It’s been a fun week, interjecting on Jim’s behalf, but I do believe our fearless hero is returning in just a couple days, so my brief tenure has come to an end. Party’s over, and I’ll make my way to the exit.
But if you’ll permit me a final, random post, I’d love to toss three items at you, as suggestions for archive entertainment this weekend (or future weekends). They are all items that have been discussed here before, and yet I have found myself utterly hooked in recent weeks. So perhaps they will register with you too – if you haven’t already perused.
First off, it was my friend Kate who turned me on to a documentary series that I did not see when it aired originally: Ric Bruns’ New York: A Documentary Film, an eight-part, 18-hour presentation that started airing originally in 1999. Charting the history of New York City – one of America’s most fascinating meccas not only for its size and skyscrapers, but also for its non-religious, capitalistic founding principles – from the 17th century forward, my wife and I have made it a weekly habit, watching an episode each and every weekend. The experience has been an enlightening one, leaving us marveling at everything from the terraforming of Manhattan to the Depression-era construction of the Empire State Building and the ways in which the Erie Canal ensured that New York City would endure as America’s largest port, and hence the epicenter of its commerce.
I’m clearly late to the party on this one – about a decade late – but New York: A Documentary Film is just riveting.
Second, the hilarious Starz series Party Down – about apathetic actors in Los Angeles who are biding their time with catering jobs – has been picked up for a second season. It returns April 23. But for those of you who haven’t seen the show yet – I hadn’t seen it until about a month ago – you can stream the first season in its entirety via Netflix and now’s the perfect time to catch up. Here’s my promise to you: If you start watching the show today, you’ll probably watch the entire season straight through before you go to bed. It’s just that good.
And finally: Of all the show that Jim has turned me on to over the past few years, it is for Friday Night Lights that I am the most thankful.
Far more than just a show about football or Texas, what I found last winter when I finally started perusing season one is that it is one of the most thoughtful depictions of middle class America I have ever seen, and the ways in which both sports and religion can bring out the best and worst of our society. I missed the show completely when it first aired, and now I’m catching up – all via Netflix instant streaming, all through binges where I watch 3-4 episodes in a single night. Few TV critics have been as passionate about this show as James Poniewozik, and I have to think he’s part of the reason it’s still chugging away today, in season 4.
In any case, the first season of Friday Night Lights is one of the best seasons of TV I’ve ever seen. If you have a Netflix account, you can start watching it right now.
…So now that you’ve let a novice rant about TV for a week, I’ll get back to my nerdy movies for Techland. This weekend’s lineup: Blade Runner: Final Cut, 2001: A Space Odyssey and a second look at Kick-Ass, the outrageous new amateur superhero comedy which hits theaters April 16. If you haven’t heard about it yet, don’t worry, you will. Definitely on Techland, at least!