Jane was in an episode of DHARMA & GREG that I directed and she was fine the first two days. Then I saw her and Jenna Elfman sharing a Pixie Stix and well, we know what happened to poor Jenna. She became a Scientologist. I thought Jane was going to get off scot-free but I guess not. If only I had stopped them.I’m thinking of holding another Sitcom Room seminar sometime in the fall. If you’d like to be notified first when there are updates please click here. If you just want more info on what it’s all about, this is where you click. Either way, thanks.
The best new show in America this summer comes from England. JEKYLL on BBC America. It’s chilling, compelling, and was written by a comedy writer – Steven Moffat who also created the brilliant COUPLING. Lines like this: Mr. Hyde -- “Have you ever killed anyone? It’s like sex but there’s a winner.”
And it features Michelle Ryan (pictured above -- you can't miss her) who will play THE BIONIC WOMAN this season. Suddenly I'm looking forward to that show.
And speaking of Jolly Olde -- Ed Harris had a “hissy fit” and was detained for hours at Heathrow airport in London when they wouldn’t let him bring a small knife on the plane. Excuse me but do actors live by a different set of rules than the rest of the population of the planet? Security measures apply to all international citizens unless they starred in THE HUMAN STAIN?
Jon Miller of the Giants did a great call of Barry Bond's historic home run. It was replayed often. But only a portion was used -- just the hit itself. He had prefaced it with some great background, tying in former Giant greats and home run champions. None of that was replayed. So I suggested this should have been his call:
"There's a Ruthian drive McCovey would be proud of...it's going...just like the record of the great Hank Aaron...going...Mays in his heyday couldn't run it down...going...it's Jose Pa-GAN!!!!!"
Jon promised to call me when A-Rod gets close.
Sorry to see that Hal Fishman passed away. Hal was a local news anchor on KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles for over thirty years. He had a very unique approach. He just reported the news. We’ll never see his kind again.
Oh God, they just delivered a case of Pixie Stix to Jane's house.
Larry “Sideshow” Seidlin (pictured right), the wisecracking yet not-afraid-to-cry judge in the Anna Nicole case is doing a pilot for his own TV show. I love LA! If it goes, the coroner has a variety show he’ll be peddling around town.
More Jack Benny remembrances this weekend. I love you people for loving him.
The next time you watch ENTOURAGE and laugh at Ari Gold and think that character is such a funny exaggeration, just know that the real Ari (Emanuel) heads up the endeavor agency and this week they dumped 25% of their clients – writers, directors, actors. Endeavor now wishes to just represent “the best of the best”. Yeah, that Ari is a stitch!
And finally…
Telemundo’s ratings went up when it was discovered one of their anchors was having an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles. CBS is trying to get Katie Couric to sleep with Bush. It was explained to her this way: “It’s like sex but with a winner.”
"CBS is trying to get Katie Couric to sleep with Bush. It was explained to her this way: “It’s like sex but with a winner."
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ken. I needed a rolling on the floor laughing moment!
Scribe
The SitCom room is a fantastic experience...you'll learn a lot and have a blast and the Chinese food comes from an "A" establishment. I'd go again.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more Jack Benny rememberances. His writers were quite a crew. He was brilliant and a great guy by all accounts.
Bob Carpenter on MASN (the visiting Nationals) had a wonderful call of #756, straight and to the point: "This ball is history!" He and Don Sutton make a solid team, very listenable.
ReplyDeleteMoffat also has written many Doctor Who episodes for the new show, including "Blink", which is hands-down brilliant. I'll watch anything he does, so I'll keep an eye out for Jekyll.
ReplyDeleteI was just going to chime in the same thing. Steven Moffatt has written three of the GREATEST episodes of the new DOCTOR WHO, which is hands-down in the top-five best shows on TV these days, up there with LOST. (Check out all it's BAFTA Awards.)
ReplyDeleteMoffett's two-part DR WHO story THE DOCTOR DANCES was a REALLY creepy nightmare in the midst of the Blitz of London, including a SPECTAULAR scene of Rose clinging to a barrage balloon rope while the Nazi fighters zip past her on either side, bombing London. And then Moffet finds a joyously happy ending that makes you want to dance with the Doctor.
In the second season he wrote THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE, in which the Doctor had a lifelong romantic affair with Madame du Pompadore, in a single day - there's also clockwork wind-up robots from the future, it IS Dr. Who after all - that ends in a heartbreaking scene of real dramatic weight.
Moffat's third season show, BLINK, will air in America on the Sci-fi channel, three weeks from Friday. You will get hooked on this great show.
And the British COUPLING is wonderful. Ignore the brief American attempt.
I caught Jekyll this weekend. Missed the first half hour and it still roped me right in. I recognized Michelle Ryan from her role as Zoe on EastEnders. I just love Brit TV!
ReplyDelete- Nikki
For me, the most noteworthy effect of Barry Bonds setting the record was when I tried to get a prescription filled yesterday and was told that the National Association of Pharmacists had declared a holiday... I started wondering to myself "Man, where is Jeff Gillooly when you need him?"... Last night, Bonds hit No. 757 off fellow Rochester resident Tim Redding, who pitches for the Nationals... Way to go, Tim! Just another feather in our cap that this fair city can be proud of, to go along with such other bullet points as our murder rate, our potholes and our 9-month long winters....
ReplyDeleteRE: Katie Couric, I noticed that in an effort to boost ratings (and probably the blood pressure of any male viewers with coronary disease) she's starting to show a little more knee again on the CBS Evening News...I guess Les Moonves assured her that she wasn't going to have to worry about Jeff Gillooly showing up some night in the middle of her newscast for the time being....
For some reason for me, "Jane" from Coupling doesn't fit in Jekyll.
ReplyDeleteJekyll was great fun. And included my favourite line of any show recently.
ReplyDelete"You're killing him!"
"Trust me. I'm a psycopath."
Tom Quigley said...
ReplyDeleteRE: Katie Couric, I noticed that in an effort to boost ratings (and probably the blood pressure of any male viewers with coronary disease) she's starting to show a little more knee again on the CBS Evening News...
Could that tactic have saved Paula Zahn at CNN? After all, she has better legs than Katie. (Although after the furor about that "little bit sexy" ad a few years back, she would have had to be discreet about it.) Then again, against Olbermann and O'Reilly, Paula could've worn a two-piece swimsuit each night and the ratings still would have stunk.
//Steven Moffat who also created the brilliant COUPLING.//
ReplyDeleteSpaced > Coupling.
You know it's true.
Okay, I'm dumb. What are Pixie Stix?
ReplyDeleteAnd for a call on #756, how about, "He juiced that one out."?
The man is always the winner.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Religion
Umm, the Jane Seymour bit isn't quite right: she's applied for a 24 hour entertainment and liquor licence at the mansion near Bath she and her husband bought in 1984. Neighbours and local stick-in-the-muds have filed objections and blocked driveways, etc. Your post puts a somewhat racy slant on it, Ken.
ReplyDeletehttp://0-www.sfgate.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=19248
For the record Jane is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. The family has seats near me at Dodger stadium. They're big fans.
ReplyDeleteJane is a lovely person. That's why it seems like such a joke that she's being charged for partying too hearty.
ReplyDeleteJane paints, too. She's no Tony Curtis. http://www.stcath.com/sccart.asp
ReplyDelete“Have you ever killed anyone? It’s like sex but there’s a winner.”
ReplyDeleteSex too. The one who finishes first.
Actually, Jane's neighbors are miffed because she plans to rent her estate out as a "Party House" during her lengthy absences, so it's their fear of other people's parties in Jane's house that has their Lucille Balls in a twist. But it's a funny image, Jane partying like it's 1999 all night long. So THAT's how she stays so spookily youthful. It's nonstop partying. I thought she must have a Dorian Gray protrait of herself tucked away somewhere, because she's looked young and stunningly gorgeous for about 35 years now.
ReplyDeleteBack in 1987, when she was promoting her book on how to put Romance back into your life, she went on Dame Edna's talk show. Edna ballyhooed her as an expert in romance, saying "You've been successfully married three times darling, what would you say is the secret of a successful marriage?"
It's 1987. I'm laying in bed watching David Letterman whose guest that night is Jane Seymour. She's hawking her new book "Jane Seymour's Guide to Elegant Living." The cover photo shows her walking in an English garden if I remember correctly. Dave notes that living elegantly is nice and all but most people don't have the money to do the things she's suggesting in her book. Jane then gives an example of how everyone can live elegantly by telling how her then husband served her breakfast in bed one morning and guess what she found at the bottom of the champagne flute? A DIAMOND! Dave listens to this story and gives the camera a brief deadpan look as the audience titters. "No no, Jane, that's kind of what I meant..." as she smiled cluelessly. The audience is now laughing as Dave is in some kind of disbelief as she just doesn't get it. OK, fast forward nine months later. I'm watching Letterman once again and it's a bloody rerun but it happens to be the same show with Jane Seymour. Brilliant. I'll just watch Dave make Jane look like a fool again. So they start talking about the book, yada yada and then the best part comes where Dave asks her what an ordinary person can do to live elegantly. Then the interview is over. They edited (censored?) out that embarrassing part of the interview in the rerun! I was soooooo disappointed. My only question is...did they do it out of the kindness of their hearts or were they threatened by Ms. Seymour's lawyers? I've always wanted to know.
ReplyDelete