Cousin Johnny and Ellen May are on NBC's Aquarius

[Dolphin]

David Duchovny's new mini series premiered this week, but you can binge watch all the episodes on nbc.com for free. (They'll continue to air 1 episode a week on NBC at regular speed, too.)

Set in Los Angeles 2 years before the Tate/La Bianca murders, Duchovny and Grey Damon (FNLs) play detectives with a generation gap who tangle with early Charlie Manson. David Meunier plays a character I think is loosely based on Manson associate Tex Watson. Abbey Miller plays Manson's first follower, 'Mother Mary,' who comes into the family fold about half way through. Gaius Charles (FNLs) plays a Black Panther's leader.

The first two episodes premiered this week. A Duchovny fan, I didn't care for them. The loosely based Manson story was distracting, chaotic. At first, there is too much going on with that and Duchovny's character, Sam Hodiak, with a former love and his son. I was much more interested in getting to the core cast in the Detective squad. And the series finally does go there, moves through time, takes on other cases. Those relationships are rich. Then, I really liked the series a lot.

I lived in So Cal during this time. I remember the hippies and the racial strife and the Revolution in the turbulent 60's. The Vietnam War. I was a kid, but I remember the times. Manson should have been a minor backdrop in this story . . . . and maybe in Season 2, he will be.

[ripetebook]

I watched it more channel surfing and was not hooked at all! Did see cousin johnny but didn't stick around. Yeah I lived those days...mostly recall the news of the brutal murder of Sharon Tate....

One more day til hopefully Justified gets recognition!!!!!

[mondayschild]

I noticed some of our old friends on Aquarius, too. I remember the time well...so much turmoil. I was never into the hippie movement. It was just too weird and the drug scene held no interest for me. The Manson family was so creepy and their crimes were horrific. For those of you too young to have lived through those times, Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson, wrote a great book, Helter Skelter, about the Tate/ LaBianca murders and uncovered a lot about Manson and his followers. I'm not sure how true Aquarius will be to the actual story; I'm not sure I'm in it for the long haul. I tend to prefer documentaries over what I consider to be historical fiction. But it's nice to see familiar faces from some of our favorite shows.