Category: TV (Page 389 of 595)

Friday Night Lights: “Backfire”

October 27, 2007 /

If you’re in Mexico looking for a miracle cure for your paralysis and the receptionist says, “The doctor will probably be in sometime next week,” it’s probably not a good idea to stay there and undergo back surgery that involves stem cells extracted from sharks. Jason’s little speech at the karaoke bar was quite uncomfortable and I’m hoping that Tim can talk him out of the surgery.

Riggins had a few good lines in Mexico, but my favorite was the rant in the hotel room: “What are we watching? What is this? What are we doing, Six? We’ve been here for a week. We’ve got a bag of money, booze, no women, no stories, no memories.”

He had another great line when Jason bailed him out of jail. To the guard, he said, “Cheers. Go Cowboys.”

Classic Riggins.

No one in Dillon seems all that concerned about his absence from the team. Of course, that might have something to do with all the drama regarding the head coaching position. I thought it was a nice twist for McGregor to fight the firing, but Buddy’s speech at the hearing must have put the kibosh on the appeal. McGregor has his own speech for Eric, and he had a point about Eric being involved. Given Eric’s propensity for doing the right thing, I think McGregor’s words will haunt him for some time. Also, I think McGregor will reappear as an opposing coach at some point, probably for a very good team.

Then there’s the storyline about Lyla’s charity for the ex-con, but she’s being a little too goody-goody for my taste. It was funny, however, how Buddy jumped on the opportunity to buy his daughter’s love back by giving the kid a job. It doesn’t seem like there’s much chemistry between Lyla and the ex-con, but this could be the start of a relationship.

Tami opened up about her own adolescent decisions which helped Julie see things more clearly when the Swede forgot about their date. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Julie started to shape up once her dad returned. She seemed really happy to see him.

Finally, we have the Tyra/Landry storyline. I was hoping that Tyra would just shut up when the detective tried to wrap up the interview, but she was obviously thinking that the jig was up. But the look that Old Yeller gave her when he saw her in the interview room means that this plotline isn’t over. Has he already found the watch? Or is he just concerned about Tyra?

External Entertainment, External TV, Friday Night Lights, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

The Office: “Local Ad”

October 26, 2007 /

The series is back to its regular 30-minute format, which I think works a little better because it leaves the viewer wanting more, but as soon as Michael said that the branch was shooting a commercial, it was all about the payoff of seeing the final cut at the end. The group started with a little brainstorming, and when Pam, who is probably the most creative person in the office, suggested an idea, Michael quipped, “Even the receptionist is getting in on the creativity.” You just knew that her graphics were going to be the best part of the commercial. At some point, I’d love to see Pam’s artistic career take off, but not until the series winds down.

Michael’s interaction with the ad guys was terrific, from his introduction of the workers in the office – “These are our accountants, and you can see that they are very different sizes” – to his thoughts on the Nashville branch’s ad – “That sucks.” I especially liked it when he told them to leave and the one ad guy said, “I’m not arguing with this guy.”

The Dwight/Angela/Andy romantic triangle (if you can call it that) took an interesting turn when Andy told Dwight that Angela kept calling him “D” (for “AnDY,” he thought), which really put some wind into Dwight’s sails. Not that he needs it. He seems to have plenty of wind in his face flying around in his Second Life. That brought us to the payoff of that bit – Pam teasing Jim about his avatar. Pam wanted to learn more about Philly Jim, the well-built, guitar-playing sportswriter, and who can blame her? But Jim wanted to move on. (And who can blame him?)

The scene with Darryl and the gang writing a jingle was pretty funny as well. His deadpan “what’s rap?” line was classic. Michael’s criticism was terrific:

“I hate it. I don’t hate it, I just don’t like it. At all. And it’s terrible.”

I actually thought the commercial turned out pretty well, though I didn’t catch the subtle humor of the “I’m your son” bit between Dwight and Phyllis – how does a woman not know that she has a child? – until I watched it a second time. The “Chariots of Fire” music was a nice touch, and I especially liked the shot of Kelly in India and the scene with Stanley picking up trash. (I believe he was wearing a shirt and tie underneath his state-issued jumpsuit.)

What were your favorite moments?

External Entertainment, External TV, The Office, TV, TV Comedies

From NewsFromMe.com’s lips to your ears…

October 25, 2007 /

And if the word “Skidoo” doesn’t immediately conjure visions of Jackie Gleason on an acid trip and Groucho Marx as God, then clearly you haven’t been reading Premium Hollywood enough, since we’ve talked about it here and here.

Ultimately, though, the man responsible for bringing it to my attention in the first place was Mark Evanier, the proprietor of the aforementioned NewsFromMe.com…and I’d love to tell you that the student has surpassed the teacher and that I’m more excited about this rare TV screening of the film than he is, but, then, I’m not the one who sat down and took the time to create a banner in order to advertise it to as many people on the ‘net as possible (and, he promises, there will be more banners forthcoming).

Victory: Evanier. I applaud you, sir.

UPDATE, 9:11 PM: In retrospect, perhaps I was too hasty in making my concession speech. It just occurred to me that perhaps I might be able to find another clip of “Skidoo” on Google Video to embed in this posting, so I did a search for the words “Skidoo” and “Gleason,” and I found…the entire movie! Of course, you probably won’t want to sit in front of your computer for the full 94-minute run time of the film, but at the very least, you can watch enough to decide if it’s worth your precious TiVo time to record it.

FURTHER UPDATE, 6:48 AM The Next Day: Never mind. Truman definitely beat Dewey. I came back this morning and found that the link I’d posted was dead. My guess: the Preminger estate got wind of it. Whatever the reason, you’ll now have to make do with the first nine and a half minutes of the film…well, for however long it takes it to get yanked, too, anyway:

External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Movies, News, TV

A Brief Q&A with Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs”)

October 25, 2007 /

In celebration of “Scrubs” returning to NBC for its seventh and final season, here’s a look at the brief but entertaining few moments I was able to spend on a teleconference with star Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence. The guys spent an hour and a half on the line, answering one question after another from reporters from hither and yon, and I was lucky enough to be the second person to get on the phone with them, but to give you an idea of how many people were on the call, by the time I got my second shot at the mike, we were at the hour and a half mark. In fact, I was the very last question of the event…but we’ll get to that in a moment.

FIRST TIME AROUND –

Bullz-Eye: Bill, what’s the status of Aloma Wright (Nurse Laverne Roberts) on the show? I know the rumor had gone around for awhile that she would be coming back and playing Laverne’s alcoholic sister, but now I’ve heard…

Bill Lawrence: Well here’s the scoop, man, and you can totally help me out with that because, you know, I have a feeling that I’m going to get a lot crap from our fan base. But, uh…so I wanted to get this story out, which is basically when I killed Aloma last year, I would never take work away from a, you know, an actress that we consider part of the family. We thought last year would be the last season. So when I killed Laverne, it was because we basically said, “Hey, what’s a good dramatic arc for the end of the year, since we’re kind’ve ending up the show?” And once we got there, we had already written the stuff, but we had been told by our studios that the show would continue for another year. So I promised her that she would come back. I don’t want people to get mad at me. She returns as a nurse named Shirley; she looks slightly different, but she still looks like the same actress. But the only thing we’re doing is that only Zach’s character thinks the two of them look alike.

Zach Braff: I wanted them…there was talk – and we haven’t done this yet – that she would be a Coquettish atheist.

BL: And then there’s a lot of talk, too, that because she’s a new character, some of the writers think that we should kill her yet again…but, this time, nobody cares.

ZB: Yeah. “Did you hear Shirley got run over by a car?”

BL: It was, “She got hit by a bus. Oh, hey, do they have any donuts?”

BE: (Laughs)

BL: So she will be back, and I apologize to people. And, hopefully, they will let it go, and she will be back as a…you know, I figured “Bewitched” had two different guys play her husband, so I can have someone as a joke come back as a different character.

BE: Zach, is there any side of J.D. that hasn’t been explored in the show yet that you’d like to see explored in the final season?

ZB: I…that’s a good question. I feel like there’s…I mean, seven years worth of sides of J.D.. I don’t know. I think we…I like it when we explore his love of Donald Faison (Turk). I think we can always have more of that.

BL: Also, the…Zach’s already doing it, even though he’s not saying it, which is that I think that this show…the ending of this show will be unsatisfying for people if they don’t feel like his character has finally grown up, you know? And, you know, one of the things that’s tough about being lucky enough to go on this long is that you can only do the young kind of man child who hasn’t matured yet for so long before Zach’s coming to me and being, like, “Bill, I’m…you know, my character is 30 years old now. I think he might not wear cartoon t-shirts or jammies to bed.” And, so, we’re trying to make him a little more mature.

BE: Thanks.

After Braff and Lawrence had been answering questions for an hour straight…including several from Jewish publications, which amused Braff to no end… the conference moderator – that would be the lovely Carol Janson – came on the line and asked the operator how many questions were left in queue. When it was confirmed that a mere seven questions remained, Ms. Janson asked the guys if they were willing to answer the final seven questions…and, God bless ‘em, they were game.

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Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, TV, TV Comedies

Mr. Magorium’s Product Placement Emporium?

October 23, 2007 /

I’m still not sure what to make of this. Visa recently launched another ad in their ‘cash and checks are evil’ series, taking place in a toy store. It is easily the most visually stunning of these spots to date, thanks in large part to the fact that literally everyone in the commercial is juggling. (You can view the clip here, scroll down to “View ‘Juggling’ TV Commercial). I love the fact that they used Danny Elfman’s theme to “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” as the background music. That piece changed soundtrack music forevermore, no joke. It was also the song my wife and I chose as cake-cutting music at our wedding. Again, no joke.

Now here is where my spider sense starts tingling.

Have you seen the trailer for the upcoming Dustin Hoffman/Natalie Portman family movie “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”? The majority of it takes place in a toy store, and in the background they play, yep, Danny Elfman’s theme to “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” Huh. How about that. To 20th Century Fox’s credit, they also commissioned a remix of the Pilot song “Magic” for the spot as well, and anyone who wants to resurrect that song has our blessing. Still, something here just seems off.

Now, you could argue that the creative directors from two very different companies decided to use the same song at the same time, each one unaware of what the other was planning. Or, perhaps, this is calculated product placement, only we’re not supposed to know it yet. Maybe, a couple weeks from now, that Visa spot comes with a tag that says “See ‘Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,’ in theaters November 16.”

Changes things, doesn’t it? I suppose time will soon tell whether I’m a prophet or paranoid, though I suppose those traits aren’t mutually exclusive.

Action Movies, External Movies, Trailers, TV

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