Watch This: Staying true to form - Halt and Catch Fire

-
Halt and Catch Fire from AMC


Remember how audiences were wowed with Happy Days when it premiered in 1974? I suppose most folks were longing for the simpler times in life as the U.S. was ensconced in the Watergate scandal. The show kept up with the nostalgic look in its first year, but gently moved away from that 1950s/60s set in subsequent seasons. By its last season, one could hardly tell if Happy Days was set in the 1960s or the 1980s. In essence, the show abandoned its roots and concentrated more on the actors parading before the live audiences.

Thankfully the formula that Happy Days and other shows like it - we're looking at you spin-off Laverne and Shirley - took on, are not in vogue these days. Shows like Mad Men stayed true to form while producing quality shows with substantial scripts. Oh yes, the stars of AMC's Mad Men did quite well thank you very much. There was no need to get a live audience and parade Jon Hamm around. Mr. Hamm has done that quite well over at NBC'S Saturday Night Live. Yes, that's jesting, but just think how cheap the producers of Mad Men could have gotten in its later seasons. 

AMC's latest hit drama Halt and Catch Fire has also been staying dedicated to its nostalgic look. Set in the mid-1980s, Halt and Catch Fire is about the rise of the PC market. 'Halt' effectively captures the salad days of computing when the Commodore 64 was the tool of choice. The look, the feel of that time period is accurate down to the houses where scenes are shot to the fashion choices of the day. 

Halt and Catch Fire floors me sometimes because it takes place in a time period in which I experienced. The question is: Are Gen X'ers like me longing for that so-called 'simpler time?' 

Comments

Post a Comment

Most viewed

Condos. Cutting-edge restaurants. Trendy shopping.

-
There’s a whole other side to Orlando beside the massive Disney World in nearby Lake Buena Vista. If the ordinary Disney trip doesn’t interest you this year, try an extraordinary visit to Orlando and its neighborhoods. You’ll quickly learn that the area is full of historic districts and ethnic diversity. (more)
Read more

Take time out for Virginia’s Shenandoah region

-
About 30 years ago my family made a classic 1970s trek to Washington, D.C. Even though the sights and sounds of D.C. left an impression on me, it was the trip through Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley that introduced me to the region’s natural beauty. Dressed in our blue “Virginia Is For Lovers” T-shirts (which I kept for several years after), we rolled down the windows of our spacious Oldsmobile to take in the scenery. Click here for the full story.
Read more

Flashback: Billy Joel's Sax Player (Mark Rivera profile-March 2007)

-
It is 2:30 in the afternoon at Midtown Atlanta's Four Seasons Hotel and Mark Rivera is pacing his hotel suite bursting with ideas. The task of keeping up with Rivera's thoughts is daunting to say the least. The words explode from him like a Fourth of July fireworks show on steroids. From stories of working with John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Peter Gabriel and most notably -- becoming Billy Joel's ever-conspicuous sax player/backup vocalist, Rivera is on a big, white, puffy cloud every time he conjures up those legendary memories. Who wouldn't be? The challenge for Rivera on this balmy late-February afternoon is to fit those anecdotes and personal thoughts on the future and state of the world into a half-hour conversation which must conclude before he boards a bus to Birmingham for his role in that evening's Billy Joel show. Indeed Rivera will be back in his Atlanta hotel room in about 48 hours, but there will be no time for follow-up questions. He will be handling
Read more