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.
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The Sinner-in-Chief PBS chronicles Bill Clinton's soap-opera presidency TV by DEAN ROBBINS In 2008, American Experience presented a whitewashed portrait of President George H.W. Bush's presidency, presumably to avoid Republican charges of liberal bias. Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, gets a more balanced treatment in a new two-part documentary (Monday and Tuesday, 9 p.m.). I guess PBS doesn't worry about Democratic charges of conservative bias. In any case, "Clinton" is the juiciest soap opera you'll see on TV all week. In hindsight, Bill Clinton looks like an outsized character from American folk- lore, with his string of catastrophes and reversals of fortune. Commentators identify "resiliency" as his central quality. "He disappoints [supporters] every time on some level, but he always gets up and tries to make it better," says former press secretary Dee Dee Myers. "What else can you ask of a sinner?" The documentary doesn't stint on sin, particularly Clinton's love of the ladies. But commentators across the political spectrum can't help acknowl- edging his gifts, both intellectual and political. Staff members from his early Arkansas days refer to the "extra battery" that allowed him to campaign for 20 hours at a stretch. He wouldn't leave a factory or a restaurant until he'd met every person there, making each one feel like the most important person on Earth. Even if you lived through the Clinton presidency, you'll find this an enter- taining rerun. Part one focuses on the monumental failures of his first two years, from the scandals to the foreign policy missteps to the health-care fi- asco. When gleeful Republicans won both house of Congress at the midterms, it looked like a comeback was finally beyond Clinton's reach. Or did it? Part one ends with a quote from cabinet member Robert Reich: "Bill Clinton was constitutionally incapable of not coming back." Billy the Exterminator Saturday, 10 pm (A&E) The reality series has lost none of its crazy intensity in season five. Billy Bretherton still holds your attention as he deals with a variety of pests, decked out like a heavy-metal roadie in stringy blond hair, shades and tattoos. In this week's episode, he visits New Orleans to remove a bee colony from a condo- minium. Things start out promisingly enough, as Billy takes measures to protect himself. "I'm trying to calm them down with this smoker," he says, letting the smoke waft into the second-story hive. But as usual, the situation gets out of hand, and Billy gets hysterical. Perched on a shaky ladder, he becomes a target for 30,000 very angry bees. "I've started to wonder if I've stirred up a hive of bad-tempered little assassins," he says after the first few stings. After a few more, his language turns apocalyptic. "Holy hell! I'm staring into the mouth of the DEVIL HIMSELF!" Clearly, Billy needs a sniff from the smoker to calm himself down. Masterpiece Classic Sunday, 9 pm (PBS) "Downton Abbey," TV's most elegant melodrama, wraps up its second season on the eve of the 1920s. Masters and servants on the Yorkshire estate have sur- vived World War I, more or less, and now face the further erosion of the age-old British caste system. The topnotch actors, along with the beautiful costumes and sets, compensate for a certain shallowness in the writing. They make it easy to get caught up in the characters' romantic, legal and financial problems: Will Bates the valet (Brendan Coyle) beat a murder rap? Will Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) wed the odious Sir Richard (Iain Glen)? Will Sir Anthony (Robert Bathurst) hook up with Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) despite his war wound? "When I think what the last 10 years has brought," says the Countess (Maggie Smith), "God knows what we're in for now!" Season three, anyone? Womack Army Medical Center Carpet One Cowboy Limos Mesmarise Photography International Minute Press Quizno's Tailored Events Arthritis Foundation Sada Fashions Salon 360 TDNEET Enterprises Spencer Designs FTCC Touche (Medical Spa & Skin Care) Miss Tool Belt Designer Sewing Papa Johns Ground Zero Records Up and Coming Weekly KNO Photography Kick Back Jack Olive Garden For more information contact: Alexis Scott (910) 992-1335 or Karen Moore (910) 214-2188. 20 UCW FEBRUARY 15-21, 2012 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PRIZES! $5.00