Salon.com > HBO http://www.salon.com Wed, 30 May 2012 06:12:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Ernest Hemingway made silly http://www.salon.com/2012/05/25/ernest_hemingway_made_silly/ http://www.salon.com/2012/05/25/ernest_hemingway_made_silly/#comments Fri, 25 May 2012 18:20:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12927026 Here’s something you should consider doing before watching HBO’s inadvertent comedy “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” a disastrous two-and-a-half-hour CliffsNotes on the passionate, dysfunctional love affair between Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen) and his third wife, the war correspondent Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman), which airs Monday night. Find some Hemingway — take it off the shelf, download it to a Kindle, load a page of “The Sun Also Rises” onto your computer via Google books — and leave it within arm’s reach. You are going to want to read from it at fairly regular intervals to remind yourself that though he may have been a drunk, a brute and a womanizer, Ernest Hemingway was not a complete and total idiot. And then you can also use it to shield your eyes from the movie’s myriad crimes against sepia, its extensive use of what appear to be Instagram photo effects, the hot pink blood, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich in a beret, and the scene toward the end of the film in which Kidman’s face is superimposed over real footage of emaciated bodies at Auschwitz and Dachau.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/05/25/ernest_hemingway_made_silly/feed/ 41 Aaron Sorkin’s right-wing fantasy http://www.salon.com/2012/04/02/aaron_sorkins_right_wing_fantasy/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/02/aaron_sorkins_right_wing_fantasy/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:15:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12779991 The trailer for HBO’s “Newsroom," Aaron Sorkin’s forthcoming drama, set behind-the-scenes of a cable news program, debuted last night. In it, the well-respected news anchor Will McAvoy's (Jeff Daniels) long-held political neutrality is finally exploded when he is hectored into explaining “Why America is the greatest country in the world.” His answer is an exasperated “It’s not the greatest country in the world.” McAvoy continues in the most condescending tones to address the blond college student who asked the question: “Just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there’s some things you should know,” he says, before unleashing a barrage of statistics about America’s relative incompetence. In other words, it's classic Sorkin — rapid-fire, dense, smart, patronizing and morally outraged — except for one thing. Will McAvoy is a Republican.

Over the course of his career, Sorkin has tapped into a liberal fantasy of politics more regularly than probably anyone. In "The West Wing" Sorkin created the dream Democrat, President Josiah Bartlett, not just an erudite and morally impregnable man, but one who wielded his intelligence like a sword. When pushed, Bartlett pushed back, with logic and truth, righteousness and all the Bible quotes he needed.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/02/aaron_sorkins_right_wing_fantasy/feed/ 31 Sarah Palin’s Hollywood ending http://www.salon.com/2012/03/09/sarah_palins_hollywood_ending/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/09/sarah_palins_hollywood_ending/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12610291 HBO's "Game Change," airing this Saturday, is not actually an adaption of the book "Game Change," by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. It is "Sarah Palin Goes Rogue," the movie, with a couple of anecdotes borrowed from the notoriously gossipy account of the 2008 election as a whole. (Or, arguably, it's an adaptation of Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe's "Sarah From Alaska.")

That is sort of a shame. The Palin thing is the most heavily over-covered story line of the entire 2008 campaign, so focusing on it might be totally logical from a marketing perspective, but it's unfortunate from an artistic one. The film re-creates various moments of YouTube campaign ephemera very well -- remember when that old white lady called Obama an Arab and McCain looked uncomfortable? When it takes us behind closed doors, it's to witness scenes any moderately close observer of the election and its aftermath could've dreamed up him- or herself. It might have been fun to see a TV movie about the Democratic primary fight; the personality clashes of the disastrous Clinton campaign would have made for entertaining television, and Mark Penn is surely a creature crying out for a grotesque Emmy-winning portrayal by, say, Paul Giamatti.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/09/sarah_palins_hollywood_ending/feed/ 72 The writer behind HBO’s “Game Change” http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/the_writer_behind_hbos_game_change/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/the_writer_behind_hbos_game_change/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12484511 In recent years, Danny Strong has become the go-to guy for political drama for HBO. He's gotten an Emmy nomination and Writers Guild of America award for his screenplay for the 2008 “Recount,” about the 2000 presidential vote in Florida. And now he's gone back to work with that film’s director, Jay Roach, on the anticipated adaptation of the controversial bestseller “Game Change,” which premieres on HBO Saturday. "Game Change" chronicles Sarah Palin's rise during the 2008 presidential race and features a superlative performance by Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin, along with Ed Harris as John McCain and Woody Harrelson as McCain’s senior strategist Steve Schmidt. It is already getting pushback from Republicans, who are calling it a political-year propaganda film.

Oddly enough, Strong began his entertainment career playing key roles in cult series – Jonathan Levinson on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; Paris’ boyfriend on “Gilmore Girls”; the hopeful copywriter hired after Don Draper stole his idea on “Mad Men.” We caught up with him in Atlanta last week.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/the_writer_behind_hbos_game_change/feed/ 21 Ricky Gervais: My conscience never takes a day off http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/ricky_gervais_my_conscience_never_takes_a_day_off/ http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/ricky_gervais_my_conscience_never_takes_a_day_off/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12331961 Ricky Gervais is not listening to those who say he should pick on someone his own size.

"Life's Too Short," which begins next Sunday on HBO, is a mockumentary that follows Warwick Davis, a real-life showbiz dwarf with a very real small-man syndrome. Like David Brent on "The Office" and Andy Millman on "Extras," Davis suffers a mean case of self-delusion, even as his career tanks, his wife leaves him and a massive unpaid tax bill comes due. He compares himself to Martin Luther King Jr., while also talking about the importance of his dignity, all while falling out of his SUV or asking strangers to press doorbells he can't reach.

It's painfully and excruciatingly funny, yet in early episodes, at least, Davis is an extraordinarily likable Napoleon. In an interview last week, Gervais insisted that the show is not making fun of Davis or little people. And in a wide-ranging discussion that might surprise some after his controversial and sometimes mean turns hosting the Golden Globes, Gervais says that comedy and humanity can't be separated. "Comedy is about empathy," he says. "Comedy is about the blind spot, comedy is about rooting for them, comedy is about flawed characters."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/ricky_gervais_my_conscience_never_takes_a_day_off/feed/ 20 David Milch’s “Luck” hits the HBO trifecta http://www.salon.com/2012/01/28/david_milchs_luck_hits_the_hbo_trifecta/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/28/david_milchs_luck_hits_the_hbo_trifecta/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12249951 HBO has always been a good place for the literary-minded David Milch, the brainy former Yale lecturer. (Of course, the networks weren't bad either; Milch created “NYPD Blue” while still working on “Hill Street Blues.”)

Milch conceived the richly detailed retooled western “Deadwood,” with characters spouting the prosaic and profane. If "Deadwood" ultimately didn’t have an ending, Milch's next project, “John From Cincinnati,” almost didn’t have a beginning; the spiritual metaphor set in the underbelly of the surfing world lasted just a season.

With “Luck,” which begins Sunday on HBO, he’s got a better shot at longevity, while still creating groups of scruffy underdogs in seedy motels and grandiose, malevolent businessmen all buzzing around the same goal. In “Deadwood,” it was gold; in “John,” spiritual enlightenment. In “Luck,” it’s the hard-won riches and redemption captured through the majesty of horse racing.

Creating these various worlds means creating their own language and jargon, something Milch is especially adept at doing (or perhaps he’s so subsumed in the world of the track after his own years hanging out there, it’s second nature). All of these terms and vocal shorthand can be off-putting to audiences at first – especially when they’re mostly mumbled by the characters.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/28/david_milchs_luck_hits_the_hbo_trifecta/feed/ 25 “Game Change”: The legend of Sarah Palin http://www.salon.com/2011/12/22/game_change_the_legend_of_sarah_palin/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/22/game_change_the_legend_of_sarah_palin/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10792191 The 2008 presidential election was the stuff of modern myth-making: an epic Democratic primary contest, the legacy of two wars, a catastrophic financial collapse -- and the election of our country's first black president. True, it was the arc of Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy that helped define the campaign's homestretch, and also provided maybe the general election's most dramatically potent subplot. That in mind, it's possible we can still jive with the upcoming adaptation of John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's campaign yarn, "Game Change," despite its narrow focus on only six of the book's 23 chapters (i.e. the ones that deal with Palin). Just judging by the newly released trailer, the film should be plenty entertaining, if nothing else, and Julianne Moore does a mean Palin impression.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/22/game_change_the_legend_of_sarah_palin/feed/ 68 Dear HBO: Renew “Enlightened” http://www.salon.com/2011/12/13/dear_hbo_renew_enlightened/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/13/dear_hbo_renew_enlightened/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10316121 "Everything can be transformed," said Laura Dern's character, Amy Jellicoe, on last night's first-season finale of "Enlightened," walking to work and then through the corridors of her office. "Every single thing. Goodness exists. It's all around. It's just sleeping. It can be wakened."

HBO, which is reputedly on the fence about renewing this critically acclaimed but low-rated series, should recognize the goodness on its schedule Monday night and give "Enlightened" another season. It's charming, intelligent, uncomfortable, often moving. Executive produced by Dern and writer-producer Mike White, and written by White, "Enlightened" is doing things that no series has ever done, in a tone that no show has ever attempted. And on top of that, it feels like a definitive statement on a troubled era.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/13/dear_hbo_renew_enlightened/feed/ 13 “Boardwalk Empire” does not want your forgiveness http://www.salon.com/2011/12/12/boardwalk_empire_does_not_want_your_forgiveness/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/12/boardwalk_empire_does_not_want_your_forgiveness/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10315562 "To the Lost," the second season finale of "Boardwalk Empire," may be remembered as the moment when "Boardwalk" finally, finally hit its stride. This isn't the first time the HBO drama has impressed me -- even the worst episodes have had great scenes or moments -- but there was something special about this one. It was dead solid perfect in almost every department. I think a lot of it comes back to the episode's consistency of tone, and the show's comfort with having settled on it.

I thought about tone during that haunting close-up of the soon-to-be-late James Darmody smoking a cigarette by an open window. There was really no reason why such a simple moment should have summoned such force. Michael Pitt wasn't selling the moment at all. He was just sitting there smoking. Yet the accumulated weight of Jimmy's trauma -- his wife's death and his tragic inability to feel his way through it thanks to his war experience, his Oedipally perverse childhood, and a life spent among super-macho gangsters -- came through loud and clear. Pitt's posture, gestures and slightly mask-like expressions were exactly right, just as his gentleness during the beachside pony-ride scene with Jimmy's son was exactly right, and as his ego-free coolness during that rain-soaked final sequence was exactly right. I love how Pitt delivered Jimmy's statement to Nucky about what to expect after your first killing: 48 hours of nausea. It reclaimed a bit of dignity for Jimmy in his final moments -- the implication being that this was first time that Nucky, the butcher of Atlantic City, ever personally killed anyone -- but it was not particularly boastful or petty. Jimmy was just a guy who had nothing to lose, delivering information.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/12/boardwalk_empire_does_not_want_your_forgiveness/feed/ 43 TV and the novel: A match made in heaven http://www.salon.com/2011/12/11/tv_and_the_novel_a_match_made_in_heaven/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/11/tv_and_the_novel_a_match_made_in_heaven/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10302404 The news last week that HBO had optioned the works of William Faulkner for adaptation by "Deadwood" creator David Milch was treated in some press reports as incongruous. It shouldn't have been. The mindless take on "Deadwood" is that it had a lot of swearing in it (which it did, but so what? -- get over it, for cryin' out loud!), yet viewers not mesmerized by the four-letter words noticed the Shakespearean and King Jamesian cadences of Milch's dialogue from the start. Those influences are evident in Faulkner's fiction, as well. (Also, let's not forget we're talking about a man who wrote a novel in which a woman is raped with a corncob -- this isn't Merchant-Ivory territory.) Milch and Faulkner is, in fact, an inspired pairing.

The Faulkner acquisition is only the latest prize in a literary shopping spree for HBO and other television companies. The premium cable network is currently at work on adaptations of Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections," Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the Goon Squad, and Neil Gaiman's "American Gods," in addition to its ongoing series based on the novels of George R.R. Martin ("Game of Thrones") and Charlaine Harris ("True Blood"). Fox will be turning Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" into an hour-long dramatic series, as well, and Salman Rushdie is at work on an original show, "Next People," for Showtime. The novel and television are commingling as never before. And it's about time.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/11/tv_and_the_novel_a_match_made_in_heaven/feed/ 11 The beguiling tough love of “Enlightened” http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/the_beguiling_tough_love_of_enlightened/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/the_beguiling_tough_love_of_enlightened/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10270290 A stealth candidate for series of the year, HBO's "Enlightened" (Mondays 9:30/8:30 Central) is about an office drone named Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern) who suffered a nervous breakdown, went away to a New Age detox and spiritual healing colony in Hawaii, then returned home to try to put her life back together. I respected but didn't love the pilot -- it felt a bit too similar to other pleasant-but-not-great comedy dramas, like Showtime's likable but rather repetitive "Nurse Jackie" or "The Big C" -- so it took me a while to catch up with it; once I did, I wished I'd been on board from the start. Co-created and executive produced by Laura Dern and actor-writer Mike White, it's a remarkable series, demonstrating an appreciation of human complexity and a mastery of narrative voice rarely seen outside of the best short fiction.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/29/the_beguiling_tough_love_of_enlightened/feed/ 14 The man’s world of “Boardwalk Empire” http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/the_mans_world_of_boardwalk_empire/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/the_mans_world_of_boardwalk_empire/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:53:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10267730 On one hand, yes, oh my God, oh the humanity, poor Angela Darmody (Aleksa Palladino), rest her soul; what a ghastly exit. Philadelphia gangster/butcher Manny Horvitz (William Forsythe) avenged a botched assassination attempt by Angela's husband, Jimmy (Michael Pitt), by invading the Darmodys' seaside house and putting Angela and her girlfriend down like livestock. It was obscenely dark, and I mean that as a compliment. Violence that's supposed to mean something -- to feel "real" and hurt the spectator -- can't be clean, abstract or comic bookish. It needs to have that '70s movie nastiness, and this killing definitely had it. It reminded me of the murder spree that ended "Boys Don't Cry," with the bodies on the floor and the bloodstains on the wall. Horrifying.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/28/the_mans_world_of_boardwalk_empire/feed/ 26 “Bored to Death” keeps itself amused http://www.salon.com/2011/11/21/bored_to_death_keeps_itself_amused/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/21/bored_to_death_keeps_itself_amused/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10241485 I recently re-watched the first season of HBO's "Bored to Death" (Mondays 9 p.m./8 central) -- created by novelist and newspaper columnist Jonathan Ames -- and was struck by how much it has changed. Between 2009 and now, the show's point-of-view has stayed more or less the same, but the tone, pace and emphases are different. The pilot, which showed Ames' self-named, white-wine-guzzling pothead hero (Jason Schwartzman) getting dumped by his girlfriend and offering himself on Craigslist as a private eye, felt like a solid early '90s New York indie film about relationships with a spoofy Raymond Chandler subplot grafted on. Pretending to be a detective let Jonathan behave with a brisk decisiveness that he lacked elsewhere in his life, and gave the writers license to satirize certain New York types: the soft young writer, the snooty book critic, the casually polyamorous single woman, the vain, out-of-it editors who epitomize what's left of the magazine and book business.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/21/bored_to_death_keeps_itself_amused/feed/ 7 The West Memphis Three rewrite their own endings http://www.salon.com/2011/08/22/west_memphis_3/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/22/west_memphis_3/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:10:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/2011/08/22/west_memphis_3 It's been a movie 18 years in the making. In fact, it's now a pair of movies. Get ready for the West Memphis Three, times two.

In May 1993, the naked bodies of three young boys were found hog-tied in a ditch in the Arkansas woods. The crime appeared to have the additionally heinous elements of sexual abuse and ritual torment. And soon three older boys, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, teenagers who shared a troubled history of petty crime and a fondness for heavy metal and Stephen King, found themselves chief suspects in a triple murder. They were convicted, based largely on a confession coaxed from Misskelley, who is mentally handicapped. He later recanted, but was nonetheless sentenced to life plus 40 years for the crime. Baldwin got life as well. Echols was sentenced to death.

Yet the story didn't end with a trio of misfits going off to prison, or with a tidy sense of justice for a shattered community. In the ensuing years, the story of Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley has become an ongoing source of public outrage -- and an inspiration for filmmakers and musicians. In 1996, HBO Films and directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky released "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," the haunting, exasperating tale of a nightmarish crime, Satanist hysteria, and three black-clad boys sent away forever. The movie was a sensation, and resparked criticism that the investigation and trial were wildly botched at best -- and at worst, deliberately unfair.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/22/west_memphis_3/feed/ 22 The latest “Game of Thrones” casting news http://www.salon.com/2011/07/08/game_of_thrones_season_two_casting_christie/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/08/game_of_thrones_season_two_casting_christie/#comments Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:09:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/07/08/game_of_thrones_season_two_casting_christie George R.R. Martin's blog, "Not a Blog" (it's a LiveJournal), posted a cryptic message yesterday, about bunnies and Aussies and barbicans.

Since the tag was "Game of Thrones" and "HBO," the collective Internet began salivating as it tried to unravel the mystery. Surprisingly, some people got it.

Turns out all these references were clues about the casting of Brienne, Maid of Tarth, a character that appears in the second "A Song of Fire and Ice" book. British actress Gwendoline Christie snagged the coveted role of a woman described as "piggish" and "awkward" in the books, who is mocked with the nickname "Brienne the Beauty" because she is well … not.

Christie however, is quite a looker, though I see where Martin saw the female knight in her: The actress is 6'3.

Martin revealed the meaning of his riddle later that night:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/08/game_of_thrones_season_two_casting_christie/feed/ 6 “One and a Half Man”: The “Game of Thrones” mashup http://www.salon.com/2011/06/17/game_of_thrones_buddy_comedy/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/17/game_of_thrones_buddy_comedy/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:18:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/17/game_of_thrones_buddy_comedy "Game of Thrones" may be drawing to an epic first season finale this weekend, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop there. I know I've already started drawing up the notes for my Jon Snow/Jaime "Kingslayer" slash-fiction erotica series (don't judge me), and it looks like I'm not the only one trying to put the Lannister family in an awkward position (bareback reverse cowgirl).

The staff over at New York magazine's Vulture have created a clever mashup of Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) in a "Game of Thrones" buddy comedy, "One and a Half Man." Someone call Ashton Kutcher, I think we have a new series!

It's not the taut sexual romantic thriller I would have hoped for, but I do like the line: "In a world full of dire wolves and lions, sometimes the rarest creature is ... a friend."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/17/game_of_thrones_buddy_comedy/feed/ 5 Casting HBO’s adaptation of “American Gods” http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/american_gods_casting_hbo/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/american_gods_casting_hbo/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:17:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/16/american_gods_casting_hbo Here is something to excite the fantasy/nerd contingent not content to just watch "Game of Thrones" on repeat for the next several months: Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" novel (and subsequent stories) has been picked up by HBO through Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions.  The series is going forward as an "open-ended" six-season adaptation, and Gaiman himself said that this will spur him to write a second book of "American Gods."

Which is all very exciting. I love "American Gods" and "The Sandman" series, and have always wondered why the latter seems to be the one graphic novel that never gets a film adaptation like Frank Miller's or Alan Moore's do. Maybe it's because Gaiman's stories are sprawling epics, a much better fit for television than the big screen, where character traits and subplots would have to be boiled down to their coarsest elements in order to keep the pace of the story going.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/16/american_gods_casting_hbo/feed/ 18 “Game of Thrones” actors encounter real-life violence http://www.salon.com/2011/06/14/game_of_thrones_sean_bean_attacked/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/14/game_of_thrones_sean_bean_attacked/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:15:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/14/game_of_thrones_sean_bean_attacked You have to be somewhat out of your mind to take on one of the bloodthirsty warmongers from HBO's popular George R. R. Martin adaptation, "Game of Thrones." After all, these guys wouldn't think twice about putting their sabers between your ribs on TV, and in real life, actors like Sean Bean (who plays lead Lord Eddard Stark) and Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) aren't any less intimidating. So why are the actors constantly under attack?

The most recent injury occurred earlier this week when Bean was drinking at a pub in London. According to the Daily Mail, a drunk passing by made lewd comments toward the "Lord of the Rings" actor's female drinking partner, and Bean stepped in to confront the man. Although he initially slinked away, the guy later returned and punched Bean in the face, then stabbed him in the arm with broken glass.

But because Bean is such a badass (and has his reputation to protect), the actor refused to go to a hospital, and instead ordered another round of beer. Another patron of the pub gave a quote when Bean and his lady-friend refused to comment:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/14/game_of_thrones_sean_bean_attacked/feed/ 4 10 year time capsule: “Sex and the City” on aging gracefully http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/10_year_capsule_satc_35/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/10_year_capsule_satc_35/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:32:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/01/10_year_capsule_satc_35 June 3, 2001: Carrie Bradshaw and her three best friends hit HBO's run ... er ... airways once again, beginning the fourth season right as Sarah Jessica Parker's character was turning the big 3-5. "[It's] a landmark age for women," Parker said during an interview about the episode, (titled "The Agony and the Ex-Tacy," woof), "It makes her think about choices she makes and what she doesn't want to repeat."

But it wasn't just aging wombs that were being counted down on "Sex and the City." As they embarked on their fourth season, the show had definitely found itself a niche in women who both related and longed to live the lives of the lawyer, the writer, the sexpot, and the Connecticut princess in New York. But it was also an HBO show, straddled in a time slot right after "The Sopranos" and before a quirky new dramedy called "Six Feet Under" premiering that spring.  Over the years, these women would struggle to stay relevant; not only in the dog-eat-dog NYC where young waifs ruled supreme, but as television characters whose lives were just a tad more frivolous than the Soprano's or the Fishers'. 

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/10_year_capsule_satc_35/feed/ 12 What assisted suicide really looks like http://www.salon.com/2011/05/25/how_to_die_in_oregon/ http://www.salon.com/2011/05/25/how_to_die_in_oregon/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/05/25/how_to_die_in_oregon The new documentary "How to Die in Oregon" opens with footage of Roger Sagner, an elderly man with advanced cancer, demanding that he be given a lethal dose of drugs. His impatience -- and absolute lack of ambiguity -- is startling. After swallowing a milky concoction of Seconal in one long gulp, Sagner thanks his family and the voters of Oregon "for allowing me the honor of doing myself in," lies down on a bed under a large picture window, and begins to sing.

"I’s coming, I’s coming. Oh my head is hanging low. I hear the gentle voices calling ... Old Black Joe."

His final words? "It was easy, folks. It was easy."

Watching this documentary (which airs on HBO this Thursday), however, was not. In fact, it took me three separate viewings to get through my advance copy. Given that my mother ended her life after struggling with Parkinson’s for many years, an experience I wrote about in my memoir, "Imperfect Endings," I was perhaps especially predisposed to find it difficult viewing. But apparently even hardened HBO staffers couldn’t sit through the entire film, and the film’s publicity team at this year’s Sundance was astonished at the reluctance of the media to attend the screening.

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