Parenthood

Parenthood is a TV series I've been meaning to write about for a while. The man behind it is also the man behind Friday Night Lights (Jason Katims) and that alone makes it worth a look. It's just finished its fourth season so if you're looking for something to immerse yourself in, this could be the box set to get you through February.

It's very loosely based on the 1989 film Parenthood which any self-respecting Keanu Reeves fan is more than familiar with. However, I don't think that it bears much resemblance except it's about a large family. In this case, the Bravemans are the family and it's set in that most perfect of cities, San Francisco. It has a lot of characters which means it takes skilful writing to pay them all the attention and draw them in a way that makes you care. Fortunately the writers behind this are clever and you find yourself caring about everyone.

The grandmother is Bonnie Bedelia, aka Mrs John McLean from Die Hard. This tickles me every week. All the cast are stellar - Peter Krause from Six Feet Under, Monica Potter who is insanely pretty and Lauren Graham. Ahhh yes, Lauren Graham plays Sarah. Possibly the least likeable character to come along for a while. If I'd been aware of her when writing my Top Ten Annoying Females, she'd have scored a place. This pains me as I like Lauren Graham. She is wonderful in Gilmore Girls. However, Sarah is selfish, immature and simply not very nice yet she's written as if you are meant to like her and sympathise. This infuriates me.

There are plenty of characters to like though, my favourite is Julia, the high-achieving lawyer sister and her husband Joel who TeenBoy and I would like to be friends with please. Also rated highly is Amber, Sarah's daughter who starts off season one as whiny but matures nicely and is beautifully played by Mae Whitman. And special mention to Crosby, the irresponsible brother who provides much of the comic relief.

It has plenty of appearances from Friday Night Lights alumni including Lyla, Vince and Luke. It can be a little cheesy but it's American and they can never resist a bit of cheese. Despite this, I highly recommend Parenthood, it's intelligent, thoughtful and great entertainment. Check it out.

Friday Night Lights

Today is a sad day my friends. Because tonight is the final night I will sit down to watch a new episode of Friday Night Lights. The final episode aired* last night in the US and thanks to the wonders of technology, I shall be watching it just 24 hours later.

My sister is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet and she has many great qualities but none top her television recommendations. She introduced me to Gilmore Girls, she was the one I watched Dynasty with, we went to the cinema together to watch Ferris and Top Gun and her finest hour was asking me if I was watching Friday Night Lights. The answer was no but it was soon rectified and I shall be eternally grateful to her.

If you've not watched this fine show, you really are missing out. Yes, it's about American football and no, I couldn't care less about American football (or any football for that matter). Yes, it's set in a small town in Texas where they all go to church and no, I am not interested in small towns in Texas and am allergic to religion. Nonetheless, it is compelling television. There is something about the way it is filmed that you actually feel you are there with them in Dillon, Texas and, here's the kicker, you are very happy to be there with them!

The story is about the coach of the football team and his wife (a perfect tv mom) - they are the constant throughout the five seasons. You meet the kids on the team and their various trials and tribulations. I'm not going to lie to you, a large part of the appeal lies in the character of Tim Riggins - a major TV crush. But even if Tim wasn't in this, I'd watch it avidly. It's simply wonderful.

I shall be very sad tonight. If you read Alan Sepinwall, you'll see he is practically inconsolable about the end of this series. It's that good. Everyone I have recommended it to loves it. By the way, give it a chance, it takes a few episodes to warm up properly.  Yes, it fits into teen TV but it also just fits into mighty fine TV that appeals to everyone. I plan to go back to season 1 and start again once tonight is over.

Below is a promo for the series set to Devil Town - it gives you a feel for the show.

*Not strictly true, it's an arrangement I don't understand where it's not actually on TV. Fortunately I am married to someone who understands all this.

Gilmore Girls

The Gilmore Girls ran for seven glorious seasons of a full 23-24 episodes per season. That's a lot of girls but fortunately they were witty and funny and set in small town Connecticut. What's not to love?

This weekend I've been having something of a Gilmore Girls retrospective and I've been rewatching the third season. There is one episode that has everything in it I love about this show. The episode is called They Shoot Gilmores Don't They? and it's about a dance marathon like they used to do in the great depression; basically couples dance for 24 hours and the last couple standing wins. There was a wonderful Waltons episode which featured this but we digress.

Lorelei (one of the great TV moms) is looking for a dance partner as she has to beat Kirk, the town oddball who in every single episode has a different job. So they have this rivalry about who will win the dance competition. Lorelei has lined up the new guy in town as he was once in Riverdance (just a hilarious thought) but his wife hears of this and forbids him to enter with Lorelei (who is completely gorgeous - played by Lauren Graham). So she ropes her 17 year old daughter, Rory, into dancing with her. Rory is on the brink of breaking up with her nice guy boyfriend Dean to get together with bad boy Jess. So without running down the whole show, it ends as they are in the final minutes of the 24 hour marathon and Dean tells Rory she is into Jess and stomps off the floor (he'd been standing in while Lorelei gets her shoe fixed). The reason I tell you all this is that it means Kirk wins and as he stated at the top of the show, he does a victory lap to the Rocky theme! This is a show that tells you Kirk will do a victory lap to the Rocky theme if he wins and then goes through with it. And it's wonderful. I admit to being slightly obsessed with the Rocky theme but even if you're not, I defy anyone to not giggle at this.

Gilmore Girls is stuffed full of pop culture references. Another favourite moment is when you see Lane's band do a version of Hollaback Girl with Sebastian Bach from Skid Row. Yes. I didn't just make that sentence up. Sebastian was in the show for a few seasons. It's that kind of show.

One of the many things I love about Gilmore Girls is all the characters, you feel like you are part of Stars Hollow. Babette - the crazy voiced neighbour, Miss Patti - the enormous dance teacher, Sookie - Lorelei's best friend and chef, Luke - the owner of the diner and of course Lorelei's true love but it takes them four seasons to realise it. I could go on and on but I must save a mention for Paris. Paris is one of the greatest characters ever written for television. Played to perfection by Liza Weil, she is an over achiever, needy, desperate for love and horrible yet loveable. Paris gets most of the truly great lines. You can read some here but if you've not watched the show, you may not really quite get it. I also can't mention the great characters and not mention Richard and Emily Gilmore, Lorelei's parents. Stiff and snobby, some of the wonderful moments from this show comes form the Friday night dinners set at their house.

Gilmore Girls has plenty of teen angst love in it to satisfy any inner teenager however it's much more than a teen show. It's just great television and it makes you want to move to small-town America and attend small-town meetings in long scarves and wooly hats while drinking coffee. If you've not watched it, get the box set and curl up under a blanket with a hot chocolate. After all, that's what January is for. I can't find the Kirk victory lap on YouTube or I'd leave you with it. And it won't let me embed Hollaback Girl so you'll have to click here. Enjoy!

The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show was a groundbreaking show. It's hard to imagine now but back in the 80s (yes, I know I sound about 85 years old) there weren't many black characters on TV and there certainly weren't many shows (any shows?) where the entire cast was black. Not only black but wealthy, educated and well, like white people.

The Cosby Show aired on Channel 4 and one of the things I loved about Channel 4 in the 80s was it showed so much US comedy. It also showed my much adored Cheers and the wonderful Golden Girls but we will save them for another day.

The Cosby Show was a simple set up. College educated, working couple and their home life with their five children. It was all very cosy and Bill Cosby, I now realise, is very annoying and smug but back then I felt I could just walk into that family and be right at home. They argued like normal people and I always felt a little sorry for Vanessa who wasn't the eldest, wasn't the cute young Rudy (although she did not keep her cuteness once adolescence kicked in), wasn't the beautiful Denise and was slightly awkward. But the scriptwriters knew this and wrote her very well. Theo was a bit dull but as the only boy had to be given tedious storylines. My favourite was Denise as played by Lisa Bonet, one of the most beautiful women in the world. It amused me that none of this so-called family looked vaguely like each other and were varying shades of black but hey, it was the 80s and progress of a sort.

Lisa Bonet went on to marry Lenny Kravitz, a coupling I always felt was perfect in terms of total coolness. She also starred in the spin off show, A Different World. This show was good when Lisa was in it and turned into a very different beast when she left. Early shows also had Marisa Tomei in it who I thought was great at the time and I was most gratified when she won a best supporting actress Oscar. I still think she's a good actress now. Here she is:

I adored The Cosby Show and back then (when it was all trees round here) shows were shown once and if you missed them, you missed them. We didn't have a VCR and so it was a proper event every Sunday night when this was on. 

Finally the mum in The Cosby Show is the sister of Debbie Allen (Lydia from Fame and if you don't know that, go watch it immediately!) I always thought she was a lovely mum. Not as nice as mine but still, a great TV mom.