Random TV Nonsense.

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I was complaining from suffering from a sort of writers block. What I was planning to do to shift this was to go and write some long post offline about generally easy topics such as why the "Agents of Shield" TV show is far superior to sci-fi nonsense like "Star Wars." Then Libya kicked off and it shook me out of it anyway.

However in light of the Baltimore riots and Hillary Clinton banging on reforming the justice system and ending mass incarceration the stuff about the show "Oz" suddenly seems really relevant. After all shot on tape in 4:3 ratio it's definitely of her era.

Here in the UK the CBS Action channel has started re-showing Oz five nights a week. As a result I'm not so much binge watching Oz as being force fed it like a duck being prepared for foie gras. Showing what a huge impact the show has had on US TV barely an episode goes by where you don't find yourself going; "Oh look, there's where that actor got their start." Even Dr Taub from "House" turns up at one point, with hair.

One of the most interesting actors is a guy called J.D Williams who played "Bodie" in "The Wire" and plays "Kenny" who is essentially a younger version of Bodie in Oz. In one of his main storylines its discovered the character can't read so one of the prison officers makes a big effort to teach him how to read including by giving him a book by Booker T Washington. However one of the other inmates "Adebisi" who is very much a forerunner of the "Omar" character in The Wire won't let him because he wants to keep Kenny dumb so he'll keep taking and selling heroin. Even though Kenny's on a short sentence because they're both black no-one can be bothered to stop Adebisi.

One of the other actors who turns up is Jon Seda who now stars in a show called "Chicago PD" which really benefits from a lack of competition. What's impressive about Jon Seda is that much like Oscar winner J.K Simmons (and he's now listed in the program guide) he somehow manages to look younger now then he did 15 years ago.

19:00 on 30/4/15 (UK date).

Edited at around 2-:50 on 3/5/15 (UK date) to add;

Although I can't deny it now I gather Chicago PD also stars Sophia Bush. So when I clicked on some random hashtag on Twitter I thought; "I recognise that name." While I was working that out I realised that she was being followed by the US Ambassador the UN Samantha Power. This piqued my interest. Obviously it didn't pique it enough to Google her but I did then click on at least two further links containing her name. I understand "Still Alice" remains an absolutely amazing film.

Anyway rather proving my point about Oz being as relevant today as the day it was shot whilst I was trying to explain the role of Jesus Christ within Islam in relation to those Ethiopian Zephyrs I found myself thinking; "Basically what the Kareem Said character said in that episode I was watching just the night before."

However I think the greatest tribute to Oz comes from the recent Netflicks series "Orange Is The New Black" which I absolutely love btw. In one particular scene the female lead raised her head and screamed; "I'm cumming!" At which point the other female lead looked up from cunnilingus and said simply;

"Show, Don't Tell."