Carol’s Comments June
2017
Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of Carol’s
Comments. I absolutely love classic situation comedies especially ones
from the 1980’s and 1990’s. My all-time
favorites from NBC include Frasier, Friends, Will and Grace and
Seinfeld.
In fact, I enjoy these four shows so much that I frequently watch them
for a couple of hours whenever I can. So when I recently learned that NBC
planned to broadcast a new Will and Grace revival series in the
network’s Fall schedule on Thursday night, I knew I’d be glued to the screen
for all 12 episodes!
After devouring an excerpt of Jennifer Keishin
Armstrong’s new book Seinfeldia: How a Show about Nothing Changed
Everything in Entertainment Weekly several months
ago, I definitely knew I wanted to read it. Author of Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted,
a fabulous book about the Mary Tyler Moore Show that I
reviewed in June 2013, Armstrong traces the development of Seinfeld from a quirky
sitcom about nothing into an enduring pop culture phenomenon. Jerry Seinfeld
and Larry David created the show in 1989 as a limited series called The
Seinfeld Chronicles. Although it didn’t do well in the ratings at
first, the show got a four episode reprieve in summer 1990 running after Cheers
reruns and performing remarkably well. After some debate, NBC renewed
it as a 13 episode regular series for midseason in January 1991, Then finally
in its” third” season, Seinfeld
got a slot on the network’s coveted “Must See TV” Fall schedule.
During this season, the show really began to develop
its own alternative universe- a blend of real life with the TV world. In
addition to the series’ four central characters, Jerry, George, Kramer and
Elaine, Armstrong describes the origin stories for the sitcom’s most endearing
and iconic weirdoes like the Soup Nazi and J. Peterman. Larry David and Jerry
Seinfeld strongly encouraged their writers to create storylines that focused on
their own real life experiences and then adapt them to the wacky and surreal Seinfeld
world. This resulted in such memorable episodes as The Contest, The
Junior Mint and The Chinese Restaurant as well as catchphrases like Yada Yada.
However, after Larry David’s departure as head
writer and co-creator in 1996, Season 8 became more manic, cartoonish and
absurd under Seinfeld’s sole creative control. For example, during this
penultimate season, viewers watched these very bizarre, existential episodes:
Elaine meets and befriends the Bizarro Jerry, Kramer and George, Elaine’s
Desperado boyfriend, Kramer’s new shower head, Jerry swaps personalities with
Kramer when they switch apartments and finally The Betrayal episode that begins
in reverse.
Critics and fans alike commented that the series’
quality had diminished considerably. So by the beginning of the ninth and final
season, power struggles and demands for bigger salaries had literally
transformed the four major stars into their spiteful fictional counterparts.
Armstrong remarks that Seinfeld lives on better
in syndication because audiences forgot about the disastrous series finale and
embrace early episodes as comfort in their everyday lives. Seinfeld also
dramatically influenced future situation comedies like The Office, Arrested Development and
30
Rock not only how it was filmed but its absurdist scripts as well.
Although I found Armstrong’s book entertaining, Seinfeldia
lacked the warmth and sincerity of her previous book profiling the Mary
Tyler Moore Show, It concentrated too much on the writers and the
mechanics of the scripts rather than the characters and actors who played them.
I especially disliked Chapters 12 -15 that surreally recounted what happened
with Seinfeld
fans and actors after the show ended in May 1998. The strange world of
Seinfeldia is very weird- especially how devoted fans act out their obsession
about the show on the internet. Armstrong seems to be writing a book within a
book which didn’t appeal to me. Seinfeldia is definitely a very
strange book about a very offbeat yet treasured television show.
After binge watching all seven seasons of Gilmore
Girls last fall, I couldn’t wait to see the new four part revival
series Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life which premiered on Netflix
after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I only have a Netflix DVD subscription so I
would have to wait patiently for the DVD to finally be released. Meanwhile, I
desperately wanted to read Lauren Graham’s new autobiography, Talking
as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between).
I decided to wait because I knew it would probably contain lots of spoilers
about the new show. But as the months rolled by with no Gilmore Girls DVD in
sight, I risked it and indulged in the book.
In this stream of consciousness eclectic memoir,
Graham uses comical essays to recount her unconventional childhood growing up
in Hawaii, Japan and the Virgin Islands, the years as a struggling actress and
most importantly, playing Lorelei Gilmore for seven years on Gilmore
Girls and revisiting this beloved character nine years later in the new
revival series. She also mentions the interim years between Gilmore
series acting on the NBC drama Parenthood where she met her current
boyfriend Peter Krause who ironically played her brother on the show.
Despite Graham’s rather frenetic writing style, my
two favorite chapters naturally revolved around Gilmore Girls past and
present. First, in What It Was Like, Part One, Graham, after viewing the entire Gilmore
Girls original series again after almost 10 years,
humorously discusses her acting style while also revealing behind the scenes
tidbits about specific episodes and commenting how American pop culture has
dramatically transformed in the last decade.
Next, in the last chapter, What It Was Like, Part Two,
Graham features actual entries from a diary she kept while filming the new
Netflix revival series, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. She
offers readers very funny and poignant observations without giving away too
many spoilers.
Graham, who recently turned 50, showed me that women
don’t need to be married or have children to have a successful and fulfilling
life. Her intelligence (she has a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Barnard
College and an MFA in acting from Southern Methodist University), humor,
honesty and genuineness truly inspires me. She definitely has become one of my
role models and kindred spirits. Talking as Fast as I Can is an
essential read for all ardent Gilmore Girls fans. I wholeheartedly
recommend it.
Since David Letterman retired after 33 years as a
late night talk show host two years ago, I’m still suffering from major
Letterman withdrawal. After faithfully watching Late Show with David Letterman on
CBS for 22 years, I just can’t seem to find the perfect substitute, At first, I
tried alternating between The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon and
Stephen Colbert, The Late Show’s new host depending on the scheduled guests, but
neither seemed to delight me not even when Colbert switched to more political
satire after the 2016 presidential election. I still missed Letterman’s
sarcastic, goofy humor and offbeat Midwestern sensibilities. Nowadays, I
usually drift off to sleep watching Friends or Modern Family reruns.
So last month when I read a positive review about
Jason Zinoman’s new bestselling book: Letterman: the Last Giant of Late Night
in the New York Times Book Review, I quickly reserved a copy at the
library.
In this very revealing and absorbing biography,
Zinoman, The New York Times comedy columnist skillfully chronicles
Letterman’s career from his early days as a college radio station disc jockey
at Ball State University and a TV weatherman in Indianapolis through his years on
Late
Night on NBC and his 22 year stint on The Late Show at CBS
where he literally transformed late night television talk shows.
For example, Letterman's unlikely journey to TV late
night icon began when NBC gave him his own morning talk show in summer 1980.
Lasting only four months, The David Letterman Show was a total
disaster except for the debut of Stupid Pet Tricks which would later become a
mainstay both on Late Night with David Letterman and Late Show with David Letterman.
This enduring segment along with other comedy standards like Small Town News
and Viewer Mail were created by his head writer and longtime girlfriend Merrill
Markoe.
In the chapters where Zinoman describes the creation
of Late
Night with David Letterman in 1982, the book almost becomes a
psychological character study of Letterman’s ironic, absurdist humor. For
instance, the show’s writers not only created oddball characters like
Larry”Bud” Melman for the host to interact with but in 1985 premiered The Top
Ten List, Letterman’s signature skit that reflected the humor of both stand-up
comedian Dave and weird surreal Dave whose depressive mood swings,
reclusiveness and self-deprecating remarks utterly baffled and frustrated his
writing staff and producers.
When Late Show with David Letterman debuted
on CBS in August 1993, it was an instant hit beating The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in
the ratings. Letterman felt vindicated after NBC didn’t choose him as The
Tonight Show host after Johnny Carson retired in May 1992. Letterman’s
ego also received a further boost when Carson made his last television
appearance on The Late Show in 1994 thus solidifying and validating Letterman
as his heir apparent.
Furthermore, Zinoman mentions that while hosting The
Late Show, Letterman’s humor, though still sarcastic, became more
mainstream, introspective and less bizarre. He attributes this to three major
events: his heart surgery in January 2000, being the first late night talk show
host to return after the September 11th terrorist attacks and the
birth of his son Harry.
Letterman:
the Last Giant of Late Night
of Late Night
is a very enlightening, fast-paced biography about a very enigmatic,
complicated and irreverent television personality. I highly recommend it to all
TV and pop culture enthusiasts.
All the books reviewed in this blog can be found at
most local public libraries. My readers in St. Joseph County, Indiana can visit
the St, Joseph County Public Library’s web site at libraryforlife.org for
additional information. Thanks for reading! See you all next time!
