Members of the Screen Actors Guild have elected a more "militant" slate of officers and so have the members of the Writers Guild. The new WGA officials have begun by dismissing John McLean, who has functioned as the Guild's Executive Director since 1999. The news reports may not tell you this but Mr. McLean was […]
Sony Pictures has refused to release a new feature by Albert Brooks so it's going elsewhere. Patrick Goldstein has all the details. […]
A few folks have sent me additional thoughts about the Comic-Con International. My pal Earl Kress recently penned this article for the newsletter of the Animation Union and I believe it speaks for a lot of folks. I'll post a few more over the next few days. […]
A couple of folks have reminded me of one other TV show Don Adams did. From '85 to '88, he starred in a sitcom done in Toronto for Canadian TV with limited distribution in the United States. It was called Check It Out! and in it, he played the manager of a supermarket. It was […]
Veteran Hollywood reporter Bob Thomas has written an excellent obit on Don Adams for the Associated Press, hitting all the key points. One biggie, which others are omitting, is the extent to which Adams' career was molded by Bill "Jose Jiminez" Dana, who wrote a lot of Don's early monologues and routines which set his […]
To the surprise of no one who'd seen him the last few years, Don Adams has passed away. I have to run out to a lunch meeting but I'll write something later today. And I promise: No "Would you believe…" jokes. […]
Over in Slate, Edward Jay Epstein offers an overview of the escalating war between Comcast Cable and DirecTV. The article is okay as far as it goes but I think this is one of those "Battle of the Titans," so familiar to readers of Marvel Comics, wherein two powerful forces slug it out based on […]
And this morning, I received the following from Julio Diaz… Of course, the flip side of your discussion about the San Diego Con is that Angelenos such as Foster complaining about the struggle of attending sounds like a bunch of sour grapes to those of us who live in other parts of the world and […]
My longtime friend, cartoonist Bob Foster, just sent me the following… Every time you discuss the S.D. Con, I get another twinge of annoyance. I didn't go this year, for the first time since #2. I just couldn't face the miserable freeway drive to and fro, the agony of hoping to find a room, the […]
If I'd been in New York last week, I'd have gone to see Kitty Carlisle Hart, who was performing at Feinstein's. 95 years old and still singing and telling stories about hanging around with George Gershwin. She was married to one of my favorite theatrical figures, Moss Hart, who was a giant even before he […]
It dawns on me that I have a thought that combines the previous two postings — the one about gas prices and the one about people driving to the San Diego Con instead of getting a room. It occurred a bit more than 30 years ago, back when that annual event was called the San […]
In the last week, I've received a number of e-mails asking if I have any inside info on a rumor that the Comic-Con International is soon to relocate from its native San Diego. Yes, I have inside info. It ain't true. It is conceivable that the day might come when some other town will be […]
Bill Clinton spent a goodly portion of his run-up to the presidency attacking Big Tobacco, and pledging to raise taxes on cigarettes, and America liked that because we all know Cigarette Companies are evil. It occurs to me that a Democratic candidate today could get a lot of similar traction running against Big Oil, and […]
Andrew Sullivan, who is arguably a Conservative, discusses why inarguable Conservatives are unhappy with George W. Bush. […]
Okay, let's imagine you have some friends that you don't really like that much. Let's imagine they have a small child. Let's imagine you have to go to their house and it seems appropriate for you to take a gift to that small child. You want to give the kid something that will really annoy […]