Natalie Morales Moves To Access Hollywood

Today  fooled you this time. You thought it was one happy family and the present team was going to stay together forever. Ha! It has been reported that Morales has been blasted off the New York anchor desk and will be the Today's west coast anchor. This isn't the only news about our Natalie--she's also going to be the host of the hard-hitting entity, Access Hollywood. The only thing left to ask is what grievous wrong did Natalie commit to be sent away in such a manner.

Morales joined Today in 2006. She became the co-anchor of Today's third hour shortly after (well three years later.) Since 2011 Morales became the show's news reader. Yes, it's been a long 100 years but I don't feel bad about her departure to a half-baked, cursed exodus to the left-coast. Today in LA? Surely you jest! The 7 to 9 weekday edition of Today isn't  even going to have a "newsreader" anymore. Matt Lauer and that lady he's hosting with will read the news, imagine that!!

Sadly, Morales's career has become littered with gossip tinged items. According to reports, Morales was named as a person that was having the sex with the dismal Matt Lauer. Matter of fact, Morales reportedly missed out on replacing Ann Curry due to Matt Lauer's wife's demands that Natalie would not get the gig. The slot was filled by hat rack, Savannah Guthrie.

Oh no! This is nothing I'm making up, this blog does not do that! Morales is also known for her frosty relationship with her third hour Today co-anchor Tamron Hall. There's no need to roll that Beta tape, even a cursory look at those two engaging" lets people know that they don't get along.

Part 2 Apparently Today has a studio in the West Coast (why?) Morales will appear via satellite in the Today broadcasts like the way John Travolta appeared in the classroom in A Boy In the Plastic Bubble--oddly immediate but far, far away.

  According to reports, Billy Bush is coming to Today. Now that's some bad news of Chernobyl propositions. Billy Bush's contract with Access Hollywood went belly-up and he's set to join the Today show in New York for the third hour of the show when Al Roker does his day drinking. This is startling news on a few fronts. Bush heretofore hasn't done any hard stories and is the face of brain melting entertainment mush. What else? People hate Billy Bush. He's the face of mediocrity, the mascot for bland, glad-handing bullshit. To those afraid they will have to see an alarming amount of Billy Bush, their fears can be somewhat allayed. The program has a thousand hosts there's no reason to believe Bush's notoriously annoying personality will endear him to viewers or his co-workers.

Fast Fact: Today also employs Bush's cousin Jenna Bush Hager. As it stands, Hager's fifteen years of on the job training will now consist of making small talk with a relative she reportedly can't stand.

Kind of Watching It TV: Grey's Anatomy

Oh hi. My new editor is cracking the whip. He wants more than a post a month or every two months. Dracionian rules. Anyway I've been watching televisions and to my surprise Grey's Anatomy is still on? How did that happen? I've been kind of watching it for years.

Grey's Anatomy debuted in March 2005 as a mid-season replacement. The show was interesting upon it's arrival and the a big show, reaching its peak in the third season with 28.0 million viewers. The tallies for 2015 are less than that, 8.0 million viewers, that's no bueno!

Here's a few reasons why this show is essentially over though its decline still provides odd entertainment in it's trying hours.

 Meredith Grey- The cast has had many overhauls--but with one constant, the character of Meredith Grey. You'd think Miss Mopey would have slid out of the cast around Season 7 but nothing doing. This character has been threw "the ringer" and her soapy existence includes a crazy father, a mother who had a secret baby, the loss of her "person" Christina Yang, babies and a relationship with a husband that resulted with him being run over by an 18 wheeler. And these are the good things! Of course, it's not all dire. Grey is playing de facto elder stateswoman to a gaggle of children in her old house. She's also building a relationship with a half-sister than a barely speak like she does. Dating? She's doing that too when she's not running dates out of the bedroom and obessing about her husband Derek's old blanket.

The actress who portrays Meredith Grey, Hermione Lancaster, Sarah Ellen Pompeo doesn't really miss her cast mate, Patrick Dempsey. Recently on the Ellen show she remarked, "It's amazing how much you can get done with a penis." Ha ha hee hee ha! I'm more amazed at what Grey's Anatomy is doing--with a brain.

Derek Shepherd- Flattened by a Mack Truck.

This happened in the 14th season. Derek Shepherd, Meredith Grey's husband and father of their 3 children met his demise in a brutal and disgusting manner. Dempsey had been having problems on the set and as well know Shonda Rimes doesn't do problems so she had a solution. And your looking at it. This episode had Shepherd helping folks in a road accident, being a TV hero and after it was all over, there was one more tragedy for Meredith and the viewers.


Part 2- Derek's death was par for the course. No one should have been surprised. What was surprising is how Grey's Anatomy chickened out of showing the immediate effects of Derek's accident and flashed up a few months. The show still isn't the same without the character--and the anchor of having Derek and Meredith together.



Dr.Richard Is Electrocuted

Never you mind about Season 8 downer ending with Lexi and Eric tragedy via the aeroplane. This Season 9 cliffhanger had our Dr. Richard almost roasted into a dumb dumb. Good lord, you know this show was really reaching when this happened. I think there was a great flood at Seattle Grace when Dr. Richard was loafer deep in water and was around "electwicity" and we know know how this works? Not good. The viewers saw Dr. Richard smoking like a cheap cigar and yet he survived without complications. Not one?
This was so silly. During the same accident Grey's Anatomy claimed the one intern who wasn't loathsome. That Shonda Rimes is a jokester!

Alex Karvey Is Still Alive- The character of Alex Karev has been on the show since the beginning of Grey's Anatomy. Shows would kill to have an expandable character like this on a show. His plot line ran out years ago and yet we're still looking at him. Nowadays Karev spends a fair amount of time as Meredith Grey's broken down pee pee person. And really if Alex Karev is your person? Your show is over.

Callie Torres: 30 Years Of An Ill-Defined Character. Fast fact. Did you know that Callie Torres as has been a character on Grey's Anatomy since Season 2? And did you know that Callie Torres has been kind of annoying for most of this time. It started off so promising, Sara Ramirez gave Torres a great confidence and charisma--and the writing continued to let her down year after year.

Problems signed were on the horizon when Torres was paired with fading character George O' Malley (T.R. Knight) and ever since then they've put her plots that really made little or no sense. The pairing of Torres and Arizona was particularly boring. After the Great Plane Accident, Torres made the call to saw off Arizona's leg, something that always brings couples together.

During season 12 we see Torres fall in love with another half-baked character, Penny--the most's most dreary person ever. What fun! According to reports, Ramirez is planning to leave Grey's Anatomy. I almost hope so.



 

Whoever This Is I Can't Stand Her


I know who she is, that's Amelia Shepherd, you know Derek's little sister. Amelia's character spent three gruesome seasons on another Shonda Rimes show, Private Practice. Since Season 11, Amelia has been bringing her toxic energy into another program, Grey's Anatomy. Amelia's luck has seemed to be worse than Meredith's with her drug and sex issues, her overall crabbiness and the fact that for all of the years she's been on televisions, the character doesn't seem a whit more defined. All of that in a show that's coasting on fumes.

Grey's Anatomy C+

Prince

I'm not enjoying the prospect of there not being any Prince in the world. It's just that simple. I liked him the first time I saw and heard him. It was 1980 and the song was "I Wanna Be Your Lover." The charts were filled with great songs  but "I Wanna Be Your Lover" was different. It wasn't disco, there was a certain vulnerability and musicality to it. And the voice. Falsetto voices were heard a lot in those days but Prince's was different, it was a new, a different projection--coming from somewhere else.

When we saw him, we knew where it came from. During his early appearances it was clear he wasn't the tallest of men, but he had intense charisma. The dots were connected. His voice belonged to the right person: A handsome man on the more masculine side of androgyny where decades of teen idols and sex symbols resided. Prince's look and style was transformative and his sex appeal would proved very interesting as early '80s were trying to roll back into the '50s. Prince made the R&B singing groups and bands of the day look old-timey and the corporate-era rockers seem especially ugly. Oddly enough they all seemed to fade away as Prince ascended--he had the coolest looking band, one more in step with where America was going.

The later work delivered on the R&B/rock on the flash of 1979's Prince. His talent was too much to contain. He was always the maverick, a genius and contemporary R&B wasn't enough to hold him--although his synth styles soon became the bedrock of the '80s R&B sound. For Prince, a blend of the styles seemed more fitting and seemed to harness some of his artistic muse. 1978's "Soft and Wet" (from Prince's 1978's For You) gave way to a mindset that was full-on sex in short order. It was fine, the best move--Prince was brilliant at writing about sex. Songs like "Dirty Mind," the riotously lewd and hilarious "Head" soon followed. His label Warner Brothers didn't try to convert him into a more accessible and cleaner act, they couldn't.

During this era, Prince was known for being scantily clad and often performed in concert wearing bikini briefs. For a lot of men, especially black men who could barely cough without being put in handcuffs during Reagan's '80s, it was liberating to see him in action. He wasn't broken-down and constantly perturbed like the first population of rappers and Prince didn't become neutered like established R&B acts trying to erase their manhood for radio airplay. 1982's Controversy was the anti-everything with its questioning and oddly pretty title track, the blistering and gleefully unsettling "Anne Christian," and the pure, up to the minute synth jam, "Let's Work." The humorous, "Jack U Off" closed the album with not only a laugh but a howl.


The pop charts soon caught on. 1999 was an early opus in even if the album was too much for some devotees, songs like "1999," "Little Red Corvette" and the deranged rockabilly of "Delirious" were as good as other artists careers. Prince truly hit the public consciousness with Purple Rain, the film and movie. It's so rare that an artist as talented as Prince actually hit even bigger with some of his best work. "Let's Go Crazy" coalesced the pure rock and funk that artists like his nemesis Rick James and Michael Jackson couldn't quite attain. The film captured Prince at a precise time and made him immortal like pre-army Elvis Presley in the '50s or Little Richard a day before he ran away to the church. Those images and times don't last long and Prince had moved on even as his work was being played in arcades, high school dances and on Beta players as his fans committing lines and riffs to memory. The soundtrack sold 10 million copies and spun the instant classics "When Doves Cry" (#1 pop) and "Let's Go Crazy" (#1 pop) and "Purple Rain" (#2 pop.)

Throughout 1984-1985, Prince and the Revolution were recording Around the World in a Day. The album was a drastic departure for them and the best thing for him and the era when many fans left him. It was too much and too weird even with gorgeous songs like "Condition of the Heart" and the pop confection of "Raspberry Beret." By this point, Prince followed his muse with a dizzying pace with Parade, tours and a movie. Prince jettisoned band members and before we knew it, he was back to being "Prince" and offered Sign of the Times with the gorgeous title track that blended ancient to the future bluesy riffs as tackled tough subject matter with a Joni Mitchell like rhyme scheme and starry-eyed cynicism.

Although albums like Lovesexy, the Black Album and Graffiti Bridge might have disappointed, Prince remained himself and Batman commercially sustained him--but often being a Prince fan meant that you were in for a lot of disappointments and got caught in the whirlwind of seeing ballyhooed albums turn into smoke and ash. Like all great artists, there was always some song to keep us hanging on, "Get Off," "Cream," the always poignant, "Money Don't Matter 2Night" or "My Name is Prince" and or "Damn U."


For a while a bit of acridness crept into his act due to his battle with Warner Bros. It wasn't enjoyable to see him performing with "slave" written on his cheek like it wasn't fun to see him stumble with rap or to see him with assless pants or performing without Wendy, Lisa or Sheila E. In the middle of red tape and label shenanigans, Prince was capable of great work like 1995's The Gold Experience, an album filled with raunch, funk and as well as his gentle hit ballad, "The Most Beautiful Girl in The World." That effort all but epitomized his label plights as it stayed unreleased for a year and how Warner Brothers co-opting it after the fact. On the other hand, Prince's new label NPG didn't have the muscle to promote it--and they probably didn't care, Prince had moved on to the next thing. This era seemed to be where Prince couldn't seem to navigate through labyrinthine corporate dealings and even his ever-changing musical direction caused problems as well.

By the mid '90s, he wrestled away from Warner Brothers and released Emancipation on EMI. 3 CD's of Prince at that point was too much but this era gave us a chance to see him in interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock, etc. It was still great to see him. But it was hard to catch up to him in the era between labels and album and great songs like "Dinner With Deloris," "Pussy Control" all came and went. And 1996's Emancipation was so sprawling that many might have missed "Soul Sanctuary" and "One Kiss At a Time."

Like many artists of Prince's stature, he often went for grand gestures like in 1999 when he signed with Arista and delivered Rave U2 the Joy Fantastic. It was a perfectly acceptable album, but no Purple Rain Part 2 as it was tacitly presented to be. Still songs like "Silly Game," and "So Far, So Pleased" were fine entries to his theme. Prince continued to earn raves for his live performances but his albums, the sheer amount, the output--was too much to take.

By the 2000's, Prince couldn't quite replicate the commercial highs of the '80s and his greatest gift for a lot of his fans just "being" performing on the road, still recording albums. The later work had flashes of brilliance but he seemed to often be stymied within expectation and it's likely that a lot of people ever caught up to Art Official Age and HITnRUN Phase One, HITnRUN Phase Two despite of him making congenial appearances on television to promote the albums.

As Prince's natural incandescence couldn't translate to great songs, the expectation of great work and the new classics never diminished. If anything, his life, performances became the main entertainment in the best way. His fans loved it when he made an overture online or in public. A few weeks before his death, Prince was on stage and dedicated the concert and the set list to his ex-girlfriend Vanity who had recently past away. His fans just went crazy. Who would guess he'd follow her a scant few weeks later with fans, friends wondering another batch of "how's"and "why's."

 Prince's death has brought a flood of tributes from a cross-section of fans and artists. That's the mark of Prince's talent and influence.

Michael Strahan Leaves Live! With Kelly and Mike

....And earth tremors are felt from the world's collective shoulder shrug....

Oh hi. I hate to be the bearer of happy news, but this is too much. On the morning of Aprilrary 20st, one Michael Strahan dropped the "bizomb" and told the world he was leaving Live! With Kelly and Michael. You know this is big news because he's "Michael." According to reports, Strahan didn't discuss this career plan with Kelly Ripa. In his defense, Michael wrote a letter to her in his Trapper Keeper and just plum forgot to send it.


Strahan had been on the show for the past 4 years and according to my sources he's leaving because, "He tired." Strahan has become a fixture on Good Morning America since 2014. Of course he's no David Hartman but he's a pleasant addition and Good Morning America is such a happy set. On the other hand, Live With Kelly and Mike may not be as sanguine due in part to Kelly Ripa's "ol' funny moods." It's gotten so bad that Strahan's been having dreams of dancing Kelly to the desk and having her sit down without a chair under her derrière/bunz!


GMA Gate: It seems that Ripa isn't taking the news of Strahan's exit well. She played "sick"-- skyped to her bosses with a big block of ice tied around her head and didn't show up. Ripa has subsequently "missed" her shows with Strahan and they just might not host the show together again.


Scatman Crothers's Take: "I don't know why he wants to leave! He better be careful before they catch on that he's just a big damn dummy!"

The People V. O.J. Simpson

Oh hi. You know I've been thinking about the show ever since it ended. I was on the Twitter and I instructed everyone not to tell me how this ended. No spoilers! I wanted to see what happened to O.J. The People V. O.J. Simpson will be remembered for many things, one of them has to be the great casting. Here's a few of the actors who turned TV's most popular reality series into episodic television.


Sarah Paulson- Marcia Clark-Here's a casting of fancy, artistic license you will. I do not remember Marcia Clark being this attractive. It worked for the movie. Paulson eerily captured Clark's interesting vocal patterns, gestures and essence. It's not hyperbole to say Paulson's portrayal was a thing of beauty. She not only humanized Clark, she put a face on what a prosecutor goes through--especially given a case that was flawed, based on circumstantial evidence and lacked a smoking gun, knife or a video tape of Simpson committing the crimes.

Grade A

Courtney B. Vance-Johnnie Cochran- This wasn't just acting, it was channeling. I've watched Vance for years and he could often be bland, just "there" as ADA Carver on Law and Order: Criminal Intent or any number of roles. But in a way the mark of a great actor is to just exist and not be flashy when there was little or no need. That's not true of Vance's portrayal of the great Johnnie Cochran. Vance's Cochran was pitch perfect. He didn't overdo it or being elements of present-day slang into the role. Vance captured Cochran and a certain generation of black males down to the carriage, expressions and the pride and self-assurance. Vance also didn't dumb Cochran down to a caricature and always played to Cochran's intellect. Just great.

Part 2: I'm a big fan of actors playing real people. The best always have at least one moment where a viewer's is almost "tricked" into believing it's the real person and not a portrayal. Vance's performance had about 1,000 of those moments.

Grade A

 Sterling K. Brown-Christopher Darden- To be very honest, I didn't like Christopher Darden during the trial. I read his autobiography and I liked him a bit better--certainly wasn't going to join his fan club, but didn't loath him. Brown's  portrayal was stellar. What was most striking is how he captured Darden's vocal patterns, the intermittent swagger and the bemusement and seriousness that gave from persecuting one of the world's most famous men who was on trial for double murder. Brown also captured Darden's prosecutorial zeal that didn't make him the most likeable person (especially given this trial) but Brown made it all work and had great chemistry with Paulson.


Grade B

John Travolta-Robert Shapiro-This was a strange performance. I remember Robert Shapiro, don't we all? I don' t remember him being this florid with the voice and affectations. A lot of times when I watched Travolta I wondered who he was supposed to be? In a way, Travolta's flashy portrayal of Shapiro was a good idea. In fact I looked at some Robert Shapiro footage and saw how flat and emotionless he was. Who wants to play that? Travolta's performance added some humor in a potentially depressing role.

Grade B+


David Schwimmer-Robert Kardashian- This was a great hound-dog portrayal of Robert Kardashian, the true enigma from the OJ Simpson case. Schwimmer brought the perfect amount of sorrow, responsibility and confusion to the role. Although he's often not hailed as an actor, if this part had been given to a lesser performer, this all might have been a laugh fest. Schwimmer made Kardashian's pain palpable and believable.


Grade B

Cuba Gooding Jr.-O.J. Simpson- Now this was the  most interesting casting of all. Gooding doesn't look like O.J., is a smaller and less opposing. And truthfully it's tough to imagine Gooding's O.J. being the media sensation and star athlete that Simpson was. In a way, that made it better. Gooding didn't play Simpson as scary or creepy but a bit bumbling--which is thought-provoking, if it was his call or the writers.  Either way it worked. He probably did his best work on the last episode. Seeing a newly released Simpson out of prison was very jarring. There was nothing left to play but Simpson as a broken and haunted man and to that end, Gooding was brilliant.

Grade A-

Josh Elliot Leaves NBC, A World Rejoices. Jenna Wolfe Leaves NBC and a World Cries!

 Happy New Year! I know you've been busy with "stuff" and didn't know about this earth shattering stories. Santy Claus hid these news stories because he didn't want you to get an achy tum-tum. But here they are, one after the other. And isn't it strange these two never got a chance to be on the Today Show together. They are--in my fever dreams...


 Sad news to report, Josh Elliot and NBC have reached the conclusion that Josh Elliot will not be working for the Peacock network anymore. The former star of Good Morning America signed to a high-profile contract at NBC almost two years ago. The signing didn't exactly heighten Elliot's profile, he was only a part of NBC Sports and if you're like me you haven't watched NBC Sports since Dick Enberg was still with us. During the signing, Elliot seemed really happy about being the NBC Sports guy. Josh Elliot is a tremendous liar.

We all know Elliot wanted the gig at the Today Show but it didn't turn out as planned. That show is about 15 folks deep one in co-hosts, Peter Alexander, a brother who's 7 feet tall and always speaks with his outside voice, Carson Daly, Willie Geist, etc. You know what? I even saw Harry Smith on there, he was drunk of course. You know who I didn't see? Josh Elliot, not one morning, not even a single day. Ha!


Part 2: It's no secret that Josh Elliot can reportedly be a corrosive presence in the office. He's very ambitious, selfish and he's been known to have a work fling or two. Hey? That sounds like Matt Lauer!
Josh Elliot is taking a break to spend time trolling on the internet for whores.





Who's that? Who's there? Well it's Jenna Wolfe! Jenna Wolfe was the co-host of the weekend edition of Today until they demoted her and made her read news like a newbie. Sad times. In 2014 Wolfe announced that she leaving Weekend Today to become a health-fitness guru on the week day edition of Today. Ha! In the business, that seemed like a stopgap measure, you know, "re-assign" someone, don't give them a doggone thing to do and wait until they leave in a huff. To be honest, I think I only saw Jenna Wolfe once on the Today show she was feigning enthusiasm in workout gear with jump robes at her defeated ankles.

Wolfe was also supposed to do national news reporting too. I didn't see that either. With all of that on her plate (and motherhood w/ her girlfriend Stephanie Goosk.) Wolfe put some pep in her step and left NBC all together. Oh noes! Jenna Wolfe has a website where you can read about exercise stuff.



This was Jenna Wolfe's old home. Did you hear the latest? Well what happened about a year ago? Lester Holt finally escaped after being there for a million years. On Holt's last day he was a river of tears and broke down on Dylan Dreyer's lap, cried and grabbed her behindz! Lester Holt is now the lead anchor on NBC Nightly News taking over for Lyin' Brian Williams.

And about Weekend Today. Well, the show has really improved. Erica Hill has really gotten better and the addition of the aforementioned Dylan Dreyer and the lovely Sheinelle Jones is great too.

Weekend Today ***

Part 2: I feel odd not complaining....

The Fab Life: A Review From Someone Who Hates Television

Oh hi. You know since the jailhouse turned me 'a loose, I've got more time to talk about television. That's good and bad news. Guess what? I had a blog about the Fab Life already in the drafts but I forgot to post it. Darn it! And now it grieves me, pleases me to tell you that Miss Tyra Banks is leaving the show she helped to create. I know, I know I almost dropped a load in my Toughskins when I heard the news. Here's the rundown.


The Fab Life is a horrible, lifestyle show that features Tyra Banks, Chrissy Teigen, some Asian fella with a husband, a fix it lady and a blonde blob who was 15 month pregnant. Anyway when the Fab Life debuted the big draw seemed to be a more mature Tyra Banks. You know, she got a new haircut and seemed to play grand-dame to her panel of lesser those no less important people. It was all a lie. Within a few weeks, the cracks started to show and I don't mean Chrissy Teigen's. Banks's new found maturity seemed to crumble in one episode when she tried to get another decade of pity points by talking about Naomi Campbell--again. The subsequent shows found her looking less interested, playing hooky and smoking behind the school with the rest of the dead heads. Kids today!

Part 2-

On the days of Tyra Banks is out, about and riding her broom, Chrissy Teigen takes the lead. The show is a bit better. I bet working with Tyra is like working alongside your supervisor. You know, you pretend to like one another, laugh out loud at unfunny jokes and all the while you hate one another. Anyway the Tyra-less shows are a breeze, Teigen doesn't seem to pontificate from on high like Banks does and in a way Teigen ends up being the fun presence Banks was--for about two weeks.


Part 16, 17

I have no idea what's going to happen to The Fab Life. The rating are bad, bad and Tyra Banks escaped so the prognosis is suicide. Tyra Banks wants to kill her show stone dead!

Grade ** 1/2

Kind of Watching TV: Guilty Conscience

Oh hi, you know, in my career, I get many things to view. Just yesterday a vagrant threw a soiled bag of DVD's at me, and this was in it, the 1985 classic Guilty Conscience. This movie is about a boring ass, pompous lawyer who had extended conversations with his ID (who's apparently near-sighted) and he spends the movie juggling his wife ( Blythe Danner) and his mistress, Swoosie Kurtz.

I normally hate movies from the '80s but this was an exception, I like murder mysteries! If someone wants to go shopping for me, just buy me a movie where someone's shooting somebody, like Gandhi or Mary Poppins, those action scenes are rad.

Anyway Arthur (Anthony Hopkins) desperately wants to kill his wife (Blythe Danner) and has concocted a brilliant home invasion scenario that looks so good, Crockett and Tubbs would have called it an accident. But there's a catch--and of course all of the implications are talked over with Arthur and his geeky alter ego. How do you tell them apart? You can't really, they both are played by Anthony Hopkins and they are both annoying.  Anyway, my copy of Guilty Conscience is no cinematic/video masterpiece, it looks like it was taped on a worn VHS tape. Instead of talking about the intricacies of the film--but there's a few things that have to be seen, here's a review of the actors performances.

Anthony Hopkins- He did ok. This was filmed for CBS Television so this would qualify as part of Anthony Hopkins's lean years, you know when he guested on 227 as landlord and busy buddy Mr. Fitzworthy and was on the run and was captured near a Hands-Across-America chain. Hopkins is pretty much himself here, as hammy as Porky Pig and only truly likable to the criminally deranged. I like him a lot.

Grade ***


Blythe Danner- I should recuse myself from grading since I'm so fond of Blythe Danner, she's one of the 7 or 8 human beings I actually like. She looked great in this. Danner must have come up on Hard Times during this particular juncture because this is no lost classic. Still Danner gave her portrayal a cerebral and sensual
energy, she just has "it" so expressive, interesting, etc. Oddly enough, during one of the more important scenes, someone instructed Danner to put on big, ol' glasses that were as big as windshields. Glasses, to hide those eyes? A. crime. (sp.)

Grade ******


Swoosie Kurtz- This is what some might call, the First Swoosie Kurtz before she was "re-imagined" a few years later. Kurtz was very cute here, earthy, a little tough and with her original hair color, nose and whatnot. As for fans of her work in Sisters and Mike and Molly, they might not recognize her. Kurtz did good work with Danner and Hopkins and Kurtz's character was so fun, I wish she could have pimp slapped Blythe Danner, strangled Anthony Hopkins and walked away with the credits rolling. I'm a romantic!


 Grade ****


Movie Grade: Guilty Conscience putters around from company to company who specialize in budget fare. I've seen 2 hour versions, a 5 hour version and another version where James Brown from the TAMI show is spliced in. The version I have looks awful but the work is sound.


Grade ***

The View b/w The Meredith Vieira Show b/w Kill Me Now

Oh hi. I've been hiding. I've been trying to avoid the inevitable, a post about The View. You remember The View don't you? It was a fairly innocuous show from the 1900's where people talked about politics and mostly B rated stars appeared to talk about their latest moving pictures. My the times have changed. For my fellow dyslexics, I'll go over what's happened in about a year time.


   About six months ago an evil Irish woman named Rosie O' Donnell appeared and than escaped because of the things that Cliff Huxtable did. The show also got a new executive producer. There was a lady there named Nicole Wallace, the world's only likable Republican. Rosie Perez appeared on here and basically acted like that Warner Brothers green frog. Whoopi Goldberg appeared to have wretched her back lifting boxes of 8 tracks and spent a good amount of the season sitting in a special chair.

  In the spring, it was clear that no one was watching so changes were made. Rosie Perez left, came back and left again. That lady Nicole Wallace was asked to leave. Also a bespectacled fever dream named Raven Symone appeared on the show as did someone named Michelle Collins....


The new View debuted in early September. More hosts were announced including Candace Cameron Bure (in the Elisabeth Hasselback slot) a sack of sand named Paula Farris and Joy Behar, again! The shows I've caught have been a bit better. The show has improved production values (the executive producer was let go) and it's got a snap reminiscent of the show's halcyon days. The best part of the show? It looks like they've calmed Raven Symone down. I hope she leave! (sp)

Grade ***

The show has improved with Joy Behar being back.



The Meredith Vieira Show- The Meredith Vieira Show- I could have sworn this show was over but when I was turning what's left of my TV dial with pliers, it stopped on this particular weird program. As we know, a lot of viewers didn't expect to see any more of this show, so much so I'm surprised they didn't break this studio/stage down to little bits. This show is back all right, for better or worse.

It looks like this show has a "special" talking segment with three or four cackling folks blathering on about something or other. During my three minutes of watching I saw this loud lady bellowing, Lance Bass with his little nose talking about his husband and that was all I could take.Didn't Lance have a movie about chasing after this girl and Al Green was there to help? Husband? He wasted Al Green's time!


Grade **1/2 Dotched a notch for this the chit-chat session. Break those chairs and put them in the wood chipper!