(to write or not to write)

Well here's something funny. Yesterday I finished all of the seasons of Northern Exposure and since I had been saving myself by not reading any commentary, of course I then went to read some reviews and dip my toe in as well. (Full disclosure this is Amazon; they did not publish it for some vocabulary issues?)

[title] I WANT TO WATCH ED'S FILM AND SIT NEXT TO MARILYN ON THE COUCH

I'm writing this quasi-review in a sort of haze. Like everybody, there's so much going on that binge-watching is almost medicinal (tip of the hat, Ed.)

So that's what I did.

I'm not gonna go blow by blow through the seasons because I feel as though if you're up for it, what really makes this series work is a certain amount of faith. The more you resist, the less chance you have of getting to the ultimate point of it, which from my perspective having finished all six seasons, is that these people aren't real, this is a reality-based fantasy. All of the questions that you might have about the location or how they shot it or who is still alive after all these years… all of that stuff can wait. This is truly an escape. Treat it like one.

Go ahead and get annoyed at a character and scratch your head at why they make the decisions they do. And admire the scenery. Personally I have a set of kashakas (click clack shakers) right next to the couch. When the music comes on I play along with the theme song and again when the episode's over, same thing.

That's kind of the overview in a positive light. If I wanted to go a teeny bit negative I'd just say I have come away with perhaps a deeper understanding of how it's possible for some deeply conservative people to be complete asshats as well as be at times generous and loving, however I am loathe to give them a pass. (I'm talking at you, flyboy)

Now I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning utterly revulsed in general by yet another legal breakdown of whatever the fuck is going on Out in the World. YouTube suddenly offers me an out in the form of two of the main actors from Northern Exposure doing a new running video podcast about the show. WTW.

I decide I'm going to watch a little bit of this and make my own commentary about their commentary. So far so good, I mean we're talking about the audition process, and running out of money in NY, and wanting to give up altogether. You know, the kind of thing I am relatively familiar with, have been for decades. Like when my mom insisted that I take typing instead of theater when I was a junior in high school. What a farce. I never even got a job that required that I do anything much above hunt and peck. Although at UC I did write my homework on a typewriter that's true. Can you imagine that being a thing now? Geez Louise.

Anyhow. Episode 2 they're still trying to find their feet. I'm in the disagreeable position of wanting the female participant to be a little more thoughtful about interrupting but that's just because she's got so much energy I don't know if she knows quite what to do with it yet. It's all good, as resident philosopher/ex-con Chris would say. The only writer still around was on today which meant that we got a little unpacking of process. Wouldn't you know the surviving partner in the team is a nice Jewish boy from Queens. Talking about how the bleed-through from the creators, subliminally or not, comes through in the casting.

Now I've gotten most of the way through the 3rd episode/commentary and discovering how little I enjoy listening to other people talk about what they did when I don't get to participate. I'm getting a little irritated being an outsider. And once again it seems as though the woman is somewhat humorless, I wanna say? And that appears to emanate from a little insecurity or gender outsiderness in this medium. Like if they were three females up there from the show chatting about the same issues casting shooting favorite props favorite lines from the episodes, then there would definitely be a different flavor. I don't know, it seems also as though the setup of the podcast is weirdly skewed toward the main couple, and yet ultimately, they don't even end up together. It's made explicit that the showrunners definitely did not want those two characters to consummate anything too soon. That's kind of drama 101. It's not a secret that the last two seasons were problematic because the male lead had to leave due to creative differences let's say, so you can see the seam where are they glued together the new relationship for her character. There were some hard feelings.

Episode 4 actually talking craft! One of my personal and favorite bits of course what do you do with the inexperienced director. One side says well they don't know the character as well as the actors do, just met them having flown in to do a single episode. That can cause some anxiety. But then there's a fundamental difference between giving a line reading and directing. That's a director makes you want to run screaming down the street. And then we get into what it means to cast based on instinct for what it is you're aiming for, your vision and some other such balderdash. You could do your job with confidence and resources and you're pretty much home free. Bollocks it all up with the casting? and you’re headed for disaster. Or alternatively, something that is irreproducible, becomes magically iconic but causes the lead actor eventually to jump off a cliff. Thankfully that doesn't happen often. This sounds like Chris talking on the radio in Cecily.

I’ve just stopped watching episode 5 about 2/3 way in because I’m annoyed after posting a comment and then having it mysteriously vanish: they were in the middle of talking about how the late costumer was obsessive about detail. As the cast member from Northern Exposure points out about all the custom jewelry they got, tiny earrings and such, nobody's ever gonna know, they're seriously not able to see at that detail. It becomes the way to make art out of your job. And I so appreciated that.

It reminded me of the time I was in a fancy local theater company’s revival production of My Fair Lady. They pulled out all the stops apparently because the guy who was the artistic director at that point felt like he had the budget so why not? Turned out that was not exactly true even though the show was a rousing success. They had to fire him ‘cause his extravagance was just too frickin’ unsustainable. He was a cool guy. Anyway, the point is they went nuts designing everything from scratch so we all had custom made costumes. I went from cockney to Lady Boxington to Henry Higgins's cook and back again throughout the show which meant you had to change your hair and your shoes and everything. It was very intense. Apropos this my comment was gonna be about how chuffed I was at the time to realize that my cook’s costume was made out of fabric with vegetables all over it and the buttons were tiny carrots. Way cool and completely invisible.

I wish these guys well but I'm bored now.

I'm gonna go have a dish of chocolate ice cream.

Maybe with nuts.