This week we lost a fictional character who was sometimes called "America's Dad" and an actor whose picture might have been very appropriate for an illustration of what a compelling movie villain should be like.
Why do these two go together so well? They were both screen personas and yet they grabbed our imaginations, sometimes stealing the scenes from the purported heroes whose narratives they were intended to support.
Where to start?
Will TV be the same without the familiar comforts of the Cooper Family on Young Sheldon? Those of us who spent time in Texas at the shank end of the Twentieth Century often felt what Sherwood Anderson called that shock of recognition when details of their lives rang so true. The sweetness of their perfectly imperfect selves made it impossible to not fall in love with everyone involved.
What struck many of us after giving the show a chance was how good George was at being a dad. As he was written in The Big Bang Theory, he was a disengaged, philandering, alcoholic. Showrunner Chuck Lorre had this to say about George on his vanity card for the final episode:
Why do these two go together so well? They were both screen personas and yet they grabbed our imaginations, sometimes stealing the scenes from the purported heroes whose narratives they were intended to support.
Where to start?
Will TV be the same without the familiar comforts of the Cooper Family on Young Sheldon? Those of us who spent time in Texas at the shank end of the Twentieth Century often felt what Sherwood Anderson called that shock of recognition when details of their lives rang so true. The sweetness of their perfectly imperfect selves made it impossible to not fall in love with everyone involved.
What struck many of us after giving the show a chance was how good George was at being a dad. As he was written in The Big Bang Theory, he was a disengaged, philandering, alcoholic. Showrunner Chuck Lorre had this to say about George on his vanity card for the final episode:
The tears weren't just on the set. Many of us felt the loss of that televised image of what fatherhood can look like. We have come to normalize -lionize, really- an ideal of snarky, gleefully evil, sometimes downright hateful and definitely toxic masculinity. Someone who adores his wife, and loves his family even if he doesn't always understand them has become a unicorn of sorts. George Cooper's death signals the departure of a dad in the truest sense of the word, possibly right when that is exactly what we need.
And at the other end of the onscreen character arcana...
I have a good friend who used to write for a TV magazine. She told me that one of her first interviews was with Dabney Coleman. It is with her permission that I'll write her observation that he was "gentlemanly, sweet, and had a talent for making ladies and men who were so inclined get the vapors."
The funny thing is he was so good at being so bad onscreen. William Atherton might have the market cornered on fussy, legalistic screen antagonists, but it was Mister Coleman who so fully embodied the magnificent bastard.
Thinking back to some of his iconic roles, those characters might have been a lot less fun and possibly unwatchable had they been played by anyone else. Tootsie and 9 to 5 are classics because he was rubber to Dustin Hoffman's and Dolly and Company's glue.
Thanks for all the great movie memories, sir.
And at the other end of the onscreen character arcana...
I have a good friend who used to write for a TV magazine. She told me that one of her first interviews was with Dabney Coleman. It is with her permission that I'll write her observation that he was "gentlemanly, sweet, and had a talent for making ladies and men who were so inclined get the vapors."
The funny thing is he was so good at being so bad onscreen. William Atherton might have the market cornered on fussy, legalistic screen antagonists, but it was Mister Coleman who so fully embodied the magnificent bastard.
Thinking back to some of his iconic roles, those characters might have been a lot less fun and possibly unwatchable had they been played by anyone else. Tootsie and 9 to 5 are classics because he was rubber to Dustin Hoffman's and Dolly and Company's glue.
Thanks for all the great movie memories, sir.
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