Spoiler

Are you the type of person who peeks at the last page of a book when you’re still reading the first chapter? Do you start telling your friends the ending of a movie you've just seen despite their pleas to stop? If you’re watching the delayed west coast broadcast of an awards show, do you check the winners online before tuning in? When the new Harry Potter book came out last month there was mass hysteria when a few copies of the book were accidentally shipped before the pub date. A gag order was issued and the books were confiscated. The publisher worried that people would try to sell these advance copies for exorbitant sums, even though millions of copies of the book would be available just a few days later. I know that there are whole websites devoted to giving people advance knowledge of closely guarded secrets, but I never realized how intense the spoiler subculture can be until my previous post about “Six Feet Under” and co-executive producer Jill Soloway. I mentioned that no amount of begging or cajoling could persuade Jill to reveal the fate of Nate Fisher following his collapse at the end of last week’s episode. Truth be told, I was grateful for Jill’s ethics because as much as I was dying to know, I didn’t really want to know! Still, it was a challenge to be in a room with her and not try to force it out. Maybe I was a Gestapo agent in a past life—there’s a part of me that wanted to tie Jill to the chair, shine a high-intensity light in her eyes, and scream, “You Vill Talk, Fraulein!” But there's another part of me that loves the anticipatory tension—when not knowing is way more fun than knowing. After my post last week, a few people linked to my blog on the official HBO “Six Feet Under” Bulletin Board. I had never visited this world of “Six Feet Undies” (as some of these überfans call themselves) who write long and detailed analyses of the show from psychological profiles of the characters to continuity mistakes made by the writers to various ways the show has had an impact on their lives. Interesting reading, but one thread also included a spoiler for the next episode. Someone who claimed to be a former HBO employee put up a detailed outline that described what happened to Nate Fisher as well as the rest of the cast. I truly didn’t want to read it but I was powerless to stop myself. I never want to slow down and look at an accident on the freeway either, but of course I always do. And I’d never be able to say to a doctor examining an ultrasound of my unborn child, “No thanks, we don’t care to know the sex of our baby.” Just couldn’t do it. It was there, I had to read it! The description seemed too detailed to be fake, but why would HBO allow this to leak on their own site when they didn’t even show previews of the episode for fear of giving anything away? Was it a plant? Were they purposely trying to lead us astray? Or, as one fan noted, because the series has wrapped have the formerly strict web supervisors already moved on to other jobs? Maybe they’re busy manning the “Over There” Bulletin Board for Stephen Bochco.

I wonder if anyone reading my blog ever thinks of it as a spoiler site. I just spoke to a friend who’s still immersed Season 1 in her Netflix viewing of “Six Feet Under” and she told me she is boycotting my blog until I stop talking about the show (don’t worry, Shari, this is the last time). She just told me how much she loves Nate and Brenda’s relationship, how it seems like “the perfect love.” Hmmm, my lips are sealed but...oh dear. As for other spoilers, I try not to give too much away when I talk about new movies, except for ones that are so bad (“War of the Worlds” and “Bewitched”) that I want to ruin them for other people and spare them the torture.

It won’t be a spoiler to say how much Leah and I enjoyed seeing Disney’s “Sky High” this weekend, and not just because our friend Shelly Johnson is the Director of Photography on the film. I’m surprised Disney hasn’t done more of an ad campaign since, unlike most mainstream films this year, this one is surprisingly original, funny, well acted, and beautifully shot. The teens in the film were great as were the parents/superheroes played by Kelly Preston and Kurt Russell. It even had a moving, non-smarmy moral that allowed for lots of interesting discussions after the film (conversations that I'm grateful for as Leah moves closer to the terrifying teen years). The film is about a high school for the children of superheroes. Upon enrollment, the kids are placed into two groups based on their powers: hero or sidekick. What an effective and fun way to look at the social minefield of high school, the damage that cliques can do, and issues of parental expectations and acceptance. We LOVED it! It didn’t hurt that we saw it at the spectacularly restored El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where even the opening of the curtain is an elaborate show. Before the movie they had two Sky High “coaches” come out and ask for volunteers for a special movie-themed competition. I wanted to run from the theatre at that point but of course Leah was the first person up on that stage (which at the theatre's opening in 1926 featured Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie). And guess what? Leah WON the game! Better go swab the inside of her mouth for a DNA test—I never would've had the guts to do that when I was her age!

I was practically pacing the floors last night in anticipation of the new episode of "Six Feet Under." I was still hoping that the spoiler I read was a fake, but alas, every freaking word of that online description was true. Many of the fans on the bulletin board rant and rave against the spoiler posters, but I can't blame them for my own inability to resist the scoops. So what did I think of the episode? I hated it—which means that I loved it! I love that the writers refuse to give us what we want, a blissfully happy ending for these troubled characters. They faked us out at the beginning of the season and now we’re paying the price for our secret wish that “Six Feet Under” would end on the same warm and fuzzy note as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Oh, and this just in from the boards (Warning—Spoiler Ahead!): Nate won’t be the only family member joining Papa Fisher. The body count will increase as the series winds down. Help!

Comments

[Neil]

In your last couple of posts, you've been complaining a lot about the crap that seems to come out of Hollywood nowadays (and I agree). So, it's nice to see that you're finally enjoying some recent TV and movie projects.

Soon, it will be fall which usually brings in a new crop of quality movies (and a whole new set of derivative reality shows on TV. When is the reality genre finally going to die?)

[shannon]

someone posted on my blog that i should not have posted that nate died because they were waiting for the DVD YET it was all over entertainment news yesterday.

[Melinama]

I'm definitely the type that reads the end of the book after reading the first couple chapters. I don't want to get attached to characters who aren't going to fare well. I always try to find out how a movie ends before I decide to go. There is enough uncertainty and suspense in real life!

Being one of those people who are far behind (I'm in mid-third season with 6'under, via netflix) it's easy for me to indulge in my craving to know what happens next.

There's also a hysterical website called televisionwithoutpity.com which recaps quite a few popular tv shows. I'm watching Smallville (while I work out) and the guy, Omar G., who recaps Smallville hates it and he makes me laugh out loud. Sometimes I read about the shows I've already seen and sometimes (yes) I read ahead.

You all in the real-time tv world are so far ahead of me that by the time I get there it will all be new again.

[adriana bliss]

I'm still mourning Nate - spoiled as I was about the ending (I, too, read the summary of the episode, "Ecotone"). I can't look away from spoilers. It didn't matter...I still ended up devastated! I'm intensely sorry for a man who could not find peace in life - perhaps it hits too close to home. I know, I know...it's silly to bring such seriousness to a television show. So sue me!