Monday, September 21, 2015

My 2015 Emmy Review

Time for my annual snarky Emmycast review.

Last night’s show was not as bad as the year the five reality hosts presided over the Emmys (asking Heidi Klum to do comedy is like asking your dog to program your DVR), but it wasn’t as good as the SAG strike year when local KNBC news anchor Kelly Lange emceed the show.

I like Andy Samberg but thought his monologue was painful. After every horrifying feces, Bill Cosby, and Kim Davis joke they’d cut to someone in the audience totally bewildered. Why Andy Samberg? Because the Emmys were on Fox. That’s the biggest star on the network? No, but Harold Reynolds was busy.

Samberg began with a clichéd song-and-dance routine that only made us long for Neil Patrick Harris or the cruise director from Carnival.

For me, the only truly moving moments of the evening were the appearance of Tracy Morgan and Kerry Washington’s metal mesh dress. (which she cleans by going through a car wash)

GAME OF THRONES won Best Drama. Clearly, the Academy is tired of honoring Matthew Weiner.

He was certainly snubbed. Even when Jon Hamm finally won for Best Actor Other Than Bryan Cranston, he did not thank Weiner. Instead he thanked anyone who gave him a home cooked meal.

Happy that VEEP won for several reasons. First of all it’s an actual comedy. TRANSPARENT is a lovely show but it is not a comedy. Nor is it even that original. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT did the exact same storyline last season with the exact same star. And it was funny.

And if the Academy was going to give the Best Comedy award to a family show I would have picked THE MIDDLE. Or FRESH OFF THE BOAT. Or BLACKISH.

For the most part I was pleased with the results. No one I hate won. Viola Davis gave a moving speech (and I love how fellow nominee and next year’s winner Taraji P. Henson gave her a standing O), Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a comedy goddess, and the Academy loves Allison Janney so much they give her Emmys even knowing she’ll thank Chuck Lorre.

Jeffrey Tambor was a lock. He was great in TRANSPARENT and this might have been a make-good for not giving it to him for playing the same role on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

Before the show, I always catch the KTLA Red Carpet show hosted by fawning floormat Sam Rubin and rocket scientist, Jessica Holmes. Holmes is eleven months pregnant (“who are you bearing?”), but considering how shocked she always is at anything any celebrity says, I’m guessing she just found out about her pregnancy last Friday.

She opened the broadcast by saying: “The stars are getting here early, which is really interesting because you never know!”  Two seconds in and already I'm laughing.

The big red carpet story was the heat. The stars had to walk from their air conditioned limos, under a shaded canopy, to an air conditioned auditorium. Based on Sam & Jessica’s concern, you’d think Edie Falco had just crossed the Sahara.

Jessica mentioned to DOWNTON ABBEY creator, Julian Fellowes that Queen Elizabeth liked to pick out inaccuracies in his show. He hadn’t heard that. Jessica said it was in PEOPLE magazine, to which Mr. Fellows responded: “Oh, wellllll.”

Sam was interviewing Ariel Winter and Anthony Anderson. He said to Ariel (who is 17) “You’ve been through this a million times. Tell Anthony (who’s had a 20 year career) how to deal with it.”

Sam asked Alan Cumming to handicap his nomination. Cumming said, “I think Jonathan Banks is going to win, don’t you?” Sam responded: “He’s terrific in that show.” Way to make the guest feel good.

And finally, MAD MEN’S Kiernan Shipka said she was six when the show began and now she’s sixteen. Mother-to-be Jessica wisely stated, “There’s a lot of growing in those years.” Please write a book on parenting, Jessica.

Meanwhile, Fox’s red carpet show was hosted by football analyst, Terry Bradshaw (the network’s second biggest star). Sorry I missed that. I bet his question to every actor was, “Who are you again?”

Hollywood cares. It’s always championing some worthy humanitarian cause. They do this by wearing ribbons at award shows. This year, lots of stars were wearing green ribbons. These were in support of Jill Soloway negotiating a better overall deal.

The set looked like the casino of Circus Circus only not as tasteful.

Lea DeLaria came dressed as Drew Carey.

Who better than Lady Gaga to present a Best Actor award?

How come EMPIRE wasn’t nominated for Best Drama? Oh, that’s right. People actually WATCH it.

Did you notice the winning writers for VEEP were all middle-aged? Enjoy your Emmys, fellas. You’ll never get another job.

Congrats to Regina King. I thought Sarah Paulson was going to win but I think her two heads canceled each other out.

Emma Roberts wore a white dress that had more color than her skin.

“In Memoriam” gets tougher for me every year as more and more of my peers and friends pass. This year my mentor, Gary Owens, friend Taylor Negron, and dear friend and colleague Sam Simon were among the many who left us too soon.

I thought there would be more of a tribute to David Letterman. He got lumped into the “Not Returning Shows” montage (“In Memoriam 2”) and received as much airtime as COUGAR TOWN. And somehow they omitted 19 KIDS AND COUNTING.

The key word this year was “genius.” Everybody was a “genius.” With all these “geniuses” how come shows now get a 1 share? 

Seeing Jon Stewart, I miss him all over again. Oh, how I wish it was Ricky Gervais and not Jon Stewart who said, “You’ll never see me again.”

Wouldn’t you love just once to see an actor fire his agent during his acceptance speech? “You told me OLIVE KITTRIDGE was a piece of crap. I should take BAD JUDGE. Thank God I didn’t listen to you.”

Sophie Turner wore a blue top and black slacks, perfect for formal occasions or selling cars at Jim Falk Lexus.

My daughter’s writing partner, Jonathan Emerson tossed in some observations. He noted that ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK is the first series to lose as Best Comedy and Best Drama.

Amy Schumer is in. Louis C.K. is out. Lena Dunham is a trivia answer.

Claire Danes came as the Phantom. 

Amy Schumer looked like a fullback. Hopefully it was just the dress.
How upset do you think Jane Fonda was when co-star Lily Tomlin lost?

So Alex Trebek sits down after a hard day to relax and watch the Emmy Awards, and BAM! Out of nowhere John Oliver takes gratuitous shots at him. Don’t be surprised if one of Monday’s JEOPARDY categories is “Smug British Talk Show Hosts Who Can Kiss My Ass.”

But Alex couldn’t have been any more uncomfortable than I was suffering through those lame bits like Tatiana Maslany eating beans on the red carpet, Lorne Michaels getting a “World’s Best Boss” mug, and Samberg’s MAD MEN parody.  It all felt like filler.  This is the level of comedy you find in prison skits.

The only winner who swore and had to be bleeped was a writer. Thanks GAME OF THRONES guy. You represent us all so well.

Zoe Kazan looked like a melted candy cane.
Actors often give afterthought tributes to their fellow nominees. But Peter Dinklage is the first to insult most of them. He acknowledged “Jonathan Banks… and the rest.” Nice.

Glad to see Mel Brooks got a standing ovation. Jon Emerson wondered how many in the audience pretended to know who he is? Since he was presenting one of the major awards of the night, I wondered why Lady Gaga didn’t have the honor?

Congratulations to all the winners. Your screeners had the biggest effect.

And finally -- aren’t the Emmys supposed to be classy? Isn’t this a night to celebrate excellence in television? To showcase those individuals and shows that rise above the fray and make the industry proud? Instead, we have the Emmy host doing a motorboarding joke on a replica of the statuette itself. Yeah, we’re all “geniuses” in television.

62 comments :

Bill Avena said...

And once again, Louis CK, Pam Adlon, and "Bob's Burgers" are robbed.(huff, huff,rage)

Wendy M. Grossman said...

The middle-aged guys behind VEEP are British; they will work again, if only in Britain for British money.

And, er, Julian's last name is FELLOWES.

wg

Matt said...

I know this is supposed to be snark, but the shot at Amy Schumer is below the belt. I think she already knows she has a weight problem and not a typical Hollywood beauty. She is successful because she is a good writer.

Tony Meoli said...

Matt, unlike Amy, you could lighten up a bit. She has always said her job was to deliver belly laughs... and I believe she has! If I remember correctly, no one pulled any punches with John Candy - the man who immortalized the phrase, "Greed is Good".

All in all, terrific sum up Ken.

thx


The Bumble Bee Pendant said...

Matt, I don't think the joke was about her 'weight' but about her 'shoulders'.
Fullbacks have big shoulders.
Besides, snark is snark.
and besides, why is Amy the only one allowed to say something about herself?

Pat Reeder said...

I turned it off about 30 minutes in to watch "Frasier" reruns, so I salute your fortitude in sitting through the whole thing. I bugged out right after they gave the award for best comedy directing to the woman responsible for the "Transparent" pilot, still the only episode of that show I've forced myself to sit all the way through, and what a humorless ordeal it was. Tried watching a few more because I kept hearing how good it was, but it never gets any better. I liked Jeffrey Tambor, but I can watch him in other shows that aren't also populated with the most irritating, immature, self-absorbed characters since "Thirtysomething." First they nominate "Girls" for best comedy, now that. When did they redefine "comedy" to mean "laugh-free show filled with whiny, annoying characters that you really want to strangle"?

Anonymous said...

Hear, Hear Pat Reeder.

I feel the exact same way.

Kosmo13 said...

Wasn't Jeffrey Tambor already sometimes wearing women's clothes in his recurring role on Hill Street Blues? Perhaps that was his preparation for "Arrested Development" and "Transponder" (or whatever its called).

croquemore said...

I thought is was just me that had a problem with Transparent. Jeffrey Tambor is fantastic as is Bradley Whitford, but his kids? I wouldn't blame him if Mopa strangled them all with a scarf. I've forced myself through about half the episodes of the first season and not sure when I'm going back.

Anonymous said...
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Janice said...

I'm not trying to sound catty, but when I saw Amy Poehler and Amy Schumer arrive onstage to present the award (Ken included a screenshot), all I could think of was "Didn't this used to be a glamorous event?" Those dresses are so unflattering, their hair is beyond words, and no decorous lipstick or jewelry? What gives?

Chris said...

If only Andy Samberg had motorboarded the big Emmy. I thought his face was in her behind (not her breasts), which I took as a reference to that oh-so-tasteful moment with the newscaster's daughter (I honestly forget her name and I'm too lazy to Google it).

I only had time to vote in two categories this year, and neither of my 1st choices made it to the winner's circle. The love for "Game of Thrones" took me by surprise, though. I think you're right, Ken, and many voters thought "Mad Men" had been awarded enough. I don't agree, but it ain't the end of the world. Was I the only one who thought that the (finally!) awarded Jon Hamm looked heavily medicated?

Pat Reeder said...

Glad to hear some other people had the same reaction to "Transparent." I figured that if I dared give my honest opinion of it, I would be weirdly accused of being transphobic because the transsexual was the only character on the show that I liked. Practically everyone else on it is absolutely reprehensible.

Tim W. said...

I was just happy that Peter Dinklage won. I thought he got robbed last year and despite the fact his role wasn't nearly as meaty as last, he's the best thing on a great show.

Bob said...

Hamm thanked the incredible cast and crew, and even if he didn't single out Weiner, he has honored the guy at many, many events. He honestly seemed shell-shocked to even be up there.

Also, the people he thanked were parents of friends and others who helped him after his mother died when he was 10.

Joseph Scarbrough said...

Why is Amy Poehler a brunette now? I thought the trend of Hollywood blondes going brunette went out with the 2000s.

blinky said...

Speaking of Late Night host getting stiffed, Craig Ferguson go one 20 frame clip included in the Not Returning montage. His replacement, James Cordon, got to introduce the Accountants. He always looks like it is the first time he has been in front of a camera.

Wendy M. Grossman said...

Pat: I thought part of the point was the distorted family dynamics given that one of the parents had been guarding this huge secret all those years.

In any event, the reason it was submitted as a comedy was that the rules dictate that 30-minute shows are comedies, and 60-minute (for values of 30 and 60 that may vary according to number of commercials) shows are dramas.

wg

Ron Rettig said...

I found Samberg's monologue embarrassing and crude and turned the broadcast off .

blinky said...

I had no idea Lena (Sarah Conner,Cersei Lannister) Headey was a brunette!

Norm said...

I was doing other things while watching so it was a complete waste of my time.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/09/21/tv-ratings-sunday-emmy-awards-slip-from-2014-as-sunday-night-football-dominates/469614/

DwWashburn said...

Two surprises -- Mad Men didn't win Drama (Emmy loves to give Emmys to shows in their final year) and no inclusion of Yvonne Craig in the death piece.

Matt said...

@Bumble Bee Pendant

"why is Amy the only one allowed to say something about herself? "

Because self deprecation shows humility, attacking somebody for how they look is just mean.

"I don't think the joke was about her 'weight' but about her 'shoulders'.
Fullbacks have big shoulders"

She wasn't wearing shoulder pads, so how does the joke come off as acceptable.

I realize that Amy Schumer is a big girl and probably doesn't care. She is very popular right now. The only reason she has made it big is that she wrote her own jokes and insisted that she deliver them. But I still think those type of jokes are wrong.

Jeff Maxwell said...

"Lea DeLaria came dressed as Drew Carey."

Thanks for this Monday laugh-out-loud-funny. Look at that picture. She did. She really did. Maybe she bought it at CVS for Halloween.

Anonymous said...

>With all these “geniuses” how come shows now get a 1 share?

Because the geniuses are splitting the rating pool.

Anonymous said...

I think it is wrong to make comments about 'this type of joke is wrong'. Pretty soon there will be no comedy left, because comedians have to precensor themselves to avoid giving offense. That's probably why comedies aren't doing well right now.

chuckcd said...

Kelly Lange? Really? I must have been under a rock that year...

Charles H. Bryan said...

I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't care that much what the women dress like at these award shows, and I actively resent the people who issue grades or critiques (I'm looking at you, Joan Rivers' Ghost -- I'd also look at you, Entertainment Weekly, but I gave up looking at you about four years ago). The women should all just wear black gowns with their hair up, as the men all just wear black suits. I can forgive womens' hair and makeup not being perfect if I can forgive men who looked like they haven't shaved or combed/washed their hair in a few months.

I found the show entertaining enough -- I didn't have much of a rooting interest, other than Johnathan Banks and Gordon Smith. That episode of BETTER CALL SAUL (Five-O) was brilliant. I watched it a second time almost immediately after watching it the first time. It's one of those hour episodes that I'd recommend to anybody who doesn't feel like watching the whole series. "Okay, I get it, you don't have a week to devote to a show. Just watch this one hour. Please." For me, it's up there with the "Three Stories" episode from near the end of the first season of HOUSE, or "The Constant" from LOST, or the episode whose title and season I can't remember from HOMICIDE which is Andre Braugher interrogating a suspect for just about the whole hour. God damn, that was great. The "Shoebootie" episode of ALL IN THE FAMILY.

Hey, there's a Friday Question, Ken: Which episodes of series have burned themselves right into your mind as television at its best? Particularly if they represent the series in microcosm? A sort of Hall of Fame for individual episodes, even if the series wasn't necessarily great.

Charles H. Bryan said...

Oh, and by the way -- "Who are you bearing?" is one of those lines that made me laugh when I first read it, and then I got to thinking about it, and then I laughed even harder.

Paul Dushkind said...

Okay, I must be an idiot, because I don't get the remark about Clare Danes. She's not dressed anything like the Phantom of the Opera. She's not dressed anything like the comic-strip hero, except that she's in purple. Can anyone explain the joke to me?

Breadbaker said...

Might someone fill in a Seahawks fan on the Alex Trebek joke?

tvfats said...

Oh, you can be so darn frosty at times...BUT always funny...

Michael said...

Friday question: How big a star does an actor or actress need to be before they can just ignore the Emmys without worrying about hurting their careers?

Anonymous said...

Lady Gaga actually looked presentable.

Greg Curtis said...

"Classy," is so 2014. This is "the year of the Trump." Outlandish and inappropriate is the new black.

Igor said...

Predicate: No political humor offends me.

But like, there was nothing in the news about... I dunno, Hillary Clinton(?) that could have made its way into a comedy monologue?

Daniel said...

How big a star does an actor or actress need to be before they can just ignore the Emmys without worrying about hurting their careers?

I don't suppose it counts as ignoring the Emmy Awards, but in 1989, John Larroquette asked not to be considered for an Emmy after winning the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series award (NIGHT COURT) four years in a row. He subsequently picked up another one a few years later for a guest shot on THE PRACTICE, so apparently they didn't hold it against him.

Igor said...

Of course everyone is "a genius" - thus the creation of the Genius Bar.

Johnny Walker said...

Sounds like another Emmys I'm glad I missed! Thanks for the snark!

benson said...

Several thoughts...

Lots of great lines, Ken, but "Harold Reynolds was busy" was my favorite.

AP says 11.9 watched last night. Lowest numbers in however long.

@Charles H Bryan. If you want another one great episode example to check out, Ep. 2 of Sports Night. "The Apology" is outstanding.

Anonymous said...

Comedians always have to censor for their audience, the same way we all do

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but unflattering what it was. She probably listened to the wrong people, or didnt care. She did look like a football player. Broad shoulders can be an asset, but not in that dress.

Nana Lana said...

Wouldn't it be fun if all the individual winners (actors/writers/directors) from the prior year were required to come up with,and be in,the Emmy opening for the next year? It wouldn't make losing feel so bad.

Buttermilk Sky said...

First the Queen's hats, now Alex Trebek -- that John Oliver is one dangerous satirist. I wonder if he has any Dave Garroway jokes he's been saving up.

Yes, she is comedy royalty and it's Louis-DREYFUS -- like the mutual fund, which I believe is her family business.

emily said...

From the official list of really, really, really stupid rules: "30-minute shows are comedies, and 60-minute shows are dramas"

Let's see...That would make Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Tonight Show DRAMAS?
ABC, NBC and CBS news programs are COMEDIES? OK, yes. Sometimes.

Maybe all shows should be categorized based on CONTENT. Just a thought.

Nah. Too easy.

MikeK.Pa. said...

"No one I hate won."
Hate is too strong a word and life is short. You're better than that.

"Julia Louis-Dryfess is a comedy goddess,"
I second that emotion. Best sitcom on. Glad Tony Hale won as well.


"Lea DeLaria came dressed as Drew Carey."
I wish he'd do another sitcom.

"Oh, how I wish it was Ricky Gervais and not Jon Stewart who said, “You’ll never see me again.”
I enjoyed his BBC comedies, but his humor never translate well to awards shows.

"Amy Schumer looked like a fullback. Hopefully it was just the dress."
My team could use one. Also a QB and an offensive line.

"But Peter Dinklage is the first to insult most of them. He acknowledged “Jonathan Banks… and the rest.” Nice."
Maybe he was trying to keep it short.

"Glad to see Mel Brooks got a standing ovation."
Speaking of which, did his frequent in-home dinner companion, Carl Reiner, ever give you notes on you DVDS script?

"Instead, we have the Emmy host doing a motorboarding joke on a replica of the statuette itself."
I'm sure the demographic that Fox craves laughed.

Pat Reeder said...

To Wendy M. Grossman: Yeah, I get the part about the dysfunctional family dynamics, but it almost seems insulting to transsexuals even to suggest that the father's struggle with his sexuality was the reason his kids turned out to be that irredeemably awful. I'd say his offspring go beyond "results of dysfunction" and into the realm of "curse from Satan."

Also, any show that features a spoiled, bearded hipster dude in his thirties who thinks he's going to hit it rich by starting his own indie record label featuring hot young women doing whiny Lilith Fair-style covers of Jim Croce songs wants to make me hurl blunt objects at the screen. Maybe that's partly because I actually run an indie record label. Nah, it's the bearded dude.

Greg Ehrbar said...

Ken, I think you misunderstood what Peter Dinklage meant when he said "Jonathan Banks and all the rest."

He was retroactively honoring...wait for it...Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson.

You know. They were on that drama about seven stranded castaways.

gottacook said...

Charles H. Bryan: The Homicide episode with Pembleton and Bayliss' long interrogation of "the Araber" is from the first batch of 9 episodes, early 1993: "Three Men and Adena." It's evidently drawn from an incident in the David Simon nonfiction book on which the series is based.

Which brings the following to mind: Why didn't they get Andre Braugher rather than Samberg to host the Emmy show? He'd have been great.

D. McEwan said...

"Wouldn’t you love just once to see an actor fire his agent during his acceptance speech? 'You told me OLIVE KITTRIDGE was a piece of crap. I should take BAD JUDGE. Thank God I didn’t listen to you.'”

Yesterday, Jack Larson passed away, too late to make the "In Memorium" montage. If ever there was a guy who wanted to fire his agent, it was Jack. A playwright and an opera librettist, the lover of James Bridges, a friend of Christopher Isherwood and a member of the Gay Intellectual Mafia of 1950s and '60s Hollywood, he is, to his annoyance, forever remembered (And beloved) as "Jimmy Olson" on the Adventures of Superman.

Jack Larson took that role, back in 1951, that basically killed his acting career, because his agent told him: "This silly kid's show has no sponsor. It'll never get on the air. No one will EVER see it!" Jack took the money and shot 26 episodes secure in the belief that a paycheck and camera experience was all it would ever be. For two years, it looked like his agent was right. Then Kellogg's bought it, and we all know the rest.

Jack learned never to listen to his agent. (R.I.P., Jack. I loved you and always will.)

Norm said...

"Preliminary numbers have the Fox ceremony at 11.9 million viewers, the lowest audience recorded for an Emmys telecast."

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By Ken Levine said...

Doug,

Wow. Sorry to hear that Jack Larson passed. On Emmy night. The last time I saw him he sat next to me at the Governor's Ball following an Emmys ceremony. He was a lovely man.

Canda said...

Jack Larson's passing would not have been highlighted in the media, if it were not for "Jimmy Olsen".

The world learned of his other accomplishments, because they read the obituary. And this may help those
productions live on.

To insult the role, which obviously holds a great place in the hearts of many people, is elitism gone bad. And
what acting roles did the show actually kill? That's pure conjecture. He achieved success in other areas, and
going in that direction was probably a blessing.

D. McEwan said...

"Canda said...
The world learned of his other accomplishments, because they read the obituary. And this may help those productions live on.

To insult the role, which obviously holds a great place in the hearts of many people, is elitism gone bad. And what acting roles did the show actually kill? That's pure conjecture. He achieved success in other areas, and going in that direction was probably a blessing."


Tell it to Jack. It is NOT "Pure Conjecture." HE was quite vocal about how the type-casting from the role killed his acting career, untill finally, after an extremely unpleasant casting session with Mervin LeRoy, Jack threw in the towel and quit acting altogether. It maybe "Pure conjecture" to you, but to him, and to those of us who know more about his life than just an obituary headline, it is a long-proven fact.

Whether he would have done the writing he did with a more lucrative acting career going or not is unknowable, so we can't "Credit" The Adventures of Superman with driving him into writing by making him unemployable as an actor. I suspect a man as creative, intelligent and intellectual as Jack would have written anyway.

It took decades for him to mellow his attitude towards the TV show to the point where he would let Noel Neill drag him along to Superman fan events, and that ended after a sloppy fan with a sharpie ruined a multi-thousand dollar white suit of his.

As to "The world" learning of his writing career only from his obituaries in the last 24-hours, thousands of us were already aware of it and had been for decades. He'd been a produced playwright for half a century, and an opera librettist for only a short while less long. Lots and lots of people saw those plays and operas. Lots of us knew of him as a great deal more than just Jimmy Olson well before yesterday.

I loved him on The Adventures of Superman and always will (And off screen as well), but he hated it. Why don't you go to his funeral and tell his corpse his attitude was "Elitism gone bad"?

Albert Giesbrecht said...

Not that it matters, but Jessica Holmes is Canadian, and was for a few seasons one of the cast members of The Royal Canadian Air Farce...oh wait, that's a different Jessica Holmes...never-mind!

Scott Mumford said...

I think you pretty much nailed it on every point, Ken. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that would have enjoyed "Transparent" more if it had focused less on those irritating kids and more on Jeffrey's character. (I had to struggle to get to episode 7 or so, when I finally had to bail.)

And I'm worried about Amy Schumer's weight. She's clearly gaining, and that's just not a good thing. (Lest you think I'm some kind of sexist beast, I've been worrying about John Lassiter's weight for at least a decade. Ditto, Val Kilmer, Kathleen Turner, etc...)

I like Andy, and wanted to be entertained, but this just wasn't a very good show...

Unknown said...

"I thought Sarah Paulson was going to win but I think her two heads canceled each other out. "

There's always the company softball game. This year it's a double-header, she can pitch both.

Don Reed (quoting Bennett Cerf quoting who?)

Wendy M. Grossman said...

Pat Reeder: I said (or meant to), the *secrecy* not the fact of what the secret was. Parents and children have fallen out over much more common secrets. If my father suddenly (from my perspective) began living as a woman at 70 I think I'd be legitimately freaked out.

wg

Wendy M. Grossman said...

PS: Since I couldn't stand ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT I never looked at the revival season 4. Now I have. I can understand saying that Tambor played a character with a similar *story*. I cannot understand saying that he played the same *character*.

wg

David G. said...

I watched the "In Memoriam" segment, and was relieved to learn that TV's popular "Batgirl", Yvonne Craig, did not really die recently as I'd been lead to believe.....

Sharon said...

Roger Rees should have been included in "In Memoriam." He was part of one of the best tv shows ever (& one of my favorite episodes, "Indoor Fun with Robin and Sammy.")