Just took another online personality test. Somehow a lot of peopel ended up as Saddam Hussein, not me though.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Found This The Other Day
Yep. That's me, back when I really was a "Child of Television". I must have been about 3 1/4 or 4 1/4 back when that picture was taken. Back in those days they used to have the date (at least the year) on the white border of the film but for the life of me I can't tell you if it was the date when the picture was taken or when it was developed. The date on this one was 1960 so that would mean Christmas of 1959 or 1960. Probably 1959.
What would I have been watching back then? There was quite a bit of local programming of course. There was a local early morning kids show host (and for CFQC early morning meant about 11 a.m. - in the summer they sometimes didn't come on until 2 in the afternoon) named Helen Hays who later became Helen Lumby and in the 1970s did Size Small shows for Canwest Global where some of the old hands from CFQC ended up. There was a local ladies' show host named Sally Merchant who would later be elected to the Provincial Legislature and would, years later, be followed into the Legislature by her son Tony (Tim Gueguen will know exactly who I mean). Network kids shows would include Maggie Muggins which I think was a carryover from CBC radio, The Friendly Giant with Bob Homme and Rod Coneybeare providing the voices of Rusty the Rooster and Jerome The Giraffe, and Chez Helene with Helene Baillergeon which was an early attempt at bilingual education. It was a good time for cartoons. The standbys were Ruff and Reddy, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and Quickdraw McGraw. The local station had a good news department, largely fuelled by the radio side which won a number of awards for local coverage. Network shows? From around this period I remember things like Maverick, Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke and Wagon Train (there were a lot of westerns on the air at the time but these really stand out), The Untouchables, The Jack Benny Program, and of course Ed Sullivan.
Old memories are rosy. It may be that the stuff I remember wasn't that good and I simply remember it as being better than it was. It does say something about it that I remember it at all though, particularly when you think that I can remember the names of only a couple of the kids I grew up with when that picture was taken. Television was a big influence for me in the same way that it was for everyone else in my generation. I can't help but wonder what my nephew will remember in the same way. Will it be his Thomas The Tank Engine DVDs and looking at the website for The Wiggles "on the coputer"? I don't know.
Oh, and by the way, that plane that's sitting on the floor beside me? I still have it. It had a friction motor which meant that if you pushed it on the floor the propellers would spin. Somewhere along the line the nose wheel got lost and in a fit of childish verisimilitude (probably inspired by seeing airplanes on TV) I cut off the tips of the propellers, but I still have it.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Pedophillia and Star Trek?
My fellow blogger Orac has on occasion had some pointed comments about The Huffington Post, primarily for their one sided coverage of the links between use of Thimerosal in children's vaccines and autism which seem long on innuendo and accusations and short on actual facts. To this I should like to add my own complaints about something in The Huffington Post, an article by Ellen Ladowsky called Pedophillia and Star Trek, reaction to which has been echoing around the Blogosphere.
Ladowsky bases her piece on an article which appeared in the L.A. Times - she says recently but in fact the times article is dated April 27, 2005 and is so old that it isn't available online except by paying $3.95 U.S. for it. The article contains what she describes as the "mind-boggling statistic: of the more than 100 offenders the unit has arrested over the last four years, 'all but one' has been 'a hard-core Trekkie.'" There's just one minor problem - this statement has pretty much been debunked. Ernest Miller, who publishes the weblog Corante and whose credentials I respect more than Ladowsky (because he states them in his blog) and yet is dismissed as "Blogger Ernest Miller" actually bothered to follow up the story with the Toronto Police detective quoted in the original L.A. Times story. Miller writes of his conversation with Detective Constable Ian Lamond of the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit "He claims they were misquoted, or if that figure was given it was done so jokingly. Of course, even if the figure was given jokingly, shouldn't the Times' reporter have clarified something that seems rather odd? Shouldn't her editors have questioned her sources?" According to Lamond a majority show "at least a passing interest in Star Trek, if not a strong interest" and while "there was sometimes other science fiction and fantasy paraphenalia, Star Trek was the most consistent and when he [Lamond] referred to a majority of the arrestees being Star Trek fans, it was Star Trek specific." Canada's Maclean's Magazine picked up on the story in a piece called The Star Trek Connection although the phrase "Star Trek" appears in the article four times. There are two interesting statements in the article, one at the beginning and one at the end. In the introduction to the piece author Jonathon Gatehouse writes "A surprising number of child sex abusers appear to be Trekkies. Trying to figure out what that means, however, shows how little we really know about pedophiles." The other statement is at the end and refers to an ongoing study by psychologists Michael Seto and Angela Eke which will be looking through the arrest files of 400 child porn offenders in Ontario: "One of the things they will be looking for is reports of suspects with sci-fi collections, especially Star Trek. Seto hypothesizes that the pedophiles might be using their toys and memorabilia to groom victims - a view that Blanchard [Ray Blanchard, head of clinical sexology at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health] shares. "They have to adapt their strategies," he says. "Just like a regular heterosexual guy sets up situations to get women in sexual proximity."
So those are the facts that Ellen Ladowsky so blithely ignores in her article, which then goes on to examine why Star Trek screws people up so. First of all though she takes a detour to the Heaven's Gate mass suicide at Rancho Mirage California in March 1997 and links it to Star Trek: "Those involved in the Heaven's Gate mass suicides in Rancho Sante Fe in March 1997 also purported themselves to be avid Star Trek fans. One may recall that the cult forced its members to wear unisex clothing, had a strict policy of celibacy, a ban on all sexual thoughts, and eight of the members had surgically castrated themselves." The only link to Star Trek that I can actually recall being made public was that Nichelle Nicholls younger brother Thomas was one of those who committed suicide. The cult actually believed that on shedding their earthly bodies they would be transported aboard a UFO hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
Some of her points are amazing in their attempts to link Star Trek - and here she apparently constantly refers to the original series not to the four follow-up series - to bizarre sexuality. Item: "At first blush, the crew might seem kind of sexy - big-breasted, scantily clad female crew members, men in skin-tight uniforms, and Captain Kirk ripping off his shirt at the slightest hint of heat - but the features of their sexuality are exaggerated in the manner of a comic book, creating a hygienic distance from anything to do with real sexuality." Item: "The male crew members demurely ignore the sexually enticing (if antiseptic) female crew members. There seems to be a tacit agreement that any sexual relationships would destroy the unity of the crew." Item: "Captain Kirk displays a truly astonishing emotional poverty. He goes from planet to planet, having trysts with an assortment of nubile women, but never forms any real attachments. By the next episode, the last female partner is forgotten. (Although we don't know all that much about pedophilic sexual offenders, one thing we do know is that they have trouble forming authentic adult romantic relationships.)" She even brings up the Kirk-Spock relationship that is so much a fixture of fan fiction: "The one longstanding attachment Kirk has is to Mr. Spock. In fact, their bond is so intense that there's an abundance of gay porn written about the two. (Oddly enough, it's frequently written by heterosexual women.)" (Oh and by the way she also has a take on Spock: "It's easy to imagine how the garden variety pedophile might identify with the half-human, half-Vulcan character who is bereft of human feeling, essentially neither male nor female, and living in a society where those around him seem to have a different set of rules. (It turns out that autistics also strongly identify with Spock, but that's another story).") She even links the Utopian nature of society in Star Trek with Pedophilia: "There is another aspect of Star Trek that likely makes it irresistible to perverts. It is utopian, in the sense that all the differences and distinctions which create tensions here on earth have been eradicated. Despite their exaggerated sexual characteristics, for example, the crew members are citizens of a utopian interracial and interplanetary world where the usual conflicts associated with gender do not apply. [New paragraph in the article] In perversion, there is an attempt to obliterate any distinctions that provoke unconscious anxiety. First and foremost, this entails a denial of the difference between the sexes and the difference between the generations. Pedophiles are, at the very least, attempting to deny the difference between the generations. The utopian fantasy here is to normalize sex between adults and children."
Okay, right. Virtually all of the things that Ladowsky points to can be explained in four words: It was the Sixties! Televisions shows didn't bother with continuity beyond what they absolutely had to. Richie on The Dick Van Dyke Show would have a dog one week and the very next week be begging his father to get a dog without reference to the pooch he had the week before, and men were seriously dating one week and worried about not having dates the next. Male Bonding was the rule rather than the exception - Friday and Gannon, Malloy and Reed, Lt. Gil Handley and Sgt. Chip Saunders, hell even Jim Phelps and Rollin Hand (isn't it suspicious that none of the men on the IM Force was trying to get into Cinnamon Carter's undoubtedly expensive panties?). On the other hand big busted women in scanty clothes was also the rule of the day when they could get away with it: the daughters on Petticoat Junction, the various secretaries - notably Miss Trego - on The Beverly Hillbillies, and even Judy Robinson on Lost in Space. As for sexual relationships, remember that the Enterprise was a military ship and even today relationships between superior officers and either enlisted personnel or junior officers even today are grounds for disciplinary action, discharge or even court martial. The real life military sees "that any sexual relationships would destroy the unity of the crew." Don't even get me started on implied sexual relations in an era when people who were married on TV slept on twin beds, with plenty of separation. It wasn't until Bewitched that a married couple shared a bed (well except for Ozzie and Harriet). Finally we come to the "utopian argument". Of course the United Federation of Planets was a utopian society. Most science fiction of that period that was set in the future envisioned that future as utopian. Certainly "space opera" did as an extension of the belief that in order for a planet to send voyagers not just to other worlds but to the stars that planet must have a unitary society, one where we are all united and "the differences and distinctions which create tensions here on earth have been eradicated." The rise to prevalence of dystopian societies in science fiction was a later trend, and even the human society in a show such as Babylon 5 at least has a veneer of a utopia even if underneath it is seething with dystopian elements such as the Psi-Corps, Free Mars, the Night Watch and the Shadow Conspiracy surrounding President Clark.
In the end I think that Ladowsky's article is a misguided piece of writing, putting forward as new a story which has been, if not fully discredited, at least put into proportion by writers who have actually bothered to dig a little deeper for the truth. Ladowsky's article doesn't even add much to the argument presented in the L.A. Times article (and I ask again, why was it written now, and why is the Huffington Post running it now). Rather she travels off in a direction that can only be described as tenuously linked to it. About the only thing Ellen Ladowsky's article is guaranteed to do is to raise the ire of fans of the show. But of course all I am is a Blogger.
Ladowsky bases her piece on an article which appeared in the L.A. Times - she says recently but in fact the times article is dated April 27, 2005 and is so old that it isn't available online except by paying $3.95 U.S. for it. The article contains what she describes as the "mind-boggling statistic: of the more than 100 offenders the unit has arrested over the last four years, 'all but one' has been 'a hard-core Trekkie.'" There's just one minor problem - this statement has pretty much been debunked. Ernest Miller, who publishes the weblog Corante and whose credentials I respect more than Ladowsky (because he states them in his blog) and yet is dismissed as "Blogger Ernest Miller" actually bothered to follow up the story with the Toronto Police detective quoted in the original L.A. Times story. Miller writes of his conversation with Detective Constable Ian Lamond of the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit "He claims they were misquoted, or if that figure was given it was done so jokingly. Of course, even if the figure was given jokingly, shouldn't the Times' reporter have clarified something that seems rather odd? Shouldn't her editors have questioned her sources?" According to Lamond a majority show "at least a passing interest in Star Trek, if not a strong interest" and while "there was sometimes other science fiction and fantasy paraphenalia, Star Trek was the most consistent and when he [Lamond] referred to a majority of the arrestees being Star Trek fans, it was Star Trek specific." Canada's Maclean's Magazine picked up on the story in a piece called The Star Trek Connection although the phrase "Star Trek" appears in the article four times. There are two interesting statements in the article, one at the beginning and one at the end. In the introduction to the piece author Jonathon Gatehouse writes "A surprising number of child sex abusers appear to be Trekkies. Trying to figure out what that means, however, shows how little we really know about pedophiles." The other statement is at the end and refers to an ongoing study by psychologists Michael Seto and Angela Eke which will be looking through the arrest files of 400 child porn offenders in Ontario: "One of the things they will be looking for is reports of suspects with sci-fi collections, especially Star Trek. Seto hypothesizes that the pedophiles might be using their toys and memorabilia to groom victims - a view that Blanchard [Ray Blanchard, head of clinical sexology at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health] shares. "They have to adapt their strategies," he says. "Just like a regular heterosexual guy sets up situations to get women in sexual proximity."
So those are the facts that Ellen Ladowsky so blithely ignores in her article, which then goes on to examine why Star Trek screws people up so. First of all though she takes a detour to the Heaven's Gate mass suicide at Rancho Mirage California in March 1997 and links it to Star Trek: "Those involved in the Heaven's Gate mass suicides in Rancho Sante Fe in March 1997 also purported themselves to be avid Star Trek fans. One may recall that the cult forced its members to wear unisex clothing, had a strict policy of celibacy, a ban on all sexual thoughts, and eight of the members had surgically castrated themselves." The only link to Star Trek that I can actually recall being made public was that Nichelle Nicholls younger brother Thomas was one of those who committed suicide. The cult actually believed that on shedding their earthly bodies they would be transported aboard a UFO hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet.
Some of her points are amazing in their attempts to link Star Trek - and here she apparently constantly refers to the original series not to the four follow-up series - to bizarre sexuality. Item: "At first blush, the crew might seem kind of sexy - big-breasted, scantily clad female crew members, men in skin-tight uniforms, and Captain Kirk ripping off his shirt at the slightest hint of heat - but the features of their sexuality are exaggerated in the manner of a comic book, creating a hygienic distance from anything to do with real sexuality." Item: "The male crew members demurely ignore the sexually enticing (if antiseptic) female crew members. There seems to be a tacit agreement that any sexual relationships would destroy the unity of the crew." Item: "Captain Kirk displays a truly astonishing emotional poverty. He goes from planet to planet, having trysts with an assortment of nubile women, but never forms any real attachments. By the next episode, the last female partner is forgotten. (Although we don't know all that much about pedophilic sexual offenders, one thing we do know is that they have trouble forming authentic adult romantic relationships.)" She even brings up the Kirk-Spock relationship that is so much a fixture of fan fiction: "The one longstanding attachment Kirk has is to Mr. Spock. In fact, their bond is so intense that there's an abundance of gay porn written about the two. (Oddly enough, it's frequently written by heterosexual women.)" (Oh and by the way she also has a take on Spock: "It's easy to imagine how the garden variety pedophile might identify with the half-human, half-Vulcan character who is bereft of human feeling, essentially neither male nor female, and living in a society where those around him seem to have a different set of rules. (It turns out that autistics also strongly identify with Spock, but that's another story).") She even links the Utopian nature of society in Star Trek with Pedophilia: "There is another aspect of Star Trek that likely makes it irresistible to perverts. It is utopian, in the sense that all the differences and distinctions which create tensions here on earth have been eradicated. Despite their exaggerated sexual characteristics, for example, the crew members are citizens of a utopian interracial and interplanetary world where the usual conflicts associated with gender do not apply. [New paragraph in the article] In perversion, there is an attempt to obliterate any distinctions that provoke unconscious anxiety. First and foremost, this entails a denial of the difference between the sexes and the difference between the generations. Pedophiles are, at the very least, attempting to deny the difference between the generations. The utopian fantasy here is to normalize sex between adults and children."
Okay, right. Virtually all of the things that Ladowsky points to can be explained in four words: It was the Sixties! Televisions shows didn't bother with continuity beyond what they absolutely had to. Richie on The Dick Van Dyke Show would have a dog one week and the very next week be begging his father to get a dog without reference to the pooch he had the week before, and men were seriously dating one week and worried about not having dates the next. Male Bonding was the rule rather than the exception - Friday and Gannon, Malloy and Reed, Lt. Gil Handley and Sgt. Chip Saunders, hell even Jim Phelps and Rollin Hand (isn't it suspicious that none of the men on the IM Force was trying to get into Cinnamon Carter's undoubtedly expensive panties?). On the other hand big busted women in scanty clothes was also the rule of the day when they could get away with it: the daughters on Petticoat Junction, the various secretaries - notably Miss Trego - on The Beverly Hillbillies, and even Judy Robinson on Lost in Space. As for sexual relationships, remember that the Enterprise was a military ship and even today relationships between superior officers and either enlisted personnel or junior officers even today are grounds for disciplinary action, discharge or even court martial. The real life military sees "that any sexual relationships would destroy the unity of the crew." Don't even get me started on implied sexual relations in an era when people who were married on TV slept on twin beds, with plenty of separation. It wasn't until Bewitched that a married couple shared a bed (well except for Ozzie and Harriet). Finally we come to the "utopian argument". Of course the United Federation of Planets was a utopian society. Most science fiction of that period that was set in the future envisioned that future as utopian. Certainly "space opera" did as an extension of the belief that in order for a planet to send voyagers not just to other worlds but to the stars that planet must have a unitary society, one where we are all united and "the differences and distinctions which create tensions here on earth have been eradicated." The rise to prevalence of dystopian societies in science fiction was a later trend, and even the human society in a show such as Babylon 5 at least has a veneer of a utopia even if underneath it is seething with dystopian elements such as the Psi-Corps, Free Mars, the Night Watch and the Shadow Conspiracy surrounding President Clark.
In the end I think that Ladowsky's article is a misguided piece of writing, putting forward as new a story which has been, if not fully discredited, at least put into proportion by writers who have actually bothered to dig a little deeper for the truth. Ladowsky's article doesn't even add much to the argument presented in the L.A. Times article (and I ask again, why was it written now, and why is the Huffington Post running it now). Rather she travels off in a direction that can only be described as tenuously linked to it. About the only thing Ellen Ladowsky's article is guaranteed to do is to raise the ire of fans of the show. But of course all I am is a Blogger.
Friday, August 19, 2005
New Poll - Outstanding Made For Television Movie
It's basically the same drill as before: vote for the Made For TV Movie which you think is the best in the group (not necessarily the one that you think will win with the Emmy Voters). By the Way, I decided to go with Movies instead of Mini-Series because I think that this year's field is more interesting in the Movie category.
Poll Results - Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or Movie
Well that was a bit of a come down. I'll attribute the low voter turnout to people just not knowing the productions. I know I certainly didn't to the point where I have no real idea or opinion as to who should win and only a guess as to who will. This despite the fact that two of the productions in question aired on broadcast TV and thus were available for your humble Canuck scribe to see. Not that I did of course.
We have another tie. In fourth place with no votes we have Cynthia Nixon for Warm Springs and Halle Berry for Their Eyes Were Watching God. In third place is Debra Winger for Dawn Ana with one vote. And tied for first with three votes each we have Blythe Danner in Back When We Were Grownups, and S. Epatha Merkerson in Lackawanna Blues.
Now as I mentioned I don't have any opinions about this category - beyond the fact that Cynthia Nixon is way too attractive to play Eleanor Roosevelt at any age. (Of all the women on Sex And The City she was my favourite with her clothes on - and she wasn't that bad with her clothes off except when compared to Kim Catrall.) I think Merkerson is an excellent actress and one of the best things about the original Law & Order while I remember Blythe Danner from many things, most notably as Martha Jefferson in the movie 1776 (my favourite musical). Based simply on the IMDB feedback though I have a feeling that Merkerson should win, although I can't rule out what this poll indicates would be an upset win for Cynthia Nixon.
Next poll should be up in the morning.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Okay, That's It...
Summer is officially over. Forget about the temperatures. Most of North America has been sweltering under temperatures that pose a danger to the elderly and small animals if they don't have air conditioning. I wouldn't really know about that - Saskatoon hasn't had a really hot day yet in August and the past few days the night time temperature has been dipping to around 5 Celsius (that's 41 for those of you who still think in Fahrenheit). The networks have been running ads for their "new Fall programs" practically since the end of May Sweeps, so that isn't exactly an indicator either. I suppose we could talk about "Back To School" ads - I'm waiting for the Alice Cooper ad from last year, probably in vain - but the school supply companies and the office stores have been sending those out to battle since the beginning of August. No for me the true indicator has been the posting of the new players for Survivor and The Amazing Race. That's the true sign that it's time to start worrying about when to put on a jacket when you're going out.
The Survivor cast looks like, well your average Survivor cast. There's your requisite old guy - this time he's a former marine who joined the Aurora Colorado Fire Department and rose to the rank of captain over a 30 year career. There's the usual complement of "pretty" young people, some of whom are models/actors - which usually means waiters - looking for their "big break". (Actually most of the time all of the contestants on this show and other reality shows tend to be "pretty people" even the old ones. This is television after all.) There are a couple of interesting stories. There's the first female sergeant in the Revere Massachusetts Police Department, a woman who lists her occupation as "fishmonger" - actually she's the assistant manager at a seafood company but what the heck - a woman who's a sports talk show host and a former NFL quarterback (Gary Hogeboom who I expect to be gone, probably during the mid-game phase - too dangerous in individual competitions). Actually I think that the most interesting thing about this season is going to be the location. They'll be living in the ruins of an actual Mayan city. I'm not sure - someone will probably correct me if I'm wrong - but I seem to recall that the original plan for the fourth "season" of Survivor was to have the players living in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, but ratings for Survivor: Africa weren't as good as desired and a lot of people were nervous about running the show in the Middle East right after September 11, 2001. It took a while but it appears as if the basic concept is finally going to be used.
Of course, those of you who know me realise that as much as I like Survivor, I am absolutely passionate about The Amazing Race which is why I find the cast announcement for that show by far more interesting. This time around TAR is running a "family edition". The format for this "family" version has teams of four instead of two, all of whom must be related to each other in some way. Moreover the minimum age for the show was lowered, eventually to 8 years old instead of the usual 21 and the originally announced limit of 12. This has set off a firestorm amongst fans who like the show just the way it was, with teams of two going around the world. "Family edition" implies children on all of the teams and the hard core fans (and yeah I did think I was hard core but compared with some of these people I seem like a dilettante) don't want the show corrupted by children (said with a horrified shudder - or perhaps a horrifying shudder - implied in the way they write it). Children (shudder) would mean that the Race would have to be simplified, made safer and "child friendly" with rappelling and such replaced with visits to amusement parks. The fear and loathing wasn't being reduced with a number of spoiler sightings of teams, all of them being restricted to North America. "They were at the Kennedy Space Center!" "Someone saw a team at the CN Tower in Toronto!" "They were in Vancouver! I swear it's true!!" (Visits to Vancouver are a bit of a joke in the Amazing Race newsgroup.) And then to top it off, Hera McLeod - part of the TAR6 cast with her father Gus - wrote on the Survivor Sucks! message board "From what I hear, they are having a lot of problems with it and it may actually not be a rumor that it all gets canned. Personally, I think it would be a blessing in disguise because TAR is not meant for children!" (Although oddly enough I can't seem to find her original posting, and how would she know anyway.)
So what have we got now that the actual contestants have been revealed? Well there are 27 Racers over the age of 20, and only three under the age of 12. Eleven are between the ages of 12 and 20. There are a couple of intriguing relationships. There is a team of four adult sisters. One team consists of a man and his three sons-in-law, the youngest of whom is 26. There's a 46 year old widow with her three kids, the youngest of whom is 14 and a father with his three daughters who were in a shampoo commercial together a few years ago. One team has two children under the age of 12, including the youngest competitor (aged 8) while another family has a 9 year-old and a 12 year-old. Beyond a significant absence of openly gay team members, the most significant thing to me seems to be that The Race actually seems to have attracted more older racers this time. There isn't the usual crowd of wannabe models and actors. Instead over a third of the competitors - fourteen in all - are 40 and older. That's "geezerhood" to many fans of The Race. I suppose that's necessary if you're going to have a race with the restrictions of familial relationships and the reduced age limit but still, when you consider the uproar about letting younger people compete in the race, the fact that there are as many people over 40 this time around as there are under 21 and as many people over 50 (advanced geezerhood) as there are under 12 would come as a big surprise if any of the raging fans bothered to notice.
I haven't pre-rendered judgement on the upcoming edition of The Amazing Race. I want to see at least the first before I do that. I don't take the spoilers all that seriously - yet - simply because the show has traditionally been very stringent when it comes to security. It's entirely plausible that the producers have hired families to show up at famous locations for the specific purpose of being noticed. That said, I will be happy when the producers take the show back to its roots with the ninth series of The Amazing Race. It isn't that the family idea is necessarily a bad one. Simply it is a case that I think that teams of four are harder to relate to than teams of two. I also think that teams of four are going to be more difficult to manage. Most of all I don't like the implication that the changes occurred as a backlash to incidents in a couple of earlier season - like the one where Jonathon, a racer in the sixth race, pushed and berated his wife Victoria leading to charges of spousal abuse. Worst of all I fear that changing The Race will lead to some of the hard won momentum that the show gained in its two series last season. Of all of the "Reality-Competition" shows on the air, I think that The Amazing Race stands head and shoulders above the rest and I'd hate to see it lose the ratings strength that it has so richly earned and I worry that changing the format could hurt the show more than it helps.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
I Hate It When That Happens
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?
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?
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"?
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