Watch Online?

Discussion of On the Air

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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Watch Online?

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Jonah wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 9:29 am Yep! I was pretty sure it was him. Rewound it to listen to it again. I'd know Gordon Cole anywhere lol. I have to say I didn't love the pilot, though, and I remember feeling that way before when I watched it (or some of it). I actually thought the movie Radioland Murders I posted about was better than this. It just didn't work for me. And I wanted to like it. I did enjoy some of the shots - the blinking lights on the telephones, the audience at home, but I couldn't really connect with it beyond that. I had rememebred Lester Guy being in it more too. It just felt very inconsequential and mostly unfunny, not the fantastic farce it's billed as. Some charm, certainly, but even though it's only 25 minutes I kept checking the timer to see when it would be over. I think I had a similar reaction last time.

I've read this is the best episode. Reviews say 2 is okay and 7 sounds interesting, but 1 is the best. Are the others worth watching if I wasn't crazy about this one? At least this one had some Lynchian touches because he directed it, but the others don't, and apparently he only co-scripted 7 and that's it for his involvement. I might try Hotel Room instead.
I agree, of all Lynch’s works (not counting the really minor stuff like website shorts), On the Air is my least favorite. It’s the same style of comedy as the lame stuff in TP S2. I like farce when it’s done well, but IMO, OtA mostly isn’t (Noises Off is an example of this kind of thing being done way better). I do like some aspects (Ferrer and Lander are pretty funny at points), but it mostly feels forced. Episode 7 (written by Lynch/Engels and directed by Lynch’s best friend Jack Fisk) is interesting, with frequent Lynch collaborator/Dern buddy Bellina Logan (Louie “Birdsong” Budway from TP) giving a pretty surreal whiteface performance as a mysterious beatnik who Lander has a crush on. It might be worth a watch. There’s also an episode with Freddie Jones which I enjoy just because I love Freddie, but it’s not a good episode. The other episodes just feel like watered-down versions of the pilot. If you didn’t like the pilot, I wouldn’t bother except for the sake of completism.

On the other hand, I love Hotel Room. The first episode with Freddie and Harry Dean is great. So is the third, with Crispin Glover and Alicia Witt (hard to believe it was only two years after TP E8...she grew up FAST). The second episode wasn’t done by Lynch and plays more like a Sex and the City episode, but it’s sort of breezy fun and has a cool ending.
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AXX°N N.
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Re: Watch Online?

Post by AXX°N N. »

Same here regarding OtA vs. Hotel Room. Lights Out specifically is great and I consider it tragically unseen 'minor' Lynch; he's doing things there with long-form static cameras he's done nowhere else but perhaps The Straight Story, very scaled down, but the same usual great acting he always draws out.

OtA feels bizarrely structured in a bad way. The Pilot opens in media res and then ends pretty definitively as a goofy jab; it would have enjoyed a better existence as a 'what if' that never went past the greenlight. The directions they come up with to follow into plot strands feel pretty threadbare; if you asked me to imagine what the series proper would look like past the Pilot, I wouldn't have envisioned it being so repetitive, like you say.
Recipe not my own. In a coffee cup. 3 TBS flour, 2 TBS sugar, 1.5 TBS cocoa powder, .25 TSP baking powder, pinch of salt. 3 TBS milk, 1.5 TBS vegetable oil, 1 TBS peanut butter. Add and mix each set. Microwave 1 minute 10 seconds. The cup will be hot.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Watch Online?

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AXX°N N. wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 1:23 pm Same here regarding OtA vs. Hotel Room. Lights Out specifically is great and I consider it tragically unseen 'minor' Lynch; he's doing things there with long-form static cameras he's done nowhere else but perhaps The Straight Story, very scaled down, but the same usual great acting he always draws out.

OtA feels bizarrely structured in a bad way. The Pilot opens in media res and then ends pretty definitively as a goofy jab; it would have enjoyed a better existence as a 'what if' that never went past the greenlight. The directions they come up with to follow into plot strands feel pretty threadbare; if you asked me to imagine what the series proper would look like past the Pilot, I wouldn't have envisioned it being so repetitive, like you say.
Yeah, the Bozeman’s Simplex and the “Hurry Up” Twins were cute surreal-comedy moments done once. Repeating them every episode without any kind of twist/innovation just becomes lazy.
mtl
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Re: Watch Online?

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