Catch-22 Series coming to Hulu

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Mr Janny

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https://www.avclub.com/hulu-snaps-up-george-clooney-s-catch-22-series-1822092138

Man, I really hope they do this well. Truly one of the funniest, cleverest, incredibly awesome books ever written. I'm so-so on the movie adaptation from the 70's, but the book remains damn near the pinnacle of literary achievement in our time, and I say that completely without hyperbole.

You'd have to be crazy not to want to watch it...
 
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MNCyGuy

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I'm curious how they intend to structure it. All the jumping around doesn't necessarily feel like it lends itself to a series adaptation.
 

Mr Janny

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I'm curious how they intend to structure it. All the jumping around doesn't necessarily feel like it lends itself to a series adaptation.
Yeah, I agree, It would definitely be a challenge to put on film. If they can somehow do it, though, they'd really have something.
 

Sigmapolis

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That book screwed with my head as a teenager. Hilarious and irreverent at points, but an ending that kind of makes you question the point of anything.

It is hard for a television show to capture such dark humor and a dark worldview.

I have never seen the Simon and Garfunkel version. Most great adaptations of great books (i.e., The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.) are well-known, so this one never really made it on my list for something to see at any point previously.
 

Mr Janny

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That book screwed with my head as a teenager. Hilarious and irreverent at points, but an ending that kind of makes you question the point of anything.

It is hard for a television show to capture such dark humor and a dark worldview.

I have never seen the Simon and Garfunkel version. Most great adaptations of great books (i.e., The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.) are well-known, so this one never really made it on my list for something to see at any point previously.

So, not to change the subject, but I recently read the Godfather novel. The films have been one of my favorites for a long, long time, but I'd never found time to read the book they were based on.

Long story short, I really enjoyed the book. I was really impressed with how much of the book made it onto the screen. That said, one of the things that didn't make it into the movies, that just confounded me, was the entire subplot involving Lucy Mancini and her giant vagina. It's not that I thought the films should have included it. Quite the opposite. I question why the hell it was in the book at all. I mean, it's just jarringly weird. The only explanation I can come up with is that Mario Puzo just has a thing for enormous lady parts. Such a strange thing to be included in that story.


Back to Catch-22, it's one of the few books I've read that actually made me laugh out loud while reading, but I agree, there's plenty of serious stuff in there, buried under the levels of humor. It's a Major Major Mindbender. (sorry couldn't resist)
 
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Sigmapolis

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So, not to change the subject, but I recently read the Godfather novel. The films have been one of my favorites for a long, long time, but I'd never found time to read the book they were based on.

Long story short, I really enjoyed the book. I was really impressed with how much of the book made it onto the screen. That said, one of the things that didn't make it into the movies, that just confounded me, was the entire subplot involving Lucy Mancini and her giant vagina. It's not that I thought the films should have included it. Quite the opposite. I question why the hell it was in the book at all. I mean, it's just jarringly weird. The only explanation I can come up with is that Mario Puzo just has a thing for enormous lady parts. Such a strange thing to be included in that story.


Back to Catch-22, it's one of the few books I've read that actually made me laugh out loud while reading, but I agree, there's plenty of serious stuff in there, buried under the levels of humor. It's a Major Major Mindbender. (sorry couldn't resist)

Coppola made an allusion to that subplot early in the film version of The Godfather. Remember when Sonny's wife was making a "this big" motion with her hands, then extended it out, then let her eyes go wide and extended it out again as the women around her table at the wedding started gasping and clapping and laughing? And then Sonny's mistress or Sonny walked by or something like that? I thought that was the pretty obvious reference. That was more about Sonny's... umm... dimensions than Lucy Mancini, but the two of them went together, right?

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gf1scwed-ls-dong.jpg
 
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Mr Janny

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Coppola made an allusion to that subplot early in the film version of The Godfather. Remember when Sonny's wife was making a "this big" motion with her hands, then extended it out, then let her eyes go wide and extended it out again as the women around her table at the wedding started gasping and clapping and laughing? And then Sonny's mistress or Sonny walked by or something like that? I thought that was the pretty obvious reference. That was more about Sonny's... umm... dimensions than Lucy Mancini, but the two of them went together, right?

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gf1scwed-ls-dong.jpg
They did, but the book has Lucy as a fairly significant character, and the plot follows the trials and tribulations of her life, and how she finally ends up marrying a surgeon who performs a procedure to "snug things up down there." After which, she lives happily ever after. I'm not even kidding about that. Once she gets sewn up, her story arc is basically done and all of her problems are solved. Deus Ex Vagina.
 
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Sigmapolis

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They did, but the book has Lucy as a fairly significant character, and the plot follows the trials and tribulations of her life, and how she finally ends up marrying a surgeon who performs a procedure to "snug things up down there." After which, she lives happily ever after. I'm not even kidding about that. Once she gets sewn up, her story arc is basically done and all of her problems are solved. Deus Ex Vagina.

Oh yeah, I remember her from the novel. She was a big part of the Family's move to Nevada, kept an eye on Fredo, and had a clean record, so they had her "hold" a lot of assets in nominal terms that the Family was actually owning and managing. Gave a relatively neutral window for Puzo to discuss that part of the story with a more "stable" character.

Coppola stripped down that part of the novel, going through the Las Vegas portion of the story pretty quick. He did keep some references to it, though, like with the hand gestures and with Moe saying Fredo was "banging cocktail waitresses left and right."

You are right that is an odd character arc, but I always saw her as fulfilling a narrative need that was no longer there once the Family and Michael moved to Nevada.
 

BryceC

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You'd have to be crazy not to want to watch it...

I think doing it would be incredibly difficult. For that reason alone I won't be watching it until it's finished, when we can hear what the reviews say in the full scope. Love the book, one of the first books that made a me a fan of reading, but let's be honest there is a greater than 50% chance this sucks.
 

Mr Janny

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I think doing it would be incredibly difficult. For that reason alone I won't be watching it until it's finished, when we can hear what the reviews say in the full scope. Love the book, one of the first books that made a me a fan of reading, but let's be honest there is a greater than 50% chance this sucks.[/QUOTE]

I'm fear you're correct. I only said the "you'd have to be crazy" line as an homage to the book.

I agree with you on Catch-22 being super influential. It was one of the first "subversive" things I'd ever really read, and sort of opened my eyes to a lot of different ideas. Truly one of my favorite books. I even have a military style winter jacket with a "Yossarian" name tag on it, that I like to wear when I want to piss my wife off. (which is pretty often)