BEST SHOW OF THE SEASON

It has been a while since I could say with confidence that the best kept secret in North America was summer on Fisher Island. The weather this season has been the worst of my nearly 30 years on this Island paradise.

Michael Fuchs from his lovely New York country home, 45 minutes from Broadway, tells me it is brutal there as well. Charleston, America’s most popular tourist city, is all but uninhabitable this August and I have only just returned from California where, simply put, the weather is terrible.

My first hernia has kept me off the beach and out of the pool. The prescribed pain medication turned out to be worse than the discomfort I now feel without it, as I (not-so) patiently await word on just when someone… anyone… with something sharper than a butter knife will operate. Until today I have been distracted enough by the whole thing so that word processing an email, let alone an article, just had to be placed on a backburner.

And what is there to write about anyway? I am disappointed in the current streaming season, politics has been depressing, and besides, I semi-resolved a long time ago to refrain from writing about events on our national scene. What can I say? I like being liked… enjoy the feeling of a certain amount of popularity. I do not mind folks disagreeing with something negative I might write about one of their favorite shows on TV or Broadway, but I really do not want to get one of those “Dear commie, Jew, bastard… take me off your email list” missives. Those tend to go a long way toward spoiling my day.

No matter how terrific, I have balked about---and am reluctant to once again rave about---Bear or Hacks in their latest season…  Still, little else has inspired or transpired.

And then, out of nowhere, the best show of this or any season in memory hits the airways. All hail, executive producer, Joe Biden, and producer/star Kamala Harris. Who knew anyone could turn this moribund, perfectly dreadful electoral season into the television event of this or any summer in memory? Trump getting shot did not do it, the President of the United States melting down on national television to his opponent’s barrage of bluff and bluster did not do it, nor did the prospect of a rematch of two heavyweights. No one… I mean no one… gave a damn about this election.

Now they do. There is true excitement in the air… a real sense of joy,  adventure, and patriotism. How could that happen with a candidate who supposedly no one knew or liked? And who knew the Democrats had a bench?

That Governor from Pennsylvania is the best political orator since Obama. Pete Buttigieg stays fresh on more TV shows in one evening than any other surrogate I have ever seen. The guy from Arizona is a former astronaut for God’s sake, and then there is the fella who got picked as a running mate… Mr. Rogers on steroids.

There is excitement in and on the air in a way I have not seen in a decade, and it came out of nowhere. That takes some kind of showmanship skill… and a whole lot of luck.

Trump, up until now the ultimate showman in politics, got a little ahead of his skis… just a wee bit overconfident. How could he not? His opponent, despite being the President of the United States, was characterized as unelectable no matter how competent he might be for State occasions or in the Oval office. The old man just was not playing well on TV and there was no getting over that perfectly awful appearance against Trump in the debate. That toothpaste was never going back in the tube.

To add to his luster, Trump got his ear nicked by a would-be assassin then popped to his feet with a defiant gesture to let the crowd know he was intact and ready to continue the fight. There is no way this guy could lose; how could he not be confident of that? So confident as to listen to Donald Jr. and Eric about who to pick as his running mate. C’mon, mittendrin you are going to pause for a revival of Dumb and Dumber? Well, why not? Afterall, what difference would it make who got that nod? It is all about Trump and nothing and no one else matters.

And then…

I am not saying Donald Trump is going to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. In fact, I am almost positive the contrary will be the case. America, after all, is a very conservative country… almost always has been… and over the past several years Trump has unleashed some powerful elements into the ether that have fused into some of the most right-wing alliances this country has ever seen. And if you know your American political history, that is saying a lot.

So, I have not given back my brochures from the realtors of southern Spain and Portugal, but… as a self-proclaimed TV pundit… I cannot refrain from extolling kudos over one of the biggest and best TV productions of my lifetime.

Win or lose: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris deserve a trophy. They made my summer. And when you consider the hernia, the pain, the weather, no pool, no beach, and the (not-so)“Dear…” letters that may still arrive in my in-box... That is saying a lot.

 

Barney Rosenzweig