spooky coincidences

[calimac]

How about this: soon after watching on tv the new dramatization of Mansfield Park, we see a new tv show starring the actor who played Edmund Bertram in the previous dramatization of Mansfield Park. Oo-ee-ooh.

The show is called Eli Stone, because that's his character's name. (They missed a bet here, and should have just called it Stone. Then it would have been a show called Stone that wasn't about a stone, in the grand tradition of shows called House that are not about a house, shows called Monk that aren't about a monk, shows called Angel that are not about an angel, and shows called The Sopranos that are - and this one really crushed me when I found out - not about sopranos.)

Anyway, this show seems to be an attempt to fill the gap left by Joan of Arcadia, because the premise is pretty much the same. Eli Stone is a lawyer who receives messages from somewhere or something that tell him, indirectly, what is the moral thing to do in his career or in his life. Initially these take the form of pop songs performed by George Michael. (George Michael, I find, is apparently a real pop singer.) These pop up (maybe that's why they're called pop songs) in improbable places where no-one else can hear them.

Eli's acupuncturist-guru says there's a meaning to all this, and points to the songs leading to coincidences in Eli's life that mere auditory hallucination cannot explain. He surmises that some force is guiding Eli's life. He implies that the force is God. Actually, I can name it quite precisely: television scriptwriters. Eli lives in a world where television scriptwriters are guiding his destiny, and he doesn't know it.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

*snort*

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

A genuine laugh, thank you.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

Hee.

Let's see... are you saying that the writerly contrivences are a bit too obvious?

:)

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Not that the contrivances are obvious, but that the writers are forcing the characters to confront what, if they happened in real life, would be eternal metaphysical mysteries, but which in this case admit the simple answers, though hidden from the characters, of "the writer did it" and "because he thought it would make an interesting story."

I believe there was recently a film addressing this very problem, called "Stranger Than Fiction", but I haven't seen it.

[rwl.livejournal.com]

I think a better attempt of doing this sort of thing is the late, lamented Wonderfalls TV series.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Stone is somewhere between Joan and Wonderfalls in style, closer to Joan.

I presume if you liked Wonderfalls you've seen Pushing Daisies. I was immediately struck by the similar feel even before I knew that the same people were responsible.

[rwl.livejournal.com]

Yes, Pushing Daisies is terrific. Very entertaining.

[divertimento.livejournal.com]

I suppose they picked George Michael songs for this show because he has a history of getting caught popping up in unexpected places.

Seriously, Stranger Than Fiction covers the sort of premise you describe marvelously. Don't be put off by the film stars Will Farrell. The result is good enough to be Will's Groundhog Day.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I saw that it starred both Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson, and my head imploded.