Sidelined by lower back pain, this reviewer has been unable to attend recent theatrical screenings. As such, I missed out on the compelling action story of “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” to say nothing about the good times of “Ride Along 2.”

I would venture to guess that most of us are by now more familiar with the name of the second largest Libyan city than we are able to name the capital cities of most European nations. France? That’s Paris, an easy one. Bulgaria? Have to look that one up.

For shut-ins and those housebound for medical issues, it’s a good thing that the television season is heating up again, what with new series on cable channels and the networks starting to roll out new product.

Courtesy of FX Network in early February, you’ll soon get the 10-part limited drama series “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” I am not yet sold on the idea of reliving that bit of history.

Taking another tack that looks to be a lot more fun is the TBS Network’s launch of ten episodes of the oddly-named police procedural spoof “Angie Tribeca,” a show that is bound to delight fans of a cop spoof genre that includes comedy classics like “Sledge Hammer!” and the short-lived “Police Squad!”

Leslie Nielsen parlayed his role of Lt. Frank Drebin in “Police Squad!” to the successful run of “The Naked Gun” film franchise, which much like the TV series derived its absurdist humor with endless sight gags and non-sequiturs.

In “Angie Tribeca,” the titular character is played by Rashida Jones, who thrives in the role of straight man, which is appropriate because one of the running gags is that her fellow police officers appear to be oblivious to the fact that she’s actually a woman.

There could be a reason for that misconception. For one thing, LAPD detective Angie Tribeca is a strong, committed loner who’s already had more than two hundred workplace partners.

Her morning ritual consists of punching and kicking her refrigerator, destroying the living room furniture and doing pull-ups in the shower.

In the first episode, Tribeca, much to her chagrin, is teamed up with new partner Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur), partner number 237 to be exact. There’s a melancholy flashback to losing her partner Sgt. Pepper (James Franco, one of many celebrity cameos).

Geils is more soulful and willing to let Tribeca take the lead, even in the precinct gym where his new partner’s aggressive boxing style turns his face into a puffy pulp as if he had gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.

Deon Cole’s Danny Tanner, another detective in the same precinct, is partnered with a Belgian Malinois named Hoffman (Jagger the dog), a canine so talented that he even drives an unmarked squad car.

Overseeing the madcap adventures at the police station is Lt. Chet Atkins (Jere Burns), the prototypical tough, no-nonsense boss who spends most of his time yelling at Tribeca and Geils to get into his office.

In the episode “Tribeca’s Day Off,” the high-strung detective is ordered to use one of her many unused vacation days, and the Lieutenant says to her: “I want your badge and your gun,” to which, Tribeca replies: “Don’t you have your own badge and gun?”

On a visit to the grocery store, while off-duty, Tribeca runs into Bill Murray’s stock boy who persuades her to buy products made for loners, such as the “Flying Solo” TV dinner that is billed as “Airplane Style Food for One” and “Very Single” slices of American cheese.

The quirky medical examiner Dr. Scholls (Andree Vermeulen) performs an autopsy on a ventriloquist’s dummy after its master was horribly murdered, while being assisted by the eccentric Dr. Edelweiss (Alfred Molina), who appears each time with a new physical deformity.

Tribeca and Geils, backed up a SWAT team, bust into a house with a drug lab and counterfeiting operation and proceed to ignore these flagrant crimes as they are single-mindedly determined to arrest the owner for illegal possession of a ferret, a crime with a 50-year sentence.

Much of the humor derives from observations during the process of interrogations, such as when detective Geils questions a suspect by asking “Are you aware that someone was murdered on that flight and now he’s dead?”

The episode investigating murders in-flight, entitled “Murder in the First Class,” recalls the silliness of gags and one-liners from “Airplane!” There’s a pattern in these old shows having an exclamation point in the title, but “Angie Tribeca” stands on its own.

“Angie Tribeca,” created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy, is often hysterically funny with goofy bad puns and deadpan one-liners that should brighten the day for anyone in the mood for laughs and very silly good fun.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

NAPA, Calif. – This week the Napa County Library will host New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson, who will discuss his new book “Dry Bones.”

Johnson will speak beginning at 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 22, at the library, located at 580 Coombs St.

Johnson’s character, Walt Longmire, was first introduced 10 years ago in his short story, “Old Indian Trick.”

This was one of the earliest appearances of the sheriff, who would go on to star in Johnson’s bestselling, award-winning novels and the hit A&E drama series “Longmire.”

Johnson will be signing copies of his book at this free event.

Seating is first-come, first-served.

For special accommodations, call Library Administration at 707-253-4235.

For more information, visit www.napalibrary.org or email John Thill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Wine Studio and artist Diana Liebe are presenting monthly sip and paint parties at the wine studio.  

The January wine and watercolor session will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23.
 
The class fee of $40 covers all of the painting supplies needed along with Leibe’s step-by-step guidance and a glass of fine Lake County wine. 

Liebe is a former art teacher at both the high school and college levels. She has been very involved in the Lake County Arts Community since moving here from Mendocino County 11 years ago, and actively teaches art workshops around the county.

Reservations are required for each month’s class as participation is limited to 12 people.  

A schedule of class dates and time is available at www.lakecountywinestudio.com/events.html or by contacting Susan Feiler at 707-293-8752.
 
The Lake County Wine Studio is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake and is open Monday, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, from 1 to 7 p.m.; and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1951 adventure romance, “The African Queen,” screens at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport on Tuesday, Jan. 26, with show times at 1 and 6 p.m.

In this adaptation of C.S. Forester’s novel, it is all about the characters, who are wonderfully written and perfectly played by Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, each bringing a tangible sense of warmth and affection to the screen as their feelings grow for each other. 

Bogart won his only Best Actor Oscar for this film. The film was directed by John Huston and filmed on location in what was then the Belgian Congo in Central Africa.

The movie is sponsored by Classic Film Fans and is not rated, with run time of 2 hours 31 minutes. 

Entry to the film is by donation.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com .

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Trio Céleste, known as one of the most dynamic chamber music ensembles in the country, will perform on the FBCA Coast Chamber Concerts series on Sunday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. in Preston Hall, Mendocino. 

This trio with a "magic spark” (Philip Setzer, Emerson Quartet), was recently invited to perform a recital in Carnegie Hall next season.

The players, – pianist Kevin Kwan Loucks, violinist Iryna Krechkovsky and cellist Ross Gasworth – are all strong prize-winning instrumentalists in their own right.

One happy critic with the Orange County Register reported: “Krechkovsky, who performs on a Stradivarius, is a precise yet spirited musician; cellist Gasworth is a warm and generous one. Loucks, who played with the piano lid fully open, never overpowered them, while uncovering many shades and dynamics in the music at hand, sculpting phrases intelligently with passion, energy and technical mastery.”

Trio Céleste, cited by the  Long Beach Gazette as “exuberant and technically dazzling,” is based in Orange County as the ensemble in residence at the Claire Trevor School of Arts at UC Irvine.

The performance in Mendocino includes selections from “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by Piazzolla and Tchaikovsky’s elegiac piano trio subtitled, “In Memory of a Great Artist,” written upon the death of Tchaikovsky’s close friend and mentor, Nikolai Rubenstein.

Advance tickets for $20 are available until Jan. 22 at Harvest Market and Out of This World. Tickets at the door are $25.

For more information call 707-937-1018.

I love this poem by Mandy Kahn for its witty account of the way two young people find each other.

The poet lives in Los Angeles and this is from her book Math, Heaven, Time, from Eyewear Publishing.

At the Dorm

Week upon week at the dorm she watched him
working at a table with a pencil in his teeth,
eating with a stack of books and papers,
reading while he walked. His hair was
groups of angry men, his sweaty cuffs were wrinkled
at his forearms: he seemed to be loved by no one.
But always there were pairs of houseflies
hovering above him, landing on his nest of notes,
trailing him as if with streamers and sound.
A farm girl, she knew to follow the flies:
they'll take you to the milk just pulled to the pail,
to the cow's haunch where the meat will one day be sweetest,
the swelled pond, the unlatched gate. Everything,
she knew, was in those notebooks
he would carry: her future, the distances of islands, poles
and stars, the reason for the network of men's follies,
how to spend the night.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2014 by Mandy Kahn, “At the Dorm,” from Math, Heaven, Time, (Eyewear Publishing, 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of Mandy Kahn and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.