Okay, “Night Shift” fans, I was able to do a phoner with Billy Dee Williams before my departure to the TCA Press Tour, and it’s now live on Bullz-Eye.
Author: Will Harris (Page 180 of 261)
Will is a member of the Television Critics Association and has written for Decider.com, the Onion A.V. Club, The Dissolve, Indiewire, Rhino.com, TV Week Magazine, The Virginian-Pilot, Popdose.com, and EW.com along with writing for Bullz-Eye.com and Premium Hollywood.
* Isaiah Washington will be appearing in a 5-episode stint on “The Bionic Woman.” (Co-chairman Marc Graboff said, “He’s a wonderful actor, and he became available…” Naturally, the audience burst into laughter. “…and, just to address that laughter, we did start talking to him about appearing before he ‘became available.’ He met the writers, the role was thought of for Isaiah, but it’s now been more specifically tailored to him.”)
* Norman Lear is returning to TV, overseeing a new, as-yet-uncast sitcom. (Graboff: “His belief in telling great stories and drawing attention to issues that are real inside American society through emotion and comedy are what inspired me to go into television. Potentially, Norman would write as the show gets going.”)
* The network’s upcoming new reality series: “Phenomenon,” starring Uri Geller and Criss Angel.
* The network is forging a new association with Charlie Corwin, executive producer of “The Squid and the Whale.”
* Donald Trump will indeed be returning with another season of “The Apprentice,” but it’s going to be done with celebrities this time, with all challenges and winnings being done for charity. (Graboff: “Donald has personally asked me to extend an invite to Rosie (O’Donnell).”)
* Both Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan are committed to “30 Rock” and will be back.
* It sounds like “Friday Night Lights” was saved partially because the network execs liked it, but mostly because it’s a fiscally solid show, i.e. it’s a hell of a lot cheaper to produce than, say, “Heroes”; as such, they could afford to believe in the show a little longer. (Hey, whatever. As long as it’s still on, right?)
* NBC’s adaptation of the Australian series, “Kath & Kim,” is on the fast track, and both Graboff and his fellow chairman, Ben Silverman, are both aware that it’s gonna depend on the casting as far as whether it’ll be another “Office” or another “Coupling.”
* NBC is definitely looking to keep Jay Leno within the network after his departure from “The Tonight Show.” (Silverman: “We love Jay, and we’d love him to stay with NBC forever.”)
His name is Steven Chupnick. He is the Managing Editor of the website JewReview.net…and he has never seen a “Star Wars” film.
Never.
Not one of them.
As you can imagine, this man, who otherwise appears to be a fine, upstanding member of society, was properly lambasted by his peers (including me) for this shameful omission from his list of life experiences. Of course, we’d all been drinking by this point of the evening – we’d just finished up a night at the Friar’s Club, where we sat around sipping Old Fashioneds and watching Jeff Goldblum play piano with the rest of his jazz quintet – so it got a bit rough. I believe the phrases “how can you even function in society” and “where do you hide your antennae” were bandied about, not to mention the inevitable “omigod, that’s just fucking crazy!” (I believe I said something to the effect of, “So, when you score that interview with Harrison Ford for ‘Indy 4,’ will you say, ‘Now what’s this I hear about you being in ‘The Star Wars’?”)
Still, at least one writer…I believe it was Kevin Kelly, from GeneralRubbish.com…said wistfully, “Y’know, I actually envy you a little bit, because you can still experience them for the first time; I wish I could do that.”
Of course, this is after he’d yelled, “That’s not even normal!” So let’s not give anyone too much credit.
Anyway, I basically only post this because A) it’s funny, B) it’s actually a little surprising, and C) at the time of his omission, I pulled out my camera and said, “I didn’t think people like you existed; I’m gonna need to have photographic proof when I write about this, because otherwise no-one’s gonna believe me when I tell them I’ve met someone who’s never, ever seen a ‘Star Wars’ film.” But, by God, NOW they will!
Sure, why not a crossover…?
BET is running a new series entitled “Hip Hop vs. America,” and on the panel for the show was none other than the legendary Public Enemy front-man, Chuck D. The show focuses on the different sides of the hip-hop genre, and the social responsibility that its performers have to those who are listening. Great concept, and I’m psyched to see it…but, still, I had to ask what I knew lots of other wanted to know:
Yours Truly: Chuck, guys like you and KRS-One have taken rap and made political statements and aided it in being taken seriously as an art form. How do you think a show like, say, “Flava of Love” has affected you being taken seriously, I mean, as far as the rap community in general?
Chuck D: I come from a black family, and one thing black folks know, we always got that one in our family. But we take them in as family. Jimmy Carter had Billy Carter. You all remember him, right? It’s just that we outnumber Flava 12-to-one, but you might not draw focus on the other 11 — and Flava is a one-of-a-kind, believe that. He ain’t never ever changed and ain’t gonna change. So, hopefully, more shows — maybe we’ll get 11 guys to have shows that balance out the “Flava of Love.”
Word.
By the way, Chuck said he wasn’t really interested in getting his own show…although he said he did think that Professor Griff would do pretty good with one (though, personally, I have to wonder if that wouldn’t have the potential to be even more damaging to hip-hop’s reputation than Flav’s show)…but he admitted that, if he did get his own show, he’d want it to be a one-on-one interview format. I said, “Oh, kinda like Henry Rollins?” I knew he’d been on Rollins’ show…but, damn, boyee, I didn’t know how much he’d enjoyed it. Chuck just lit up and was, like, “Oh, man, Rollins, I love Henry Rollins, I love him, I love everything he does, and I’d love to do anything like that guy.”
In closing, another writer asked Chuck if he thought Flava would ever find love, and he instantly offered up a laugh and a scoff, saying, “Flava found love. Flava got more love than he know what to do with!”
Howdy do. So yesterday was a bit of a wind-down day for me, thankfully…and good thing, too. I needed it. After running from panel to panel, then doing the obligatory schmoozefest at the end of the evening, only to return to my room and write for an hour or two, was getting a little exhausting, and I was really starting to feel it. (I know, I probably lessened the amount of sympathy I might otherwise have gotten by referencing the schmoozefest aspect of my day, but at least I was honest.)
The day started with a trio of Disney Channel panels: “The Wizards of Waverly Place,” “High School Musical: The Music in You,” and the long-awaited-by-just-about-every-kid-you-know “High School Musical 2.” “The Wizards of Waverly Place” seems cute enough, a standard Disney sitcom about two teenagers who are training to be wizards; not really my cup of tea, but if I was a kid, I’d imagine that the blending of teen comedy and “Harry Potter” – because, c’mon, who are we kidding, that’s what inspired this – would be something I’d want to check out. As far as “High School Musical 2,” I admit it: I’ve never seen the first one. That said, though, the songs they played from the sequel were immediately endearing and catchy, and the choreography was fantastic, so, God help me, maybe I should go check out the original before this new one premieres. Ultimately, though, the far more interesting program was “High School Musical: The Music in You,” a documentary by Academy Award winning documentarian Barbara Kopple (“Harlan County USA,” “American Dream”) which details two rival high schools who are putting on their own renditions of “High Schol Musical.” As a music geek, I was most fascinated / depressed by the information about how expensive it is to stage one of these productions, simply as far as paying the publishing royalties. I never thought about that before…but, geez, you can see that these people certainly do…
Julia Worthington, one of the teachers putting on the musical, explained that “it depends on, first of all, how many performances you’re going to do, the size of your venue.” Worthington’s school’s production usually only has an audience of about 100, and, based on that average, she says that “the licensing and the royalties and everything was about $2,300.” Apparently, the amount started at around $500, and it varies wildly depending on the number of seats, the number of performances, and so forth…but, of course, that’s only for “High School Musical.”
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