Monday, June 23, 2008

Sepinwall on TV: George Carlin, 1937-2008: A man of many words

As expected, I was asked to write a longer appreciation of George Carlin for The Star-Ledger. You can read it here.

Off to NYC to talk with David Simon and some of the other guys from "Generation Kill." I imagine Simon'll have a few interesting things to say about Carlin; they have a lot in common in terms of their willingness (some might say need) to utter truths that most people don't want to hear.
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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:52 PM, June 23, 2008

    I hope you ask David Simon about that New Orleans show

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  2. Anonymous3:32 PM, June 23, 2008

    Have you seen any of Generation Kill yet? I know they screened the first two episodes a couple of weeks back.

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  3. Alan Sepinwall10:07 PM, June 23, 2008

    I hope you ask David Simon about that New Orleans show

    Our time was more limited than I had hoped (he was doing back-to-back-to-back interviews), and so I pretty much had to stick to Gen Kill questions just to fit everything in. I'll ask about New Orleans and about Carlin next time I see him.

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  4. Alan Sepinwall10:07 PM, June 23, 2008

    Have you seen any of Generation Kill yet? I know they screened the first two episodes a couple of weeks back.

    I've seen 4 and a half episodes, and I like it. It's very much in the vein of the Wire, both in terms of style and theme.

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  5. Anonymous11:03 PM, June 23, 2008

    Well-done on the appreciation, Alan. ("Appreciation", btw, being one of those words Carlin would likely have had a problem with.)

    In clicking through those YouTube clips I found the two that stick out the most in my memory: his Comic Relief bit about "stuff" and his piece on "soft language." I was perhaps too young when Comic Relief aired to get the irony of a routine about materialism at a benefit for the homeless, and looking at it now, it's certainly not the funniest thing he ever did, but 12-year-old me thought it was hilarious. And whenever I see "bathroom tissue" in a drug store aisle, I think of him. There's something oddly appropriate about that.

    Anyway, well done on the piece, Alan. He will be missed.

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  6. KrisMrsBBradley6:37 AM, June 25, 2008

    In all the hoopla over his death, I've heard no one mention that George Carlin played Mr. Conductor on the Shining Time Station show (Thomas the Tank Engine). All my kids grew up with him and all recognized him on the TV that Mr. Conductor had died, and were quite sad.

    BTW, the part was also shared by Ringo Starr and Alec Baldwin.

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