The title comes from this post by Lefty Brown, where he defines it as not blog posting as much as you should. In this post, Lefty also wrote: “I want Roger Green to dress up as Cornel West for Halloween…and post a pic on his blog.” Ain’t gonna happen; not only do I not have the hair, but if I walk around looking like Cornel West, NO ONE WILL GET IT.
And in honor of that: Cornel West on what does it mean to be a leftist; it’s only eighty seconds long, unlike some of the other 160-odd pieces about the author on YouTube:
I wrote something nice about the Lefty Side of the Dial podcast – it’s somewhere in iTunes – and Lefty hasn’t podcast since. I’m feeling almost guilty that I may have somehow embarrassed him. Come back, Lefty!
Oh, and speaking of Eddie Mitchell, he did a video-infested post. I want to discuss two: The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun- Julie Brown: Some people seem to think that in a post-Columbine world, it should be banned. I guess I just don’t, though I have no good argument why, except for my general disdain for censorship. Also, the line about throwing down “your gun and your tiara” always cracks me up. Johnny Get Angry-k.d. lang: I saw this at the time it originally aired. It led indirectly to a shared obsession with lang that I had with my ex. Actually, she was even more k.d.-centric than I. Nice memory.
I’m now watching about an hour of TV a day and taping about two; recipe for deleting programs on the DVR, unwatched.
Please vote for Binghamton, NY, my hometown, as pierogy capital. You can vote every day, once a day, through October 23. Yes, Buffalo, the defending champion, is on the list again, and even enlisted some high-powered female politician who’s running for President to help in the cause, but, believe me, Binghamton needs it more. What IS a pierogy? For one thing, it’s spelled several different ways. For another, it’s a “pocket food” that I first had when I was five or six, growing up in a Slavic neighborhood, as I did.
The blogger Scott, husband of Marcia and father of Nigel, one of those people who still cares about the NHL, was kind enough to ask:
1. What do you think are the chances of us seeing another “Subway Series” this October?
You must have me mistaken with someone who has any idea. I had the St. Louis Cardinals losing every round they played (and won) last year.
That said, highly unlikely. In fact, much to my surprise, I think the Yankees have a better chance of getting there than the Mets, much to my disappointment. I’m rooting for the wild card to come out of the NL West (and for the Mets to win their division) because I think THEY think they can’t beat the Phillies in a second round matchup, whereas the Yankees could beat Boston, if they get past the first round. Though the Yanks have had a difficult time with the Angels this season, so if the Angels beat the Red Sox, the Yankees may be in trouble. Incidentally, yesterday was the centennial of the birth of original Angels’ owner, Gene Autry.
(When you asked a few days ago, the Mets were up by 2 games. Now they’re tied with a game to go, with no guarantee that they’ll even get IN the playoffs.)
2. What do you consider your favorite TV Drama of all-time?
Quite possibly St. Elsewhere, although Hill Street Blues and Homicide are up there. My favorite show as a kid, though was the Defenders, a lawyer show with E.G. Marshall and a pre-Brady Bunch Robert Reed. I was also fond of East Side/West Side with George C. Scott. There was an anthology show called The Bold Ones, and The Senator segment with Hal Holbrook was great, got Emmy love, but it lasted but a season. Was Twilight Zone a drama? That gets its own special mention.
3. What do you consider your favorite TV sit-com of all-time?
The Dick van Dyke Show. The perfect balance of home life and work life. Great physical comedy by DVD. MTM’s capri pants. And Richard Deacon from Binghamton, NY. Lasted five years – not too short, not long enough to wear out its welcome, which I’m afraid M*A*S*H, arguably a better show in its prime, did for me.
Though I must give some consideration to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, with a magnificent evolving cast, also did home and work well, as did, now that I think of it, the Bob Newhart Show, the one where he plays the shrink.
A comedy that evolved into a good show was Barney Miller, which scrapped any real pretense of a home life after the first season (Barbara Barrie played Barney’s wife), and found its voice.
4. What scares you the most about Lydia growing up?
I suppose I’m dreading that inevitable teenage period when she thinks I’m an irrelevant, archaic druid. But I have to say that the great thing about having no idea what you’re doing as a parent – in that most of my preconceived notions about fatherhood could be tossed into the Dumpster – is that I don’t think too much about her Growing Up; I’m trying to take care of her Now.
I am reminded, again, about racism and racialism. I had never heard the latter term until I watched some Nelson Mandela speech right after he was released from prison. Some people use the terms interchangeably, but I feel a distinction. To me, racism is blatant inequity under the law or in society; e.g., the Jena 6 charged more harshly for their crimes than the white students who had assaulted black kids. Whereas, racialism is more the “damn fool” things people say and do, such as Bill O’Reilly. I just started reading Anti-Racist Parent. By “just”, I mean yesterday; interesting stuff.
Back to TV: Lydia decided just this week that she wanted to put on her right sock, then her right shoe, left sock and left shoe. This reminded me of a conversation that Mike Stivic had with Archie Bunker (a sock, sock, shoe, shoe guy) on All in the Family; that was a good show, too. *** Meanwhile, blogger Gordon, newly re-minted Chicagoan, podcaster, and most importantly, March Piscean, writes: “OK, well, here’s a question that I think you can answer: do you ever have a moment where you think ‘I’m so full of hot gas?'”
Immediately, I started writing this rambling epic indicating how there are several areas where I have no opinions at all, that the opinions I do have are often based on reason and experience, and that I don’t love the sound of my own voice as much as many do. I noted how, in keeping with a conversation he and I had privately, that I read other viewpoints; in fact, I spent some time this week listening to some of the speeches on the White Nationalist News Network, which I found by clicking Next Blog.
I addressed how an old girlfriend accused me of Male Answer Syndrome, which I rejected, not because it wasn’t possibly true, but because the thing I was answering (about alpacas being more pleasant than llamas) I actually DID know from research in my job. (And not so incidentally, claims that I have MAS has dropped SIGNIFICANTLY since I appeared on that game show. And there was other stuff about my good listening and observing skills.
But, sure, OK, don’t we all feel like we’re fakin’ it sometimes? Don’t at least many of us feel as though we’re about 11 and are pretending to wear grown-up clothes periodically?
So, Gordon, I could have just said “Yes.” But somehow, I thought you wanted a little more than that. *** Oh, and another one of my favorite reads, Tom the Dog, who has been on one more game show than I have, says nice things about me. Right back at you.
Today, the fall television season really begins. Oh, a couple shows debuted last week, but most of the ones I’ll be watching are still forthcoming. So, Time magazine had their list of Top 100 shows. Really? We’ll see about that. Thanks to Tosy and Mary; this was also tackled by Jaquandor.
24 Watched religiously the first season. First 13 shows created as great arc, then it floundered. First episode of the second season really turned me off, but I followed it sporadically. Now, I just read about it, rather than watching it, though I did see part of the great 5th season finale. I discovered recently that the very first monthly post about Lydia, back on May 26, 2005, was about not watching 24.
60 Minutes Have watched religiously for most of its nearly 40 years(!) Now always recorded, and always have to “tape” the show after it in the fall when CBS has a “4 pm” NFL game, which never starts at 4, and certainly never ends at 7; I also have to be aware of the US Open tennis, or the Masters golf tournament for similar reasons. I don’t know why I seldom watched 60 Minutes II, which got folded into the mothership a couple years ago.
The Abbott and Costello Show Saw occasionally in reruns as a kid; would probably appreciate more now.
ABC’s Wide World of Sports Used to watch in its early years.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents This was in reruns when I saw it, but Hitch, even more than the stories, scared me to death.
All in the Family A great show, though it went downhill when the Stivic kid was born, and became largely irrelevant after Mike and Gloria moved to California. Favorite moment: Archie begin kissed by Sammy Davis, Jr.
An American Family Watched it at the time – devastating. Wonder how it’d play now.
American Idol Season 1: saw last 4 weeks. Season 2: saw whole season. Season 3: saw whole season. Season 4: watched after they got to the final 12. I’ve given it up. What season are they on now, anyway? The “bad” auditions are unwatchable, because, of the thousands of people who try out, only a relative handful are chosen by the screeners, I think, to humiliate; it’s so manipulated. Even if I go back to watching the talent portion some day, I’ll pass on the early weeks.
Arrested Development I tried to watch the first season, which people swore by, couldn’t get into it. I tried again for the second season and it clicked. I watched it to the end; maybe I should try the first season DVD.
Battlestar Galactica I assume this is the current series; have never seen.
The Beavis and Butt-Head Show I tried to watch, failed.
The Bob Newhart Show Classic. I was going to say the best scene was the end, but then I realized it was from Newhart’s NEXT show.
Brideshead Revisited Tried to watch, failed.
Buffalo Bill As I recall, loved.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Watched very rarely; saw some of the special episodes. Seemed pretty good.
The Carol Burnett Show Classic. Favorite scene: Gone with the Wind curtain dress.
The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite I tended to watch Huntley-Brinkley a bit more, but when they split in 1970, it was Uncle Walter until he retired nearly a decade later.
A Charlie Brown Christmas Yeah, though I’d argue with it even being on the list, I do watch it.
Cheers This show not only survived the loss of one of its early stars (Coach), but thrived. I watched a little less when Rebecca replaced Diane and Robin Colcord was around, but yes, a classic. Favorite moment: Sam is despairing that everything he does, he does to please the ladies. Then he’s reminded that he likes the Three Stooges, even though “women hate the Stooges.” He does that for himself; he’s NOT shallow!
The Cosby Show Tosy said: “Funnier in the early seasons than you may remember.” About right. Favorite moment: Rudy lipscynching to a Ray Charles song.
The Daily Show I like it when I watch it, but I seldom watch it.
Dallas I saw two episodes: “Who Shot J.R.” and the resolution, for which I correctly picked the shooter. That was enough.
The Day After Recall that it was powerful in 1983, or whenever; haven’t seen since.
Deadwood On pay cable. Have never seen.
The Dick Van Dyke Show Classic. Quite possibly my favorite television show. Favorite moment: Rob’s convinced he and Laura got the wrong child at the hospital.
Dragnet Really? I’ve seen at least two iterations of this. The early version was bland, the second, with Harry Morgan, was so corny, it was schtick.
The Ed Sullivan Show Sure. Saw that Italian mouse WAY too often, though.
The Ernie Kovacs Show Saw an episode or two as a kid; guess you would have had to have been there.
Felicity Saw a handful of episodes, pre-haircut, not enough to remember.
Freaks and Geeks Found this show a quarter of the way through and became a religious convert. I’m not one to say a show went on for too short a time – to everything, there is a season, and all that – but if I were to pick one show that suffered a premature death, it’d be My So-Called Life. Or maybe this.
The French Chef The Ackroyd parody worked because it was so spot-on. It’d be on at 2 pm on Saturday afternoons, and I found it surreal.
Friends Watched it for some seasons, gave up on it for a season, get sucked back in, get turned off. I was there at the end.
General Hospital Never seen.
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show I saw this in reruns as a kid. Actually, as I recall, quite funny, in a corny way.
Gilmore Girls Loved the core relationship: Rory-Lorelai-Emily. Loved the townspeople. especially loved Mrs. Kim, when she developed as a character. Sure, the show would get off track – Rory’s refrain with Dean, e.g. I never believed. But I watched all seven seasons, and we even have Season 1 on DVD, albeit unwatched. The subject of one of my earliest posts, and undoubtedly others.
Gunsmoke This show was on 20 years, and I probably saw half of them, from Dennis Weaver’s Chester, to Burt Reynolds’ Quint to Ken Curtis’ Festus. Doc was always the same. Matt Dillon (James Arness, the brother of Peter Graves from Mission: Impossible) was larger than life. And what WAS his relationship with Miss Kitty? This was better than Bonanza, that’s for certain.
Hill Street Blues Probably lost it a bit near the end, but out of the gate, a great show. Favorite moment: the off-screen death of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus.
Homicide: Life on the Street Great show. Occasionally tough to take, such as the Vincent D’Onofrio episode.
The Honeymooners I recognize its greatness, yet don’t particularly appreciate it.
I, Claudius Tried; failed.
I Love Lucy I’ve seen any number of episodes. (Tosy, this has been in reruns for 50 YEARS and you haven’t seen it?) It’s of its time, so some of it is still hysterically funny, while other bits are dated. But Lucy WAS a great physical actor.
King of the Hill Tosy: “I like King of the Hill and yet never, ever watch it (seriously, I think I’ve seen maybe five episodes). Not sure why that is.” I’ve seen more like 20 episodes, but, no I don’t watch it, yet I’ve appreciated what I’ve seen.
The Larry Sanders Show When I had HBO, I watched it and liked it, then I didn’t, and I didn’t, except for the last episode, which I saw on rerun the night before I was to tape my JEOPARDY! episodes.
Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) VERY occasional. Don’t record it, don’t stay up for it. (Though I did see the episode with Oprah, after his surgery, after 9/11…)
Leave It to Beaver Watched in reruns as a kid. Never engaged me.
Lost Have never seen, except bits and pieces. Yet follow avidly the storyline in TV Guide, etc.
Married… With Children I watched one episode, hated it, never saw it again.
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Thought it was very funny, yet wonder if it would age well.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show Classic, from “I hate spunk” to the group retrieval of the Kleenex box.
M*A*S*H A great show for six or seven years. Should have ended with Radar going home, early in season 8 (I think). Favorite episode, rerun recently: a documentary being filmed.
The Monkees Watched, liked well enough, didn’t love.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus Watched occasionally. When it comes to comedy, I may be a Britophobe.
Moonlighting The arc of this show has been well-documented; early was great, later was awful. I went to Jump the Shark and fully 2/3s of the voters picked when David and Maddie “did it” that did in the show.
MTV 1981-1992 Eh, this isn’t a “show”. Yeah, I watched videos a lot for much of that time.
My So-Called Life Sob. I really liked this show, and it really felt like it was really finding its voice when it was cut off.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Did people actually WATCH this? I’d flip through the channels, hit upon this for three minutes, laugh (or more often, not), and move on.
The Odd Couple Classic. Favorite episode: Password.
The Office [American] Watch religiously. How has Michael not been fired, I’ll never know.
The Office [British] Haven’t seen; I will, I will. I do recall, though, that there was a lot of badmouthing of the U.S. series before it even aired, which have largely gone away.
The Oprah Winfrey Show I saw Oprah when she had Paul McCartney on, or when the Little Rock black kids who integrated the schools in 1957 and the white kids who taunted them reconciled. That is to say, rarely.
Pee Wee’s Playhouse Watched this. It was weird. Sorta liked it.
Playhouse 90 I probably saw this as a wee kid, but don’t remember.
The Price Is Right There was probably a year or two in college when I watched it more than I should have.
Prime Suspect Saw at least a couple full seasons of this, but not lately. It was excellent.
The Prisoner Watched religiously. Gordon, are you familiar with this show?
The Real World Watched maybe three seasons of, I’m afraid to say, before I bailed. Season 3 was he infamous Pedro vs. Puck, with Judd referring.
Rocky and His Friends Well, yeah! Mr. Peabody,and Sherman, and Fractured Fairy Tales.
Roots Watched all eight episodes. Appointment TV, good, though occasionally tough to take.
Roseanne Watched it early on, but it lost me somewhere along the way.
Sanford and Son I watched it, but I was never sure why.
Saturday Night Live I happen to think that Phil Hartman was the greatest performer ever on the show, and I was watching it from the beginning. Watch it far less now.
Second City Television Saw it often after SNL. I liked the characters and actors more than the actual skits ofttimes.
See It Now Saw, mostly in clips in TV obits.
Seinfeld Watched for a few years regularly, always recorded -Thursday night is choir night. Pretty much gave up on it after Susan (George’s finacee) died, though I’d catch a show here and there. Saw the last few episodes; was not impressed.
Sesame Street I was in high school when this started. I watched this almost religiously for a couple years while I was in college, along with Electric Company and Zoom. In fact, I have the 10th Anniversary Album, complete with “12 autographed photos suitable for framing”, which I bought only because an earlier album went in the great Album Theft of 1972. Both albums had my theme song. Unfortunately, the early album had, and the latter doesn’t have:
Sex and the City Never saw it on HBO, only on the TNT version. Occasionally too precious, but I got enough enjoyment out of it.
The Shield Watched big chunks of this the first and second seasons, not so much now. It was great show.
The Simpsons Watched religious for nine years, off and on for the next nine.
The Singing Detective Never saw.
Six Feet Under Never saw. Based on the cast, probably would have liked.
Soap I was watching the Tonys recently – yes, I know they aired in June – and Jay Johnson, who was on Soap, won a Tony for The Two and Only. A surreal series where Billy Crystal was actually funny. Lost its way at the end, certainly after the character of Benson left, but had a couple good years.
The Sopranos Never seen, unless you count the last three minutes that I saw on YouTube.
South Park I watched it three or four times, wanting to like it, but never really did.
SpongeBob SquarePants Don’t know why I don’t watch; I like it on the rare times I see it.
SportsCenter I could watch SportsCenter at least daily, preferably on tape immediately after it ends, so I can miss the lengthy teases and especially dopey segments such as “Who Is More Now?” – who commands the bigger buzz. But I don’t, though I’ve been known to watch a half hour early Monday morning.
Star Trek My father loved this show. I didn’t get it until I started watching it in reruns. St. Elsewhere At least at the time I was watching it, my favorite dramatic television show. Have the first season DVD, of which I’ve seen two episodes that still look good. People are always surprised when I tell them Denzel Washington was on the show for its entire six-year run. One of the great series enders.
The Super Bowl (and the Ads) Another odd choice – I’ve seen at least XXXVII of them.
Survivor Watched the first season, which I rather liked. Saw the second season, which bored me. Saw part of the third season, gave up. May have seen the first and/or last episodes of a couple other seasons, but it’s off my radar.
Taxi Classic. Particularly loved the Reverend Jim.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Saw now and then. Did see the last two episodes.
Twin Peaks I started watching it, but it got too weird.
The West Wing I watched first three or four seasons, then lost interest. But did watch the last season, which was a suitable ending.
What’s My Line? Watched it a lot given the fact that I think it was on 10:30 on Sunday nights, as I recall. It was a great game show in its simplicity, so much so that a live version, not on TV, exists.
WKRP in Cincinnati Classic. “Oh, the humanity!”
The Wire HBO show. Never seen.
Wiseguy Did see at least some of it. Very good show, as I recall.
The X-Files Saw maybe a half dozen episodes, which I liked and didn’t in equal number.
Your Show of Shows Even I’m not that old. *** Alice Ghostley and Marcel Marceau both died recently. From her Internet Movie database page, I realize that I’d seen Ms. Ghostley in a LOT of stuff, not just Bewitched, Designing Women and Evening Shade, probably from at least one episode of half the television shows listed. Mr. Marceau I saw mostly in TV variety shows such as Ed Sullivan; sure, he was the “greatest mime ever”, but name two others.
1. What new shows are you most looking forward to checking out?
For me, it’s that nighttime soapy-looking Dirty Sexy Money on Wednesday nights on ABC, not because of the premise, but because of the cast: Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, and Jill Clayburgh.
The show with the most buzz: Pushing Daisies, also on Wednesdays on ABC. Of course, “buzz” doesn’t always equal quality.
What else is on Wednesdays on ABC, anyway? Oh, yeah, the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, which has a buzz too, but not such a good one. I’ll have to watch it at least once, because of the luminescent Audra McDonald, pictured, before I bail; I’ll probably end up watching Bionic Woman on NBC, if anything.
There’s a show on Mondays on the CW (The CW?!) called Aliens in America, about a Pakistani Muslim exchange student, which will either be very good or very bad, but which I’ll at least try. It has reviewed surprisingly well, so far, and it’s got to be better than a show about the Geico Cavemen.
Finally, there’s Back to You,b Wednesday on FOX. It actually started last week, and Ken Levine liked it, though Tom the Dog did not. I’ll have to at least watch the premiere episode
There are probably others – better check my TV listings for the time and channel in my area.
2. What returning shows are you looking forward to seeing?
NBC Thursday night comedies: Earl, Scrubs, The Office. I’ll probably even give 30 Rock another go. Last year I wrote: Watching Tracy Morgan on the second or third episode of 30 Rock doing some jivin’ riff, I said, “I don’t need this,” shut it off in mid-episode, deleted it, deleted the next yet unwatched episode, and removed it from the DVR recording schedule. But I also noted that lots of people whose opinion I respect like it. And it did get some Emmy love.
Oh, and that dysfunctional family – I relate to dysfunctional families – on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters Sunday nights. I’m not saying Sally Field deserved the Emmy more than, say, Edie Falco from The Sopranos, but I like her, I really like her in this show. *** Upright Citizens Brigade on DVD, “The Return of America’s Best Sketch Comedy Group”. *** Mr. Brown posed his own three TV questions, one of which hit on one of mine: What show will be canceled first? Entertainment Weekly picked Viva Laughlin, a “musical-dramedy”, and I’m thinking it’ll go early, but it’s not even premiering until October 21, by which time that show with the Geico cavemen, I’m hoping, will have bitten the dust.
Because I’d finally caught up with almost everything else, over a two and a half week stretch recently, I managed to watch all eight segments of the ESPN miniseries The Bronx Is Burning, ostensibly about the New York Yankees’ 1977 World Series win, their first since 1962, despite the tension among Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, manager Billy Martin and outfielder Reggie Jackson. It was also about the .44-caliber killer known as Son of Sam, and the general decay of New York City.
I had a personal interest in this story, for I was living in Jamaica, Queens from May to September. I was hanging out partying late at night and was just a tad paranoid about Son of Sam, and I remember the screaming red-letter headlines on the New York Post when David Berkowitz was caught in August of 1977.
The production featured the actors in scenes, interspersed with footage of the era, both in the baseball scenes, and in the atmospheric segments about the blackout, the mayoral race between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo (I voted for Cuomo, BTW).
The good things about this production: John Turturro as the Billy Martin, and I say that not because Turturro graduated from my alma mater of New Paltz, but because he seemed to embody, rather than imitate, the fiery manager. Erik Jensen as Yankee captain and catcher Thurman Munson. Kevin Conway, who plays Yankees Prez and GM, Gabe Paul; he doesn’t really look like Paul, but his caught-in-the-middle performance rang true. The great background pieces at the end of each episode featuring Jackson, Steinbrenner, Yankees Chris Chambliss and Fran Healey, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, and Billy Martin’s son, Bill Jr. (Martin was killed in a one-car crash in Binghamton, NY – my hometown – on December 25, 1989.)
The so-so parts: Oliver Platt as Steinbrenner; he looked like Oliver Platt playing Steinbrenner. Joe Grifasi as Yogi Berra, who didn’t seem all that bright and was there to share Italian-American insults with Martin. Leonard Armond Robinson as Mickey Rivers, and whoever played Fran Healey were OK. The guys playing the cops in the Son of Sam investigation, featuring Dan Lauria (Wonder Years). The use of the real video, although seeing the cheesy ABC Sports logo was a hoot.
The not so hot parts: Daniel Sunjata as Reggie Jackson; it wasn’t just the look, it was the feel of the character. Most of the other supporting players, especially the women, were ciphers. The guy playing Lou Pinella looks nothing like him, while a press guy reminded me of Yankee pitcher Catfish Hunter. And most of all, the Son of Sam killings, which almost all involved a couple of Noo Yawkers babbling something to each other before they were shot by Berkowitz; they all felt the same.
So, it wasn’t great, it wasn’t awful. I’m glad I saw it because it was a good reminder of the era. If you rent the DVD, which will be out later this month, I have the sense that the extras will be more enjoyable than the core item. *** Here’s a weird TV thing: I was watching a rerun of Scrubs recently. The original episode aired on May 10, and was 40 minutes (more like 38). But when it was rerun in the last week or two, it was in the 30 minute slot. How did this work? Cuts. J.D. and Turk’s voice-over dialogue as they were driving away. Kelso’s dis of a woman his age or younger at a convention as too old. But mostly, the whole scene with J.D. and Turk at a lecture conducted by J.D.’s pregnant ex-girlfriend was broken in half in the original, with a “Busta move” piece of verbiage, but continuous in the repeat, sans “Busta move”. I wonder if both versions will show up on the DVD?
