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themiddle

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  • David Kelly is one of the most boring, didactic American scribes ever to have written for the screen. His “courtroom dramas” have always been nothing more than op-eds with a soundtrack.

    I can’t believe people get off on watching this stuff.

  • You don’t have to like or dislike the show, Davesax, you simply have to look at this particular clip, disengage it for a moment from the fact it is present on a program you dislike, and listen to what is being said.

  • Themiddle:

    I did listen. And I don’t mean to offend the people who like it, including yourself. I really don’t. But what is being said is not all that earth shattering or insightful. It’s been said in articles all over the country.

    And it’s also exaggerated. Kelly’s lines paint the picture of a police state. It’s more complicated than that.

    This type of political writing in drama is tiresome. I think Kelly should have been an op-ed writer. His characters are always preaching. On all his shows. That’s why he digs court room dramas so much. Every week, his characters take on a new important issue to rant about.

    It’s boring and facile.

    I like writing like the Wire, that shows the complexity of things through the actions and situations of the characters. Not some actor shoving Kelly’s opinions down my throat and engaging in courtroom theatrics that only take place on Hollywood sound stages.

    That’s just my opinion.

    Shalom.

  • I like The Wire as well. I also enjoy Rome, Entourage and The Sopranos. Thank God for HBO (and Sportcenter).

    However, this simple, facile talk is not being discussed all that much in the mainstream of America. His point is that nobody is doing anything about it because we have all meekly accepted what is going on. We have accepted the changes foisted upon us even if people do read the op-eds every once in a while. That’s the problem here, that when you’re silent as your rights are eroded, you allow the complexion of your society to change as well and in this case in a manner opposite to the very foundations of this society.

    I would think a show called Boston Legal, with the premise that every show concludes in a courtroom scene, would have some difficulty achieving your requirement that we see issues through action. As for Kelly’s mediocrity, I really don’t feel that strongly about his work but I will say that the vast majority of TV is mediocre. They play to the LCD and that’s how they manage to attract millions of viewers…

  • the lcd (lowest common denominator) is the reason this is so good. no, there is nothing new here, but for people who do nothing but sit on their asses and watch television, this could very well be the first time they heard an argument of exactly what is being labled as “un-american”, that “terrorist sympathizers” are actually real americans that happen to disagree with the governments decisions.

  • themiddle-

    “I would think a show called Boston Legal, with the premise that every show concludes in a courtroom scene, would have some difficulty achieving your requirement that we see issues through action.”

    Exactly. Because D.K. doesn’t have that skill. For twenty years he’s been writing legal dramas that function as pulpits. It’s tired. And I don’t like people preaching to me. Left or right.

    I just think we’re focusing on different things.

    As for your assertion that people aren’t “doing anything about it”, I have to politely disagree. Journalists have been working tirelessly to expose the controversial methods of the Bush administration. Dozens of books have been written. The New York Times editorial board has run hundreds of editorials on the subject. They even outed a government program that monitored terrorist funding, the the praise and disgust of other journalists.

    As far as the rest of us, well, we’re too busy making a living, watching stupid TV shows like this one, and arguing on blogs to become activists. Voting is really all we have time for.

    Shakes said:

    “this could very well be the first time they heard an argument of exactly what is being labled as “un-american”, that “terrorist sympathizers” are actually real americans that happen to disagree with the governments decisions.”

    Perhaps. But the argument is tainted by ideology. People are not being rounded up for simply being “un-american” or whatever, as Spader’s character is ridiculously claiming in his bloated, self-righteous speech. If they were, Union Square would be empty every weekend.

    Ever see Touch of Evil? Orson Welles plays a dirty, bigoted cop who frames a Mexican for murder. We watch the film repulsed by him.

    But at the end, we also find out that the Mexican was indeed guilty. When Welles’s character is told this, he says, “Of course he is”.

    That’s great writing. It transcends the left-right shlock that has permiated popular culture these days. It’s truly ambiguous in its conclusions.

    Now you can’t even talk about Battlestar Galactica without some critic writing about how every other scene is an “allegory” for America’s injustice in Iraq.

    It’s tiring, and all it does is preach to the converted.

    Anyway, that’s all. Have a great Shabbat. I truly love this site and look forward to sparring with ya’ll in the future.

    Shalom

  • I’m with davesax on this and have no fears that America will become a police state. It will be a Muslim state long before that.

  • Note to the moderator of this blog, my final edited submission on February 17th, 2007 at 12:28 pm is the one that I submit to you for the final published blog.