Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

"Station 19" - Do We Really Want Another First-Responder Show on Network TV?

Yet another fire engine.

Also, another play out of intimate, close, and not so close relationships in a fire house.

And, here again was a life and death emergency (which actually involved the first responders themselves).

That is "Station 19." It debuted last night on ABC.

The primary plot line has a fire engine involved in an accident. It tumbles off the road out of the sight of those who don't know its location. Inside is a gravely injured first responder. One quick-thinking one. And the patient who needs medical attention, then dies. 

So? 

To begin with, there is already a glut of first responders on network television. 

Secondly, this one isn't differentiated from the others. 

And, third, the scripting and acting are both mediocre.

Therefore, my hunch is that this new series is on short time.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Practicing Law Is Very Raw Game - "For the People"

"For the People," the newest legal dramatic series, debuted tonight on ABC. Housed in the same building are a branch of the Justice Department and of Legal Aid.

Like "A Million Little Things," the ABC series in its second season, there is no attempt at in-depth character development.

As with the cast in "A Million Little Things," that in "For the People" comes across as stylized Millennial professionals. That lack of highly individualized characters might be a trend in network television. We might never bump into again the memorable Olivia Bensons from "Law & Order SVU" and David Rossi types of "Criminal Minds."

Instead, what "For the People" brought the audience was a combination of a topical issue (yes, much like Dick Wolf's approach in his "Law & Order" franchise), play out of raw office politics, and the poignant consequences of winning or losing a case.

There was a dramatic opening.

A U.S. Senator is shot.

Soon enough the news is that he is dead.

And then a teenage boy enters the office and says he killed the Senator. Actually how that happened was through swatting, associated with a video game he was participating in. In swatting, a call is made to 911 about a serious crime going down at a house. The SWAT team arrives. Until the Senator had been killed, swatting was not given much law enforcement or prosecutorial attention.

Who gets assigned or dropped from working the case demonstrates the machinations of career politics. Palpable is how unfair decisions made in an office can be. Also, what is obvious is the need to understand the dynamics of the game. No, it's not enough to be highly competent. The smart justice department lawyer who disagrees with the head prosecutor about the case gets dumped from it. 

On the legal aid side, there are lawyers assigned to low-level crimes. Those certainly won't advance their careers. 

The soul-wrenching part is how the jury verdict in the trial of the boy who swatted touches so many in such a human way.

The prosecutor did not get all he wanted. The jury did not vote guilty on murder.

On the other hand, since they did vote guilty on the other crimes meant a stiff sentence for the defendant.

Also, that loss will hurt the career of the young legal aid lawyers. 

In addition, the boy's mother lost her son to prison.

Juniors in college considering applying to law school may have second thoughts if they watched "For the People." Law is a game, just like in a business career. There's nothing pure or noble about it. It might be wiser to prevent the probable $130,000 student loan debt from three years of law school and just parachute into a job right after college. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

PR Peril of Celebrity Whatever, Including the CEO

Among PR folks, there is the old warning about featuring an actual employee in recruiting material. Soon enough, the man or woman could be part of a high-profile media story about a drug ring in the geographic region - or even inside the company.

Another common anecdote was the peril of the celebrity spokesperson. Given celebrity per se which loosens the sense of boundaries, there's no predicting what trouble that spokesperson will wind up in.

To that list, reports Axios, has been added the Celebrity CEO.

The AXIOS Harris Poll found how many corporations have declined on the image scale. And part of the problem was the tarnished brand of the Celebrity CEO. As a tactic to boost public opinion - and good will - chief communications officers have been touting the CEOs who have pull force in the media game. 

But, as is well known: The media giveth and the media taketh away. In that shift not only is shade thrown on celebrity CEOs. Damage is done to the very image of the corporation. 

The classic example is Elon Musk's recent seemingly odd behavior. Both he and the company he leads Tesla have suffered in the reputation game. 

The takeaway from the AXIOS Harris poll is for the in-house communications team and the outside PR agencies to not put all their eggs in positioning and packaging the CEO leadership. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

The Masterful Comeback - AOC's 4 Minutes

In 4 minutes AOC masterminded her return from irrelevance. Those 4 minutes consisted of her pointed questions to Michael Cohen at the U.S. House Oversight Committee. 

She had gone from her 15 minutes of fame to oblivion after being scapegoated for the Amazon pull-out from creating a second headquarters in the New York City Metro area.

What confirms that she has returned as a player is the return of negative media about her. Here is an example published on MarketWatch. 

As some watchers of The AOC phenomenon has observed, her distinct edge is that she is too young to run for U.S. President. Therefore, she doesn't have to stay on one campaign message. She can wander all over the conceptual and rhetorical map. That could make her the loudest voice in the room. 

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Jesse Stone v. Frank Reagan - Dramatic Power of Tormented Character

Probably Tom Selleck's legacy will be his role as the earnest NYPD police commissioner and wise family patriarch Frank Reagan in "Blue Bloods." 

But it was his role as Jesse Stone, police chief in Paradise, that unleashed the range of his acting abilities. Stone is the classic anti-hero.

Tormented emotionally and saddled with a drinking problem, Stone is a complex character whom the audience truly roots for. Eventually, after losing other jobs, he loses the one in Paradise also.

However, there is little hope that his self-destructiveness can be brought under control. Those in the loop who love him can't save him. He can't save himself from himself.

To achieve justice, Stone breaks the rules and feels no ambivalence about doing so. He's not the good-Catholic-boy-grown-up that Reagan is. He risks his life, downright recklessly, to entrap the bad guys. The most risks Reagan takes are political ones, from behind a desk. 

Unfortunately for Selleck, the role as one-dimensional Reagan seems to have locked him into stylized performances. The audience can predict his facial expressions and what will come out of his mouth. 

To my surprise, "Blue Bloods" has been renewed for yet another season.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

"Good Girls" - Crime & Continual Threat of Punishment

The dark comedy of "Good Girls" got a lot darker tonight in the kick-off of the second season.

Gangbanger shoots Beth's husband. However, to everyone's surprise, including Beth's, he survives. He's not a happy camper but it's unlikely he will rat out his wife's involvement in crime. After all, he helped move the stolen Botox.

Meanwhile, the FBI has DNA evidence from the pen cap Beth put in her mouth during the grocery store robbery. However, just in the nick of time, Ruby's husband, who is a cop, steals the evidence. 

But, just as they are breathing a sigh of relief that there is no evidence, Gangbanger comes by and tells them they have to off the grocery clerk who is singing like a bird to the FBI about them all. Gangbanger leaves them with a gun.

The episode ends with the suspense if the three will really go to the next level - murder. They know from experience that Gangbanger doesn't play. After all he shot Beth's husband. He could hurt their children. It's at the playground that he comes around.

The genius of this series is that there is no message, no takeaway.

All there is is a situation, born of financial desperation, that keeps getting more complex. What hooks the audience is the suspense if the three no longer good girls can keep out of being actually arrested for crimes. 

It's a different form of suspense which hooked us to keep up with that other new series - "A Million Little Things." 

Obviously, suspense, rather than deep character development, is the device producers and writers are using to build an audience. It's working. Both "Good Girls" and "A Million Little Things" have been renewed for a second season.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

 

"Good Girls" Back on NBC, March 3, 10 P.M. - Series Mirrors Changing Socialization for Women

The previews for the kick-off of the second season of "Good Girls" are juicy. The second season starts Sunday, March 3rd, on NBC, at 10 P.M. New York time. 

In the previews, one of the former traditional housewives gone rogue - Beth Boland - has crossed yet another line.

It appears she and Gangbanger Rio have had an encounter of a sexual kind. Fellow former good girl gone bandit and more Ruby Hill simply asks: How was it? Beth's husband is on the wimpy side.

This series has caught fire because it mirrors the shift in socialization of women as their problems and opportunities change. The three mothers in a Detroit suburb had encountered financial disaster.

Beth couldn't pay the mortgage. The family would lose the house.

Ruby's daughter needed a pricey transplant, not covered by the family's medical insurance.

Annie Marks, Beth's sister, has to fight for custody for her child who is on the way to transgender. Her former husband wants therapy to address the gender issue. Legal expenses are way beyond her income as a clerk in a grocery store.

Their first walk on the wild side is to rob that grocery story. Then they move on to more complex kinds of crime.

As they do, their confidence surges. Each comes into her own. Yet, despite their new sense of self, their relationships with each other deepen. When there is a setback in their life of crime or in their personal lives, they are one for all and all for one.

This series could be the kind of model of what is going on in the culture that "All in the Family" and "Law & Order SVU" had been. Ph.D. students in Media or American Culture could be doing their dissertations on how "Good Girls" gave permission to mothers to bypass socializing their daughters for traditional female values.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Dick Wolf - On and Off

It's a brilliant tactic by iconic producer David Wolf.

In programming, now and then he has the characters from two series combine to work on case of one.

An example had been the murders and burnings of female nurses, first in New York, then in Chicago. Law enforcement from "Chicago PD" and "Law & Order SVU" come together to find out who the bad guy is.

But they aren't able to do that before one of their own - Nadia who works with the Chicago police but isn't a police officer - also becomes his victim. As a result, Erie, Hank's daughter, falls apart and heads into a downward emotional trajectory.

However, Wolf's genius doesn't seem to extend to his more recent series - "FBI."

Yes, it has been renewed for another season. But the characters aren't as uniquely drawn as those in his earlier work.

Also, ripped from the headlines doesn't fit as well. The latest episode resonated with the current feminism memes. The female head of the FBI unit was underestimated and bullied by another agent who had parachuted in on a case. The supposed message was way too obvious.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

"A Million Little Things" - Now We Know Jon's Secret

Finally, Delilah meets Barbara Morgan.

It turns out that Morgan was not romantically involved with Jon but his Harvard best friend David.

In fact, Morgan was pregnant with David's child. That child is the young man had bumped into. They bond when the teenager reads Rome's manuscript, reveals his own inner torment, and agrees to receive therapy from Maggie. 

Because of his own carelessness, Jon misses the airplane flight, which David is on, and which will be involved in the 9/11 massacre. Jon can't forgive himself - not ever. Morgan goes on to marry 9/11 fire fighter Mitch who takes over a the boy's father.

Jon's pain gets bottled up beneath the surface. He meets Delilah and for years manages to hold it together. At least until there were other stress factors. Then he took that leap out the window.

Maggie, the group's unofficial therapist, explains it isn't one source of pain which overwhelms. There are layers. 

No, no one could have "saved" Jon.

The next season could kick off with a new mystery. That is Eddie's secret.

He and Katherine are trying to give their marriage a second go. But, first, he tells Katherine, there is something he has to tell her. He doesn't want any more lies in their relationship. What has Eddie been hiding?

Meanwhile, Maggie is back in remission from her breast cancer. Rome decides he wants children. Regina doesn't want anything more on her plate. Delilah goes into labor, one month early. 

The artistic tragic flaw in this new series is this: The characters are not well-drawn. Not one has the unique identity. All are stereotypes of Boston millennials - or how the writers and directors imagine Boston millennials to be.

That's very different than the distinct character portrayal on long-running programming like "Criminal Minds" and "Law & Order SVU."

Will the characters take on depth in "A Million Little Things" second season? If that doesn't happen the series may not have a third season.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com. 

Thinking of Embezzling from Employer? - Seems Like Piece of Cake

Do businesses need more methods to pick up on fraud via fake invoices?

Seems so.

Again, we are hearing of an allegation that an employee at a law firm pulled off that caper.

This this around it's Rocco Romeo, the Chief Technology Officer at Budd Larner. His alleged accomplice was Jacqueline Geller.

Together, over a three-year period they allegedly sucked out about a million bucks from Budd Larner. They applied that windfall to funding their personal lifestyle.

Currently they face four charges, ranging from fraud to money laundering. Here are more details from Kathryn Rubino, at Abovethelaw.

Law firms have been sitting ducks for employee theft of various kinds. In fiction, we recall that Will Gardner from "The Good Wife" embezzled from his law firm in Baltimore. He "borrowed" the funds to pay off gambling debts. All he received as punishment was a brief suspension from practicing law.

Need affordable help strategically planning and putting together content? That ranges from blog posts and e-books to planning/scripting podcasts and creating traditional speeches. Complimentary consultation on how to generate influence and sell without paying high rates, janegenova374@gmail.com.