In COVID-19 era, is 'The Avengers' perfect pandemic TV?

Feedback: Is ‘The Avengers’ perfect pandemic TV? And what have we learned from Trump books?

Sept. 17, 2020 5 AM PT

Robert Lloyd’s tribute to Diana Rigg [“Screen Hero With Strength and Smarts,” Sept. 11] could not have been more perfect.

I’ve loved her since I first watched “The Avengers” on TV at age 11. And now that show [with] her, Patrick Macnee and Linda Thorson have helped me manage the emotional eddies of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last months.

Clyde Derrick
Riverside

Robert Lloyd’s exquisite expression of appreciation for British actress Diana Rigg was the sort of praise any woman would wish be written for them.

I can imagine her looking down with that “cheeky” little smile she had and saying “Thanks, luv.” Well done.

Sylvia Lewis
Thousand Oaks

Thank you so much for this appreciation of Diana Rigg. It was the one I have been looking for that no one else has been able to articulate. The best summation of this remarkable actor’s career, persona and longevity.

If you haven’t seen them, there are YouTube videos with the British interviewer Michael Parkinson who clearly adored her, and she let her hair down in speaking with him.

David Zakon
Studio City

I have good memories of watching Diana Rigg in “The Avengers.”

At the time it aired, I was an undergrad at Cal State Long Beach and working as a young journalist at the Long Beach Press-Telegram. In those days I didn’t have a television so I’d switch the one in the Sports department from whatever game was on to ABC to watch Emma Peel and John Steed be delightful as they battled the villains of the week.

The first few times I made the switch I got yelled at, but after a couple of weeks they took to watching “The Avengers” too.

Steed, of course, kept his bowler, umbrella and roadster after Mrs. Peel left, but it was never the same. I’ve made a point of watching Diana Rigg in every performance available since then. Thank you for the fine piece this morning.

Bill Wasserzieher
Long Beach

Mea culpa of Trump’s fixer

Regarding David S. Cloud’s review of Michael Cohen’s book, “Disloyal” [“Cohen Unmasks Corrupting Trump,” Sept. 14]:

Though I have long been convinced of Donald Trump’s corruption, vulgarity, mendacity and narcissism, Michael Cohen’s book, “Disloyal” — following Mary Trump’s familial tell-all, “Too Much and Never Enough,” as well as Bob Woodward’s “Fear” and “Rage” — does little to increase my knowledge of Trump.

“Disloyal” may be unique as an insider’s mea culpa but, it does little to increase my tolerance or understanding of hatchet men and desperate wannabes such as Cohen or egotists such as Trump. I have little doubt that Cohen remains infected with the need for power and acclaim that he hoped to maintain with Trump; it’s just that now he has a book through which he has penned his hopes.

Ben Miles
Huntington Beach

The Kardashian mystery

Regarding “Gang Will be Exiting our TV” by Nardine Saad [Sept. 9] and “Family Keeps Up With TV’s Reality” by Ryan Faughnder and Wendy Lee [Sept. 10]: Why anyone, outside of their immediate family, cares about anything the Kardashians do is the greatest mystery in the history of hominid existence.

John Whiteman
San Diego

If the new Oscar standards were retroactive …

The new standards for a best picture Oscar [“Oscars Shakes Up Best Movie Rules,” Sept. 9] demonstrate that we have now prioritized political correctness over the creation of art.

Applying these new rules, not one film by David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, John Ford or Orson Welles would qualify for consideration by the academy. “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Unforgiven,” “Amadeus,” “The Godfather” and “The Godfather: Part II” not best pictures?

You’ve got to be kidding.

John Zavesky
Riverside

Democracy for Hong Kong

Regarding “Feedback: Mulan Actress Picked a Fight” [Sept. 13]: I do support freedom and democracy, but I don’t accept the letter writer’s mandate that I must “educate myself” on issues happening in Hong Kong — I can decide for myself what issues I want to educate myself on.

In addition, I can’t see any reason why the private ideology of an actress (in this case, Yifei Liu) would have anything to do with the critique of a picture she stars in (“Mulan”). The two issues are completely unrelated.

Edgardo Romero
Monrovia