Glad to see that Eric Jonrush's "The Spoils of Babylon" has finally gotten out to the wider public. Sure, it's been available for years on the collectors' circuit, on shabby VHS dubs from shady dealers at shadier fan conventions, but now, finally, it can be seen in its original fidelity and quality.Which really isn't that much better.There's a reason why certain projects get released, and others remain on the shelf, whether that shelf be in an air-conditioned film vault in a major movie studio or in a pawn shop. SOB is a case in point. And apparently, Eric Jonrush has reached that point; desperate, pining for former glories. A sad, obese old man draped in tent-like garb, swilling mid-priced wine and flirting with waitresses one-third his age. We see this much in the recorded introductions to the episodes of this mini-series.I actually had not ever bothered to track down any of those low fidelity bootleg tape versions, usually made from a single, unauthorized broadcast on an Indonesian cable channel in 1987. But, I must admit, I was curious.Though I had not read any of Jonrush's source novels, I had seen several of his potboiler films. Those were all much better than SOB.I frankly wallowed in the cheesiness of "The Barbarian Hordes," his Roman A Clef expose of his time working in the advertising industry on Madison Avenue, in retrospect an amazing precursor to "Mad Men." TBH had the distinct advantage of being written by a direct eyewitness, but the distinct disadvantage of being written without any talent. It's a nutty conflation of The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, Darren Stephens from Bewitched, and the worst parts of The Fountainhead, without any of Ayn Rand's subtlety. And, yes, lots of sex scenes thrown in.I stood in awe of his most widely seen film, "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of," the sweeping, star-studded epic about the early days of the Hollywood studio system. Most famous for its bizarre casting of then current stars playing stars of the past. (Kate Jackson as Mary Pickford! Tom Selleck as Charlie Chaplin!) I spent weeks trying to puzzle out the complicated wonders of "The Aubergine Conundrum," his police/spy/detective/murder mystery/courtroom drama: equal parts Perry Mason, The Maltese Falcon, and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.But those productions had notable advantages over SOB: they were produced by major studios and had decent budgets behind them. Though SOB (the novel) did show up on the bestseller lists, it wasn't the kind of runaway hit that has Hollywood beating down a writer's door. And with only three television networks at that time, the available slots filled up fast, especially for tent-pole productions like sweeping, multi-part epics.Jonrush, seething to get SOB made, could not take the rejection and put up his own money to complete the production. His caviar tastes and baloney budget forced him to cast little known actors, including his then-wife, Laureigha Samcake, and low profile soap opera hunk Dirk Snowfield. Samcake is way out of her depth, but she tries her best. She's even out-acted by the mannequin playing Lady Anne. Yes, in one case, Jonrush's limited budget meant that for one role, he could not afford to hire an actress, only a voice over artist. Only Samcake's endless fashion parade of ever-changing wigs keeps her afloat. Snowfield is not much better, with his accent that wanders more than Jack Kerouac and his Bob Dylan hairpiece. The decision to use scale models for sets rather than stock footage is a curious one, especially when it is discovered that a crew of Old World craftsmen was flown in especially from Switzerland to construct each model by hand out of thousands of matchsticks, which Jonrush paid for in Krugerands.Believe it or not, the writing is actually the least awful thing about SOB. After a while I started getting into the story and the relationships between the characters. Would Devin wrest control of Morehouse Conglomerated from Cynthia? Would that little twerp Winston get what was coming to him? So many questions, and so little wine to find the answers.Why doesn't anyone try to film romance novels anymore? Here you have the response to that query, in full color. Advisable for Jonrush completists only.

One of the freshest, funniest, most original things I've seen in a while.Will Farrell, bored with the formulaic dopey man-child projects that made him rich, has been spending his time and money on gold like this. The premise is that this is a forgotten TV mini-series from the late 70's based on a book by the same name, shot and financed by the author. It follows the rise of oil tycoon Jonas Morehouse, his daughter and adopted son.The primary direction given to the cast was that they were really bad actors in a TV drama. Wiig is the only one who doesn't play it straight, and the contrast works.I've watched this about 4 times so far. It's so full of quotable lines, the only downside being that there are few people that would recognize them. From Jonas Morehouse's constantly changing accent, to Kristen Wiig's scenery chewing, to the characters constantly calling Dixie Melonworth by the wrong name, I don't think there's a true misfire in here. This is classic screwball comedy with class and style. More please.

The Spoils of Babylon is a great mini-series with a well developed storyline that is stretched out nicely in to six half hour episodes.There are plenty of very funny scenes throughout the series,the best ones involving Tobey Maguire,Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell,while every actor does their best in this series,these three seemed the most interested.The series is a parody of old drama series,this is funny most if the time,but certain times the joke of making the show seem "old and lazy" goes too far and stops being funny after awhile.There are a tone of very well known actors throughout the six episodes,there isn't one single episode that dosen't bring in a new character played by a very well known actor.While the Spoils of Babylon isn't a perfect and hilarious comedy series from start to finish,and I certainly think the show started off better and got a little weaker towards the end,it's only six episodes long,which won't take away a lot if time,and with a great comedic cast and plenty of hilarious scenes,it is definitely worth the watch.Story of Devon and Cynthia Morehouse (Tobey Maguire and Kristen Wiig),a young girl and her adopted brother,who start a relationship as they rise to power together because of their deceased fathers wealth.

Don't waste your time watching this crap I was looking forward to this and was BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED with the level of garbage that this show is. I would give it a negative score if it would let me. I have never seen these actors in such awful shows and will never look at them the same again ......stupid, ......childish, ......unadulterated crap ......and then they throw in the inference of incest ....that was enough for me to delete it. I really don't get the American humour. School kids could probably do better. I hope they didn't spend too much money making this tripe. Please excuse me now while I go and scoop my eyeballs and brain out with a melon-baller to try and remove this garbage from my memory.