Conflicted Conman With A Conscience... TV Week Day 3

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Potential with guarded optimism is how I would best describe the feel I got from watching the pilot episode of Fox’s newest addition to the Monday night lineup. Lone Star, which currently airs at 8:00 PM Central, could best be described as Big Love meets Dallas with a splash of Victoria’s Secret thrown in to keep the men folk happy. This edgy drama is showing some potential but I’m afraid that it will eventually taper off into one show or another without retaining its mixture.

It’s part Dallas in that we have the quintessential independent Texas oilman, played by Jon Voight, who heads up a rich and powerful family into which our main character Bob is being pulled and it’s part Big Love in that we have an individual trying to lead two separate and distinct lives with two very different women. At the heart of the show is one simple theme, confliction. Bob Allen, played by James Wolk, is deeply torn between trying to lead two lives and furthermore trying to figure out which one he is best suited to. Just when we think he has decided to settle into one life, he inexplicably vacillates and embraces the other.

I think the flip flopping back and forth goes a long way in conveying to the audience what a deeply conflicted individual this character truly is. To exacerbate things, his situation isn’t aided any by the fact his domineering father is consistently trying to push him down a road that he knows he should not take. His father wants him to remain faithful to the family business of grifting, but he himself thinks that he might be able to make a legitimate living working as a land man and speculator in his father in law’s vast oil company.

Whichever direction Bob goes he certainly won’t lose out when it comes to the ladies. The one to whom he is married, Cat Thatcher, is played by the lovely Adrianne Palicki who some of you might better know as the lovely and talented Tyra Collette from Friday Night Lights. In this vehicle, Adrianne is all grown up and wears evening gowns to thousand dollar a plate dinners and I have to say that it's really refreshing to see her play the role of an adult.

The other lady in Bob’s life is Lindsay Holloway, played by Eloise Mumford. Lindsay is a plain and simple country girl who resides in Midland. She’s sweet and loving but we have to wonder if she can really fulfill the needs of a character as complex as that which we see in Bob. I guess only time will tell.

Rounding out the cast we have Bob’s Dad played by David Keith who is constantly pressuring him into escalating the grift. Other characters include Drew and Trammel, Bob’s brothers in law as they are Cat’s brothers.

With only one episode having been aired there’s really not enough info to let the viewer know exactly how things will go. There’s not a whole lot of foreshadowing and my guess is because we are still primarily working on character development in episode one. I didn’t get to record the initial episode on the DVR but as most of you know, almost all shows are available online. I went to the Fox site and was able to see a really nice HD stream.

In conclusion I am going to say that I think the show has potential but I am not going to pin a lot of hopes on the theory that this will end up being the must see show of the season. Give it a look and tell me what you think.

Oh yeah, Make Sure You Check Out Craig's TV Den. Very Good Site

I Still Won't Type It... TV Week Day Two

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Big explosion, big wave, big sound, homage paid in montage, homage paid in the garage, Quonset huts, hot chick in bikini #1, hot chick in bikini#2, head shot through a car window, cue Grace Park, cool surfer stuff, more Grace Park, hot surfer chick decks guy on beach habalahabala this thing kicked so much ass I am not even sure I can write about it.

Okay now that I have that out of my system, Grace Park is smokin’, whoops one more slipped out. Okay now maybe I can concentrate and hack this baby out.

I just got through watching the debut of the Hawaii Five-O remake and I am really excited about a television show for the first time in a long time. This show is going to be my favorite of the season. There’s no doubt about it. Jethro and Ziva are cool, but Steve, Danno and Kona might even be more so. From the beginning of the show I was not let down for one instant.

I was so afraid that the show would intentionally try to distance itself from the roots and origins established by the 1968 show that it in essence it would not even be the same show. Fortunately I was wrong. The opening montage of the original series, which I spoke about in an earlier posting, is very tastefully recreated in a way that pays true homage yet does not possess even the faintest hint of camp. I honestly feel that the producers of this version are paying a genuinely deserved homage to the original series in both the opening montage, theme song and the film work done by the second unit. True fans of the original series will recognize the old Lincoln which belonged to Steve’s Dad as the same make and model that was used in the original series. Again, another very tasteful tribute to the original, I really enjoyed and appreciated that move.

Just like its predecessor, this show chooses to show the not so glamorous portions of Hawaii when the team goes in search of their suspects. Tin roof shacks and Quonset huts along with junked out cars decorate the mean streets of Honolulu where Steve and Danno go in and kick some ass while running down clues and looking for suspects.

This version has more action in that Steve is more of a scrapper and shooter than when Jack Lord played the character but I can live with that. Lord portrayed the role as a calm and collective guy who used his brains more than his fists but could also bring it when necessary. In this iteration, McGarrett is played by Alex O’ Laughlin while Danno is played by Scott Caan, the son of James Caan. We have Daniel Dae Kim, formerly Jen of LOST fame, rounding out the cast along with Grace Park who co-starred with Benjamin Bratt in A&E's "The Cleaner."

The show does a wonderful job in giving us the background info on both Danny and Steve. I know in the original show Steve was a former Naval Officer and the same holds true in this version as well. I have to admit ignorance as to the back ground of Danny “Danno” Williams until I looked it up on IMDB. In the original Danny was Hawaiian born and bred, but in the newer version he is a transplant from Jersey or somewhere back East. The bond that Danny and Steve instantly form is born out of mutual respect which they quickly see in one another. I really like the chemistry that we see in this relationship and I know that it will be an integral part of the storyline as more and more episodes air. They quickly meld with Kono (Grace Park) and Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim) and the beginnings of a cohesive team are instantly in place.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the beginning of what I am certain to be a long term “back story” or B arc as I have sometimes heard it described. I don’t want to give away any of the plot from the pilot, but if anyone is familiar with the original series is looks as though a Wo Fat inspired character might be lurking about behind the scenes in this version as well.

The show has a lot of appeal and I really hope it sticks around for a while. The sad thing is, whenever I really like a show that seems to equate to the kiss of death and it usually gets the axe long before its time. I really hope that this one can stick around long enough to evolve to its full potential. Even though I’ve only seen one episode, I think this show has the ability to be a success as long as they avoid jumping the shark and keep the successful formula as is. Oh wow, I just realized that it was actually in Hawaii where the jumping of the shark originated. Let’s hope that the sharks have gone and only the hot surfer chicks will churn the waters of Waikiki.

And no… I still won’t type it!

I almost forgot, now that you've read the crap I hack out, treat yourself to a really great site with a lot of insight from a guy who knows TV and writes far better than I. Check out the following link and see what you think.

Craig Sanger's TV Den

Let's Talk TV..Day 1 of TV Week

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A friend of mine suggested that I blog about some of the new shows which are debuting this week. Because I refuse to address politics, I decided to take them up on that offer as sometimes I am just not certain as to what I wish to discuss here. So I am going to give a quick opinion on two new shows I watched last night.

Long time TV favorite and the heart throb of millions of middle aged women Jimmy Smits made his return to Television with Outlaw, a story about a Supreme Court justice who steps down from the bench mid-docket to defend the downtrodden and disenfranchised. On the whole of things the premise is about as plausible as Hillary Clinton quitting her Secretary of State gig and working afternoons at the Red Dog as a stripper. We’ve seen this type show before where prominent people abandon their skyrocketing professional careers to help out the common man. The theory of someone instantly converting from an elitist to a pluralist makes for an interesting concept except it never points out that they could probably do more for the people while still within their position of power.

But rest assured, this is not a one man show. Smits has a staff of junior attorneys and a private investigator that assist him in his new role of “Do Gooder:” The cast includes Ellen Woglom as his gorgeous chief legal assistant who in the opening episode confesses her long term crush on him . We also have Carly Pope and David Ramsey, who bring one of the show’s few interesting aspects as they frequently exchange humorous and risqué one liners and dubious double entendres.

I like the character Smits plays. He’s a single, gambling, womanizing Supreme Court justice. But I dislike the overall premise of the show. Why couldn’t they make it more interesting by having Smits keep his job as court justice, while secretly, and thus illegally, dabbling in the legal issues of others? Had they done this, there could be a complete back story centering on whether he would be discovered and how he keeps this from happening.

I mean what could make for a better story than a Supreme Court justice actually going behind the back of the bench and working to circumvent it by offering information and assistance to the attorneys representing the causes in which he believes.

In closing my take on this showI will say that I liked the character, hated the premise but the chemistry and quirkiness of the cast in general will pull me back in for one or two more episodes before I make the final decision as to whether this show will continue to amass space on my DVR.


Well just when you all thought you were going to get off easy I decided to go ahead and talk about two shows today. I can feel your excitement and appreciation mounting. Last night I also watched the long awaited premier of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. One of my coworkers has been awaiting this show for quite some time and I hope he was not disappointed.

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The show stars Steve Buscemi as a crooked politician who is the Treasurer of Atlantic City which is based upon an actual figure. The show has a lot of gloss but to me the scenery looked extremely artificial. Now I know that it is very difficult to find existing storefronts and buildings which actually appear as they did back in the1920’s but somehow it just left me feeling a little disappointed.

I haven’t figured out if I like the story line or not. I don’t know if it is going to be truly original or if it will just be the typical recycled organized crime story we have seen so many times in the past with Bugsy, The Untouchables and countless other films going back to the days of James Cagney. I am going to give this show three episodes as well before I make my final decision but as much as I hate to admit it, I found myself constantly looking at the clock to see how much longer this initial episode would drone on. I am hoping that the story will progress more efficiently in future episodes.

Okay, now that you've read the stuff I hack out, go to the following link to read some PROFESSIONAL television reviews from a guy who writes for a living and does it quite well. I urge all of you to bookmark this link and return often as Craig writes a very good column that I think each of you will enjoy as much as I do.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tv-den/

Hawaii? Nope, I'm going to Iraq

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I don’t want to come off as unsympathetic, although I probably am. When I began this Blog I vowed that I would never post anything political in nature, it’s just not what I wanted the site to be. I am going to hold that today’s topic is in effect about common sense and not necessarily political in nature. We’ve seen a lot of news coverage concerning the three US hikers who were captured and taken hostage in Iran.

For those of you who may not have seen the story they were captured over a year ago on Iranian soil after they inadvertently wandered astray while hiking in Iraq and somehow managed to end up on the wrong side of the border. So just to set things straight, they were hiking in Iraq and wound up in Iran. At this point I have to stop and ask, “What the hell kind of tour guide booked this trip?”

They obviously had the funds and means necessary to travel internationally so of all places to take a vacation why did they choose Iraq? I know that I prefer war torn Third World countries where the temperature is 192 degrees and the national animal is the scorpion or something like that. Why would anyone want to visit the lush green fields of Ireland or the fjords of Norway when they can wander about the desert and be harassed by marauding bandits who want nothing more than to steal your shoes and wear your spleen on their head after having just cut it from your still kicking body? Wow, sign me up for that. I can sell my Club Med reservations on E-bay.

I bet these learned individuals are still wondering how they wound up as extras on an Iranian reality show about prison torture and six thousand ways to eat sand. If they’re fortunate, every other Wednesday they get the treat of a sautéed goat eye. I hate to see anyone fall on hard times, but I am having trouble seeing these people as victims of anything other than emmense stupidity.

I guess the point I want to make is that my take on the situation is this, “If you’re stupid enough to hike in a war zone then don’t be surprised if bad things happen to you. And also, please don’t ask the government to come to your aid because you were too stupid to begin with.”

I have spoken

What Are We Coming To???

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Last Friday I decided to stay in the house and listen to music, watch TV or read some magazine articles or something. I can’t remember the exact reason I opted to stay in. Nonetheless I was camped out in the recliner when it was time for the Ten o’clock News. They ran a story about the town of Gracemont and the fact that Gracemont High was enjoying their first home football game in the school’s history. I was glad for the team because high school football benefits everyone, especially in small towns. Gracemont plays what is known as Eight Man football. This is necessary for small towns and school districts that simply don’t have enough young men to adequately field a traditional eleven man roster.

But in the midst of the good news, a somewhat black cloud appeared on the scene. It seems that the game was halted at some point in the Third Quarter because it was determined that the disparity in the score, which was 48-0 in favor of Riverfield, warranted the game to be stopped. I will fully admit that I do not know all of the particulars as to what the rules as defined by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Association state concerning this, but I have to tell you that I think it is preposterous.

I know when I was in high school they had a run rule in baseball, but there was nothing of the sort which applied to football. And as long as the subject is up for discussion, this should not apply to baseball either. Once again I would like to reiterate that I am not certain what the exact rule is when it comes to stopping a game short of its full 48 minutes. If they stopped the game because of lightening or earthquake, I could possibly understand that. But there is no way I can fathom stopping a high school football game simply because it was determined that one team faced a point deficit which was deemed to be insurmountable. This is fundamentally wrong and goes against everything that sports are supposed to instill in young players.

This has sparked some debate between my coworkers and myself. Call me hard headed, but I can’t conceive of any argument that could sufficiently convince me that this was a positive action. Sure Gracemont was getting slammed, They had no chance at pulling out a victory. But the saddest thing of all is that these kids were deprived of the experience of testing their fortitude and showing that they could stick it out and keep playing no matter how lopsided the score.

One of my coworkers asked whose decision was it to call the game. I had to admit that I didn’t know if it was up to the coach, the referees or some bureaucrat with the Secondary Schools Association. My guess is that it is the third, the bureaucrat. I can’t think of any coach that would let someone pull his players off the field without putting up some sort of protest. And if it was a coach that made the decision then I really question his ability as a leader and the example he is setting forth for the young men entrusted to his care. Another coworker suggested that it might have been the decision of the players on the losing team. I can’t imagine that to be the case either, but if it was the decision of the players then they aren’t worthy of the privilege given them each time they buckle up their chinstraps.

What kind of lessons can be learned from this? No one overcomes adversity? When you’re down you might as well throw in the towel? Perseverance is overrated? Why keep playing if victory is not an option? I realize I am probably making more out of this than is warranted but surely I am not the only individual out there who can see that this is indicative of the systemic problem that is permeating our society. Last winter I wrote a piece questioning the decision to close some schools simply because it was too cold. There was no ice, sleet or snow to create hazardous travel conditions, it was simply cold. Again I am seeing the recurring theme that suggests if people are going to encounter a little bit of inconvenience or adversity they think it totally acceptable to throw in the towel succumb to adversity.

The generation of men who fought in World War II have been described by some as The Greatest Generation, at least by many people in the media. I have to admit that I agree with this wholeheartedly. Can you imagine the men storming the beaches of Normandy or those dug into the Ardennes giving up because they faced a little bit of difficulty? Of course you can’t. But I have to tell you that I have concerns about future generations and their ability to adapt, show resilience or perseverance based upon the lessons and examples being displayed by their leaders.

Just think, maybe someday all football players will be as good as Adam James.

Let Me Simplify This For You...

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I’m a simple man. Many of you have even told me so. It is in this vein that I shall pontificate, opine and generally spew forth my ideas, opinions and speculations concerning subjects that have long been the interest of scientists, scholars and barstool philosophers around the globe. I once heard a three year old sum up the Christian religion in two sentences. He looked at me, a total stranger, and said, “Jesus is up. The devil is down.” Three year old Buzz didn’t need to study scripture, listen to sermons or try to discern the true meanings of prophecy. His youthful mind had the basics down. He knew what was right, he knew what was wrong and he governed himself accordingly. I think that unaware of his own logic, Buzz had just delivered the most accurate and valid sermon I’d heard in quite some time. I will further stipulate that it was the only sermon I’d heard in quite some time. But even if I’d heard intricately crafted sermons preached from the high and righteous pulpits of goodhearted men I would still contend that the words of Buzz held more veracity due to their innate simplicity.

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t over analyze other things, which only leads to more questions than answers. What if we took the simplicity through which Buzz saw the world and applied this to other mysteries that had long plagued mankind?

Let’s think for a moment about Stonehenge. Now we may need to expand our boundaries further than Buzz did, but not much. Let’s go back and put ourselves in the place of the inhabitants of Salisbury around 2500 BC, give or take. There probably wasn’t a lot for the men to do around there. The women were out being the scavengers and gatherers and the cooks while the men were really only good at the Three B’s, Building, Battling and Banging. It wasn’t like they had cable or anything to occupy their time. Through possibly fictitious dialogue, I will convey my thoughts on how Stonehenge came to be. This might not be historically accurate, but I’m going to run with it none the less. Behold my words…

Picture if you will two middle aged Druids leaning against a tree, rock, bovine or any other object of your imagination. The one Druid, who we shall call Hank looks to his left, or perhaps his right depending upon his spatial orientation to John, his fellow villageman. And yes I just made up the word villageman. If you don’t like it you can use the term neighbor if it makes you feel more grammatically correct. Anyway, Hank says to John, “My kid was over near Amesbury the other day and said he saw two goofy bastards stacking some big rocks together. They tied a yak or an ox or some other big ass animal to a bunch of twisted vines and hooked them to a rock and made the animal pull it up another rock until they could move it over onto a couple of other rocks that they already had in place.”

“What the hell were they doing that for?” John asked.

“I think they were just bored and had some extra vines and rocks and just wanted to see if they could do it. Not sure what they were thinking or why they decided it was important but the boy said it took them a while to get it up there. They told him they were going to make two more piles of rocks next week,” Hank said.

At this point John got a little animated and probably began to pace about for a few moments in an agitated manner and then he probably said something along the following lines. “Oh HELL NO! I’m not about to let some slackass over in Amesbury stack a few rocks and make me and my village look bland, backward and uneventful. How many rocks did you say that bastard stacked?”

“The Boy said about five or six, “ Hank advised.

“Five or Six?” John asked. At this point he began to smile and Hank knew what he was thinking. “Those dillweeds in Amesbury ain’t got shit on Salisbury. Five or six my ass, I don’t care if it takes a couple months, I am gonna stack more than that. And ya know what Hank? I’m gonna stack those bitches in a circle. This is going to be the most badass lawn ornament that anyone has ever seen. That’s how I roll bitch. Let’s get this shit started.”

Now there are those who contend that Stonehenge was built as a calendar or Druid hall of worship or even a gateway to the unknown. But I think my theory as laid out above has got to merit some modicum of authenticity. We’ll never really know what the constructors of Stonehenge had in mind unless we could dig them up and ask them. So short of that, I am willing to go ahead and accept my theory as being extremely plausible.

Well if the logic of Buzz, and the theory of Occam’s Razor, hold that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, at least in the absence of evidence to the contrary, I think it can also be applied to the question as to why the Aztec Calendar ends in 2012.

The Aztecs ran the show in Mexico and Central America for the better part of the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries. They were a people of great mathematical and astronomic prowess, pretty vicious warriors and the most hardcore basketball fans there were if you know what I mean. Here’s what I think happened. The man on National Geographic Channel might not agree, but do you see him behind the keyboard writing this blog? ‘Nuff said!!!

Well one day the Head Aztec Guy (That’s the Title I am going to give him since the whole theme of this entry is simplicity rules the day) was looking for his calendar but it was nowhere to be found. He looked under the big stone that sufficed as his table. He looked under the throne. I don’t know if he had a couch, but if he did he probably looked between the cushions and down between the couch and the wall. Either way the dude couldn’t find a calendar. It was poor form for the ruler of the empire not to know what day it was so he summoned one of the most learned mathematicians on the plateau, we will call him Julio, and told him that he was desperately in need of a calendar.

Julio was also asked what day it was and he told Head Aztec Guy that it was December the 18th and that he could make him a calendar the next day but currently he was in the middle of a project that dealt with measuring the speed of light and if he could just have another twenty minutes to sort it out he thought he could finish up. Head Aztec Guy was pissed. How dare Julio tell him to take a number because he wanted to figure out something about light and stuff.

“I don’t think so dude,” said Head Aztec Guy. “You’re gonna get your ass over to that sun dial and make me a calendar. And you better have that shit finished by lunch. And you know what? It’s already December. You make my ass a calendar for next year too. And since you think you’re so damn smart you make one for the next ten years.”

Julio rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, Head Aztec Guy saw this show of disrespect and he said, “Whoa bitch. I know you didn’t just roll your eyes at me. Since you think you’re Julio the badass I think you need to go ahead and make me a hundred years worth of calendars.”

Not learning from his previous actions, Julio let out a sigh. Head Aztec Guy heard this and said, “Oh hell no bitch, you’re gonna have to give me another 500 years worth of calendars. Don’t you look at me that way. In fact bitch, make my ass some calendars all the way up until the year 2013. Don’t even think about saying anything else or I will sign your ass up for the basketball team.” Now we all know what happens when mathematicians try to play basketball and we also know what happens to the losing team in Aztec Rules Roundball.

So Julio wadded up his papers concerning the speed of light and what not and made calendars for the rest of his life, dying just nine days short of finishing out calendars until the year 2013. So that is my theory on why the Aztec Calendar stops at December 22, 2012.

So now that I have set forth my views, I encourage each of you, all 11 people who read this blog, to step back from your problems, projects, and daily burdens and ask yourself if maybe you too are over analyzing things to the point that you might not be able to see the answer which lies immediately before you.

Historic Footnote:

In case you were wondering, Head Aztec Guy died a long, painful death brought on by eating some bad shellfish at an event catered by Julio’s cousin.

You Say You Want A Revolution...

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I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while now but as anyone who knows me will tell you, the one thing that I have truly mastered is procrastination. However, in a sense the procrastination was a bit of a blessing because from the time I first thought about this post up until the present I have encountered new information which will allow for a more robust entry and additionally give this piece a more contemporary context.

Communication has been around forever. From the time the first caveman gave a gesture to the second caveman right up until this very second communication has been omnipresent and inescapable. While I am not checking any of these facts and am merely freewheeling at this moment I think they are probably pretty true. I can just imagine the days of earliest man when the predominant form of non verbal communication was probably party A striking party B with a large stick or rock. This one action was probably the equivalent of his saying, “Dude, you’re annoying the hell out of me!”

Of course both mankind and communication in general have advanced quite a bit since those days. Now if A were to strike B with a large object the end result would be Party B zipping off an E –mail to their attorney complete with attached photos of bruises and abrasions. But as communications advance it seems that the methods of communication seem to go through various cycles. I had been thinking about this for a few months and then yesterday I was reading a copy of The Smithsonian and it discussed the evolution of communication. I have to say that I was somewhat proud to find that these learned scholars had come to the same conclusion that I did.

When it comes to recorded communication of course the first examples we have are cave paintings and various glyphs of all sorts and shapes. I think the next step was that of cuneiform tablets and things of that nature. Eventually, we had the invent of papyrus and paper and eventually in 1440 or thereabout we had Gutenberg’s printing press. At that point it seems that the written word became law both figuratively and literally.

Over the course of history advancements in communication have been commonplace. We went from communication via paper to the telegraph then we had the telephone and then the fax which was soon followed by increased exposure to E-mail and now it seems that the text is quickly becoming the preferred method of communication.

When I think about the evolution of communication, at least in the not too distant pass, I think back to the Ken Burns series “The Civil War” in which he speaks about the letters he read while doing his research. He spoke of the eloquence with which these young men wrote when describing the events on the battle field and their emotions relating to their experiences as well as their inherent messages to loved ones. Burns was quick to point out that these gifted letter writers were not limited to the officer corps but in fact seemed to transcend every level of soldiery.

At that time letter writing was the primary means of written communication and thus a great many people had grown somewhat adept at the practice. The advent of the telephone probably had a significant impact on the number of letters and postcards being written, at least in a local and regional capacity because initially long distance calls were quite costly. After World War II, it seems that the telephone became the most popular form of communication, especially in urban centers while rural areas were still more immersed in letter writing. Of course the spoken word continued to grow in popularity with the expansion of the telephone to more and more areas.

While the telephone was very useful for immediate gratification in the business world, it still lacked the authenticity and legal standards of written and signed documents. So in the first forty years of the twentieth Century the old standard telegram remained popular because the trusted authority and secured lines of Western Union made a telegram legally binding, thus as good as a signed document.

Western Union was one of the most trusted forms of communication and their reputation still holds true today in the form of money transfers. My old man worked for Western Union as a messenger when he was in high school. I never received a telegram. I always thought it would be a novel communiqué to receive but alas I never received one and of course I never shall because on February 2, 2006 Western Union delivered the last telegram. Because of the confidentiality that gave them their reputation, neither the contents nor the recipient were disclosed.

Today even the fax machine has all but disappeared. Blogging and social networking have replaced the verbal telephone call between friends. But it seems that texting is quickly becoming the preferred means of communication.

So it seems that we went from speaking to writing and then back to speaking again, via the telephone, only to go back to writing, via E-mail. And then if you think about the syntax and communication patterns of the text message you can see that they are not unlike those of the old telegram. So it seems that no matter how the technology progresses, the methods of communication seem to cycle from oral, to written, back to oral and then back to written. Who knows, in the future there may be embedded devices that allow us to communicate orally without the presence of an external phone but merely using our ear canals, vocal chords and sinus cavities as reverberation channels. While that is a way off, I hope, I am certain that in my lifetime I will see another technological breakthrough that will totally revolutionize the way in which we communicate. But until we actually achieve telepathy communication can only come in a visual or audible medium, the only exception of course being the Braille system.

I have adapted to texting even though I am still somewhat slow at the process but I have to admit that I still prefer a phone call over a text. I don’t write letters with a pen anymore, I probably should because a hand written message is so much more personal than a text or E-mail. The other day I received a lovely thank you note from an old friend and I realized that it was the first time I had received a piece of hand written communication in at least a year or perhaps even longer. So if you have the time and the inclination, break out the ink pen and the stationery and actually write a letter to your Mom or your spouse or you child, parent, cousin or someone… it just feels good.

I Will Not Type It No Matter How Much You Beg...

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Normally the daytime TV fare runs the gamut from game shows to soaps and seems to taper off into the realm of litigious family members seeking their pound of flesh from one another via telejurists such as Judge Joe Brown, Judge Greg Mathis and any of the other litany of televised bench warmers… Yep, long live the pun. But I must admit that Spike Network, or perhaps simply Spike Channel since it is only one station is offering up a glorious blast from the past. From the first strike of the drum to the iconic picture of the big, breaking wave all the way to the quick, tight zoom of Jack Lord on a high rise balcony, Hawaii Five-O delivers what has to be one of the best opening montages in television history.

Equipped with what is arguably the most recognized theme song in the medium and a quick paced series of images depicting what we all have come to view as the essential Hawaiian experience, the opening Montage of Hawaii Five-O takes me back to what I believe was Saturday night in the early 70’s. The series began in 1968 and actually ran into the 80’s. The final first run air date was April 5, 1980. I had no idea that the show enjoyed that tenure until I checked out IMDB for some quick background info prior to hacking out this posting.

I remember the show as a kid but I have to admit we were not really devoted viewers. I knew the basic premise of the show which was basically cops and robbers which was the staple genre of the 70’s along with the obligatory private investigator of course. But I have to admit that watching the series as an adult I am having a terrific viewing experience. It’s not just the nostalgia of the old cars and spartan office furniture that draws me in, it’s the fact that we don’t see one computer or cell phone in the show, although the men of the Five-O squad do have car phones, they are merely radio relays and not portable as we think of cell phones today. Despite all of this we see the first inklings of a show that deals with forensics.

While they don’t discuss DNA samples, they are a little beyond merely looking for finger prints. I found it interesting that they were talking about searching for latent prints and discussed the process of what we now routinely know as “fuming” from our CSI franchises. Today I was watching an episode that dealt with a lot of film review because McGarret and Co. were reviewing the assassination of a state political figure who was killed in an explosion that just happened to be caught on film. As they were reviewing the tropical version of the Zapruder film the case was finally cracked by the keen observation of Steve McGarret. So in the end, attention to detail and sound police work won the day over forensic science.

Now I also bring up CSI for another reason. For those of you who watch CSI Miami but have never seen an episode of Hawaii Five-O I think you would be in for a treat. For the longest time I have been asking myself, “Who does this guy remind me of?” each time I see Horatio Cane walk into a room or stand and give his signature pose with the shades. After five minutes of watching Jack Lord portray Steve McGarrett you will suddenly realize that David Caruso must have locked himself in a basement for weeks on end and watched all 281 episodes of Five O in succession, and then repeated. Everything from the mannerisms and speech patterns, down to the gait with which Caruso walks, scream similarity to those of Jack Lord.

Of course the reason that Spike is choosing to air this classic show is because of the upcoming series that CBS, who aired the original series, will be debuting September 20 at 9:00 Central in which we see a new version of the show which will keep the same title and characters with one very noticeable exception. The new iteration of the series will have several female cast members, most notably Grace Park who will be playing Kono Kalakaua who I am thinking is the female equivalent of the original series Kono character. He was a big Samoan guy and she is a petite Asian beauty so there are some distinct differences.

As a kid, and still today as an adult, I always wondered why they had a guy named Kam Fong as Chin Ho. Why the hell didn’t they just have Kam Fong as Kam Fong? It sounds just as “Hawaiiny” as Chin Ho… doesn’t it?

In wrapping this up all I can say is that I have really enjoyed watching the episodes which have been airing on Spike in the mid morning to afternoon time slots. For all of my younger readers who had yet to draw breath when the original series was being aired, I encourage you to set your DVR or flip over to Spike around 11:00 AM and catch a couple of episodes of the original before watching the new series. If nothing else it will give you a sense of what the show is about and will allow you to appreciate all of similarities and differences between the two versions which of course will span generations. I am certain that the older people like myself and those just a few years older will favor the original for purely nostalgic reasons but I am vowing to approach the new version with an open mind and see where it takes me. I have to say that I have not looked forward to a show’s debut like this in quite some time and I am glad that I can still find some excitement on the tube.


And no I did not say/type it even one time.