Donna Freitas: September 2007 Archives

Brace yourself. You already know it's coming. Within the first ten minutes of NBC's "Bionic Woman" (premiering tonight at 9 p.m.)--a remake of the popular 1970s classic--you'll watch as Jamie Sommers's life gets crushed. Literally.

And even though you already know what's coming because you're familiar with the show's premise--young woman gets in an impossible-to-survive accident and is "saved" by new technology--it doesn't make those first 10 minutes of the pilot any easier to endure. Watching the last moments of life as Jamie Sommers knows it is uncomfortably tense in that calm-before-the-storm way--and that wonderful plot trick of allowing the viewer to know the end game while the character remains, as yet, in the dark about her fate, works flawlessly here.

I sat, drowning in the unease of this predicament, engaging in a game of hide-and-seek with the television, yanking the covers up to my eyes at every moment that could have been that moment, the moment everyone will be waiting for. The moment I was dreading but knew would come. The moment when the accident happens. And so I hid and emerged, hid and emerged, until it finally did happen. The accident. And believe me, it's a bad one.

So like I said, brace yourself.

Tonight at 10 on NBC, television viewers with meet Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd) on "Journeyman," an interesting new drama about a man who suddenly finds himself ripped from moments in his everyday life--getting into a cab, waking up in his bed, even driving a car--to find that he has jumped years and sometimes even decades into the past. This makes life suddenly very complicated, to say the least. Not only is Dan's wife Katie worried by these disappearances, but by time travel trip number three rolls around, she is ready to get a divorce lawyer. Then there is the fact that he's a reporter and disappearances when deadlines are looming aren't exactly going to get him promoted, and may very well get him fired. As Dan soon finds out, he not only can't control when he time travels, but he has no control over how long he's gone, either.

Sometimes Dan is gone for days. Oh, and when he time travels, he tends to run into his ex-fiance, who greets him as if they are still engaged, kisses and all.

But the real question is, why? What is the purpose of Dan't sudden "ability"? Is he meant to fix something or someone, a la "Quantum Leap"? To save a person's life? Or is this just some unfortunate cosmic joke whose punchline comes at the expense of Dan's family--his marriage and relationship to his beloved son?

It is human nature to contemplate Big Questions about death, the stunning fragility of life, and even, occasionally, to wish for immortality. Christians believe in resurrection and hope for an eternity of bliss in heaven, and Hindus pray to exchange their ticket on the endless wheel of death and rebirth, death and rebirth, for moksha--the becoming of pure, eternal spirit.

These very themes are what make me so excited about this fall's television lineup, most especially these five new shows that will play around with the promises and perils of eternal life, the struggles of immortality, and defying death in spades:

1. "Pushing Daisies" (premiering Oct. 3, ABC): How can anyone not be excited about this funky, candy-colored take on the crime-solving procedural, featuring the pie-maker Ned (Lee Pace), with a talent for glorious desserts and, oh yeah, the touch of life (and also starring the wonderful Kristin Chenoweth). Ned can bring people back from the dead. When he's not baking, he's helping the police solve murders by bringing the victim back to life to find out whodunnit.

A second touch from Ned sends them back into the ground. And there's that irresistible romantic twist--Ned's childhood sweetheart Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel) is murdered, and after he brings her back from the dead to solve the crime, because he can't seem to let her go again. Of course, this means no touching ...

Memories from my childhood include a long love affair with the heavens. In the hours after my parents put me to bed, instead of drifting off into dreamland I'd gaze skyward through the window at the stars and the moon.

Ron Howard's new documentary "In the Shadow of the Moon" brought me back to those days as a kid when I couldn't get enough of the night sky and all that fills it. This story--told solely in the words of the astronauts who piloted the Apollo missions--is not only riveting, it is moving, and hearing the joy in their voices as they describe these astonishing and historic experiences will make you giddy, as will seeing the awesome footage of their journeys.

From the very beginning of the film you will be struck by the simplest of statements that flashes across the screen: that the men you are about to hear from are the only humans alive to have journeyed to another world.

I remember the first time I visited "The Body Shop." It was a brand new store in Georgetown and a brand new chain, too. I was in college, and I was enchanted by all the wonderful sounding lotions and conditioners. For years I only used this banana shampoo that made my hair feel silky and wonderful and, well, smell a little like bananas, but I swear, it was a nice smell.

So it's a bit shocking to contemplate the early and unexpected death of Anita Roddick (64), the founder of this now-so-familiar chain and ode to all things natural and eco-conscious and animal-rights-conscious (not to mention human-rights-conscious, too) that you practically can't go through a mall or walk down any town's main street without running into an outpost of the green empire she built over many years.

CNN sought commentary from Roddick's "Body Shop" colleagues:

Adrian Bellamy, chairman of Body Shop International, said in a written statement... "Anita was not only our founder but she was also the heart and passion of The Body Shop and with her we achieved so much, whether on animal rights, human rights, Community Trade, or through the founding of organizations like Children on the Edge. It is no exaggeration to say that she changed the world of business with her campaigns for social and environmental responsibility. But for everyone who knew Anita, it was about much more than that: you couldn't help but be inspired by her love of life, her vision of the world and her passion for changing it."

Our world should have more such humane, green, and dignified business entrepeneurs. Rest in peace, Anita.

My favorite New York Times Sunday editions are the ones that include magazine "extras"--an entire additional glossy devoted to, let's say, travel or women's fashion. Or, as in this Sunday's case, an edition of "Key," which is devoted to all...

This week's New York Times Magazine features Rick Rubin, the new "co-head" of Columbia records, who is posed as ... what exactly is portrayed on the magazine's cover? A pseudo-Jesus figure with his long beard and eyes closed in contemplation?...