This is not to take back anything I said in my DVD listing for last week about the Muppet Show DVD set - like how it's the one set you absolutely have to buy - but Mark Evanier reveals that the set isn't quite everything it was supposed to be. Not only was it released a week earlier than I said, but it is missing a number of songs, presumably because someone wanted more money than the DVD producers or someone were willing to pay. In this case what's missing includes Jim Nabors singing "Gone With The Wind", Paul Williams doing "All Of Me", Vincent Price performing "You've Got A Friend", and Charles Aznavour doing his English language signature song "Dance In The Old Fashioned Way". (This is all part of a rant by Mark about the way that altered DVDs are being released without notification to the public about material that could be missing from DVDs and other potential alterations, something which I agree with him on totally by the way.)
Music clearances are the bane of TV syndicator's and DVD producers. It's the one reason why we will sadly never see a DVD release of WKRP In Cincinnati in our lifetimes. So many of the episodes were built around specific songs - notably the Russian defector episode for which it was essential that Elton John's song "Tiny Dancer" actually be heard - that the show as a whole becomes a massive train wreck when the show is "adjusted" for the loss of music rights. It doesn't destroy some episodes - the Thanksgiving episode or my own personal favourite, the one with the Reverend Little Ed ("He's Got The Devil In a Bulgarian Headlock" is one song that isn't covered by copyright restrictions) - but it destroys the series as a whole. Surely having your song a TV show even thirty years on actually helps sales, but I guess someone doesn't see it that way. Current shows presumably have contracts for music use which will keep them intact ... don't they?
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
We Get Sacks And Sacks Of Letters
Well actually we get a couple of emails, which I should have dealt with sooner but the past few days have been nothing like routine. Just as an example, tonight I had to help babysit my nephew who is with his dad for a week while his mom is taking a trip. You have no idea how many times a two and a half year old who is ticked off because Dad is off playing ball and hasn't taken little Brian with him (because it was too cold and too wet and Brian wants to be physically close to Dad not just watching him at a distance) can watch a Thomas the Tank Engine video between screaming and whimpering. Well actually parents can but if the rest of us knew, we'd probably give up sex as a bad idea. Suffice it to say that I know pretty much all of the lines from James And The Red Balloon and the song that is in it. But I'm supposed to be talking about a couple of interesting emails.
First, Tony Figueroa sent me a link to a Hollywood Reporter article on the CBC lockout. Trust me, I'm aware of it. CBC and the Canadian Media Guild, which represents most of the on air and technical personnel at the CBC have been engaged in an "ongoing labour dispute" since 12:01 on Monday. This is having an effect on Radio and TV programming. There have been a lot of reruns on the main TV network, and the National News has been replaced with newscasts from BBC World. where it has had an impact has been on live reporting from sporting events such as the Canada Games and potentially coverage of CFL Football. Where it gets scary is when the news reports speak of the potential impact on NHL broadcasts, given that hockey doesn't come back until October. The Canadian Media Guild is fighting a CBC plan to increase the percentage of CBC employees who are on short term contracts. Currently about 30% of employees are described as "non-permanent" but management points out that 25% of the total work force (about 83% of the existing non-permanent work force) are in fact temporary employees, working as replacements for workers on sick leave or on special assignment. The Corporation wants to review new positions as they become vacant and determine if the jobs can moved to a short term basis. The CMG regards such a process as an attempt to turn the CBC into "MacDonalds" by making virtually all positions short term.
I missed the deadline on an email from Bryce Zabel. He wanted me to promote a poll he was running on his blog, dealing with the "Outstanding Drama Series" for the Emmys. Unfortunately I was a bit too busy to check my GMail account for a couple of days. As some of you may know, Bryce was the Chairman of the TV Academy from 2001-2003, so if nothing else he knows about Emmy polling. Sorry about that Bryce, I thought I had more time.
Finally there's an email from Jim and Tanya Ryno who are publicizing their desire to be on Fear Factor using a blog to promote their campaign to get cast on the show. Tanya is a freelance producer who used to work for Saturday Night Live who has a movie - Coney Island Baby which has just been released on DVD. This is what they wrote "We are using a blog to try and up our chances of getting cast on NBC's hit show, Fear Factor. We have already been auditioned and called back. They are fully aware that we are doing this. So this site, therefore, is an experiment. How much influence can we generate from the blogosphere and fans of the show? Will we succeed in getting the casting directors to make their final decision based on our support?" Frankly I doubt that having this blog will get them on Fear Factor, but I've never been one to speak out against self promotion, particularly when I regularly kick their butts on Blog Explosion's Battle of the Blogs. But I will help them promote their blog - Fear Factor's Million Dollar Couple - even though I won't be voting for them. I can't stand Fear Factor and haven't watched it since the second season. Now if it were The Amazing Race they wanted to be on I'd be all over it. If I can't be on the show (because I'm a Canadian) I'd be happy to think that someone I supported was.
First, Tony Figueroa sent me a link to a Hollywood Reporter article on the CBC lockout. Trust me, I'm aware of it. CBC and the Canadian Media Guild, which represents most of the on air and technical personnel at the CBC have been engaged in an "ongoing labour dispute" since 12:01 on Monday. This is having an effect on Radio and TV programming. There have been a lot of reruns on the main TV network, and the National News has been replaced with newscasts from BBC World. where it has had an impact has been on live reporting from sporting events such as the Canada Games and potentially coverage of CFL Football. Where it gets scary is when the news reports speak of the potential impact on NHL broadcasts, given that hockey doesn't come back until October. The Canadian Media Guild is fighting a CBC plan to increase the percentage of CBC employees who are on short term contracts. Currently about 30% of employees are described as "non-permanent" but management points out that 25% of the total work force (about 83% of the existing non-permanent work force) are in fact temporary employees, working as replacements for workers on sick leave or on special assignment. The Corporation wants to review new positions as they become vacant and determine if the jobs can moved to a short term basis. The CMG regards such a process as an attempt to turn the CBC into "MacDonalds" by making virtually all positions short term.
I missed the deadline on an email from Bryce Zabel. He wanted me to promote a poll he was running on his blog, dealing with the "Outstanding Drama Series" for the Emmys. Unfortunately I was a bit too busy to check my GMail account for a couple of days. As some of you may know, Bryce was the Chairman of the TV Academy from 2001-2003, so if nothing else he knows about Emmy polling. Sorry about that Bryce, I thought I had more time.
Finally there's an email from Jim and Tanya Ryno who are publicizing their desire to be on Fear Factor using a blog to promote their campaign to get cast on the show. Tanya is a freelance producer who used to work for Saturday Night Live who has a movie - Coney Island Baby which has just been released on DVD. This is what they wrote "We are using a blog to try and up our chances of getting cast on NBC's hit show, Fear Factor. We have already been auditioned and called back. They are fully aware that we are doing this. So this site, therefore, is an experiment. How much influence can we generate from the blogosphere and fans of the show? Will we succeed in getting the casting directors to make their final decision based on our support?" Frankly I doubt that having this blog will get them on Fear Factor, but I've never been one to speak out against self promotion, particularly when I regularly kick their butts on Blog Explosion's Battle of the Blogs. But I will help them promote their blog - Fear Factor's Million Dollar Couple - even though I won't be voting for them. I can't stand Fear Factor and haven't watched it since the second season. Now if it were The Amazing Race they wanted to be on I'd be all over it. If I can't be on the show (because I'm a Canadian) I'd be happy to think that someone I supported was.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
TV On DVD - August 16, 2005
A fairly light list which got a little heavier today with a sudden addition. Just a note on something. I had expected (I was about to write hoped but that's not the right word by a long shot) to review Tommy Lee Goes To College tonight but a situation has come up which means I probably won't be able to. I'm sure you are almost as broken hearted as I am. NOT.
Allo Allo! The Complete Series Three
- Listen very carefully, I will say this only once. If Hogan's Heroes was American television's attempt at a World War II comedy, Allo Allo is the British version, a little further removed from the war, and with that peculiar type of comedy that the British do so well. David Croft, one of the best British comedy writers of the period, crafted a show that is pure farce, filled with stereotypes from which no one, not the Resistance, the British, or of course the Nazis. Even television, and the convention of casting Britisih actors as French people without accents comes into play. There's a hint of truth to the proceedings. Most of the French weren't in the Resistance, nor were they outright collaborators. Like Rene, the lead character, they were people who were just trying to live their lives as ordinarily as they could and maybe make a bit of money. Admittedly, most probably weren't trying to balance a hag of a wife and two mistresses, but that's where the farce part comes in.
The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Third Season
- By the third season the Andy Griffith Show was hitting its stride. The third season saw the arrival on the scene of Helen Crump, Andy's permanent girl friend, although she doesn't show up until late in the season. Jim Nabors' as Gomer Pyle was prominent and it was the start of a run that would lead to his own series two years later. This season also included the debuts of a couple of the most famous recurring characters (or in one case groups of recurring characters - Briscoe Darling (Denver Pyle) and his marvelously musical family (including daughter Darlene who was in love with Andy) and of course Howard Morris's much loved rock thrower Ernest T. Bass.
Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons
- While Johnny Carson headed off in his own direction when he took over The Tonight Show - and what a wonderful direction it was - when Dick Cavett got his own talk show in 1969 he stuck closer to the model of witty and erudite conversation favoured by Jack Paar. This DVD set included nine complete episodes of Cavett's 1969-1974 series focussing on great musical acts of the day including Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, David Crosby, Steven Stills, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Paul Simon, David Bowie, and of course Saskatoon's own Joni Mitchell (sorry, we have to say that around here). And because these are complete episodes rather than just the musical appearances, there are some great guest stars present.
I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season
- They didn't have the phrase "jump the shark" back in the 1950s (thank goodness) but if they did, I think they'd say this was the season that I Love Lucy jumped it. Well at least that's my opinion. The show had largely ceased to be about the home life of the Ricardos and Mertzes during the previous season and became about Lucy meeting celebrities but still there was the element of home life, even if home was a Beverly Hills hotel. In the fifth season the Ricardos and Mertzes - with little Ricky present but rarely seen in the safe hands of his grandmother - wind up Ricky's film making career and Lucy's souvenir collecting (with the biggest prize of all in the form of John Wayne's footprints from outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater) - and head home. But no sooner do they get home than everyone, and I mean everyone, except Grandma and Little Ricky head off to Europe so Lucy can meet more famous people and have adventures in foreign climes. I'm not saying there isn't funny stuff there - the grape stomping is classic - but somewhere on the Atlantic a shark was jumped.
Little Britain - The Complete First Series
- I must confess that I haven't seen this BBC offering starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams despite the fact that it's available on BBC Canada and on the Showcase channel here. The commercials I've seen for it just tend to make me think it's not the sort of show I'd enjoy.
The Office: Season One (US/NBC Version)
- This is the American version of The Office, starring Steven Carell. Confession time: I watched the first episode and didn't like it. I didn't review it at the time for precisely that reason; I didn't like the first episode and was given to understand that subsequent episodes had undergone some significant changes. Then some things intervened which kept me from catching any of the other episodes, until the last one. I was right in not reviewing the show based on the first episode because the final episode of the first season was touching and enjoyable. Definitely a series worth catching when it comes back, or catching up with on DVD.
Phil Of The Future: Gadgets And Gizmos
- I haven't seen this Disney Channel series even though it is available on the Family Channel in Canada. In some ways the description makes it sound vaguely like a cross between Alf and the "Coneheads" sketches from Saturday Night Live, but with time travel. A family from the future are trapped in our time and while the kids try to adjust to living in our time the father is a bit paranoid about being discovered by the government. All played for fun for the early teen market of course.
Saved By The Bell: New Class: Season 4
- It's pretty surprising to me that this series lasted for seven years, considering that I never heard of it. Of course I was never the target audience. One gathers that there was a significant turn-over in cast which meant that few made an impression on the audience, and that on the whole the show was not as well thought of as the original version.
The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season
- Funny thing about The Simpsons; for me at least one season just sort of seems to blend into another. This apparently was the season where someone shot J. Montgomery Burns in a mystery which was only slightly less important than who shot J.R. Ewing, but for the most part the whole series blurs together for me. Mind you it is a funny blur.
That's So Raven: Disguise The Limit
- I remember "Raven" back when she was little Raven Symone (no hyphens or accents) who played Olivia on The Cosby Show. Apparently she grew up to do Hangin' With Mister Cooper,star in this Disney series and incidentally become the Favorite Female TV Star at the Kid's Choice Awards. Take that Mary-Kate and Ashley. Of course I've never seen her show, but then I'm probably not the major market for this disc.
Undeclared: The Complete Series
- Okay now this one has me totally flummoxed. Not only have I never seen it, I've never even known of its existence until now, despite the fact that it ran 16 weeks on a major network - well Fox actually (which may explain a great deal). The set apparently includes two never before seen episodes, bringing the total to 18 episodes. There are also plenty of extras.
Will & Grace: The Complete Fourth Season
- I've never gotten Will & Grace. Quite frankly I think that if I were gay I'd feel vaguely insulted by the show and it's portrayal of the two homosexual characters, particularly Jack. Don't get me wrong, from what I've seen Sean Hayes is a very talented actor - I really liked him as Jerry Lewis in the Martin & Lewis biopic - but somehow he seems just too much of a stereotype, and in truth Eric McCormack isn't much better. I like the way that Megan Mulally and Hayes work off of each other but beyond that I don't really care for the series. But that's just me.
I just found out about this today:
SPECIAL: Peter Jennings - Reporter
- The ABC News Store is offering a the ABC News Special on the life of Peter Jennings that aired last Wednesday night on DVD. The price is $29.95 US and profits from the sale of the DVD go to one of five charities that Jennings supported: Veritas Therapeutic Community, Coalition for the Homeless, Women In Need, Teach For America, or Sloan-Kettering Research Fund (purchasers have the choice of where their money will go).
Allo Allo! The Complete Series Three
- Listen very carefully, I will say this only once. If Hogan's Heroes was American television's attempt at a World War II comedy, Allo Allo is the British version, a little further removed from the war, and with that peculiar type of comedy that the British do so well. David Croft, one of the best British comedy writers of the period, crafted a show that is pure farce, filled with stereotypes from which no one, not the Resistance, the British, or of course the Nazis. Even television, and the convention of casting Britisih actors as French people without accents comes into play. There's a hint of truth to the proceedings. Most of the French weren't in the Resistance, nor were they outright collaborators. Like Rene, the lead character, they were people who were just trying to live their lives as ordinarily as they could and maybe make a bit of money. Admittedly, most probably weren't trying to balance a hag of a wife and two mistresses, but that's where the farce part comes in.
The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Third Season
- By the third season the Andy Griffith Show was hitting its stride. The third season saw the arrival on the scene of Helen Crump, Andy's permanent girl friend, although she doesn't show up until late in the season. Jim Nabors' as Gomer Pyle was prominent and it was the start of a run that would lead to his own series two years later. This season also included the debuts of a couple of the most famous recurring characters (or in one case groups of recurring characters - Briscoe Darling (Denver Pyle) and his marvelously musical family (including daughter Darlene who was in love with Andy) and of course Howard Morris's much loved rock thrower Ernest T. Bass.
Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons
- While Johnny Carson headed off in his own direction when he took over The Tonight Show - and what a wonderful direction it was - when Dick Cavett got his own talk show in 1969 he stuck closer to the model of witty and erudite conversation favoured by Jack Paar. This DVD set included nine complete episodes of Cavett's 1969-1974 series focussing on great musical acts of the day including Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, David Crosby, Steven Stills, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Paul Simon, David Bowie, and of course Saskatoon's own Joni Mitchell (sorry, we have to say that around here). And because these are complete episodes rather than just the musical appearances, there are some great guest stars present.
I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season
- They didn't have the phrase "jump the shark" back in the 1950s (thank goodness) but if they did, I think they'd say this was the season that I Love Lucy jumped it. Well at least that's my opinion. The show had largely ceased to be about the home life of the Ricardos and Mertzes during the previous season and became about Lucy meeting celebrities but still there was the element of home life, even if home was a Beverly Hills hotel. In the fifth season the Ricardos and Mertzes - with little Ricky present but rarely seen in the safe hands of his grandmother - wind up Ricky's film making career and Lucy's souvenir collecting (with the biggest prize of all in the form of John Wayne's footprints from outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater) - and head home. But no sooner do they get home than everyone, and I mean everyone, except Grandma and Little Ricky head off to Europe so Lucy can meet more famous people and have adventures in foreign climes. I'm not saying there isn't funny stuff there - the grape stomping is classic - but somewhere on the Atlantic a shark was jumped.
Little Britain - The Complete First Series
- I must confess that I haven't seen this BBC offering starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams despite the fact that it's available on BBC Canada and on the Showcase channel here. The commercials I've seen for it just tend to make me think it's not the sort of show I'd enjoy.
The Office: Season One (US/NBC Version)
- This is the American version of The Office, starring Steven Carell. Confession time: I watched the first episode and didn't like it. I didn't review it at the time for precisely that reason; I didn't like the first episode and was given to understand that subsequent episodes had undergone some significant changes. Then some things intervened which kept me from catching any of the other episodes, until the last one. I was right in not reviewing the show based on the first episode because the final episode of the first season was touching and enjoyable. Definitely a series worth catching when it comes back, or catching up with on DVD.
Phil Of The Future: Gadgets And Gizmos
- I haven't seen this Disney Channel series even though it is available on the Family Channel in Canada. In some ways the description makes it sound vaguely like a cross between Alf and the "Coneheads" sketches from Saturday Night Live, but with time travel. A family from the future are trapped in our time and while the kids try to adjust to living in our time the father is a bit paranoid about being discovered by the government. All played for fun for the early teen market of course.
Saved By The Bell: New Class: Season 4
- It's pretty surprising to me that this series lasted for seven years, considering that I never heard of it. Of course I was never the target audience. One gathers that there was a significant turn-over in cast which meant that few made an impression on the audience, and that on the whole the show was not as well thought of as the original version.
The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season
- Funny thing about The Simpsons; for me at least one season just sort of seems to blend into another. This apparently was the season where someone shot J. Montgomery Burns in a mystery which was only slightly less important than who shot J.R. Ewing, but for the most part the whole series blurs together for me. Mind you it is a funny blur.
That's So Raven: Disguise The Limit
- I remember "Raven" back when she was little Raven Symone (no hyphens or accents) who played Olivia on The Cosby Show. Apparently she grew up to do Hangin' With Mister Cooper,star in this Disney series and incidentally become the Favorite Female TV Star at the Kid's Choice Awards. Take that Mary-Kate and Ashley. Of course I've never seen her show, but then I'm probably not the major market for this disc.
Undeclared: The Complete Series
- Okay now this one has me totally flummoxed. Not only have I never seen it, I've never even known of its existence until now, despite the fact that it ran 16 weeks on a major network - well Fox actually (which may explain a great deal). The set apparently includes two never before seen episodes, bringing the total to 18 episodes. There are also plenty of extras.
Will & Grace: The Complete Fourth Season
- I've never gotten Will & Grace. Quite frankly I think that if I were gay I'd feel vaguely insulted by the show and it's portrayal of the two homosexual characters, particularly Jack. Don't get me wrong, from what I've seen Sean Hayes is a very talented actor - I really liked him as Jerry Lewis in the Martin & Lewis biopic - but somehow he seems just too much of a stereotype, and in truth Eric McCormack isn't much better. I like the way that Megan Mulally and Hayes work off of each other but beyond that I don't really care for the series. But that's just me.
I just found out about this today:
SPECIAL: Peter Jennings - Reporter
- The ABC News Store is offering a the ABC News Special on the life of Peter Jennings that aired last Wednesday night on DVD. The price is $29.95 US and profits from the sale of the DVD go to one of five charities that Jennings supported: Veritas Therapeutic Community, Coalition for the Homeless, Women In Need, Teach For America, or Sloan-Kettering Research Fund (purchasers have the choice of where their money will go).
Monday, August 15, 2005
Happy Birthday ... To Me!
Today, August 15, is my birthday. I won't tell you how old I am, but suffice it to say that when I was born people still Loved Lucy and Liked Ike enough to give him a second term a couple of months after I arrived on the scene. Oh yeah, and Marilyn Monroe hadn't met a Kennedy yet nor had she had a one night stand with Joan Crawford. She had just married Arthur Miller though. I share my birthday with Napoleon, Sir Walter Scott, Ethel Barrymore, Rose Marie (from the Dick Van Dyke Show), Mike Connors (Mannix), Princess Anne, and Ben Affleck. All of which is proof positive that Astrology is hokum, at least in my case.
Town For A Day
In a summer TV season that gave us foul mouthed chefs, therapy camps for troubled teens, faux Osbornes who were fortunately exiled from network TV after two episodes (Princes of Malibu but there's also a series with Hulk Hogan's family which fortunately I don't get), what seemed like half a dozen faux Trumps, and dancers - lots and lots of dancers - we have seen occasional sparks of originality or at least "creative borrowing". My Kind Of Town is a spark of originality. I'm just not sure where it falls on the spectrum of guilty pleasures. I kind of like it, but I'm not sure I should admit the fact.
The show is sort of difficult to describe. Two hundred people from a small town in the United States are brought to New York City. They've all filled out what host Johnny Vaughan describes as "an intrusive form" about themselves. Some members of the audience are selected to participate in some sort of silly games for individual prizes. Others apparently just get the reward they wanted for participating in a comedy bit. Some just participate for the thrill of participating on national TV. One person from the town gets a special seat and a special job. He has to remember the names and faces of all the people from his town who are named on the show. This includes people who are in the audience as well as people who are back in their home town. Actually this isn't as hard as it seems - the man in the first episode had a list of ten names out of all the people who were named on the show and had to match them with six pictures of fairly distinctive people. If he gets the names right the 200 people in the audience each get a prize.
That is a rather clinical description of the show, and it doesn't do it justice. ABC describes it as a comedy reality game show hybrid. Here's just a few of the things that happened in the Sunday night's show which featured the town of Greenville Alabama. One man who had what were described as the ugliest sandals in Greenville had them burned by one of the town firemen. But of course burning a pair of shoes wasn't enough so Vaughan asked the guy if he wanted his new truck or his aged tractor burned. Naturally he chose the tractor, and was rewarded with a new tractor. However the fireman couldn't ignite the tractor (with his little blow torch) so they brought in a fire breathing monster truck... which proceeded to burn up the contestant's new truck. Well not really but the look on the guy's face was worth it. Next came a woman who had stated that she wanted her mobile home moved to some land her sister had. The show moved the house but did it as a comedy bit, with the house apparently running away and the even being covered by the local news and the house attacking the police (with saucers, toilet paper, and a TV set). There's one bit where a dozen towns people participate in the first "Naked Greensville" Calendar. Back home four football players in full equipment participate in "extreme musical chairs" - four people, one chair - with the winner getting his weight in meat. One woman - who had her 1980s era high school picture (with big hair which embarrasses her today) shown on one of the big screens in Times Square - won a $5,400 toilet (hers at home "screams") with $2,000 in the bowl. And when the contestant who had to match the names of people from his town with their pictures actually did it, all 200 people from the town got a motor scooter.
The show is funny but not in a way that is easy to explain. Host Johnny Vaughan is a big part of it. The veteran British DJ, comedian and talk show host brings a sort of frenetic British charm to the show that works well on this sort of program. At the same time that he's making fun of the participants, he's not mocking them. The show doesn't use a cruel sort of humour nor is it a cynical look at the people or place. According to the show's executive producer Michael Davies, "We selected these small towns because we instantly fell in love with them and think our viewers will, too. These towns have unique qualities and extraordinary, memorable people." There's a certain affectionate quality to the approach they take to the towns. As host Johnny Vaughan put it in an interview with the New York Daily News "You see the good things that you would take for granted about a place if you lived there. It's like when tourists come to London, they love it, where I just see traffic and drizzle."
I don't know how well the show is going to do in terms of ratings. I'd like to think that it will do well. In an era when "reality programming" is usually a code word for people stabbing each other in the back and playing psychological games with each other, and where game shows are about big money or require people to eat bugs or other disgusting stuff, this show is a refreshing change. The series is scheduled to run for seven episodes but the show's website does have a form for people to nominate their towns which indicates that ABC has high hopes for the show, possibly as a spring replacement. I for one hope that works out for them. It's not the most sophisticated show on TV but there's a certain oddly endearing quality to it that sort of grows on you. Or maybe I just find it a relief from the worst of this summer season.
The show is sort of difficult to describe. Two hundred people from a small town in the United States are brought to New York City. They've all filled out what host Johnny Vaughan describes as "an intrusive form" about themselves. Some members of the audience are selected to participate in some sort of silly games for individual prizes. Others apparently just get the reward they wanted for participating in a comedy bit. Some just participate for the thrill of participating on national TV. One person from the town gets a special seat and a special job. He has to remember the names and faces of all the people from his town who are named on the show. This includes people who are in the audience as well as people who are back in their home town. Actually this isn't as hard as it seems - the man in the first episode had a list of ten names out of all the people who were named on the show and had to match them with six pictures of fairly distinctive people. If he gets the names right the 200 people in the audience each get a prize.
That is a rather clinical description of the show, and it doesn't do it justice. ABC describes it as a comedy reality game show hybrid. Here's just a few of the things that happened in the Sunday night's show which featured the town of Greenville Alabama. One man who had what were described as the ugliest sandals in Greenville had them burned by one of the town firemen. But of course burning a pair of shoes wasn't enough so Vaughan asked the guy if he wanted his new truck or his aged tractor burned. Naturally he chose the tractor, and was rewarded with a new tractor. However the fireman couldn't ignite the tractor (with his little blow torch) so they brought in a fire breathing monster truck... which proceeded to burn up the contestant's new truck. Well not really but the look on the guy's face was worth it. Next came a woman who had stated that she wanted her mobile home moved to some land her sister had. The show moved the house but did it as a comedy bit, with the house apparently running away and the even being covered by the local news and the house attacking the police (with saucers, toilet paper, and a TV set). There's one bit where a dozen towns people participate in the first "Naked Greensville" Calendar. Back home four football players in full equipment participate in "extreme musical chairs" - four people, one chair - with the winner getting his weight in meat. One woman - who had her 1980s era high school picture (with big hair which embarrasses her today) shown on one of the big screens in Times Square - won a $5,400 toilet (hers at home "screams") with $2,000 in the bowl. And when the contestant who had to match the names of people from his town with their pictures actually did it, all 200 people from the town got a motor scooter.
The show is funny but not in a way that is easy to explain. Host Johnny Vaughan is a big part of it. The veteran British DJ, comedian and talk show host brings a sort of frenetic British charm to the show that works well on this sort of program. At the same time that he's making fun of the participants, he's not mocking them. The show doesn't use a cruel sort of humour nor is it a cynical look at the people or place. According to the show's executive producer Michael Davies, "We selected these small towns because we instantly fell in love with them and think our viewers will, too. These towns have unique qualities and extraordinary, memorable people." There's a certain affectionate quality to the approach they take to the towns. As host Johnny Vaughan put it in an interview with the New York Daily News "You see the good things that you would take for granted about a place if you lived there. It's like when tourists come to London, they love it, where I just see traffic and drizzle."
I don't know how well the show is going to do in terms of ratings. I'd like to think that it will do well. In an era when "reality programming" is usually a code word for people stabbing each other in the back and playing psychological games with each other, and where game shows are about big money or require people to eat bugs or other disgusting stuff, this show is a refreshing change. The series is scheduled to run for seven episodes but the show's website does have a form for people to nominate their towns which indicates that ABC has high hopes for the show, possibly as a spring replacement. I for one hope that works out for them. It's not the most sophisticated show on TV but there's a certain oddly endearing quality to it that sort of grows on you. Or maybe I just find it a relief from the worst of this summer season.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
New Poll - Oustanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or Movie
Please vote in the new poll. As usual you can add comments here.
Poll Results - Oustanding Lead Actor In A Mini-Series Or Movie
Nine votes cast this time around and the result is about what I expected. In fifth place with no votes is John Rhys Meyers in Elvis. In a tie for third place are William H. Macy for The Wool Cap and Kenneth Branagh as FDR in Warm Springs with one vote each. In second place is Ed Harris for Empire Falls with two votes. However the clear winner, with five votes is Geoffrey Rush in The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers.
I can't say much about this category - but I will anyway. I haven't seen any of the performances nominated in this category and have only had the opportunity to see one - John Rhys Meyers in Elvis. I didn't watch it because quite frankly it seems like there's a new project about Elvis every other year and I've been tired of it since the first. The Wool Cap, I'm given to understand, is a remake of Jackie Gleason's 1962 feature Gigot and as good an actor as I think Macy is, I can't imagine that this remake is as good as the original.
This leaves us with an impressive lineup - three of the best actors of this generation. In my opinion Branagh suffers because he's playing another (real) person who has been massively overexposed - Franklin Roosevelt. He will end up being compared with people like Ralph Bellamy, Robert Vaughn Edward Herrman and John Lithgow to name but a few - IMDB lists 49 different incidents in which FDR has been portrayed on film (here's an idea - how about a film about Teddy Roosevelt that doesn't portray him as a maniac, or better yet one about Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who had a fascinating and adventurous life). I don't expect him to win in part because of this. This leaves us with Ed Wood as a small town restaurant manager in Empire Falls, and Geoffrey Rush as the incredibly complex (and probably insane) Peter Sellers. I think either one could win it. People who have rated the film on the IMDB have given Empire Falls a slightly higher popularity rating than The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers but with a far smaller sample. What even those who didn't like the Sellers movie state however is just how magnificent a job Rush has done in the role. I think it could be either.
New poll will be up later this morning.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Three Short Takes On ABC
Item 1: Peter Jennings
Last night ABC gave us two hours of extraordinary television when they said goodbye to Peter Jennings. Extra Ordinary as in beyond ordinary. It was a special in all the best meanings of the word.
Besides saving us from the final two hours of Brat Camp (more on that shortly) it was a true tribute to one of the great TV personalities, an erudite and intelligent man who tended to look for stories where others didn't and tell stories that weren't always from the popular side. While both NBC and CBS have offered tributes to anchors Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, those programs were not as compelling as Wednesday night's show simply because both Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Rather are still very much alive and in the case of Dan Rather still broadcasting. It not only showed us Jennings the consummate professional but also gave us an insight into his personal life (although I find it vaguely curious that his first two wives - Valerie Godsoe and Anouchka Malouf - weren't mentioned at all). I confess that when I was in the habit of watching American network news, my preference was for Dan Rather, so I was not fully aware of just how good Peter Jennings was. Watching the special last night showed me what I missed.
One thing that it did remind me of however - although the special didn't give the specific anecdote I remember hearing on another tribute - was how much Peter Jennings (and Dan Rather and probably Tom Brokaw although I don't recall him being as outspoken about it as the other two) hated the sort of tabloid journalism that surrounded stories like the O.J. Simpson trial. The story I heard on the other tribute concerned an executive of ABC News coming up to Jennings around the time of the Simpson trial and asking how long it would take the network to regain the ratings lead which the network had just lost. Jennings predicted - accurately as it turned out - that they wouldn't regain it because he was not willing to indulge in the sort of tabloid reporting that other stations had. One can hope - although I fear it won't happen - that the new generation of anchormen/senior news editors will adhere to the ideals that Jennings, Rather and Brokaw and before them Reynolds, Cronkite and Chancellor (and Huntley & Brinkley) upheld.
Item 2: Hooking Up
Somehow, in the wake of the tributes to Peter Jennings, it seems necessary to bring up something that has been bothering me for a while, the show Hooking Up which I gather is about a group of women trying to find love online. I don't "mind" the show - which is to say that I have never watched it, and it's existence doesn't offend me any more than other shows that I haven't reviewed here, and considerably less than shows like The Swan did and Brat Camp does - but what bothers me is the branch of ABC that is providing the money for it. Hooking Up is a production of ABC News. In light of Peter Jenning's personal disgust with tabloid TV and the general agreement that most of his colleagues have for his views on the matter, I find the fact that the ABC News division is putting this show out unworthy at best and a potentially sad sign of things to come at worst.
Item 3: Brat Camp
My friend Ian J. Ball has a posting about Brat Camp on his blog, The iBall. Ian and I don't agree at all on this show which is fair enough. I find it exploitative and almost voyeuristic, he says "Personally, I find Brat Camp interesting because this is one of the few reality shows left that still seems to deliver some actual {gasp!} psychological insight."
However a couple of incidents have come to light which make me doubt the effectiveness of the place these kids were sent to as well as the nature of the show. The first is the story of 17 year old Isaiah Alarcon who was arrested for writing racist graffiti in front of the home of a Black pre-school teacher. Apparently further charges are pending in the incident.
In the second case Jada Chabot is facing four charges following an incident in which a speedboat she was operating hit a inflatable raft with seven people aboard, one of whom is still in hospital. In Chabot's case it was an unfortunate accident but it is one which is getting national and even international attention because of her presence on the show.
Finally there's been a news report about the youngest Brat Camper, Derek. While he's not in trouble it also seems clear that the Sagewalk School (which can cost ordinary people who are not on TV $446 a day for the minimum 30 day "Preparation/Youth Transition Program") wasn't the right program for him. According to an statement from his mother in the Arkansas Democrat (registration required - use Bugmenot.com if you don't want to register) "He still couldn’t properly function in school," and indeed he might have been misdiagnosed in the first place.
What seems apparent is that Brat Camp didn't work for these kids. In Isaiah Alarcon's case Merced County Sheriff Marc Pazin said "Reality TV has taken the place of long-term rehabilitation. These kids had some real serious issues that needed to be dealt with in a long-term process, not a multi-week TV program for entertainment." In both the Alarcon and Chabot cases however the result has been exactly the same - The kid is still a brat - which is what some professionals have been worried about in the first place according to a Boston Globe article (again registration required). I'm not saying that the kids aren't responsible for their actions; I am saying that Karyn Chabot (Jada's mother) is right: "the 'free' therapy ABC had promised wasn't worth the cost."
Last night ABC gave us two hours of extraordinary television when they said goodbye to Peter Jennings. Extra Ordinary as in beyond ordinary. It was a special in all the best meanings of the word.
Besides saving us from the final two hours of Brat Camp (more on that shortly) it was a true tribute to one of the great TV personalities, an erudite and intelligent man who tended to look for stories where others didn't and tell stories that weren't always from the popular side. While both NBC and CBS have offered tributes to anchors Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, those programs were not as compelling as Wednesday night's show simply because both Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Rather are still very much alive and in the case of Dan Rather still broadcasting. It not only showed us Jennings the consummate professional but also gave us an insight into his personal life (although I find it vaguely curious that his first two wives - Valerie Godsoe and Anouchka Malouf - weren't mentioned at all). I confess that when I was in the habit of watching American network news, my preference was for Dan Rather, so I was not fully aware of just how good Peter Jennings was. Watching the special last night showed me what I missed.
One thing that it did remind me of however - although the special didn't give the specific anecdote I remember hearing on another tribute - was how much Peter Jennings (and Dan Rather and probably Tom Brokaw although I don't recall him being as outspoken about it as the other two) hated the sort of tabloid journalism that surrounded stories like the O.J. Simpson trial. The story I heard on the other tribute concerned an executive of ABC News coming up to Jennings around the time of the Simpson trial and asking how long it would take the network to regain the ratings lead which the network had just lost. Jennings predicted - accurately as it turned out - that they wouldn't regain it because he was not willing to indulge in the sort of tabloid reporting that other stations had. One can hope - although I fear it won't happen - that the new generation of anchormen/senior news editors will adhere to the ideals that Jennings, Rather and Brokaw and before them Reynolds, Cronkite and Chancellor (and Huntley & Brinkley) upheld.
Item 2: Hooking Up
Somehow, in the wake of the tributes to Peter Jennings, it seems necessary to bring up something that has been bothering me for a while, the show Hooking Up which I gather is about a group of women trying to find love online. I don't "mind" the show - which is to say that I have never watched it, and it's existence doesn't offend me any more than other shows that I haven't reviewed here, and considerably less than shows like The Swan did and Brat Camp does - but what bothers me is the branch of ABC that is providing the money for it. Hooking Up is a production of ABC News. In light of Peter Jenning's personal disgust with tabloid TV and the general agreement that most of his colleagues have for his views on the matter, I find the fact that the ABC News division is putting this show out unworthy at best and a potentially sad sign of things to come at worst.
Item 3: Brat Camp
My friend Ian J. Ball has a posting about Brat Camp on his blog, The iBall. Ian and I don't agree at all on this show which is fair enough. I find it exploitative and almost voyeuristic, he says "Personally, I find Brat Camp interesting because this is one of the few reality shows left that still seems to deliver some actual {gasp!} psychological insight."
However a couple of incidents have come to light which make me doubt the effectiveness of the place these kids were sent to as well as the nature of the show. The first is the story of 17 year old Isaiah Alarcon who was arrested for writing racist graffiti in front of the home of a Black pre-school teacher. Apparently further charges are pending in the incident.
In the second case Jada Chabot is facing four charges following an incident in which a speedboat she was operating hit a inflatable raft with seven people aboard, one of whom is still in hospital. In Chabot's case it was an unfortunate accident but it is one which is getting national and even international attention because of her presence on the show.
Finally there's been a news report about the youngest Brat Camper, Derek. While he's not in trouble it also seems clear that the Sagewalk School (which can cost ordinary people who are not on TV $446 a day for the minimum 30 day "Preparation/Youth Transition Program") wasn't the right program for him. According to an statement from his mother in the Arkansas Democrat (registration required - use Bugmenot.com if you don't want to register) "He still couldn’t properly function in school," and indeed he might have been misdiagnosed in the first place.
What seems apparent is that Brat Camp didn't work for these kids. In Isaiah Alarcon's case Merced County Sheriff Marc Pazin said "Reality TV has taken the place of long-term rehabilitation. These kids had some real serious issues that needed to be dealt with in a long-term process, not a multi-week TV program for entertainment." In both the Alarcon and Chabot cases however the result has been exactly the same - The kid is still a brat - which is what some professionals have been worried about in the first place according to a Boston Globe article (again registration required). I'm not saying that the kids aren't responsible for their actions; I am saying that Karyn Chabot (Jada's mother) is right: "the 'free' therapy ABC had promised wasn't worth the cost."
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Happy Birthday!
My mother - Mayme Louise Borisko - turns 76 today. She had a couple of health scares over the past 12 months (a bowel cancer diaganosis which fortunately turned out to be a misdiagnosis, and an eye problem which unfortunately has not turned out to be a misdiagnosis but which is being managed) and she's pretty much had to give up driving, but she's been enjoying my nephew, her one(and probably only) grandchild, so on the whole things aren't too bad.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
TV On DVD - August 9, 2005
A slow week in terms of quantity, but maybe the best week since I've been doing this in terms of quality. Some truly memorable favourites from the 1970s came out this week including one that is truly lives up to the claim "entertaining for the whole family." A very good week.
Columbo: The Complete Third Season
- Say Columbo and you immediately think of Peter Falk. In fact the character of Sgt. - later Lt. - Columbo actually originated in an episode of the 1960 series Chevy Mystery Theater" called "Enough Rope" starring Bert Freed. The episode was expanded into a stage play in 1962 which starred Thomas Mitchell - best known today as Gerald O'Hara in Gone With The Wind - as Columbo. The stage play was made into a 90 minute movie for TV in 1968 and the producers wanted Bing Crosby for the role. He refused and they reluctantly gave Peter Falk (who was much younger than what they really wanted) the role he's been playing off and on for nearly 40 years. The third season features the usual run of familiar faces, including John Dehner, Robert Culp, and Jack Cassidy. As well there are appearances by Jose Ferrer and Lew Ayres, but my favourite "guest murderer" in this season is Johnny Cash as a gospel singer who murders his wife (Ida Lupino) and makes it look like a plane crash. Johnny Cash might not have been the best actor in the world, but he was better than he was frequently given credit for. Oh, by the way, somethin's bothering me: for some depressing reason they decided to include a "bonus" episode ... from Mrs. Columbo (the Kate Mulgrew series).
Dallas: The Complete Third Season
- Dallas was the pioneer for the nighttime soap opera trend of the 1980s. It directly spawned Knots Landing (during Season 3 as a matter of fact) and was duplicated (but not nearly as well) by Falcon Crest and Dynasty. Truth is that there was never a lead character as vile as J.R. Ewing who was also so dammed charming. He wasn't immoral, he simply had no morals at all despite the moral compass that should have been supplied by his mother, the beloved Miss Ellie, and even his father Jock. Season 3 starts with the kidnapping of J.R.'s newborn son (or is he Cliff's son) includes the arrival and seduction of Sue Ellen's sister Kristin (Mary Crosby), the usual assortment of shady business deals and people who can't keep their clothes on, and culminates with J.R. getting shot by.... Well even though they didn't show you in the episode, the documentary that is included as an extra tells you. Best of all (apparently) are the commentaries from the stars of the show.
Farscape: Season 2: Starburst Edition, Vol. 2.2
- I mentioned in relation to an earlier release of Farscape that the system they are using to release episodes of this show - or rerelease them as the case may be - seems more than a little complicated and, dare I say it, mercenary. Objection still holds.
McCloud: Seasons 1/2
- With the releases this week you can recreate the feeling of the first season of NBC's old Mystery Movie series. All that's missing is the original introductory footage with the great Henry Mancini introductory music (done on a synthesizer). The show actually started in 1970 with a two hour pilot called "Portrait Of A Dead Girl" which was almost a complete remake of the Clint Eastwood movie Coogan's Bluff released not quite two years before. It then became an hour-long series in NBC's Four In One "wheel" series (one of the other series in this group was Rod Serling's Night Gallery) before expanding to a 90 minute series in its second season. It was a great series with some truly enjoyable work from Dennis Weaver as the supposd misfit New Mexico Marshal and J.D. Cannon as his departmental nemesis Chief Clifford. The way those two worked together was truly amazing.
McMillan & Wife: Season One
- The third element of the original NBC Mystery Movie wheel was McMillan and Wife. It was also the only one specifically created for the series. The show is essentially a modernized take on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man series of movies (minus the alcohol) combined with Mr. and Mrs North and perhaps just a touch of I Love Lucy - one sometimes expects Rock Hudson to say "Sally, you got some 'splainin' to do." The chemistry between Hudson and Susan Saint James is tangible, and when you add in Nancy Walker as Sally's maid (and frequent partner in her escapades) Mildred and John Schuck as Stewart MacMillan's trusted, if sometimes slow-witted, aide Sergeant Enright you have a winning combination.
Cartoon Network: Grossest Halloween Ever
- Well not really. Should more accurately be titled "Five Halloween Episodes From Cartoon Network Shows (and four bonus toons) That We Think We Can Sell You By Labelling Them Gross But Are Nowhere Near As Disgusting As Some Of The Stuff We Don't Own And Couldn't Show You Anyway Because You're Too Young". But no one ever went broke by bending the truth in labelling laws.
The Muppet Show: Season One (Special Edition)
- "It's time to put on make-up, it's time to light the lights, it's time to get things started on the Muppet Show tonight!" One of the great theme songs to a show which seemed like it was a kid program but was so very much more. The show was the perfect marriage of performers to medium and it established the Muppets as being something that wasn't just for kids in a way that Jim Henson's other projects of the 1970s - Sesame Street and some fairy tale projects he did with the CBC - like Hey Cinderella and The Frog Prince among others - never did. The guest stars in the first season were weaker than they would be in later years, although they did include a few gems like Candice Bergen (who knew what it was like to be upstaged by a puppet) Ethel Merman, Peter Ustinov and Vincent Price. As well some of the gag material hadn't quite hit its stride, but if nothing else the first season showed the direction the program was going in, and it still attracted fans of all ages. If you buy no other series on DVD get this one.
Profit: The Complete Series 1
- A series which I totally missed, which apparently wasn't hard. Eight episodes were made including a two hour pilot, but only four were actually seen before Fox pulled the series just before May Sweeps in 1996. Co-creator and writer David Greenwalt would go on to better (or at least longer lasting) things as one of the principal writers on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Roswell: The Complete Third Season (The Final Chapter)
- Roswell wasn't easy to see on Canadian TV which may explain why I came to it very late. The first season was seen on CTV - but not by me - largely in odd time slots. The second and third season rights were owned by Toronto's CITY-TV and seen nationally on the Space cable network. I saw some of the episodes at the time but I can't recall much of the continuity. Space no longer airs reruns of the series, preferring to show every series of Star Trek except the animated version instead. Even in the U.S. its status was variable. The first two seasons aired on The WB which cancelled it after the second. When UPN took over Buffy The Vampire Slayer after its fifth season they also revived Roswell. It was probably a mistake. I seem to recall that people who had been generally positive about the series even in its second season were quite negative about the UPN episodes. Not that it mattered apparently - if anything the ratings at UPN were even worse than those at The WB, and the series was cancelled there too, although at least they had the opportunity to do a series finale episode.
T.J. Hooker: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons
- Ah yes ... William Shatner in ... his other iconic ... television ... role! Heather Locklear, who played Officer Stacy Sheridan was splitting her time between this series and Dynasty and the combination of the two series probably made her a star. There's also Adrian Zmed and actor/singer James Darren who appeared in season 2 and was attempting an acting comeback at the time. The first season was truncated - only five episodes - and I don't know if this box set includes the original pilot movie, although I would expect it too. At the very least there's Locklear in a tight uniform and of course Mr. ... William ... Shatner.
Thundercats: Season 1, Volume 1
- Can't tell you much. This is a six disk set featuring the first 33 episodes of the series (the two seasons had 65 episodes each). Amazon doesn't have their usual listing of what's on each disk so I can't give you any detail on extras but they appear to consist of "super-fans" like Will Wheaton giving "their memories and support to this animation classic." I never saw it.
What's New Scooby Doo, Vol. 6: Monster Matinee
- Why is it that the whole Scooby-Doo franchise refuses to die. This version dates from 2002 and features Mindy Cohn (Natalie from Facts Of Life) as Velma alongside veteran voice actor Frank Welker as Shaggy and of course Casey Kasem as Scooby. Presumably the single disk in this "Volume" deals with movie monster cases. Just a guess because Amazon doesn't list the episodes.
Columbo: The Complete Third Season
- Say Columbo and you immediately think of Peter Falk. In fact the character of Sgt. - later Lt. - Columbo actually originated in an episode of the 1960 series Chevy Mystery Theater" called "Enough Rope" starring Bert Freed. The episode was expanded into a stage play in 1962 which starred Thomas Mitchell - best known today as Gerald O'Hara in Gone With The Wind - as Columbo. The stage play was made into a 90 minute movie for TV in 1968 and the producers wanted Bing Crosby for the role. He refused and they reluctantly gave Peter Falk (who was much younger than what they really wanted) the role he's been playing off and on for nearly 40 years. The third season features the usual run of familiar faces, including John Dehner, Robert Culp, and Jack Cassidy. As well there are appearances by Jose Ferrer and Lew Ayres, but my favourite "guest murderer" in this season is Johnny Cash as a gospel singer who murders his wife (Ida Lupino) and makes it look like a plane crash. Johnny Cash might not have been the best actor in the world, but he was better than he was frequently given credit for. Oh, by the way, somethin's bothering me: for some depressing reason they decided to include a "bonus" episode ... from Mrs. Columbo (the Kate Mulgrew series).
Dallas: The Complete Third Season
- Dallas was the pioneer for the nighttime soap opera trend of the 1980s. It directly spawned Knots Landing (during Season 3 as a matter of fact) and was duplicated (but not nearly as well) by Falcon Crest and Dynasty. Truth is that there was never a lead character as vile as J.R. Ewing who was also so dammed charming. He wasn't immoral, he simply had no morals at all despite the moral compass that should have been supplied by his mother, the beloved Miss Ellie, and even his father Jock. Season 3 starts with the kidnapping of J.R.'s newborn son (or is he Cliff's son) includes the arrival and seduction of Sue Ellen's sister Kristin (Mary Crosby), the usual assortment of shady business deals and people who can't keep their clothes on, and culminates with J.R. getting shot by.... Well even though they didn't show you in the episode, the documentary that is included as an extra tells you. Best of all (apparently) are the commentaries from the stars of the show.
Farscape: Season 2: Starburst Edition, Vol. 2.2
- I mentioned in relation to an earlier release of Farscape that the system they are using to release episodes of this show - or rerelease them as the case may be - seems more than a little complicated and, dare I say it, mercenary. Objection still holds.
McCloud: Seasons 1/2
- With the releases this week you can recreate the feeling of the first season of NBC's old Mystery Movie series. All that's missing is the original introductory footage with the great Henry Mancini introductory music (done on a synthesizer). The show actually started in 1970 with a two hour pilot called "Portrait Of A Dead Girl" which was almost a complete remake of the Clint Eastwood movie Coogan's Bluff released not quite two years before. It then became an hour-long series in NBC's Four In One "wheel" series (one of the other series in this group was Rod Serling's Night Gallery) before expanding to a 90 minute series in its second season. It was a great series with some truly enjoyable work from Dennis Weaver as the supposd misfit New Mexico Marshal and J.D. Cannon as his departmental nemesis Chief Clifford. The way those two worked together was truly amazing.
McMillan & Wife: Season One
- The third element of the original NBC Mystery Movie wheel was McMillan and Wife. It was also the only one specifically created for the series. The show is essentially a modernized take on the characters of Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man series of movies (minus the alcohol) combined with Mr. and Mrs North and perhaps just a touch of I Love Lucy - one sometimes expects Rock Hudson to say "Sally, you got some 'splainin' to do." The chemistry between Hudson and Susan Saint James is tangible, and when you add in Nancy Walker as Sally's maid (and frequent partner in her escapades) Mildred and John Schuck as Stewart MacMillan's trusted, if sometimes slow-witted, aide Sergeant Enright you have a winning combination.
Cartoon Network: Grossest Halloween Ever
- Well not really. Should more accurately be titled "Five Halloween Episodes From Cartoon Network Shows (and four bonus toons) That We Think We Can Sell You By Labelling Them Gross But Are Nowhere Near As Disgusting As Some Of The Stuff We Don't Own And Couldn't Show You Anyway Because You're Too Young". But no one ever went broke by bending the truth in labelling laws.
The Muppet Show: Season One (Special Edition)
- "It's time to put on make-up, it's time to light the lights, it's time to get things started on the Muppet Show tonight!" One of the great theme songs to a show which seemed like it was a kid program but was so very much more. The show was the perfect marriage of performers to medium and it established the Muppets as being something that wasn't just for kids in a way that Jim Henson's other projects of the 1970s - Sesame Street and some fairy tale projects he did with the CBC - like Hey Cinderella and The Frog Prince among others - never did. The guest stars in the first season were weaker than they would be in later years, although they did include a few gems like Candice Bergen (who knew what it was like to be upstaged by a puppet) Ethel Merman, Peter Ustinov and Vincent Price. As well some of the gag material hadn't quite hit its stride, but if nothing else the first season showed the direction the program was going in, and it still attracted fans of all ages. If you buy no other series on DVD get this one.
Profit: The Complete Series 1
- A series which I totally missed, which apparently wasn't hard. Eight episodes were made including a two hour pilot, but only four were actually seen before Fox pulled the series just before May Sweeps in 1996. Co-creator and writer David Greenwalt would go on to better (or at least longer lasting) things as one of the principal writers on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Roswell: The Complete Third Season (The Final Chapter)
- Roswell wasn't easy to see on Canadian TV which may explain why I came to it very late. The first season was seen on CTV - but not by me - largely in odd time slots. The second and third season rights were owned by Toronto's CITY-TV and seen nationally on the Space cable network. I saw some of the episodes at the time but I can't recall much of the continuity. Space no longer airs reruns of the series, preferring to show every series of Star Trek except the animated version instead. Even in the U.S. its status was variable. The first two seasons aired on The WB which cancelled it after the second. When UPN took over Buffy The Vampire Slayer after its fifth season they also revived Roswell. It was probably a mistake. I seem to recall that people who had been generally positive about the series even in its second season were quite negative about the UPN episodes. Not that it mattered apparently - if anything the ratings at UPN were even worse than those at The WB, and the series was cancelled there too, although at least they had the opportunity to do a series finale episode.
T.J. Hooker: The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons
- Ah yes ... William Shatner in ... his other iconic ... television ... role! Heather Locklear, who played Officer Stacy Sheridan was splitting her time between this series and Dynasty and the combination of the two series probably made her a star. There's also Adrian Zmed and actor/singer James Darren who appeared in season 2 and was attempting an acting comeback at the time. The first season was truncated - only five episodes - and I don't know if this box set includes the original pilot movie, although I would expect it too. At the very least there's Locklear in a tight uniform and of course Mr. ... William ... Shatner.
Thundercats: Season 1, Volume 1
- Can't tell you much. This is a six disk set featuring the first 33 episodes of the series (the two seasons had 65 episodes each). Amazon doesn't have their usual listing of what's on each disk so I can't give you any detail on extras but they appear to consist of "super-fans" like Will Wheaton giving "their memories and support to this animation classic." I never saw it.
What's New Scooby Doo, Vol. 6: Monster Matinee
- Why is it that the whole Scooby-Doo franchise refuses to die. This version dates from 2002 and features Mindy Cohn (Natalie from Facts Of Life) as Velma alongside veteran voice actor Frank Welker as Shaggy and of course Casey Kasem as Scooby. Presumably the single disk in this "Volume" deals with movie monster cases. Just a guess because Amazon doesn't list the episodes.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Peter Jennings - 1938-2005
ABC anchorman Peter Jennings died today at age 65 of lung cancer ending an era in the history of network news in the United States.
Peter Jennings was literally born into broadcasting. He was born in Toronto in 1938 where his father, Charles Jennings, was a staff announcer for the CBC. Among his duties at the time was reading the National News Bulletin at 10 p.m. He also hosted special events and and travelled with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada. Charles Jennings was eventually replaced as newsreader on the 10 p.m. National News by Lorne Greene but he went on to be a network Vice President at the CBC. Ironically this position hindered Peter's career as a broadcaster. Peter's first job in broadcasting occurred when he was 9 years old. The CBC was doing a Saturday kids show and asked Peter's mother if Peter was available to do it. The show was known as Peter's Program but it nearly ended when Charles Jennings returned from a trip for UNESCO. He was livid that Peter had been approached for the job because to him it represented nepotism. He was only just talked out of shutting down the program entirely. Years later, long after he dropped out of high school, Peter auditioned for an announcer's position at the CBC. This time there was no circumventing the nepotism regulations even though Jenning's audtion was the best of the lot. Charles Jennings did manage to arrange with a family friend for Peter to get a job with a small station in Brockville Ontario. This in turn led to a short stint with the CBC Northern Service followed by a job with CJOH-TV in Ottawa, one of Canada's first private stations, which was in fact owned by a former CBC colleague of Charles Jennings named Ernie Bushnell. When CJOH became one of the founding stations of the CTV Network, Peter Jennings became the network's first Parliamentary correspondent and, with Baden Langton, the first co-anchor of the CTV news.
Jennings' work with CTV attracted the attention of ABC News President Elmer Lower who offered Jennings a contract to work for ABC. In early 1965 Jennings suddenly found himself anchoring the ABC News. He was only 27 and was going up against broadcasting and reporting veterans Chet Huntley and David Brinley at NBC and Walter Cronkite at CBS. Like his father before him, Peter's training had been as an announcer not a reporter (it wasn't until the late 1970s before Canadian news anchors were even allowed to do actual reporting - they were announcers not news men and even belonged to different unions). Jennings' two years as ABC's anchor were horrible. He was grateful when he was relieved of the anchor chair and sent to work internationally. While most of his colleagues did a turn or two in Vietnam, Jennings was sent to a pre-civil war Beirut where he covered the Middle East and South Asia, including the Bangladesh War. He was in the Olympic Village in Munich in 1972 and his expertise in the Middle East proved invaluable in ABC's coverage. He knew everyone who was anyone in the Middle East. He was later reassigned to ABC's London Bureau but was one of the network's chief correspondents.
After ABC's experiment with using Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters as an anchor team crashed and burned the new head of ABC News, Roone Arledge came up with the idea of using three anchors in different cities - Frank Reynolds in New York, Max Robinson in Chicago, and Jennings in London. This also crashed and burned with Reynolds taking the lead role and Robinson complaining of racism to anyone who would listen (which wasn't many). Five years after Frank Reynolds became ABC's chief anchor he succumbed to Bone Cancer. He was replaced by Peter Jennings. Jennings' second period as anchor was more self assured than his first. By now he was a veteran journalist who, as someone once put it, had been to "every country with a vowel in it". Beginning in the mid-1980s Jennings and ABC News were either first or second in the network ratings for most of the past 20 years. He personally anchored ABC's full 24 hour coverage of the Millennium celebrations on January 1, 2000, and was on the air for 60 hours straight following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Jennings' personal life was tempestuous. He was married four times and divorced three and was the father fo two children. Although he became an American citizen in 2003 (scoring a perfect score on the citizenship test, something he was immensely proud of) he retained dual Canadian citizenship. He received numerous awards in his career including 14 National Emmy Awards, two George Peabody Awards, and the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award. He was named Anchor Of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review three years in a row.He reportedly started smoking at age 13 and although he quit smoking in 1988 he started again briefly in 2001 at around the time of the terrorist attacks. In April 2005 he announced that he was suffering from Lung Cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
New Poll - Outstanding Lead Actor In A Movie Or Miniseries
Please voter for the nominees in Outstanding Lead Actor In A Movie or Miniseries. This category is the domain of the American cable networks - only one from an over the air broadcasters, which is also the only one seen in Canada I think - but do your best. As always, comments welcome.
Poll Results - Outstanding Actress In A Drama
This category turned out to be a bit surprising. We had 17 votes, which is a record for this blog, although of course it's not a scientifically valid survey.
The results are as follows. In fifth place is Glenn Close from The Shield with no (0) votes. In fourth place is Alias star Jennifer Garner with two votes, about 11% of those cast. In a tie for second place are Patricia Arquette in Medium and Frances Conroy from Six Feet Under each with three votes, roughly 17% support. But with an overwhelming nine votes or 52% is Mariska Hargitay from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Here's the surprising thing: seven of those votes came in the first day that the poll was in the field.
About the only performance that I've seen this season is Patricia Arquette's work in Medium. I think she's pretty good in the role of a woman who doesn't really understand the powers she has. That said I don't think that she's as good as any of the other performers in this category. I've seen Conroy in the first season of Six Feet Under and while she's excellent I don't know that the role -then at least - was much more than a supporting part. The Shield episodes that Glenn Close has appeared in haven't been seen in Canada yet - the show runs at the whim of Canwest-Global, but let's face it, she's Glenn Close. I don't watch Alias or Law & Order: Special Victims Unit but in the case of the later, I think it is significant that Hargitay is the only person from the entire Law & Order franchise to get nominated for acting although there are two nominees in the Guest Actress in a Drama Category. That has to mean something. If I have to handicap this - and I am handicapped at handicapping in this case - I'd say it comes down to Glenn Close or Mariska Hargitay. New poll sometime in the next 24 hours (I'll be away from the computer most of tomorrow morning and afternoon).
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Big Brother's Latest Twist *Yawn*
The other day I had to go down to see my financial advisor to go over my mutual funds and make a couple of changes. Dean's a nice guy, a former junior hockey player (just below the pro leagues), and maybe his only flaw is that he seems to think that my kid brother knows more about mutual funds than he does. We decided to reduce my holdings in an International Fund we had both liked earlier because it basically turned out to be a dog, and cut my exposure to a Balanced Fund because of the amount of holdings in bonds that the fund had - bond value goes down as interest rates on new bonds go up. The bulk of my funds are now in a Canadian Equity Fund since neither one of us is too enthusiastic about the US economy - Dean thinks that the US needs to balance the budget and I'm worried that the war isn't helping due to the increase in oil prices (although it does boost the Canadian Equities Fund which has a lot of resource stocks).
Anyway, once the financial matters were worked out, and since I had a half hour appointment, we started chatting about a number of other matters, one of which was Poker. I mentioned that I was playing a lot of poker online and gave him a fairly basic explanation of how it works. He in turn commented on the large amount of poker that is now on TV and wondered whether the return of hockey was going to mean that there would be less poker on the tube. I think he was a bit surprised when I told him that in terms of ratings poker drew better on ESPN than the NHL does (remember he played hockey on a pretty high level). Of course I do expect hockey to return to immense popularity in Canada when it comes back in September or October. Still I don't think that it's going to drive poker off the sports networks in Canada and certainly there's going to be a lot of product coming from the United States.
One thing that Dean mentioned stuck with me. One of the things that he has noticed about poker on TV is that it is easy for the viewers to identify with the players. We learn about their personalities but also about their thought processes. Then he added that he wondered if this helped to explain the popularity of reality shows. Reality shows like Survivor, he feels, allow us to see the personalities of the players, allow us to identify with them, and as a result allow us to choose sides.
Which brings me to the latest "secret" in Big Brother's "summer of secrets". Once the allies of fireman Eric (aka "Cappy") had managed the eviction of Kaysar in revenge for Kaysar getting Eric evicted, everyone in the house learned that one of the evicted houseguests - well three evicted houseguests since Ashlea who was the first out escaped the sequester area and was exposed to the outside world - would be coming back. As people with long lasting memories might recall they used this gimmick in Big Brother 3. That time the people in the house had the final decision after the number of choices had been reduced to two. This time the public gets to choose. You can vote using text messaging, or you can vote online. Apparently with the Internet voting (at the CBS America's Choice website) allows you to vote as many times as you want - I've voted three times in the past two hours. So who are the choices?
Michael: L.A. based artist and Kaysar's partner. Sorry, doesn't stand a chance. He somehow managed to so anger Eric that they nearly came to blows. I'm still not sure how that one happened. Fact is though that he didn't have much personality. He really wasn't much of a player and may have been the only one not to figure out that everyone had a partner within about ten minutes.
Eric: Boston born, Las Vegas Firefighter and Maggie the catty's partner. Frankly he comes across as a petty dictator. His initial fight with Michael - before someone told Eric that Michael had insulted his family - was that Michael's flirting with the women verged on sexual harassment. If Michael was being sexually harassing, then what on earth is Howie doing? His reaction once James won the power of veto ("Take off that Union Hat!" then pulling it off James's head) show a very hot temper. Hot tempers don't make for good players. Maybe that's why Ivette sounds as though she's lost more than Maggie with Eric's departure (and would have lost more with him going than she would if her partner Beau had left) - they have similar temperaments
Kaysar: Graphic designer from Irvine California, but born in Iraq. He's not the most strategic player ever seen - I think it might have been better to get one of Eric's sheep on the block opposite Maggie once James was "saved" and left Eric for later - but he's the most best strategic thinker of the three possibilities. Say whatever else you want about Big Brother in its American incarnation, it is first and foremost about strategic thinking.
I'm not convinced that Dean is right when he says that we see the personalities of the players in a Reality Show. I think that what we see, even in the "confessional" sessions, is what the players their fellow competitors to see. As viewers we don't see the competitors in their real lives. It's sort of like the difference between watching a lion in a zoo as opposed to watching a lion in the wild. We aren't seeing the "houseguests" in their natural habitats anymore than the lion in the zoo is in his natural habitat. The difference is that we can only judge the Big Brother houseguests from their behavior in their "cage". Which may be why I voted for Kaysar three times in the past three hours. I liked the version of him who has been seen on TV better than I like the personas that Michael and Eric have exhibited. Who knows what any of them are like in their "natural habitats"?
My My...
That looked pretty crappy didn't it. Only explanation is the code from the original site and Blogger don't seem to work together awfully well. Sorry
Porky Pig?
While some of my other blogging buddies were doing the comedian test I found this one (okay, okay, Jaime Weineman found it, I mooched it off of his blog). Porky Pig, huh. Well that's impossible - I don't have a speech impedi... speech impedi... I talk real good. Could have been worse - I could have ended up as Buddy (real old school Warners character, duller than dishwater).
| Porkey Pig! You scored 28 Aggression, 100 Sophistication, and 28 Optimism! |
| Non-aggressive, possibly shy, dapper, well-mannered, and likely far too hard on yourself, you are the prototypical conscientious friend who too often gets taken advantage of. Generally you don't like to make a fuss and are more or less adverse to risk-taking. There are those out there who make entire careers out of manipulating people like you, and you should be very weary of them. Regardless, try taking a few risks and definitely stick up for yourself more. Maybe quit your safe but boring job, or ask that special person out. You are someone of high moral character and probably deserve far more out of life than you are settling with. |
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My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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| Link: The Which Looney Tune Are You Test written by coolguy3000 on Ok Cupid |
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
A Meme from Sam
Okay, I'll play but I don't have anyone to hand it along to so I guess it won't be going anywhere from here.
Five Light Reads
Five Reads To Make Me Think (then give me a headache from thinking too much)
Five Songs Which Turn Me On
Well I dont know about Turn Me On but:
Five Best Movie Dramas
Five Best Movie Comedies
Five Light Reads
- JSA Comics (from DC)
- Any of Max Allan Collins' Nate Heller novels
- Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
- Any Nero Wolfe stories by Rex Stout
- Positively Fif th Street by James McManus
Five Reads To Make Me Think (then give me a headache from thinking too much)
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- Hawaii by James Michener - Loved the way he used the location as a character
- The National Dream/The Last Spike by Pierre Berton - Proof positive that history isn't boring but how it's presented frequently is.
- Winning At Poker by Dave Scarf - my favourite Poker book but then I still dont own SuperSystem 2 by Doyle Brunson
- Most manuals for electronics - but not in a good way
Five Songs Which Turn Me On
Well I dont know about Turn Me On but:
- La Marseilles (I swear, every time I hear this I get chills up and own my spine)
- Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman orchestra
- Your Cheatin' Heart - by Hank Williams but I prefer the Ray Charles cover
- Hurt - the Johnny Cash cover of the Nine Inch Nails song
- Crying - the version by Roy Orbison and k.d. lang
Five Best Movie Dramas
- All The Presidents Men
- Original version of The Manchurian Candidate (for Angela Landsbury's performance if for nothing else)
- Original version of Inherit The Wind (Frederic March and Spencer Tracy)
- Casablanca
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone - they dont make guys likethat anymore)
- Honourable mention to Notorious (Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman have a kissing scene that is explosive).
Five Best Movie Comedies
- Speedy (Harold Lloyd - probably not the best Lloyd but the best of the few I've seen)
- The General (well really any Buster Keaton but this is the one that is always shown)
- Duck Soup (The Marx Brothers)
- Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart)
- What's Up Doc (Ryan O'Neal, Barbra Streisand)
Fiction Is More Enjoyable Than This Reality
I'm of two (or more) minds when it comes to last night's new reality show Meet Mr. Mom. The cynical side of me believes that the show was an attempt by NBC to bend down and deliver a big wet smooch to the Parents Television Council's rather ample hindquarters. The non-cynical side of me says that NBC, realising that there's a market for "good family entertainment" (of the sort that the PTC would like) and offered it up to us in the form of Meet Mr. Mom. Of course the really cynical side will tell you that Meet Mr. Mom is in fact an effort to "prove" to the PTC and similar groups that there really isn't a market for such shows which will be shown when the ratings come out. Of course I normally don't listen to my really cynical side.
The show itself is pure fluff, light as a dandelion seed in a heavy wind. The premise is a pure sitcom scenario of the sort that goes back to I Love Lucy - the wife goes away and dear old dad has to take care of the housework and the kids, thereby getting a greater appreciation of what Mom goes through. Of course, in these days of two income families and joint custody the reality is probably that dad pulls his weight in raising the kids (along with the daycare centre) and both parents are equally frazzled by the housework but let's stick with the central conceit of the show shall we.
The first episode introduced us to the Potters and the Smiths, both from what look to be affluent neighbourhoods somewhere in Texas. Each family has three kids, all apparently under the age of 12. The Potters have three girls and the Smiths have three boys, the youngest about three years old. The families are both surprised when a "proclamation" arrives at the door telling the wives that they were to pack up and be ready to go on a luxury vacation for a week, leaving their husbands in charge of the households and the kids. Dad will be judged on how well he does in terms of "Parenting", "Housekeeping", "Time Management", and "Nutrition". Hilarity - not to mention tantrums - ensue, or at least they're supposed to. During the course of the week the dads are given special tasks to do in addition to the normal running of the house. The first of these is to throw a sleepover party with six of their kids' friends. Already the Smiths are at a disadvantage. The older boys have a certain amount of trouble getting in touch with their friends, and when the youngest boy throws a tantrum - Dad wants the older boys to stay at home making calls while he takes the "baby" with him to the store - it throws off their ability to get things done. There's a little surprise added during the sleepover when each family gets two new pets - a goat for each family, a llama for the Potters and a pig for the Smiths - which have to be cared for through the week. Another challenge is having to build a soap box derby car in 24 hours for a downhill race for a mystery prize. The men get into this task, particularly Mr. Smith who becomes fixated with it at the expense of little things like housekeeping. Therefore it's a good thing that his car wins (after one race where both flip and a second race featuring both dads) because the prize is the services of two cleaning ladies. There wasn't a heck of a lot more to the show. With about 20 minutes left the Smith and Potter wives returned to their respective homes to the great joy of their spouses and children. Both husbands expressed their relief at having their wives back and incidentally their great appreciation for everything they do. A day or two later, at a nearby school, both families received their grades for the husbands' efforts. Suffice it to say that if Mrs. Potter were to take off with the tennis instructor at the luxury hotel where the women were housed, her daughters would be in better hands than the Smith kids would be (on the other hand Mr. Potter didn't have to deal with the youngest Smith child). He got "A"s in every area except Nutrition and still better in that category than Mr. Smith.
As I said in my introduction there isn't a lot in this show, but it is one that will appeal to those who cling to the vision that it is only Mom who can deal with the kids and do the housework. It is only occasionally funny to watch a man in his forty try to deal with a temperamental three year old. It doesn't really work and is made even worse because a too great a portion of the show is given over to watching the wives come home and receive the undying appreciation of their husbands for everything they do. The show is definitely not worth a second look, and although I expect the PTC to celebrate it, I have to believe that even the anemic overnight ratings it got in its first airing (second in overall ratings - 3.8/7 - third in viewers - 4.5 million - and tied for third in 18-49 year olds - 1.6/5) are higher than what it will get for the second episode. People apparently prefer Navy cops (NCIS won the time slot in all categories), benevolent wife swapping (Trading Spouse), and fictional families (My Wife And Kids and Rodney) to this, and I don't blame them.
The show itself is pure fluff, light as a dandelion seed in a heavy wind. The premise is a pure sitcom scenario of the sort that goes back to I Love Lucy - the wife goes away and dear old dad has to take care of the housework and the kids, thereby getting a greater appreciation of what Mom goes through. Of course, in these days of two income families and joint custody the reality is probably that dad pulls his weight in raising the kids (along with the daycare centre) and both parents are equally frazzled by the housework but let's stick with the central conceit of the show shall we.
The first episode introduced us to the Potters and the Smiths, both from what look to be affluent neighbourhoods somewhere in Texas. Each family has three kids, all apparently under the age of 12. The Potters have three girls and the Smiths have three boys, the youngest about three years old. The families are both surprised when a "proclamation" arrives at the door telling the wives that they were to pack up and be ready to go on a luxury vacation for a week, leaving their husbands in charge of the households and the kids. Dad will be judged on how well he does in terms of "Parenting", "Housekeeping", "Time Management", and "Nutrition". Hilarity - not to mention tantrums - ensue, or at least they're supposed to. During the course of the week the dads are given special tasks to do in addition to the normal running of the house. The first of these is to throw a sleepover party with six of their kids' friends. Already the Smiths are at a disadvantage. The older boys have a certain amount of trouble getting in touch with their friends, and when the youngest boy throws a tantrum - Dad wants the older boys to stay at home making calls while he takes the "baby" with him to the store - it throws off their ability to get things done. There's a little surprise added during the sleepover when each family gets two new pets - a goat for each family, a llama for the Potters and a pig for the Smiths - which have to be cared for through the week. Another challenge is having to build a soap box derby car in 24 hours for a downhill race for a mystery prize. The men get into this task, particularly Mr. Smith who becomes fixated with it at the expense of little things like housekeeping. Therefore it's a good thing that his car wins (after one race where both flip and a second race featuring both dads) because the prize is the services of two cleaning ladies. There wasn't a heck of a lot more to the show. With about 20 minutes left the Smith and Potter wives returned to their respective homes to the great joy of their spouses and children. Both husbands expressed their relief at having their wives back and incidentally their great appreciation for everything they do. A day or two later, at a nearby school, both families received their grades for the husbands' efforts. Suffice it to say that if Mrs. Potter were to take off with the tennis instructor at the luxury hotel where the women were housed, her daughters would be in better hands than the Smith kids would be (on the other hand Mr. Potter didn't have to deal with the youngest Smith child). He got "A"s in every area except Nutrition and still better in that category than Mr. Smith.
As I said in my introduction there isn't a lot in this show, but it is one that will appeal to those who cling to the vision that it is only Mom who can deal with the kids and do the housework. It is only occasionally funny to watch a man in his forty try to deal with a temperamental three year old. It doesn't really work and is made even worse because a too great a portion of the show is given over to watching the wives come home and receive the undying appreciation of their husbands for everything they do. The show is definitely not worth a second look, and although I expect the PTC to celebrate it, I have to believe that even the anemic overnight ratings it got in its first airing (second in overall ratings - 3.8/7 - third in viewers - 4.5 million - and tied for third in 18-49 year olds - 1.6/5) are higher than what it will get for the second episode. People apparently prefer Navy cops (NCIS won the time slot in all categories), benevolent wife swapping (Trading Spouse), and fictional families (My Wife And Kids and Rodney) to this, and I don't blame them.
TV On DVD - August 2, 2005
I'm running a bit late again thanks to Monday's Civic Holiday in most of Canada. I had stuff to do which didn't allow me to keep up with things. I also had a huge headache for most of Monday so everything got pushed back a bit. Including this week's listing of TV shows on DVD.
Arthur's First Crush
Arthur: Nerves of Steal
- More episodes from the Arthur animated series for kids.
Austin Stevens Snakemaster, Vol. 1
- Here's how obscure Austin Stevens and his Animal Planet series are: they aren't listed in the IMDB and TV.com doesn't have any episode listings. They don't even have a cast list even though the show has apparently been running since October 2003. Just a guess, but I suspect that the star is someone named Austin Stevens, and that he does something similar to what Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter does or did.
Berenstain Bears: Bears Out and About!
- Apparently there are two very different series of this children's show, from 1985 and from 2003 (the latter was made by in Canada by Nelvana Productions and airs on Treehouse TV up here). These episodes are apparently from the 1985 series.
Blue's Clues: Blue's Room - Alphabet Power
- Every so often Amazon.ca does something that makes me want to rip my hair out (and I can't afford to do that!). There are plenty of times where a series his listed as being available in a few weeks in Canada when it's already out in the US, and occasionally they just don't list it, but this one takes the cake. They list the release date for this DVD correctly... and immediately tell us that it's "Out Of Print - Limited Availability". Almost makes you want to weep.
Candid Camera: 5 Decades of Smiles
- They bill this as being "Five Decades of Smiles" and I guess they're technically right except one would assume five contiguous decades, which as George Gershwin put it "Ain't Necessarily So". The ten disk set lists the 1949 premiere episode and then skips the entire 1950's period (admittedly the show only had a brief run then) to reach the 1960s. What amazes me even more is that they found enough material from from the 1970s and '80s to fill three disks. This was a very poor period for the Funts and at one point Alan Funt was reduced to doing the show for the Playboy Channel, where the gags usually involved topless women. Hopefully the DVD set has some of the episodes that Buster Keaton did for the show in the early 1960s.
The Cosby Show: Season 1
- It's hard to remember now but at the time that The Cosby Show debuted the media were in one of their periodic "is the sitcom dead" phases. Bill Cosby not only revived the family sitcom with this show but he gave us an affluent but hard working family to watch. It was incidental that they were African-American although there were a few groups who claimed that The Cosby Show didn't really represent African-Americans, apparently because they were upper-middle class and living in a town house in Brooklyn rather than working class (or worse) and living in the projects. Cosby never downplayed the African-American aspects of his characters but never made it the only thing about them either. The list of guest stars throughout the run of the show is impressive, both in terms of established performers and people who would become famous. This first season included Dizzy Glillespie, Lena Horne, Sheldon Leonard (Bill Cosby's old producer on I Spy), Iman, Alicia Keyes, Terry Farrell and Angela Bassett. And this was just the first season.
Dragon Tales: Sing and Dance in Dragon Land!
- Apparently these are musical excerpts from the popular PBS -Sesame Workshop children's series.
The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete Fourth Season
- On the good side this was still before the ill-fated attempt to replace Schneider and Wopat as them Duke Boys. The fourth season does have to survive without Sonny Shroyer as Enos, and unlike previous seasons there aren't as many guest appearances by notable country music acts of the period, but that really wasn't why we watched the series in the first place after all. The plots are absurd, the chases are almost worthy of a Roadrunner-Coyote cartoon, but in the end that's what allows the series to endure and be better than any movie version that Hollywood can throw together. Intellectuals hated it, but there are times when you just don't want to be intellectual and want to watch cars jumping creeks and dumb cops proving that they're dumb.
First World War: The Complete Series
- If this was the series that was on PBS a couple of years ago, then I heartily recommend it. World War I was the event that defined the 20th Century. Without that war at that time there would have been no Hitler, no Communist Russia, a later decolonization, a larger number of monarchies in Europe, and a huge number of technologies would never have advanced as fast as they did. The series that I remember made fascinating use of first person accounts, photographs and film archives. Highly recommended.
Hearts Afire: Season 1
- Sometimes there are wonderful series which just never catch fire with the public. This was one of them, and I can't explain why. It certainly wasn't the cast, which featured John Ritter, Markie Post and some guy named Billy Bob Thornton. The first season is primarily a political satire, with the main characters working for a conservative - if somewhat befuddled - southern Senator played by George Gaynes from the Police Academy movies, who kept his even dumber mistress (Beth Broderick) on the payroll as his secretary. I was a big fan of the first season of this series, and felt that the decision to move the series to a small town newspaper. The show was never a big winner in the ratings but what can I say, I liked it.
Jeff Corwin Experience: Out on a Limb - Monkeys, Orangutans & More!
- Okay, I'm not a big fan of this sort of nature show, so I tend not to watch. I may have seen part of an episode but nowhere near enough to comment on it.
Over There
- Wow, that was quick! The pilot episode of Steven Bochco's latest series Over There aired on July 27 and it's already available on DVD. Since the History Channel here in Canada will begin airing episodes starting in September, I haven't seen the series but it says quite a bit about it that the producers and the originating network (FX) were so enthusiastic that they decided to release the DVD of the pilot so close to the original air date.
Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss - The Cat, The Gink and Other Furry Friends
- I'm going to be brutally honest here and let you know that this sort of rubs me the wrong way. This Jim Henson Prductions project for Nickelodeon ran during the 1996-97 season and used the characters from the Dr. Seuss but in stories not written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (which would have been difficult what with him being dead for five years and all). Call me old fashioned but I kind of don't want my Dr. Seuss written by people who aren't Dr. Seuss. He was unique and I don't think other people could write his characters as well as he did.
The X-Files Mythology: Vol. 2 - Black Oil
- This is the second of three sets from the "alien abduction" mytharc in The X-Files which was the part of the series which was always just below the surface of all the stories. This particular collection covers seasons 3 and 4 and two episodes from season 5. Packaging the episodes in this manner is a fascinating approach both in terms of keeping interest in the show active and catering to a portion of the audience who wants to see these episodes collected. It doesn't hurt that it's a big and complex story that is involving and well written.
Arthur's First Crush
Arthur: Nerves of Steal
- More episodes from the Arthur animated series for kids.
Austin Stevens Snakemaster, Vol. 1
- Here's how obscure Austin Stevens and his Animal Planet series are: they aren't listed in the IMDB and TV.com doesn't have any episode listings. They don't even have a cast list even though the show has apparently been running since October 2003. Just a guess, but I suspect that the star is someone named Austin Stevens, and that he does something similar to what Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter does or did.
Berenstain Bears: Bears Out and About!
- Apparently there are two very different series of this children's show, from 1985 and from 2003 (the latter was made by in Canada by Nelvana Productions and airs on Treehouse TV up here). These episodes are apparently from the 1985 series.
Blue's Clues: Blue's Room - Alphabet Power
- Every so often Amazon.ca does something that makes me want to rip my hair out (and I can't afford to do that!). There are plenty of times where a series his listed as being available in a few weeks in Canada when it's already out in the US, and occasionally they just don't list it, but this one takes the cake. They list the release date for this DVD correctly... and immediately tell us that it's "Out Of Print - Limited Availability". Almost makes you want to weep.
Candid Camera: 5 Decades of Smiles
- They bill this as being "Five Decades of Smiles" and I guess they're technically right except one would assume five contiguous decades, which as George Gershwin put it "Ain't Necessarily So". The ten disk set lists the 1949 premiere episode and then skips the entire 1950's period (admittedly the show only had a brief run then) to reach the 1960s. What amazes me even more is that they found enough material from from the 1970s and '80s to fill three disks. This was a very poor period for the Funts and at one point Alan Funt was reduced to doing the show for the Playboy Channel, where the gags usually involved topless women. Hopefully the DVD set has some of the episodes that Buster Keaton did for the show in the early 1960s.
The Cosby Show: Season 1
- It's hard to remember now but at the time that The Cosby Show debuted the media were in one of their periodic "is the sitcom dead" phases. Bill Cosby not only revived the family sitcom with this show but he gave us an affluent but hard working family to watch. It was incidental that they were African-American although there were a few groups who claimed that The Cosby Show didn't really represent African-Americans, apparently because they were upper-middle class and living in a town house in Brooklyn rather than working class (or worse) and living in the projects. Cosby never downplayed the African-American aspects of his characters but never made it the only thing about them either. The list of guest stars throughout the run of the show is impressive, both in terms of established performers and people who would become famous. This first season included Dizzy Glillespie, Lena Horne, Sheldon Leonard (Bill Cosby's old producer on I Spy), Iman, Alicia Keyes, Terry Farrell and Angela Bassett. And this was just the first season.
Dragon Tales: Sing and Dance in Dragon Land!
- Apparently these are musical excerpts from the popular PBS -Sesame Workshop children's series.
The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete Fourth Season
- On the good side this was still before the ill-fated attempt to replace Schneider and Wopat as them Duke Boys. The fourth season does have to survive without Sonny Shroyer as Enos, and unlike previous seasons there aren't as many guest appearances by notable country music acts of the period, but that really wasn't why we watched the series in the first place after all. The plots are absurd, the chases are almost worthy of a Roadrunner-Coyote cartoon, but in the end that's what allows the series to endure and be better than any movie version that Hollywood can throw together. Intellectuals hated it, but there are times when you just don't want to be intellectual and want to watch cars jumping creeks and dumb cops proving that they're dumb.
First World War: The Complete Series
- If this was the series that was on PBS a couple of years ago, then I heartily recommend it. World War I was the event that defined the 20th Century. Without that war at that time there would have been no Hitler, no Communist Russia, a later decolonization, a larger number of monarchies in Europe, and a huge number of technologies would never have advanced as fast as they did. The series that I remember made fascinating use of first person accounts, photographs and film archives. Highly recommended.
Hearts Afire: Season 1
- Sometimes there are wonderful series which just never catch fire with the public. This was one of them, and I can't explain why. It certainly wasn't the cast, which featured John Ritter, Markie Post and some guy named Billy Bob Thornton. The first season is primarily a political satire, with the main characters working for a conservative - if somewhat befuddled - southern Senator played by George Gaynes from the Police Academy movies, who kept his even dumber mistress (Beth Broderick) on the payroll as his secretary. I was a big fan of the first season of this series, and felt that the decision to move the series to a small town newspaper. The show was never a big winner in the ratings but what can I say, I liked it.
Jeff Corwin Experience: Out on a Limb - Monkeys, Orangutans & More!
- Okay, I'm not a big fan of this sort of nature show, so I tend not to watch. I may have seen part of an episode but nowhere near enough to comment on it.
Over There
- Wow, that was quick! The pilot episode of Steven Bochco's latest series Over There aired on July 27 and it's already available on DVD. Since the History Channel here in Canada will begin airing episodes starting in September, I haven't seen the series but it says quite a bit about it that the producers and the originating network (FX) were so enthusiastic that they decided to release the DVD of the pilot so close to the original air date.
Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss - The Cat, The Gink and Other Furry Friends
- I'm going to be brutally honest here and let you know that this sort of rubs me the wrong way. This Jim Henson Prductions project for Nickelodeon ran during the 1996-97 season and used the characters from the Dr. Seuss but in stories not written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (which would have been difficult what with him being dead for five years and all). Call me old fashioned but I kind of don't want my Dr. Seuss written by people who aren't Dr. Seuss. He was unique and I don't think other people could write his characters as well as he did.
The X-Files Mythology: Vol. 2 - Black Oil
- This is the second of three sets from the "alien abduction" mytharc in The X-Files which was the part of the series which was always just below the surface of all the stories. This particular collection covers seasons 3 and 4 and two episodes from season 5. Packaging the episodes in this manner is a fascinating approach both in terms of keeping interest in the show active and catering to a portion of the audience who wants to see these episodes collected. It doesn't hurt that it's a big and complex story that is involving and well written.
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