Tom Hanks hit by meteor

In case you were wondering, Conan at 11:30 is still Conan.

I wasn't able to stay up for the first episode of the new Tonight Show, but I caught it on Hulu yesterday. I must say, the new set design is very eye-pleasing -- and surprisingly old-fashioned, in a retro-cool way. I can't take my eyes off it. On the other hand, I could do without Andy Richter, whose presence inevitably means less screen time for Max Weinberg.

Obama Smash!

Per Saturday Night Live last night, when Barack Obama gets mad he turns into:



I laughed till I ripped my purple pants.

Bunker/Nixon

A few weeks ago I posted a clip from an episode of All In The Family wherein Archie Bunker manages to insult the entire planet in the span of about five seconds. His tirade begins when Gloria and Meathead want to invite to dinner a friend of theirs who Archie suspects is a queer.

Archie meets the queer, an ascot-wearing, swooshy type dude, and all his stereotypes about homos are validated, to Archie's smug satisfaction. After dinner Archie goes to the bar to gossip to his buddies about the fairy. This is when he finds out one of the guys from the bar, a manly, football-playing model of masculinity, is gay. Per the premise of the show, Archie's mind blows up just in time for the closing credits.

Anyway, I stumbled across this recording of Richard Nixon discussing that episode with his staff. It's pretty rich. The level of paranoia is scary and hilarious at the same time. Here's a taste of Nixon talking about how all the clothes designers have gone gay:

One of the reasons that fashions have made women look so terrible is because the goddamned designers hate women. Now that's the truth. You watch.

(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)

What's new, Arthur?

My favoritest collection of short stories ever -- a twisted, lovely bunch of stories called Dogwalker -- is by a man named Arthur Bradford. The stories are about mutant puppies and all manner of crazy dreamworld ridiculousness told with a hilarious and touching matter-of-factness. Every once in a while I check his name on Amazon in hopes of finding a new release, but, to my dismay, aside from a few blips in McSweeneys, he's never published anything else.

His real interest seems to be in working with mentally handicapped adults at a place called Camp Jabberwocky. His project How's Your News? involves a team of handicapped campers doing man-on-the-street interviews around the country. There's a great documentary about it, and it's newly a series on MTV.

Seeing Bradford's name in the news made me Google him once again in my eternal hope of finding a new book, and I was happy to stumble across his baby blog, called Diaper Bandit, in which he chronicles his life as a new father. There's almost a year's worth of posts and I'm looking forward to reading them. Babies may not be as interesting as the cat-faced circus freaks in Dogwalker, but I'll take what I can get.

Just for fun

Inauguration Countdown: Git'Mo!

Mad Men: Ben's Take

Maggie was disgusted by the first episode of Mad Men, and I fully agree it will turn your stomach. I thought it was great.

What I think the writers were trying to do is to depict 1960 in such as way as to make it as shockingly alien as possible. To make it seem like a different universe. The sexism in the first episode was indeed over-the-top, but I don't think the show or the writers are sexist -- the viewer is encouraged to be appalled. When it's so bold as to show one secretary telling another, "Men made this typewriter so simple that even a woman can use it!," you gasp.

But you also gasp when the children, playing spaceman, are allowed to run around with plastic bags over their heads. And you gasp when the same children bounce around in the car with no thought given to seat-belt usage.

You gasp over the way the characters talk about race. You gasp when the doctor sparks up a cigarette while examining the patient (you gasp at how everyone, everywhere smokes). You're amazed by how the neighborhood divorcee is treated like an exotic bird (so rare to see someone divorced!) and that the closeted-but-flaming homosexual can keep his secret intact simply by making an occasional lascivious comment about a woman.

You gasp because you feel sure that that's how it probably was back then.

We're accustomed to period pieces doing nothing more than putting costumes on modern-type characters with modern-type values -- it's refreshing when a show goes to such lengths to re-create reality, warts and all. If nothing else, it's a good reminder of how far, how fast, we've come.

And that's all in the first and second episodes. Having established the alienness early, the subsequent episodes are less appalling.

Mad Men

I ordered the first disc from Netflix because I heard it was a good show. Mike and I watched the first episode and were both disgusted by it.

For him, as a former smoker, it was hard to watch every person in every scene smoking a cigarette.

For me, the portrayal of over-the-top sexism of the time was stomach-turning. I hope that maybe some of the female characters start to portray something of a feminist awakening in later episodes, but I'm not hanging around to wait for it. Nor am I optimistic that it ever happens.

Every single character was despicable - male or female. The women encourage each other to show more leg so the big-shot executives won't fire them. The men say things like, "Love doesn't exist - guys like me made it up to sell nylons." I don't mind shows that can be sad, like Six Feet Under often was, but I have a feeling this show will never make me feel good (Six Feet Under often did).

Final frontier

Mrs Roddenberry, who I happened to write about just a few days ago, passed away today at age 76.

Sad to see that.

Late night early

Moving Jay Leno to 10PM seems like a great idea to me. I've always liked the old-fashioned variety-show nature of the late-night talk shows, but they're on too late for me to watch on a regular basis.

Still, I wish it was Conan instead. Conan's gotta be miffed. After getting ready to become the king of late-night when he takes over the Tonight Show this spring, suddenly he's still going to be following Leno...

On the other hand, Conan's better as an underdog.

Weather Stripper

Saturday I went to Home Depot and bought some foam weather-stripping for around our condo's front door, which is not so much drafty as un-private. The walls between the condo units are miraculously sound-proof -- it's easy to imagine we're in our own house because we never hear any hint of the neighbors.... except when they're in the lobby. Then, because of the spaces around our door, it's like the door isn't there at all. So when we're watching TV -- and Dexter is chainsawing a person to bits or Bette & Tina are going down on each other -- and I hear one of the neighbors coming home, or someone checking their mail, I get embarrassed. I've always turned the volume down quick when I hear someone enter, which makes me feel like we have no privacy. But the foam makes a big difference. Dexter is now free to slash away and I don't need to worry about the neighbors getting suspicious.

Prop 8 - The Musical

An entertaining video from Will Ferrel's ridiculous website. As if Jack Black as Jesus wasn't good enough, Doogie's in it too. (I could do without seeing Andy Richter in short-shorts, though.)

As a sidenote, it's funny to see celebrities tackle a medium (the web video) perfected by amateurs. Who's imitating who now?

Open Thread

Wow, do we need a Gossip Girl open thread?

XOXO
Gossip Ben

Babawah Wahwah

Nice Barbara Walters interview with the Obamas. Wait for the lipstick moment.

This American Life

The Showtime version of the This American Life radio show is unusually macabre. Yes, you will see the cracked-out wife of a bloated former guitarist in a cemetery weep over an album of old photos. Yes, you will see a plastic tube of boar jizz plunged into a pig's vagina during a round of meat-factory insemination. Yes, you will see a stubborn farmer gored repeatedly in the loins by his cloned pet bull.

You will even be slightly offended by Ira Glass's glasses.

All in all, you'll see that This American Life has a face for radio.

Shark, Consider Yourself Jumped

Earlier today, Ben and I were lamenting what has so far been a lame third season of Heroes.

So I was delighted to encounter this slideshow of shows that have jumped the shark this season. Heroes is included, as well as Prison Break (which I gave up on at the moment listed as the shark-jumper) and Project Runway, which a dear friend of ours from college works on.

What happened to you, TV? You used to be cool.

Wiggum '08

A new candidate is entering the presidential race this Sunday evening. Ralph Wiggum, from the land of Springfield, USA.

Never mind his fondness for ingesting paste and crayons, or his baffling ronouncements that have even proponents wondering about his mental faculties. An appearance on the Fox show is enough to give Wiggum a bounce in New Hamsphire; if he wins New Hamsphire, he'll have enough momentum to play in South Carolina. What Ralph Wiggum playing in South Carolina would look like is anyone's guess.

This is the exact kind of current events spoof I've been missing from the Simpsons. I especially appreciate it because I have been missing Presidential Primary commentary from late-night hosts like Jon Stewart, who is been off the air as a result of the writer's strike.

Big Brother FAQ

Tom,

I'm very excited to answer your Big Brother questions. This must be how the Jehovah's Witnesses feel when finally someone wants the pamphlet. Anyway, where do I begin?

Thursday episodes are live. That's when someone gets voted out, and also when they crown a new "Head of Household" (or "HOH"). Tuesday and Sunday episodes are edited from the previous couple days of footage.

The HOH nominates two people for eviction. Then comes the Veto -- there's a competition and someone gets the power to save one of the nominees. The power is rarely used, unfortunately, because people don't want to go against the HOH's wishes. (If the Veto is used, the HOH must nominate another person to take the saved person's place on the chopping block.) Finally, by secret ballot, the houseguests vote out one of the two nominees.

The competitions you asked about are for HOH, Veto power, food, and sometimes for perks (like a phone call from home).

What sets BB apart from other reality shows for me is the fact that it's live, so unlike in Survivor or The Real World, which are long done filming by the time we see anything, the producers can't craft any storylines or anything. That can lead to unpredictability...

In earlier seasons, there were all kinds of spontaneous or accidental happenings, such as trespassers throwing things over the wall of the otherwise-isolated BB house, or planes flying overhead with banners revealing game secrets (who's stabbing who in the back, who threw whose toothbrush in which toilet, etc.). The cast in Season 1 was so boring and agreeable, that the producers offered $25,000 for someone to voluntarily leave the house so they could replace that houseguest with a floozy Las Vegas bartenderess. But no one would take the money -- time with their friends was worth more than $25,000, they said, refusing briefcase after briefcase of CBS's desperate cash. The producers, I imagine, were tearing their hair out as ratings continued to plummet. It may have been the greatest moment of television I've ever seen (the houseguests' rebellion was, yes indeedy, broadcast live). Because the rebellion denied any opening for the floozy, the producers instead sent in a three-legged dog. I kid you not.

After 8 seasons, the producers have gotten much better at imposing their totalitarian regime. They've also made sure to cast interesting people. And by interesting I mean nasty and horny. In the early seasons, there were a lot of old people, married people, etc. Now they're almost all beautiful and single. I want to feel bad about this beautisizing of society, but how can I argue with it when fratboy Nick's rippling pecs are blown up to 30 inches on my widescreen television? The answer is, I can't.

Any other questions?

Ben

Creature Comforts

There's an adorable show on CBS called Creature Comforts. It uses stop-motion claymation and the voices are provided from interviews with real people. It's a UK import from the makers of Wallace and Gromit.


I watched an episode about beauty and appearance. People answered questions about how satisfied they were with their appearance, what their best feature was, what they would change about themselves, etc, but their answers caem through the mouths of bees, goats, ducks, giraffes, cats, owls and dogs.

I laughed out loud within the first few minutes.

The episode featured:

An anteater talking about how she loves her nose.


A street dog saying he wishes hair didn't grow under his armpits.


A weasel musing about how he wants to understand quantum physics.


A donkey saying, "I could use one of those Jay Leno jaws. I mean, I feel like I need a jaw" and then making a crazy jaw-sticking out face.

The funniest parts ocur when one animal is talking and the other is reacting to what they hear their friend saying: An owl is asked what she likes best about her partner and she says, "His eyes." As she continues to talk about his appearance and hers, he crosses his eyes and makes faces.

Simple but charming.

Superbowl Commercials

Some people watch the Superbowl for the commercials. I usually don't care about the Superbowl for any reason other than the food, but this was not only one of the funniest commercials last year, it was also one of the most effective ways that PETA, who typically overdoes things to the point of total ineffectiveness, got across an important message.