Tee-Vee & Movie Recaps

[ Click above to embiggen: "Spoiler" tee shirt by Oliver Moss as sold by Chicago-based tee shirt shop Threadless.com. It's not always available for sale, but if it's in stock you can find it at their website HERE. ]

On this page we’ll collect the tee-vee and movie recaps we’ve written (aka, watching things so you don’t have to and then telling you all about it).

SPOILER WARNING: Please don’t read any further on this page if you don’t want to be spoiled about any plot points regarding any of these shows. The whole purpose of this page in the HillBuzz.org online political magazine is to recap the storylines of television shows and movies that have political connections. Thus, by nature of this endeavor, we will divulge the twists and turns and reveal the endings of these shows or films. There’s a whole subset of people on the Internet who wail and moan about “spoilers”…which are supposedly unexpected revelations about plot points that pepper articles in the entertainment field. Personally, I think people who cry about “being spoiled” are childish and — yes — spoiled themselves since they shouldn’t be reading an entertainment site in the first place if they don’t want to be “spoiled” with information about what happens in a show or movie.

Since HillBuzz.org is an online political magazine you might not expect to see recaps of tee-vee shows or movies featured here and you could have landed on this page by accident…so please read no further if you don’t want to see anything at all related to the happenings on things you might want to watch in the future years from now (if you ever get around to it). Honestly, I’ve seen people on Entertainment Weekly’s website cry about someone discussing what happened at the end of the movie Se7en…and that flick came out back when I was a freshman in college in the mid-90s. There comes a point when something aired so long ago that if you haven’t seen it by now it’s your own fault…and the rest of the world shouldn’t gingerly censor our conversations about pop culture to avoid ever “spoiling” you.

All that said…if you have no aversion to spoilers for things that have been off the air or out of theaters since forever ago, please enjoy our work below.

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TV SHOWS:

THE AMERICANS (on F/X, 2013) — a fascinating period piece set in 1981 about a pair of KGB agents posing as an American married couple. The wife is “Felicity” from that old show and the husband is “The Gay Brother” from Brothers & Sisters. One of the most interesting aspects of the show is that the couple’s two young children have no idea their parents are KGB agents. ”Gay Brother” ends up sort of coming around and appreciating America while “Felicity” is very Communist and is committed to destroying America so the Soviets prevail. It’s in its first season as I type this, but it’s probably one of the most interesting and gripping programs to come along in many, many years. I just love it.

* Introduction to the show — a quick summary of initial thoughts on the show and why you should watch.

* Episode One — PILOT recap

* Episode Two — The Clock recap

* Episode Three — Gregory recap

* Episode Four — In Control recap

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POLITICAL ANIMALS (2012, One Season) – a 2012 miniseries aired by the USA network that featured Sigourney Weaver portraying a thinly-veiled depiction of Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. In October of 2012 USA decided not to produce a second season, despite the show scoring decent ratings and the entire cast wanting to return for another round. It’s unclear why USA decided against continuing the show…but the series’ finale ended on a cliffhanger with the Hillary character deciding to run for the Democrats’ nomination a second time against a Joe Biden-like incumbent president who replaced an Obama-like president who was killed in a plane crash in final episode. In this alternate universe, the Hillary character had two sons…one a very Tagg Romney-esque Chief of Staff and his twin, a gay prodigal wild child. Ellen Burstyn played a heavy-drinking version of Hillary’s own mom Dorothy Rodham (who never drank, to my knowledge) with shades of Barbara Bush to her. The show was captivating and fascinating because you could easily watch every episode multiple times picking out the references to different First Families or other political figures you might have missed in the first go-round.

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