Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/20237
Bob Saget, Bad-ass The sitcom dad takes a walk on the wild side with Strange Days TV by DEAN ROBBINS Bob Saget inspires a sur- prising amount of hostility. For years, he’s been a punch- line for viewers and snarky TV critics because of his stint as a goody-goody dad on the sitcom Full House. I always considered this unfair, given the comic skill with which he played the role. Saget must consider it unfair, too, since he’s tried so hard to run away from his squeaky-clean image in the years since. The latest attempt is Strange Days with Bob Saget (Tuesday, 10 p.m., A&E), a reality series that submerges him in unconventional and even dangerous subcultures. In the premiere, Saget spends a week riding with the rowdy motorcycle club Iron Order. He enters their clubhouse wearing his nerdy glasses and an ill-advised smirk, then makes nonstop wisecracks — including one about his bar mitzvah — that do nothing to mask the fact that he’s an ironic outsider in a world of long gray beards and stringy hair. You expect him to get beaten up — and many Saget-hating viewers will rel- ish the prospect. But against all odds, he wins over the motorcycle toughs. They laugh at his nervous jokes and consider him a good sport for riding 1,500 miles with them. By the end of the episode, I bet, even most viewers will lose their desire to see him beaten up. For a despised figure like Saget, I’d count that as a small victory. Shine a Light Friday, 9 pm (VH1) The Rolling Stones have been on everyone’s mind since the release of Keith Richards’ revelatory autobiography this fall. That’s one reason to watch the TV screening of the Stones’ 2008 concert film — a chance to view the interaction between Keith and Mick Jagger, whom we now know he calls “Brenda.” But there are several other reasons. Martin Scorsese directs, bringing an unlikely sense of excitement to a show by sixty-something pop stars. Then there are the 60 something pop stars them- selves. Yes, it’s old guys playing old songs, but the Stones do something profound here: They demonstrate a credible way for senior citizens to rock. The performances are explosive, gritty, sly, even sexy, and you realize the guys aren’t going to give up their title of World’s Greatest Rock Band without a fight. If you don’t believe me, watch the guest appearance by latter-day rock god Jack White. Jagger sings the youngster off the stage — not bad for a dude named Brenda. November Christmas Sunday, 9 pm (CBS) Snow globes, small-town neighborliness, impossibly harmonious families — yes, it’s Christmastime on network TV. In November Christmas, Mom (Sarah Paulson) and Dad (John Corbett) depend on their rural neighbors (Sam Elliott, Karen Allen) when their daughter is stricken with cancer. The pianist on the soundtrack is seized by a sense of wonder as the community helps move up the holiday schedule in case the girl doesn’t make it to December. You’d think November Christmas would be too sentimental for its own good, but the movie goes down easy thanks to a stellar cast. Paulson proves she can excel in the earnestly-caring-mom role, just as she excelled in snarky comedies like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Allen’s smile is still as disarming as it was in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Elliott’s virile mustache has lost none of its power to signify stalwart American values. I suggest tuning in to November Christmas to see if maybe, just maybe, com- mon human decency can lick cancer. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The Journey of Omar Ibn Said “...the most educated Muslim slave in North Carolina” The autobiography of Omar Ibn Said runs through December 5th. For more information contact: Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex 801 Arsenal Ave. • (910) 486-1330 Adam Beyah, Event Coordinator • (910) 483-5644 Special thanks to: NOVEMBER 24-30, 2010 UCW 23 FREE ADMISSION