Posted by phil @ 09/23/2002 08:15 AM PST

I don't watch network tv, either, except for the news and reruns (Frasier and Raymond) on the local independent station. So, once again, I have nothing to say about it.

Last night DH and I went for a walk and had imitation Japanese food at a fast food outlet while Sandra worked on a paper she had to write about a film she had to watch for English class. I suggested that she ask all the intelligent dear readers here what the film meant, but, as usual, she waited until the last minute to get started on it.

Posted by Laura @ 09/23/2002 09:51 AM PST

I don't watch any of the nominated shows so I didn't watch the Emmies. In fact if a new show comes along that I like chances are that it will get cancelled. Last season's best new series was "The Eduction of Max Dreyfus" until mid-season when they wrote off Max's transexual friend (with no explanation) and it was ultimately cancelled. Of course if they would have started it on time instead of allowing football to run way over most weeks it might have gotten better ratings. This season there are a couple of shows I may try out, but I won't mention them so they don't get dropped right away.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 09/23/2002 10:07 AM PST

I was errant and truant on Sunday due to the overwhelming need for SLEEP!

I didn't watch the Emmys. I used to watch the trio of award shows that I considered to be important (this started when I was a young sprig of a twig of a lad). I watched the Oscars and the Emmys and the Tonys (most important in my book). When you're one of seven kids with only one television, try corralling the set to watch the Tonys when your brothers and sisters could not give a fig. But I managed to watch pretty much every year. I must admit that over the past few years, I have begun to miss the Emmys and even sometimes the Oscars. I don't watch enough television to justify watching the Emmys and In My Humble Opinion, I think the show has become so awful that I don't want to waste the time when I could be doing other more important or more enjoyable things. The level of entertainment on most commercial television seems to sink lower every year. I am not at all arguing against mindless or light entertainment, I'm a big fan of that (not everything has to have a deep moral meaning or perfect writing or plot resolution, etc.), but I don't see most of what's on television now as even mindless entertainment. Again, I preface this with the comment that in My Opinion, it's a lot of mean- spirited, dumbed down, unfunny twaddle. That, dear Hainsies/Kimmlets, is my take on the missed Emmy broadcast.

On another subject, I'm listening right now to the wonderful Jason Graae & Bruce Kimmel CD which I refer to as Mr. Graae's naked album, You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile.

Dance a Little Closer (the song I'm listening to right now). I can never hear the title of that song without thinking of the corrupted title which was all over town when the show opened and closed so quickly (so quickly that I never got around to seeing it). Close a Little Faster it was called :-)

Posted by Ben @ 09/23/2002 10:33 AM PST

Why, Bruce, I'm simply blushing from your kind praise of my performance in The Five Pennies. You are too too generous!

A belated but nonetheless very Happy Birthday to Laura. May all your birthday wishes come true! I'm really sorry to have missed the festivities.

Speaking of festivities, our dear readers on the East Coast won't want to miss the first Hainsies and Kimlets Party with our own Bruce Kimmel right here in New York City on Sunday, October 6, 2002. If you are planning to attend, please click on the link below and let me know. Details to follow and, yes, pointy party hats are in order.

Posted by Susan Gordon @ 09/23/2002 10:39 AM PST

Speaking of Mr. Graae...

I saw ANYTHING GOES at Reprise! (that exclamation point is Reprise!'s, and not mine, and I hate it) on Saturday night and absolutely loved it. The less said about the book the better, of course, but, as most of you know, the score is just filled with a cornucopia of Cole Porter gems, and it was great to hear them all. The casting was superb and the costumes were terrific.

Rachel York as Reno Sweeney was excellent. She is quite a beautiful woman (in a Faye Dunaway in her younger days sort of way) and looked smashing on stage. She fronted a few of the ensemble dance numbers and moved quite well. It was nice to hear Reno's music sung in a rather accessible fashion, as opposed to the other-than-human belting of La Merman (though I love her dearly) or even the merely super-human belting of Patti Lupone (though I love her, too) and certainly the noise that Kim Creswell makes on the recording I have of the show.

Brent Barrett also cuts quite a dashing figure on the stage, and I am pleased to report that his voice is as thrilling as ever. His lower register is lush, lush, lush (that's three lushes, which would make for a hefty bar tab, I would imagine) and he demonstrated great agility in his singing, even using falsetto (to quite nice effect) in one of the songs.

Jason Graae was very funny as Moonface Martin, and Anastasia Barzee was most endearing as Hope Harcourt. Her singing, too, was quite impressive.

At first, I wasn't sure what to expect out of Sally Struthers as Evangeline Harcourt (Hope's mother.) I am pleased to report that the former Gloria Bunker Stivic turned in a very funny performance, playing the role in a Margaret Dumont-ish (or even Hermione Gingold-ish) sort of way.

BTW, (that's by the way, in internet lingo) if the Broadway cast of the soon to open MAN OF LAMANCHA does not do the national tour themselves (and you know there will be a national tour), I'd be more than happy to see Mr. Barrett, Ms. York and Jason Graae (as Sancho Panza) do the show.

Posted by Jay @ 09/23/2002 11:26 AM PST

Now Jay, THAT'S how I woulda spent my birthday, if I'd had the chance.

Posted by Laura @ 09/23/2002 11:39 AM PST

I didn't watch the Emmys either, choosing to forego the 3.5 hours of too many commercials and too many bad ballgowns to watch the Special Edition DVD of Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. I don't know why this film got the critical drubbing it did; it's a terrific action film, with marvelous voice performances -- reminiscent of Jules Verne and Journey to the Center of the Earth -- with, as always, first-rate animation. I am moving slowly through the 3-plus hours of additional material.

Posted by Philip Crosby @ 09/23/2002 12:13 PM PST

Well, if these posts are anything to go by, these will be a very low-rated Emmys. Wherever shall I get the dirt, the fashion reports?

Posted by bk @ 09/23/2002 12:17 PM PST

Jay---
Which version of ANYTHING GOES did they do? I know there are three floating around and they all use the same main songs (ie: the hits) but have different songs to fill out the score. There's the original 1930s version that was recorded about a dozen years ago, the 1960s version which replaces about half the score and makes it more of a "Best of Cole Porter" show and the Lincoln Center version from the early 90s which returns some songs cut in the 60s but still fills out the score with other Porter songs. All have different --- though similar --- books. I'm just curious which one they did (or if they did like Encores did with A CONNECTICUT YANKEE and combined the various versions.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 09/23/2002 12:30 PM PST

Mr. William E. Lurie:

They used the Lincoln Center version, which dates, I believe, from 1987.

Posted by Jay @ 09/23/2002 12:40 PM PST

Dirt? Fashion?

Jennifer Anniston was gorgeously attired, but her coif was a bit of a nuisance. Lisa Kudrow was stunning. Ellen DeGeneres wore a suit similar to her attire at last Fall's Emmy show. Most of the stunning women were in the audience and did not win the Emmys so stayed in their seats.

Because I love Stockard Channing, I won't go there, but her hair might have been less frightening.

Laura Linney won something for acting. She was stunning!

The camera kept cutting to Brad Pitt whenever "Friends" won something. And all the clips from that Hollywood stars show that aired after 9/11 seemed to feature Tom Cruise.

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg were in the audience. Lots of shots of them at various times, mutually grinning themselves silly at each other.

Their "Band of Brothers" won an Emmy -- and occasioned Mr. Spielberg to drag one of the soldiers from that military unit onto the stage to make comments.

Hanks also did the Bob Hope Humanitarian presentation and I suddenly found myself watching a segment of the season premier to "Charmed" because my subsconscious had changed channels when it realized I was being sucked into a vacuum.

Brad Garrett let everyone know how much we REALLY wanted that Emmy for Best Supporting Actor, Comedy Series, by jumping out of his seat and lurching around the aisles with his arms raised in the air...going back and forth between folks giving them hugs and generally being overly celebratory. Would that he invested as much energy into his performances.

Conan was....well...Conan. I was never amused. Perhaps I'd feel differently if I watched tonight or tomorrow...! ?

At any rate, the fashions weren't awful, and they weren't remarkable.

The show filled a bit over three hours...don't know if my local station edited it or not, like they do the Tonys.

It was pretentious, self-congratulatory and banal. It's all one could ask for except for what it didn't have -- really tacky clothes and hairdos and a weird acceptance speech!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 09/23/2002 12:52 PM PST

Thanks Jay. That's not the version I would have chosen. A group like that should do the original.

Ron --- The Emmys and Oscars are allowed to go on as long as they want without interference from local stations. It's only the Tonys they insist end on time because they claim nobody is really interested in them. Unfortunately judging from ratings in the last few years (not that they are really accurate but that's what they swear by) they are right.

Posted by William E. Lurie @ 09/23/2002 01:05 PM PST

Thank you Ron Pulliam for the dose of dirt. Now, we need more posts about more things so I have new stuff to read when I check in. For example, was anyone here ever abducted by an alien?

Posted by bk @ 09/23/2002 03:52 PM PST

Not abducted, exactly, but I have been "helped" by clerks in a number of retail establishments over the years that I know could not possibly be of this earth.

In fact, I think there is a whole colony of aliens resident at the Tower Records down the block from my office. If you want to know which one, BK, just send me an e-mail.

Posted by Jay @ 09/23/2002 04:15 PM PST

No, but I could swear I woke up next to one once.

It was one of those day after the night befores and "What was I THINKING?"

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 09/23/2002 04:17 PM PST

I don't watch the Emmys either. I don't wathc enought TV to know who is what or was whatever. I watched "Iris" last night. Some great performances.

I loved "The Five Pennies" when I first say it and I still enjoy it these days. I transfered the album to Cd last year. The film was very popular in Australia and as a result we had Dodie Stevens singing the title song as a "hit" and the "The Five Penny Saints" with Armstrong & Kaye also making the top 40.

Posted by Tom from OZ @ 09/23/2002 04:24 PM PST

I personally have not been abducted by aliens. However my son was, or so I suspect. He was a very nice typical child. Then sometime -- oh, I'd say about the beginning of his freshman year of high school -- he must have been abducted by aliens and replaced by a horrid clone. He looked like my child, but he certainly could NOT have been the sweet child I had raised. The aliens kept my son for several years until the clone graduated from high school, and then they claimed their horrid clone and returned my sweet son.

Posted by Laura @ 09/23/2002 04:36 PM PST

Laura! At last a mother who
understands the teenage alien
abduction! To think my mother
blamed ME for such wretched
behavior!!!

Posted by Laura @ 09/23/2002 05:25 PM PST

Oops! Was thinking of Laura
and inadvertantly put her name
in instead of my own!!! How
unseemly.

Posted by Jed @ 09/23/2002 05:25 PM PST

Quite alien-like, Jed.

Posted by Laura @ 09/23/2002 05:30 PM PST

Before last night, the last time I had watched the Emmys was when there was a new show I was pulling for, because it had anemic ratings, but was nominated for a lot of awards. I thought if it could bring in some of the Emmys, it would have a chance of being renewed instead of cancelled. The show was "Cheers." No lie. It'd been that long.

I watched last night (despite the fact that I don't watch any network broadcast TV shows) because I was invited to an Emmy party.

For my remarks about the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award (Oprah "A Little Bit More Human Than the Rest Of Us" Winfrey received it), see yesterday's notes. I went on about it, at length. I agree with Ron Pulliam that it was the lowlight of the evening (at least what I saw of it...I left the party around 10, and didn't bother to tune in once I was home). I am convinced that Tom Hanks is going to run for high political office in the very near future (and probably win, dammit). He's already got the self-consciously unassuming-yet-smug, blandly self-righteous, let-me-enlighten-you-as-to-what-is-really-important-in-this-kooky-carnival-we-call-life speechifying down pat. Ick and double ick.

Stockard's hair was pretty bad. Too blunt, the ends flying out at unattractive angles to her head and too dark by far. Harsh-looking. As for the dress -- we were convinced that her breasts won the Emmys (one for each). And no, I'm not saying she isn't a fine actress, because she is. This is all about the LOOK.

Since I don't watch network TV, damn few recent movies, and no awards shows, I was truly shocked with just how emaciated female celebs are becoming. What really surprised me, too, was the fact that everyone else in the room I was in was oohing and ahhing over them, saying "Oh, she's REALLY pretty," etc. about women with hard, jutting bones sticking out from their shoulders and knobbly bones visible in their chest (PS: plunging necklines are back). I was relieved to see Jean Smart when she presented an award, as she was just about the only woman there who struck me as being truly lovely and healthy-looking, by normal (non-Hollywood) standards.

The guys? Not much to tell. They all wore identical suits. Tom Cruise appeared in a taped tribute to that Wonderful Shining Ray of Light in our Humdrum Lives, Oprah, with greasy-looking long hair tied back in a topknot, causing an audible gasp amongst us when he appeared, but that was about as eventful as it got, Male Fashion-wise.

I actually thought much of the Conan stuff was pretty funny, and I am not a fan. The rest of the room laughed quite a bit, too. Dunno.

Sleepy. More later, maybe.

Posted by Lulu @ 09/23/2002 07:00 PM PST

Ohmygosh! I forgot about Jean Smart.

Smart, chic, wowee!

As for the skinny ones, I didn't see Lara Flynn Boyle or Calista Flockhart (and nary an Emmy nom for "Ally McBeal's" final season???)

Tom, I'll ask you: Is "The Five Pennies'" finale on the LP soundtrack? I always loved the way that movie's finale was orchestrated!

Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 09/23/2002 07:24 PM PST

I know that this is totally off topic, but I just finished listening Mary Cleere Haran: This Heart of Mine (Classic Movies Songs for the Forties)

She is absolutely fabulous (I already own several albums of hers) and the musical direction and arrangements are by Fred Hersh. He also produced the CD. Mr. Heresh also plays a beautiful paino. David Finck (bass) and David Ratajcazake (drums) add their immeasurable talents to this recording. The have their moments to shine in musical breaks.

I was listening to it in my car while I was tarveling down the I-95 down to meet a friend for dinner. I was enjoying myself so much I travceled in the slow lane because I didn't want it to the.

There are many familiar songs in this collection and some not so familiar. They should all be familiar. This is why songs from the golden age of songwriting are still around and last years hit rap song will be forgotten in sixty years.

Out of This World and My Shining Hour are heard if arrangements that are different from those I am used to and I like them. Everything is enjoyable about this. As I write this I am listening to it for a second time and I have put it on aloop so I can enjoy it for the rest of the evening.

I am not sure if this album is still in print, but if it is I cannot praise or recommend it more. It on the Varese Sarabande label.

Oh I almost forgot Mr. B. Kimmel was the Executive Producer on it.

Posted by Michael Shayne @ 09/23/2002 07:38 PM PST

Lulu: We must stop meeting like this. :) Re: "Cheers"--as our very own BK already knows, my dear sister-in-law was Production Manager on that show for most of its run, and she and my brother-in-law can be seen in that final two part episode as part of the crowd at Cheers (they had all the production staff man the extras department for that final episode). My brother-and-sister-in-law's home in semi-lovely Encino is filled to the brim (pun perhaps intended) with Cheers memorabilia, including a very cool artist's rendition of the bar. This particular credit perhaps (and I say perhaps) makes up for her similar PM credit on "A Very Brady Christmas."

Posted by JMK @ 09/23/2002 07:56 PM PST

Okay, confession time: I MAY have been abducted ONCE.
It was not strange at the time, and TIME is very important in this story.
Keith and I (Keith being an acquaintance, the son of a CMU dining service manager) did a Halloween gig (Me as d.j. Count(down) Dracula at Hood College in Maryland. This is roughly a three hour drive from Pittsburgh (remember TIME is important).
Keith and I checked out of our hotel at 10:00am, went to Hood College for breakfast and to say g'bye to Keith's mother.
We got onto the road home at 11:30 am. Drove the normal 55/65 mph, and were either in front of or behind a Universal Salvation truck the entire trip. Big, white & red eighteen wheeler: Universal Salvation.
At 12:30pm (one HOUR after we had started driving), we approached the Pennsylvania Turnpike Exit #& -Irwin, which is roughly one half hour away from the Pittsburgh exchange (#6) on the Turnpike. (Cue the Twilight Zone Theme, please).
I looked at Keith, and at the same time he looked at me, and we both said, nearly simultaneously, "What the f***? How did we get so far, so fast?"
We took a deep breath and counted the exits we could not remember going past - Breezewood - Somerset - Donegal - Ligoneer - Bedford - New Stanton. We could not picture any of those exits, but both of us had a clear picture of THE UNIVERSAL SALVATION TRUCK.
Our return trip ended up taking One and a half hours! A trip which neither of us can recall any of the details along the way for, except the (in unison, now) UNIVERSAL SALVATION TRUCK.
Ninety minutes - time is of the essence.
Was I ever abducted by aliens? I dunno, but I know about the UNIVERSAL SALVATION TRUCK.

Posted by td @ 09/23/2002 08:23 PM PST

I didn't really have anything to do with the This Heart of Mine other than having the good taste to pick up the album for Varese. I think I may have had a suggestion or two about the sequence, but that was it. I did produce her subsequent Rodgers and Hart album, which is quite nice.

Posted by bk @ 09/23/2002 11:19 PM PST

Oh, and Jed -- I recommend that you apologize at once to your mother for your horrid clone's behavior (even though it wasn't really you).

Posted by Laura @ 09/24/2002 08:12 AM PST

Oh, and Jed -- I recommend that you apologize at once to your mother for your horrid clone's behavior (even though it wasn't really you).

Posted by Laura @ 09/24/2002 08:13 AM PST

Oh, and Jed -- I recommend that you apologize at once to your mother for your horrid clone's behavior (even though it wasn't really you).

Posted by Laura @ 09/24/2002 08:14 AM PST

Interesting. Three times I got an error message that the website was not responding. I think aliens are somehow involved.

Posted by Laura @ 09/24/2002 09:09 AM PST