Day: April 25, 2022
Click on the pic to see the full gallery of Chuck 90-10.
I love this series, and devour it every week, but it sure is a mixture of giant positives and negatives.
On the positive side: there are some interesting (if exaggerated) characterizations, some performances are tremendous, and you may have noticed that the guy playing Norm Nixon does an incredible job. Looks like him. Moves like him. That’s because it kinda is him. The part is played by his own son, DeVaughn Nixon, who is not only a good Norm Nixon, but is a good actor in general. He’s an actor who has been around for a long time and lucked into this incredible casting opportunity. How often does a part like that come along? Here’s a great interview he did with GQ.
On the negative side: some of the casting is just bizarre. You may remember Dr. J at 29: 6’7″, handsome, imperially slim. The guy cast to play a 29-year-old Julius Erving is an average-looking 51-year-old man who looks absolutely nothing like him, and at an ordinary 6’2″, looks more like a forgotten Hines brother. About the only possible worse choice would have been to cast Gilbert Gottfried as Dr. J. You think I’m exaggerating. Only a little. He is seen here apparently doing an impersonation of Dr. J as Sherlock Holmes. There’s nothing wrong with the guy. He’s a good actor (he was excellent in a forgotten Matthew Perry comedy series, Mr. Sunshine), but he does not remind one of the young Dr. J. (On the other hand, the stunt double who plays Julius in the game footage is excellent.)
More important than the casting is the liberty the script has taken with the facts. Fans like me know when they’re lying, and it annoys us, especially since we are the target audience for the series. One example: the Lakers are shown being humiliated in Magic’s first encounter with Dr. J. Bullshit. The Lakers absolutely crushed the Sixers by 21 in their first encounter, which was in LA. The Lakers did blow a big lead to lose a 105-104 squeaker in their first game in Philly, but the series reported it as 112-92, and didn’t mention that the teams had already met, with the Lakers dominating. Moreover, Magic was not at all schooled by the Doc in Philly. He shot 8 for 13 with 9 assists, pretty much in line with the averages for his brilliant career (7 for 13 with 11 assists).
That’s just one example. There have been many. For an insider’s take, here’s Kareem’s review of the show. I disagree with the big guy about the show being boring but, as always, he offers cogent analysis.
Anyway, if you want to experience the same great story and characterizations with the accurate facts, I recommend the book that inspired the series. I couldn’t put it down. Another good choice is the recent documentary “They Call Me Magic” on AppleTV.
Reddit is reporting a video of her flashing. Not sure of the original source.
Previously:
Gigi played the challenging role of “shower ghost” to perfection, in that she took a shower and then looked ghastly. When you get right down to it, Streep couldn’t have done it any better.
So cute!
