Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Tony Soprano's Cunning Grin: James Gandolfini left that for us

Forever, thanks to the technology of film, we have that cunning grin Tony Soprano flashed.  We have a hunch it turned on his buttoned-down but fragile shrink.

But the man who gave us that iconic facial gesture is gone.  James Gandolfini died at the age of 51.  The cause seems to have been a heart attack.  Plenty was going on in that heart for him to give the world such a range of emotion. 

"Mad Men" - Sally bitter about Dad Don

At one time, Sally Draper was the most interesting character on "Mad Men," at least in her capacity for growth. We expected, for example, her parents Don and Betty to stay frozen in their self-absorbed ways. Now, though, she is just one among several characters who change. Her development is to recognize Don for the selfish person he is.  She has aligned herself more with Betty.  The latter has herself migrated from the suffering in the valley of fat to being a wise human being who knows how to use the world. Peggy Olson has developed professional self confidence.  That's a long way from being a traditional Catholic girl from a blue collar ethnic family.

If the writers are smart, they will surprise us and have Don capable of change. He doesn't have to become a real human being.  All we need to stay interested in him is to witness his struggle to connect with personal reality.

Betty White as Dirty Old Lady: Great work if you can get it

At 91, Betty White is not only still employed in the tough field of acting.  She's all over the television.  Many in diverse circles marvel that I manage to get more than 60 hours of week of speechwriting/ghostwriting assignments at my age: 68.

Yet, in THE NEW REPUBLIC, Laura Bennett has hammered White's persona as a dirty old lady.  Perhaps Bennett was struggling to find a provocative angle.  Perhaps she simply can't enjoy the unique ways in which White can carry off portraying a sexually obsessed very old woman. I especially loved White's allusions, when giving a baking demo, to the "dusty muffins" of the old.

White is a phenomenon.  Let's see how professionals like Rupert Murdoch and Warren Buffett, now only in their 80s, do when they are 91.

 

"Mad Men" - Is all this focus on sex realistic?

It was power, not sex, which drove players in business in the late 60s and beyond.  Sex was just a perk of power.  Not all that important.  The babes (and as with Bob Benson, the guys) came and went. 

So, I wonder how much "Mad Men" can recapture the era when business was the place to be.  Everyone wanted in, eventually.  Even we counterculture activists cut our hair, cleaned up our language, put on suits, and took courses in accounting.  We wanted the power of money, status, and identity with a brandname company such as IBM or Kodak.  Don Draper et al. get that through serving those kinds of clients.

"Mad Men" might avoid jumping the shark by shifting the focus from sex to power struggles.  Another guy in the creative industries - Bob Dilenschneider - became famous by bringing power out of the closet.  When he headed a major public relations agency he published a book on the power game.   Later he started his own boutique serving the powerful.  In business, it always was and will always be about power.

Peggy, Skyler, Alicia, et al. - We're totally into our TV characters

With even basic television service costing a bundle, it's no surprise that we're putting new value on the content.  THE NEW YORK TIMES reports that the characters who perform in the programming are the ones media readers are interested in.  They, along with musical personalities, sell magazines on newsstands more than those big stars from movies.

Subscribing to the pricey cable package which includes AMC provides incentive to take "Mad Men" character Peggy seriously.  We observe her growth in both professional confidence and hope she will acquire the self esteem to choose the right men.  Sure, regular broadcasting which includes "The Good Wife" goes along with that but our mindset has become: TV is hot.  Alicia remains a compelling character.

In some communities such as upscale Madison, Connecticut, movie attendance is still brisk.  For a mid week screening of "42," the theatre was packed.  But shift back to more middle-class cities like North Haven, Connecticut and some screenings can have only a few die-hard fans, mostly Baby Boomers such as myself.

In my own blog traffic, the posts on TV characters rather than those who star in films get the most hits.

"Mary Tyler Moore" - Mary Richards was on the birth-control pill

Quickly sexual mores shifted in America.  During the 1960s, we college girls used to speculate in the dorm who "had done it," that is, lose their virginity.  Not long after, that wholesome television invention Mary Richards on "Mary Tyler Moore" was on the birth-control pill.  Her mother not only knew it but reminded her to take it.  That meant, of course, that Richards had done it and her mother was quite aware that was the case.

Yet, it would be decades before females on television could be casual about sex.  Richards was only doing the smart thing for a single woman who needed to keep her job to do.  No way could she juggle, as a single woman, a baby and pleasing Mr. Grant.  Then "Sex and the City" came and went. 

A tamer version was Sam on "Without a Trace" having a sexual relationship with her emotionally tormented boss Jack who couldn't connect.  Like Richards, Sam was traditional in deferring to males. Unlike Richards, she did sleep with the boss.  We viewers cheered when Jack finally released her.  Had the series not ended, we suspect he would have tried to lure her back.  In the Richards' legacy, women were giving and men were selfish.

Now, on "Mad Men," the women are all a mess.  Peggy is a more brittle version of Richards.  Our only hope is that Sally, Don's daughter, will struggle to find out who she is, separate from the power structures of men and glamour industries.

 

"Mad Men" - Does the establishment get the counterculture?

Don, Peggy, Pete, et al. are professionally and self-absorbed.  They are incapable of getting what the counterculture is about.  That's obvious in last night's episode of "Mad Men."  Their focus is on getting and not getting accounts, the right name for the merged agency, and botched attempts at intimacy. 

Violent protests go on in Chicago and Los Angeles. Boys are dying in Viet Nam. Women are questioning their traditional roles.  Pete's response is to smoke a joint.  Baby Boomer activists remember how establishment folks used the counterculture as permission to use recreational drugs and dabble in all the sex which became available.  The action on "Mad Men" mirrors that.

The question then gets raised: Will the changing values change anyone on "Mad Men?"  Will Joan discover feminism?  Will Don seek out a solution, such as therapy or meditation, to ease his pain? Will Sally break with suburban values and experiment with the hippie lifestyle?

Jean Stapleton: Gave Baby Boomers Edith Bunker

Edith Bunker, all heart, represented the best of Baby Boomers' mothers.  Like our mothers she stayed at home, put up with an abrasive husband, and ushered her child through a changing era. The woman who played her - Jean Stapleton - is dead.  We will miss both.

Not much of either kind exist today.  Women are too Leaned-In to be as all-giving as Edith.  And Stapleton represents a vanishing breed of great-character actresses, incluidng Judi Dench.

"Mad Men" - Betty grows up

Betty was the doomed character on "Mad Men." So we viewers assumed.  Now, that Betty is the character capable of extraordinary growth.  Maybe suffering did it.    For a traditional female like Betty, being fat was the end of the world.  But Betty got thin.  She also got a wise inner core. 

She understands Don completely.  And she has the confidence to tell him what she sees.  That's that loving him is the way to lose him. This time around she just has sex with him.  Afterward she returns to her own real life with her uncomplicated husband.  Don remains alone.  Emotionally he is losing ground.

Will Don hit a bottom and come to Betty as his unofficial therapist?  That could be in the cards.  Trailing him to Guru Betty could be Joan.  She too is losing emotional ground.  If Betty can find a sense of self, maybe Joan can too.

 

 

Watergate 2.0: Take it from survivor of Watergate 1.0, there will be tremendous loss of productivity

It's not Watergate 2.0 yet, Bob Woodward tells POLITICO.  For example, there's no clear line to the White House on the IRS' providing extra scrutiny on the tax-exempt status of conservative organizations. 

However, take it from a Baby Boomer who survived Watergate 1.0: Productivity will take a hit.  The hit will be bigger than when the Watergate 1.0 hearings were broadcasted on television.  That's because there are so many more venues for presenting the news and opining.  Name one person who will not be caught up in this?  I will be hitting all my three syndicated blogs, tweeting, and commenting on Facebook.

Back during Watergate 1.0, everyone took the time to express thoughts about government, human nature, power, the GOP, Richard Nixon, all the president's men, and Everyman.  In addition everyone caught snippets of the hearings. Sometimes in university towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan, where folks have flexible schedules, we had Watergate-hearing parties. 

Watergate 2.0 will bring the nation a nice pause after so much tragedy.  If there is no Watergate 2.0, there will probably be great disappointment throughout the land.