09:56 – With our Netflix streaming not working, we’ve spent the last couple of weeks watching DVDs from Netflix and Seasons 4 and 5 of Heartland. We have five episodes of the latter remaining, and then we’ll be up to date. Season 6 is currently in production.
Apparently, there was some doubt about whether Season 6 would be made. I’m not sure why. The program is both excellent and highly-rated. And it stars Amber Marshall, which is sufficient to make anything worth watching. I’d watch Amber if she were reading the Code of Federal Regulations.
A huge Quack of Triumph just resounded through the house. (Lions roar in triumph; Linuxes quack.) Barbara and I finished the cable run from my office to the Roku box in the den, fishing the cable through a hole up into my office that was already crammed with other cables. There’s something like a mile (1.6 kilometers) of Cat 3, 4, 5, and 5e UTP cable runs in our house, so adding a 50-foot Cat 5e run shouldn’t have been a big deal. And it wouldn’t have been, if the holes weren’t already crammed full.
At any rate, the Roku box immediately connected and we now have Netflix streaming video again. I haven’t stapled the cable to the joists yet. We’ll fish cable back and forth until we have the right amount of slack at each end, and then secure it with staples.
RBT wrote:
Apparently, there was some doubt about whether Season 6 would be made. I’m not sure why. The program is both excellent and highly-rated.
Most likely: contracts. It is a legal nightmare to get anything produced these days. If a show is successful, sometimes one of the stars agents decides they need to be paid more, and fighting over that can delay—or even kill—production. And if the star is getting other offers, they will not care much about the older show. But most importantly, these days, it is very, very difficult to lock up a show so it can be played in any medium profitably. Sometimes that limits financial returns to the point that it no longer makes sense to produce the show. If the producers cannot get all the principals to agree to reasonable first-run, syndication, broadcast, cable, and Internet rights fees, going forward for a long time into the future, then that can kill an otherwise popular show.
I’m sure you’re right.
There are really only three key characters in this series. The series is built around Amy (Amber Marshall). Her boyfriend, Ty (Graham Wardle), and her grandfather, Jack (Shaun Johnston), are also important to the series, but it could if necessary be redefined and survive with only Amber Marshall.
What’s interesting to me is that Michelle Morgan, who plays Amy’s older sister Lou, has always had second billing after Amber Marshall, but as the show developed to make Ty a key character, the credits moved him up from being in the second group to being in the first group. Michelle Morgan, who is a secondary character and in my opinion the weakest in a very strong cast, remained in the first group, while Shaun Johnston, who is as major a character as ever, was moved down into the second group. It should have been Morgan who was moved down, but I suspect she threw a fit.
I said to Barbara when we started watching Emily VanCamp in Everwood that I expected to see her again in many major roles, which has in fact happened. She has her own series now. But I don’t expect to see Amber Marshall in another series once Heartland is canceled. She’s playing herself on Heartland, and in fact bought a ranch near where the series is filmed. She loves acting, but I suspect she loves animals more. Once Heartland folds, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her retire from acting, go back to her ranch, and marry a nice young man. She seems to be a lot more solidly grounded than most actors and actresses.
I mean, she got her own TV series at age 18, and make no mistake that the series was from the start built around her. After they completed shooting the first season, she returned home to live with her parents and got her old job back as a veterinary assistant until the second season started shooting. When the series isn’t shooting, she spends all her free time rescuing animals.
Well, of course, if I were young enough to be that nice young man, I would see to it that she continued acting. You can live anywhere these days, once you get your start. But you cannot bring in the money acting does, by living on a farm.
Credits are one of those contract issues. I suppose it makes a difference when you are working in Hollyweird, but credits never got me that first hour’s worth of work. You should see the contracts related to credits for feature movies. Dozens and dozens of pages specifying where stars will be credited, how big the lettering will appear—especially in relation to others,—how many other names will be on the screen at the same time, how long the credit will stay on the screen; it is insane. I suspect the moving around of credits you see in that series has far more to do with needling by the kid’s agent, than any real change in the kid’s relationship to the plot line.
The acting industry in the US is very different than in other countries. It is a learned profession in places like England and Canada. Kind of like someone who wants to be in the circus—you train with others who teach you how to do things like juggling, you practice almost all day every day, and you perform every now and then. Here in America, we have the ‘star’ system, where if you don’t have the intuitive, native talent, and the ‘look’ they are seeking, forget it. I went to a uni with a conservatory school in acting, dance, and radio-TV. We had some really, really talented kids in the program there. Several went off to Hollyweird and were never heard from again. On the other hand, I eventually worked with people in national TV who had no talent at all, but got job after job. It is all about who you know and being in the right place at the right time (which is your agent’s job).
OTOH, if I were that nice young man (and I am, I really, really am!) I would do my best to keep her on the farm and away from Hollyweird. Money is everything. It isn’t even most things.
*Money ISN’T everything.
Didn’t notice that I got logged out somehow.
Bill, Chuck,
She might not be looking for a nice young man…
Your heterosexual presumptions are on show again… 🙂
Yeah, I got logged out of this day only, too. Good thing you mentioned.
Anybody can stand Hollyweird if you don’t have to live there. Money may not be everything, but as my grandfather used to say, “Don’t purposely make less money than you can.” Sounds Jewish, but he was raised in some crazy German orthodox religion.
Speaking of crazy religions, somebody passed a terrible movie on to me, “Sex Drive”. I am perplexed at what to say about this film, as the characters are easy to identify with, adorable, and the plot is almost over the line of believable, but not quite. Overall, it really is an awful movie, made by beginners at producing and directing, but it has so many funny moments, that I can’t not recommend it. Has an Amish thread in it that is hilarious—especially if you have been around the Amish as I have. Kind of like a Jim Carrey movie, it sticks with you long after it is over.
Thank science for central air. It started running continuously about 10:30 this morning, and has just now gone off, as I have it set a little higher for overnight.
No rain last week, and none in sight. Soybeans have died an horrible death in many fields. Most farmers are questioning replanting at this point, as it looks like another summer drought like last year—which lasted into October. My grass is not growing at all.
Jetstream boundary is waaay up in Canada for as far out as they predict. Looks like even OFD will get some heat towards the end of the week. Still, it is not quite as hot or humid as last summer, which was in the high 90’s already, and about 80% humidity every day. Was about 75% today. At one point, I walked out to join some family members for lunch, and was dripping wet before I got to their car. One of those kind of days. I keep saying that my pet earwig will not stay outside, but I suspect it is not just one, but many. Every day I find one in the kitchen or bathroom sink. The ground is rock hard and totally dry, as temp and dewpoint have not crossed for weeks, so there is no dew–ever.
Still, I’m not going to water my lawn. I am happy not to mow it.
Meanwhile, the air in the car died—again, just like last summer. Gotta get that fixed pronto, tomorrow.
Speaking of new cars, my 18.5 year old car is on it’s last legs. Like its predecessor, lots of little things are going wrong.
I’ve nearly homed in on what I want, mostly somewhat smaller cars, but one AWD is under consideration too. I’ll try and take tomorrow off to do my final scouting.
Chuck wrote:
‘Money may not be everything, but as my grandfather used to say, “Don’t purposely make less money than you can.”’
Some people do. People who just don’t like paying taxes will live in poverty rather than give up 30% of what they earn. Also people in bitter divorce/custody situations.
Reminds me of a joke: “Money won’t buy you friends, but it will buy you a better class of enemies.”
I’m looking at AWD, too. During winters, I take my older aunt and uncle (late 80’s) to lunch during bad weather, and they have about a 15° drive of about 75 yards up to their house. Rear drive just won’t make it. Front drive, maybe. AWD always nails it, unless it is glare ice. Subaru Forrester made right here in Indiana is one of my options.
Great minds think alike… 🙂
I’ve always liked the look of the Forester, and I’ll admit to a strong prejudice against 4WDs/AWDs. I rang a pal who is a serious 4WD nut a few hours ago. He approved my choice but said there are places he could go with ease that I wouldn’t be able to. When he buys a 4WD he immediately has the suspension replaced with a seriously tough after market model, the standard 4WD suspension just won’t tolerate the places he goes.
Anyway, the Subaru Liberty, Subaru Forester, Holden Cruze and Mitsubishi Lancer are still under consideration. The only one I’ve excluded is the Honda Civic.
AWD is awesome – I wouldn’t want to live without it anymore. Our current car lets you turn it on and off, which is fine – we don’t need it often, but when we do…
I know several people with a Prius, and all of them are really happy with it – not for its green credentials – but as a car. We’ll give an AWD hybrid serious consideration when our car is up for replacement in a couple more years…
The Subaru is the “state car” of Vermont. Which still has lots and lots of unpaved road, trails, and every year, Mud Season. And lots of snow most years.
The weather liars tell us we are gonna have showers until Thursday and the heat and humidity will return.
Greg, the Civic is a compact car, you must mean the CR-V. The Forester gets my vote. Or if I were a Democrat, votes.
The Civic was just a bit too compact for me, and the console shape impeded getting in and out. The Cruze and Lancer were fine inside. I love large cars on the inside, hate them on the outside, because their size makes them harder to park. I’ll be getting a vehicle with either a rear camera or sensors because my reverse parking skills aren’t what they were.
Getting Old Is Hell ™.
Hope that Holden Cruze has nothing to do with the US Chevy Cruze. They are renown as one of the worst-built cars ever. Last week saw a major recall of over 50% of them ever made (full last 2 years of production) for an engine fire hazard. It is the only car I have known owners to proclaim, “I wish I had never bought it.”
Thanks Chuck, I’ll have to look into that.
Holden (a subsidiary of GM) imports the Cruze from somewhere…
Partially imports them…
Holden basically extorted money from the Australian and South Australian governments to keep their plant in Adelaide open. I would have told them to piss off. The recalled models were manufactured in the US but some Australian Cruzes had recalls too. I’ll have to look into this.
I must say the Subaru is looking more and more attractive… (The Lancer is manufactured by Mitsubishi, another basket case.)
Well, I’ve eliminated the Subaru Liberty (too expensive compared with similar cars of the same size) and the Honda Civic. I looked up the Cruze Chuck was talking about, and thought the problem was just in the US model. Turns out the Holden Cruze is being recalled for the same reason:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/recall-holden-cruze-engine-fire/4095538
Guess it’s down to the Mitsubishi Lancer or Subaru Forester now…