Just a mixed bag of TV stuff from over the weekend... including a little bit about The Sopranos finale, so if you are somehow managing to dodge all the talk about the finale skip the end of this post.
Over a month after our margarita-heavy Cinco de Mayo viewing of the first half of PBS' The Mormons, we finally got around to part two... c'mon, it's pretty tough for us to block out two hours of non-commercial television and be in documentary mode. As in any religion, I know there are varying degrees and you can't put everyone in the same box... but I still think it's pretty odd... from shedding it's racist and polygamist past, now it seems like they just have to be enlightened about gays and women, the latter who seemed to be trapped in 1950s subservient housewife role (of course, woman are allowed to have jobs... but must keep up with the family and church duties). The overall secrecy, schoolyard-like "must be accepted" to gain entry to the temple, missionary life, and financial and time commitments to the church... among other things, all continue to be a bit headscratching to me as well.... different strokes!
Interesting Big Brother news.... Live Big Brother 8 feed will air on Showtime. Whille there has always been the live Internet feed, I always thought it would be cool if there was a PPV channel... which, go ahead and judge, I would probably subscribe to... but now, we'll get that (sorta) via Showtime. ShoToo will air 3 hours a night of the live feeds... what feed you will see is at a producer's discretion, but nudity (doubtful) and foul language (very likely) will be part of Big Brother: After Dark. Julie Chen and a new gang of houseguests return July 5th... which shows airing Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.
Okay... onto two of the reasons for the title of this post...
Watched a bit of the Tonys last night ... the recently closed Journey's End did win Best Revival of a Play, otherwise it just seemed like Spring Awakening and The Coast of Utopia were taking turns winning awards. While I do enjoy watching the performances, I have to admit that even being a theater lover it is hard to get really get into the show since the nominees are for performances I'll never see. This morning one of the local TV morning guys said he watched a bit of the show and that it was "pretty flamboyant"... which was his nice way of saying "gay"... at first I was a bit offended, but then I kind of had to agree. Todd noted that he didn't think there was a straight guy in the house... and I certainly questioned a time or two when someone thanked his wife... huh?!
*** SOPRANOS SPOILER ALERT ***
Finally... onto that Sopranos season finale. We decided to forgo the HD and watch the East Coast HBO feed "live" since we knew it was likely there was no way we can avoid it today... and boy were we right! Whatever your thoughts, the final episode is certainly the buzz this morning
... however, it will likely forever make me skip Don't Stop Believin' by Journey (Journey's End and a Tony too!) any time it should happen to come up on my iPod. After reading every one and their mama's (or guma's?!) guesses on what would happen, I was preparing myself for lack of closure... and after the action-packed previous episode, it didn't take too long into the finale to gather we were headed into some foggy territory. Again, I could have lived with it, but the abruptness just ticked us (and apparently quite a few others) off.
I think David Chase was laughing his ass off thinking of all the folks reaching for their remotes to figure out what had gone "wrong" with the screen... and that made it just too cute-sy of a technique to end the series. But there are plenty in the "David Chase is god" camp, he can do no wrong... our local newspaper critic, who is nothing less than masturbatory about the show, admitted it wasn't a satisfying conclusion but ultimately give it his blessing... but continuing on that theme, I thought the last scene in the diner was masterful... the increasing tension making me literally squirm... I just wish it didn't leave me with a case of figurative blue balls!
Well, for such an unconventional show, it definately was an unconventional ending. We are a society used to resolution, and we did not get it.
Posted by: Scott C | Monday, June 11, 2007 at 11:10 AM