St. Patrick's day. Possibly the only Saint acknowledged here in North America, at the very least the most popular. People are out there today wearing green, everyone has an Irish ancestor and for some reason there is a tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage. I'd never heard that when I lived in England, but then we did have more equal opportunities Saints' days, an outcome of having an established church I guess. Last year I missed the St. Patrick's day celebrations that I was invited to at my friends' Simmi and Eilie's house, since there was a parents' evening and by the time that was done - so was I.
I don't have any Irish blood, but Kevin's family came over from Ireland as did so many, to escape the potato famine. We went to Cobh last year when we were in Cork, and visited the Titanic museum, the Titanic sailed from Cobh, then called Queenstown. Many families left from this port to go to England, Australia, the USA and Canada and there was an exhibition there about the effects of the famine. It was quite horrifying.
We also visited the Jameson's distillery in Midleton. That was a fascinating tour with a very nice restaurant and bar. We were told that the Irish were first to distil whisky because it was they who adapted the equipment brought from the middle east that had been used there to distil perfume. Irish whisky is triple rather than just double distilled. I suppose when referring to Irish, I should spell it 'whiskey' the Irish way.
Yesterday evening, I found myself thinking about Christine Cagney, supposedly of Irish descent, but that's not why I was thinking about her.
We had been talking about what was coming up on TV and there is a series called 'Close to Home'. It's a lawyer thing or a DA thing or whatever, but it really hadn't engaged me. The main character was just too bland. And Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless wandered into my head. What a fantastic show Cagney and Lacey was. I watched that religiously. I loved both characters individually and together as a team. They were so real in every way, their personalities, their flaws, situations and their looks. Tyne Daly was an amazingly attractive mumsy figure, big woman, never very soignée, and both her character and Sharon Gless's dressed like people really would dress if they were going to work.
So what the hell happened? How did we get from Cagney and Lacey to CSI? C&L was one hell of a popular programme in its day and had huge ratings, so why is it now that programme makers insist that everyone is so unreal on TV programmes? I think that CSI is a good example because the storylines are so great. I feel sure it would still attract viewers even if it allowed its characters to dress and look like ordinary folks.
Ah well, I've still got things to do today, I'd better put the bottle of Midleton back in its special box until later, when we'll be raising a glass to St.Paddy, and to friends far and near.
1 comment:
Oh my gosh - I LOVED CAGNEY AND LACEY. I wanted Cagney to be my mother. In January 1984, the episode where Cagney is shot aired. In 1987, she struggled with alcoholism after her father dies. I LOVED THAT SHOW. I read that the 2nd Cagney - the first was Loretta Swit in the made for tv movie, the second was Meg Foster, was fired because she was thought to be too butch. Sharon Gless was nervous at first about taking over the role - she had previously taken over from Lynn Redgrave in Housecalls. Redgrave, by the way, was fired for wanting to breastfeed her daughter on-set. I felt so bad for her a few years ago when she found out what she thought was her son's child was actually her husband's! She dumped his ass.
Finally (this is a blog within a blog), a few years ago I got an autographed picture of Ms. Gless, thanks to my friend, Thea, who was on Queer as Folk with her. Thea mailed it to me and accidentally included Sharon's business card, with all of her phone numbers and addresses. Like a good person, I threw it out.
Oh yeah, I think C & L still airs in repeats on channel 19, weekdays at 1 p.m. Some of it seems cheesy now, some of it stands up.
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