Nimrod Nation

[amicus]

Never heard of this before this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, program, Sundance Channel, an Independent film offering, Nimrod Nation, anyone?



Nimrod Nation

This eight-part original documentary series from filmmaker Brett Morgen (THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE) profiles rural Watersmeet, Michigan, where everyone follows the progress of the local high-school basketball team - the Nimrods. More a portrait of a small American town than a conventional sports documentary, NIMROD NATION sympathetically observes life and conversation in the local coffee shops, hunting lodges and locker rooms as the long, cold basketball season unfolds.

Episodes

Episode 1
Next Showing: December 19, 7:00PM

Episode 2
Next Showing: December 19, 7:30PM

Episode 3
Next Showing: December 19, 8:00PM

Episode 4
Next Showing: December 19, 8:30PM

Episode 5
Next Showing: December 19, 9:00PM

Episode 6
Next Showing: December 19, 9:30PM

Episode 7
Next Showing: December 17, 9:00PM

Episode 8
Next Showing: December 17, 9:30PM


Amicus...

Edited to add: I went down the page of the google search under Nimrod Nation and found this:

TELEVISION
'Nimrod Nation:' Small town life on the small screen
By Elizabeth Jensen
Published: November 26, 2007


The director Brett Morgen hails from Santa Monica, California, lives and works in Rockaway Park, New York, and has made feature documentaries about young Brooklyn boxers ("On the Ropes"), the idiosyncratic Hollywood producer Robert Evans ("The Kid Stays in the Picture") and the trial of protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention (the forthcoming "Chicago 10").

When he was sent to tiny Watersmeet, in the wilds of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to direct three commercials for a 2004 ESPN promotional campaign, he stumbled into a foreign world far removed from his urban consciousness, where hunting and fishing are popular weekend pastimes, the average winter dumps 13 feet, or 4 meters, of snow, and high school sports assume overarching importance in the absence of even a single movie theater.

His ads put the quirkily named Watersmeet Township School basketball team, the Nimrods, on the map, with their tag line, "Without sports, who would root for the Nimrods?" (The team is named for the biblical king Nimrod, who was known for his hunting skills, although the word is more commonly used as an insult meaning loser.) Morgen, meanwhile, knew he had found the long-sought location for a documentary he wanted to make about small-town life. As cold as it was in the winter, he said, "I found it just totally endearing and charming."

Sundance Channel eventually agreed to a limited series, "Nimrod Nation," which begins on Monday. The eight half-hours loosely follow the boys' varsity basketball team through the 2005-6 season, but Morgen's observational documentary is less about high school sports than it is a portrait of a town of 1,400 people.

The rural upper Midwest has been fodder for the writings of Jim Harrison, the Lake Wobegon radio monologues of Garrison Keillor and some of the tracks on Sufjan Stevens's album "Greetings From Michigan," but otherwise it isn't exactly a pop culture go-to setting. The Watersmeet culture, heavily dominated by people of Nordic descent and American Indians, "was something I had never encountered in literature or film," Morgen said in an interview at his office.

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"The only cultural reference I had was 'Fargo,' which is really far removed from Watersmeet. The only similarity, really, is the climate."

Studiously avoiding any "nimrod" jokes, Morgen has taken an affectionate if limited view of Watersmeet life, celebrating the love of nature and highlighting close-knit families and the town's pride in the team. His central characters include George Peterson III, the basketball coach, who also serves as school superintendent, principal, athletic director and Gogebic County commissioner. Then there is Jeff Zelinski and his sprawling family, who make head cheese from their butchered pigs and in the documentary are often viewed tromping over a frozen lake to check whether there is a fish on the "tip-up" line.

The camera also pays frequent visits to a group of old-timers - the series' Greek chorus - who dissect the team's prospects at the local café.

Depictions of teenage abandon are minimal. The students occasionally drink alcohol, one has a child out of wedlock, and there is an ice-fishing scene with considerable profanity that has upset Peterson. But mostly the students are focused on basketball practice, the school play and whether the boys will have to dress in women's clothes during pep week.

Despite what he called his addiction to reality television, Morgen said he wanted to stay true to the "spirit of the people" of Watersmeet. When he pitched the series, he said, he told Sundance executives that he hoped not much would happen in the four months he was there.

"It was really important that we avoid the sort of melodrama and histrionics that one gets in reality and try to do something that was a bit more lyrical and poetic," he said.

In the wake of the ESPN commercials, the Watersmeet high school sold nearly $550,000 in Nimrod-branded merchandise, Peterson said, and a new Web site (nimrodnationstore.com) is ready should demand spike again. The good reception to the ads may have accounted for the enthusiasm that greeted Morgen's decision to return to town; by contrast, he said, when he originally came to cast them, not one person showed up to an open call.

~~~

Now, my perception of the Sundance Channel and its' normal fare, is that it features bohemian, avant-guard, usually anti American, anti-capitalist films by independent producers outside the mainstream cinematic world. Since I have not seen this series, I am somewhat curious to see what they have written and produced.

Ami...

 

[SensualCealy]

What satelite # would Sundance Channel be? Im sure my son would enjoy a show called Nimrod Nation!

Never heard of this before this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, program, Sundance Channel, an Independent film offering, Nimrod Nation, anyone?



Nimrod Nation

This eight-part original documentary series from filmmaker Brett Morgen (THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE) profiles rural Watersmeet, Michigan, where everyone follows the progress of the local high-school basketball team - the Nimrods. More a portrait of a small American town than a conventional sports documentary, NIMROD NATION sympathetically observes life and conversation in the local coffee shops, hunting lodges and locker rooms as the long, cold basketball season unfolds.

Episodes

Episode 1
Next Showing: December 19, 7:00PM

Episode 2
Next Showing: December 19, 7:30PM

Episode 3
Next Showing: December 19, 8:00PM

Episode 4
Next Showing: December 19, 8:30PM

Episode 5
Next Showing: December 19, 9:00PM

Episode 6
Next Showing: December 19, 9:30PM

Episode 7
Next Showing: December 17, 9:00PM

Episode 8
Next Showing: December 17, 9:30PM


Amicus...

Edited to add: I went down the page of the google search under Nimrod Nation and found this:

TELEVISION
'Nimrod Nation:' Small town life on the small screen
By Elizabeth Jensen
Published: November 26, 2007


The director Brett Morgen hails from Santa Monica, California, lives and works in Rockaway Park, New York, and has made feature documentaries about young Brooklyn boxers ("On the Ropes"), the idiosyncratic Hollywood producer Robert Evans ("The Kid Stays in the Picture") and the trial of protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention (the forthcoming "Chicago 10").

When he was sent to tiny Watersmeet, in the wilds of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to direct three commercials for a 2004 ESPN promotional campaign, he stumbled into a foreign world far removed from his urban consciousness, where hunting and fishing are popular weekend pastimes, the average winter dumps 13 feet, or 4 meters, of snow, and high school sports assume overarching importance in the absence of even a single movie theater.

His ads put the quirkily named Watersmeet Township School basketball team, the Nimrods, on the map, with their tag line, "Without sports, who would root for the Nimrods?" (The team is named for the biblical king Nimrod, who was known for his hunting skills, although the word is more commonly used as an insult meaning loser.) Morgen, meanwhile, knew he had found the long-sought location for a documentary he wanted to make about small-town life. As cold as it was in the winter, he said, "I found it just totally endearing and charming."

Sundance Channel eventually agreed to a limited series, "Nimrod Nation," which begins on Monday. The eight half-hours loosely follow the boys' varsity basketball team through the 2005-6 season, but Morgen's observational documentary is less about high school sports than it is a portrait of a town of 1,400 people.

The rural upper Midwest has been fodder for the writings of Jim Harrison, the Lake Wobegon radio monologues of Garrison Keillor and some of the tracks on Sufjan Stevens's album "Greetings From Michigan," but otherwise it isn't exactly a pop culture go-to setting. The Watersmeet culture, heavily dominated by people of Nordic descent and American Indians, "was something I had never encountered in literature or film," Morgen said in an interview at his office.


~~~

Now, my perception of the Sundance Channel and its' normal fare, is that it features bohemian, avant-guard, usually anti American, anti-capitalist films by independent producers outside the mainstream cinematic world. Since I have not seen this series, I am somewhat curious to see what they have written and produced.

Ami...

 

[amicus]

SensualCealy, on my Dish Network Satellite system it shows as channel 332, dunno if that helps...

Amicus...

 

[SensualCealy]

Gives me an idea as to where to look, will tell him.
Thanks for the heads up!
C

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Thanks for the "heads up" Ami. Having grown up in an even smaller town, I'm also curious about the "slant" of the series.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[amicus]

So am I Rumple, so am I, as we both know there will be a /slant/ (chuckles, notice the direction of the slant?

ahem...


ami

 

[Selena_Kitt]

So am I Rumple, so am I, as we both know there will be a /slant/ (chuckles, notice the direction of the slant?

ahem...


ami

Michigan is a republican state actually - especially the UPers (pronounced "you-pers"). Actually, so are a majority of Trolls (those of us who live UNDER the bridge.) Detroit is a mecca of democrats, but it still hasn't outweighed the rest of the state, and people are leaving Detroit in mass exodus.

I had a friend who went to Michigan Tech up in the U.P. It's gorgeous country, lots and lots and LOTS of snow, only two months, really, of warmer weather. Very rural.

We're considering the Grand Traverse/Petosky/Gaylord area actually - just under the bridge, close to the U.P.

 

[amicus]

Interesting, Selena, thank you. I fear I had thought with the vast majority of the population centers, the demo strongholds, that the State usually swung left as does Oregon and Washington, Republican outside the cities but controlled for a generation by Democrats.

I am hoping for a Reagan like 49 State sweep over the Dems if they run Hillary, how sweet would that be?

Amicus...

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I am hoping for a Reagan like 49 State sweep over the Dems if they run Hillary, how sweet would that be?

Amicus...

*shaking Ami awake* you're dreaming, sweetie...

 

[amicus]

*shaking Ami awake* you're dreaming, sweetie...

~~~

Amicus mumbles in his sleep, turns over and embraces the sweet feline, "Mhhhhmn...nice...."...

Dreams ain't all that bad, kid, try it sumtime....

(an amorous ami...)

 

[JamesSD]

Avoiding the usual political baiting, the series sounds interesting. Although, I'm just going to point this out:

"The Watersmeet culture, heavily dominated by people of Nordic descent and American Indians, "was something I had never encountered in literature or film," Morgen said in an interview at his office."

Apparently he'd never heard of a little show called "Northern Exposure".

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Avoiding the usual political baiting, the series sounds interesting. Although, I'm just going to point this out:

"The Watersmeet culture, heavily dominated by people of Nordic descent and American Indians, "was something I had never encountered in literature or film," Morgen said in an interview at his office."

Apparently he'd never heard of a little show called "Northern Exposure".

One of the best shows on television - ever!

 

[amicus]

[QUOTE=JamesSD;25318489]Avoiding the usual political baiting, the series sounds interesting. Although, I'm just going to point this out:

"The Watersmeet culture, heavily dominated by people of Nordic descent and American Indians, "was something I had never encountered in literature or film," Morgen said in an interview at his office."

Apparently he'd never heard of a little show called "Northern Exposure". [/QUOTE]

~~~

Ahhh, JBJ, I loved that show...never missed an episode of Northern Exposure, very sad when the series ended...same with "Dead Like Me", really creative writing, intellectual candy and teasing with scent and vision.

Ami

 

[Selena_Kitt]

same with "Dead Like Me", really creative writing, intellectual candy and teasing with scent and vision.

Ami

I never watched that one. I'll check it out on DVD.

 

[amicus]

Nimrod Nation surprised me...first of all, early evening and episode seven and eight were showing and I did not expect that time frame.

To take nothing away from the producer, director, but the last two episodes, then only two I have seen, had a 'Ken Burns' air about them, along with a dose of Hoosiers, the film about a high school basketball team in a small school.

Much too early to pass judgment, but an observation is, that although well and heavily edited, the dialog seemed natural, not forced, not prompted for the most part. The narrative, unlike the Ken Burns saga, was at a minimum, if not non existent.

The only possible criticism I found was at the very end when a little boy was talking about saving trees; I will have to watch it again, but it seemed a little forced the first time.

There also seemed to be a great deal of unbridled male emotion among the boys on the team, the coach and even the old men in the restaurant, that seemed very real, very traditional and very much out of context with modern urban males; but then, I need to see more of the series.

amicus...