Book Review: The Rulebreaker

Barbara Walters was a force from the time TV was exploding on the American scene in the 1960s to its waning dominance in a new world of competition from streaming services and social media half a century later. She was not just a groundbreaker for women (Oprah announced when she was seventeen that she wanted to be Barbara Walters), but also expanded the big TV interview and then dominated the genre. By the end of her career, she had interviewed more of the famous and infamous, from presidents to movie stars to criminals to despots, than any other journalist in history. Then at sixty-seven, past the age many female broadcasters found themselves involuntarily retired, she pioneered a new form of talk TV called The View. She is on the short list of those who have left the biggest imprints on television news and on our culture, male or female. So, who was the woman behind the legacy?

Passing of an Icon

As a child of the 70's, I can say that my friends and I often ended up setting up ramps made from bricks and boards on the sidewalks. We'd then get on our bikes, pedal as fast as we could, roll up that ramp and jump our bikes - hoping for a solid landing on two tires or, at the very least, to land on the softer grass rather than the cement. Why did we do it?

Two words: Evel Knievel.

This motorcycle daredevil was the stuff of dreams for ten year old boys in the mid-70's. His jumps on television - be they buses or canyons - were spectacles. Back in the day when TV consisted of three networks and little else, you couldn't miss them.

And, it was more than just watching the stunts. We had the toys - the stunt cylces that were powered by reving up a big plastic crank motor, and an action figure clad in the familiar white jumpsuit and helmet, adorned with blue and red stars. The image brought up that of America and super-heroes. And when he did interviews, the guy seemed tough as nails. I guess he had to be, given how many bones he broke over the years for stunts that didn't work as well as expected. Still, he seemed tough - Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" tough or any kind of John Wayne character tough.

By today's standards, folks would label him crazy or a kook. But back in the 70's, to us ten-year old boys, he was cool.

the Writers' Strike

The Writers' Guild, whose members provide the scripts for television shows and movies, went on strike this week. As with all kinds of work walkouts such as this, they are looking for better financial compensation - in particular in the areas where new revenue streams have come in for the studios thanks to advancing technologies (DVD releases, internet feeds, podcasts to phones, etc.).

The last time that the Guild went on strike was back in 1988, and that strike lasted 22 weeks. However, the impact was not as severe since the strike was between the end of one television season and the beginning of the next; the impact to viewers was that it pushed back the Fall Season debuts a bit. Clearly, this time things were a bit more calculated - with the shoe dropping just in time for November sweeps. While most shows have a few scripts in the can in advance for shooting, talk shows and nightly shows are hit first as they tend to be rather topical and written much closer to air time. The movie studios have a less of an impact as they tend to have their 2008 shooting scripts already in hand.

This really kind of bums me out a bit because a lot of the shows I've been enjoying are really starting to click nicely. After about three or so slow weeks, Heroes has been coming back hard in the past two weeks with that "wow factor" that it had from season 1. Still, the planned spin-off/hiatus-filler show Heroes: Origins appears to have been put on hold. The writers' strike might have been a factor in that. Similarly, How I Met Your Mother has been picking up again after a slow transition out of last season's storylines. These past three weeks or so they've been back in the comedy style that made the show a hit in recent years.

Other shows have been solid all along, and the strike putting them on hold will be felt in our household. Bones and Two & A Half Men have been pretty solid all season. And freshman comedy the Big Bang Theory has been knocking it out of the park weekly, in our household, since its debut. I will be very disappointed if the season-interuptus is long on these shows.

The networks figure they'll be able to counter with reruns or by pumping up the schedules further with non-scripted shows (reality shows and game shows). I'm not a mega fan of reruns but I will support my favorites by catching them as they show (my DVR is only set for recording first-run episodes though). I guess, too, if the writers' strike lasts a long time that the daily soap operas will get quickly derailed (they too only shoot about four or so weeks in advance). I guess if that happens I'll have more free time on my weekend nights - less programming to catch up on if I can skip the weekly five-block of Guiding Light.

The silver lining, I guess, is I can do over the winter what I do over the summer - catch up on other things and hobbies. I have a couple things that I've been neglecting of late - books to read, films to catch up on, etc. So maybe this won't be such a bad thing. I'll let you know.

California Ablaze

You can't go anywhere without hearing about the fires in California. Even here on the East Coast (in NC), we're hearing the news on TV, on the radio, etc. The devastation being caused by the uncontrolled flames and the Santa Ana winds is driving many from their homes for safety and in a lot of cases leaving many homeless.

My wife was actually born in San Diego, and her parents lived in Twenty-Nine Palms for a number of years while my father-in-law was stationed with the Marines there. Her aunt and uncle still live in Chula Vista, south of San Diego but north of the border to Mexico.

I've been to the San Diego area many times over the years - mostly for the Comic-Con and to visit my friends who lived there. Some have since moved from there, but others still remain there. I haven't heard from them all yet, so all I can do is hope and pray they're surviving the ordeal.

We were actually on vacation in Palm Springs back in 2004 during the late October time frame. I recall when the Santa Anas were blowing in. On the day we were to head out to come back home, we were driving back to John Wayne Airport through the mountains. We could see the smoke rising in the distance and of course were concerned with how close the fires might be or if they'd have an impact on our flight schedule, etc.

I can't imagine what the people are going through with the uncontrolled fires this year and every year. To know that something is on its way, heading for your home and family, and the only thing you can do is pack whatever might fit in your car and take off - that's just a horrible feeling. We sometimes get that here on the East Coast when hurricanes are heading in-land. Sure, there are things you can do to minimize damage like boarding up windows, etc. But, with fire, that's a whole other animal. Fire is the great purger with nothing to stop it other than the rains or other means of dousing. Unfortunately, combine the fires with draught conditions - which actually help the fires to spread to begin with - and you're talking about a disaster that is difficult contain.

I'm sorry to see a part of the country I love so much going through such pain. My prayers are with everyone there struggling to keep their lives together in the face of such tragedy.

Rare Finds

It was reported earlier this week that a comic dealer in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, had a man come into his shop with a rare edition of Detective Comics #27 - the first appearance of Batman. It turns out that the man found a copy of the comic in his attic, and the book was still in pretty good condition after all these years (given the book came out pre-World War II and hadn't been put in any special protective bagging or such). Of course, the shop owner made the man a good, fair offer for the book. He most certainly will be able to turn over the book for a profit given that issue's importance in comic book history.

This reminds me of something my father used to tell me about when I got into collecting comics in the late 70's. As a kid growing up in the 30's and early 40's, he actually had a copy of Whiz Comics #1 - the first appearance of Captain Marvel. I am sure he had other wonderful classics as well. But, of course, the story turns instantly sad when he told me that all those books went to either the trash or to paper drives for the war efforts. The thought of that was just shocking to me as a young comic collector at the time. It still stings today some. If he had somehow kept the book and it was in a very good condition, he could have paid for my college education with that one single sale. That's mind-blowing.

Rare finds like these are no doubt harder and harder to come by in this day and age. With the advent of online auction sites such as eBay and the Internet full of information in general, I can't imagine how someone could stumble across one of these older comics and not be able to find out what kind of treasure they have. Of course, the opposite happens too. Folks stumble across these old books that are not in great shape at all (torn covers, written on, etc.) but they don't know much about comic grading and thus think the books are worth more than they are. It's a double-edged sword.

Still, it is nice to hear stories like this - that these classic pieces of comic book history are at least making their way into the hands of folks who will try to preserve them. I'd rather that happen then them end up in some landfill somewhere.