Farewell Glenn Frey of the Eagles 1948-2016 - Tribute to Glenn Frey

               Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Glenn Frey 

My heart had a bit of a break 60 minutes ago. I learned Glenn Frey had died. Glenn Frey was a founding member of the Eagles; and the Eagles were one of the biggest selling music acts in recorded history.  My emotional attachment to the Eagles was a long running event in my personal life.

I literally can hear his voice. His gentle, tender voice serenading me with a "Peaceful Easy Feeling," a "Tequila Sunrise," a "New Kid in Town" and breaking out the chops with "Heartache Tonight." I flashed back to a time when I was yet to enter high school when the happy strains of "Take it Easy" belted itself from my transistor radio. The other element about the Eagles was that they were the downright hottest and best-looking group of rock stars to ever make up one band. My teen-aged girl self had mad crushes on the whole group of them.

At a certain point in life, every time an artist dies, particularly those public figures who became famous during your own coming of age period, you feel the stick of your own mortality poking you in the ribs. It's not the same sadness with most of these deaths, but with an Eagle it is genuine sadness. I loved these guys.

That stick poking me in the ribs right now belongs to the cultural moments of my life. When these folks start dying, they take a part of us with them. Glenn Frey wasn't old enough to be my dad, so yes, at the moment I am thinking about the concept of death. Famous people define eras and generations. Actors, elected officials, athletes, writers, entrepreneurs, but nothing hits quite like the death of musicians/singers/songwriters. I know exactly where I was when John Lennon died. I watched television for a few days when Michael Jackson died. I will certainly remember being at home on this date for many years to come. I called my sister and then my brother. They were the only two people I called. I practically yelled into the phone - Glenn Frey is dead.

The death of a musician is notable in our lives. Their music transcends generations. We think of people when we hear a song. We think of ourselves when we hear a song. Musicians aren't like movie stars or television stars. The emotional attachment to the actors of the world isn't as powerful. Most films or episodes of television programs are seen once. Even if you really love a film, maybe you sit through it a few times, but how many freaking times do you listen to a beloved song? I've listened to the Eagles' Greatest Hits literally thousands of times.

I came of age to the music of the Eagles. I cried to their music. I crushed out on a couple of guys to their music. The words and music he wrote comforted me and energized me as I cleaned my entire house. I listened to their music as I drove by myself from Chicago to Los Angeles to forge a career. Having them in the car with me was like having a good friend on a road trip.

Their music made a deep impact on my heart. Glenn Frey was only 67 years old. He wasn't old.

I suspect as the great classic rock stars continue on in their own aging process, our hearts will be saddened quite a bit over the next ten years or so.

These men and women were like friends. I rarely, if ever, see most of the people I grew up with or came of age with, but I'm still listening to the music of my youth. The music is a life companion. Next to faith, family and a few close friends, nothing means more.

It's gonna be a heartache tonight. Farewell Glenn Frey and thank you for every single verse and melody you ever wrote.

Copyright (C) 2016 by The Flaming Nose   

Six Feet Under Finally Gets a "Good Send-off"

There's a custom in every culture that compels people to give those who have departed this life a decent memorial.  It's called a "good send-off" by some Irish Americans, and depending on your religion and level of devotion to the deceased, it can include a lavish funeral, a raucous wake or a costly marble monument.  A good send off can ease the pain of the survivors and help usher those we have lost into the next world. 

It's been ten years since my beloved favorite TV series went to that great dusty DVD bin in the sky.  Ten Years.  And in all that time I have never once written a memorial post or given homage.  Not so much as a brief one line nod, status update or tweet.  I've written over 300 posts about television over the years, but  I failed to use the Flaming Nose to give Six Feet Under a good send-off because I was afraid I couldn't do it justice. Now, when I watch old episodes on HBO, I'm haunted by the ghosts of this series for my failure to act.  Here then, is my final re-cap for one of the best TV series ever created.  I'm ready now. And I'd like to continue to watch the repeats without guilt.

Six Feet Under accomplished two things that are as rare as rain in Southern California.  It brought an extraordinary level of dark humor to the verboten topic of death.  And it humanized life in Los Angeles by creating characters who were the antithesis of the bubble headed blonds on the SNL skit The Californians.  Six Feet showed us that the people of Los Angeles are more than freeway interchanges, hair color or the beach.  It got that underneath the relentlessly sunny skies, things could be dark and terrifying and violent. That people could go crazy from grief.  But also, that at the end of the day, the people in the City of Angels are also artistic, complex and immensely kind.  And this city, perched at the edge of a continent, continuously changing and renewed, trapped by concrete and trampled by a billion cars....is actually beautiful.  It took a genius like Alan Ball to show us what no other television series would dare to see.

There are dozens of dark humor sayings designed to keep a freak-out level of fear away from conversations about death.  "There's a toe tag in everyone's future".  "No one here gets out alive".  "You can't take it with you".  "May you be in heaven a minute before the devil knows your dead".  Over 63 episodes and four years (2001-2005), Six Feet Under gave us wit and wisdom about death, through the eyes of the amazing Fisher family and their funeral parlor in the heart of L.A. Each episode started with a "cold open" showing some random citizen of Los Angeles. meeting their demise, often in a horrifying way.  In the pilot episode, the unlucky victim is funeral parlor operator Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins), who thankfully stays around as a sardonic ghost for the remainder of the series.  He offers his unflinching "tell it like it is" take on life from the great beyond, to befuddled family members who mostly ignore but occasionally heed his advice.

Following are my "Best Moment" lists for the cold opens, the cast and the individual episodes.  For anybody out there who has never watched Six Feet Under and who wants to binge...sorry, there will be some spoilers.

Best Six Feet Opening Deaths

• A devout fundamentalist Christian is at a stop light, when a mesh covered truckload of helium filled life size blow-up sex dolls (only in L.A.) breaks loose and the naked dolls go floating into the sky.  Church lady sees this and thinks it's the "rapture".  She goes running into traffic and boom, that's it for her.
• An older woman on a cell phone walks into her back yard and is struck by falling debris from an aircraft.
• A guy's car runs off the road in one of the many remote canyons in this sprawling metropolis, and he dies in the crash.  But his car and body aren't discovered for many years (not likely to happen in a city like New York ladies and gents.)
• A runner on a path in Griffith Park is devoured by a mountain lion.

Most of the opens were based on real life events, by the way.  There is no shortage of creative ways to kick the bucket in Los Angeles.

Favorite characters (all of them really...not one actor on this series ever hit a false note and that includes the guest stars)

• Ruth Fisher (Francis Conroy):  The matriarch.  Emotional, slightly addled, fiercely in love with her children.  Also one of the most beautiful middle aged actresses ever on TV.
• Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins):  Funny, real, the "voice of reason" dispensing advice from the spirit world.  Nobody will ever say "buddy boy" better than he.
• Nate Fisher: Eldest son, California organic through and through.  Both compassionate and cruel, he was the most human of them all.  Also sexy as hell in that So Cal boy kind of way.
• David Fisher: (Michael C. Hall) Ground breaking gay character along with his partner Keith (Mathew St. Patrick).  Tightly wound, and at turns hilarious or heart breaking. The fantasy scene in the final episode where he plays a stoned surfer in the back of a van shows the immense acting chops that this actor brought to some of his roles post Six Feet in "Dexter".
• Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose):  The most extraordinary depiction of a high school and college age young person ever to grace the air waves.  Gorgeous without being cookie cutter beautiful, appealing on every level.  Her "high as a kite" scenes (yes, recreational drugs formed an important sub-text in this series, it wasn't all just about formaldehyde) were funny and terrifying.  I sometimes fantasize that Alan Ball based Claire on a beloved younger red haired sister in real life.
• "Rico" Diaz (Freddy Rodriguez): The only funeral parlor partner not related to the Fishers, Rico brought a sense of reality to a program set in L.A.  His struggle for acceptance, problems with his wife, passionate love for his kids.  Rodriguez is a wonderful actor and his normalcy meshed perfectly with the off the charts weird of the Fishers.  Los Angeles is and always has been remarkably diverse, and Rico's presence (along with St. Patrick) kept Six Feet from being about another snow white privileged family.  
• Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffith):  Brilliant, witty, affluent, polarizing sex addict Brenda.  Only her brother Billy (Jeremy Sisto) could ever really understand her thanks to their childhood escapades in a best selling children's book.  Love her or hate her, this series would not be as compelling without Ms. Chenowith. Brenda the monster and Brenda the savior made every episode she was in a roller coaster.
• Lisa Fisher (Lili Taylor):  The most passive-aggressive character ever created for TV. See the daughter and peanut butter allergy scene as proof.  Poor Nate, that he would have to be married to both Lisa and Brenda in one series.  No wonder he would take off running from time to time.
• George Sibley (James Cromwell): Superb character actor Cromwell played Ruth's second husband as a scientist with mental health issues and a penchant for building bomb shelters in the basement.  He has an amazing scene with Jeremy Sisto at a family party in one episode.  They share a beer on the front steps and commiserate being the craziest among a family of crazies.
• Amazing guest stars:  Patricia Clarkson as Ruth's artistic hippie sister Sarah, Kathy Bates as Ruth's friend Bettina, Peter Macdissi as Claire's bi-sexual driven "Euro-trash" Cal Arts professor, Joanna Cassidy as the psychiatrist mother of Brenda and Billy. Six Feet Under had the finest acting this side of a Woody Allen movie.  

Best Moments 

• Ruth Fisher is getting married again and her rebellious daughter Claire is the only one to acknowledge and support her mom before the ceremony.  She gives Ruth the customary "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue".
• Ruth, her sister Sarah and a few of their pals sing a beautiful a Capella version of "Calling all Angels" around the kitchen table as they memorialize a lost friend.
• Nate discovered how his first wife Lisa really died while at the home of Lisa's sister.
• Nate gives his organic, all-natural wife Lisa the "green burial" she always wanted.  In this heart wrenching moment, it looks like he has placed the grave on the hill under the tree that forms the opening credits logo for the series.
• David Fisher is car jacked and terrorized by a maniac in a hoodie on the mean streets of L.A.
• Brenda and Billy Chenowith join their brilliant and bat shit crazy mom in a Century City high rise after their father has passed.  His ashes end up being tossed from the window so he can end up on the streets he frequented and loved.  Probably the most "L.A" moment in a series that was chock full of them.
• The entire episode for the series finale ("Everyone's Waiting") which is widely considered one of the best "send offs" for a series in television history.  And if you can watch it without shredding at least one box of tissues, You Are Not Human.  The Sia song "Breath Me" is worth a bucket of tears all by itself.

Before I lay this series to rest, I have to give a final shout-out to the magnificent and always spot-on fusion of popular music and fantasy fueled show tunes that formed a core component of the show.  When everyone flipped their wig this year over Mad Men's fantasy dance and death scene for founder Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) all I could think was that Six Feet Under did it ten years earlier and in nearly every episode with better music.  If you're planning to binge watch Six Feet Under again (and I surely hope you do), please also take the time to download some of the music and soundtracks which include artists such as Nina Simone, Phoenix, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Coldplay and the earlier mentioned Sia.

Farewell Six Feet Under.  You are gone but never forgotten.  Thank you Alan Ball.  Can you please stop haunting me now?

"That Girl" Celebrates Christmas AGAIN on A Very Merry MeTV Blogathon!

Welcome back to A Very Merry MeTV Christmas Blogation  here on The Flaming Nose, coming to you from the Classic TV Blog Association in conjunction with the MeTV network!  We hope you're enjoying the entire blog collection plus the line-up of Christmas TV episodes airing on MeTV!

Christmas comes but once a year in real life and many of the great TV sitcoms have managed to celebrate several times over the course of their runs.  We're talking today about Marlo Thomas as That Girl, looking at the second yuletide episode of the series, this one from the show's 2nd season (its 15th episode).  'Twas the Night Before Christmas, You're Under Arrest premiered on December 21, 1967, at 9pm, after Bewitched and before Peyton Place.  

That Girl is pure charm and charisma, personified by Marlo Thomas' enthusiastic performance as actress Ann Marie.  This is no series where the currency is insults and everybody gets the stink eye and tosses shade like party confetti.  That Girl's charms are wide-eyed potential and a zest for life, tempered with a keen sense of the absurd and the energy of classic farce.  In other words, it's terrific fun and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, You're Under Arrest doesn't disappoint.  

The episode was written by sitcom veteran Ruth Brooks Flippen who had started her career during the 1950s in motion pictures and transitioned into TV on her reputation as a writer on several of the Gidget movies.  Her work on popular TV series like Gidget, Bewitched and That Girl -- read her full credits here -- showed that she was particularly adept at capturing and showcasing the strengths of the women who starred in those series and others she wrote for.  

Veteran TV director James Sheldon helmed the episode. Sheldon, a prolific and versatile director who started his small screen career on Mr. Peepers in the very early 1950s, worked extensively on most top network series for the subsequent three and a half decades, moving easily between comedy and heavy dramatic projects. Visit his credits here.

The cast of That Girl was uniformly excellent and guest stars equally so.  In addition to series regulars Thomas, Ted Bessell as Ann's steady boyfriend Don, Lew Parker as Ann's always perturbed father Lew Marie and in this episode TV veteran Bernie Kopell and Carol Ann Daniels as Ann's next door neighbors Jerry and Ruth Bauman, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, You're Under Arrest also features some wonderful guest actors.  

Familiar movie and TV actor Jay C. Flippen has several great scenes as the gruff but bemused Sergeant Fitzgerald of the 59th Precinct.  A myriad of roles over a forty-year long career -- see his credits here -- kept Flippen busy even after he had a leg amputation in the mid-1960s, something you can't tell in That Girl as he's behind a big police desk the whole time. Also of great interest: Jay C. Flippen was married to episode writer Ruth Brooks Flippen! They had been husband and wife since 1947 and stayed so until Jay's death in early 1971. 

Herbie Faye plays the fast-talking affable sidewalk vendor who sells Ann the scalped tickets which had a face value of $9.90 -- how times have changed for Broadway prices! I was going to call him a con man but he really wasn't; the tickets were legitimate, after all.  Faye was a veteran movie and TV actor with a long list of credits and a permanent place in Pop Culture history as one of the original cast of The Phil Silvers Show.

Popular character actor Ed Peck played one of the arresting policemen; he showed up in myriad movies and TV shows over his prolific 30 year acting career -- credits here.  Actor Paul Bryar who played the other arresting officer started out as an uncredited extra in movies and moved into steady work as a reliable presence with nearly 400 career credits -- see the impressive list here. William Bramley who played the fingerprint detective came with impeccable credentials: he was Officer Krupke in the movie West Side Story as well as many other roles during his long prosperous career -- see his entire resume here.  The presence of this caliber of seasoned acting talent gave That Girl an impeccable polish which helps it hold up today as such a watchable show.

Rather than tell the whole story of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, You're Under Arrest we'll share some screengrabs from the episode.  You can watch the episode -- along with the rest of the series -- on Hulu right now:  click here to access.  What might amaze you is how beautiful the show looks; it's irresistibly compelling to the eyes and embodies the positive vibe which infuses the series. And funny? It's got that, too.

Don't miss the other entries in The A Very Merry MeTV Christmas Blogathon brought to you by the Classic TV Blog Association! 

Happy Holidays from The Flaming Nose TV Blog!

Join Us Tomorrow for a Look at Another "That Girl" Holiday Episode!

We'll be telling you about a very fun episode of the popular and perennially entertaining sitcom That Girl!  See you Friday morning!

"That Girl" Celebrates Christmas on a Very Merry Me-TV Blogathon!

Here we are, a fortnight before Christmas Eve, and the great Very Merry Me-TV Blogathon continues with another holiday episode spotlight.  We hope you've been enjoying all the entries in this celebration of Xmas TV brought to you by the Classic TV Blog Association and the Me-TV network! Be sure to visit both sites by clicking the links above and finding all about the fun both reading about the continuing line-up on the net and watching on TV on your local Me-TV station! Today on The Flaming Nose, Ann Marie -- Marlo Thomas -- is telling her boyfriend Donald -- Ted Bessell -- all about the time she helped a little boy celebrate Christmas.  The show is That Girl and the episode is Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid, first telecast on Dec. 22, 1966.



First of all, we'd like to point you to a great article on Joanna Wilson's wonderful Christmas TV History blog.  Joanna is the author of a several books about Christmas TV and she is the authority on the subject!  She covers Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid and we are going to try not to duplicate her here andwant you to check out her piece for some wonderful info!

The actual moment the flashback begins!

This episode of That Girl is a little different, going via flashbacks as she tells Don about her past where she was a teacher at an exclusive boys' boarding school -- the kids of movie stars and rich families fill the august halls.  As aspiring actress Ann toils in contemporary time as a Santa's Helper elf at a department store, she takes us back to an earlier Ann, just as enthusiastic and charming and with the seeds of her dramatic career taking hold.  We see her organizing the boys who are playing living Christmas trees in a pageant.  (If Ann ever wanted to branch out, she could always direct!).


It's Christmas and all the boys are going home to join their families for the holiday, but one little boy Tommy (played by Chris Shea) is left behind when his movie star mom and show biz father can't make it back from location.





But Ann has other friends among the kids.  One of them -- Roger, played by Gerald Michenaud -- leave his dead bug collection to her which Ann sweetly tries to accept with all possible enthusiasm.







Ann continues to be dismayed about the plight of the kid who's going to have to stay at the school.



But no amount of pleading will get her permission to take him home to her house for the holiday -- school rules, you know.  Instead, Ann ends up phoning her father (Lew Parker) explaining how she can't leave Tommy to be alone and so is going to stay with him.  Lew appreciates his daughter's gesture.  She's a good kid. She wishes him a Merry Christmas and gets to her yuletide babysitting.








After countless games of checkers and innumerable jelly sandwiches, despite Ann's best efforts there's a little bit of ennui settling in.





...which is temporarily relieved when the janitor comes in with some tasks for her to complete while he's gone home for Christmas, too.





Soon after, Ann and Tommy are thrilled to find that Roger, who lives nearby, has come by the school to use the gym equipment. Ann gets an idea -- maybe Tommy could to Roger's house for Christmas???  The answer is yes and Ann sends him off after more playtime.









Now who's the lonely girl at Christmas???





But soon Tommy is back, explaining that though Roger's family is Jewish they made a Christmas for him and give him a neat toy truck.  Everybody's happy and Ann's flashback concludes as she hurries back to help Santa with a squalling baby!









In addition to the always appealing That Girl stars Marlo Thomas, Ted Bessell and Lew Parker, Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid has several interesting guest stars, including kid actors Chris Shea and Gerald Michenaud.  Shea, who sadly passed away in 2010, had a prosperous career as a child actor (his two brothers were also actors); check out his credits here.  Gerald Michenaud acted as a child for a dozen years, took a break and came back as Jean-Michel Michenaud behind the camera as a successful TV producer; check out his extensive credits here.

Veteran screen actress turned perennial TV guest star June Vincent appeared as Tommy's mother at the beginning of the episode. She was a very popular face on network TV for many years -- check out her career credits here.





Actor John Fiedler guest-starred as the boarding school headmaster.  Fiedler was a frequent face all over TV for many years and also in many voice-over roles especially as Piglet in Disney's Winnie the Pooh animated works.  His incredible list of credits must be seen; check them out here.





Actor Don Keefer who played the janitor was another TV veteran with an astounding list of credits -- check them out here -- and maybe best known as the man little Anthony made into a jack-in-the-box on the unforgettable Twilight Zone episode It's a Good Life.

Famed and lauded TV writer James Brooks penned Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid here as well as a Christmas episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show which he titled Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II though boarding schools nor little Tommy are parts of that story! Brooks is a TV legend and his credits should be perused here.



Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid director John Erman is a veteran TV and movie director -- primarily TV -- with amazing credits helming many of television's most popular and acclaimed series and miniseries.  Check out his credits here.

Again, don't forget to read all the entries in the Blogathon and watch Me-TV for the episodes!

Happy Holidays!  We'll be back in two weeks with the other That Girl Christmas episode!