Michael Davidow's Blog: The Henry Bell Project - Posts Tagged "television"
The Wasteland
Having grown up in the 70’s, my imagination has long been influenced by what I’ve seen on television. And jumbled images from the attic of my mind doubtlessly informed the writing of SPLIT THIRTY.
The opening credits of The Odd Couple, for instance (and the various interiors they used for Oscar Madison’s apartment, who despite his last name, allegedly lived on Park). And the same for Hawaii Five-O: sixty full seconds of orgiastic snarl (when they finally make that film of SPLIT THIRTY, those saturated colors will live again). Hawaii Five-O has a special mood, too; as does The Fugitive, Room 222, and Pooch’s beloved Bewitched. My wife could not understand why I watched Love American Style whenever I could, these past few years; but I could not resist. It tasted like cotton candy when I was writing this story.
Which all begs the question, of course, as to why I’ve avoided Mad Men all this time. But as I’ve said before, I did not want to taint my own vision of Madison Avenue with that of any other soul.
Having recently seen bits and pieces of AMC’s show, though, it appears to be a hell of a lot more stylized than what suited Henry Bell. The sets look antiseptic. The clothing seems cut for dolls. And as I think that’s part of Matthew Wiener’s shtick, I don’t mean those statements as criticism, either.
For the best small-screen version of the Gotham found in SPLIT THIRTY, however, you have to go back another few decades, to a program called The Naked City (inspired by the film of that same name). I recently watched an episode that trailed a little kid from midtown Manhattan to his home in Brooklyn. It was sun-lit, dirty, and riveting. It even had Diahann Carroll. And another with Frank Gorshin as a stool pigeon trying to make dough for taking a bus back to Oklahoma by hustling a game of ping-pong; and another with Robert Duvall as a washed-up boxer aiming for one last fight. Worth every second of attention, whatever late hour you are lucky enough to find these things.
That, or watch Family Affair. Long live Buffy and Uncle Bill.
The opening credits of The Odd Couple, for instance (and the various interiors they used for Oscar Madison’s apartment, who despite his last name, allegedly lived on Park). And the same for Hawaii Five-O: sixty full seconds of orgiastic snarl (when they finally make that film of SPLIT THIRTY, those saturated colors will live again). Hawaii Five-O has a special mood, too; as does The Fugitive, Room 222, and Pooch’s beloved Bewitched. My wife could not understand why I watched Love American Style whenever I could, these past few years; but I could not resist. It tasted like cotton candy when I was writing this story.
Which all begs the question, of course, as to why I’ve avoided Mad Men all this time. But as I’ve said before, I did not want to taint my own vision of Madison Avenue with that of any other soul.
Having recently seen bits and pieces of AMC’s show, though, it appears to be a hell of a lot more stylized than what suited Henry Bell. The sets look antiseptic. The clothing seems cut for dolls. And as I think that’s part of Matthew Wiener’s shtick, I don’t mean those statements as criticism, either.
For the best small-screen version of the Gotham found in SPLIT THIRTY, however, you have to go back another few decades, to a program called The Naked City (inspired by the film of that same name). I recently watched an episode that trailed a little kid from midtown Manhattan to his home in Brooklyn. It was sun-lit, dirty, and riveting. It even had Diahann Carroll. And another with Frank Gorshin as a stool pigeon trying to make dough for taking a bus back to Oklahoma by hustling a game of ping-pong; and another with Robert Duvall as a washed-up boxer aiming for one last fight. Worth every second of attention, whatever late hour you are lucky enough to find these things.
That, or watch Family Affair. Long live Buffy and Uncle Bill.
