I can't believe I started to do this blog about movies and now I haven't gone to see a movie in almost a month! So I will weigh in on some things on TV that have struck me recently:
Rosie's leaving The View: Insert The Hallelujah Chorus here. It's one thing to have opinions, quite another to disrespect others' opinions. At least her peer Joy Behar adds a punchline so I'll laugh even if I disagree. The announcement came down just days after Barbara Walters twice had to pull her back for going too far on the air (called Bill O'Reilly a racist and claiming Fox News deliberately tries to keep people from knowing what's really going on). Couldn't come to terms on a three year deal? Still coming back to guest host? I think not.
My favorite current TV shows (in no particular order): Lost, Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, Everybody Hates Chris, CSI, Without A Trace.
Used to be a favorite, but is slipping: 24, American Idol, Survivor
Shows I'd watch more if I had the chance: Heroes, Studio 60 on Sunset Strip
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Weighing In On Imus
Politics and power are fascinating. They are the real reasons Don Imus recently lost his job. I am not going to defend what he said. I believe he should have been suspended from his job for the remarks, which initially he was. But it was the politics and power that got him fired, and that's what bugs me.
What happened seemed pretty straightforward. The statement was made, the statement made the news, Imus apologized, he apologized again, and then yet again. CBS announced a two week suspension and then it got interesting. What happened was the apology tour hit Al Sharpton's radio show.
I spent enough time in radio to know that ratings are as important to radio people as they are to the television industry. If you think Al Sharpton wasn't even thinking about the ratings he could get by getting this "racist" on his program, you'd be mistaken. He knew he'd get a huge audience and he knew how to play it once he got his guest on his show. All of a sudden, the incident became a firestorm that eventually led to the firing.
Still, angry reaction alone does not get a man fired. Politics and economic power do. Political power keeps the outrage in the news. Then, when the outraged have financial clout, they either threaten sponsor boycotts or put enough pressure on advertisers to get them to stop sponsoring. That is what really cost Imus his job.
Consider that late last year, Rosie O'Donnell got in trouble for making racial slurs towards Asians. She apologized by saying she didn't realize she was offending Asians and was sorry, but added she would also probably do something like that again. Rosie is still hosting The View and was not even given a slap on the wrist. Why? Because there was no protest with enough political or economic clout to keep the issue in the news or affect The View's profits for ABC.
If anything good has come out of this, it is the additional discussion it has generated concerning rap and hip hop lyrics, which continually use the same language Imus used and worse on a consistent daily basis. But here, economics rules again. People are buying the stuff, so the record companies are going to keep putting it out until it stops selling.
Maybe some artists will now choose to tone down their lyrics. Or maybe enough people will start complaining to radio stations and practice their economic clout and get the stations to stop programming some of the garbage and force the artists to change if they want to get heard on the radio. That's not censorship, that's self-policing and it's something that's been long overdue on our airwaves.
What happened seemed pretty straightforward. The statement was made, the statement made the news, Imus apologized, he apologized again, and then yet again. CBS announced a two week suspension and then it got interesting. What happened was the apology tour hit Al Sharpton's radio show.
I spent enough time in radio to know that ratings are as important to radio people as they are to the television industry. If you think Al Sharpton wasn't even thinking about the ratings he could get by getting this "racist" on his program, you'd be mistaken. He knew he'd get a huge audience and he knew how to play it once he got his guest on his show. All of a sudden, the incident became a firestorm that eventually led to the firing.
Still, angry reaction alone does not get a man fired. Politics and economic power do. Political power keeps the outrage in the news. Then, when the outraged have financial clout, they either threaten sponsor boycotts or put enough pressure on advertisers to get them to stop sponsoring. That is what really cost Imus his job.
Consider that late last year, Rosie O'Donnell got in trouble for making racial slurs towards Asians. She apologized by saying she didn't realize she was offending Asians and was sorry, but added she would also probably do something like that again. Rosie is still hosting The View and was not even given a slap on the wrist. Why? Because there was no protest with enough political or economic clout to keep the issue in the news or affect The View's profits for ABC.
If anything good has come out of this, it is the additional discussion it has generated concerning rap and hip hop lyrics, which continually use the same language Imus used and worse on a consistent daily basis. But here, economics rules again. People are buying the stuff, so the record companies are going to keep putting it out until it stops selling.
Maybe some artists will now choose to tone down their lyrics. Or maybe enough people will start complaining to radio stations and practice their economic clout and get the stations to stop programming some of the garbage and force the artists to change if they want to get heard on the radio. That's not censorship, that's self-policing and it's something that's been long overdue on our airwaves.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Death of a Movie Character
My wife's grandfather recently passed away at the age of 102. I really liked him and his passing moved me.
I started thinking about death in the movies. We see people dying in probably the majority of movies made today and yet, as I thought about it, I could think of very few movie deaths that really moved me. In fact, the only one that immediately came to mind was "Simon Birch". Simon's passing away brought a tear to my eye the first time I saw it in the theater. It still affects me today.
I also thought of "Old Yeller", but quickly realized the only time I saw what many consider one of the biggest tear-jerkers of all time was when I was a child seeing it at a drive-in theater. I fell asleep, so I never saw the dying scene.
I've also had moving experiences at the movies when a character has died but it wasn't shown. Instead we see everyone else's sense of loss- the most recent example I can think of was "The Family Stone."
I know there are probably a lot of films I'm not even thinking about that as soon as someone brings it up, I'll say "Of course! Why didn't I remember that one?" Others I remember, like "Love Story", didn't move me because the characters didn't move me in the first place.
I'd be interested in the examples you can think of. Let me know and I'll be sure to check them out.
I started thinking about death in the movies. We see people dying in probably the majority of movies made today and yet, as I thought about it, I could think of very few movie deaths that really moved me. In fact, the only one that immediately came to mind was "Simon Birch". Simon's passing away brought a tear to my eye the first time I saw it in the theater. It still affects me today.
I also thought of "Old Yeller", but quickly realized the only time I saw what many consider one of the biggest tear-jerkers of all time was when I was a child seeing it at a drive-in theater. I fell asleep, so I never saw the dying scene.
I've also had moving experiences at the movies when a character has died but it wasn't shown. Instead we see everyone else's sense of loss- the most recent example I can think of was "The Family Stone."
I know there are probably a lot of films I'm not even thinking about that as soon as someone brings it up, I'll say "Of course! Why didn't I remember that one?" Others I remember, like "Love Story", didn't move me because the characters didn't move me in the first place.
I'd be interested in the examples you can think of. Let me know and I'll be sure to check them out.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
"Will" He Ever Stop?
First it was a soccer movie.
Then Will Ferrell made a NASCAR movie.
Now they're getting ready to premiere Will's new movie where he's a figure skater.
And he's in production now on a movie about basketball.
What's after that? Here are the odds:
3 to 1: Gymnastics
7 to 1: Cycling
12 to 1: Greco-Roman Wrestling
100 to 1: The Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee
200 to 1: Admits he's run out of ideas and actually looks for something that isn't sports-related.
Then Will Ferrell made a NASCAR movie.
Now they're getting ready to premiere Will's new movie where he's a figure skater.
And he's in production now on a movie about basketball.
What's after that? Here are the odds:
3 to 1: Gymnastics
7 to 1: Cycling
12 to 1: Greco-Roman Wrestling
100 to 1: The Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee
200 to 1: Admits he's run out of ideas and actually looks for something that isn't sports-related.
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