# 11.22.63 - Anyone watching? \[open spoilers as it airs\]
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 16, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275 "2016-02-16T16:52:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/41 "2016-04-04T18:54:49Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> …
> eps 1 and 8 were good. i thought some of the eps in the middle weren’t paced well and filler. I guess the pacing just works better in the novel
I don’t think I missed much by skipping the middle episodes.
> [@](#):
>
> eta: I also liked the parts where they did James Franco mugshot in the style of Oswald’s and paraded him through the police station and they shot it in black and white. that was cool
I was bracing myself for Jack Ruby to step out and shoot him! :eek:
I liked the ending a lot. The way when Jake saved Kennedy, the future was crap, so he had to go back and re-set everything. (Wallace as President?? Does the book give any more history about how that and the bombs and the camps happened?) When he gave up Sadie after talking to Yellow Card Man so she wouldn’t die (again). Loved the romantic ending with her at the dance–very satisfying. The fact that she was so beloved showed him he had done the right thing. Sometimes it’s nice when movies just give you the dessert at the end of the film instead of another helping of bitter veggies \*for your own good. \*
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/42 "2016-04-04T19:36:27Z")
Did the mini series ending include “ripping sounds” and talk of how the Earth was going to be destroyed by 2080 because of supernatural (or undefined) reasons?
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/43 "2016-05-19T16:01:05Z")
Just finished the miniseries. I’m glad I saw it, and thought the casting - esp. Franco as Jake Epping, and Chris Cooper as Al - was quite good. The period details were well-done and there was a very potent undercurrent of menace throughout. That said, I still prefer the book.
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> I like it when Mr. Price asked our hero (I can never remember his name) if he “served,” and the guy says yeah, two tours to Korea. Then Mr. Price asks him what outfit and he says, “MASH 4077,” 😃 and that shuts Price up.
Yes - nice touch. Also, when he’s telling Sadie that he’s in the Witness Protection Program, he uses the plot of _The Godfather_ to explain why.
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> …Bringing Bill along seems like a really bad idea as he appears to be as dumb as a box of rocks…
Bill Turcotte did help with the surveillance of Oswald for awhile, but otherwise was annoying and eventually an active hindrance - even a threat - to Jake. Expanding Bill’s role so much was one of the biggest departments from the book and a mistake, I think.
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> …The “you’re not supposed to be here guy” had a poignant story. If there were time travel, it would probably be just like that-- an endless loop of trying to change something…
That was a nice touch, I thought, and a definite improvement over the book. And did you notice the ouroboros on the yellow card in the opening credits?: [Ouroboros - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros)
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> …I also liked the parts where they did James Franco mugshot in the style of Oswald’s and paraded him through the police station and they shot it in black and white. that was cool
Yes. Although I can’t find a pic online, they even gave Jake the same booking number as Oswald!
> [@cmyk](#):
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> …I just wanted to comment on the actor who’s playing Oswald; what a dead-ringer! Though he’s from Wales, I think, and his American accent sounds like he’s from Boston. Not sure what Lee actually sounded like, but wasn’t he born in Louisiana? However, he looks so much like LHO, it’s not a major distraction.
Yes, Oswald was born in New Orleans, but moved around a lot during his life. In appearance and voice, I think this actor was a pretty good match (the actor who played Oswald in _Parkland_ is also very good).
> [@cmyk](#):
>
> Ha! When they break into the book depository, while running up to the 6th floor, there’s an easter egg scrawled on the wall of the staircase:
>
> **REDRUM**
Yes, I noticed that the second time around. Some other Easter eggs: [https://www.yahoo.com/tv/18-stephen-king-easter-eggs-we-1400594847186998/photo-jake-s-last-stand-episode-1459887888086.html](https://www.yahoo.com/tv/18-stephen-king-easter-eggs-we-1400594847186998/photo-jake-s-last-stand-episode-1459887888086.html)
One other that they didn’t catch - the kid dressed as an evil bunny on Halloween night in 1960, which was a shout-out, I assume, to _Donnie Darko_.
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
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> … (Wallace as President?? Does the book give any more history about how that and the bombs and the camps happened?)… \*
Book spoilers:
Wallace did become President in 1968 and eventually used nuclear weapons in Vietnam IIRC. No mention of camps that I recall, although there were even worse race riots than in our timeline, both when JFK’s civil rights program was filibustered and defeated in Congress, and when MLK was killed by a former FBI agent (perhaps on Hoover’s orders). I wonder if Harry’s memory wasn’t quite on the mark - why would Kennedy establish camps that were named for him _after_ he was President?
> [@JohnT](#):
>
> Did the mini series ending include “ripping sounds” and talk of how the Earth was going to be destroyed by 2080 because of supernatural (or undefined) reasons?
No.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/44 "2016-05-19T21:29:17Z")
Excellent comments!
Elendil’s Heir said: " I wonder if Harry’s memory wasn’t quite on the mark - why would Kennedy establish camps that were named for him after he was President?"
I took that to be a Kennedy-slamming slang name for the camps, the way [“Hooverville” became a common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression.](http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml)
I might be wrong, as I seem to forget the salient points of a show/movie approximately one hour after I watch it. :smack:
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/45 "2016-05-19T23:09:20Z")
We enjoyed it.
Our only problem was that Jake only goes back to substantially change things once, and does a complete run through. In the book, he goes back several times in an attempt to change things prior to Kennedy’s assassination; in so doing the reader is given the foreshadowing knowledge that attempting to change the past has unexpected consequences in the future. That builds up to the Kennedy assassination resulting in global catastrophe. It’s a logical progression from the book, where we find out saving Harry’s family, for instance, gets him killed in Vietnam. In addition to foreshadowing the disaster to come, it lends more weight to the idea Jake would go all the way on the Kennedy mission - a motivation not very clearly explained in the miniseries.
The Bill storyline lent nothing, really, to the plot at all; his affection for Marina Oswald went nowhere. It was time better spent on exploring the mystery and danger of the timeline. I was waiting for a “JIMLA!” moment and we never got it. We should have.
Still, a very enjoyable adaptation.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/46 "2016-05-20T04:06:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> …I took that to be a Kennedy-slamming slang name for the camps, the way [“Hooverville” became a common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression.](http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml)…
I’m familiar with Hoovervilles, but Harry specifically said that JFK founded them _after_ he left office - perhaps as a charitable gesture? I would think they’d be called “Wallacevilles” or the like if they sprang into existence only because of President Wallace’s disastrous policies.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/47 "2016-05-20T13:34:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I’m familiar with Hoovervilles, but Harry specifically said that JFK founded them _after_ he left office - perhaps as a charitable gesture? I would think they’d be called “Wallacevilles” or the like if they sprang into existence only because of President Wallace’s disastrous policies.
Oh. Ok. I missed that.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-22-63-anyone-watching-open-spoilers-as-it-airs/746275/48 "2016-05-24T01:43:31Z")
Just checked the book again. As to camps,
there’s no mention of them at all. I’d forgotten, though, that the late Bill Clinton’s widow (presumably Hillary, although King doesn’t specifically say so) is POTUS in the alternative 2011.
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