THE MAYO CLINIC: FAITH - HOPE - SCIENCE

A New Documentary Executive Produced by Ken Burns

To Air on PBS Tuesday September 25, 2018 

9-11 p.m. ET on PBS

(Check your listings)

 

 

I was fortunate to be among the Mayo employees and friends who saw the premiere of this wonderful documentary. I have been working at Mayo Clinic for nearly 11 years and the history is both inspiring and still very alive. It has been an honor and a pleasure to be a small part of this amazing institution.

Ken Burns does his usual excellent work. It is not to be missed.

I Hate Must-Watch TV

Well, hate is a big word. I am frustrated by it because I dislike being hooked by The Tube. But I also am not very good at binge-watching such as a whole season on Netflix or Apple TV.

Unfortunately that doesn't keep me from getting trapped, hooked, reeled-in. It started back with Roots, I, Claudius, and Henry VIII series in the 70s. These mini-series productions forced me to be home and watching TV. Ken Burns' documentary series productions have been absolutely must-watch. Sherlock and Wolf Hall have been similar in recent years on PBS. Downton Abbey didn't do it to me. I could take it or leave it- my world wasn't over if I missed it. (I hear via PBS that the BBC has started filming Sherlock, Season 4. It should be a few months until it airs. Good. I can escape must-watch for a while. Yeah, right!)

In any case, AMC has done it now with The Night Manager, the British import of a John Le Carre novel starring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. It is a well-produced and directed spy thriller that is over-the-top in quality and tension. Hiddleston's Jonathan Pine is an enigma wrapped in charm. Laurie's Roper is just plain creepy. Laurie is showing acting chops that makes it all the more surprising that he spent all that time doing comedy. He is remarkable.

As in any good spy thriller movie or Le Carre novel tension can build slowly, have a brief moment of explosion, then settle back into quiet only to build again. In the first episode I found myself getting bored with the pace, even though I know Le Carre's style. When the explosive scenes occurred I turned to my wife and said, "Well, I'm hooked."

I sat entranced on Tuesday with the incredibly horrendous scenes of a show of force armaments party in the desert. My wife was having great difficulty watching. I asked her why she responds to this like that when all the TV shows she likes almost always have murder and mayhem? "Those are cartoons," she responded. "This is great acting!"

I have tried very hard to resist The Night Manager. I (intentionally) missed the first ten minutes of week 4. I tried surfing on the computer while it was on. Nothing has worked. I have been hooked by Le Carre, Hiddelston, and mostly Laurie. They know how to make it work. They drive me crazy because I dislike being shackled to the TV schedule. But I WILL be there next week to see how they bring all this to a conclusion. I know anything can happen and that "happy endings" are not necessarily part of Le Carre's style.  But I will be satisfied by a remarkable series.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

A note about this past Tuesday's show of force in the desert episode. I was reminded, in the very best ways, of what I still consider the best TV series ever- M*A*S*H. Take M*A*S*H's set and drop it in the midst of the Afghan desert. Make Frank Burns less odd and more cunning. Add lots of sinister to Alan Alda's Hawkeye. Then take away all the comedy and replace it with reality. The insanity of war that was at the heart of M*A*SH will explode into intense and horrendous color. There was even this grotesque scene of Hugh Laurie's Roper hitting golf balls in the desert while wearing a bathrobe and combat boots. M*A*S*H modernized for the 21st Century.

It's Only Snow- Can We Live With That?

Mayo Brothers at Mayo Clinic before the storm

I live in Minnesota.
It gets cold in Minnesota.
It snows in Minnesota.

Can we live with that?

Sure, but first we have to freak out and describe the first snow of the season as something we think we have never seen before.

Turn on the news and we see

• the requisite stand-up with the MNDOT supervisor describing the newsworthy event of plowing the snow on the local highways
• the requisite stand-up along that local highway with car lights going behind the reporter (it is evening- and dark.)
• the social media posts that call this a "snowpocalypse" even though it is only forecast to be 6" - 10".

 The hype continues the next day when the snow failed to measure up to the upper end but was still enough to keep the first ten minutes of the newscasts filled with

• the requisite stand-up with along the local highway with car lights moving faster today
• the offbeat story of a milk-hauling truck sliding off a road
• the requisite story of front-end loaders plowing and gathering the snow from the streets of a small town
• the requisite story of the children sledding.

Then, with all this behind us, reminding us of how bad this storm was (but no serious injuries in the police report and only 8" of the white stuff), we get pictures of tornado damage and flooding in other parts of the country where people lost everything. Some even their lives.

Was it really all that bad here? No! I am moved to gratitude for the simple snowstorm we had. It was not any where near a snowpocalypse. I have lived through those on the east coast when winter Nor'easters dump a lot more than 8". But we survived even that!

In the lingo of news this story was NOT a man bites dog story. Let's keep our calm and our sense of perspective.

It was only snow.

Emptiness

Late night TV was emptier than it has been in years last night. Dave Letterman has retired. As I look forward to tonight, day 2 without Dave, I realized how empty it really is.

That's the whole thing.

A Letter to Dave With 23 Shows to Go

Note: Time is getting short. Dave has only 23 shows left to go before his retirement. What a great loss that will be. He is in the same league as Johnny Carson, Jack Paar, and Steve Allen as a pioneer in his own right. Here's some thoughts as it gets closer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

To: The Late Show with David Letterman
Fr: Me
Re: Final Show(s)

I saw a news item that was wondering about who should be on your final show in mid-May. Lots of big name celebrities come to mind. Bill Murray was on the first shows on both NBC and CBS as well as the last on NBC. President Obama would make a great guest and a real super ending to a great career. Maybe a Top Ten with some of the Big Names that started with your show over these 30-plus years.

All these came to mind as I was pondering the question about final guests. Bette Midler singing “One More for the Road” would seem like a little bit of stealing from the past. Maybe Jay Leno for you to show all your graciousness at his attempt to be the King of Late Night. Maybe Oprah and Madonna could join him along with Donald Trump and, oh yes, Richard Simmons. In the end you are the gracious winner!

Then I figured it out. One of your final guests should be me.

Of course, as you know, I am no one. I am just a fan, a mere 18 months younger than you who has been watching as regularly as possible since your brief run on daytime TV. I am just an “everyman”, the kind of person who has been there for you through thick and thin. As you have played light and loose with all the TV conventions and rituals, I would represent those who got it. There are millions of us who have spent countless hours being entertained by your anti-celebrity person.

I am the kind of person who you made famous with “Know Your Cuts of Meat” or out on the street as they went into the Hello Deli. I am the people walking along the street when your people in bunny suits or Santa Claus outfits try to go into a coffee shop. I represent the people you have given joy to or who you have made fun of as they walked down Broadway getting squirted with water, caught unawares on the street or yelled at through your external speaker.

I have no stupid pet or human tricks that I can do. I am not a “young scientist.” I am a trumpet player but you have such a good band, my presence would be like a Black Hole sucking away the music.

I have been to New York and been in your audience twice. Once, (left) on June 13, 2006 Tim Russert was your guest; and (right) on August 22, 2013 with Rachel Maddow and Serena Williams.



 
I filled out a card with one of my uniquenesses- I look a lot like Ben Stein- but never heard from you.





So, simply, I present this as my way of saying, “Thank You, David Letterman” for making Late Night TV more than remarkable and very, very watchable. I doubt that there will ever be another “King of Late Night.” You are the end of an era- and a dynasty, the true heir to Steve and Jack and Johnny.

Rest well- but don’t hide. Let us see your creativity and remind us of what has been so much fun.

Aging Does Have Its Impact

(Disclaimer: I know I'm not OLD, old. I'm only 66 and NBC News on Wednesday clearly pointed out that for many reasons 60 IS the new 40. But let me talk about it anyway.)

I did the online Jeopardy! test the other evening. I have probably done it a half-dozen or more times over the years. I have been a fan of Jeopardy! since the original Art Fleming days. I am a fountain of trivial information- and always have been. But as one watches the show it isn't hard to see that there are very, very few older people as contestants. I know that part of the reason is no doubt that older people (in their 60s and up) may have given up on being contestants. The pace of the show, the ability to ring-in quickly enough takes a little more speed than we may have as we get older. There is no doubt, neuroscience tells us, that our reflexes slow down.

And, as I found out the other day, so does our quickness of memory. There were several questions in the online test that I KNEW the answer to. They were, in general for me, very easy questions. In one I could even see the person who was the answer.

But I couldn't bring the answer out in the allotted 15 seconds. The speed (i.e. 15 seconds) wasn't the problem- most of the ones I was sure of the answer I got within the first 3-5 seconds. Typing didn't slow me down- I do a lot of that.

But that razor-sharp memory? Not what it used to be.

Not that it's bad, it is just a little more spotty than it used to be.

Maybe Jeopardy! should bring back the Senior Tournament they used to have! I'll be waiting for the call.

A TV Tour-de-Force

I didn't get in on the Breaking Bad juggernaut until the show was almost finished- and I am still only on Season One. (Shame on me, I know!) So when they announced a prequel about one of the characters from Breaking Bad that I still hadn't met yet on that series, I decided that I would get in on the ground floor.

Better Call Saul started on February 8 and has turned into its own classic.

• 9.2/10·IMDb
• 100%·Rotten Tomatoes
• 9.2/10·TV.com
• 78%·Metacritic

I was hooked from the start.

It got off to a slow start with several different story-lines seeming to compete against each other. Yet each adding to the others bits and pieces of the story that will eventually, six years hence, become Saul Goodman.

Lighting, cinematography, scripts, acting, character development grew on me week-by-week.

For this first season, Jimmie/Saul is a person with both a soul and a heart. He is trying to make it. He was a slippery person, trying to be respectable yet always fighting his inner demons and tendencies. No one wants to be on his side. He wants the best- and he wants to be successful. His struggle is almost the struggle of an "Everyman." We know he will become a sleazy lawyer in the Breaking Bad-era and then end up working in a mall Cinnabon after that ends, as we saw in a flash-forward at the start of episode one. That gives his comic tragedy persona even more to work with.

There are a number of top-shelf characters- and actors turning in incredible performances. The original casting of comic Bob Odenkirk in such a serious role was genius. He keeps the "heaviness" from overwhelming, yet we see it tearing him apart. Jonathan Banks is nothing short of mesmerizingly brilliant as Mike, the "cleaner" and Michael McKean as Jimmy's brother is another kind of sleazy.

There were at least three Emmy-nomination moments in the first season:

• Mike in episode 6 and 9
• Jimmie/Saul and Chuck in episode 9

It isn't often that a spin-off can become as much as or even more than its predecessor. (Lou Grant comes to mind as an exception.) Better Call Saul has been nothing short of excellent and kept getting better. While it may never reach the iconic status of Breaking Bad, it will be its own tour-de-force on the TV scene.

Living in Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is that sense of disconnect that happens when you are looking at something and feeling something the opposite. Wikipedia describes it more officially as

In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
--Link

I'm not an expert on how it can be used in positive ways, although much of what a counselor does can be enhanced by developing cognitive dissonance in a client. That can help them see the changes that need to be made.

I am reminded of cognitive dissonance every time I see a pharmaceutical commercial on TV. Whether it's Viagra or a diabetes medication the visuals of the ad or enticing. There is often a sexual component (even if it isn't Viagra) and a sense of the natural world- the fresh out-of-doors. You are given a feeling of relaxation and excitement (with Viagra, anyway) at the same time. All these wonderful images flow across the screen.

Meanwhile the voice over, which they are required to give but hope you ignore, tells you all the awful side-effects that could occur which would mean you better get immediate medical attention- and the four-hour erection is the least of these problems.

I am sure they know the cognitive dissonance that occurs in every one of these ads. Whether it's the desire for feeling better which would lead you to want or need the medication clashing with the side-effects or even just the reminder of medical concerns in the middle of a TV show, cognitive dissonance can get in the way of the consumer buying the product.

Perhaps the one that most clearly battles this problem is the ad for the stop-smoking aid, Chantix. At one point in advertising history and perhaps even until now, the Chantix commercials ran a full two-minutes. That is a lot of ad time. Over half of that was the listing of the side-effects- and there are many.

Chantix (varenicline) is an effective medication. It is used successfully by millions as are most of the medications we see advertised. The issue isn't that they don't work, the issue is there are possible side-effects for some people. The public has the right to know of the possible problems, but it is interesting to watch the pharmaceutical companies do everything they can to keep us from being discouraged.

It's Morning- Has It Started Yet?

Naturally I mean the Super Bowl. Seahawks and Patriots. I'm kind of afraid to take sides. Like most sports fans I tend to be superstitious. I have had a terrible record over the years with my favorite sports teams. They lose. Often. It makes me worry that it's my support for them that does it.

Okay- I know that I'm not that powerful. If I was, I would hire myself out to the team willing to pay me the highest salary to root against them so they would win. But if you are a true Seahawk fan, don't blame me when they lose today.

Which I am afraid they are going to do. I don't want them to, of course. The Patriots, in my pantheon of disliked teams, are just a little lower than the 1st place tie of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys and only slightly above Dah Bears. It would be a joy to see Russell Wilson (with UW Badgers connections!) take them down like he did my beloved Packers. Even if he believes God wills them to win, I think God remains on the sidelines. If they lose, will that mean God wanted the Patriots better? Nah. Never.

But these are the Patriots. I don't trust them. I don't want to see them win. No, they are probably not the incarnation of the Evil One, but let them lose! Let it be fair and square. Let the Seahawks take over the field and never let it go.

But the hype is almost over. This is scheduled to post at 9:00 am. The hype should be all queued up and ready to go. The hours of interviews, cute pieces, up-close-and-personal moments, the hundreds of camera angles and books full of things to say in any situation are all there.

So, in fear of losing the whole state of Washington as readers of my blog:

Go Seahawks!

When TV was Black and White

Actually it's about the trumpets, not the color of the screen (or lack thereof.) Here is a look at a young Doc Severinsen along with three other pretty darn good trumpet players.

The Power of Personality- Or More?

This past week was The Roosevelt Week- the 14 hour documentary on Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, arguably three people who did more to change the American way of life than just about anybody in the 20th Century. I sat through the whole series shaking my head in awe, mouth open in amazement or just plain dumbstruck. First, of course, by the remarkable film making of Ken Burns and the writing of Geoffrey Ward. They have developed such a remarkable style over these past 30+ years that their work engages, teaches, and entertains you. There were pictures and films that have probably not seen the light of day in decades.

Just as amazing was also the three "stars" of the show and their story. As a fan of American history I devoured all these newly revealed facts and stories as well as all the old familiar ones since now they had a new twist- we could watch them and put them into historical perspective. Several things stood out as part of the secret of their incredible success in what they did.

In one of the segments, Geoff Ward described the impact that FDR had on people. Ward talked about the fact that a number of people said that Franklin Roosevelt would stand to greet them when they entered the Oval Office. In reality, he never rose to greet anyone. Ever. As we all know, FDR was paralyzed by polio at age 39 and never stood on his own again. It was impossible for him to stand and greet anyone at any time. Yet, Ward explained, it was the force of his personality that people imagined him able to do more than he could. His presence was so real and so large.

The same was said of Teddy Roosevelt. One person described being in the room with TR and then feeling like he had to "wring the personality from his clothes" since it was so overwhelming. Eleanor, considering her role as a woman in a very male-dominated world, may have been even more powerful than the two of them. She won over generals in the south Pacific war zone by her presence and dedication when she went on an exploratory visit.

Some of their personality strength came from the families they grew up in. But that is one of those correlation or causation questions. Other members of their families were far less able to overcome the demons they were afflicted by. Alcoholism ran through the whole Roosevelt clan. (Eleanor was TR's niece and FDR was a 5th cousin to TR.) Illness and depression plagued them, including the three of them as well. They all had complicated relationships with parents as well as their own children. They were, in spite of their much-larger-than-life personalities, very human.

Somehow we also want to make something of the fact that all three, as well as many other people of big egos, ambitions and personalities, had to overcome some significant issue. TR was plagued by asthma as a child, yet became this incredible outdoorsman, pushing everyone around him to greater acts of strength and (sometimes foolish) bravery. His first wife and mother both died on the same day. FDR was stricken by polio and all his future seemed lost. I never thought about how devastating polio was. My generation was the first to get the polio vaccines that have conquered what was a dreadful disease. Yet FDR campaigned as tirelessly as any candidate ever has- or will. Eleanor was looking for unconditional live and acceptance lost from her own parents. FDR was unfaithful to her- and she knew some of it. Yet she chaired the newly formed United Nations first committee that wrote the International Declaration of Human Rights- and became the only individual ever to receive a standing ovation from the UN General Assembly when it passed.

Yes, it may very well be that the ability to overcome such incredible obstacles and adversity played a big part on who they became and what they were able to accomplish. Yet others faced with similar or even lesser problems fail to thrive. What is it then that allows some to excel under such circumstances and others to fail? Why does one person who loses love and support crawl into their own oblivion and fail to thrive while another member of the family becomes president? The great Viktor Frankl wrote following World War II that a sense of meaning and purpose of one's life is what helped many prisoners of Nazi concentration camps survive. His Man's Search for Meaning is still one of the most important books in the field over 60 years later. He has a number of quotes that resonante:

• When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
• Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
• A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how".

But these, too, beg the question, why do some people, or how do some people, manage to maintain that sense of meaning or hope, purpose or love when everything around seems to be taking all that away? Frankl, and others, will here point to a sense of spirituality or the spiritual. Yet there are many who don't have that sense or are unable to experience whatever it may be.

Perhaps, then, all that we can do as individuals, family members, colleagues, friends,  therapists or fellow human beings, is hold up the possibilities for meaning and purpose. Perhaps what our tasks are is to be there when people face the adversity of their situation and be present with them, non-judgmentally, compassionately, and with a sense that there may be something greater than ourselves that will get us through.

Seems kind of weak and hopeless, I know. How can such stand up to things like the Holocaust, war, racism, debilitating illness? I don't know the answer to the "How?" but people like the Roosevelts and Frankl remind me that it isn't impossible.

On This Date: Septembr 14

First, a twenty year memory:

1994 All 28 baseball owners vote to cancel rest of 1994 season

We thought it would be a major hit for MLB. In reality, baseball came back better than ever- and perhaps under more scrutiny than ever as well. All the performance enhancing drug use occurred since then, too. Overall, it has done quite well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then a forty-five year memory:

1968 1st broadcast of 60 Minutes on CBS-TV

Not much one can say about this iconic TV program that hasn't been said many times. It has provided a lot of information, insight, investigation and entertainment. Congratulations!

All Within a Lifetime

Feeling kind of lazy today, so I looked up events for August 10. These three interrelated events took place today, 66 years ago. No special significance, just interesting.

• ABC enters network TV at 7 PM (WJZ, NY)
• Allen Funt's "Candid Camera" TV debut on ABC
• WABC TV channel 7 in New York, NY (ABC) begins broadcasting

Keep the Music Going

One of those fun groups of the 60s was the Association. I saw them in college (and interviewed on of them). Here they are from the Smothers Brothers show. A little of their "humor" to start things off.

And while we are on the Smothers Brothers, here's Mason Williams with his classic:

And finally, before it was the Glen Campbell show's theme, here's Campbell and the amazingly wonderful John Hartford, Gentle on My Mind.

And if you have some more time to waste use for some good music, here is John Hartford years later as he was getting ill, doing a remarkable bluegrass version of Gentle. No comparison, though both are good, this is outstanding.

What Stamina

They range in age from 64 to 72.

They have been a significant part of the soundtrack for the last half century!

They still move around that stage like they did 50 years ago.

I'm talking about the Rolling Stones whose concert I am watching on Showtime right now.

It's Just a Shout Away to Jumping Jack Flash, they haven't lost a bit of what made makes them great. They managed to survive what most people thought would kill them. They still look the part of the "bad boys of rock and roll." I don't think it's nostalgia that drives it. No more than in jazz people of all ages flock to see the great masters who are still around as much as the newer generation. In bluegrass Ralph Stanley draws as big a crowd as ever- maybe bigger. With Rock and Roll we weren't supposed to still be enjoying that music today. It was for the rebellious young.

(Wow- Keith Richards can really smile!)

Or maybe it's just damn great music for all generations.

Even if Sympathy for the Devil has come a very long way from Altamont, it's raw power is still there with a different underlying beat that pushes the song forward with a force no one else can bring.

At the same time I am caused to reflect on that other British band from the same era that never made it out of the 60s intact. Half of the Beatles are gone. Their music frozen in time with only Sir Paul and Ringo to make any new contributions. Their music is just as timeless and rings just as true today, but we will never hear the changes and evolution of the music as we do with the Stones.

This is not a back-to-the-60s tour like you get with so many other groups today.

Well, enough. I hope I can be in as good a shape at 70 as they are.

If so- it'll

"Be a gas!"

Nice Folks...

I'm catching up on a TV series that I have missed and badly wanted to see. Treme. Watching one of the episodes the other day I heard this great line from one of the musician characters:

I played there. Nice folks, but you know they clap on one and three.

What a wonderful line. It is a description of what kind of music moves you, what kind of music is in your soul.

On one side is the old traditional style. In a four-beat measure, you clap along when it's beat one or beat three.

This is perhaps best described as, well, square. ONE, two, THREE, four.

But then there's the other style. This one emphasizes the backbeat, beats two and four. It is a style that seems to have come from jazz and brought into early rock and roll. (Note that the movie about the early Beatles was titled Backbeat.) For some reason that I have never even wanted to figure out, there is often a power in the backbeat style. It drives you forward. It keeps you moving. A number of years ago someone was telling me that there is even a generational divide on this one. Those born after rock and roll are more comfortable with the backbeat. Those before then clap on beats one and three.

Back in October 2007 I said this about the change in music patterns:

What happened was that the music became a soundtrack for all that was happening. Music became the unifying force because it was something everyone began to share in common. Not only could we hear them on radio, we could see them on TV. We also could take the radio with us thanks to transistors, and listen at the beach or wherever. As a soundtrack the music became indelibly imprinted in our minds and forever connected to all the events.

And, I believe, changed our musical brain patterns. Somewhere between 1945 and 1967 we learned to respond to the backbeat- counts 2 and 4- instead of beats 1 and 3. Music began to move differently. Music began to produce different brain waves. Music propelled us forward in ways that we had never seen. If you don't see this, just watch a group of older baby boomers and older try to clap in time with music. It will be different than the younger Gen X and Gen Y style.

It really does have something to with the music we feel or hear in our soul. Each generation is different, of course, but certain music patterns endure. The backbeat pattern is obviously one that makes a difference.

Just ask the writers at Treme.

In Memoriam: David Frost

Comedian, writer, journalist, game show host Sir David Frost (1939 - 2013) died last week. Best known for his interviews with Richard Nixon which later was portrayed in the movie Frost/Nixon, some of us remember first being introduced to his wit in pre-Monty Python style comedy on That Was The Week That Was (TW3). Here's a clip from the BBC version of the show. You can see all the elements that would become the Monty Python style already at work:

It was the atmosphere into which Tom Lehrer could truly get satirical (and sarcastic):

And of course from his Nixon interviews. A great achievement.

RIP: David Frost

What Mortals We Fools Be

Was watching the headlines on one of the evening "entertainment news" programs. They talked about a show that was on Animal Planet that broke records for viewership of the cable channel. The gist of the special was that "they" have found evidence for the existence of mermaids.

They were supposedly interviewing a Dr. Paul Robertson and showing footage of the real thing.

It was all fake.

Some people believed it.

Animal Planet did not make it clear that it was a fake, a "mockumentary", although I guess there was a disclaimer at the end, though short.

It has been 73 years since Orson Welles scared the stuffing out of many people with a radio drama of the "War of the Worlds."

I am amazed at how easily people still believe what isn't true.

Oh wait a minute. That's right. We still believe politicians, too.

High Aspirations

Me: We got tickets to the Letterman Show next Tuesday.

Daughter: That's great, Dad.

Me: We'll call you and let you know if we get on TV so you can watch.

Daughter: Right, Dad.

Me: Well, I can be the stupid guy that asks a dumb question in the warm-up and then Dave makes fun of him on the air.

Daughter: (Long laughter.) Dad- you are truly aspiring to be a stupid person on the Letterman show!

Me: Seems like a job I'd be a natural at.

Have You Watched This Series?

Longmire is a 10-week series on A&E this summer.

I have been a fan of Walt Longmire as the lead character in Craig Johnson's series of mystery books about him and his work as Absaroka Co., Wyoming, Sheriff.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the well-written, directed, and acted series which comes to episode 7 tonight at 10:00 Eastern time.  Robert Taylor (right)
plays Walt Longmire and has certainly caught the spirit of the book's star. The shot at the right is what I would have expected from Walt. The look captures who and what he is.

But in order to also get you thinking about the really excellent series of BOOKS that spawned this, let me say a few other words about what you will find there that, so far, has not been on TV.

Native American spirituality and a Western US Magic Realism. In almost every one of the 8 books in the series Walt comes face to face with forces and visions beyond the every day realm. Whether it is ghost warriors or talking crows, his visions give a side to the spirit of the Western states that is missing on TV. Maybe they were afraid that such things would work against the TV series, and they may be right. But it is a truly refreshing and unusual viewpoint presented without explanation. It is simply part of the landscape- and Walt accepts it that way.

The other piece missing from the TV series that is outstanding in the book is the deep and lengthy relationship between Walt and his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, a local Cheyenne that Walt regularly refers to as "The Cheyenne Nation." At one point in book 8 (just out last month), Henry is described as what the things of the night are afraid of. Sadly that has not been shown on TV yet. Lou Diamond Phillips as Henry looks just too young for the wise and rambunctious Henry. Phillips does well, but the racial tension between Henry and Walt on the TV is NOT the same as in the books. Johnson in the books makes them a yin/yang friendship, each providing what the other isn't.

With all that, Longmire, the TV series is worth the weekly hour. The scenery is as much a part of the story as the characters. And I get the sense that as the series goes on it may just begin to find the same Magic Realism of spirituality that Johnson has mined so richly. They are building a great story line and I fear a real cliffhanger that will drive me crazy until next year.

I am looking forward to it.

(BTW, here is a good article on Criminal Element interviewing Longmire Staff Writer Sarah Nicole Jones)