Harlan Ellison is a Very Patient Man

I just had to attach this today, because I find it incredibly funny.

Harlan Ellison bests CBS Paramount over 42 year-old Star Trek episode

Ellison has complained for decades about how the Star Trek producers changed his script, thereby weakening it. The City on the Edge of Forever is a fan favorite, and a lot of fun to watch. I never read the original script so I can't verify whether it would have been better in the original form or altered. Either way, he got a little payback now.

The Jay Leno Show

Hill Street Blues. St. Elsewhere. Saturday Night Live. Late Night with David Letterman. The Cosby Show. Family Ties. Cheers. L.A. Law, Law & Order. Friends. ER. Seinfeld. The West Wing. Remember when NBC created ground-breaking television? Remember "Must See TV"? What happened to that network?

For a decade or more, shows on NBC were the water cooler shows - you had to watch them (and wanted to) or you would miss out on the conversation the next day. Hill Street Blues brought a gritty reality to police dramas, which was applied to great effect to St. Elsewhere. The Cosby Show brought a black, middle-class family to America's living rooms. Law & Order created the procedural. Seinfeld taught us that even nothing could be funny if done right.

The last show on that list was started in 1999. While Law & Order (and its many iterations) continue to air, ER finally petered out last season, a shell of its former self. Shows such as Heroes and Studio 60 on Sunset Drive started with great fanfare, but never fulfilled their initial promise. The network was completely unable to find a replacement for Seinfeld or Friends, offering a tepid Joey to audiences used to more sophisticated humor.

So what happened? Clearly, NBC was not prepared for the onslaught of reality television (Survivor finally destroyed the "Must-See TV" hegemony of NBC's comedies) or the expanding of cable programming. And there seemed to be a lack of original thinking on the parts of executives. Have you seen Trauma or Mercy? Sadly, I have (long story), and really, don't waste your time. You've seen them before.

The only programming decision the network made recently that was noteworthy was the decision to keep Jay Leno, who had "retired" from The Tonight Show, and create a new show for him. The Jay Leno Show airs five days per week, starting at 9:00 P.M. Central time. Essentially, NBC gave up five hours of prime time programming to a talk show.

The critics gnashed their teeth and bemoaned the death of scripted television as we know it. NBC's decision to keep Jay Leno instead of developing "real" television just proves how short of originality the network is. What were they thinking?

Well, first of all, I think that this is not the bell tolling on scripted television. USA and TNT have been developing all kinds of new scripted television in the past few years. So, let's quit this whole "end of TV as we know it" talk.

I've not watched a minute of The Jay Leno Show, just as I never watched The Tonight Show. I don't plan to. He's no Jon Stewart. But I don't think that NBC has made a major mistake by choosing to air this show five nights a week. I think it was a well considered business decision by executives who had no new ideas in their pocket. Leno didn't really want to retire, and NBC was afraid that Leno might go to a competing network. Plus, The Jay Leno Show is comparatively cheap to produce. Think about it - Leno's the only one making real money at this, unlike dramas and comedies in which a number of people command higher salaries. This means that even lower ratings equals a profit. A win-win in their book. And what do I care? There's only one NBC show that I watch anyway - Chuck, and it ain't on right now.

The only real objection I have to the network's decision to fill the 9:00 hour with Leno is that Law & Order: SVU airs at 8:00. There is no way that this show should be shown so early - it's themes and images are just too adult for earlier. Perhaps they could have prevented this by either airing The Jay Leno Show at 7:00 P.M. Central time (after all, isn't Leno family friendly?) or airing SVU on Saturday or Sunday night.

So, quit the bitching and whining, and turn the channel to a show you do want to watch. Is that so hard?

FOX says they will air all 13 episodes of Dollhouse

I don't plan to post a lot of links to other blogs, but this is news that I thought I'd pass on. It looks like Dollhouse will not air during November (valuable sweeps month) but at least we're promised all episodes will air. I suspect, given its low ratings, that those will be the last episodes we'll see.

FOX says they will air all 13 episodes of Dollhouse

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Mad Men - the Drapers

Mad Men has been a little harder to watch than usual. Neither Don nor Betty are very sympathetic characters, and this season has put their characters and their marriage to a stress test that they are so far not passing.

First, Don. Don has been an extremely sympathetic hero, even though he has done a lot of unlikable things. Don has often stood as a mute witness to the everyday cruelties of the office and family. Plus, our glimpses into his past as a discarded son of a prostitute raised by a man who hated him, have led to a lot of sympathy on our part. But this season has been especially hard on Don and our feelings about him. Don found a new father figure in Conrad "Connie" Hilton, who seeks Don out to discuss communism and the meaning of life. But Connie's response to Don's latest ad campaign for Hilton was like a condemning, disappointed dad, somewhat similar to what Don grew up with. Connie's demands on Don's time has bled into his career and his home. Connie demanded that Don sign a three-year contract, something which Don had avoided for years. Don has less tolerance of his staff, including Peggy and Sal. I was heartbroken last night as Don looked at Sal with contempt, saying, "You people."

After Connie's rejection of Don's work (to which Don protested petulantly, "It's a great campaign"), Don completed his pursuit of his daughter's former teacher, a pretty young thing who lives only two miles from Don's home. She is clearly attracted to Don, but recognizes that the affair will only be harmful to both of them. Don doesn't care - he needs the release, and sleeps soundly afterward, something he hadn't done in weeks.

Meanwhile, Betty continues to simmer in discontent in the suburbs. I actually found myself liking her better upon learning that she never wanted to move to the suburbs to begin with. Otherwise, Betty did everything expected of her in 1950s and 1960s America. She was beautiful and thin and attracted a man as gorgeous as she. She then moved to the suburbs and had children. And then what?

Well, ask Betty Friedan. Betty spends the first season seeking psychoanalysis, which ended upon her discovery that the analyst was updating Don on her progress. In the second season, she was unable to ignore Don's infidelity, and kicked him out of the home. She only let him back when he admitted that he treated her "disrespectfully".

This season Betty has confronted the death of her father and the birth of her third child. She chose to name the child "Eugene" after her father, even knowing that Don and her father detested each other. She did not support her daughter who honestly grieved over her grandfather's death and who feared his reincarnation in her new baby brother.

One thing that confuses me sometimes is her relationship with men. She has been the object of many an unrequited crush, only having a tawdry affair before letting Don return home. This season, she has been attracted to an advisor to Governor Rockefeller. She engaged in a correspondence with him, but then he made the mistake of showing up at her home. Within a week, the advisor learned that Betty is not really interested in love, but in being pursued.

That Don is having an affair so close to home will only increase the likelihood of his getting caught, and the further deterioration of his marriage.

Lost v. FlashForward

I've made no secret of the fact that I've been disappointed by FlashForward. We had been told that FlashForward would be the next Lost, and it certainly has a number of similarities with it. There's the unexplained phenomena, relationships created by unusual circumstances, and a crisis of epic proportions.

And I've enjoyed FlashForward, but it leaves me a little cold. It doesn't have the same heart as Lost. The biggest difference between the two? The characters. What made me addicted to Lost was not the science fiction or the adventure, but the weekly focus on a character. Almost every week, the show shines a spotlight or a microscope on someone. We learn something about that character, their flaws, their motivations, their passions. Even when the character is doing something you abhor, because we've learned something about that person, we've sympathized with them, we feel like we've known them. The nuances of each person are so clearly drawn and acted that even the most improbable behavior makes sense. Heck, those flash backs and flash forwards have even made me like Kate!

So far, we don't know the characters on FlashForward very well. There is no sole focus on a character - each week is an ensemble week. Mark and Olivia are clearly the primary characters, but we don't know them well enough to understand them. Why isn't Mark telling Olivia that he saw himself drinking in the future? Mark told his sponsor (whose name I still haven't learned) that Olivia would leave him if he drank. But that doesn't fully explain his silence to me.

Don't worry. I'll keep watching. I figure I am more disappointed in FlashForward because of how much it was built up to be like Lost. But I know better. Each show should stand on its own. And I need to let FlashForward do just that.

Dollhouse: Instinct

What happens when an Active's body is altered on a glandular level such that she has the instincts of a new mother, and can even breast feed? That's what happens in this episode, which explores not just the strength of a mother's love for her child, but also the feelings of an Active.

Nate Jordan is so devastated when his wife dies in childbirth that he cannot connect with his baby. Instead of hiring a nanny or seeking help from family and friends, Nate uses his vast financial resources to hire a Doll. Thanks to Topher's wizardry, Echo is transformed into a doting and lactating mother. But the glandular changes also increase her susceptibility to paranoia. Noticing Nate's discomfort around her and the baby, Echo reasons that her "husband" must be having an affair. Or involved in illegal schemes. One or the other. She breaks into Nate's home office and finds Nate's wedding pictures. His wife is not her.

Nate somehow talks Echo down, but then calls the Dollhouse to have Echo returned. Unfortunately, Echo overhears and misunderstands; she believes Nate is arranging for her murder. Although she "escapes" from the home with the baby, she is soon found, and Ballard takes her back to the Dollhouse to be wiped. But the device only wipes the brain, not the glandular changes. Echo knows that she has lost her baby, and believes that it is in danger, so she escapes the Dollhouse, and returns to Nate's home. Again, miraculously, Nate talks her down - the baby belongs to him and her feelings aren't real.

The episode ends with Ballard comforting Echo. Echo has revealed that she retains memories from her prior imprints, but knows that they are not her. In Instinct, Echo reveals that even if her relationship with the baby was not real, her feelings for him were. When offered an opportunity to be fully wiped, so as to lose her memories of the imprints, though, Echo declines.

I'm not quite clear on why Echo has retained the memories or impressions of her former imprints. I can only assume that these memories are a result of Alpha's downloading so much into her in last season's finale. She is choosing to keep the memories, despite the pain, in stark contrast with Madeline, the former November. Madeline agreed to become a Doll to escape the grief she felt following the death of her infant daughter. Of course, Madeline is no longer an Active, but she has found that the grief is gone, and she is grateful for it. Nor is Echo responding like Dr. Saunders, who fled the Dollhouse in the season premiere, unable to cope with the fact that she is an Active.

In the season premiere, Echo asked Ballard to help her find her true self. I am not convinced that Echo's true self is Caroline, though who else would she be? Caroline willingly gave up her body, leaving a Topher-created shell of child-like passivity. I hope that we are able to explore Echo's identity in more detail in future episodes. I also hope Dr. Saunders returns soon (Amy Acker has another series).

Buffyverse Fan Alert: Alexis Denisof, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, failed Watcher and rogue demon hunter, plays Senator Daniel Perrin, who is determined to bring down the Rossum Corporation, which funds the Dollhouse. It is very odd to hear Denisof speak, since he's using his regular, American accent, instead of Wesley's British accent. Denisof joins fellow Buffyverse alums, including Eliza Dushku (Faith) and Amy Acker (Dr. Saunders/Whiskey).

Spoilers

Don't worry, neither this post nor this blog will go into any spoilers with the sole exception of announcing things like an actor is guesting on a future show or becoming a full time cast member. I'll try to remember to announce that minor spoilers are being posted. But otherwise, I don't seek out what will happen next on my shows, other than the teasers at the end of the show and what Comcast's show descriptions say. Most of the shows I watch and love are meant to be experienced, and part of the experience is the surprise, the not knowing, the guessing. Spoilers ruin that real-time experience. Can you imagine what a different movie The Sixth Sense would have been had we known in advance that Bruce Willis was dead?

I have looked at spoilers in the past. Once, I read that an episode of Angel ended with Angel and Cordelia sharing an intimate moment, resulting in Angel losing his soul again (you really have to know the show to understand that last sentence). However, the spoiler revealed that it wasn't real, just a dream of Angel's. I forgot about what I read until I watched the episode, and I noticed that the entire impact of Angel's transformation was lost on me. From that point on, I tried to avoid reading spoilers.

But I've also noticed that this can be hard to do when preparing for my Lost blog. In researching each episode for a recap, I've found more information than I had expected. Plus, magazines such as TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly will often give what I would call minor spoilers such as, "The producers of Lost talk about the death of Daniel Faraday." Or, "the young Ben will return in the next three episodes." These don't bother me. I had figured that Daniel was dead (otherwise, Eloise Hawking's sacrifice was nothing), and I had no problem knowing beforehand that we were somehow returning to the DHARMA Initiative.

But some of my readers and my friends do care. When I perkily announced to my friend Brian (hi Brian!) that Daniel was dead, to me it was justification that my prior belief Daniel died was right (I dare people to doubt me!). But to Brian, it ruined the week's anticipation of whether Daniel was truly gone, or would somehow be saved by the Island's mojo. He almost immediately forgave me, but I didn't deserve it. I knew better.

The last bit of spoilery that happened, even after my transgression with Brian, involved House. I know that everyone now knows that Kal Penn quit House to become a staff member at the White House. Now, prior to the episode airing, I had heard that a character was dying, and I remember hoping that it was Thirteen. But the "spoiler" was not specific. I didn't get to watch that episode the night it aired, but planned to watch it after one of my co-workers who had seen it asked me what I thought. She respected my need to experience the episode and kept mum. That night, as I turned the TV on, I also turned on my internet. Only to see Penn's picture on Yahoo! I didn't need to read the article to know who died.

I took it all in good humor, because I had waited nearly 24 hours before watching the episode. But not many did. Zap2It, which recaps House, titled its episode recap something that gave away the plot point. People were pissed! The comments left for the recapper were brutal and unforgiving. But I wasn't sympathetic to the spoiled. You take your chances when you look at these web sites a day after the show airs. When it's something that turns out to be of semi-national importance (Penn didn't get that good of a White House job), well, its bound to happen.

And that's my philosophy on spoilers. If you don't see an episode the night it airs, be careful what sites you look at, including mine, because a picture or a title just may give it all away.

FlashForward: White to Play

The second episode of FlashForward and I'm still not convinced that I'm "hooked". Well, fanatically hooked, like I am with Lost and was with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Instead, I'm mildly hooked, curious to see what the mystery of the flash forward is.

This episode opened up to a scene so disturbing that I thought it might be a dream. Charlie is in the playground observing her class mates as they lie prone on the ground. One of the kids rises and announces that the flash is over. All the children pop up, eager to tell each other what they saw. The children are reenacting the black out as a game. Charlie, however, won't play, and the children start picking on her. A shoving match ensues, and one of the teachers tries to discipline Charlie. She runs away into the street. In front of tanks. L.A. appears to be under martial law.

I've tried to recap this episode, but, like Lost, this is a dense show to encapsulate into a short post. Instead, I'll share my thoughts.

I'm guessing that Lloyd Simcoe, the father of Dylan and the future lover of Olivia, is probably not the guy seen standing during the flash forward at a Cleveland base ball game. Simcoe appears to be an absent father to the autistic Dylan. Dylan's mother died in flash forward, and now Simcoe will have to raise him. I think he may end up being on the heroes of the show.

I was excited to see Lynn Whitfield as a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security who wants to know why the L.A. branch has decided to take upon itself the investigation into what she assumes is a natural phenomenon. She changes her tune after seeing the evidence gathered so far.

Mark is not dealing well with the news that his wife may have an affair in the future. Olivia tells him that she has no intention of cheating on her husband. Then she meets Lloyd Simcoe, who seems to have no memory of her from his own flash forward. She reasons that in the flash forward, he never looked at her, so he has no memory of the event. Olivia tries to avoid Simcoe, but their paths cross several times, and she is clearly sympathetic to his situation. Olivia makes the right decision - she tells Mark that she met Simcoe. However, Mark doesn't seem mollified, and he never tells Olivia that he starts drinking again in the future.

Demetri, who had no flash forward, spends the episode questioning every step Mark is taking, even accusing Mark of trying to make the future happen. While investigating "D. Gibbons", Demetri and Mark meet a sheriff who, like Demetri, saw nothing in her flash forward. Demetri's not alone! Unfortunately, she is later shot to death. Demetri refuses to talk with Mark about it. Later, Demetri is encouraged to write about his flash forward on the agency-built Mosaic. He then receives a phone call from a mysterious woman, who knows from her own flash forward that Demetri will be murdered in March 15, 2010. Beware the Ides of March.

"D. Gibbons" is the name given to someone who cloned a credit card from the real D. Gibbons. He is found in a doll factory in Pigeon, Utah, but the factory is rigged up with lots of explosives, and honestly, it is surprising that Mark and Demetri survive. The agents find a cell phone, and learn from it that "Gibbons" had a conversation during the flash forward with someone that was probably at the Cleveland base ball game. So two people who were awake during the black out.

I think that Wedeck is the funniest character on the show. He took some cupcakes given to the agency by a witness, saying he was going to "put them into evidence". But the story he finally shared with Mark about the events he remembered in his own flash forward and immediately following the black out was hilarious. If I were his wife or girlfriend, I could never kiss him again. Yikes.

Neither Mark nor Olivia have asked Charlie what she saw in her "dream". They've decided to take the "we'll let her tell us on her own time" approach. They clearly stick to the approach even when Charlie's teacher suggests they rethink it. I suspect that both parents feel guilty that their future behavior has such a negative affect on their daughter. Olivia even resorts to surreptitiously seeing if Charlie recognizes Simcoe. Charlie didn't, but became upset on seeing the injured Dylan, someone Charlie apparently knows. In a "shocker" moment, Charlie reveals to her father that she knows that D. Gibbons is a bad man, based on what she saw in her "dream."

A lot of little clears here and there, sprinkled throughout the episode. No clear picture. Of course. We'll see what happens next week.

House is Broken

What an opportunity this season to see two of my favorite actors as Hugh Laurie's House seeks medical treatment and atonement from Andre Braugher's Dr. Nolan! I've been a fan of Braugher since his days on Homicide: Life on the Street, so to see him tangling with the wily House was quite a delight for me.

First, a caveat. As many of you know, I'm a former social worker who used to work with individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness. I once interned in a state psychiatric facility, and in later jobs coordinated with various psychiatric hospitals the admissions and discharges of my clients. For numerous reasons, the picture of life in a psychiatric hospital in House is completely false. As I've stated before, House is fiction and should be taken as such. This episode is no exception.

Last season ended with House admitting himself into a psychiatric facility after experiencing hallucinations related to his Vicodin addition. This season began with House detoxing, a process that is particularly painful and ugly, something fortunately we did not focus on.

Instead, the episode officially begins when House walks into Nolan's office, demanding to be released. Nolan is willing, but refuses to sign the form that will let House's medical license be reinstated. House agrees to remain in the hospital, but vows to make everyone's life miserable.

Thus, we get One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, House-style. As is his wont, House attacks the weakest area of the ward - his fellow patients. It's not hard to make a paranoid man more paranoid, or a suicidal woman more suicidal. House is sent to solitary confinement (or whatever it's called) twice before even he realizes how cruel he is being. So he pulls a McMurphy, trying to incite a riot among the patients against the ward staff, but Nolan gives the patients what they want, quickly ending that riot. Nolan then tells House he's as stubborn as House is.

House's roommate, Alvie, the "manic Hispanic", joins House in his attempts to convince Nolan to sign the form. After a failed blackmail attempt, House decides to pretend to comply, cheeking his meds and following the rules. House slowly gains ward privileges and more freedom. When House is required to give a urine sample, he arranges for another patient to provide the urine. Thus, House proves he is taking his medication. Sadly for him, the medications he had been given were sugar pills.

In the meantime, House meets Lydia, a musician who plays piano for her best friend, a mute unresponsive woman who seems to sway to the music. Another patient, Steve or Freedom Master, joins the ward.

It is in House's relationships with Lydia, Freedom, and Nolan that change finally occurs. House advocates that Freedom, who believes he has super strength and the ability to fly, be allowed to retain his delusions. When he finds Freedom overmedicated and depressed, he decides to intervene, taking Freedom on a carnival ride that simulates skydiving. Afterward, Freedom is convinced that he once again has super powers. House at first is smug, but smugness turns to horror as he helplessly watches Freedom try to fly off the upper ledge of a parking garage. Nolan decides to transfer House to another facility, but House begs him not to. Pride is gone, only the agony of constant misery remains. He agrees to therapy.

Therapy includes anti-depressants and learning to trust others. For reasons I can't explain, Nolan decides that House should practice trusting at a hospital fundraiser. Lydia is in attendance, and instead of trying to trust others, he and Lydia pretend to be other people. At the end, Lydia kisses House. What does the kiss mean? House doesn't know. Lydia is a married woman, and House isn't used to healthy relationships with other women.

Therapy also includes having to accept failure and learning to move on. When a mute Freedom returns to the ward in a wheel chair and casts, House tries to apologize, but finds he cannot. He notices Freedom staring at an object in the staff office, and House demands the staff give it to Freedom. The object turns out to be a music box, but even when given to Freedom, he remains unresponsive. House, dejected, tells Lydia their relationship is at an end. Relationships by their nature are brutal - why continue on?

Therapy includes learning to be there for other people. Nolan gives House an unexpected day pass. To a hospital. Where Nolan's father is a patient. Nolan wants a consult. House quickly determines that Nolan's father is terminal, which Nolan knew. Out loud, he processes Nolan's motivation in calling House to the hospital, finally concluding that House is the only friend that Nolan has. Nolan looks at House with tears in his eyes, "I don't need you here to play this game." House thus pulls up a chair and sits with Nolan, who makes the decision to "pull the plug."

Therapy also includes making connections with people. House returns to the hospital to find a weepy Lydia. She's not crying over him, but over her friend's illness. He hugs her, and as often happens on television, sex ensues. However, it was sweet and tender, and House cried through it.

Therapy also includes helping out others, even when you don't like the person very much. At the ward talent show, Alvie, the "manic Hispanic", has problems with his spontaneous rap. House, watching from the back, throws out a few rhymes to Alvie, and eventually joins his roommate on stage and helps make the rap a fun affair. Later, House tells Nolan that he actually feels pretty good.

House finally apologizes to Freedom, who makes no response. It's medication time, and as House wheels Freedom to the med window, Freedom gives the music box to Lydia's unresponsive friend. She takes the box, opens it, and then thanks Freedom. At last, a miracle. Lydia returns to the ward to find her friend playing the cello.

Finally, therapy involves letting people go. House learns from Nolan that Lydia and her family are moving to Arizona. House, devastated, demands an overnight pass, even over Nolan's objections. He takes a cab to Lydia's house. There, she tells him she doesn't want to leave, but she can't break up her family. Telling him their affair ended perfectly, she closes the door on him.

House returns to the hospital, and Nolan agrees to sign the form that will reinstate House's medical license. House is incredulous, but Nolan points out that House connected with someone and didn't resort to Vicodin when it ended badly. Time for House to go.

This is a long post, but this was also an intense, and two hour, episode. House stepped out of its procedural formula, and instead, focused on the character of House, the character. The character has always been the driving force behind the show, with his brilliance, sarcasm, cruelty, and self-hatred affecting everyone around him. House tries to pretend he doesn't care about the people near to him, but the deaths of Amber, Kutner, and his father were all too much for him. This extended stay in the hospital allowed him the opportunity to heal, to learn something about himself, and to reconnect with the important people and things in his life.

I've seen a number of people express their fears that with House in therapy, he'll become a shell of his former character. But the genius of this show is that it allows House to change, and even though he's in therapy, the second episode of the season saw a House that continues to be sarcastic, rude, and brilliant. Never normal, never boring, therapy can't change House that much.