"Well, I stand up next to a mountain ..." ASSIGNMENT NEWS and MORE, MORE, MORE!

Finally ...!

I have an assignment at NBC!

So after a series of increasingly intense interviews, I figured it was time to once again play the waiting game while the Powers That Be mulled over their choice for the Primetime page assignments. But (gasp!), their decision as rendered with surprising quickness, and somehow, someway, I actually got the job! Yes, I can now proudly announce that next Monday I'll start work at NBC's primetime development department, basically as an assistant to an assistant of the VP of series development. Sure, it will mostly be grunt work, but I'll be hanging with the big dogs, so who knows where this could lead. It could be a big step, or it could be that in three months time the assignment is over and I'm back to giving tours. Who knows. But whatever, it's got a lot of potential, that's for sure.

So here's a quick FAQ to answer those burning questions you may have.

Q: What is primetime development?
A: Basically, as I understand it so far, it's the dept. that evaluates the shows that NBC has in the pipeline, and decides what to go forward with and what to give the axe to. They meet with writers, producers, etc. to determine what shows will be finding a home on NBC.

Q: Will I now be raking in the big bucks?
A: Nope. The big-time cash-money will not yet be a-flowin', as I'm still an NBC Page and still subject to our rear-inducingly low paid-by-te hour salaries, and still eligible to be pulled to give the occasional tour or work the occasional Leno, Ellen, or Carson, so I am not retiring the ployester uniform just yet. But I'l ldefinitely be working A LOT more hours than I am now. (Every part of me doesn't like that prospect, except the part that likes to get paid. Damn the part of me that still refuses to enjoy waking up early! This isn't college anymore ...)

Q: How soon can we expect big changes at NBC?
A: Almost immediately. Within days I plan on implementing a full-scale house-cleaning of the network. We'll be scrapping Martha, ditching Law and Order, and putting Surface to rest. In their place will be "Cyborg Doctor," " Real Animal Cage Fights," and "The Danny Baram Funtime Hour."

Seriously, it's been a long and sometimes grueling quest to navigate the rough waters of the NBC page program, and now finally I can take full advantage of its opportunities and go on assignment. So I think this calls for a:

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And hey, thanks to all my fellow pages and other friends who were so supportive and who were rooting for me. If they only knew how much money I had to fork over to get this assignment ... KIDDING! But yeah, it was kind of funny how on Wed. I didn't even step into the page offices until like 2 pm, and so everyone knew about it before I did, and was just waiting around to see my reaction. In other circumstances I may have broke down and wept like a schoolgirl, or dropped to my knees and pumped my fists to the heavens in a Michael Jordan meets Mick Jagger-like gesture, but really the whole suddenness of the thing just took me off guard, and I didn't even know what to think. Of course, having been raised by neurotic Jewish parents, I was quickly thinking things like "how am I gonna screw this up?" and "will this interfere with my daily eating habits?" Oy.

Before I get too sappy for ya', there's nothing like a nice grim n' gritty Jewish holiday to put things in perspective, namely Yom Kippur, and its yearly reminder that we are all sinners and need to pray for the sanctity of our very souls. So yes, I chose to bask in the glory of my new with-assignment status by going to synagogue, fasting, and asking forgiveness from God for a virtual cornucopia of sins that I may or may not have (but probably did) commit in the last year.

Honestly, I think that Yom Kippur is kind of an annual wake up call to look at the big picture and actually consider questions like "Am I a good person or a total a-hole?" I think that the whole world should be forced to observe Yom Kippur and actually look inward with some degree of accountability for one's own behavior. Of course, it's probably the ones who are actually decent people who even bother to feel guilty about the stuff they've done wrong, while the real jerks are able to remain that way because they probably aren't really inclined to pause to really consider themselves, let alone spend the majority of a day in a synagogue fasting and praying for forgiveness.

Anyways:

I hope that everyone has a Shana Tovah - a sweet and happy new year. May everyone remain happy and healthy. May the world arrive at a better place than it is now. Let our country - America, Israel, and all others who practice freedom work together towards common goals under strong and wise leadership. Let us all enjoy the company of friends and family. Let us strive to be good people and to practice Tikun Olam - the healing of the world.

Alright, well there's my Yom Kippur spiel.

On to some OTHER (LESS WEIGHTY) STUFF:

AT WORK:

Aside from all this assignment rigamaroll, it's been a pretty cool week at The Tonight Show.

Aside from seeing The Killers kick ass earlier this week, and other cool stars like The Rock, yesterday I got to check out Ms. Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell, as she appeared on Leno. Decent interview, though it was pretty short and not much conversation about the show, which I am sad to say seemed to be mostly unknown and/or unappreciated by the Tonight Show crowd. Too bad, because ...

TV STUFF:

- This week's VERONICA MARS was, once again, awesome! Man, I agree with some others who say that this season is getting REALLY dark. But, I love it. Man, this week's darkly comical scene with Mr. Casablancas being forced to flee his company via helicopter after being exposed for real estate fraud - that was great! Dark, sure, but pretty topical too. I think part of the reason for this show's greatness is that it really does capture the zeitgeist, ya know? Scandalous actors, class warfare, shady businessmen - Veronica has it all. And oh yeah, unlike it's 9 pm Wed. competition, LOST, this show HAS a building, growing, spider-web of a mystery that I actually have complete faith in. You don't get much more tightly-plotted than this - subplots coming out the ears, all weaving together to form ... could it be? The best show on TV right now? Check it out and see what you think. My grade: A

- Yeah, like I said, LOST is totally struggling right now in my eyes. This week's ep was just SO .... SLOOOWWWWWWWWW. Even the presence of DJ Qualls couldn't save a boring series of Hurley-based flashbacks that really added nothing to the overall character. This is a typical LOST conversation lately:

CHARLIE: Tell me about the hatch.
LOCKE: Okay.
CHARLIE: What's in it?
LOCKE: A button. You have to keep pressing it.
CHARLIE: Or what?
LOCKE: Something bad happens.
CHARLIE: How do you know?
LOCKE: I have faith.
CHARLIE: Oh, cool.

Sorry, but this sucks. This show is on a path to really sucking. If the characters and mysteries of the island hadn't been built up so well through most of last season, I would have no patience for this current wave of lameness. My grade: C

- Meanwhile, SMALLVILLE is enjoying a second renaissance, apparently. A third really good episode in a row? Whaaa?!?! Lots of stuff happening here, but the case is holding things together nicely, and they are all doing a pretty SUPER (ahem) job of bringing these characters to life. The ongoing plot threads are actually COOL and INTERESTING right now, unlike last season, and the stakes are higher, and the show just seems more mature, yet still more fun than most other stuff on TV (see LOST, where it seems to pain the writers to actually have to deal with a little thing called PLOT). My grade: B+

- Oh yeah, I give a big JEER to TV GUIDE for changing its classic format to a new magazine-sized look. Unfortunately, the articles are still mostly craptastic fluff pieces, and unlike its much cooler and more respected British equivalent, the venerable Radio Times, TV Guide is hardly the place to go to get cutting edge news or reviews. At least they used to have the handy, pint-sized format going for them. Now, nada. What a waste of paper. And this is coming from someone who used to eagerly await the Fall Preview issue each year (what, you can't be surprised by that ...).

WHAT ELSE?

- Why the lack of political commentary these days, you ask? Well, our current national scene is so pathetic that there's really no need for me to comment, as the failings and flaws of the Bush administration are now painfully obvious to just about all but the most hardened observers. All I know is that I shudder to think about the monumental rulings that will be coming from our Bush-league Supreme Court in the next few years and even decades (as once yer Supreme Court, it's 4 Lyfe, baby).

- INFINITE CRISIS # 1 Review:
It's the holy grail of geekdom - DC Comics' sequel to the Crisis On infinite Earths, the biggest, most important, most epic universe-spanning miniseries of the last 25 years. Actually, it's been exactly 20 years since the original Crisis, and so DC is breaking out the big guns once again and producing yet another earths-shattering series set to once again change the face of comicdom. So after literally YEARS of buildup (Unofficially kicked off in last year's heralded but controversial IDENTITY CRISIS), FIVE lead-in miniseries, and an alomst INFINITE number of scattered crossover issues in titles ranging from Superman to Wonder Woman to Robin, WAS IT WORTH THE HYPE?!?! After looking at those beautiful twin covers by Jim Lee and George Perez, after gazing open-mouthed at the stonning interior art by Phil Jiminez, and after rushing through a Geoff Johns-penned 30 page opener that read like 10 Hollywood blockbusters jammed into one book bursting with history, pathos, and emotion ... the answer is a resounding YES! This is it folks. You've got The Spectre running wild in Gotham, a fleet of OMACs gathering for something called Project: Truth and Justice, an intergalactic WAR going on in the Polaris galaxy, and wait - TWO Lex Luthors running around, each forming their own Society of Super-Villains? Dayum, business is really picking up, and we barely even know what the hell's going on yet, as this is just issue One of Seven. But I do know that the battle between the Society and the Freedom Fighters (can you say Uncle Sam (yes, THAT Uncle Sam) vs. Deathstroke?!?!) was awesome, and I can say that Batman telling Superman that "the last time you actually inspired anyone was when you were DEAD." is an early candidate for line of the year. And while the last page will have comix newbies saying "Huh?" and longtime fans beating their chests in spasms of joy, it definitely showed that big things are a-coming. So yeah, if you haven't picked up any comics in a while, or even if you've NEVER read a comic but wondered what was so special about 'em, then THIS is a good place to start, because, well, it's like the biggest comic book story ever! Or, at the least, it's gonna be one hell of a ride. My grade for Issue 1: A -. Butwhen all is said and done, this could be the opening chapter of something truly special. RUN OUT and BUY IT. And ask me if you have questions (you'll probably be wondering things like "what's a multiverse?" and "who is Conner Kent?"). I'll try to explain.

Okay, fanboys - now that I'm a bigtime NBC playa I got to go and do bigtime things, like sleep. Or wait, don't I get an assistant to do that stuff for me? Peace. Leave me a comment and I'll have it forwarded to my manager. Yeah ... that's the ticket.

Savin' The Drama For My Mama (and my blog)

So much drama in the N.B.C. ... (lay down your own rhyme here).

Man the last week of work/life has felt right out of Saved By the Bell or something. There's been barely a moment, until now, to just relax and take it all in, ups and downs and all.

Most importantly though, today was my interview for the NBC primetime series development assignment, basically a new assignment just created and in need of a ready and willing page to answer the call of duty. Honestly, who knows how it will turn out. I'm just ready for some kind of finality at this point, after having three interviews and one sudden-death application in the last few weeks. But I'm hoping for the best, so once again, all I can say is ... stay tuned.

Today was kind of cool in that I got a chance to explore the vast underground tunnels that lie below NBC studios in Burbank, connecting various sections of the facility via a series of labrynthine hallways and corridors. Kinda cool, though unfortunately we couldn't find the rumored secret rec room that Jay Leno and others are said to use on occasion.

Hey, lots of kickassness at the Tonight Show lately. Monday saw Kiera Knightly, aka the bounty hunter Domino, chat up Jay - posh Bri'ish accent and all. Plus, The Killers rocked out hard with that "I got soul but I'm not a soldier" song. Today saw The Rock electrify the millions ... and millions of The Rock's fans. Actually, today the studio was the emptiest I've ever seen it, as we had many empty seats. Hmm, just like the WWE circa 2001 - 2002. Well, despite their being like oly one or two hardcore Rock fans in the house, it was still a good interview. Interesting how Dwayne Johnson said he used to equate success with owning a Rolex watch. Wonder if that had something to do with the stylings and profilings of a certain Nature Boy? Oh, and how funny was the 11 year old kid from The Greatest Game Ever played doing impressions of Jay, dropping the People's Elbow, and talking about how he doesn't like the Yankees? Bwahahaha. Well, anyways Doom looks like a pretty sweet 1980's style shoot 'em up balls to wall action movie. Gotta love it. And then, tommorow, VERONICA MARS herself, Kristen Bell, makes an appearance, which should be a good time.

Yesterday however, I am sad to say that one of the ugliest, most disturbing incidents I 've ever seen since working at NBC occured while working with the Tonight Show line. I won't go into the full details, but basically, it just really saddened me that every day we let all manner of obnoxious hangers-on into the show, no questions asked, via their NBC connections or whatever, and yesterday, we denied entry to a group of ticket-holding women who were late to get in line. Why were they late? Because one of the women was just returning from her chemotherapy. She had a terminal form of cancer. She was dying, and she wanted to see The Tonight Show. I tried to reassure her that we'd get her into the show, and for all intents and purposes they SHOULD have gotten in. But bureauocracy and "the rules" got in the way, and before I knew it the studio was full and they didn't even get into the show, despite having "guaranteed" tickets. One of the most depressing things I've ever seen. Anyways, sorry for the downer, but it was one of those horrible moments that just made me want to leave work then and there. I guess stuff like that just happens sometimes.

Anyways, on to other things ...

Gotta say that tonight's GILMORE GIRLS was quite simply one of the best hours of TV I've seen in a long time. The mix of humor, heart, and genuine emotion came together to pack a really powerful punch. And what about the grandparents on this show, Richard and Emily? The actors who play these roles deserve so much credit for bringing these wonderful characters to life, and making you alternatively hate and love them as if they were a part of your own family. Man, what a powerful performance by Edward Hermann as Richard tonight (Emmy!) - I about stood up and cheered when he chewed out Logan's sleazy dad in defense of Rory. And how funny of a character is Kirk? There are few other shows out there that bring out the emotion of everyday life, the humor, the relationships, the struggles, like this one. What a great episode. My grade: A

MY NAME IS EARL continues to ride the line between mildly funny and really really clever/funny. I don't know, it just isn't clicking on all cylinders at this point. Once again there were some decently funny moments tonight, but mostly it's just recycled sitcom plots dusted off and fed to Earl - a breakout character in search of some good situations to bring the comedy. My grade: C+

THE OFFICE on the other hand is really hitting its stride. Another almost painfully dark episode that still managed to be awkwardly hilarious. Dwight is now officially the breakout character of the show, and the writing seems to keep improving to include a plethora of memorable / quotable lines with each new episode. My grade: B+

Tommorow: INFINITE CRISIS is here!
VERONICA MARS ON THE TONIGHT SHOW!

- Oh, the humanity!

Now You're Playing With Power

Well this was one of those weekends that I'm going to need the week to recover from.

First of all ... KNOTT'S SCARY FARM on Friday. A horrifyingly good time was had by all, but I have to say that by the time I got home, at an hour past 3 am, I was so unbelievably tired. I'm talking cannot even think straight tired. As in, I slept most of the next day tired. I guess that's just the plight of the working man. But anyways, I definitely recommend Knotts in October. The haunted mazes were pretty sweet, and the place was just dripping with Halloween atmosphere. The "Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns From Outer Space in 3-D" was definitely a highlight, like something out of some insane post-Ringling Brothers acid trip. Also gotta love "Lore of the Vampire" (complete with goth nightclub scenes!) and "Red Beard's Revenge," as you simply can't go wrong with undead pirates. Also gotta recognize the awesomeness that was the "Ghostrider" wooden rollrcoaster, which despite a way-too-long line was awesomely intense, old-school style.

So yeah, it was a scary good time, except for one brief incident involving an asshole security guard who almost kicked me out of the park for no reason, because he thought I was cutting in line, when all I did was leave the line for one minute before coming back and joining my friends. As someone who deals with lines of people every day, I could see the absurdity in not letting someone rejoin their party in line (hence the fact that at the Tonight Show we ask people to tell us if people are missing from their party in line so we can account for that), and so I wasn't having any of it. Luckily, this power-mad jerk didn't get his way and I was able to remain in line, but I did have to speak with this guy's superiors, and though they tried to explain that the guy was only doing his job (what? his job was to be a dick and harass people?), they clearly saw that he was overstepping his bounds and allowed me to stay in line. But hey, I came close to getting kicked out of Knott's Berry Farms for no reason whatsoever. Gotta love the the idiots who think it's their perogative to ruin others' good times just so they can feel important. Oh well, that one incident didn't come close to putting a damper on the evening, as despite that and also my extreme fatigue it turned out to be a memorable NBC page excursion.

Saturday I mostly did nothing but I did get out to Barney's Beanery in Hollywood to help celebrate Patrick D's birthday with a variety of recent BU alumni. Once again, good times.

Oh and how about those Red Sox? Dammit, wha' happened? I guess that it's only fitting for a team such as the Sox that winning a World Series turned out to be a one-time-only deal, but they could have at least made a better run for it. And dayum, talk about a long game, how about that Houston-Atlanta game? See, this is why I am not a huge baseball fan. This game was so freakin' long and slow. Sure, it was cool to see Clemens kicking ass out of the bullpen, but baseball really should have some type of sudden death situation to prevent games from lasting this long. I almost wish there was a time limit for pitchers between pitches - do you really need a full minute or two between every pitch? While there's nothing like being at a baseball game live and in person, some of these games are just painful to watch on TV, at least to me.

With baseball winding down though I am starting to look forward to the NBA's return, and I hope that this season will be a real changing of the guard, with teams like Pheonix and Cleveland and Orlando finally stepping up to the top of the league. But of course, the old stalwarts like San Antonio will likely once again be the favorites. As long as the Lakers continue to suck, all will be right with the world. Sad though how all my old favorite players are now retired and the Shaqs, Duncans, Iversons, and Garnetts are suddenly left as the elder statesmen of the league.

TV STUFF:

SNL: taped sat.'s ep and watched it ... sorry but it still beings the suck. Some of the new ppl seem to have some talent and potential, which is good. But the writing is still piss poor and the sketches still go on for way too long despite not being funny. My grade: C -

Veronica Mars: Wow, saw the 2nd ep of the season on Saturday and it really started to suck me into the new mystery. Cool, if not totally unexpected ending, and they are really building towards something big. My grade: A -

AT WORK:

Friday's tonight show saw Rene Russo, Dominic Monahgan of Lost, and Wynonna Judd. Who knew that Wynonna kind of rocks? Not me, but I'll fess up to it, the woman is large, in charge, and can kick some ass when called upon.

This week on the Tonight Show: THE ROCK, KRISTEN BELL, THE KILLERS, and WEEZER! Hot damn, business is picking up.

But what about those ASSIGNMENTS?!?! Still no word, hopefully something soon, hopefully something good.

OTHER STUFF:

- Nerds unite! Wednesday is the big day, when finally, the INFINITE CRISIS is upon us!

- Thursday: The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Definitely gonna be some hardcore praying going on.

- Next weekend: The first ever All-Star All-Page All-Skillz Basketball game?!?!

Tune IN NEXT TIME. SAME BAT TIME. SAME BAT CHANNEL.

"Has anyone seen that movie Tron?"

Here I am, rock me like a hurricane.

And in answer to this post's title, I say: "No, no, no, no, no, yes ... I mean, no."

Man, this week has been like one of those weeks in college with 5 papers due and no sleep and lots of late nights and Pepsi and pizza and stuff.

First of all though, SHANA TOVAH to all my fellow members of the Jew Crew. Hope everyone had a happy Rosh Hashanna and a sweet new year.

I did attend services this year at Temple Emanu El in Burbank, and it was definitely a kind of surreal experience to be going alone to a strange synagogue on Rosh Hashanna. But at least I did get to do some much-needed praying, because you know how it is, sometimes I gots to pray just to make it through the day. I did bump into the very kind Grodsky family, whose Passover seder I partook in thanks to their generosity back in April. They were nice enough to invite me to their home again for a post-services lunch, and though it was a little weird suddenly being forced into a social situation with a bunch of strangers, including the temple's rabbi and cantor, it was a nice time, and hey, it was something different, that's for sure.

Unfortunately my Rosh Hashanna eve, usually a time to do nothing at home and bask in the glow of a big meal and another Jewish holiday gone by, was spent frantically working on an application of sorts for the primetime programming assignment at NBC. I won't go into details, but it's just funny and weird how writing this relatively short thing became this huge endeavor. I felt so out of practice in terms of writing something on a deadline - it was definitely a college flashback moment. And it was just like old times, with a bottle of soda on one side and a bag of chips on the other - the accessories needed to help will myself to get the application done before it was due the following day. Yeah, it was definitely a sign that I'd been out of school for over a year now.

Otherwise I've had a pretty light schedule at work. Been working the Tonight Show and Ellen. Saw Paul Walker on both shows, heard the same story about his encounter with a Portuguese Man O'War both times. Saw My Name is Earl's Jamie Pressly on Leno, and also the Drrty Girl herself, Christina Aguilara, on Ellen, performing a souldul melody along with piano legend Herbie Hancock. Saw George Clooney today on Leno - his new movie about Edward R. Murrow and the Joe McCarthy hearings looks pretty interesting - I've always been really intrigued by that particular historical era, especially the effects of McCarthyism and the media's response to it. Also saw Blue Man Group on Leno today, always cool, though their performance was a bit lacking this time around. Still, the musical highlight, and biggest surprise, for me recently was definitely a performance by American Idol's Constantine a few days ago, who did an awesome rendition of Queen's legendary Bohemian Rhapsody, backed up vocally by the cast of We Will Rock You - the Queen-based musical which I can testify kicks lots of ass. I am not an American Idol fan, but this was a really great performance of a classic song.

Basically I'm just going with the flow at work until I hear anything about these assignments. Until then I'm just trying to enjoy it while I'm here.

TV REVIEWS:

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: Hilarious episode. Super Dave Osbourne as Jeffrey Tambor's doppledanger! Scott Baio with the self-deprecating humor! Steve Holt! Charlize Theron! Tobias is a combination analyst and therapist - an analrapist!!! Genious I tell you, genious! Watch this show, please! My grade: A

MY NAME IS EARL: Best episode of Earl yet, in my opinion. Good mix of humor and plot, best laughs of the series so far, and the cast is really starting to shine. The quality and sharpness of the writing still has some catching up to do with the great premise and awesome cast, however. My grade: B+

PRISONBREAK: Hot damn, that was some intense action. This is easily the best new show of the season, with an awesome cast, the most evil, vile villains on TV (that white supremicist redneck guy is FREAKY). Lots of cool action, great character moments. Of all the FOX shows that are going ot be preempted by baseball, this is going to be the hardest one to miss. My grade: A

GILMORE GIRLS: Man I love the characters on this show, they are just so real and well-developed. That being said, I hate Logan and I can't wait for next episode when the grandparents side with Lorelai and lay the smackdown on that preppy jerk. Yeah, I am pretty sucked into this show, good ep this week, they are really building things up well. My grade: A -

THE OFFICE: This may have been the darkest episode yet, and I like it. Rain Wilson is just kicking all kinds of ass as Dwight on this show, and he is easily becoming the standout character here, providing the best lines and biggest laughs. You honestly start to feel bad for Steve Carell here, which is a step forward in giving him as Michael some depth. The Jim character still annoys me though - so far Jim-Pam is no Tim-Dawn. My grade: B+

SMALLVILLE: I fully expected this episode to revert back to last season's suckiness after the awesome season opener, but lo and behold it was pretty good. Darn good even. The Lex versus Clark stuff here was really well done, and it's cool to see the antagonism between the two really develop. I can't believe how much less annoying Lana is now that she's rid of Jason and all that witch crap. Plus, some cool supervillains. My grade: A -

and finally ...

LOST: Okay, rant time. Now let me first say that yes, I am as hooked on this show as anyone. I can't deny that it has great characters, great production, and a mystery that keeps me coming back every week and eagerly anticipating each new episode. And yes, I understand that the writers must keep many things mysterious - nobody wants everything spelled out all at once. And I give them credit - this ep explained A LOT about the island's nature. BUT ... What the hell? Do they have to write the characters as morons for the sake of keeping things mysterious? In the wake of the big revelations about the island, is anyone talking about it? No, they are having philisophical debates about wheter to push a freaking button! It reminded me of that Ren and Stimpy episode where Stimpy can't decide whether or not to press the shiny red button that may or may not cause the universe to implode. Basically, while it was cool to see the Rsident Evil-style video explaining ever so vaguely the history of the island, the coolness of this was negated by a ton of things going on here that were just frustratingly moronic. It seems like the Lost writers are trying to channel Ray Bradbury and do these vague science fiction morality plays. But sorry guys, you are not Ray Bradbury - you can't have your characters seriously investigate the island one episode and then, when confronted with the answers, just act like nothing important has happened. The whole thing with "the others" is just stupid. Why doesn't anyone ask who these others are and where they come from? It's also kind of insulting that they are making the other group of survivors, in reality just ordinary people, look like these weird island savages just to make them seem dangerous. And the flashbacks this ep were kind of pointless as well. As much as I think that Terry O'Quinn may be the best actor on TV today, this ep's Locke-centric flashbacks just didn't have the punch or the pure greatness of earlier efforts like "Walkabout." As for the video ... sure, I was enthralled like everyone else, and I of course echoed Locke's sentiment that "we're going th ohave to watch that again." But come on, an "incident" happened? Please, explain. I don't know, it just feels like we are being jerked around here, and the writing of the show is reflecting a constant need to just throw stuff out there rather than set up a consistent and solid plot. But yeah, I am hooked, so I'm with this show for now. But damn if it isn't one of the most frustrating shows I've ever watched. My grade: C+

No Veronica Mars this week as it was preempted by baseball ...

Speaking of which, GO RED SOX.

Tommorow:

It's an NBC Page trip to Knotts' Scary Farm! A fright-tastic time is sure to be had by all, even if I'm sure to be pretty tired by the time we enter the gates after a long day of pagedom.

Continuing with the theme of getting into the Halloween spirit, I leave you with a question to ponder: Addams Family or The Munsters? And why?

I gotta go with the Munsters. Why? One word: Grandpa.

Burbank's Burning - Birthday Aftermath - and: History of Violence Review

Well, well, well ...

Hellfire and brimstone! You may have heard that over the weekend these wildfires spread to right here in Burbank, and there was, as the song goes, fire on the mountain.

Want to say a quick thank-you to everyone who came out on Saturday to the Hard-Rockin' Birthday Bash. While it did prove to be a more-difficult-than expected endeavor to plan, it turned out to be a kickass time, so a big thanks to everyone who showed up and made b-day number 23 a memorable one. I'd say we had probably over 30 people who showed up at some point in the night, including solid representations from the NBC page program and from BU. So for those of you who came to rock, I salute you.

Now, it's back to reality. Or at least whatever passes for reality 'round these parts. This week should be eventful, as there may be some news regarding assignments at work, and of course the High Holidays kick into gear on Tuesday. And hey, it's October, which is kind of weird as here in sunny LA there's fires burning, as opposed to in New England, where a chill begins to permeate the air this time of year, the leaves begin to turn color and fall off the trees, and it really begins to, well, to feel like Halloween. But I do love Halloween (big surprise there), so irregardless of whether you're in Boston, Bloomfield, Burbank, or Bismark, crank up the scary music, eat some candy, do the Time Warp, and let the countdown begin.

One of the best things to do to mentally prepare oneself for the Halloween season is to set the right atmosphere by keying up some quality monster-jams. I know I have my "Halloween" category all lined up and ready to go on Winamp (yes, I still use Winamp). So, in honor of Halloween, I present to you:

DANNY'S TOP 13 SCARY-ASS ROCK SONGS (and no I don't mean in the way that Mmmbop or anything by David Hassehoff is scary - that's a whole other category):

1.) Alice Cooper - Feed My Frankenstein
2.) Michael Jackson - Thriller
3.) The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For the Devil
4.) Sam the Sham - Little Red Riding Hood
5.) Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
6.) Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark
7.) Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl
8.) Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley
9.) Tool - My Shadow
10.) Kiss - God of Thunder
11.) Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
12.) Metallica - Enter Sandman

and of course ...

13.) Bobby Picket and the Cryptkickers - The Monster Mash

AND THEN ...

Hey, I gotta tell you all about an amazing movie that everyone whould see ...

So here's my:

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE REVIEW:

You know, it's been a long time since I've seen a movie that wasn't so much about plot or action as it was about IDEAS. And I don't mean narrow ideas like character studies, but big, epic, philisophical ideas. This is a movie about a man and his story, sure, but more than most movies, this is a film that works on a number of levels, telling a personal story that has huge, almost cosmic metaphorical meaning. Like the title suggests, this is a somewhat violent movie, but it's also ABOUT violence, about the nature of violence - how is it instigated? How is it propagated? How is it both glorified and condemned - considered a necessary evil but also a tool of righteousness? On one level, this movie is about Viggo Mortensen as Tom Stall - a Rockwellian family man who kills two criminals to defend his small-town diner, and then becomes a reluctant hero, and then a target for some angry mobsters seeking revenge. But in the course of this absorbing movie, directed with an air of detached surreality by David Cronenberg, the questions begin to mount, and they begin to lead to a number of startling revelations about who Tom Stall really is, and how a seemingly ordinary man was capable of such efficient displays of violence. But Tom Stall's story soon becomes something more - a parable about the nature of violence. It's a story about survival of the fittest, and about how civilized societies do so many uncivil things in the name of justice. And it's a story about America - about how under a facade of innocence and moral purity lies an inherent predilication for violence and an unhealthy obsession with the idea that might makes right. Yep, this movie gives you something to think about.

What makes it all work though are the phenomenal performances from the actors. Viggo Mortenson is superb - his transformation from everyman to violent antihero is subtle but shocking at the same time. And Viggo's amazing performance is only augmented by the brilliant way i nwhich Cronenberg lays out the story. Like a good book, or like the graphic novel which this is based on, we see scenes from the first half of the movie parallelled later on with contrasting scenes, creating startling juxtapostions. For example, there is an almost uncomfortably realistic sex scene at the beginnning of the movie - later on, a similarly uncomfortable scene occurs, but this one completely different from the first - showing Tom Stall's transformation from a loving husband and father into an animalistic, almost primitive aggressor. It's almost a little hard to watch at times, but there's some pretty profound stuff going on. But don't get me wrong, this may be a pretty deep movie but it doesn't skimp on the ass-kicking, which often comes in the form of Ed Harris, who is creepily cool here as a scarred mobster with a mysterious vendetta against Tom. Harris, as usual, is great, and owns the screen whenever he appears. And then there's William Hurt, an underrated actor who is one of my favorites from his roles in movies like Body Heat and Dark City. In a very short amount of screen time, Hurt absolutely rules it, acting his ass off and almost stealing the entire movie. I won't give away who he plays, but let's just say that business really starts to pick up once he enters the picture. In addition, the rest of the supporting cast is great. Maria Bello is great as the wife of Tom Stall. She takes the part and really makes the most of it, and becomes a lot more than just the typical suffering / angsty wife-to-the-hero character. She pours her heart into this role and leaves an impression. Honestly, I think that Viggo, Ed Harris, William Hurt, and Maria Bello could and maybe should all be nominated for Oscars for this movie - that's how good they are here. Special note must also go to the young actor who plays Stall's teenage son, as he gets in some really good scenes, ones which play a crucial part in developing one of the movie's key themes - namely - like father, like son?

I think it's been so long since this type of movie has been released to the mainstream that it kinda sucks that people don't seem to know what to make of it. It's like, what if David Lynch released Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive today, in this age where every theater seems to be overrun with loud, obnoxious moviegoers? Like Blue Velvet, this is an unsettling, slightly surreal movie that does have a lot of black humor. But it's also too bad that people will see this in crowded theaters and hear people laughing at serious moments as a defense mechanism for coping with some unsettling or shocking scenes. Oh well, I'd still urge you to go see this in the theater, because it's a really, really great movie - one of the best of the year and one of the best and most thought-provoking movies to come out in a long while. Plus, it's pretty kickass to boot. My grade: A

TV STUFF:

Quick shout out to MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, which despite what some will say, is still DAMN FUNNY and clever, as evidenced by its strong season premiere, which was a pretty hilarious episode about the family's trip to the Burning Man festival. So yes, Frankie Muniz is pretty odd looking at this point, but who cares as long as the show is still good? My grade: A-

FINALLY:

Alright - tommorow I once again must face a long day manning the dreaded NBC TICKETBOX OF DOOM. Sucks, but what are you gonna do about it?

And let me just say:

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Kneel Before Zod! Smallville Returns - and: Jennifer Love Hewitt Talks To Me!

Wow, Southern California is Burning. Luckily I am somewhat removed from the epicenter of these wildfires here in Burbank, but still, outside right now there is a thick smell of smoke and even inside my apartment you can smell it. Pretty crazy - hopefully the whole thing calms down in the next day or two and the air around here becomes a bit more breathable, because right now it feels like I'm sitting around an everlasting campfire.

On another note, I want to give a big thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes yesterday - I really appreciate it. Kind of funny how in this day and age one has to check IM, facebook, myspace, and email just to see all the messages that people are sending. But despite the need to check so many different websites, it's all good and it's always great to hear from so many friends new and old - especially on a day when I had to work until 9:30 pm at Last Call With Carson Daly. I'm looking forward to the festivities though on Saturday, when me and fellow NBC page Liz (also of the Sept. 28th birthday) will be holding our joint Hard-Rockin' Birthday Bash - and I hope to see a ton of people there!

TODAY AT WORK:

- I met Jennifer Love Hewitt! Okay, well, barely. But I did escort the former Party of Five-er and current Ghost Whisperer to her dressing room, where she promptly asked about the possibility of meeting fellow Tonight Show guest Matthew McCaughnehy (sp?). Well, she seemed nice enough, I guess, though much smaller in real life than I thought she'd be. Oh Party of Five, what a great show that was. Well, at least I really liked it at the time ...

- Nobody really of note was at Carson yesterday. I did see the band Keane perform - can't say I'm really a fan of their Coldplay-esque whiny-rock, but they weren't bad live, I'll admit. Oh yeah, funny story - they had Tony Yao of G-Unit performing at Carson, and I guess some ppl have some beef with him as part of this whole stupid East Coast vs. West Coast rap war thing. So the Carson peeps got nervous that some ppl in the audience wmight cause an incident or whatever, and suddenly asked ME to stand in front of the stage during the performance and watch out for anyone who might try to do something crazy. So, what, I'm supposed to take a bullet for this guy or something? So there I was , barely standing off camera during Tony's rap song, hoping that none of the slightly sketchy-looking guys nearby were in the mood to fan the fires of any rap feuds. How do I get into these situations?

- Tuesday however, I was present at Leno for the now-omnipresent Jennifer Garner interview where she let slip that her baby is going to be a girl. Have to say though that despite questionable taste in being hitched to Ben Affleck, the star of Alias and Elektra seems to be an incredibly cool and friendly person who completely won over the crowd, so count me as a fan, even if I never really got into Alias. Also saw cameo appearances by Damon Wayans and Pamela Anderson~!, who stopped by to sign Jay's bike for charity. That's two, count 'em two sightings of Pamela in the last month. In addition, saw a surprisingly rocking performance by Stephen Stills, he of Crosby, Stills, and Nash fame. I know it's just my own ignorance, but I honestly never even realized he had any kind of solo career before this week. Hey, not bad though, the man can still rock.

- Interviewed for primetime programming assignment on Tuesday. Tommorow another interview for a studios-production assignment. Once again, wish me luck and stay tuned.

Alright, I got a whole buncha TV Reviews for ya, but I'll try to keep 'em quick ...

DANNY'S MIDWEEK TV ROUNDUP:

TV SHOW OF THE WEEK:

SMALLVILLE - Smallville always seems to deliver with it's "big" episodes, but this season premiere really had a lot to prove after last season which was in general underwhelming and filled with nonsensical subplots and a plethora of lame crappy episodes. So I was eagerly anticipating this episode but also kind of hoping against hope that it wouldn't suck. But guess what? IT COMPLETELY ROCKED! Now THIS. IS. SUPERMAN. Intense action! Great character bits! Plot! Villains! A lot of cool stuff happening! It all added up to an episode that completely erased all the lameness of last season and set this show on a great course for the Season 5. This was just a joy to watch. They even got me to once again root for Lana, who in Season 1 was everybody's favorite girl next door but last year was turned into the most annoying character ever. Erica Durance as Lois was great. Jon Shneider as Mr. Kent was great. Michael Rosenbaum as Lex, as always, was outstanding. And finally, we got some progress with the whole Chloe-Clark thing, and who would've thunk it - the scenes with Chloe and Clark were amazing and actually gave me chills. And what about those Kryptonian supervillains - the disciples of Zod, no less - blowing crap up like there's no tommorow with turrets of heat vision blasts. And Braniac! And what about the always-super music of Mark Snow mixed with snippets of the original Superman score - simply awesome music in this episode. And Tom Welling should be Superman! After seeing Super-Zoolander, I mean Brandon Routh, as Superman, and seeing Tom Welling kicking all kinds of ass tonight, I mean come on - this episode restored my belief that this cast could and should make a Superman movie, they are just that likable. Most importantly, this show restored my faith in Smallville, which has had lots of ups and downs, but when it's at it's best - this is really great TV that both entertains and inspires. Smallville is BACK, baby. My grade: A

OTHER SHOWS:

VERONICA MARS - dammit, I missed the first half of the season premiere, but I liked what I saw even if I missed some important stuff. Still, it looks like the groundwork is being laid for another intriguing mystery, while the loose ends from last season were addressed nicely. And what an ending - this show never does things quietly, that's for sure. Please, Watch This Show - tape/TIVO Lost if you have to. While it will be hard for Season 2 to match the sheer clockwork-like perfection of Season 1, this is good stuff, really good stuff even - surprisingly dark, witty, and entertaining. My grade: A-

PRISONBREAK - okay, this show is starting to seriously kick some ass. Things really kicked into high gear this week, and I'm loving the sheer over the top violence and mayhem of this prison-riot story. I am liking the cast on this show more and more with each episode, and this was just a classic to-be-continued nail-biter. Is Michael Scofield the new Jack Bauer? I wouldn't go that far, but he's already much cooler than that wannabe badass Chase from 24 season 3. My grade: A

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Once again, please, watch this show. It's only the best live action comedy on TV, and this episode continued to bring the funny after the great season premiere last week. Sure, some of the jokes were a little too out there, but hey, when the preview for next week's ep with Scott Baio made me burst into laughter in and of itself, you know this show is quality. My grade: A -

MY NAME IS EARL - Hmmm, once again, this show is trying really hard to be different and clever and cool, but honestly I just don't think it's all that funny, and nowhere near as clever as it'd like to be. Sure, the potential is there and Jason Lee simply rocks, but as of now I just don't think this show is worthy of the hype. I caught part of Commander in Chief that aired opposite Earl, and while it's not really my thing I could see that show becoming big as it has a good cast and some good dramatic chops inherit in its premise. As for Earl, it's got an uphill battle in more ways than one. My grade: C

THE OFFICE - whoah, can you say funniest episode yet of the American version of The Office? I can, because while this show has been straddling the line of Funny, this episode lept over that line and delivered the goods. This was laugh out loud funny, and it's about time this show kicked comedic ass like this. Carell, Rain Wilson, and the rest were on the top of their games, and the writing was the best I've seen yet on the show. The one bad thing: argh, this was kind of similar to my in-progress spec script - another idea I have to scrap! Anyways ... My Grade: A -

THE OC - Ummm ... what is going on with this show? Sure, there's some intriguing stuff going on with Julie Cooper and the sketchy chick played by Jeri Ryan, but the sudden deluge of cheesy high-school antics is killing this show! This show was originally about bigger stuff than social committees and school dances and petty jealousy - save that for some other show - this is The OC, bitch? Bring back the epic soap-opera storylines, the shocking dramatic twists, the old Seth Cohen, dammit all. Instead we get the HUGE revelation that the "Dean of Discipline" is getting some from a student! Haven't seen THAT before, and it's not like we couldn't see it coming a mile away. Fix this show! My grade: C

REUNION - this one on the other hand, is quickly becoming what the OC used to be - the best guilty pleasure on TV. But while the OC built it's reputation on becoming the first post-modern teen soap, Reunion is a good old-fashioned mystery built around a cool, modern premise and structure. I am loving the format of this show where each episode takes place One Year Later, and I am really getting sucked in to just about all of the wonderfully twisting plots and characters, and now I am dying to know who got murdered and who the murderer is. The cast is really growing on me and they have me hooked, with plenty of twists with each new episode. My grade: A-

NIGHT STALKER - I had high hopes for this show, mostly because it's from Frank Spotnitz who was a big force behind two of my all time favorite shows (both from creator Chris Carter), The X-Files and Millenium. I was hoping that the terrible reviews were wrong, but unfortunately, the critics were right - in fact most of them probably went too easy on this steaming pile - because this remake of the old-school Kolchak: The Night Stalker was a convoluted, boring mess. This marks the latest in the line of network scifi pilots that has totally sucked - joining Surface, Threshold, Invasion, and Supernatural in the category of "nice try, but go watch some X-Files and see how it's done." Actually, nice try is a bit generous in this case, because this show had bland characters, pretentious direction, a going-nowhere script, and did nothing to make you want to see more of this new version of Kolchack. Oh well, at least I have my Millenium DVDs to remember a time when Frank Spotnitz's name was associated with quality.
My grade: D

And finally ...

LOST - One one hand, this episode entertained me pretty thoroughly. On the other hand, it was basically a rehash of last week's ep with little new material - a bad sign as I don't want this show's pacing to become even more glacially slow than it already is. Sure, the time jump stuff was done pretty well, and the raft bits, especially the little battle with the CORPORATE LOGO SHARK OF DOOM were kind of cool for a while ... but come on, this whole episode goes by and we are pretty much back where we started. Now it does look like next week's invasion of the mysterious Others is going to pick up the pace a bit, but right now there are so many unanswered questions that the average viewer has probably forgotten half of the questions that this show has posed so far. Still, this show does intensity like no other, and it's pretty remarkable how they told us virtually nothing new yet ramped up the tension to crazy levels. Yeah, I'll keep watching. My grade: B

Okay ... lots of TV stuff in one post, I know. Anyways - I'm out. Thanks once again for all the birthday wishes. By the way, the quote of the day yesterday had to have come from one of my supervisors at work, the always-quotable Christy, who upon hearing that I was turning 23, responded by exclaiming: "23? I own pairs of shoes that are older that you!"

Nobody Likes You When You're 23 ...

... at least that's what Blink 182 said. But what did they know, anyways?

But seriously, holy reality-checks, Batman, today I am 23. Who would've thought I'd have made it this far? And stuck with only a somewhat lame pop-punk song to represent my new age, whereas in the late teen years I had cool tunes like "18 And Life" by Skid Row or "Nineteen" by Thin Lizzy to proudly play upon the arrival of September the 28th. Haha oh well, guess ya can't win 'em all.

Let's reflect a bit, shall we? Last year at this time I was at home in Connecticut - I had completed my summer interning at Conan O'Brien, which was great, but soon found myself back in Bloomfield with no idea what to do next, which was not so great. Things were really seeming to hit a post-collegiate rock bottom, as I went from being in NYC, on my own, where I had a chance to hang out with a lot of my BU friends - Eryka, Aksel, Kirsten, Bre, Kate, and was working everyday with cool, smart, funny people - to suddenly being at home again with little to look forward to each day except for the opportunity to catch up on my videogame playing. And while I kept telling myself that I was going to get back to NYC as soon as I could, I had no idea how that could be possible, as I had no money, no job, and no real contacts except for the people at Conan, where they weren't hiring - or at least not hiring me. So basically all my big plans to make it in entertainment were fading quickly and I soon found myself applying for all kinds of crappy jobs at the behest of my parents. So yeah, one year ago was not so great.

It took a little while, but things finally started to pick up. I got a call from the Conan offices saying they wanted me to come back as a PA and help them m0ve offices. While the pay was barely enough to buy lunch each day, I eagerly accepted, and took the slightly drastic step of staying with an aunt I had who lived outside of NYC who I had never met or spoken to before that time. It turned out that the whole thing went pretty well, and it was one more chance to be in NYC and work at Conan, which was cool. Of course that was only a temporary gig until the move was completed about a month later, and after that I was almost back at square one, still with no idea of what I was going to do next. There were some slight rays of hope, as I began to go on a series of interviews in CT and NYC, a few of which for for some really cool jobs, none of which I got, of course. But hey, as I talked about in one of my first ever blog entries, during this time in the late fall and early winter I got to venture inside the hallowed halls of Nickelodeon, WWE, DC Comics, and ESPN for interviews, which was kind of cool in and of itself, especially DC, which I still smile at when I think of some of the big names I got to meet during that interview. But other than those few sparks of possibility, things were still looking kind of grim. My last bastion of hope was the NBC Page Program, which I had applied to back in July, but as seems to be typical, I had still not heard a word from months later. From what I had heard while at Conan, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to do the page program at first. But at that point, as my brother went to college for his freshman year and most of my friends were out of the state or country, the page program was looking pretty good.

Finally things started to happen, and I got the call to interview for both the page programs nearby in NYC and far away in LA. The LA one kind of took me by surprise, because while I had sort of thought about going out to LA I don't think I ever seriously considered it, mostly because I had no idea how I could move out there without a job, and conversely how I could get a job there while living in Connecticut. So suddenly I found myself flying out to LA, staying at a motel near the Burbank airport, and rushing off to interviews with NBC, Disney, Warner Brothers, and a few others, as I had hurridly tried to arrange as many interviews as I could once I decided that I was going to make the trip to interview at NBC. The trip seemed to go well (and it was also the subject of one of my early blog entries ...), but it was all just so much to take in that I had no idea what to make of it all. I didn't know what my chances were of getting into the page program, and the other interviews didn't give me that much faith that they'd lead to an actual job. Meanwhile, I was going back and forth to NYC, doing interviews there, including for the page program. In the midst of all the chaos, when I was kind of doubting that the page program was going to come through and about ready to start applying to Staples or Borders, I got accepted, out of nowhere into the LA page program, and the craziest part was that all of a sudden I had two weeks to figure out whether I was even going to do it. And once I decided to do it ... well, then I had less than two weeks to figure out my big move from Bloomfield, CT to Los Angeles, CA. Suffice to say, it was a lot to think about.

So here I am, and here I've been since late January when I started as an NBC page. Pretty unbelievable if you ask me. And now I'm celebrating my first birthday as a Californian, pretty far away from most of my family and my college friends. So even though there's been ups and downs, even though I can't get seem to get an assignment, and even though tommorow brings the prospect of working at Carson Daly all day until 9 pm ... on my friggin' birthday - that still beats the heck out of where I was this time last year, the specifics of which I honestly don't even remember, probably because it was too boring and nondescript to even recount. Sure, I was in nice and safe CT with my family, far from fault lines and the worst traffic of all time. But at least now I'm somewhat on a path towards where I think I may want to be.

Which I guess is not all that bad for 23.

"You get to drink from... the FIRE HOSE!"

Well here it is Monday night and I am gazing upon the remanants of yesterday's blog entry, which was almost completely and suddenly DELETED due to some crazy internet problems. So now my thoughts from yesterday seem completely out of date and like so 24 hours ago ... Oh well, might as well leave 'em as is anyways. So step into yer time machine, ladies and germs, here were my ...

Pre-Monday thoughts:

I am so impatient with all this page program stuff. I'm ready for the big-time, and I'm ready for it now. Get me into an assignment, get me on a show, get me a writing deal with Warner Brothers.

Ugh, this is one of those Sunday nights where I look at the week ahead and it just looks like total craptitude. I'm sorry, but the thought of working at Carson Daly on Wednesday - my birthday - until 9 pm, standing outside the studio and acting as a human directional sign, just makes me want to cry, vomit, or quit the page program.

I mean, my friend Sean and I sat down today and hashed out this really cool idea for a TV show - we fleshed out some of the characters, the premise - and overall it's a pretty freakin' cool idea. It has a great hook and a ton of potential. But here I am, in Hollywood, and even though I KNOW I am capable of churning out stuff like this on a regular basis, I am going in tommorow to give Tour of NBC # 5,341. Okay, okay, I could be in Bloomfield sitting on my ass applying for jobs at Staples, and the mere fact that that's NOT what I'm doing is in its own way a miracle, so I can't complain too much. But such is the plight of our generation -- the world just isn't ready for us yet.

Moving on from my teenage girl's livejournal-esque rant ...

... and bringing you into the quasi-present ... (ie some of this was written yesterday but most of it wasn't and/or had to be re-written ...) ... here are:

DANNY'S MOVIE AND TV REVIEWS:

CORPSE BRIDE REVIEW:

- On one hand this movie was pretty cool in all the right ways. On the other hand it was no Nightmare Before Christmas. Why, you ask? Let us count the ways: Firstly, the story was overly simplistic and thus stretched out to fill the movie, which led to a SLOW pace and a lot of dragging. Secondly, the music lacked the catchiness and overall quality of Nightmare, despite having Danny Elfman at the helm - no song here compares to the iconic This Is Halloween, for example. Finally, while the stop motion animation was once again brilliant, the visual style lacked the overall uniqueness and flair of Nightmare. The colors were left intentionally drab, but while this is cool for awhile, it eventually contributes to the inability of the film to consistently hold your attention. On the plus side, those visuals are often breathtakingly awesome, and the character design is once again inspiring. And of course, the voice acting was top-notch, with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Albert Finney, and the uber-voice of Christopher Lee all delivering the goods and bringing tons of life (or in some cases, death) to their characters. There are moments of greatness here, but it just doesn't come together with the combination of great songs, visuals, and plot that Nightmare had. Still, this is a must-see for fans of Burton or Nightmare. And for those who call Burton an overrated Hack - sorry, you're wrong - he may not be as good as his hype, and he may be hit and miss, but few other directors could bring this level of inventiveness and unique visual style to their films. But for those of you who worship the Goth ground that Burton walks on - sorry, but the flaws of this overly stretched out fairytale prevent it from acheiving an elusive "A." The bottom line though is that after weeks of dull, derivative leftovers at the box-office, there is finally something that is very much worth checking out. My grade: B+

FOX SUNDAY NIGHT CAPSULE REVIEWS:

- King of the Hill - pretty decent episode though not as good as last week's premiere, as there wasn't really much of a focus on Hank, and the Bobby / Dale storyline wasn't all that interesting. Still, another solid episode of the underappreciated veteran that keeps on plugging away. My grade: B

- Simpsons - Hmm, it seemed like this episode was really gonna bring on the funny, and I was digging the Milhouse-and-his-family stuff, featuring actual (gasp!) continuity and an actual (gasp!) plotline worth paying attention to. But in spite of being the funniest ep in a while, this one pissed me off simply for the fact that it soon reverted to MARGE KICKS OUT HOMER, THEN RECONCILES WITH HIM, VERSION 5,987, Enough already with this TIRED-OUT plotline that we seem to see every other week now (literally, as it was in the season premiere two weeks ago!). Shame, shame! My grade: B -

- Family Guy - Okay, this show is starting to really jump the ol' shark when every three seconds we get "Hey, this is even more _______ than the time I ________ ..." followed by a quick cutaway. The pacing of this show is getting a little ridiculous, and worse,a disturbingly small number of these cutaways are actually even funny lately. Still just about everything Stewie says or does still amuses me, so at least there was that. Curious to see that DVD movie as well. My grade: C+

TV MISC: Forget if I mentioned this already, but I am totally into FOX's new show REUNION now - that second episode, set in 1987, was awesome - much better than the pilot in my opinion. I kind of watched it in the background while working on some stuff, and suddenly found myself completley sucked in, as there were some great twists and turns. And by the way, THE OC is on life support as far as I'm concerned ... this DEAN OF DISCIPLINE stuff is moronic.

OTHER STUFF:

@ WORK:

- A lot of Tonight Show stuff this week, and that unfortunate Carson Daly-on-my-bday business I mentioned earlier.

- Tommorow: Interview for the much sought-after primetime programming assignment at NBC. The odds are probably not in my favor interms of whether I have a chance of getting this one, but we'll see. Okay, so seriously, this is it. For the most part, this is my last chance at an assignment, so wish me luck that it goes well.

RANDOM STUFF:

- This past weekend some friends and I revisited a pair of 1980's classics, and I just have some quick thoughts, which are: For one, UHF, the Weird Al comedy vehicle, is still pretty damn funny after all this time - well, at least it made ME laugh. Secondly, I am not typically one who likes to mock cherished childhood classics, but as we were watching THE NEVERENDING STORY, it became obvious that some of the scenes, notably the initial dialogue exchanges between Atreyu and the winged creature Falcor, have some REALLY WEIRD AND DISTURBING undertones. Maybe you just had to be there, but I don't know if I can ever watch this movie the same way again ... Anyone else ever notice this ...?

- Dayum, last night in my sleep-deprived daze I had some more pretty good stuff written here that was really pretty random, but I don't know if I'm up to the task of trying to remember and rewrite it all right now. I'm sure it wil lreappear at some point in the future, but for now I'm gonna go watch Arrested Development. Hey, at least I finally have a readable blog entry after last night's internet crash. So choke on that, Slappy.

LOST Strikes Back!

Okay - it's late, I gotta go to sleep, and dammit all I had to work at Last Call With Carson Daly today, so I'm not quite right in the head at the moment ...

But, gotta give some quick LOST season premiere thoughts:

- My thoughts are these: THIS should have been the season finale, or at least elements of this episode should have been incorporated into last spring's ridiculously frustrating season-ender. Why? Because this episode was a perfect blend of mystery and resolution - finally, our heroes descend into that freaking hatch and what is inside is actually pretty darn intriguing, if not simply a catalyst for about 1,000 new questions. Still, at least things are MOVING plot-wise, and where we were at POINT A for waaaaaaay too long, we finally seem to be on a path towards that ever elusive POINT B ... know what I mean? Anyways, I gotta say that the opening intro to this episode was simply awesome - totally mysterious yet a perfect setup for what was to come. And the flashbacks worked on multiple levels, in that they told a pretty involving self-contained story about Jack's past, yet also perfectly set up the cliffhanger ending, as new character DESMOND surfaced on the island and made a big, big impact. Gotta love when storylines simply flow together in sync like that. Some intriguing new questions posed as well ... Does Jack also possess some kind of supernatural power (used unconciously to heal Sarah?)? Was Desmond's first encounter with Jack simply chance, or something more? And what exactly was he injecting himself with in the opening montage? Plenty to think about, and at this point I was plenty relieved to have anything to think about regarding Lost other than why are the show's writers and producers a bunch of lame-asses who won't show us what's in the stupid hatch? So yeah, Lost is back. And after seeing a trifecta of totally mediocre pilot episodes for bandwagon-riding new series - the poorly produced Threshold, Surface, and Invasion - Lost returned to show all the imitators how it's done. That's just good TV, baby. My grade: A

- Meanwhile, what about INVASION, the new ABC show following Lost? In a nutshell, it was about the most glacially-paced scifi show I've seen in a while, and one that was barely interesting enough to be able to sustain viewers for one episode, let alone a whole series. Because unlike Lost, which savors all its weirdness and pulpy trappings despite its focus on character, this show seemed to resent the very fact that it's called Invasion and that it is, clearly, supposed to be about aliens ... or something. I mean, of the 44 minutes or so of show that we got here, about 35 of those minutes were about the oh-so moving story of a family struggling to find itself, and about 9 minutes was recycled crap that was either done first and better on The X-Files (see the repeated use of the term E.B.E. like it's so cool and original when clearly that's been done), or simply seems to be a retread of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or about a million other similarly-themed scifi movies. Oh yeah, most of the characters on this show were annoying as hell, especially the kids. And my new pet peeve for high concept shows: you need a REASON for the characters to be involved in the drama. We can only suspend disbelief so much that regular people in extraordinary circumstances wouldn't call the police or whoever, for example - as happened here when the dad and his brother decide to not tell anyone about a dead body because it might, MIGHT, just be part of a government cover-up or whatever. Um, no. The premise should force the action, as on Lost when ordinary people deal with crazy stuff because they have no chice, seeing as how they are STRANDED ON AN ISLAND. So no, Invasion - despite some nice set-pieces and movie-like production values, is by no means a worthy follow-up to LOST, and that's too bad. Well, I guess it's okay since the last thing I needed was another good show to watch. But still, it's a shame. I guess. My grade: C

OTHER QUICK STUFF:

- Glad to see that MY NAME IS EARL did so well in the ratings. Hey, sometimes I gotta root for NBC, seeing as how I work for them and all ... and EARL has soooo much potential, curious to see the next few episodes and how they pan out, and hopefully this will help THE OFFICE out as well.

- On the other hand ... WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT?!?! It freakin' sucks that the ratings continue to be so low, when this show is the BEST COMEDY ON TV. Maybe it would help if it wa paired with an established show on Mondays ... one that is nearly as funny and at one time had a huge fanbase and lots of critical acclaim ... one whose quirky style paved the way for Arrested to be on in the first place ... say, Malcolm in the Middle? Do you hear me FOX? Do you?!?!?

LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY:

- hmmm, kinda like working at Dennis Miller, meaning lots of standing around and seeing a lot of weird ppl in the audience who go because they are paid to be there. But oddly, I somehow ran into Jordan, one of my old roommates from my days staying at Columbia U in NYC (while I was interning for Conan) last year, at the show, after not having been in contact for over a year now! How random is that? Anyways, the show itself has an awesome set, and hey, I did get to see iconic MTV VJ Bill Bellamy in person (okay iconic may be a bit strong, I realize ...). And there was a so awful it's kinda funny interview with Molly Simms, who told a story so rambling and hard to follow that nobody had a clue what she was talking about. And the house band, Max and the Attack, was actually pretty rocking, kind of a Reel Big Fish-esque punk / ska band with a bit of a harder, metal edge to them. And I did see a new all-girl rock band called The Like perform, which was some pretty decent stuff even if they were kind of a wannabe female Strokes. But man, Carson has gotta work on his comedic timing a bit, that's all I'm saying. And please, get this man some better material! Some of the lines he is given are just brutal.

Bring back Dennis Miller, dammit all ...

Tommorow: Ellen, once again. And, interview for an assignment! No pressure .....

And finally: I've decided that MYSPACE.COM is a very scary website. A quick browse through people living in my area revealed that there are some MESSED UP people living in Burbank and surrounding cities (and some who I suspect live in my very apartment complex, but that's another story). Anyways, all I know is that there are some women who simply have no shame who really, really, should have a little shame. And by a little, I mean A LOT. Goodnight.

I Have a Black Belt in Tae-Kwon-Flo

Well I survived one more day of NBC ticketbox, so yeah, that's an accomplishment.

So here I sit - tired, out of it, unable to think many clear and lucid thoughts. So bear with me.

DANNY'S LIGHTSPEED TV SHOW REVIEW-O-RAMA OF JOY:
(aka how I review things when unable to process much in the way of comprehensible ideas ...)

- PRISONBREAK: Monday's episode was great - this show is one notch away from the plateau of action-adventure thriller that 24 currently sits atop by its lonesome. A great cast, thoroughly enjoyable characters, and a plot that is unfolding slowly but surely with plenty of intensity and energy so I remain interested week to week. You know how a drama is really succeeding? When you instantly remember the characters' names - because a.) they sound cool, and b.) they are memorable, cool characters. I remember Michael Scolfield. My grade: A -

- ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: Oh please, will you just FRIGGIN' WATCH THIS SHOW ALREADY? Yes, YOU! Apparently the ratings for Monday's brilliant season premiere were less than stellar, and that just makes me sad. This episode was hilarious, clever, amazingly acted and ingeniously written - the best single episode since early on in season 2. As usual, David Cross as Tobias was golden, and George Michael Bluth is becoming one of TV's most endearingly awkward characters. WATCH IT! My grade: A+

- GILMORE GIRLS: Another great episode, poured on the schmaltz a little too much for my tastes, but at this point it's all nitpicking since I am hoplessly wrapped up in the ongoing saga that is these characters' lives. No other show mixes humor, drama, and quirky wit like this one does. My grade: A -

- MY NAME IS EARL: Hey man, I already reviewed this a while back, so chchcheck it out. Like I said then, it has potential, a lot of potential actually, but for now there is no way that this not as clever as it wants to be show lives up to the ridiculous amount of hype and promotion its gotten from NBC and the mainstream press. Should be interesting to see what the ratings are though.

- THE OFFICE (U.S. VERSION) - This season premiere was, most importantly, FUNNY. Since not many shows can actually claim that, you should REALLY be watching this in support. I know, I know, I ragged on this show to no end previously. But while it's still not the British version, it's still better than what else is out there. This ep tried to incorporate some of the British version's human drama, and did so with somewhat mixed results, as the Jim-Pam relationship is still no Tim-Dawn from the UK edition, not yet at least. But with talent like Steve Carell and Rain Wilson bringing the funny, that's kinda okay for now. My grade: B

For the love of God, I know, too much TV.

But one more comment: I feel that LOST has started an annoying trend among scifi TV shows where producers think it's somehow now acceptable to not fully show your show's main antagonists, ala Ridley Scott's less-is-more approach in the original Alien. Since Lost has gotten away with going a whole season without revealing the true nature of the island's "monster," show's like NBC's Surface now think it's okay to have a show ABOUT sea-monster-alien-things, and yet never SHOW the sea-monster-alien-things. How is this acceptable? On The X-Files, when there was an episode about a sewer monster, you saw the damn sewer monster in all its gruesome glory. This hidden in the shadows approach does work SOME OF THE TIME, but only once it a while can it be pulled off with any degree of success. But now every show thinks they can wait a year before actually showing us the aliens, sea monsters, or whatever it may be. Sorry guys, but I only have patience to wait for one excruciatingly long and slow-progressing monster mystery to be revealed at a time. And I swear, if tommorow's season premiere of LOST doesn't tell me what's in that flippin' hatch, I will flip out ninja style. And SHOW ME THE MONSTER! (and don't tell me some lame crap like "oh yeah, it's not an actual monster but just our ID come to life!").

So, some last minute suggestions for what should be in the hatch on LOST, that would all be pretty mind-blowing in their own way:

- Elvis
- Heaven
- Buried copies of Atari's 1980's ET videogame
- Missing Left Socks
- aliens
-ninjas
- clones
- Dick Cheney
- something really, really, coooooooooool

ANYWAYS:

WORK:

Real exchange at work today:

-Man rushes in and comes up to ticketbox.
MAN: I'll take one copy of Las Vegas: Season Two on DVD.
ME: I'm sorry, we don't sell DVD's.
MAN: WHAT?!?!
ME: Yeah, sorry, we don't have them here.
MAN: But I drove all the way from Pasadena to get it! This is crazy!
ME: Yeah, you're probably better off just going to Bestbuy ...
MAN: Fine! (MAN storms off in anger)

- Tommorow: FIRST EVER TIME WORKING FOR ... LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY. Like, ohmigod!

MISC:
- It rained in SoCal today - and as usual hell on earth erupts since people here treat rain like its a sign of the apocalypse.

- Perfect Strangers was a great show.

- Make me your friend on myspace.com and/or thefacebook.com

- Explain how Carson Daly has his own talk show. Somebody? Anybody ...?

That's about it for now, my brothas. Unfortunately I'm too tired to give you my complex thoughts on the socio-political state of the world at the moment. Maybe some other time. In the meantime, imagine what I might have said, write it down, and study, study, study.

Emmy Awards: The Good, The Bad, and Shatner

What up?

Have a good weekend? Hope so, cuz guess what man, it's almost Monday again. Depressing, huh?

So, about those Emmy awards ...

First of all, let's be honest. Who, really, cares about the Emmy awards? As if Hollywood isn't self-congratulatory enough, we need to see a three-hour awards show every year just so that a bunch of out-of-touch industry types can tell us who and what, in their humble opinions, doesn't suck? Please. I mean, let's look at a show like Crossing Jordan. Now I'll be the first to admit, I have never seen an episode of this show in my life, and I don't have any immediate plans to ever watch it. I know of no one who watches it, as a matter of fact. The only confirmation I have that anyone actually ever watches this inexplicably long-running show is the occasional tourist who ventures into NBC and mentions that they like the show. Now the show seems to get decent ratings. And I'm sure it's, well, GOOD. But is it great? Is it REALLY worthy of all these nominations for stuff year after year? Years from now will people be remembering how that one episode of Crossing Jordan changed their lives? Now on the other hand we have a show like Malcolm in the Middle. This show revolutionized comedy on TV. Without it there'd be no Arrested Development or Everybody Hates Chris, and sitcoms would still primarily include laugh tracks. But for Malcolm, no nominations. Look at 24 - it's fresh, exciting, nothing else like it on TV. I mean this show is already a CLASSIC in its own time. It's nominated, sure, but it doesn't win. So really, who gives a crap about the Emmy awards, which seem to always be about 10 steps behind the curve. And who knows, maybe Crossing Jordan wasn't even the best example to use, but you get the point.

That being said ...

I'm sure I've already covered the obvious omissions, but one more time - where in the name of Fox Mulder are the nominations for Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls, and King of the Hill for animated series? And why is Desperate Housewives considered a comedy? Is it funnier than Arrested Development? Um ...

Of the nominations that I actually care about, probably the biggest upset for me was William Shatner pulling out a win over Terry O'Quinn, who had to be hands down the best single performer of this past TV season for his role as Locke on Lost. Also, while I can't say that Lost didn't deserve recognition as a whole, as I greatly enjoyed the show, this should have been 24's year. 24, in it's fourth season, was the best show on TV this year, consistently riveting from starto to finish, unlike Lost which definitely had its ups and downs plot-wise, and finished with a very anticlimactic finale. Not to mention that Kiefer, not the overrated James Spader, should be hailed as best lead dramatic actor. Otherwise, I guess it was obvious that Arrested D's win last year was going to be a fluke, and that this was the year of Raymond - awards shows never fail to be sentimental like that. And at least Housewives didn't win best comedy, and Arrested took home the award for writing. Finally, Jane Kaczmarek is overdue some critical love for her iconic comedic role on Malcolm, and by the way, when will the hilarious Brian Cranston ever get his due for his consistently great performances on that show as Hal? What else? Well, I guess it's almost redundant at this point to honor aging British shows that everyone in the know already knows are great, but it does seem a bit absurd to nominate The Office and Ali G for awards that they didn't seem destined to win. Still, is there is anything out there better than The Office or Ali G? Nope - those are the two funniest shows of the last 5 years.

Anyways, though he was once again overshadowed by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, my man CONAN O'BRIEN provided the comedic highlights of the telecast with his award presentation and with his writing staff's video intro for their Emmy nom. Hilarious stuff, including Conan belting out the themesong from Charles' in Charge~! and totally dissing NBC in a single breath. Classic. Speaking of John Stewart though, he once again got in a nice joke about Jewish writers (at least there is precedent for someone like me making it in the industry ...), and also indirectly bashed Jay Leno by praising Dave Letterman as the Johnny Carson of his generation. That hadda hurt, Jay, but let's face it, while the ratings may not reflect it, Letterman = the late night icon of the last 20 years, whereas Leno = well, I really should NOT be dissing the guy I work for ... Nice tribute to THE man though, Johnny Carson, by Letterman, very eloquent when called upon to be so, as always. Weird that Dave, Jay, Conan, and Craig Ferguson were all in the same room at the same time, but even more exciting was ...

The World's Finest Newscasters - Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, teaming up for perhaps the real highlight of The Emmys - getting a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd. These men are real titans of television, and honestly it is a sad sight to see the ranks of Real Newsmen so depleted following their retirement and the passing of Peter Jennings. While actors and other TV "talent" come and go, these guys are true icons - people who really did help change the world and push the media to new heights. So when people make broad generalizations about how TV is for idiots, all one needs to do is remind them of the class, dignity, and trust that people like Brokaw brought to the news each evening. Great segment.

And our old friend Ellen was host. Hmmm ... she seemed a little off tonight - I guess that comes from having your own talk show that is all about you and your own style and then having to go out into foreign territory and work on someone else's terms. Just glad I'm not one of the unlucky few who has to be at NBC at 4:30 am tommorow morning to work at Ellen's live post-Emmy wrap-up show. Ouch, that is gonna be rough.

Oh, and Kristen Bell shoulda won Emmy Idol, even if it was about the stupidest idea ever.

FOX SUNDAY NIGHT and MORE:

- great to see KING OF THE HILL back tonight in its tenth and possibly final season. As the Simpsons and Family Guy falter, King of the Hill is amazingly, consistently good. And look at tonight's premiere for example - holy lord - one main plotline that goes from the start of the episode to the finish - what a concept! Hank Hill continues to be one of the best characters ever put on television, and it is always a pleasure to watch his adventures unfold. My grade for tonight's episode: A -

- Simpsons, while not great, was at least better than last week's pure Suckfest. Some funny gags and an opening intro featuring a claymation GUMBY make this worthy of a B. Family Guy, meanwhile, was also decently funny, though not as sharp as it could have been. Still, some very funny moments (Gilmore Girls parody was kinda classic, orgy on the island was pretty crazy ...). Another grade of B. Odd though how they were running Family Guy segments on the Emmys while the show itself was on FOX.

- caught the new CBS sci-fi show THRESHOLD, which I am sorry to say completely blew. And oddly, this was hyped up as being the best of the new crop of high concept dramas. It had a pretty good cast, but the two hour pilot was one of the most boring, pointless, poorly-paced pieces of TV I've seen in a while. It was filled with useless techno-babble, terrible visual effects, bland and boring characters (let's see, you have an overworked female lead, Brent Spiner as a scientist, a perverted dwarf, and the guy who played Ethan Rom on Lost playing the exact same character!), and a been-there- done-that premise which took all two hours to unfold into an underwhelming cliffhanger. Don't get excited, fanboys, this is definitely NOT the second coming of The X-Files. Hell, the first season of the friggin' 4400 on USA was about ten times better than this. My grade: D

So yeah, the best new drama of the year, at this early stage, is still, easily, the great PRISONBREAK.

- Speaking of good dramas, all hail the return of Cartoon Network's JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED. Yeah, you heard me. For a DC fanboy like myself this show is pure gold, and for everyone else this is the most action-packed, epic, and yes, ADULT adventure show on TV today outside of 24. And it currently stands as the last bastion of the animated Dini-verse, the brilliant series of animated programs featuring the writing of Paul Dini and the art stylings of the great Bruce Timm, which started with Batman: The Animated Series and continues to this day with JLU. As long as the definitive voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, is on board (and he is), then you can't go wrong. Now why was this amazing show not nominated for an animated Emmy?

THIS WEEK AT WORK:

Finally, a break from last week's Ellen madness. Tommorow I return to work at Leno, and Tuesday is unfortunately another day manning the NBC ticketbox of doom. Wednesday it's my first foray into the unknown and unfunny realm of Last Call With Carson Daly, and Thursday it's back to Ellen for a double dose of dancing discord. And wil lthere be interviews for assignments? Let's hope so. And will those interviews lead to actually GETTING an assignment? Let's really hope so. This is it, make or break time.

AND FINALLY:

Is it just me, or do they put WAY too much cream cheese on bagels when you order a bagel with cream cheese at most local bagel establishments? For this reason, I think it's always a good idea to order cream cheese on the side.

And like Conan at tonight's Emmys, I look back on what I have written on this blog and say to myself: "I have no job ..." But then I realize that they can't touch me since my contract to take over as Tonight Show host in 2009 is signed, sealed, and untouchable. Oh, wait ... dammit.

Don't You Wish Your Middle Name Was "Cougar?"

- Now THAT was an episode of The OC. Huge improvement over last week's episode, and man, what an ending -- sure, in hindsight it probably could have been predicted, but it definitely caught me off guard. Business is picking up. My grade for tonight's episode: A -

Whoah ... I kind of jumped right into things there. Kind of sudden, I know. But hey, it's just been a really weird, random week like that. I mean let's be honest here - working three out of the past four days at Ellen is just about enough to drive one totally bonkers. So excuse the total random nature of this latest blog entry, but let's just say I haven't heard this much Vanilla Ice played since my brother bought some Vanilla Ice / MC Hammer Best Of CD and was playing that thing all the time. And the sights we must endure while at that show... People dancing that shouldn't be dancing, rolls rolling that shouldn't be rolling, jiggles jiggling that shouldn't be ... well, I guess you get the idea. It's enough to make one appreciate the comfortably uncomfortable lameness of Leno. Well, almost.

But yeah, today was another double-dose of Ellen, which basically means standing around and taking people to the bathroom. But for some reason all the waiting around while enduring terrible music makes the days seem so loooong. In reality we're not working that many hours but by the end of the day you drive home hungry, with tired legs, with a headache, and a pressing need to lie down.

I did see a ton of interesting celebreties on the show today, though. We had the return of CYNTHIA NIXON, who was one of the funniest guests from last season. We had the legendary (and seemingly on something) MERYL STREEP, who had a great segment where she and Ellen imitated various local dialects chosen at random. We had THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS, who bumped and grinded through a crowd-pleasing musical segment. And hey, even DONALD TRUMP showed up for an interview and to promote the latest season of The Apprentice. Oh yeah, Mr. Mad-About-You, PAUL REISER and former Columbo PETER FALK were on as well to promote their new movie. A loaded day, that's for sure. But the best Ellen moment I've seen in a whil probably happened yesterday, when the always charming LEAH REMINI was presented by Ellen with a mid-lifetime achievement award. As Leah pretended to be flattered and give an acceptance speech, she was cut off by blaring music ala The Oscars, and in anger, she spontaneously lunged at Ellen, and a full-on CATFIGHT ensued. It was all a joke, of course, but still ... hilarious, I tell ya. Also saw Mrs. Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood perform yesterday ... can't say it was my cup of tea, but hey, it's been a pretty packed few days. Did I mention that the last few Ellen episodes have been followed by interviews for Access Hollywood and a bunch of other local news programs? Fun, fun, fun. But hey, it's been some good times, so I guess I can't complain too much.

MORE RANDOM STUFF:

- Gotta give some kudos to pages Scott McF and Akhila for producing a Page Newsletter that was sent out over email and was hilarious (not sure if the humor was intentional or not, but either way, gotta love seeing a news item tellign everyone that I bought a wooden sword at Medieval Times this weekend -as if everyone needed to know that - bwahahaha ...).

- Saw a DVD of the pilot for the new UPN comedy EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, based on the childhood of Chris Rock, which has gotta be the frontrunner for the season's best new comedy. This reminded me very much of early Malcolm in the Middle, and won me over from the get-go with endearing characters, Chris Rock's trademark satirical voice, a shrewdly integrated, underlying theme of social / political commentary, and a number of laugh-out-loud moments. I know, I know - you don't watch UPN. Well get with the program - UPN now has one of TV's best dramas, Veronica Mars, and one of its best comedies - Everybody Hates Chris. Now why does it have to be on at the same time as The OC and Smallville? Oh well, find a way to watch it. My grade: A

- Oh yeah - I've got to offer congratulations to my fellow NBC page Parneil, who had a brush with stardom last night, as she was featured in a sketch on The Carson Daly Show! Yep, if anyone saw the show last night (doubtful, I know ...), you may have seen Parneil showing Carson Daly around the NBC Studios in Burbank as he attempted, unsuccesfully, to be funny and witty. Hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere.

- My birthday is fast-approaching. Any ideas on how to celebrate?

- Met a family in the audience for Ellen today originally from BLOOMFIELD, CT! It's a small world, I tell ya.

- Tommorow: Danny's BIG DAY OFF.

So um, don't wake me up tommorow.

We Have A Situation!

You know you've been watching too much 24 when ...

1.) All the power goes out in LA, and the first things you think are a.) It's definitely an EMP bomb launched by terrorists and b.) somebody had better call CTU about this ...

- actually, I did kinda feel like a dumbass during yesterday's mass LA-area power outtage, because I of course see the electricity in my apt go out and assume that it was something unique to my apartment, so I call the office to complain about it, only to find out it wasn't just my apt, not just my building, but the whole durn greater LA area that was without power. Pretty surreal though, driving to work with no traffic lights and mass chaos seeming to be just within reach.

AT WORK:

All-Ellen, All-The-Time Week continues ...

Ellen on Monday was actually a pretty sweet show, guest-wise. Two of my favorite TV stars were on the show, Lauren Graham and Jeffrey Tambor, of Gilmore Girls and Arrested Development respectively. Both were pretty funny on the show, though even with some quality guests, those Ellen tapings can get reaaaally long and tiring ...

Today however was a return to the position of ticketbox head, something which, as has been well documented here, is not exactly my most favorite thing to do. And while it was mostly a pretty quiet day, there were of course the prerequisite selection of crazies and nutjobs, notably this one VERY angry guy, likely hopped up on pain killers or something, who for no particular reason was very unhappy about having to attend the Tonight Show with a broken leg. Don't ask.

Oh, and today was also notable for another call by the man I will now dub "Mr. Crazy," who every so often calls, breathes heavily, and, sounding as if he may keel over from a heart attack at any moment, asks strange questions about The Tonight Show, and desperately inquires when certain female guests along the lines of Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra are going to be on the show. Weeeeeiiiird ...

Still no update on an interview for the Studio Productions assignment ... deadline for applying to Primetime Programming is Friday. Once again, stay tuned ...

TV ROUNDUP:

- All hail the return of one of TV's cleverest, witiiest, funniest, and most intelligent family dramas - the almighty GILMORE GIRLS. All the haters and wannabe alpha males too insecure in their masculinity to embrace the charms of all things Gilmore need to wake up - because in a Fall TV season filled with half-assed dramas and paper-thin characters, the season premiere of Gilmore was a refresher course in good TV. Here are characters you can latch onto and love. Here are pop culture references that have bite and snap, not "oh look how cool we are" lameness (OC I'm looking at you ...). Here is drama mixed with humor that's actually laugh out loud funny. And most of all here's a show with real HEART that never ever gets too cheesy for its own good. Now let me explain something here. I like shows that are about BIG ideas. This show is. It's about living up to your family's expectations, about growing up, about living within different kinds of communities with all their quirks and cultural baggage. So you have those overarching themes that give meaning and context and depth to all the brilliantly written character interactions. The BIG ideas give the little ideas weight. It's why I don't like shows like Friends or Sex in the City. They think that the LITTLE THINGS are so important that we will care about the characters based on their hairstyle or their shoes or all their little foibles and quirks. And for many people, that's enough - everything else is just extra padding. But I hated all the shallow, self-involved, annoying characters on Friends - why should I care about them? Shows like Seinfeld and The Simpsons are brilliant because they look at characters on the micro level and poke fun at all the little faults and eccentricities of people and society in a stairical way. Shows like Friends ask me to take the characters at face value and love them just because they have little catchphrases or whatever that make them lovable to the masses. Well Gilmore Girls is about so much more than that, and that's why I like it. It's characters are lovably quirky, but in a natural, 3-D way - and it's whole WORLD is wonderfully quirky to fit the characters. We aren't asked to like them, but after a while you just do, because they are, simply, great characters. So yeah, great season premiere - come on, dudes, give some love to Gilmore. My grade: A

- Also watched SUPERNATURAL on the WB, which basically had some very nice f/x and visuals, but not much else. As you know I am a sucker for anything, um, supernatural-themed, so this show seemed right up my alley. But the lead characters, first of all, were completely bland and generic. Jenson Eckles or whatever his name is annoyed the hell out of me during his stint as Lana's boyfriend on Smallville last year and he wasn't much better here. This guy is just not that great of an actor and to me at least is totally unlikable. The backstory for these characters also seemed totally preposterous. On one hand, this show seems firmly rooted in the "Real" world. On the other hand, without any real in-depth explanation, we are expected to buy that the two brothers (might as well call them Abercrombie and Fitch) are "Hunters," who have somehow been trained to know everything about the paranormal, be expert martial artists, detectives, and warriors. Um, yeah, okay. This show can't seem to decide if it wants to be The X-Files or Buffy, which is understandable as I noticed its executive producers included McG of Charlie's Angels on one hand and David Nutter of Millenium on the other. Odd combo, indeed. Anyways, with generic leads, a plot ripped right out of those old Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, and a crazy, nonsensical premise, this show mostly kept my interest through some very slick horror movie-esque sequences and cool visuals. My grade: C

- I'll probably give Invasion and Kolchak a chance, but I wish the networks would take some time to come up with cool, interesting premises for scifi shows and not this endless parade of "They're Coming, and There's Nothing We Can Do To Stop Them (Or Is There?)" breed of high-concept shows which all appear to be mostly bland attempts to cash in on the success of Lost (despite Lost's successful premise having little to do with the above).

RANDOM STUFF - ONE MO' POLITICAL RANT OF DOOOOOOOOOM:

- In a turn of events that has really been entertaining me, some of my fellow pages have recently gotten into a war of words of sorts about the government's response to Katrina, sending arguments back and forth via email. And of all things, this started thanks to a jokey, photoshopped picture of Bush and Bush Sr. fishing in the flooded city of New Orleans. Let's get it straight - the response to Katrina was, as Bush today all but ADMITTED, piss-poor. Secondly, any apologists have no legitimate cause to point fingers at democrats for supposedly politicizing this tragedy. Let's face it folks, EVERYTHING is politicized in some way. And if John Kerry had done a better job of politicizing the debacle in Iraq, he might have won the election. And also, let's not forget that in recent years it's been the Republican party, more than anyone, who has exploited tragedy to further their own particular agendas (watch any W speech, or any Guliani speech for that matter from the last few years and count the amount of times they name-drop 9/11 ...). Now the other issue that has surfaced has been one of race and class. I think that these ARE factors in the lack of response. I don't pin the blame just on Bush, because we are all guilty of this type of thinking in a way. I mean look at the Columbine massacre. That really struck a chord with middle class America beacuse they looked on TV and saw kids just like their own in schools just like their own being shot at. And I know it struck a chord with me when I saw that footage and saw how eerily similar those kids seemed to be to people who I knew. The relative poverty of many of those affected by Katrina was, definitely, a big factor in lack of response. And it really is a shame, but it's made even more so by idiotic comments like those made by Barbara Bush in the wake of the tragedy. I think it also comes down to the fact that many people had this image of Bush as jsut a regular Joe. Well let's face it, folks. The Bush family is about as far away as you can get from middle class America. George W's story is anything but a rags to riches story - it's a story of a priveleged kid who got just about everything handed to him. So why the expectation that this guy has any kind of common touch. Look, lack of intelligence isn't exclusive to the lower classes - I mean look at some of Europe's royal families. Anyways, it really is a lowpoint right now for America, and I think people are going to look back and wonder how Americans got so swept up in so-called patriotism and the conservatism that followed in the wake of the Clinton sex scandal, 9/11, and the religious revival that we elected such a big frigging moron - twice.

Noe THERE'S something for you to think aboot.