Posts: 384 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Aug 2012
posted 06-17-2015 12:18 PM
quote:Originally posted by farthestreaches: I've discussed this, as well as the book, with Jo Schirra and she was VERY down on both.
Thanks for the head up — with her advice, I've no need to look at either even though publicity for space exploration is a great thing.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-17-2015 12:23 PM
Not all of the wives and families are/were negative about the book or the series. For example, Jane Conrad has been supportive of both and Marilyn Lovell contributed to the book (just to name two).
Another astronaut's family was also involved in the show, as will be revealed later in the summer.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
In "The Astronaut Wives Club," debuting tonight (June 18) on ABC, viewers meet the seven women who stood behind America's first spacemen as the space age literally got off the ground in the early 1960s.
The flip side of "The Right Stuff," the series follows Louise Shepard, Betty Grissom, Annie Glenn, Rene Carpenter, Jo Schirra and Trudy Cooper as they strive to hold down the homefront while also supporting their husbands Alan, Gus, John, Scott, Wally and Gordo on NASA's Project Mercury missions.
Marge Slayton, the seventh of the spouses, is thrust into the same spotlight as the other wives but faces additional hurdles given her own past and the path that her husband, Deke, will follow to reach space. As he becomes the chief of the astronauts, "Mother Marge" takes lead of the wives' club.
Actress Erin Cummings, who portrays the Marge Slayton in the ten-episode series, spoke with collectSPACE about reconvening the "Astronaut Wives Club" for television and how the the cast reflected their characters' bond 50 years ago. This is part two of our interview...
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-18-2015 06:07 PM
A bit of trivia: Joanna Garcia Swisher, who plays Betty Grissom on "The Astronaut Wives Club" previously portrayed Julie Shepard, one of Alan's daughters, in HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" episode "For Miles and Miles" that aired 17 years ago.
posted 06-18-2015 09:21 PM
Pleasantly surprised with the first episode which aired today. It was fairly true to history and nicely fast-paced. The hour went by too quickly ! Exceeded expectations. *****
onesmallstep Member
Posts: 1310 From: Staten Island, New York USA Registered: Nov 2007
posted 06-19-2015 08:34 AM
The hour couldn't go by fast enough for me. Typical 'behind-the-scenes' action, the dialogue most of which I'm sure never happened. Lots of exposition talk to cram in (two years went by in forty-five minutes!), and the acting summer stock. There does appear a spark of some drama, what with Trudy Cooper's 'secret' divorce filing from Gordo, and a budding friendship between Rene Carpenter and Annie Glenn.
'The Right Stuff,' with all its faults, still manages to convey some of the drama, gung-ho and circus-like atmosphere of that early space era. And in several episodes of From the Earth to the Moon, the trials and heartache of the wives are much better told, notably Susan Borman's addiction problem. Will wait for the other episodes; for now I'll give it a B for effort and C+ for execution.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
"The Astronaut Wives Club," ABC's new drama about the women behind America's first spacemen, has left the launch pad.
The premiere of the 10 episode "limited series," aptly titled "Launch," debuted Thursday (June 18), almost two years after the network announced it was adapting Lily Koppel's 2013 book about the "Astro Wives" for the small screen.
...here is a look at where "Launch" was faithful to space history ("A-OK!") and where it veered off course ("ABORT!").
garymilgrom Member
Posts: 1966 From: Atlanta, GA Registered: Feb 2007
posted 06-19-2015 09:08 AM
I thought this was an hour well spent last night. It was not terribly accurate - I agree with the poster who wrote about the sparks of drama between the women, however everything I've read (in factual literature) indicates the women bonded into a solid group and were much more afraid of losing their husband than the place that man took in the flight line. And the show did a great job of showing Annie Glenn's disability without overdoing it.
The production itself was superb - like the hit Mad Men, it successfully created a 1960s-era presence on screen. I really enjoyed that. And how about those M7 lapel pins worn by the astronauts in an early scene? Obviously mimicing the real Astronaut pin, this was a nice subtle touch.
At the end of the episode they had some "coming soon" type of shots and they seemed to show both the Apollo 1 fire and a Saturn V launch - given the apparent Mercury theme I don't understand those. Maybe we'll see some later wives introduced into the original group - that would be interesting.
So overall a 10 for the visual feast but only a 3 for accuracy. It's not a documentary but it is entertaining television featuring the space program, which is a good thing. I'm looking forward to the next episode.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-19-2015 09:17 AM
quote:Originally posted by garymilgrom: Maybe we'll see some later wives introduced into the original group - that would be interesting.
Indeed, we will. The show was delayed a year to incorporate the Group 2 and 3 wives (and their astronaut husbands), and the series will span into Apollo.
p51 Member
Posts: 1642 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 06-19-2015 09:55 AM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: ...and the series will span into Apollo.
If it lasts that long.
Historical-based shows have rarely done well on TV. For example, "Pan Am" was, in my opinion, pretty entertaining yet only lasted one season. Yeah, "Mad Men" ran the distance, but few historical shows ever do...
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-19-2015 10:05 AM
This is a 10-episode "limited event" series (i.e. miniseries). It runs through Aug. 20 and then is over, even if it is soaring in the ratings.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-19-2015 10:30 AM
Some thoughts from Kris Stoever (Scott Carpenter's daughter) via Twitter:
#RealRene on the hastily arranged group photo. "It was on-again, off-again, and no one could find a mockup for the shot." And, truly, NASA had more important things to do than to send memoranda to career military wives about what to wear to a shoot.
#RealLouise would never have rebuked a fellow career Navy wife about a pretty dress. She conceded #RealRene genius/beauty and befriended.
This hastily arranged photo ran in the far back pages on the first LIFE story on the women, with 1st-person bios on each wife.
On the other hand, LIFE '59 cover shot: exquisitely choreographed by the seven women and Ralph Morse. Wolfe gets this story better than anyone. #RealRene says extensive mutual checks to coordinate tops and lipstick colors, only to have their lips Pantoned magenta by LIFE photo editors.
#RealLouise, a devout Christian Scientist, had 'otherworldly' personality — not frosty, catty, petty. #RealRene filled with admiration for her. Career Navy wives after 10+ years of squadron life have solidarity as group DNA. The flakes and mean girls have by then fallen away.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-19-2015 10:37 AM
And for a different take on the history behind the show, Bon Appétit goes behind the scenes on the series' food (re)creations:
ABC's new miniseries "The Astronaut Wives Club," is technically the story of the women behind America's first astronauts, whose historic trips to space skyrocketed them—and their families — to national celebrity. But the show's food — from technicolor Jell-O molds to bacon-wrapped oysters to a towering shrimp tree — plays just as much of a starring role as the women themselves. We spoke with Emily Marshall, the food stylist who cooked all the show's insane vintage dishes herself.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-19-2015 11:47 AM
Variety reports on the ratings for episode 1:
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, "Astronaut Wives Club" averaged a 1.1 rating/4 share in adults 18-49 and 5.5 million viewers overall from 8 to 9 p.m., putting it on par with NBC's bow of "Aquarius" in May and a tick above where Fox's "Wayward Pines" bowed earlier in the month.
..."Astronaut Wives Club," which was originally scheduled to air in the 2013-14 season and then pushed back on two occasions, did a slightly better 5 share (1.5 rating) in adults 25-54 and fared best among women 25-54 (2.2 rating/7 share). Perhaps benefiting from promotion during the NBA Finals, it skewed a little more male than ABC's recent Thursday dramas, with 33% of its 18-49 and 25-54 audience comprised of men.
Posts: 1642 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 06-19-2015 04:07 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: This is a 10-episode "limited event" series (i.e. miniseries). It runs through Aug. 20 and then is over, even if it is soaring in the ratings.
That hasn't stopped networks from stopping a show before all its episodes have aired.
I agree it's highly unlikely in this case, but there are lots of examples of shows (even limited ones) which were cancelled before all the completed episodes have aired...
Steve Smith Member
Posts: 503 From: Wichita, Kansas, USA Registered: Mar 2002
posted 06-19-2015 04:16 PM
You could infer that Louise Shepard was watching the launch with her two daughters but this was really her daughter Julie and niece Alice (who they raised as their own). Oldest daughter Laura was at Principia School in St. Louis. The review above mentions the two daughters at home. Also the show implies Louise and family were watching from their home in Houston area while Light This Candle (P247) notes she was watching from Virginia Beach, Va. with her parents daughter and niece. Thus did the wives coming to the door actually happen? I base these comments on several meetings I've had with his daughter Laura at Cosmosphere, as well as Light This Candle.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-19-2015 05:35 PM
Good catch about Alice. I had forgotten she was Shepard's niece. Given, as you also point out, she was raised as Alan's and Louise's daughter and has since been introduced as such (e.g. NASA introduced Alice, Julie and Laura as the Shepards' three daughters at the 50th anniversary of the Freedom 7 flight), I think the article can stand as it is.
With regards to the location of the wives' homes as the series begins, I don't think they ever establish where they are, and, as the wives didn't move to Houston until 1962, it may end up being a plot point in future episodes.
Ronpur Member
Posts: 1211 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
posted 06-19-2015 07:05 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: Bon Appétit goes behind the scenes on the series' food (re)creations
I really like the look of some of these dishes. Especially the SpaghettiO meatloaf and poka dot mac and cheese. These would be great foods for a future launch party!
posted 06-25-2015 01:01 AM
I just watched it tonight on the eve of the second show. I found it entertaining and a lot better than most of those reality shows we're constantly subjected to. I echo Robert's sentiments about any effort putting space history on primetime television as worth celebrating.
I really liked the Corvettes!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
"The Astronaut Wives Club," ABC's ten-part docu-drama about the spouses behind America's first spacemen, entered orbit Thursday night (June 25) with its second episode.
Picking up where the premiere "Launch" left off, "Protocol" revolved around the second and third U.S. manned space flights from the perspectives of the astronauts' wives.
"As Louise and Alan Shepard bask in the success of his mission, Betty Grissom preps for Gus' launch and turns to Louise for advice," wrote ABC in its synopsis. "And Annie Glenn grapples with her stutter, anticipating that the press will want to hear from her after John's orbit is completed."
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
The original Mercury 7 spouses on ABC's "The Astronaut Wives Club" have spent their last week in Virginia — and their final week as the only astronaut wives — in "Retroattitude," the third episode of the 10-part series based on Lily Koppel's book about the real women behind the United States' first spacemen.
Where as the first two episodes of "Astronaut Wives Club" spanned multiple years and spaceflights, this week's hour focused on the events in mid-1962, as NASA launched its second manned orbital mission, planning got underway for the two-man Gemini project and the entire program picked up and moved to Houston.
"It's Scott Carpenter's turn to go up, and as the world — and the Astronaut Wives ready themselves for his launch, Rene [Carpenter] receives the opportunity to tell her own story, in her own words, in LIFE Magazine," ABC wrote in its "Retroattitude" synopsis. "Meanwhile, tensions flare as Deke [Slayton] deals with some troubling news of his own that questions his future as an astronaut, but all the while, the women come together to support each other."
Delta7 Member
Posts: 1505 From: Bluffton IN USA Registered: Oct 2007
posted 07-04-2015 07:54 AM
I scoffed out loud at a couple of scenes.
When Glenn is told he's OFF the MA-6 mission because he won't force Annie to let LBJ in their house (I know that situation occurred but the inference that his assignment was used to threaten him is absurd). And Slayton and Carpenter nearly coming to blows in the scene by the pool over Scott replacing Deke on MA-7.
Still, overall it's a decent show; you just have to allow for a little dramatic license because it is after all entertainment. The actual facts don't often lend themselves to an entertaining script.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-04-2015 09:30 AM
quote:Originally posted by Delta7: ...the inference that his assignment was used to threaten him is absurd
I was pretty incredulous of that threat as well, but, as it turns out, it actually happened. As noted as part of the week two review:
Glenn does recall that someone from NASA threatened to pull him off the flight as a result. But here is where his account and the show parts ways.
The series shows the other astronauts refusing to fill Glenn's seat, leaving NASA with no other option than Glenn. Glenn, however, recounted it differently in his memoir published in 1999.
"I said that if they wanted [to replace me], they'd have a press conference to announce their decision and I would have one to announce mine, and if they wanted to talk about it anymore, they'd have to wait until I took a shower. When I came back, they were gone and I never heard any more about it."
Silent Sea Member
Posts: 36 From: Registered: Mar 2015
posted 07-04-2015 09:34 AM
I agree on the dramatic license; if I'm looking for strictly factual (or even just more factual) shows, I know that they are available. I've not read the book (I find that views on the book are very mixed) so I really just go by what I see rather than judging how close it is to said book.
I do find it extremely entertaining and watch the episodes as soon as I can. Visually speaking I love it. I want Rene's fruit dress that she was wearing.
I did have a "wait a second..." moment at that almost-fight between Scott and Deke near the pool.
I find the parts with Trudy and Gordo especially interesting to watch myself. How much of that is more truth than drama, I'm not sure. (Does Gordo talk about any of that in his bio? I haven't read it yet.)
I personally think it's important to support space related stuff on primetime TV, so I hope that the show will get its full run. I'm very interested in seeing the other groups of astronauts and their wives. That's a lot of characters and I'm curious to see how they will handle it with a limited number of episodes.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
With overall primetime TV viewing down 8% for the pre-July 4th holiday Thursday night, ABC's The Astronaut Wives Club Episode 3 captured a 0.7 rating for the 18-49 age group, down just a tenth of a percent from last week, with 4.07 million viewers. Holding comparatively steady, the Space Age drama tied for second place with NBC's Food Fighters and Fox's Boom!, but beat both shows on the number of Live + SD viewers.
On another positive note, with the exception of CBS's triple winning play of The Big Bang Theory at 8 PM, Big Brother at 9 PM and Under the Dome at 10 PM, it captured more viewers than any other show all evening.
DeepSea Member
Posts: 68 From: Registered: Jun 2014
posted 07-04-2015 08:43 PM
quote:Originally posted by mach3valkyrie: I echo Robert's sentiments about any effort putting space history on primetime television as worth celebrating.
It's the classic case of 'beggars can't be choosers', I suppose.
TrueNorth Member
Posts: 161 From: Bathurst, NB, Canada Registered: Jun 2003
posted 07-09-2015 05:22 AM
Related, CBC's "Under The Influence," a radio program focusing on marketing and advertising, has a two-parter on the marketing of the space program...
John K. Rochester Member
Posts: 1292 From: Rochester, NY, USA Registered: Mar 2002
posted 07-09-2015 08:09 PM
The very least the show runners and producers could do on a show about astronauts was correctly spell the name Schirra. Misspelled in the scene where they are leaving in their 'Vettes...
"The Astronaut Wives Club" went from six orbits to splashdown in "Liftoff," the ten-part series' fourth episode, which launched Thursday night (July 9) on ABC.
Set in September and October 1962, the episode included NASA's second-to-last Mercury mission – but only barely, as most of the drama focused on what was happening on the ground.
"While the Cold War intensifies and Cuban Missile Crisis comes to a head, the Mercury 7 families begin glamorous new lives in Houston," ABC wrote in its official synopsis. "But Houston also marks the start of the Gemini Project, and with it, the arrival of the Gemini wives, which changes the dynamic among all the women."
Tom Member
Posts: 1597 From: New York Registered: Nov 2000
posted 07-11-2015 11:08 AM
I unfortunately missed Episode 4. Is there any way that episode can be accessed?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-11-2015 01:18 PM
You can watch the full episode on ABC's website here.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
In a bit of fortuitous timing, the fifth hour of ABC's "The Astronaut Wives Club" opened on Thursday night (July 16) with a large sign reading "New Horizons."
It was only coincidence though, that the show's broadcast came just two days after NASA's New Horizons probe flew by the distant dwarf planet Pluto. In the "Astronaut Wives" episode "Flashpoint," the sign was referring to the Gemini program set 50 years ago — included, perhaps, as a bit of foreshadowing for the episode's primary theme of the role of women in the 1960's space program and in society.
"The Astrowives fight their own battles in their marriages and the world at large," ABC wrote in its synopsis. "Trudy [Cooper, played by Odette Annable] learns of attempts to quash a budding astronaut training program for women, and John Glenn [Sam Reid] considers a run for office."
p51 Member
Posts: 1642 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 07-17-2015 10:23 PM
My wife actually likes it.
It's not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be...
Rocketman! Member
Posts: 121 From: Redmond, Washington, USA Registered: Dec 2007
posted 07-17-2015 11:35 PM
That "NASA" patch: ABORT!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-18-2015 04:32 AM
Yes, the patch is incorrect, but that wasn't so much something the show got wrong as it was something they didn't have the permission to use.
tegwilym Member
Posts: 2331 From: Sturgeon Bay, WI Registered: Jan 2000
posted 07-18-2015 01:27 PM
I'm looking forward to watching this! Been busy this summer, but recording it all. I'll have a "Binge viewing" once we get a rainy day!
dogcrew5369 Member
Posts: 750 From: Statesville, NC Registered: Mar 2009
posted 07-20-2015 07:47 PM
quote:Originally posted by p51: My wife actually likes it.
Best thing about the show is its something about the space program my wife wants to watch.
Posts: 1040 From: New Windsor, Maryland USA Registered: Jan 2004
posted 07-21-2015 12:31 PM
quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: For example, Jane Conrad has been supportive of both and Marilyn Lovell contributed to the book (just to name two).
That might explain why they were presented in such a good light in the episode where they debuted. They were even referred to by the Mercury spouses as "the bikini girls."
posted 06-17-2015 12:18 PM
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