Culture Catch-up: Losers are in this season
TV: Losers are funny. Cases in point are two shows premiering next week: My Name is Earl (September 20, NBC, 9 p.m. EDT) and Everybody Hates Chris (September 22, UPN, 8 p.m. EDT). In the former, Jason Lee plays a mustachioed ne'er-do-well who gets whomped by a car the instant he wins the lottery. His lesson? That he needs to do good. And so he sets off on the classical quest of righting his wrongs. In the latter, the buzzworthy series based on comedian Chris Rock's 1980s Brooklyn upbringing, our 13-year-old hero is a good kid who has to deal with a sister hellbent on getting him in trouble, gruff but loving parents, and meanie white kids at his new school.
Awards: In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster it might seem inappropriate for Joan and Melissa Rivers to stalk the stars on the red carpet and for celebs to be honored for their totally convincing work as accident-prone suburbanites, but the Emmys march on regardless (September 18, CBS, 8 p.m. EDT). Hosted by New Orleans native Ellen DeGeneres, the show should feature some down-to-earth material, and presenters will be wearing magnolias, the state flower of both Louisiana and Mississippi. The most notable feature this year, though, will be the American Idol-esque competition in which Donald Trump will duet with Megan Mullally on the theme to Green Acres and William Shatner will do his rendition of the Star Trek theme. We're hoping for a lip-synching scandal.
Movies: There's a little something for everyone this weekend. The chick flick pick is Just Like Heaven, a romantic comedy starring Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon. The twist in their tryst is that she's been in a car accident, and now she's haunting his apartment. Somehow he isn't weirded out by this, and they bond. There's also an underlying Terry Schiavo thing going on, but maybe that won't bother you. Recommended for the foreign-film fan is Everything Is Illuminated, which follows an odd American Jew (Elijah Wood) on a trip to Ukraine to see where his grandfather came from. What's really illuminated is Eugene Hutz, the Ukrainian rocker who plays Alex the tour guide. Right, and if you're into the Ukrainian thing but were hoping for some more action, check out Lord of War. Nicolas Cage plays a master gunrunner. It's not the finest of cinema (soooo much unnecessary narration!), but it's more intelligent than the average shoot-em-up flick.
Books: E.L. Doctorow, who does for novels what Robert Altman does for movies, brings together the stories of all kinds of Americans dealing with the Civil War in The March ($26). The long hike of the title refers to Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's men making their way through Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving bloodshed and ruins in their wake. The tales of survival from characters like a slave girl and a wily Confederate criminal are gripping. Fast-forwarding in the world of historical fiction comes Wickett's Remedy ($25), author Myla Goldberg's follow-up to 2000's Bee Season. She introduces readers to Lydia Kilkenny, a poor girl growing up in Boston at the turn of the 20th century. She seems to have a good thing going when she marries a rich medical student, but then there's World War I and the influenza epidemic.