Category Archives: To Be Filed

Here's a long interview/profile of Stephen Colbert, discussing where his show is right now. Where he is right now is that his show is profitable but not as much as CBS was hoping it would be.

From my vantage point as a viewer, it's an increasing disappointment, though this week there are moments that remind you how good he can/could be. Last night, there was a great opening with Laura Benanti expertly playing Melania Trump and a good spot with Keegan-Michael Key. Still, I got the sense that once he doesn't have the Republican Convention (or next week, the Democratic one) to talk about, it'll be back to "So, tell me about this new movie you have opening this weekend."

The article alludes to the rumor that CBS wants to flip the time slots of James Corden's show and Colbert's. I really, really doubt this will happen. Some folks discussing this possibility seem to not take into account that Colbert almost certainly has time slot protection in his contract…a clause that says his show will air at 11:35. That's very standard for talk show hosts these days and Colbert's agent also represents Jimmy Kimmel and I think a few others. Much of the mess with the Conan O'Brien Tonight Show came about because O'Brien's agents had neglected to secure that for him, leaving NBC the option of shifting him to a later time. No agent or lawyer who represents a late night host will ever make that mistake again.

That doesn't mean that CBS couldn't propose it to Colbert but I would think he'd say no and they'd have to leave him right where he is or cancel him. I doubt they're ready to take that drastic step.

Stephen Sondheim discussing lyric writing. What the hell does he know about it? (Thanks to James Troutman for the link.)

The very witty Merrill Markoe is covering the Republican Convention. Here's her report on Day One.

Garry Marshall was a great writer, producer, director and actor. (Actor, you say? Yeah. His scenes as the hapless casino host opposite Albert Brooks in Lost in America are about as perfect as comedy scenes get.) His credits in the other categories are equally impressive, starting with all the scripts he penned for sitcoms in the sixties with his longtime partner, Jerry Belson. Their scripts for The Dick Van Dyke Show alone were legendary.

Obits like this one will tell you what else he did but they don't all mention the long, long list of top writers, actors and directors (and other professions) who got their start — or a job when no one else would hire them — on a Garry Marshall production. I could list twenty-five just among my friends. And I may be missing one exception but as I'm sitting here writing this, I can't think of one who ever had an unkind word to say about the man himself. That is not true of very many people who hired that many people.

I never worked for Garry but I ran into him all the time. We had the same doctor, the same favorite restaurant for lunch in Burbank (this place) and a lot of mutual friends. Garry loved it when people knew all he'd done, not just Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley or Pretty Woman or any of his biggest or most recent hits. So I'd ask him, "Hey, are you one of the guys responsible for Hey, Landlord or Evil Roy Slade and he'd laugh and tell me something about it.

One time, I asked him about The Joey Bishop Show — the 1961-1965 sitcom, not the subsequent talk show. Garry had not enjoyed the experience and he told me a story. I don't know if it was an episode that he and his partner wrote but there was one where Joey played a dual role — a twin brother or cousin or something. Garry said Joey started complaining because the other character was getting all the good jokes. I laughed (of course) and he said, "You know, I hated that show but it was worth it just to get that anecdote." Spoken like a true comedy writer.

• I knew Garry Marshall just well enough to think he'd laugh at a joke that the cause of his death was seeing Chachi endorse Donald Trump.

• Apparently, Trump's plan for job growth is that Hillary is crooked. That's also his plan for defense, the environment and healthcare.

• I'm going to tune in the convention tonight to hear Trump's kids give Sasha's and Malia's speeches.

I liked but did not love the first night of Stephen Colbert's "live" shows to tie in with the Republican Convention. I put "live" in quotes because most of the major comedy bits were pre-recorded.

The show briefly had a sense of immediacy and difference but then suddenly, he was interviewing Zoe Saldana about how great it was to be a part of Star Trek and we were watching every other talk show in the world. If we want that, Stephen, we can watch Jimmy Fallon.

The appearance by Jon Stewart was brief, pre-taped and not particularly special. Then Colbert resurrected his character from Comedy Central and there was some life in the show, though I wonder if everyone understood the transition from one Stephen Colbert to the other and back. A few weeks ago, Colbert changed to black frame eyeglasses and I wonder if that was to create more of a difference when he switched between his (now) normal identity and the right-wing guy with the wire frames.

They had to write much of the monologue just before the show and they did a good enough job at that, and early returns show they soared in the ratings. So maybe we'll see more risk-tasking and less, "Tell us about your this film you have opening Friday."

Here's a blast from this weblog's past — a post I posted on July 17, 2010. I don't have much to add except that the Benihana's on La Cienega is no longer there. I don't know why. It was way overpriced and usually very crowded. What more does a restaurant have to be to stay in business?

I like Benihana's anyway. A few decades ago, Sergio and I were at a comic convention in Texas and there was a Benihana's next to the hotel. A lovely man named Archie Goodwin, who bounced back and forth between editing from DC and editing for Marvel, took us to dinner there on whichever company's expense account he was then on.

Our chef came in and began cooking the shrimp and the chicken and making the fried rice and constructing the volcano out of onion slices…and Sergio, who is quite the chef himself, started asking questions about how he held the knife and how he drizzled the lemon juice and such. The chef was thrilled to demonstrate and to teach Sergio. He got him up and showed him the moves…and before we knew it, Sergio was preparing our meals under the chef's direction. He did a fine job but to date, he's resisted my suggestion that he dump that silly cartooning career and go cook Teriyaki Steak for a living.

Anyway, here's the story of something that happened to me once in a Benihana's that ain't there no more…

Credit cards are like children: You have to keep an eye on them because they have a tendency to wander away and thus cause you trouble. I don't have any children but my American Express card likes to go off on its own and I thought I'd share two of many anecdotes here — one today, another tomorrow. Today's took place about twenty-five years ago. I had lunch with a business associate at the little trattoria that Sonny Bono used to own over on Melrose near La Cienega. When the check came, I gave the server my AmEx card and he took it away to imprint as they usually do.

A bit later, he brought me a slip to sign, along with what I assumed was my card. It wasn't. It was somebody else's American Express card of the same color. In fact, it was also this other person's slip but I didn't notice that, either. I added a tip to the bill, totalled it, signed and slipped the AmEx card into the slot in my wallet where I always carried mine. At another table at Bono's, another gent did likewise with my bill and my credit card. Sonny was actually there at the time running things and while I have no proof that he personally got the cards confused, I like to tell people that he did. I mean, it was my fault for not noticing but why accept responsibility for anything if you can blame it on Sonny Bono?

For five days, I went about my business, using what I thought was my American Express card. I didn't notice and none of the stores where I used it noticed that my name was not on it. I charged about $500 worth of goods and services to someone else's American Express card. In the meantime, a total stranger was charging about $1800 to mine, equally unaware of the swap. Aren't businesses supposed to verify in some way that the credit card you hand them is actually yours? Apparently, not the kind of businesses I patronize.

Finally, I noticed. It was in the Benihana's on La Cienega. They brought me my check. I gave them someone else's card. They imprinted the card on the bill and brought it all back to me. I saw it was not my card and told them they'd made an error. Much searching and discussion ensued, and the Manager assured me that no one else there had concurrently used an American Express card and they could not possibly have caused a swap. "We returned to you the credit card you gave us, sir," he said.

I dug into my pocket and found an AmEx receipt from another purchase earlier that day. Sure enough, it was to the alien credit card I'd given them. Uh-oh.

Back home, I sorted my recent receipts into chronological order and figured out where the mix-up occurred. Fortunately, the name on the other card was a unique one and it was findable in the telephone book. I called the gentleman up and asked him if he'd eaten in Bono's the previous Tuesday. He said he had. I asked if he had his American Express card. He said, "Sure." I asked him to go and take another look at it. Puzzled, he went away and came back to the phone to ask, "Who's Mark Evanier?" Well, actually, he pronounced it "Even-nyer" but I'm used to that. I explained to him what had happened and he asked me, "Well, what do we do now?"

I told him we could either call American Express and have them cancel the cards and sort everything out or we could gather up our recent receipts and get together. Within the hour, he was at the table in my kitchen with his recent receipts. He was quite bemused by it all and eager to get it straightened out, the only unpleasantness coming when he looked at our respective receipts from Bono's and noted that he was a much better tipper with my credit card than I was with his.

We did the math and it turned out he owed me around $1300, mostly because of travel arrangements he'd put on his my card. He gave me a check for that amount, our credit cards went back to their rightful possessors and it was all over…except that I had to explain to my accountant several times why I'd bought a total stranger tickets to Disney World.

Moral of the story: Always know where your credit cards are. The other day, I didn't follow my own advice. I will tell you that tale tomorrow. Sonny Bono, being deceased, is not involved but the story does feature brief cameo appearances by Laraine Newman, Sylvester Stallone and Fabio.

I had a busy yesterday so I didn't get to post much and I didn't get to watch much of the Republican Convention. When I did, I was struck by how much of it was about what Mr. Colbert dubbed "truthiness" — what you feel is true as opposed to what the facts and data show is true. Yeah, there are stats out there that show crime is down but in your heart, you know you could be murdered at any second so we've got to do something.

And in your heart, you know Obama is a Muslim and Hillary murdered those men at Benghazi and Donald Trump is a proven leader even though he's never proven it. A lot of it is Climate Change Denial extended to everything with a factual basis. I don't want it to be true so it isn't.

Another message I noticed, not so much in the speeches but in Chris Matthews' laughable attempts to get Republican spinners to answer the questions he was asking, is this: If you disagree with Donald Trump on anything, you're unfit to hold public office. Unless you're Mike Pence.

Meanwhile, I continue to prep for Comic-Con — a process which in the last few days has been interrupted by a surprising number of folks who want to know if I can help them get a panel or some other event into the programming. I had to tell those folks they're more than two months too late. The schedule has been printed, people…and all the slots were assigned in the early part of May.

Posting may be light or filled with reruns for the next week or so. I trust you understand.

Did you see Bill Maher's discussion with Republican pollster Frank Luntz on this week's edition of Real Time? If you didn't and you wanna, here it is…

Usually on the Internet, when you see a headline that says "X Destroys Y" or "X Owns Y," it means X made one decent point against Y. But this discussion went so badly for Luntz that when he came back on for Maher's Overtime segment later, he said, "No more. You killed me already!"

Personally, I thought Maher let Luntz get off easy. When Maher did his usual riff about how American voters are stupid, Luntz started to defend them and Maher didn't say something like…

That's disingenuous, Frank. Your entire business is built on the assumption that American voters are so stupid and shallow that you can do focus groups with the dumber ones, then politicians pay you big bucks to suggest words and phrasing that change voters' perception of things. You can suggest referring to the Inheritance Tax as a "Death Tax" and a lot of these low-information voters will turn against it or even think it's an entirely different thing. Your livelihood comes from inventing cute little phrases that distract people who either aren't paying close attention or who can be distracted by bright, shiny things. If voters were smarter and looked deeper, you'd have no career.

I sense Maher operates on the principle that you can say anything to a guest as long as it wouldn't make them refuse to ever come on the show again, so maybe he thought that would have crossed the line. Maybe not though. Guys like Luntz build their businesses on their fame and figure that what matters is not what people think of them but that people do think of them. That Trump guy is of much the same mind, figuring he's winning on at least some level any time people are talking about him, good or bad. He probably thinks that even if he loses the election, he will make a profit in terms of fame, which in his case has usually meant fortune.

What really set Maher off against Luntz was when Luntz tried to spin what the FBI director said about Hillary C. as "nearly criminal activity." Guys like Luntz are all about spin. No matter what your opponent says or does, you look at it and think, "Hmmm…how can I rephrase that to make it look bad or worse for them?" That's what Luntz gets paid to do and it only works with voters who aren't too well-informed or who have an existing hate of a candidate or party and welcome anything, true or not, that validates their views.

As we approach November, more and more of this election will not be about convincing voters that one candidate is better than another but in stoking the hate/fear some already have of that candidate to make sure their haters get to the polls. Dr. Luntz has a lucrative few months ahead of him.

My readers are nothing if not persistent. Someone who signs his e-mails "Smiler Grogan" (probably not his real name) was sure that was Eddie "Rochester" Anderson in that video I posted. "Smiler" did a lot of Internet searching and found an article about the commercial in the December 25, 1969 of Jet, which was (and still is) a magazine for the black community. And sure enough, right there on page eight, there's this…

So Eddie Anderson was there for the shoot. Okay, I'm convinced that was him. Now, what I want to know is: Was Ed Sullivan really in it? I don't see him and he's not mentioned in any of the other articles folks have found. If he was asked, I'll bet he was there because Ed Sullivan would have robbed a 7-Eleven if it meant he'd be on camera. So where the heck is he?

Forgot to mention: If you're going to Comic-Con International this week in San Diego, two downloads may help you a lot. The Comic-Con App is free and packed with loads of info. You should also download or at least read the Comic-Con International Quick Guide, which will tell you what's where and when and why and who's on first and what's on second and answer many of your questions.

The Quick Guide will also give you a piece of information you might want to know: The 2017 Comic-Con will be July 20-23 with Preview Night on July 19. If you're going to need a parking space down there, now would be a good time to start looking. (Hey, I haven't used that joke in years…)

Also, there's a lot of info on the con over at a site I've recommended here before called The San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog. It has no affiliation with the con itself but still manages to gather a lot of good info and tips. I probably shouldn't like this site because they show a pretty blatant disinterest in any event that doesn't feature big movie stars or big TV stars…or worse, is only about comic books. But they're enthusiastic and they work hard and they really provide a useful service. Plus, I have hopes that after I host my 500th panel and/or am a Special Guest of the convention for the thirtieth time, someone on their podcasts will learn how to pronounce my name.

Still on the topic of that National Urban Coalition commercial: Half a dozen different people have written me to say they think that's Eddie "Rochester" Anderson at the 24 second mark, right after the shot of Chet Huntley. Maybe. The list of who's in it — which does not include Jack Benny's famous sidekick — came from an article at the time in New York magazine and it said that was a partial list. Personally, I don't think it's him but I wouldn't debate anyone who thought it was.

Here at newsfromme.com, we'll link to almost any odd interpretation of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and we also love great impressionists. So here's the great impressionist Jim Meskimen doing guess-what-song.

Jim also lends his gifted vocal cords to animated cartoons. After years of trying to get him — and finding out he was working or otherwise unavailable that weekend — we have him on one of this year's Cartoon Voices Panels at Comic-Con. He'll be on the one that commences at 1 PM on Saturday in Room 6BCF, along with Gregg Berger, Phil LaMarr, George Kidder, Julianne Buescher and Brian T. Delaney. Oughta be a good one. And now, here's Jim as a whole buncha people…