What was the last TV show you watched?

[Edward]

Actors, eh? Always pretending to be something they're not, the swines!

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I have a hard time with hypocrites.

Depending on the definition, show me a person who isn't. Absolutism serves nothing, and duality is human. I'm not watching Yellowstone. I don't know Costner's views on guns. I do seem to remember he is a dedicated advocate for the outdoors, Native cultures, and issues related to the land. I have no skin in this. But Edward already said it better than I've attempted. Personal opinions and what they do creatively aren't necessarily locked in step. They couldn't be.

 

[Touchofevil]

A couple of episodes of Sneaky Pete. It’s been a bit since we last watched this show and both forgot how entertaining it is.

 

[3fingers]

We watched Sneaky Pete for a while but we quit. We liked it and need to go back to it now that we've reached the end of wife's last episode of The Good Witch.

 

[BobHufford]

My wife started watching a marathon of "Live PD" (well, maybe not all of it was live). Right now they are showing my home county in not such a great light. I swear, we are not all like this...

 

[Woodtroll]

Actors, eh? Always pretending to be something they're not, the swines!

Depending on the definition, show me a person who isn't. Absolutism serves nothing, and duality is human. I'm not watching Yellowstone. I don't know Costner's views on guns. I do seem to remember he is a dedicated advocate for the outdoors, Native cultures, and issues related to the land. I have no skin in this. But Edward already said it better than I've attempted. Personal opinions and what they do creatively aren't necessarily locked in step. They couldn't be.

Certainly, no human is perfect, and every situation is different. Actors who don’t live in the real world have no business telling me how to live my life. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, certainly. But somehow many Hollywood folks have the impression that their political views are more important, enlightened, and correct than those of us commoners.

Would you buy hats from a vendor who made good money selling fur felt hats, but actively lobbied against your right to wear a fur coat? It’s fine for him to make money off of it, but you have no right to do the same?

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Certainly, no human is perfect, and every situation is different. Actors who don’t live in the real world have no business telling me how to live my life. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, certainly. But somehow many Hollywood folks have the impression that their political views are more important, enlightened, and correct than those of us commoners.

I'm not sure that is what happens a lot of the time. The difference between them and us most often is simply that they have a platform, and we don't. They talk. People listen. I talk. Nobody listens. That's not their fault. That's our culture. I can tell you that if I could influence people towards the things I value, I probably would. I'd be foolish not to, and on some level, if I really cared about an issue, not using my influence would be shameful. As for the "real world" vs "not real world", I don't know what that means. An awful lot of rich, or successful, or celebrity, or whatever gives them a higher profile than most of us, people seem to struggle with the exact same things as we all do: vices, mental illness, illness, death, etc. And they care about the exact same things as we do: family, faith, protecting what they value, etc. If you distill the situations down, the real difference is that platform. That's about it. I'm sure there's a percentage of them that think they have the whole world figured out better than everyone else...but wait...I meet people like that every day of my life, and they aren't part of Hollywood. Hell, I have a bunch of them in my own family. It's a human ugliness. On the other hand, if shoe cobblers are the only ones who can have an opinion on shoes, then we're dead in the water.

Would you buy hats from a vendor who made good money selling fur felt hats, but actively lobbied against your right to wear a fur coat? It’s fine for him to make money off of it, but you have no right to do the same?

I understand what you're saying, but I have a hunch this Yellowstone series and Costner's personal opinions have more in common than they don't. It isn't a zero-sum game. Again, I know a little about Costner and less about Yellowstone. My other hunch is there are a whole lot of touchstones with this situation. It's complex and nuanced. Most meaningful things are.

 

[Woodtroll]

Complex, indeed. Thanks for your thoughts, they are much appreciated and I agree with the intent of everything you say. People agree or disagree, usually based on their own unique experiences, and life goes on. The civil discussion of our opinions and differences makes us all better people (hopefully!).

Thank you,
Regan

 

[fashion frank]

Binge watching Boardwalk Empire have the complete set !

 

[Touchofevil]

Binge watching Boardwalk Empire have the complete set !

I believe that it is one the best series I have ever watched. Let us know how you feel.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

One last comment on Kevin Costner. He's a strange, awkward & bullish, possibly socially inept, very intense person. I've noticed it in other interviews, but especially in his episode of Inside the Actor's Studio many years ago. It was uncomfortable to watch. That's saying something too. Actors are a strange lot, so when one stands out, they really stand out.

 

[fashion frank]

I believe that it is one the best series I have ever watched. Let us know how you feel.

Hi Touch of Evil how have you been my friend . Just checked back in a few days ago after a hiatus ! Glad to see your still here and doing well ! Yes I agree with you I love this series and bought it a few years ago after the series ended . Watched it all the time and was pissed when it ended, don’t know why they ended it,I have to assume it was the price of the sets and clothes etc etc etc .
All The Best my Friend , Fashion Frank

 

[Worf]

Netflix series.... "The Mist" - Having seen the film many years ago and not having watched it since... (because... you know THE ending) I was reluctant to watch this one... but three episodes in... I'm hooked. Well drawn characters for the most part who are getting deeper with each episode. I like it.

Worf

 

[Touchofevil]

Hi Touch of Evil how have you been my friend . Just checked back in a few days ago after a hiatus ! Glad to see your still here and doing well ! Yes I agree with you I love this series and bought it a few years ago after the series ended . Watched it all the time and was pissed when it ended, don’t know why they ended it,I have to assume it was the price of the sets and clothes etc etc etc .
All The Best my Friend , Fashion Frank

I am doing well and you. Glad you have returned. I figured your absence was more of a absence from the discussions that I frequent. Do not be a stranger. There are many good people, new and old to The Lounge, with which to have entertaining conversations.

 

[Doctor Strange]

To everyone who said they were fans of Timeless a few weeks ago… the two-hour finale is happening:

https://tvline.com/2018/07/31/timeless-renewed-season-3-finale-movie-date-nbc/

That's the second time this series has been un-canceled!

 

[Benzadmiral]

Season Two of The Fugitive rolls on into 1965 with "The End Is But the Beginning." Working as driver for a small fuel and oil company, Kimble picks up a hitchhiker who resembles him slightly. The hitchhiker dies in an accident, and Kimble takes steps to be sure the body will be identified as his and end, once and for all, Lt. Gerard's pursuit of him. He has help: Aimee, the secretary of the company (Barbara Barrie, later Barney's wife on Barney Miller), who believes him innocent. And Gerard flies in to investigate the report for himself. One catch: The hitchhiker was just out of the Army -- and his dogtags are still in the burned-out shell of the truck. . . .

A tense story, as it usually is when Gerard appears. Kimble is shown to have a good deal of respect, as he should, for Gerard's brains. And Kimble questions his own motives. He wonders aloud to Aimee whether he did enough to save the hitchhiker . . . or did he really want the guy to die so he could fake his own death?

 

[belfastboy]

My wife and I almost quit watching Yellowstone after the first couple of episodes, but it is getting better. I struggle with anything "western" with Kevin Costner in it, knowing his political views on firearms. I have a hard time with hypocrites.

I think my favorite scene so far is Beth in the cowboy/redneck bar with the developer! She's a real viper, but at least she's honest about it!

I share that with you except my list extends to all actors who pontificate on matters political so I strike them from my "watchable" list......now I have painted myself into a corner as there are not many Hollywood actors I will allow myself to watch. These days I watch mostly oldies on TCM and foreign films so I can be consciously unaware of the actor's political stripe. It works for me anyways!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Stars in the Era certainly had their political moments. Eddie Cantor lost his radio and movie contracts in 1940 after blasting Father Coughlin as an anti-Semite and a Nazi sympathizer (which of course he was.) Groucho Marx had a very thick FBI file after he came to J. Edgar's attention for his associations with persons of left-wing sympathies, and as late as the Nixon era he was considered "a threat to the President." (To be honest, he did say something to the effect of "the only hope this country has is for someone to take a shot at Nixon.")

A large number of Hollywood figures, including Humphret Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, John Garfield, Katharine Hepburn, Billy Wilder, and Frank Sinatra, came together in 1947 for a radio broadcast called "Hollywood Fights Back," in defense of the Hollywood Ten and in opposition to the HUAC, even as a number of other Hollywood figures -- notably Robert Taylor, John Wayne, Adolphe Menjou, Walt Disney, and Ginger Rogers -- took loud and aggressive public stands in favor of blacklisting. And of course, there's the case of Mr. Chaplin, who was finally run out of the USA for his political beliefs.

That's just scratching the surface. The idea that stars of the Era kept their politics to themselves has no support in the reality of those times. They were just as vocal in their views as performers are today.

As someone who would have been blacklisted myself, had I been active in broadcasting in 1950, I admit I do find it hard sometimes to watch personalities who supported such things, but I can usually put that aside. Ginger Rogers is still one of my favorite performers, even though we would never have been pals, and the same is true of Barbara Stanwyck -- I can understand where her views came from, even if i don't agree with them. The only two stars of the Era I can't stomach for political reasons are Errol Flynn and Frank Fay, both of whom were simply despicable human beings on top of their fascist politics.

Speaking of blacklisting, I've been watching episodes of "The Goldbergs" lately --not the current sitcom, but the Gertrude Berg comedy-drama of Jewish family life adapted from the radio serial for television in 1949-50. Jake Goldberg is beautifully portrayed by Philip Loeb, who only had two years in the part before blacklisters hounded him off the air -- and eventually to suicide. It's hard to watch these shows -- and his performance especially -- knowing what fate has in store for him, but it's still an absolutely riveting example of live 1940s television before everything was reduced to cheap formula.

 

[Fading Fast]

Stars in the Era certainly had their political moments. Eddie Cantor lost his radio and movie contracts in 1940 after blasting Father Coughlin as an anti-Semite and a Nazi sympathizer (which of course he was.) Groucho Marx had a very thick FBI file after he came to J. Edgar's attention for his associations with persons of left-wing sympathies, and as late as the Nixon era he was considered "a threat to the President." A large number of Hollywood figures, including Humphret Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, John Garfield, Katharine Hepburn, Billy Wilder, and Frank Sinatra, came together in 1947 for a radio broadcast called "Hollywood Fights Back," in defense of the Hollywood Ten and in opposition to the HUAC, even as a number of other Hollywood figures -- notably Robert Taylor, John Wayne, Adolphe Menjou, Walt Disney, and Ginger Rogers -- took loud and aggressive public stands in favor of blacklisting. And of course, there's the case of Mr. Chaplin, who was finally run out of the USA for his political beliefs.

That's just scratching the surface. The idea that stars of the Era kept their politics to themselves has no support in the reality of those times. They were just as vocal in their views as performers are today.

As someone who would have been blacklisted myself, had I been active in broadcasting in 1950, I admit I do find it hard sometimes to watch personalities who supported such things, but I can usually put that aside. Ginger Rogers is still one of my favorite performers, even though we would never have been pals, and the same is true of Barbara Stanwyck -- I can understand where her views came from, even if i don't agree with them. The only two stars of the Era I can't stomach for political reasons are Errol Flynn and Frank Fay, both of whom were simply despicable human beings on top of their fascist politics.

Speaking of blacklisting, I've been watching episodes of "The Goldbergs" lately --not the current sitcom, but the Gertrude Berg comedy-drama of Jewish family life adapted from the radio serial for television in 1949-50. Jake Goldberg is beautifully portrayed by Philip Loeb, who only had two years in the part before blacklisters hounded him off the air -- and eventually to suicide. It's hard to watch these shows -- and his performance especially -- knowing what fate has in store for him, but it's still an absolutely riveting example of live 1940s television before everything was reduced to cheap formula.

I remember seeing a documentary once that said that Bogart quietly backtracked (help the gov't in its investigation of Hollywood) from his liberal stance (highlighted by a trip to Washington). It was many years ago and I do not remember the documentary or any specifics other than that it portrayed Bogart as a hypocrite. I like Bogie as an actor, have no ax to grind here and simply want to know the truth as I never saw or read anything that supported the claim in that one documentary. Lizzie, do you know anything about that one documentary or its claim against Bogart?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bogart was "strongly encouraged" by his handlers to repudiate actual "card-carrying" CPUSA members like Sterling Hayden, which he did -- but he never wholly repudiated his position opposing the HUAC. "I went Washington because I believed Americans were being denied their constitutional rights," was the part of his statement that didn't get publicized as much as the rest of it. Lauren Bacall, for her part, continued to defend their trip to Washington to oppose HUAC for the rest of her life.

The performer who did grovel -- and there's no other word for it -- was Edward G. Robinson, who after a year of no work, signed his name to a ghost-written "I was duped!" piece appearing in, of all things, the "American Legion Magazine, " which was enough to satisfy the headhunters, but his career never really recovered.