This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

A friend recently called this movie to my attention. Supposedly (and plausibly, judging from the land and street scapes) filmed in Jackson, this film brought back many memories, a few of which I shared with a writer friend from Atlanta who lives and works here in Aix.The film takes me back to my fifteenth year ('67) when I first spent time with my Aunt and Uncle in Jackson, Mississippi. In the twenty-five years that followed, to when our oldest daughter was herself 15 ('92), we must have made the drive from New Orleans two dozen times, for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas one year, cousin weddings, notable birthdays and personal visits. My favorite activity when in Jackson was to attend First Presbyterian Church where my Aunt and Uncle seemed to hold a unique place, or walking down around Milsaps College, past Eudora Welty's home, a place my Aunt said she had visited on different occasions, I guess for tea or other women's socials. The movie reminds me of the deep greens of a nature abundantly watered, of the beautiful and mysterious black people everywhere present but with whom contact was not encouraged except in the workplace, the 1950s and 60s architecture and home furnishings that were never really a part of my background.This movie is the first I ever saw of American apartheid. (Pre-1970 visits were as a dependant child of a favorite younger brother. Subsequent visits were as a fully emancipated young adult, cousin and family man.) This movie was and remains a powerful testament to personal courage.What is missing from the film is a sense of the motivation for these behaviors. "Fear" shows itself just enough to not let you forget this was an important factor. One understands entitlement and the psychology of "otherness", but this film overstates the obvious in order to tell its story. It would not transpose easily or well to New Orleans and I suspect to Atlanta or other large southern cities where the unspoken presumption of a "shared feeling" about the other was very subtle but none-the-less important in determining social behaviors.

Everything about this show is bad. The "comedy..." The acting... The scripts... EVERYTHING. I decided to give it a try after hearing it touted as "the next Married with Children." Well, it's not. In reality, it's the next substandard sitcom regurgitated from the WB with the hopes of snagging an audience through repetitive jokes and T&A. None of the characters are likable; each seems more like a tired cliche. The worst character is easily Tori Spelling's dog-walker. The little "rants" she goes on might have been slightly funny the first time she did one, but it happens in EVERY FRIGGIN' EPISODE! Who CARES!? If ever a show deserved to be cancelled, it's this one.

Ok, the pilot episode was mildly funny, which is rare for a pilot. However, my primary concern about "The Help" is the abundance of characters. A cast of 11 will undoubtedly prevent a shortage of material and plot twists, but it will also spell disaster for any kind of familiarity. How does anyone plan on keeping track of all these characters? I have a hard enough time keeping track of 7 strangers on the real world. Besides that, I find it hard to relate to any of these outlandish characters who are seemingly the embodiment of every negative social stereotype imaginable. Even worse, the cast is brimming with has beens and relatively new thespians. The Help will likely be remembered as one of the greatest catastrophes the sitcom world has ever seen. I expect it to be shelfed once the first season is over. Maybe the WB should invest in bringing back the Fox classic "Titus."

The show starts with a girl named Maria in a skimpy French maid's outfit. She continues to complain about how she has to clean for a sad bunch of rich snobs. Camille Guaty has never been renowed for her acting abilities (i.e.Gotta Kick it Up), and lives up(or down as some may view it) to her reputation.Mindy Cohn plays the bitter cook of the household who well is just there to play the pudgy person who delivers bad comic relief and grosses the audience out by scratching her head in the families dinner. Victoria Spelling of course begged daddy dearest to pay the exec's to get a spot as a quirky dog walker who has teretz or something. Any time her name is called she spews out her true feelings, after the second spew it became old fast. Then there is the last roundup of stars gone wrong, the worst of all David Faustino. In he walks halfway through the show and the fake audience clap loudly as if he was still on Married with Children, he then burps and goes to the refridgerator to show his true addiction as an alcoholic. Wow this show is getting better as it goes on.The demeaning of women occurs throughout, with the women being shoved into skimpy outfits and then having cat fights; all the while whoring themseleves off in a cheap degrating matter. Promiscuity run a muck with a continuing gag of the Chauffer screwing around with the Boss'favorite daughter, but that was mostly implied thank god.The sets looked used with a dab of cheap peach paint to show the true malibu status of the Hamptons (which wasn't even good). The acting and blocking of the actors was horrendous! What I mean is when the actors didn't talk they just stood there. The conflict in the plot was so silly that it made up for the un-funny, un-originale, un-talneted cast and script. If all the shows elements combined and left to stew (i.e. we're subjected to more episodes) it would become a sick soup that would make the viewer want to puke.Don't watch. From the looks of the pilot the audience must have been held at gunpoint to recieve any laughs for the pathetic jokes. This series has no promise to it what so ever...~Rube~