For about 20 years, Ray Keating wrote a weekly column - a short time with the New York City Tribune, more than 11 years with Newsday, another seven years with Long Island Business News, plus another year-and-a-half with RealClearMarkets.com. As an economist, Keating also pens an assortment of analyses each week. With the Keating Files, he decided to expand his efforts with regular commentary touching on a broad range of issues, written by himself and an assortment of talented contributors and columnists. So, here goes...

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

I’ve Been Granted 7 Pop Culture Wishes

by Ray Keating
The Keating Files – June 16, 2020

Everybody seems to have a list of things they’d like to see happen on the entertainment front. A pop culture wish list, if you will. And if you don’t, well, you should if you’re any fun at all.

And my wish list isn’t about things that I wish never happened – well, not really. These are things that I wish for, and if people would just listen, each could happen. So, let’s go, pay attention entertainment executives.


First, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson need to get together and cut an album. Think about having one of the musical geniuses behind the Beatles and the creative force of the Beach Boys – the two greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time (yes, I wrote it!) – get together to make an album during their later years. Make it happen!

Second, and this verges on wishing-it-never-happened, but in reality is a fix-it wish: Bring William Shatner back for one more turn as Captain James T. Kirk. Shatner, Kirk and Star Trek fans deserved a heck of a lot more than that ridiculous death in Star Trek: Generations. If you can bring Patrick Stewart back as Captain Picard for a full season (and apparently two more) of Picard, then get Shatner back in the captain’s chair for something ... anything! And so what if he can’t get into a good fistfight or land the sexy alien woman any more (Is that PC? Will someone get upset?) – after all, the dude is 89 (and looks great) – he can still speak in commanding Shatner-esque fashion on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Third, the Nerd Herder in me wishes – no, he demands – that Chuck return. For those who don’t know what Chuck was or is, my response is: What the hell is wrong with you? Chuck ran on NBC from 2007 to 2012. It was an hour-long comedy about an underachieving tech guy, played by Zachary Levi, who works at the Buy More (think Best Buy), but suddenly gets government secrets implanted in his head. What follows is a delightful five seasons of nerds, spies, silly bad guys, nerd humor, romance, and action, along with wonderful and weird characters who are irresistible. Along the way, the show was kept alive by fan campaigns. To many of those fans, though, the two-hour finale came up short. There’s been lots of talk about a Chuck movie, with Levi making clear he’s in favor of it. 

Now, follow this: HBO Max now ranks among streaming options seeking content, and it’s owned by AT&T. In turn, AT&T also owns Warner Brothers Studio, which controls Chuck (I think). Therefore, it’s time for the return of Chuck courtesy of HBO Max streaming, and I say it should be either a series of movies or, preferably, a few eight-episode seasons.

Incidentally, I wrote a book titled“Chuck” vs. the Business World: Business Tips on TV, which offers all kinds of career and business tips based on the show.

Fourth, I might regret this wish: But even with Steven Spielberg dropping out, the movie getting pushed back time and again due to assorted delays, and Harrison Ford getting up there in years, I still wish to see another Indiana Jones movie. Let’s hope that director James Mangold and Harrison Ford can pull off some Indy magic one more time.

Fifth, after this next James Bond movie is released, it is presumed to be the last one for Daniel Craig. He has been the best Bond thus far, so who could succeed him in the role? It obviously should be Henry Cavill. Don’t argue.

Sixth, in the next season of Magnum P.I., the original Magnum, Tom Selleck, needs to guest star in a two-part episode playing a detective from the mainland – preferably, Detroit – who was an old friend of the new Magnum’s (Jay Hernandez) father. Give me a call, CBS, I can pen a fun script.

Seventh, I wish that Warner Brothers would give the green light for Zack Snyder to finish his version of the Justice League movie, so we can... What? Oh, that’s happening? It’s supposed to be coming to HBO Max in 2021. Well, great. Mission accomplished. Wish fulfilled. I guess I’ll stop there then.

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Ray Keating is a columnist, economist, podcaster and entrepreneur.  You can order his new book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York from Amazon or signed books at RayKeatingOnline.com. His other recent nonfiction book is Free Trade Rocks! 10 Points on International Trade Everyone Should Know. Keating also is a novelist. His latest novels are  The Traitor: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, which is the 12th book in the series, and the second edition of Root of All Evil? A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel with a new Author Introduction. The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

Also, tune in to Ray Keating’s podcasts – the PRESS CLUB C Podcastand the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast 

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