Julia on HBO Max - More French Cooking

Continuing the thread about Betty Friedan being at the fundraiser. These galas always pride themselves on inviting the cool kids, it wouldn't be surprising to find celebrities otherwise unrelated to public broadcasting.

I still need Fran Kranz in me quite deeply.

Just thought you'd all want to know.

Warmly,

The Fran Kranz Addict

Is anybody planning on giving her cookbooks a try?

r3, my copy of Mastering the Art is in pieces. Literally. I've used it so often, the spine split in two places, and the book is in three chunks. My copy of the French Chef Cookbook is old and its pages brown (it's a regular paperback).

I do like the fact you can get Mastering in paperback form. I love to be able to get The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking in paperback.

I've never liked perfect-bound cookbooks, they always fall apart with use, and you can never keep them open while cooking. My sweet Jamie has this problem in spades.

That's what mine looks like, r6, only it's even more torn apart.

My copy of Marcella's original Classic Italian Cookbook didn't get as destroyed, though the spine tore away from the front board. I bought Essentials of Italian Cooking much later, but I haven't used it as frequently, and except for a couple of page spills, it's in perfect condition.

I believe there are UK paperback versions of the original two books, r5, and also of Essentials of Italian Cooking.

If they needed to use Betty Friedan, they should have had her on the reading talk show. It would have been more entertaining for the pompous guy to go head to head with her.

And there’s no way that two black people could kiss in the lobby of NYC’s whitest establishment.

I’m going to a screening of an episode of Julia next week. After it there will be a live Q&A with Sarah Lancashire, David Hyde Pierce, Fran Kranz, Fiona Glascott, Brittany Bradford, showrunner/executive producer Chris Keyser and creator/executive producer Daniel Goldfarb. Jealous, bitches?

R9, please tell Sarah Lancashire that Broadway needs her. Suggest a revival of Mame. Angela Lansbury can play Mother Burnside.

With Bebe Neuwirth as Vera Charles.

I'm finally getting around to watching this and I'm enjoying it, Sarah Lancashire and David Hyde Pierce play Julia and Pete like a randy American version of Keeping Up Appearances.

R12 Sorry I meant Paul I don't know where Pete came from.

They screened the season finale in NYC tonight. It looked good on a big screen. Avis’ line “I’m just getting started” still makes no fucking sense. The Q&A afterward was OK, none of the actors and showrunners said anything new. After that there was a reception with an open bar, an omelette chef, beef bourguignon and coq au vin. Nice touch.

The Fred Rogers actor had the voice down, but didn't look like him. It reminded me of watching something from the 1970s when Rich Little pops up playing someone famous.

Fran Kranz needs an Emmy for this.

.,.,

It might not have been surprising to find Betty Friedan at a public broadcasting dinner in 1962 but the Corporation for Public Broadcasting AKA PBS wasn't created until 1967.

Goldfarb compared the liberties taken to those in Amadeus. The problem with that is that no one who knew Mozart is alive today.

Yet another role where I can see Judith Light "acting."

Sarah as Mame, June Diane Raphael as Vera.

Sarah as Sally.

I really enjoyed this show.

Julia Child brought a lot of people joy

The only drawback of the series is Julia is too maudlin too often. There are too many “Oh, Paul” moments. I’m not saying that Julia didn’t have her down days, but this series makes her manic depressive.

I love the series and I like the characters, even the ones I hate. But, I do not like some of the liberties taken with the history as is known. For instance I love Brittany Bradford as Alice, but I was disappointed to discover there was no Alice. There was a female producer but she was white. Being a white woman working in tv at that time, she faced major discrimination herself, but evidently that wasn't enough for the makers of this show. If this work was purely a work of fiction I would have no problem with the character. I think both the character and actress are great, I just don't care for inserting a clearly fictional person into a historical piece. Basically all the non-black characters are based on real people and seem to follow their established story fairly faithfully. I'm not black, but that just seems offensive.

Paul Child's story is the interesting one to see how the writers write it. I can't find much about his first love affair, apparently he lived with the mother of one of his students for ten years but they didn't marry. I'm guessing the woman he talked to at the beach wasn't his child but his former lover's child who was is student? But, they didn't make that clear. Anyway, there were rumors of Paul's homosexual tendencies being the real reason he left the state department. It seemed like the show was going to go there several times but never did. They will have to be careful because they can't suggest the marriage was a bearding situation because it is known how insanely in love they were with each other.

I thought the woman he was talking to at the beach was his sister. Wasn’t there a family reference at some point?

R25 after looking it up on Google nobody knows who she is supposed to be. I have to rewatch but I think she said she was happy he found Julia after “mom died.” Which leads me to think she was the student whose mother it has been reported elsewhere that Paul had a ten year affair with, before meeting and marrying Julia.

Jesus fucking Christ. Enough with the Alice shit. We get it. It's been said seven fucking million fucking times. There can be no more fresh or new things to say about it.

OP- MORE French cooking?

I prefer Italian

.......

R27 Sorry was that in the first thread? I haven't read it.

Forgot to mention one interesting thing and one funny thing that was brought up at last night’s Q&A. The interesting thing was Daniel Goldfarb saying that Season 1 was originally supposed to span three years, with the Season 1 finale ending with Julia winning the first Emmy Award for public television. That obviously didn’t happen. And the funny thing was Sarah Lancashire saying to Goldfarb “So is it in Episode 5 or Episode 6 where Julia finds a dead body in the cupboard?”

R27, shut the fuck up. The Alice anachronism is brought up a lot because a lot of people watching the show have been deceived into thinking WGBH actually had a black woman in power on one of their shows.

R31 Listen here bitch, I wasn't in the last thread and it hasn't been brought up a lot in this thread. so I don't know where you are talking about it being brought up a lot. And, as I said I like the character and actress, I just don't like a completely fictional character to be plopped in a biopic.

You are just a bunch of old, nellie, fat, racist cunts.

R32, your post was actually directed at R27. Who is a total bitch.

R34 Sorry.

[quote]The Alice anachronism is brought up a lot because a lot of people watching the show have been deceived into thinking WGBH actually had a black woman in power on one of their shows.

so they're not racists, just stupid, dumb as rocks morons? we got it

R36, your lack of capitalization and punctuation skills are so very telling.

Rewriting history to make black people apart of events they were not is moronic. And is untruthful.

So is your lack of SVA skills, r37.

What the fuck does THAT mean, R39?

r40 SVA = Subject Verb Agreement

So I guess a way to address the extremely deceitful insertion of a black woman into a central position of power at WGBH next season could be to bring on another woman to co-produce The French Chef (the head of WGBH mentioned this). This woman might actually say at some point, in perhaps a subtle way, “What the fuck.” But nah, Goldfarb and Keyser would be too chicken shit to let that happen.

Thank god for Alice.

At least I get a fucking break from the klangrannies

I'm surprised this ended up on HBO other than the occasional "Fuck" it isn't very explicit. This would've been perfect as part of WGBH's Masterpiece on PBS.

Looks like Season 2 is underway in France and Stockard Channing is either a regular or a guest star.

Rachel Bloom is playing the character mentioned in the season finale-she’s brought in to “assist” Julia with the show.

Our favorite anachronism known as Alice will be producing a show at WGBH about “women’s issues” in Season 2. Someone who played an audience member just told me this at Thanksgiving dinner (right before the way too dry turkey was served).

Isabella Rosselini just did an Insta story where she showed off some eclairs which seemed to be handed out on the last day of shooting on S2. I assume she goes to Boston with Julia and hubby after they visit her in France.

Where's the episode where Julia and Lenny Bruce rape Daniel Goldfarb with a cattle prod? I mean, it could happen.

Anyone watch the first episode of season 2? So glad it's back.

Stockard Channing looks like Madame of Wayland and Madame fame.

I was shocked at Stockard's face and voice. It just proves you should wait until you're actually dead to undergo the embalming process.

The first three episodes of season 2 were very good. Bebe is such a delight.

The walking anachronism that is Alice continues to grate. The actress isn’t even pretty or charming, i love Adriane Lennox as her mother, though. I’m liking Rachel Bloom as the new producer.

And what about Nassim Lyes as Sam? I’d like to lyes with HIM. Very hot French/Algerian piece of ass.

Love this show.

Jesus: Stockard Channing.

The actress who plays Alice was very good in the latest episode of The Gilded Age.

I so want to love the series but I thought E1 was not really very good. I mean, what was it about? For a season opener it didn't really establish the arc of anything except a possible romance for Bebe. The arguing between Julia and Simka seemed especially silly and trivial. Paul and Simka's husband's conversations??? Who cares? All of those TV producers - are we supposed to think they're all idiots? Even Alice seemed like she didn't know what she was doing. Blanche Knopf is so one note. And poor Sarah Lancashire, what a waste of a brilliant actress! Give her something to play, please, other than mooning over a fish pie

I love all the actors but they deserve better dialogue and story lines. Hoping it gets better....

and is there a new season?

[quote]The walking anachronism that is Alice continues to grate. The actress isn’t even pretty or charming, i love Adriane Lennox as her mother, though.

Yes, the actress who plays Alice's mother has stood out in a small role and made it memorable.

The casting of the Jacques Brel role was off in every possible way.

This show reminds me of Daniel Goldfarb's other production,"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," in which great care is devoted to authentic costumes and set design but everything else is anachronistic.

It's hard to tell when Season 2 is set. Simca Beck gifted Julia the land for her house in 1963. The second season of The French Chef was in 1964. Civil rights was a huge issue in that era but it's completely missing from the show in favor of Vietnam. The Sea Bass en Croute that heralds the beginning of Nouvelle Cuisine wasn't introduced until the 70s.

Judith Jones has a flirtation with Jacques Brel because, hey, it could have happened. Russ Monash, who hates this show with every fiber of his being, is casually dosed with LSD at a discussion of Vietnam led by a Black Harvard professor, one of two or three back then, who curiously omits any mention of race in his critique of the war.

Trying to imagine a woman executive in the 60s at WGBH announcing "I have to pee" to leave a meeting when a personal question is asked. At another point, she tells the group of men she works with to grow up. In reality, she would have been booted for that comment

Shows that omit how bad things were for Blacks, women and gays in the interest of representation do no one any favors.

Russ Monash hating this show.

I felt the Paris episode had the show back on footing. I found myself quite restless in the first and second episodes. I'm not quite sure why everybody was in Paris except maybe to give the cast a jolly. Blanche is getting tiresome fast and she wasn't even in the episode.

Wouldn't want what to get out about Paul? Has he dabbled in the mansex?

The new FBI subplot is absolutely awful. Too late after the McCarthy era and too early for Nixon’s enemies list.

If the real Russ Monash hated Julia in its first season he must really hate it after the most recent episode.

I really love Adriane Lennox as Alice’s mother. I wish she’d have a scene with Sarah Lancashire and Bene Neuwirth.

The show is becoming less about Julia and more about the people around her.

I agree the FBI subplot is awful and weird.

Everyone except Julia is wearing second-hand vintage clothing and some of it looks a bit ratty. The costumers should have duplicated it instead of purchasing on ebay or wherever.

Well, at least the awful FBI subplot wasn’t in evidence in this latest episode.

David Hyde Pierce did a beautiful job playing Paul and his twin Charlie.

The walking anachronism Alice Naman produced a pilot with a Black host and a discussion about contraception in 1964 in Boston and expected it to go like gangbusters? Please. And speaking of anachronisms was there even such a thing as “product placement” on TV in 1964?

The actor playing the Life interviewer was very good.

Thanks for the spoilers, R69. Maybe, you know, wait a day?

Shall I start the next thread in this series for when it's needed?

Say, for 2027?

I'll name it "Yet More French Cooking."

R67 My thoughts exactly, more Julia please.

Let's have a debate about product placement, which was contrary to PBS"s rules at that time.

Then let's have a Black producer who never existed come up with an idea for a show that would have been unthinkable in 1962 with a host who never would have been cast and then let's lament the station manager's lack of courage and foresight.

Then let's have Judith Jones say "fuck" except that few women used that word back then.

Then let's see Bebe Neuwirth's legs because Bebe Neuwirth.

DHP did great work as Paul and his twin. R73. You're right on all counts. It's a fictionalized account of a real woman's life. They should probably call it a fable.

I loved tonight’s episode. Lancashire was at her best and Robert Joy (Hunter) was extremely moving.

Kennedy was shot on Nov. 22 , 1963, the same time frame in which the show is taking place. No one in the cast seems to know this or was affected.

Avis also talks to an 18-year-old about voting when they didn't have the right to vote until 1971. Goldwater didn't announce his candidacy until early in 64, There's no indication CBS ever offered Julia a show or that she ever fired a woman producer. She did the White House show in 1968, There was no significant anti-war protests until several years later.

Enjoy the show because you like the characters, but this show has nothing to do with Child or that period of time.

And product placement? On public television? In 1964? Give me a fucking break.

I was waiting for them to acknowledge the Kennedy assassination also, R76. The story seems to be in the fall of 1963, so it should have been upcoming. But I noticed at the end of episode 5 there was a shot of JFK's picture on the wall with a black ribbon, so I guess they just didn't want to go into it. Considering the whole show is about examining the culture of the 1960s, I was expecting it to be an entire episode, or at least affect the plot in some way.

Julia Child's French Chef episodes from year one are on youtube. She was not the cosy, cuddly character who twirled a strawhat on a fundraising night that "Julia" mythologizes. She was formidable and knew her stuff. Child was the first to show TV people how to make delicious restaurant-quality food at home. She almost never smiled or joked.

I thought the cunty White House chef was David Hyde Pierce doing an accent for a minute.

R79, very true. I wonder how close, if at all, the HBO/Max TV Julia is at this point to the real-life Julia Child. Not just her personality but also the circumstances of her life.

I liked the recent conflict between Avis and Julia. Avis was right on target to take umbrage with Julia's objection to her teenager-like behavior. Julia and Paul were pretty childish and in-your-face themselves about their love. Remember Avis mentioning, "the bathtub"?

Total shark jumping beyond all comprehension

Given all the exaggeration and made-up incidents in the finale, I'm convinced that the writer is a compulsive liar for whom reality is never good enough. Big ones: Have the FBI investigate WGBH. Little ones: Judith Jones edited Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook and did a great job of it, but that wasn't enough--the series had to have Jones come up with the idea for the cookbook. Accuracy to the period:Russ Morash tells his wife the FBI agent was fucking weird, except that expletive was not used in polite conversation. And the talk of antiwar protests in 1964.

This show truly does not deserve to be renewed unless it gets better scripts. Yes, its characters are charming but it's such nonsense and it's made Julia Child into a cuddly, lovable character when she was a doyenne of cooking and not to be messed with. Homophobic, too.

That was the season finale??? Nothing of any note happened, except maybe Alice getting engaged.

r84, they're pretty constrained by historical reality. If Julia had, say, dramatically announced she was divorcing Paul so as to marry Charles de Gaulle, I think viewers would be a little suspicious.

I can’t imagine there’s a third season, unless the plan is for Julia to go all Miss Marple and investigate murders.

A third season might be more interesting since Julia Child was diagnosed with breast cancer in the mid-1960s, and had a mastectomy in 1968. That might add a little dramatic heft, which the show has been lacking.