Why "Scandal" Is So Popular

This year people marveled that the 3^rd year season premier of “Scandal” attracted over 12 million viewers and that the show has generated twitter and viewing parties all over the country. The show is about a public relations guru and her on-going affair with the President of the United States. Stories about women who find love and sacrifice it for the greater good are nothing new – but this story seems to have captured the attention of everyone, especially women of color. If you call one while the show is on, you might get hung up on! You might still find a lot of people who have never seen it, but I doubt you can find many people who have never heard of it.

The publicity has been incredible and you've seen Kerry Washington, the actress who plays the lead character Olivia Pope go from being considered a journey woman actress to a star in her own right. The outfits she wears on the show have caused American seamstresses to turn their hands into pincushions in their haste to produce knockoff outfits overnight. The Prada calfskin tote in white and tan are the most sought after items on earth right now – there isn't a SINGLE Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus or Saks that has it in stock in the country. You can find a needle in a haystack before you'll find a white trench coat.

Well, this is only my theory, but I haven't heard anyone dispute me on it. Let me take you back in time.

It was the summer of 2011 when the world was inundated with stories about Muammar Gaddafi's “obsession” with Condelezza Rice. Some reported that he had a room peppered with pictures of her, clippings of her triumphs, a movie about her background and travels that was longer than “The Godfather”, and that he showered her with diamonds and asked her to be his queen. It turned out that much of that was overblown, the room was actually a binder, the diamonds were actually one ring, and the film was a 60 minute video tape. It doesn't matter – I said it at the time and I will repeat it – every woman should know such adulation! He called her his beautiful African princess, he said that he admired her, that he enjoyed watching her tell others what to do, and that he liked the fact that she had so much power and was so intelligent. Count the number of times somebody has told you that! If you still have fingers left, that is the answer to the question about why women are drawn to the television show “Scandal” with such cult-like devotion. The show began a few months after that revelation.

In every episode you see a woman who owns her own successful business that spends each week saving the world from public relations nightmares, all the while meeting the President in the Oval office, or a tech closet, or a secret home in Vermont for their rendez-vous! You wonder how she has the time – her clothes are impeccable, the weave is never out of place, and that handbag never even has a smudge on it. She's a woman of African descent who tells everyone what to do, they all listen to her, and when the show is over, order is restored. You can't find that level of fantasy everywhere.

So, if you're planning on asking a sister out on Thursday night, be prepared for an early evening – she may have a standing reservation at a Chicago viewing party – cause “Scandal” is one show we don't intend to miss!!!

American Hustle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me say out of the gate, this movie is a contender and I recommend it highly – but, let me add a caveat – I like David O. Russell's stories about regular people in unusual circumstances, and this movie is very good. What this movie misses is the rich character development that I have come to expect after years of being spoiled by the fabulously lush and detailed storytelling of other con artist and gangster movies I have seen in the past.

The movie is about a con-man who seems to find himself in a lot of trick bags because of the women he runs with. The movie starts by showing you how he found himself obligated to cooperate in a sting operation because his girlfriend (Amy Adams) fails to heed the cardinal rule of the con – cast the net and let the fish come to you. So, at the outset you can see that his work life is very complicated. We then meet his wife – a beautiful and dangerous idiot who keeps his homelife exciting, if not mind boggling. She brings new meaning to the phrase “ A woman should surprise her husband everyday”. That many surprises would shorten anyone's life,

Here are the lessons you will learn from this movie:

Don't hang around people who aren't that bright – life is too short to try and make sense out of non-sense!

You don't have to tell everything you know! – discretion is always going to be the better part of valor!

Give yourself the same advice you would give your best friend! – don't make decisions with your heart when only cold hard reason will do

Don't be a weak antelope! - the devil never sleeps

Get a job! - there is no such thing as a free lunch

Most importantly – do your homework! Don't take things at face value.

The movie is also about an overly ambitious FBI clerk who decides that he's going to give himself a promotion. The guy lives at home with his mother and has a girl throwing herself at him that he doesn't want anything to do with. He's trying to better himself despite the fact that his boss is trying to keep his feet on solid ground. He has a brilliant, but poorly thought out scheme. It's going to cost a fortune and there aren't enough experienced people to carry it out properly. He allows himself to fall in love with the con man's girlfriend and that's another big mistake.

The con artist's girlfriend is a conundrum. She seems pretty dedicated to this guy – he may be smart, but he reeks of smarminess – he's ugly, he's barely making ends meet, he's married -and worse of all – he's pimping her to keep his idiot wife in diamonds and furs. I wish I would!!!

Perhaps the only person you can feel sorry for is the mark in this little escapade – the mayor of a small town who dreams of revitalizing his community with a giant casino that will turn the streets to gold. He seems to have an honest motive, but like the FBI agent, he isn't sure how to do this, and he doesn't ask for help.

I would like this movie a little more if there had been more background, maybe more voiceovers – something to give me more frame of reference. The characters are fairly well developed, but you are really expecting more. I had too many questions in my mind at the end of the movie to make it #1.

Let me talk a little about the music. A good movie has actors who can tell the story wordlessly, a compelling dialogue, and music that that makes the story multi-dimensional, so I take the music part as seriously as the rest of the story. This movie has some great old songs you will be pleased to hear again - “ A Horse with No Name”, “Does Anyone Really Know What Time it Is?”, “I Saw The Light”, “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”, and a Duke Ellington classic “Jeep's Blues”. Sadly, only the last song listed is on the official soundtrack. If this were my world, all soundtracks would have to include all of the songs in the movie. I've been mad about this lack of thoroughness since “Mary Poppins”.

Right now this movie is on my “best picture” list next to “12 Years A Slave” and “Gravity” but this weekend I am going to see “The Wolf of Wall Street” and I must admit “American Hustle” might get bumped down a bit, but it's still compelling – go see it.