Spike Lee
With his award-winning 2006 documentary When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee took the overwhelming horror of Hurricane Katrina and broke it down into individual, compelling stories. Now, almost five years later, the city's unofficial documentarian returns with If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise (tonight, 9/8c, HBO), only to find a way of life that once almost drowned now being smothered in a slick of oil...
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Christopher Gorham, Covert Affairs
IF GOD IS WILLING AND DA CREEK DON'T RISE (Monday-Tuesday, 9/8c, HBO)
Returning to the scene of his monumental Emmy-winning documentary When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee revisits New Orleans five years after the calamity of Hurricane Katrina. It begins on a joyous note with the Saints' Super Bowl win, but turns somber as more environmental tragedy strikes with the BP oil spill. We feel helpless all over again as we watch...
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Alec Baldwin courtesy NBC Photo
No awards system is perfect, and the TCA Awards is no exception. But arriving two days after the often-inexplicable results of the Emmy nominations, Saturday night's low-key, good-time TCA Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton was a welcome course correction to several especially egregious Emmy oversights. (And, lo and behold, nary a mention of Boston Legal anywhere.)First up: Michael C. Hall, ignored by the Emmys but cited by the TCA for “Individual Achievement in Drama,” for his mesmerizing performance in Showtime's Dexter as a serial killer targeting Miami's lowest forms of criminal life. (Other contenders in this category included Friday Night Lights' Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, also shamefully snubbed at the Emmys.)Friday Night Lights, a near shutout at the Emmys despite its status as a first-year critics’ darling (and recipient of Peabody and AFI awards), was later named Outstanding New Program. (The field also included 30 Rock, Dexter, Heroes and Ugly Bet...
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Call me greedy, but when I get a little taste of good news, I can't help wanting more. Which is why, on a morning when NBC pleasantly surprises me with an early-renewal notice for the hilarious 30 Rock and the classy Peabody Awards lists among this year's honorees NBC's other best freshman show, the tremendously moving and appealing Friday Night Lights, I can't help but think the fates are aligning to give us a second season of this small-town gridiron drama as well. C'mon, NBC. Do the right thing. You know you want to.Here's how the Peabodys described Friday Night Lights in its citation: "No dramatic series, broadcast or cable, is more grounded in contemporary American reality than this clear-eyed serial about the hopes, dreams, livelihoods and egos intertwined with the fate of high-school football in a Texas town." Pretty nice, huh?Only two episodes left to go, tonight and next Wednesday. Regardless of how the Panthers play in the state championship, this show has proven itself to...
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Question: Once again, what an interesting list for the AFI TV Programs of the Year! I consistently use this list, rather than the Emmys or the Golden Globes, as a barometer of what I should be watching. I want to thank you, as a member of the jury, for including Friday Night Lights. In my completely unprofessional opinion, FNL is hands down the best new show of this fall season. It's not escapist TV, and it is fairly brutal in its realism (paralysis, steroids, social ostracism, financial responsibility); but each episode seems to make me smile, too. I really appreciate that balance. Also, I was surprised to see The West Wing on the list. I was a dedicated viewer of The West Wing, and I stuck by it through its long and sometimes uneven tenure. I felt it hit a creative high point once again just as it was ending. The finale left me wanting more, which I consider a great thing (as compared to, say, Alias, a narrative mess that couldn't end soon enough). Still, I was surprised to see WW, ...
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Question: I just finished watching the conclusion of Spike Lee's Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. I know that it's really too soon to be thinking about next year's Emmys, but after seeing this documentary, I just wanted to say that it has "Emmy winner" written all over it. I totally agree with your review of this doc. It was poignant and eloquent, and Spike Lee gave it the right tone of voice. It made me wish that Lee had shown this in the theaters, in which case I think it would give the Al Gore global-warming doc a run for its money come Oscar time. What do you think its chances are for an Emmy? There is no way that a TV documentary can win an Oscar, right? Anyway, as a native New Orleanian, I just wanted to say that Spike Lee truly did a great job.
Answer: HBO has won a number of Oscars for its nonfiction programming, but I think the rules are that in order to qualify, it would have to air theatrically before going to TV. And while Levees did get ...
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