It’s a recurring problem in American television: a show makes a gigantic splash, becomes the “must-watch” show to most of the public, earns its actors a ridiculous amount of money per episode, then…overstays its welcome. By the time series like Friends left the air, even the most ardent fans had noticed a drop in quality. An entire internet phenomenon was formed out of deciding when a show “jumped the shark” – that now-overused term referring to the episode of Happy Days where Fonzi waterskied over the man-eating marine life, symbolizing a downturn in the show’s appeal. There is a simple solution to this problem of TV overpopulation: follow the British example and cut the show short before it’s too late.
Archive for August, 2006
Be Like the Brits
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006Little Victories
Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
It’s almost hard to believe that the Gin Blossoms were a major force in music. Ten years removed from their last album, they are remembered as little more than the harmless 90s adult alternative rock that you hear in the background of a party. While their new release Major Lodge Victory might not enlarge the stamp on musical history, it fits well into the mold of nice, forgettable pop.
The album’s opener, “Learning the Hard Way,” takes you right back to the mid-90s – its sweet harmonies and janglepop rhythm make it as if the Blossoms never went away. Ditto with the follower, “Come Down Hard,” packed with their signature, radio-ready sound. “Long Time Gone” and “Fool for the Taking,” co-written with Rembrandts founder Danny Wilde, are fresh despite their familiar beats and lyrics that are just a bit too cute.
The majority of the rest of the album echoes the fun, breezy vibe, but with less substance. “Let’s Play Two” is a wasted effort to encapsulate the Blossoms’ summery sound in a baseball setting and “Heart Shaped Locket,” while commendable for its emotion, seems more suitable stuck in the 90s than bringing the pop sound up to date. Fans of the Gin Blossoms’ other albums will rejoice in hearing the sound structured in new songs; the rest of us will simply enjoy it as it plays in the background, then forget it as soon as it’s over.
Rating: * * * of 5
Conan the YouTube Barbarian
Monday, August 28th, 2006
It will only be a few years before Jay Leno steps out of the spotlight on The Tonight Show and leaves the reins to Conan O’Brien. The day can’t come soon enough. Last night, the part of the public that’s asleep before Conan makes it to the NBC airwaves got a chance to see the genius at work, as he hosted the Emmy Awards. Though I didn’t watch the show, I can safely say that one of the highlights was Conan’s opening montage. He stumbles into the plots of Lost, The Office, House, 24, and Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” series. It’s smart, funny, and time-appropriate, something you don’t always see in the opening monologues of awards shows. The whole thing is reminiscent of the opening to the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, featuring Justin Timberlake and Sean William Scott.
And, of course, one can never link to a video that features Conan without bringing up the Walker, Texas Ranger clips. You can see two of them here, and the perhaps the ultimate online video clip ever here. Apologies for these two links, as they aren’t YouTube videos and may take a while to load and/or have questionable page content.
On Eagles’ Wings
Monday, August 28th, 2006
It’s become part of Disney’s regular schedule to release a cheesy sports movie about an athlete or team succeeding in the face of significant underdog odds. As such, Invincible , the mouse’s take on the story of Philadelphia bartender Vince Papale, who attended an open tryout for his hometown Eagles and became a 30-year-old rookie, is necessarily formulaic. Yet for all the additions to the “true” story, for all the scenes you’ve seen before in films from Rocky to Miracle, Invincible finds the heart to stand apart from the crowd as a genuine, moving film.
Marky Mark stars as Papale who, at the beginning of the movie, is like much of Philadelphia: down on his luck. His substitute teaching job disappeared from under his nose, his wife left claiming that he’d never make a name for himself doing anything, and the one thing he and the entire city relies on for an escape – the Eagles – just finished a dismal season. But things start to change when new head coach Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) comes to town and announces open tryouts. The idea is a lark for both men – Vermeil wants to shake things up and Papale wants to get on the field just to forget his troubles for a few hours – but Papale soon finds himself in training camp, competing for a roster spot and, it seems, for the hopes of an entire city.
On Notice: Concert Clappers
Saturday, August 26th, 2006
At an otherwise enjoyable concert at the beautiful Mann Center in West Philadelphia this past Thursday, I was disturbed by a continually growing trend: concert clappers. Concert clappers are the people who feel it necessary to put their hands together in rhythm with whatever the band onstage is playing. In the comfort of your own home, this is fine, but people paid good money to hear the professionals do their thing. Do you jump onto the field at a ballgame and give Chase Utley batting tips? Besides, the concert was the Boston Pops and Rockapella. I don’t think they need help keeping the tempo. If encouraged, as the crowd was once by Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, please feel free to clap. Crowd participation is important sometimes. Otherwise, try not to let your fellow audience members know exactly how white you are by clapping in your strange syncopated pattern. We need to save that beat so we can tell if someone is having a seizure.
Concert clappers, you are officially on notice. Reverse this trend – it’s already spreading into theatre – and you might save yourself from the board if I ever get a long enough list to warrant one.
Oh Baby
Friday, August 25th, 2006
It’s rare to see a sex comedy anymore that doesn’t weave baked goods or bestially into the story. By the fact that it manages to avoid this lowest-common-denominator grab at laughs alone, first-time director Billy Kent’s The OH in Ohio is a refreshing film. It’s such a welcome change of pace, in fact, that you don’t mind the fact that the last half hour feels like pillow talk compared to the fresh, funny lead-in.
The “OH” in The OH in Ohio refers to what’s missing from Priscilla Chase’s (Parker Posey) life – the ability to be on top of her sexual game. She’s got a prestigious job driving business to Cleveland, a perfect house in a fine neighborhood, and a husband (Jack, played by Paul Rudd) who, to all intents and purposes, loves her. But Priscilla’s “frigidity” in the bedroom has turned Jack, and their marriage, cold: he moves out, first to the garage then to an apartment called the “Manly Arms” and shacks up with a precocious student (Mischa Barton); she visits a self-pleasure guru (Liza Minnelli, stealing almost the entire movie in one scene), considers advances from a gay sex shop clerk (an uncredited Heather Graham), and pals around the city with a friend, scoring an endless line of men including local swimming magnate Wayne the Pool Guy (Danny DeVito).
Donald Duck, You’re Next
Thursday, August 24th, 2006
The entire basis for my elementary education was shaken today, when a bunch of men in white coats decided that Pluto is no longer a planet. Now, children everywhere will have to remember the planets by the mnemonic device “My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles, but then took the pickles away 76 years later.” Largely because it has a funky orbit that intersects with Neptune (clearly the one interesting thing about what otherwise is a big rock), Pluto now is classified as a “dwarf planet,” as are Cerers (an asteroid, which I thought was classified as “asteroid”), and Xena the Warrior Planet. I’m sure Happy, Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Doc are happy to have them along.
The biggest problem with this decision? Fifty years from now, when these scientists’ children discover that Pluto once sustained life, we can’t say that there’s life on other planets, just that there was once a thriving society on some ice ball.