Dixie Carter - Georgia On My Mind

Dixie Carter died this past Sunday.  I was so shocked and saddened.  Dixie Carter.  I thought of sophistication, class and unsurpassed wit.  She was an elegant southern belle, a champion of the underdog and as outspoken as any liberal you could ever meet.  She was the character she portrayed on Designing Women. 
One of my favorite episodes personifies both Ms. Carter and Julia Sugarbaker, the powerhouse head of an Atlanta based, four-women design firm.  Dash Goff, the Writer (portrayed brilliantly by Gerald McRaney) pays a visit to the ladies as they are discussing a writing assignment.  His conversation with Julia includes his description of her and could easily be a description of Ms. Carter:

DASH: You have always belonged with another time.
JULIA: Oh, you think so? Where would you put me?
DASH: Oh, I don't know.........sometime before flirting became extinct, when letter writing was an art, stationary was engraved, and dinner was an event. (Referencing his book) Say, did you by any chance find yourself in here?
JULIA: (innocently) No! I didn't notice anything.............well, there was this one passage about a woman who ran a perpetual temperature from cool porcelain to hot steel and could fan a fire with a quick sashay of her walk.........(smiling coyly) ....but I didn't think that was me.
DASH: Well, it was.

Another time - no question.  Another level - absolutely.  This for many will truly be the night the lights went out in Georgia.  Ms. Carter - you will truly be missed.

Where or Where is Michael Kors? Project Runway Needs You

Michael Kors seems to have gone MIA.  Project Runway is now on Lifetime.  News at 11.  Doesn't it sound like that kind of newsflash?  For those of us who will openly admit to having a Project Runway addiction, this season's lack of Michael Kors is very disturbing.  It's bad enough that we had to switch networks, even worse that we have to watch commercials for Lifetime network programming.  But to add insult to injury, the show seems to be lacking in Michael Kors.  For six weeks we've tuned in and for at least four of the weeks - no Michael Kors.  Here's the real problem, with the exception of Nina Garcia, he is truly the only judge with an iota of expertise in the fashion industry.  His taste is impeccable and his fashion knowledge is unquestionable, but what makes him an authority as well as entertaining is his ability to intelligently and insightfully comment on even the strangest fashion challenges.  Who could soon forget the WWE Divas episode Raw Talent in season four and his comment that he felt like "a pope at a sex club"!?

According to the rumor mills and there are many out there, it was Heidi Klum's influence that moved the show from New York (Bravo) to Los Angeles (Lifetime) because of the guest celebrity possibilities which naturally, LA is famous for.  While we love to see what celebrity or fashion icon will be sitting in the judge's fourth chair, the second chair belongs, and rightfully so, to Michael Kors and every ounce of fashion wisdom that he chooses to impart on these up-and-coming designers.  Rest assured Runway fans, Michael Kors will be back this week to provide much needed commentary and opinion on the fashion challenge.  It is the perfect balance of Michael Kors' personality, observations and fashion critiques alongside Nina Garcia and Heidi Klum coupled with Tim Gunn's mentoring and one-liners, and of course the drama of the designers that make Project Runway the fun, fashion forward show that keeps us watching week after week.  Season 6 is still young and we'll have to see if Lifetime uses all its talented resources wisely to "make it work."

quotes and photo courtesy of Project Runway

Up Next...Diane Sawyer

Diane Sawyer will finally get her due.  It's true - the uber talented, extremely intelligent, well spoken Diane Sawyer will become host of "ABC's World News" when Charles Gibson steps down at the end of December.  Come January, Diane Sawyer will finally take the anchor chair.  Like many of her colleagues at ABC, Ms. Sawyer has been an icon of news reporting for nearly three decades.  She is a pillar of coolness, objectivity and class.  From her early days at "60 Minutes" to her current run on "Good Morning America", Ms. Sawyer has always been a top-notch reporter.  Her reporting chops, professionalism, longevity and on-air authority make her an ideal anchor for "ABC's World News".  She will be a welcome challenger for Brian Williams at NBC and Katie Couric at CBS.  And of course the media is already touching on that - the infamous Diane vs. Katie feud and of course, because she is a woman, there is already talk of whether or not she will cut her hair as Katie did to give her more credibility.  (I wonder if any of the male anchors ever worried about their hair?)  Brush these tabloidesque rumors aside - they are ridiculous.  But they do remind me of a wonderful scene in the movie Something's Gotta Give where the Jack Nicholson character reveals that he was engaged to Diane Sawyer and how he cannot for the life of him understand how she could have landed a job behind a desk.  "Such a waste of a great pair of legs," he says to which the Diane Keaton character replies in a somewhat flabbergasted tone, "she's Diane Sawyer for God's sake!"  I think that says it all.  Welcome to the helm Ms. Sawyer.

sources: The Huffington Post - Rachel Sklar What to Expect For - and From - Diane Sawyer ; The Daily Beast - Rebecca Dana The ABC's of Diane's Deal 
photo courtesy of ABC

This Fortysomething Still Loves thirtysomething

Like many other Gen X-ers, I too remember when thirtysomething was the absolute best show on television.  I was in college at the time and there were several of us, male and female, that gathered around our tv sets every Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m. without fail.  We were for thirtysomething what women in the last decade have been for Sex and the City.  85 episodes and I missed not one.  It was easy as a barely twentysomething to see my future self as some of the characters portrayed in the show.  I watched each week as the lives of these baby boomer yuppies (wait, is that kind of the same thing?) played out and even though there was much whining, moaning and drama (duh, it was a many emmy award winning show) I definitely identified with them.
As I read through countless articles about the much anticipated DVD release (today 08/26/09), I wondered if watching the show now that I am, ahem, fortysomething, I would feel the same as Seth Stevenson, contributor to Slate in his article thirtysomething Turns Twentysomething.  He writes, "the show's writing and direction were so superb, I guess I never stopped to realize I couldn't relate to the subject matter."  While I understand what he means, I'm not sure that I agree.  I identified with the thirtysomething yuppie baby boomers not because I understood them but more because I saw how I myself could become one of them.  I saw myself as part of the perfect couple with the perfect baby and not so perfect house, Michael and Hope Steadman.  I could see becoming part of the trying to keep it together with two kids and a seemingly marital rut Elliot and Nancy Weston.  I was afraid of becoming a solely career oriented workaholic like Ellyn Warren but even more so scared of being the unrequited lovelorn Melissa Steadman.  And while I prayed for the attentions of a Gary Shepherd, I was absolutely hoping not to become too attached.  There was something in every character that I could see in my possible future.  Isn't that one of the reasons you become invested in fictional characters to begin with?  You see parts of yourself within them?    
As the weekly storyline of their lives unfolded, I became part of what they went through, the day-to-day essence of life that they portrayed as it might someday happen to me.  They may have been whining and moaning both in angst and self-indulgence but really, aren't we the living breathing whiners and moaners as we get through our own lives?  Sure, it's easier and maybe more entertaining to watch shows about mobsters, police officers or even fashion shows, but sometimes it's necessary to watch the daily struggle personified, both in life and within a character's moral being.  Perhaps it is through these television dramas that we glean some insight into our own worlds.  I for one am very excited to revisit my thirtysomething "friends".  And even though I am now older and past many of the life experiences that they are having on screen, I look forward to reminiscing what I once thought my life would be like.

photo courtesy of Internet Movie Database - thirtysomething
quote courtesy of Slate - thirtysomething Turns Twentysomething by Seth Stevenson