First I couldn’t get tickets to see the games live. Now I learn that Red Sox broadcasts on NESN will be missing a certain somethin’ somethin’ because Tina Cervasio is leaving the station at the end of March to spend more time with her family. Rumor has it, that means she’ll be joining the team at Fox 5 in New York. What a bummer. Well, best of luck to you, Tina. I’ll miss you.
Happy birthday to Keith Olbermann, who has been one of my favorite television personalities for a long time. He turns 49 years young today, January 27. I credit Keith with getting me more interested in current events than I had been previously. Talking with him was one of the highlights of my trip to see the Sox at Spring Training last year. I love when he makes fun of Bill-o or Coultergeist, and his Special Comments have become must-see TV. (By the way, the comments have all been compiled in a new book, Truth and Consequences.) I still miss his “My Hometown” segments, which he would do each night in the pre-Monica Lewinsky days. So, in honor of this occasion and in keeping with a regular segment on his nightly show, Countdown (airing 8 p.m. weekdays on MSNBC), I’d like to name Keith today’s Best Person in the World. Here is a clip from last week that I enjoyed. I hope you will too. Keith Olbermann … today’s best person … in the world!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/22792139#22792139
American Idol starts tonight, so I thought I’d take a moment to play a quick game of “Where Is She Now?” with my favorite contestant from last year, Haley Scarnato.
Thanks to Haley Source and MySA.com (and my crack team of Interweb researchers), I’ve learned that Haley is now living in Nashville working on a “country pop” album that’ll be out sometime in 2008. On her allegedly official MySpace page you can hear one of her recent recordings.
And apparently, she’s still tight with Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks, and Chris Richardson, and she’s going to be in Gina Glocksen’s wedding. Actually, she’s friends with Blake, Jordin, Gina, and Melinda Doolittle on MySpace.
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Forget the winners — tonight’s Golden Globe awards press conference was awful. Between Mary Hart’s lame commentary, and all the other entertainment show hosts trying to one-up each other, the press conference itself sucked. And the TV coverage? Even worse. NBC didn’t even show the press conference live, relying on Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell to announce the winners in their own mock press conference that trailed the real thing — thus rendering it instantly behind-the-curve and irrelevant. E! showed the press conference, but cut away every now and then to reaction from Ryan Seacrest and other folks in the E! studios. And the sound on CNN kept going out of synch, no doubt because Larry King kept making completely stupid comments after each announcement about how one movie or another was great or one of the year’s best. (Of course they are, Larry. Why do you think they’re nominated?) And the worst thing of all was when Johnny Depp won for best actor in a film, musical or comedy, and Larry King said something about how it was wrong that Daniel Day-Lewis wasn’t nominated. Duh. He was nominated — in the category of best actor in a film, drama. (And he won for it, too.) But because CNN was the only network of the three that actually showed the press conference as it unfolded, without interruption, I stuck with CNN. And by 9:30, a half hour after it began, the whole thing was over. At that point, NBC was still half-way through making their announcements and discussing the winners. Oh, and did Billy Bush really dismiss Cate Blanchett’s award-winning performance in I’m Not There by saying, “At the end of the day it’s a woman imitating a man?” That guy has no business being an entertainment journalist. He’s lame. NBC’s coverage was lame. The whole thing was lame. And it wasn’t even disappointing. Rather, as a film fan, a television fan, and a film awards show fan, it just made me angry. I really really hope this writers strike ends ASAP so we can get back our TV shows and the Oscars can go on as they should be going on, not like this awful attempt at television.
If you ask me, the really sad thing about the fact that the writers’ strike is likely to last “well into next year” is that we’re being denied some great Christmas episodes of TV. This is the time of year when the writers seem to pull out all the stops and do their best work. Case in point: The Office, which would likely not be as popular as it is were it not for that utterly classic Christmas episode in 2005 (you know, the one with the secret Santa game). Last year’s holiday episode, with the dueling parties, was one of the better ones of the year as well. And of course, last year’s Christmas episode of Studio 60 was, I think, one of the finest episodes of any show all season. Most criminal of all is the fact that if the strike doesn’t end soon, then it’s unlikely Darlene Love will be making her annual appearance on Late Show with David Letterman to sing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Oh, I’m sure Dave will show a rerun of an earlier appearance, but there’s something nice about holiday traditions and things you can look forward to. At least 30 Rock has what looks like a good holiday episode scheduled for Thursday. Still, I’m resigned to the fact that there’ll be a void in my holiday season this year, and I just wanted to say I think it sucks.
I said it a few weeks ago before the TV season began, but after Sunday night’s episode, it’s definite: Brothers & Sisters is my favorite show on TV. Dave Annable was so good — he’ll be nominated for awards for this episode — and the whole thing was great. It was definitely one of the top-3 best episodes ever for that show. If you’re not already watching Brothers & Sisters, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Sunday’s installment was overly dramatic and heavier than usual, but most episodes are a perfect blend of drama and comedy, and the cast’s chemistry is so good that it’s like they’re actually a family. In short, watching this show is a really enjoyable way to end the weekend (it’s on at 10pm). Unfortunately, due to the American Music Awards next week, Brothers & Sisters is not on again until November 25. Set your DVR now.
On the other hand, despite what I said only a month ago, I think I’m really starting to tire of Kid Nation. The show has just become way too formulaic, and the way it’s edited, it’s clear the producers are guiding the action (I mean, really. What’s the deal with that pioneer journal??). I’m still amused by Jared, but quite frankly, I can’t stand a whole handful of the kids and how self-righteous and spoiled and annoying they are (I’m talking about you, Divad and Taylor, and especially you, Mike). I know these kids are only, like, 11 (or younger), but they’re driving me nuts. And given how excited I was about this show, it’s a real bummer to say. So I’m hoping Kid Nation gets better because I’m not giving up on it just yet.
And back to the good: Amazing Race is back! This is far and away the best reality show on TV, thanks to its great casting and unpredictability, and the fact that every season is totally different in where the teams go and what they do there. And this season is already off to a good start. The goths have got to go, and the father/daughter team will likely be gone next week. Otherwise, I’m rooting for Lorena and Jason; I think they have the best chance of winning. There are nine teams left, and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.
If, by the way, you’re wondering how many of the shows I said I’d watch that I’m actually watching, you may be happy to know it’s a fraction of the list I predicted. Nothing on Monday or Tuesday; Wednesday is only Kid Nation; Thursday is 30 Rock, The Office, and Grey’s Anatomy; nothing on Friday or Saturday; and Sunday is Amazing Race and Brothers & Sisters. What can I say? I like what I like, and I had a hard time settling into the newbies.
Now, hopefully the WGA strike won’t foul up the current TV season too much …
To paraphrase the ad … there is only one Dane Cook. And thank God for that. But it seems there’s also only one Dane Cook TV spot. Does Fox really have to show it so often? It’s become more annoying than the repeated playing of “Cleveland Rocks.” How far will he go? If you ask me, he’s already gone far enough. I hope Cook didn’t make any spots to be played during the World Series. (On the other hand, I love, love, love those Wes Anderson–directed AT&T ads.)
It’s bad enough we gave up seven runs in one inning, had our third straight pitcher unable to pitch five full innings, and we’re now down 3 games to 1 in the ALCS. But did Joe Buck and Tim McCarver have to bring up — not once or twice but at least three times — that today, October 16, is the fourth anniversary of the fateful ALCS game seven against the Yankees? After winning the World Series in 2004, it’s safe to say that wound has healed (maybe not completely, but it no longer stings). It’s amazing that even when the Yankees aren’t even playing, the guys on Fox still show their loyalty.
As for me, I’m already thinking back to the good old days of spring training. I’m hopeful that Beckett will pick us up on Thursday and shift the momentum back our way. But at this point, it’s just not looking good. It’s not that I’m giving up; I’m not. But this isn’t 2004. I think the season may actually be coming to a close this time.
Am I the only one out there watching Kid Nation? I hope not. I mean, I know Wednesday was game one of the ALDS, but that’s what a dual-tuner DVR is for. I’ve been waiting for this show since May, and it has not disappointed. The kids are too funny — some are earnest, others are spoiled, others are bullys, others are babies — and all say and do the darndest things. Last week they killed chickens so they could have some protein. Of course there were some who didn’t want to do that, and one locked herself in the chicken coop. In the first episode, one kid danced in the street so she could raise money to buy a bike. Tonight they were tackling sheep (!!) in a competition and were torn between a microwave and 40 pizzas as a prize. They also survived a dust storm. It’s just awesome and hysterical, and basically, if you haven’t been watching, then you’ve been missing out. Thankfully, you can catch full episodes on CBS.com or on On Demand on your cable box. For now, here’s a quick video about my favorite kid on the show, Jared, who seems to have no friends, but always has the funniest things to say. He’s totally flying under the radar as far as the other kids are concerned, but this video makes it look like he’ll eventually get his moment to shine. Do yourself a favor and watch when Kid Nation is on again next Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS. This may just be the best new show of the entire season.
I remember when I first heard the story of Chris McCandless. It was in 1997 on an episode of 20/20, where there was a segment about author John Krakauer’s book Into the Wild. Something about McCandless fascinated me and I went out soon after to buy Krakauer’s book. I read it, too. McCandless tapped into my young, idealistic sense of adventure and wanting more out of life. Ten years later, there’s still a part of me that yearns for such excitement.
All that is my way of saying I was pretty excited to see Sean Penn’s Into the Wild movie, especially because the reviews have generally been very good. So I’m happy to report that the movie is good. Mostly. True to McCandless, it doesn’t pander and takes its time telling the story of how, following his 1992 graduation from Emory, McCandless cut up his credit cards, donated his savings to Oxfam, changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, and headed out on the road to, as Thoreau said, “live deliberately.” There’s a natural, organic feel to the 2.5-hour movie, and Penn really wants to pay tribute to someone he considered a kindred spirit. To that end, the film was shot in many of the same locations that McCandless journeyed to, and rather than raise questions about McCandless’ motives and psyche — as Krakauer’s book did a lot of — Penn clearly takes McCandless’ side and makes you sympathetic to the character. Penn also knows the affinity people feel for the book, and there are all sorts of reveals that seem to make readers excited, starting with when McCandless first stumbles upon the abandoned bus. (Amazingly, the tragic site has become a morbid tourist attraction for McCandless fans.) It helps that as McCandless, Emile Hirsch is generally very good, capturing the alternately wide-eyed and yet fearful young man. In supporting roles, Catherine Keener and Vince Vaughn are also very good.
But where Penn stumbles, and where he lost me, was with some of the filmmaking choices. I didn’t love how McCandless would every now and then look right into the camera. That didn’t seem true to the character or the film. I also didn’t like the multiple points of view. Between McCandless’ letters, his voiceovers, his sister’s voiceovers, etc., you either didn’t always know who was actually telling the story or were distracted from it. Why the film is broken into four “chapters” is unclear. Also, there were a couple scenes that could have been cut. And there’s one scene late in the movie where Hirsch’s performance is so lame that it damn near threatens to derail the whole momentum of the film. In fact, it’s so bad that when McCandless does finally die (no spoiler there), I wasn’t sure if I still felt the sympathy for him that I felt earlier.
So I think I’m going to call Into the Wild a little bit of a letdown. It’s still generally, mostly, a good film, but I can’t really give it a stronger grade than a B.
Martin's Musings 