Ron Livingston, a John the Baptist Replacement for Robert Ulrich

In this regard, he was a persistent critic of American Exceptionalism, the profoundly Protestant notion that America has been singled out by God as a uniquely virtuous nation.-- James L. Fredericks, American Innocence

In the pop culture sense, ABC always plays footsie with our American Innocence, and somehow gets it right. In comedy it might be Ugly Betty, overcoming Vanessa Williams, but in science fiction, the theme always seems to be The Hero who walks alone wants to understand God, and the alien is a stand in for the supernatural being we don't quite know how to trust. Nevertheless, Defying Gravity intrigued and it would be nice if someone in the studio system brought it back for the Grand Unification.

the whispers tries again, and like Halle Berry's Extant, it is a more sophisticated upgrade on  the collective threat in Village of the Damned, but the threat is not an ideology; it is the overwhelming complexity of systems. Whatever Drill is, however, it is not representative of Grand Unification, but rather the Grand Spanking. the whispers has moments, chilling connections we need to make between childhood lack of comprehension and unspeakable tragedy, but the screen writers guild is recycling a formula of ominous invader friend in disguise. Asimov took care of that over 40 years ago by merging space opera (The Foundation) and stripping AI of sentimentality (I, Robot). I cannot remember the entire plot of trilogy plus sequel, and fail to recall how the Mule utilized mind control and was ultimately vanquished-- but the end was cold. Protagonist discovers Robot essentially takes the role of Creator, and that is a very likely possibility for our future.

My favorite science fiction film is not the most technically sophisticated, and nor the most complex classic, but I like how Soylent Green works as a film, for it also bespeaks to real possibilities within our caste system where we cannibalize ourselves as it is. 

I pitched to Commonweal a few times, contradictory Atheist Catholic I.

And City Trees

Ron Livingston is a competent working actor, and handled his role as Jack Berger sprightly enough as a foil against the indomitable Sarah Jessica Parker; he does better in these small episodic character sketches, and I was actually entertained by him in the canceled Defying Gravity, now that Wiki toggles my memory. This series really had a sense of wonder about it, a promise of big ideas. I have no idea why studios cannot handle quality production values like this, which has taken off my train of thought, but not my primary concern. I did indicate, when I started this project, that even shows like Sex and The City would be relevant, but I am still turning that over. I also indicated that I was less inclined to deal with empowerment as an agenda when it sacrifices other aesthetic values to that message, and this remains the case with films like The Music Within, which I viewed, grumbling. Livingston could not really carry the lead, but this is not entirely his fault, as both the script and direction are choppy. Perhaps Pimentel wanted to aim for a pedestrian sensibility, and that's understandable, given what I am doing, but as a narrative trying to shovel it all in, it felt like the television had been on too long, rather than a story that pulled in the viewer.

A biography worth telling? Yes, but not this way. A respectful documentary in independent theatre might have been better. Was his life as tough as mine? You might ask what a quantifying comparison merits, and this is a valid criticism. Was his mother sicker than mine? Perhaps, but he had a fulfilling and nearly independent adulthood, and I have always been one or a few threats away from imprisonment, after my first sixteen years in the American gulag of homes, hospitalization, and then life long poverty. I may, however, try to contact him, if his best buddy was like me, then Pimentel understands spastic behavior. It takes a powerful art to change the world, and the art he did generate wasn't powerful enough.

I intend to tie this in with some of Todorov's critical concepts of symbiotic relationships, but my sensibilities need to pause.