Category Archives: To Be Filed

Here's last night's Bill Maher "New Rules" editorial — a particularly good one, I think…

My pal Ken Levine was once a writer-producer on M*A*S*H. On the series, reference would sometimes be made to a sister that Major Winchester (the David Ogden Stiers character) had. Her name was Honoria. Whenever I heard it, it reminded me of a girl I went to school with named Honoria but I somehow never assumed it was the same Honoria. I mean, there's more than one lady on this planet named Honoria, right?

The other day on his blog, Ken answered a question and revealed that the M*A*S*H Honoria was named after a girl he dated briefly in college.

A friend of mine from my high school days, Bruce Reznick, read this and wrote to Ken to ask if it might be the same Honoria that he (and I) knew from back then. The last names matched. It was.

I do not envy Ken's Emmy awards or his fabulous success as a TV writer and a sportscaster and a playwright. I envy that he got to go out with Honoria. She was real cute.

There's an Honoria in the mythos of Harry Potter, too. Wonder if it's the same one.

The Programming Schedule for Saturday can be read here. If you can't find three events on it you're dying to attend, you have no business even going to the convention.

Stephen Colbert on today's decision…

There are 87,388 essays and articles currently on the Internet about this morning's Supreme Court decision about Gay Marriage. Don't believe me? Count 'em like I didn't.

In my piece on the subject, I made a dumb typo, inserting the name of the wrong Justice. I have fixed it and I would like to thank the 87,388 people who wrote in to tell me.

I've been reading a lot of articles and essays on the subject…and it is worth reading if not the entire decision then at least excerpts. You'll find Scalia saying…

With each decision of ours that takes from the People a question properly left to them — with each decision that is unabashedly based not on law, but on the "reasoned judgment" of a bare majority of this Court — we move one step closer to being reminded of our impotence.

This is an odd position from the guy who was so proud of the court stepping in and making sure George W. Bush became president in 2000 and who told people who thought it was a wrong decision to "Get over it." Then you have Alito writing…

By imposing its own views on the entire country, the majority facilitates the marginalization of the many Americans who have traditional ideas. Recalling the harsh treatment of gays and lesbians in the past, some may think that turnabout is fair play. But if that sentiment prevails, the Nation will experience bitter and lasting wounds.

In other words, the Nation would not experience bitter and lasting wounds if we continued the harsh treatment of gays and lesbians. We have to protect the sensitive feelings of those who don't like the way society is changing. And then Roberts wrote something which has to have pissed off a lot of folks…

People of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority today.

Yes, because we all know "people of faith" are against gay rights. There are no "people of faith" in favor of same-gender marriage — no members of the clergy, no people who believe in God, etc. Depending on which poll you believe, somewhere between 57% and 65% of Americans support Gay Marriage. Apparently none of them are "people of faith." Finally, from Thomas…

Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the government denies them those benefits. The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.

I don't even know where to start…

As you may know, Comedy Central is running every Daily Show since the day Jon Stewart began in a 42-day marathon over on this site. It started this morning and at the moment, Jon (at about age 6) is chatting with John Tesh about his new album. It's 1999 over on that webpage and coming up is a segment about Pat Buchanan throwing his hat in the presidential ring. Same speech as Donald Trump but with better hair and less bragging about how rich he is.

When I heard about this, I wondered for about fifteen seconds if I should try to capture all that video. Then I realized that, first of all, the software I have that captures streaming video records about two hours at a time and then must be reactivated. Since I'm not going to go rushing to my computer every two hours for the next month and a half, that kills that thought.

And Stewart has hosted just shy of 2000 episodes. Even if I had them all, when would I ever watch them? I could perhaps average two a day. That would take 2.7 years. And how many gigabytes would that be? Ye Gods.

Still, I hope they have plans for all those episodes. I'd love to see them set up a website where you could pay a small membership fee and watch 'em at your leisure, preferably with a good search engine so you could search for "colbert nazi retirement village" or "sharpton guest no-show" or other great moments.

Or better still, how about running two hours a night on Comedy Central? I'm thinking three old episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and one Colbert Report. Even as dated as some would be, I bet they'd outdraw most of what's on that network, especially those roasts where the roasters seem to really not like the roastee.

I'm not happy about Jon Stewart going away but I'd be really unhappy if all those great episodes went away. Somehow, I don't think Comedy Central — or someone — will let that happen.

Here's the Programming Schedule for Friday — a day on which I miraculously have no panels. I have business-type meetings and in the evening, I'm presenting awards at the Will Eisner Awards Ceremony…but no panels. If you see me wandering the hall with a pale, disbelieving expression, now you know why. But I'll lose it over the weekend.

Former blogger Andrew Sullivan blogs again…about you-know-what.

Now, it's just "Marriage." And I wish I could say the battle was over but a certain part of the right-wing audience will rally behind politicians who swear they will overturn this Supreme Court decision (and probably the Obamacare one, too) and it will be lucrative to so vow. In some states, it might even get people elected.

I'm not sure how to phrase it but there's a connection between this attitude and the flying of the Confederate flag…this "never admit defeat" attitude among some Conservatives. I suppose if I thought about it, I could come up with a few symbols of Liberals giving up even before defeat.

There will, of course, not be a Constitutional Amendment — not about this and not about Obamacare — though that will be pledged endlessly as a great Applause Line. We don't pass Constitutional Amendments very often in this country and we certainly don't pass them for causes that don't have 75% of Americans behind them. The number of people who are fine with folks of the same gender getting hitched will only go up…as it has everywhere it's been tried with none of the predicted destruction of "straight" marriage and no visitations of locusts and frogs sent by an angry God. (Though guess what'll be blamed for the next big hurricane or earthquake.)

I must admit I never thought this would happen. I thought the pathway to legalized Same Sex Marriage would come not through the courts but through growing public acceptance. Turned out, it was both…and each bolstered the other.

Chief Justice Roberts in his dissent said that the proponents of such unions had "lost" the opportunity to let it come about through public acceptance. Yeah, the way an earlier Supreme Court decision meant that George W. Bush had "lost" the opportunity to win the presidency by actually getting more votes than Al Gore. I doubt the people who feel they "lost" by this morning's decision will be as graceful in defeat — especially the Mike Huckabees of the world.

Yes, I have a story about the (now) late Patrick Macnee. In fact, I have two but I'm afraid neither one is much of a tale.

I always liked him on The Avengers but I couldn't possibly have liked him as much as a couple of ladies I knew back in my high school and college days. These were women friends of the platonic variety and it wasn't so much that they had crushes on him as that they wished that all males could be as polite, debonair, charming and well-dressed as Mr. Macnee was on his series. Compared to him, all of us were unkempt boors. I always assumed these ladies spoke to me because I wasn't quite as unkempt or boorish as some guys on the campus.

I think I knew four different women who had this dream that all men would be like Patrick Macnee. Two of them were corresponding with him. One day, one of them — a classmate named Sally — informed me that she'd received a letter from Mr. Macnee inviting her to lunch. He was in Southern California for a few months shooting some kind of film or TV show and living in a rented home in Malibu. He suggested that she drive up the coast some afternoon to meet and dine with him. She accepted…

…then had second thoughts. What if the witty, urbane gent who played John Steed had in mind something of a sexual nature? She had no reason to expect that but, hey, these things do happen. And even more than she feared an assault on her body, she was concerned about an assault on her respect for him. She said, "If he tried something…if he even suggested it, I'd just be devastated." Figuring that would be less likely to happen if she were escorted, she asked me to come along. I wasn't to be so much a bodyguard as a spoiler for any possible romantic conversation.

I agreed and on the appointed day, we drove up to the home Mr. Macnee was renting in Malibu. He greeted us warmly and Sally was immediately devastated…not because of anything he did. It was because of how he was dressed.

She later admitted it was foolish but she'd expected him to be dressed like his character on The Avengers. He wasn't…and he probably wouldn't have been even if it hadn't been over 90°. No bowler, no suit, no gentlemanly attire. He was in a short-sleeved sport shirt, shorts and sandals. He looked like almost everyone else in Malibu. Having not shaved in a few days, he looked a lot like the guys on our campus she found so unkempt and boorish.

We were there about two hours and he served us a fine lunch of cold cuts and breads he'd purchased at a nearby store. He was charming and witty and really an excellent host and he wound up talking more to me than to Sally. Mostly, it was about the differences between American television and British television. He was not saying one was better than the other; merely musing on how interesting it was that we did something this way while they did something that way. Sally enjoyed the afternoon but not as much as if she'd actually met the man she was expecting.

That's about all there is to that story. The other one is much shorter. It happened about three years later.

I was on a date with a young lady and we'd just come out of a movie in Westwood Village. We were discussing whether or not to go somewhere for ice cream when she suddenly shrieked and ran towards a man she'd spotted. "It's the man who starred in the greatest TV show ever," I heard her call out as I jogged after her. Before I could stop her, she ran up to man who about to cross the street and told him, "Mr. McGoohan, I just have to tell you that I think The Prisoner was the greatest TV show ever made and you are a genius."

The man thanked her but said, "I'm sure Patrick McGoohan will be pleased to hear that but my name is Patrick Macnee and I was on a TV show called The Avengers." Then he looked at me and I'm pretty sure he didn't recognize me. But he did say with a smile, "Don't worry. This happens all the time." What a nice, classy gentleman.

Here from 1965 is a commercial starring Phil Silvers. It's for Pream, a non-dairy creamer and the store manager is played by Dave Willock, who was the announcer on the Wacky Races cartoons and an actor often-seen in movies and TV shows and commercials. (He was in a number of Stan Freberg's spots, including having the end line in the famous Ann Miller soup commercial.) The cop is played by Robert Strauss, working the wrong side of the law since he usually played gangsters and crooks. But just watch how good Phil Silvers was at playing Phil Silvers…

Comic-Con looms before us, people. Yesterday, they posted the Programming Schedule for Wednesday (Preview) Night. There's not a lot on it but there it is.

Today, they've posted the schedule for Thursday, July 9. It's a lot more interesting even though it only has one panel hosted by me on it.

Friday's will be posted tomorrow and so on. I urge attendees to review these schedules. Make notes of what you want to see. Make notes of what you want to see if your first choice has too long a line or no remaining seats. This will not happen with most panels but it's not unlikely in panels in Hall H, Ballroom 20, the Indigo Ballroom or some panels in rooms that start with a "6." Then again, I've had people tell me that they got into everything they wanted to attend without any difficulties.

Likewise, it ain't a bad idea to scan the list of exhibitors and the map of the Exhibit Hall to see where the booths you wish to visit are located.

Take note of some new rules: The convention has banned selfie-sticks or similar devices, live streaming of items on the program, Google Glasses, all smoking including vape-type, and all drones and other flying devices. Guess this includes my hovercraft. Oh, well. We'll still have a great time.

Interview with Lewis Black. He likes Bernie Sanders, he doesn't like Bill Cosby and he doesn't agree with Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock about college audiences being too "politically-correct."

Jonathan Chait notes that the Republicans defending the Confederate Flag are forgetting their party line. They're supposed to argue that all that slavery and racial stuff is the Democrat's doing.

Every so often, I come across a couple of episodes of M*A*S*H on some cable channel I receive. I always watch them and I always enjoy them but for some reason, I never take a Season Pass on my TiVo to ensure a steady flow. I think this is because there were 256 episodes and I don't really want to watch 256 episodes of anything.

M*A*S*H feels especially to me like a show I don't want to binge-watch so I've decided to pick up the complete set and commit to one disc of it a month or something. There are 34 discs in this complete set that's currently on sale at Amazon for $67.49 — an astounding bargain considering you get all 256 episodes plus the original movie. This was supposed to be a one-day price ending yesterday but at this moment, it's still available. If you want it, don't delay.