The Good Wife: TV Review

September 16, 2009


In a scene we’ve seen too many times, Alicia Florrick [Julianne Margulies] stands beside her husband [a stuffy Chris Noth] who is resigning as a Chicago state attorney due to charges of prostitution and mishandling of his office in connection to those charges. She looks rather stunned at his side. They walk down a corridor after leaving the podium and she stops. He comes back to get her and Alicia slaps him. Hard. And then she straightens her suit and walks ahead of him. Six months later, Alicia has returned to work as an attorney at a private law firm. She had only worked for two years before having children and putting her career aside in support of her husband’s more high-profile one for the past fifteen years. The firm assigns her to a pro bono case of a woman accused of killing her ex-husband.

An older female attorney, Diane Lockhart, at her new firm [played with equal parts arrogance and aloofness by Christine Baranski] tells Alicia that women must stick together. She says: “Not only are you coming back to the workplace fairly late but you have some fairly prominent baggage.”

Alicia, obviously, has a lot to prove. People constantly whisper and speculate about her and her relationship with her husband. She has to start over in a highly competitive career, as a junior associate with people 15-20 years younger than her [as she walks into court Alicia says to her investigator Kalinda [a spicy and sharp Archie Panjabi], “The last time I was in court was 13 years ago.” The investigator rolls her eyes and replies: “Wow. I was 12.”] She has to field calls from her teenage daughter who hears rumors that her father slept with underage prostitutes. She has to manage money issues while her husband is in prison. She also has to be true to herself and maintain her self-esteem.

The Good Wife is a television series that holds a lot of promise. The pilot is written by Michelle King and Robert King [who also serve as executive producers]. The series is produced by Valerie Joseph. Juliana Margulies can act her way out of a paper bag. She’s terrific in this layered, complex role. She’s determined, poised, and immensely focused as Alicia Florrick. As the series continues, I’m sure we will understand Alicia’s motives in staying with her husband as well as her drive to work as a defense attorney again, a role that will draw the spotlight on her instead of her husband. The Good Wife will show how older women can and do go back to work after raising a family and can be successful. The Good Wife also looks like it will shine light on sexism and ageism. It is about a woman fighting back. It is about a woman getting back on her own feet. It is about a woman making her own decisions and taking the reins in her own life, after being the supportive one in a relationship that has immensely embarrassed her, disappointed her and devastated her. The Good Wife is more than just a series about a woman scorned. But that will certainly fuel the show.

The Good Wife premieres Tuesday, September 22 at 10p EST on CBS.

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Posted by Amy Steele

I Can Do Bad All By Myself: Film Review

September 14, 2009

People say Tyler Perry’s films are formulaic, his films are sexist, and his films revolve around weak women relying on men and the church to save them. Well, I am not an expert on Tyler Perry films—I’ve only seen Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Why Did I Get Married?– but I am a feminist and I was not offended by I Can Do Bad All By Myself. I have not seen all the Madea films because that caricature just turns me off. I saw a Friday matinee of I Can Do Bad All By Myself in Boston. The audience was composed of mostly African-American women. I didn’t see any men and am almost positive I was the only white woman in the crowd. I’m not surprised. I’ve read that Tyler Perry’s demographic is African-American women over 30.

In her article “Tyler Perry’s Gender Problem” in The Nation, Courtney Young wrote: “Though Perry repeatedly references his admiration for and allegiance to African-American women as a foundation of his work, his portrayal of women of color undermines the complexity of their experience through his reductionist approach to the characters and his dependence on disquieting gender politics. Perry may see himself as crating modern-day fairy tales for black women, but what he may not realize is that fairy tales, in general, have never been kind to women.“

I agree with Young about women and fairy tales. There rarely is a happily ever after if you look beyond the sparkles, roses, and gowns. I disagree that I Can Do Bad All By Myself is an example of a fairy tale masquerading as another Tyler Perry film. It’s moving and effective. It focuses on a singer who is in a really bad place [and can’t at least a few people relate to this? I certainly could and so could apparently more than a few vocal audience members].

April [Taraji P. Henson], a nightclub singer, has fallen into a comfortable lifestyle with her abusive married boyfriend [Brian J. White] who supplements her income. She’s unmotivated to make life changes; she’s rather selfish and isolated from family and friends. Okay, so the woman needs much better self-esteem. It will either come to her or it won’t. She will realize that she herself can do it on her own at some point or she will self-destruct because the way she downs alcohol she is on her way down that road. Madea [Tyler Perry] catches 16-year-old Jennifer [a very talented Hope Wilson] and her two brothers breaking into her home, she brings them to the house of their Aunt April, who is not happy to see them. April soon finds out that her mother has died and these kids have no one else.

Yes, there’s another man in the picture: a cute handyman named Sandino [CSI Miami’s Adam Rodriguez] but he’s not there to sweep her off her feet. He’s just perhaps going to nudge her along a bit. He’s wonderful with children and has that easy-going, Zen nature. To think that she will improve her life solely due to the influences of a man is completely insulting to audiences. Relationships can help augment someone’s life but for anyone to think that April would not have decided what to do with her niece and nephews on her own time without meeting Sandino is downright insulting to April. She’s a strong woman who’s made some mistakes in the past. Henson is bold, and emotional in every scene. She acts with her eyes. Those wide, brown eyes are the windows into every emotion April feels. It works and she turns in a commanding, near tear-jerking performance in I Can Do Bad All By Myself. That Madea shows up ended up being okay because her scenes were few and far between and remarkably toned down. There was just enough Madea to provide comic relief from the seriousness at hand and not enough to engulf the audience in her absurdity.

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Affairs of the Heart: Series Two

September 12, 2009

Affairs of the Heart, Series Two features six adaptations of Henry James works. The series includes a cache of early performances from some of the finest British actors and actresses including: Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius), Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain), Sinead Cusack (North and South), Edward Hardwick (The Return of Sherlock Holmes), Cheryl Campbell (Chariots of Fire), Daniel Massey (Star!), and Christopher Cazenove (The Duchess of Duke Street).

My favorite episodes are Emma (based on the short story “Lord Beauprey”), Bessie (based on the novella An International Episode), and Elizabeth (based on the short story “The Great Condition”). Daisy (based on the novella Daisy Miler) and Kate (based on the short story “The Bench of Isolation” both fell flat for me. Using 19th century romance, Henry James mixes American ideals, attitude and modernizations clashing with British tradition and proper society. The result is often hilarious and divine. While Affairs of the Heart has simple production and basic theatrical sets, the wonderful acting and strong vignettes allow the series to hold up over time. There’s humor, sarcasm, and witty observations throughout.

Emma

Emma: “Oh dear mama, do you think I don’t know you by now?”
Mrs. Gosselin: “Do you know yourself I wonder?”

Emma Gosselin [Cheryl Campbell] and Lord Guy Beauprey [Jeremy Clyde] have been friends since childhood. In a bizarre series of events [“He was third in succession to an Earl who was 33 and died of Typhoid in Naples. The Earl’s tiny son succeeds him and dies of Diphtheria. The Earl’s brother succeeds him only to break his neck a week later on the hunting field.”] Guy becomes Earl and suddenly every single woman is after the single man. He proposes a faux engagement with his friend Emma. Complicating matters is Emma’s mother who would actually be happy if Emma married Guy and an American, Jefferson Brown [Paul Gregory] who Emma happened to meet shortly before the plan went into place. Emma and Guy are dear friends but Emma loves Guy merely as a friend and never anything more.

A good sport, good shot, good billiards player. Almost as good company as a man.
—Emma.

Bessie

You know in Boston you have to pass an examination at the City limits and when you come away they give you a degree.

For a “lark and further observation of humanity,” Lord James Lambeth [Christopher Cazenove] accompanies his cousin Percy Beaumont [Geoffrey Whitehead] to America. Percy must attend to some business there. While in America, the two men travel to Newport, R.I. at the behest of a business associate and meet Boston-educated Bessie [Sinead Cusack] who has a fascination with everything British although she’s never visited England, only read about it in William Thackeray and George Eliot, among other novelists. As a Bostonian, Bessie is considered “thoughtful,” shy, and serious. Bessie is far more intellectual than James who isn’t the least bit bookish. When she visits England, James’s sister and mother are in fear that the American is after James for his money and title. Bessie turns down his proposal before he can even propose because he’s not smart enough for him. She says that she is “too aristocratic” for him.

Elizabeth

Bertram Braddle [Derek Jacobi] and Henry Chilver [Edward Hardwicke] meet American widow Elizabeth Damerel [Diane Cilento] while crossing the Atlantic from the United States to England. Both men find her quite charming. Bertram spends all six days courting Elizabeth on the ship while Henry falls seasick. Back in England, Bertram has his doubts about Elizabeth’s past and feels she’s harboring some terrible secret. He takes off to the American frontier to investigate. While he is gone, Henry and Elizabeth fall deeply in love and marry. Elizabeth agrees to tell Henry about her past six months after they are married but as time passes, his love grows and he trusts her and never asks.

on DVD September 15DVD Features: Henry James biography, cast filmographies

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Easy Virtue: interview with director Stephan Elliott

September 12, 2009


Easy Virtue is a biting British comedy from start to finish. It is sharp-witted, sassy, unpredictable, humorous and tinged with bitterness, sadness and regret. Everything one might expect from the British.

“It’s a dark melodrama,” explained director/ co-writer (with Sheridan Jobbins) Stephan Elliott [Priscilla, Queen of the Desert] by phone from London. “[The play] was so vicious and cruel to English. [It was] the second play for [Noel] Coward and in his biographies we found some misgivings he had and within that found license to go with it.”

It is the late 1920s and John Whittaker [Ben Barnes] surprises his family by marrying a glamorous, platinum blonde American motorcar racer from Detroit named Larita [Jessica Biel]. This is much to the horror of his proper British family. While it appears that everything is perfect at the country estate, it really isn’t. The mother, Mrs. Whittaker [Kristin Scott Thomas] is uptight and overbearing and the father [Colin Firth] spends the majority of his time “fixing” a motorcycle that may never work. John most likely married the free-spirited Larita [Biel] on a lark and in an act of rebellion. She’s independent, easy- going, athletic, charming, and smart. The complete opposite of his mother. Suddenly it is the elder Mrs. Whittaker vs. the new Mrs. Whittaker.

“It’s a culture clash and collision of women of different eras,” said Elliott. “Great Depression. Veronica Lake. Screwball element. Likeable yet screwball.”

Larita is a city girl. John is a country boy. The sooner the two realize this, the better. Mrs. Whittaker says: “Have you had as many lovers as they say?” Larita: “No. Hardly any of them loved me.”

Firth is scruffy, downtrodden and sad. It’s not the typical role for him. He’s not the usual brooding guy. “Colin is laconic,” Elliot explains. “His character is a dead-man walking. “He’s stopped fixing a long time ago. He’s really the arc of film. Larita brings him back to life.”

Biel steps out of the pretty girl role to play a woman with greater depth and character. She’s truly impressive and memorable in this femme fatale role. If you liked her in The Illusionist, you will like her even more in Easy Virtue. “Jessica was the big surprise, the big revelation,” Elliot agreed. “Something fresh and different. We didn’t expect it.”

And after seeing Kristin Scott Thomas so serious, and heartbreakingly poignant in I’ve Loved You So Long, she must have relished her role as an eccentric, overprotective mother-in-law. [“We were chasing Kristin and Colin for years. We wouldn’t deliver something they had done.]

I don’t want to give too much away but it’s a divine war of words and gestures. “This is a very subversive, naughty piece of work,” Elliot concluded. “You have expectations and you go into the film and have those expectations are crushed majorly and you can go on that ride.”
Easy Virtue does not disappoint.

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Jockeys shows Sexism on the racetrack

September 8, 2009

On Friday’s episode 3, The Have Nots, of the gritty, exciting Season Two of Jockeys on Animal Planet– sexism finally got addressed. Horse racing is a male-dominated sport. Most owners, trainers and jockeys are men. It’s a scrappy profession and sport. It pays when you win big and you have name recognition. When you don’t, well then you have to scrape to get by [exercise riders make $15.00 per mount]. I can relate to this as a struggling writer. I’ve been paid in the past but my name has never had enough cache for the big bucks, so now I have to pursue other opportunities. I have acquaintances that have sold books and still have day jobs.

Australian jockey Kayla Stra had a nasty altercation in the men’s locker room. The set-up at the Santa Anita race track is rather outdated. There’s a large men’s locker room and a small women’s locker room [due to the ratio of men to women, obviously]. However, in order for women to successfully do their jobs as jockeys they must enter the men’s locker rooms to watch replays of races on the television screens and also to weigh in.

During a race, Kayla felt she had been crowded in by another jockey and she had been yelling back and forth with him to let her out. Someone yells to her: “Hit that Kangaroo!” That jockey then cleared the way for another male to get by. Other jockeys explained that this is often how it’s done out there: jockeys will look out for each other.

Being a female, Kayla understands that she is an underdog and getting unfair and unwarranted treatment by the men. When she comes into the men’s locker room to watch the tape, they yell at her and tell her she should go back to Australia. Someone pushed her and then some of the guys complained to a steward that she shouldn’t be in the locker room at all because the men were changing. Kayla posted a note on the bulletin board basically stating [in colorful language] that she couldn’t care less about seeing any of them in whatever state of undress they are in.

Suddenly, things escalated to the point that they were saying, “What’s the matter, miha? Are you on your period?” and other unsettling, unflattering, inflammatory, boyish remarks. It’s a prime example of poor sportsmanship/ immaturity and sexist behavior on the part of a lot of the male jockeys.

Finally, Kayla speaks to the union representative for the jockeys, who is very nice and wants Kayla to be comfortable and comes up with some solutions for her– moving the women’s locker room to a different location so that they can have their own televisions to watch replays on for one thing.

Good for Kayla for stepping up and speaking out against the crass behavior of the men in the locker room. And I hope that changes get made so that you will have some peace from the childish antics.

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Internal Affairs: book review

September 8, 2009


Author: Connie Dial
Publisher: The Permanent Press

In her debut novel, former commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department [LAPD] Connie Dial uses her experience and knowledge to pen a mystery about the LAPD. By choosing the dichotomous title Dial is able to weave a novel revolving around an Internal Affairs investigation of the LAPD and etch an accurate, multifaceted portrait about the internal affairs of the LAPD. Internal Affairs is both a whodunit and a guide to what drives many of LAPD’s finest.

When the mutilated body of a West Los Angeles police officer is found in the trunk of a police vehicle on the street in front of the LAPD Deputy Chief Jim McGann’s home all signs point to him as the doer. He had an affair with Alexandra Williams. But it cannot be that easy, can it? Welcome to the LAPD where there are good cops, bad cops, and cops who just look the other way until their pensions kick in. Fortunately Sergeant Mike Turner, investigator for Internal Affairs is leading up the case and he is the type of guy who likes boots on the ground investigative work. He doesn’t like to stay behind a desk and climb through the ranks like his girlfriend, Lieutenant Paula Toscano, adjutant for the Chief of Staff. For Paula, rank and propriety is everything. For Mike, justice and solid police work is most important. These concepts clash as the case moves ahead and more members of the LAPD get entangled in the death of Officer Williams.

She loved him but didn’t like this reversion. They should be discussing department policy and long-term objectives, not autopsies and search warrants. She like the adrenaline high too and missed it, but at this stage in their careers, they should be managing cases, not sitting up all night doing the grunt work. She was beyond the nuts and bolts of police work and thought he was, too. He’d told her he was. She knew this business was like a narcotic. Turner had gotten a taste and was hooked again. She’d wanted to call the shots, not do the bookings. He was slipping back into that other world. It was a small crack that in a few more days might become a canyon unless he walked away right then. Her real fear was that he didn’t want the life she wanted for him and would never really accept it. He had so much to offer and was capable of so much more. She felt as if he was settling for the easy, familiar road of his past and throwing away his future. She’d rehearsed saying all these things, making such a good argument, and then he hadn’t come home, at least not while she was conscious.

Internal Affairs is a rewarding, solid intrigue as the case gets increasingly complex and the players are reluctant to get involved in uncovering the truth as their own careers may be jeopardized. Internal Affairs provides a riveting glimpse, both expansive and specific, into what police officers might be going through on a daily, weekly and yearly basis in their careers. With Dial’s backstage viewpoint, Internal Affairs provides a snapshot into the lifestyle. Most importantly, the novel delves into the feminist aspect of the police force and the LAPD with “The Mafia,” a group of highly ranked women who meet weekly. Few women make it that far up in the ranks on any police force and Dial touches on this often [the unique challenges and prejudices these women face] in Internal Affairs [I think Dial has a compelling non-fiction book in her about this topic alone]. Internal Affairs is an absorbing read for scores of reasons.

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Samantha Who? S2: DVD Review

September 3, 2009


Samantha Who? got canceled and I truly enjoyed the show. Luckily, here’s The Complete Second and Final Season on DVD to enjoy. As Samantha Newly, Christina Applegate has great comedic appeal and her character and the premise of the show is really delightful. A stuck up, snobby girl gets amnesia and now is sweet and extremely likable, charitable even. She has frequent flashbacks to her old bitchy ways and cannot believe how she ever acted that way. Now she’s trying to right her past mistakes by being a better person, a better friend, and a better daughter. Whether she is dating an earthy-crunchy, eco-friendly architect, competing in a dance competition with her mother, finding out what her father really does at work (it’s very bloody), or taking a road trip to her old summer vacation spot in the middle of no where, Samantha is completely unpredictable, has an infectious energy and keeps you guessing what she’ll do next.

Her best friend, social status-obsessed lawyer Andrea [Jennifer Esposito] spends the season in a faux relationship with a gay basketball star Tony Dane [McKinley Freeman]. Her other friend from high-school Dena [Melissa McCarthy] is sweet, quirky and devoted to Samantha. She re-surfaced in Samantha’s life when she had amnesia. Jean Smart [Designing Women], perfectly cast as her mom, tears up the small screen, as often selfish and always hysterical. Sam’s snugly dad [Kevin Dunn] unconditionally adores Samantha. Adding drama to Samantha’s already conflict-filled life, she lives with her ex-boyfriend Todd [Barry Watson]. Are they over each other for good? The pair goes back and forth as they both try to move on and date other people but always get drawn back to each other. Samantha’s rich ex-boss Winston Funk [Billy Zane] sends Todd away to London but the distance cannot keep the pair apart and despite the charm Winston pours on, Samantha knows he’s just not Todd. Both Todd and Winston want Samantha. Who will she choose?

It is really too bad that so many mediocre shows remain on television but a unique, radiant, female-driven comedy like Samantha Who? gets canceled. I’m so disappointed. Christina Applegate deserves roles like this one: conflicted characters who are strong inside and have the capacity to accomplish so much if they set out to do it. She is not only a beautiful and charming woman but she is winning and devoted to her friends and family. It’s not something that you see all the time on television. Having played the bimbo role [very well and very tongue-in-cheek on Married with Children], Applegate did not settle for something easy. She has much more going for her than that. I adore her. I find her compelling and truly a special comedic talent. Filling the void left by Samantha Who? will not be easy. ABC made a monumental mistake.

As an aside: As there’s a popular show out there right now called Drop Dead Diva that focuses on weight, I wanted to compare “Jane” to the plus-size gal on Samantha Who? Dena [McCarthy] is definitely chunky but she hardly lets it keep her down. She dresses appropriately. Dena frequents bars and clubs with Samantha and Andrea. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and she and her boyfriend adore each other. Sure, sometimes she gets down about things but the show never makes a huge issue out of her weight and she doesn’t have major image issues at every turn.

DVD Extras: Christina Applegate takes us on a set tour, bloopers and deleted scenes.

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Lopsided: book review

September 2, 2009

Author: Meredith Norton
Publisher: Penguin

Living in Paris sounded romantic. My parents loved answering their friends’ inquiries about me with, “Oh, Meredith is still in Paris.” The fact that I was doing nothing, had no career or plans for a career was irrelevant. Were I in Oakland they’d have had to look away and change the subject, but doing nothing in Paris was bragworthy.

In reality, living in Paris wasn’t romantic; it was highly stressful. Parisians are a stressed population in general, but being an American in France, a country still bristling from its demoted status as world leader, was especially taxing. Rarely a cocktail hour passed without my screaming that I didn’t vote for George Bush, didn’t like George Bush, and didn’t want to talk about George Bush.

What do you do when you live in France, married to a French national and return home to visit your family in California and receive terrible medical news? What do you do when your doctors tell you that your chance of surviving cancer is 40%? What do you do when your son is only 18-months-old and has little concept of what mommy is going through? For Meredith Norton, you face it with intelligence, humor and a strong family support system. Lopsided is a fresh, witty and at times brash memoir about breast cancer. It reminds me a bit of Amy Silverstein’s Sick Girl in that Norton holds little back and is honest and open about everything from the doctors to the pain to the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation to her feelings about friends and family coming out of the woodwork to visit her after hearing about her diagnosis. [The three worst groups of people to tell were the ones that had heard and didn’t know what to say when they saw me, the cancer survivors who expected me to feel some sort of camaraderie, and the pitiers who refused to believe that I wasn’t secretly a hysterical, hopeless, vomiting shell of my former self.]

Norton, the child of a surgeon, grew up in an exclusive neighborhood and attended private school. [My privileged upbringing had instilled in me a sense of entitlement that didn’t need reinforcing. That is really the American dream—not working hard and buying things, but reaching a place where there is no pressure to acknowledge that you already have everything.] She was often one of only a few black girls at her school and has many white friends. There’s one girl, Amy, who accused Norton of stealing money from her on a ski trip even though Amy attended school on scholarship and Norton came from a more wealthy family. The entire thing reeked of racism for Norton and she walked away from Amy forever. A few of the friends she had who have since gone their separate ways contacted her when they heard she had cancer and tried to make amends for their youthful disagreements. She did reconcile with some of these friends and discusses that in Lopsided.

Woven through her experiences as a cancer patient, Norton reminisces about her life experiences. Before she became an expatriate and moved to France and married Thibault, Norton had many occupations. She worked for three years as an inner-city Eighth grade English and U.S. history teacher. She produced a game show in England. For three years, she and her best friend Rebecca ran a design company called Norton Whittaker Inc. that went bankrupt and nearly destroyed their friendship.

Norton chronicles her unilateral mastectomy [What was left of my chest, my lone boob, served no purpose whatsoever but presented plenty of problems. If I wanted to appear presentable, I was forced to wear a falsie.], losing her hair [no stubble, just smooth, rubbery skin stretched tight and waxy. I spent hours caressing it.], chemotherapy [About midway through the chemo my nails started to change color. My fingernails were so sensitive that I found myself lifting things with the heel of my palm and turning pages with my elbows. Slowly, the purple crept higher and higher up my nail bed and the white slowly pulled back to meet it.], hot flashes [they caused her to sweat right through her pillow even when sleeping in her underwear], fear of her mortality [But what the therapist said was true: if I died prematurely Lucas wouldn’t even have any context in which to place me.], and her distain for cancer survivor Lance “Live Well” Armstrong.

There’s a plethora of memoirs in the bookstores these days but I assure you that you will not regret reading Norton’s Lopsided. Whether you have a connection to cancer or not, Lopsided is a scintillating read. Norton is your friend, your former college classmate, that sassy woman you want to join your book club or invite for a cup of coffee. Her sharp, sardonic sense of humor propels this book from page one.

When Rebecca found me in a corner at the Puma Outlet trying on a black wool cap and came at me with open arms it was the first time since skinny-dipping in snow runoff that I welcomed a hug. Since the diagnosis, all the hugs may have been intended to help me, but were really serving the hugger. Suddenly, these embraces were a refuge that I could hide my knobby, gray head behind. I was so ashamed to be contaminated by this ugly disease and have it broadcast so publicly.

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Earth: DVD Review

September 2, 2009


Polar bears in the arctic. Elephants in the desert. A humpback whale and her calf migrate 4,000 miles to Antarctica. These are the focal points for Disney’s Earth. A mother polar bear comes out of hibernation with her two cubs while a father heads out onto an iceberg in search of food. Thousands of caribou migrate across the tundra. Due to global warming, polar bears cannot travel as easily and are starving. In the tropics, there are no seasons. There are 12hours of light each day and the jungles support numerous forms of life. Earth is an educational film with beautiful scenery, animals and amazing aerial shots. The rainforests comprise only 3% of the Earth’s surface yet contain half the planet’s animals and plants. The desert, on the other hand, makes up one-third the land mass and grows larger annually. If it only does one thing, this film makes one realize how much the earth is changing and how the climate change affects various types of animals. Anything dangerous is shown in slow motion and there’s no bloodshed. When and elephant calf gets separated from the herd in a sandstorm, the camera pans away leaving the poor thing’s fate to our imagination. Often Earth looks like either a tame, extremely sanitized version of National Geographic or an extended version of Wild Kingdom which I used to watch on Sunday nights when I was in elementary school.

Bonus feature: The making of earth details the five years, 45 cameras, 204 locations, seven continents, 62 countries, and so many resources that comprised this ultimate showcase of our planet

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Jockeys: Interview with Aaron Gryder

September 1, 2009


Animal Planet
Friday 10 PM EST

Jockeys provides this adrenaline rush of being on the track, on the horses in a race, behind the scenes. It’s an amazing show that focuses on eight jockeys: Chantal Sutherland, Kayla Stra, Mike Smith, Alex Solis, Aaron Gryder, Joe Talamo, Garrett Gomez and Corey Nakatami.

Garrett is a top ranked jockey and has an enviable career to other jockeys. Corey is the “bad boy” of racing. He is all mouth and muscle, fueled by volatile behavior. His grandparents were at an internment camp in 1942 on the site of what is now the Santa Anita race track. Despite his reputation, Corey is an excellent jockey and needs to be on the trainers’ short list of “in demand” riders. Chantal Sutherland is struggling with being a woman among all men. She has bonded with trainer Kristin Mulhall. They work out together every day. Through this friendship, Chantal gets to know many different horses and together the women are allies in the male-dominated sport. She dates veteran/ Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who may have a chance to ride (once again) in the Kentucky Derby this season and their relationship may be further strained by their careers. Alex Solis is also a Kentucky Derby hopeful and nominated for the Hall of Fame.

In the first episode, Kristin owns a horse that she decides to run in a claiming race and wants Chantal to race it. At first, it looks like another trainer has claimed the horse, but Kristin has managed to fool everyone into not placing a claim on her horse. The other female on the track is Aussie Kayla Stra, a tough woman determined to make her mark despite the odds (very few women have had top success as jockeys). She faces sexism in the locker room and fights for every horse she gets to ride.

In episode two, 19-year-old arrogant young jockey Joe Talamo is riding I Want Revenge in an important qualifying race. Joe’s issue is that he is so young and he needs to show everyone that being young is not a detriment in racing horses. He has to prove that youth and talent have no connection. Competing against 19-year-old Talamo, is 39-year-old Aaron Gryder. When he was only 13-years-old, Aaron Gryder left home to pursue his dream of being a jockey and he hasn’t stopped racing. He was afraid of horses but soon lost that inhibition when he learned to ride them. Aaron doesn’t have the level of fame yet that he desires because he hasn’t had that huge international win. He’s not known as a money rider. He hasn’t won the Kentucky Derby or Preakness or World Cup in Dubai. Aaron and Well Armed have built a connection and the horse’s owners have asked him to race the horse in the billion dollar World Cup in Dubai. A win gives Aaron international exposure. Many opportunities will open up for Aaron. He will gain international attention and acclaim and increase his value as a jockey.

I recently spoke to Aaron Gryder.

Amy Steele [AS]: When did you realize you could make a career out of being a jockey?

Aaron Gryder [AG]: Once I moved out when I was 13 and spent that whole summer at that farm in Southern California. I spent that time getting on a few horses every morning and taking care of them until the time they went to bed and I went to bed. I knew then that it justified everything I had thought. I was so excited every morning to wake up early and be with the horses. At that point, it became not just a dream but it was becoming something that was part of my life now. And I just knew I needed to focus on my business and pay attention to everything. From that point on I was going to get the opportunity. I feel I’m pretty blessed to say at three or four what I wanted to do and never waver on that.

AS: What do you like about racing?

AG: I love the animals themselves. I’ve been fortunate to win thousands of races and to ride in England and Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia and Dubai and all over the country here. I look at my life and every friend I’ve got. All of my associations, every travel experience that I’ve had, 99% of them are because of the animal I fell in love with when I was young. I love the excitement of racing. I love the competitiveness.

I love how tough it is to win a race. I love the communication with horses. I love trying to become one with an animal that we might not always understand.

AS: How do you stay in shape as a jockey?

AG: We race five days a week and some days I’ll race one race and some days I’ll race eight or nine, just depending on what my agent has and what comes together on certain days. I’m pretty active seven days a week. If I’m not getting on horses in the morning which I usually do. On a race day, I will ride in the morning and then have time to do whatever I want but usually I need to lose a few pounds (at 5’6”, Aaron is one of the tallest jockeys racing today) and I’ve got different things that I’ll do: sometimes it’s Pilates, sometimes it’s Bikram yoga, sometimes it’s running up the mountain behind Santa Anita in a heavy sweat suit. I have personal trainers at the gym. I try to mix it up all the time to keep it interesting. Some people ask me if that is the hardest part of the job but I don’t look at it that way. If you told me as a kid that I’d have to lose three or four pounds a day and go through all these work-outs, I’d have signed up back then. I would have never taken any detours to avoid it.

AS: I wasn’t even thinking about the weight loss part of it. You need to be in shape obviously. Muscle also weighs more than fat. It sounds like you’re doing a lot of the things that are the lean, long muscle work-outs.

AG: Yeah, I never try to bulk up. Just riding horses in general gets to fit, makes you strong but I want to take it a step further and be better than the guy next to me.

AS: So on the show they were saying that you weren’t a “money rider” but you’ve had a lot of earnings.

AG: Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever been a money rider. I’ve been leading rider in California, Kentucky, Chicago, New York. And to be a leading rider you’re winning a lot of big races too because that attracts more business. I’ve always done well in bigger stakes races but the elite races like The Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown races, the Breeder’s Cups—those I have not yet captured and you can win as many stakes as you want but when you win those, the elite races, the World Cups and different races like that, I think people look at you different, they see you winning a race that they all have dreams to win. When you shoot high in this business, those are the ones that stamp you as a money rider and are what people consider a money rider. Fortunately with Well Armed, he became one of the best horses in the world and I’ve been able to accomplish something that very few riders have done and win the World Cup.

AS: What did riding in (and winning) the World Cup in Dubai mean to you?

AG: It was very exciting. It meant a lot this year because I knew we had a good chance. I had run Well Armed there last year and he had run third. I just thought this year that he was a better horse than he was last year. I thought we were going in there with not just a chance to hit the board but I expected to win when I went there and my brother went along with me and all week long I just said, ‘I feel so good about this and feel as if this is my race to win this year.’ It’s just nice when everything comes together. Horses are fragile and it’s a tough process to get the horse from the time they are weanlings to even get to the racetrack. And to go beyond there and get them to the races and to win the race. There are so many factors that can go against you. Well Armed was making everything happen so smoothly. He’s a very sound horse. He travels good. He shows up and runs a big race. It’s the most watched race in the world. In America, more people will watch the Triple Crown races. But that’s got such international flavor, that they’re watching it in Hong Kong and Japan and all through Europe and all over the world. It meant a lot to me as far as international recognition which could obviously open doors to more races abroad. It’s amazing what one race can do for you and how many eyes and how much attention you can get.

AS: When you were riding the race in Dubai, how was it different from the U.S.?

AG: It’s a much longer track. The stretch run is a lot longer. When you turn for home in America you either have 3/16th of a mile or a ¼ of a mile to run. When you turn into the stretch at Dubai, it’s 3/8th of a mile. So it’s literally double the length’s of Del Mar’s stretch. In American usually when you are turning for home, everyone is in full gear and really riding their horses aggressively but in Dubai you really can’t do that. I think they were behind me because they were trying to catch up with Well Armed at that point. I just wanted to sit there and give him a chance to stay comfortable and just ask him for his best last quarter of a mile home. I think we were two lengths in front at the quarter pole and once I did ask him, he just started extending himself.

AS: You look like you really have soft hands. I don’t know if that’s just with riding him (Well Armed) or if that’s how you ride always.

AG: Well some horses you ride a little bit differently. Some you ride a little more aggressive. Others like Well Armed, they say I helped Well Armed become a better horse but in the same breath I think he’s helped me become a better rider. Once I understood what he wanted and he just wanted to be left alone and let his big stride take advantage of the long courses and let him really reach out. And the only way he really was going to do that was if I was really soft with him and took a long hold. Early on, he was more aggressive and I probably took a shorter hold of him which takes away from their stride or sometimes I’d ask him to be in a position that maybe he didn’t want to. Anytime you ask a big, long-striding horse like that to do anything different, it might seem like you’re doing the right thing for him. But once I realized all I needed to do was let him do it because he was enjoying the game, he would find his best stride. Then once he would get in that full length and in a nice rhythm, I could do whatever I wanted with him. But it was just about leaving him alone early on.

In the World Cup, he broke so well I got to sit there quiet on him until he got to the quarter pole. It’s nice when you’re on a horse that every pole you think you’re in a winning position and you like the way they are traveling.

But to do it for six million dollars and know that everyone in the world was watching that enjoyed horse racing and just getting more confident as the race went on . . . I looked back at the top of the stretch and I knew how much energy he still had in him and at that point I said, ‘This is unbelievable that there’s not going to be any pressure down the stretch. I just get to enjoy this ride for the next 35 seconds!’ and that’s what I did. It was all because I understood to stay out of his way and he was able to take advantage of it.

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Posted by Amy Steele

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