Categorie archief: Televisie

Fans of American Popular Culture Really Can’t Refuse This Show

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

How did I almost miss this show? It is fantastic. The Offer is about the making of The Godfather, which is still considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made. I had some knowledge about its troubled production history, but the movie still offers new insights. Especially about the involvement of the real Mafia in the production.

The limited series is based on the experiences of Albert S. Ruddy, the producer of the film. Ruddy (Miles Teller from Top Gun: Maverick) started his career as a television writer-producer and he wanted to make the transition to the more alluring (especially in those days!) big screen. He pleads for a job with Bob Evans, the brilliant head of Paramount Studios, who sees something in the passionate young man and decides to give him his shot at the title.

The mini-series then follows the typical film’s development process, which starts with the hiring of a screenplay writer (Ruddy hires the author of the book Mario Puzo and immediately breaks a golden rule in Hollywood) and a director (Coppola, who was supposed to be able to bring in the film low budget). At the same time, he gets Joe Colombo to deal with. Apart from being the boss of one of the five New York mob families, Colombo was leader of the Italian-American Civil Rights League and he thought The Godfather was a complete insult.

Then starts the casting process which is even more troubling. Coppola is in love with Al Pacino (“the shortest unknown actor in the world”), whom Bob Evens absolutely hates. And both Ruddy, Coppola and Puzo are dead set on Marlon Brando for the role of the Don, but he is known to be a major troublemaker by the studio’s.

Another storyline of The Offer revolves around Evans’ marriage with actress Ali McGraw. Due to the pressures of his work, he can’t go with her to Texas where she is to shoot The Getaway with womanizer Steve McQueen. When he loses her, the studio boss cannot bring himself to return to work, but The Godfather cannot succeed without him, as number cruncher Barry Lapidus (Colin Hanks) threatens to destroy all creativity in his absence.

It is a lot of fun watching Ruddy & Co deal with all these insurmountable challenges, and seeing the masterpiece that is to be The Godfather slowly emerging. The main cast members are all great. What was always gonna be impossible is to find suitable actors to play The Godfather’s cast members: Brando, Pacino, Caan, Duvall… Talking about insurmountable challenges, but they managed to at least not screw it up.

The Offer can best be compared with Mad Men: another show about the creative process mixed with business. But since this is the story about a fantastic period in American cinema, it is even more enjoyable for movie lovers such as myself. Also, seeing the dozen ways The Godfather could have gone off the rails, will make you appreciate this movie even more as the miracle that it is.

25 Years Ago On This Day, Pop Culture History Was Written

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

“It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that, I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”
– Tony Soprano

On January 10, 1999, pay channel HBO launched the pilot episode of The Sopranos, the show that would change television forever. Before this ground breaking phenomenon, movies were far superior to television in terms of intelligent writing, production design and the actors involved. The Sopranos changed all of that.

‘The Sopranos wasn’t the first show to break all the rules’, write Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall in their book ‘The Sopranos Sessions’ (see also Oz and Twin Peaks for example), ‘but it was the first show to do that and still become a massive, enduring hit.’

But what is so good about The Sopranos? Maurice Yacowar in ‘The Sopranos On The Couch’, writes: ‘For openers: it’s brilliantly written, performed, and filmed. Each episode has the polish of an excellent feature film – with a tighter yet more complex, resonant script than most. The show is also relentlessly entertaining. The characters are engrossing, the plot twists astonishing but coherent, and the dialogue mined with ironies and poetic resonance quite beyond what we are used to hearing on the boob tube or even on the commercial cinema these days. Unique for a television series, details connect not just across the hour but across a season and beyond. The viewer has to dig for links and meanings beyond what’s spelled out on the surface and is often left with mysteries. That makes the show more like European cinema – and a complete departure for American television. At the same time, The Sopranos provocatively raises major questions about how and why we live.’

In 2021, I published the ultimate The Sopranos tribute. You can read the highlights from this tribute below:

And if you still haven’t seen the show, it is not too late! It is still available on HBO. Seriously, you’d be a douchebag to miss it.

TV Dungeon: Justified

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(2010 – 2015, USA)

Creator: Graham Yost
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Walton Goggins, Natalie Zea, Jere Burns

6 Seasons (78 Episodes)

“Harlan County, one hell of a place to make your fortune”, quips lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) in one of the final episodes of Justified. It is an homage to Deadwood, another modern reinvention of the western in which Olyphant plays the lead role as sheriff Seth Bullock.

Both Givens and Bullock inhabit a hostile environment, in which long term survival is only possible for the most cunning double crossers, those who are willing to do evil deeds. The lawmen who work these areas also have to adopt or die. And they do…

Justified is based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. The ‘crime laureate’ (1925 – 2013) had a background in Western writing, and it definitely shows. Justified’s hero Raylan Givens is a modern gunslinger, a US marshal who is sent from Miami to his former home region of Eastern Kentucky after a deadly shooting incident.

In this Wild West of the 21st century, he faces off against a whole assortment of rednecks, hillbilly’s, neo-Nazi’s and South-Eastern crime bosses. Not to mention several beautiful Southern dames who surely know how to complicate his life.

His main antagonist is local crime figure Boyd Crowder, who he is acquainted with from his coal mining days. What they have in common is a rotten father who is still active within the Harlan criminal underworld. But despite their similar, rough upbringings, Raylan and Boyd ended up on opposite sides of the law. Their complex relationship is one of the main threats that runs through Justified’s six thirteen-episode seasons.

Timothy Olyphant played a similar role in Deadwood (and as a homage appearance in The Book of Boba Fett), and he was excellent there, but it must be said that in Deadwood, Ian McShane completely steals the show as psychotic saloon boss Al Swearenegen. Although Walton Goggins is great as main villain Boyd Crowder, he doesn’t exactly outstage Olyphant’s hero. On the contrary, Raylan Givens is without a doubt the best performance of Olyphant’s career, and his memorable portrayal is one of the reasons Justified works so well.

Olyphant once jokingly said that Raylan was pretty much a Sam Elliot impression. Funny, because Elliot shows up in the final season as crime boss Avery Markham. He is only one of many interesting criminal characters that make Justified such an extremely enjoyable show. Some last only for an episode, while others make it for multiple seasons. Most eventually meet their demise at the hands of Raylan Givens, because make no mistake: he is a killer, a true violent American hero. And if he thinks a kill is justified, he won’t hesitate to draw and shoot you dead.

The second season is probably the best, but the show remains immensely entertaining throughout its duration. Towards the final seasons, it did find that the story-lines were becoming increasingly unbelievable, but the characters and the dialogues remain a real treat; In 2023, Raylan Givens would return in Justified: City Primeval.

TV Dungeon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

(1997 – 2003, USA)

Creator: Joss Whedon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, David Boreanaz

7 Seasons (144 Episodes)

‘In every generation, there is a chosen one. She alone shall stand against the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.’

Specialists in the television medium consider Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be a genius show. In a poll ‘The 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time’ by Empire Magazine, it became second only after The Simpsons. Why this eminent status? Because it is daring, intelligent and superbly entertaining television.

Teenager Buffy Summers and her single mum move from L.A to small town Sunnydale, which just happens to be built on the Hellmouth; the perfect breeding ground for demons, vampires and all other sorts of nasties. Buffy soon learns that she is more than just an ordinary high school girl. She is the chosen one. The Slayer.

Slayers have been around since the beginning of time to fight the forces of darkness. In Sunnydale, this means one hell of a mammoth task. Luckily, Buffy is aided in her ass-kicking mission by Giles, the high school’s librarian and her watcher. A group of friends, including a lesbian witch, an ex-vengeance demon and a turned vampire also join the fight against evil.

For many people, their teenage and young adolescent years were hard and confusing. This certainly applies for Buffy and her close friends. All typical problems for this age group are personified in the form of monsters. A creepy stepdad turns out to be literally a robot; a boyfriends turns evil after the first time; etc. These clever metaphors are only one element in making this a terrific show.

What really makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer superb are the characters. From heroes Buffy, Willow and Xander, who go through enormous developments as they grow up, to mythological vampires like Angel and Spike, who have complex and detailed background stories.

Major credits also go to creator Joss Whedon for integrating every supernatural story ever invented and more into his series. Every episode is like a small horror film of its own. And they are always suspenseful, surprising and very often…funny.

In every season, Buffy and her friends (friendship is a major theme in Buffy) have to overcome new fears and challenges. There is always a new super villain to deal with. But that aside, there are plenty of issues having to do with growing up. Buffy’s tragic romance with good vampire Angel is a perfect example of this, but there are many, many more. As the characters become older, the show becomes darker and more adult.

The final result is a dynamic mix of high school drama, horror and action. Warning: Buffy is addicting stuff, but with 144 episodes, there is more than enough to go around. Once you get into it, the Scooby gang will become an important group of people in your life, and you will sincerely miss them once you have completed the show.

Of course, you can always do a re-watch, which I plan to do very soon.