Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 01/05/24
Cynthia Geary returns to series television in Going Home. As the Great American Pure Flix drama returns for Season 2 today, the actress who was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for her role in the classic CBS nineties dramedy Northern Exposure talks about what attracted her to the role of Charley Copeland, head nurse at the fictional Sunset House hospice.
JWK: So, what appealed to you about your character and the overall series concept?
Cynthia Geary: Everything! It’s so well written. Our show creator Dan Merchant I think did an amazingly beautiful job researching and creating the characters in this show. He worked closely with Hospice of Spokane, Washington. All the stories in the show, while he and his wife Kara Merchant both wrote and created them, they come from true stories – you know, things that people had told them and nurses told them about experiences they’ve had in hospice care. I have found it to be such a meaningful project. I’ve learned a lot about hospice and this time, the end of life for loved ones and families – and how important it is and how beautiful it can be.
JWK: Have you ever had any personal experience dealing with hospice?
CG: I have not. If I am in the situation where I have a choice I would definitely choose it having been through this and having met people. Another thing about our show is everyone who’s been on it – and we have some amazing guest stars – has stories to relate about their experiences with hospice. It’s absolutely amazing. I just lost my father who was 92 years old. Unfortunately, he went into the hospital and then came out (but) really had no time to go into hospice. He was in nursing care for a few days. He was visited by a lively, wonderful hospice nurse – but that’s really my only experience with it.
JWK: How would you describe your character Charley Copeland?
CG: Charley’s complicated – which is another thing I really love about this show. Dan Merchant and I talked a lot about it. The characters are messy. They’re not perfect. They all have their own issues and struggles. Charley certainly does. In the first season you find out that she’s participating in AA and that she had a problem with alcohol. I really like the fact that these are real whole weak people. They’re not perfect.
JWK: You’re also a producer on the show, right?
CG: I am.
JWK: What’s that experience like? Have you done that before?
CG: I have not. Dan Merchant and Rich Cowan, another one of our producers, asked me to come on as a producer in the second season. I was so flattered and honored to be asked because they wanted my input and we worked so well together in the first season. It’s been an amazing experience to be able to go behind the scenes, watch the dailies and have input in putting the show together. With our amazing, wonderful guest stars, it’s been super easy because we’ve gotten so many great people who want to be a part of this show that I feel just incredibly lucky.
JWK: Yeah, you do have some great guest stars. You have Gloria Reuben in the season premiere – and I know that Karen Allen is coming up.
CG: Yes. Gloria is just wonderful. Her performance is so lovely and beautiful, along with George Newbern. They play husband and wife. I just love her now as a person! Both of them! That’s another wonderful serendipity that I get from the show. I get to meet and work with these amazing actors. Every week it’s someone new. When I found out Karen Allen was gonna play my mother…! She’s too young to be my mother! But she did it and she’s just everything you see on screen and more. She’s just so vivacious and full of life and energy. She’s the most positive person I’ve ever met – and a really wonderful, generous actress.
JWK: It’s a very uplifting show about a somewhat uncomfortable subject. I know you try to put some humor into the show.
CG: One of the goals of the second season was to add a little more humor and lightness. As you said, it’s a heavy topic. I think people are often afraid of it. Another reason I think the show is so important is to get people talking about how they want to handle the end of life for their loved ones and what do their loved ones want? I think a show like this can really help families open that topic and talk about it – but we did want to make it a show that people want to come back to and watch again and again and again.
I think Dan did a good job of trying to lighten the mood a little – in spots, when it was appropriate – and bring a little more humor into the show. When I saw the trailer that our PR team put together that I really loved I went “Hey! I get a laugh line in the trailer!” That made me happier than anything! I’m sitting on the porch with Karen Allen and I make a joke something she said…I’m like “Awesome!”
So, yeah, I think it’s a very relatable show. It’s watchable, enjoyable and it’s something that you can come back to again and again.
JWK: It reminds me of the style of some of the nineties-era dramas – like your show Northern Exposure was from that time but also shows like Providence. I thought that was a good time for television, actually.
CG: It was. It really was. As a matter of fact, one of my Northern Exposure producers was the executive producer on Providence. So, there is a lot of that crossover but I agree. I’m partial but I think television in the nineties was pretty great.
JWK: Do you think a show like Going Home could make it on a broadcast network. I mean the things they’re doing these days seem to be going darker a lot of times.
CG: They are – but I think it can and I hope it will. Pure Flix merged with Great American Media recently and Great American, as you probably know, is a large (media company) and has several cable stations. I would love to see this on mainstream media. I don’t know why it couldn’t be…It’s a really popular topic now. There are a lot of hospice nurses that have got podcasts and they’re being followed and watched by millions and millions of people. So, I think it is something that is very current and topical and people are talking about.
JWK: Have you gotten feedback from people who work in hospice care or have loved ones who have received it?
CG: I have. I’ve gotten amazing feedback from people who have watched the show who relate their experiences with hospice and (from) hospice nurses as well who have said that they really appreciate the show.
JWK: Have you taken in some of that input for Season 2?
CG: Absolutely! Dan and I talk all the time about experiences and things that people told us. We are doing our utmost to be truthful to the experience and make it as real and relatable as possible.
JWK: The hospice on the show, Sunset House, is fictional, right?
CG: It is fictional but Dan drew heavily from Hospice of Spokane, Washington. I mean it even looks similar. We tried with our sets that we built to emulate what they’re doing there.
JWK: And you also work with what I believe is a real-life organization called Grief Share.
CG: Yes. Dan has worked closely with Grief Share. We had Grief Share on the set when we were filming scenes filming with Grief Share scenes in the show. So, that’s another really important resource that I think it’s great for people to see. I wasn’t aware of Grief Share before Dan brought it up and wrote scenes and put Grief Share in our show. I’m hoping that more people are introduced to it because it’s a really wonderful organization.
JWK: So, with Season 2 dropping today, any changes planned?
CG: A lot of new things happen in Season 2. I don’t want to give away anything but we get outside of the hospice. You get to see more of the regular characters – myself and Cozi Zuehlsdorff. You get to see our lives outside of the hospice and what we’re doing. We both have love interests So, I think that it’ll be fun for people to see.
JWK: Do you see the show going five or six years, having a good long run?
CG: Well, I certainly hope so. It would be great. I love doing the show. There’s so much material. Let’s hope!
JWK: Anything you’d like to say as we wrap up?
CG: Just please watch the show. It’s really a great show…It’s got something for everyone. It is positive. There’s a really positive message in the show. Don’t be afraid of the subject matter and the topic of death. I think it’s something that might make you cry, it’ll definitely make you thing and, hopefully, you’ll laugh and smile as well.
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From comic books to movies, the media in 2024 is set to echo the American vs. American messaging of the Biden Campaign.
The second issue of the 1/6: The Graphic Novel is now available. It’s said to offer “a deeper and more complex exploration of a world where the January 6th insurrection was successful.” Because comic books are the way to that. And, of course, coming soon to a theater near you the movie Civil War which no doubt is just what the country needs to calm a distressingly divided citizenry.
The funny thing (well, not exactly funny) is is that almost everyone agrees that American democracy is hanging by the proverbial thread as we enter 2024 which, of course, also happens to be a presidential election year. The disagreement comes in who exactly is threatening it. So, yes, Election Integrity ranks as the #1 Issue that needs solving this year. Their literally is little time to waste.
Now, we can argue forever about whether the date of 1/6 actually competes with 9/11 as a national trauma and whether the events on and around that date actually fit the definition of an insurrection. If voting still counts, I vote no on that issue. A totally unjustifiable riot, yes – just like the nationwide riots of 2020 (including the memory-holed one where a church was set fire outside the White House and President Trump was forced to spend nearly an hour in a bunker). But, in both cases, the fact that the riots were unjustifiable (as riots almost always are), doesn’t mean the issues underlying them should be dismissed.
The White House protest was a response to the death of George Floyd and the concerns over racial injustice that event represented. The Capitol riot was motivated by concerns over an election that probably half the country felt was unduly influenced by a pandemic that politicians used to justify election rule changes that negatively impacted ballot security. Leaving aside the issue of whether that was true or not those changes changed the final election results, those concerns should not be treated with derision. Just as most of those who participated in the George Floyd protests did so peacefully and should not be conflated with the rioters, the same can be said for the vast majority of those who showed up for the 1/6 protest. If the government’s goal really is to unite the country in harmony, the way to do so isn’t to pit one half of it against the other. Yet that seems to be what this administration and too much of the media seems intent on doing.
Election Integrity involves both ensuring that all eligible voters can cast their ballots freely and that all ballots cast are legitimate. On a very basic level (that doesn’t even involve any sort of conspiracy), unrequested mail-in ballots fly in the face of the concept of the secret ballot – as some voters may be intimidated into voting in a way that appeases an overly passionate (or even violent) household member.
In any event, if we are to get about solving any of the myriad problems that are facing this country, we need people to agree that the election results are legit. Labeling concerns over the issue the “Big Lie” is hardly a conversation starter. It’s opinion suppression.
And what are those issues facing the nation as the election approaches? Here’s my list:
- Election Integrity.
- Getting immediate control of the border and then moving on to appropriate immigration reform.
- Improving education through parent empowerment, school choice and addressing demoralizing Woke ideology in our schools and universities.
- Addressing racial unrest as well as the root causes of economic inequality.
- Reducing violent crime.
- Improving healthcare, including for addiction and mental health.
- Addressing the complex issue of abortion in a way that recognizes both a woman’s right to autonomy over her own body and the fact that the unborn baby in her womb is a human being. It’s a tough one but if we can come to some sort of agreement on this extremely polarizing issue maybe it will pave the way for resolving others.
- Creating citizen empowerment and building a true social safety net.
- Passing tax and budget reform that keeps America solvent for future generations.
- Limiting the power of corporations and tech giants to influence public policy (through political donations) or the suppression of free speech. No, Mitt Romney, corporations are not people and they do not share the same rights as citizens.
- Protecting the environment without yielding to Climate Change hysteria.
- Rebuilding the military to work with tactful but strong diplomacy to maintain peace throughout the world. The Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The Biden Administration is pretty much doing the opposite and the results speak for themselves.
John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.
Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
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