has largely forgotten her because her 'noble' and 'genteel' women were hollow -- the same problem with Meryl's performances.  Also, like Greer, Meryl's a leading lady but not a star.  Greer never sold tickets -- which is why her substandard vehicles failed so quickly.  Meryl doesn't sell tickets either.  She has no real fan base and never has.

In the 20th century, her live action hits -- or rather 'her' hits -- were OUT OF AFRICA ($87 million -- all totals domestic gross only), DEATH BECOMES HER ($55 million) and, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY ($71 million) and that's it.  We're being kind and counting anything over $50 million.  If you want to include the last 20 years, it's even more depressing: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA ($124 million), MAMA MIA! ($144 million domestic) JULIE & JULIA ($94 million), IT'S COMPLICATED  ($112 million), HOPE SPRINGS ($63 million), the ensemble INTO THE WOODS ($128 million) and THE POST ($81 million).  A career that has spanned five decades and only ten films qualify as hits.  And?  She didn't carry one of those films.  She's not Goldie Hawn in PRIVATE BENJAMIN or Diane Keaton in BABY BOOM.  She's surrounded by co-stars -- Goldie, Bruce Willis, Robert Redford, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hanks, Pierce Brosnan, Amy Adams . . .

 

More to the point, when co-starring with a genuine star, the star blows Meryl off the screen.  That's true of DEATH BECOMES HER where Goldie captures your attention throughout, of THE RIVER WILD where Kevin Bacon steals the picture, of MARVIN'S ROOM where Meryl twitches while Diane Keaton delivers a master class on acting, even in SILKWOOD where the film loses all life once Cher's character fades out for all but the ending.  

We were reminded of that yet again when we watched LET THEM ALL TALK.  Dianne Weist is a two-time Academy Award winner so we expected -- and weren't disappointed -- her work to be outstanding.  She delivers and then some.  Meryl is a gentle hum while Dianne is a symphony.  Again, no surprise.  What did shock us was how Candice Bergen ran with her role.  Candice is a solid actress.  But stronger than her skills and craft?  It's always been star power.  Candice, even when she's miscast, even when you don't believe a single acting choice she makes, can fall back on star power -- she draws your attention.  And in Steven Soderbergh's LET THEM ALL TALK, she plays the showy role of Roberta -- excuse us, she lives the showy role of Roberta.

 

She draws you to the character and she reveals what a paper-thin actress Meryl actually is.  For film -- we should say.  Her hollow husks that pass for characterization in film might seem alive on the stage.  Meryl, ask any actress who has ever worked with her in a film, is known for one thing and one thing only: Her ability not to rush.  Directors will try to get her to pick up the pace, to deliver her lines a little faster, to do some movement a little quicker, etc.  She refuses.  Always.  And so the camera has to come to her and the film slows down for her.  That's allowed many to mistake her for a great actress -- time seems to stand still for Meryl.  She's not.  A great -- even a good actress -- can adapt and knows how to deliver lines quickly.  

 

Meryl is the tugboat of actresses -- slowly making it downstream.  And when she goes against a live wire like Candice Bergen, she looks as passive and pallid as she truly is.  Dianne, again, delivers in the film but it belongs to Candice.  Her Roberta is the film, the only real reason to watch.  While Meryl bores you with her slow and plodding choices, Candice is zipping around and providing you with so much that you really don't take it all in on one viewing.  Look at her interaction with a customer determined to argue that teal is not a blue, look at her eyes, look at her body tension, marvel over all that she wrings out of that brief moment -- maybe even wish that they'd skipped the whole ship voyage that Dianne, Candice and Meryl go on to instead stay in that undergarment store with Roberta for the full movie.

 

Steven Soderbergh is one of our favorite living directors.  We've seen all of his films . . . except for one.  2019's THE LAUNDROMAT.  In that film, Meryl appears on camera as both herself and two different characters.  We weren't in the mood to see Meryl deliver the same three performances while pretending that they were different.  They're fussy and all filigree, she works from the outside and it shows.  She's never inhabited a character once in her life.  She's all external, accents and props.  

 

It got old long, long ago.  But it really did end for us in the last decade.  There was her staunch defense of the corporate press when she was making and promoting THE POST.  Unlike Meryl, we do have an education to fall back on and, as critical thinkers, we're damn well aware that THE WASHINGTON POST and THE NEW YORK TIMES sold the illegal war on Iraq.  We're also aware that Meryl did nothing to protest that war -- that ongoing war.  She's just another ditsy drama major who never learned a damn thing about the real world.  

 

Actually, she's something far worse.  Rose McGowan rightly called Meryl out for protecting predator Harvey Weinstein.  Meryl knew.  This comment led Meryl to publicly insist that Rose was wrong and that she didn't understand why anyone would say such a thing.  Read Ronan Farrow's book.  And grasp that Rose knew what happened before Ronan published it.  When Ronan was working on the Harvey Weinstein story, he encountered Meryl who made polite conversation up until she found out what he was working on.  At that point?  At that point, she tried to talk him out of it and pointed to all the 'good work' that Harvey had done.  

 

Meryl knew.

 

She always knew.

 

She didn't care.  That's typical of Meryl.  Her characters are nothing but a study in not caring.  There's no care put into her creating them -- shrugs, snorts, swallowed asides to make them seem real -- the same predictable bag of tricks in role after role.  Equally true, she reduces every character to the mundane.  Her insults of Anjelica Huston are notorious (Meryl hates Anjelica and constantly trashes her) and she pretends they are built around the fact that Anjelica played the lead in THE WITCHES, a role Meryl turned down because she found women as witches to be sexist.  Find the role whatever you want, Anjelica brought it to life.  Meryl just brings the character down to the level of boredom.  Take THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA where she's supposed to play the boss from the hell but Meryl waters it down and claims, yet again, that she did so for feminism.  Reality, she waters down the roles because she lacks the skill and temperament to 'act' anything but the mundane.  She can't, as THE PROM demonstrates yet again, do larger than life.  Equally true, she puts no care into the world of her characters -- she stands off -- makes the camera come to her -- and never actually interacts with the other performers.  

 

Meryl's film career, at least as a leading lady, is finally over.  There'll be a few films here and there over the next few years -- maybe a co-starring role or two.  But it's over and that's what the pandemic has hidden.

 

People catch Meryl in the second season of BIG LITTLE LIES, in THE LAUNDROMAT or THE PROM or LET THEM ALL TALK or even the upcoming DON'T LOOK UP and they think, "Streaming!  She's riding the cusp!  She's on the wave!"  No, she's just taking the only roles that are being offered.  Her film career -- as a leading lady -- is over.  2017's THE POST was her last leading role in a feature film and, if you're honest, her last real leading role in a studio film is 2012's HOPE SPRINGS -- a film that did make $112 million domestically but also a film that cost $89 million to make before you factor in prints and advertising.  Again, the pandemic has been very kind to Meryl.  Without it, people would be noting that the film career was over so she was slumming in streaming.

TV: VARIETY and Leonard offered just one interpretation

If you missed it, last week Leonard Roberts wrote a column for VARIETY.  If you missed it, the reaction has been that Ali Larter is a racist who got him fired from HEROES.  Ali is all things evil and Leonard is a victim.

That's one take.

It's certainly what VARIETY ran with.  In fact, we fault VARIETY more than we do Leonard because they published his garbage.  It should have raised alarms from the beginning.

It opens with:

“Daddy, why are there wood boards over all the store windows?” my eight-year-old daughter Evan asked as our family walked our dog along Venice Boulevard. Two-and-a-half months into the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the streets were quiet, as a curfew was in place. Stores all over Los Angeles were being boarded up after looting had followed a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in nearby Santa Monica the day before.

“Well, the store owners have decided to cover the windows just in case,” my wife said. Before Evan could say “in case of what?” I interjected with, “Because people get scared when Black people demand things.”

"Stores were being boarded up after looting."  The daughter asks, "why are there wood boards over all the store windows?"  By his own writing, it's because "stores were being boarded up after looting."  But what he tells his daughter is, "Because people get scared when Black people demand things."

He's real good at taking basic facts and stamping on conclusions -- especially if the conclusions are the worst possible ones he can arrive at.

We'd feel bad about the world if our career was one long failure too.  Robert Leonard isn't a has-been, you have to have been known first to later become a has-been.  He's a never-was.

And there are many reasons for that and some of them may have to do with race.  We'd be happy to explore that had he not decided to lead the online mob against Ali Larter.

The two were in the TV show HEROES.  He was an actor in the cast and she was a star -- he only appeared in 14 of season one's 23 episodes while she was in 21 of season one's 23 episodes.  He seems bitter about that, doesn't he?

 

We were asked about it all last week, about his column.  What did we know?  We don't know Ali and we don't know him.  We do know Tim Kring (and we'll get to why Robert was fired in a bit).  We do know several actors in the cast -- including Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Jack Coleman, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Zachary Quinto and Malcolm McDowell.  We do know Bryan Fuller, Michael Green and Natalie Chaidez who wrote the three episodes in question and Ernest Dickerson, Paul Shapiro and Greg Beeman who directed the three episodes in question.

Before we get to those three episodes, let's look at what Robert Leonard wrote:

Episode 6 began filming in August 2006. D.L. Hawkins was in an interracial marriage with Niki Sanders, a white woman played by Ali Larter. The script suggested D.L. and Niki had a volatile relationship — and it wasn’t long before art was imitating life, with me on the receiving end of pushback from my co-star regarding the playing of a particularly tense scene. Coming from theater, I was familiar with passions running high in the process of bringing characters to life, so I later gave her a bottle of wine with a note affirming what I believed to be mutual respect and a shared commitment to doing exceptional work. Neither the gift nor the note was ever acknowledged.

On another occasion, during the staging of a bedroom scene, my co-star took umbrage with the level of intimacy being suggested between our characters. In a private rehearsal, Greg Beeman, our director, asked if she was willing to lower the straps of the top she was wearing and expose her bare shoulders only above the sheet that covered her, in order to give the visual impression she was in the same state of undress as me, as I was shirtless. My co-star refused Beeman’s request, and I was instantly aware of the tension on the set. I remember instinctively checking to make sure both my hands were visible to everyone who was there, as not to have my intentions or actions misconstrued. Despite Beeman’s clear description of what he was looking for visually, my co-star insisted she was, indeed, being asked to remove her top completely, and rehearsal was cut. She then demanded a meeting with Beeman and the producers who were on set and proceeded to have an intense and loud conversation in which she expressed she had never been so disrespected — as an actress, a woman or a human being.

Later, she found me and said she hoped the “discussion” could stay between us. I didn’t know how that was possible, given said “discussion” was had at elevated levels on a soundstage in front of the crew. Also, my co-star never once thought to include me, her scene partner, in any part of a “discussion,” in which I would have gladly participated. So I found the appeal to my sense of solidarity after the fact strange and somewhat hollow. Nonetheless, I assured her I was fine with getting the work done in any way she and Beeman could agree on. We completed the scene with the straps of my co-star’s top clearly visible, resolving the matter to what I believed was her satisfaction.

While that was my first episode, my co-star had been working on “Heroes” for over a month, and she’d shot another scene that called for Niki to seduce Nathan Petrelli, played by Adrian Pasdar. After watching the episode, I asked Pasdar if there had been any concerns similar to what I witnessed during my episode. He replied to the contrary, and mentioned her openness to collaboration and even improvisation. I pondered why my co-star had exuberantly played a different scene with the Petrelli character involving overt sexuality while wearing lingerie, but found aspects of one involving love and intimacy expressed through dialogue with my character, her husband, disrespectful to her core. I couldn’t help wondering whether race was a factor.

Robert Leonard is, at best, obtuse and we can't believe VARIETY printed the above garbage.  He may or may not have experienced racism on the show but what he wrote above is not accurate.

We're dealing with three episodes in the above, not two.  It's episode four through six.  In episode three, "Collision," Ali and Adrian have the scene Robert Leonard is referencing.  In episode six, "Better Haves," he and Ali are in bed.  We're being kind and including the episode he forgot, episode five "Hiros."

 

What takes place in "Hiros"?  A videotape of Niki and Nathan having sex is shown -- approximately four seconds of a video is played in the hotel room for Niki -- two seconds and then another two seconds.

Now we don't know Ali and our point here is not to say she's a wonderful person.  She may be the biggest bitch in the world -- a position many on the internet took last week.  She may not be.  But what Robert describes doesn't add up and is open to interpretation.

She's so mean to poor Robert, he insists, having this conversation in front of him but not including him.  The two are staging a scene with a director -- actually, the director's trying to stage it without their input.  Ali's objecting, in front of him.  Is there a reason he's not coming to his screen partner's defense?  It's not just the job of a woman to insist that she not be treated like a piece of meat on a set, it's the job of everyone involved.

An actress was asked to 'lower her straps.'  That's not what happened, he's lying.  He knows damn well that the actress had to move under the sheet.  Ali begins the scene laying on her stomach.  She then has to turn over and then she has to sit up in bed.  That alone would worry many actresses in a skimpy camisole that's not going to stay up once the straps are lowered -- there's nothing holding the camisole up but the straps.  And that's not the end of it.

Ali didn't play Niki -- excuse us, she didn't play just Niki.

Ali played Niki and Niki's alter-ego Jessica.  And Jessica's in that scene too.  Watch the episode.  After Niki sits up, she looks in the mirror and sees not just herself and DL, she also sees Jessica.  Explain to us, please, how Jessica and Niki appear in that scene -- as staged -- with Niki topless?

 

One has the sheet to cover them, the other is off to the side and doesn't have a sheet to cover them.

 

 

Oh and then there's the lie about the loving couple.

I pondered why my co-star had exuberantly played a different scene with the Petrelli character involving overt sexuality while wearing lingerie, but found aspects of one involving love and intimacy expressed through dialogue with my character, her husband, disrespectful to her core. I couldn’t help wondering whether race was a factor.

Is he that stupid or that much of a liar?

Again, Jessica is the alter ego and she doesn't like DL.  Niki's not too fond of him either.  She set him up.  She's the reason he went to prison.  Where does he get the idea, where does Robert get the idea, that his character and Niki are a loving couple?  That's his character's first episode and he shows up and grabs Niki from behind -- that's the scene that the two had conflicts over -- and then to be in bed with Niki.  If he's worried about racism, we think he should have been worried when his character's initial encounter with the woman he's married to involves him threatening her.  We'll come back to that.

Over and over, he's obsessed with Adrian Pasadar.  But look at the scenes Ali had with Adrian in those two episodes.  In the fourth episode of the series, Jessica returns to the hotel room after Niki walks out because she can't sleep with Nathan (because she knows it's going to be recorded to blackmail Nathan).  When Jessica comes back in, she removes her dress and is in her panties and a bra.  She is not naked.  She was uncomfortable as the scene was being blocked.  Adrian was supposed to take off his tie.  Adrian did that but also came up with the business of having his shirt unbuttoned and open.  There was give and take and the two worked together with the director to come up with staging that did not leave the actress feeling exposed or humiliated.  In the four seconds that were aired of their making out in episode five?  Adrian came up with the idea of his back being to the camera and Ali being in front of him -- so that his nude shoulders and back blocked her body from the camera.

These are facts and we're really pissed at Robert Leonard for his ignoring them and even more so at VARIETY for printing his column as is.

HEROES?  The reason we were asked about it was because we called out the program's sexism from the start in "TV: Heroic Would Be Pasdar in a Loin Cloth."  Excuse us, we called it out before the start.  We thought the pilot had aired when we reviewed the show.  We actually published the day before it aired.  Here's the opening of that piece:

Ever play like you had a super power when you were a kid? Maybe you could fly? Maybe you could talk to the dead? Maybe you had premonitions? Watching NBC's Heroes, it's obvious that Tim Kring wished he had a super power as a child and, apparently, it's the sort of power that pops up in letters to Penthouse Forum. How else do you explain the two female characters?

Take for instance teenage Claire Bennet (played by Hayden Panettiere). She's a cheerleader. Don't worry, you didn't have to pay attention to every line of dialogue to search out that clue. Someone decided to make it much easier and have her wear her cheerleader uniform throughout the first episode. Now, understand, she's not at cheerleading practice, nor is she shown at any games. She just likes to wear it day-to-day, or some creative 'genius' figures a skimpy skirt is what every woman doing stunts would wear. When she walked through fire in it, we were honestly surprised someone didn't have the 'bright' idea to 'strategically' burn it.

Then there is Niki Sanders (played by Ali Larter). She's a mom. She's a working mom. And like any working mom who wants her young son to have a good education, she borrows the money for private school from the mob. We do that too. But for milk money, we usually go to the Vatican. After you get over the stupidity of that plot twist, you're still left with what working mom does for a living. Which is?

Let's let you guess. She's a working mom, she's a single parent. Maybe you're remembering Linda Lavin's Alice and thinking "waitress." Or maybe you're remembering Bonnie Franklin's Ann Romano or Judith Light's Angela and thinking "advertising." You're wrong.

We'll help you out by telling you what she wears to work, okay? Bra and panties.

Bra and panties. That's it. Sometimes, if the patrons have enough money, a little less. That's because she's a computer worker. No, she doesn't repair them. No, she doesn't enter data or program them. What she does is internet porn. A worthwhile vocation, we're sure, and one that keeps the spine supple judging by the number of times Larter, on all fours, stuck her ass in the air.

But Phyllis Schlafly can breathe easy, she works out of the home.

Now having seen a teenager run around in a cheerleading outfit the whole episode and gotten to see Niki work it in her bra and panties at the start (by choice, Madonna, by choice) as well as be forced to 'perform' by the mob near the end, you might wonder how much male flesh was on display?

But if you wondered that, you're thinking of another NBC, a NBC that captured ratings, won time slots and offered up hours and hours of entertainment. Those days are long gone. Having lost out to CBS, NBC doesn't know what it is and it's perfectly comfortable displaying women like meat on the hoof if it means they might be able to come in second in the overnights.

Masi Oka's character's name is Hiro Nakamura which is strange because we didn't realize that was Japanese for "Tim Kring." Hiro's super power is the manipulation of time and space which allows him to pop up anywhere. (On American TV, that translates as NYC.) And like the creator of the show, he can think of nothing finer to do with his powers than pop into the ladies' room.

Getting the picture? Good.

If the show can get past the leering quality, this is one to watch.

Leering.  

The set was not a good set for women.  So, yes, Ali -- any actress -- was hesitant to entertain the crew by pulling the tiny straps on her camisole down so that the boys could get a free peep show as she rolled around on the bed and sat up.  Adrian and Milo both worked with their co-stars and the directors of the bed scenes in the first season because the directors did want more flesh -- more female flesh.  Milo, for example, successfully argued for the sheet to be raised higher than a director wanted in one bed scene.

The ungenerous view of Robert is that he was just in it for himself and didn't give a damn about anyone else's feelings.  That might be true but we prefer to go with he didn't have enough knowledge to care.  He didn't know his craft, he didn't know that you need to work with your scene partner, you need to support them, you need to help them find a space of comfort.  He thought you just learned your lines and showed up and called that acting.

 

That was the problem, by the way.  He can't act.  There is no chemistry between him and Ali, true.  But he's also not sexy, he's something.  But no one's sure what.  It's why, in the second day of shooting, the bed scene, the director was pushing for skin.  There was nothing coming from Robert Leonard.  He was not giving anything.  They had hoped for sexual heat or even sexual menace but instead he was just "flaccid" as we were told.  We watched the three episodes again and, yes, he was that inept.  That scene, the standing in the dark living room, strange that he doesn't note all the attempted blocking that went into that.  All the re-staging.  The talks to him about how he's supposed to be passionate in the scene, how his character desires Niki.  You never get that.  It should have been a simple scene but it was a difficult shoot and it's because all Robert could play was dripping sincerity.  He was a school boy groping a full-bodied woman. 

 

Low energy levels.  That's the word we were given when we were told, years ago, that Robert Leonard was being written out.  We had hopes for DL and thought that maybe better writers could make the character more interesting.  When we found out he wouldn't be returning, we were told the reason was low energy levels.  He didn't deliver the strong performance the character required.  We thought about it and we had to agree that was the case.

 

Reading his column, though, another thing stood out.  From the column:

 

One of our last publicity obligations that first season involved a photoshoot for Entertainment Weekly, in which cast members, based on their characters’ relationship on the show, were featured on collector’s edition covers. The release of the covers was to coincide with the network’s upfront presentation for the 2007-2008 season in New York.

Upon arriving backstage at Radio City Music Hall for a rehearsal, I caught my co-star’s eye. “I’m hearing our cover is selling the least of all of them,” she told me. It was the first and only thing she said to me that night and I believed the subtext was clear: I was tarnishing her brand.

 

Was Ali blaming him for the sales of the cover?  We have no idea.  Again, we don't know Ali.  We do know people at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and they were complaining before the covers came out.  Robert insisted upon wearing a t-shirt.  A rumpled, loose t-shirt -- the kind that they make fun of in that ad where the couple's out on the date and the woman says to the man that he looks "very comfortable" in that sad and saggy shirt.  Oh, and it was pink.  They tried to talk him out of it at the photo shoot (not Ali, who didn't seem to care one way or another) but he was bound and determined to wear it.  He looks ridiculous in his frumpy and, honestly, girl-ish t-shirt.

He wore pink to Radio City Music Hall as well.  That's when "Down Low" started.  The jokes that DL stood for "Down Low."  That DL was secretly gay.  

Now the people behind the scenes at HEROES didn't have a problem with gay actors or gay characters.  Zachary Quinto was known to be gay and that wasn't an issue.  Thomas Dekker was 19 and a member of the cast.  They knew he was gay and they attempted to write his character that way which led Dekker to bolt the show -- his management advised him that he'd be type cast if he played a gay character.  The problem for DL was that there was no way to make him gay.  He was always on the periphery of the series and if DL was gay who needed him to stay on the show?  That might cause more Pasdar jealousy, it may not.  But Adrian's character, unlike DL, was at the center of the show.  He was Peter's brother, he was Claire's father, he was Linderman's target and Angela and Arthur's son.  DL didn't have that.  He was connected to Niki as her estranged husband and to Mykah as his father.  DL was a minor character and the actor performing him needed to deliver.  If he didn't -- low energy or jokes in the industry about the character being on the down low -- he was gone.

That's what happened.

His column points the finger at Ali and the internet ran with it.

But here's the thing on that. Ali didn't create the show and she wasn't a producer.  Racism didn't get him fired.  He was fired because he was expendable and that went to the bad performance he gave.  But even if Ali was a racist -- we were told she wasn't, some who told us that said she was a bitch, some said she wasn't a bitch, all agreed she wasn't racist -- that didn't go to her. 

Tim Kring made the final decision.  He made the decision to fire Ali Larter as well, seasons later.  That wasn't sexism.  That was a decision he made based upon what he felt was right for the show.  He'd already killed off Niki in season three.  She was brought back as Tracy (Niki's sister -- also the real Jessica's sister, not Niki's alter).  And then she was killed off again.

It's amazing how the online mob has gone after Ali until you realize that it's another round of Bash The Bitch -- an American pastime we've long noted.  Robert Leonard didn't do anyone any favors with his factually weak column and VARIETY is even worse for publishing it.  Sometimes a fired actor is fired because they didn't deliver and it's just that basic.

 

Our 15 favorite albums of the last 15 years

We started this site 15 years ago.  It hits 16 years, in fact, next month.  We can't believe it either.  Looking back, here's our pick of our 15 favorite albums of the last 15 years.

1) Sade's SOLDIER OF LOVE.

2) Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals's LIFELINE.

3) Janet Jackson's UNBREAKABLE.

 

 

 

 

4) Afghan Whigs's DO THE BEAST.

 

5) Radiohead's THE KING OF LIMBS. 

 

 

6) Chrissie Hynde's STOCKHOLM.  

 

 

7) Joss Stone's LP1

 

8) Ben Harper's BOTH SIDES OF THE GUN.

 

 

9) Carly Simon's THIS KIND OF LOVE.

 

 

10) Aretha Franklin's ARETHA FRANKLIN SINGS THE GREAT DIVA CLASSICS.

 

 

11) Melanie's EVER SINCE YOU NEVER HEARD OF ME.

 

 

 

12) Animal Collective's CENTIPEDE HZ.

 

 

13) Tracy Chapman's OUR BRIGHT FUTURE.

 

 

14) Jack Johnson's SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC.

 

15) Roberta Flack's  LET IT BE ROBERTA: ROBERTA FLACK SINGS THE BEATLES.

 

 

Live album to check out

We listen to music while we write these editions.  Sometimes, someone introduces something that the bulk of us have never heard.  That happened this go round.

Peggy Lee?  We all know "Fever" and "Is That All There Is To A Fire," of course.  But we were amazed to hear her live album 2 SHOWS NIGHTLY.

She had us by the second track ("By The Time I Get To Phoenix").  It's a song we know by Glenn Campbell but Peggy completely made it her own.  We love Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe" (and discussed it in "Music roundtable") and Peggy nails this one as well.  Track after track, she nails it.  You have to hear -- you have to -- her version of Buffy St. Marie's "Until It's Time For You To Go."  

She puts her own stamp on "Something Stupid."  It's an amazing album but one that Peggy had withdrawn because she wasn't pleased with it (and felt the label was trying to get rid of her with the album).  It is an amazing album and it sounds current and alive (this is a live album that had a lot of studio work done to it).  

If you're interested in a good live album or in hearing Peggy Lee at her peak, please check this one out.

All we want for Christmas

1) 2020 to be over

 

2) The pandemic to end

 

3) A mask free society

 

4) An end to the never-ending wars

 

5) A Congress that serves the people

 

6) A country that houses the homeless

 

7) Medicare For All

 

8) An end to hunger

 

9) Put the police under community control

 

10) A huge investment in science in the US -- starting with huge funding of our public schools

This edition's playlist

 

 

1) Fiona Apple's FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS.

2) Peggy Lee's 2 SHOWS NIGHTLY.

 

 

 

 

3)  The Mamas and the Papas' THE PAPAS & THE MAMAS.

4) Laura Nyro's CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT.

 

5) Harry Style's FINE LINE.  

 

 

6) Dionne Warwick's SHE'S BACK.



7) Cat Powers' WANDERER.

8) Bob Dylan's ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS.

 

9) Mavis Staples' LIVE IN LONDON.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10)  Diana Ross' SUPERTONIC MIXES

Jimmy Responds to AOC Gate Keeping Medicare 4 All #ForceTheVote

 

 

Become a Premium Member: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/join Go to a Live Show: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/tour Subscribe to Our Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/jimmydorecomedy/yt... The Jimmy Dore Show Website: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/ LIVESTREAM & LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS: Join the Email list: https://mailchi.mp/jimmydorecomedy/yt... Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmy_dore Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JimmyDoreShow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejimmydor... WATCH / LISTEN FREE: Videos: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/watch Podcasts: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/podcasts (Also available on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast player.) ACCESS TO FULL REPLAYABLE LIVESTREAMS: Become a Premium Member: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/join SUPPORT THE JIMMY DORE SHOW: Make a Donation: https://jimmydorecomedy.com/donate Buy Official Merch (Tees, Sweatshirts, Hats, Bags): https://jimmydorecomedy.com/store DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP: App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jimmy-d... Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de... Jimmy Dore on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jimmy_Dore Stef Zamorano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/miserablelib Edited by Koki Miyazaki About The Jimmy Dore Show: #TheJimmyDoreShow is a hilarious and irreverent take on news, politics and culture featuring Jimmy Dore, a professional stand up comedian, author and podcaster. The show is also broadcast on Pacifica Radio Network stations throughout the country.

 

 

Ajamu Baraka (Black Alliance for Peace) endorses #ForceTheVote, asks why Dore had to suggest it?

 

 

 

#MedicareforAll #ForceTheVote #M4all Sign here https://forcethevote.org/