Good TV Series
While we’ve come to expect good series on television from Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and other such carriers, it seems that we rarely can find a really good series on regular network TV, but I recently encountered an exception to that rule. Some very close friends told me I should check out a program called Big Sky, and because I value their opinion, my wife and I watched the first episode, and we were hooked immediately after the first shocking installment. And I mean HOOKED!
Big Sky made its network debut on ABC all the way back in November, and I can’t believe I just found out about it several weeks ago, but all of the episodes are available on-demand, and so we caught up fairly quickly. The series is based upon the Highway book series written by C.J. Box, created for TV by David E. Kelly, who has given us such winners as Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Boston Public, Goliath, Big Little Lies, and Mr. Mercedes. In Big Sky, he uses a strong ensemble cast to give us a gripping and suspenseful series filled with surprises and a number of OMG moments.
Set in modern-day Montana, Big Sky opens with several events that introduce a number of the main characters. (Please keep in mind as you read the foregoing that if some of it seems a bit vague, that is intentional so that I don’t give away some of the surprises you have coming as you view the program.)
Among the main characters you will meet in the first episode are Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) and Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury), a former police officer and a private detective respectively. Despite being separated from her husband, Cody (Ryan Phillippe), Jenny still does freelance investigations for the private investigation agency he co-owns with Cassie.
Two more important characters are Ronald Pergman (Brian Geraghty) and his mother, Helen (Valerie Mahaffey). Ronald is a 38-year-old single 18-wheeler driver, who lives with his mother, and it’s a gross understatement to say that their relationship is a strained one. In fact, it’s obvious from their first scene together that Ronald has great difficulty handling her nagging.
You’ll also meet Grace (Jade Pettyjohn) and Danielle (Natalie Alyn Lind Sullivan), two sisters driving to Montana for a visit with their brother until an unanticipated event interrupted their trip. They are major characters in the developing drama.
Two additional important characters on Big Sky are Jerrie Kennedy (Jesse James Keitel) and Rick Legarski (John Carroll Lynch). The former is a transfeminine person who sells sex at a truck stop, and the latter is a Montana State Trooper, and both of them are key players in the story.
This series is a combination kidnapping story, a murder mystery, and a terrifying thriller all rolled into one. And just when you think you know where things are going, the show will hit you with an OMG moment that will knock you onto the floor because you won’t see it coming. Of course, in order to accomplish this effectively, the show must rely on outstanding acting, and it definitely delivers. All the characters are as believable as they are unpredictable, and each of the actors is completely believable. But that’s all you’ll get from me.
You will find the show on ABC on demand. So make yourself a big batch of popcorn with melted butter poured over it, pour yourself a nice cold drink of whatever, and prepare to be sucked in by Big Sky!
House of Looney Tunes Carnival
One of the big items in the news last week was the creation of an independent commission for the purpose of investigating the occurrence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Notice that I referred to it as an“occurrence,” and that’s because there seems to be considerable disagreement about what actually happened on one of the darkest days in the history of our country. It’s really hard to understand the need for a. commission to study the events of the day.
Anyone watching TV that day got a firsthand look at what was going on. But for the sake of argument let’s examine just how different things look to different people. A lot of television viewers that day saw a frenzied band of Trump supporters launch an all-out attack on the U.S. Capitol, where a joint session of Congress was meeting to count the electoral votes that would emphatically affirm Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump for the United States Presidency. Some people called it an insurrection.
But one Republican saw a completely different picture. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said, “There was an undisciplined mob. There were some rioters and some who committed acts of vandalism. But let me be clear: there was no insurrection. If you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.” A NORMAL TOURIST VISIT. Let’s just hope that five of those “normal” tourists weren’t the ones who died that day.
With all due respect to Mr. Clyde, I didn’t see a tourist visit that day. No, I saw a sadistic carnival. For just the price of admission, you could become a part of the angry mob and surf your way up to the building. Once you were that close you could check your pain tolerance at the Get-Your-Face-Slammed-Into-A-Door booth. If you actually got inside the building, you could play the ever-popular Steal-Some-Furniture game. But the biggest attraction of the day was located in front of the Capitol and drew a long line of players. The price of a ticket to the Mike Pence Gallows entitled a player to see what death by hanging feels like. Despite the crowd’s chanting for the vice president to demonstrate the ride, the vice president stayed inside much to the displeasure of the president. As the afternoon drew to a close, and the injury toll reached its maximum, the carnival finally closed. And to their credit, the lawmakers went back to work and confirmed Biden’s victory in the wee hours of the morning, also to the displeasure of the president.
So you see, Mr. Clyde, you were right. It wasn’t an insurrection. It was a bloody carnival hosted in the house of looney tunes. That’s all, Folks.
Golf Tourney Anyone?
Well, the PGA Golf Tournament is underway at Kiawah Island, and I couldn’t care less. I never really did any serious golfing, but I did dabble in it enough to learn what an incredibly difficult sport it is. No, I wasn’t a serious golfer, but I was an addicted golf watcher, but only when Tiger Woods was among the participants. It’s a pity that an athlete as gifted as he was (note the past tense) ended up making such a train wreck of his life.
Even after his marital troubles and other affairs ended, I continued to watch almost any and every tournament he entered because even when he was playing badly, I knew it was coming. There was no way of knowing when it would happen, but the one thing I did know was that it would be worth the wait. Yes, no matter how badly Tiger might be playing, there was always at least one (sometimes more) moment where a glimmer of the old Tiger showed through, and he did it. He would make a shot so difficult that many other golfers wouldn’t even attempt a similar one. Maybe Woods would hit a ball completely buried in the rough to land six inches from the hole. Maybe he would drain a 30-foot putt on a green with multiple breaks or bend the ball around a tree to hole out. No matter what it was, Woods was good for at least one impossible shot whenever he played.
While Woods still is recuperating from a car crash that almost ended his life, the tournaments will proceed without him, and I won’t be watching because no one can do it quite like Tiger. Even if he never plays competitively again, those of us who had the pleasure of watching him back in the day all have our favorite Tiger it moments.
Ponder This:
“What happens if you get scared half to death twice?”
~Steven Wright
