Esther Schor tells us the story of how Esperanto was invented. It sounds like an interesting idea on paper but in my 57.9 years on this planet, I don't think I've ever heard a single word uttered in Esperanto. The only person I ever met who I knew had studied it was Forrest J Ackerman and when I asked him who he could converse with in that language, he said, "Well, every so often I attend a conference of people who are trying to promote Esperanto and we speak a little of it there."
I never particularly liked the original half-hour Let's Make a Deal with Monty Hall. Too thin in "game," too condescending to its contestants and audience. Wayne Brady, who I usually find funny and entertaining, is hosting a new hour-long version and I figured I'd give it a couple tries. Maybe, I thought, they've put some meat on the format...and at least the host will be worth watching, right? Well, no.
I don't much like the Wayne Brady version and I sure get the feeling that Wayne isn't too wild about it, either. I've never met the man and have heard no buzz about his off-screen attitude. But on-screen, he sure looks like when he finishes each episode, he tells the producer, "Okay, I did another one. Gimme my check and let me outta here." Maybe the first version worked because Monty never seemed like he could do anything else...or maybe it was because he owned the show. Either way, it seemed to matter to him. He connected with the traders and also with his announcer and prize model.
The game itself is pretty much the same as it ever was. They've jazzed it up a bit with elements not unlike The Price is Right, which strikes me as exactly the wrong way to go. Price is Right follows Deal on most stations, making for a two-hour block of a format that's already gotten so stale you could fry it in butter and sell it as a giant crouton. But the odd thing about the new Deal is that they seem to have forgotten that the star of that show was always the money and big prizes. The new one has tepid prizes and a lot of zonks. At the end, they still have The Big Deal behind which is (allegedly) the most dazzling thing-someone-might-win of the day...but the prizes aren't all that grand; not in an era where giveaway shows give away millions. And instead of two players picking from the three doors, which was how it worked in the Monty days, only one gets to select. That means there's a 66.6% chance each day that the show ends on a losing note and a thud.
It's better than the last revival of Let's Make a Deal, which was a prime-time mess, and CBS is said to be satisfied with its ratings. They're down somewhat from the soap opera programming that used to inhabit that hour, but the costs are a lot lower...and that's the way that game is played these days. It's just a shame to see Wayne Brady waste his talents...and also to see that the first time in many, many years that a network decided to schedule a new game show, all they could come up with was a new low money version of an old big money program.
Hey, do you (a) live in Los Angeles and (b) want a cat? Lately, I've had a couple of friends — all of them actors, for some reason — ask me if I know anyone who'd like to give a good home to a good cat. In each case, someone in the household is allergic and they need to put a beautiful feline up for adoption. If you're interested in finding out more, drop me a line.
If I'd been in New York the beginning of December, I would have absolutely gone to the Gypsy of the Year show, an annual event staged on behalf of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. All year long, BC/EFA holds wonderful events to raise cash for its most worthy cause but the best one is probably the Gypsy show, which runs only two performances — matinees on days when no regular shows have matinees. The timing is because that's when a regular Broadway theater is available to them and also because most of the performers and much of the audience is working in shows those evenings.
More or less all the Broadway shows (and a few off-Broadway) contribute something — a sketch, a musical number, a performance of some sort. Some shows parody others. Some parody themselves. Many of the dance productions are particularly amazing...Broadway dancers showing off for each other but in a good way. Many celebrities attend but the "stars" are the gypsies — the dancers and chorus folks who usually don't get enough of the spotlight.
I was sorry I missed this year's. Here's a quick peek at some of what I didn't get to see. My friend Christine Pedi is in there performing and I'm sure she was only one of many treasures...
This news story is headlined "Identical Fla. twins born in 2 separate decades." A woman gave birth to one of her sons shortly before Midnight on New Year's Year and to the second shortly after Midnight. Ergo, they say, two separate decades.
So have we given up the idea that a decade begins on the first day of a year ending in "1" and ends on the last day of a year ending in a zero? That's what I always thought, based on the simple fact that "decade" denotes ten years. So the first decade ever was years 1-10, the second was 11-20, the third was 21-30 and so on. By those rules, the current decade ends at the end of this year...but no one seems to follow this distinction.
This is not a point I care a lot about. But it seems to me like one of those things that so many people have gotten wrong that it's been redefined to suit the masses. I get the feeling the parameters for a decade have changed and I wasn't notified.
January 3, 2010
