Blog Archives
Do Not Touch My “Steel Magnolias!”
The travesty! The injustice! The unmitigated gall! How dare Lifetime try to remake the film “Steel Magnolias?” Yet, that is exactly what it’s going to do. This week, Lifetime announced it would remake the film with an all black cast. I don’t care if the cast is black, Hispanic, Asian or martian… no one should remake that movie!!!
Maybe I am partial because I am a Southerner and the film rings true to my Louisiana roots, but I just don’t see how you are going to find actresses to fill such big shoes. Would you remake “The Wizard of Oz?” Or “Gone With the Wind?” Has Hollywood lost all creativity that no one can come up with a good idea and Lifetime is left with no choice but to steal from “Steel?”
Those classic lines run through my head… “Drink your juice, Shelby! Drink your juice.” Or “Mama, my colors are blush and bashful.” Or “The only reason people are nice to me is because I have more money that God.”
And a personal favorite: “All gay men have track lightin’ and all gay men are named Mark, Rick or Steve.”
Please, oh please, leave M’Lynn, Ouiser, Clairee, Truvy, Annelle and Shelby alone. My poor Southern heart can’t take it.
I have to go. I need to change the bulbs in my track lighting.
–franklySTEVE
Farewell, Walker Clan; “Brothers and Sisters” No More
On Friday, ABC cancelled “Brothers and Sisters,” a series we have come to know and love for the last five years. Gone is Nora’s incessant whining. Gone is Kitty’s, uhm, whining. Gone is Kevin’s, uhm, whining. Gone is Justin’s (bad acting) and, uhm, whining. Wow, there was a lot of whining on that show.
Having worked in this business for the last 18 years, I understand why shows get canceled. It’s ratings and money. In this case, “Brothers and Sisters” ratings had been dropping and the cost of producing the show was not. Big cast = big money. I noticed during last week’s opening credits that Sally Field was listed as an Executive Producer. Giving a star a big title is often a way to justify a large salary.
In any case, I’m disappointed in ABC (and I should note that I am an employee of ABC/Disney). Why not give the producers a heads up that the show was being canceled so a proper finale episode could be written? Instead, the producers thought the show might be ending, but also knew they could be coming back for a much shorter sixth and final season. It would have given them a chance to tie up loose ends and let us, the fans, send off the Walker family in a fond farewell. Instead, the Sunday episode was sort of an ending, but not really. It really left a lot wide open, and of course, never mentioned it was the season finale b/c the show had not yet been cancelled. If the show had been on for only a season or two, I could understand the abrupt ending, but after five years, the audience deserves so much more.
So Farewell, Walker clan. As Entertainment Weekly pointed out, it did not end as the series we fell in love in with, but I will add, it was a series we loved.
