#TypesTuesday – Diane Chambers is a repressed, uptight Power of Conscience character.
Continue readingHow The Emmy Got Its Name
Here is how the television Emmy award was named.
Continue reading2009 Emmy Nominee Analysis
Each Emmy nominated show has a clear, sharply defined protagonist at the heart of its story. Here’s a look at each Character Type.
Continue readingLand of The Lost – Power of Reason
#TypesTuesday – Any character, regardless of type, can be an idiot or a genius.
Continue readingBones – Reason & Love
These two characters exchange gifts to complement and complete each other. These gifts are personality traits missing in the other, differing points of view necessary to solving the case and critical skills or abilities lacking in their partner.
Continue readingSister Rose on Without A Trace
My comments about her post are in (parenthesis).
Sister Rose writes:
Did you see Without a Trace last night? I thought it was extraordinary – about a weeping statue in a pub, the people who find it, and an authentic and touching look at sadness, faith, lack of faith, doubt, hope, love and mercy.
(Laurie: This episode explored profound Power of Truth questions like: Who can I trust? Did I see what I thought I saw? What is really going on here? Who is hiding something? Am I being deceived? What do I really believe? How can I be absolutely certain? What does it all mean?)
Using the statue (character) of St. Therese, a French Carmelite nun (1873 – 1897) in the episode was so appropriate because she had her own dark night of the soul and she is known for this. The episode, entitled “Miracle Worker”, was a story with layers of dark nights for some of the usual characters (especially Jack played by Anthony La Paglia and Samantha played by Poppy Montgomery) and a teenage girl, her uncle and her father.
The mercy and rays of light that come from faith and wanting to believe play out in very believable ways. It is a complex episode that was deftly written and rendered. I think this long-running show, now in its 7th season (CBS, Tuesdays, 10pm) deserves thoughtful attention because of its consistently human and catholic themes (little “c” and sometimes big “C”). This episode offers much to talk about around the water cooler – and in sermons and homilies too.
“Miracle Worker” is a perfect example of the sacramentality of television and cinema stories: the outward expression of inner realities.
A friend of mine who is a spiritual director told me back in 2002 that she thought Without a Trace is a Good Shepherd show: the FBI characters, despite their flaws, go in search of the lost, often at great personal cost. As they search for others, they search for their own core self, for meaning that transcends their lives.
(Laurie: This classic Power of Truth narrative territory. These stories begin with a obvious question, mystery or crime. During the course of the investigation a larger truth is revealed. In this case, about faith or the lack thereof. In the end, the investigator discovers some truth about him or herself).
Last night’s “Without a Trace” was Episode 12: “Miracle Worker”. I couldn’t find the entire episode online but there are clips. It may run again on Saturday: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/without_a_trace/
(Laurie: Thanks Sister Rose for permission to reprint your post.)
Mad Men – Art vs Commerce
Mad Men has had wide-spread critical acclaim, won numerous awards and has become a cultural reference– but it has a very small audience. This struggle between art vs commerce and high brow vs low prestige mass entertainment is a dilemma writers and producers wrestle with continually.
Continue readingUgly Betty – 2008 Premiere Disappointment
The show premiered only marginally up from its low of last season. Here’s what I believe went wrong with the season premiere (and what danger signs it sends for the rest of season three).
Continue readingRaising the Bar – Not Bochco at His Best
The audience needs to be actively concerned about a character’s sanity, safety or soul to be truly engaged.
Continue readingValues at Stake – Film
The obstacles in a film or television series should create the kind of risk, peril or danger that pushes the character to take actions that define what is most fundamentally important or true in a character’s life.
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