My Journey Down October Road

I must officially proclaim: I am totally, madly, passionately and obsessively in love with the show October Road.

And now, only 4 episodes (yes 3!) away from the end of the series finale, about to enter into the world of no more October Road forever, I am already in the midst of anticipatory depression.

***Anticipatory depression: When you are already depressed at the prospect of your future depression, i.e., due to a foreseeable event, weather misalignment or greatest-show-on-earth ending event.***

I have found myself so absorbed and enthralled by all the goings-on, characters and story development occurring in the fictional town of Knights Ridge. When I finish watching an episode, I have the episode going around and around in my head, and I can't stop myself from wondering what will happen next. I'm compulsively drawn in, and genuinely love all the characters and the information and back-story continuing to be revealed via them.

I catch myself in a cycle of October Road-endedness, and ask myself, "how the hell did they make such awesome characters? How can I create awesome characters like that for my book?"

And so on and on it goes.

I watched the first season last year, and only now is the 2nd season being shown on tv. Sadly for me, there are only 2 seasons that were ever made, and adding further devastation to my anticipatory depression is the fact that they were half-ass seasons, as in the first season ran 6 episodes (I know!) and the 2nd ran 13. Could they at least have made one full 22 ep season, just to ease my pain, if only a little? Oh, the agony of it!

I feel so miserable about the end of it all. There is an irony, in that although I can't wait to watch all the episodes, another part of me is trying to hold it off, knowing that once I reach the end, there is no more October Road. NO MORE. Ugh. Anticipatory depression kicking into 3rd gear now.

Here are the reasons why I am in love with this magnificent show:

1. Bryan Greenberg. Ahem. Need I say more? Actually I will.
I told Hubbie that Bryan had now taken over David Boreanaz's spot as the most attractive actor in my opinion EVER, and he looked over at me like I had rocks in my head. He said "are you ok?" See, Hubbie always approved of and agreed with my obsession with Angel (sorry David), and so this has thrown him slightly. LOL, I tell him to be flattered, since I think Bryan holds a close resemblance to Hubbie. But anyway.
Yes, Angel, the all-time most gorgeous man alive, has stepped down to number 2. I don't know if it's Bryan's subtle gestures, good guy persona, the guy-that-got-away role that he plays, or if it's just his freaking gorgeous looks, but he is irresistible. Phew. I better move on.

2. The set-up. There's something about these sleepy little town stories that appeal to me. Set in the fictional town of Knights Ridge, when watching I'm often reminded of Dawson's Creek, another of my fave shows. The knowledge of a little town, where everyone knows everyone, nothing is really secret, yet at the same time there is plenty of room for inter-mingling, rendezvous and whispers is greatly appealing to me. Maybe I find the small town concept appealing because it seems more real to me, more so than big-city stories.
Also, the fact that Bryan's character, Nick Garrett (ahhhhhhh:)) has come back to town after being absent for 10 years, provides a FANTASTIC back-drop for all sorts of shit to happen on his return. And boy does it happen. It shows that you can run away from home, but be sure the same issues will be waiting for you when you get back, no matter how much time has passed.

3. The symmetry. LOL. This occurred to me only last week. So, I started watching this late last year, when thoughts of writing started to enter into my head again. As I've continued to watch, simultaneously becoming more determined and motivated with my story and book ideas, I've realised how much I loved the premise of the story: Nick returns to Knights Ridge, 10 years after leaving his hometown following the end of high school, in the meantime having become a best-selling author.
Now I, have dreams of becoming a best-selling author myself, with the goal of finishing my first book by years end. And what do you know? My 10 year high school reunion is coming up at the end of the year:)
You know what, Nick and I just have so much in common, LOLOL:) Granted, I haven't deserted my family and friends and written about them in a round-a-bout way, but something about the likeliness of it all, makes me think I was meant to discover this show, 4 years after its initial release. The characters being of the same generation too, encourages more of a kinship, a relatedness that makes me UNDERSTAND the characters and feel where they're coming from. Who am I kidding, they just simply rock. :)

And that's the other thing. It inspires me soooo much. I can't tell you how many nights I've gone to bed, my head spinning with what I've just watched, and also wondering how I can emulate that strong obsession with the characters and the storyline so that I can have readers out there reading my material, saying to themselves "Oh my gosh, I love this!"

Ahhhhhhh.

This show is powerful I tell ya. It has spoken to me in a strong way. Angel has been kicked off the hottest guy throne (sorry David) to be replaced by dreamy Bryan, and now, October Road is in my list of most fave shows ever. In my list, meaning it holds first place with other tv series of same and differing genre/s.

Having just gone on my obsessive rant, I do realise I haven't yet watched the end of it all, and there is the slight chance that I may be disappointed by what eventuates. I mean, who's to say that everything will unfold as intended and that I'll get my happily ever after? I do see strings of realism dropped into the episodes, a la Angel, so I do fear the worst at times. But having said that, I love Angel, and that was a show that utterly shook me to my core when it ended, with the most incomplete ending you can imagine (with an intended, meaningful incomplete ending of course, before the Angel fans out there kill me) so I highly doubt that October Road will do anything like that....... right?

In the words of Mutant Enemy... "Grrrrr, Argh." I can't take it anymore. I'm going to spontaneously combust over October Road!!!!

My old-man crush :)

Gosh this is even slightly embarrassing to admit, but I shouldn't be embarrassed. No, I think a lot of women out there would agree with me.

Yeah, 60 year old women.

So I've been catching more and more episodes lately of The Rockford Files: the main actor being none other than James Garner.

The other day I watched an ep where James' character, Jim Rockford, falls for a woman who he later finds out is blind. He still pursues her, and helps her in finding out who her stalker is. All this happens over a two-part episode, filled with lots of action, suspense and romance of course.

I think this is the first time I'd seen Jim Rockford in a romantic relationship on the show. Funnily enough, because of my work, I'd seen a movie James Garner starred in just last week, where he acts alongside Sally Field in 'Murphy's Romance.' Here he plays an older man to Sally Field's character, perhaps 20 years her senior, where they end up falling in love, after she goes through a failed marriage, and he is left widowed.

When I was watching the movie, I found myself oddly drawn to the romance between the two. I was curious about the age difference, and via IMDB (the most fabulous site of all), discovered he was about 20 years older than her when the movie was filmed. Not only was I drawn to their romance, I felt an odd urge towards Garner. Yes he was almost 60 at the time of the movie. However, in his warm and comforting, supportive, caring and nurturing older man role, I found myself liking him, more and more. It was so weird and unexpected, that due to his age, I didn't know how to justify my feelings.
I also discovered via greatest movie site of all, that he was now 82, and that during the time of The Rockford Files, he was in his late-40s.

So the other day, watching the ep where Jim was head over heels for this blind woman, something about seeing him in a romantic relationship made me curious. Again. I can't really explain how it was, only that I came to thinking 'hey, I REALLY like this show.' I soon after spoke to a work colleague about it, and she cheekily admitted that growing up, she had had a crush on Jim Rockford, as played by James.

That's when my lightbulb went on, and in the faint background the angels were humming 'ahhhhhh.' I realised, I TOO had a slight crush on him! I just hadn't noticed it, or certainly expected it, because he was so much older now, and the show was filmed 30-ish years ago! And even then he was too old for me!

I started thinking: what was it? He was tall, dark, and handsome: the embodiment of the perfect 'IT' man. He definitely would have been even more attractive in his younger years. His cheeky personality in the show, coupled with strong determination, ability to get through most sticky situations, and witty sarcasm, made him interestingly appealing. There was just something there. Even his humble, somewhat goofy-at-times persona, made him more down-to-earth, more personable. It made me like the MAN, behind the CHARACTER, even MORE.

My sudden fascination with James Garner reminded me of similar screen affairs: that with James Dean and Paul Newman. I've been a fan of Dean's for years now, and I can never quite get over the incredible power he held, and still holds today, over movie-lovers and fellow screen actors; and he only ever made three films. REMARKABLE. I guess that with the fact that he died young, makes it easy to love the image, as we never did see him grow old.

With Paul Newman it was quite a different story: I watched a documentary of his life back when he was still alive, and fell in love with his back story. I was dumbfounded by how stunning he was in the peak of his youth, and even made the proclamation that he was better looking than James Dean; that's a huge statement from me, considering my extreme appreciation of Dean. There is a photograph I came upon of Newman and Dean, standing side-by-side, a screen shot for a movie that didn't eventuate with the two of them, and it is a photo that I really want to find, enlarge and frame. Two of the finest actors, looking ever so fine.

Although I haven't watched many of Newman's flicks, I was drawn in to him by his background, his movie choices and his life, finding him so inspiring to learn about. I was saddened to hear of his death when it happened, and pondered that despite his older age he was still taken too soon. Like Garner, having seen Newman in his old age, it was weird to be so attracted to him as his younger self, however when you see something good, you appreciate it and are drawn to it. You respect it, and where it came from.

So with all this going around in my head, I decided to search for some images of Garner, to see how he looked like in his hey-day. It was driving me slightly crazy, having this sudden obsession with him and not knowing why. I mean, I DID know why: all the before-mentioned characteristics of handsome, goofy, relatable, blah blah blah. But I'd never really been one for OLDER men if you know what I mean, and this guy was WAAAYYY older.

As I had read from Garner's IMDB page that he was friends with Newman, I decided to look for a photo of the 2 of them together. I typed "Paul Newman and James Garner," in google and clicked search images.
I had searches come up, but none of the images seemed to contain the two in a photo together. I scanned through the images and stopped at one rather quickly.
It contained a photo of James Garner, side by side with a photo of..... David Boreanaz.

Sigh.

My love affair with Angel. As you can tell, my desire for him began with his role in Buffy, as Angel, and continued well into the show of the same name. And continues, as I believe that he is the best-looking man on tv, EVER (until I watched the series October Road, and my unfaltering dedication wavered slightly due to Bryan Greenberg).

So, to then come across a photo where they have placed David's face next to James', well let's just say it got my attention.

The link took me to a blog, that explained that a newspaper article had compared the incredible similarities between the stars of yester-year, against the screen stars of today. The intention was to suggest that we get the same sort of look in each generation.

Check it out here:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://stokedasagoat.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/garner_boreanaz.jpg%3Fw%3D500%26h%3D375&imgrefurl=http://stokedasagoat.wordpress.com/&usg=__WC7zlhxZ4TWutYSJtGJEP4e7jrE=&h=375&w=500&sz=90&hl=en&start=10&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=acnqvDwu0q5s9M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpaul%2Bnewman%2Band%2Bjames%2Bgarner%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1

It showed the similarities between Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, George Clooney as the new Cary Grant, and lo and behold................

David Boreanaz as an almost splitting image of James Garner.

I get it now! I get it! I get WHY I had this unexplainable pull, this urge and curiosity towards Garner, all the while knowing full well how much older he was...... because he looks like Boreanaz!

Or rather, Boreanaz looks like Garner:) Yes, you gotta pay tribute to the original, and appreciate where all good things began....

Thanks Garner. You're awesome. And yes hot, there I said it.

Side note: this specific link came up because also, at the end of the article, Matthew McConaughey was named as the new.... Paul Newman. Eh. Really? You decide for yourself.