The O.C.
Fox Television
Air America Radio
Seattle’s Progressive Talk AM 1090
I have taken it upon myself to go back and discuss some recent writings on subjects that over the course of time have gone on to surprise or disappoint me. In one instance, my hopes for a novel and insightful television drama were dashed; in the other, a new talk radio format I dismissed now has me hooked.
Last year the Fox series The O.C. had me tuning in every Wednesday to see how Ryan, the imperiled, world-weary kid from Chico, would fare in the household of Newport’s affluent, enlightened Cohen family. Would temptation, misunderstanding, or the ill intentions of those around him lead to an expulsion from this troubled paradise and send him back to the impoverished, crime-ridden streets of his hometown? Each episode was full of challenges for him, his supportive new family, and his often-suspect new neighbors. The O.C.
— unpredictably harrowing or funny — was one of television’s best explorations of class in America. At its best it reminded me of Joshua Logan’s film Picnic, with William Holden and Kim Novak.
Because it moved to Thursday night for its second season, I did not have the opportunity to watch any episodes during the show’s run. I have since found time to watch a few reruns, however, and have been dismayed to see the show recycling the same plots and situations with new characters standing in for the old ones. In one episode I sat through, Marissa was leading on a young Ryan-like Latino boy from the other side of the tracks while Ryan was struggling to express his feelings to Kristin’s illegitimate half-sister, just as he had done with Marissa last season. Is this the best they can do?
When we discover that Seth’s dangerous new love interest — a tattooed blonde hottie who manages a nightclub — is bisexual, it is difficult to care. As a dramatic moment, it pales in comparison to last year’s outing of Luke’s gay, car-dealer dad. I loved last season’s alluring, witty Anna and fallen alpha-male Luke. Why can’t we have intriguing, psychologically complex supporting characters like that this year?
One of the things I enjoyed the most about last season was the emotionally-charged final episode, when Ryan — now an expectant father — returns to Chico with the future mother of his child to face an uncertain future without the Cohens. It seemed then that the writers understood that the show’s set of circumstances had allowed the characters to more or less play themselves out and that new contexts (Chico, anyone?) were required. Unfortunately, they have chosen instead to keep the setting, estrange the characters further from one another and add new ones, empty figures who are mere shadows of their first season antecedents who continue to walk freely among them.
Since mourning the loss of AM 1090’s "Classic Country" format last October, I have grown to love Air America Radio. My appreciation is twofold; not only do I find the morning programming extremely entertaining, I also hear about news items (the Downing Street Memo, for instance) weeks before they filter up to the mainstream media or NPR.
Morning Sedition co-hosts Mark Maron and Mark Riley are hilarious and well informed. They have an energetic, wisecracking New York sensibility that is a refreshing change from the public conversational tone one usually hears in Seattle. The highlight of the show is the presence of fictional character Lawton Smalls, a die-hard Bush loyalist who appears on the program regularly to rebut the positions of the liberal hosts. I do not think I have heard a better (or more humorous) portrayal of the fear and self-delusion that lays at the heart the president’s most fervent supporters.
Although I had criticized Franken for choosing politics at the expense of satire, I now s recognize his amazing ability fuse the two. If there was a particular moment when I was won over by Franken, it was during the opening of the Clinton Presidential Library when he chose to broadcast a segment he called "Richard Mellon Scaife Theater." Named after the billionaire who financed the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that sought to bring down the Clintons (read David Brock’s Blinded by the Right in case you missed this), Franken produced this old-fashion radio show to dramatize the more colorful and absurd rumors surrounding the then-president, such as his supposed drug smuggling and acts of murder. It was both shocking and delightful.
More recently he brought up — with his usual mixture of amusement and horror — the disturbing farewell speech by retiring Illinois congressmen Henry Hyde, during which he re-introduced himself to his colleagues as a 997 month-old stem cell. While this was too bizarre to find its way to the mainstream media, Franken — the old Saturday Night Live writer — understood its absurdity and significance.
What Franken and co-host Katherine Lanpher offer Seattleites is, above all else, a compelling alternative to the often listless morning programming on KUOW. Franken’s star power guarantees on-air visits with the nation’s best political journalists and authors.
The other hosts on Progressive Talk AM 1090, Ed Schultz and Randi Rhodes, have their place as well. Schultz has an ear for the concerns of the workingman who has largely left the Democratic Party and Rhodes is a consistent voice of alarm and indignation about the lies of the Bush administration. Unlike Maron and Franken, however, they are not entertainers.
It is Maron the stand-up comic and Franken the comedy writer/actor — Air America Radio’s two holy fools — who keep us laughing through this ugly chapter in our nation’s history while calling truth to power.
The biggest disappointment on Air America is Janeane Garofalo, whose repetitive, amateurish psychological analysis of right-wing true believers grows tiresome after a few rancorous minutes on the air. It is sad that Garofalo, an actor and comedian of great talent who has a considerable following, can’t find the right tone for her show, The Majority Report, co-hosted with Sam Seder. Unless there is another Bush in the White House in 2008, she can never expect to get material this good again. And let’s hope that never happens.
