"South Park" Goes Online...Way Online!

For those of you out there who are mega South Park fans, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have given you a big present, their new South Park website, SouthParkStudios.com which is chock full of generous offerings. The most important and impressive? Every episode of South Park is online for your viewing pleasure. Now that's a beautiful thing and should totally add to the alleged but possibly imaginary internet traffic jams that, according to some sources, threaten to bring the corporate economy to its knees.

Right. I especially loved the report the other week that -- horrors! -- the most surfing by office employees was done between like 11a and 1pm...which, if I recall from my office days, used to be considered part of the lunch hour? Which suggests that people are hanging in their cubicles and watching online stuff instead of going out and driving and polluting the atmosphere. Maybe they're even buying sandwiches from the probably horrible in-house cafeteria. Sounds like a win for The Man to me. Keeping employees inside and available...gee, isn't that worth a little bandwidth, huh? Lighten up, share the wealth; Parker and Stone seem to be. Thanks, guys!

Anyway, give the site a visit. Geez, I really wish I was a super fan of the show, though perhaps I'll wend my way through the eps and fall in love, belatedly yet thoroughly. You can also make an avatar of yourself (or anyone, of course) which is amusing and a terrific time-waster, too.

Go forth and watch online video!

Nose-talgia: Caution: Easter Bunny Crossing

Once again Bonanza turns up as our TV holiday greeting, this time from a March 1970 episode entitled Caution: Easter Bunny Crossing. I can't find any links to video for it, but at least we've got a cute photo of Hoss in his bunny suit!

Nose-talgia Visits The Twilight Zone!

And not Twilight Zone in general, one T-Zone episode in particular is what I'd like to focus on in this Nose-talgia piece. I'm speaking of A Stop At Willoughby, in my opinion one of the best episodes of an exceptionally brilliant television series.

Who can ever forget the pure joy of staying home sick from school and being able to watch a Twilight Zone repeat in the middle of the day. You hear the frantic, almost psychotic music, followed by Rod Serling's flat, ironic, Binghamton New York monotone. "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone." Wow. One doesn't experience writing that pretty on TV anymore, unless it's HBO.

Brief digression before my Willoughby swoon to mention that fellow Blogger Lisa was part of a genius programming team that invented the Thanksgiving Day Twilight Zone Marathon on LA's indie TV station KTLA. It was to counter program the endless football games, and was an instant ratings winner.

And now for my favorite T-Zone episode, "A Stop At Willoughby", which I've seen something like two or three hundred times. It never gets old, in fact it was quite prescient for the early sixties in predicting the frantic, type A environment of the advertising and media industry that still exists today. Gart Williams is a 38 year old advertising executive who is becoming unhinged at a very rapid pace. His wife is a brass blond shrew, his boss is a spit slinging screamer and his co-workers are gargoyles. The pressure is on at work to land a new account and Gart is failing faster than he can say please pass the Alka Seltzer. In one memorable scene, that I have personally lived through dozens of times in real life (as a media ad exec), the boss bellows, "Push Push Push, Williams!!! Push Push Push". You can practically smell his hot fetid breath through the TV screen.

Every day Gart takes the train home from this nightmare work environment, but there is no rest for the weary there, because his wife is a steel edged social climbing bitch. He'd get more warmth and sympathy from the Frigidaire.

But one night Gart falls asleep on the train and when he wakes up there is a special surprise outside his window. It's Willoughby...a little town stuck in the year 1880...somewhere in The Twilight Zone. In Willoughby it is always summer, and a band plays in the park. Strangers tip their hats and kids play in the grass. Think of the hottest, thirstiest moment you have ever had. Willoughby is the glass of lemonade.

Of course, Gart is transfixed by Willoughby. Of course, when he asks the conductor about the stop, he is met with a blank stare.

One day the work, the wife, the whole mess that makes up Gart's stressed out 20th century life proves too much for him and when the train stops he strolls right off into the sunny streets of Willoughby. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've watched that scene and wanted to go along with him.

The final scene of the episode raises classic T-Zone goose bumps. The train has stopped and the conductor is standing outside in the snow with a couple of policemen. We see Gart's body being loaded into an ambulance, and when the doors to the emergency vehicle close, there is one word painted onto the exterior: "Willoughby".

Nice. I have it on DVD. Think I'll go watch it again, for the 301st time.

Two Favorites Get a Nod at Royal Television Society Awards

Huzzahs are in order for HBO's charming comedy series -- and Flaming Nose favorite -- Flight of the Conchords, which just won the International Award at the prestigious Royal Television Society Programme Awards in London. FotC, which airs on BBC 4 in Britain, was up against Ugly Betty and Heroes. Flight of the Conchords is, the RTS said, “…warm, fabulous, and one of the most surprising, fresh and original TV comedies to arrive in a long time.” We couldn't agree more.

It's sort of interesting because just this week, as HBO Entertainment prez Carolyn Strauss stepped down from her post, presumably because of lackluster ratings for HBO series post-Sopranos, Flight of the Conchords was mentioned in the litany of not-quite-spectacular performers for the network. Don't lose this gem, HBO. If the Brits think it's great, trust me...it definitely is. (FoTC is still airing here and there around the various HBO channels and OnDemand, of course.)

Also coming away with a big prize was probably the most amazing comedy show you've never watched, The Mighty Boosh, which I posted about here a while ago. The Boosh just finished up its third season across the pond, and won in the Situation Comedy and Comedy Drama category. As the RTS said about this completely unique show -- “…beautifully constructed and layered… and oozes originality on so many levels. It is a fresh and invigorating piece of high-concept comedy that has captured the imagination of its target [audience].” Indeed.

Of course, you won't find the brilliant Boosh airing on U.S. TV anywhere. It's obviously much more crucial for BBC America to run replays of the very American Dancing with the Stars show and endless reality programs. I guess we should be grateful that they stuck to their mandate closely enough to bring Torchwood over here.

I don't know how you're going to see much of Boosh around these parts, since the available DVDs are non-US format (which isn't an insurmountable problem, of course) and the usual reliable slightly off-the-radar sources seem to be dropping like flies lately. However, YouTube still has a few things up, including (and you better pounce on this one fast) my very favorite episode of the show entitled Tundra. Part one is here, and part two can be found here, and part three here. Watch it while you can -- I wouldn't expect this will be up there long! (You might also be able to find some material from their live stage show which toured last year and is also out on DVD. Can you imagine any U.S. sitcom troupe touring? Gotta love those brilliant Brits!) Of course, if we were in Britain now, tomorrow night March 22nd we'd be watching a whole night of Boosh on BBC 3 with The Mighty Boosh - A Journey Through Time and Space, where they're running a new documentary, six of the favorite episodes of creators/stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding (including Tundra), plus a live Boosh party with the stars of the show. Oh, to be in England....

I'm embedding here the terrific "Tundra Rap" song from the episode, which captures some of the energy and charisma of this tremendous show.




Again, congratulations to two shows which make me so happy to be in love with television!

Nose-talgia: Happy Birthday, Ozzie Nelson!

To honor the birthday of the late, great Ozzie Nelson, who was born on this date in 1906 (and died in 1975), we present this clip (actually a neat Kodak commercial) from his sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet which starred Ozzie and his real-life family -- his wife Harriet, and his two boys David and Ricky. The show, a true TV classic, aired on 1952 - 1966, and of course in reruns for many years thereafter. Ozzie Nelson was one of those relaxed performers who made it all look pretty darn easy, but he was a man of many talents, starting out as a swingin' bandleader and soon becoming a subtle and extremely likeable comic actor on radio and TV. He's adorable, and we think you'll like seeing this eternal paternal figure again. Enjoy!

Nose-talgia: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the least we can do is present a photo from one of the most adorable Bonanza episodes ever called Hoss and the Leprechauns, where he discovers a pot of gold and a passel of little people in green (wearing costumes from the 1956 Danny Kaye movie The Court Jester, btw). It's one of the jolliest Bonanza episodes and features the wonderful Dan Blocker in one of his most charming performances. The whole episode is on YouTube here, but it's in Spanish, though you'll still get the essence of the episode -- it's not exactly Shakespeare and you'll figure out the story pretty easily -- and hear the hilarious musical score featuring excerpts from Mendelsohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". At the very least, click on the YouTube link above and watch the first few minutes, to hear David Rose's theme music for Hoss which perfectly captures the gentle giant's amiable personality. (Interestingly enough, Hoss and the Leprechauns originally aired on Dec. 22, 1963, not near St. Patrick's Day at all, although it was always my St. Paddy's treat for viewers when I programmed KTLA back in the day).

The Nose also tried to find a good version of the famous Saturday Night Live John Belushi bit "The Luck of the Irish" -- not too much luck, but the whole transcript is here and a rather shakily-recorded off-TV video of it is here. Better than nothing, that's for sure!

HBO's John Adams is Riveting: Join or Die

If it is true that an HBO miniseries about America's Revolutionary War does not make people race to their television sets, then that will be a terrible shame. HBO has tackled a topic that many think might mystify or bore today's youth obsessed TV audience. The outcome is extremely relevant and compelling. The first two episodes of this multi-part miniseries were magnificently filmed, and the cast and writing were (as we would expect from HBO films) Emmy Award winning caliber. Kudos also to the shock and awe special effects which do much to refute the "history is boring" stereotype. Paul Giamatti brings John Adams to life, not as an iconic and dusty founding father, but as a real man who loved his wife, found farming and manure fascinating, and worried incessantly over the world changing decisions that he helped forge in 1776.

Unlike most folks in America today, I have a bit of an advantage in believing this era of history was quite real and fraught with hardship. I grew up in rural upstate NY, and our house was built before the Revolutionary war. Every time my sisters and I played in the woods behind our property, we'd climb over stone fences built by the continental soldiers to hold back the British troops. Across the street from our home, was an ancient cemetery in an overgrown green field. Many of the headstones marked the final resting place for soldiers that had died fighting for independence over 200 years ago. It puts an entirely different spin on history when you grow up with the ghosts of the past walking in your midst.

Hopefully the extreme realism that HBO brings to the John Adams miniseries will help bring this era to life for a generation that dearly needs reminding of the sacrifices that were made by the Americans that came before us. If you don't think things have changed for the better, try to watch the Small Pox scene without losing your dinner. But if you think things have changed utterly, watch the Continental Congress debate endlessly, whether to fight for liberty....or offer diplomacy to the British. The enemy has changed, but it is still a familiar debate with US Presidential candidates in 2008.

At the end of part two, the Declaration of Independence is heard by Americans for the very first time. It is still poetic and powerful in its simplicity today. We hold these truths to be self evident. Tune in for John Adams and watch history unfold like you've never seen it before.

"John Adams" on HBO

HBO tackles a daring subject tonight, one that makes TV audiences gasp and recoil -- The Revolutionary War. Is there anything that strikes more fear into the hearts of viewers than a tri-corner hat and tight white leggings on men? I don't think so, but HBO is giving it the old college-history-class try with their multi-part adaptation of David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of early American patriot John Adams.

Even if history isn't your cup of tea, you can't deny that HBO has really stacked the deck here, offering two of the very most interesting actors working today as the leads: Paul Giamatti plays John Adams, and Laura Linney is his wife Abigail. Who doesn't like either of these terrifically talented and understated actors? Both seem the very essence of honesty in their work, and that's a touch that could help bring two iconic historical figures to life. Let's hope so, anyway. The supporting cast is equally as good, featuring Danny Huston (and if you haven't caught his recent exciting monster movie 30 Days of Night I highly recommend it!), Stephen Dillane, David Morse, Sarah Polley, Tom Wilkinson (remember him in the wonderful HBO movie Normal where he had a sex-change?), and Rufus Sewell, he of the slightly-crazy eye and slick intelligence.

I haven't read anything negative about the show at all, and I especially liked The New Yorker's fascinating review written by Harvard history professor Jill Lepore. It's obviously a given that John Adams is well-made television -- HBO doesn't do anything less -- so the real issue is whether or not this is well-made history. Well worth a reading of her review (which thankfully is available online to those of you who aren't TNY subscribers, though you might think about becoming one -- what a great magazine!) for the low-down on the real story behind the miniseries' characters.

I also recommend the review from Variety, because they have a distinctly different and practical point-of-view, namely, how will it play in Peoria? I share some of their fear that the subject matter itself is the special's worst enemy, but it's not always about ratings -- nor should it be --and watching something like John Adams will certainly do us all a lot of good.

In trying to think of an American Revolution TV show that worked, I recall that A & E's George Washington meets the Delaware River movie The Crossing starring Jeff Daniels as Gen. Washington was a terrific undertaking, and Barry Bostwick as Washington in a pair of movies back in the mid-1980s (so long ago, that's scary!) with Patty Duke as Martha also worked well, critically, at least. And of course there's 1776 for those of you who want your Founding Fathers singing a bit, too. Not to mention a rather disturbing little Revolutionary tale I saw last night, in fact, on the Masters of Horror series, entitled "The Washingtonians" about how George and his cronies were all cannibals. All righty, then.

So, take your medicine: watch John Adams and wonder what these early American minds would make of the current political scene in the United States. I have to confess I haven't figured out the scheduling of the seven parts of John Adams -- I only know for sure that Part 1 and Part 2 premiere tonight at 8pm, although I believe the next segment preems next Sunday and so on through subsequent Sundays. That's what I call a slow burn....

My Favorite Paragraph of the Week, Complete with Monkeys!

Apropos of exactly nothing, I read a paragraph this week that had everything, and I mean everything -- monkeys, leopard suits, alarm shouts, and a disrobing scientist -- that you could want in a paragraph. Here it is:

"To study alarm-calling behavior, I once dressed up as a leopard and approached a group of sooty mangabeys," recalled psychologist and primatologist Klaus Zuberbühler at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. "The monkeys detected me, got very agitated, alarm-called at high rates, and a number of males approached in the low canopy ... aggressively displaying their large canines. At this point I was glad to be able to change species (by taking off my costume) and reveal myself. They looked at me with puzzlement, and then ran away silently. It felt good to be a human!"

I mean...sooty mangabeys! It doesn't get better than this! This amazing account is from the LiveScience.com article "Monkeys Shout Complex Thoughts" and you can read the whole thing on their great website, plus you can subscribe and get their daily newsletter. Plus I agree with Zuberbuhler -- it feels great to be a human when you can read something wonderful like that paragraph!

Fighting the Battle of "Jericho"

As reported here on March 9th, CBS' Jericho is in trouble. Numbers are down -- and this week was no exception -- and fans seem to be girding up for another cancellation. The New York Times had a good article earlier in the week, and as TFN surmised, it doesn't look good for the phoenix-like show, which rose from the ashes only to...fall back down into them, it seems.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the merits of the show, how great it might or might not be -- probably certainly is, in this case -- but it's all about contemporary television. The quick meteoric rise is the trajectory of choice, especially if the vehicle is an expensive and ambitious hour-long drama.

I know CBS could keep this going, but what would they have at the end of it? Does Jericho have the legs to go 50 episodes? And then what do you have? 100 million dollars spent on a broken series? Even I don't like the math of that. How you make that up in the aftermarket? Too bad nobody much does exciting miniseries anymore...perhaps eight hours might have served Jericho's tale better.

And I'm speaking as somebody who isn't a regular viewer, which says something in itself. Normally I'd probably be all over this series -- is there something in amiss in the TV landscape that is keeping vibrant action drama down? Didn't seem to be a problem for Fox and The Sarah Connor Chronicles...is it that CBS seems an unlikely place for a show like this? On another network, might this have found an audience? I believe that viewers watch programs not networks, but perhaps that rule isn't always accurate in today's TV world.

I've always loved (and counted on, when I was programming) the support and devotion of rabid fans (and I've been a crazy devotee of countless shows) to get a show noticed, but you've got to have that real life momentum and critical mass, otherwise it's just a cult. And you can't run a business like that, no matter how cruel or idiotic or suit-y it sounds. I'd hate to be CBS right now, probably having to face the Jericho fans with bad news.

Hey, maybe everything will turn out all right! Go, Jericho! You're fighting the good fight!

Nose-talgia: SCTV does "Andy Griffith"

As a comic corollary to Jane's wonderful Nose-talgia post about The Andy Griffith Show, there's a wonderful SCTV take on it, with their "Merv Griffith Show" segment, found here on YouTube, with Rick Moranis as talkshow host Merv Griffin in the Andy role. Note particularly the great Eugene Levy doing a marvelous Floyd, and Merv's larger-than-life rear end! The Mayberry skit starts about 1 minute or so into the clip, after a commercial parody. (Loving SCTV practically goes hand-in-hand with loving television; the whole premise of the show is a struggling TV network and the shows it broadcasts.)

Enjoy!

Nose-Talgia Visits The Andy Griffith Show

I was going to write about a new one hour program on broadcast TV tonight, but I barely made it through the first 30 minutes. Rarely have I seen such top notch actors talk-talk-talk about nothing while the camera circled the characters endlessly like a doomed spy satellite orbiting the earth. After 20 minutes of program and 10 minutes of commercials where all the action, drama and plot development was in the advertising, I threw in the towel. Life is far too short to watch new programming that is so dull I have to read Entertainment Weekly while I'm watching just to feel entertained.

Instead, I shall feature a few words about The Andy Griffith Show as my first passionate post for our Nose-Talgia sub-blog. Andy, Opie, Barney and the whole gang still cavort in Mayberry on TV Land, and you can watch whole shows on demand on their website by clicking on either of the links above.

The small town antics of the citizens of Mayberry aired from 1960 through 1968. It was television's first "dramedy", a dreamy tone poem about a sheriff in the deep south who was so kind and reasonable (Andy Griffith), he never had to fire his gun; a deputy so wired and hysterical (Don Knotts as Barney Fife) he wasn't allowed to keep a bullet in his gun; and an adorable freckle faced, red haired kid (Ron Howard as Opie) who grew up to be a very fine award winning Hollywood director.

The Andy Griffith show leaned more towards sweetness than knee slappers, and half the time it didn't even seem to have a laugh track, which was unheard of for a comedy in the early 60's. Even so, Don Knotts won the Emmy five times for his jittery but endearing portrayal as Barney the hapless deputy. Many episodes took on serious topics; the loneliness of Aunt Bee when she felt she had worn out her welcome. The confusion of Opie when he wanted to write a history report about a battle with native Americans, but discovered there were two sides to every story. Who among us, in these times where it seems like society has run amok, wouldn't long for a town where Floyd the barber trims hair and Otis the town drunk lets himself in and out of jail each time he goes on a bender. A few notes of the whistled theme song (The Fishin' Hole" :Music by Earle Hagen) is better than a time machine for transporting a frazzled 21st century soul back to small town America before Peyton Place reminded us that even that milieu had its dark secrets.

Take of your shoes and set a spell. (Yeah, I know that line is from another 1960's comedy, but it works well here). The embedded video above has snippets from several episodes for your viewing pleasure.

100 Reasons to Watch "Jericho" Video

Well, I must say I'm almost convinced after watching this --



As one might have expected, Jericho, after its much-vaunted, fan-backed return from the dead, is still moribund. The ratings haven't been what CBS was hoping for, but it still seems to be on the schedule for now.

Clearly the show has much to love, so why aren't people watching? Honestly, I think the fans were lucky to have gotten what they did. Shows as weird/interesting/different/intelligent as Jericho aren't often successful, a few notable exceptions notwithstanding.

Let's hope that the video wins a few people over. Though of course there's the problem now of being able to catch up at this late date, and Jericho seems like one of those shows where a foundation has been built and woe to us who try to join in the middle. In any case, good luck to Jericho and it's a cute video!

You can find out lots about the show at the CBS Jericho website, as well as watch full episodes from this season, full episodes from last season and a whole lot more -- clearly CBS is doing the right thing and giving viewers everything they might need to get into the show. Good work with Jericho, CBS, but you're still blowing it by not having full episodes of The New Adventures of Old Christine!)

Nose-talgia: "The Patty Duke Show"

Girls growing up in the early 1960s were crazy about The Patty Duke Show, the energetic sitcom starring the immensely talented Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke as a pair of identical cousins. Patty Lane was American, peppy and adorable, and Cathy Lane, her cuz, was Scottish, proper and lovely. The show premiered on ABC in September of 1963 and ran for 104 episodes over three seasons. (Back then, when they made a season, they really made a season -- over 30 episodes/year!). With a nod to The Parent Trap and any number of movies and TV shows with a lookalike theme, The Patty Duke Show was a funny and memorable part of 1960s television. Unfortunately, it's rarely aired today anywhere and isn't out on DVD yet, but we can hope!

We offer the opening sequence, with the completely catchy theme song, for your enjoyment!

National Geographic’s “AFTERMATH: POPULATION ZERO” on Sunday

Put this one in the “great channels think alike category”: this coming Sunday, March 9th, National Geographic Channel premieres their new special AFTERMATH: POPULATION ZERO, which is exactly the same premise as History Channel’s excellent Life After People special from this past January. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. It’s an irresistible notion -- what might happen to the Earth after all the people have disappeared -- and if Nat Geo’s offering is anything like LAP, it will be tremendously entertaining, educational and utterly fascinating television. Do expect to see some of the same things -- the Eiffel Tower crumbles, Lady Liberty tosses her torch -- but who's complaining?

Like the previous special, AFTERMATCH: POPULATION ZERO assumes that humanity has simply vanished. Poof! No decaying bodies left behind, no corpses for hungry animal survivors to dine on -- the people are just gone, ala the Rapture or some other entertaining fiction. It’s certainly an amusing way of dealing with the implications of a more probable wipe-out, such as plague or some other biological/environmental disaster that would likely affect other species as well. Not that it wouldn’t be a terrific premise in itself, but then you wouldn’t have all the exciting confrontations between newly-liberated wild animals and domestic pets who’ve toughened up to make it on their own, or eagles nesting in office buildings, or other similarly quixotic juxtapositions.

National Geographic has a pretty website for AFTERMATH: POPULATION ZERO, including a neat animated time-line with different points of interest that you might enjoy playing with. Be sure you click on "Experience the Aftermath" on the page. There are also samples of the show and other clips that you can explore. Not much text there, but plenty of video.

You know by now that The Flaming Nose is full of apocalyptic groupies, and I’m sure we’ll all be tuning in on Sunday night for our latest dose of doom! We couldn’t be more excited about it!

AFTERMATH: POPULATION ZERO premieres Sunday, March 9th at 8P et/pt, and repeats again at midnight, plus check the schedule for additional plays.

All in for Peter Outerbridge and "ReGenesis"

Okay, his name may not be totally familiar to you, but Peter Outerbridge is a terrific Canadian actor, one of my favorites. I bring him up because the fourth season (and final, evidently) of his amazing TV series ReGenesis has just started on Canada's The Movie Network. It's the perfect blend of science fiction and science fact, a show where it's okay to use big words and intelligent speculation is encouraged. The morality and ethics of modern science are constantly up front, and it's also incredibly cool, to boot. The cast is filled with terrific actors and actresses in intriguing roles, including a wonderful portrayal of a brilliant scientist with Asperger Syndrome and one who's gay and it's just part of the character without being preachy or weird or stereotypical in any way. This is a show that assumes and appreciates that the audience has the maturity to understand the way it is, in science, in life, and everything else.

The earlier seasons of ReGenesis are running here and there in the U.S. also (I believe that KCAL in L.A. has the rights) and I heartily recommend trying to catch them. Episodes have centered around fascinating scientific/medical issues such as Mad Cow, AIDs, the Spanish Flu episode of 1918, cloning, human growth hormone, Gulf War Syndrome, Acid Rain, and many other completely compelling biological disasters. You'll be hard-pressed to find a smarter show on television, or one that's more exciting, and it's completely without the use of murdered women to goose up the ratings. That in itself is refreshing.

I also bring up the talented Mr. Outerbridge because he co-starred in one of the very best episodes of The New Outer Limits, and lucky for all of us it's running tomorrow on The Sci Fi Channel. Entitled The New Breed, it stars Richard Thomas as a scientist experimenting with invasive nano technology, and Peter is his friend who, facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, agrees to become a guinea pig for him. It's an unforgettable episode, alternatively horrifying and heartbreaking, and definitely my favorite segment of TNOL.

It's running tomorrow morning -- Friday March 7th -- at 11am Eastern time, and is followed by another great episode called The Message, with Marlee Matlin as a deaf woman who tunes into a distress call from an alien vessel approaching Earth, and only Larry Drake, as one of her neighbors, believes her. It's another top-notch episode and very moving and exciting. And for even more, the remake of the classic TOL episode I, Robot airs next, at 1pm Eastern, with Leonard Nimoy in the role of the attorney who defends robot creation Adam Link from charges of murder. Though the robot isn't nearly as appealing or cute as it was in the original episode, in which Nimoy played a sympathetic reporter, it's still good seeing Nimoy in anything. So your Friday afternoon's all sewed up, isn't it?

American Viral Video, "I Am Your Brother"

Joe Lewis-Legacy of an American Hero on HBO

Earlier this week contestants on American Idol were asked to share something about themselves that the audience didn't know. If that question was put to me, I would probably say most people don't know that I am a heavy weight boxing fan. Not a typical past time for a white suburban mom from Southern California, but there you have it. I also love boxing movies (Raging Bull, Rocky, The Great White Hope and even Million Dollar Baby) and old footage of important historical boxing bouts.

So given all of that, it is probably no surprise that I found HBO's current documentary on boxing champ Joe Lewis (Joe Louis-America's Hero Betrayed) especially compelling.

Joe Lewis is probably not a sports hero well known among today's celebrity obsessed youth, but in the 30's and 40's he was one of the best known public figures in the nation. He became the first African American heavy weight boxing champion and as such went on to defeat Max Schmeling, the darling of Hitler's Germany and "supposed" example of Aryan supremacy. He was not only the hero of black America, but quite possibly the first sports figure of color to become a bona fide hero for all Americans, transcending race altogether during a time when African Americans were routinely denied equal rights.

This special features moving testimony from poet Maya Angelou, actor and comedian Bill Cosby and recording industry mogul Berry Gordy. Even NY politician Charles Rangel chimes in. Best of all, it is chock full of details that one may not have heard about Joe Lewis before. Did anyone know that he became a professional golfer after he retired from boxing and helped desegregate the PGA?

The tragic side of Joe Lewis's life was also explored. He left a highly lucrative boxing career during WWII to join the Army (getting paid 21 dollars a week) and traveled around the world entertaining the troops. Nevertheless, he was hounded relentlessly by the IRS for back taxes his entire life. In his later years, he took a job at Ceasar's Palace greeting customers. Quite a step down for the former champion of the world, but he never complained. He also endured the verbal poison arrows of up and coming champ Muhammad Ali in the 1960's, who called him an "Uncle Tom". Through it all, life long friend Frank Sinatra proved steadfast, even helping with medical costs towards the end when Lewis had a stroke.

Joe Lewis died in 1981 and was buried in Arlington National cemetery, per special order signed by President Reagan. For more stories about the "Brown Bomber", check out this excellent HBO sports documentary, or go visit Joe Lewis: The Official Website.

My Favorite Chimp -- Oliver the Humanzee

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Bad Song Choices Buried the Girls!

How is it possible that with all the great songs that came out of the 70's, there were so few being showcased tonight? Really, the most awful night of song choices I can recall for any American Idol episode. Each one was more dull than the next. Only Brooke White managed to find a decent tune to sing (Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"), but she didn't do anything special with it.

Not one of the girls deserved more than 2.5 stars tonight. I'm putting Alexandrea, Ramiele and Carly Smithson at the top, not for their songs or performances, but because they are all incredible vocalists and will most certainly stay in the competition.

No bottom picks for tonight, because they rest all fall into a sort of lackluster heap.
Jeez, who picks these songs anyway? You'd think the producers would try to squeeze a few good ones in there. I hate Heart, and Celine Dion and the Bee Gees. All were sung poorly tonight.

Sorry ladies, this week goes to the American Idol guys. Next time have your moms and dads help with the song picks if you're too young to remember what was good in the decades before you were born!

Imagine This

Round two of the guy's night for American Idol, and the results were very different from last week. The theme was 70's music and the contestants had to reveal "something we don't know" about them in their intro. That did not help last week's Aussie eye candy Michael Johns, who's tennis hobby was enjoyable to watch but song tanked when he was first out of the gate. Following is the format for the remainder of the American Idol season on the Nose. My top picks, followed by my bottom picks and then special mentions, where they are applicable.

Top For the Night:

• David A., (The Kid), was the final act of the night and he gets 4 stars from this blogger. One of the few song choices that really showcased a top artist from the 70's (John Lennon, for God's sake), his rendition of Imagine was stunning and pitch perfect. It is hard to believe he is only 17. Note to FOX- If you keep saving the best for last week after week, viewers will learn not to tune in at the beginning of the show.
  
• David Cook (The Rocker), came out of the gate with the 70's classic "All Right Now" and I thought he hit it out of the park. I love his voice, he is the only true rocker in the bunch and (NOTE TO Simon) he is the smartest and wittiest of all the contestants so far. Much as I hate to depart from my lockstep agreement with Simon, tonight he was dead wrong. Cross word playing, word loving guys are sexy as hell. I'm going to have to assume that Simon's comments tonight were scripted, I can't believe he would come up with that blatant faux pas on his own. Go look that up online Simon (not that you're reading the Nose). I love this performer and think he is bound for glory. He could use a little help with his hair though.
• Chikezie (The South Bay Wonder): OK, full disclosure...I am rooting for this guy as a fellow South Bay Los Angeles resident. Chikezie is a local singer from Inglewood CA, and I loved him from the start. He was unfairly dissed by Simon last week for his suit, which in retrospect was the perfect outfit for 60's retro-soul. This week he came back and really won the crowd over with a fantastic performance. He is immensely warm and likable, and his voice is tremendous. We love you and your Nigerian name, C! Let's hope that Simon figures out how to pronounce it before the season ends. PS-Your mom is cool too!

Bottom for the Night:

• Luke: Please don't ever let someone do a Queen song again or the ghost of Eddie Mercury will come back and haunt this show forever
• Robbie: Sang the song "Hot Blooded" with all the warmth of a gecko. A real gecko, not the Geico gecko, who is funny and adorable.
  

On The Fence:

• I think Michael Johns had an off night and want to see him in his tennis shorts again
• Ditto with Jason Castro, the dreadlocks dude. He has real talent and the bad song choice spiraled him tonight. He will do better with 80's and 90's alternative songs. Rock on guitar guy.
  
• Special mention for Danny Norriega. I still think he might be this year's Sanjaya, and he tore many holes in a classic Carpenter's song tonight..but he is still so different and entertaining. I hope he sticks around. Also, he wins best outfit of the night...love the checkered Van's sweater and emo pants, dude.

OK American Idol ladies, it's show time! Let's see if you can hit a few notes out of the park and into the Kodak balcony tomorrow night.

Oscar After Thought

In retrospect, would also like to say that even though this year's Academy Award ceremony was excitement-challenged, I absolutely loved all 32 consecutive years of the previous telecasts. Yes, that's how long I've been watching it (sigh). So thanks for the memories ABC and we will start the countdown for next year hoping that the great groove for the Big O will return.

PS-Loved the Coen brothers win
PPS-Please bring back Ellen DeGeneres as host for next year!

The Most Boring O-Cast Ever! :(

This won't take long, as I don't really care to go on and on if I don't have anything nice to say. But it's time to state the shameful truth; this year's 80th Academy Award ceremony was the worst ever. It was slow. It was dull. It was boring. Jon Stewart was not a funny host, in spite of occasional chuckles from the crowd. Nobody wore a swan dress or a peacock hat, no streakers strutted their stuff in the buff , and no off the wall comments from anybody. It was polite, sedate and the TV equivalent of taking a Tylenol PM.

To ABC's credit, they really had a tough road to travel to this year's Oscars. The writer's strike made everything last minute. They only had 11 days to put the show together. The nominated films were almost uniformly dark, dreary and not box office winners. But put all that together, and it was still unforgivable to have not one...but three, count 'em, three magical Disney musical numbers for the movie Enchanted. All of them were outstanding opportunities for bathroom or telephone breaks. I mean really, didn't anybody learn anything since Snow White danced with Rob Lowe? They even spoofed it in this year's O's and then went and did the weird ball room dance number thing all over again.

You know the show was dull when the top topics for the evening for fellow bloggers, friends and sisters consisted of a) Is Javier Bardem short? and b) Does Josh Brolin have an inordinantly big head? and c) If Martin Scorcese's eyebrows were removed from his head would they be able to exist on their own?

For me, the Academy Award ceremony is the most important television show of the year. But this year it just became a colorful HD background while I flipped through the Sunday Times. It will be weeks before I recover from the disappointment!

Lisa had it right in her blog. The best thing about this year's Oscar ceremony was the thrilling animated open. After that, it went downhill fast. It is not any wonder that the ratings were the lowest ever recordered.

"Dexter" on CBS No Killer in the Ratings, but...

Did you watch the expurgated Dexter on CBS Sunday night? If you didn't know the original, I'm not sure you would have missed the earthier dialogue or shots. It cleaned up well, but the one thing I found that set it apart (and obviously so) was Dexter's structure. It wasn't meant to be chopped into multi-segments and doesn't have that familiar TV rhythm that sets you up for the commercial breaks, but that's not a fatal flaw. It just feels different...good, actually.

Most importantly, to Dexter's credit, it lacks all the fake melodrama that permeates most of network TV drama. It's a breath of fresh air -- well, as fresh as the breath of a serial killer, anyway.

In terms of ratings, NBC's new version of Knight Rider (god help us) won the 10pm hour, with Dexter coming in close behind ABC's Brothers and Sisters. Not a smash for Dexter, but not bad. Not bad at all. I'm sure one of our ratings experts here will be able to tell what the numbers meant in sheer audience figures, which will be fascinating to compare in light of Showtime's limited cable reach vs. CBS's broadcast ubiquity.

An Authentic Experience -- "Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey"

You know how you just happen onto something and you wonder "How the hell did I miss this?" Well, it's happened to me again, with a documentary that I caught on Showtime Extreme movie channel.

Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey is the story of Jeff Key, a man from religious Alabama, who became a Marine, served in Iraq and was proud to do so, became disillusioned and saddened there, and ultimately came out as gay man and left the service. He's also a playwright and monologuist.

This sounds like a movie with a mission, big-time, but despite the high expectations of being beaten around the head by ideology with which some may not agree, I found Semper Fi to be thoughtful, intelligent, and a must-see. Even the most rah-rah citizens must agree that the mission in Iraq hasn't been all that it was cracked up to be, and seeing it throught the eyes of an eloquent participant is indeed enlightening and sobering.

The doc premiered on Showtime back in the middle of last year -- where was I? -- but it's showing again this month on Showtime Extreme and I recommend you catch it.

Visit the official movie site of Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey for background information. You might also like to read this review from The Hollywood Reporter.

Even Vulcans Need Love!

Happy Valentine's Day from The Flaming Nose

Roy Scheider-The Curtain Closes

We would like to spend a moment to mark the demise of the great actor Roy Scheider, who died Sunday at the age of 75. For those who care about little details, Mr. Scheider was born in New Jersey on November 10, 1932. Probably best known (and loved by this Nose blogger) as Chief Brody in the now legendary movie "Jaws", Scheider had a rich, colorful and enormously accomplished list of memorable parts, many of which led to lines which have entered the American fabric of speech. His role as the manic stage producer in Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz" rendered an Academy Award nomination, and spawned the line, "It's Showtime!". His absolutely unforgettable line in "Jaws", is still used in every day speech when people need a way to describe a terrible underestimation of size. I'm going to have to use that line now to say goodbye to a great American actor, and I hope he'll forgive me. We're "going to need a bigger boat" to fit the sorrow that we feel at your passing, Roy Scheider. Farewell to one of the giants.

Liking -- Mostly -- "The New Adventures of Old Christine"

Does anybody else like Julia Louis-Dreyfus in her recently-returned-for-a-third-season comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine? For one thing, it's good to have a Seinfeld alumnus with a hit, so props to Ms. Dreyfus for pulling that off, and for getting the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy at the 2006 ceremony.

There have been a lot of things to like about the show since it began, especially Andy Richter's appearances a while back as a sad sack boyfriend, the acerbic and intensely likeable Wanda Sykes as JL-D's colleague, and the loopy and lovable Hamish Linklater (pictured with JL-D) as her brother Matthew (my favorite character). Back this season as Christine's handsome boyfriend is the charming and talented Blair Underwood, and her qualms about dating a man so impossibly gorgeous are at the heart of a lot of great material on TNAoOC. The entire cast is crisp and competent and frequently funny, from Richard Gregg as Christine's ex-husband, to the trio of ladies -- Emily Rutherfurd, Alex Kapp Horner, and Tricia O'Kelly -- who play, respectively, Christine's husband's new girlfriend also named Christine, and the two "mean mommies" who bedevil old Christine whenever she visits her son's school.

Though The New Adventures of Old Christine is consistently funny, I occasionally feel a little bit of an "ick" factor with some of the humor, always related to a sexual joke. I am, as friends will attest, one of the least prudish people in terms of what I think is funny, but I wonder if it's the presence of a kid on the show that bugs me in terms of the sexual content? (I feel the same way about Two and a Half Men, which I think goes beyond ick into smarmy.) This is definitely adult comedy. Even with the occasional fleeting off moment (for me, anyway), the show always delivers smart and often delightfully absurd comedy, thanks particularly to Julia and her great gift for dialogue along with her considerable ease with physical comedy. As a woman of a certain age (she just turned 47 about a month ago), Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine has a whole menu of insecurities to explore, and while the occasional pointed barb is accurately flung, more often than not it's pure comedy that makes this one click.

You have to give kudos to the cast and creative crew behind this one, and to CBS for bringing it back. Along with the popular How I Met Your Mother and my favorite The Big Bang Theory (which is on hiatus right now and boy do I hope it's gonna make the cut for a second season!), Monday nights on CBS are a haven for sophisticated comedy on a par with NBC's Thursday night. How bad can things be when you've got Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tina Fey representing TV comedy? Lucy and Ethel would be proud.

Check out the website for The New Adventures of Old Christine at CBS. The show airs Monday nights at 9:30pm. And here's a nice article about TNAoOC co-creator Kari Lizer! Enjoy!

Six Degrees of National Geographic

Is it just me, or is it hot in here? Fans of real life doomsday scenarios -- and there are plenty of us out there -- will be enticed and enlightened by the new two-hour special premiering tomorrow night on National Geographic Channel called Six Degrees Could Change the World (properly written as in the above title art).

Based on the book of the same name by Marc Lynas, it's a sobering (as if any of us are still whoopee tipsy at the prospect of our global future) look at what's in store, theoretically, if the Earth's temperature rises by any number of degrees. Each degree rise brings its own set of horrors, as you'll find out when watch the special.

Six Degrees Could Change the World airs tomorrow night, Sunday, Feb. 10th, at 8pm, and encores at 10p and 12m, with other airdates also schedules. For a wonderful preview of the special plus extra features and background info, check out Nat Geo's wonderful website for the special and plan on spending some time exploring. This is the kind of TV that's not only good for you, but is good TV, exciting, riveting and absolutely essential viewing. Don't miss it!

Jericho: The Return

For all those Jericho fans out there, and I am one of those, the wait is over. On February 12th at 10pm et/pt the eagerly awaited Season 2 of Jericho begins. Although only 7 episodes have been made (thankfully before the writer's strike), there would not be any if not for the efforts of the fans. The key word was NUTS, uttered by Jake in the last episode of Season 1, and that is what CBS got from the fans, tons and tons of nuts, or precisely, peanuts. A save Jericho movement started by Nuts for Jericho got enough fan support to send over 20 tons of peanuts to persuade the PTB to give us 7 more episodes. You can read a little more background about the cancellation and revival in this L.A. Times article.

For those who know nothing about Jericho and are intrigued by the fan fervor it developed, here are a few places to get you caught up with the rest of us. A good place to start is CBS where you can find everything from recaps from Season 1, promos of Season 2, fan blogs, photo galleries and most importantly full episodes of Season 1. You might also want to check out CBS' Official Fan Community . Jericho Season 1 is available on DVD and those of you with the Universal HD channel can watch the entire 22 episodes of Season 1 in full HD splendor starting Saturday 7 pm pt/10 pm et.

What initially interested me in Jericho was of course the nuclear bomb. I am a sucker for disasters of any kind; earthquakes, volcanoes, meteors, floods, you name it, I love them. But what kept me coming back were the characters and the complex plot lines. And the fact that one of the characters had a nuclear bomb buried in his basement kept the disaster theme firmly in place. Jericho is not like the usual post apocalyptic themed movie. There are no people running around in rags, no spike haired motorcycle mad men and no bomb worshiping mutants. What you will find are down to earth people trying to cope with the loss of electricity, food, communication with the outside world and basically everything they have taken for granted. This is a situation that you could conceivably find yourself in someday (hopefully not!), and that makes it something that you can relate to on a very basic level.

"Lost" + Me = Clueless

Though I love Lost, I am completely confused and already hopelessly hornswoggled only two episodes into the season...which is probably exactly the intention. Congratulations!

I will only advise others in my same predicament to take a look at ABC's extensive Lost web presence, and I'll also recommend The Lost Blog which dissects each episodes and attempts to divine the truth within. Of course there are countless outher Lost fansites out there, so those of not in the know have plenty of resources to help us crawl towards the light. And don't forget that ABC has all the previous episodes available for viewing online, too!

Others at The Flaming Nose have better kept up with the intricacies of the show than I, but through the web, there is hope for all of us! (I just thought it was time that I declare my ignorance and get on with it.)

Nose-talgia: A Roundabout Way of Celebrating Chinese New Year

In that convoluted way that surfing the internet often begets amazing serendipitous connections, I found a charming, wonderful clip on YouTube of little eight-year-old Angela Cartwright singing "I Enjoy Being a Girl" on the Oct. 30, 1960 episode of the Dinah Shore Chevy Show.

How does this relate to Chinese New Year, some of you might ask? Well, the song is from the Rodgers and Hammerstein San Francisco's Chinatown-set musical Flower Drum Song. You might remember it from the 1961 movie version or perhaps the more recent stage revival in NY or L.A..

At the time of the show, Angela was co-starring in Danny Thomas' sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and would go on to become TFN's favorite spacegirl on Lost in Space.

I'm not normally a fan of little kids doing tremendously cute things, but I have to admit, Angela is just adorable here. (Let's not even start on the whole way-dated feminine dynamic of the song, ok? It was a different time, and how!)

Enjoy! Oh, and Happy New Year!

Riding off into Sunset Blvd

Our Flaming Nose correspondent Lisa reported earlier today that the old Hollywood Warner Bros. lot, home of KTLA-TV for decades, has been sold. This has made me very sad, for I too am one of the Nose contributors who spent a few years in the hallowed halls of the first television station west of the Mississippi.

I landed an entry level job at KTLA, about 45 minutes after graduating from college. The first time the guards at the gate let me onto the lot, I felt like I was walking on air. Hollywood....television....ratings...news trucks! I was still young enough to believe that if you worked extra hard in show biz and had a sense of humor, anything could happen. Local broadcast television in the 80's was a carnival, the last days of Rome. There was no email, no competition from cable or the Internet, nobody worked more than 30 hours a week and every Friday the sales staff went to a liquid lunch at some posh Hollywood restaurant and never quite made it back to the office. Advertising money fell from the trees. All you needed was a big bucket to scoop it up.

As Lisa pointed out, we actually had time to take breaks in those days, and exploring the KTLA (Warner Bros) campus was our most adventurous lunch time excursion. I still want to know what's hidden in the big tunnel that runs all the way under the lot from KTLA to the KMPC radio station on Sunset. It was already bricked up when we worked there. I hope the new owners don't demolish it before finding out.

Farewell to our old stomping grounds and the memory of KTLA. It was a huge part of Hollywood history and a major part of this Flaming Nose blogger's early days in television. We will always remember Johnny Grant, Hal Fishman the news anchor and the best Rose Parade coverage in the nation. Maybe the ghost of Singing Cowboy Gene Autry (who used to own KTLA) will be crooning "The Last Round Up" as the wrecking ball falls.

The Old Stomping Grounds Are Sold!

Several Flaming Nose correspondents have roots at the KTLA studio lot, which had been up for sale by Tribune as a consequence of that company's recent sale to Sam Zell. The transaction was completed a few days ago, and you can read about it here. There's quite a bit of nostalgia in that square block, not only for Hollywood history in general but also for the folks here at TFN.

Back when we worked there (and we're talking circa 1980), there were still fascinating traces of its origins as the original Warner Brothers studio lot: historic glass-sided stages to capture the sunlight for filming, other stages with dressing rooms supposedly used by John Barrymore and his co-stars back in the silent days, one end of the building where classic WB cartoons had been crafted. We were also aware that the powers that be were always renovating, and that any of these amazing spaces could disappear at any moment (and eventually they did).

Always intrepid and interested in history, several of us used to regularly poke around the lot, venturing into closed-off spaces, exploring abandoned offices and mysterious bricked-up tunnels (intriguingly labeled "The Organ Blower"*See Below! -- our favorite find!). We also undertook a bold expedition to the grand former KMPC building across the lot. Formerly home to a bowling alley, on the walls we found extant scribbles and autographs from "pin boys" who worked there long ago. We had wonderful fun, and I just wish we had taken cameras along. Many a lunch hour was spent doing our studio spelunking. Those indeed were the days!

Even a place that drenched in history ultimately becomes mere real estate, but at least it stands now and for that we celebrate it and our fortunate connection to it!

*New info about the "Organ Blower" as follows: "In October 1983, the "Kearns" theatre organ was purchased, one of only three of its kind, and one of the top-of-the-line instruments manufactured by the WurliTzer Company. The organ was originally built for Warner Brothers Vitaphone Company and installed in its Sunset Boulevard Studio in 1929. From here, it was moved to Radio Station KMX, a CBS unit, where it was used daily to play the "Amos ‘n' Andy Show" theme song. In 1955, the late Hollywood actor Joseph Kearns (best known as Mr. Wilson on TV's "Dennis the Menace") bought it and actually built his entire home around it."

So it really was an "organ blower" which is part of the mechanism for a pipe organ! The tunnel was partially bricked up, making it even more creepy! This info comes from the website for the Mansfield Ohio Theatre which now hosts the magnificent organ!

LOST....In the Supermarket

I was pushing my cart through the aisles of Ralph's supermarket yesterday, searching frantically for paper plates. Somewhere between frozen food and hot dogs, I was distracted by a towering organic milk display. I reached out to grab a carton and tumbled through a space-time corridor. That roaring, airplane noise in my head made me realize before I even opened my eyes, that I was back. On the island. Nothing made any sense whatsoever and I didn't care a bit.

It doesn't matter that Hurley is now sometimes in a mental hospital. Whatever. We are not distressed that Charlie is a ghost. Lot's of excellent series have ghost characters these days. The dips, the dives, the about faces...the non-linear gorgeous mess that makes up the inexplicable plot line of Lost does not bother us in the slightest. The waves are lapping and new alliances are forming . Is John a bad guy or a good guy? Are all the bad guys good guys? Are some of the good guys, bad guys? And does it really matter after Hurley does a cannonball?

All hail the return of LOST.

It's the most maddening, engaging, stimulating yet soothing television show on earth. Many LOST fans spend hours spawning intricate theories on "what it all means". These are people who like math and Sudoku. The whole point of LOST is for it to never make sense. Blue water, white sand and a sweaty Sawyer strutting around without a shirt is what it's all about. Sun and Jin's baby, Charlie's heroism, Ben's pale evil eyes and the endless unrequited dance between Jack and Kate is the glue that holds it all together. This is a character series, plain and simple. Well maybe not simple. We LOVE the characters. Plot, action and advancing story lines are all secondary.

It sounds like a plane crashing in aisle #3. I look down and the paper plates are in my cart, nestled between some frozen pizzas and a bottle of ocean blue Windex. How did they get there? Doesn't matter. I'll be back on the island again in a nanosecond, and all will be right with the world.