Entries Tagged 'TV' ↓

Did anybody notice the way The Oprah Winfrey Show rewrote history yesterday?

Brad Pitt was the guest, along with Cate Blanchett, in Chicago to promote their new David Fincher project, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, out Christmas.

At one point, a pre-produced package talked about Brad’s career, beginning with his arrival in Hollywood, and his breakthrough roles in Thelma & Louise and Interview with the Vampire, before moving on to George Clooney, Brad’s life with Angelina Jolie, their kids, etc. It was brief, compact, fast-moving, and entertaining.

It was also untrue. Completely absent from the piece was any mention, whatsoever, of Jennifer Aniston, the actor with whom Pitt was a couple for seven years and married to for five years; 2000-2005.

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That’s how Jackie, a guest on The Tyra Banks Show last week, described discovering the Ashley Madison Agency, a dating site uniquely designed for married people who want to discretely step out of their relationships and into sexual ones with over 2 million other, similarly motivated people. (The company’s motto: “Life is Short. Have an Affair.”)

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Forget Crank Yankers. Using this flash soundboard stuffed with audio quotes from the The Dr. Phil Show, these goofballs prank call a woman to tears…or to a breakthrough reconnection with her inner self, I can’t really tell. It’s hilarious, either way. Plus, when you’re done, the late Fred Rogers, from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, gets in on the action.

Fan fiction, or fanfic, is a literary subgenre where super-obsessed viewers of a given TV show or film write their own stories, based on the characters and conventions of that film or show, exploring new or different narrative directions that don’t appear in the original. (For example, in Lord of the Rings, having Frodo and Sam trying to kill, and take the throne from the king, Aragorn.)

Slash is a subunit of fanfic, typically written by women, that enages the otherwise straight male characters of a narrative in homosexual sex with each other. For example, at each rest stop, having Frodo toss Sam’s salad.

Without question, one of the longest ongoing and most voluminous bodies of slash belongs to the original Star Trek universe, which, for some reason, compels fans to create bodice-rippers based on the misadventures of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.

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I’m not really a true fan of CBS’s The Big Bang Theory (Mondays, 8 pm ET), and haven’t even watched a full episode yet. But every time I see it come on, I blast its uber-cool intro.

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I don’t think disgraced track star Marion Jones-Thompson, above, was entirely forthcoming during her one-on-one appearance, yesterday, on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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In this clip from a 1966 Batman episode, “Dizzonner the Penguin,” the tuxedoed terror begins his election petition by promising “no mudslinging in this campaign”….only to immediately start tossing wet dirt at his opponent!

Sound familiar? No wonder this old, wrinkled white guy is doing horribly in the polls against…heh heh, the Caped Crusader.

[via BoingBoing]

FRONTLINE turns out expertly-researched, -written , -shot, and -edited news documentaries with startling consistency. But whether or not you’ve ever seen one of their incredible pieces—my favorite to date: House of Saud, on the Arabian monarchy—make absolutely sure you check out The Choice 2008.

The 2-hour work, which debuted October 14th, but I saw last night, deeply covers the rise of John McCain and Barack Obama, above, as the 2008 Republican and Democratic party nominees, respectively, noting the varied paths both men have run.

However, even with McCain’s long career in Congress, the portions on Obama are what will most captivate. Whether it’s footage of him at Harvard Law School in his late 20s; Obama, the Chicago activist, debating the then seemingly all-powerful Rep. Bobby Rush; or details of his party’s vision of him as its heir apparent and golden child, The Choice 2008 powerfully helps fill in blanks on a man who, for all of his immense and mounting visibility, still arguably remains a profound enigma. Buy the DVD, or watch it online, right now, via iTunes, YouTube, or directly on the web site. Great stuff.

Another winning shirt from SnorgTees, affirming the unstated ethos of cartoon series G.I. Joe‘s famed motto. Fashioned with Stars ‘n Stripes-style red and white lettering against royal blue 100% cotton material. S-3XL, $16.95 – $18.45.

CBS’s 60 Minutes is more than just the longest-running prime-time TV series in any genre, having aired continuously for forty years, since 1968. It’s one of the most renowned and esteemed investigative news programs in the business. They work to get the facts, and to get them accurate, as the flop sweat from those unfortunate enough to get interrogated by these vets has repeatedly proven.

So, last night, when Morley Safer, one of the show’s foundational journalists, opined sanguinely, calling Florence, Italy-based vintner Marchesi Antinori Srl “perhaps the oldest family business on earth,” I didn’t even blink.

It’s 60 Minutes! Heck, Antinori has been under the same management since 1385. Literally since the Renaissance was brand new. Half a century-plus before Leonardo da Vinci was born.

Then, I did some research. According to my sources, Marchesi Antinori Srl has been up-and-running 623 years, true.

But it’s not “the oldest family business on earth,” or even in Italy. It’s not even the oldest family vintner in Italy. Nor is it the third-, or even the fourth-oldest such business in the world. Not even close.

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