I'm a certified TV junkie. And I'm not talking about that reality show ish (even though "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta" is scheduled weekly in my DVR) but more so whatever dope series are on tap. So whether it's Sons of Anarchy, Fargo, The Americans, House of Cards or The Walking Dead to Homeland, Masters of Sex, Orange is The New Black, Luther, House of Lies or Top Boy my DVR always teeters on being full. But the network that REALLY put me onto dope series was HBO. I think we can ALL agree that HBO is like the god fathers of modern day television with two simple words..."The Sopranos" & "The Wire" (well, I guess that was actually 4 words, 5 if you count the "&") and every other network out there trying to play catch up. And since my TV is ALWAYS on in my house, that's how I usually come across new music, the latest hoopla in sports and new shows and that's exactly how I got put onto HBO's newest series "The Leftovers." From the commercial I saw, it looks like people literally disappear outta no where and since I'm big into the whole mystery/supernatural stuff this got scheduled into my DVR quick, fast in a hurry. Then I did the knowledge and found out that this series is based off a book by the same name and after hearing that it was a wrap cause ya'll know me being the book worm I am, my challenge over the next 2 weeks was to finish this book before the show premiered on HBO on June 29th. So, a week later and my challenge completed with time to spare, the question of the week is am I still hype to see "The Leftovers?" And the answer is simple, naw...I'm not.
"The Leftover" written by Tom Perotta is about the rapture or at least something like the rapture happening. Now, for all of my non church folk out there, the rapture is when Jesus comes back for his church and anyone who is saved will be "caught up" and taken with Jesus. In other words, those who are saved will literally vanish. Now, the reason why I said something like the rapture happened is because there were a rack of atheist, muslims, mormons and other folk who didn't believe in Jesus who vanished, so the people who are left are split down the middle as to what really happened. Some believe that those people were fronting on the outside but inwardly, they got down with Jesus but others believe that this wasn't the rapture. Which then asks the question, that if it wasn't the rapture then how did all of these folk just flat out disappear? The main premise of the story deals with a group of people who have been affected by the rapture in different ways (some have lost spouses while others have lost children and/or friends) but for the main part, it centers around Kevin Garvey and his family and a new crew (more of a cult) of folk called The Guilty Remnant that have formed since the disappearances. Now, in a nutshell this crew basically follow folk around and watches them while they (The Guilty Remnant) smoke cigarettes...oh yeah, they don't talk. So for the most part the book is about people dealing with loss and a crew of crazy folk following those people around...while smoking.
Now, don't get it twisted, I dig the concept and the story and some of the characters are dope. And after diggin' through the entire "Left Behind" series, I like how this book comes at it from a different perspective and doesn't deal with the tribulation of what happens to the world over the next 7 years. It literally deals with life going on as normal. Folk still gotta go to work, pay bills, go to school, etc. They even have a parade to salute the folk who have disappeared. So if I dig the concept and the story, then why am I not excited about the HBO series anymore? Well, at times the book moves REAL slow and I can deal with that but the thing I can't deal with is the HORRIBLE ending. I'm not gonna blow what happens but for me...it was beyond wack. There was no closure, no loose ends tied up...just nuthin. And since 9 times outta 10 the book is always better then the movie (or the series for this example) I hope HBO brought in a squad of not just ill but REAL ill writers to get this series to flow better then the book and they mos def gotta come up with a better ending or "The Leftovers" will go down as one of those "other" HBO series that nobody remember like...ummm...yeah, those ones.
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