Four for Friday, Entertainment Edition: Kit Kittredge, Classic Movies, Swingtown & TNT Dramas
Item #1: An American Girl + Great Depression=Kit Kittredge
Took The Girl to see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl with my neighbors and their daughters, and several plastic, overpriced dolls. Was pleasantly surprised to see that the film, which is set during the Great Depression, didn’t completely sugar-coat the struggles families endured, such as having the bank repossess family houses (and businesses), having to take in boarders to earn money, seeing fathers leave their families in search of employment and having to keep chickens in order to sell their eggs. The story was told through the eyes of grade schooler Kit Kittredge (Abigail Breslin) who, much to my giddy delight, aspired to be a reporter and toiled away in the attic on her typewriter.
“I don’t ever want to live in a Depression,” The Girl told me afterward, saying that it must’ve been “very hard and awful.” Days later, she used one of the ancient, manual typewriters I have in my office and typed out her very own summary of the film. A sample of The Girl’s summary: “Kit and Ruthy and their school class had to help in the soup kitchen. The soup kitchen was a place where people who needed food could eat. When they got there Kit saw her father. Then she knew he had lost his job. She was right.”
Item #2: TCM’s ‘Essentials Jr.’
Speaking of Abigail Breslin . . . she and her Kittredge co-star Chris O’Donnell have been co-hosting a Sunday night series on the Turner Classic Movies channel called, TCM Essentials Jr., where, each week, a classic, family friendly film is aired at 8 p.m. This week’s feature is Meet Me in St. Louis, a film, which I am embarrassed to say, I’ve never seen but one that Breslin says is a favorite of hers. Other upcoming films to be aired: Roman Holiday on August 3 and Yours, Mine and Ours on August 24.
Item #3: Swingtown & Feminism
Seriously. I kid you not. Swingtown, the CBS drama (airs Thursdays at 10) is not just focused on salacious spouse-swapping. In fact, recent episodes have continued to surprise me as they’ve explored feminism, circa a 1970s at-home mom who has decided she’s no longer satisfied with Tupperware parties and cleaning the house now that her two children are teenagers and have their own lives. Over the past few weeks, the character of Susan Miller (Molly Parker) attended a fundraiser (against her husband’s wishes) to support the First Amendment rights of the star of Deep Throat who was being prosecuted for distributing pornography across state lines, actually went to see the movie — that her husband had already seen with the guys — all by herself in an adult theater (in the days before you could rent or download such things in the privacy of your own home), neglected to make family meals because she was busy reading research about the Deep Throat case and decided to shake up the prim Ladies Auxiliary. I can hardly wait to see what Susan will do next.
Episodes are available online at the CBS web site.
Item #4: TNT Dramas
Moving from a confused 1970s housewife to two very strong female cops . . . Monday evening will mark the beginning of the new seasons of TNT’s award-winning The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick and Saving Grace starring Oscar winner Holly Hunter. Both of these women — real life mothers of young kids — gave powerful performances last year, with Sedgwick as the by-the-books Los Angeles deputy police chief who knows how to break a suspect without breaking any bones, and Hunter as a troubled, hard drinking, rule-breaking Oklahoma City detective who’s trying to redeem herself. No housewives they.
The Closer starts its fourth season at 9 p.m. and Saving Grace its second season at 10 p.m.
Local mom and author Meredith O'Brien gives you a peek behind the picket fences of modern day parenting. With humor and candor, it's her take on real parenting in the real world.
