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NEW
SHOW REVIEW - FRINGE For Fringe, co-creator and co-writer J.J. Abrams (Lost and the upcoming Star Trek film) takes us back to a familiar location to jumpstart the series - onboard an airliner flying into unmitigated disaster. A joint task force looking into incidents of terror stumble into a nightmare of a virus that melts its victims - can the team discover what it is and stop its spread? How is this incident and other unexplained phenomena related? It's the X-Files meets CSI meets House; a creepy, exhilarating, live wire that sizzles with potential, a conspiratorial whirlwind that promises to keep you guessing at every twist and turn.
The opening sequence is a real shocker sure to lure you in. While this pilot episode doesn't quite meet the intensity of the first episode of Lost, there's a world of trippy concepts introduced with loads of action, not to mention one of the most amazing car chase sequenses I can remember. This spine chilling thriller deserves a look and could develop into a real zinger depending on where they go with this open-ended concept. Fringe airs Tuesday nights at 8:00 beginning September 9th on FOX. Here's a preview. Thursday,
August 21, 2008 - 10:22am
DVD
REVIEW Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez was a member of TLC, the hottest selling girl group of all time. Watch as she shreds her career, dissolves her friendships, burns her bridges with the industry and her fans, flailing around in a drugged and/or drunken state with no regard for anyone but herself. This raw, hand-held footage comes from a documentary Left Eye was filming in the weeks before her death, it shows a lost girl twirling around messed up out of her head in La Ceiba, Honduras. There's no mention of drug and alcohol abuse in the film - I imagine because Left Eye's family owns this project - but it's clear for anyone who wants to see that this troubled chanteuse was on an unstoppable path of destruction fueled by something other than the warm tropic air. Even killing a young girl in a car accident, captured in this film, isn't enough to stop Hurricane Left Eye. The most shocking scene comes at the end. After watching this gal in various states of intoxication for weeks on end, after killing an innocent child, we see her DRIVING again! The people in the back seat are completely oblivious that they are putting their lives on the line with this deranged maniac at the wheel. Sure enough, in short time, the camera catches the very moment when she jerks the wheel with a scream; the screen goes black as she tumbles to her death. That she didn't kill anyone else is a miracle. I would say how sad this was but it's hard to have sympathy for someone so reckless and foolish but it certainly makes for compelling viewing. This one is not to be missed! Wednesday,
August 20, 2008 - 9:09am
ROMPER
ROOM
Do you have a picture taken on the set of a local kid show you'd like to share? Wednesday,
August 19, 2008 - 8:59am
LOCAL
TV Ed Golick writes: I'm really excited about my latest project, a 90 minute documentary for Detroit PBS called "A Celebration of Detroit TV." Unlike most station retrospectives, "Celebration" will be much more than just a "clip show." And because we are producing the documentary for PBS, the local Detroit stations won't be able to muck it up with spots promoting their current news line-ups or latest projects. Here's a link with a bit more information and a teaser trailer. There will also be a DVD, with extras not seen in the original program.
Looking over the clips from WEWS's retrospective on You Tube, it looks better than the usual pabulum. Tuesday,
August 18, 2008 - 7:27am
FUNNY
STUFF Here's the Week in Review from The Colbert Report:
Monday,
August 18, 2008 - 2:04pm
FUGITIVE
FLAP PART 2 Monday,
August 18, 2008 - 8:58am
NEW
SHOW REVIEW With Kitchen Nightmares and the equally entertaining Hell's Kitchen, Chef Ramsay has taken America by storm - the excitement he brings with him and the drama he inflicts on those around him is extremely addictive and ultimately uplifting. In the two-hour season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares, the master Restaurateur returns to many of the most troubled establishments he visited during year one to see if they were able to survive. Remember Finn McCools in the Hampton's, an Irish pub run by a former cop and his son? An initial tasting of their wares sent Chef rushing to the restroom where retching sounds were heard - and no one spits up food more dramatically than Ramsay. We discover that over the last year Finn McCools did everything the world renowned Chef suggested - with spectacular results. How about that thoroughly disgusting Indian restaurant with more cockroaches and rat droppings than customers ("What do we need, a death in the restaurant before someone gets a grip?") or Peter's where the Goodfellas' wannabe owner tossed creditors and credibility to the curb? A return trip to these spots will leave you amazed. The Olde Stone Mill, The Mixing Bowl, and Campania are also revisited with delightful results. What this show does best is let the desperate participant's personalities shine through, focusing on individuals who are in way over their heads, teetering on the brink of losing their businesses and their homes. The horrifying food, the heated public meltdowns, the astonishing transformations, the sheer joy of watching an unchecked ego unleashed; any show that has me grinning ear to ear or shouting at the screen in disbelief is the kind of compelling TV I look for. The second season of Kitchen Nightmares promises to be as good or better than the first. Kitchen Nightmares airs on FOX Thursday, September 4th at 8:00 ET/PT. Monday,
August 18, 2008 - 8:25am
MORE
ON BILL STULLA I
had the good fortune of meeting Bill back in 1993; the following is an
account that I've posted to members of my yahoo group: Those of you who watched the show will remember that you'd hear diesel air horns and EMD 567's droning in the background and then Engineer Bill would announce that Casey Jones was high-balling through to deliver the mail. At that point, an RPO mail bag would "fly" (after being tossed by a stage hand) onto the set and Engineer Bill would catch the bag (which sometimes was tossed extra hard and would knock Engineer Bill off his stool). Bill would then open the mail bag and draw out two new postcards for two lucky kids to attend a future show; early on, each kid used to receive a freight car kit which they would build at home and then bring to the show to run on the layout. As a result of poor parenting, I never got to play Red Light, Green Light in glorious B&W on kinescope. Probably what is worse, I never got the feel the chills running up and down my spine while getting rewarded by "The Real Bell for engineers who never run a red light" while Engineer Bill (with wet milk still on the bandanna encircling his neck) would get "The Lead Bell for me and those who missed". Another great game that Engineer Bill had was, "The Big Whistle" which was a board with six (if memory serves) numbered valves, one of which was connected (out-of-direct-sight) to a real steam locomotive chime whistle while the other the other five valves were connected to a peanut whistle. The kids had to guess which numbered valve was connected to the Big Whistle with the winner(s) getting a prize. Personally, I think that "Red Light, Green Light" and/or "The Big Whistle" could be made into great reality TV shows - just imagine Ryan Seacrest spitting milk out or blowing the Big Whistle - truly instances wherein fantasy would recapitulate reality!!! <g> The
1950's show had a catchy theme song: When they revamped the show in the early 1960's, they changed the opening footage to include the famous chase scene from the D.W. Griffith classic: "A Girl and Her Trust", shot in 1912 on the AT&SF Redondo Harbor Line (between Inglewood and RR-east of Lairport. Lairport is still a Station w/ the old (i.e., really old, jointed rail) siding remaining in use and located about 1/2 mile west of El Segundo Blvd - if you watch the movie closely you will see station hands standing on the station platform watching the camera car running on what is now Aviation Blvd (back then, I've heard that it was called Redondo Hermosa Road). The huge open field in the back ground is now LAX). That great pacing shot is an absolute classic as is the entire movie. I finally got an opportunity to meet Bill Stulla back in 1993, when I was supervising the construction of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center. There was a non-profit organization set up to solicit contributions for the 2,000 seat performing arts theater; the non-profit was run by a gentlemen named Robert Johnson. One day we were shooting the breeze during lunch and Robert happened to tell me that he was formerly a Stage Manager at KHJ TV. I asked him if he ever knew Engineer Bill and he told me that Bill was a close friend and lived nearby in Westlake Village. Robert also told me some great stories about Flat Car Fred, Tank Car Ted and other behind-the-scenes persona who had worked on and contributed so much to the show. On friday afternoons after we had shut down for the day, I would give special behind-the-scenes construction tours to potential donors to the non-profit. One friday afternoon in late August, 1993, I was taking Robert and a group of donors on the man-lift twelve-stories up to the top of the fly tower, when Robert made a comment: "Eric, we know you have a lot of engineers working on this project, but today we brought along a real Engineer to meet you!". At that point, Engineer Bill stepped out from the back of the group wearing a hickory-stripped RR-cap, bandana and bib overalls and introduced himself. I quickly sped the group through the rest of the tour and then sat down with Bill and talked for about an hour. Bill was a very nice gentleman and was very pleased that his old fans still remembered him. After leaving television in the mid-1960's, he went into stock brokerage and did quite well. He was enjoying a very comfortable retirement. Bill confirmed that he was a terrible Red Light, Green Light player and that the scenes with him laughing and spitting milk out his nose, etc., were the result of Tank Car Ted and others playing gags and purposefully distracting him off-camera while he was trying to concentrate on the game. Bill gave me a hickory-stripped engineer's cap (gee, it only took me 39 years to get one after I first started watching the show in 1954) and we took a picture together which Robert later had framed and autographed by Bill, and then had presented to me. I still have the picture. All in all, Bill Stulla was a very fine gentleman who loved the persona of Engineer Bill and loved entertaining kids. People like Engineer Bill, Sheriff John, Skipper Frank (Frank Herman left TV and opened up a Chicken Delight franchise in Laguna Beach; I went to school with his son Greg), Tom Hatten (in 1961, Tom opened the Scoop Deck restaurant and ice cream parlor located opposite the Hotel Laguna on Coast Hwy), Chucko, Bozo, et al, were all a huge part of the lives of those of us who were fortunate to grow up in SoCal in the 1950's-1960's. As Engineer Bill used to say at the close of each show, "Happy High-Balling, Engineers!!" Sunday,
August 17, 2008 - 7:55am |
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This
highly anticipated show is the only new scripted drama coming to primetime
this fall other than the revamped Beverly Hills 90210 and I don't
know anyone other than has been teen stars who are looking forward to
that.
The
cast is a strong one. Anna Torv is stellar as Agent Olivia Dunham while
Lance Reddick (Lt. Daniels on The Wire) is rock solid as the
team's stoic commander, good to see him back in the saddle.
Tim
Lones writes: Engineer Bill puts me in mind of Captain Penny of WEWS-TV
5 in Cleveland. Created by station weatherman Ron Penfound, He was supposed
to be a train engineer, but didn't realize till the show was underway
that The main person of a train was "engineer" rather than captain,
but the name stuck. He was on TV 5 from 1957-71. While he wore a train
outfit for his noon show, there wasn't a large "train motif"
on the set of Captain Penny that I remember. He showed Three Stooges Shorts,
Batfink, Roger Ramjet, Some Hanna Barbera cartoons, as well as Cliff Norton's
"Funny Manns" series. He had a gentle way about him, not unlike
Engineer Bill. I think, outside of NY, Chicago and LA, Cleveland had the
best kid show hosts.
The
John Wayne of the culinary arts rides to the rescue this fall with another
super-charged season of Kitchen Nightmares, the most emotionally
incendiary reality show on television today.
