…And I love this show so much that I feel like I should disqualify myself from writing a review.
Fortunately, MR. ROBOT’s side is far from lacking adherents. In fact, I’ve only seen one review that knocked the show, and it was one that took exception not to the series but to the worldview it represented.
No, yer friendly neighborhood munchero isn’t going to reblog that review. Fuck ’em if they can’t stand the truth.
My favorite genre to watch on television is suspense. Secrets and Lies follow the aftermath of the murder of a young boy name Tom Murphy. The show is told through the eyes of Ben Crawford, played by Ryan Phillippe, whose world is turned upside down as he is the prime suspect but claims his innocence.
Phillippe portrays Ben Crawford as a sensitive nice guy always looking to do the right thing even when the right thing gets him in trouble. He establishes a poise and grace even though you can see the frustration on his face. Phillippe manages to change his mood when his family is in the room, mainly his youngest daughter Abby. He does everything he can to assure them that everything is going to be okay.
When he is alone you can see the anger building and tension and then he flips the switch. This is where he shines in the role. He makes that seem so easy, which we know is not as an actor. It is a rare gift.
by Herbie J PilatoPerry Mason originally aired on CBS from 1957 to 1966, and starred the great Raymond Burr in the lead, with Barbara Hale as his trusted assistant, Della Street; William Hopper (son of Hollywood gossip legend Hedda Hopper) as detective Paul Drake, and William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the poor district attorney, who Mason always clobbered in court. Ray Collins, Wesley Lau, and Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman from The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman) rounded out the additional legal-law enforcement cast in various roles over the years.
Perry Mason was more than just a precursor to countless lawyer shows to follow, including LA Law, Law & Order, and Boston Legal, among others.
Mason was based on a series of best-selling mystery novels created by attorney-novelist Erle Stanley Gardner, which were transformed into a CBS radio show – with soap-opera elements – that aired from 1943 to 1955. When the radio series became the now iconic Raymond Burr show, the soapy serial slant was shelved. But in 1956 (two years before the Burr series debuted), the original radio format was transplanted to the TV daytime serial, The Edge of Night (complete with the PM radio production staff and most of the cast, who were given new character names), where it remained until December 1984.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Don’t miss Part 1, conveniently located HERE
THE MAYHEM OF THE MACABRE
1969: 20,000,000 viewers are now obsessed with Quentin, Barnabas and DS in general. The show’s popularity reaches mammoth proportions. Followers from every nook and cranny come out of the woodwork…even the woodwork from the White House. For on October 31st, Halloween 1969, Tricia Nixon gives a Halloween Party for 250 underprivileged children, and Jonathan Frid is invited.
Last Tango in Halifax is a drama written by Sally Wainwright (writer/creator of the remarkably good Happy Valley) starring Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid as widowed Alan and Celia, childhood sweethearts who haven’t clapped eyes on each other for 60 years. Thanks to the ubiquitous (now even for octogenarians) Facebook, they find each other again, meet for coffee, and instantly remember exactly how they felt as kids.
The first few episodes were delightful, and kept the focus on Alan and Celia. I have been a huge fan of Derek Jacobi since I was a young’n, and watching him in this role is a treat. He is at once an older gentleman, and a child, able to express 60 years worth of longing in a single look. Jacobi is a genius at his craft, and if you haven’t seen him as anything other than the Archbishop in The King’s Speech… please see him in this. Anne Reid’s performance is also solid; you don’t feel as though she’s ever forcing a single moment, everything is nuanced, organic, and rich. And it’s not every day you get to see actors of-a-certain-age in a straight-up love story, either (so kudos to BBC and Wainwright for making Last Tango in the first place!)