That's Entertainment: Some TV, Some Books and Good-bye Piers Morgan

Let's keep this a little light.

Sitting home over the weekend, not feeling great and trying to catch up on TV shows I have missed. Did a marathon session of the episodes of "Spies of Warsaw." OK, but not as good as the Allan Furst novels. Also marathoned my way through a two or three year old British show, "The Hour." It was a pretty good yarn about an effort in the 1950s to bring the BBC news service into the modern age by putting on an "edgy" news hour once a week. The effort runs into big and little politics, as well as a cleverly told story of Cold War espionage, the Suez crisis, and the 1956 US elections. Although it falls apart a bit in the last couple of episodes, it is worth watching, the acting is excellent, and surprisingly the show is free of the glib and tiresome anti-Americanism one finds in many British shows.

I am also in the process of plowing through the American version of "House of Cards." I liked the British original, with the superb Ian Richardson, and was wary of anything dealing with Congress and starring well-known lib Kevin Spacey. I, however, was pleasantly surprised. It has its politically correct moments, of course, but provides a very well acted and scathing look at Democrat party operatives and activists, and an unrelentingly grim view of Washington, D.C. At times the writers get D.C., at times they don't; they focus on weird things that would not be scandals and miss ones that would be--and the stories built around foreign affairs are, well, quite laughable. Again, however, despite its flaws, worth watching.

Also want to catch up on HBO's "True Detective" which seems headed for the status of classic TV along the lines of "The Wire," and "Breaking Bad." Again, superb acting, writing, directing, and cinematography.

In between all this ROKU madness, I am reading two books. Between Man and Beast, by Monte Reel, tells of the impact on mid-nineteenth century scientific and religious thought and popular culture of the "discovery" of the gorilla in Africa. Good stuff.

The other book is very creepy. Death in the City of Light, by David King, tells the true story of Dr. Petiot, a notorious serial killer who operated in Paris during the German occupation. He promised his 60 or more victims, many of them desperate Jews, safe passage out of Paris to South America, but would instead rob, torture, and murder them. There have been a couple of films made on Petiot, but none captures the true weirdness of the case, and none provides a look at the French police in Paris during the occupation trying to conduct regular police work. Again, worth picking up.

While in this popular culture sort of mood, I ran into this article in the NY Times. In it we learn that CNN has decided to pull the plug on the low-rated Piers Morgan's talk show--the one he took over from Larry King. Read the article: it is surprisingly non-PC for something in the Times, with some surprisingly prescient comments, for the Times, on why Americans got fed up with Morgan going on and on about gun ownership in the US.

I don't think, however, as the article semi-implies that people tuned out Morgan because he had an accent--that hasn't hurt Swartzenegger or a zillion other foreigners on American TV and cinema--nor was it because Americans are provincial. If anything, I think Morgan is the provincial one; he just assumed he did not need to know anything about American history or culture before chirping away with lots of advice and condescension. I like and admire Britain a great deal, and am fortunate to have counted lots of British diplomats, military, businessmen, journalists, academics, students and others among my friends during my many years abroad. That said, when you run into the classic anti-American Brit--OMG!--it becomes very, as noted above, tiresome; you quickly realize that much of it is driven by ignorance and envy. Getting back to Piers, he clearly has a deep streak of anti-Americanism, and a sense of entitlement, but above all, is just not very interesting nor apparently all that smart. I tried watching his show, but found it unbearable, as he kept seeking to be the star instead of letting his guest have the limelight-- or, the limey light?  

OK, where is that remote?