I don’t recommend the sixth season of “House Of Cards.” The show ran out of steam by its third year, and this final one doesn’t re-energize anything. It plays out as a boring battle for control between new president Claire Hale (Robin Wright) and the brother-sister power duo played by Greg Kinnear and Diane Lane. While I’ve always loved Lane and think Wright is right for the role, Claire has always been icy and emotionless, which isn’t the kind of character HOC needs after a scenery-chewing lead like Kevin Spacey. Worse, the show spends way too much time focused on the death of Spacey’s character and commits its own internal sin by letting someone other than the central character speak into the camera as if we’re co-conspirators. I watched all eight episodes of season six because I felt too invested in the series not to ride it out, but I’m sorry to have wasted the time.
On the other hand, I do recommend these streaming titles: the six-part series “Bodyguard” on Netflix the highest-rated show in British TV history); the movie “Con Men” on Amazon Prime; and any of Derren Brown’s magic & mentalism specials on Netflix. They’ll be a much better use of your time than HOC.
Dick Cavett was on Seth Meyers’ show Tuesday night, yet again telling stories about the late night show he did on ABC more than four decades ago. Meyers’ audience — over-stimulated like all the others in that daypart — cheered and stood for him, but I’d bet that less than 10% of them ever heard of Cavett or saw his work, let alone understood his references from that era. He hasn’t had a regular show since CNBC cancelled him in 1996, yet I’m sure he’d have witty and clever things to say about our current political situation or any other topical matter, so it pains me to see him forced to dive back into the same pool of anecdotes. As I’ve said about other blown talk-show guest opportunities (e.g. Carol Burnett, Paul McCartney), it comes down to laziness and lack of preparation by the hosts and their producers, who are all too young to know what would be better questions for these folks!
Sorry to hear that, after five years, David Pogue will no longer be writing about tech for Yahoo. But I’m glad he’s going back to being a columnist at the NY Times, along with his work for CBS’ “Sunday Morning” and PBS’ “Nova.” He’s one of the people I miss talking to on a regular basis on my radio show.
And finally, if you thought NBC firing Megyn Kelly would hurt the ratings for the “Today” show, you were wrong. They’re up 10% in that hour. But don’t feel bad for her. She’s going to get every penny the network owes her, as they won’t be able to prove they canned her for cause.
Previously on Harris Online…