Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
This Envelope
Tuesday
March 2, 2004
"It’s pressed between pages that you’ll read if you're so inclined..."
-Dashboard Confessional "This Ruined Puzzle"
Confessions of a DVR junkie:
-I admit it, okay, I admit it... I watched the first two episodes of Forever Eden on Fox. And what's more, I actually enjoyed it. Yes, it has just enough different from Survivor (and the rest of the reality shows) so as nobody gets sued. And it has that overproduced Fox style, with the overdone flashbacks and flashforwards. And there aren't any characters that particularly stand out as interesting (the only one who approached that was Mary, and she only stood out because of her complete ignorance and inability to shut up -- always a dangerous combo). Yet for some reason I find the concept captivating. If I had to sit through commercials, I might go mad. But, zip, that problem is solved.
-Last night I watched The Silence Of The Lambs for the first time.
Ducking.
Yes, I can't believe that I hadn't seen it before, either. I remember seeing the first ten minutes of it at a Halloween party at Katherine Knight's house in October 1993, on an evening when it flurried snow in Nashville, but that was a long, long time ago. But, wow... what a movie. Anthony Hopkins is absolutely amazing in his role in the film. There's a reason the movie won Best Picture and Hopkins captured the Oscar for Best Actor. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you do.
-Why do the people at the Academy Awards take themselves so seriously? I'm not sure where this stems from. Wonderful, your moviemaking is great. I'm happy for you. But the overdignification of it all? C'mon. As much as all of those B-rate awards shows annoy me by their mere existence, at least most of them go the other way and don't take themselves too seriously (or at least not overreverently).
-I've been meaning to write about this for awhile: the Cousin Sal skits from Jimmy Kimmel Live are some of the funniest hidden camera bits you'll ever see. Sal is perfect at playing the role of a rude jerk who is in some position of power (impound lot clerk, temp agency interview conductor, pizza salesman, etc.) His sarcasm and quick wit come across perfect on camera. He seems to know how to really push people's buttons and counter their arguments with crazy retorts that seem like something out of a Phil Hendrie bit. If they ever release a "Best of Cousin Sal hidden camera skits" DVD, I'm buying it.
|  | | Family Guy is a hilarious show. |
-Also, the Uncle Frank stuff on JKL, while not side-splittingly funny, is usually great on the unintentional comedy scale, especially when it involves celebrities (as it almost always does with him). You're never quite sure watching it if Uncle Frank is just playing dumb or if he's really not quite with it during the interviews, or if it's a little bit of both. Either way, they are a nice touch.
-Added to the always-record list: Family Guy (on Cartoon Network) and Chappelle's Show (on Comedy Central). I really need to find a way to make it where it will only tape one Family Guy per day, since they rerun the same one twice a day. This is one of the few downsides to the DVR in comparison with TiVo, but for my money the DVR wins hands-down 10 times out of 10.
-In looking for the Family Guy picture of Stewie, I ran across an
MSN list of the "Top 10 Canceled TV Shows". The only one I flat-out disagree with is The Tick (that show I found horrid); others I'm unfamiliar with but intrigued by (The Ben Stiller Show, Firefly, etc.) But there are some real gems on the list: My So-Called Life, Sports Night, Family Guy (which is making a network TV comeback thanks to its DVD and Cartoon Network success), Undeclared (a show that could've been incredible on HBO) and perhaps the best of the bunch, the all-time classic sketch comedy show (which must be seen to be fully comprehended), Mr. Show.
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