There have been very few posts on here that don’t relate to new albums, but this one isn’t even music related. I want to rant and it’s my blog so I can!

It turns out I really, really REALLY don’t like the Netflix series of Wednesday.

I managed the first episode of the second part of series 2 and realised that I don’t know what is going on and equally that I no longer give a crap about what is going on.

I should point out that I consider the Addams Family Values film one of the top five films made in my lifetime (all you cultural snobs can stop sniggering now) and that the first Addams Family film is not too far behind. Both my daughter and I can quote these films off by heart and we must watch them at least three time a year

There is so much wrong with Wednesday, but I can break it down in a few simple sections:

The Premise

The whole point of the Addams is that the humour derives from this strange family being put in everyday situations and their interaction with everyday people.

Examples from the films are Gomez reporting Fester missing to the Police, the whole family at the school play, the children at Summer Camp and Morticia reading to the nursey class in the first film – that scene alone deserved an Oscar (It’s my blog, sue me for over exaggeration).

The set up for Wednesday feels like it dribbled out of the collective fetid brains of a room full of marketing executives –

“I don’t think this has been done before…. Let’s set it in a boarding school / castle. Like Hogwarts.”     

“And let’s give all the pupils special powers. Like Hogwarts”

“Oh, and let’s have lots of famous actors playing the teachers. Like Hogwarts”.

What’s the point of being an outcast family if you’re surrounded by other outcasts?

The great love affair

Whether its John Astin and Carolyn Jones or Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston the simple fact is that Gomez and Morticia should be besotted with each other even to the point that the rest of the world doesn’t exist. At a single word of French from Morticia, Gomez should be kissing her hand and then up her arms whilst offering promises of whips and chains.

In Wednesday, Catherine Zeta-Jones says ‘Mon Cher’ and Gomez DOES NOTHING. LITERALLY NOTHING. It's almost as if they are not interested in each other.

This is just so not right, and this alone should have resulted in the cancellation of the series.

The enemy

The bad guy shouldn’t be some awful CGI monster (I mean, look at the state of it) it should be normal people with their petty vices.

From the Addams Family it’s Tully and Dr Pinder-Schloss and a simple case of greed

For the Addams Family Values, it’s the dogma of Gary Granger and Becky Martin-Granger that everyone can have a great time as long as they are good looking, white and Christian (and of course the homicidal mania of the serial killing nanny).   

Whilst I understand that Wednesday looks amazing, as any Tim Burton film does, and that the purist will bleat that “Gomez is now closer to the original comic version” I just can’t bring myself to get any sort of enjoyment out of it.    

 Coincidentally two recent reviews of albums featuring a man and his guitar but very different projects.

A Proliferation Of Pointlessness from John Reed may just be his last as sales haven’t been as expected but if sadly it is, then it’s great way to go out.

Such a shame that a determinedly independent artist making music away from the mainstream social media and the industry can’t get his music heard.

These are songs of protest, despair and no little anger. The vocals are clear and strong but with the lyrical themes, I would have been happy for them to get a bit ragged at times – a howl of indignation or a shout of rage maybe.

By layering up different guitars (acoustic and electric) on different tracks, the album avoids the pitfall of the tracks merging into each other as the Phil Cooper album did.

Of the more traditional acoustic songs, Maverick is my favourite with some fantastic lyrics.  “Is it me who is the maverick, expecting far too much?”

I particularly enjoy the closing one-two punch of The Hill Country and Project Freedom. This is my type of folk – Urgent, meaningful, spoiling for a fight.

Might just be me but Project Freedom strikes me as a very Fish like song and hopefully that is taken as a compliment.

A really good album for those willing to step off the beaten path and take a chance.