Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Recommended Reading

Garrison Keillor recently had a small stroke...but lived to write about it.

• Posted at 8:49 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

On at Slate, Timothy Noah cites some stats on how bad health care in this country has gotten lately...and how much more expensive it'll get if nothing is done.

And my man Fred Kaplan discusses whether we can just buy a victory in Afghanistan.

• Posted at 6:10 PM · LINK

Numbers

Mr. Leno had 18.4 million viewers last night, which proves...uh, not very much. Tonight, he'll probably have less than half of that and by the end of next week, we should have a pretty good idea where the numbers are going to settle in, at least for a while. NBC is surely happy with the total viewership last night, though a little disappointed at the demographics, which skewed older. Oddly enough, Conan O'Brien's ratings were up due to older viewers but he finished lower than usual with the 18-34 audience.

The success or failure of The Jay Leno Show is going to be a difficult thing to assess, because it will not wholly be about the ratings on his show. NBC is going to have to look at what he's delivering in terms of lead-in to the local news broadcasts that follow him all over the country. If they take a plunge, that won't bode well for Jay even if his numbers are okay. Likewise, NBC won't be thrilled if Jay does well but Conan seems to be hurt. Someone's probably going to do some sort of polling and statistical analysis to determine if The Jay Leno Show at 10 PM prompts more folks to go to bed earlier.

• Posted at 4:09 PM · LINK

Troy Kennedy Martin, R.I.P.

Cancer has this nasty habit of taking away screenwriters whose work I respected greatly. Troy Kennedy Martin died today at the age of 77. This obit will tell you some of this credits, which included the movies Kelly's Heroes, Red Heat and Red Dust, as well as a wonderful British TV series called Reilly, Ace of Spies.

A very uncomfortable moment in my life came about because Mr. Martin was hired to adapt a comic book I'd co-created — The DNAgents — for a TV series. He was the second of about eighty thousand writers (it seemed) to tackle the property during the several times it was optioned by CBS, and I was at first jubilant because I'd admired so much of his work. But then it became apparent that what he wanted to do with the series was not what I wanted, nor did it please co-creator, Will Meugniot. It also did not please CBS so we went on to Pilot Writer #3 and Pilot Writer #4 and so on.

But the odd thing is that what Mr. Martin wrote was quite brilliant and might have made a wonderful one-time (with no possible sequels) R-rated feature film. It was just wildly over the budget (and restrictions of sex and violence) for what it was supposed to be, which was a weekly, ongoing TV series that would air at 8 PM. I came across my copy of his script again a few years later and was struck by how well-written it was, even if it was all wrong for the assignment at hand. I still feel bad about the meeting where he asked me point-blank what I thought of it and I had to tell him it wouldn't do...because he was a very nice man and very passionate about his work. If you saw some of the things he wrote that did get filmed, I think you could tell that. They were all quite impressive.

• Posted at 11:38 AM · LINK

Where I'll Be

Well, the first weekend in October, you'll find me at the Mid-Ohio-Con in Columbus, Ohio. They invite me to this one almost every year and if I can make it, I say yes. It's one of the friendliest conventions around...and a perfect one for those of you think Big Conventions have gotten Too Big. This one's large enough that you'll have plenty to see and do and buy...but not so big that you'll have to change the time zone on your PDA as you cross from one end of the Dealers Room to the other. I'll be hosting some panels there (including at least one Death Panel) and will post the schedule as soon as there is one. That's October 3 and 4.

Then the next appearance I have scheduled is November 7. I'll be on some panels or speaking or doing something — I'm not sure what yet — at the Vegas Valley Book Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. They're having a comic book event there and they're bringing me in to appear at the Clark County Library...and I'll tell you more about that when I know it.

Lastly for now, here's an announcement that may matter to some of you. The 2010 WonderCon in San Francisco will be held April 2-4 at the Moscone Center. As per usual, I'll be a guest and I'll be doing panels and this is also a convention to which I always say yes because I always have a good time at them. Make whatever plans you have to...but try to be there.

• Posted at 2:26 AM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Jeffrey Toobin reports on the progress Obama has made in getting federal judges confirmed. Apart from Ms. Sotomayor, there haven't been any. Apparently in the eyes of some, the mere fact that Barack Obama nominated someone is reason enough to try and block their appointment.

• Posted at 1:12 AM · LINK

First Nighter

I thought Jay Leno's first prime time show was fine. Didn't care for the theme and the pace seemed a bit sluggish here and there...but he delivered a nice-enough hour. I suppose the most disappointing thing about it was that there was nothing particularly new. Then again, I can't recall the last comedic innovation I saw on any of the four major networks. Those who were predisposed to like Leno will like the new series...though there's some question as to whether they'll watch as often as they did when he was on at 11:35, and whether they'll be joined by sufficient numbers of the previously-uncommitted.

And I suppose if you never liked Jay, you're not about to start now. Some of the early reviews I'm seeing on the 'net appear bewildered that anyone could or would. There seems to be a lack of recognition in some that Jay Leno is as successful as he is...a lot of "Well, I don't like him so I can't believe anyone else does." I find the guy charming and candid and based on seeing him off-stage a few times and talking with him and closer associates, I believe he honestly enjoys his show and guests as much as he seems to. His chat with Jerry Seinfeld was nice because he didn't compete with the guy...he just sat there, enjoying how funny his buddy was, stepping in now and then to do the host thing and keep it all moving. That's harder than it looks.

I dunno how it'll all do but if I had to wager, I'd guess a big tune-in for the first night and incrementally smaller ratings from here on, with the occasional bounce when a superstar or big event comes along. At some point, I think America will start taking the thing for granted and the ratings won't be grand. But then later, when the opposition is all reruns and Jay's all new, you'll see some recovery. Will overall earnings be sufficient for NBC to keep things in place indefinitely? Beats the heck outta me. But they're certainly getting the show they bargained for.

• Posted at 12:25 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Here are two memorable kid-oriented commercials from (apparently) 1969-1970. In the first, they're selling Funny Face drink mix via the classic vocal tones of Mr. Paul Frees. I think I only tried Funny Face once or twice because though I liked their ads, I thought the product itself was worse than Kool-Aid...and I didn't care all that much for Kool-Aid. I always thought that anyone who did had kinda, you know, drunk the Kool-Aid...

Then comes a Crackerjack spot with the great Jack Gilford. Do you know how Jack Gilford got his first big break in show business? He was working as a counterman in a little diner-like soda fountain in a New York drugstore. Just down the block, there was a big theater where Milton Berle was headlining, and Berle would sometimes turn up at the counter between shows to grab a quick sandwich. That was when Jacob Gellman (that was his name then) would do his jokes and impressions for Berle. 999 times out a thousand, you "audition" for a star like that and he instantly pegs you as a pushy, untalented amateur. But Berle liked what he saw and gave Gellman a place on his show on the condition that he do everything he was told...which included taking a new name. So Gellman became Gilford...and before long, Gilford became a star. Here he is with that wonderful rubbery face of his. But first comes the Funny Face commercial...

• Posted at 12:21 AM · LINK