We Miss this Fine Fellow, Among Other Things
Dear Wags,
TV stardom, which reached its zenith at the end of century, is over. It depended on big tent entertainment, engaging vast audiences. Monolithic network television, with its seasonal roll-outs, mega advertisers, monster ratings, and celebrity-making machinery, is already a fading memory. The people who became famous in its glory days, now well into middle age, are the last of their kind. They were adored by diverse millions, not siloed fragments. Attention made them extravagantly rich and well-known, and they frequently suffered for it.
The enormous reach of old media makes many people feel as if they knew Matthew Perry. He became a star at 24, after being cast in one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. An average of 25 million people watched Friends in its 1994-2004 run, and its season finale attracted 52.5 million viewers. The series continues to be loved by millions, many of whom were born years after it became Must See TV. Right now, one of the show’s 236 episodes is available to you — on TBS, Nickelodeon, or on demand. Warner Bros., which owns Friends, continues to milk it for revenue. That kind of success cannot be repeated.
Those who actually knew Perry, as opposed to Chandler Bing, are deeply saddened but not shocked by his death. He was a smart, sensitive, and fragile man, who saw Hollywood for exactly what it is. Such awareness can be wounding. He struggled with a pernicious disease, and supported many people with similar issues. They will never forget his kindness.
It’s a terrible mystery, why some people make it out of the wilderness and others don’t. It has absolutely nothing to do with strength of character or fortitude. The truth is, Perry was far better than one celebrated part. He gave a silly role sharpness and depth because he had those qualities in abundance. Early success is often a creative straight jacket and it likely prevented him from showing the world just how talented he was. But that’s the way it is with stars. They make it look too easy.
Lately, Perry seemed be doing well. He wrote a very good memoir, and viewed his past with wisdom and humor. Sometimes, this is just how it ends. Let it be known that he tried, very hard, to find his way. When it comes to that, grandiose, outmoded stardom is obviously no help at all. He owned his failures, and he succeeded at being a man of decency and heart. For those he helped, it made all the difference.
Yours Ever,
War Story
All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix). Wag Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel becomes a lavish Netflix epic, with Aria Mia Loberti as a blind French girl whose covert radio broadcasts deliver hope during Nazi occupation. Mark Ruffalo plays her father, while Hugh Laurie is the crusty uncle they take refuge with. That’s excellent Louis Hofmann as the German soldier who finds himself drawn to her voice. It’s lushly-appointed Emmy bait about finding hope in dark times. — Patty Bergen
American Tale
Black Cake (Hulu). Another of our favorites, Wag Charmaine Wilkerson, sees her splendid bestseller transformed into a glossy, globe-trotting saga starring Rising Star Mia Isaac as a young woman who flees her Caribbean home after a murder and reinvents herself as an immigrant. Chipo Chung plays the heroine in later life, keeping past secrets buried until they are passed along to her adult children as part of her will. Brazilian writer/director Natalia Leite renders a family portrait with gorgeous backdrops. — Emily Barham
Proper Piss-Up
Quiz Lady (Hulu). Points for playing against type! Anne (Awkwafina) is an uptight cubicle drone whose dog is being held hostage by gangsters because of her mom’s gambling debts. In order to rescue the pooch, she teams up with her wild and crazy sister (Sandra Oh, never wild and crazier). The plan: enter Anne, a trivia nerd, in a game show and win the ransom. Road trip antics ensue. As subtle as a sledgehammer hitting a banana cream pie, which is exactly what we need. — Del Griffith
True Grit
Lawmen: Bass Reeves (Paramount+). Taylor Sheridan must be rushed off his Lucchese boots. The Yellowstone mogul’s latest oater stars Lord David Oyelowo as Reeves, a real-life U.S. Marshal who arrested more than 3,000 outlaws on the American frontier. Donald Sutherland and Dennis Quaid also ride the range, while Lauren E. Banks fiercely defends her homestead as the lawman’s wife. Saddle up. — Mattie Ross
Gareth Williams was a mathematical genius who put his big brain to work for British intelligence as a code breaker. In 2010, his body was found the bathtub of his London home. The corpse was inside a plastic bag, and there were no fingerprints. Was he the victim of a sex game gone very wrong, or done in by foreign assassins? In Death of a Codebreaker, the BBC’s Sian Williams sifts through heaps of forensic evidence to try and crack the case. — Ricki Tarr
You can't, you can't catch me now/I'm comin' like a storm into your town. Olivia Rodrigo gives us Can’t Catch Me Now, a folky anthem for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (out Nov. 18). It’s a suitably eerie number for murderous hillbillies everywhere. Apparently, there’s blood on the side of the mountain, which is never good. Anyhow, you don’t have to be a citizen of Panem to get it. — Plutarch Heavensbee
When I was just sixteen/I stood waiting for a dream/At Barker's Street bus station every night. The Struts are a big, campy, Rock and Roll band. Somebody Someday is about being a pimply nobody from nowhere who vows to prove all the doubters wrong…by becoming a big, campy Rock and Roll star. Which frontman Luke Spiller obviously did! Outcasts everywhere, take heart. —Lewis Skolnick
Wag Emeritus Frank Sinatra was, duh, one of the greatest singers of all time. That can obscure his tremendous acting talent. Sinatra’s wry, bruised quality— so evident in his musical artistry—came through in his movie roles. He was at his best in Vincente Minnelli’s Some Came Running (1958). Dave Hirsh, a broody writer and Army vet, returns to his Indiana hometown after a long absence. He has past, and so does Ginny (Shirley MacLaine) the fallen woman he drunkenly invites to tag along. Dave’s snotty relatives aren’t pleased to see him, but he wins the admiration of an earnest school teacher (Martha Hyer) and an amiable local gambler (Dean Martin, in the first of many onscreen collaborations with Sinatra). Things take a tragic turn when Ginny’s violent boyfriend tracks her down. Based on a bestseller by James Jones (author of From Here to Eternity), the MGM picture was critical and box office hit. Not only did Sinatra received some of the best reviews of his career, the movie garnered five Oscar nominations, including the first Best Actress nod of MacLaine’s career (Nov. 5, TCM). —Ben Marco
