Re Morse

I've been influenced of late by reading the fiction of Colin Dexter, the inventor of Inspector Morse of the Thames Valley PD, Oxfordshire, England, UK. The Better Half and I have enjoyed the recent PBS run of "Masterpiece Mystery," which features "Inspector Lewis" (played by Kevin Whately), the protege of the late Inspector Morse (played by the late John Thaw). We liked the characters so well that I got Morse novels and have been reading them with much enjoyment.

Turns out Inspector Morse was a sodding pedant, always correcting the grammar, spelling, and content of statements of (then) Sergeant Lewis. Morse is an arrogant alcoholic (I can identify with that) and somewhat of a lecher (no comment, or should I say nolo contendere). Morse is a terrible snob and approves only of Wagner (that's VAHG-nehr, Vil-helm Rikh-ard, the German opera composer, the one Hitler loved, the anti-Semite) and not of Bach (the guy who signed all of his music "to the glory of God"). Morse weeps when he listens to Wagner. (I weep too but for different reasons. I keep telling myself I'm going to learn about opera, starting with Mozart, then the Italians, then maybe just a little of Wagner. (In Wag's bloated case, a "little" would be about one scene of one act of his shortest opera.) Just so I can say I know something about opera. Like reading Shakespeare plays before watching them.) Morse does like Mozart's Requiem too, and Mahler and Bruckner. Kudos to him for that. Morse is very fallably human with many foibles and when he stops being an arsehole at times can be likable. For some arcane reason, he is irresistible to women. Smacks of James Bond. These British writers get their jollies from the supermacho seductive chaps of their fiction.

I like the way the TV Lewis has picked up the Rugby ball and has scored a big goal. Lewis is a likable bloke, and Kevin Whately, who favors the late Richard Crenna in looks, is entirely believable as Lewis, who has now acquired the Christian name of "Robbie." His partner is James Hathaway (Laurence Fox, son of James ("Lord Darlington" in "The Remains of the Day"), who, unlike Robbie, has gone to Oxford, and who has studied theology, and thus continues as the pedantic (but not obnoxious) foil of the proletarian Robbie ("Not Shakespeare again! I'm gettin' sick of bloody Shakespeare...)

The setting is Oxford University, a beautiful place on earth, and the characters -- the perps -- lot of crime in Oxford -- are dons (profs) and students. It's a fun series.

Jon Stewart Interview on TRMS, aired 11/11/2010

My Dear Rachel: I was frustrated and ultimately angry with the behavior of Jon during your interview with him. He was arrogant, overbearing, condescending, and he continually interrupted you. Jon said that calling Bush a war criminal "stops debate." But pouncing on every point you made and making his points instead stopped the debate too. He wanted the last word, and he seemed to get it, at the expense of your charitable behavior toward him. (After all, he was a "guest," right?) It was nice of him to say at the close of his monologue that he "likes" you, but I'm not so sure he does: I felt like it was some sort of appeasement for the cavalier way in which he treated you. Another way of saying it is, instead, he likes only himself -- at least in interviews. I remember how rude he was with Tucker Carlson when he was a "guest" on that late CNN show "Crossfire" and I liked it then because I thought the show's shouting was worthless and I frankly do not like Tucker Carlson, whom I regard as also arrogant. But I do not equate you with Carlson, or Bill Kristol, or John Bolton, or George W. Bush, or Karl Rove, or Samuel Alito, as deserving a comeuppance. You are the Joan of Arc of journalism to me and I will not have anybody mistreating my heroine. It was nice for you to say that Jon is a mensch, but I'm not so sure. I can think of other Yiddish words to describe him, at least while on your show -- again as a "guest" -- and they mostly begin with "schm--." (In fact, the Anglo-Saxon word that comes to mind also begins with the "sh" sound.) There was at least one unflattering comparison of late of Jon with Stephen Colbert, with Stephen being favored, and it caused me to imagine how Stephen would behave in an interview with you. I think he might take a satirical "Papa Bear O'Reilly" tack for a while, but his true graciousness would come out at some point, and you would know it, and we as viewers would all know it. I know I love you, and I'm quite fond of Stephen, but I'm not so sure I like Jon all that well right now. Voltaire or Mark Twain or Will Rogers or even Mark Russell he's not, just yet.

Always your loyal viewer,
John T. (JT) Evans
Madison, Indiana