Ovation TV Shows Two Great Documentaries:
Frank Lloyd Wright: Murder, Myth and Modernism
He called himself 'the world's greatest architect' and through the hundreds of houses he designed, Frank Lloyd Wright created the template for the modern home. But the highs and lows of his life were even more dramatic than his architecture. Worst of all his personal disasters was the death of his mistress in a brutal axe murder and fire that has never been properly solved. Piecing together the tragic events of that day, this program uncovers the story of scandal and intrigue that Wright himself preferred not to tell, and traces the story of his journey back to eventual recovery, critical recognition and finally, architectural immortality.
http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/257
Elvis '56This show captures the sights and sounds of the King's most pivotal year using exclusive, previously unseen photographs shot on tour in 1956, kinescopes of Elvis' controversial appearances on TV, plus newsreel clips and radio interviews. With digitally remastered recordings of such classics as Blue Suede Shoes, Love Me Tender, Ready Teddy and Money Honey, this is a must for any fan of The King.
http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/5
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The Top 100 Television Shows of All-Time Click here From TIME magazine, and in no particular order.
For The Record Here's Our Top 10, plus 2.
Extra Pick Drama - Mad Men
Mad Men is only through two seasons, so it really can't be included yet, but it's brilliant and the second season was much deeper and darker than the first as the second half of the short season began to focus on Don's mysterious past. This one will go down as one of the best TV series ever aired. Well into the top 25 by the time its run ends. In its second season it won the Best Drama Award, this year, at the Emmy Awards. Will it be like Hill Street Blues, The West Wing and LA Law (all of which won 4 Best Drama Awards) and dominate, or will it prove to be too cutting edge and in the end walk away with only two, like The Sopranos? No matter what, it already has one more win than true greats St. Elsewhere and The Shield - combined. As impossible as it seems, througout their runs, those two series never won the Emmy for Best Drama, leaving us to ask - how far did the academy have their heads up their collective asses to have never rewarded those two with the top prize - while giving Cagney and Lacey two.
Extra Pick Comedy - The Larry Sanders Show
The king of black comedy most likely based on the real goings on behind the scenes of the Johnny Carson led Tonight Show, Gary Shandling deserves credit for showing and portraying his character, and all of them on the show, warts and all. In fact, they were all jerks, but un-surpassed, self-aborbed, neurotic jerks. And, as great as Michael Richards and Jason Alexander were on Seinfeld, Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor (maybe America's best, and least self-concious character actor) topped them. If there is a common thread running through the sitcoms on this list, its that the devil is in the casting and if you get great actors and you have a strong chemistry, you can accomplish something great. Going forward, as critics look back, many may rate The Larry Sanders Show as the best sitcom ever, even though it never saw the light of day on a network (it was on HBO).
Number 10 - The Simpsons
Still hillarious after about a million seasons. They keep going, and going, never aging, never mellowing. Who would have thought a cartoon like this could claim the mantle of America's number 1 satirical masterpiece.
Number 9 - Seinfeld
This series went off the air back in the late 90's and the re-runs are still, by far, the best sitcom's on television. The "Soup Nazi", and all the rest, live. The secret certainly did lay in the casting. Like The Honeymooners, it featured 4 main players. Not only did Jerry recruit one great supporting player, he got two, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards. Plus plot lines from the mind of the brilliant, and off-center mind of comedy veteran Larry David. Never have such minute issues been such big fun. And whoever came up with the character of David Puddy later on is a genius. Oh, and Julia Louis Dreyfus, as Elaine and Wayne Knight, as Newman, were perfect, too. No shortage of talent on their set.
Number 8 - Wiseguy
A one of a kind creation where one arc could last most of a season, or just a few episodes. The producers let the arc run as long as needed and until the story was told - then they moved on. Since the story lines had no definitive length, the viewer never knew when the story would come to a conclusion - adding to the anticipation and the dramatic tension. From arms dealers, to the mob, to the music industry, to a nut running a town in the northwest, under-cover Fed, Vinnie Terranova, penetrated them all. Noted for their outstanding villains, Kevin Spacey, Tim Curry and the late Ray Sharkey stood out. Rather than taking all the great lines for themselves, Terranova and company got the best character actors in the business, and then turned them loose, allowing them to chew all the scenery they desired. It was a wise move and the unusual strategy earned Wiseguy a place on this list. It had a shorter run than it should have, and although they tried to replace star Ken Wahl when he left after a dispute, the show collapsed, showing that viewers came to enjoy the camraderie among the three constant characters even more thatn the noted villians. One must also remember that while it was on the air, each time Vinnie would finish an assignment they pretty much had to reivent the show and start allover. The fact that the writers and cast were able to do that over and over again, successfully, was an amazing feat. Years later the show "Quantum Leap" would try to reinvent itself, weekly, with a new "leap" with mixed results while achieving at least a mild degree of success.
Number 7 - The West Wing
Someone once wrote that this wasn't the way the real West Wing operated, but we sure wished it was. True enough. The Aaron Sorkind created (he of A Few Good Mena nd The American President) series featured a brilliant cast in terms of both acting ability and their characters mental acquity. Keeping up with their blazing minds and rapid-fire dialogue was difficult, but hey, they only had an hour and the free-world to protect. So well did Martin Sheen portray President Josiah Bartlett, the fictional ex-governor of New Hampshire, that most Americans actually would have preferred having him in the White House than W, but maybe that's not saying much. The series ending campaign arc between Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda had Alda winning originally, but as things broke down in the USA, the producers just couldn't see their way clear to letting a Republican win, thereby clearing the way for a victory by our first minority President, Jimmy Smits, and in so doing, foreshadowed the victory of Barack Obama. For four years in a row The West Wing won best drama at the Emmy awards. The most intelligent series in the history of television, the sheer research workload of keeping up with, in an informed way, any number of issue related political topics, on a weekly basis, had to have been monumental at best, and ambitious alone, at worst. In any event, they seemed to have tackeld while at the same time being entertaining, wek in and week out for 7 seasons.
Number 6 - The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy
Ok, this is two shows and not one. But the contributions made by each show, driven by two larger-than-life TV pioneers - Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball, are almost immeasurable. Both came from the days when TV was young, and they each set the sitcom bar so high that to this day, few sitcoms ever even approach that bar, let alone manage to vault over it.
I Love Lucy may have starred Lucille Ball but it was her Cuban-born bandleader husband Desi Arnaz who invented things like the three-camera format and filming before a live studio audience that would become staples of the genre. Of course, the rest is the stuff of legend. Episode after episode of hillarity ensued from almost always the same premise - Lucy trying, always in vein, to get into the show and to become a star. Of course, the irony in that is that few stars ever shone as brightly as Lucy did. One of the times the show did depart from that starting point turned out to be, up to that point, the most watched show in television history - the day Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky. Lucy really had been pregnant and so she and Desi just built the show around that and CBS, in a groundbreaking move, let them do it.
Although it went through a lot of incarnatons and cast changes through the years, The Honeymooners only had one official season on CBS as its own sitcom. The rest of the time it was relegated to skits on Jackie Gleason's various shows on the network. But, as the saying goes, what a season it was. No one ever did more with less. For the most part they had one set, the Cramden's Brooklyn apartment, virtually no props (there wasn't much in that apartment) and a cast of four (other characters were rarely introduced, and for the most part it was Ralph, Norton and Ralph's wife, Alice). But somehow, with barely a working script (as legend has it), week after week, the Honeymooners churned out a better show than virtually anything else that has ever been on television.
Number 5 - St Elsewhere
A ways back TV Guide named St Elsewhere as the best TV show - ever. My only problem is as the series went on the characters just became more and more un-likable. Only the kind old doctor played by the timeless Mercury Theater vet, Norman Lloyd, remained as likeable at the end as he had at the beginning. But, that not withstanding, this was a hell of a show. Ground-breaking even in the path of the behemoth Hill Street Blues, in the way that they introduced comedy with the drama (a la early M*A*S*H), and in jokes, which no one before of since had ever done so well. Only the Simpsons comes close in the in-joke category and there is something to be said for that. A cast that rivaled and surpassed even that of Hill Street Blues for it day. There may never be a btter three-some than Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels. Whereas ER would have you believe that the medical world was truely run by 20-somethings, St. Elsewhere gave the older folks, the ones who really run hospitals in real life. their due. Plus St. Elsewhere definitely had the most realitic ER ever put on TV - I doubt anyone, in the history of the show, ever got out of that waiting room. A lot like life, right?
Number 4 - The Shield
This show never got the acclaim, nor the viewership it deserved. Relegated to the outback of cable, FOX sub-network FX, virtually no one got this show when it debuted 6 years ago. Yet, it still won the Emmy for writing and for Best Actor in a Drama Series for its star Michael Chiklis; an unprecedented feat and one of the great upsets in Emmy history. Sadly this show has been ignored since, but its loyal, hard-core following watched it as though they were as addicted to it as the junkies on the show were addicted to their crack. Too harsh? Well that's fine by The Shield where nothing was ever too harsh. Compare this show to Hill Street Blues, which was notable in its day for its gritty realism, and the characters on The Hill look like pussies. No doubt Vic Mackey's Strike Team could have kicked any of their asses (except for Mick Belzer, who they would've recruited, then corrupted). Trust me, 5 years from now the critics will say that this was the second best show ever made, behind only our number 1. Just wait. Anything harsher than this and you would have needed a defibulator to watch it. So, The Shield is done now, wrapping-up with one of the most critically praised finale's ever. Shows that have been cancelled or simply end rarely win Emmys for some reason, but if the Emmy's ignore the work done on The Shield this year, and in particular on the series finale, and I'm never watching the show again.
Number 3 - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
You know what the really impressive thing about this show was, and why it has been remembered so fondly above Bob Newhart's two brilliant accomplishments in the sitcom genre? Because nearly all of its stars, save for Mary herself, went on to star in their own hit shows after this one ended. Ed Asner in Lou Grant, Gavin MacLeod in The Love Boat, the late Ted Knight in his own eponymous show, Betty White on the Golden Girls, and Valerie Harper's spin-off, Rhodaand later, Valerie's Family. Even Cloris Leachman got a show for a while. Plus they had to be the only show to ever get a cameo from Walter Cronkite - you know you got to be good to get that. The talent was unsurpassed at least in terms of raw numbers. Not a weak link in the chain. The way the creators used the various supporting characters was also genius. Rather than cardboard, each had defined and unique charactersitics that blended together brillaintly. The Bob Newhart Show and Barney Miller, came close to replicating this mixture's success.
Number 2 - Hill Street Blues
Yes, its looking dated these days, but you can still catch episodes on American Life network (another cable outback channel), but it's the one that started it all. At first it seemed like a disaster - no one watched when it debuted mid-season back in 1981, but NBC - to their credit - gave the show a chance despite no ratings. Try that these days. The Emmy's chimed-in just in time and bestowed upon them award after award, and the ratings finally came. It only barely would cling to the top 20 in the ratings, but it hung in there. Viewers were asked to put up with story lines that rarely wrapped up in an hour, sometimes in a not very satisfying way, and sometimes, not at all. The cast had no real lookers, save for Joyce Davenport the avenging defense attorney played by the gorgeous Victoria Hamel, and it was gritty and dirty, and had a camera bouncing all over the place. It cut from cast member to cast member, scene to scene, about 100 times an epsidoe. In short, they invented this type of television and everything that followed - St Elsewhere, LA Law, NYPD Blue, Homicide Life on the Streets, ER, and many others have Hill Street Blues, and indirectly NBC (for sticking with them and not cancelling the show), to thank. Even today, if you start watching an episode, it has an amazing ability to draw you in and keep you watching to see what happens to the characters next. Of course, nothing is developed in a vacuum and the little praised, but highly influential anthology series "Police Story" developed by an actual former police officer, must be credited as the forerunner of the grittier, more realistic type of police drama. Running from 1973 to 1978 the series wrapped up just before Hill Street Blues hit TV. Because Police Story was an anthology you did not get the experience of the characters that you did on shows like Hill Street - and the way they devoted more time to the interaction of the characters and developments in their lives and less to the cops and robbers angle (borrowing from the more realistic Police Story) was what proved to be the real crowning achievement of Hill Street. Four years in a row this show took home Best Drama from the Emmy's.
Number 1 - The Sopranos
No surpise here, they'll be studying this one at universities for years to come. The interesting that about that is, it may be as much a staple in the psych department as in the TV/Communications department. There has never been anything like it and it is doubtful that there ever will be. Take a genre like The Mob which always seems interesting on at least some level and combine it with another old staple - a really old one - the drawing room family drama and you have the unlikeliest marriage since Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley. I can't imagine a poll of critics ever putting a show ahead of this one, but if they ever do, I have got to see that one - but that is going to be one high bar indeed. Its hard to imagine a more interesting character than Tony Soprano ever being created. While it only won Best Drama twice at the Emmy Awards, most would agree that while it aired, it had no peer.
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The Best 'Pitch' from the first season of Mad Men on AMC.
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) to Kodak execs looking to market their "wheel" slide projector.
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PBS Frontline: Bush's War
Brilliant, thorough, eye-opening. The most important television program you will see this year. This two-part series examines, in detail, the War on Terror that quickly became the invasion and subsequent war in Iraq that has now lasted 5 years and cost 4000 American lives. Examined without partisanship and including interviews and interview clips with many of the key players such as Vice President Dick Cheney and then Secretrary of State Colin Powell, as well as senior people at the CIA, the CIA Counter-terrorism Unit, officials at the Pentagon, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the British ambassador to the U.S. A., CIA field operatives, soldiers, and many others. It is an important television event and one that every American should watch. Sadly, most will watch "Dancing with the Stars", instead.
And of course, now that Frontline, other journalists, and even Bush's own ex-press secretary Scott McClellan have exposed how the Bush administration mis-lead and deceived America into going to war in Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee, themselves implicit at least in so far as not having the where-with-all to question, investigate, and dig deep into these assertions prior to launching our invasion, has gotten around to condemming the administration themselves. Just
click here for the story.
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A Review of HBO's John Adams
Pick it up on DVD now
"Truly Outstanding" - - Carter Lyman Hall, TodaysAdvisor TV and Culture Critic-at-Large
John Adams, HBO, Based on the biography by noted historian David McCullough (he of the previous historical bio on Harry S. Truman)
Yes, its 'wordy' - all words actually, but if you, and especially your kids, can focus for an
hour a week without the iPod going, or talking on the iPhone, or doing iWhatever, you're
going to really like this new series starring Paul Giamatti, one of America's true characters, and, along with Phillip Seymor Hoffman, our best character actor. As Adams he gives him every bit of the attention he deserves - quirks and all. Adams was known as an obstinate man, a genius, probably manic depressive and a man described as "in need of Prozac" if he were alive today. In short, he's a perfect subject for the artistry of Mr. Giamatti.
David Morse while a bit too unassuming to play George Washington, does manage to bear a striking resemblance to the man we've become accustomed to from his numerous portraits and sculptures. He gets better moments as the series progresses and he becomes our nation's first president and graudually becomes the man who would become known as the "Father of our country."
I just can't help feeling that Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson is a poor choice, not really resembling him much, or really coming off as the massive genius that he was. He comes off rather boring, which somehow I doubt that he was. He was known to be quiet with a very soft voice, but he must have said all sorts of interesting things that he never really gets to say here.
If you are noticing a trend, then it must be said that, let's face it, John Adams is the star here - the show is called "John Adams". It wouldn't do if he was upstaged by his livelier contemporaries - as he himself even lamented about when he was alive. Smart guy this Adams, who recognized that the more entertaining & witty Franklin, the more creative Jefferson, and the more charasmatic Washington would get all the good press.
Laura Linley, the Oscar nominated actress is, as always, near-perfect as Abigail Adams. I doubt America has produced a more under-appreciated actress. Call her Meryl Streep, light, but in a good way.
Tom Wilkinson, a man who now gets nominated for an Oscar every time he makes a film (need we say more) is, as expected, an exceptional Ben Franklin. Of course, Ben Franklin is a fat part and will always draw a great character actor to the role. Others, like the late Howard DaSilva and Charles Durning excelled in the role in the past.
Facts are skipped, mostly the debate over slavery that was the real hang-up in adoption of the Declaration of Independence (and why they skip it, I have no idea), but hey, they have a lot of ground to cover (1770 to 1826 to be exact, and that's 56 years), and only 7 episodes in which to do it, so what are you going to do?
When the dust settles there will be Emmy's and Cable ACE awards (do they still have those?) all around. Nothing is going to compete with this one - from its writing, to the acting, to the first rate production design and costumes. One thing I could not understand was the sub-par direction. The camera is bouncing all over the place as though they were afraid to afix the camera and let the scenes play-out for fear that the audience would get bored and get back on their lap-tops. Pieces like this, in this day and age, are risky because we have no collective attention spans, but you have to take that chance and let the scenes play.
One particularly bad epsiode has the camera flying all over the place while Adams, Abigail and Jefferson are having lunch, alfresco, at the manor where the Adams' are staying. Making matters even worse is that this program, which screams to be shot in a traditional style and on film, is shot on video. It gives the thing a cheap quality it doesn't need. I was not a fan of the lighting, either. The scenes were not well lit. Look to the Sopranos if you want an example of how to light a scene, both inside and out - and they had to do it for over 80 hours - not seven.
The reason that men like David Lean and Stanley Kubrick could get away with making period films is because they let them play out in very traditional ways - they set the camera down and let the scene play-out. They also crafted their shots as if they were Rembrandt.
All things considered, however, this one is a winner, so watch it. True there are few physical explosions, but there are plenty of emotional ones instead. Now this is how history should be taught.
Carter Lyman Hall
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Carter Lyman Hall is a freelance writer from New England. Born and raised in Boston, Carter now
lives out of a suit case. His latest journey has him spending some time at an Ashram high in the
Himalayas of Tibet (or is it Nepal). When not travelling he resides in Hyannisport, MA., with his
wife, Camille, also a writer/playwrite and their two golden retrievers _______________________________________________________________________________________
THE FINALE OF THE SOPRANOS
Some of the best moments from the Finale:
• Paulie telling the folks at the table that you can "take 2007 and give it back to the
Indians."
• AJ at the same table quoting "Yeets" to which someone reply's "Yeates?"
• Tony and Carmella talking to AJ's tharapist and Tony's begins talking about himself
and his mother. The look Carmella gives him after he says "I never could please my
mother" is priceless
• Instead of Tony flipping it's FBI Agent Harris who, upon hearing the news of Leotardo's
hit declares "We're going to win!", thereby choosing sides, flipping himself, and
parallelling a real life instance with an FBI Agent who got too close to the Columbo family
• The cat that may,or may not be, the reincarnation of Christopher
• AJ to his father about Little Carmine: "He makes Porn." Tony: "He made Cleaver, he's
branching out."
Tell me we're not going to miss that dialogue.