David Cross IS Todd Margaret, on IFC!

With the deluge of new programs coming at us for the past month, it's easy to overlook some interesting choices which are a little off the main track. I submit IFC's The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret to you in that spirit, starring the droll yet equally manic actor/comedian David Cross as an American duck out of water in Britain. The show, developed as a co-venture by IFC and the UK's Channel 4 (who showed the pilot there last year), features Cross as an American energy drink marketer charged with starting up the London office, a job he obtained under mistaken circumstances and for which he is completely unqualified. Not the first time a show's been built around a bumbling boss, but what makes this one different is Cross' talent and the lure of seeing something with a British comedy sensibility over here.

Those of you who already like and know British TV will recognize the name of Shaun Pye, Cross' collaborator on Todd Margaret, as Ricky Gervais' acting rival Greg Lindley Jones on Extras, but Pye's probably better known over there as a talented comedy writer. Frequent Cross collaborator Will Arnett is onboard for cameos as his U.S. boss, actress/writer Sharon Horgan starred in her own hit show Pulling over there, and co-star Blake Harrison starred in the series The Inbetweeners. You'll also see Cross' real-life girlfriend Amber Tamblyn show up, as well as other familiar faces.

Here's the official IFC promo for the series:



Will you like Todd Margaret? Do you like uncomfortable comedy? If so, you'll like it. If you're looking for a family sitcom or something with singing kids, then maybe not. While Cross' Margaret doesn't quite plumb the depths of comic despair exhibited by Ricky Gervais in The Office, say, he's on somewhat the same track. It's of course his indomitable American can-do confidence that stops his character from becoming either truly pathetic or really lovable in the end, but if you like Cross and you like the notion of an idiotic American abroad, you'll like this.

I quite like it, but then I love British comedy and was thrilled to see Felicity Montagu in Episode 3; she played Alan Partridge's secretary Lynn in Steve Coogan's several masterpiece series built on that character. The first Todd Margaret pilot for the UK was filmed with a different actor as Todd's second-in-command, and there were subtle differences from the first pilot and the second. For just a taste of Todd Margaret's over-the-top antics, take a look at this from the first pilot, where Todd ingests some of his own Thunder Muscle product and goes mental, as they'd say over there. Much profanity so be forewarned, but also very funny!

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret airs Fridays at 10pm, with encores later that night and at other times. Check out IFC's Todd Margaret site for more details! If you missed earlier episodes, they are available on various commercial sites and others more mysterious and subterranean...

Losing Tom Bosley

It's a bad week for TV sitcom icons. First Barbara Billingsley, now the beloved "Mr. C" from Happy Days, Tom Bosley, has died at the age of 83. For fans of Happy Days, which is on the whole a much better sitcom than most people probably remember it as, his loss means a timely opportunity to revisit the show. The new Hub network, the replacement for Discovery Kids, is running Happy Days (and its spinoff Laverne & Shirley) and as you will learn from reading this article from Media Post, so far it's a hit.

Bosley's Howard Cunningham -- successful proprietor of Cunningham Hardware, proud member of the Leopard Lodge -- was an easygoing presence and a loving husband to the voluptuous Mrs. C, played by Marion Ross. Especially in the first two seasons of the show, in the episodes that weren't filmed live in front a studio audience, Bosley's subtle take on suburban fatherhood was unmatchable. After that, when the Henry Winkler as the Fonz ascended to TV godhood and the over-enthusiastic audience would stop the show with screams and applause every time Fonzie entered the scene, everybody else was a little less than they could be, even a Tony Award-winning actor like Tom Bosley.

But Bosley was still plenty good. Watch some of those early episodes, when the shows were a one-camera treat, for some actual medium close-ups of Bosley, giving it his all as he parented his children Richie, Joanie and the disappearing Chuck. (I highly recommend the 2nd season's "Haunted" episode, the first and best Happy Days Halloween episode, with great moments between Bosley and Ron Howard.) Completely delightful, and something much different than when Happy Days played more like a high school play (because of that audience) than a clever nostalgic sitcom with great writing.

Here's a vintage ABC Happy Days/Laverne & Shirley promo, with the voice-over of the ever-recognizable Ernie Anderson:

Tom Bosley was a man of television, beginning his career after his WW II Navy service, soon getting lots of roles on early TV and also establishing a successful stage career, including winning his Tony for the title role in the 1959 Broadway musical Fiorello. His greatest successes were on TV, though, first as guest star in seemingly every series from the 1960s to the mid-1970s -- Bonanza, Naked City, Route 66, Dr. Kildare (and Ben Casey, and Marcus Welby, MD!), The Defenders, Get Smart, The Virginian, The Mod Squad and so many more -- and co-starring roles in (short-lived) series The Debbie Reynolds Show, and The Sandy Duncan Show. Check out his IMDb listing for his complete credit list -- it's unbelievably impressive.

In 1974 Bosley landed on Happy Days, and a TV legend was born. Over 255 episodes -- only he and Henry Winkler appeared in every single HD segment over the show's ten year run -- Bosley honed his portrayal of the lovable, only slightly irascible, and generally good-natured Howard Cunningham. Post-Happy Days, Bosley was still in high demand as a guest star on many series, and he became a semi-regular on Angela Lansbury's Murder, She Wrote as Sheriff Tupper. Bosley also headlined his own mystery series as a crime-solving priest in the Father Dowling Mysteries which ran for 44 episodes beginning in 1987. In addition he was a prolific voice-over actor, including playing the title role in the animated Wait Till Your Father Gets Home back in 1972 and lending his voice to many other cartoon characters over the years.

A great and long career, a resume full of accomplished performances, and a few honors on your mantel -- not a bad legacy, and I haven't even mentioned the warm place where Tom Bosley, especially as Mr. C, resides in our cultural panorama. Howard Cunningham wasn't Tom Bosley, and Tom Bosley wasn't Howard Cunningham, but the actor informed the character and brought life and spirit to the writers' words. They fit well together, and I'm sure the rest of the guys at the Leopard Lodge are missing their Grand Poohbah big time. So are we.

Losing Barbara Billingsley

For many of us boomer-era kids, Leave it to Beaver has been with us as long as we can remember. We might have watched it in childhood, though it's anything but a kid show. More likely we caught up with it in syndication, in reruns that were the staple of independent stations and later cable nets ever since the show ended its first run status in 1963. We might have started watching the Cleaver family because of some identification with Wally (Tony Dow) and the Beaver of Jerry Mathers, but if you're any connoisseur of TV comedy it was the clever interplay and sly performances of Hugh Beaumont as father Ward and Barbara Billingsley as mother June that really made the show.

Now we hear that Barbara Billingsley died yesterday at the age of 94, and we, who only knew her from her television and movie work, share the loss of this talented actress as much as if we knew her personally. That's the power of television at work, but another wonderful power TV has is to confer immortality on beloved personalities. Barbara Billingsley easily falls into that group, her role as June -- without question the iconic Television Mom for all times -- ensuring her always a place in pop culture and more importantly a spot in the American zeitgeist as the idealized mid-20th Century mother. Even the staunchest feminist could not have denied the positive vibe coming from Barbara as June; a good mom is good for everybody.



Pre-Beaver, Barbara was a hard-working actress toiling in relative obscurity but racking up credits in movies and TV. Post-Beaver she in many ways never did shake off June Cleaver's lasting influence -- how could she? -- but claimed a huge comic win as the jive talking older woman in the original Airplane! movie from 1980. (It kind of was her "Betty White" moment).



She revisited the Leave it to Beaver world in guest appearances and series sequels, and was always enthusiastic about the show and its important place in TV comedy history. (She did a wonderful multi-part interview which you can watch at the Archive of American Television.)

My favorite LitB episode, actually especially for one line from Ward but also for an especially graceful performance by Barbara Billingsley, is the third season's "June's Birthday" when Beaver buys June a gaudy blouse for her birthday. It's charming, absurdist, and utterly lovable, and available on Netflix instant view if you're a subscriber, or also in a version on TVLand's website -- can't recommend that one, way too many commercials!) -- but it's better than nothing. Though LitB lost a little of its crazy perfection as the kids aged, it never lost its smart writing or the winsome relationship between Ward and June. Camp? Hardly. Humane, respectful and hilarious? Certainly.


This weekend we all lost a mother, didn't we?

Time for a Movie Classic -- "The Best Years of Our Lives" Tonight on TCM

Television (or movies) couldn't get any better than this -- tonight at 10pm on Turner Classic Movies, you've got the chance to see The Best Years of Our Lives, one of the most intelligent, moving and relevant movies ever made. Released in 1946 and produced by Samuel Goldwyn, TBYoOL is a look at the lives of three servicemen on their return to civilian life after serving in World World II. They're all from distinctly different backgrounds -- one returns to a job as a prosperous bank officer, one is from the wrong side of the tracks, and one can never return to his old life because he lost his hands in the war. As these three men, actors Fredric March, Dana Andrews and real-life soldier and double-amputee Harold Russell give the performances of their careers.



The girls they left behind are no less impressive. Myrna Loy plays March's sophisticated wife, wondering how she's going to get back into the sexual groove again with her spouse, Teresa Wright is their daughter who falls for the unhappily-married Dana Andrews, Virginia Mayo is Andrews' good-time-gal spouse who's bored with her now-civilian hubby, and Cathy O'Donnell is Harold Russell's high school sweetheart fiancee. Other indelible impressions are made by composer Hoagy Carmichael, whose easy-going presence as Russell's tavern owner friend Butch is both wise and utterly cool, actor Roman Bohnen who is heartbreaking as Andrews' alcoholic father, and Glady George as Bohnen's wife. There isn't a phony moment in anyone's acting, only one after another of memorable, searing, romantic or touching scenes that rightfully brought this movie the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1947, as well as wins for Fredric March, Harold Russell, director William Wyler, Best Screenplay, Film Editing, and one for Hugo Friedhofer's magnificent musical score.

If you haven't ever seen it, this is a must-watch or record. If you have, then you know you will want to watch it again. This is one movie whose powerful dramatic punch never misses, whose message is as timely as ever. The Best Years of Our Lives dares also to ask important questions, to defy conventional solutions to human problems, and to force its characters to aspire for the best in themselves and their fellow man. We could sure use some of that spirit these days.

Now Here's Some Really Good News About "The Wild Wild West"!

One of the best television series ever might be in line for a TV re-do. Check out this item via yesterday's TV Week which contains a link to Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files.

For anybody who wasn't a regular watcher of TWWW, you might need to be reminded of its best-ever theme song and clever opening credits:



Some of you might remember the awful Warner Bros. 1999 movie remake -- Wild Wild West (they weren't even smart enough to keep the "The") -- of the series starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. Dreadful, unfunny, tons of money thrown at it and no charm, adventure or charisma in the entire movie, though it made a tons of money. It was one of those films that everybody sees and nobody likes...yeah, it happens.

The heart of the success of any TWWW reboot would be in the casting. This is a buddy western, with a dashing man-of-action teaming up with a clever and inventive genius. Nobody did it better than Robert Conrad and Ross Martin in the original, but just as Chris Pine and Zach Quinto stepped so ably into the shoes of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, I'm sure there is a good James West and Artemus Gordon team out there somewhere, too. TWWW is also considered one of the seminal influences in the completely cool and currently hot Steampunk pop culture genre, so that's another positive reason for a revival.

Do we need another remake? Where are the original ideas? The UNoriginality of a The Wild Wild West remake doesn't bother me. In great television we're dealing with iconic characters hopefully beloved by the audience after many years of familiarity. I don't think it's a crime to long for another go-round with them. Just do it right this time! (I found a lovely post on the Classic Forever blog about The Wild Wild West. Read it here!).

Beside Myself with GLEE

The new season for Glee (Fox, Tuesdays at 8pm) has been superb on every level, but last night's religion themed episode (Grilled Cheesus) broke the mold. I predict Emmy award nominations galore, as the Glee cast and writers tackled the topic that makes most television producers run for the hills. "Grilled Cheesus" was all about faith, God, and a little picture of Jesus burned into a grilled cheese sandwich. It was handled with love, sensitivity and humor and if you missed it and want to check it out, see the Fox website link above. Be sure to bring a box of Kleenex.

"Grilled Cheesus" opened with Kurt keeping a vigil in the hospital after his Dad suffered a near fatal heart attack. He struggles with his lack of faith while his Glee-Club mates offer solace and prayer. The mix of songs to support this spiritual episode was phenomenal, from Rachel singing "Papa Can You Hear Me" (Yentl), to Finn's cover of REM's "Losing my Religion". Mercedes brought the house down with a gospel version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and by the time Kurt sang "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (for his sick Dad) I had a sinus head ache from being a big crybaby. The entire cast ended the show with Joan Osbourne's transcendent "What if God Was One of Us". Best scene; seeing the light in Sue Sylvester's (Jane Lynch) skeptical eyes when she hears her beloved Down Syndrome sister's explanation for faith.

This is television at its very best. GLEE has had an occasional rocky road with insufferable characters (Will's psycho wife Terri) and silly plot lines (Quinn's teenage pregnancy), but they've obviously been listening to the cacophony of viewer complaints because those problems have been eliminated. The season so far has twinkled like a 10 carat diamond.

Everybody puts Mad Men at the top of the list for TV quality, but if I might make a comparison to fine art (indulge me), watching MM is like gazing at a painting by Monet, or Van Gogh or Picasso. You are overwhelmed by the detail, the craft and the power. Watching Glee is more like looking at a David Hockney painting. It's bright, colorful, and glorious. GLEE is a trip down Mulholland Drive, and I love it.

More Alan Partridge? A-ha!

If you're a fan of British comedian Steve Coogan and his hilarious character of Alan Partridge, daft and clueless TV and radio host, you should be heartened! Coogan, who hasn't done Alan for several years now, is revisiting Partridge's world for a series of Foster's Beer webisodes which may later show up as a TV series.

This is wonderful news! Read this article from Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood - London edition to find out all about it:

Steve Coogan Could Return To British TV As Alan Partridge

If you aren't familiar with Coogan as Partridge, take a look at this insanely great clip where he's confronted by an outraged farmer on his radio show.



You make pigs smoke!

For everything you need to know about Steve Coogan and Alan Partridge, visit the wonderful Dedicated Alan Partridge Site.

Remembering Stephen J. Cannell, a Real TV Pro

What more appropriate way to celebrate the life and legacy of prolific television producer and writer Stephen J. Cannell, who passed away Thursday at the age of 69, than by sharing sequences from some of his wonderful series?

Cannell virtually defined TV drama and adventure in the 1970s and 1980s, setting an action-packed and often jaunty tone on an impressive number of legendary series he worked on during those years and later, including The Rockford Files, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings, The A-Team, Hardcastle & McCormick, The Commish, Hunter, Wiseguy, The Greatest American Hero, Black Sheep Squadron, Toma, Tenspeed and Brownshoe and many others. He cut his TV writing teeth on Universal's Ironside and Adam 12; there was no looking back after that.

Here's Fred Dwyer and Stepfanie Kramer in Hunter, which ran from 1984 - 1991!




How about the classy Ben Vereen and the always wonderfully idiosyncratic Jeff Goldblum in the short-lived (14 episodes) but cult favorite Tenspeed and Brownshoe, from 1980?

Here's the feel-good reluctant superhero adventure series The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt and the superb Robert Culp. TGAH ran from 1981 - 1983.



How about the ultra-macho Robert Conrad starring in WW II adventure The Black Sheep Squadron, from 1976?



Do you remember the sexy Silk Stalkings, starring Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture, that ran on CBS Late Night for over 100 episodes starting in 1991? It was fun, with great chemistry between the leads.



How about the immensely popular pop culture icon The A-Team, one of NBC's stalwarts from 1983 - 1986?



1983 - 1986 also saw the success of Hardcastle and McCormick, starring the TV veterans Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly.



Can you believe that the actual opening credits from The Rockford Files aren't anywhere on YouTube? Now that's a real oversight! It's important to remember that part of the tremendous appeal of many of these series were the dynamic theme songs often composted by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. A good opening song goes a long way!

Also interesting is this compilation of the signature end logos placed at the close of Stephen J. Cannell shows, with Cannell typing, pulling the sheet from the typewriter, and tossing it into the air with a flourish. YouTube user JohnnyL80 compiled most of the different versions of the logo and put them together in this video. Thanks to him for doing this, as it's a great historical document and shows Cannell, the man, throughout the years.



One other nice Stephen J. Cannell footage to see is his acceptance speech when he won the 2007 NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) Brandon Tartikoff Award. It's a warm and humble couple of minutes in which you see what a genuine TV professional he was.

Great TV, just like great literature, art, movies and music, will live on, and Stephen J. Cannell's television legacy is a solid one. We wish his family, friends and colleagues many lasting pleasant memories of this true TV giant. Stephen J. Cannell will be missed.

Arthur Penn: His TV Roots

Columnist Chuck Ross of TV Week wrote a beautiful and challenging article last Thursday on the occasion of the death of director Arthur Penn. Penn cut his directing teeth in live television of the 1950s, and Ross has some challenging notions for the revival of TV drama, specifically the anthology form which was such an important artistic component of TV during that era.

As TV fans, you will really enjoy reading Ross' "A Death in the Family: The Importance of Arthur Penn's TV Roots and a Challenge to Leslie Moonves, Josh Sapan, Charlie Collier, Bonnie Hammer and Their Industry Colleagues".

For another great Arthur Penn article, check out this one from The Hollywood Interview website by Alex Simon and Terry Keefe, on the occasion of Penn's death last week. For another excellent look at his cinema output, you will enjoy Adam Bingham's essay on Arthur Penn on Senses of Cinema. You may also want to check out the previews of an amazing book entitled Arthur Penn: Interviews, compiled by Michael Chaiken and Paul Cronin. Incredible stuff!

This is a good time to remind you that tonight on TCM there's a mini-tribute to Penn, starting at 6:15p with the fascinating 1965 drama Mickey One, starring Warren Beatty, and then Penn's 1967 masterpiece Bonnie & Clyde at 8pm. My other favorite Penn works? The Miracle Worker and The Left Handed Gun.

I will leave you with one of the most stupendous scenes from any movie...

CBS' "Mike & Molly" -- A Little Too Potty Mouthed for Such a Nice Couple

Watching just one episode isn't usually enough to get a real feel for what's going on with a series. The Flaming Nose likes to take a look at a couple to see what the trends are -- is the comedy pilot jam-packed with laughs, and the rest of the episodes too dry, or maybe the pilot is spotty, and things get better in the subsequent weeks.

Let's take a look at CBS' new Monday night 9:30pm comedy Mike & Molly, starring Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as two oversized Chicago singles who start a relationship. It's plenty funny enough to fill The Big Bang Theory's former timeslot, and with a Chuck Lorre it has a lot in common with that now-quite successful show. Mike & Molly takes an essentially nice central couple of characters and surrounds them with dialogue which is often raunchy and sexually-explicit.

During the first two episodes there were references to masturbation, queers and queens, condoms and lube, penis and weiners, "snapper" as synonym for vagina, Molly's first period compared to tomato sauce, vomit, and pot jokes. For comparison, in an episode of FX's Louie it was entirely appropriate and brilliant to have a poker game conversation revolve around gay bath house activity, with no-holds-barred descriptions and quips about gay male sex, culminating in an honest and stunning moment of drama, and then more dirty jokes.

In Mike & Molly the aforementioned references felt out of place, shoehorned in for shock effect. As I've said many times here I'm no prude, but Chuck Lorre seems to enjoy smashing the audience's face into edgy -- but not in a good way, in a childish showoffy way -- content that doesn't do the show any favors. The Mike & Molly dialogue provoked, for me at least, more of an "ewwww" reaction, not so with Louie. Mike & Molly uses dirty words as a cheap trick for cheap laughs, and it doesn't need to.

To the credit of leads Gardell and McCarthy, Mike and Molly are personable characters and already you're rooting for them. Gardell manages to achieve something that perhaps some viewers might find unimaginable -- his Mike is a strong and sexy man with tremendous personal appeal. McCarthy's Molly is nice but not cloying, a real woman living with her mother and sister who unfortunately are completely cartoonish laugh machines, as is Mike's cop friend and partner played by Reno Wilson. So what, it's a comedy, right? But please, do we need to hear penis jokes in a show like this?

The fat jokes? Plenty and often self-inflicted so that's maybe better. American culture hasn't figured out how it really feels about fat people. Are thin people watching Mike & Molly to laugh at the chubby leads? I doubt it, because they are only characters who have any heart. Are fat people watching as an affirmation? I don't know. What Mike & Molly seems to do best is be a love story. Maybe that's not what CBS wants out of a comedy with Two and Half Men as a lead-in, but unless the show gets nastier and more cruel (and dirtier, which happened to The Big Bang Theory), I think that's what's working.

Will I continue to watch? Online, yes. Somehow it seems to fit the computer monitor. I don't think I want to watch Mike & Molly's gratuitous weiner jokes on my big TV screen. They don't deserve the exposure. (And it's not the jokes, it's the show they're in).

Mike & Molly airs Mondays at 9:30pm on CBS.

A Few Good Shows that are NOT on Sunday Night!

While we all agree that Sunday night is a cornucopia of fabulous television programming, the rest of the week is not quite the viewing desert one might think. Last week, a number of established series had season premiers and there are a few that are off to a very good start.

HOUSE (Monday nights at 8pm on FOX), took the plunge by giving the brilliant, drug addled doctor a reason to stick to the rehab program for good. He and bosomy hospital Director Cuddy are finally an item. They kissed...they had naked sex...they're planning a European vacation together. It's all fraught with peril, of course, given that Dr. House is borderline Asperger's syndrome and almost completely incapable of a normal human relationship. Towards the end of the episode he actually said the "L" word to Cuddy, which I found touching. My more cynical sister Leslie said, "That's it then, we're looking at the last season for House!".

Moving over to Tuesday nights at 8pm on Fox, the Emmy award winning GLEE turned in a champion season opener. Starting with a full cast cover of Jay Z and Alicia Keys rap/song masterpiece "Empire State of Mind" and introducing a few fascinating new characters. Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester has a new nemesis with the towering and formidable football coach Beiste (The Panther). They clashed from the start, it was like watching butch gladiators fight it out in the halls of a public high school. New singers are being introduced as well, with the Filipina exchange student giving a goose-bump inducing audition.

Modern Family is the one to watch on Wednesdays (ABC at 9pm). Winner of the Best Comedy Emmy for their first season, Modern Family is living proof that broadcast television can still come up with a series that is fresh, innovative and absolutely hilarious. The season two open had Mitchell and Cameron building a huge pink Princess Castle for Lilly, while Phil and Claire try to get rid of the ancient family station wagon. The irrepressible 12 year old quipster Manny goes on a date, making his mom moan that "the leading cause of death among Colombian women is when their sons get married".

Saving the best for last, Thursday night features 30 ROCK (NBC at 8:30pm). Long a Flaming Nose favorite, 30 Rock dispels the myth that it's not possible to make a successful TV program about a TV program. Wait...that myth has never been true...what about The Dick Van Dyke Show? All the greats are back with Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) trying to merge with a new pilot boyfriend (Matt Damon!), and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) head over heels for his uber-competitive TV newswoman doppelganger. There's trouble in paradise, however, as Kenneth the Page is missing. Has he gone over to CBS? Absolutely love the constant references to GE and NBC being sold to "Cabletown", a dig at the pending real life take over by Comcast.

There you have it, something to love for every night of the week! And oddly enough, not one of these programs is on cable. What's the world coming to? ;)

Eddie Cantor and "Boardwalk Empire"

We hope you caught Episode 1 of HBO's 1920's Atlantic City-set gangster drama Boardwalk Empire, which premiered last Sunday night. It was a stylish -- how could it not be, with the participation and direction by Martin Scorcese -- and multi-layered evocation of the beginning of America's failed experiment of Prohibition, with a bravura performance by the always interesting Steve Buscemi. He carries the show on his shoulders, giving us a wonderful interpretation of a complicated character -- part gangster, part businessman, part human being -- and it's wonderful to see him headlining a series.

We also loved the use of period music in the show (good article about it by Ann Powers from the L.A. Times here) , and I was particularly thrilled to see one of my favorite performers, the comedian Eddie Cantor, used generously in the episode. I'm not sure you would have gotten the impression that Eddie was particularly funny given the part of his vaudeville act they re-created, with the able assistance of Stephen DeRosa who did a great Cantor. Cantor was very funny, particularly in the movies he made for Samuel Goldwyn in the early 1930s. Highly recommended, particularly Roman Scandals.

But here's some very early sound footage from 1923 -- about the same time period as Boardwalk Empire -- with the real Eddie Cantor doing some of his act. It's fascinating at the very least. Then, another YouTube user found and posted I Never Knew I Had a Wonderful Wife (Until the Town Went Dry, the Cantor song that was used during Boardwalk Empire. Thanks to both these YT users who brought Eddie Cantor into the 21st Century!





Don't forget to watch Episode 2 of Boardwalk Empire tomorrow night on HBO! Check out the official Boardwalk Empire site for more information and view the entire schedule when you can watch this terrific series, undoubtedly the most accomplished of this new season.

Back to Basics with "Meat & Potatoes" on Food Network

I used to love Food Network, but too much Rachael Ray and idolizing chefs-as-superstars eventually turned me off, but promos for their newest offering might make me a believer again.

Meat & Potatoes premieres tonight at 10pm, starring chef Rahm Fama traveling around looking for the most awesome titular items. As a voracious carnivore -- I know it's philosophically wrong and a big karmic boo-boo, but I gotta have the steak! -- just seeing the shots of juicy cuts of meats and overflowing sandwiches brought me back to the network.

I hope this is more about the meat than about Fama; I love to see enthusiasm and knowledge but am not so found of the comedy bits that pervade these "on the road" food/travel shows. Note to hosts: We already know you have the best jobs in the business -- eating for pay -- so try to calm down a little and stop gloating about it. Just show us the beef, please.

No promos were available anywhere to embed here -- how is that possible, Food Network? -- so we can't actually show you the slathering goodness, but we still recommend tuning in tonight for "Between the Buns" as Fama highlights smoked meat sandwiches in Brooklyn, amazing hot dogs in Chicago, and huge burgers in Kansas City. Jeez, but that sounds good!

Check out the show's official Food Network site here, and you might also enjoy reading some of the other recent coverage about the show, here from Serious Eats, and at the Food Network blog here.

William $#*!ner Rules!

We know you're not expecting much from tonight's premiere of William Shatner's new sitcom $#*! My Dad Says -- at least not if you've been reading anything about it -- but we still love Shatner and will be thinking good thoughts for his latest venture.

Shatner is one of those guys who has managed to create a vivid persona that straddles his real life and his screen life, and his very special position as one of the most iconic pop culture figures in American history. For pete's sake, he's Captain Kirk! What else do you need?

Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote a piece in today's Salon about Shatner, and makes merry with the old "he's a bad actor" gag line, but he's really not. Shatner is a wonderful actor, a marvelous stylist who started out as a classically trained thespian and soon enough learned how to make a living at it, and it was things like Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits and Star Trek that paid the bills. Not subtle? Perhaps not, but certainly effective.

We want to see him in commercials, not because we think he's an authority, but because we like him. We truly do.

So let's all take a look at $#*! My Dad Says, tonight at 8:30p on CBS, because it's $#*! Shatner Says, and that's a good enough reason for us.

The Real Temple Grandin on C-SPAN

While driving from Nova Scotia to Florida last week, I was lucky enough to turn on the hotel TV and see most of this incredible interview with Temple Grandin from November of last year. We loved that the HBO movie made about her swept the Emmy Awards last months, and the real lady is no less fascinating. We highly recommend taking a look at this terrific interview; in addition to presenting Ms. Grandin in all her intriguing glory, it shows us why C-SPAN is such a precious television resource for us all.

(I can't seem to get it to embed, but check it out on C-SPAN's website here!)

The Flaming Nose Remembers 9-11-2001

On the 9th anniversary of one of the most shocking days in America's history, The Flaming Nose honors all of the television coverage that kept us informed, horrified and riveted throughout the nightmare. From the time the first planes hit the towers, through the endless funerals and memorials and tributes for all of the poor souls who were lost in this terrorist attack, television was there for us all. It is said that this was the most watched, most photographed event in history. We all watched, and could not turn away.

Here's to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Here's to CNN and all the local stations in NYC that kept broadcasting through the day of horror. Here's to the History Channel, which is airing 9-11 specials all day long today. The History Channel never forgets. Neither should we.

Most of all, here's to all of the brave people who helped each other in NYC, in Washington and on Flight 93 nine years ago today. Heroes all.

Lucy and Superman

We're featuring the lovable Lucille Ball and stalwart George Reeves as Superman on our header these days, mostly just because we love them both. Reeves as Superman was our childhood hero, even though he was already dead (he died in June of 1959) by the time many of us saw Superman reruns as kids.

No matter. Reeve's infectious charisma, sturdy good looks and Superman's incredible sense of justice made him the perfect hero for us all. Of course you remember the I Love Lucy episode "Lucy and Superman" which culminates in the sequence below. At once hilarious, heroic, charming, and adorable, this scene shows why we'll never stop loving Lucille Ball or George Reeves.

Nearly Overlooked -- Terrific Female Performances on HBO's "Hung"

Though the show is often far from being merely the titillating sexual thrill that its title promises, HBO's Hung features a trio of don't-miss ladies -- make no mistake, they're the ones with the balls in this show. Hung's mostly unsung lead actresses toil in relative obscurity, but not for any lack of talent or excellence. Hung hasn't quite risen to the level of cultural touchpoint and probably won't, but that doesn't mean this 'male pimp and the women who love him' premise isn't worth watching.

Star Thomas Jane is fine as the well-endowed high school coach Ray, and this season he's getting some good competition from co-star Gregg Henry as fellow coach Mike Hunt (say it fast) who's unknowingly embroiled in an almost poignant man-for-hire relationship that Ray has blown off. Of even more interest are Jane Adams as Ray's pimp Tanya, Anne Heche as Ray's ex-wife (who has discovered old feelings bubbling up again), and Rebecca Creskoff as Lenore, Ray's other pimp. Creskoff casts a voluptuous visual aura similar to Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, and in fact she guested on two early MM episodes as the older sister of Rachel Katz, Don's department store heiress squeeze.

Jane Adams is a ragged thread as Tanya, nearly unraveling then getting it back together. She's always superb as she's found herself nearly overshadowed by Ray's business and personal relationship with the more aggressive Lenore. Anne Heche as Jessica is playing out a great storyline now. Her character is not exactly unhappily but surely mundanely married to a kind but average-looking big-bucks dermatologist (played so well by Eddie Jemmison) who of course knows deep down he bought himself a gorgeous wife. Jessica can't seem to get Ray off her mind, and in the last episode she ended up going moonlight swimming with him at the lake by their old house.

Hung has been praised for its neurotic verve, mostly thanks to Jane Adams incredible Tanya, and for its morose and cynical take on modern sexual relations. I'm all for that. Is it funny? All the half-hour so-called "comedies" on HBO or on Showtime are hardly that, or at least not always nearly that. It's their complexity that makes them so addicting and even...no, especially..when they fail as comedy they're even better.

The Season Two finale of Hung will air on Sunday, September 12th at 11pm, on HBO.

Ep. 20: Even-Steven or The Luckiest Kid in Detroit

Nose-talgia: One More Hot Old Ad Jingle

Let's hear it for the Teaberry shuffle. Like the Polaroid camera, and Palisades Amusement Park, here's a product that has gone to that great old brand round up in the sky. Notice that this jingle is played by trumpet icon, Herb Alpert.

Nose-talgia: Another Jingle -- Polaroid Swinger!

This is one that seems particularly So. Cal, doesn't it? I had a Polaroid Swinger camera and used it a lot back in the mid-60s. That's Ali McGraw in the ad, too! Yea Yea!



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