Recently in TV Category

Then go to a showing of "Sex in the City." I went with my wife last night, and despite being a Tuesday evening, the theater was filled, filled with women in groups of five or more, so much so that the estrogen was palpable.

As for the movie, to fans of the show it delivered what they were looking for, plenty of the girls, lots of over the top fashion and dress and shoe fetish -- not a whole lot of story or character development (certainly none for the men).

To say the movie was long -well, let me put in another way, the movie was akin to waiting for your wife to get ready to leave the house, in fact, the movie was pretty much structured that way as well, with plenty of attention to each dressing ritual, each holiday, each event.

Here's the thing: most of the women in the room will see it again, tell their friends who haven't seen it to do so, and see and buy the video.

Leno, as reported just about everywhere, continues to dominate the late-night ratings, despite his writers being on strike, and in spite of the fact that Letterman, who signed an interim pact with the Writer's Guild, is supposedly supposed to be getting "better" guests.

Comedy mavens. and not a few comedy snobs, prefer Letterman-- but the public continues to favor Leno. As do I.

I think the reason is simple: Before they go to sleep people want a warm glass of milk.

They are not looking for edgy, they are not looking for sharp. They are looking for soothing, comforting, old fashioned, middle of the road humor. A few chuckles, gentle teasing of the guest and then it's off to your dreams.

For years I've been arguing that if the Oscars actually wanted to have better ratings, they should hire Leno to host.

First of all, the Oscars are, when all is said and done, a TV show. And who is more popular on TV? Is it Jon Stewart? Conan? I think not. Second, Leno harks back to Bob Hope -- corny, yes. But funny too.

So let me say it again. Give Leno his due: Let him host the Oscars.

One of the wittiest reviewers out there is the NY Times' Alessandra Stanley on Television. Here's how she began her review of HBO's "In Treatment":

Some things sound simply awful: a family reunion holiday cruise, an all-you-can-eat haggis buffet, a television series set entirely in a psychotherapist’s office.

Stanley goes on to praise the show -- but her quips continue. I seem to recall meeting her at a party a decade or two ago when she was covering the wars in Central America for Time. She told a hilarious story about the scene in the lobby of the Nicaragua Hilton. Anyhow, applying her intelligence to covering TV continues to yield inspired results. I'm still laughing about the "all-you-can-eat haggis buffet."

At The Sunday New York Times --  seems like late January is NEW NOVELIST MONTH at the NYT, (and at publishing houses for that matter) what with the recent feature on Jim Collins' "Beginner's Greek", and this Sunday's Book review of  Tod Wodlicka's "All Shall Be Well," and the Charles McGrath article in the Sunday Magazine about Charles Bock's novel, "Beautiful Children."

The Arts & Leisure also had a great feature on Robert Capa's lost suitcase of negatives which has been recently turned over to the International Center of Photography (which, in turn, was run for many years by Capa's brother Cornell Capa). Need I mention that the Robert Capa was born in Budapest, Hungary as Endre Erno Friedmann. Cornell was also born Friedmann, but kept his first name. And although you might not think Cornell a Jewish first name, it was quite popular at the beginning of the 20th Century in Budapest -- it was also my grandfather's name.

Medicine & Its Alternatives.
An interesting review by Jerome Groopman on "The Cure Within: A history of Mind- Body Medicine" By Anne Harrington. Harrington is the editor of a book on "The Placebo Effect."  How alternative medicine came to be preferred to a visit to an M.D, and became a $40 billion business is worth pondering. An article I read recently made the point that many alternative medicines work because of the placebo effect -- that is the belief that they do work is so great, that when the person feels better and eventually is better, they attribute it to the alternative treatment.Everyone knows an alternative treatment that works, and everyone has a "miracle" healing story. The question is to how to set those in context.

Speaking of Groopman, his article on business-like approaches to cancer-cures in The New Yorker, "Buying a Cure," (Jan 28th issue) was fascinating -- and presents a different front of attack on current medical/scientific research practice -- one that while not yeilding "cures" certainly seems to be keeping some cancer patients alive a lot longer -- for which we may all be grateful.

The Sunday LA Times had an interesting feature on "Gossip Girl" and its failure to attract a large audience, despite all its buzz and success on other "platforms" (i.e. the internet). I confess that "Gossip Girl" is my guilty pleasure but the article does beg the looming question --- if everything migrates to the internet, can any of it succeed -- and if so, how?

Viewership was way, way down. Perhaps Jeff Zucker will get another promotion.

 NBC has always led the way in blurring the lines between entertainment and news. For years, the Today show was under the imprimatur of the Entertainment division rather than news, so why shouldn’t the Globes be hosted by Matt Lauer? Maybe that was the network’s thinking (actually their thinking was – we’ve gotta come up with something, anything). Turns up they came up with nothing.

I did not watch the globes last night – Instead I was riveted by the first installment of “Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles” – If I were THE GAP I would get that T-shirt Lena Headley was wearing into the store window TODAY – I’m sure Trey Laird is signing up Lena Headey for some ads right now. (some of you may recall Ms. Headey from high minded films like Possession – I would add "the Brothers Grimm," but no one saw that – or more likely, as Queen Gorgo in "the 300."

            As for the Globes, although we all know that the Hollywood Foreign Press association is actually less than 100 journalists – I always bought into the big party idea – Actors from film and TV in the same room, getting looped on cocktails and saying things they might not say at other awards show – that is until that was seized upon by the forces of marketing – a forced/fake ploy ”Watch out – anything can happen!"

            But the reason for my soft spot for the Globes is that the night my daughter was born, the waiting area outside the delivery room featured a TV that was playing the Globes. There was a very disparate group assembled there (there’s a whole other story there, but I’ll save that for another time) but the Globes provided us with fodder for conversation – a common ground – to discuss and relate to. Everyone, including the nurses at the desk, embraced the show as a distraction, as a celebration at a time of celebration… and so the very notion of The Golden Globes brings a smile to my face.

            This year, however, I will miss my favorite part of the Globes – seeing how fast the fashion worn by the (female) winners makes into the window of ABS, the clothing store famous for knocking off – I mean creating fashions “inspired by…..”

 

BY THE WAY – WHY IS IT…. British and Australian actors and actresses have no trouble ditching their accents to play Americans (the afore-mentioned Ms. Headey, as well as Hugh Laurie, Rachel Griffiths, Frances O’Connor) but Americans….can only seem to adopt a British accent as an affectation (Madonna).