I don't know what's going on with Steven Soderbergh's supposed "retirement," but this new Cinemax original series is 10 episodes, all of which are directed by him, so he hasn't exactly thrown in the towel yet. Or maybe he meant strictly film, in which case he left himself quite a loophole. Starring Clive Owen as a doctor in turn of the century New York, this show is about the advances in medicine at that crucial time and is set to air sometime late in the summer. We'll be able to tell more from the full length trailer when it comes out, but it looks promising.
RECAP: Mad Men 7x03 "Field Trip"
Tonight marked Don's big return to the office, and boy was it awkward. We'll start out on the Don front tonight, as he tries to have other Dawn catch him up to speed over the phone on what's been happening, only to find her swamped in her new position and unable to attend to him. This annoys him but he quickly receives a call from Megan's agent, begging him to tend to his wife, because she's growing desperate in her auditions and apparently accosted a director in public. So Don flies out to surprise her and she's at first happy to see him, but things go south very quickly when she finds out he only came to check on her, and she starts immediately calling him out about his probable cheating while he's in New York. To calm her down, Don finally admits to her he lost his job, but this only angers Megan more, as she realizes this means he hasn't even wanted to be with her for months. She tells him it's over between them and Don goes home, but to his credit he does seem regretful about their relationship and calls her later to tell her he's trying to fix his job situation. Megan says the only way to fix things is for him to move out there and get a job, but Don doesn't sound willing to do it. So it appears things are over for Don and Megan, but I still took this whole thing as being somewhat ambiguous- I wonder if Don will eventually, by the end of the season (and I mean the whole season, not this half season) end up moving to California after all, leaving the door open with Megan for the future, since he does tell her again that he still loves her.
The apparent break-up with Megan does prompt Don to get back to SC&P somehow, so he finally goes to Roger's apartment and has it out with him. The two argue over what he did and the fact that Don didn't answer Roger's Christmas card (lol), but Roger is really pretty easy to sway and quickly agrees to let Don come back to work because he misses him (awww!). I love Don and Roger's friendship. So Don, with some trepidation, heads back into the office the next day and things get awkward really fast. Roger isn't there yet and hasn't told a single other person in the office, leaving Don to enjoy some very weird and tension-filled reunions with Joan, Cutler, Peggy (who, still pissed about Ted, snarks to him that he hasn't been missed) and a run-in with Lou Avery, who immediately cries to Cutler, telling him he's got a two-year contract and they can't fire him. When Roger finally saunters in, Don yells at him for not getting everything straightened out, but Roger at last gets to assert his own authority, claiming it's his name on the door and he can do whatever he wants. At the partner's meeting sans Don, he finds out that basically every other person was under the impression that Don's "leave of absence" meant he was fired, but he shoots down every argument for not letting him come back and states the reasons they need him- the creative department is dying (because obviously Lou sucks) and most importantly, firing him would mean buying him out, which they can't afford to do. Go Roger! This is certainly his best episode in a long time. Cutler is adamantly against it (turns out Lou's his guy), but outvoted in the end. The partners welcome Don back but under the conditions that he not be alone with the clients, no drinking in the office (ha- can he pull that off?), and finally, he must report to Lou (ouch, that one's gonna hurt). After a beat, Don agrees, and that's that (to the sounds of Jimi Hendrix over the end credits).
Elsewhere in the Mad Men universe, this episode also marks the return of Betty, who I personally have never missed. But she's back, and just as nasty and haughty as ever. She has a fabulously passive-aggressive conversation with her old neighbor Francine, who's now working part time as a travel agent, and completely disses her desire to do something with her life besides being a mother. And then she goes on a field trip to a farm with Bobby's class as a chaperone, where she seems to be getting along with a child of hers for once, even bonding with another mother over mocking the teacher's braless status, until Bobby commits the unforgiveable sin of trading his mother's sandwich away for some gumdrops. And yes, he will pay dearly for this for the rest of his life. Betty forces him to eat all the candy and hours later, the kid is still suffering when Henry comes home to the all the nastiness still floating around in the air. Betty blames Bobby again and storms out of the kitchen, while Henry sits down to dinner with the kid, shooting him an understanding glance. When he goes to see Betty watching TV with a sleeping Gene in her arms, she says Bobby destroyed a perfect day for her (oh for fuck's sake), and wonders why her children don't love her. Wow. The long suffering Henry simply shakes his head and continues to ask himself why he married such a horrible woman (or at least that's what he's thinking).
Other tidbits:
-We also saw Harry Crane's first appearance of the season tonight, continuing to complain about SC&P totally ignoring their media department, a fact that finally seems to win him a supporter in Jim Cutler when a client wonders why they don't have a computer like other agencies. Harry of course lies smoothly that they do, but Jim finds out he's a born liar ("the most dishonest person he's ever met"), and that Harry is so fed up with the way he's treated that he's basically checked out of his duties. Nice to see you again, Harry. You haven't changed one bit.
-There was a very strange moment tonight where Don is approached and propositioned by a young blonde who claims they know each other, in front of two rival ad agency guys who were interested in hiring him. He thinks it's a joke at first but they assure him they know nothing about it and Don looks after her, pensive. I had NO idea what this scene was about, and it was never referred back to again. I feel like I missed something, so if anybody caught that, please, I'd love your interpretations.
-Peggy is in a perpetual bad mood this season, first because Ginsberg is winning a Clio and she wasn't even submitted, and then because Don's coming back, and she smugly insults him like I mentioned earlier. I really hope Peggy's success isn't concurrent with her becoming more and more unlikeable. There are more than enough of those characters around already, and if Betty's back I can only take one irrationally evil person at a time.
Seth Meyers to host the Emmys
In a very unsurprising move, NBC has tapped their Late Night host, Seth Meyers to host the Emmys this year. Unsurprising because for the last three times that NBC has had the ceremony they've chosen their Late Night guy, so I guess it was just Seth's "turn," although I thought they'd go with Jimmy Fallon again. Meyers hasn't had as much success as Fallon since taking over Late Night so this is probably a chance to let him try to boost his ratings in the time slot. I think he's okay, but since he left SNL I have a whole new appreciation for his Weekend Update than I did before. At least he's proven to be a much better interviewer than almost anyone else in late night- if he's smart he'd go full on in that direction and turn his show into complete conversations with people, ala Dick Cavett. The Emmys will air August 25th, on a Monday night for the first time in years.
Here's video from Seth's White House Correspondent's gig a couple years ago- he did a good job there but the whole thing was overshadowed because it was being conducted the night of the raid to get Bin Laden, which Seth bemoaned recently on NPR (facetiously, of course):
REVIEW: "Parks and Recreation" Season 6
Parks and Recreation has remained a consistently funny show long after its counterpart, The Office, stopped being funny at this point in its run. By the time The Office entered its seventh season it had become extremely hit and miss, and the misses were sometimes painful to even get through. But for fans of Parks and Rec, the show is still charming, fun, topical, and sweetly funny, even in the occasional lagging episode, which happens to every long-running network sitcom at some point.
Creator and showrunner Mike Schur is a writer who still wants to keep moving the ball forward for all of his characters, and the sixth season charged the series onward, with numerous life-changing events for Leslie Knope and the gang at the Parks Department in Pawnee, Indiana. In fact, the show may have suffered a slight lag in mid-season, only to ramp it up hard the last few episodes, culminating in a somewhat stunning cliffhanger that essentially aims to reboot the show for its seventh (and presumably final) season. But we'll get to that in a minute. The first part of the season was dedicated mostly to Leslie's recall election, which frankly felt like a bit of a repeat of her long campaign for office just a year previously. Chris Pratt was also missing for much of the first half of the season due to film commitments, and Andy's absence was explained by a temporary job in London, so things were feeling a bit shaky among the cast, although the core ensemble remained as strong as ever.
The other main storyline regarding Ann's pregnancy in the first half was necessary to facilitate the exit of Chris and Ann (Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones) mid-season, as they moved away from Pawnee before the birth of their child. I've never felt that Rashida Jones was much of an asset to the show, other than as a sounding board for Leslie, and my prediction that she would not be missed proved correct. Ever since Chris and Ann left I think the show may have even gotten funnier, since Retta's presence was increased as Donna, who does have chemistry with the rest of the cast and seemed to fill Ann's place with perfect ease. Rob Lowe was sometimes funny as Chris, but if his leaving was necessary to get rid of Ann, I say it's perfectly welcome.
Once those two were gone Leslie's big career move was put in motion. After being kicked out of office in the election, she was offered a job at the National Parks Department and pretty quickly found out that she herself was pregnant, and with triplets, no less. The idea of Leslie and Ben with triplets (and seeing Amy Poehler go through a labor episode) was gold, but in the surprising season finale ending, Leslie figures out a way to take the National Parks job while staying in Pawnee, thus reshaping their entire department, and all of a sudden, it's three years later and the office is up and booming big time. That's right, the kids are born and almost three years old, Leslie, Ben and the gang are now busy federal and not local government employees, and it looks to be a revamp of the series heading into its last year.
This is a risky move, to say the least, but Mike Schur feels it opens up a wealth of new material so as not to get repetitive, which was really the only problem starting to threaten the writing this year. Too many appearances by Councilman Jam and Tom's frenemies Jean-Ralphio (who I used to love) and Mona Lisa were starting to feel old, so this move may prove to be for the better. It's a bit reminiscent of when old sitcoms would make drastic location moves, like Laverne and Shirley moving to L.A. or when the Conners won the lottery on Roseanne. And let's face it, this kind of thing can often scream of desperation and usually not work out- but with Parks, it hasn't quite hit the same sort of lull those other shows did, and I'm actually kind of excited to see the brand new environment this dramatic time jump has set up (although I do wonder what this does to all the political and cultural references the show drops- it's always been a show set very much in our current pop cultural world).
And the finale itself was one of the best episodes of the season, even aside from the ending. It did feel a bit like a series finale, with the success of the Pawnee/Eagleton Unity concert, the opening of Tom's restaurant, cameos from several fan favorite recurring characters, and Ron finally revealing Duke Silver to the town publicly. Not to mention the amazing cameo from Michelle Obama, which shocked Leslie into hysterics on her and Ben's brief trip to San Francisco. Parks and Rec ends its sixth season on a high note and leaves us wanting more- which is much more than we have any right to expect from a show that's been on the air for six years now.
Grade: B+
Letterman Passes the Baton
If you want to see what Stephen Colbert is like sans the character he plays, here he is on The Late Show the other night as Dave had him on to chat about the upcoming transition. We've still got a while yet actually, so I'm sure he'll be back between now and then, but for what it's worth, Dave seems genuinely delighted that Colbert is the one taking over.
RECAP: Mad Men 7x02 "A Day's Work"
Well, it's Valentine's Day, following the typical one month jump (on the show's timeline) between Mad Men episodes, and it's a day of personnel shifts around the office, heartbreaks, frustrations and embarrassment for a lot of folks. We'll start with the best stuff in the episode, which is by far the strained, and by the end of the night what looks to be repaired, relationship between Don and Sally.
After the ambiguous yet possibly understanding final glance shared between the father and daughter at the end of last season's finale, Sally is back in this episode, traveling with her boarding school friends into the city for a funeral. The funeral of her roommate's mother, which the girls seem to be pretty callous and dismissive about, mostly excited to go shopping in New York (Sally even says she'd do anything to get Betty in the ground... you're not alone, Sal). But when they're on the train headed back, Sally realizes she lost her purse and ditches the group, showing up at SC&P looking for Don. She's stunned to find Lou's name on her dad's door and the old man treats her pretty crudely, telling her to go find him at home. When she does, Don comes back to of course immediately lie to her, saying he left the office early because he's feeling sick. Bad move, Don. The familiar feeling of anger and disappointment with her dad's dishonesty sets in, and Sally instantly shuts down.
But it turns out that Don's been getting at home visits from office Dawn (in between lounging around watching Little Rascals shorts), who he's paying extra to keep him up to date on what's happening in the office, and Dawn manages to call him about Sally's visit right before he takes her back to school. Now Don's angry at Sally for letting him lie to her and the two share a stony drive back to the school, at least for a while, before Don finally confronts her about it, accusing her of acting like Betty (who we still don't see in this episode by the way). That's the wrong thing to say again, and Sally admits she wanted to embarrass him as much as possible by catching him in a lie, also telling him how hard it was to go to his apartment and risk running into Sylvia (who she says makes her want to vomit). Don is somewhat cowed by her honesty and takes a detour, pulling into a diner where he finally attempts to be honest with his kid. He admits to her he lost his job for telling the truth and lets Sally question him about everything, including whether he still loves Megan (he says he does) and why he won't just confess to wanting to stay in New York. This rare and candid talk from him finally breaks down her defenses and she calls her friends to tell them she's with her dad and even laughs at his joke about wanting to skip out on the bill. At the end of the episode when Don drops her off with a note she wishes him a Happy Valentine's Day and tells him she loves him, which he's taken aback by- and that my friends, is the closest you'll ever get to something approaching what could be considered a "heartwarming" Mad Men moment. Kiernan Shipka was as usual, fantastic in this episode, totally holding her own with Jon Hamm, and the Sally/Don bond is quickly becoming the core of the series as it nears the finish line.
In other embarrassing moments, Peggy spends the episode in a bratty state of self-absorption, mistaking the roses on secretary Shirley's desk to be hers from Ted (they couldn't possibly be Shirley's right? Oh wait, oops- they are), and proceeds to spend all day wondering why he sent them, sending him messages that she's over him, blah blah blah. When she finally figures out they're not hers she yells at Shirley and blames her for the whole mess, demanding that Joan remove her from the desk, which coincides with Lou's annoyance at Dawn reporting to the other Don on his time, also demanding that Joan move her around. Joan tries to accommodate them but Cooper objects to having a person "of color" at reception, and all the personnel shifts finally amount to Cutler realizing that even though Joan is by all means an account person now, she's still performing her other job. So he relieves her from it, moving her upstairs to a new office in accounts, and leaving Dawn to be promoted to head of personnel herself. Well, that worked out alright.
In the accounts department, Pete brings in a new one from California, but the partners shoot it down over a hilariously inept long distance speaker phone conference, with Cutler essentially browbeating Roger into running it by Detroit first. Which of course, Pete strenuously objects to, as that would involve his mortal enemy Bob Benson, even though he denies that's the reason. He's upset by the whole thing and shoots off on one of his classic vents to Ted, who really isn't forthcoming with much sympathy and Pete complains about his being too moral to be stuck with all the time (heh). He then falls into a very self-pitying Pete mood, but is woken up by his realtor girlfriend Ronnie, who tells him she's lost big sales under worse conditions (acts of God, as she puts it), and basically that's just the shitty business they're in. Well, that's good to know, all though I don't think this girl's gonna be around for the long haul, do you?
Other Tidbits:
-Dawn and other secretary Shirley (who's relocated to be Lou's girl at the end of this hour) have private kitchen sessions to bitch about their bosses, and it's noticeable how Dawn puts on a complete other voice when she's talking to the white people in the office. Now I'm wondering which one is the actress in real life.
-Has anyone noticed how insanely short the dresses are this season? There's no way anyone could sit down in those things, but if you've ever seen movies or TV from the late 60's it's eerily accurate, which is nuts.
-No sign of Betty again, which is fine with me (I don't think Matt Weiner is that fond of her either), but Sally's ultra-prominence in this one makes me think she's supplanted Betty's entire character in importance on the show, which is kind of cool. Just think about how tiny she was in the first season and where she is now. It's crazy to think it's been 7 years, but that's what happens with kid actors, although it's a lot more of an asset on a show like this, where Kiernan Shipka's role can actually grow and become of more value as opposed to one like Game of Thrones, where the kids' rapid aging is now becoming a pretty big liability.
TRAILER: "The Normal Heart"
After a couple of promotional teasers, the official trailer for the upcoming HBO movie has been released. It actually looks pretty good, although I'm always skeptical when Ryan Murphy's behind anything. Still, with the all the hype directed towards this project and the actors involved, plus the fact that the Emmys are splitting the combined category of TV Movie/Miniseries back into their own slots again (which practically guarantees this movie a win), I have a feeling this is going to be a big event film for HBO. I'm going to predict right now that Julia Roberts will win an Emmy for her role in this, but Mark Ruffalo looks good too, and he's always a great and underrated addition to any ensemble. It's airing on Sunday May 25th.
TRAILER: "Orange is the New Black" Season 2
Woo hoo! One of my favorite shows of last season is back for another go round, and the trailer is here! Looks just as great as last year and very consistent, at least based on this (despite rumors that the series was one its way to becoming more dramatic). Netflix also made the wise decision to submit the show for Emmy consideration as a comedy at the last minute, which I think gives it a strong chance to take down Modern Family- especially because the buzz will be high during the voting period, with the second season dropping June 6th. Mark your calendars everybody!
TEASER: "Louie" Season 4
Even though I kinda hated Louis C.K.'s last hosting stint on SNL, I couldn't be happier his show's coming back to FX on May 5th after more than a year and a half off the air. I sort of think of Louie as the anti-Girls, that is, another semi-comedic series that's purposefully offbeat and not for everyone, but controlled by its auteur, who, unlike Lena Dunham, knows what he's doing and is actually funny. You never know what you're going to get on any random episode of Louie, but as long as I've watched it, each season's been better and weirder than the last. In a good way. The same goes for this funky and artsy teaser, which couldn't sum up his eclectic series in a more succinct way:
TRAILER: "Rosemary's Baby" (NBC)
NBC's Rosemary's Baby miniseries has been scheduled to air in two parts- May 11th and May 15th, right during sweeps. And yes, that is perfect timing for Mother's Day. Zoe Saldana takes over the role that Mia Farrow immortalized and it looks like maybe Jason Isaacs is the cult leader in this one? I didn't see the Ruth Gordon character anywhere. It's tough to do a remake of such an iconic film, but you never know, maybe they did it right.
