Category Archives: Television

January 21, 2012 · 5:57 pm

Lucille Ball: Hey, Look Her Over

People forget Lucy could do more than situation comedy….

Doing “Mame” when she was way too old for the part kind of killed memories of how good she could be as a Song and Dance gal…

Not one of the greats, but very, very good and it provides proof of her abilities as an all around entertainer…

I think she still played her musical talent better on television- God knows, her movie of “Mame” was a mess….

Here are a couple of clips for entertainment on a rainy Saturday night- at least that’s the weather here in North Carolina…

From her Broadway show “Wildcat”, “Hey Look Me Over” with Steve Lawrence on TV:

With Shirley Maclaine from her TV Special “Gypsy in My Soul” (Which I really wish would come out on DVD….)

And from a Bob Hope Special:

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January 15, 2012 · 6:15 pm

Happy Birthday, Charo!

It’s hard to believe that Charo is only 61 today….

It seems like she has been around much longer than that…

And I’ve always wondered:  “Why?”

She’s definitely a 20th Century Wonder who is Lost in the 21st Century….

But she is still working….

Bless her heart.  I’m sure she’s really sweet…

And she is also a truly talented classical guitarist…

Here is a video of her in her heyday:

And one of her taken last year in New York:

And proving she has a sense of humor, working with Carol Burnett:

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November 30, 2011 · 11:15 pm

Daniel Craig Calls Kardashians ‘F*cking Idiots,’

Another reason to love Daniel Craig….

I’m really offended that I even had to find out who the Kardashians are….And I never watch TV!

They are so omnipresent in the media, you can’t avoid the skanky creatures…..

Daniel puts it in perspective….

Daniel Craig is a very private man, on screen and off. On film, he plays a journalist doing important investigative work, as well as the world’s most famous spy; in real life, he does things like get married in super secret ceremonies. And as he tells British GQ, he’s got good reason for all the secrecy; once you go Kardashian, you never go back.

“I think there’s a lot to be said for keeping your own counsel,” Craig tells the magazine. “You can’t buy it back. You can’t buy your privacy back. ‘Ooh, I want to be alone. ‘F*ck you. We’ve been in your living room. We were at your birth. You filmed it for us and showed us the placenta, and now you want some privacy?'”

In case he wasn’t clear enough that he was talking about the Kardashians — hey, reality shows blend together — he then emphasized his target.

“It’s a career. What can I tell you?” he continues. “It is a career; I’m not being cynical. And why wouldn’t you? Look at the Kardashians, they’re worth millions. Millions! I don’t think they were that badly off to begin with, but now look at them. You see that and you think, ‘What, you mean all I have to do is behave like a f*cking idiot on television and then you’ll pay me millions?'”

In fact, Craig’s comments are quite salient on a day when Kourtney Kardashian announced that she is pregnant… on the cover of Us Weekly.

via Daniel Craig Calls Kardashians ‘F*cking Idiots,’ Talks ‘Dragon Tattoo’ And Reality TV In British GQ.

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November 9, 2011 · 8:01 pm

From New Jersey- John Gorka: The Anti-Snooki

I’ll gladly admit I’ve never actually seen “The Jersey Shore.”

I’ve seen snippets and read enough to know it exceeds my limits for blatant sorriness…..

Poor New Jersey already had enough bad PR.

This show single-handedly wiped out all the positive image gains from Bruce Springsteen.

However, in New Jersey’s defense, I wanted to post this…I like this singer, John Gorka, a lot and have a couple of his CD’s.

(Yes, I still buy CD’s.  I need  a “hard copy” of my digital music.)

Anyway, I know too many great people from New Jersey to let Snooki and Company completely ruin the state’s image.  I’m going to post this as my feeble attempt to help New Jersey’s image recover from “The Jersey Shore.”

This is John Gorka singing his song “I’m From New Jersey.”

I also recommend you check out more of John Gorka’s music….

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October 3, 2011 · 10:00 pm

Why Absolutely Fabulous Now Looks Absolutely Prescient

I loved “Absolutely Fabulous” back in the 1990’s and am so glad to hear they are making three new episodes for this season on BBC.

But I never considered it a cultural milestone or a predictor of future societal behavior.  I guess I thought it was a fairly honest depiction of my friends and I as we dealt with our 3o’s and the last gasp of our shallow, out-of-control youth.

It was our “thirtysomething”.

Guess I was wrong, again!

Great article on AbFab from the Guardian in the UK

Edina, the hard-boiled, label-hungry PR guru, and Patsy, her addiction-fuelled magazine editor sidekick, now look like prescient visions of the future. When they first emerged on screen they endeared through preposterousness. With their minute-long obsessions and faux-ethical bandwagons, the pair cascaded from one catastrophe to the next. Yet what was once recognisably absurd has become absurdly recognisable.

A preponderance of Ab Fab-type figures now clog the cultural landscape. It is almost as if there is nothing left to ironise. Simon Cowell, Mary Portas, the Beckhams, Gok Wan, Nigella Lawson and any number of Premier League footballers all come replete with their own free-floating relationship with comic cliche.

We are treated to tales that sound as if they were plucked straight from an Absolutely Fabulous storyboarding meeting. There’s Alex James, the former coke-addled rock star who opened a cheese farm in his countryside pile. Here’s Angelina Jolie, displaying her global awareness one adopted baby at a time.

There’s Gwyneth Paltrow’s commercial repositioning with a holistic self-help website. Sex and the City has built an entire franchise out of repeating Patsy’s mantra: that nothing cannot be solved by the purchase of a fancy pair of shoes. The Financial Times’s How To Spend It magazine has become a latter-day Ab Fab manual.

What started as a sly poke at ridiculous figures of fun has become a new aspirational model. Patsy’s cries of “Bolly!” and “Lacroix!” in response to any impending crisis predated the late 90s snowballing of branding culture, from smart phones to handbags.

MORE:  Why Absolutely Fabulous now looks absolutely prescient | Paul Flynn | Comment is free | The Guardian.

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September 28, 2011 · 8:34 pm

Nancy Grace Wardrobe Malfunction: Breast Petals to the Rescue

If I wasn’t already Gay, I’m sure seeing Nancy Grace’s breasts or nipples on television would have done it….

Some things should never be inflicted on the viewing public no matter how much they deserve it.

Things like Snookie and Nancy Grace should be banned from viewing due to their negative cultural impacts on the masses.

I’ve never seen this show.  I avoid Nancy Grace (aka:  The Most Uptight White Woman Who Ever Lived)  like the plague, so I don’t know what happened….

And I don’t want to know what happened….

And I don’t care what happened….

Just keep Nancy Grace and her TaTa’s away from me!

Nancy Grace has added two more words to the denial of her much talked about wardrobe malfunction: breast petals.

Hours after Elisabetta Canalis and her partner were sent home from this season’s “Dancing with the Stars,” Grace took to Twitter to address her nip slip incident.

Nancy Grace took to Twitter to address her wardrobe malfunction incident, citing the use of of “breast petals.”

“Evidence re my alleged ‘wardrobe malfunction which I vehemently deny: Breast Petals & industrial strength bra,” Grace wrote, attaching a photo of said petals.

The petals, also known as pasties and nipple covers and usually made from silicon or nylon tricot material, are used to provide a smoother look, in addition to or in place of a regular bra.

Despite the use of her breast petals, Grace, 51, apparently showed a little too much skin during her jive performance with partner Tristan MacManus on Monday. Still, the television host and journalist stands by her claim.

“I was not flashing anybody . . . I think that when I did that backwards thing, there was a seismic shift, but I do not think there was a wardrobe malfunction,” Grace told Access Hollywood.

via Nancy Grace Wardrobe Malfunction: Breast Petals to the Rescue [PHOTO] – Entertainment & Stars.

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September 28, 2011 · 1:59 pm

Shocking News about the News!

This is a hilarious video from “The Onion” that shows how a modern news story is put together…..

If you can call it news….

It’s satire but, like all good satire, has a lot of truth in  it….

NSFW due to language….

Hat Tip to my friend Kirk for sending this to me!

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September 15, 2011 · 8:44 am

NO Wire Hangers!!!! Christina Crawford To Reveal Mother Joan Crawford’s Naked Home Videos

Never have children….

Never adopt children….

Never even talk to children…..

They will get their revenge eventually….

And it’s also a really good idea to avoid making nudie movies….

From The Huffington Post:

 

Broadway, hide your wire coat hangers. Joan Crawford’s daughter, Christina Crawford, is developing a one-woman show where she not only plans to reveal new secrets about her life with Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford, but also show never before seen home movies of the screen legend in the nude.

“I began my career as an actress and I’ve always loved the theater,” Crawford tells me. “The Play is based on two of my books, the 30th Anniversary Edition of Mommie Dearest and my third book, Survivor — both of which were best sellers. It covers a long period of time and a much more complete story.”

Additionally, Christina reveals that she has discovered Joan’s (she never refers to her as her “mother”) blue movies — naked home videos that she cannot believe the controlling star never destroyed.

“I never knew that they existed before a year ago and never saw them before a month ago,” Crawford says. “I remembered her telling me about her married lover, Charles McCabe; however I never saw photos of him, till the home movies, when they were hunting, fishing, and canoeing in The Poconos.”

Christina says the most shocking thing she discovered during her research was Joan’s quiet desperation in her later years. But she still cannot forgive her mother for the childhood she had to survive, which included being beaten by wire hangers.

“Forgiveness is a two-way street and she never took responsibility for her behavior,” Christina tells me. Which is why she has chosen to call her show that she hopes to take on the road before Broadway, “Surviving Mommie Dearest.”

via Christina Crawford To Reveal Mother Joan Crawford’s Naked Home Videos.

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September 4, 2011 · 10:02 pm

Don’t Mess with Erica Kane!

Not too bright behavior from a certain ABC Executive…..

Doesn’t he know Erica has outlasted more husbands, careers – and ABC Executives- than we can count?

With only three weeks of ‘All My Children’ left to go in the soap opera’s legendary 41-year run, the show’s stars are finally starting to speak out. Susan Lucci blasts ABC daytime exec Brian Frons in an epilogue to the upcoming paperback edition of her book, ‘All My Life,’ saying “I watched Brian Frons’ decisions destroy the production of our show and the lives of people on both sides of the country.”

According to the New York Post, which obtained text from the epilogue, Lucci’s criticisms weren’t limited to Frons’ business decisions — she also says that Frons appeared “self-congratulatory” when he informed the ‘AMC’ cast of the decision to cancel the long-running soap, and that he “has what, for me, is that fatal combination of ignorance and arrogance. I cannot fathom any network executive choosing to alienate millions of loyal viewers in these economic times.”

Don’t think that this is the first time Frons will hear of Lucci’s discontent. The star says she personally told him, “I think our being in this position is the result of some very bad decisions by you,” including the hiring of Chuck Pratt as head writer in 2008, moving the show to Los Angeles from new York, and getting rid of creator Agnes Nixon.

Speaking of Nixon, the ‘AMC’ creator promises that there will not be any lack of drama in the series’ broadcast finale, especially since she’ll continue with the show as a consultant when it moves online. She told the Chicago Tribune, “We’re going to have a hiatus, you know, for three months. And the head of Prospect Park [the production company taking over the shows] said, ‘We’ve got to have a big cliffhanger for that three months.’ And so I came up with one which I can’t tell you. But they loved it.”

via ‘All My Children’ Drama: Susan Lucci Blasts ABC Exec for Cancellation.

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September 4, 2011 · 5:41 pm

A Little Labor Day Levity….

Brought to you by the American Dope Growers’ Union and the classic original cast from Saturday Night Live in 1977…

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