Five Cool Things and Sturgill Simpson Sings the Grateful Dead

The Pitt

It would be impossible to talk about The Pitt without comparing it to ER. Both shows take place in fictional emergency rooms where a collection of doctors, nurses, and staff deal with a plethora of patients who have ailments in varying degrees of seriousness. They are both teaching hospitals so there are both well-experienced doctors and students anxious to learn new procedures and gain experience They both tackle up to the moment cultural issues with a left-leaning perspective. And they both star Noah Wylie.

Buy ER: Season 1 DVD

But there are differences too, both big and small. Because The PItt airs on MAX there is more cursing. The procedures are more blood soaked and there is nudity (plus a scene in which a woman giving birth has complications and the camera takes us to intimate places no TV show has gone before). Season 1 of The Pitt takes place over one long 15-hour shift with each episode taking us through one slightly compressed hour. So we stay completely in the confines of the ER. This amplifies the intensity but leaves little room for major character growth or relationship development.

The Pitt doesn’t do anything particularly revelatory with the genre. It isn’t trying to break new ground or anything. But it does what it does exceptionally well. It is the sort of classically made television serial we used to see all of the time, but that now feels rare. Its large ensemble cast is just about perfect all around. Wylie is especially good. In ER, he was a young medical student, but in The Pitt, he’s senior attending doctor, older and wiser. The day of the series is set on the anniversary of his mentor’s death during Covid and it sometimes flashes back to that horrible day – doctors covered head to toe in protective gears, patience beds covered in plastic. Over the course of the series, we see the toll of those memories and the trauma of the day he’s currently experiencing take its toll. Wylie gives the character a great inner compassion for his patience and staff, while also slowly letting us see the breakdown he’s experiencing.

But really, everyone is great. The show is great. It is riveting television.

Batman: Earth One

I am not by any means a comic book expert. I’m a fan and I’ve read my fair share of comics, especially Batman as he’s my favorite character, but I don’t follow any stories on a month-to-month basis or keep up with the comings and goings of either DC, Marvel, or any other producer. So please forgive me if I get any details wrong.

Buy Batman Earth One: The Complete Collection paperback

Earth One was a series of comics put out by DC as a way of re-imagining and modernizing some of their classic characters. As the name implies, it is set on Earth One which is part of the ever expanding multiverse. So this Batman isn’t what your Daddy read while growing up. But he’s pretty similar.

This Batman’s alter ego is still Bruce Wayne and he’s still a super rich orphan. His parents still died outside that movie theater, though the specifics are slightly different. Alfred Pennyworth was a military colleague of Bruce’s dad who becomes the head of security of Wayne Enterprises and then Bruce’s guardian when his parents die. He grows up with Harvey Dent and had a relationship with Dent’s twin sister, Jessica. Harvey will later become Detective James Gordon’s partner. He starts out ambitious and then becomes a drunk.

And that’s how the story goes – it is both familiar to fans and slightly different. That format works well as it doesn’t stray so far afield from what we know so that it doesn’t seem like Batman, but it mixes things up enough to make it interesting. Thus far, there have been three full stories for Batman and I loved them all. Similarly, the artwork doesn’t break new ground with experimentation or anything, but it is beautifully drawn.

Slow Horses: Season One

This Apple TV+ series follows a group of MI5 agents assigned to Slough House – a kind of spy purgatory where agents are sent when they’ve screwed something up so badly the bosses want nothing to do with them but not quite so badly as they can be sacked. It is run by Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), a Cold War relic who was once brilliant but is now a burn out. He’s happy to lounge around the office, drinking heavily and smoking cigarettes. His job is basically to make sure the other agents don’t actually do any work or get themselves into trouble.

Buy Slow Horses (Deluxe Edition) paperback

Naturally, they do find a real job and get themselves into loads of trouble. I feel like the theme of today’s article is things that aren’t particularly innovative or original, but that do a great job with pretty standard material. And so it is with Slow Horses. You know from the very beginning that this group of losers is gonna find themselves a big case, learn to work together as a team, and come out on top.

The case for Season One involves a kidnap plot with ties to the Deputy Director of MI5 (Kristin Scott Thomas). It takes a few interesting twists and turns but it is pretty standard spy stuff. There are a few contrivances, especially towards the end, but mostly, it is a thoroughly entertaining ride. Gary Oldman is clearly having a great time playing this old boozer who loves to put his agents down in wonderfully hilarious ways but deep down still cares and is willing to put his life on the line when it matters most.

Ted Lasso: Season One

This series is exactly what I needed this week. It is heartwarming, encouraging, and riotously funny. Jason Sudeikis stars as Ted Lasso, a Division-II American football coach who is hired by a British Premier League soccer team despite him having never coached soccer before and knowing very little about it. Turns out, he’s been hired to fail. Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) has just won ownership of the team through a bitter divorce with her cheating husband (a terrifically slimy Anthony Head). The team is the only thing he ever loved, and she’s gonna do everything she can to make them fail.

Buy Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way Blu-ray

But Ted Lasso doesn’t know how to fail. Oh, he’ll lose plenty of matches, but his folksy optimism, buoyant cheerfullness, and charming resilience wins everyone to his side. Including me. In these incredibly dark times, it is such a thing of joy to watch a show so full of sweetness, kindness, and, well, joy.

The show is smart about it too. Too much of that optimism could come off as cheesy. So it allows some darkness to come in. In the first season, Lasso is going through a rough patch in his marriage. He’ll eventually get a divorce. Other difficulties will arise. The series allows him to feel those hurts, and Sudeikis’s performance is layered with other emotions besides cheerfulness. This gives the series heart.

Also, it is absolutely hilarious. Tears-streaming-down-your-face funny. I really needed that this week.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXV

Kino Lorber has been putting out these three-film sets of relatively obscure film noirs for several years now. I have a bunch of them and I just can’t get enough. Their newest set features the only noir I’ve ever heard of set in Hawaii, a terrific no-nonsense The Naked City riff, and a rather confusing film with a terrific Broderick Crawford performance.

Buy Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXV Blu-ray

All three were directed by John H. Auer for Republic Pictures and all three are pretty great. Twenty-five sets into this feature and you’d think they’d be scraping the bottom of the barrel, but they continue to surprise me with films that might not be certified classics, but are still worth watching. You can read my full review.

Sturgill Simpson performs the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple”

Last December the Kennedy Center honored The Grateful Dead. As part of their tribute Sturgill Simpson sang one of my favorite songs, “Ripple.” He was joined by archival footage of the late Jerry Garcia on a verse and the the late Phil Lesh’s son Graham on guitar and vocals. It is a beautiful rendition and you can see Jerry’s daughter Trixie and drummer Bill Kreutzman tear up when Jerry sings.