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From America's Cup to Fleetweek, Epic San Francisco Weekend Culminates in Wild Ride

America's Cup.  Fleetweek.  Blue Angels.  Giants playoffs.  Hardy Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park.  Whaaat?  San Francisco was one thrilling rush after another last weekend.  

A crowd of at least one million descended on the city for the most epic weekend yet, swamping hotels and more than doubling the population.   Under clear blue skies and warm autumn sun, many here were feeling a little, dare I say, smug?  And blessed.  Because the jam-packed weekend proved beyond a shadow that San Francisco, blessed with spectacular vistas and an anything goes/bring-it-on attitude, is truly AWESOME.

Saturday was a non-stop adrenaline pump. The famous San Francisco fog, often the spoiler, lifted early for the festivities.  Courtesy of  Modern Sailing School out of Sausalito, with skipper John Connolly at the helm, we plunged into the thick of the action, sailing first under the Golden Gate, then anchoring in an ideal viewing location.   A school of porpoises circled lazily around the boat.  

 

John Connolly at the helm:

 

First up: San Francisco Fire Dept.’s Fireboat “Phoenix” led the Parade of Ships, shooting sprays of water from the boat’s three water cannons. A fleet of ships followed:  U.S. Navy’s USS Spruance and the USS Preble, the Coast Guard’s USCGC Sherman, Canada’s HMCS Algonquin, HMCS Edmonton, and HCS Brandon, San Francisco’s liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien and the Coast Guards retired ship USCGC Morris.

The airshow began shortly thereafter, from stunt planes to the Blue Angels C-130 Hercules, affectionately known as "Fat Albert,"  buzzing the bay.   Then, BOOM!   The Blue Angels fighter jets came shrieking in over the Golden Gate, rattling our sailboat, so close overhead it seemed the planes might clip the mast.

  

The wind conveniently picked up around 3 p.m.,  just in time for America's Cup racing.   During the airshow, the boats were busy jockying for position at the starting line.  An Oracle boat passed within feet.

 

Even humpback whales joined in the festivities.  NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) advised boaters to be mindful of a small pod that had been spotted just outside the Golden Gate.  A few days before, some even ventured into the bay.

  

Unexpectedly,  we're hooked on America's Cup racing, thanks to the recent high tech advances in the sport.  (Click here for more details, from Wired Magazine.)   The day before, we had watched some of the action on Comcast Sportsnet.  The graphics were impressive, helping newbies like ourselves quickly grasp the basics of the sport.  

  

Camera technology installed on board captured the drama -  the sailors high stepping across the netting from one side of the boat to the other, the shouts, the ocean spray and the occasional spills.   

Per America's Cup, "The yachts can carry between four and seven cameras. The custom cameras are fully agile allowing pan tilt and zoom in extreme conditions,  Transmitting  this high definition quality feed  form all the yachts, camera and mark boats is no small feat in itself.  Microwave antennas on top of the masts beam the high definition video and audio signals to the shore.  The cameras and transmitters are controlled via the LiveLine telemetry link.  Each crew member has a dedicated wireless microphone  providing the viewers with additional technical insight into the crew’s race as well as an indication of just how physical the boats are."

  

In short, almost as good as being there.

  

First, an intro vid to the new technology:

 

 

highlights of Sunday October 7, 2012 here:  and, at 8:51, there's a shot of our Fat Albert flight (see below) over the Golden Gate

 

 

My epic San Francisco weekend culminated in the flight of a lifetime on Sunday.  Thanks to Cisco Systems, I was lucky enough to be invited to ride along with the crew of the Blue Angels  c-130 Hercules transport plane (commonly known at Fat Albert) during the San Francisco Fleetweek demonstration of the plane's capabilities.  It was a thrilling, stomach churning, negative g adventure on a plane our U.S. Marine Corps pilot, Captain Ben Blanton, called "one of the most versatile aircraft ever built."   

  

Cisco Systems' Gary Kinghorn described his experience in this blog post.  It's a fun read, well worth the click through.

  

Some of the maneuvers included:  45 degree nose up (immediately followed by a couple of seconds of zero g's as the plane leveled off) and several 60 degree angle banked turns (to display the 133 foot wing line to the crowds gathered below at Chrissy Field,and the Marina).  

  

At one point, the plane skimmed the waters of San Francisco Bay at a very low altitude.  During the pre-flight briefing on the tarmac, Blanton said he expected to fly as low as 60 feet over the bay all the while revving the plane to its maximum speed of 370 mph.  

  

The extreme maneuvers had on-board guests squealing, and gulping for air.  No one wanted to be the first to reach for the air sickness bags supplied earlier by the duty officer.  As it turned out, the only person to loose their lunch was a crew member.  However, perspiration was running into my eyes, and my husband said my face had drained of color.  It was hard to believe that such an clunky, clumsy-looking plane could be pushed to these limits.  The only reason I wasn't having a full on heart attack: I knew the Marine Corps' finest were at the controls.

  

We tottered off the plane on rubbery knees; our tummies returned to some semblance of working order hours later - at least enough to tolerate tea and crackers.  We wondered how the crew manages to pull off these stunts 35 times a year.   

  

A huge thanks to our gracious crew:   

   

A couple of Youtube vids of our adventure.  First, Captain Blanton briefs us on what to expect.  Second, a vid that captures the rather hair raising ride, with some great views of San Francisco Bay from the air.

 

 

TCA/FX Panel: Russell Brand's Epic Take on Sarah Palin

Beverly Hills CA -- Television Critics Association Summer Press  Tour 2012

The Palins can't seem to get enough of Hollywood and they've been a presence at Television Critics Association Summer 2012 press tour.                                                                                                                                     

Todd, cast on NBC's new reality series Stars Earn Stripes, appeared in person along with his fellow castmates.   A fit and trimmed down Bristol, in house for ABC Network, also fielded questions from the critics.  She's slated to participate in ABC's latest iteration of DWTS - Dancing with the Stars:All-Stars.

Mom Sarah created a stir when she showed up at the NBC cocktail party, held poolside at the Beverly Hilton.   The spray-tanned Sarah was outfitted in a tight, low-cut wrap-around dress, and strappy five-inch black leather wedge platforms, her bright red-painted toenails peeking out the tips - - shoes that might be worn by a dominatrix.  The ensemble was completed by a hand-beaded red, white and blue bracelet.

Yesterday, a long haired Russell Brand -  at TCA to promote BrandX,  his live audience show currently airing on FX Network  - walked on stage barefoot, jeans torn at the knees, with long beaded necklaces dangling from his neck like a throwback to San Francisco's Summer of Love.                                                               

So, with Palins still on the brain,  it was irresistible.  One critic asked Russell Brand,  if he had the opportunity, what question would he put to Sarah Palin.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Brand tends to focus intently on the questions, almost eerily so, unblinking.                                                                                                                                                                                          

His response was instantaneous.

"I think we all know that I’ll go straight to the subtext," said Brand, "because I think the reason that Sarah Palin has been so long tolerated is because of that latent inquisition around the vagina. Ha-ha-ha-ha. People want to f*ck her, don’t they?

When the laughter died down, Brand continued: "That’s why you tolerate the other stuff.  You think, okay, that is a mad thing to say about seeing Russia out your window, but the dick don’t lie."

Earlier, the subject of the Palin's pall presence at TCA also came up, when a critic provoked Brand by asking for his opinion on the TCA "Palin-palooza," and Todd and Sarah's highly publicized photo-op at Chick-Fil-A.

"...didn’t Chick fil A say that they’re racist now?" Brand responded, "Oh, no, homophobic. I get mixed up with the prejudices. I forget who we’re supposed to hate."

"So I don’t care," he continued, "I don’t agree with eating the chicken anyway. I think that’s an unkind thing to do to a chicken. Just let it carry on doing what it’s doing. I don’t agree with homophobia, so I don’t see there’s any reason. I don’t know much about what happens when Palin does a baby, then it grows up to live its own life. But if it’s anything like the originator of that thing, then I think that, yeah, Dancing with the Stars is the right place for it."

Todd and Sarah at the NBC cocktail party.  

 

 

Television Critics Association: NBC Executive Session Triggers Merciless Twitter Sniping

Beverly Hills CA - Television Critics Association/Summer Tour 2012

Some of the bloom is off the Robert Greenblatt rose, the newish Chairman of NBC Entertainment.

Greenblatt landed at the network in January of 2011,  smack in the middle of a development cycle he didn't entirely control.  

At this point, however, Greenblatt has his teams firmly ensconced.  And the heat is on.

In previous executive sessions, Greenblatt strongly telegraphed his intention to steer the network firmly toward a broader audience.  

The questioning during today's executive session - held in a ballroom of the Beverly Hilton - was polite in person, but Greenblatt lost control of the room when he essentially admitted that the network is dumbing down their comedy slate.

The network, he said, is "in transition with our comedies. We're trying to broaden the audience. We're more narrow than we'd like"

And: "no disrespect to anyone" but the plan is to "freshen" up Community.

NBC comedies are critical faves and gasps could be read across Twitter.  Merciless sniping erupted.

I responded:  the term "broad audience" sends chills down the spine.  It's a euphemism for "lowest common denominator." #tcas12

And this, as expressed in a tweet from Jace Lacob ‏@televisionary over yet another remark by Greenblatt:  Thursday night comedies tend to be "a bit more sophisticated than you'd want for a broad audience," according to Greenblatt. #headsmack

Bruce R. Miller‏ @siouxbruce wondered aloud:  Have I just entered an episode of#episodes? Where's Merc? #NBC #tcas12

Tim Goodman @bastardmachine probably summed up the feelings of many critics.

Press Tour Translator: "Thanks for the love, but it doesn't pay the bills. And it sucks being No. 4. So, dumb shows here we come!"

And then this from Goodman:  I don't want to read too much into Greenblatt's tone, but he just clubbed the Thursday night comedies like baby seals.

In response to the Leo-hatred (the badly-written son on Smash) Greenblatt shot back:  "You hate the son? You'll never see him again."   (I'm hoping he wasn't kidding.)

Indicative of his thick skin, Greenblatt made a surprise appearance on stage an hour later.  From the podium, he read aloud some of the more caustic tweets and suggested that @tvoit (Todd VanDerWerff) might make a good showrunner for Community. 

Fox Network Will Preview "The Mindy Project" and "Ben and Kate" Across Multiple Platforms

Beverly Hill, CA - Television Critics Association/Summer Press Tour 2012

Starting Monday, August 27, Fox Network will preview two new comedies - Ben and Kate, and The Mindy Project - by saturating multiple platforms with the debut episodes.

Target websites include Yahoo!, AOL.com, Fox.com, Hulu, and Xfinity.com

The comedies will also be available via participating cable, satellite and telco distribution partners, on both VOD and online platforms.

Also starting August 27, Fox hopes to generate social media buzz by previewing the season premieres on Facebook as well.

I fell asleep previewing The Mindy Project pilot last night via closed circuit in my room at the Beverly Hilton.  It's possible that Fox Network might end up generating the kind of buzz they don't want.

White Wine, A Joint, and A Bowl of Edamame: Showtime's "Episodes" Is A Lot of Fun

The second season of Showtime’s Episodes - a send-up of the television industry starring Matt LeBlanc as his fictional self -  debuts tomorrow night (July 1) at 10:30p.

Episodes has been called Entourage-lite.  It’s true.  Episodes can be a little slow and a little dry, but it’s still a lot of fun to watch.

The premise:  the writing duo of Beverly and Sean Lincoln (Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan) are lured to Hollywood to recreate their acclaimed British comedy.  Naturally, the concept is mangled by TPTB (the powers that be) and the series morphs into Puck, a sitcom about a high school hockey team starring LeBlanc as the coach.  (Think hints of Coupling, the popular British series that sank after crossing the pond.)

Last season, in a drunken stupor, Beverly slept with LeBlanc.   As season two opens, Beverly and Sean are separated and coping with the emotional aftermath while Puck gets a series pick up.  LeBlanc, ever the charming narcissist, struggles to restore his broken bromance with Sean.

There are  laugh-out-loud moments in Episodes.  To highlight just a few:  the women chatting about relationships over white wine, a joint, and a single bowl of edamame; a sexposition scene where network head Merc Lapidus (John Pankow) and his second-in-command Carol Rance (Kathleen Rose Perkins) boink on his desk while discussing the hot premiere ratings.  In another, Lapidus’ elegant wife Jamie (Genevieve O’Reilly) explains her involvement in the “Save The Honeybee” campaign.

The fictional LeBlanc clearly loves to be liked and he’s rather desperate to worm his way back into the hearts of the Lincolns.  He buys them both a sporty, tricked-out Infiniti.  Unfortunately, the storyline comes to a screeching, smoking halt due to what appears to be a product placement deal with Nissan.  Ep two is an extended advert for the car, with LeBlanc saddled with the task of delivering a two minute recitation on all the cool features.  LeBlanc just stands next to the car and gives the sales spiel.

We learn all sorts of stuff we really don’t need to know, for example: this Infiniti has “3.7 liter V6 with traction control and an electronic stability control program” and a “sound system with 13 speakers.”

Awwwkwaaaaard!

At least a BMW makes a cameo appearance.

Side note: some of the fashion is awesome and I spotted a pink hoodie I’d really like to have.

The season two premiere is somewhat tedious at times.   LeBlanc was often flat and the writers seemed off their game.

I’m glad I didn’t let the weaknesses of the season opener deter me.   In spite of the (apparent) product placement, by the end of the second episode, LeBlanc seemed to have found his comic footing and he’s hilarious in the scene in which he finally convinces Sean to accept the Infiniti.  To be honest, the writers finally gave LeBlanc some material he could work with.

By the end of ep two, I was hooked on the show.  Episodes is no Entourage but that doesn’t mean the series isn’t worth watching.

 

HBO: Aaron Sorkin Unleashes "The Newsroom"

Aaron Sorkin is on a mission.  Armed with the near-limitless creative freedom of HBO,  he's set out to inform the electorate, to tell the raw truth as he sees it, whether we like it or not.

His vehicle is The Newsroom, an HBO series set in a fictional cable news network called ACN.  Think The West Wing meets Broadcast News with a smattering of Network, all done up in Sorkin style -  extended, parabolic monologues, snappy laugh-out-loud lines of dialog, and the signature walk-and-talk.

The ten-part first season opens with a Howard Beale-ish outburst/epiphany.  Jaded, unpleasant news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) rants about the ugly truth of American greatness to an auditorium full of Northwestern University students.  McAvoy's tirade is one of the finest you'll ever witness on television.

When McAvoy returns from vacation, and to his senses, he finds his staff has deserted him and his boss, Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterston), has hired a new Lara Logan-like executive producer - his old flame Mackenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer).

Sorkin's fantasy newsroom is a recreation of how Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite or the Huntley-Brinkley team might report today's stories - if there was a living anchor with that kind of courage, with that gravitas and dignity, if news anchors these days didn't fancy themselves as part-time comedians moonlighting on 30 Rock, or were reduced to crushing soda cans on air for laughs.

The Newsroom is going to make a lot of people really, really angry.  Provocative is an understatement.  Targets for disdain include the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Bachmann, and the Koch brothers who, according to the CEO of ACN's parent company Leona Lansing (Jane Fonda), "drop Brink's trucks on people they disagree with."

The far-right blogosphere will probably explode.  For Sorkin, that might be the point.  Truth is a recurring theme for him.  "You can't handle the truth!" from A Few Good Men is one of his most famous lines.

There are love triangles thrown into The Newsroom mix for some old-fashioned rom-com fun, but Sorkin mostly wants us to remember some recent history that has already faded from view:

-- how lack of government oversight contributed to the Deepwater Horizon disaster;

-- how the wild falsehoods about the cost of an Obama trade mission to India originated;

-- how the news orgs ran with a premature announcement of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords' death which was first reported by NPR and subsequently disseminated without a proper fact check by many cable news nets. It all turned out to be embarrassingly incorrect.

As he reports these stories, Jeff Daniels sounds eerily like Walter Cronkite at times.  But the real scene stealer is Sam Waterston as Skinner, a hard liquor drinking curmudgeon reminiscent of Andy Rooney.  He's the head of the news division coping with corporate overlords - which appears to be CBS/Viacom.  Waterston's magnificent outbursts are a wonder to behold.  He's brilliant and his rage attacks are laugh-out-loud funny.  During the pilot, watch for the one in the hallway, when Skinner tags along with McAvoy as he confronts the staffers who've abandoned him for the greener pastures of the 10p slot.

Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston make quite a pair and some of the series best moments take place during their scenes together.

A Sam Waterston Emmy nom for best supporting actor seems assured.

What's glorious and great and wonderful about The Newsroom is this:  Sorkin assumes his audience is smart, that they're capable and they want to understand.  At one point, McAvoy (a Republican) complains that the GOP has been "hijacked" and he compares the radical right to the radical left, the Tea Party and Students for Democratic Society (SDS) respectively, with a reference to Bernardine Dohrn thrown in for good measure.  Older viewers may recognize the references; others will likely scramble for their laptops, to check Wikipedia.

But I love this about Sorkin.  I love that he assumes we know, or if we don't, we'll look it up - because it's interesting, because we want to understand what he's trying to say.  Because we want to think.

This isn't to say there aren't weaknesses in The Newsroom.  There are lots of them.  While entertaining at times, the portrayal of the earnest Gen-Y staffers doesn't ring true.  I'm not sure that Sorkin is capturing 20-something sensibilities and concerns.

And the love triangles - the blatant UST (unresolved sexual tension) - is a distraction, a stale network cliche that feels out of place on HBO.

Yet, this is  HBO, where the greatest strength can sometimes be the greatest weakness.  The network is infamous for allowing their creatives to do pretty much whatever the hell they want, occasionally with disastrous results (John from Cincinnati, anyone?).  And this is Aaron Sorkin, unleashed.  He's so unrestrained that sometimes you think, well, someone really ought to rein him in -  four consecutive Emmy Awards for The West Wing and an Oscar for The Social Network (etc. etc. etc.) notwithstanding.

Sometimes, The Newsroom is a train wreck, episode two especially.  Here's what @televisionary tweeted and he was right:

"It's histrionic, chaotic, and cartoonish. So much yelling, so little believability. Least credible email gaffe ever. ‪#Newsroom‬ ‪#ep2‬"

But it's still a beautiful train wreck, gilded cars flying off track into mid-air, a splendid, artistic slow motion disaster.

Even at its worst, The Newsroom is still cracktastic.  A beautiful failure at times.

However, by episode four, I was addicted.  With the exposition out of the way, the series was starting to hum along - the characters were deepening; the plot thickening.

So, don't be discouraged by episode two. Enjoy the finer moments; it gets better.  

The Newsroom debuts Sunday, June 24, at 10p.

     

 

BBC America’s “The Hour” - Stylish, Engrossing, Perfectly Cast

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, August 17, BBC America’s six-episode series, The Hour, debuts at 10p.  It’s one of the best dramas to brighten our television screens this year.

The series is a stylish, noir-ish, at times John le Carré-like, cold war political thriller set behind the scenes of the BBC newsroom just as The Hour – an investigative news program – is about to launch.  (The famous British newscastPanorama – the longest-running public affairs television program in the world that still airs in primetime -  is partly the inspiration.)

The backdrop: 1956 and the Suez Crisis, a pivotal time in British history. “The government pulled us into a phony war…. the ailing Prime Minister was desperately trying to hide the fact that he was incredibly ill,” creator/writer Abi Morgan explained at Television Critics Association summer press tour, “[It was] a moment when Britain took to the streets and protested and said, ‘law, not war.’”

The emotional hook: a love triangle.

The Hour is oh-so-perfectly, perfectly cast.  Just…g’uh!  Perfect.  By episode three, the connections between the characters are beginning to deepen, to expand, and I was fully engaged.  I wanted to know more, I wanted to find out what happened to them – I actually cared, in a way I haven’t cared about characters in a long time.

Dominic West (The Wire) stars as the charismatic, handsome anchor Hector Madden who - beneath his buff, pec’d out veneer - is insecure and restless.  (From a privileged background, Hector slipped into the anchor position on The Hour via family connections.)

At press tour via satellite (from the Duchess Theatre in London’s West End where he’s playing the lead role in Butley) West said he patterned his mannerisms after his father.   “In terms of newscasters of the day, they were very avuncular, they weren’t quite as glamorous as Hector…most of them had comb-overs,” said West, “or Richard Dimbleby was everyone’s favorite uncle.  My dad was very much a man of the 50‘s and I always felt I understood the time because of him and the way he dressed and the way he was in his manner….he was, I suppose, who I was channeling in terms of manner.”

Hector develops a love/hate relationship with Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw), a young correspondent who lives in a dingy apartment and cares for his sick father.  Freddie has a David Carr-like honesty and fearless passion for investigative stories and digging up the truth, but he’s often his own worst enemy.  Freddie, in contrast to Hector, is thin, nerdy, badly dressed, and a slightly pretty.  “No luck with girls…and now you know too much,” says the menacing Tom Kish played by Burn Gorman.

Freddie’s best friend and unrequited love interest is Bel Rowley (Romola Garai), the smart, pretty producer of The Hour.  Sexism is rampant but she finds a mentor in Clarence Fendley (Anton Lesser).   She’s battling a growing (mutual) attraction to the charming Hector, and her mother - a former showgirl -  is an embarrassment and a thorn in her side.

The talent goes deep in this series.  There are about a dozen terrific supporting characters, each one thoughtfully selected.  To mention just a few: Anna Chancellor as the heavy-drinking Lix Storm, an eminent war correspondent who understands the implications of the Suez Crisis; Joshua McGuire as Isaac Wengrow, Freddie’s loyal assistant, the grandson of an orthodox Jew from Eastern Europe; Angus McCain (Julian Rhind-Tutt), the closeted gay press advisor to Prime Minister Anthony Eden and liaison between the government and the BBC.

The Oscar-nominated Eve Stewart (for The King’s Speech) is the production designer. The perky, witty Stewart delighted the press at summer tour.  Perhaps she’ll snag another Emmy (she won for Elizabeth I) for her work on The Hour.  She described scouring the British countryside for the devices of the period.  “Old men with hairy ears have an amazing amount of old cameras in their garages,” she said, “I couldn’t believe it.  They were everywhere.  And the more we tapped into that, the more we made friends with them, the more they would come offering teletext on little platters to us.”

I know, I know – sometimes BBC America is hard to find on the line-up.  Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, on Comcast, it’s in the middle of nowhere -  Channel 162.  (grumble)

But please, please locate BBC America on your cable line-up and watch.  Abi Morgan say she’s already “plotted out a whole…journey for season two…potentially taking on the space race….and the Notting Hill riots…But it all comes down to the viewing figures.”

(This post is mirrored on Multichannel News.)

Posted by Mary McNamara on August 16, 2011 | Comments (0)

 

FX's "Rescue Me" Finds Its Mojo Mid-Season

Warning:  Minor spoilers ahead for upcoming episodes.  Major spoilers for previously aired episodes.

Really, it's a miracle that Rescue Me's central character, Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary)  - the NYC firefighter who battles alcoholism, a dysfunctional Irish family, a rocky (understatement) relationship with his wife Janet (Andrea Roth), and an alcoholic daughter following her father footsteps into oblivion - hasn't been imprisoned for DUI.

Or isn't in line for a liver transplant (although I half expect that storyline to surface).

Season six (the series' penultimate) got off to a meh start. The first three episodes were frustratingly circular, with a glut of banter substituting for plot and character development.  Tommy was still drinking, repeatedly falling off the wagon, and pretty much still misbehaving - an unlikable, unrelatable, worthless excuse for a human being.

FX has supplied seven episodes so far.  Number five ("Blackout') debuts tomorrow (Tuesday, July 27) at 10p.

Don't give up.  After the slow-moving start, Rescue Me picks up speed.  By episode four ("Breakout"), the mojo was back.  Aside from some glaring (but forgivable) plot holes, episodes four through seven are some of the most interesting in a long time.

Peter Gallagher joins the cast this season as the flirty, irreverent Catholic priest, Father Phil.  After Tommy's near-death experience and a descent into the fires of hell, this season's theme so far has been redemption.  Father Phil comes into Tommy's life as an unlikely therapeutic presence.

A couple of years ago Rescue Me took a bad, bad turn.  It was the episode during which Tommy entered into the territory of the damned - when he raped his estranged wife Janet and walked away with a Satanic smile.  The writers nearly damaged their character beyond repair.  (The controversial episode was widely discussed at the time.)

No wonder Tommy found himself in firefighter hell during his near-death experience.

The challenge in the writers room: can they resurrect Tommy Gavin in the eyes of the viewer?

In the season launch, Tommy returns to life, resolved - for a nano-second anyway - to change his hard-drinking ways.

At one point, Tommy attempts (yet again) to reconnect with Janet. Tommy is all talk, typically tripping (again) over his words, whereas his demonstrative friend and fellow firefighter, Franco (Daniel Sunjata), is busy cooking, cleaning, plumbing, dispensing fashion advice, and otherwise making himself useful and valuable to Janet.

If the intent of the writers was to prime the audience to lose all interest in this narcissistic, one-dimensional, misogynistic character, to the point where no matter what heroics he may engage in going forward we won't care - well, they had achieved their objective.

Responding to Tommy's painfully awkward attempt to reconnect, Janet bitterly voices what a lot of viewers were likely feeling: "Oh my god, you have feelings.  Oh, no, no wait, you've changed.  No, no, your greatest hit - you're stopping drinking, for real this time."

Tommy claims his feelings for Janet are "stronger than they've ever been" but Janet responds..."So everything's going to be different as of right now?......we're here ten years later [after 9-11]. Who gives a sh*t about any of it..."

The problem for Rescue Me is that the central character, Tommy, was too often the least human, least appealing, least complex of the cast.  Tommy's antics - the boozing, carousing and, yes, even rape - were initially explained away by his grief over 9-11.

But, as Joe Flint points out on Show Tracker: "Tommy uses his anger and grief over 9-11 to do what he wants to whomever he pleases with no regard for the consequences to himself or the people he purports to love."

Tonight, in episode five ("Blackout"), Tommy - depressed by the Franco/Janet flirtation - hits the bottle.  Yet, the binge is revelatory and Tommy’s inferno of rage roars to the surface.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Tommy is finally starting to lurch past his grief and dysfunction.  That might be too much to hope for, however, given the writers' addiction to an alcoholic Tommy.  In the past, it seemed the writers didn't know how to let Tommy move on.

In upcoming eps feature baptism by alcohol, scatological humor, tense rescues, and some laugh-out-loud funny banter.  The Italian restaurant scene (episode seven, "Forgiven") is a classic.

The conclusion of episode seven is one of the series' most poignant and fulfilling.  Tommy Gavin is still Tommy - a hopelessly clueless cad - but at least we can see that he's feeling something.

Even with Tommy at his worst, Rescue Me has always been populated with an array of interesting supporting characters - Lou, Franco, Sean and now Damien (the newest firehouse probie), to name just a few.  These are characters worth caring about, most with compelling storylines.

Damien (Mike Zegen) is Tommy's nephew, and his mom Sheila (Callie Thorne) wants Tommy to talk Damien into quitting the force. In an upcoming episode, Tommy misses a golden opportunity to encourage him to abandon his firefighting career and, instead, delivers a pep talk.

At the center of some of the show's most memorable scenes, Lou (John Scurti) is decent and lovable, the moral core.  After his heart attack, he begins to re-evaluate his life and habits.  But, according to the press materials (made available in advance of the season premiere), when Lou "fails to pull his weight in a burn Damien suffers the consequences."

While still entertaining, the Garrity/Siletti dumb-firefighter-duo shtick (played by Steven Pasquale and Mike Lombardi, respectively) has nevertheless worn thin.  Occasionally, the writers provide a glimpse of a more complex Garrity, and it's evident that Steve Pasquale has a great deal more acting range than opportunities to express it.

And Sheila's, well.... she's still got that off-shoulder stylin' thing going on.

If Rescue Me sustains the momentum, in spite of the aforementioned weaknesses, the final episodes of season six will be one heck of a ride.

Tainted Olympics: Death, Callousness, Colbert Prophecy & Why NBC Owes k.d lang An Apology

ETA: reports are coming in of chaos at the Cypress Mountain venue. Three-hour lineups. Desperate shortages of food and drink. Nowhere to escape the lashing wind and rain....

The death of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili on a track well-known to be unusually dangerous, coupled with the insensitive response by the VANOC/FIL, has tainted the Olympics.

 The NY Times reports (in the same link above) that the day before Kumaritashvili's death "a Romanian luge racer was knocked unconscious during a training run. Through five complete Olympic training sessions in men’s singles luge last week, one of every 20 runs ended in a crash. But Olympic and luge officials chose not to make changes to the course that would limit the record speeds..."

Instead of acknowledging their obvious failings, the VANOC/FIL callously went CYA. They attributed Kumaritashvili’s death to human error, declaring the track safe. Yet, they lowered the start gates and raised the wall along the curve that flung Kumaritashvili into a steel beam to his death, all the while asserting they made these changes to “deal with the emotional components of the athletes."

  "The bottom line is that the decisions made are to deal with the emotional components of the athletes to alleviate, as best as possible, the traumatic experience of this tragic event,” Svein Romstad, the American secretary general of the FIL, said Saturday morning. "As to lowering it because the track is too fast, I would say the primary concern we have right now is the emotional aspect of it." 

 By yesterday (Saturday) morning, the tragedy was turned on its head in a “the show must go on” kind of way - and isn't this all amazing and courageous because we’re overcoming this tragedy, and moving into “normalcy,” and competing and oh, btw, let’s just move on, thanksbye… 

 Here’s the lede from the AP article: Everyone made it down safely. For luge, that meant progress, healing and normalcy. Cowbells clanged, fans with painted faces waved flags, and even IOC president Jacques Rogge looked on as the celebration of this hyper-speedy sport resumed… Adding to the scandal, the death has raised questions about practice times and home field advantages. 

Of all people, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert aimed his rapier wit at the problem of practice times. Colbert, taking speed skating under his wing, hilariously fumed about track time, in words that are now both funny and eerily prophetic. 

 "Those syrup-suckers won't let us practice at their Olympic venues," Colbert said. "At the Salt Lake Games, we let the Canadian luge team take 100 practice runs. And you know how Mormons feel about two men lying down on each other." (Unfortunately, Comedy Central has deleted that particular segment.)

 Here's another from Colbert's campaign to secure practice time for U.S. speed skaters. The luge athletes could have used an advocate like Colbert.

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The Opening Ceremonies were tasteful, and nearly flawless, yet marred by NBC insensitivity, ranging from the left coast tape delay to boneheaded editing? or control room decisions? or...? during k.d. lang’s moving rendition of Leonard Cohen’s "Halleluja." 

Once again, the left coast was saddled with tape delay while east coast watched live, starting at 9p. ET. I will beat this dead horse, once again, just because... 

Previous tape delays could (barely) be explained by Beijing time differences but NBC doesn’t get an easy pass this round. NBC’s Beijng rationale – that West Coast viewers want to watch in prime time - no longer rates as an acceptable excuse when the darn games are..held in the same time zone!! 

The Opening Ceremonies were widely reported to begin at 7:30p on the West Coast. Not exactly. Viewers were instead subjected to 1.5 hours of mostly empty filler – another Mary Carillo human interest segment and meditations on skier Lindsey Vonn’s shin. Opening Ceremonies finally got underway at 9p, and ran until after midnight.

If the Left Coast is on tape delay anyway, it’s difficult to understand why California/Oregon/Washington audiences sat through 1.5 hours of patter, twiddling their thumbs. 

The ceremonies finally wrapped at around 12:15a, with Wayne Gretzky’s wild ride clinging to the back of a white pick-up truck to deliver the torch to the “other” cauldron. (Gretzky deserves a gold for being the world’s best sport.) 

Spoilers are unavoidable, on Twitter especially. My page was a jumble of time-shifted comments, creating some confusion about which events, exactly, some tweeps were discussing. As comments streamed in from my East Coast tweeps, I knew everything by the West Coast 9p start of the ceremonies. 

It’s impossible to just shut Twitter down for ten days. When I joked the only solution to the spoilers dilemma is to hide in a dark closet for the duration,@wraithfodder suggested I join her poinsettias.Thanks Wraith! ; ) 

oh, well...what can I say. I hate tape delay. 

Why not just put the footage on a loop? That's what NBC is doing in any case, starting very late here on the West Coast, around 12:30a.m., or so.

And during that 1.5 hour patter there were problems. The biggest one: NBC aired the luge crash, in full and in slomo, several times. During the post-ceremony local news hour, our NBC affiliate here in San Francisco declined to show the crash in its entirety. Howling echoed across the Internet, as viewers slammed NBC for their decision to air the crash footage. 

Memorable Opening Ceremony moments included the angelic aerialist - Ècole Nationale de Cirque student Thomas Saulgrain - spinning across the stage to an ethereal rendition of Joni Mitchell’s "Both Sides Now." Breathtaking. 

The house was really fired up over irish/square dancing/western-inspired/Tap Dogs fiddle and dance homage that @rachelsklar summed up nicely: AWESOME BADASS FIDDLING TAP-DANCING BEARDED MOUNTAIN MAN CANADIAN LEATHER-CLAD CANUCK! 

But NOTE below: NBC's Matt Lauer chattering over the ENTIRE fiddle solo.

Best to go here, to the NBC site and watch an different version from what was televised, at least here on the West Coast. 

k.d. lang is an exquisite talent. Her soulful performance of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah was ruined by the NBC decision to use only two (that I could count) semi - close-ups of her. All the other shots NBC selected were very wide and long, and much of the time she was a mere speck on the screen. 

At first I thought perhaps I’d imagined the snub, so I reviewed the footage again. Nope. I did not imagine this. 

NBC cut away from Lang time after time to focus on the candle-holding audience, and occasionally on U.S. athletes sitting in the stands. In a word - anywhere but k.d. Lang. 

My jaw dropped. Bottom line: NBC’s mishandling of Lang’s performance was disrespectful. The best I can say about this fiasco: someone at NBC exercised exceedingly poor judgment. Thanks to Mediaite, you can view the actual televised footage, reportedly different than the video posted on the NBC website.

Aziz Ansari

Comedy Central clip:

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Showtime's "Episodes" - Matt LeBlanc Auditions to Play Matt LeBlanc

A little preview of Showtime's Episodes.  Remember NBC's Coupling?  In Episodes, American producers import a hit British series and then trash it by rejecting the erudite British lead and casting Matt LeBlanc instead. 

(Tip o' the hat to Rob Owen at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for the link. See his blog for Showtime blurb on the series.  The clip was unveiled at TCA press tour.)

TCA: ABC Family Renews The Secret Life of The American Teenager & Make It or Break It

Today, ABC Family renewed The Secret Life of The American Teenager (for a third season) and Make It or Break It (for a second season).  Both shows are set to return summer 2010.

Per the ABC Family press release, the Jan. 4, 2010 mid-season premiere of The Secret Life of The American Teenager was ABC Family's most-watched telecast of all time in viewers 12-34, females 12-34, teens and female teens.

The Jan. 4, 2010, Make It or Break It mid-season launch grew from its summer debut across all demos, according to ABC Family - 8% in total viewers, 16% in adults 18-34, 20% in adults 18-49, and 31% in viewers 12-34.

“Secret Life got the highest original series number in female teens that we’ve ever had," said ABC Family President Paul Lee during the ABC Family executive session. "It was at 13.7, which makes it the #1 show of the season, including broadcast, in female teens."

Lee also announced the dates of two spring original movies. “Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice” debuts after the Winter Olympics on March 14th and stars Francia Raisa (Secret Life) and Brendan Fehr. Business of Falling in Love with Hilary Duff and Matt Dallas (Kyle XY) launches April 18.

Yikes, Conan Won't Do Tonight Show at 12:05a

While we're in the middle of the ABC session for Happy Town, sizzling news is breaking on Twitter re: Conan.

From NY Times, Bill Carter

Conan O’Brien says he will not do “The Tonight Show” if it airs at 12:05 a.m. He released the following statement Tuesday afternoon:

American Idol: How to Talk About Simon Cowell's Departure, without Really Talking About It

From Television Critics Association/Pasadena

Yesterday, Fox Network executives tried valiantly to reassure the press that juggernaut American Idol would survive the departure of the acerbic Simon Cowell.

The start of the Fox executive session was inexplicably delayed for more than twenty minutes. Finally, Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly and Simon Cowell put on an admirable front of solidarity.  

Cowell is leaving the confines of American Idol to judge and executive produce The X Factor for American audiences. The X Factor is set to debut on Fox Network sometime in the Fall of 2011. Cowell even signed his new contract with Fox on stage.  Well, that flourish was probably a blank piece of paper in his hand, but everyone played along with the joke anyway.  

The press returned two or three times, or more, to the question of the probable impact of Cowell's departure on American Idol.  Sometimes the panel felt more like So You Think You Can Dance as Rice, Reilly and Cowell sidestepped the questions.

Rice, especially, stayed on message and deflected attention from Cowell's departure by redirecting the conversation to the strength of the format.

Rice: it’s
a show that has launched superstars. People love the
format....Last year it was more than 70 percent
above the No. 2 show. It’s a format that the country
loves........I think bringing
someone like Ellen in this year is why we did that.
We think that it can have a wonderful sort of injection
of energy into a format that’s beloved and works around the
world..........We’re not going to rush into something.
We’re not going to try to find a Simon clone who can do
what he does because, you know, he’s one of a kind. But
the format itself, people love. 

Rice was vague about how Fox Network would actually manage the departure and sustain the aforementioned energy:

RICE:  I think that we have to
take our time on that. I think we have to make sure
that the chemistry between the judges is as good as it
can be. And I don’t think we’re going to rush to into
that. And that’s why we’re coming forward today.

Television critics kept up the pressure, citing a recent poll suggesting 60% of American Idol viewers wouldn't watch if Cowell departed.  And it was here, especially, where the panel shifted into So You Think You Can Dance.

RICE: We have some of our own research. I
think it’s really that Simon had a desire to launch
THE X FACTOR. And he — you know, that’s what he
wanted to pursue. And we looked at how it could
strengthen our schedule across the breadth of the
year. We’re very excited about the idea of having THE
X FACTOR and IDOL and DANCE and having them match up
across the year. We did that this fall with DANCE,
and it strengthened our schedule. So we think it can
be a great source of strength for us. But, you know,
Simon has come to the end of his contract and has
great passion for this television show. And it’s an
incredible television show. And AMERICAN IDOL is an
incredible television show, and we have to make sure
that it remains so.

Fox executives were cornered on this one.  Even the worst case scenario (American Idol winds down as The X Factor ascends) is better than the potential apocalypse - a desperate, fourth-place NBC (where Cowell has a relationship via America's Got Talent) nabbing Cowell and The X Factor, and scheduling The X Factor against American Idol.  

All in all, the eery impression left by the Fox executive session: the end is approaching for American Idol.  

 
 

Stargate Universe: The Trailer

Fyi: