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11/22/63: Stephen King and JJ Abrams Lay an Egg


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I got this for a free trial at Hulu.

I am glad I didn't pay anything for it since its worthless. But I did waste some time.

Really in every way. There were simply no redeeming factors.

http://www.ctka.net/2016/review-stephen-king/11-22-63-stephen-king-and-jj-abrams-lay-an-egg.html

I did not read the book.

I wonder if it was better?

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I agree, James. This TV production was really bad. When I think of all the opportunities open to Mr. King to explore that he let slip through his fingers (like LHO allegedly purchasing & mailing the money order for the rifle from Kleins he didn't receive or his bus adventure while allegedly transporting the attempted murder weapon intended for Gen. Walker), I get really disgusted with Hollywood & its' TV clones.

For all the mega bucks the industry rakes in, the mansions, the glamorous lifestyles, I expect better (for some reason).

Your review of that entire mess was really good. It reminded me of the old 'Clift Notes' that saved many a struggling college student trying to avoid the misery of reading junk material forced on them by their sadistic professors.

Best always,

Brad Milch

Edited by Brad Milch
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Thanks Brad.

Just call me Cliffie.

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I've really enjoyed it. I particularly like the concept that you always return to 'real time' three seconds after you left, and that you always start from the moment when you 'travel'. It also addressed some of the aspects that a 'time traveller' would have to think about.

I look forward to next season.

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I got this for a free trial at Hulu.

I am glad I didn't pay anything for it since its worthless. But I did waste some time.

Really in every way. There were simply no redeeming factors.

http://www.ctka.net/2016/review-stephen-king/11-22-63-stephen-king-and-jj-abrams-lay-an-egg.html

I did not read the book.

I wonder if it was better?

No. Same WC propaganda. The time travel aspect was an old scifi/fantasy concept even back when he actually wrote the book. It was one of, if not the first written by King but he couldn't get it published.

What next, Saddam Hussein took down the two towers and Bush/Cheney were saviors?

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Brad:

I concentrated on the story since the film makers will used the fig leaf that it was a historical novel. Therefore, it should not be judged by the empirical standards of say, the Warren Commission Report.

So I tried to show that, even on those terms, the story itself was really kind of strained hooey, and so I only pointed out things that were depicted that were actually not possible.

Like the Baron being in Dallas in October of 1963.

From what I understand, the actual book deals less with the JFK case than the mini series does.

Edited by James DiEugenio
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Evan:

What second season?

Oswald is killed at the end by Jake.

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King fans may use the excuse that this is mere science fiction, but his incendiary comments about the case reveal just how committed he is to the official fairy tale. 98-99% certain that Oswald was guilty? King has called the long dead Oswald childish names in public, like the authoritarian social justice warrior he undoubtedly is. He even passed along some psychological nonsense about Marguerite examining young Oswald's genitals every night to see if he was developing normally.

The little bit about the surviving JFK putting people in camps was just an extension of King's antipathy for the Kennedys. Like so many leftists, King has admitted to never liking them. Isn't that strange? A native New Englander, loyal "liberal," and he just never liked the most prominent political family to emerge from his neck of the country. I bet he loves FDR and even LBJ, though.

James Franco made some predictable comments a few years back, in which he expressed his admiration for the Warren Report. Hollywood, like the rest of the mainstream media, is committed to these fairy tales. That's why, as time goes on, Oliver Stone looks even more like a true profile in courage.

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LOL at that re-enactment. What the hell....

Wasn't that something?

I mean, compare that to Stone's depiction of the same scene in JFK.

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i'm glad to hear you say that. c'mon, though, you had to suspect it would be worthless. i haven't wasted my time with it. i don't do those biopics (not that it's a biopic, but it's kinda one) anyway - i don't like to have to pick through what a film producer is trying to present as factual (if at all) and his/her drama. Like the Howard Hughes thing, or the Nixon thing, or LBJ - please. it's like, what "we" know about those cats and what the "public" learns from cinematographers (or whomever)... egads.

There. I said it. egads.

[edit] » oops. i stand corrected. so it's NOT a quasi-biopic. time travel? hmmm. i love facts. won't even watch attempted reenactments of the Crucifixion.

anyway, my correction...

Edited by Glenn Nall
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I certainly hope Stephen King doesn't plan on milking 11-22-63 for another season or more unless he intends to bring to life some of the many mysteries of LHO he didn't approach in his TV mini-series.

1963 was a busy year for LHO. He was all over doing all sorts of strange things. Handing out Cuba leaflets in New Orleans (with or without the help of Ted Cruz's dad {lol}), hitting Sylvia Odio up for anti-Castro operational funds, meeting with David Atlee Phillips, looking at cars to buy, tearing up rifle ranges, casing Gen Walker's house, using a public bus to transport his 'magic rifle' to near Gen Walker's home, being interviewed on New Orleans radio & TV, hanging out with Guy Banister, living apart from Marina (apparently LHO's brother Robert was either taking advantage of this situation or thinking about it) etc., etc. Lots of opportunities for a stray rifle to get into non-LHO hands.

Let's not forget about LHO in/not in Mexico City while an imposter is running around phoning embassies & getting his photos snapped. More LHO material Mr. King did not explore.

Mr. King avoided showing us just how LHO received a rifle package at his Dallas Post Office that wasn't addressed to LHO in the first place, nor did he show us visually just how LHO took off from work while still on the job, purchased & mailed the money orders required to receive the 'Magic Rifle'? For Mr. King, those pesky details don't matter; what does matter is that King shows us LHO WITH the 'Magic Rifle'. This, in essence, is tooth fairy logic: 'Mama says the Tooth Fairy left the money under one's pillow. You didn't see otherwise. The bad tooth is gone, therefore the Tooth Fairy took it & left the money in its place'.

That logic won't get Mr. King very far with me: my hands automatically go into 'guard wallet' mode when some huckster plays that game on me.

If Mr. King can't find material for a time traveler to explore in all that, he's in the wrong career field IMHO. I, for one, would love to see a visual portrayal of how LHO snuck a rifle past a Dallas bus driver & all the passengers twice, when LHO allegedly boarded the bus with it & again when he departed. No one in Dallas noticed him walking around with a covered object resembling a rifle? Give us a break, please!

Spinmasters have had 53 years to paint LHO as Mr. Magic Man. He did invisible things. He was in multiple places at the same time & didn't even own a car. He had a wealthy friend & only 13 bucks & some change when Dallas police arrested him Nov 22, 1963. He got behind & out of the Iron Curtain during the height of the Cold War. He hung out with guys like Clay Shaw, Guy Banister & David Atlee Phillips. With an old, clunk WWII relic carbine, LHO becomes Rambo. The BS never ends.

I'd like to see spinmasters drop that 'Magic Man' garbage & get real with us just once. If J. Edgar Hoover could find LHO interesting enough to send out warnings that LHO's SSAN might be being used by imposters abroad, why can't Stephen King?

When my Jr. High school was de-segregated in late 1965/1966, I vividly remember an argument between some black students & white Beatles fans over the songs 'Day Tripper' & 'My Girl'. The blacks felt the Beatles ripped the lead guitar melody off from the Temptations. The Temptations had put their song out long before the Beatles released 'Day Tripper'. I would expect a scene like that visualized if a time traveler was going back in time & looking at the lives of John Lennon or David Ruffin. It wouldn't require all that much homework, Mr. King.

Just a little imagination.

Brad Milch

Edited by Brad Milch
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That was one of the worst parts of this series, the one dimensional portrait of Oswald.

I mean, after all the good work that has been done of Oswald, what we have today from Melanson, Garrison's files, Newman, and Armstrong, I coalesced much of that stuff in my chapter in the second edition of Destiny Betrayed, "On Instructions from his Government". And that has been one of the more highly valued chapters in the book.

For King to go back to the WC report for his portrait of Oswald is kind of ridiculous. But, its pretty clear the guy had an agenda.

As I said in my review, I am not sure where and when he acquired it.

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How about this piece of hooey:

When presenting the character of Oswald, however, Carpenter stuck as closely to the known historical record as possible and made sure to leave his motivation for the crime (which for many has never been spelled out in a satisfying way) as vague as possible.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/how-j-j-abrams-and-hulu-brought-stephen-kings-11-22-63-to-tv-20160208#ixzz49gxK6If2
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

:hotorwot

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