Extremes

Lawd have mercy.  I got into my car yesterday and it said it was 120 degrees.  Everyone is talking about the heat and they aren't kidding:  Walking outside yesterday felt like when I drove by a brushfire on the freeway once.  It literally felt like flames.  It is another hot one today but not as brutal as yesterday.  LA is a town of extremes.  Usually it is nice and mild but when weather strikes, it is fire-hot or flashflooding or earthquaking.

So I don't know if you ever check out my twitter feed in my sidebar, but if you do, you may have noticed that I've been pushing for a little show called Lone Star to make it.  Last week when everyone debuted their new shows, I was watching The Event at 9:00 on Monday because A., it looked good and B., I had already seen Lone Star's pilot.  For some reason, they decided to include a screener of it in my Vanity Fair issue this month.  So I watched it, enjoyed it and looked forward to juggling my dvr schedule this week.  But after it debuted last week to only 4 million viewers....there were rumors it was going to be pulled after only one show.  First of all, I don't think that is smart to do for any show but especially this one - it got tons of critical acclaim and it needs a chance to gain an audience.  And second of all, I, for obvious reasons, love that they cast an "unknown" as the star of the show.  I think it would be detrimental for actors if this show didn't work because then the network could blame it on the fact that they didn't have a "name" leading the program.  It used to be that pilots were the chance for actors to get a start.  Now you're lucky if you have the opportunity to audition for a guest star or a co-star, let alone a series regular role.  And if you do get the chance to audition for a leading role, you know that they'll most likely cast a name before they cast you.  And that is a shame because James Wolk is great.  He makes a very unlikeable character somehow...endearing.  And he is an example of how great some unknown actors are.  How much talent there is beyond the same few faces we see on tv all the time.  We need more of that.