Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: July 23, 1989
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: It’s actually remarkable that Daniel Radcliffe has managed to carve out the career he has for himself in the wake of the Harry Potter films. It’s still in the fledgling phase, but mold-breaking roles in Kill Your Darlings and What If, plus the upcoming Victor Frankenstein with James McAvoy, have really helped to carry him past the Harry Potter role. He’s never not going to be that boy with the lightning scar to many people, but he’s making choices both on screen and off — his two major Broadway roles in Equus and The Cripple of Inishmann should not be overlooked — that are going a long way towards career longevity.
But this is a column about television! Daniel Radcliffe is a movie star! But if we’re talking about Radcliffe’s evolution away from Harry Potter, we have to talk about his appearance on Extras in 2006. Playing a randy-little-shit version of himself, Radcliffe flashed packs of cigarettes, unfurled condoms, and made overt sexual advances on the set of his latest movie. The brilliant part was just how inept this version of Radcliffe was at being a bad boy. The meta-commentary went a few layers deep, with Radcliffe playing a version of himself looking to break his child-star mold as a way of breaking his child-star mold. Like a Russian nesting doll, it was.
Happy birthday, Daniel Radcliffe. Here’s hoping you can still look Dame Diana Rigg in the eye if you see her at premieres or on sets.
[You can watch the “Daniel Radcliffe” episode of Extras on HBO Go]
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
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