As I was on vacation for two weeks (due to B-Fest), I didn’t see the Feb 3rd issue of Entertainment Weekly. I grabbed it today, and saw a couple of interesting little tidbits.
One story is on the CW network, the merging of UPN and the WB. EW comes up with a mock line-up, which amazingly has three sitcoms “to be filled in later.” Yep, out of two networks they only picked one extant sitcom, Everyone Hates Chris. They filled in another slot with Arrested Development, which is a nice pipedream, but every day somebody doesn’t pick that show up the more chance that vital cast and crew members will be grabbed by other shows. I’d love to see it come back, but I’m not holding my breath.
One notable absence is the wrestling show that UPN has week, WWE Slam or whatever the hell it is. I think that’s just pure snobbery (justified snobbery, but still), and I’m sure the CW will opt to keep that one, as the rating are, as far as I’m aware, comparatively decent.
One area I do agree with EW is that they don’t chose any of UPN’s black oriented sitcoms. I don’t know what any of them are, but I know they have a night or two of them. This might create a small amount of controversy, but I don’t think the shows draw enough to justify keeping them. I could be wrong, though.
Meanwhile, director Steven Soderbergh comments on one of my long cherished dreams, that multiplexes will start devoting a screening room or two to showing old movies. My friend Joe Bannerman, who works in a theater, doesn’t think the rental charges would justify this, but Soderbergh believes that digital uploading of films (rather than having to procure actual film reels) will make this more viable. I’d love to see it.
There’s a hilarious puff piece on Commander in Chief, a dumbed-down West Wing which like many shows got an initial look-at from a sizable audience, who then got bored and moved on. This paragraph, following the obligatory description of star Geena Davis as, you know, a jus’ plain folks anti-diva, made me laugh:
“But as soon as [shooting begins], Davis seamlessly morphs into kick-butt mode. She slips into some serious heels, spits out the gum, and heads for Chief’s war room set, where she fixes her eyes with fierce intenstity on a monitor showing footage of the suicide bomber threatening to blow up Air Force One. The terrorist steps off the plane. “Wait!” [her character] Allen orders. “Don’t shoot!” The entire room hangs on her every syllable. Even the grips on the set look tense, as if they really believe the 50-year-old actress holds the country’s future in her hands.”
Man, it’s a good day at the Jabootu site when I write a paragraph that funny. And no offense, but I myself wouldn’t describe a President who orders that a terrorist *not* be shot as “morphing into kick-butt mode.” Luckily for the show, I imagine, the would-be bomber is one of those merely ill-served people who only seek to kill and maim innocents because they want Somebody to Listen to Them, and who are relieved when they can set aside violence for serious discussion about, you know, those damn Jews and all. Funny how many more terrorists there are like that in TV shows and movies than in real life.
