Hello Fellow Travelers!
I spent part of last week feeling very alienated and sorry for myself because a program I had watched from the beginning was ending. Shows end all the time, we saw the end of Dexter after seven years and it ended as appropriately as one could have hoped, but we forgot about it as soon as we saw it. It's rare that one ends as well or with such fanfare as "Breaking Bad". When I looked up from my computer, I saw that there were a lot of people who didn't know squat about methamphetamines who were going to sorely miss "Breaking Bad" on Sundays. Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert, for starters both did huge tributes to "B.B." on their respective programs.
My mother never watched "B.B." because she claimed to like Bryan Cranston from "Malcolm in the Middle", I go back even further with Mr. Cranston and remember him from "Seinfeld" where he had an occasionally recurring role as Dr. Tim Watley, the dentist, who may or may not have converted to Judaism "for the jokes". Speaking of Seinfeld, remember an old episode where Elaine had Kramer take a photo for her Christmas card and of course, she sends them out to everyone not realizing that there was some wardrobe malfunction? Everyone at her office is calling her "Nip". George starts complaining that he never got a card from her so she grabs his head and smashes it into her chest and snarls, "You want a card? Here's your card!"
A couple of authors have pulled an "Elaine" on the public. Specifically, Thomas Harris, the fellow who wrote, "Silence of the Lambs". An amazing book, I couldn't put it down. Of course later they made the iconic film that set the film industry on fire and won awards for many involved in that film. Zeitgeist - being in the right place at the perfect time and making something amazing! So I, like a lot of people waited for years for this dude to write another book. He didn't write much and he didn't write often so what he did have out there was read and reread. So, after many years, out comes "Hannibal". I actually wait listed and paid full retail on a hardback book. "Hannibal" was well over 600 pages and when people would ask me about it, and they often did, all I had to say was, "What's the most ridiculous thing you can imagine these characters doing?" Invariably, I received the same response, whether the person was or was not a reader, they always said "Let me guess, Hannibal and Clarice fall in love and get married!" Yup, "Hannibal the Cannibal" and Agent Starling fall in something and sail off into bad writing land or maybe The Island of Misfit Toys or someplace else mysterious.
I may not be much of a writer but I am an accomplished and prolific reader and as a reader, I was truly offended. I knew when I'd been "Elained", in literary terms. At least I hope that was what was going on, I'd hate to think he labored intensely for years over that steaming pile of words. What did you think I was going to say? That steaming pile of literary goodness? How about I confine my remarks to say, steaming pile? If they had social media back then, I could have read "Hannibal" and posted the book next to a picture of kitty litter (Hah! You thought I was going say "Steaming Pile" again, didn't you?). But I'm not sure there was even the Internet back then so they went ahead and made a movie (also a steaming pile) and more $$$ before everyone caught a clue that a little Lecter went a long way. Even the movie-makers shied away from having the two polar opposites start dating, and left Clarice with the FBI and put Lecter on a plane to parts unknown.
I wouldn't know Thomas Harris if he bit me but after finishing "Hannibals'" 800 plus pages, I felt as though I'd been middle fingered by Mr. Harris. As in "You want more Lecter? I'll give you all the Hannibal Lecter you can stand! And then some! I'll write a whole flippin' book, badly, about him! And Clarice Starling! So screw you gentle reader, and critic, book editor, film exec, etc... Screw all of you! And the horse you rode in on!"
"Breaking Bad" finished great! All the actors and the show's creator quit at the top. Walter died about when his oncologist said he would. The reason I was sort of sad about that show ending was that in seven years Walt never lost me. He had this terrible diagnosis and figured out a way to utilize his time left on this planet to making a large amount of money. It's a revenue stream I know nothing about (methamphetamine) but I could relate to a shy chemistry teacher having his world turned upside down with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. He had a finite amount of time and objectives to meet in that period of time and his meticulous nature lent itself to being a mythical manufacturer as well as a distributor of his special "blue" product. Even though the character did some terrible things I always wanted Walter to be successful. At the end of the show you aren't sure if a gunshot killed him or the returning cancer but it doesn't matter. He dies on his terms in his lab with no unfinished business.
At the end of the day, control over your own destiny is all we can hope for. But the reason Walter never completely lost me or my sympathy completely is fundamental: Great storytelling! It was a great story that was told really well. And at the end, that's truly all I care about. Like the Sopranos, I'll get over the loss of "B.B.", but it's good to know people are still wanting to tell good stories well because there are those of us who desperately want to hear them.
PS - Speaking of "Seinfeld" and "The Sopranos", you know why the Rom/Com with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini went to DVD faster than a Steven Seagal movie? Not because they didn't 'have chemistry' or didn't look like they belonged together, The film flopped loudly because poor Gandolfini died. No new shows or Soprano reunion. He's still dead! And NO romantic comedies! James Gandolfini is still dead and that fact is neither romantic or comedic. To his credit, that man made Tony Soprano his own, much like Bryan Cranston did to Walter White. Poor Gandolfini pulled a Heath Ledger this year (unwittingly) and we'll never see his work again without thinking, "Oh, he's still dead. That's too bad."
I spent part of last week feeling very alienated and sorry for myself because a program I had watched from the beginning was ending. Shows end all the time, we saw the end of Dexter after seven years and it ended as appropriately as one could have hoped, but we forgot about it as soon as we saw it. It's rare that one ends as well or with such fanfare as "Breaking Bad". When I looked up from my computer, I saw that there were a lot of people who didn't know squat about methamphetamines who were going to sorely miss "Breaking Bad" on Sundays. Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert, for starters both did huge tributes to "B.B." on their respective programs.
My mother never watched "B.B." because she claimed to like Bryan Cranston from "Malcolm in the Middle", I go back even further with Mr. Cranston and remember him from "Seinfeld" where he had an occasionally recurring role as Dr. Tim Watley, the dentist, who may or may not have converted to Judaism "for the jokes". Speaking of Seinfeld, remember an old episode where Elaine had Kramer take a photo for her Christmas card and of course, she sends them out to everyone not realizing that there was some wardrobe malfunction? Everyone at her office is calling her "Nip". George starts complaining that he never got a card from her so she grabs his head and smashes it into her chest and snarls, "You want a card? Here's your card!"
A couple of authors have pulled an "Elaine" on the public. Specifically, Thomas Harris, the fellow who wrote, "Silence of the Lambs". An amazing book, I couldn't put it down. Of course later they made the iconic film that set the film industry on fire and won awards for many involved in that film. Zeitgeist - being in the right place at the perfect time and making something amazing! So I, like a lot of people waited for years for this dude to write another book. He didn't write much and he didn't write often so what he did have out there was read and reread. So, after many years, out comes "Hannibal". I actually wait listed and paid full retail on a hardback book. "Hannibal" was well over 600 pages and when people would ask me about it, and they often did, all I had to say was, "What's the most ridiculous thing you can imagine these characters doing?" Invariably, I received the same response, whether the person was or was not a reader, they always said "Let me guess, Hannibal and Clarice fall in love and get married!" Yup, "Hannibal the Cannibal" and Agent Starling fall in something and sail off into bad writing land or maybe The Island of Misfit Toys or someplace else mysterious.
I may not be much of a writer but I am an accomplished and prolific reader and as a reader, I was truly offended. I knew when I'd been "Elained", in literary terms. At least I hope that was what was going on, I'd hate to think he labored intensely for years over that steaming pile of words. What did you think I was going to say? That steaming pile of literary goodness? How about I confine my remarks to say, steaming pile? If they had social media back then, I could have read "Hannibal" and posted the book next to a picture of kitty litter (Hah! You thought I was going say "Steaming Pile" again, didn't you?). But I'm not sure there was even the Internet back then so they went ahead and made a movie (also a steaming pile) and more $$$ before everyone caught a clue that a little Lecter went a long way. Even the movie-makers shied away from having the two polar opposites start dating, and left Clarice with the FBI and put Lecter on a plane to parts unknown.
I wouldn't know Thomas Harris if he bit me but after finishing "Hannibals'" 800 plus pages, I felt as though I'd been middle fingered by Mr. Harris. As in "You want more Lecter? I'll give you all the Hannibal Lecter you can stand! And then some! I'll write a whole flippin' book, badly, about him! And Clarice Starling! So screw you gentle reader, and critic, book editor, film exec, etc... Screw all of you! And the horse you rode in on!"
"Breaking Bad" finished great! All the actors and the show's creator quit at the top. Walter died about when his oncologist said he would. The reason I was sort of sad about that show ending was that in seven years Walt never lost me. He had this terrible diagnosis and figured out a way to utilize his time left on this planet to making a large amount of money. It's a revenue stream I know nothing about (methamphetamine) but I could relate to a shy chemistry teacher having his world turned upside down with a diagnosis of terminal cancer. He had a finite amount of time and objectives to meet in that period of time and his meticulous nature lent itself to being a mythical manufacturer as well as a distributor of his special "blue" product. Even though the character did some terrible things I always wanted Walter to be successful. At the end of the show you aren't sure if a gunshot killed him or the returning cancer but it doesn't matter. He dies on his terms in his lab with no unfinished business.
At the end of the day, control over your own destiny is all we can hope for. But the reason Walter never completely lost me or my sympathy completely is fundamental: Great storytelling! It was a great story that was told really well. And at the end, that's truly all I care about. Like the Sopranos, I'll get over the loss of "B.B.", but it's good to know people are still wanting to tell good stories well because there are those of us who desperately want to hear them.
PS - Speaking of "Seinfeld" and "The Sopranos", you know why the Rom/Com with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini went to DVD faster than a Steven Seagal movie? Not because they didn't 'have chemistry' or didn't look like they belonged together, The film flopped loudly because poor Gandolfini died. No new shows or Soprano reunion. He's still dead! And NO romantic comedies! James Gandolfini is still dead and that fact is neither romantic or comedic. To his credit, that man made Tony Soprano his own, much like Bryan Cranston did to Walter White. Poor Gandolfini pulled a Heath Ledger this year (unwittingly) and we'll never see his work again without thinking, "Oh, he's still dead. That's too bad."
No comments:
Post a Comment