Archive for entertainment
What the….?
Posted by: | CommentsWow. Who knew that Anna Nicole had so much to offer a tired, cold, mid-winter media scrum?
What a terrific window into the glories of Western Civ, that citadel of freedom of thought, the free exchange of ideas, the elevating power of art. Whyever would anyone think we were corrupt? The Great Satan?
As the flock of dodos, um, media professionals descended on South Florida over the last several weeks to pick over the slowly rotting, not-so-corpulent-thanks-to-TrimSpa corpse of the late and over-lamented Ms. Smith, the following occured:
- several thousand people died in Darfur
- more than 100 Americans died in Iraq
- more than 1500 Iraqis died in Iraq – and not peacefully in their sleep
- North Korea continues to wave nukes at the US – unfortunately, the dweebs in DC seem to think Kim Jong Il is waving a white flag. That’s no white flag, dudes, that’s the puff of smoke still dissipating after the NK nuke test last October…
When I started in the TV news business back at the dawn of time – or maybe it was 1980 – the world was a bigger place. It was harder to get a signal out of the back of beyond, the internet didn’t exist, and the word info-tainment had yet to be coined. We have, it seems, become a global village – a collection of gossipy grandmas clucking over the latest version of Hollywood Confidential.
That noise you hear in the background? That’s Ed Murrow banging on the inside of his casket in frustration…
Ending not with a bang, but a whimper
Posted by: Mighty Casey | Comments (0)One of the most anticipated events in recent television history, the final episode of The Sopranos on HBO, apparently left legions of fans (including this one) staring at their television sets in dumb wonder at 10:05pm on June 10.
An anguished outcry ensued (including Nikki Finke’s whining screed, with side commentary on how much HBO basically sucks and that subscribers are jumping ship in droves), which I admit I joined for about 15 seconds…and then I realized that this is actually the only way this series COULD end.
Life doesn’t end, even if one life does. Just ask Phil Leotardo’s daughter, or Janice, or even Ginny Sack.
This series is quintessentially New York, including the bridge & tunnel crowd, of which the Soprano crew were proud members. Things in the tri-state area don’t get wrapped up neatly, unless it’s a hero from Satriale’s.
In the Land of LA, appearance is all. Gotta hide anything that ain’t perfect behind the hedge, or out past the Valley. This is not to say that appearance doesn’t matter in NY – just TRY to get away without a predominantly-black outfit at certain social events – but in NY, we like our art a little messy. Things don’t get completely resolved. Life has ragged edges.
So, I think last night’s episode – in spite of some of its more obvious moments, like “Don’t Stop Believing” as the denouement’s auditory backdrop – but that cut-to-black?
Brilliant.