Letters to the Editor
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Whew!
Just in time. Having just finished scraping the caked-up poop from off my tail feathers on to the barn door, I now find myself wandering about this wire-hemmed wilderness pecking bits of gravel for my gizzard down my gullet wondering how, how, how will I ever pass these endless days and nights...
And you appear, horn-clogged, be-aproned, NEWLY MOTHERED, with a bag of tasty feed, for me, your lonely pining chicken. And you lean over the wire fence and you toss handful after handful with the sort of love that only a MOTHER COULD KNOW...
Oh grateful sigh, oh contentment.
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Yeah, well, whatever
I wish someone would tell Sally Field that barely suppressed hysteria is NOT the only way to play despair and grief. Heather is right about the Steel Magnolias thing. Stop it now, M'Lynn!
I only ever watched Ally McBeal when Robert Downey Jr. was on. He actually made Callista Flockhart appealing. But it was his sex appeal splashing all over her, not the other way around. John Ritter, too. Maybe her character would be more appetizing with a better male character to make her look better?
I like Rachel Griffiths and I am intrigued by her story line of getting to the bottom of her father's financial shenanigans. Not enough to actually watch the show, though.
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to those who don't get it
So you think HH is being seriously insulting with her "chickens" stuff? Get over it! She's PLAYING IRONICALLY with the whole "insulting critic" thing. Geeze people! It's not rocket science... it's FUNNY!
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More editing.
I like Heather's writing overall, but this was a really irritating column. The chickens riff was sub-par, and dragging out into 5 paragraphs beat a banal joke to death. Since the joke also involved mock (or real) condescension, it was aggravating by the end.
I think Heather is good at humor which involves digression, rambling and riffing. She's also capable of incisive cultural observations. I Like To Watch, however, combines her two strengths into a frequently weak column that gets on my nerves.
I think it's because it often uses the same schtick - a diva columnist who either too self-important or insecure to stick to the topic at hand rambles on, often about herself, before deigning to discuss TV. I know it's a persona, it's just not a very interesting one.
Once she gets down to discussing the show, she's both witty and focussed, but the preamble stuff is more miss than hit. Sometimes it contains painfully trite generalizations about life or adulthood or, in this case, the sheer shallowness of writing about TV. When it's good, it would do better as a separate column.
So really, please, more editing. It's not fun to see a talented writer get away with half-finished work. If I want to see rambling for rambling's sake, I'll check out her blog.
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Hooray, Heather's Back!
And so are her incompetent critics. She isn't insulting you, you silly geese: I'm the one telling you you're a bunch of nincompoops! So there.
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Give "Brothers and Sisters" a Break -- for the present
"Brothers and Sisters," for now, is just what it set out to be -- light entertainment for those of us who have suffered a gut full of CSIs, reality shows, and mindless game shows. There exists a variety of series (comedy or drama) on network TV that appeals to the varying tastes of all viewers, so kindly give "B&S" --and those of us who deign to enjoy it-- a break. Inevitably, it will implode upon itself as it succumbs to a perceived need to "one-up" its last storyline--the fate of all dramas. (Compare the final years of the much beloved "Six Feet Under.") When "Brothers and Sisters" disintegrates, sally forth to eviscerate it --bask in your "told you so's" --but let's not bury it while it yet has a a year or two of viability.
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Oh My Heck!
I love "I Like To Watch" (it's one of the *main* reasons I joined salon premium), and I can understand some people not liking it, but to be offended with the whole chicken riff? to think Heather is being serious and, thus, condescending, with her "now that I'm a mother I know what love is" remarks? Key-Rist, people. Get over yourselves.
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You R Crazy
Is anyone else tired of cynicism? The journalistic ethos these days is short on insight and heavy on voice; the more glib, wicked and always – irreverent – you can be, the better. There should be more to our cultural/media landscape than ironical contempt, but unfortunately Heather Havrilesky's review of "Brothers & Sisters" proves there is not. IMHO "Brothers & Sisters" is a really, really good show. The acting is superb, the writing is solid, and the characters are interesting. About the only negative thing one can say is the endings tend toward schmaltzy. But to hate it? With such a wrath as Havrilesky's? Why? Just because it doesn't involve true crime, death, or the macabre doesn't mean it's not art. Just because, perhaps, life is synthesized into a one hour television format and characters wrap-things up nicely, doesn't mean we can't enjoy watching it. And I disagree with Havrilesky's take; I don't find anything particularly unrealistic about Sally Field. She closely resembles several members of my immediate family. In fact, I predict she will be nominated for an Emmy for her visceral performance as the head matriarch of the Walkers. And what is so wrong with having a moment with characters, with connecting with them and this family who love unconditionally? There is some groundbreaking characterizations here too - a young vet back from Afghanistan; a Republican character who's not nearly as nauseating as the one on Studio 60; or maybe it's just that some of us can relate to a family of strong women, running the family business. I guess I'm tired of the bitter-writer columnist shtick. It's not easy writing and executing a TV show these days. There is a lot of innovation in TV and creating something (as opposed to just criticizing it) is hard work. I enjoy my Sunday night guilty pleasures of DH followed by B&S as much as I enjoy chocolate ice cream. (A lot). Havrilesky should realize this is a TV show, not a Picasso and being one – it's pretty damn good.
A. Norton
Los Angeles