USA’s Peacemakers -- #2 With A Bullet

I’m glad to see that viewers responded to the debut of USA’s newest series Peacemakers in its premiere Wednesday night, with 5.2 million folks tuning in for its 10pm 90min. pilot. I am usually loathe to quote ratings here – having worked with them for so many years I know they obscure more than they reveal, especially if you actually care about programming – but any bit of good news for something a little different is worth spreading.

I thought Peacemakers was very good, not brilliant exactly, but certainly very enjoyable and definitely worth checking out again. It looked marvelous, with some nifty camerawork and impeccable settings that made it a real visual treat, plus of course those wonderful dusters. Tom Berenger made a terrific world-weary hero, and if you missed it, it’s on again tonight at 11pm (with other encores upcoming, too) after a new episode of one of USA’s other hit series Monk. Realistically praising Monk’s considerable charms may sound like oversell, but Tony Shaloub’s sweet portrayal of the title character (Emmy-nominated) is a winner already.

If you take a look at message boards devoted to Monk, there seems to be a slight feeling that the show isn’t quite as memorable so far this season, in addition to general grumbling about the replacement of Jeff Beal’s delightful intro theme by a sardonic Randy Newman ditty. I think the two issues are related; a theme song sets up the tone of the show, and the mood you’re in after listening to the Newman song is a lot different than how one felt after the Beal tune. Newman’s tune is…well, annoying and downbeat, and I think it makes Monk himself seem more annoying. Beal’s theme was upbeat and creative, and put the viewer in a good mood to appreciate Monk’s uniqueness and humor. But hey, what do I know? Would you believe the TV Academy? They nominated Beal’s theme for an Emmy this year, and wouldn’t it be a real coup to have it win after somebody decided it needed changing. There’s a fan-based movement to urge USA to return to the original theme, and I’m rooting for them. The fans are passionate, and what’s more, they’re absolutely right.

Check out USA’s Peacemakers site for more information on this great new series.

And don’t forget to visit their nice Monk website, too!


Right On Satirical Article from Media Life Magazine

I really enjoyed this piece from today’s issue called Hollywood Speaks to America’s Youth. I’m sure they’ll get some flack on it, but it’s wonderful! Check it out!

 
If You Can’t Stand the Gore, Stay Out of the O.R.

Wow! Fox is the place to be tonight, as they premiere a brand new extreme reality special entitled 101 Things Removed From The Human Body at 9pm. This is right up my alley as I’m a longtime fan of strange medical stuff, and so evidently is producer Eric Schotz, who’s been collecting this amazing material in the course of working on medical specials for Discovery and TLC, among others. Sigh…what a guy!

We’re talking nails, spikey things, sticks, stones and everything in between that have ended up inside of people, by accident or more weirdly by design, and 101 Things takes a thorough and humane approach to the whole business. There’s a story behind every one of the 101 things, and this is one of those shows that will make you really appreciate the skill and dedication of medical professionals, who are there when you need ‘em, and the folks in this special really needed ‘em.

In less intelligent or compassionate hands material like this might come across as crass or exploitative, but Schotz knows his way around a hospital and provides the appropriate tone of gee whiz amazement mixed with genuine respect that both dignifies and acknowledges the extreme nature of the injuries presented. What’s best is that everything shown is true; all incidents happened to real people, who were helped by real paramedics and real doctors. No synthetic situations here, or faux drama concocted out of greed or guile – this is life, kids, and at the very least you should be able to breathe a sigh of relief afterwards that nothing like this has hopefully ever happened to you.

If you’re a fan of all the fictional medical or forensic shows on TV, forego just one hour and check out what’s going on in real emergency rooms. And if its inspiration you’re looking for, remember that all the victims in this show survived their injuries. Creepy? A teeny bit voyeuristic? Sure, but with an overriding sense of celebration of victory over adversity or misjudgment that makes 101 Things Removed From The Human Body much more than cheap thrills.

101 Things Removed From The Human Body airs tonight, Thursday, on Fox at 9pm.


Hey, if the Yale School of Medicine is cool enough to list this show on their website, that’s saying something. One of their top trauma docs is featured on the show.


For more true-life medical information, this time from the CDC, check our the Morbidity and Mortality Report which comes out every week.


And if you end up looking for more gore and strangeness after watching the special, I can recommend (with some strong warnings about very strong and fairly sickening visual content) the Ogrish.com website, which compiles photos and miscellany about various hideous accidents, murders, and so forth. As they ask on their intro page…Can You Handle Life? Answer honestly or you'll be sorry!

 
Yee Haw! Westerns Are Back in Vogue…Sorta, Like

The quest for very young adult demographics be damned (or danged, perhaps), USA Network is staking a claim to the rest of us viewers who enjoy a good horse opera with their new series Peacemakers, which debuts tonight at 9pm, with several encores throughout the next week. Starring the only semi-charismatic, basically stolid and totally masculine Tom Berenger – and believe me, I think those characteristics are perfect for success in today’s TV drama world – Peacemakers aims to be sort of a CSI: Dodge City with its mix of forensics and six-guns.

It’s a perfect amalgam of genres, particularly ideal for this rigor mortis-tinged season where autopsies are the game of choice, and if your main character can wear a cool J. Peterman duster coat while solving the crimes, so much the better. Westerns are intrinsically appealing – and will ever be so – because of their emblematic clothing choices; never underestimate the pure visual pull that a Western has on the audience, and often on the players. How many times have you read how much fun actors have while making a Western? It’s the quintessential American dress-up game, and it’s nice to see TV embracing it once again.

Not to sound like an wheezy old Cassandra, but I recall, not so many years ago, pleading for the continued use and celebration of Westerns on TNT’s air; the worry was that too many of the wrong people – older viewers – were attracted to them, and that was enough to ban their presence. Things are a bit different there now, as Western movies seem to be back in vogue on their schedule – in the end, guaranteed high ratings mean even more than the quest for vanity demographics – and they’ve just contracted with Spielberg’s Dreamworks for a maxi-miniseries, about two families, one settlers, the other Native Americans, set in the Old West. I wouldn’t bet MY farm on the viewing public’s interest in Native Americans – I guess nobody’s left over there at TNT anymore who remembers the string of unsuccessful Native American movies we did once upon a time – but if anybody can make it work, probably Dreamworks is the place.

But back to something I can root for with a clear and enthusiastic heart, USA’s Peacemakers. Berenger is a terrific choice for the lead, possessing just the right combo of Dudley Do-Rightness and convincing physicality to appeal to a wide range of viewers. As I said before, he’s not the most captivating actor in the world, but that just what the pathologist ordered. Today’s brand of TV hero is frequently taciturn, grim and gloomy (viz William Peterson, David Caruso, Anthony La Paglia), and the smartest thing Peacemakers could do would be to nix all humor and wit from its dialogue and go with as straightforward a style as possible. Nothing fancy, nothing funny, not if they want this thing to last. (Looking Back: Ten years ago Fox had a brilliant little series called The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. with a witty hero (played by the emminently charismatic Bruce Campbell), smart antics and an intellectual bent, and it only lasted 27 glorious episodes. Smart is okay, funny is okay, but not together, evidently.)

The continuing success of Law & Order and all of its yawn-inducing spawn has pretty much killed the audience’s capacity to appreciate anything but a basic, though not necessarily uncomplicated, approach to crime solving. Procedural is the only way to play this thing, and the more technical the better. What will, of necessity, bring some bit of whimsy to Peacemakers is that in the late 1880s, when the show is set, forensics was little more than a gleam in Scotland Yard’s eye, and it could be – dare we say it? – fun to see the characters embracing the new techniques.

Berenger plays Federal Marshall Jared Stone, who, along with a Yale-grad, Yard-trained Pinkerton agent and a gore-tolerant local mortician (who’s also a beautiful young woman), endeavors to put a little science into his job of solving frontier misdeeds and mysteries. Larimer Finch, the Pinkerton agent, is played by Peter O’Meara, whose credentials in British theater bode well for his turn here, and the lady mortuary owner Katie Owen, is Amy Carlson, a TV veteran with many credits including Third Watch (where Berenger had a string of recent appearances, fyi). My only hope is that the town of Silver City, Colorado, has enough rapscallions to create the necessary mayhem. And very big smart kudos to the producers for setting the show very pre-turn-of-the-century, and for not doing that hard-to-make-work horses-meet-automobile thing. Though the theme of progress meeting the frontier is a nice think piece, it dilutes the Western mythos and luckily that doesn’t seem to be a problem here.

Will Peacemakers be a hit for USA? I’m crossing my fingers, and I hope you’ll give it a chance, too.

Check out the USA Network’s Peacemakers website for more information!

 
Well, I’m back after two+ weeks on the road and in Nova Scotia, not much the worse for wear, except for a twisted ankle that I got stepping out of the cottage last Monday. And let me tell you, I could have used a little more TV than just the three channels you get over-the-air up there, one of them French. What’s worse, they sign off at about 2:30am, not good for a night owl viewer like myself. However, radio is alive and well up there, with several stations on the quality level of public broadcasting here; they were a great comfort as I sat around icing my foot.


Bye, Bye Bob

As you know if you read my piece here from April 20th (check the archives) on Bob Hope’s TV birthday tributes, I’m a huge fan of his and certainly sad to see him pass, though glad for the incredible filmed comedy legacy he leaves behind. If you’re a real buff, there are several places where you can purchase MP3s of his radio shows, ironically making it easier to get his older radio oeuvre than his much more recent TV shows. (Despite all the hoopla about so much TV material coming out on DVD, you’d better be a viewer with fairly mainstream tastes to reap the alleged bonanza.)


I’ve read several terrific obituaries on Bob, and the best thing they do is make you want to watch some of his movies. On Thursday 7/31 beginning at 8am, AMC will air a mixed-bag of Hope features – How To Commit Marriage, Paris Holiday, Road to Bali, The Seven Little Foys, Son of Paleface, The Private Navy of Sgt. O’ Farrell – the 2nd of which co-stars French comedian Fernandel in one of his rare English movie appearances. From the it’s-a-small-world file, one of the few late-night movies I caught on Nova Scotia TV was a charming Fernandel movie on the French-language channel. Though probably most of you have never heard of him, Fernandel was a much-loved comic with a forty-year career that started in the 1930s. While I don’t speak French and didn’t quite follow the plot (something about mistaken identity), it was more than enjoyable to watch this master clown exhibit the particular Gallic nuances that made him a favorite. It might be especially interesting to compare and contrast the comedy styles of the All American Hope with the Ooh-La-La Fernandel, if you’re a real student of the genre. As for the others, fans of gentle family comedy will gravitate to The Seven Little Foys, while I prefer the often hilarious 1952 Road to Bali, the next-to-the-last of the Road pics, and the only one in color. It’s a loopy romp with many absurdist touches, including an adorable (and insane) Scottish comedy song “Hoot Mon” performed by Bing and Bob in kilts, and another called “The Merry Go Runaround” where Bing, Bob and Dorothy Lamour swing on jungle vines, plus terrific use of chimpanzees. Watch it!

TCM has its own mini-Hope tribute also on Thursday (and directly opposite the AMC mini-thon) with The Road to Hong Kong, A Global Affair, Call Me Bwana, I’ll Take Sweden and Bachelor in Paradise. With that line-up, stick to the last Road pic at 11am; though it’s got that sorta desperate and unfunny quality that plagued the movies of several comedians in the early 1960s (and I’m thinking particularly of Danny Kaye here), there are still some great sequences – the boys as astronauts being fed like space chimps, for instance – and a hilarious scene with an uncredited Peter Sellers as an Indian neurologist. Worth seeing just for that last scene alone, for sure!

As for a personal memory of Hope, I once attended a taping of one of his TV specials back in the early ‘80s. I was there primarily because Danny Kaye was a guest, and though I loved Kaye as a performer, he was crotchety and complaining compared to Hope, who was a light and gracious presence to one and all, including all the crew people. Later he visited my station KTLA to guest on one of our movie franchises – surely nobody thinks that cable networks invented running classic movies? – and I was lucky enough to get him to autography a copy of his entertaining 1950 biography Have Tux, Will Travel. As we are learning again and again these days as the last of our beloved classic entertainment icons die off, their performances, like all great art, will survive.

While we’re at it, why doesn’t somebody unearth the not-seen-for-many-years Bob Hope/Katharine Hepburn starring comedy The Iron Petticoat? Surely now that they both are gone this it-can’t-be-as-bad-as-all-that movie should be celebrated at least for its unusual casting, if nothing else. Ostensibly a Ninotchka knock-off – Hope is an American airman who tries to thaw out Russian aviatrix Hepburn – MGM released The Iron Petticoat in 1956. A veddy British production, helmed by veteran Brit comedy director Ralph Thomas (who did a string of the Doctor movies over there) and co-starring some great English comedy performers such as James Robertson Justice and Sid James, The Iron Petticoat seems to be available on VHS PAL format in Europe but not over here. For all the completists out there, this would be a must-have.