makingitup

Like another contributor, I'll give shows three shots. Unlike that contributor, the third episode sold me that this show was very much not worth it. In fact, I deleted the episode with 8-9 minutes left and deleted it from my recording list. Not all the acting is bad, but everyone manages to deliver at least some lines as if they had never seen them before and with no character interaction. Jay Paulson and Tom Berenger are pretty good, despite having inept lines much of the time. The show is full of poorly-written dialog, irrelevant subplots, anachronisms, generational confusion (20-somethings have world-wisdom and 30-somethings think like adolescents?). On the other hand, if you liked Dawson's Creek, Seventh Heaven and can't miss a minute of American Idol, then you might well enjoy this show, since it seems pitched to that level. If you do enjoy it, and want to see it hang around, you better get your friends to start watching, since its viewership numbers may need some help to see another season.

This movie is a compilation of interviews with fans and participants in the longest-running and most famous intrastate college football rivalry in South Carolina. Because the footage is very balanced and favors neither school, it did not sell in great numbers in SC, since the USC fans don't care about Clemson fans/players/coaches and vice versa.

Although the emphasis is on the symbolism and emotion that the game represents, there is some additional footage of actual game(s). There are many interviews with folks (several no longer living) that are part of the history and intrigue of the rivalry. I suspect there are many fans who will have missed an invaluable experience because of their 'loyalty' to one of the teams (or extreme hatred of the other team). It's a shame, since the film does both sides proud.

Usually when I've seen something this sad, afterward I have a sense of relief, and that my life just isn't so bad. This one was hard to recover from. I'm dumbfounded that some voters gave this 1 or 3, I just can't imagine not being moved to tears by the heartbreak contained in this film. I have to assume these were some of the folks who left before it ended at Sundance.

I believe the purpose of art is to touch someone, to make them think, to make them feel. This does that in the most human of ways. I had second thoughts about whether I was up for this, but it was incredibly captivating. I had the luxury of having this on my DVR, so I could pause to rest and recover as needed, but at no time during the nearly 4 hours did I have thoughts of not watching it in its entirety. It is one of the finest documentaries I've experienced, one I will never forget.