strangely mesmerizing

I've never seen 'The Match Game.' But yet I find this stockhouse of video stills from the 70's TV gameshow an entrancing time machine....

How Could It Not Be Waylon?

Women and seamen don't mix....

Honky Tonk Blues on PBS

PBS is airing (in NY on Thirteen) its American Masters episode "Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues" tonight at 8. For any fans of Hank's, the episode web site has some great information: an essay, career timeline, additional footage, and interview with filmmaker Morgan Neville. If you haven't seen it already (it's a DG oldie but goodie), check out Aaron Augenblick's mesmerizing, strangely moving animated robot singing Hank's "Ramblin' Man." (Photo from Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway, available here on Amazon). What's your favorite Hank Williams song? (Mine is -- well, today, at least -- "I'm So Lonesome I...

In Defense of 'Coupling'

I will admit I'm a bit of an obnoxious Anglophile. I have been known to, on a particularly bad day, stop in to A Salt and Battery on 2nd Ave. for a dinner of sausage and chips just to hear the cute accents of the counter help. I am also a big proponent of BBC America, it's one of the biggest reasons I spend stupid amounts of money each month for digital cable. You may think you know about Brit comedy because you've seen a few episodes of the award winning The Office, and if this is the case bully...

That's One Sexy Spin Cycle

If you've ever wondered what life as a comedy writer is like, go no further than Slate's diary with Demetri Martin, a sketch writer for Conan. After dinner, Mike read our new characters. I didn't have such a great batch. One of mine did OK—a character named "Suzanne: Sexy Washing Machine," which would be a washing machine wearing a bikini. I'm not saying it's great, but I think it would make me laugh if I saw it. My favorite of the ones I wrote was "One Man Band on the Toilet." That would be a guy playing a few instruments...

Doesn't God Ever Call These People Just to Say Hey?

What do PBS's Colonial House and last night's Frontline episode, "The Jesus Factor" have in common? Two subjects who believe they've been called by God to lead. In a maddening master stroke of casting, PBS appointed Jeff Wyers, a Southern Baptist minister from Texas, as Governor of the colony on Colonial House. In what (at least so far) has been the central theme of the show, Wyers attempts to create a "City on a Hill" by enforcing 17th century laws -- most of which are, incidentally, similar to Baptist teachings -- under which the colonists begin to chafe. While...

Star Tucker

Recent Jeopardy! champ and idiosyncratic paleoconservative Tucker Carlson will don his bowtie to host his own show on PBS, beginning June 18. I read Carlson's book, and while I found his logic flawed, I admire his story-telling ability and his basically good nature. Perhaps I feel an affinity for Carlson because of the bowtie (it really is better for eating soup!), but also I like his ability to appreciate human characters for being human characters, and not having to always be right. I'll definitely be tuning in. Read Carlson's CNN bio here (and see the accompanying picture of Tucker trying...

The Special Edition DG 'Friends' Drinking Game

It's Our Generation's 'Who Shot JR?'!! 1. Take a drink if you're missing the last episode of Friends. 2. If someone asks why you're not watching the last episode of Friends, take a drink. 3. If you know that there's going to be a Friends spin-off called "Joey," take a drink. By reading this message, you now know. 4. If you resent the fact that you know about the spin-off, take a drink. 5. If you ever tried to calculate how much rent the Friends characters would pay in rent, take a drink. 6. If you resent the fact that...

Chappelle Schmappelle

Although we poor editors of DG are sadly without expanded cable, we have managed to catch some clips from Chappelle's Show on the Comedy Central site. Admittedly, I haven't seen more than a handful of clips from the show, but so far, I don't get why it's so popular. While there definitely are scattered funny moments (the "I Know Black People" sketch, the part on Newports, in particular), every sketch I've seen beats a single idea within an inch of its life, reminding me of the episode of The Simpsons with the comedian at the Improv: Comedian: Yo, check this...

Reality Check

Chica has watched metaphor-gone-awry surgical makeover show The Swan and lived to write about it so we don't have to: In the end, The Swan has more sympathy towards its premise than it does for its contestants, and its audience is likely to dole out sympathy in the opposite proportions. We may find a woman's long list of physical insecurities disturbing, but far more disturbing is the person who, by eradicating the source of each insecurity, confirms each insecurity as justified....

"The Real World" Strikes Television Gold!

If you haven’t been watching “The Real World” this season, you honestly aren’t missing much. That is, much besides the biggest camera whore on basic cable. Meet Frankie. She started the show by saying that she has cystic fibrosis, while chain smoking. That didn’t get harped on too much though because she quickly showed signs of another disease. The one where you take a drink of alcohol, make out with people, and then can’t remember anything the next day. This brought a lot of tears because she is totally devoted to her long-term boyfriend at home. But there was one...

Trumping the Donald

TMN has a great piece written by a Brooklynite whose building was invaded by The Apprentice. My reality collided with reality TV during episode seven of NBC’s The Apprentice. The premise was a hyped-up competition over real estate. The remaining participants were challenged to renovate and rent one of two ‘rundown’ Brooklyn apartments in 48 hours. One of those apartments was a third-floor, one-bedroom in a brownstone on Third Street, where my family and I live on the first two floors. On screen, the team leaders stood outside our stoop and negotiated for the apartment above us. Off screen, we...

Two movies that have absolutely nothing in common.

In one weekend I saw both “Dawn of the Dead” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” For fun I decided to go to a midnight showing of "Dawn of the Dead” on Saturday night. Midnight shows make scary movies infinitely scarier. I was prepared to watch a good portion of the movie through closed eyes and held breath, or at the very least, to laugh a lot. The opening was really good. Super fast and scary and fun. But after that I can’t remember being scared again. I do remember fearing for the safety of others, as people continued...

The Times on Conan

Sunday's Times has a great article (may require free login) about Conan O'Brien's uncertain future with NBC after the network's extension of Jay Leno's contract for the 11:30 slot until the end of the decade. Throughout, Conan's disappointment is palpable. The article points out that, should Conan choose to stay at NBC until the end of Jay's contract, he will have spent 17 years -- a "television eternity" -- in the less-appealling 12:30 slot. Conan's manager Gavin Polone notes Conan's many alternatives: Fox, which has seriously approached Conan in the past; CBS, in the unlikely event that Letterman decides to...