What a bizarre, bizarre day at the tour. HBO announced that "The Sopranos" won't premiere in January, after all; the new "Monday Night Football" crew showed up, sans Tony Kornheiser (and am I the only one hoping each telecast opens with a filmed vignette where Joe and Mike find a way to dope up Tony, B.A. Baracus-style, so he'll get on a plane?); I spent 20 minutes verbally fencing with FX president John Landgraf on The Incident from "Rescue Me" (and, whatever problems I had with the episode, it pisses me off to no end that I provided fodder for the L. Brent Bozells of this world); spent an hour talking to David Simon and Ed Burns about the genius of "The Wire"; and then got sucked into the orbit of Mr. Steve Guttenberg.I don't know if you know this, but The Gutte is nuts. Nuts. Don't believe me? Go read Fienberg's masterful account of his interview with The Gutte last summer. Then go to the official tour blog to read my own account of Gutte 2: His First Assignment. Then come back here and spend a long time looking at the above photo while pondering the meaning of "fondler."
Who cares what L. Brent Bozo Bozell thinks? Anybody who actually does likely doesn't watch "Rescue Me" to begin with, and if the frequency of his name is any indication, he isn't that much of a force in this regard any longer, or at least not nearly as much as he once was.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, why not do a list of shows that, for whatever level of sex, nudity, bad language, and violence they have, represent good television in its best form? It would, in some ways, be the exact opposite of TCA-like lists. You and other critics could join together in this effort.
HBO's CEO said James Gandolfini had "unexpected knee surgery." Is that a Hollywood-ism for "went to rehab"?
ReplyDeleteWill you be writing about your Wire conversation with Simon and Burns? Hope so!
Who is L. Brent Bozell?
ReplyDeleteDez: L. Brent Bozell
ReplyDeleteLouis, abso-damn-lutely. As obsessed as Matt is with Deadwood, I am with The Wire. I intend to do a major blitz for the show as the summer moves along (especially around the time of the DVD release, and then the season premiere in September).
Oh, and no Guttenberg comments?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Guttenberg is nuts, but he's definitely trying way too hard to be funny. Personally, I'd rather spend time with a certifiable head case than with someone who's always "on."
ReplyDeleteOh my God, Alan. That Tony-BA line had me cracking up for a good 5 minutes, and then forwarding the line around to friends. Just a hilarious mental image, absolutely genius.
ReplyDeleteAs divine luck would have it, Mr. T himself was at the tour today, and I asked him if he had an advice for Tony, or whether he felt there was a specific method of knocking out B.A. that he approved of the most. Sayeth the T:
ReplyDelete"B.A. Baracus, that was just an act. Because every superhero supposed to have a fear. Superman feared kryptonite. Batman fear Batwoman." And he said his advice to Kornheiser would be (while miming kicking someone in the behind), "'Straighten up! Stop being a coward! Don't be afraid to fly!'"
Why would anyone want to work with G-Berg? Freak.
ReplyDeleteRumor is he plays up the playboy role to hide the love that dare not speak its name. And stays low so that that love doesn't make the tabloids like it would when "his films made a billion dollars" as he told Movieline a few years ago.
Oh, *that* L. Brent Bozell! The jerkwad! Now I remember who he is.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Gutte times you had--yeah, he's trying way too hard to be funny. I blame it all on the Stonecutters.