AP
Nominees in major categories for the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards announced Thursday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences:
Drama Series:
"Grey's Anatomy," ABC; "House," Fox; "The Sopranos," HBO; "24," Fox; "The West Wing," NBC.
Comedy Series:
"Arrested Development," Fox; "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; "The Office," NBC; "Scrubs," NBC; "Two and a Half Men," CBS.
Miniseries:
"Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; "Elizabeth I," HBO; "Into the West," TNT; "Sleeper Cell," Showtime.
Made-for-TV Movie:
"Flight 93," A&E; "The Flight That Fought Back," Discovery Channel; "The Girl in the Cafe," HBO; "Mrs. Harris," HBO; "Yesterday," HBO.
Variety, Music or Comedy Series:
"The Colbert Report," Comedy Central; "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," Comedy Central; "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," NBC; "Late Show With David Letterman," CBS; "Real Time With Bill Maher ," HBO.
Variety, Music or Comedy Special:
"78th Annual Academy Awards," ABC; "Bill Maher: I'm Swiss," HBO; "George Carlin : Life Is Worth Losing," HBO; "McCartney in St. Petersburg," A&E; "The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony," NBC.
Actor, Drama Series:
Denis Leary, "Rescue Me," FX Network; Peter Krause , "Six Feet Under," HBO; Kiefer Sutherland , "24," Fox; Martin Sheen , "The West Wing," NBC.
Actress, Drama Series:
Kyra Sedgwick , "The Closer," TNT; Geena Davis , "Commander in Chief," ABC; Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Allison Janney , "The West Wing," NBC.
Supporting Actor, Drama Series:
William Shatner , "Boston Legal," ABC; Oliver Platt , "Huff," Showtime; Michael Imperioli , "The Sopranos," HBO; Gregory Itzin, "24," Fox; Alan Alda , "The West Wing," NBC.
Supporting Actress, Drama Series:
Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal," ABC; Sandra Oh , "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Blythe Danner, "Huff," Showtime; Jean Smart, "24," Fox.
Actor, Comedy Series:
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Kevin James , "The King of Queens," CBS; Tony Shalhoub , "Monk," USA; Steve Carell , "The Office," NBC; Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men," CBS.
Actress, Comedy Series:
Lisa Kudrow , "The Comeback," HBO; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS; Stockard Channing, "Out of Practice," CBS; Debra Messing , "Will & Grace," NBC.
Supporting Actor, Comedy Series:
Will Arnett, "Arrested Development," Fox; Jeremy Piven , "Entourage," HBO; Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men," CBS; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace," NBC.
Supporting Actress, Comedy Series:
Cheryl Hines , "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Alfre Woodard , "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Jaime Pressly , "My Name Is Earl," ABC; Elizabeth Perkins , "Weeds," Showtime;
Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace," NBC.
Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Charles Dance, "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; Donald Sutherland , "Human Trafficking," Lifetime; Ben Kingsley , "Mrs. Harris," HBO; Jon Voight , "Pope John Paul II," CBS; Andre Braugher, "Thief," FX Network.
Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
Kathy Bates , "Ambulance Girl," Lifetime; Gillian Anderson, "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; Helen Mirren , "Elizabeth I," HBO; Judy Davis, "A Little Thing Called Murder," Lifetime; Annette Bening , "Mrs. Harris," HBO.
Supporting Actor, Miniseries or a Movie:
Denis Lawson, "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; Hugh Dancy, "Elizabeth I," HBO; Jeremy Irons , "Elizabeth I," HBO; Robert Carlyle, "Human Trafficking," Lifetime; Clifton Collins Jr. , "Thief," FX Network.
Supporting Actress, Miniseries or a Movie:
Kelly Macdonald, "The Girl in the Cafe," HBO; Shirley Jones, "Hidden Places," Hallmark; Ellen Burstyn , "Mrs. Harris," HBO; Cloris Leachman , "Mrs. Harris," HBO; Alfre Woodard, "The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation)," CBS.
I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson. Read the full "Pre-ramble"
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Forever Eddie
Moose, the Jack Russell terrier who played Eddie on TV show Frasier died, at the age of 16-and-a-half years old.A quote from the episode Death and the Dog
Daphne: If Eddie were one of the Beatles, I think he'd be George. I don't know why!
Frasier: And yet she's never been committed. I don't know why!
Good Night Moose
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Belushi, Farley and Me.
Written by Tony Figueroa for STORY SALON, Southern California's Longest Running, Regularly Performing Live Storytelling Ensemble.
Performed on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 by Tony Figueroa.
There are three things that I always talk about at Story Salon, Television, Death and Defiance Ohio. This story is about death but not just any death, celebrity death. People who leave this world and enter immortality.
There was Elvis. I had become a fan of fifties rock and roll thanks to the TV show Happy Days and Hit Radio 11 KRLA. I did have trouble accepting the 40 year old overweight Elvis, to me Elvis was jailhouse rock. But no one was more distraught over Elvis's death than my Dad. Understand that my dad was not a fan of Rock ad Roll he dismissed it all as noise. He is conservative and ex-military but he got to know Elvis when he was in the Army stationed in Memphis. My dad was in charge of drafting Elvis. My Dad knew that Elvis as a kid who had bitten off more than he chew.
There was John Lennon. I was to young to appreciate "The Beatles" when they were together, but as a teenager, thanks again in part to Hit Radio 11 KRLA, I did gain a great deal of appreciation for who they were and what they were about. I even hoped they would reunite some day, after all Loren Michael’s did offer them a check for $3,000.00 made out to "The Beatles" if they appeared on Saturday Night Live.
I want to add Freddie Prinze to the mix of immortals because as a Puerto Rican kid who wanted to become a comedian he meant a lot to me as well as to a lot of other people. Sadly he didn't achieve the same immortality. If you asked a “twenty something” if they know who Elvis Presley and John Lennon were they would know, even though Elvis Presley and John Lennon died before they were even born. If I ask them if they know who Freddie Prinze is, they'll say, "He the guy who’s in the that sitcom, the one that follows George Lopez. He married Buffy and did those Scooby Doo movies with her".
These first three examples of celebrity death caused me to be saddened but not devastated. The next example was different.
On the evening of March 5th 1982, I was living in Puerto Rico and our cable system just got WGN out of Chicago. At 10:00 PM I tuned into The Best of Saturday Night Live. The episode opened with a picture of John Belushi from the opening credits and the years 1949 -1982 at the bottom of the screen. At first I thought, I don't remember this sketch. The Blues Brothers opened the show and when they went to commercial. I channel surfed. I turned to HBO, they were showing The Blues Brothers movie. I changed over to ABC's World News Tonight and they were showing the same Blues Brothers bit that I saw on WGN. At the end off the clip Franks Reynolds said, " John Belushi dead at 33." Oh my God! This can't be true. I was a big John Belushi fan. I loved SNL. We did the Samurai in drama class. Other kids had Rock Stars on their walls, I had a picture of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players". I wanted to grow up and be a "Not Ready for Primetime Player". The next morning I read in the San Juan Star that he died at the Chateau Marmont and there was this mystery women that showed up in his rental car. The following Monday at school a classmate said, " I bet it was drugs". I said, "No way it wasn't drugs. He, he was... just fat. He was fat and he had a heart attack. The teacher stepped in saying, "yeah you’re probably right Tony he was just fat". A few days later I saw, in The San Juan Star, the pictures from the funeral. It was heartbreaking to see Bill Murray placing a rose on the coffin and see Dan Akroid and Jim Belushi as pallbearers. That night it was announced on CNN that John Belushi died of a mixture of heroin and cocaine commonly known as a speedball. I felt horrible. I had just defended the guy. I couldn’t understand why this happened. I knew he did drugs, they all did drugs. The next day I found an editorial cartoon that featured two grim reapers dressed as the "Blues Brothers”. On the arm of one of them was Heroin and on arm of the other was Cocaine. I thought this was in really bad taste. I showed it to my Dad who always let me know whenever I did something in bad taste. To my surprise, he told me that he agreed with the cartoon. “But it’s too soon to joke about someone who just died”, I said. He responded with, “No you have to strike while the irons hot”. I felt that they should show some respect for the dead, and some sympathy for the family. “Not this time”, he told me, “there are a lot of kid’s your age who see that he was funny and he took drugs so if I take drugs I can be funny too”. My first thought was that that’s stupid, he was funny because he was funny, not because of the drugs. He didn’t need drugs to be funny and my dad said, “lot’s of kids don’t see it that logically”. We talked for a while longer and my dad ended the conversation with, well I guess we think differently on this subject. There are two things you need to understand about my relationship with my Dad back then. When we talked, it was usually about me doing better in school and our conversations never ended with us agreeing to disagree.
Over the next year if there was ever conversation about someone having it all and throwing it away, my Dad would segue the conversation to “just like John Belushi”. I really thought my Dad was afraid that I would follow in Belushi’s footsteps.
Years later when I was teaching at a comedy traffic school, they started a drug and alcohol awareness program for high school students. Teachers who had a history with drug use were used in the program. They’d combine comedy with facts about drugs and alcohol and ended with a personal story about how drugs use affected their life. I thought the personal stories were the best part of the presentation. I was told that the school board and PTA loved the program but wanted the personal stories cut out. They feared that kid’s who see a funny person talk about their past drug use will think that if that person took drugs and they’re funny, maybe if I take drugs I can be funny too.
That’s stupid, they’re not exactly glamorizing drug use. They're funny because they’re funny, not because of the drugs. They didn’t need drugs to be funny.
Then I was reliving that same conversation I had with my Dad years before.
A few years later I heard on the radio that Chris Farley died. This guy was my age and we both idolized John Belushi, but he got to live my dream of studying at Second City in Chicago then being on SNL. He had it all. I knew it was drugs before it was announced. Again I was reliving that same conversation I had with my Dad Years before. I thought this was what my Dad feared could happen to me and I wondered if Chris Farley’s dad had that same conversation with him.
To quote Lorne Michaels, "The value system that was around there was as long as people showed up on time and did their job, it was nobody's business what they did in their bedroom or what they did in their lives." "That value system turned out to be wrong."
Stay Tuned and Happy Fathers Day
Tony Figueroa
Performed on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 by Tony Figueroa.
There are three things that I always talk about at Story Salon, Television, Death and Defiance Ohio. This story is about death but not just any death, celebrity death. People who leave this world and enter immortality.
There was Elvis. I had become a fan of fifties rock and roll thanks to the TV show Happy Days and Hit Radio 11 KRLA. I did have trouble accepting the 40 year old overweight Elvis, to me Elvis was jailhouse rock. But no one was more distraught over Elvis's death than my Dad. Understand that my dad was not a fan of Rock ad Roll he dismissed it all as noise. He is conservative and ex-military but he got to know Elvis when he was in the Army stationed in Memphis. My dad was in charge of drafting Elvis. My Dad knew that Elvis as a kid who had bitten off more than he chew.
There was John Lennon. I was to young to appreciate "The Beatles" when they were together, but as a teenager, thanks again in part to Hit Radio 11 KRLA, I did gain a great deal of appreciation for who they were and what they were about. I even hoped they would reunite some day, after all Loren Michael’s did offer them a check for $3,000.00 made out to "The Beatles" if they appeared on Saturday Night Live.
I want to add Freddie Prinze to the mix of immortals because as a Puerto Rican kid who wanted to become a comedian he meant a lot to me as well as to a lot of other people. Sadly he didn't achieve the same immortality. If you asked a “twenty something” if they know who Elvis Presley and John Lennon were they would know, even though Elvis Presley and John Lennon died before they were even born. If I ask them if they know who Freddie Prinze is, they'll say, "He the guy who’s in the that sitcom, the one that follows George Lopez. He married Buffy and did those Scooby Doo movies with her".
These first three examples of celebrity death caused me to be saddened but not devastated. The next example was different.
On the evening of March 5th 1982, I was living in Puerto Rico and our cable system just got WGN out of Chicago. At 10:00 PM I tuned into The Best of Saturday Night Live. The episode opened with a picture of John Belushi from the opening credits and the years 1949 -1982 at the bottom of the screen. At first I thought, I don't remember this sketch. The Blues Brothers opened the show and when they went to commercial. I channel surfed. I turned to HBO, they were showing The Blues Brothers movie. I changed over to ABC's World News Tonight and they were showing the same Blues Brothers bit that I saw on WGN. At the end off the clip Franks Reynolds said, " John Belushi dead at 33." Oh my God! This can't be true. I was a big John Belushi fan. I loved SNL. We did the Samurai in drama class. Other kids had Rock Stars on their walls, I had a picture of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players". I wanted to grow up and be a "Not Ready for Primetime Player". The next morning I read in the San Juan Star that he died at the Chateau Marmont and there was this mystery women that showed up in his rental car. The following Monday at school a classmate said, " I bet it was drugs". I said, "No way it wasn't drugs. He, he was... just fat. He was fat and he had a heart attack. The teacher stepped in saying, "yeah you’re probably right Tony he was just fat". A few days later I saw, in The San Juan Star, the pictures from the funeral. It was heartbreaking to see Bill Murray placing a rose on the coffin and see Dan Akroid and Jim Belushi as pallbearers. That night it was announced on CNN that John Belushi died of a mixture of heroin and cocaine commonly known as a speedball. I felt horrible. I had just defended the guy. I couldn’t understand why this happened. I knew he did drugs, they all did drugs. The next day I found an editorial cartoon that featured two grim reapers dressed as the "Blues Brothers”. On the arm of one of them was Heroin and on arm of the other was Cocaine. I thought this was in really bad taste. I showed it to my Dad who always let me know whenever I did something in bad taste. To my surprise, he told me that he agreed with the cartoon. “But it’s too soon to joke about someone who just died”, I said. He responded with, “No you have to strike while the irons hot”. I felt that they should show some respect for the dead, and some sympathy for the family. “Not this time”, he told me, “there are a lot of kid’s your age who see that he was funny and he took drugs so if I take drugs I can be funny too”. My first thought was that that’s stupid, he was funny because he was funny, not because of the drugs. He didn’t need drugs to be funny and my dad said, “lot’s of kids don’t see it that logically”. We talked for a while longer and my dad ended the conversation with, well I guess we think differently on this subject. There are two things you need to understand about my relationship with my Dad back then. When we talked, it was usually about me doing better in school and our conversations never ended with us agreeing to disagree.
Over the next year if there was ever conversation about someone having it all and throwing it away, my Dad would segue the conversation to “just like John Belushi”. I really thought my Dad was afraid that I would follow in Belushi’s footsteps.
Years later when I was teaching at a comedy traffic school, they started a drug and alcohol awareness program for high school students. Teachers who had a history with drug use were used in the program. They’d combine comedy with facts about drugs and alcohol and ended with a personal story about how drugs use affected their life. I thought the personal stories were the best part of the presentation. I was told that the school board and PTA loved the program but wanted the personal stories cut out. They feared that kid’s who see a funny person talk about their past drug use will think that if that person took drugs and they’re funny, maybe if I take drugs I can be funny too.
That’s stupid, they’re not exactly glamorizing drug use. They're funny because they’re funny, not because of the drugs. They didn’t need drugs to be funny.
Then I was reliving that same conversation I had with my Dad years before.
A few years later I heard on the radio that Chris Farley died. This guy was my age and we both idolized John Belushi, but he got to live my dream of studying at Second City in Chicago then being on SNL. He had it all. I knew it was drugs before it was announced. Again I was reliving that same conversation I had with my Dad Years before. I thought this was what my Dad feared could happen to me and I wondered if Chris Farley’s dad had that same conversation with him.
To quote Lorne Michaels, "The value system that was around there was as long as people showed up on time and did their job, it was nobody's business what they did in their bedroom or what they did in their lives." "That value system turned out to be wrong."
Stay Tuned and Happy Fathers Day
Tony Figueroa
Friday, June 09, 2006
Hogan's Heroes on DVD.
Since many of my favorite shows are on hiatus, I have been enjoying watching classic TV shows on DVD. I am in the middle of watching the third season of Hogan's Heroes. I enjoy watching the show. One reason is that I am a big fan of WWII comedies. I collect movies like Operation Petticoat, Stalag 17, and Father Goose. I enjoy seeing Bugs Bunny, Popeye, and the Three Stooges fight the enemy. And I would like to add television shows like McHale's Navy, and Operation Petticoat to my collection.
Hogan’s Heroes has suffered much more criticism than most sitcoms from that time period (i.e. Gilligan's Island or Get Smart). I would like to address this criticism with the help of Hogan's Heroes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and the article
Hogan’s Heroes and the Holocaust: by Leslie Campbell Rampey, Ph.D.
Some people dismiss Hogan’s Heroes as stupid because the German characters spoke English to each other (This was addressed in the Pilot on the Season One DVD). When Martians speak English to each other, the audience suspends their disbelief, so why not with Germans. The bigger criticism was the depiction of the Germans as funny, incompetent or stupid, and trivializing the evil of the Nazis or the Holocaust. We can’t credibly judge a forty plus year old TV show by modern standards of good taste and political correctness. I also have never heard these critics mention the stars of the show or the characters they played.
Werner Klemperer (Colonel Wilhelm Klink) and his family fled Germany to Austria and then to the United States in order to escape the Nazi regime. He served during World War II in the U.S. Army. His TV Character, Col. Klink was a Luftwaffe officer (historically they were not Nazis). Klink was never mentioned as a formal member of the Nazi Party, and was portrayed as a bumbling bureaucrat, not as a bad guy. It is important to note that historically the Luftwaffe stalags provided the best treatment of Allied prisoners of war. Klemperer was once asked how could he play a Nazi? His answer was, "I am an actor by profession. If you can play Richard the Third, you can play a Nazi". (On the season two DVD Klemperer discussed this in an interview on The Pat Sajak Show)
John Banner (Sergeant Hans Schultz) was in a concentration camp, then fled to the United States. His TV Character, Sergeant Schultz, is a basically good-hearted man who would rather not report the prisoner’s activities, saying, "I see nothing! Nothing!" When Banner was asked how could he play a Nazi? He answered "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?"
Leon Askin (General Albert Burkhalter) was beaten by the Gestapo and sent to a French internment camp before escaping to the U.S. via France. When the U.S. entered WWII, Askin joined the U.S. Army. While serving he learned that his parents had been killed at an extermination camp. I believe that Col. Klink and Sergeant Schultz were ignorant to what was happening in the death camps, but Gen. Burkhalter and Major Hochstetter (Howard Caine) had to have known.
Robert Clary (Corporal Louis LeBeau) was taken from his Paris home at the age of 16 and spent the next three years in various concentration camps, finally being liberated from Buchenwald. It wasn’t until 1980 that Clary decided to speak of his experiences at the Simon Wiesenthal Center because of the increased incidences of anti-Semitism and the rise of the "revisionist" historians who deny that the Holocaust took place. Of course, the first thing they want to know is, "’How could you have done Hogan’s Heroes, which dealt with Nazism?’" Clary’s answer is that is, that he’s an actor who played a character who never existed in real life. Clary is careful, however, to make some additional distinctions. Despite the hardships he acknowledges that POWs experienced, "They were not killed, they were not sent to gas chambers".
These actors proved that comedy is truly tragedy plus time and their characters were more than just funny Nazis. Let’s not forget that the show has had a long life in syndication. Fans love the show, and like Star Trek, Hogan’s Heroes have spawned a peculiar literary genre known as fan fiction (Stories or sometimes whole novels produced by fans who borrow the characters, setting, and basic premise of a TV series as a taking-off point and create entirely new plots). Hogan's Heroes Fan Fiction. Some of this Fan Fiction involves the Holocaust in their story lines. The show had talented actors, writers and directors. I guess I like WWII comedies, like Hogan’s Heroes, because it proves that we can find humor anywhere even in the middle of the worst of what humanity has to offer. If you like the show go check out the DVD if not read a book. These Hogan’s Heroes critics who confuse of the POW camps with a concentration/death camps speaks more about the quality of the general public’s level of historical awareness than the quality of what William Shatner would call, "Just a TV show!" Sadly I fear that many of those who confuse a POW camp with a concentration/death camp may think that all Germans are Nazis too. There were many German characters on Hogan’s Heroes who were good guys.
To quote John Banner, "I see Schultz as the representative of some kind of good in any generation".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Hogan’s Heroes has suffered much more criticism than most sitcoms from that time period (i.e. Gilligan's Island or Get Smart). I would like to address this criticism with the help of Hogan's Heroes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and the article
Hogan’s Heroes and the Holocaust: by Leslie Campbell Rampey, Ph.D.
Some people dismiss Hogan’s Heroes as stupid because the German characters spoke English to each other (This was addressed in the Pilot on the Season One DVD). When Martians speak English to each other, the audience suspends their disbelief, so why not with Germans. The bigger criticism was the depiction of the Germans as funny, incompetent or stupid, and trivializing the evil of the Nazis or the Holocaust. We can’t credibly judge a forty plus year old TV show by modern standards of good taste and political correctness. I also have never heard these critics mention the stars of the show or the characters they played.
Werner Klemperer (Colonel Wilhelm Klink) and his family fled Germany to Austria and then to the United States in order to escape the Nazi regime. He served during World War II in the U.S. Army. His TV Character, Col. Klink was a Luftwaffe officer (historically they were not Nazis). Klink was never mentioned as a formal member of the Nazi Party, and was portrayed as a bumbling bureaucrat, not as a bad guy. It is important to note that historically the Luftwaffe stalags provided the best treatment of Allied prisoners of war. Klemperer was once asked how could he play a Nazi? His answer was, "I am an actor by profession. If you can play Richard the Third, you can play a Nazi". (On the season two DVD Klemperer discussed this in an interview on The Pat Sajak Show)
John Banner (Sergeant Hans Schultz) was in a concentration camp, then fled to the United States. His TV Character, Sergeant Schultz, is a basically good-hearted man who would rather not report the prisoner’s activities, saying, "I see nothing! Nothing!" When Banner was asked how could he play a Nazi? He answered "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?"
Leon Askin (General Albert Burkhalter) was beaten by the Gestapo and sent to a French internment camp before escaping to the U.S. via France. When the U.S. entered WWII, Askin joined the U.S. Army. While serving he learned that his parents had been killed at an extermination camp. I believe that Col. Klink and Sergeant Schultz were ignorant to what was happening in the death camps, but Gen. Burkhalter and Major Hochstetter (Howard Caine) had to have known.
Robert Clary (Corporal Louis LeBeau) was taken from his Paris home at the age of 16 and spent the next three years in various concentration camps, finally being liberated from Buchenwald. It wasn’t until 1980 that Clary decided to speak of his experiences at the Simon Wiesenthal Center because of the increased incidences of anti-Semitism and the rise of the "revisionist" historians who deny that the Holocaust took place. Of course, the first thing they want to know is, "’How could you have done Hogan’s Heroes, which dealt with Nazism?’" Clary’s answer is that is, that he’s an actor who played a character who never existed in real life. Clary is careful, however, to make some additional distinctions. Despite the hardships he acknowledges that POWs experienced, "They were not killed, they were not sent to gas chambers".
These actors proved that comedy is truly tragedy plus time and their characters were more than just funny Nazis. Let’s not forget that the show has had a long life in syndication. Fans love the show, and like Star Trek, Hogan’s Heroes have spawned a peculiar literary genre known as fan fiction (Stories or sometimes whole novels produced by fans who borrow the characters, setting, and basic premise of a TV series as a taking-off point and create entirely new plots). Hogan's Heroes Fan Fiction. Some of this Fan Fiction involves the Holocaust in their story lines. The show had talented actors, writers and directors. I guess I like WWII comedies, like Hogan’s Heroes, because it proves that we can find humor anywhere even in the middle of the worst of what humanity has to offer. If you like the show go check out the DVD if not read a book. These Hogan’s Heroes critics who confuse of the POW camps with a concentration/death camps speaks more about the quality of the general public’s level of historical awareness than the quality of what William Shatner would call, "Just a TV show!" Sadly I fear that many of those who confuse a POW camp with a concentration/death camp may think that all Germans are Nazis too. There were many German characters on Hogan’s Heroes who were good guys.
To quote John Banner, "I see Schultz as the representative of some kind of good in any generation".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Good Luck Katie.
It’s been fun watching America’s Kid Sister grow up.To quote Katie Couric, “You are going to be so sick of me by the end of May, you're going to be like "goodbye already!"”
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Good Luck Mike.
I’m glad that you never interviewed me on 60 Minutes. Then again I’m sorry that you never interviewed me on 60 minutes.To quote Mike Wallace, "I determined that if I was to carve out a piece of reportorial territory for myself it would be doing the hard interview, irreverent if necessary, the facade-piercing interview."
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Confessions of a Wingnut Part 2.
Wingnut: A fan of the Aaron Sorkin political drama TV series The West Wing.Last January I wrote an article titled CHILD OF TELEVISION: Confessions of a Wingnut. There I expressed my sadness over the loss of one of my favorite shows. I also listed my predictions for how the show would end.
Bartlet is able to broker peace between Russia and China over Kazakhstan thus ending his presidency on a high note securing his legacy. That unresolved problem landed on Santos' desk.
Bartlet's good press only helps fellow Democrat Santos win the election. Well, I got it half right.
As Bartlet's final presidential act he pardons Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) for his role in the military shuttle leak. I nailed that one.
The show will deal with the loss of actor John Spencer (Leo McGarry). Okay it didn't happen in the final episode, but Leo's (and John's) presence was strongly felt especially showing the cocktail napkin with "Bartlet for America" written on it at the end.
I think that it would be very cool if Santos on Josh Lyman’s (Bradley Whitford) recommendation appoints Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) as vice president. Well, Rob Lowe came back. I guess the rest of it was just wishful thinking.
Even though I’m saddened to see The West Wing go, this cloud has a silver lining. The creative team of Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme will premier a new show on NBC this fall Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, A behind-the-scenes look at a fictional sketch-comedy TV show.
Once again to quote Leo McGarry, There are two things in the world you never want people to see how you make them - laws and sausages.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
PS: That was a cool cameo Aaron.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Stephen Colbert is funny.
Colbert Roasts President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents DinnerHere is something new to add to my list of Comedy Grievances. I am still hearing rumblings about Stephen Colbert's keynote speech at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. People are questioning whether Stephen Colbert is funny. Once again I must point out that comedy is subjective. Of course Stephen Colbert is funny. If he wasn't funny he would never have been given the opportunities that he has been given including being invited to speak at the Correspondent’s dinner. During this annual event people get roasted. No one in the public eye can and should never above roasting, especially people in politics and the media.
Merriam-Webster Online
Entry Word: satire
Function: nounText: a creative work that uses sharp humor to point up the foolishness of a person, institution, or human nature in general Synonyms lampoon Related Words burlesque, caricature, parody, spoof, takeoff; comedy, farce, sketch, slapstick, squib; derision, ridicule; mockery, travesty
Knowing this if you still have a problem with being satirized you can,
a) Take the advice of President Harry Truman, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen".
b) Hire a different comedian who will not make fun of the president. (I'm sure Dennis Miller is available.)
I'm sure Stephen Colbert was told one thing, "Be funny". It is never a good idea to show a comedian the line that must not be crossed. Still I hear people saying that Stephen Colbert was not funny at the correspondent’s dinner because not many people present laughed. I’d say that this is a great example of what Mr. Colbert calls "Truthiness"
Truthiness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Truthiness is the quality by which a person purports to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or to what the person might conclude from intellectual examination.
Here is my take on that audience laughter assessment.
a) One third of the audience thought he was funny and laughed.
b) Another third of the audience thought he was not funny and did not laugh.
c) And another third of the audience thought he was funny but did not laugh out of fear of being seen laughing (The same way some people, after hearing an ethnic joke have to visually scan the room to make that no one from that ethnic persuasion is present to see them laugh).
This means that an overwhelming two thirds of the audience thought that Stephen Colbert's speech was funny.
To quote Stephen Colbert's keynote speech at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, "So the White House has personnel changes. Then you write, "Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!"
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Some thoughts on DATELINE’S "To Catch a Predator".
Dateline NBC has had an on going series of reports where they trap sexual predators searching the Internet and targeting underage teens for sex. When I saw the highlights from the third installment of the To Catch a Predator series. I had several questions.
My first question is for the parents of computer literate teenagers. Are you aware of this problem? I have met so many so many parents that treat their computer illiteracy as something to be proud of. " Oh Jenny is on that computer all the time. Me I don’t know how to turn the thing on". Guess what? Jenny is making a date with a guy whose online photo looks like Brad Pitt, but in reality looks like Larry The Cable Guy. Whether you mask your computer illiteracy as an excuse saying that you are to old to learn how to use a computer or that you don’t want to be a slave to technology YOU ARE WRONG. There are parental control programs that are designed to help you with this task, but since most parents can’t master the "V" chip how can I expect you to access these parental control programs on your browser? More importantly, do you know what your kids are doing online or are you in denial about that?
My second question is for small town America. Are you in denial too? The same way parents say, "Not my child", community leaders say, "Not in our town". If you think that this is a big city problem, YOU ARE WRONG. When Dateline aired To Catch a Predator IV this time the sting was set up in Greenville, Ohio. Even in small town America vulnerable young teens are not far from danger. These predators were willing to drive for hours (Sometimes even crossing state lines) to have sex with a thirteen year old girl your thirteen year old girl. It's time to get off your moral high ground and face reality.
My third question is for Media watchdog groups like The Parents Television Council. Why are you not giving any credit to Dateline for doing this series of reports? I thought your organization was dedicated to protecting our children. You have people watching hours of primetime television and inventory swear words, sexual content, violence, disrespect for authority and other negative content. Then the data goes into your "Entertainment Tracking System". You criticize a dramatic show that features sexual predators going after kids online like Crossing Jordan or Law and Order SVU, and place them on your Worst Show of the Week list. So you are outraged over something that is a piece of drama, drama that the audience can take or leave. You choose ignore this real threat. Maybe the PTC does not want risk loosing their base by telling parents not to be in denial, learn how or to use the "V" chip and become computer literate. Perhaps they want to down play the fact MySpace (A popular site for predators seeking underage teens in these reports) is owned by News Corp. Yes the same News Corp that owns the FOX News Channel. I wonder if the PTC spoke out on this subject would their representatives be invited on Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity's shows.
I have to ask the predators themselves... I guess this has to be a rhetorical question since the actual predators featured in the report are probably a little busy right now and hopefully forbidden by the court to use the Internet. Why don't you have the sense that God gave bugs and viruses? Bugs develop immunities to insecticides and viruses mutate to survive changes in their environment. So why after the first couple of To Catch a Predator reports did you not suspect that when you making your date that this might be a trap? After seeing the forth installment of the series I realized that you guys are so sick that your pedophile nature overshadows your common sense. The first guy (The one with all the booze) on the report looked like he would be kicked out of a brothel for not meeting the dress code. This guy was so stupid that if Dateline had not busted him, he eventually would have won a Darwin Award. I am amazed that he knew how to work a computer to make the date in the first place (Just proves that anyone can learn). Why would anyone, let alone a thirteen-year-old girl find this walking Jeff Foxworthy joke appealing? The guy enters the house, puts his booze on the bar, and then unzips his pants. Who says romance is dead. This guy later threatened to sue if Dateline if showed him on TV. It's not like Jay Leno made you look like a fool on one of his Jay Walking bits. Even more amazing is one of the later predators, a schoolteacher, suspected that this might be a Dateline trap but obviously the risk was worth taking if there was the slightest possibility of having sex with a thirteen-year-old. You are a teacher, an educated man and your pedophile nature overshadows your common sense. Unlike another teacher who actually did have sex with an underage teen, you are not too pretty to go to jail. It seems that every predator was trying hook up with a young girl for the first time and many of these predators claimed to be very religious people (One was actually a rabbi). Sadly I think many of you had tried and succeeded in doing this before. As for religion, I'm sure you will have many religious experiences in jail.
When I write my Blog my goal is to illustrate how real life influences TV and how TV influences real life. These Dateline reports have vividly illustrated a threat to our children that is more serious than Nip/Tuck, Family Guy or Janet Jackson's right breast. To the teenagers who are chatting online with grown men you have no business associating with, not to sound cynical but... Oh who am I kidding there are bad people out there and they play for keeps. You are playing with fire and you will get burned.
To quote Jay Leno (Interviewing Hugh Grant was after he was caught in his car with prostitute Divine Brown), "What the hell were you thinking?"
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
My first question is for the parents of computer literate teenagers. Are you aware of this problem? I have met so many so many parents that treat their computer illiteracy as something to be proud of. " Oh Jenny is on that computer all the time. Me I don’t know how to turn the thing on". Guess what? Jenny is making a date with a guy whose online photo looks like Brad Pitt, but in reality looks like Larry The Cable Guy. Whether you mask your computer illiteracy as an excuse saying that you are to old to learn how to use a computer or that you don’t want to be a slave to technology YOU ARE WRONG. There are parental control programs that are designed to help you with this task, but since most parents can’t master the "V" chip how can I expect you to access these parental control programs on your browser? More importantly, do you know what your kids are doing online or are you in denial about that?
My second question is for small town America. Are you in denial too? The same way parents say, "Not my child", community leaders say, "Not in our town". If you think that this is a big city problem, YOU ARE WRONG. When Dateline aired To Catch a Predator IV this time the sting was set up in Greenville, Ohio. Even in small town America vulnerable young teens are not far from danger. These predators were willing to drive for hours (Sometimes even crossing state lines) to have sex with a thirteen year old girl your thirteen year old girl. It's time to get off your moral high ground and face reality.
My third question is for Media watchdog groups like The Parents Television Council. Why are you not giving any credit to Dateline for doing this series of reports? I thought your organization was dedicated to protecting our children. You have people watching hours of primetime television and inventory swear words, sexual content, violence, disrespect for authority and other negative content. Then the data goes into your "Entertainment Tracking System". You criticize a dramatic show that features sexual predators going after kids online like Crossing Jordan or Law and Order SVU, and place them on your Worst Show of the Week list. So you are outraged over something that is a piece of drama, drama that the audience can take or leave. You choose ignore this real threat. Maybe the PTC does not want risk loosing their base by telling parents not to be in denial, learn how or to use the "V" chip and become computer literate. Perhaps they want to down play the fact MySpace (A popular site for predators seeking underage teens in these reports) is owned by News Corp. Yes the same News Corp that owns the FOX News Channel. I wonder if the PTC spoke out on this subject would their representatives be invited on Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity's shows.
I have to ask the predators themselves... I guess this has to be a rhetorical question since the actual predators featured in the report are probably a little busy right now and hopefully forbidden by the court to use the Internet. Why don't you have the sense that God gave bugs and viruses? Bugs develop immunities to insecticides and viruses mutate to survive changes in their environment. So why after the first couple of To Catch a Predator reports did you not suspect that when you making your date that this might be a trap? After seeing the forth installment of the series I realized that you guys are so sick that your pedophile nature overshadows your common sense. The first guy (The one with all the booze) on the report looked like he would be kicked out of a brothel for not meeting the dress code. This guy was so stupid that if Dateline had not busted him, he eventually would have won a Darwin Award. I am amazed that he knew how to work a computer to make the date in the first place (Just proves that anyone can learn). Why would anyone, let alone a thirteen-year-old girl find this walking Jeff Foxworthy joke appealing? The guy enters the house, puts his booze on the bar, and then unzips his pants. Who says romance is dead. This guy later threatened to sue if Dateline if showed him on TV. It's not like Jay Leno made you look like a fool on one of his Jay Walking bits. Even more amazing is one of the later predators, a schoolteacher, suspected that this might be a Dateline trap but obviously the risk was worth taking if there was the slightest possibility of having sex with a thirteen-year-old. You are a teacher, an educated man and your pedophile nature overshadows your common sense. Unlike another teacher who actually did have sex with an underage teen, you are not too pretty to go to jail. It seems that every predator was trying hook up with a young girl for the first time and many of these predators claimed to be very religious people (One was actually a rabbi). Sadly I think many of you had tried and succeeded in doing this before. As for religion, I'm sure you will have many religious experiences in jail.
When I write my Blog my goal is to illustrate how real life influences TV and how TV influences real life. These Dateline reports have vividly illustrated a threat to our children that is more serious than Nip/Tuck, Family Guy or Janet Jackson's right breast. To the teenagers who are chatting online with grown men you have no business associating with, not to sound cynical but... Oh who am I kidding there are bad people out there and they play for keeps. You are playing with fire and you will get burned.
To quote Jay Leno (Interviewing Hugh Grant was after he was caught in his car with prostitute Divine Brown), "What the hell were you thinking?"
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
Friday, April 28, 2006
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