Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

    Would you care to catch anyone up who might have missed last night? 
    Usually the "last time on Wild Palms" will do it, but if you have the
    time....
    
    -sandy
    

They were doing the show on a small budget which is why they did the retro-look.
Personally I turned it off after 30 minutes because it failed to hold my interest.
It seems they spent all their future-looking-money on clothing and they best they
could come up with was the idea that men would wear ties on shirts with small
collars so you could see the whole tie (all the way around the neck).

I like Dana Delaney and Kim Catrall as well but Belushi showed no range. The
"look" of the year 2007 in L.A. (no traffic either) is what really turned me off.


Metz

    I turned the show off after 20 minutes but this little nagging voice
    convinced me to turn it back on.
    
    what Happened 
    
    The story is about a patten attorney, his wife and two kids. The 
    movie is very hectic so I won't do a scene by scene. 
      A small cult religion is just becoming main stream it ephasizes
    different realities. It is headed by a senetor. The senetor and the 
    church invented a process to project tv into your living room as a 
    three dementional holograph. They bought a TV station channel 3. They 
    are putting a new show "church windows" starring a famous star and the 
    attorney's son.
       The attorney is visited and becomes involved in an old high school
    friend who is a member of the church. The attorney is help her find her
    kidnapped son.  His work place is in a big lawsuit against the church 
    cause they won't let anyone else use their process. The attorney is up 
    for partner but his work uses his association with the old flame to deny 
    him partnership he quits. He gets a job as bussiness head of channel 3 
    and the old flame is shown to be the head of the cult religeons secret 
    police. The attorney learns from a friend that certain children where 
    taken by the "Fathers" a fringe group of the cult church. Latter they 
    claim to find the man who took he baby it turns out to be his friend. 
      The atoney's wife(Grace) owns a little dress shop. Her mother(josey) 
    is secretly second in charge at the cult religion. She is show to have 
    direct control of the secret police. She is also shown to be a very nasty
    person. Graces's father is a member of an oposing rebel group
    obsessed with the the bil of rights. She learn from he husband that
    her mother's group (Grace knows but the attorney doesn't) switched babies
    of people who apposed them to families that support them. Grace talks
    to her father and finds out Josey may have switched her baby. Grace
    confronts Josey about it at the end of the episode.  
      This show id very hectic and every little bit of information seems to 
    mean something at some point in the movie. My update will help a little 
    but by no means is anything close to complete. All I can say is good
    luck in trying to catch up. 
                      Jeff Peters

  I watched the entire show to be sure to give it a chance but I was really
disappointed. There were a couple reasons that I hung in. First is that I
remembered how I almost turned Twin Peaks off near the end of the 1st hour but
stayed with it and ended up becoming a giant Twin Peaks fan. Second was that
Boston Globe TV critic Ed Seigle really panned it saying it was too complicated
which is usually a good sign. But after seeing the 1st episode, I doubt
seriously that I will go back and watch any more. 

  As an earlier note said, this is very different from Twin Peaks. Although
they both have the same dark and somber type of story line, Twin Peaks had the
tongue in cheek humor typical of all David Lynch stories, several charming
characters including Dale Cooper and Sherrif Truman, actors from out of our
past, a mystery that worked at two levels, reality and metaphysical, and clues
taken from the show, other movies, or the real world. 

  By contrast, this story has no light moments, no charming characters, no
mystery to speak of, and no hero that you can identify with. It's just a rehash
of 1984. Perhaps Oliver Stone is poking fun at himself for being a conspiracy
nut and perhaps he takes himself seriously. I don't really know and frankly I
don't care. 

  Add that to the fact that the final episode is on opposite the last Law and
Order episode for the season and the fact that Thursday is shaping up to be
a giant TV night and somehow it doesn't seem worth the investment in time.

  I read 1984 and from JFK I got the point that Oliver Stone thinks there is
conspiracy under every rock. I don't need 4 more hours of TV spread over the
next 3 nights to drive any of that home. 

  George

    
    I got tired just watching the men wearing those stuffy looking ties and
    shirts from the 19th century.
    
    

    I, on the other hand, enjoyed this immensely.  I foiund each of the two
    hour segments moved along quickly, and the story unfolded in such a way
    as to give you enough information to make you think, but usually not
    enough to give away any plotlines before they were ready.
    
    I found Jim Belushi strangley compelling as an everyman who is never
    quite sure what's going on around him, and doesn't want to believe any
    part of it.  He wants to believe his reality and ignore the outside
    influences that made his reality come true.  Robert Loggia is always
    tremendous, and this part is no different.  He is mesmerizing when he
    is on screen.  Dana Delany has been excellent as well, but Kim Cattrall
    unfortunately is in over her head.  She is the one weak spot in the
    cast.  Brad Dourif gets a chance to play another variation of Billy
    Bibbitt, and he does it wonderfully.  Ernie Hudson, Bebe Neuwirth, and
    Charles Rocket are all very good.
    
    I am looking forward to tonight's installment.
    
    NAZZ

I'd like to see for myself.

Since I was out Sunday I taped  the first two hours. But I didn't realize
they were running it three nights in a row, until I got home at 10:00
last night. So I missed taping the third hour.
I don't imagine I'll make much sense of it missing the third hour of six.

If anyone taped it, I'd lie to borrow it for a few days.

Thanks

-Stuart

    
    Well even though I can't stand those odd looking ties, I watched the
    second show. I guess I'm hooked and must watch the rest.Found the
    second part far more interesting and entertaining.
    
    Dave
    

re .4

>  By contrast, this story has no light moments, no charming characters, no
> mystery to speak of, and no hero that you can identify with.

I agree that this is generally a dark and sometimes grim view of the future
but there are moments of humor, mostly of the inside type. For instance, on
Sunday at one point a televison showed in interview with Stone himself, he
was being asked "Now that everything you said in JFK has been proven true, how
do you feel". No mystery??

>  Add that to the fact that the final episode is on opposite the last Law and
> Order episode for the season and the fact that Thursday is shaping up to be
> a giant TV night and somehow it doesn't seem worth the investment in time.

The series ends on Wednesday. The speculation is that they didn't want to
go head to head with all that's happening on Thursday.

I find that I'm enjoying this more as I watch it. It requires close attention
to pick up on all that's happening and hinted at. I like that complexity, so
different from usual television fare. I would like a little lighter touch
from time to time but it's intensity seems required by a serious approach to
the script. They do seem to be a little over the top with Angie Dickinson's
character. I do like the clothes, the men's collars look great to me.


Randy

  Well I watched it again. I tried to talk Patty into going out to diner and
coming back in time to watch Northern Exposer but she had already eaten and
wanted to watch the show. So we agreed on a compromise, we'd watch the 1st hour
and if it was really bad we'd switch over to NE. Problem was that after the 1
hour the vote came up 50% for "really bad" and 50% for watching the show and
since she had already invested 3 hours, we continued to watch. 

  To the noter who missed one hour and felt they couldn't keep up, no worry.
The plot is so slow and so predictable that you should have no problem at all
catching up. 

  I disagree that the 11 seconds of Oliver Stone on TV in the background
qualifies as comic relief. Too quick, too obvious, not even a mild chuckle,
more like "yeah right ...".

  I will say that the acting is pretty good. This has to be the best thing that
Angy Dickison has ever done. Granted that's not saying much but it's something.
Now if only they had a script. 

  The ties look really dorky. There's no way that businessmen would make that
change in only 13 years. And why is everyone driving 50's muscle cars? Other
than the holographic gimmick, no thought at all has gone in to thinking how 13
years will change the way the world looks. Of course it won't be much, but
things do look different today then then did in 1980.

  Also, they keep referring to a "depression" but the timing is wrong. Right now
we are slowly creeping out of a recession so the late 90's should be a growth
period. No time for a depression and a recovery by 2007. 

  Guess I'll have to tape the final episode of Law and Order.

  Gripe gripe gripe ... complain complain complain, 

  George 

    Could someone give a brief update of the first half hour of last
    night's show?  i was out and missed it and felt a little lost when
    i started watching it.
    
    Also, I watch General hospital and on Monday's show, there was a scene
    where they had a poster of Wild Palms in the background.  Pretty tacky
    if you ask me.  They should keep their advertisements in the
    commericials and NOT on other shows.
    
    Deb

    Does anyone read "Details" magazine?  There is a Wild Palms comic
    featured in every aritcle.  It has been quite a few years since I've
    read a Details, but it seems to be getting more mainstream now.
    
    Anyway, I can't remember any of the stories from the magazine.  I do
    remember that it was really odd stuff though...just like this show.
    Is is safe to assume that this show was motivated by the comic?
    
    I like it.
    
    -steve
    
               

Wild Palms was "loosly based" on the strip and was produced by it's author
(Bruce Wagner?).

I was mildly disappointed by the ending, things were tied up too easily
and quickly. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, it certainly wasn't perfect
but much better than what usually makes the tube. I've got it on tape and
will probably buy it when/if it comes out on disc. Unfortunatly it didn't
get very good ratings, making even mildly challanging shows more unlikley
to get green lighted.


Randy

    I what the first three nights but messed up recording it last night
    could some one tell me how it ends. 
                  Jeff Peters

    Could someone give a rough indication of the ratings it received in the
    States compared to other shows?.
    
    Thanks
    
    John

    re: .15 (Ratings)
    
    Part One finished 24th out of about 90 shows that aired last week.  It
    finished second in its timeslot, behind a movie on another network, 
    and ahead of Married... with Children on Fox and yet another movie 
    on another network.
    
    The Neilsen ratings run Sunday-to-Sunday, so I haven't seen anything on
    the subsequent nights' numbers.
    
    Mike

    According to this mornings Boston Globe::::
    
    
    There is a chill wind blowing through ABC's "Wild Palms" miniseries
    this week.  After a disappointing 12.3 rating and 20 share for the
    first installment Sunday night, two more hours of the six hour
    production  staring Jim Bulushi dipped to a 9.7/15 on Monday.
    
    ABC said Sunday's "Palms" were seen by 17.3 million people, 4 million
    more than watched on Monday night.
    
    This was taken by the Globe from the Washington Post.

    Overall I agree with George M., this was a disappointment.  It could
    have been better.  I watched the whole series and still don't know some
    of the character's names.  It would have been smart of ABC to produce
    a "map" a la Time's Twin Peaks layout, complexity and fast pacing
    made the show difficult to follow.  And some of the subtitles were
    difficult to read, but that might have been my set.
    
    As far as the "depression" goes, just hang on:  first quarter GDP
    numbers are being revised downward; we could go into a deep slump
    in a few months and meet the needs of the script.  Or we might not.
    
    I don't mind them using contemporary automobiles; I can pretend to not
    notice the lack of change.  But the little kid (Cody? Cory?) ordering
    around a bunch of sailors seems to be asking a lot.  Just like the
    graphic ballerina-eating virus; gimme a break.  Or reprogramming
    the GO-chip, come on, that's too literally a �deus ex machina�.
    
      John

    I agree with George too.  This was too morbid with no comic relief at
    all.  Monday and Tuesday's shows could have been omitted entirely.  I
    caught up after missing Monday night and Tuesday wasn't much better. 
    The ending was OK.  Upon reflection, I wonder if Oliver Stone is trying
    to moralize about the negative aspects of virtual reality.  That the
    potential use for evil purposes is great and people will get to the
    point that when they wake up, they ask "is what I'm seeing real?"
    
    Who was the actress who played Page (the black-haired beauty with ruby
    lips?) Bebe Neuwirth?? Anyone know any more about her?
    
    SPOILER
    
    Why did the blind painter kill himself after killing Angie Dickinson?

  The action picked up a bit at the end and the last 2 episodes were not all
that bad. If they had edited it a bit and put 1 or 2 hours before the last
two or if they had put in some lighter moments to offset the dark stuff it
might have been all right, but 4 hours of somber introduction was too much. 

  I didn't like the way they handled the "GO-chip". Maybe I missed something
during that 1st 4 hours that filled in the gaps:

  Who made the GO-chip?

  If it was the Senator, how did he lose control of it and/or why didn't he
  just build another?

  If it was someone else who changed their mind about giving it to him, why
  didn't he just contract someone else to build another?

  How did it work? The chemical that made you "feel" holograms was not that
  big a jump in technology to ask the audience to make, but they never really
  gave much of a theory for how the "GO-chip" worked.

  Exactly what was it suppose to do? Somehow he was suppose to become immortal
  but in what way? Was he suppose to become some sort of living hologram? Was
  it suppose to give him other abilities that would make him more powerful?

  All that was real important but real fuzzy.

RE the Spoiler



  I think the Painter killed himself for 4 reasons:

  - He lost his best friend Tommy.
  - He was racked with guilt over betraying Grace's father.
  - He could no longer see colors and could no longer paint.
  - He probably knew they would kill him anyway and figured doing it
    himself would be less painful than what ever method they chose.

  George

    
    re. .19
    
    Bebe Neuwirth is none other than Lilith, from the soon to be defunct,
    "Cheers"
    
    

    This show approximated the type of subject matter/approach I enjoy on
    occasion, so I watched the entire wretched thing.  The first four hours
    had glimpses of modest inspiration, but overall the premise and story
    seemed wildly underdeveloped and the execution was slipshod. Between
    the huge holes in the script and the horrible acting by some of the 
    principles, it just didn't make the grade.  The lame beyond belief 
    ending was almost an insult to anyone who had waded throught the entire
    mess.  It would have been nice to see a mainstream network miniseries
    approach the quality of "The Singing Policeman", or something 
    somewhat similar in tone, but for all the hype this was a compromised
    failure.

re .19

> Who was the actress who played Page (the black-haired beauty with ruby
> lips?) Bebe Neuwirth?? Anyone know any more about her?

Paige was played by Kim Cattrell.


 













SPOILER




>  Why did the blind painter kill himself after killing Angie Dickinson?

It was essientially despair over the death of his lover, Tommy, and his
betrayel of the Friends.


Randy

SPOILER


>>  Why did the blind painter kill himself after killing Angie Dickinson?

> It was essientially despair over the death of his lover, Tommy, and his
> betrayel of the Friends.

    Don't forget about the death of his sister also.  Remember how, when
    he was choking Angie (before being blinded), he said he wouldn't want
    to live without her.
    
    -Scott

 Spoiler:  (In case there is someone who still hasn't seen it
    
    
    So the woman with the glasses was his sister?  I never did pick up on
    that.  Also, I was never updated with Tuesday night!!  How and when did
    Grace get killed?
    

    OK, so I didn't watch this show at all, but I still have a question.
    What the heck was that bluish-green stuff that came out of people's
    noses??  I saw it on the ads a couple of times...gross!

    Cara

RE    <<< Note 121.26 by MARLIN::RUHROH::COLELLA "Computers make me ANSI." >>>

>    OK, so I didn't watch this show at all, but I still have a question.
>    What the heck was that bluish-green stuff that came out of people's
>    noses??  I saw it on the ads a couple of times...gross!

Answer could be considered a spoiler ... well not really



  The bluish-green stuff was a reaction to the chemical that people took that
allowed them to feel the holograms. People who wanted to feel the holograms
took it in small doses. People addicted to feeling the holograms took in in
large doses. It was also injected into people in large doses when they were
being interrogated and/or killed. 

  The people who got it in large doses had the blue-green goop come out of
their noes. 

  George