Category: External TV (Page 304 of 419)

Journeyman 1.13 – “Perfidia”

December 20, 2007 /

So what do you say when a show is simply gone too soon? The “final” episode of “Journeyman” was a pretty fantastic exit for an ongoing piece of entertainment that was just getting started.

The episode opened with Dan having traveled to a mental hospital not to far in the past – only September of ’07. There he meets Evan, a man who claimed to be a fellow traveler. Of course, since he’s in the looney bin, his assertions are questionable. He tells Dan that he’s there to help him escape and meet up with a beautiful woman in a photograph. Evan also tells Dan that he no longer travels due to the meds he’s on, which literally keep him grounded. After some convincing, Dan provides a distraction, Evan escapes and Dan immediately travels back to the present. There he discovers Evan was killed shortly after his escape by jaywalking. So it’s back to September…

Meanwhile, Jack is busy causing a stink with Elliot Langley, trying anything he can to connect with the guy and get him to admit that he knows Dan and something about his travels. Katie is getting bad marital advice from her sister and Livia’s just plain getting married.

The story of Evan was a tragic thing of beauty. All he wanted was to reconnect – even if only for a moment – with the wife he sacrificed during his travels. He sacrificed their entire marriage so that she could live a full life, while it turned out that the time line wasn’t so kind to Evan: he was destined to die on the same day no matter what Dan and Livia did to try to help him.

In the episode’s final moments, Dan and Langley finally have a confrontation of sorts. Elliot admitted to not only knowing Dan, but also knowing a fair amount about what was going with him and that it would be dangerous to continue on with an acquaintance. He also told Dan that the “system” was breaking down and that he was the last traveler. Dan replied, rather Yodaishly, “No, there’s another one.” He of course was speaking of Livia. He then went home to Katie and stood his ground, saying that even though through meds he too felt he could ground himself, that it wasn’t that path he wanted to choose. Rather ironic and sad that while the character of Dan Vassar chose to continue traveling, NBC is the meds that are going to keep him from doing so.

Is “Perfidia” an appropriate ending for “Journeyman?” Well, it wasn’t ideal and certainly had that feeling that there was plenty more story to tell, but since it’s the only ending we’re likely to get, it served its function and didn’t leave viewers hanging in any major way. One of the great little moments of the piece was Dan seeing himself traveling for the first time in the cab. It’d sure be great if someone would greenlight a “Journeyman” miniseries to give a proper ending to the story, although that’s highly unlikely.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Journeyman, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

“Extras” finale not to be missed

December 20, 2007 /

Ricky Gervais must have ADHD. His brilliant breakthrough series, “The Office,” only lasted 14 episodes before he and co-creator Stephen Merchant decided to call it quits. This week, HBO is airing the 80-minute finale to their follow-up project, “Extras,” in which Gervais plays Andy Millman, a long-time extra who finally makes it big…sort of.

The special was surprisingly poignant at times, as Andy struggles with a big decision – does he want his integrity or does he want to be famous? This quandary leads to a fallout between Andy and his best friend, Maggie (Ashley Jensen), a fellow extra who is down on her luck. But don’t fret, the special features plenty of classic “Extras” laughs, and Merchant is especially funny as Andy’s agent, Darren. It also features cameos by George Michael and Gordon Ramsay, among others.

The network is airing the special 15 more times on its various networks before the New Year.

External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Comedies

With 7 days ’til Christmas, a publicist sent to me…

December 18, 2007 /

…The House Without A Christmas Tree.

If you can trust the box art for this particular DVD, then we’ve finally been gifted with the long-awaited release of a cherished holiday classic; as for me, I wasn’t familiar with the film…or if I once was, my memories of it didn’t stick with me for the long haul…but having now watched it, I can say that there’s probably a fair amount of truth in that advertising.

Addie (Lisa Lucas) is 10 years old and really, really, really wants a Christmas tree; unfortunately, her dad, James (Jason Robards), refuses to have one in his house. No, he’s not being a jerk…well, not intentionally, anyway. He’s still mourning the death of his wife, who died within weeks of Addie’s birth, and he readily associates the holidays with how much his wife loved that time of the year; unfortunately, he also associates his daughter with his wife, and it continues to haunt him that, once upon a time, he wished that she’d died instead of her mother. As such, the Christmas season is generally a pretty low-key affair around their house…to say the least. But when Addie wins a Christmas tree in a contest at school – through a method her father taught her, no less – and James still throws a fit over having a tree in his house, resulting in Addie running off in tears, one is forced to wonder if father and daughter will ever be able to reconcile.

Say, this sure sounds like a merry Christmas movie, doesn’t it? Well, don’t worry: it wouldn’t be a holiday classic if things didn’t eventually turn out all right…but, then, you probably already figured that.

Robards’ performance is appropriately gruff when he’s dealing with Addie while being just sad enough for us to realize that, yeah, that’s a major emotional rollercoaster the guy’s on, and who’s to say we wouldn’t react similarly in that situation? Mildred Natwick plays Addie’s grandmother (and James’s mom) in a manner that will no doubt strike a chord in many of us, the way she walks that tightrope between wanting to make her granddaughter happy without damaging the relationship with her own child. Lisa Lucas is…well, she’s a kid. She’s an average 10-year-old little girl. She was never destined to win an Emmy for her work, but she does well enough.

“The House Without A Christmas Tree” was made in 1972, and it shows, but that’s a good thing, actually; the reason it shows is that it was filmed on video tape, and the result is that it tends to feel less like a movie and more like a play. There really aren’t many different locales involved – the family’s house, the school, a store, and another nearby family’s house – and the brief outdoor shots could easily be left out if anyone wanted to make this into a stage play. You may also recall that 1972 was the year “The Waltons” premiered, so don’t be surprised when you tune in to find that A) the story takes place in the 1940s, B) the goings-on are, by and large, pretty mundane by today’s standards, and C) there’s as much heartbreak as there is happiness.

But, like I said, things turn out all right in the end, and that’s what counts.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, External TV, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, Reviews, TV, TV Dramas, TV DVDs

With 8 days ’til Christmas, a publicist sent to me…

December 17, 2007 /

…The Johnny Cash Christmas Specials for 1976 and 1977.

Me and Johnny Cash go back a long way. One of my earliest music-related memories is sitting in my dad’s Ford pick-up truck and listening to an 8-track of “Live at Folsom Prison,” a fact which does a pretty decent between-the-lines job of indicating how old I am; in fact, it was probably right around the same time when these Christmas specials originally aired, although I don’t have any recollection of having watched them at the time. But between my dad and my grandfather, I’m sure at least one of them was watching ’em.

Funny how much difference a year makes, though. The ’76 special is apparently filmed at Johnny Cash’s house, as he brings in friends and family to celebrate the holiday and play some music; there are plenty of members of the Carter family in attendance, but also making appearances are Barbara Mandrell, Roy Clark, Merle Travis, and…Tony Orlando? Yes, sir. And not only is Orlando there, but he’s spurred to perform his signature number only after Johnny gives him a wink and a nudge and says, “Hey, you know what kind of tree that is, don’t ya, Tony?” Moments later, a yellow ribbon suddenly appears around it – tied in a neat bow, of course – and serves as the cue to start the music. It’s goofy as hell to see Johnny, June, and Tony Orlando walking arm in arm, singing such a severely schmaltzy number as this one, but it still inspires a smile rather than a groan. When Roy Clark shows up, he teams with Cash and Orlando for a medley of…Stephen Foster songs? As Christmas specials go, this really isn’t very Christmasy at all, frankly; there’s a season-appropriate sermon of sorts from Rev. Billy Graham toward the end of the show, but if you just look at the songs, the ratio of 3 Christmas songs to sixteen non-Christmas songs. But, y’know, it’s Johnny Cash, and you can let the Man in Black slide once in awhile.

Tony Orlando and his good friend, Santa,
now appearing together at Harrah’s Casino.

The ’77 special, though, is a whole other ball park…so much so, in fact, that one wonders if people kept asking Cash, “Johnny, how come you done you a Christmas special and didn’t hardly sing no Christmas songs?” This time around, it’s almost entirely about the holiday music, including Johnny and the Statler Brothers on “Blue Christmas,” a return visit from Roy Clark to help Johnny with “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Frosty the Snow Man,” Jerry Lee Lewis’s piano-pumping take on “White Christmas,” and all-star versions of “Silent Night” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” It’s practically a Sun Records reunion, with Cash joined not only by Jerry Lee but also Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. The middle of the special features each of them doing one of their signature numbers – Cash’s “Big River,” Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” and Jerry Lee’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” – and they all team up to pay tribute to their recently-deceased colleague, Elvis Presley, on a version of “This Train Is Bound For Glory.”

The grand finale of the show is a version of “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” where everybody – yes, everybody – takes a lead vocal at one point or another. The entire audience, from the floor seats all the way up to the balcony, is on its feet by the time it’s all over, and you’re liable to be as well. It’s really interesting to see how unabashedly religious Cash’s specials were, even if it’s sad to realize how little of that we see on TV anyone; everyone’s so damned afraid of offending someone else’s beliefs that it feels like we’re not even allowed to demonstrate our own.

Merry Christmas, Johnny. We still miss you down here, but you be sure to give our best to the big man, wouldja?

External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV

With 10 days ’til Christmas, a publicist sent to me…

December 15, 2007 /

…A Flintstones Christmas Carol.

Man, I used to love me some “Flintstones” when I was a kid. Jenn and I were sitting on the couch this morning, watching this with our 2-year-old daughter, Ally, and once again, it came flooding back to me how many of the original episodes I must’ve sat through during my childhood. Every time I catch an episode on Boomerang, I’m invariably washed over by a wave of memories I didn’t realize; whether they’d schedule it early in the morning or immediately after I got out of school, I’d always camp in front of the TV and absorb every moment of “The Flintstones.” Yes, even the Great Gazoo years. (Dude, seriously, I fucking loved Gazoo. I don’t know why he gets hassled so much.)

Unfortunately, “A Flintstones Christmas Carol” isn’t from the show’s glory years; it was a 1994 TV movie, and, well, if you’ve ever caught any of the more recent Flintstones material, you know that things have been going steadily downhill since the original series. But, really, this is just a weird film all around, mostly because a surprising chunk of it stays steadfast and true to the original Charles Dickens story. The premise involves Fred playing the part of Ebeneezer Scrooge in a Bedrock production of “A Christmas Carol,” but his ego gets the best of him, and it gets to the point where his head’s so swelled that it barely fits through his dressing room door. Inevitably, it becomes a case of life imitating art, Fred realizes the error of his ways, and it’s just as happy an ending as you’d expect.

Unfortunately, Ally started getting antsy right around the point when Jacob Marbley (yes, you read that right) comes to visit Scrooge…and I couldn’t blame her, because it was deadly dull and barely anything like a “Flintstones” episode. So I started scrambling to figure out how to remedy the situation, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but the words “Bonus Episode” on the DVD box. And, bam, it was off to watch “Christmas Flintstone,” the episode from the original series where Fred takes a part-time job as a department store Santa, only to be drafted to replace the REAL Santa, who’s been waylayed by illness. Oh, it was great stuff…and Ally, bless her, was enthralled by it, snuggled up to her mama, watching every moment of it and, at the end, asking for “‘nother one.”

So, clearly, I’m not going to recommend “A Flintstones Christmas Carol” in and of itself, but if you find it for an inexpensive price, it’s worth picking up for that bonus episode. I might never watch the film again, but I’ll be breaking out “Christmas Flintstone” every year for the long haul.

External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Movie Comedies, Movies, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVDs

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