Watching KVille

Through some glitch in the system, I am technically no longer the writer or this blog. Let me explain…I can write for this blog, but as I no longer get paid for it, it seems rather besides the point to write for a blog about a cancelled show anyway. Soooo…I still write for 451 Press, and you can visit me at About Portland, OR; Daily Science Dose and Urban Ecoist.

Here’s one last shout-out to all that K-Ville wasn’t…namely, a long-running series on a real network.

A toast…to K-Ville.

k-ville, kville, daily science dose, urban ecoist, portland, oregon

Hmm, there really isn’t much out there that is exciting me in any way, or making me want to watch anything other than the final half of the final season for BSG (or it is over?). Maybe FOX’s Fringe…

It’s looking a little X-Files to me, and that could be a good thing. My secret is that I have yet to watch Lost. I know, I know, it’s great and I will love it. I even own the first two or three seasons and I have yet to watch them. Why? I don’t know. It’s like after going through my addiction to The 4400 and then reeling from it when it started sucking, rebounded right into Battlestar Galactica. I just don’t want to get hooked on another multi-season-and-still-going hour long scifi drama. I just can’t. I will someday, but not today. Maybe this winter.

Anyway, Fringe is what I am writing about today. I am not sure if Fringe will be a “K-Ville.” Does it capitalize on a tragedy? If you count something like the lack of X-Files a tragedy, then yes, but I don’t think that counts. So will it only last one season or less? Who’s to say. FOX is notorious at canceling shows that perhaps just needed a second season to find their legs and audience, but JJ Abrams is behind this one, so it must be good, right? This is the guy behind Alias (never watched it, never wanted to) and Lost (already discussed above), so you know, he’s awesome or something.

Wait. What else does the image say? “From the writers of Transformers…” That movie was terrible, I mean really, really terrible. Maybe I am not as excited as I thought I was.

We shall see. FOX is fickle. Firefly came from Joss Whedon and that did nothing to keep it on the air. I am trying to think of another example, and can only think of something like Cop Rock. Can anyone please think of anything else?

FOX, fall tv, Fringe, X-Files, Lost, Alias, BSG, Battlestar Galactica, The 4400, Firefly, Cop Rock, JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Transformers

Three years ago, New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A dangerous situation that many had warned about happened when the levies broke and the city that had been hit by hurricanes throughout its history suffered another. It was a terrible loss of life, and the death toll increased in the days afterward due to an ineffective government, both local and federal. Without getting into specifics and pointing the finger of blame at anyone, it was a sad situation and my heartfelt and sincere sympathies go out to anyone affected by the tragedy.

Almost to the day three years later, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are preparing to be hit by yet another hurricane, Gustav. I am not one that turns to prayer often, being an atheist, but if there is a higher being that can help mitigate another disaster, I hope that no one has to die this time around.

Sadly, three years later and New Orleans still has not been rebuilt. CNN reported recently reported that FEMA gave away supplies meant for victims of Katrina to others, because those that needed the supplies never asked for them. The blame game is still trying to decide who dropped the ball when it came to preparing a major American city for such a situation, both before and after the storm hit.

All we can hope for now is that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are prepared this time.

Gustav may hit the Gulf Coast by Tuesday. In its path, 78 people died in Cuba and 11 in Jamaica. On Gustav’s trail is Tropical Storm Hanna, which is projected to turn south before hitting the US. Recently, Florida was hit by Fay. Even as I write this, the National Hurricane Center is tracking two more potential storms heading west from the coast of Africa.

This is turning into quite the “hurricane season.”

New Orleans, Katrina, Gustav, Hanna, hurricane, hurricane season, Cuba, Gulf Coast, Jamaica, FEMA, CNN, National Hurricane Center, Africa, tropical storm

So, there I was, sitting back and watching television, and a trailer came on for the new Sam Jackson movie, Lakeview Terrace. I thought I saw Cole Hauser in the film as the white neighbor that gets to put up with Jackson’s scary/obnoxious cop character in the film. I was really convinced that it was Hauser, so I checked out a Sam Jackson website. The film wasn’t listed, as the website seemed about nine months behind the times in Mr. Jackson’s filmography and general news.

Interestingly enough, Tyler Perry’s The Family that Preys was featured on the Samuel L. Jackson site. Ok, I thought, those two are in two new films together. Cool. But when I try to find out what character Jackson is in The Family that Preys, he is not listed as a member of the cast. Hmm.

And then I checked out the cast for Lakeview Terrace, and it is not Cole Hauser in the thriller. Instead it is an actor named Patrick Wilson. I have not heard of him, despite his rather solid indie film and theatre resume. All I can say is that in the trailer’s brief seconds of his face, he can look a lot like Hauser.

Hauser

Wilson

It seems that Jackson has no real connection to the Tyler Perry film, or at least, I cannot find one. Maybe his website, Samuelljackson.com, simply gives shout-outs to his friends, or maybe it is tied to some marketing group that plugs any film with a black actor in it. Who knows, but I do know that Samuel L. Jackson is not in a new film with Cole Hauser. That is too bad, as I think those two may play pretty well off of each other. Another project perhaps.

But, hey, Hauser’s new film is coming out September 12.

Lakeview Terrace, Sam Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Cole Hauser, Tyler Perry, The Family that Preys, Patrick Wilson

Ok, today we look back on a K-Ville sibling in the shortened 2007 Fall TV season: Bionic Woman.

Wait. Maybe it should be a cousin, because it is a different network.

Ok, today we look back on a K-Ville cousin, Bionic Woman. BW falls into K-Ville category #1 and #2. It was developed to piggyback on the popularity of Heroes, as well, as the penchant for remakes. And it lasted all of eight episodes, not even a respectable season, even on NBC.

At least the ad design was cool.

I for one had high hopes for Bionic Woman. I am a bit too young to remember the original, although I am pretty sure I was alive during the original’s run. Just looked it up and it ran from 1976 to 1979, so I was alive, but just barely. That didn’t sound right, but you know what I mean. I was plenty alive, just barely within the time frame in question. No matter, let’s get back to BW.

Personally, I am a big fan of anything cyborg, but bringing back what I remember being a pretty cheesy show made me nervous for the prospect of a new bionic lass. I know that is not fair as I have no true memory of The Bionic Woman (get it, the original had The attached, the remake did not), but even the little clips I see here and there don’t really do anything for me. And that bionic woman now sells adjustable mattresses on the teevee, so that is not really making me want to go back in time to relive those other, less cheesy moments of The Bionic Woman.
Again, no matter.

Bionic Woman was fairly lame. It started out pretty good, and despite the show’s growing suckiness, I kept watching, and kind of missed it when it went away. I was hoping that Bionic Woman was going to find its voice and get some kickass writing going, add some more fight scenes — a lot more — but alas, it never got better. In fact, it was getting downright silly by the time that eighth and last episode aired. Still, I really wanted it to work out. But then, maybe it was just because I wanted another hour a week during which to watch Starbuck, er, I mean Katee Sackhoff. But her character was a part-timer, and I’d rather wait for her to get better material with more screen time.

K-Ville, Bionic Woman, The Bionic Woman, NBC, Starbuck, Katee Sackhoff

Ah, Fall. The leaves change, the kids go back to school, and more lame TV shows try to find a spot on the network line-ups.

Last season, and mostly due to the Writers’ Strike, we saw some of those lame shows come and go, FOX’s K-Ville being a perfect example. Now, again, K-Ville, once watched, proved to be not nearly as bad as you’d think it would have been, but still, not good enough to escape the FOX programmers and their canceling ways.

One show that I really thought would not make it past a truncated season-ette was and is Lipstick Jungle, but then, just last night I saw an ad for its return this fall.

Lipstick Jungle would have and should have become a “K-Ville”, and for two reasons. The first being that this show is a rip-off of another man-made disaster, Sex and The City, and two, it should have been canceled during that first season. So, Lipstick Jungle falls into K-Ville category #1, and just narrowly makes it out of the #2 category.

I have to point out that I have never actually watched Lipstick Jungle, nor do I ever plan on watching this show. My reasons are fairly straightforward. I hate chick shows, where it is all about women juggling men, work, kids, and still dressing like they are going to be strutting down a catwalk at any moment. Just not my kind of show…

I did read a bit about Lipstick Jungle last season, when it debuted, and this is what I gleaned about the show. Three women, all professionals working in those industries that no one really works in, or at least no one who is as attractive as the older, soon to be obscure (except you, Brooke Shields, but then we have Satan to thank for that, don’t we? ) actresses. But no matter, because the real drama comes from the way that these powerful women have to deal with also having a family and a passionate loving relationship and all those things that we girls are taught to expect from the time we are reading the Disney Princesses books.

Either way, I don’t like that actress Kim Raver anyway, and enough so, that I wouldn’t be able to stomach watching her again, after getting sucked into that season of 24 when she is whiny and helpless for the most part.

Sorry for the rant. I just really don’t know why any show that centers on women has to also center on how a woman is incomplete unless she is in a marriage-like relationship with a man. Subtle sexism, but sexism all the same. I don’t mind having relationships become sub-plots and so forth, but when a woman’s identity depends on the completeness of a couple, it is just lame and totally loses my interest. Kind of like when on Moonlighting, when David and Maddie finally got together, the show became dumb. Romantic relationships are always more interesting when the two people in the relationship are kept apart. Why do romantic comedies always end when the two characters get together? Because once they are together, it’s boring.

Now, true, the flip side of that argument is that it is conflict that is interesting to watch. And yes, relationships can be rife with conflict, and that can be television gold, but in the case of L.J., I just don’t see it happening. Seems too much like committee thinking. And did anyone bother with Cashmere Mafia? No. Why? These shows are too much of SATC wannabes , which is surprising to me as I thought SATC was horrible, trite, and stupid. But those wily tv execs…they never see a vacuum they won’t try to get a marketshare in.

K-Ville, FOX, NBC, Lipstick Jungle, Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, Sex and The City, 24, Moonlighting, SATC, Cashmere Mafia

In honor of the opening of Pineapple Express, the new James Franco/Seth Rogen vehicle that I am going to see today, I am giving a shout out to one of my favorite one-season-or-less (K-Ville Category #2) series, also cancelled by the genius minds at FOX: Freaks and Geeks.

Freaks and Geeks debuted in 1999, to critical acclaim but no audience. Created by Paul Feig (who works on The Office now), Freaks and Geeks followed two groups of high schoolers, freaks/stoners and geeks/nerds/virgins. The two divergent groups of three or four were bridged by Lindsay (Linda Cardellini), a junior trying to hang with the “cool” kids after years of being a geek. Her little brother and freshman, Sam, is a geek, and his trio represent the “Geeks” side of the show, and doesn’t see why Lindsay would want to hang out with Franco, Rogen and Nick (Jason Segel, also a rising star in Hollywood, both in network sitcoms and films). But Lindsay wants to be a different person, a nonconformist. She dons her dad’s army jacket and suddenly, we have a rebel.

But seriously, Freaks and Geeks was great. I miss it and watch the first and only season every few months. Though I don’t really have to, as many of the actors from Freaks and Geeks have moved on and are working, some in very high profile projects, like Pineapple Express. Franco went on to be the Green Goblin in the Spiderman trilogy, Rogen has taken over Hollywood it seems, Cardellini stole my heart in Grandma’s Boy (see this movie if you haven’t — so funny, better if you are stoned).

The first season of Freaks and Geeks, though considered complete, really wasn’t a complete first season. When Feig found out that FAG was getting the boot from FOX, he and his writing staff put together a season finale, but it didn’t work for me, at all. So in essence, FAG was killed off too soon, and if you listen to the commentary on the DVD set, you will hear that from Feig himself.

Did I mention that Paul Feig is from Michigan (yay, Michiganders!!), and he set FAG (ha ha, I never realized that was the acronym) in Michigan. Judd Apatow was also an Executive Producer, and he is comedy gold, right? Actually, I thought that FAG showed a lot more intelligence than most Apatow projects. More genuine empathy for its characters as they found their place in the complex social structure of an early 1980’s suburban Midwest high school. Think John Hughes without the preciousness.

If you missed Freaks and Geeks, I would highly, highly recommend it. There are truly brilliant scenes and moments, strong and fully realized characters, and Joe Faherty from SCTV plays Lindsay and Sam’s dad.

Pineapple Express, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Freaks and Geeks, Linda Cardellini, Paul Feig, FOX, Spiderman, Grandma’s Boy, Michigan, Judd Apatow, John Hughes, Joe Faherty

The same season we saw the meteoric rise and fall of K-Ville (okay, there was never a rise, nor was anything about the show meteoric), NBC brought us Journeyman.

Journeyman lasted less than one season, and therefore it falls into K-Ville category #2.

Journeyman followed a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dan Vassar, who suddenly discovers that he time travels at the worst possible moments. In fact, the whole bad timing issue of Dan’s time travels grew a bit tiresome as the series progressed, especially as only Dan’s long-suffering, not-attractive-at-first-but-kind-of-grows-on-you-after-awhile wife, Katie, knows that he does this little trick. Dan’s brother, and former boyfriend of Katie (ooohhhh), is a SF detective, of course, and after a long time, he figures out what is going on. Oh, yeah, and when Dan goes back in time, he always runs into fellow traveler and long-dead (or so it seemed) love, Olivia, who could never tell him about her own traveling lifestyle until now.

Obviously, Journeyman followed standard one-hour drama protocols, and that is what killed it in the not-so-long run. The first few episodes dealt with the major problem of “gee, I black out and go back in time, and then I wake up back in my own time, but usually in an alley, equally grimey or inappropriate place.” Then of course, the producers/writers figured out that in order to drag out that story into six or seven seasons (as if), they would have to start writing some “stand-alone” episodes where Dan goes back in time to save a kidnapped girl or some lady from being killed or some guy from killing someone. Yeah, pretty weak, but luckily, Journeyman had the awesome Kevin McKidd.

He was Tommy in Trainspotting, so Mr. McKidd will forever be called Tommy in my world. Despite the fact that he rocked HBO’s Rome (best show ever! in terms of political intrigue, sex and general violence — I truly miss it), he will always be Tommy to me. He also did a great job in Topsy Turvy, if anyone saw that.

Moon Bloodgood played Olivia, or ‘Livia as she was also referred to, because you know that extra O is so hard to fit in. She is gorgeous, and I cannot wait to see her in something else soon.

K-Ville rating: Better than, but just barely. No gumbo, though.

Journeyman, NBC, Kevin McKidd, Moon Bloodgood, HBO, Rome, Trainspotting, Topsy Turvy, K-Ville

Ok, so it’s not that I don’t want to write, it is that I have very little to write about when it comes to Watching K-Ville. The show is dead, Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser have moved on to new projects, and writing about crime in New Orleans is, well, depressing. So I have been ruminating on how can I continue with Watching K-Ville, I mean, even the name is a lie.

Then it came to me. There is always an opportunity to watch a “K-Ville.” You know, one of those really crappy shows that is nothing more than a collection of television cliches, but with an added bonus of a fairly recent, true-life event/issue/condition tied into the show in order to add social relevance to the series. There are also the K-Villes out there that don’t last even a full season.

A great example of a one-season wonder...

So then it is not about Watching K-Ville, it is about watching all the K-Villes. Luckily for me, and possibly for you, I just love bad television, and I love criticizing it even more. I mean, I did go to school for it. I have a college degree in this crap, believe it or not.

And I am so glad that I had this epiphany before the new fall season (perhaps the best time of the year!!!) However, I have a penchant for watching old tv, too, so I will probably add some “pre-K-Villes” from time to time.

Now, what I am waiting for…finding a new “K-Ville” with any K-Ville cast member. That is going to happen. I guarantee it.

K-Ville, bad television, Anthony Anderson, Cole Hauser, New Orleans

Even though Law & Order is not a nominee, the cast is in Europe for the 48th Annual Monte Carlo Television Festival. L&O’s exec producer and the father of the “duh-dun” scene change, Dick Wolf, is being recognized for his continued contribution to formulaic television crime dramas. I don’t know if that is indeed what the exact wording of the official award which is called the Golden Nymph. Those Monacoans sure know how to name pointless and self-agrandizing awards, huh? Or is it the Monaconese? Anyone?

Here is Anthony (with the most fake smile I have seen in a while — maybe because it looks like they just barely arrived at whatever hotel this picture was taken at (hi, let them get inside)) with co-stars Alana de la Garza and Linus Roache as well as Mr. Wolf. He’s the oldest one in shades because that flash on the camera is just so bright.

TV Week had this little blurb to say…

The Monte Carlo Television Festival will present its Honorary Gold Nymph Award to “Law & Order” creator and executive producer Dick Wolf for his work and leadership in the television industry.

Running June 8-12, the festival, in its 48th year, will feature appearances by some of the most recognized faces from the last year of U.S. TV, including Dana Delany (“Desperate Housewives”), Mark Harmon (“NCIS”) and Chad Michael Murray (“One Tree Hill”). Other shows scheduled to be represented by some of their stars include “Lost,” “Bones,” “Ugly Betty,” “Damages,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Numb3rs” and both Las Vegas and Miami editions of “CSI.”

By the way, has anyone been tuning in for Law and Order since Anthony has joined the cast? I cannot watch L&O ever since I took a tv writing class with a former L&O writer. One, the teacher drove me crazy, and two, she definitely let us in on how formulaic the show really is, as if I never figured that one out. No, seriously, it is a good, consistent product, and I support the L&O dynasty. I just choose not to watch it.

Law & Order, L&O, Anthony Anderson, Dick Wolf, Alana de la Garza, Linus Roache, Monte Carlo Television Festival, Golden Nymph, TV Week

I don’t think Anthony Anderson is sweating it, living in New York City, or at least staying there while working on Law & Order. Monday night you could have found him at a restaurant called Bette, celebrating the release of the new album made by Estelle with such notable guests as John Legend.

Estelle is a relatively new singer/rapper from London, and I gotta say, she has got a hot voice, not to mention a hot everything else. You can check out a couple of the songs off the new album, Shine, on her myspace page by clicking here. The second song on the playlist, No Substitute for Love, lifts some lyrics and rhyme scheme from George Michael’s Faith, which if you can pull that off, you got some moxie, and I like a girl with moxie.

Estelle was signed by John Legend on his new label, Homeschool Records, thus the John Legend connection, right? But why is Anthony Anderson hangin’ out with these two?

Ah, he must be a cool cat.

And even though it obviously looks like Anderson is enjoying NYC, he must be missing the gumbo.

I keep meaning to check out Law & Order, now that Anderson is the new senior detective on the series, in this, it’s 18th season. Wow, that is a whole lotta seasons, and yes, L&O is the longest running drama series on TV, although it sure seems like ER has been on since at least the 1980’s. Or maybe that’s just me.

Oh, I am watching NBC at the moment (big surprise, I write and watch TV at the same time, but it’s only Briefcase or No Briefcase, and I only have it on because my cats like math so much), and the promo for Law & Order came on. The promo even says, “Anthony Anderson on a new episode tonight.” I’d watch, but Top Chef is on, and that is my Wednesday night. Sorry, Anthony. I’ll catch it on Hulu later.

Anthony Anderson, John Legend, Estelle, Law & Order, Homeschool Records, New York City, Top Chef

But this time it is on CBS. And it’s still a maybe…

Many thanks again to TCNA, a reader/commenter, who graciously tipped me off that Cole Hauser has joined the cast of a new CBS pilot called The Tower.

Upon researching said pilot, I have found out the following:

Marcia Gay Harden plays a millionaire newspaper owner in Chicago, and the pilot/potential series is being produced by Cold Case executive producer, Meredith Stiehm, as well as Davis Guggenheim, the director of the Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth. Stiehm is listed as the writer on IMDb in addition to her duties as the EP, and Guggenheim will be directing the pilot.

CCH Pounder and

Denis O’Hare

are also attached to The Tower. CCH Pounder, who comes from The Shield, was usually my favorite character. And Denis O’Hare, who has been in just about everything, is a Tony-winner for his role in Take Me Out, and almost won for the revival of Sondheim’s Assassins. He can dance, he can sing, he can act. He’s a triple-threat!

*Side note* about Assassins. It came out in the early 1990’s, but nobody got it. It was then shelved for a decade, and became a hit. It’s a great musical if you have never heard it.

Here’s a little trivia about Meredith Stiehm. She first started writing for TV on Northern Exposure, and even spent a couple of seasons writing for BH 90210. Neat. I have to wonder if she will be somehow involved in the rumored 90210 spin-off, arriving this fall, possibly.

A bit from Variety:

Harden is set to play Zoe, a millionaire who buys the newspaper at the center of the Eye pilot “The Tower.” Project revolves around journos who not only break stories but also solve mysteries.

And from the Hollywood Reporter:

“Tower,” from CBS Par, revolves around a group of Chicago reporters who treat breaking news as cases to be both investigated and solved. Hauser will play a crime reporter. “The Shield” alumna Pounder will play the paper’s managing editor.

The Hollywood Reporter offered a bit more info on Hauser.

Cole Hauser has been tapped for the lead role in “The Tower,” the CBS drama pilot from “Cold Case” exec producer Meredith Stiehm.

Davis Guggenheim is directing the project, which will have Hauser starring as Sean Castleman, a crime reporter at a paper where journos investigate and solve crimes. CBS Paramount Network TV is producing.

Hauser most recently co-starred in the Fox drama “K-Ville.” He’s filming Tyler Perry’s “The Family That Preys Together” and is set to appear in the features “Tortured” and “Like Dandelion Dust.”

Hmm. I like the idea of Chicago-based reporters, even though I am sure the series will be shot in LA, despite the setting. It’ll probably be like ER in that they show a couple of shots of the Sears Tower and then everything is very sound-stagey. I really hate that, and that is one of the reasons that I thought K-Ville stood out from the pack. Filmed in the actual location is a nice touch for authenticity in a very un-authentic world.

Still, glad that Hauser is returning to TV, and in a lead is even better.

Cole Hauser, Marcia Gay Harden, CCH Pounder, Denis O’Hare, CBS, Paramount, Chicago, The Tower, K-Ville, Meredith Stiehm, Davis Guggenheim, Cold Case, An Inconvenient Truth, Assassins, Take Me out, Northern Exposure, Beverly Hills 90210, ER, Hollywood Reporter, Variety

That boy ain’t right.

The Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, will be joining our fearless President George the Younger in New Orleans today and tomorrow. The trio will be meeting over the two days to discuss how much better the world would be if K-Ville were still in the air. Ok, that is a lie. I’m sure there will be a lot of talk about immigration, free trade, and how to get Trey Parker and Matt Stone to quit making fun of Canadians so much.

The woman in charge of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, a Ms. Romig, told a reporter from Voice of America that the PM and the Mexican President will be visiting other parts of the city, in addition to wherever it is that they are staying and meeting (I assume at a very nice hotel). Strangely, the article doesn’t mention if Mr. Bush will venture out with the tour group.

Romig says both Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon and their official delegations will have the opportunity to visit parts of the city outside the sites where the summit meetings will take place. She says President Calderon, in particular, will be active, re-opening a consulate here that was closed in 2002. –VOA

But hey, that’s good news that the Mexicans are opening up the New Orleans consulate right?

More from the same article.

The Mexican consulate here had been one of the two oldest consulates Mexico had in the United States before it was closed in a cost-cutting effort in 2002. Much of the rebuilding work carried out in New Orleans following Katrina has been done by immigrants from Mexico and other parts of Latin America and there are now around 30,000 Mexicans living in and around the city.

I have to admit that I do find it odd that immigrant labor was used/is being used to rebuild New Orleans. You would think that some sort of work program could have been formed to give locals jobs in the rebuilding process, but then what do I know? And besides, where would the Federal Government come up with funds for something like that? Ill-used FEMA funds or funds from the ill-conceived Iraq war?

That would never work.

Canada, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, Mexico, Felipe Calderon, consulate, New Orleans, Federal Government, President, Bush, VOA, free trade, immigration, FEMA, Iraq War

You would not believe how difficult it can be to write about a series that barely survived one season, but I do my best to keep things moving.

As I was doing some surfing, I ran across this rather interesting online graphic novella on the SmithMag site. The Smith website is an interesting read for those willing to look for it, and for those who want to participate in their storytelling projects.

The project that is the subject of today is A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge. A comic book style panel project that tells the story of the Hurricane Katrina through the individual tales of six people who survived the storm, A.D. is an interesting read for anyone with a high-speed internet connection. I add that detail as you have to click your way through the story and if you don’t have a fast connection, it will drive you crazy to wait for the pages to load.

A very dire situation, indeed, and it is compounded and framed by the inability of the city to rebuild, or rebuild in a way that will allow those who lost their homes to return.

Here’s a sample panel from the story.

Smith Magazine, New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, deluge, rebuild

Ah, thank goodness the FBI is following through on issues and problems resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

We all know FEMA sure isn’t doing much.

Still, I am not entirely sure that sending a woman away to federal prison is the best way to deal with fraud ensuing from Katrina, especially when the sentence could be up to the maximum of 20 years.

In a press release from the FBI New Orleans Desk, 46 year old Barbara Stewart of Reserve, Louisiana pled guilty to wire fraud in connection to her fraudulent applications to the Red Cross in the months after Hurricane Katrina.

According to the FBI’s case, Stewart applied for Red Cross financial aid 8 times in September and October 2005. At the time, the Red Cross offered financial assistance for the disaster relief of those affected by the hurricanes in 2005. It was a one-time payment of $1565. Instead of receiving the charity and appreciating it, Stewart must have taken advantage of the chaotic nature of disaster relief to receive 8 one-time payments, in total of $12,520 over the course of two months. Stewart supposedly kept telling the Red Cross that she simply never received the money, and I guess that little ploy worked seven more times.

Now, Stewart is facing 20 years…for a little more than $12,000. Admittedly, we do have to punish those who take advantage of others, especially charitable organizations, but 20 years, come on. Wouldn’t it fit the crime instead to mandate that Stewart pay off her debt to the Red Cross and Society in general literally? Granted, Stewart is also facing fines of up to $250,000 (that’s a quarter of a million dollars here, so I’m sure Stewart can just write a check, right?), so in essence any fine can go toward restitution. However, as I highly doubt the guilty party will be able to pay her potential fine; for a crime of this nature, couldn’t Stewart be put into a work program in which she could gain a valuable skill for later use, and then get out of the cycle of poverty, and maybe not feel the need to scam the Red Cross?

I don’t know, maybe I am idealistic in thinking that poverty tends to lead people down the path to a life of crime, or even a small foray into what can be construed as smaller crimes. The US penal system is simply not working as it is set up. The system will pay thousands and thousands of dollars to house criminals, but spend relatively little to rehabilitate them, and why is that? I truly believe that, given the choice, most people would much rather earn their living than steal it. Sure, there are always those out there that will become criminals no matter what upbringing they have had or which socioeconomic class they come from (hi, Enron and WorldCom), but the large majority of criminals are in that predicament due to poverty or other dire situations.

Hurricane Katrina created a desperate situation for many people, and those that were already experiencing the ills of poverty, were perhaps driven to extremes. Does a bad situation excuse bad behaviour? No, of course, but maybe if this nation spent more on preventing poverty and crime, we would not have so many of our poor in prisons.

Just a thought.

FBI, FEMA, New Orleans, Hurricane, Katrina, wire fraud, prison, poverty, Red Cross, penal system, Louisiana