Veteran-led TV shows are rare and always popular, but these days they seem to need a gimmick to get on the air.
Matlock’s reboot begins with a cash-strapped, widowed retired lawyer re-entering the workforce to raise her grandchildren.
But the pilot episode ends with the character “actually” being a wealthy, happily married woman who infiltrates a law firm to avenge her daughter’s opioid death.
Likewise, the first season of The King of Tulsa was a fish-out-of-water story, starring Dwight Manfredi as a gangster emerging from twenty-five years in prison. Arriving in a changed world, he must learn to navigate and make money.
It wasn’t until season 2, when Dwight seemed completely up to date, that the show became more like a run-of-the-mill crime thriller.
Maddie Matlock’s plight as an aging widow who desperately needs a job and re-earns her law degree should be compelling enough to be made into a series. was Until “The Twist” at the end of Matlock’s pilot episode was revealed.
Why are the real-life problems of the elderly not worth making into a TV series? More than four decades ago, The Golden Girls proved there was a market for this type of content.
Picture this: The old man is old, it doesn’t matter
The Golden Girls featured many great situation comedy scenes during its run, but it focused on the more mundane aspects of its characters’ lives.
After all, the show’s original setup involved homeowner Blanche Devereaux needing roommates to help pay her mortgage.
These girls are in various states of financial precarity after being divorced, widowed, or receiving small pensions from stable but unprofitable careers. Living together gives them some breathing room.
This was revolutionary for a show at the time exploring the lives of older, unmarried women who did not live with their families.
Aside from the unique perspectives provided by their age and gender, their daily struggles aren’t particularly groundbreaking. And, of course, the humor their characters bring to every situation.
The Golden Girls explored many of the big issues of the time, such as the AIDS crisis and immigration. But perhaps its boldest subject is the sexuality of older women.
Overall, the jokes about aging are funny, but the focus on women of a certain age takes the show to a whole new level.
girl before gold
Maddie Matlock is also an older woman, which remains the reboot’s biggest strength.
Even if the show’s decision to change the gender of its lead character was just to put the glorious Kathy Bates on stage, it still missed an opportunity to focus on the reality of a woman restarting a demanding career in her seventies.
That’s because Kathy Bates can sell anything, and it would be awesome to see her play the widowed and bankrupt Maddie Matlock instead of the married and wealthy Madeleine Kingston.
It’s exciting to see Maddie Matlock try to land a job as an older candidate. She blatantly exploits society’s age stereotypes to her advantage, which is completely understandable given the stakes of her story.
But the actual stakes for each version of Tracy McGrady are vastly different. One is just trying to get through the day, while the other is playing a long game of revenge.
In the spirit of the best lies containing truth, the Maddies had both lost daughters to drug addiction and were raising a twelve-year-old grandson.
Madeleine Kingston has begun to see the toll of her single-minded mission to find out which lawyers at her firm are responsible for exonerating Big Pharma from the blame for opioid deaths.
Her grandson struggled academically and her marriage became strained. At the same time, her plain working persona also reveals many disturbing truths that Madeleine has long buried.
so Yesall of which are actually super informative and really fun.
But my point is that Matlock could have been taken in a more realistic direction from the beginning and still be completely compelling.
Like the cast of “The Golden Girls,” Kathy Bates is an entertainment powerhouse who could have produced six different versions of the show, each of which would have been the biggest show on television that night.
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But that doesn’t mean all high-powered characters on television need secret superpowers. or Do it?
Enter Dwight Manfredi.
I would say hard fifty five
Tulsa King brings us Sylvester Stallone in his golden years – America’s favorite fighting loser is back on screen and looking great at any age.
It’s no surprise that a TV series starring Stallone leans more toward guns and violence than culture-shock character studies.
But it’s this aspect of Tulsa Gold that makes it stand out in the first place.
Dwight deals with culture shock on at least three levels, starting with his journey from prison to freedom after twenty-five years in captivity.
The world he is released into is nothing like the one he last roamed as a free man. Modern-day Tulsa, Oklahoma, looks nothing like New York City at any time.
What made Tulsa King’s first season so compelling was Dwight’s openness — dare I say youthfulness? — his attitude as he adapts to these changes in his life.
He points out how things compare now to a quarter-century ago, but he’s more curious about the present than dwelling on the past.
He even entered the dating world, where at least one woman (ATF agent, at least!) thought he was much younger than he was.
Granted, there’s only so much story material to mine from Dwight’s cultural adjustments, but the first season hasn’t done any of them, let alone all three.
Dwight’s effortless charm and respect for others shine through as well. Overall, The Gentleman Gangster is a great character trope and a perfect role for Stallone, who is absolutely lovable on screen.
The premise of The King of Tulsa is that Dwight is banished to Oklahoma, rather than receiving the respect and compensation he deserves for spending a third of his life behind bars for his boss.
Of course, the whole mess in New York City, where Chicky takes over as boss and disrespects Dwight, has to be handled narratively.
But the main joy of season one was watching Dwight use his tough-guy New York City tactics on the often-confused Tulsa residents who took a more light-hearted view of their criminal activities.
The physical distance between Tulsa and New York makes the mob plot take a back seat to Dwight’s character growth as he creates a new life for himself in Oklahoma.
Dwight’s business success even awakens a complacent Tulsa crime boss, leading to some good old-fashioned shootouts in his new turf.
But any hope of the New York storyline disappearing was dashed when Chiggy and his gang got nearly the same amount of screen time in season two.
The show effectively becomes a story about warring mob factions and abandons the focus on Dwight’s unique perspective from his age and experience.
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What did we miss?
Matlock and Tulsa King hold different perspectives based on the age of the leader, which is still valuable for today’s world and for young people.
These experienced perspectives often take a back seat in these new shows, but they are the main focus of The Golden Girls . A fresh generational perspective – plus lots of humor! ——It was enough for the audience at that time.
If you think about it, The Golden Girls is really just an extension of the family situation comedy, a genre that reached its heyday around the same time. Even so, the gimmick is nothing new – Alf, anyone? — but that’s certainly true of vibrant older women facing changes in their daily lives together.
Today, a show about older people and their everyday problems would seem too risky without adding other jazz elements.
The Golden Girls is known for its slapstick and physical comedy, but the iconic image associated with the show is the girls sitting at the kitchen table.
Rose was there to tell her crazy St. Olaf tales, Sofia asked us to “picture this: Sicily in 1924,” and Blanche regaled her companions with very specific tales of romantic conquests.
These kitchen table conversations exist in the lively moment of the present, even if they are about events from years past. Plans were made, secrets were confessed, memories were shared, and the only physical activity was getting the cheesecake out of the refrigerator and setting the table.
The scenes are not padding, nor are they boring. They are very engaging and drive the plot forward while giving you a pleasant feeling like you too are sitting at the table laughing with your new best friend.
One of the great achievements of The Golden Girls is that it’s not afraid Tell instead of exhibit. It trusts the audience to follow the story through silent pauses and meandering anecdotes that don’t always relate to the main plot.
Nor does it require constant physical distraction or melodrama to be engaging and emotional.
Do modern audiences want more moving parts?
Today, television can hardly be called “passive” entertainment. Between the puzzle shows and the non-stop action fest, watching TV is almost a cardio workout.
It’s not exactly filled with young people either. Only “Murder in the Building” continues to be a hit with its mature cast, but… it also has a ton of murders.
This is great! Well, not the murder part, but of course, it’s much better for a show to have interesting things happen than not.
It seems like shows starring older protagonists are supposed to have unusual talents or complex stories with lots of action, rather than believing that audiences might not need all that bells and whistles.
“The Golden Girls” is a product of its time, and of the modern television audience yes Get used to a faster pace of visual storytelling.
But in a TV landscape filled with quieter, more realistic shows with younger casts, casting some older protagonists who aren’t secret detectives or criminal masterminds doesn’t seem like a big ask.
TV fans, what do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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