I'm on a deadline so I'm only about 30% watching the returns for today's primary elections. But it seems to me like the big losers are Mitt Romney and an awful lot of pollsters. Many of the latter missed by so far, they oughta do the decent thing and get into some other line of work...preferably something where being able to predict is not important. Like, maybe, making those announcements at the airport about when my flight is going to board.
Also, it seems to me like John McCain is showing an awful lot of his strength in states which he's not going to win in November, no matter what. In fact, everyone on TV is making way too big a deal about how a strong performance by a candidate in a given state is a good sign for him or her to prevail there in the general election. News flash: In the general election, they let people of other parties vote, too...maybe not in Florida but in most states.
Back to my deadline. Oh, yeah: I was only on the picket line for a brief time today before I got called to go tend to a minor emergency (nothing you'd want to know about) but the mood out there was good and also very, very curious about where we stand.
We have here an excerpt from Steve Martin's intriguing new book on his life and old comedy act. I discussed the book in this posting but now you can read a key section over at this website...and should if you're at all interested in comedy.
And what you should really do is watch the video they have there (the link's on that page) of one of Martin's early appearances on The Tonight Show. He's very funny...though not as funny as Johnny Carson's jacket. Thanx to Jeff Abraham for telling me about all this.
I haven't plugged Shokus Internet Radio lately but the show they have on tomorrow sounds so good, I have to alert you. The genial Stu Shostak is welcoming Alan Young and Connie Hines to the capacious Shokus Broadcasting Corporation facilities. Mr. Young and Ms. Hines starred, of course, in that wonderful TV series about the talking horse and both have plenty to talk about besides that. Connie Hines, for instance, was a contestant on a famous (make that "infamous") TV game show called Dotto. The reason we say it's infamous is that it was one of the programs that was revealed to have been rigged. I don't think Connie has ever spoken in public about her experiences then but she's agreed to chat with Stu about them days.
Alan Young, of course, has a long history as one of our great comic actors. Mister Ed was just one of the things he's done and I hope there'll be time for him to discuss some of his other endeavors...such as his cartoon voice work speaking for Uncle Scrooge and his extensive career on the legit stage. Anyway, whatever they talk about, it oughta be a great show.
Now, here's the part where I tell you how to listen to it. This is not a podcast. This is Internet Radio, people. You have to listen when it's on. Tomorrow (Wednesday) it's on from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, which is 7 PM to 9 PM on the opposite side of America. And remember it's live so you can call in and ask questions...Stu will be giving out the number. The show then reruns in the same time slot for most of the coming week.
To listen in, go to the Shokus Internet Radio website and follow the directions. Most people log in, start the audio feed, then they minimize that window and go on doing whatever they're doing at their computers — playing games and browsing porn, mostly. But while they do, they'll be listening to a great show. And remember, Shokus Internet Radio is broadcasting 24/7 and there's always something interesting on it...occasionally even me.
Last night, television achieved some new "first" in the way of continued shows. Things got started on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart...then the bit continued on The Colbert Report...and finished, more or less, on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. It was a great idea and I wish I could tell you that it was funny but...well, maybe it was just me. I don't think any of these three guys, except maybe Colbert, is that great at physical comedy or at playing angry. Perhaps you'll find it all more amusing than I did.
Here's the first part from The Daily Show...well, actually during the strike he's calling it A Daily Show with Jon Stewart...
Then comes the second part from The Colbert Report...
...followed by Late Night with Conan O'Brien. And by the way, did you notice that the "outside in the hallway" scenes for all three shows were taped outside 6B at NBC? Just one of those things we spot.
Shelly Goldstein (or as we call her, Chanteuse Extraordinaire) is recording a CD this Saturday evening at the Gardenia, a fun supper club/saloon up in Hollywood. The show is called "One Fine Day: The Groovy Girls of the Sixties" and it features Shelly singing the hits of Carole King, Dusty Springfield, Laura Nyro, Mama Cass, Lulu, Lesley Gore and others of that era. She was going to have the place packed with friends but most of them are writers and the Writers Guild is summoning us all down to the Shrine Auditorium for a meeting earlier that evening. There have been many casualties of the strike but this is the last straw for some of us. Taking away someone's income is one thing but taking away some of Shelly's audience? Unforgivable.
I'm still going to try to be there for some of it. If you're not going to the Shrine and would like to be there for all of it, you'll have a very good time. The Gardenia is at 7066 Santa Monica Blvd., near La Brea. Dinner seatings start at 7 PM, Shelly warbles at 9:00 with the aid of her musical director Scott Harlan, guest performer Ray Jessel and even some back-up singers. Reservations are a must and can be gotten at (323) 467-7444. Don't be surprised if you aren't the most famous person in the house...or even close to it.
And if you'd like a little sampling of how well the Chanteuse Extraordinaire sings, here's a YouTube delight.
In the meantime, I also want to plug the current Tony's Poll polling. My longtime comrade Tony Isabella is asking all to vote on who in the comic book/strip universe they'd favor to be President of the United States. Go over there and vote and while you're in the comic strip category, let's stuff the ballot box for Pogo Possum. He'd be so much better than anyone we've had in my lifetime at least...and let's face it. You've voted for less realistic candidates than that.
By the way: Shelly and Tony have never met but they're both short, they're both fine writers and one of them looks great in a black cocktail dress with a pearl necklace. You can finish the joke yourself.
The Writers Guild is convening an "informational meeting" for Saturday evening at the Shrine Auditorium. Officially, the purpose of this gathering is to pass on info as to where negotiations stand...but leave us be honest. The main reason for announcing this kaffeeklatsch is to say to the AMPTP, "Hey, we're bringing the whole membership in...and on a Saturday evening, no less. It would be in your best interest for us to have a deal by then which we can enthusiastically recommend to the membership."
Could the deal be closed that evening? My understanding is no. The announcement says, "Neither the Negotiating Committee, nor the West Board or the East Council, will take action on the contract until after the membership meetings." I haven't seen an announcement yet on when the membership meeting for WGA East will take place. In any case, we'll know better where we stand after the meeting...and the Guild leadership will have a better sense of our unity and concerns.
Meanwhile, the rumor mill is spinning like a campaign consultant after a presidential debate. Tales abound of important screenwriters and showrunners uniting to pressure the Guild to take the current offer, whatever it is. There's a simple test as to whether these reports are true. If at the Saturday evening meeting, a number of important screenwriters and showrunners get up at the microphones and make direct or even veiled threats to go back to work regardless, then the rumors are true. If no such threats are made, the stories are not true and were never true.
I tend to believe the latter, at least until I see some names attached to these threats. So far, all I'm hearing for real is that some prominent folks think that from what they've heard, the deal is good enough to grab. That's not the same thing, especially when/if it's all coming from writers who are largely unaffected by minimums. My "sense of the Guild" is that while we're all eager to get this sucker behind us, we recognize that we're dealing with powerful forces who are out to wrong not only us but all the unions in town. If it takes time to get a settlement we can live with, it takes time.
Another rumor is that the negotiators have stumbled past the major stumbling blocks and that the only obstacle to a deal is the precise contract language. This may or may not be true...but the precise contract language is no small obstacle. Big companies have been known to agree to some pretty generous terms, figuring they can adjust the numbers or even renege outright by massaging the precise contract language.
I once had an offer that included a provision whereby I'd get 20% of the profits. This was back in the days when I was young and foolish...a term I often use to pretend that the foolish part of my life has ended. Anyway, I was impressed by the 20% until my agent said, "Yeah, but the definition of profits is so tight, it might as well be replaced by a sentence that says 'there will never be any.' They could offer you 200% of the profits and you'd still never see a nickel."
So whether they've agreed on the broad strokes of a deal or not, the thing needs to be committed to paper and scrutinized by lawyers before it's a contract. One hopes they're nearing that stage and that the looming Saturday meeting will hasten the process. One does hope.
And that's about it for rumors I've heard. I'm going to go out and vote and picket, not necessarily in that order.
Every year, Fred Kaplan is the only person in the country who actually reads the U.S. Military Budget. The folks in Washington who vote to approve it certainly don't, nor do they even read the kind of handy summary Fred provides. It usually turns out that we're spending way more than we have to, much of it on things we don't need and which won't make us one bit safer. But no one wants to oppose any of it because they don't want to be accused of being "soft on defense."
In 1976, when the Chuck Barris company sold The Gong Show to television, they launched two versions simultaneously: A Monday-through-Friday daytime version on NBC and a once-a-week syndicated version. To host the daytime, they originally selected John Barbour, who had recently been a TV critic on the local NBC news in Los Angeles. To host the evening version, they signed Gary Owens, who was best known for Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and for his local L.A. radio show and for doing more voiceover work than any human being on the planet.
After the first week of the daytime show was taped, Barris decided Barbour was all wrong. It was one of those "different vision" problems. Barbour reportedly saw the show as something that might actually discover and nurture real talent. Barris wanted a show more like...well, what it became after he fired Barbour, trashed the shows that had been taped and took over hosting chores, himself. Mr. Owens hosted the nighttime show for the first year and then Barris took it over, as well. John Dorsey, who directed both versions, told me that it wasn't a dissatisfaction with Gary. It was because Barris just didn't want to pay someone else when he could do the job himself.
Our clip today gives you a little less than seven minutes of an Owens-hosted Gong Show with panelists Elke Sommer, Rex Reed and Jaye P. Morgan. The stunning blonde lady assisting Gary is Sivi Aberg, a beauty queen who turned up on a lot of TV shows in the mid-to-late seventies. The small person assisting him is Jerry Maren, whose career goes back to well before he was in The Wizard of Oz, and who is still a working actor. And you don't hear him on the clip but the show's announcer at the time was my buddy Jeff Altman, who is often seen on Mr. Letterman's program...or sometimes just heard. That's Jeff playing the bizarre State Trooper character who's been popping up recently in voiceover on Dave's Late Show.
Here's the clip. If you don't like it, you can stop it after 45 seconds by hitting your giant gong. You do have a giant gong, don't you?
February 6, 2008
