I was a fan of the TV show LA Law when it aired from 1986-94. The lives of the people who worked at the Los Angeles law firm of McKenzie, Brackman seemed much more exciting and glamorous than mine. At the time the show premiered, I was living and working in La Crosse, one of Wisconsin’s most charming cities, right on the Mississippi River. I was working a lot of hours at a local radio station and not making much money, and my first marriage was starting to head south. But once a week, I could tune in and see Arnie Becker, the suave but egocentric divorce lawyer, romance his latest blonde, or Michael Kuzak fight his way through a tough case in court, always with his client’s best interests in mind, while he navigated a relationship with Grace, the tough but compassionate prosecutor.
Arnie was the guy who I liked the most, even though he could be petty and insensitive and wouldn’t know a serious relationship if it hit him in the face (which they sometimes did, literally). I remember one scene vividly. It was the opening sequence of the episode, leading to the title credits and theme. Arnie wakes up in his beachfront Malibu home (which he leases from a client), takes a dip in his pool and makes fresh orange juice as his kitchen TV tells of a blizzard in the Midwest. In the next shot, he’s finished dressing in his latest Armani suit and we see the image of a beautiful woman in his shower. He hops into his Porsche and heads to downtown LA for another day at his sumptuous office.
As he walks briskly into the firm’s offices, greeting colleagues with his devastating smile, he says to his harried secretary, Roxanne, “I’ll tell you, Rox, LA’s gotta be the land!” It’s his way of saying that everything’s going his way. He has the beachfront house, the sports car, the blonde in the shower, the suit, the six-figure job. He loves his life and wants everyone else to know it.
Arnie’s not being insensitive about it–not intentionally, at least–but then Roxanne comes back with her take on life in LA: how she woke up to the sound of the garbage truck outside her apartment, she had to rush to catch a bus because her old car is in the shop, and just generally how she thinks her own life sucks. She resents Arnie boasting about his good fortune when she has to deal with her own lower-middle-class, single woman circumstances.
I would watch the show and look at Arnie and say, “Man, I’d like to be like him: good-looking, wealthy, with everything going his way.” Of course, I qualified it by saying that unlike Arnie, I wouldn’t be selfish and insensitive and sometimes childish. I would handle the suits and the Porsche–and yes, the blondes–like they should be handled: with honor, dignity and appreciation.
The show went off the air in 1994, but not before Arnie got his comeuppance more than once. Interestingly, I read a while ago that an updated version of LA Law almost made it to the airwaves around 2020, but was shelved by the pandemic and the writers’ strike that soon followed. The new version was to feature Arnie and a former associate at the original firm, Jonathan Rollins, as the lead characters with their own firm. Bernsen was set to reprise his role as Arnie, with Blair Underwood again playing Rollins. It’s too bad they weren’t able to get it on the air. How might Arnie have changed over the previous quarter-century? We’ll never know.
Living in “The Land.”
I thought of that episode suddenly yesterday morning. I was walking down Main Street in Viroqua, the neat-as-a-pin town that’s the seat of Vernon County here in the Driftless Area of southwest Wisconsin. I’d just finished my airshift at WVRQ/WKPO radio, a part-time gig I started last week. My wife Sue and I had moved down here three weeks earlier, renting a nice little cabin near the end of a road in next-door Crawford County, not too far from the village of Seneca. Our new house, to be set on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi just south of De Soto, will be under construction soon. Everything about this move, talk of which began nearly two years ago, has been falling into place.
I was walking back to my car with a caramel macchiato in hand, having just gotten it from Magpie Gelato, a very nice coffee shop. The day was sunny and warm, but not overly so–after a muggy mid-90s previous day, it was pleasant and around 82. “This has gotta be The Land,” I said, as a vision of that old TV episode somehow flashed through my mind. And, I had to say to myself as I got into my car, that indeed has been the case.
We have been enjoying the you-know-what out of the Driftless since moving here in early July. Wednesday, we ventured over to the Iowa side of the Mississippi, riding the free car ferry over the channel while the new bridge is being built. Check out Sue’s Facebook page for her latest video in our Sue and Dave in the Driftless series. We drove to the top of Mt. Hosmer, just outside of Lansing, for some terrific views, including the one at the top of this post. While there, we met a trio of visitors from the United Kingdom, who praised the region for its beauty. We assured them that it’s the prettiest in the country, no matter what other Americans say. (Well, okay, we’re being rather parochial, but that’s how we–and so many others–feel about the Driftless.)
Return to the North, and to the hometown, coming up.
This weekend, Sue and I will be dining out at the Driftless Cafe in Viroqua, followed by some free music in the Live in Viroqua series. This area has live music almost everywhere, almost every night, at least during this part of the year. To say the Driftless has a vibrant arts and music scene would be a serious understatement. I’m really looking forward to seeing and hearing this act on the final night of the series:
Sue and I take a 2-3mi walk every morning. Our dog Maisie loves it; she chases rabbits and deer and even an opossum the other day. I’ve lost about 8 pounds since moving down here. I’ve already had lunch with an old Potosi High School buddy and will see more classmates tomorrow, when I go down to Potosi for the funeral of a fellow ’75er. The occasion will be somber, but I’ll still enjoy renewing old friendships.
Some exciting weekends are coming up. On Saturday, August 8, I head back up north to Northwind Book & Fiber in Spooner to sell books during Jack Pine Savage Days. The next day, I’ll be traveling south, down to The Hub: Pages and Parcels in my Grant County hometown of Potosi for the official launch of my new novel, The Dance We Shared. I’ll be there from 9am-12noon, during Potosi’s big Catfish Days celebration. Sue will be coming along, and I’m eager to show off my hometown to her.
Things are moving along quickly, with the book launch coming up and the start of construction on our new blufftop home near De Soto. I hope to see you at an upcoming event. If you can’t make it, check out my Amazon site, where you can pre-order the ebook version here: The Dance We Shared.
A Strenuous Writer's Life 