I have finally finished watching three different streaming series on the boob tube, and here is what I have to say about them.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (Hulu)
Remember the "Feud" series from 2017 about Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford? That was a delightfull bit of soap opera-ish trash that was so much fun to watch. Well, FX/Hulu finally came up with a new season, this one about Truman Capote and what he called his swans, a group of six high society ladies who he courted and in whom he confided, and they, in turn, confided in him, until he one day wrote an Esquire magazine article where he thinly disguised each of them and told the world about all of their foibles, flaws, faults, and secrets that were behind their high society veneers. They, in turn, ostracized him, and sent him into a sinking spiral of drugs, alcohol, and writer's block.
Tom Hollender, like Phillip Seymour Hoffman before him, plays Capote to a T with the high pitched voice, fey mannerisms, and outlandish clothes. It was the cast that comprised the Swans that intrigued me about this show: Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloe Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, and former brat packers Demi Moore and Molly Ringwald. Among the six swans, Watts, Lane, and Sevigny get most of the screen time in this eight part series. Ringwald, of "Sixteen Candles" fame and who is now, believe it or not, 56 years old, was the one that I was most anxious to see. Alas and alack, she was prominent in only two of the episodes and was barely recognizable, to me, at least.
One of the main plot points was Capote's struggle to produce what he felt was gong to be his masterpiece, a novel called "Answered Prayers" which would expand upon the Esquire piece and bring further humiliation to the high society grande dames. Capote may or may not have finished Answered Prayers. There are legends that he did finish and then destroyed it. Capote himself once stated that he locked it away in a locker in the Los Angeles bus station. Whatever happened, the completed version of the novel was never found amongst the papers and files of Truman Capote, who died in 1984 at the age of 59.
A version of Answered Prayers was published. It was only 150 pages long, and consisted of three parts, one of which was the complete article that appeared in that long ago Esquire magazine story. I bought a copy of it and read it, but I didn't really like it at all. I also bought a copy of Capote's true masterpiece, In Cold Blood. I read that book over fifty years ago when I was in high school, and I can't wait to read it again, as I now have over fifty years of life experience and, I hope, maturity, under my belt, but more on that after I do read it once again.
The show is lavish and stylish, well written and acted, and delightfully trashy. It gets Three Stars from The Grandstander.
TED (Peacock)
Remember the 2012 movie that starred Mark Wahlberg who, as a young boy wished that his teddy bear would come to life and be his best friend forever, and did? "Family Guy's" Seth MccFarlane was the brains behind that movie, as well as the voice of Ted, and it delivered exactly what you would have expected from MacFarlane.
Well, now Ted is a TV series from Peacock. It is set 1993, and Ted lives with a Boston family that includes his best buddy, sixteen year old high schooler, John, John's parents, and his cousin Blair, who is living with the family as she attends college in the area.
"Family Guy" is a series that you are almost embarrassed to tell people that you watch. It has crude humor, which include lots of flatulence jokes. It has almost no social value and much of it is very bad taste, but it is also hilarious. Well, "Ted" is all of that and then some. As it is not on network over-the-air television, MacFarlane doesn't let out any stops when it comes to "adult" language and humor.
Season One consists of seven episodes. It is rude, crude, often tasteless, but you will also find yourself laughing constantly and loudly.
Two Stars from The Grandstander.
True Detective: Night Country (HBO Max)
I was really looking forward to watching this six episode series for several reasons. HBO's True Detective series were always praised, (even though I had never seen one), it had an exotic setting, the wilds of Alaska during the six months of the year when the sun never appeared, and it starred Jodi Foster.
Three episodes in I was saying to myself "Gee, I hope that this picks up soon." It took me three separate sittings to get through Episode Four, and when it was over I was saying "Well, I've put this much time into it, so I guess I'll watch the final two episode." It took two sittings to watch Episode Five, and today I made myself plow through the sixth and final episode.
What a convoluted slog of a series. I couldn't keep track of the various plot lines, probably because I didn't care all that much. And that final episode! (ATTN: Spoiler Alerts to come right here) Foster and her partner (Kali Reis) enter an ice cave all by themselves, with no back ups. This defies all credulity insofar as correct police work goes. Foster falls through the ice and into the ocean, but somehow survives. We are forced to believe that ghosts from beyond have dogged Reis throughout the series are now visiting Foster, too. And the central mystery - what happened to the crew at the Tsalal Research Station - seems to get solved, not from out of left field, but from out of the bullpen located on one of the spring training practice fields.
A very disappointing series to me. Glad it was only six episodes instead of ten.
One Star from The Grandstander.
Up next for me are two series: "Death and Other Details" (Hulu), a ten part mystery in the mold of "Murder on the Orient Express" starring Mandy Patinkin, and "The Regime" an HBO Max series starring Kate Winslet. HBO and Winslet hit it out of the park a few years back with "Mare of Easton", so I am hoping that they can do it again.
Also, for the past few months Linda and I have been binge watching "Seinfeld" from Season One, Episode One, and we are ready to start the ninth and final season of the series. I have come up with some thoughts and comments on the series as a whole as I rewatch it all these years later (can you believe that this show debuted in 1992, over THIRTY years ago?), that I will yak about in this space once we finish the series in the next couple of weeks.
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