severe_td2 Reviews

One Day at a Time (2017–2020)

I wanted to like this, but couldn't get interested

[3/10 · 23 February 2018]

I'm a big lover of '70s and '80s sitcoms. Many here have complained about the laugh track on this show. That didn't bother me a bit, as I've been used to that as a fixture of sitcoms for more than 40 years.

Unfortunately, this remake of Norman Lear's 1970s classic of the same name just isn't very interesting, or funny for that matter.

The first problem is the characters. They start out well, with the legendary Rita Moreno playing the old-school traditionalist widowed grandma, and Justina Machado in a very believable role of a frazzled, but mostly upbeat 40ish Cuban-American mom.

Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are terrible. Elena, the teen daughter, is an insufferable "social justice warrior" type, and not even in an entertaining way. Elena isn't there for comic relief. We're supposed to like her and take her politically correct obsessions seriously, which is incredibly hard to do. She comes off as a bratty, entitled, know-it-all teenager, and not in a compelling or interesting way. She's just unlikable.

The son, Alex, is around 14 years old, and is a one-note metrosexual character. There is nothing particularly interesting about him

Compare these two to the cute and spunky Barbara (what teenage boy in the '70s didn't have a crush on her?) and charming troublemaker Julie, of the original series. Lear's original featured two flawed, but likable teens who were easy to relate to. The ones on the current show range between insufferable and boring.

But that's not the worst part. The original series had delightful and humorous Schneider, who was slightly creepy and intrusive, but harmless. He pretty much made the series. Mention the original show to those around during that era, and their first thought will be, "Oh, the show with that funny Schneider guy!"

In the politically correct 2010s, the edgy, somewhat lecherous Schneider has been changed into a clueless buffoon living off Daddy's money. Even worse, the new Schneider simply exists to fill the "white privilege" role -- where he constantly tries hard to be a good liberal, but is constantly taught lessons that he's too dumb, white, and rich to understand the plight of the Hispanic working class. Oddly, while we are supposed to chuckle at his well-meaning ignorance (and notice the lessons he's constantly taught about class and race), somehow we're supposed to repeatedly overlook that he's also a womanizing jerk.

The irony is that "old" Schneider was a street-smart letch who purposely made inappropriate sexual comments, but in reality was harmless. New Schneider seems like a clueless-but-innocent dweeb on the surface, but in reality treats women like walking sex objects.

Oh, the politically correct hypocrisy!

Even beyond the characters, the show just isn't very interesting. The plots just aren't very compelling. It feels like they're trying really hard to be edgy and present a realistic view of the Cuban generation gap, but none of it held my interest at all. I couldn't continue watching after 4 episodes.

Norman Lear was quite left-of-center politically, and worked this into most of his shows. Even though I don't agree with Lear's politics, I found him to be a sitcom genius, and thought that his work was both hilarious and thought-provoking. I was able to look past the political preachiness because the rest of the product was such high quality.

Here, the show seems to exist solely to preach, and they've stripped everything from the original show which made it memorable and groundbreaking.

I'm giving it 3 stars because Moreno and Machado's characters were well drawn, and I liked what Gloria Estefan did with the theme music, transforming it from a whitebread Indianapolis theme to a Los Angeles Cuban version, while keeping the same lyrics and tone

I have no clue why so many people rated it 9-10. I feel like we're watching a different show.

The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds... It Leads (1999 TV Movie)

Gets too preachy, ends up being depressing and unsatisfying

[3/10 · 2 October 2015]

I had some high hopes for this final installment of "Rockford", produced in 1997 but inexplicably not aired until 1999.

The beginning started off fairly interesting, and even had some classic Rockford humor that we had become familiar with from the original series.

Rita Moreno's "Rita" character was back, this time happily married to a teacher, and far past her troubled life as a prostitute.

The opening minutes of the show quickly set up an interesting premise: What if someone you've known, respected, and really liked for years was accused of a horrific crime such as rape? And what if the circumstantial evidence is fairly damning, yet not quite enough proof to make you completely change your mind about your longtime friend?

Do you trust him? Do you believe him? When he acts evasive, is it because he's guilty, or because he's scared and confused over a serious false accusation?

I was very intrigued by this story line, and was really into it.

However, not too long after that, the "media" appears, and the entire episode goes into the toilet. I quickly realized that the purpose of this final "Rockford" movie was NOT to entertain, but rather to conduct a ridiculous, over-the-top attack on the media and its rush to judgment in the pursuit of ratings.

I have no problem with an episode essentially calling out the media. I have been a longtime media critic myself. However, from the moment an over-the-top TV station manager uttered the words, "It's guys like him who allow me to send my kids to Harvard/Westlake (an expensive LA private school)", referring to an accused rapist, I knew we were in for a bad movie. The "evil" media was so exaggerated that it turned the entire episode into a farce. It was like the writers were trying to make sure that even the most dim of their viewers understood the points that were trying to be raised.

That's not the Rockford I came to know and love. The Rockford Files was respected for its subtle humor and understated, almost hidden criticism of society. They had done "issues" shows before, but at least packaged them in an entertaining and thought-provoking fashion. This was more like TV for idiots.

Even the Rockford supporting cast had little to do. Angel had very little screen time, and absolutely nothing to do with the story's main plot, nor was his substory interesting at all. Beth Davenport came out of law retirement AGAIN to represent Rockford's client, only to be completely useless and ineffective at everything she did. In Beth's own words, "I'm 0-for-3 so far", which turned into something like 0-for- 5 by the time the episode was over. I always enjoyed seeing Beth coming in, kicking butt, and at least giving Rockford some wiggle room to solve the case on his own. Didn't happen this time.

And what about the case itself? Rockford did almost no investigating. There was just about zero detective work done. And the one thing Rockford did uncover simply introduced a huge plot hole that wasn't resolved until near the end. The case itself was solved by a deux ex machina tactic of introducing a crime supercomputer to spit out data that should have been known from the start. Yuck.

With almost no investigating being done, how did they occupy the time of a full TV movie? That time was filled with increasingly depressing consequences for Rockford's client, which were thought provoking at first, but eventually became redundant and unpleasant to watch. The ending, which I will not reveal, was not at all satisfying.

Should you watch this? If you want to complete your viewing of the Rockford Files library, then by all means do so. But it wouldn't hurt you at all to skip this one. I almost wish that I did, so I could remember the much better "Murder and Misdemeanors" as the final episode.

The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda (1997 TV Movie)

The best of the Rockford TV movies

[8/10 · 2 October 2015]

Let's face it -- the 15-year downtime between the end of "Rockford" and the first TV movie did no one any favors.

James Garner was approaching 70, and could no longer perform his trademark action scenes, nor was he particularly believable as a guy who could be a force with his fists.

Noah Beery passed away, and could no longer play "Rocky", and the character was written off the show as dead, as well.

Perhaps most importantly, the writing somewhat degraded. Perhaps it was from the writers aging themselves, or perhaps it was simply rust from not having worked on the series in 15 years, but there is near universal agreement that these movies are not as good as the original Rockford series.

However, once you grew attached to the series characters, it was hard not to like anything new we could see them doing after so many years.

This was the most enjoyable of the eight TV movies. It had the classic Rockford Files elements of shifty characters trying to further their interests at Jim's expense (and not just Angel), a difficult and uncooperative police department (including Becker), an element of mystery, an attractive leading lady, and even some humor.

This one came the closest to capturing the original "Rockford" spirit.

The show also touched upon an element in most of our lives that we rarely think about, and which is rarely depicted on TV: The neglected friend. You know the one I'm talking about -- the friend you like and enjoy spending time with, but for whatever reason, always seems to end up last priority in your life. While not a major plot point, this little side story ended up being surprisingly touching, and quite believable.

Don't expect to be "wowed" by this TV movie. It's not as good as the better Rockford series episodes, but if you want to find the '90s Rockford movie with the most similarity to the original, this is it.