Material Girl

I'll take one in every color - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor

Hunky’s
Today I’m writing from Hunky’s Café on Cedar Springs. I wanted a change of scenery and wi-fi is available here. We’re having a late October heat wave, so I won’t be baking in their sidewalk seating area. It’s sunny and festive inside here – we have the ambience of a 50’s diner. I love the atmosphere except for the loud foursome behind me.

Film Noir for Moi
I just watched 1944’s Double Indemnity on Netflix. Directed by Billy Wilder it is possibly the best film noir ever made. Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were at their peaks and I barely paused the TV while watching it. It has a couple of interesting twists which I forgot about. Hard to believe that Walter Neff was later the genial father on My Three Sons.

Queen of Versailles
Last week I watched a documentary about the wealthy Siegel family in Orlando Florida. David Siegel owns the largest timeshare corporation in America. I figured it would be like a fun Donald and Ivana Trump special – wasn’t quite expecting what I saw. Queen of Versailles actually focuses more on David’s wife Jackie. The ex-1993 Miss America is shown indulging their 8 children in extravagant toys and making plans for their new, 90,000 square foot Versailles knock-off (largest house in America).

The movie is a documentary that began filming circa 2007 before the financial crisis. The producer had access to the Siegel’s and their home for extensive interviews. What struck me immediately was the question “How much is enough?”. Mr. Siegel is quoted as saying, “I’m not materialistic”. Jackie belies this by declaring that their 26,000 square foot mansion is “bursting at the seams” and they need 90,000 square feet. Jackie clearly feels that if a dollop is good a truckload is way better. She has @ 10 white Pomeranian lap dogs gracing every scene. The maids are shown picking up dog poop while the boy actually steps in some. Every commissioned oil painting of the couple shows Mr. Siegel dressed as a knight or a king. Nothing low-key here.

The 2008 crisis hits and the Siegel’s are seriously affected. It seems the timeshare business needs plentiful, cheap loan money. They must suspend construction on Versailles and lay off thousands of employees. David at one point says that his kids may have to apply for student loans – I’m wondering if one of their gaudy lamps couldn’t pay for at least a year in Harvard for one kid. They lay off all but four maids, who are still needed to push 5 loaded shopping carts out of a local toy store at Christmas. A new bicycle has to fight for space in a garage already overflowing with bikes and sports gear. Jackie visits an old high school friend – she’s shocked that her Avis rent car doesn’t come with a driver. David tells her to cut back, but at no point does it seem like it looms large in her mind.

My impression from all this is not that the Siegel’s are terrible, bad people. Jackie is a friendly people person with a lot of exuberance for life. I think she seems more like an addictive-personality who doesn’t know how to apply the brakes on the materialism gravy train. She just has more enabling than your average hoarder or shop-a-holic. Even one of the teenage children says that enough is never really enough.

Recovery
Since 2008, the timeshare industry recovered and the Siegel’s are back in the saddle. Mr. Siegel restarted construction on Versailles. The Siegel’s filed a lawsuit against the producers of Queen of Versailles.. They felt the portrayal was defamatory. The case was decided in the producer’s favor although more litigation could follow. I’m still at Hunky’s and a schizophrenic man has started talking either to himself or me – not sure. Will take that as a cue to wrap this up and enjoy what remains of this extremely hot afternoon.

© 2014 Snillor Productions

Lorre Land

Master of Controversy - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor

Today

I walked outside today in shorts and a tee shirt – nearly froze my butt off. I guess we are actually having a change of seasons after all. I changed into jeans and added a hoodie. Now I'm at Starbucks and it's so crowded I’m out on the patio chillin’ in the literal sense. A red hunting dog is whining because he wants to eat the grackle at the next table. The grackle is amused, and is taunting the leashed dog.

Streaming Addiction

Today’s article is about some favorite shows, but I must confess I have an addiction. In February of this year, I signed up for Hulu Plus. I figured it would be a once-in-a-while alternative to Netflix. As it turns out there are dozens of series and thousands of hours of TV to watch – I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of streaming addiction. Now today I discovered that Apple TV has added the “FX Now” channel. I can view the shows using my Time Warner user ID. This adds Freak Show and Anger Management to the many other shows I’m binging on.

Several prominent networks (Fox, FX, Disney, Lifetime, HBO..) have added their most popular shows as streaming channels on ROKU and Apple TV. Not only are DVD’s becoming passé, so are DVR’s. There’s no need to pay any mind to a network schedule if you can summon up a favorite show in glorious HD, whenever you feel like it. This seems like the same kind of sea change that put Borders and Tower out of business a few years ago. We just don’t have to do it the same anymore.

Chuck Lorre

The reader might only be familiar with Chuck Lorre as the TV producer that Charlie Sheen taunted during his “tiger blood” phase. As it turns out, the 64 year old Lorre is a writer, producer, director with a long, fabled history in Hollywood Land. This dour, restrained, bearded man has given us some excellent shows across 4 decades..

o Roseanne
o Grace Under Fire
o Cybill
o Dharma and Greg
o Two and a Half Men
o Big Bang Theory
o Mike & Molly
o Moms

At least 5 of these shows have to do with empowerment and actualization for working class women. With the exception of Roseanne, there’s no drumbeat of feminism, just women trying to make ends meet when jobs or marriages go bad. The two stand-outs for me are Grace under Fire (1993) and Moms (2012). The women in these two shows are recovering alcoholics putting pieces back together under difficult albeit different circumstances.

Lorre’s hit-making capacity is amazing considering that two of the shows are recent creations. He's been at it for 40 years and hasn't grown stale. Also, Big Bang continues to dominate the ratings as # 1 sitcom in the nation. That a contentious, middle aged hetero man can be so accurate in his depictions of women and young people is amazing. Keep the hits coming Mr. Lorre.

Diva Meltdowns

Oddly, Lorre has had to deal with Diva destructiveness on several of these shows. Four of the eight listed shows ended with the shows’ stars making crazy demands and having friction with costars. I can only imagine that ego and a certain amount of lunacy is what made these shows great for 3 seasons or 4. Thunder accompanies lightening more often than not.

Conclusion

I probably need an intervention. I’ve completely quit watching network TV and easily log 4 hours of viewing even on a work night. Somebody rescue me! I no longer have to spend a fortune in cable fees or video rentals – it’s almost like an all-you-can-eat salad bar. I probably need to see a real person – am forgetting what they look like.

© 2014 Snillor Productions