"Rubicon" on AMC Tonight -- Will You Be There?

Nobody loves what AMC is doing these days more than we do. Breaking Bad is incredible television -- heartbreaking, brutal, with the best acting around -- and Mad Men continues in its 4th season to be the stylish icy delight that we all crave beyond reason. They're trying again, beginning tonight (except for an earlier sneak of the pilot) with Rubicon, an intricate drama set in the world of intelligence and counter-intelligence and counter-counter-intelligence.



Yikes. We love that the show is about a super-smart guy, Will Travers (played by James Badge Dale -- 24, The Black Donnellys,The Pacific), who knows everything, a super braniac who can find patterns where others see gibberish. Very appealing and we've got to support that, but Rubicon is beginning to sound like 24 without the chases and with lots of talk, if what we're hearing has merit. (I'm watching the pilot right now, and so far I'm not going to disagree.)

Nobody's more paranoid or conspiracy-minded than I am -- I'll listen to a good theory anytime -- but when the things Rubicon is being compared to are the extremely convoluted (but admittedly smart) movies like The Parallax View, or Three Days of the Condor, I've got to start freaking out a little. It's hard enough to keep track of clues and red herrings when you're on a magical island with smoke monsters, let alone on the drab streets of NYC we're seeing in Rubicon. I almost like the look of Rubicon -- it's like the brainy version of Rescue Me's gritty and hyper-masculine NYC (and Dale appeared on that show as a Gavin) -- but it'll grind you down.

Maybe it's just me, or maybe it was just snowing too much while they were filming the pilot, but Rubicon is really dark and understated, so much so that fine actors like Arliss Howard (Medium) and Miranda Richardson can't even register a spark. It's also the kind of series where a phone rings and the mysterious voice on the other end quotes a chess move, and then we see lots of chess boards in the subsequent scenes. Nothing against chess, but it's complicated and slow and if we're unlucky a metaphor for the entire show.

Maybe I'm reading this all wrong. Let's hope AMC has another winner with Rubicon, but so far I'm seeing it has neither the sexy veneer nor Baby Boomer-centric historical intrigue of Mad Men (which helps us get over the fact that often not much happens in the show), nor the X-ray accurate yet always unexpected twists of human nature of Breaking Bad.

Rubicon starts tonight on AMC at 8pm with two episodes, followed by Mad Men at 10pm. You really might want to visit AMC's Rubicon website for more insight and behind-the-scenes information, here.

Nose-talgia: "I Married Joan"

Why haven't we done this in a while? I got to thinking today about the great Joan Davis, one of America's most talented and unsung comediennes. You really have to be a certain age to remember watching her I Married Joan sitcom, either the first time around or in reruns, which is where I loved them. Joan played Mrs. Bradley J. Stevens, Mr. Stevens being the great comic actor Jim Backus, who was a wonderful foil for Joan's crazy adventures as she constantly threatened to destroy the dignity befitting a judge and his wife.

Joan Davis was a versatile actress with a knack for the comic, though her series was sometimes unfairly compared with Lucille Ball's I Love Lucy which had debuted in fall of 1951, a year before I Married Joan hit the air. (I did a post on TCM's Movie Morlocks blog a couple of years ago about Joan daughter Beverly, but there's lots of Joan Davis biographical info in it, too. You might like to take a look at it here.) Joan had plenty of successes, and movie fans will remember her great appearances in films like Abbott and Costello's Hold That Ghost, and many more.

What many of us do remember is the I Married Joan theme song, that with that driving do-do-do-do refrain and the singing chorus. There are several collections of episodes now available on DVD, and also some on YouTube for quick viewing. You'll find that Joan is a crazy, limber-limbed knockabout comic, with a unique physicality that is quite brilliant. She should be remembered more often by those of us who enjoy the funny ladies. For every Tina Fey and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, there was a Joan Davis or Lucille Ball who came before.

"Mad Men" Is Back!

It's fascinating to read what others have written about last night's 4th Season premiere episode "Public Relations" of AMC's stunning -- and there's almost no other word to describe it -- Mad Men. The series is cold and crisp and beautiful like a priceless diamond -- not the warmest gem out there, but so mesmerizing, utterly desirable and impossible not to look at.

Mad Men is Mid-Century America Kabuki, with its own kind of stylized costumes and a series of carefully constructed and elaborate tableaus where nothing is ever obvious and everything promises another layer of meaning left behind for us to peel away. Spoiler Alert: Here's a recap of the episode, but don't watch if you haven't seen it yet.



There's an interesting special interactive feature "Seeing History in Mad Men" from The New York Times, which has been thoroughly covering the return of MM with several recent articles. Last week they spotlighted different aspects of the series here, as well as looking into the use of period-appropriate language on the series with this "Mad Men-ese" story. Alessandra Stanley gave a look forward to Sunday's premiere here, and Ginia Bellafante wrote about it today.

Vanity Fair has a nicely detailed piece by James Wolcott, and The Onion's AV Club has a great overview of the episode here, too, and a few enlightening videos. I count myself among the folks who already knew what Peggy and her coworkers were riffing on with their "John...Marsha" routine, but it's evidently not exactly a universal pop culture reference point.

I also love Advertising Age and their coverage of the premiere episode, which of course contained a major scene involving the industry publication preparing a story about Don Draper et al's new agency. Rance McCrain writes about the portrayal of Ad Age in the show, and Larry Dobrow offers up a media industry-centric look at the episode. Both are great reads.

Also wonderful on a continued basis is the "Mad Blog" from Media Post Publications. Writer Dorothy Parker covers each episode with special insight.

If you've seen the first episode, you know that Mr. Draper got his freak on a bit, as seen below. Again, Spoiler Alert!

We've said it here before -- as TV series go, Mad Men is a slow burn. Too slow? Maybe a little, sometimes, but we've also said that it's more like a work of art than a TV show. We're supposed to look at it longer and deeper than the average TV show, so that's okay. We like a show what takes its time (with a deep nod to the great Mae West.)

Be sure to visit AMC's Mad Men site for much more information and behind-the-scenes features that will add to your appreciation of MM.

Starz Brings Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" to TV Beginning Tonight

If I had a dollar for everytime somebody asked me if I'd read the book, and then insisted I should because I hadn't -- well, I'd be several dollars richer, that's for sure. Starz, and producers Tony and Ridley Scott, take on the enormous task of bringing Follett's enormous novel to the small screen. Headlined by actors Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland and Rufus Sewell, and also featuring many other capable internationally-known thespians in the huge cast, Pillars of the Earth aims to bring back the Middle Ages like they've never been brought back before.



Is this a series or a miniseries? Eight hours long, it's somewhere between the two, and will be unleashed in hour episodes every Friday night beginning tonight at 10pm. We'd recommend catching it either on-air, On Demand or on the Starz website -- two episodes are up there now -- if for no other reason than to honor your high school European History teacher for all their hard and possibly futile work trying to cram this era into your brain.

In a TV world where viewers are grooving like crazy on the getting-to-be-bit-much antics of HBO's TrueBlood and the vampire and werewolf denizens therein, surely there must be a few hours of our time available for something that's at least based in real historical fact.

I'm not guaranteeing I won't fall asleep watching it -- which might make the computer the best choice for me, say -- but if you've got a hankering for a juicy Medieval soap opera, it looks like Pillars of the Earth is a solid choice. Will it be as steamy as Starz' Spartacus, and equally as bloody? We think it will have to be to hold viewers, and at least the network can trot out the "historically accurate" defense if the TV do-gooders ever squawk.

Check out the Starz website for Pillars of the Earth for more information and all things behind-the-scenes.

(For an actual review of the series, you might like to read this from the L.A. Times, and it's always great to read one from the trades, like this one from The Hollywood Reporter.)

Would I really rather be watching another season of Starz' cancelled comedy Party Down instead of Pillars of the Earth?

Yeah, I would. But that's another story.

Louis CK. We. Just. Love. Him.

Flaming Nose founders (Lisa and Jane) have long considered hot comics as rulers of the media roost when it comes to sex appeal. Leading men like Brad Pitt and George Clooney? Yeah, they're pretty but whatever. Clever hunks like the Old Spice Dude (Isaiah Mustafa)? Nice, but what would we actually DO with him. Don't answer that.

The truth is, what really floats our boat and leads us to all manner of interesting obsessive-compulsive behaviors, are the funny ones. We've gone nuts for Ricky Gervais hosting award shows and Jermaine from Flight of the Conchords makes us giddy. Eddie Izzard is a cross dresser, do you think that quells our passion for him one tiny bit? And we don't care how chunky Alec Baldwin gets on 30 Rock; let him cough up a one liner about the Peacock network and we swoon. Smart and funny...funny and smart. Bring on the dark wit to light up our day. Humor + brains = Flaming Nose aphrodisiac.

So without further ado, I would now like to declare our eternal devotion for Louis CK, the hottest comedian in the U.S.A. starring on the best (and weirdest) comedy on TV (Louis: Tuesdays at 11pm on fX). Is he funny? I've fallen off the couch laughing so many times, I should pad the floor. Is he smart? He's the Einstein of comedy. Is he gorgeous? Who the hell cares? Anyway he's got that Irish looking thing going on, which works for me. His TV show is also wonderfully nuanced and the writing is sublime. We get real pathos and brilliant characters along with the laughs. And I'm here to say that I don't just love Louis. I also like him a lot and wish he was my neighbor so I could invite him to a BBQ.

This week's amazing episode saw Louis flying from NYC to the deep south to do a stand up gig. It was like "Airport" mixed with "Deliverance" with a sprinkle of "Seinfeld". Actually, it was nothing like any of those things, but it did involve a deeply disturbed Bubba cop in Alabama who needed a kiss. Don't ask...just watch.

If anyone would like to join The Flaming Nose for a big Louis CK love fest, please let us know. Go ahead and watch it on fX or Hulu or YouTube, then come back here and tell us what you think. But we saw him first, so hands off!

Great News for "Hot in Cleveland" -- Classic Comics Unite!

TV Land's terrific new sitcom Hot in Cleveland just announced another great get for the show: Comic Tim Conway will guest as a rival with Carl Reiner for Betty White's affections! Reiner has already been featured in several segments as Betty's new boyfriend, and he's adorable and very appealing in the role. Betty White is, of course, peerlessly funny!

Read a good account of the Tim Conway news here from Ohio.com, from the Akron Beacon Journal.

The addition of Tim Conway should kick the comedy up even another notch. Hot in Cleveland is already honestly laugh-out-loud funny, and not just for a certain boomer demo. The writing is crisp, the characterizations solid, and the acting spot on. The show is a real delight. We're also thrilled to read about the addition of Dave Foley to the ensemble -- this show really has an eye for perfect casting. Couldn't be better!

If you're not already watching Hot in Cleveland, give it a try. New episodes premiere Wednesdays at 10pm. The only mistake TV Land is making right now is that they're really stingy with episodes available online. Only the current week's episode? Not enough! If you want to get fans hooked, let us watch the episodes! (I will say that with a little sleuthing you can find them around the net, but wouldn't you rather watch them on TV Land? I would.)

Silver Fish Catch! It's The Old Spice Man Again!

We hope you're visiting Old Spice's YouTube channel, where the insanely great, completely adorable and consistently -- and we mean consistently, not a clunker in there -- hilarious campaign has posted Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" Isiah Mustafa's reponses to questions sent to him via various social network outlets. The Christian Science Monitor had a nice article about it last week, and Advertising Age put Old Spice at the top of its Viral Video Chart, too. Responses like this one:



Would Hollywood please put Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Isiah "Old Spice" Mustafa together in a movie, playing adventuring brothers, or something? I'd pay to see that! Both these guys get it in a big way, with that pitch-perfect sense of the absurd that not everybody can pull off. Wonderful!

The video announcing the end of the responses is equally amazing!

What a guy!

FCC Rules on Indecency Struck Down -- A Good Thing?

Even though I'm as liberal as it gets regarding content on TV -- usually -- I think the glee with which Hollywood seems to be greeting the recent court ruling over Broadcast TV's indecency regulations is a little unseemly. Read this article from The Hollywood Reporter for all the details, and then come back here for our comments.

Commentary: This is one case where I hope the advertisers do push back and refuse to sponsor racier programming. If producers are holding cable up as a model, most of the cable shows containing more adult content don't run before 10pm, so the idea that now on Broadcast TV shows before 10pm are going to go crazy is a little unbridled.

Part of the reason why I object is that the Broadcast Networks hold a slightly different place in the television landscape. They collectively are the Sears, the Wal-Mart, the Target, if you will, of TV, not the Victoria's Secret, the corner drug dealer or the adult on-demand on your cable system. Their very existence has depended on the approbation of the masses, while certain cable networks have managed to very carefully and deliberately prepare their particular audiences for what they're offering. FX is the best example of this, with shows that routinely are so much more explicit than anything else -- even pay cable in some ways -- but manage to fit perfectly into their image.

I find it particularly uncomfortable and creepy when network sitcoms go racy -- ick, indeed! -- and I'll tell you why. Not that I think we have to make everything kid-safe, but kids do watch sitcoms -- they're kind of the transition between cartoons and adult programming (though of course nowadays many never make that transition, witness the success of Adult Swim). The often smutty humor in CBS' Two and a Half Men seems just plain unpleasant to me, and I've hated to see my favorite The Big Bang Theory take steps in that direction.

It's not that sexual situations aren't funny, but there's an "Ewww!" line that is too frequently crossed. The ladies on TV Land's Hot in Cleveland are also dancing on that line (with many not very-veiled references to cunnilingus and so forth), and they are funny. However, since few kids are going to be watching HiC, it's no big deal, but it still is a whole different level of comedy subject matter and I'm not sure we can assume everybody is on board with it.

Have I finally become an old lady, waggling my fingers and going "Tsk Tsk!" at naughty words? Hardly. I think Louie on FX is amazing, and you won't find anything as explicit and bleak as that show. Nobody loves profanity -- in its place -- as much as I do, so that's not it.

The problem I see is that this is America. This isn't Great Britain, say, where content is much looser and people expect it and it's no problem. America is still the land of the embarrassed giggle and the adolescent snicker and our boob obsession and every other infantile sexual attitude that we still hold dear. We simply can't handle the truth, the sexual truth, that is, and it turns so many attempts to inject adult content into a show into something weird and uncomfortable. (Violence is a different issue. Flaying women on crime shows regularly is practically a rule for the police procedurals. America loves violence and guns and all that kind of obscenity.)

America is still suspicious of sex; goodness knows there are whole blocks of people out there who are simultaneously completely obsessed by sex and yet would prefer it legislated away (except for their clandestine perversions, no doubt). A current debate about whether the new healthcare bill should pay for birth control isn't really about birth control at all, it's about sex. Should women be able to have sex and enjoy it without worry? It's not about medicine, it's about that deep misogynist vein in America. Until we at least get over that, TV just can't freely get to a place where sexual content on TV is a good thing.

Really, the advertisers will make the call on this one. Can't have Broadcast TV without commercials, and if the advertisers don't like what they're seeing, it's a moot point. Unfortunately, the kind of viewers who write letters to advertisers aren't the kind of viewers I support or agree with in any other way, so I won't be with them on this, either. Might a lessening of standards bring some kind of a political backlash against any and all things liberal in thought or deed? I can see it happening. With all the real problems in the country, worrying about dirty words seems like a perfect misdirection issue to take the heat off what really needs to get done.

Oh well. Go ahead, networks, tart up your shows and see what happens. Maybe it'll work. I'm not for the "good old days" when nobody could say anything, but just try not to frighten the horses, will ya?

So Long Captain Phil

A reminder to all fans of Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch to turn in tonight at 9pm to say farewell to the late, great Captain Phil Harris. For six seasons, Captain Phil has bravely piloted his snow crab fishing boat the Cornelia Maria through the cruel and frigid waters of the Bering Sea. It's a tough, unforgiving job, and the Captain succumbed to a stroke after only 53 years on this planet (33 of them spent in the Crab Fishing business). He has passed his legacy and skills down to his sons Jake and Josh, and now they will be around to continue the 7th season of this highest rated Discovery Channel program ever.

In reality TV, a lost character can't be re-cast. No one would even dare try with Captain Phil. He was a true American original, and you could do far worse on a Tuesday night than to tune in to Discovery to say farewell.

Farewell to Harvey Pekar

We share a deep sense of melancholy today with the countless other fans and friends of Harvey Pekar, comic book author and creator of American Splendor, who died early this morning at the age of 70. If you saw the 2003 movie of American Splendor, starring Paul Giamatti (who should have gotten an Oscar or at least a nomination, but the film did receive a nom for Best Adapted Screenplay) and Hope Davis, you remember what a fascinating and unique character study Pekar's autobiographical work was. Even if you weren't a comic reader, and certainly the movie reached out far beyond that group, you felt a great empathy and appreciation for Pekar's life choices and philosophy.

Here's the trailer for American Splendor, and then a thoughtful little scene.

One of the signs of Pekar's rise to fame were his appearances on Late Night with David Letterman; author/illustrator/educator Stephen Kroniger has compiled them on his Drawger.com website and we highly recommend them.

Eccentricity is not always easy to embrace or even explain, but we're all the better for it in our lives and in other's. Farewell, Harvey...

Louis CK: Sick, Surreal and Funnier than Anything I've Ever Seen on TV Before

A few weeks ago, Lisa gave us a terrific heads up for a new show on fX called Louis CK. It airs every Tuesday at 11pm, right after Rescue Me. For once the hyperbole in the promo is true....there is absolutely NOTHING like this show anywhere on TV. It is the darkest, funniest, raunchiest and in many ways most brilliant comedy I've ever seen on the small screen. This guy is a genius. But before you rush right over to fX this coming Tuesday, I have to offer a disclaimer. Louis CK is not for everyone. It's graphic, it's explicit. It's definitely not for kids. If you are sensitive about R+ rated programming (plenty of sex and language...no violence), you better give Louis a wide berth.



I've seen two episodes so far and both made me choke they were so funny. Louis plays himself (stand up comic) but also a divorced Dad of two kids who is trying to re-enter the dating scene with horrific, disastrous results. On one encounter, his blind date keeps him waiting outside in the hall, where he is flashed by a naked octogenarian. There's a tiny glimpse of that psychotic moment in the promo below. In another episode, he plays poker with his other stand up buddies, and one of them starts a soliloquy about sex that is uncomfortable, screaming out loud funny and ultimately poignant. You have to see it to believe it. Or not, because...gotta mention that disclaimer again folks.... this is for mature audiences only.

Barney Fife and the U.S. Constitution

As part of our celebration of American history via TV, here's a hilarious moment from The Andy Griffith Show showcasing Don Knotts' brilliant performance as Deputy Fife.





"Okay, 'We'."

"We?"

"We."

"Are you sure?"


Classic comedy performed by two masters. Happy Fourth of July!

A Little Bit of "John Adams" in Honor of Tomorrow's Holiday

To get you prepared for the Fourth of July, here's just a snippet now from HBO's wonderful miniseries John Adams which was such a favorite here when it first premiered in 2008. This scene features Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson and the sublime Stephen Dillane as Adams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, respectively, as they go over Jefferson's draft for the Declaration of Independence.




This is one miniseries that we can't wait to rewatch soon!

Media Biz Bloggers Account of "Rescue Me" Party

We think you'll like this fascinating post by Linda Moss all about her time at the 6th Season Premiere party for Rescue Me. Not only is it full of gossip, there's some terrific info about the genesis of the series.


FX's 'Rescue Me' Was Once Headed To USA Network, And Denis Leary's 'Tight Little Irish Ass' - Linda Moss - MediaBizBloggers - Liinda Moss - MediaBizBloggers.com - Jack Myers

Sounds like a delicious time, in more ways than one!

Louis C.K. Has a New Show on FX Tonight!

If the brilliance of Denis Leary isn't enough for you tonight -- and even if it is -- stay tuned on FX following Rescue Me tonight for the premiere of actor/comedian/writer Louis C.K.'s new half-hour series, called simply and perfectly Louie. This could be the ideal chaser to Rescue Me and its dark comic delights; Louis C.K. plays (or really is, probably) a smart guy, not bitter exactly but certainly cynical and skeptical of the feel-good excesses of modern life. He's also no kid, so the aging process is up for grabs as material, something that will especially appeal to viewers in the same saggy state of affairs.

He plays Louie, a stand-up comedian and a divorced father of two little girls. Sounds typical, but Louis C.K. is anything but, and though we've heard that the first episode isn't as strong as subsequent segments, we think this show should be on your must-watch list. If you love New York you'll be extra-pleased, as the show is filmed on location in Louie C.K.'s favorite city.

Louie being helmed and starring Louis C.K., the language promises to be explicit and for adults-only, so don't be alarmed. The series is on FX, so expect the unexpected for basic cable. If Louie goes beyond where Rescue Me ventures, content-wise, that's a very profane place and I can't wait. Showtime's TrueBlood may have twisty-headed vicious vampire revenge sex (in this past Sunday's episode), but what I'm looking forward to is some salty and sardonic dialogue from one of the most entertaining and enlightening comic minds on the scene today. There's a bit of savagery in Louis C.K., but we like that. He's also a terrific actor and an appealing personality, and we're rooting for this series to cut through the more mundane stuff out there.

FX has a good website for Louie. A long visit there is highly recommended for behind-the scenes info and other content, including an informative, interactive and highly-detailed look at Louie's New York.

We're not the only folks who like Louis C.K.; for more positive words about the premiere of FX's Louie check out these sites: Salon.com had a good review by Heather Havrilesky, TV.com has a good selection of clips and info, The Wall Street Journal online also featured an interesting Q & A with him.

Congrats to Louis C.K. for the premiere of Louie tonight, and kudos to FX for bringing it to us!

Still Waiting to be Rescued by Tommy Gavin

Season six of Rescue Me, the dark FDNY saga, begins tomorrow night (June 29th) on fX at 10PM. The new season picks up after last year's cliff hanger close, with Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) about to join the ghosts that have plagued his life since this series began. He's been shot in his local saloon and now the white light approaches.

Here on the Flaming Nose, we've had many discussions about who rules the roost among TV's bad boys. Contenders have included Dr. House on Fox, Dexter the serial killer on Showtime and Walter White, the meth dealing Science teacher from Albuquerque (AMC). I have always hypothesized that Tommy Gavin is the most compelling sociopath in the group, mostly because his type is so common. It's unlikely that we'll ever run across a Dexter or Walter
White in real life. That kind of true duplicity (friendly family man by day, killer by night) is mercifully rare outside of television. Tommy G., on the other hand, is an archetype that walks among us. He cheats (on everyone...his family, his friends, his co-workers), he drinks to excess,
he has extreme difficulty forming any kind of emotional attachment to fellow human beings. From time to time his job calls him to run into flaming buildings to save complete strangers. He's heroic, yet anhedonic. He cares enough to risk his life for strangers, yet is incapable of showing the slightest warmth to family and lovers. He would probably be completely unpalatable, were it not for his pitch black and pitch perfect, charming NY Irish wit. While we ponder Tommy's emotional pathology, we are also laughing our asses off over his latest banter with the boys in the firehouse.

Looking forward to how Mr. Gavin will resolve his continued substance abuse this season, and we are especially eager to welcome back the excellent ensemble cast. John Scurti (Lou Shea) has long been our favorite, and he'll face his own life defining battles in the sixth season of Rescue Me.

Is Hollywood Excess Still Relevant in a Recession?

The Entourage boys are back for a 7th season this Sunday. Tune in to HBO at 10:30pm eastern to see if their excessive but hilarious shenanigans will translate well during a time of double digit unemployment and a never ending ecological disaster in the gulf.

I, for one, miss the simplicity of the basic Entourage episode. They have trouble with girls. They have trouble with their careers. Ari (the uber agent) says "Hug it out Bitch" or yells really loud at his subordinates. And sometimes a bemused real Hollywood celebrity guest stars to lend a sort of zeitgeist authenticity to it all. It's like a Frankie and Annette movie....Beach Blanket Bingo on the streets of Beverly Hills.

All of the promos for this new season have been strangely subdued. There are no sneak peeks for upcoming celebrity guest stars. No cliff hangers to resolve. Last season Vinnie's career hung by a thread until Scorsese hired him as the lead in one of his pictures.

No matter what direction they take, there is one compelling reason to watch Entourage. Kevin Dillon (brother of Matt) plays Johnny Drama, the funniest loser on TV since Don Knotts in The Andy Griffith show. He is off the charts hilarious. Oh and I always keep my fingers crossed that executive producer Mark Wahlberg (xxxxoooo!) will make a guest appearance. Entourage is, after all, based on his colorful show biz life.

Happy Birthday to Actress Mariette Hartley!

Anybody who knows me or has worked with me probably is aware how much I like actress Mariette Hartley. I always have, and I always will. I've got original Star Trek to thank for my interest in her, after her wonderful appearance as Zarabeth in the third season episode "All Our Yesterdays" where she fell for an ice-age trapped Spock. Who wouldn't, I ask? You'll enjoy this video of Mariette's appearance 2 years ago at her first Trek convention, talking about her episode:




Ms. Hartley celebrates her 70th birthday today as a veteran and survivor of Hollywood's changing tastes -- always classy, always elegant, always intelligent and always so watchable. More a television face than a big-screen personality, though she's done her share of exciting movie parts, including her debut in MGM's stunning Sam Peckinpah-directed western classic from 1961, Ride the High Country. She's a freckle-faced red-headed tomboy in the film, ably holding up her end against acting stalwarts Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in what is now considered a masterpiece of the genre.

Mariette appeared in a lot of Western TV shows, too, when they were a mainstay of the tube. Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Virginian, Death Valley Days, Daniel Boone, Cimarron Strip and other popular skeins all featured Hartley guests roles, as did almost every other important or lesser-known series since the early 1960s. Some of her more memorable roles, besides that romantic Star Trek, are her haunting Twilight Zone episode "The Long Morrow" where she falls for an astronaut (Robert Lansing) who's about to take off for a decades-long spaceflight; her emotionally-overwrought doctor in a season of TV's smash primetime soap Peyton Place; her fine TV movie work such as in M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Driving; the lesbian love story My Two Loves opposite the late Lynn Redgrave; the great episode of M*A*S*H where she's a liberated Swedish doctor who catches Hawkeye's roving eye, and so many more, including her double-naveled alien warrioress in the TVM Genesis II.

Anywhere I've worked in Programming I always tried to feature Mariette Hartley performances on her birthday, but these days I just have to content myself with writing about her. She's one of the faces that television fans have grown up with and loved for decades. Just yesterday I came across one of her very early TV roles, from a live Chicago drama program, where she played a harrowing Joan of Arc, back in 1961. Unbelievable! Such talent! (Search in the archives at the Museum of Broadcast Communications here.)

I almost forgot to mention her history-making Polaroid commercials with James Garner that really put her on the map in a big way, back in the late 1970s. This was the heyday of Mariette's public fame, and also about the time she won an Emmy for playing the bride of The Incredible Hulk. She also had a short-lived stint as the most of CBS' The Morning Show, and she was everywhere, her quick wit and everywoman quality -- every liberated woman, at least -- was in high demand.

TV isn't the same anymore; bigger ensemble casts gradually cut down on the guest stars on series episodes, but Mariette has always continued working and also writing and performing onstage. Her 1988 autobiography Breaking the Silence was an incredibly honest (and often very funny) account of Mariette's sometimes troubled life and family history. She's become an outspoken advocate for people with Bipolar Disorder, and also works tirelessly for understanding for those touched by suicide.

Mariette Hartley will always be my favorite actress, and I don't think I could have picked a more worthy subject for my adoration. What a gal!

Happy Birthday, Mariette!

Classic TV Fathers We (Still) Love

As we approach Father's Day, we've been thinking about television fatherhood. Though a while back we declared Charles Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie and Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show our favorite television dads, we've always had a soft spot for some of the other father characters from the 1950s and 1960s. We grew up watching these, if not in primetime, then certainly in afternoon reruns on our local independent stations. Frequently funny, sometimes even a little crazy, these dads had some super qualifications and appeal. We knew it was all make-believe, but that didn't stop these guys from getting to us! In no particular order, but with much affection...

Ozzie Nelson as himself from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Cool, slyly hilarious, so completely relaxed, the original "no visible means of support" father (bandleader? office guy? who knew?), Ozzie Nelson was extremely personable and seemed like a lot of fun, in a Perry Como-kind of lazy, let-me-take-a-nap kind of way. Much funnier than he is generally given credit for, and that's unfortunate. Up with Ozzie! Frank Faylen as Herbert Gillis in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Like so many TV fathers, Herbert was frequently exasperated by his dreamy son Dobie's girl troubles and Dobie's beatnik buddy Maynard, but he was also inspired, hep, nutty, hard-working, and realistically cynical. No sugar coating here! Credit creator and writer Max Schulman for making Herbert Gillis so unique in the annals of bland male father characters! Robert Young as Jim Anderson in Father Knows Best. This was one of those sitcoms which wasn't particularly funny and in fact was often fraught with domestic issues. Jim Anderson was the serious kind of father, definitely employed, pretty square, but thoughtful and understanding. Good thing, because his family, consisting of smart and ambitious older daughter Betty, rambunctious teenage boy Bud, and sensitive youngest girl Kathy, seemed to have identity crises, school issues and performance anxiety incidents occuring on a regular basis. Much suburban angst was in evidence in the Anderson household, but Jim made it all better by the end of the half-hour, thank goodness! William Bendix as Chester Riley on The Life of Riley. Closer to Herbert Gillis than Jim Anderson, Riley was a harried, blue-collar aircraft plant worker, and often perplexed by his family obligations in the form of a son and a daughter. He was a nice guy, definitely a comedy father, making The Life of Riley one of the genuinely funniest of the fatherhood series, and William Bendix one of the best and unfortunately slightly less well-known of the TV dads. Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver in Leave It To Beaver. Possibly my favorite of this bunch, Ward was a working dad, a quite modern and progressive parent, blessed with a keen wit and not unaware of the absurdities of raising kids in post-war America. He'd often mention how he was trying to parent differently from his own father, who in a different time had not spared the rod and certainly wouldn't have discussed disciplinary ethics with his kids before meting out punishment. Ward Cleaver liked his wife and wasn't afraid to show it, and also seemed to like his two boys, Wally and Theodore aka Beaver. He was a terrific father figure and funny as heck, too. Oo La La! (A quote from the wonderful episode "June's Birthday" where Beaver gives his mother a gaudy blouse with French pictures on it.)

William Schallert as Martin Lane in The Patty Duke Show. I've been watching this show lately and have been so impressed by Schallert's calm, decent, educated, and appreciative portrayal of the man who had to put up with his daughter Patty's schemes. The Patty Duke Show is very urban -- Martin Lane is the editor of a big NYC newspaper -- and Schallert brings a keen intelligence to the role, perfectly in tune with what you'd expect an editor to exhibit. No harried suburbanite or line worker, Martin Lane is upper middle class without being a snob, and authoritative without being a bully. What a treasure! Love that Poppo! Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies. Jed, the lucky mountain man who discovered oil, remained the same unaffected and kind person even after he moved to Beverly Hills -- quite a feat, then or today. He was an understanding father to his animal-loving voluptuous daughter Ellie May, who also retained her sweetness amid the money-grubbing snobs of the Hills. He was the patriarch of a very nutty bunch, including his cantankerous mother-in-law and goofy nephew, but never lost his humanity or center. Whee Doggies! Happy Father's Day!

TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" Sitcom Premieres Tonight!

The Flaming Nose is plenty excited about TV Land's new filmed-live-in-front-of-a-studio-audience sitcom Hot in Cleveland, premiering tonight (Wednesday, June 16th) at 10pm. Why this anticipation? Good provenance -- actor and sometime producer Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) is exec producing, writers with Frasier and Ellen experience are on aboard -- and a good cast of female comedy veterans, including Betty White, the very deserving darling of the moment. If you're at all an aficionado of television comedy, you should be heartened by the rest of the starring ladies, too: Valerie Bertinelli ('70s smash One Day at a Time), Jane Leeves (Frasier), and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me! and early cable sitcom Dream On).



Granted, the premise may be more silly than sublime -- a trio of slightly over-the-hill L.A. beauties are stranded in Cleveland, Ohio and find themselves enjoying the reception they get from the local lads -- but the time feels right for silly and I'm going with this one. Betty White is the acerbic-tongued housekeeper they meet up with; stand back and let the quips begin. I've got to give big support to this quartet of pros, all nicely matured, who look terrific and really know how to sling a comedy line.

The producers are proud of the fact that the show is filmed live, with no added canned laughter, and let's hope the writing is sharp enough to keep those audience members entertained as much as we hope we'll be. This is TV Land's first original sitcom, a big step after the net's long and successful history as part of Nick at Nite back in the mid-80s, and as its own entity ten years later. TV Land used to be just that -- a wonderful place for classic TV lovers -- but in an eternal and probably unwinnable quest to skew younger the channel spurned its roots and has turned lately to reality shows and defiantly post-boomer content. Perhaps Hot in Cleveland will both fulfill their advertiser dreams for original content and at the same time reach out to viewers who've felt abandoned by what used to be such a fun channel. Count me as one of the latter.

Hot in Cleveland premieres tonight Wednesday, June 16th at 10pm on TV Land. Visit their HiC website for behind-the-scene videos, and become a fan of the show on Facebook, too.

Breaking Bad Season Finale Breaks New Ground Again!

Breaking Bad's third season ended spectacularly this past Sunday night, the second year in a row that AMC closed its magnificent nihilistic drama in a twisted, angst ridden knot. So many cliff hangers, and nail biters, my hands are practically bleeding. I might as well get the spoiler alert out of the way, because there is no way to discuss this last episode adequately without giving away essential plot elements. Avert your eyes readers, if you still have BB's "Full Measure" finale waiting in a DVR queue somewhere.

The picture above is a great visual summary for everything I love about Breaking Bad. Four men pose in a 21st century stand-off. The beautifully framed, desolate New Mexico landscape looks apocalyptic. Way in the distance, the frozen Sandia mountains stand sentry over miles of icy scrub. Not a bad metaphor for a show built around the the creation of those mesmerizing blue ice crystals otherwise known as Meth. Also, entirely appropriate that Meth rhymes with death. It's a cold business, and absolutely nothing warm and fuzzy is going to come out of this program. Ever. Producer Vince Gilligan has remained absolutely true to his vision through three seasons.

The season finale was really a two part arc, which has the enigmatic Walter White officially crossing the line from mild mannered high school chemistry teacher into bad. Very bad. But we don't care, because he only murdered a couple of street thugs and he did it to save Jesse, his hapless cohort in crime.

Walter's hit and run causes a sequence of very unfortunate events. He has crossed Gus, the soft spoken fried chicken franchise proprietor, who is likely the most evil drug kingpin in the entire series. Gus sends his henchman Mike (a fascinating ex-cop who kills without mercy, is kind to his adorable daughter and looks like a boiled potato) to fetch Walter and terminate him. Gus means to set up the former ultra-nerd meth lab assistant Gale to replace Walter AND Jesse and both of our main characters seem doomed. The end of the "Full Disclosure" has Walter's life hanging by a thread and Gale staring down the barrel of a gun held by a trembling Jesse. We hear a shot fired. And now have 6 months to ponder if Jesse has lost his soul. I'm guessing no way. He is the heart of the series, and while not the sharpest tool in the shed, is surely the most likable. If anyone is redeemed, let it be Jesse.

There is an awesome scene with the nerdy Gale in this final episode where he is singing a weird fast Spanish song in a high falsetto while watering his potted plants. Very surreal and David Lynch-like. I would like to feature the video here but unfortunately ALL videos for this episode of AMC's Breaking Bad have been removed from YouTube. Your loss AMC, we have at least 50 people a day reading The Flaming Nose!

Farewell to another extraordinary season of the most riveting drama on television. Thankfully, we have Mad Men (AMC) coming around to fill the gaping hole.

"Sea Hunt" -- Scariest TV Theme Song Ever?

I've been watching the old ZIV syndicated series Sea Hunt, starring the stalwart Lloyd Bridges as diver and all-around good guy Mike Nelson, overnights on the local This-TV outlet out of Tampa, Florida. I've always thought the Sea Hunt theme was full of foreboding and hardly made scuba diving seem like a frivolous activity. David Rose's ominous musical intro sounded more like horrible death by drowning was just around the next big underwater outcropping, where some giant manta ray lurked, waiting to charge you. (Which actually happened in an episode I watched the other morning...)

Scary? You bet! Exciting? Undoubtedly, as it clearly didn't scare everybody away from diving and definitely fostered an appreciation for the underwater world in many viewers.

Sea Hunt was exec-produced by Ivan Tors (pictured right), a Hungarian animal trainer-turned writer/producer whose adventurous output included other fascinating projects like the completely terrifying 1954 robot sci-fi movie Gog, the Flipper series and movies, Gentle Ben, and one of personal favorites, the Africa-set Daktari starring the dashing khaki-clad Marshall Thompson as a jungle vet.

Sea Hunt's distribution outlet was ZIV, a syndication outfit founded by the man of the same name. I'm sure many babyboomers fondly remember watching several of ZIV's signature series, including SH, no-nonsense Broderick Crawford in Highway Patrol and the earnest Science Fiction Theatre (also from the aforementioned Ivan Tors). Check out ZIV's Wikipedia entry for a full list of the company's output. Ziv was quite the TV powerhouse back in the day, and there's no denying the appeal of the lower-budget but compelling productions which were a staple on stations building up their daytime and afternoon line-ups.

We watched these shows instead of cartoons, which were not available 24/7 like they are today. Did watching shows like these create a hunger and appreciation for more adult drama when we watched TV? I think so, for many of us. We transitioned from ZIV-level shows to great 1960s primetime series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or The Wild Wild West, shows with tremendous younger viewer appeal. (I'm not exactly sure what kind of appetite constant cartoons creates in today's kid audiences, but I have my suspicions.)

Sea Hunt episodes are also available on Hulu, and check out this terrific article on the show from TV Party.

Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt...seek it out and revel in its dramatic theme song!

Robert Wussler, TV Pioneer, Dies at 73

A passing not to be ignored by anyone who has watched TV over the past 40 years or so is that of Robert Wussler, the brilliant televisionary who was a major force both as an executive and a producer over his distinguished career. Mr. Wussler died last week on June 5th, at the age of 73. Although so far CNN has shockingly managed not to cover his death on their own news website -- and remember that Wussler co-founded that network with Ted Turner in 1980 -- other news outlets have noted his importance to the broadcast and cable industry.

In order to understand his contributions to the industry, we suggest reading his obituary here from The Hollywood Reporter, here from Westport Now (Wussler's Connecticut home), and here from TV News Check. We also highly recommend taking at look at the half-hour interview here with Mr. Wussler from March 1980, in which Mr. Wussler sounds, thirty years later, like a man with a crystal ball and a direct line to the future of the TV industry. We also think you'd like to take a look at a few pictures from GettyImages of Mr. Wussler in his producer days at CBS, where he honchoed many of the important science and space coverage during the 1960s. Thrilling and so important.

A brilliant man, gone too soon. Our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.