The pilot for Babylon Fields, the zombie crime drama that was noted on these pages a few days ago, now lives in its full 42 minute glory on Google Video. Watch this while you can. One never knows the vagaries of lawyers who will want to take this down.
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Kathy Baker? CBS rejected Kathy Baker?
They are dead to me.
Seriously, this might not have been a terrific series, and it might not have been a ratings-winner, but it’s definitely the most interesting pilot I’ve seen this season, far better than half of the stuff that actually made it to air — in what’s turning out to be a not terribly impressive season. I realize there are lots of reasons why a show might not get picked up, but seriously, this could have been something.
It’s such a pity the series didn’t started: the cast is impressive, the atmosphere perfect. Maybe the audience is not so big as could be for General Hospital but…we really missed something.