Television

I highly recommend the blog Beaming Beeman, the blog of Greg Beeman who is a director/producer for the show "Heroes". The blog entries are always filled with interesting detail about the way in which the episode was filmed, and fascinating insight about what it takes to put a show like this together. And he always has very cool pictures. I do not know the role of the mysterious beverage "Slusho", but it appears to play some kind of dark role...

OK, so I've basically totally abandoned the blog.  Sorry. 

But the season ender for the Sopranos just compels me to say something. 

(spoilers for the season ender following...)

Yummy yummy good TV. In addition to Smallville, Studio 60, and My Name is Earl, we have probably my two favorite shows were on tonight:

Heroes: Very good episode. Heather was saying, typically plot-building episodes kinda suck, but this one was really good. Ali Larter's acting was great, not the cheap shot one liner at the end but the interview with her attorney. The scene with Hiro and Nathan was hilarious.

24: Amazing how quickly those torture wounds Fayed inflicted on Jack seem to heal, eh? And there's one heck of a twist. All in all, Jack is the MacGyver of torture.

Two and a Half Men: Mmmmm, pie.

I read the ABC News reviewed the ads in advance. Funny that Fabio almost sank the Gondola.

We're also watching in lag, to fast forward repeated commercials (Blockbuster), so we are a little behind. We're mostly rooting for Pittsburgh, the team with the cool story, but I personally would enjoy seeing the Seahawks win, because our high school mascot was the Seahawks.

That which is good:

• Bud Light "Magic Fridge". Best one so far.
• "Prehistoric FedEx" was pretty funny.
• Leonard Nemoy for Aleve
• Bud Light "Roof Picnic"
• Diet Pepsi "Stunt Double" w/Jackie Chan
• Budweiser "Goat Streaks the Clydesdales Football Game" - good to see that traditional commercial continue
• "Mobile ESPN" - not our style of commercial, but very well done
• "Mission Impossible III": Blow stuff up! Yeah!
• Shaq for Desparate Housewives
• Sprint "Crime Deterrent"
• Budweiser "Baby Clydesdale Pulls the Cart" Awwwwwww!
• Degree for Men "City of Risks"
• MacGuyver Mastercard Priceless
• Nationwide Sky Banner Proposal

Honorable mention: The "Oh the places you'll go" introduction to the Super Bowl

That which is bad:

• Whopperettes. Why would anyone ever want to download that to their cellphone?
• Jessica Simpson as a Pizza Hut waitress. Whatever!
• Bud Light Bear Attack. Seems in poor taste with "Grizzly Man" in theaters.
• Diet Pepsi "Brown and Bubbly" was, like, whatever.
• Ameriquest "Well, that killed him" - very bad! Made me sad!
• "Escalade Fashion Show" was stupid.
• The Hummer H3 as the love child of Godzilla and the Iron Giant. Just plain stupid.
• I don't remember last year's GoDaddy commercial, so bite me.

Honorable Mention: The smell of old man farts on stage at the halftime show

And about the game... it was a big defensive contest, which makes for a slow-seeming game. It livened up in the second half, but it never really seemed to be a very watchable game, nothing like Pittsburgh's other victories. But Pittsburgh earned a tremendous victory, with 1/8th of the Super Bowls on record belonging to them. And coming from the #6 seed to win it all, always an inspirational story. Congrats to the Steelers.

Is it any surprise that the results of the Morgan Spurlock series "30 Days" on FX were decided in advance, specifically the episode about Islam in America? If the series was approached as a legitimate anthropological or sociological experiment it would have been extremely interesting. It's a shame that this doesn't live up to that potential.

My parents have raved about the show "Smallville" on the WB. For those not familiar with the show, it is a reinterpretation of the Superman myth, set in modern times as we view Clark Kent as he progresses through high school.

So, as might be expected, this series hews to many of the quirks of the Superman mythos. For example, alliterative names, especially with the letter L, are common and are an indicator of future success. Clark's family is as wholesome as American-grown wheat bread. People come and go from the Kent's barn, where Clark has his homey farm equivalent of a tree fort, in everything from jeans to Armani and prom dresses and never seem to get anything on their shoes. The good characters make tough choices to do what is right for others. The evil characters make tough choices to do what is right for others, calmly explaining how it is good for others in tones that say "Yes, I know this ritual flaying hurts, but it builds character." The children from "Home Improvement" are seen and their inherent creepiness in adulthood is well-used by the casting director.

By the way, nobody ever says thank you in this show! I have gotten used to most products of the television industry, where none of the characters ever say "Goodbye" or "See you later" or any formal conclusion of a conversation.

I think you could distill out all of the common elements into something that looks like this:

[Scene: The Talon, the hip coffee shop-slash-movie theater Llana runs. Clark enters.]
Lana: Clark! Let me tell you about my emotional problems.
[Lana talks for five minutes about her self obsessed problems. Clark practices his Superman steely gaze for a few minutes, then starts lazily burning "C heart L" patterns in the wall over Lana's shoulder. Chloe arrives.]
Chloe: Hi, Lana, how are you?
Lana: Oh, I've just been telling Clark about my latest imbroglio.
Chloe: I'm sure. [Smile says "Hello", eyes say "You Die Now"]
[Chloe and Lana compete at making doe-y eyes at Clark, then leave. Lex arrives.]
Lex: Hey Clark, how's it going?
Clark: (steely gaze) I'm having some trouble with my bitches.
Lex: (sardonic) Caesar used to say to his troops, post hoc ergo propter locum. In other words, if you don't succeed the first time, rotate ninety degrees and try again.
Clark: What?
[Clark exercises steely gaze, 4 seconds. Fade to black.]
[Scene: Luthor Palace. Lex is there doing something very very rich people do, like reading a book. Clark enters.]
Clark: Lex, I think something terrible is going on.
Lex: (sardonic) Sure, Clark. But first, please take these winning lottery tickets to your parents, no strings attached.
[Clark exits without a word, steely-gazing all the way. Lionel Luthor, Lex's father enters.]
Lex: (sardonic) So, in what way have you come to cornhole me now, Dad?
Lionel: I see you're still engaging in that fascinating relationship with the Kent boy, which is I am sure highly platonic. I am quite taken with him too - highly platonic.
Lex: (sardonic) And I am sure that explains you purchasing the contract for the leper colony out from under Lexcorp, which is in no way affiliated with Lexmark.
Lionel: My boy, the more that I make you a loser the more of a success you will be.
Lex: (sardonic) I have to go now, Dad. My crack team of emotional therapists needs to get on that stat.

So, I was watching "8 Simple Rules" on ABC for the first time. This bit of dialogue happened:


What the heck does that mean? I mean, there must be some kind of racial stereotype I am unfamiliar with being cited. But either from ignorance or from indoctrination to political correctness, both Heather and I were unable to comprehend it.

Via Bacon's Rebellion, comes this entertainment news from Drudge:

We finished watching the Oscars last night upstairs in bed. Here are my recollections of what I thought:

• Only ten minutes over the allotted time! That's not bad at all, by oscar standards.
  
• Jamie Foxx's tribute to his grandmother was very moving. His emotion seemed so much more genuine than Halle Berry's did not too long ago. He has a genuine quality, and earnestness that is a part of what makes him so watchable.
  
• Clint Eastwood's mother, however, was one of the surprises of the night. I wonder what she thinks of Clint's face tightening (which made him look somewhat skeletor-ish, by the way).
  
• Mrs. Warren Beatty there looks like she should cut down on the tightening too. There was something very atrificial about her appearance.
  
• Heather made a good point about Josh Groban. She said, there are ways to sing that let your voice blend with others, and Groban doesn't do that. It seems like he sings everything like it's from Les Miserables. Also, he seriously looks geeky.
  
• Hilary Swank's dress just looked worse and worse the more the evening wore on. Now, I think that Hilary Swank is prima facie proof that Hollywood isn't just pretty faces, but sweet jebus couldn't she at least have worn something other than a glorified smock? It looked like a medical gown, open in the back but in a clinical way. I noticed that the movie poster for Million-Dollar Baby also features her from the back, so maybe she thinks that is her strongest feature. I would concur to the extent that "not her front" is a good idea.
  

There was also a lot of reaction to the oscars:

• Althouse thought Jamie Foxx romanticized child abuse.
  
• Check out the pro-Bush rally in front of the Oscars.
  
• Courtesy of Captain Ed I see La Shawn Barber has some words for Chris Rock.
  
• Sic Semper thinks the academy got it mostly right.
  

Like Ann Althouse, I am blogging the Oscars. I'm not nearly organized enough to put datestamps on, though, so y'all will have to settle for things as they come.

• Chris Rock's opening monologue was pretty funny. I have to admit, I experienced a full-body spasm when he brought up Fahrenheit 911, but he talked through it in a way that I found to be reasonably funny.
  
• Heather and I agree that Halle Berry's dress is very pretty. Hilary Swank's is... ugh. What the heck has Renee Zellwegger done with herself? Cate Blanchett looks elegant and porcelain.
  
• The boys choir in the first song, the one in French, looked like movie theater ushers. A bunch of boys in red vests, white shirts, bow ties, and dark pants, sounds like it should be in a National Amusements theater.
  
• Best commercial so far: the Budweiser horse snowfight commercial.
  
• Chris Rock's theater lobby interviews of people is one of the funniest things I've ever seen at the Oscars that didn't involve Robin Williams.
  
• Pierce Brosnan on the screen with an animated character? It seems... unseemly.

Update 1:

• So far, they have had just the one award where they had the sadistic spectacle of every one of the nominees on the stage.
  
• I do like the way they are using the whole theater more this year. Cate Blanchett from the seats, Scarlett Johannson from the balcony. It's interesting.
  
• Chris Rock's jab at Tim Robbins "boring us to death with his politics"... yay!
  
• I am so glad Cate Blanchett won the oscar. Heather is too.

Update 2:

• The Adam Sandler thing with Chris Rock being Catherine Zeta-Jones... dear god, end it now.
  
• Al Pacino... is he pathologically unkempt?
  
• I was watching for reaction to Chris Rock's opener, and I haven't been disappointed... fellow Wahoo John Behan had the same negative reaction I started out with.
  
• Comedy Superstar Jeremy Irons seemed to earn his apellation in a dryly humorous presentation.
  
• Laura Linney seemed to do her makeup like she was doing some kind of wonder woman thing.
  
• Instapundit links to a number of other people live blogging the oscars.
  
• Could Salma Heyek and Penelope Cruz look more similar? That's a lot of latina in one place.
  

In Britain, a reality show that seeks to explore the use of torture by recreating conditions inside the Guantanamo Bay detention center is in the works. This has the potential for being not as much of a ridiculously bad thing as I had originally thought. First off, a program of this kind has the ability to democratize the debate over how to handle Al Qaeda hostiles caught on the battlefield by showing the everyday person what is being done in terms they can understand. The so-called "watercool conversation" about the topic can be very healthy in the process of coming to a collective understanding of how to deal with implacable mass murderers. The value proposition rests solely on two things: first off, to accurately mimic procedures the US employs with detainees, and second to remind people that the methods being portrayed are being used on people who would gladly decapitate your kith and kin, and to judge appropriately. I'll be interested to see if BBC America airs this.

We're watching VH1's The 40 Most Awesomely Bad Love Songs. First off, I think most of this music is actually pretty good. And Heather and I agree, the commentators are coming across as extraordinarily jaded. I know that VH1, owned by MTV, has become more aligned with the hip-cynical viewpoint, and that really seeps through here. They talk about how creepy it is for someone to watch you as you sleep. Well, obviously they have never been married and truly in love.

I am surprised that "I would do anything for love (but I won't do that)" by Meatloaf was only #24 on the list. Also, it looks like they aren't looking at songs before 1980 or so... I mean where is the terrible "Afternoon Delight" (complete with comparisons between a lover and a fish)?

For those 24 fans interested in Kiefer Sutherland, an interesting article on Error Theory on him (hat tip: Instapundit).

We tried watching the 24 premiere last night. But, having been weaned on the DVD versions for the first three seasons, we found the commercials jarring. The flow, gripping to the point of involuntary compulsion to watch the next episode, was broken, an the whole experience was a let down. I think we may wait for the DVDs to come out for season 4 - yes, it is a long time, but what the heck.

For those that ask, no, we on't have a PVR.

I apologize for any editing errors... the "d" key on my laptop is giving me fits this morning.