Gentleman Jack Proves She Ain’t No Gentleman on HBO

Posted on April 22, 2019 by

“She was a real player.  She was very good at sex. It was high on her agenda of what was important.”–writer/director Sally Wainwright.

There was nothing ordinary about Anne Lister (1791-1840). Wealthy Yorkshire landowner, businesswoman, diarist and international gadabout Anne Lister was an unconventional force to reckon with in Regency England during the first half of the 19th century.

Her intellectual pursuits (anatomy, forensics, geology) defied female convention.  And at a time when women were festooned with ruffles and flourishes and relied upon men for marriage, Lister favored heavy black overcoats, top hats… and women who, according to Lister’s explicit, cleverly coded diaries, were more often than not willing to share her bed.

Anne Lister’s moniker, Gentleman Jack, is an apt title for the new, eight-episode dramatic miniseries, created, written and co-directed by Sally Wainwright for HBO/BBC.  Episode One— “I was just passing”– debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, April 22, 2019, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. (Episodes 2-8, follow on successive Mondays in May and June.)

Anne Lister’s remarkably bold lifestyle has been the subject of various literary and Brit TV efforts, but was first documented by Lister herself in voluminous daily diary entries (with her sexual exploits detailed in code).  The diaries (and her lesbian romances) date from her teenage years.

Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) defiantly asserts her role as manager of her estate’s tenant farmers and rich coal mines in the HBO/BBC miniseries, GENTLEMAN JACK. Photo: Matt Squire/HBO.

Gentleman Jack jumps feet first into Lister’s life story, circa 1832, as she returns to Shipden Hall, her ancestral home in Halifax, Yorkshire, bent but unbroken by yet another female lover’s decision to marry a man. Actress Suranne Jones tears up the screen as bold, charismatic Anne Lister.  With a wink and nod to the camera, she lets nothing stand in her way as she throws her family (sister, elderly aunt and father) and servants, tenant farmers and neighbors into a tailspin when she sets various progressive protocols in motion as Shipden’s headstrong heir.

She threatens to modernize stuffy Shipden Hall, adding fanciful outbuildings and lush, park-inspired landscapes to the estate grounds. She demands overdue rent from lax tenant farmers, and haggles smartly with local coal magnates over title to her estate’s rich coal deposits.  All this, she hopes, will set the stage for a new, more permanent local romantic conquest… the seduction and, yes, a hoped for church blessed union with the shy, sheltered young heiress, Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), next door.

Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) works her magic on shy heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) in GENTLEMAN JACK on HBO. Photo: Matt Squire/HBO.

Anne Lister was determined to buck the status quo and live true to her God-given nature, which she apparently paraded confidently in public and enjoyed in the bedroom. She would never consider marrying a man, not even under societal pressure for convenience or financial gain.  Instead, she set her romantic and financial sights on women like young heiress Ann Walker.

There’s no question that Gentleman Jack is a fascinating departure from run-of-the mill historical dramas.  Series creator Sally Wainwright hits the ground running as she introduces 21st century viewers to a real-life, ballsy, unconventional Regency-era heroine who, as it turns out, has gained notoriety not only for her historical relevance as a swashbuckling, marriage-minded lesbian but also as an acclaimed diarist.

Anne (Suranne Jones) Lister’s young French maid, Eugénie (Albane Courtois), has a time-sensitive secret in GENTLEMAN JACK on HBO. Photo: Matt Squire/HBO.

The series should definitely encourage further research and discussion about Anne Lister’s milieu, life and lifestyle. But although Anne’s gender-bending persona, as inhabited with fearsome energy by actress Suranne Jones, sets each episode afire, the nervously compliant object of her affection, young Ann Walker, soon grows tiresome and hardly worthy of Lister’s ardor.

There are also a host of colorful, underused marginal characters with great potential here:  her fussy spinster sister, Marian; her wise elderly aunt and deaf, no-nonsense dad, as well as comical servants, faithful and fearsome tenant farmers, and sleazy Trumpian coal magnates.  All have their moments, but not enough of them to enliven the saga of Lister’s romantic pursuit of wishy-washy Miss Walker.

Anne Lister (1791-1820).

Episode One of Gentleman Jack– “I was just passing”– debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, April 22, 2019, 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. (Episodes 2-8, follow on successive Mondays in May and June.)

Check for additional HBO playdates in your region in the days and weeks ahead, and the film’s availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand, affiliate streaming platforms and DVD. Gentleman Jack is also scheduled to premiere concurrently on the BBC on April 22, 2019. –Judith Trojan

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Tech Visionary or Fraud? The Inventor: Out for Blood on HBO

Posted on March 18, 2019 by

Former self-made healthcare billionaire, media darling and Steve Jobs wannabe Elizabeth Holmes pitched a blood-testing device that she claimed would revolutionize the healthcare industry. She has been indicted for conspiracy to commit fraud. Photo courtesy HBO.

“When I was introduced to Elizabeth by George Shultz, her plan sounded like an undergraduate’s dream. I told her she had only two prospects: total failure or vast success. There would be no middle ground.”

Former  U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger wrote those prescient words in a 2015 Time magazine tribute to then 31-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of the multi-billion dollar healthcare company, Theranos.  She was heralded as a “Titan” on Time magazine’s list of  the “100 Most Influential People of 2015,” and Kissinger was her champion.

Henry Kissinger and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz joined a roster of distinguished, politically connected high rollers, including future U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, on the Theranos Board of Directors.  Although Elizabeth Holmes’ Silicon Valley success inspired female entrepreneurs and healthcare professionals the world over, no women or medical professionals sat on her company’s Board of Directors.

Just two years later, the bad practices and false promises of her shady enterprise were exposed by a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter and a few brave company whistle-blowers. Holmes’ investors, whom she charmed out of millions of dollars, lost sizable fortunes.  And her staffers (at her company’s peak, some 800 strong) had to reclaim what was left of their professional credibility after being strong-armed into silence (and suicide in one case) by Theranos’ cutthroat legal team.

By 2018, when her $9 billion company was worth less than zero, Elizabeth Holmes and her COO and former investor boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were indicted by the federal government for conspiracy to commit fraud.

Elizabeth Holmes and Yoda, happy together. Photo courtesy HBO.

In his new feature-length documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley debuting tonight on HBO, Oscar® and Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney explores the “psychology of fraud” by tracing Elizabeth Holmes’ meteoric rise from a 19-year-old Stanford dropout and Steve Jobs wannabe to savvy inventor and marketer of what she touted as a groundbreaking blood-testing device that could run hundreds of tests from a single finger stick.

“You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you.”–Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

That refrain could easily have been used to describe the startling allure of Elizabeth Holmes. Her Spartan black, turtle-neck wardrobe mirrored the sartorial signature of her idol, Steve Jobs. Her progressively deepening baritone voice and huge, unblinking blue eyes drove storied men and women straight to their checkbooks.

Holmes’ childhood precociousness, fascination with invention and entrepreneurial roots in the Fleischmann Yeast family gave her a step up as she turned the heads of notable professors and mentors at Stanford and beyond.  She named her blood-testing machine, Edison, after her earliest role model, Thomas Alva Edison, whose expertise as a pitchman, do or die mindset and myriad trial and errors Alex Gibney recaps in a wonderful opener that features vintage Edison film clips.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, was a master storyteller. Photo courtesy HBO.

If Edison worked, as Holmes promised it did, it would sideline uncomfortable blood draws that required vials of blood and several days to process.  Edison would bring low-cost, quick and easy blood testing to neighborhood pharmacies like Walgreens (who bit hard), and remote locations on the battlefield. And it promised to upend the two giants monopolizing the blood-testing industry:  Quest and LabCorp.

Edison and Steve Job’s example and the Silicon Valley mantra “Fake it till you make it” drove her relentless ambition to market her blood-testing machine to unquestioning investors and the masses.  She became the world’s youngest self-made millionaire; a captivating feature story on all the magazine covers and news shows that mattered (Forbes, Fortune, The New Yorker, The Today Show, Charlie Rose); and she was honored with prestigious awards and endorsements from political and media movers and shakers.

Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, segued from profiling Scientology and Sinatra to visionary dreamer and potential jailbird Elizabeth Holmes in HBO’S THE INVENTOR. Photo courtesy HBO.

Alex Gibney timelines Holmes’ rise and fall with insight gained from some key early Holmes print profilers (The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta and Forbes’ Roger Parloff) and investors and staffers who jumped on board the Theranos bandwagon as believers only to become unnerved by the paranoia, secrecy and unsound medical practices unfolding behind closed doors.

Especially noteworthy here are the personal anecdotes from the brave Theranos professionals who eventually helped to bring Elizabeth Holmes down, most notably George Shultz’s personable grandson, Tyler Schultz, and medical tech Erika Cheung, as well as investigative reporter John Carreyrou, who first broke the story in the Wall Street Journal and went on to write a book, Bad Blood (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018), about it.

The Edison sounded good on paper in the striking investment portfolios and media campaigns that pitched it (one was directed by renowned documentarian Errol Morris).  But it was essentially just a story, one that Elizabeth Holmes was brilliant at telling and selling remarkably by sidelining  the prestigious naysayers (professors and healthcare professionals) who said it was a bad idea and a health hazard to patients who relied upon its flawed results.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, March 18, 2019, 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET. (Check for additional play dates in your region and in the days and weeks ahead, and the film’s availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand, affiliate streaming platforms and DVD.)  I also recommend sourcing ABC-TV On Demand for The Dropout, an excellent two-hour exposé about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes that covers more of her backstory and additional witnesses. The Dropout aired on ABC-TV’s 20/20 on Friday, March 15, 2019, 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET.

And what of Elizabeth Holmes’ future?  Will “orange be her new black”? Stay tuned!— Judith Trojan

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Fred Rogers Celebrated in Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on HBO and PBS

Posted on February 9, 2019 by

Fred Rogers (1928-2003) on the set of his PBS show, MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. From the Morgan Neville/Focus Features film, WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? Photo: Jim Judkis.

“Love is at the root of everything–all learning, all parenting, all relationships–love or the lack of it.”–Fred Rogers.

Love your neighbor. Love yourself.  It sounds easy; but, as we all know, it isn’t.  No one knew that better than Fred Rogers.

The sweater, the sneakers, the comforting voice and welcoming smile…it certainly never stopped being a beautiful day in “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Even before he stepped out of the seminary as an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1963, he was convinced that television had the potential to reach and teach young children lessons of love, kindness and acceptance.

“What we see and hear on the screen is part of who we become.”–Fred Rogers.

Fred Rogers cools his feet on a hot summer day with Officer Clemmons (Francois Scarborough Clemmons) on an episode of MR. ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. Photo: John Beale.

If you need a refresher course in the magic of Fred Rogers, on-air and off, you need look no further than Morgan Neville’s critically acclaimed new feature-length documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? A 2018 blockbuster in theatrical release, at film festivals and on the awards circuit (the film won the 2019 Producers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary and a boatload of other prestigious awards), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? debuts on HBO tonight, Saturday, February 9, 2019, 8:00 – 9:35 p.m. ET/PT. And in honor of Fred Rogers’ career-long commitment to public television, the film will also air concurrently tonight, Saturday, February 9, 2019, 8:00 – 9:35 p.m. ET/PT on the PBS series, Independent Lens.  (Check listings for PBS air times in your region.)

Fred Rogers learned the ropes as a jack-of-all trades at WQED-TV, Pittsburgh, and eventually as co-producer/scriptwriter/puppeteer/musician on “The Children’s Corner” (1955-1961), a live, weekday afternoon program.  “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” also produced at WQED, debuted on February 19, 1968, on what was then called National Educational Television (NET).  By the time the last new episode of “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” aired on August 31, 2001 (less than two weeks before 911), it had quietly and positively impacted the lives of generations of children.

The format and content of each show were carefully paced and structured to build self-esteem by gently encouraging children to explore the world around them, master developmental tasks and cope with new and sometimes unsettling life experiences (parental divorce, assassination, bigotry, disabilities). As welcome guests in Rogers’ neighborhood, young children were safe to be themselves, to learn, laugh and, most of all, to love themselves and others without judgment or preconceived notions about disabilities or differences.

Fred Rogers touched the hearts of generations of children. Photo: Jim Judkis.

On February 21, 2001, as Fred Rogers approached the taping of his last episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” I was honored, as Director of the Christopher Awards, to spearhead the presentation of our 2001 Special Christopher Award to Fred Rogers for “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” a program that had, from its debut in 1968, gently celebrated the sanctity of childhood.  It was the first Special Christopher Award ever presented to a children’s program in the Christopher Awards’ 52-year history.

Needless to say, we were thrilled and honored to have Fred Rogers and David Newell (aka Mr. McFeely) in attendance during our 52nd annual Christopher Awards’ event on February 22, 2001.  As icy winds and snowdrifts whipped around the Time-Life Building in midtown Manhattan that evening, Rogers warmed everyone’s heart with his gracious manner and touching speech, that concluded with a startling request that I will never forget:

“Before I say ‘Good Night,’ would you take just a minute to think of someone who has nourished your spirit, someone who has cared for you, encouraged you to believe that you’re welcome in this life–someone who has loved you into being? Whether that person is here tonight or far away or even in heaven, let’s just have a silent minute to be grateful for those who have become such an important part of who we are.  One minute–I’ll watch the time.”–Fred Rogers.

We sat in silence for one minute. Imagine Rogers’ soft voice and gentle but insistent delivery, and you will understand why there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when we rose en masse to give him a well-deserved standing ovation.

David Newell (Mr. McFeely) and Fred Rogers take a moment on MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. Photo: Lynn Johnson.

As you will see, if you watch Morgan Neville’s beautifully crafted documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Rogers closed many of his speeches with that same entreaty.  It summed up the essence of the wonderful man whose company I enjoyed that snowy evening in February 2001 and via correspondence thereafter.

Two years later, on February 27, 2003, as we gathered at the Time-Life Building in Rockefeller Center for the 54th annual Christopher Awards gala, we suddenly learned and announced to our shocked audience that Fred Rogers had passed away earlier that day. More tears were shed, but this time for the loss of this great man who had hugged us with his presence, seemingly hale and hearty just two years before…who had made me and others that evening in February 2001 remember that we were special, that we were “loved and capable of loving.”

Now Academy Award®-winning director Morgan Neville honors Fred Rogers’ legacy with the exquisitely crafted and moving documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?  The film follows the trajectory of Rogers’ life and career–his boyhood challenges, his serious study of early child development and fascination with early television, and the road that melded those two passions with his media ministry. The pivotal themes, puppets, cast and crew are on-hand, as are Rogers’ widow Joanne, their sons John and Jim, and sister Elaine (aka Lady Elaine).

Fred Rogers with his puppet pal, Daniel Striped Tiger, from his show MR. ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. Photo courtesy The Fred Rogers Company.

There are many delightful and surprising moments.  Vintage clips underscore Fred’s impressive ability to individually engage shy young fans one-on-one; to share hugs and kisses with Koko, the gorilla; and convince old, cranky U.S. Senators with an ax to grind that funding children’s programming on public TV was a must.

A lovely animation, featuring Fred’s puppet Daniel Striped Tiger, threads throughout the film as quiet commentary on the challenges Rogers faced along the way. “Daniel was the real Fred,” remembers Joanne Rogers wistfully.

“The greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they’re loved and capable of loving.” –Fred Rogers.

Be sure to grab a box of tissues and watch Won’t You Be My Neighbor? when it debuts on HBO tonight, Saturday, February 9, 2019, 8:00 – 9:35 p.m. ET/PT. The film will also air concurrently tonight, Saturday, February 9, 2019, 8:00 – 9:35 p.m. ET/PT on the PBS series, Independent Lens. (Check listings for PBS air times in your region and additional HBO play dates in the days and weeks ahead and the film’s availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand, affiliate streaming platforms and DVD.) –Judith Trojan

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Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists Headlines on HBO

Posted on January 28, 2019 by

“We’re on the side of the little guy.”

I may have been born and raised in New Jersey but my dreams were all wrapped up in the promise and allure of the shining city on the Hudson. On good days and bad, as I was growing up, the iconic Manhattan skyline sat like a majestic magnet on the horizon to the east of my hometown. I’m proud to say that I spent more than half of my life working and studying in New York City.  I consider myself a New Yorker by choice… by way of NJ Transit… and have no regrets.

My lifelong show biz predilections and career in the film and publishing industries required that I keep abreast of all of the daily media news fit to print. My newspaper of choice continues to be The New York Times. But pre-Trump, I confess to devouring the New York Post and never missed the New York Daily News, even if I had to read it over the shoulders of fellow commuters on the bus or subway.

Now that I’ve screened the wonderful new feature-length HBO documentary, Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists celebrating superstar New York newspaper columnists Jimmy Breslin (1928-2017) and Pete Hamill (b.1935), it’s clear that they were producing some of the best journalism New York City newsprint had to offer for five decades.  I’m ashamed to admit that, back in the day, I bypassed their columns on a regular basis.

Legendary NYC newspaper columnists Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin compare notes in their heyday. Photo courtesy Pete Hamill and HBO.

Legendary NYC newspaper columnists Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin compare notes in their heyday. Photo courtesy Pete Hamill and HBO.

No matter where you currently hang your hat, if you are now… or ever have been… an avid New Yorker, were born and raised in its boroughs, relish reliving the adventures of your youth on its shores or could use a refresher course highlighting the last 50 tumultuous years of NYC history, be sure not to miss Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists.  The feature-length documentary, directed and produced by Jonathan Alter, John Block and Steve McCarthy, debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, January 28, 2019, from 8:00 – 9:50 p.m. ET/PT.

As the film points out, from birth through old age, Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill had a lot in common.  They both grew up poor in New York’s Irish-American working class neighborhoods, with dominant mothers, for better (Hamill) or worse (Breslin), and hard-drinking fathers. They were street smart from an early age and cultivated friends and enemies in dark places. They broke into the news business at a time when print journalism flourished and as many as seven newspapers competed to snag readers with breaking daily news.  Newsrooms were choked with smoke, and hundreds of reporters without college degrees sat shoulder to shoulder pounding away on manual typewriters.

Brash journalist Jimmy Breslin was known for his take-no-prisoners approach to storytelling on and off the page. Photo: Paul Schwartzman. Courtesy HBO.

Breslin and Hamill touched all bases in their careers, as columnists for the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Daily News, Newsday and the New York Post; as best-selling book authors; as colorful, smart-assed TV talk show guests; hard-partying gadabouts and red carpet celebrities. But their immigrant roots and ongoing connections in the streets and back alleys of NYC and its boroughs with cops and cons and working class stiffs shaped their extraordinary prose and fueled their lifelong empathy for the underdog and zeal to challenge discrimination.

The film revisits in vivid detail–via Breslin and Hamill’s brilliant prose, vintage headlines, graphic news footage, and first person narratives–some of the stories that broke during their careers.  Included are Son of Sam’s affinity for Breslin; the discriminatory firing of a young, female Hispanic cop; the public support for subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz; Donald Trump’s incendiary impact on the Central Park Jogger case; Nixon’s legacy of lies; the victimization of AIDS patients; and Hamill’s gripping memories of being on-site during Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination and caught in the detritus of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Popular journalist and NY and Hollywood A-lister, Pete Hamill enjoyed a close relationship with fellow Irish-Americans JFK and RFK. Photo courtesy Pete Hamill and HBO.

Breslin and Hamill:  Deadline Artists smoothly incorporates the duo’s individual biographies (early, middle and sunset years) with stirring quotes from their writing and reflections from an impressive array of their peers, colleagues and family members.  Archival footage of fiery Breslin (who thought nothing of taking a cab and a beating in the middle of the race riot to get his story) and dashing Hamill (who dated Jackie Kennedy and Shirley MacLaine, concurrently) in their salad days contrasts sharply with the men they became in advanced age as they look back wistfully at choices they made as relentless newspaper columnists and, closer to home, as hard-drinking husbands and fathers. Jimmy Breslin died on March 19, 2017.

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists provides long overdue appreciation for the unique voices of two seasoned reporters who sought out and documented the stories of the little guys and gals who were impacted by the big stories of their day. I for one have been inspired by the film to catch up with their work and learn from their example. The film’s fascinating print newsroom back story will be an evergreen asset in high school and college journalism classes as well.

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists debuts on HBO tonight, Monday, January 28, 2019, from 8:00 – 9:50 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for additional HBO play dates in the days and weeks ahead and the film’s availability on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate streaming platforms.) –Judith Trojan

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Attenborough and the Sea Dragon Marvels on PBS Nature

Posted on January 9, 2019 by
In NATURE: ATTENBOROUGH AND THE SEA DRAGON, Sir David joins colleagues on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, UK. Their painstaking  fossil find and forensics enabled them to identify and replicate, by computer-generated imagery, a new species of Ichthyosaur, a fearsome 200-million year-old air-breathing fish lizard. Photo courtesy BBC.

In NATURE: ATTENBOROUGH AND THE SEA DRAGON, Sir David joins colleagues on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, UK. Their painstaking fossil finds and forensics enabled them to identify and replicate, by computer-generated imagery, a new species of Ichthyosaur, a fearsome 200-million-year-old air-breathing fish lizard. Photo courtesy BBC.

Dragons? Dinosaurs? David Attenborough?  If any one of those D-words piques your interest, I urge you not to miss Attenborough and the Sea Dragon.

This fascinating, new hour-long documentary opens the 2019 season of Nature on PBS, tonight, Wednesday, January 9, 2019, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region.)

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough’s passion for the prehistoric is infectious as he timelines and assists in the discovery and reconstruction of a new species of Ichthyosaur, an air-breathing fish lizard.  While dinosaurs foraged on land, this “sea dragon” ruled the ocean for more than 150 million years and died out around 90 million years ago.

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough helps reveal the 200-million-year-old bones of the “sea dragon,” a newly discovered species of Ichthyosaur. Photo: Robin Cox.

Zeroing in on the fossil rich beaches and limestone cliffs lining the southeast coast of England (aka the Jurassic Coast), Sir David tags along with British archaeologist and fossil hunter Chris Moore and his associates as they meticulously excavate and reassemble the skeleton and rare fossilized skin fragments of their exciting new find.

Moore’s team determines, via forensic evidence and 3D reconstruction, that this new species of Ichthyosaur was approximately 15 feet long and shared evolutionary roots and physical attributes with such present-day sea mammals and reptiles as dolphins, sharks and crocodiles.

Sir David Attenborough and archaeologist Chris Moore preview the finished cleaned “sea dragon” fossil. Photo: Robin Cox.

There is also a murder most foul to solve as Sir David and Chris Moore question the sea dragon’s decapitation and violent bone crushing cause of death.  Sir David introduces us to the probable culprit, the Temnodontosaurus, one of the largest Ichthyosaurs known to have grown up to 33 feet long. Its huge size, enormous eyes and razor-sharp teeth made it a formidable predator and threat to more diminutive sea creatures, including those within its own species.

Even if you’ve aged out of the Dinotopia and Jurassic Park film franchises, it’s impossible to resist Sir David Attenborough’s enthusiasm for the origins and attributes of prehistoric creatures that once prevailed on land and sea. Produced and directed by Sally Thomson, and hosted by the ageless Sir David, Attenborough and the Sea Dragon is a BBC Studios production for PBS and BBC with THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC.

The hour-long documentary debuts on the PBS Nature series tonight, Wednesday, January 9, 2019, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and  http://www.pbs.org/nature  for online streaming, DVD and Blu-Ray availability.)  –Judith Trojan 

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Lucy Bakes a Big Loaf in I Love Lucy Christmas Special

Posted on December 14, 2018 by
Legendary I LOVE LUCY cast members, from left: William Frawley, Vivian Vance, Richard Keith, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Legendary I LOVE LUCY cast members, from left: William Frawley, Vivian Vance, Richard Keith, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

I loved Lucy. Unlike Mama, Harriet Nelson and Margaret Anderson, wife to the father who always knew best, Lucy Ricardo never tied her apron strings. As a housewife, she was rarely content or a success in the traditional sense of the term.  She did try.  But her efficient, “happy homemaker” schemes invariably tested husband Ricky’s Latin patience, and havoc ensued.

Lucy’s societal aspirations, “part-time jobs” and relentless quest for her own show business career drove a wedge between the couple, generating unforgettable comic shtick. Her bond with fellow housewife Ethel Mertz was possible only because Ethel was a closet vaudevillian and, like Lucy, had nerve to burn.

Though I never doubted Lucy’s love for Ricky, Little Ricky, and her surrogate family–Ethel and Fred Mertz–I knew that Lucy would never rest until she tried (and she tried everything) to make a break from her everyday routine

Nowhere were Lucy’s aspirations more evident than in Pioneer Women, a memorable I Love Lucy episode that originally debuted in black and white on CBS over half a century ago on March 31, 1952.  Pioneer Women now joins the growing list of colorized classic I Love Lucy episodes to be piggybacked with the previously colorized and aired Christmas Episode.  Tonight, Friday, December 14, 2018, the two half-hour episodes morph seamlessly into CBS-TV’s annual hour-long I Love Lucy Christmas Special, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Too much yeast? Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) have their hands full in the newly colorized 1952 I LOVE LUCY episode, PIONEER WOMEN. Photo ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Too much yeast? Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) have their hands full in the newly colorized 1952 I LOVE LUCY episode, PIONEER WOMEN. Photo ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You can almost smell the aroma of fresh-baked bread and home-churned butter as Lucy and Ethel tackle baking and churning the old-fashioned way in Pioneer Women… well, maybe not.

When Lucy and Ethel beg their husbands to buy them dishwashers (Lucy calculates she’s washed 219,000 dishes in 10 years of marriage, and her hands have had enough!), the guys’ cheap skate solution (rubber gloves!) falls on deaf ears. And so begins a fifty-buck bet and battle of the sexes over who best can live without modern conveniences.

As the competitive foursome don the garb and accoutrements of yore, they are snafued by two snooty members of the Society Matrons’ League, who must approve Lucy and Ethel for coveted membership. Lucy takes the high road, but not before making a monumental misstep in the kitchen.  I prefer to think of her six-foot-long loaf of home-baked bread as an over-achievement rather than a colossal misuse of yeast.

Originally thought to be “lost,” the December 1956 Christmas Episode is a nostalgic Christmas eve visit to the Ricardos’ Manhattan apartment where Lucy and Ricky trim their tree and prep gifts to surprise Little Ricky, their Santa-obsessed five-year-old. Without missing a beat, Ricky and Lucy concoct a whimsical timeline for Santa to deflect their son’s questions and insistence on remaining awake to greet him fireside.

The benchmark I LOVE LUCY birthing episode is now colorized and recalled in the I LOVE LUCY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL on CBS.

Fred and Ethel Mertz join the fun as Lucy and Ricky wistfully recall Lucy’s unexpected pregnancy announcement at Ricky’s nightclub, and Ricky, Fred and Ethel’s subsequent clumsy effort, months later, to get Lucy to the delivery room on time. Welcome colorized flashbacks are intercut from these classic episodes.  The latter, still hilarious after all these years, continues to serve as the classic benchmark for all TV sit-com “birthing” episodes that followed.

Finally, in a musical interlude, Lucy’s attempt to sing “Jingle Bells” reminds Ricky and the Mertzes of the time tone-deaf Lucy crashed their barbershop quartet with disastrous results.  A flashback of their sabotaged performance is included.

You can read my original thoughts about colorization in a previous I Love Lucy Christmas Special post, but I’m happy to report that the colorization team continues to freshen the appeal of the I Love Lucy episodes broadcast on CBS during the holidays without compromising the show visually or sacrificing its period charm. You can read my reviews of past I Love Lucy Christmas Specials at http://www.judithtrojan.com/2016/12/02  and http://www.judithtrojan.com/2015/12/23 and http://www.judithtrojan.com/2014/12/07

Faux or funny? This quartet is featured in the annual I LOVE LUCY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL broadcast on CBS. Photo ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Faux or funny? This quartet is featured in the annual I LOVE LUCY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL broadcast on CBS. Photo ©2017 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This year’s annual I Love Lucy Christmas Special will be broadcast on CBS tonight, Friday, December 14, 2018, 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT. (Also check OnDemand, Netflix, and DVD availability of vintage I Love Lucy episodes.)  And when you’re busy in the kitchen this season whipping up a batch of holiday cookies, cakes and breads, remember to carefully calibrate your yeast, downsize your dough and load up on laughs. Happy Holidays!–Judith Trojan

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A Squirrel’s Guide to Success on PBS Is No Tall Tail

Posted on November 14, 2018 by
A nose for nuts? The Fox squirrel, the largest tree squirrel species in North America, is one of many squirrel species featured in NATURE: A SQUIRREL'S GUIDE TO SUCCESS on PBS. Photo courtesy TessarTheTegu/Shutterstock.

A nose for nuts? The Fox squirrel, the largest tree squirrel species in North America, is one of many squirrel species featured in NATURE: A SQUIRREL’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS on PBS. Photo courtesy TessarTheTegu/Shutterstock.

“You can’t be friends with a squirrel. A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit.”– Sarah Jessica Parker.

My feelings exactly…that is until I screened A Squirrel’s Guide to Success and came away with restored appreciation for the critters that claim almost 300 species in their family tree.  The latest installment of the fascinating Nature series, A Squirrel’s Guide to Success, debuts on PBS tonight, November 14, 2018, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and  http://www.pbs.org/nature for online streaming, DVD and Blu-Ray availability.)

Anyone who knows me well knows exactly when and where my childhood affection for squirrels hit the skids. They ceased being cute when I discovered that the squirrel family from hell had colonized the walls and ceilings of my new apartment. They had set up shop long before my arrival…nesting in the ceiling above the kitchen and cackling, chewing and scuffling with their frenemies on the ceiling above the bedroom. I can still remember a friend’s congratulatory remark when she heard I had landed a top floor apartment: No more “unwelcome creepy crawlers”!

Sheelagh McAllister, Scottish SPCA's Head of Small Mammals, hand feeds Billy, an orphan red squirrel every hour. Billy's progress is documented in NATURE: A SQUIRREL'S GUIDE TO SUCCESS. Photo courtesy Sheelagh McAllister.

Sheelagh McAllister, Scottish SPCA’s Head of Small Mammals, hand feeds Billy, an orphan red squirrel every hour. Billy’s progress is documented in NATURE: A SQUIRREL’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS. Photo courtesy Sheelagh McAllister.

Squirrels are surprisingly intelligent (as this film documents) and tireless creatures of habit. They always return to their home (nesting) turf and the nuts they buried in your garden or hid in your attic or under your deck.  Generations of one squirrel family became my worst nightmare as they relentlessly tried to re-inhabit and nest in spaces we wired and cemented shut.

As hard as it might be to believe, there are highly educated people who love squirrels and dedicate their professional careers to their study, rescue and rehabilitation.  Nature: A Squirrel’s Guide to Success highlights the work of several American university-based scientists, a wildlife filmmaker and a delightful young Scottish woman whose passion for the critters is almost contagious.

If you’ve ever questioned whether the annoying Gray squirrel in your backyard has more appealing relatives, filmmaker Tom Jarvis and his team introduce viewers to various fascinating species, including the Eurasian red squirrel, the Arctic ground squirrel, the Jungle-striped squirrel, the Malabar giant squirrel, the Japanese and Northern flying squirrels and the Fox squirrel.  Of course, depending on where you live in the U.S., you may be familiar with the Eastern chipmunk or Prairie dog, also members of the squirrel family.

Prairie dogs, as seen in NATURE: A SQUIRREL'S GUIDE TO SUCCESS on PBS, live on North America’s prairies and open grasslands. Photo courtesy John DeWinter/Shutterstock.

Prairie dogs, as seen in NATURE: A SQUIRREL’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS on PBS, live on North America’s prairies and open grasslands. Photo courtesy John DeWinter/Shutterstock.

As is the case with all films in the PBS Nature series, the cinematography is outstanding. Framed by innocuous voice over narration read by “Saturday Night Live” alum Ana Gasteyer and embellished with vignettes introducing various professional squirrel specialists, the film’s breathtaking visuals zoom in on numerous squirrel species and their habitats.

Viewers are introduced to squirrels’ remarkable anatomy (teeth that never stop growing; unusually flexible ankle joints); nesting young; feeding and hoarding habits; ability to survive and flourish in harsh climates; face-offs with unlikely predators; and their leaping, climbing and, yes, their extraordinary flying prowess.

Arctic ground squirrels survive cold temperatures by hibernating in underground burrows during the winter. Photo courtesy Jukka Jantunen/Shutterstock.

You may be wondering why, after a short hiatus, I am reviewing a film about squirrels in FrontRowCenter instead of  some more politically relevant documentary. Well, real life as it has been unfolding daily (hourly?) on the news is depressing enough for me.  Rather than focusing on the two-legged nuts in our nation’s Capitol who are playing fast and loose with facts, decimating our moral fiber and pulverizing our planet, I’d much rather encourage viewers to appreciate the four-legged nut lovers in our parks and backyards whose only crime is hoarding food and invading our attics.  And for that noble effort, I award A Squirrel’s Guide to Success  4 out of 5 Acorns!

He's red, he's adorable, and he's featured in NATURE: A SQUIRREL'S GUIDE TO SUCCESS on PBS. Photo courtesy Seawhisper/Shutterstock.

He’s red, he’s adorable, and he’s featured in NATURE: A SQUIRREL’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS on PBS. Photo courtesy Seawhisper/Shutterstock.

Produced and directed by Tom Jarvis, Nature: A Squirrel’s Guide to Success is a co-production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC and BBC Studios in association with WNET. The hour-long documentary debuts on PBS tonight, November 14, 2018, 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. ET. (Check local listings for air times and repeat broadcasts in your region and   http://www.pbs.org/nature  for online streaming, DVD and Blu-Ray availability.) –Judith Trojan

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