First, the trainwreck, ABC's monumentally embarrassing remake of "Dirty Dancing."
Only greedy, ratings hungry network executives could possibly have thought this was a good idea. The original, a low budget, hastily slapped together raggedy thing, caught lightning in a bottle.....one of those little miracles of filmmaking where everything comes together to make some accidental magic....
So the network, looking to fill up three hours of air time, foolishly attempted a giant, inflated Macy's Parade balloon version of the film.......dragging out negligible subplots, miscasting the lead roles badly and generally making the film appear like a bloated Alternate Dark Universe version that slipped through a black hole and on to the network schedule.
We won't waste time recollecting all the ludicrous moments in this disaster.....nor will we even mention the names of the actors who found themselves trapped in the maelstrom......there's no need to smear them any further......they probably feel humiliated enough as it is.....
Meanwhile, as ABC's travesty unraveled before unbelieving eyes, "Law & Order: SVU" presented its two-part season finale, a non-stop horror show centered around an unspeakable rape-and-murder attack on a Muslim family....
Earlier in the season, NBC yanked one of 'SVU's episodes,one of their "this is purely fictitious, but you damn well know the true story we ripped off for this" episodes.....one which depicted a distinctly Trumpian politician played by Gary Cole.
We don't know if the season finale served as a rebuke to the network for pulling that episode,but we do know the show came roaring back with this stunning example of the "Trump effect" on American society.....the unleashing of previously hidden hatred and bigotry into the country's mainstream....the polluting of America with bullying, prejudice and violence, all publicly displayed and endorsed by the so-called President.....
Neither Baby Orange or anyone playing an imitation of him appears anywhere in the show....but you can feel the pernicious, toxic, Trump-filled atmosphere that infects the storyline from beginning to end. It's a perfect hellish storm that leaves nobody in the episode untouched, littered with destroyed lives, broken bleeding bodies and terrible,vexing moral quandaries for the SVU team.
Typical of an SVU episode, there's no comforting closure, even with the capture and conviction of the two odious Trumpanzees responsible for the rapes and murders....(one of them referencing his glorious leader's remark about all Mexicans being rapists) By the time the episode fades to black, you realize that there's only one real hateful perpetrator hovering over all this misery......and he's still at large, on the loose.....and dangerous to the nation....
For "Dirty Dancing"....Zero stars (0), a project that never should have existed. For the Law & Order:SVU" season finale....4 stars (****) for its unflinching portrayal of what the country's reaped with the chaotic reign of Baby Orange.....
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