A television series about the first female player in Major League Baseball?
Of course it premieres in 2016, the first year we have a credible chance of electing a female president. No coincidence there.
But when I watched the pilot episode on demand, I was pleasantly surprised.
First of all, the show is filled with supporting actors that I love seeing on TV. Bob Balaban (Best in Show). Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years). Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved by The Bell…okay, Franklin & Bash). Mark Consuelos (Kelly Ripa’s husband).
And the star of Pitch, Kylie Bunbury, is up for the task. I like her. And I’m intrigued by her character’s story (and the pilot episode’s big twist).
I do worry, though, that the pilot was a bit too complete — how many stories are left to tell? I guess we’ll see if we stick around — wait for the baseball metaphor — for extra innings.
Had to do it.
A good read
The fifth sentence from page 56.
That’s how folks are honoring National Book Week on Facebook — grabbing the book closest at hand and posting that random phrase.
I thought I would go one step further and talk up one of my favorite books. Not my ‘desert island book’ — A Prayer for Owen Meany, which I have lauded here before — but a book by Mario Puzo that did not achieve the commercial success of the Godfather saga.
The novel follows the Presidency of Francis Xavier Kennedy, the fictional nephew of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. On an Easter Sunday at the end of his first term of office, the Pope is assassinated and Kennedy’s daughter is taken hostage and murdered. Soon after, a nuclear device is discovered in midtown Manhattan.
The crises have a fundamental effect on the President’s approach to governing, and impact his decision to seek re-election. But many question his ability to lead after his daughter’s death and attempt to invoke the 25th Amendment.
It’s an exciting, edge-of-your-seat read, and I think it would make an incredible film.
But it’s National Book Week, so I’ll say it — the book would be better.
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Posted in Books, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Holiday, Humor, Movies, Politics
Tagged 25th Amendment, A Prayer for Owen Meany, books, celebrities, commentary, desert island, Easter Sunday, entertainment, Facebook, fictional Kennedy nephew, Godfather saga, holidays, hostage crisis, Humor, John F Kennedy, Manhattan, Mario Puzo, Movies, National Book Week, nuclear device, politics, Pope assassination, presidential election, Robert Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, The Fourth K