That Penn and Teller special last night reminded me of some ongoing debates within the magic community having to do with ethics and misrepresentation. When a magician tells you that no camera tricks were employed in the taping of his show, that's supposed to mean that no camera tricks were used. But that same magician […]
Always fun to wake up in the morning and find out what you got wrong. An avalanche of mail this A.M. (more letters even than want to sell me Viagra) inform me that the special on the first five seasons of Saturday Night Live did come out on DVD. I apparently missed it because I […]
Some might call it sacrilegious but I've long thought that the classic "first five years" of Saturday Night Live weren't the only time that show was good. The years when the show was dominated by Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey were pretty good, too. So I found it interesting that near the close of last […]
I think it's very nice that Ollie Johnston, the last of Disney's legendary "nine old men" was honored this last week with the National Medal of Arts. But really…did someone say, "Hey, almost all of the greats of theatrical animation are dead. Maybe we'd better give this award to one of them while there's still […]
Just finished watching the entire Penn and Teller special, including the first nine minutes. Maybe the most amazing feat was that they got a network to spring for a prime-time magic special. David Copperfield hasn't done one in a long time. Lance Burton stopped doing them. Those "World's Greatest Magic" spectaculars have vanished without magically […]
I'm watching the satellite and it looks to me like Nascar coverage ran over and NBC just lopped off the first nine minutes of the Penn & Teller Special for the east coast. This kind of thing is among the many reasons the networks are losing market share. I can (presumably) watch the whole thing […]
I haven't written anything political here for a little while because every time I try, things quickly descend into the Painfully Obvious. Does anyone not know that Bush is in trouble? That the torture scandal is a no-win game for him? (For more on that, read John McCain, Larry C. Johnson and Frank Rich.) I […]
John Cleese gets something named for him. […]
This article in the L.A. Times says that the TV and motion picture producers' organization is girding for possible strikes by the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild. The two unions' respective contracts don't expire for quite some time but in both labor organizations, officers are being elected on militant platforms and in both […]
Whenever I have been with Jonathan Winters, it's been the same: Everyone around stops and tells him, "You are the funniest man who ever lived." Sometimes, they go on and on about how often they've played his albums, how much they loved him in this or that movie or on some TV show. Often, unaware […]
Some PBS outlets are running an hour called Broadway's Best at Pops, which includes clips of Ethel Merman, Ray Bolger, Carol Channing and Ben Vereen performing with the Boston Pops on past shows. (I guess that last part goes without saying. It's very hard to book Ethel and Ray these days.) As we all know, […]
My friend Buzz Dixon, whose name you've seen many a time on this weblog, is a writer of all sorts of things: Screenplays, animation, comics, games, etc. He has recently turned editor/packager with a new line of what his people are calling "America's Premiere Inspirational Manga." Serenity is a comedic teen soap opera about an […]
Disneyland revamping the Pirates of the Carribean ride to bring it more in line with the movie series of the same name? This site says it's so. […]
A press release from NBC… NEW YORK – November 10 – "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien and his wife Liza Powel O'Brien are thrilled to announce the arrival of their son, Beckett O'Brien. This is the couple's second child. He was born Wednesday, November 9 in New York City at 8:27 PM. He is a […]
The other day, we helped spread the rumor that the Tail o' the Pup, the hot dog stand shaped like a hot dog, may be forced to close soon. This article in the L.A. Times says that its owner is hoping to move it to a new location in Westwood Village. Good news if it […]