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Kingdom Hospital (2004)
Above Average TV Fare Much Maligned By "Riget" Fanatics
Let's get a few things out of the way here: 1) "Kingdom Hospital," although based on the Danish series "Riget," is NOT "Riget." 2) "Riget" is, indeed, a better production. 3) "Kingdom Hospital" is NOT horror. It can probably best be described as a black comedy/Gothic mystery featuring ghosts, but it is not horror.
Like the best of Stephen King's works, "Kingdom Hospital" draws its inspiration from a combination of another work and autobiographical details of his own life, in this case, Lars von Trier's "Riget," and King's own 1999 experience being struck by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run accident. King wrote 8 of the 13 episodes himself and shares writing credit with his wife Tabitha on a 9th. The remaining 4 were scripted by his co-producer, National Book Award finalist Richard Dooling.
"Kingdom Hospital" is not "Riget" and does not pretend to be. A straightforward remake of "Riget" would not have played well to mainstream American audiences, besides being redundant and unnecessary. If you want to see "Riget," you can rent "Riget," but don't look for it here. Instead, "Kingdom Hospital" uses "Riget" as the framework for a motherlode of subtext. From a modern re-telling of the Egyptian Anubis myth, to questions of Christian faith, from forays into the horrors of experimental medicine to frequent pot shots at American popular culture, from an exploration of obsessive attraction to biting commentary on the ways children have been treated historically--all of these things combine to tell a fascinating, multi-layered tale.
While the villain, Dr. Stegman, is rather one-dimensional in his obsessions and hubris, he serves as a mirror to the more fascinating Dr. Hook, a man so haunted by his own internal demons and guilt that he strives to be better. Stegman's lack of guilt serves as his downfall, while Hook's guilt and mistakes define him. Peter Rickman serves as the mirror to Stephen King, as he realizes he has defined himself by his craft (he is an artist), and just as King revealed in his memoir "On Writing" how writing ultimately healed him, so does Rickman's artwork (he's so defined by it that he uses drawings to communicate while comatose) set the stage for his own healing, and, ultimately, the "healing" of Kingdom Hospital. "It's what I do," he says at the story's climax. "It's solid."
"Kingdom Hospital" is much better suited to viewing on DVD without the endless commercial interruptions that slowed the narrative during its prime-time run. On television the story was slow to build and often seemed to take pointless, meandering side trips, but watched in a single sitting, it takes on a new life, and those side trips pay off marvelously in end. This is fascinating stuff, great character studies, and far better than the standard slop served up on American television. A definite must-see!
Sparks: The Price of Passion (1990)
Could have been much better....
"Sparks" was supposed to be the pilot for a proposed Victoria Principal drama series. It's not surprising it didn't make it. The story was awful and Principal, usually pretty good at drama, just couldn't make this one take off.
The location shots were filmed at my alma mater while I was a freshman there, with the university's library standing in as the Albuquerque mayor's office. I remember walking across campus with a friend who was irked at the main mall being blocked off after three days, and he yelled, "For godssake! It's only a two-hour movie! Go home already!!"
After seeing this dissaster, I think he should have been screaming a lot earlier.
Fresno (1986)
"You call this grapes???"
I was a year out of high school when this aired. I was addicted to Prime Time Soaps, and I was addicted to Carol Burnett, so there was no way I was going to miss it! And I'm glad I didn't! I remember that it spoofed virtually every PT soap on the air at the time as well as the entire miniseries genre. I've forgotten most of the specifics, other than it being a battle between two California raisin growing families. Two images etched in my mind forever are the initial shot of Carol Burnett--it was a spoof on "Falcon Crest's" Angela in her establishing shot during the credits where the limo's window slides down and reveals her face. This was the exact same shot, with the window coming down and revealing Carol...but the camera pans back and she's riding in the back of an old station wagon! I laughed my you know what's off! The other scene I'll never forget is the very first one depicting the Conqistadores exploring northern California. I think the leader was named Don Diego. A bunch of scouts rides up and offers their report: "We found these grapes growing abundantly in the valley to the north!" Diego tastes them, proclaims them exquisite and declares that they will start colonies in that valley. Just then, a second scout team rides up and offers their report: "We found these grapes growing abundantly in the hills to the south!" Diego tastes them and goes into a spitting, coughing fit. "You call this grapes?!? Ptttllhh! Tastes like FRESNO!" Roll credits! I'd love to see this one again! Please, please, drop me a line if you're willing to trade tapes!
Grand (1990)
We're All Different Drummers Playing In The Same Big Band!
"32,000" people inhabit Grand. This is the story of eight or nine of them."
"Grand" was my favorite show of 1990! It ran only 25 episodes (although there was a 26th episode filmed which never aired). Pamela Reed and Bonnie Hunt hit their peak in this quirky series! It was a psuedo-soap opera revolving around the lives of a piano manufacturer (Harris Weldon), his family (reformed pyromaniac son Norris, neurotic neice Carol Anne and her get-rich-quick-scheming husband, Tom), and his servants (butler Desmond and cleaning lady Janice Pasetti--a former homecoming queen raising a daughter in a travel tailer!). With a handful of other quirky characters (Janice's ex-husband Eddie and policeman Wayne Kazmusky, most notably), the show seemed destined to go down in the annals of TV history before "Twin Peaks" began airing opposite it. NBC didn't hold out much hope for the series from the begining, apparently, and the first season finale was a tour-de-force intended to end the show's brief run. It's unexpected ratings caused them to renew the show in the fall, but the soap opera format was dropped for much of the season. Sadly, just as the show returned to its soap opera format, it was cancelled, leaving Janice and Carol Anne trapped at the bottom of an abandoned well. The dream sequence Janice has while in the well was one of the classics of TV! I would have loved to see this one go on and on!