The Tom Selleck Thread

[Waltstasz]

Thanks so much for the heads-up. I'll have to try and see that. I've never seen it before. I like Kurt Russel, too - Big Trouble in Little China!!!

[golfmobile]

I TiVo'ed the Biography of Selleck this morning if anyone missed it and wants it. I'll try to figure out how to get it from my DVR to my computer!

I really enjoyed watching the youtube video of Tom and Conan, but I got SO annoyed at Conan. He asks a question and then he answers it, talking all over whatever his guest is saying. I know he is very popular, but he just doesn't compare to Johnny Carson who was always so gracious to his guests. Conan was so rude to TS, I thought. It really irritated me. I've noticed that before with Conan -- just not a generous host, IMHO.

But it sure was fun to see that TS seems to be just a regular guy! No vanity, self-important attitude (unlike Conan!). I love that his real laugh is the goofy Magnum laugh -- I always thought he sort of exaggerated that for MPI, but apparently not. He doesn't laugh much in a lot of his movies -- e.g., the Jesse Stone movies, An Innocent Man, Quigley, etc., though 3 Men and Baby may have had some laughter, but still . . . . And I got the biggest kick out of his talking about how the Magnum costume hasn't paid him any money and that he'll do a cameo in the Magnum movie if they pay him a lot of money. You wouldn't think he'd have to worry about finances, right? But it tends to make me feel like he's just "one of us," who do worry about money. What a great guy he really must be!

I have now seen all of the Jesse Stone movies, and I thought Death in Paradise was the best of the four, or maybe tied with Stone Cold. I've read all the RBP books (Spenser, Sunny Randall, and Jesse Stone -- since I discovered the Spenser ones in the late 1970s, and even those have gone downhill, but that's another subject), and the TS JS movies seem even more dark and depressing than the books. My only complaint is that Jesse drunk does not act very drunk, IMO. I live with an alcoholic, and when a drunk is drunk, he's DRUNK. He just doesn't sit there and calmly drink a lot and still look perfectly sober. If we as an audience are to believe that Jesse is really a drunk who can't stop drinking, we need to see a little more problem with the drinking than has been shown so far. I don't think we need to see him looking like David Hasselhoff trying to eat that cheeseburger, as has been shown ad nauseam (no pun intended) over the news the last few days, but I think more inability to function needs to be shown. E.g., drunks don't bolt up in the middle of the night because of a bad dream -- when they pass out, they are out for the count, regardless of where they are. The way Jesse is shown right now, I can't see why he needs to stop drinking. It's not affecting his work, his love life, or anything else. I don't need to see him staggering around or falling down, but an indication that he got drunk could be shown by the dog's making a mess in the house because Jesse got too drunk and passed out and didn't let the dog out "in time." Show a scene where Jesse apologizes to the dog and has to clean up a mess. Or show him remembering to stagger outside to take the dog out and he passes out in the yard and wakes up in the morning with the dog sitting patiently beside him (summer scene, of course).

Again, JMO but I'd like to hear what others think.

golf

[Shermy]

the TS JS movies seem even more dark and depressing than the books.

I just read through all of the books and noticed that difference as well. The movies tend to dwell so heavily on his drinking/depression, that I was surprised when Jesse actually quit drinking in the book series.

This actually highlights one problem with the films. The way they've structured them, you feel like you're watching a season of a tv show rather than a series of films. Whereas the first two felt like stand-alone entries, the last two started the practice of leaving unresolved plot threads. I think the films should quickly start imitating the books, and make it seem as if Jesse has actually developed a lot more in each one.

But I have to say, I am glad they left Jenn out of the movies. Her character quickly becomes tiresome in the books, which makes Jesse's obsession with her less and less believable.

[grapeshot]

Given the time and money constraints in making movies, I think these Jesse Stone movies are fantastically well made. They don't have the same cheesy production values that most made for TV movies have, where you can tell every shot was framed and filmed in a hurry. These movies have a carefully crafted feel about them. They're relatively slowly paced, too, which is unusual, I think. Most made for TV movies have a similar rhythm, with ups and downs and commercial breaks that happen like clockwork. I also like how they take the trouble to show us what a small town in New England is like -- which I, for one, am totally unfamiliar with. You might see movies like this on cable TV, but it's really mind-blowing for me to see something like this on one of the broadcast networks.

I actually like the serial nature of these movies. It shows that just as in Magnum, all of these characters are on a journey and they're going somewhere, and it's not just all about whodunnit.

As for Stone's drunken behavior, I have to say that I've known several alcoholics that manage to maintain a fairly decent functioning facade. It's all in the way they walk the line between too much drinking and not enough drinking, if you know what I mean. Just enough to keep the buzz, but not enough to get "sloppy", I guess. I've also known sloppy alcoholics, and I've known some that had a "sober" personality which was radically different than their "drunken" personality. I don't think you can say that all alcoholics have the same behavior.

I also notice in this series of movies (and in the books) that Stone doesn't always down a fifth of scotch in one evening. It's made pretty clear that his drinking is reduced when he's actively working on a case. In the beginning of "Sea Change" he's not actively working on a case -- and it's his shrink that tells him "if he doesn't have anything to do, find something. If it isn't important, make it important". The very next thing you see Stone doing is re-opening a cold case file.

I agree that Stone's ex-wife is the most tiresome thing about the movies and the books. But I don't think that is going away anytime soon. I saw an interview with Selleck (maybe it was this one here) where he said that Robert Parker told them that they could do practically anything with this character as long as they kept the ex-wife a part of it.

[Shermy]

I actually like the serial nature of these movies. It shows that just as in Magnum, all of these characters are on a journey and they're going somewhere, and it's not just all about whodunnit.

Oh, I also like the little world they have constructed with the films. I just think they have dwelled a little too much on the Jenn/shrink/drinking aspect. By the first film, the audience had gotten it. There's so much territory to explore with the character, but they've spent four films covering very similar ground.

One reason I liked Sea Change was that Jesse seemed to be moving forward with his life. The complexity of his new relationship was also interesting. It showed that the films could capture the tone of the books and allow Jesse to be "a mess", yet manage to take the character someplace new.

[SelleckLover]

I would like to address golfmobile's generalization about alcoholics. Not all alcoholics act in the way golfmobile described. Both my parents were alcoholics, and my father was a very high functioning one, meaning, that it never cost him his family, possessions or livelihood. My mother on the other hand, was your typical violent, sloppy drunk that claimed she never remembered her drunken rages, so to her, somehow they never happened. My father was a successful real estate broker, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. So, when I see Jesse Stone drinking, I see exactly how my father was when he was drinking. Just in case anyone was wondering, I harbor no resentment toward either of my parents, having forgiven them long ago. They were just doing the best they could and both would probably be alive today if they hadn't chosen alcohol over good health. And, by the way, neither my sister nor I drink.....just a personal choice on my part. I have nothing against drinking, but I think some people's lives would be
better served if drinking alcohol wasn't part of them. Just my opinion. (':D')

[layne]

SelleckLover...You said what I felt. Your experiences with your parents being alcoholics was so much like mine growing up. I didn't know how to address what golfmobile said earlier about Jesse not acting drunk. There definately are different kinds of alcoholics. My parents both where high functioning alcoholics. Had jobs, nice home, took vacations etc.

I know that Alcoholism is devastating no matter what the personality type. I just think the writers want us to like Jesse and to care about what happens to him. I'm not really sure how they would have accomplished that if he was a falling down drunk.

[SelleckLover]

I agree with you layne, about how they couldn't possibly justify the fact that he was a competent Police Chief, if he was falling down drunk. After my experiences with Al-Anon and AA, I never realized how many people truly struggle with alcoholism on a daily basis.

[golfmobile]

SelleckLover,

I am truly not trying to beat a dead horse here, but Jesse was hired because he WAS drunk at his interview for the position of police chief because the town council was so corrupt, they WANTED an incompetent to be in the position and THAT's why they hired who they thought was a drunk. But even in the movie version of this scenario, Jesse didn't look drunk enough for this particular reasoning. Have you read the book and seen the movie of Night Passage (which is sort of the "pre-quel" since Stone Cold was made first and in that movie the characters were already established. CBS then went back and made Night Passage to show how Jesse got there in the first place.) Since I had read all the books first and didn't even know about the made-for-TV movies with TS until after having read all the books, I then wanted to see all the movies. And just saw Night Passage last week. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but in the supposedly "drunk" interview for the job, he didn't look even a little bit tipsy, much less drunk.

But perhaps we can let this subject matter go and "agree to disagree" on the behavior of alcoholics. I have lived with three -- and even though all three were "functioning" drunks who managed a normal work life (i.e., didn't drink in the morning before going to work, weren't drunk during the day, etc.), when all left their work responsibilities and started drinking, after work, at home at night, or at some point, maybe not every night, but still frequently enough, they were all sloppy drunk at least once a week. As I understand alcoholism, once an alcoholic starts drinking, the disease simply makes them incapable of stopping. They can't just have one drink or even two or three. They can't judge when they have had enough. Once they start, they drink until they pass out. Sometimes, for some reason, they are able to maintain a level of sobriety for an evening (I have seen this) for a particular purpose. But when they don't have to do so for some reason important to them, once the first drink goes down, the others follow. Not being an alcoholic, I don't understand how they can do this sometimes but not all the time. But Jesse apparently does frequently choose to be sober or not, which is what I think alcoholics cannot do. So this is what I find to be inaccurate in the movies.

Yes, they certainly are functioning alcoholics -- or simply problems drinkers. To me, the books did not present Jesse in that situation. In the books, he was an out-of-control alkie initially. Why else was he fired from the LAPD for being drunk "on the job"?

Still, in the long run, it doesn't make a lot of difference what we think of the movies or the books. Robert B. Parker will continue to write the books because they sell and he makes money. And TS will continue to make the movies because they are popular and he gets paid for making a bankable TV movie. We live in a capitalist society where "money talks."

So instead let's talk about what we can next find Tom Selleck doing. Is anything lined up?

I watched the A&E Biography on him tonight. It was very well done and even carried over, time-wise, to the Jesse Stone movies, which surprised me because I expected the time line for the show to be pre-JS. Has anyone else seen the Biography show? What were your thoughts on it?

golf

[SelleckLover]

Thank you golfmobile, for your answer. I think that 2 intelligent people can have differing opinions, and still like each other. It doesn't mean that either one of them or right or wrong, and 2 people could most certainly have different experiences when it comes to something that is so subjective. I respect your opinion, and I just have to add, (and this is just my opinion, remember ) that I don't think alcoholism is a "disease". I think it's just a really bad habit. To support my theory, I cite the instances of people that drink alcohol and aren't alcoholics, and the instance of my son who IS an alcoholic, but doesn't drink anymore, and hasn't for 5 years. But I must say, getting alcoholism classified as a disease gets much needed care and rehab for willing participants that is paid for by medical insurance.

I have read all the Jesse Stone books (All hard covers), and have seen all the Jesse Stone movies and have them all on VHS, and have watched them more than once. I guess two different people get two different views when watching the same thing. Nothing we can do about that!

[grapeshot]

Um, you'll probably see Selleck next in Vegas, this fall, when he joins that cast as a regular. How frequently will he appear? Probably not frequently enough to suit me, but I'll still be watching for him.

And there is another Jesse Stone movie in the works, which I believe is slated for broadcast sometime next year.

[eegorr]

Has anyone else seen the Biography show? What were your thoughts on it?

I just watched it for the first time yesterday and I was quite impressed. I, too, did not expect it to be so up-to-date, but it is still probably a couple of years old. I say this because Selleck was talking about the possibility of being in a Magnum movie that might include the original cast (or most of it), and there was no mention of his upcoming gig on Vegas.

It was great that they included comments from Mosley and Manetti, and Sam Elliott and Selleck family members as well. Mosley said he felt kind of isolated as the only black man in the cast, but Selleck made him feel like part of the gang. I had heard the story about Selleck buying gifts for the cast and crew with his Season 8 bonus (turns out it was around $350K), but Manetti said that Selleck bought a Porsche 928 for him and each of the cast members! If true, I think he may have spent more than his bonus on these gifts.

[IslandHopper]

I had heard the story about Selleck buying gifts for the cast and crew with his Season 8 bonus (turns out it was around $350K), but Manetti said that Selleck bought a Porsche 928 for him and each of the cast members! If true, I think he may have spent more than his bonus on these gifts.

I think Larry Manetti said he must have spent well over half a million dollars on the porsches, rolexes, other gifts and parties. Must be nice. :mrgreen:

[SelleckLover]

Tom Selleck has admitted in a past interview or two that Magnum made him a millionaire a few times over. I'm sure that he could well afford what he did for cast members, as many Hollywood stars could at that time. I think what set him apart, was his willingness to spend his own money so selflessly on others.

[layne]

Tom Selleck seems to be such a decent guy...good to his co-workers and fans. He's well-respected, charming, charasmatic in his acting and also really seems to be that way in real life. He's an icon in the business.

My question is this-have any of you watched any episodes of Las Vegas? We rented season 1 and I was really surprised. I am not prudish, but I found it to be a bit racy. For those of you that watch the show, how do you all think TS will fit in? I liked the show but wonder what his character will be like and how that will go over with the young fan base. I just am surprise he chose that show to come back to full-time. It should be interesting. Any thoughts?