Dice precisely summarizes why I do not watch mainstream episodic sitcoms and other contemporary banal programs on my satellite TV service. I haven’t for almost 20 years, even before the all pervasive TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) took hold of the agitprop content narrative. However, because of my subversive love of film noir, I was a dedicated viewer of the outstanding HBO miniseries Perry Mason, which captured an extremely dark and disturbing portrayal of the world wary detective/attorney in a noirish seedy matrix of degradation and crime. I eagerly await the second instalment of the series.
Until then I will continue to view classic cinematic masterpieces from the first hundred years of motion pictures on Turner Classic Movies (and like venues). When you have a choice between productions featuring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keeton, Lilian Gish, Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Joseph Cotton, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Lizabeth Scott, Gregory Peck, Dick Powell, Bette Davis, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Will Rogers, William Holden, Judy Garland, Ronald Coleman, Ava Gardner, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Leslie Howard, Jennifer Jones, Charles Bickford, Kim Novak, Gloria Grahame, Alan Ladd, Dan Duryea, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Gene Tierney, Blanche Yurka, Anne Revere, Ginger Rogers, Mary Astor, Lee J. Cobb, Brian Donlevy, Sterling Haydon, Ida Lupino, Richard Widmark, Tyrone Power, John Garfield, Robert Ryan, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, John Payne, Richard Conte, Vincent Price, Sir Laurence Olivier, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Marilyn Monroe, Gladys Cooper, Rock Hudson, Marie Windsor, Van Heflin, Veronica Lake, Charles McGraw, William Bendix, Richard Basehart, Al Pacino, Raymond Burr, Robert De Niro, Ray Milland, Mae West, W. C. Fields, Hume Cronyn, Edmond O’Brien, Shelley Winters, James Mason, Robert Montgomery, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Paul Newman, Thomas Gomez, Rod Steiger, Steve McQueen, Yul Brenner, Clint Eastwood, Edward G. Robinson, Greer Garson, Kirk Douglas, Ann Sheridan. Sidney Poitier, and a galaxy of other stars — absolutely no choice.
7:17 pm on October 27, 2020
