A Distinct Chill Settles On The Family: One year ago, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Camilla, … [+]
CBS will open the bomb-bay doors and roll Oprah’s made-in-California high-explosive fusion device, featuring the Queen’s self-exiled, half-abdicated grandson and his wife as the detonators, out the belly of its lumbering broadcast Superfortress at 8 p.m. ET sharp tonight. At last count, broadcasters in 68 nations had lined up for the rights, not least among them, Britain’s Independent Television (ITV), so that they, too, can invite Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to pound away on the British monarchy, the press, their new lives in Los Angeles and any other subject that moves them, or Oprah, for the two hours.
It’s an exercise in presenting a narrative of redemption, at which Ms. Winfrey excels. Crucial to the redemptive power and success of the broadcast is the extreme prominence of the couple’s primary “villains” — the entities that forced their young-married lives into the narratively-required crisis, which in turn set the stage for their attaining, nominally anyway, freedom-from-danger in Los Angeles and its entertainment industry. There could be lively debate about the clear and present back-stabbing dangers they face in their new chosen industry, but…
