Day Two Hundred and Fifty - Ken Burns: Prohibition, Episode 3, "Happy Days are here again! Also the St.Valentine's Day Massacre."

Alright, I admit, I've probably gushed a bit too much about Burns' Prohibition documentary. For three days straight have my viewing habits on Netflix been strictly relegated to his compilation of newsreels, testimonials, and famous people reading character voices... and I love it.

I'm sure, dear reader, that you've become a little bored of my tenure with the documentary, hoping for some variety instead of post after post populated by Peter Coyote's respectable narration. As such, I think this particular entry will be short and sweet so that, on the morrow, we can make a clean break and move on to something different.

Perhaps Hellraiser... or Zack and Miri Make A Porno.

But, that's tomorrow. Today we're going to finish Ken Burns' Prohibition strong if, however, briefly. Key notes for the final episode, I think, are the rise of the Flapper and the decadence of the New York Speakeasy, the political problems of Hoover and the Great Depression, and the dominance of the Chicago gangster in headlines and the consciousness of every American.

I really find it fascinating that Lois Long was openly cataloging the excesses of the age in the New Yorker and a lifelong Republican, Pauline Sabin, was a driving force in the anti-Prohibition campaign, vehemently speaking out against the Womens' Leagues that had championed (and still did) the 18th Amendment just a decade previous.

The role of women both in its institution and its repeal is, by far, the most interesting and fulfilling fact of the documentary. They had won the right to vote, helped start the Great Experiment, and also helped its downfall. If nothing else, it is a testament to the power and relevance of women in our society, that they were so passionate, both for and against, this divisive issue of the early 20th Century... be they as mothers, wives, or independent women.

While the episodes previous only hinted at the mobsters of the Chicago scene, choosing to focus on the gentlemen bootleggers of the early era, like Olmstead and Remus, Burns let the floodgates loose on Capone in this, the final installment. I suppose it makes sense, considering the chronological long view that the documentary takes. Even so, we're finally given the story of Chicago Boss and his attempts to profit from and dodge the responsibilities of illegal booze during Prohibition.

On the politics side, it's interesting to see the effect of the Depression on the Hoover administration and how, despite the defeat of Smith thanks to his being a Wet supporter, a City-man, and (perhaps, most horribly in the eyes of the rural Protestant) a Catholic, just a few short years later, another New Yorker would take away his second term... Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It's strange to see Roosevelt in those early newsreels at the convention, making mention of his support for beer. His mannerisms seem almost alien as he nods and smiles, a testament to the change in body language that has occurred in the intervening years thanks to television.

Finally, I'd like to make mention of Jazz, but only for a moment... because I have no doubt that, sometime in the future before the year is up, if Ken Burns' Jazz is available for the stream, I shall be watching it. I loved seeing the Cotton Club show in the section on New York Nightlife during the first act of the episode. I love Duke Ellington and to hear Lois Long proclaim him the top made me smile broadly.

Overall, the series is as great in its finish as it was in its start. Burns, et al., always produce riveting and informative documentaries and this is no exception. As I mentioned earlier, I'll be stepping back to fiction for a while after this three day sojourn into history, but don't let that fact make it seem like I regret the decision to spend the last couple of episodes of Couchbound on the subject. It's well worth the watch and I enjoyed every second of it.

And it seems that I've dragged on just as much as I have for the rest of the series. So much for "short and sweet."

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Forty-nine - Ken Burns: Prohibition, Episode 2, "Scofflaw!"

Alright, I admit it... I'm hooked. Burns' documentary keeps me awake and interested as his narrator Peter Coyote (with the help of historians, authors, scholars, and actors) profiles both lawmen (and women) and criminals flaunting the 18th Amendment and doing so on a massive scale.

Familiar voices of course included Sam Waterston, whom I heard quite a bit last night, but standouts in this episode for me were John Lithgow and Paul Giamatti. Their turns giving voice to the Scofflaws of the time really worked with the narrative.

The culture of the time is also examined and, in one bit, I find it hilarious that tens of thousands of people entered a contest to create a word for people openly flaunting Prohibition and invented the word "Scofflaw." It was also laughable that prescription whiskey was still allowed as well as hard apple cider so housewives could "conserve their produce" Well, you learn something new every day. I think, the icing on the cake was the tremendous increase in sacramental wine, which was still permitted, jumping to millions of gallons.

The Ohio Gang destroys the mystique of the romance of the bootlegger, showing quite frankly that the graft rose pretty much all the way to the top, with even President Harding enjoying whiskey with his Poker Cabinet. In contrast, the ideal was kept going in the Pacific Northwest with an enterprising former police lieutenant named Olmstead who made a fortune in Seattle until a private detective and an engineer, hired by the mayor of Seattle's enemies to tap all the offices, lead to Olmstead's downfall.

While he didn't plummet quite as far personally as another bootlegger, a former lawyer named Remus who based himself in Cincinnati (my hometown) and who spoke of himself in the third person, Olmstead, despite being a gentleman about his illegalities, still fell to the hammer of justice, even as the country (particularly those in power) openly accepted bribes and skirted the law.

I find that I liked Olmstead so much more, despite the sensationalist nature of Remus' eventual imprisonment over his bootlegging and the betrayal on the part of his wife... whom he eventually murdered and successfully pleaded not guilty by insanity. Remus was tabloid fair, but Olmstead (at least, in the presentation of the documentary) was just a reasonable American breaking what he saw to be an unjust law and making a tidy profit because of it.

I mean, what's more American than that? It's amazing how easily I can rationalize away so much graft and corruption when it comes to Prohibition.

There's a small section for Capone, but Burns spends more time on the figures that the general public probably doesn't know... and I think that's to the better considering how much the myth of the Chicago Gangster influences our views on the era.

Remus and Temporary Insanity and Olmstead and Wiretapping are the key standouts, I think... as well as the row in the Democratic Convention  between two candidates who split the vote so much (The Prohibitionist KKK versus the Wet New Yorker) that the compromise over the third candidate may have ultimately cost the Democrats the election, putting Coolidge into office.

As with yesterday, Burns' Prohibition is a prime documentary that keeps me coming back for more education on a history that I know so little about. Just one more to go before I'm done. Maybe I'll complete it tomorrow... or maybe I'll give you, dear reader, a break and go for a movie instead.

We'll see, I suppose.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Forty-five - The West Wing: Season 2, Episode 18, "Wow. Just, wow."

You know, I wanted to talk about the episode before this... The Stackhouse Filibuster. It was a feelgood piece about an elderly senator who, for reasons that would come to light later in the episode, started a filibuster over a piece of legislation that was assumed to be a done deal.

It was great in that said Senator Stackhouse actually filibustered, as in, "standing and reading with no breaks, support, or refreshment." It was the filibuster of old, of Mr Smith Goes To Washington... not the fake filibuster that has been getting so much use the past decade or so where lawmakers create a point of order and delay any and all bills whilst going about their day, rubbing elbows and taking bribes, or, as they call it pretty much everywhere, "business as usual."

I wanted to talk about that one... but, instead, I ended up watching 17 People, the episode after The Stackhouse Filibuster.

Hooolleeeeeeyyy CRAP! What tremendous television!

There are two major plot arcs happening during 17 People. Toby (Richard Schiff) is taken into confidence by the President (Martin Sheen) and Chief of Staff (John Spencer) and clued into the fact that the most powerful man in the free world has Multiple Sclerosis... a disease which could quite possibly render him unfit for office and no one would know it. Meanwhile, Josh (Bradley Whitford), Sam (Rob Lowe), Donna (Janal Moloney), and Ainsley (Emily Procter) have a much lighter plot in which they are in the middle of a bull session trying to write a comedic speech for the White House Correspondent's Dinner.

While I appreciate the gravity of the drama going on with Toby, Bartlett, and Leo in (and sometimes around) the Oval Office, the issue of Bartlett's MS is a foregone conclusion. It's a major plot point for the season and beyond and will get more than its due diligence.

What I find so damnedably interesting and compelling about this portion of the episode are all the editing gimmicks, shots, props, and sound design. I mean, Sorkin, et al., really pulled out all the stops when it came to Toby's discovery of the secret.

From moment one of the hour, his stress factor and anger are symbolized by his ever present rubber handball, taking the role of the Telltale Heart with its rhythmic thumps. In fact, the sound of its dull thudding echos and overwhelms the soundtrack almost the instant Josiah tells him the infamous secret.

Then there are the great shots we get in the Oval Office with the trio, such as the one taken from behind Toby with his back to the camera while Leo and Bartlett are on either side of the frame, broken up and distant. Intended or not, that shot really accentuated the feeling of being isolated and vulnerable for everyone in the room... and I love it!

For the B-plot, to lighten the mood (which the episode really needed as the A-plot was heeeaaaavy), it's really nice to see both Josh and Donna as well as Sam and Ainsley bickering (over their "not-anniversary" and the Equal Rights Amendment, respectively). There's quite a bit of pithiness that goes back and forth. Very entertaining, but I find myself not really in the mood to talk about it as it, like the rapid-fire wit of The Gilmore Girls, deserves to be seen as opposed to spoken about.

This really was the episode that needed coverage on the blog, even though I believe that I've run out of things to say (Wait, "Ainsley is so cute!" There.). I really did want to cover The Stackhouse Filibuster, but I just couldn't get up the energy to stop the autoqueue from playing the next ep. Funny thing is, I actually do want to talk about the followup episode (guest starring Oliver Platt) and am chomping at the bit even though it wasn't as interesting in its filmcraft, but we'll leave that for another time.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Sixteen - Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill, "In heels, no less!"

I'm going to come right out and say it now (in case you get bored with my gushing)... this has to be the greatest comedy set that I have ever seen.

Now, to be fair, I've seen it before, as Eddie Izzard is my favorite standup comedian and Dress to Kill is my favorite set of his... I own it on DVD and force my friends and occasional girlfriends to watch it at least once a year. In the case of the occasional girlfriends, it's my first pick for the inevitable "Movies on the Couch" date which crops up around two or three dates in. I have no idea if this fact moves up the timing of their decisions to eventually stop dating me.

We may never know.

Even so, it is very much available on the Stream and is just as grand a performance here as it is on DVD. I only wish I had been there when it was recorded.

If you don't know him (or, perhaps only recognize him from his film and television roles where he's not in a dress and "tarted up a bit"), Eddie Izzard is a transvestite who brokers really intelligent humor that spans the gamut of human existence. Fashion, Sex, History, Language, it's all there.

I particularly love him because he owns his alternative lifestyle without necessarily banking on it. While, yes, his transvestism is a major part of the act, it's not played gratuitously, nor does he fawn over himself. Instead, he has a very humble but confident demeanor that is both self-effacing and unapologetic.

This particular set was filmed in San Francisco and it's hilarious to hear all the hissing at the beginning of it, a bit of heckling that he smartly defuses without losing the audience. I find the feat very impressive due to the fact that he makes quite a few claims about the alternative lifestyles in a town that's very touchy about said lifestyles.

Now, fair warning, it's a long set... clocking in at six minutes shy of a full two hours! But, every single bit of it is engaging and entertaining. From puberty to the druids to the British Empire... Clinton's impeachment to Speed to The Great Escape, it's all hilarious, if a bit dated.

I mean, c'mon, the set is almost fifteen years old at this point, it's going to be a little dated.

I've watched tons of standup specials on Netflix (though, I've only reviewed a few)... and this is still the only set where I'm so deliriously happy that he comes out for an encore... mostly in French, I might add... and done in such a way that even a big dumb American, like me, who hasn't had a lick of French since elementary school, can still follow along (for the most part, as I still don't get the Monty Python in French bit).

My final recommendation is for you to WATCH THIS... IMMEDIATELY... with a quick shout out to my dear friends Todd and Tina for introducing me to Eddie's comedy a decade ago.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Ninety-two - The West Wing: Season 2, Episode 3, "And the Conservative Talk Show Host Goes Down for the Count!"

I'm going to skip over the two-part premiere of the second season of The West Wing, despite the fact that it was some seriously compelling television that not only dealt with the assassination attempt and the can of worms that opened (considering their real target) but also gave plenty of pre-Bartlett Administration backstory to almost the entire team.

I'm going to skip over the premiere because episode three has one of my favorite scenes in the entirety of the series.

No, not CJ counseling the President over a school board race in his home district, though that was a great moment of "so it goes," and not CJ again mistaking Physicists as Psychics. I'm also not talking about Josh telecommuting from home and Toby trying to sneak in.

I'm talking about Dr. Jenna Jacobs... a prim, conservative talk show host who President Bartlett takes to task for not observing ceremony when he comes to greet them at a special dinner for famous hosts from across the country.

Martin Sheen's delivery of chapter and verse, shoving the rules of Leviticus down her throat is invigorating, even if it is just shooting fish in a barrel. It's petty, it's easy, and still so damned satisfying.

I especially love the hesitant laughter as Bartlett begins to lay it on, but not a peep as the room realizes he's deadly serious and pulling her down a few pegs.

You can see a video of it here, but why not just watch the episode?

I mean, aside from that small bit of devilish glee I take from seeing a Dr.Laura-analog take one on the chin, it's actually a really good episode (most are) both for Bartlett obsessing over his old opponent and for Sam and Toby continuing to try and find a way to make the hate groups pay for their attack, despite so many protections of the Constitution blocking them off... and as well it should.

It's not my favorite episode... not even close... but it still delivers on so many different fronts.

I'm a little bummed that I don't get to talk about a new addition to the cast who joins up next episode, Ainsley Hayes (Emily Proctor)... as I've always had a crush on her and was devastated when Proctor left for CSI:Miami, but I suppose I could always come back to it tomorrow.

Probably shouldn't though... wouldn't want my binge-watching of West Wing to break Couchbound too much. I've done that enough with Dr.Who.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Ninety - The West Wing: Season 1, Episode 22, "Cliffhanger!"

It's been a while since I watched The West Wing, either for pleasure or the blog, and I know that I promised that I'd be skipping around to my favorites last time, but something about this last episode of the first season and its ending struck a cord with me for reasons different than what I was previously shooting for with the series.

And, perhaps, using the word "shooting" is in poor taste concerning the content of the last five minutes of the episode.

I'm sure that there are critics out there who consider the assassination attempt during the final moments of Aaron Sorkin's first season of The West Wing to be in poor taste and baiting, but I actually really like this episode for two reasons:

First, they let you know from the get-go that something big is about to happen thanks to playing the majority of the episode as a flashback that starts after CSI star Jorja Fox, guesting as secret service agent Gina Toscano, spots someone suspicious in a Town Hall crowd. It wasn't just a last minute surprise and I like the hell out of that. 

Second, because during said flashback, the White House is subjected to several real and pressing emergency issues that have absolutely nothing to do with the assassination attempt... and that said issues aren't related at all to what had been the main theme of the first season, the quagmire of Washington politics. While the slow, trudging fight against the entrenched power bases on both sides of the aisle is interesting, it was nice to finally have some actual world-relevant events to deal with, even if they were both America-centered.

That said... it's hard to imagine skinheads making an attempt on the motorcade as all that believable, let alone their obvious display of loading the clips of their semi-automatic pistols in full view of their sniping position. Sure, it had only been a few years since Tim McVeigh and company had taken out the Federal Building in OKC, but I just find it so passe to have white supremacists be a viable villain archetype for such a highbrow show (a fact I make with chagrin considering the upswing of such groups with Obama's election in 2008).

I dunno... I guess I was expecting a grander conspiracy than West Virginian skinheads. I could be wrong as my memory of the fallout of the attack has been lost to the ages and it's like I'm watching The West Wing for the first time again, so maybe a conspiracy crops up at some point, but I'll just have to wait and see.

It's hard not to admit to being a Sorkin fanboy. I love the grand majority of his movies and both The West Wing and The Newsroom move me in ways I didn't think television was capable of anymore... at least not when I'm feeling my darkest and most cynical (usually after just having watched a laugh-tracked sitcom).

I wish more television was like this... discussing the key issues of our time on both grand and deeply personal levels... and it's such a shame that many dismiss Sorkin as preachy and elitist.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Three - The West Wing: Season 1, Episode 19, "Idealism in the face of stark reality gets me pumped!"

If there's one thing I love about the way Aaron Sorkin preaches from his television pulpit it's that he never falls short of aiming really freaking high.

It's been a while since I've watched any West Wing. In fact, I can trace it back to the marathon run of fifteen episodes I did over a forty-eight hour period right around the time of Day Zero as I was enjoying my New Years.

Naturally, I didn't blog about them all, but I do feel it's safe to skip around a bit. Once you've gotten a feel for the West Wing you really only need to pick your favorite issues from the description text and zoom in on one or two particular episodes to give yourself the feel good patriotism and idealism that you actually can and should make a difference... and so should our leaders.

Even fictional ones.

Using that rough formula, I jumped to episode nineteen. I did this because while the narrative is scattered with several story threads concerning an overarching theme of the Bartlet Administration being soft and tame, more worried about reelection than doing what's right, one of the mini-arcs deals with Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I was an Army Brat when DADT was floated through the Clinton Administration as a "compromise" to allow closeted members of the armed forces to serve. Being a straight teenager from a Catholic officer's family, I didn't see what the hubbub was all about. Trying to be a good Boy Scout, a good Altar Boy... just a good young man, I openly trumpeted Gingrich's "Contract with America" thanks to an enthusiastic gym teacher whom, in retrospect, I have to wonder wasn't just in denial herself, being heavily in her own closet.

And that bit of personal history makes me ashamed.

Sure, as of 2011, DADT is defunct and gays and lesbians can openly serve, but the West Wing was fighting for this issue way back in 2000... and I wish I was, too. When I was a teen in the 90's, I latched on to things and supported them blindly, not knowing the people I was hurting. When I went to college and started meeting and interacting, becoming friends with the folks my stupid politics were discriminating against, I truly began to grasp the depths of my shame.

I love this episode... because it feels like a call to arms. Whether it's Sam confronting Congressmen and DoD Majors on the issue of DADT or Josh getting riled up over party leadership from BOTH sides dictating nominees to the Administration, just about every moment feels like the omnipresent "THEM" are kicking "US" while we're down... and it's time to stand up and FIGHT BACK!

YEAH!

That's not to say there isn't any despair over the fact that "this is the way it is and this is the way it's always going to be," thanks to our powerful ruling class and their need for status quo, but that all stops when Leo and Bartlet argue in the penultimate scene of the episode... finally resolving to show some grit. It was all very much reminiscent of The American President when Martin Sheen was playing the chief of staff and Michael Douglas was the tired, idealistic President more focused on reelection than what was right.

Makes sense, though... considering that was ALSO Sorkin.

Sure, I guess that means he's just repeating what he's already done, but I like it... hell, I love it. Probably because it fits right in with my Democratic ideals and I hope that doesn't mean that my critical thinking concerning politics hasn't been compromised so I'm just lock-in-step with the opposite party of my teen years, trading one style of corruption for another, but still.

I think the West Wing is worth it... but only for those perfect moments of virtue and, well, idealism that are scattered throughout the series. If you are wondering which ones I'm talking about, stick with me as I'll be following the above formula and talking about them in the blog.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~