mb palaver

tvPalaver: Modern Family

I've been meaning to list my picks among the new fall TV shows, but I've been too busy watching TV. Most importantly, "Modern Family" lives up to the hype.  It's fantastic.  If you haven't seen it yet, you can catch up on the first few episodes at abc.com.  But you don't have to.  It's a sitcom -- it's not rocket science (or "Flash Forward" (to be discussed in another post)).  It appears on ABC Wednesdays at 9.  It has a great ensemble cast.  I love the guy married to the pretty blond from "Ed" who thinks he's the cool dad ("I'm hip.  I surf the web.  I text.  LOL: Laugh out loud.   OMG: Oh my God.   WTF: Why the face?").  And I love Mitchell and Cameron:

SportsPalaver: US Open Series in Mason, Ohio

Raphael Nadal's world ranking has dropped to number 3, but he's seeded second at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tennis tournament in Mason, Ohio.  It's Roger Federer who has to get past Andy Murray, new world #2 and seeded third in the tournament, not to mention the new and improved Andy Roddick, seeded fifth, to get to the finals.  I suppose some day I'll get tired of rooting for Roger.  I'm not there yet.

TV coverage of the tournament starts tomorrow on the Tennis Channel and ESPN2.  The final will be on CBS Sunday at 12:30.

Last week the women played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.  On Sunday, Jelena Jankovic defeated Dinara Safina to take the title, with my parents cheering them on.  This is a particularly good time of year to live in southwestern Ohio (putting aside the beastly heat).

 

 

Photo of Gilles Simon by Tom Guenther

tvPalaver: Mad Men Marathon (and Season 3)

I'm back from vacation with my family on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, two weeks of fun, sun, and, unfortunately, a bad case of vertigo caused, quite possibly, by a ride on the Himalaya.  (Some bad decisions are obvious even before you execute them.)  Rejuvenated despite the vertigo, I am determined to end my mbpalaver slump.

For all you "Mad Men" fans, Season 3 starts up again next Sunday night, August 16, at 10 pm on AMC.  More imminently, for those who missed it last summer or would like a refresher course, a Season 2 marathon runs tomorrow (Monday) from 7 am until 8 pm.  If you don't get a chance to record it, Season 2 also became available on DVD a few weeks ago.  Seasons 1 and 2 are also available On Demand, and some episodes are available for live streaming at amctv.com.  There's simply no reason not to be caught up before next Sunday night.

tvPalaver: The Mad Men (And Women) Are Back

I'm glad my DVR is paying attention, because I completely missed the fact that Mad Men's Season 2 started up again last night on AMC until episode 1 showed up on my recorded list.  These are reruns -- if you are all caught up on the show there's nothing new here.  But for those who got involved late and have been waiting for Season 2 to air again, you need wait no longer.  The shows are airing Sundays at midnight; you can find an episode guide on AMC's website.  Season 2 is not yet available for DVD purchase or rental.

In the meantime, you too can be like Don Draper:

Note to email subscribers: Click on the title of this post (above) to see an SNL short video.

SportsPalaver: Australian Open 2009

Jelena Jankovic questions a line call:  Whaaaaaaaaattt????

Every 30 days or so a colleague comes into my office to drop off our monthly backlog report.  Times goes by so quickly these days that when I see her approaching with the report in hand I'm put in mind of movies showing the passage of time with an image of a calendar's pages fluttering away with increasing speed.  That's how I felt when I realized the Australian Open was starting:  didn't I just do a post on that?  Of course, it's been a year.  And a week -- I am delayed, though with the good excuse of having been distracted by Inaugural mania.  On the plus side, there's still time to jump in for some quarterfinals matches.

As always with the Australian Open, it's challenging to watch here in the U.S.  Matches start in the evening east coast time, so unless you have insomnia, work the swing shift, or have a newborn baby, you'll be watching most of it on tape delay.  You'll have to live in a news bubble, answer the phone with "don't tell me who won," and shun friends who just can't help themselves.  You'll also have to have a pay TV service:  only ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel are carrying it.  The women's final airs here on ESPN2 Saturday at 3:30 am, and the men's Sunday at 3:30 am.  The matches will also be repeated at various times for nonvampires.

You can find draws, live scores, and everything else you could possibly want to know at the tournament website -- just don't go there if you're watching -- or will be watching -- a taped match.  You can find the US television schedule at this link on Tennis magazine's website without risk of unintended disclosure.

tvPalaver: Mad About Mad Men

I came late to Mad Men.  When I saw the commercials for it a year and a half ago or so I thought it looked exploitative.  It's set in the advertising world of Madison Avenue in the early 1960s, and the promos made me think it celebrated a culture where men were men and women knew their place.  Fortunately, partway through the second season (this past summer) friends encouraged me to give it a try. I did, and I was hooked.

Far from celebrating sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and alcoholism, it provides a nuanced, realistic take on these things, and life in general in the early 60s.  And tells great stories.  The writing and acting are first rate.  I love the props.  In one scene Betty (above) was reading to her daughter from a book that was so familiar to me from forty years ago that I could remember what it smelled like and what it felt like in my hands (I think our Aunt Kathleen gave it to us as a hand-me-down from her children).  I love the theme song, particularly when the percussion comes in behind animated Don's shoulder.  I've actually rewound and watched the opening again.  Repeatedly.  I love Don's stiff suaveness.  I love Pete's weaseliness, and his stilted attempts at snappy phrases.   ("A thing like that.")

In looks, Betty reminds me of a cross between Laura Petrie, Pam from "The Office" (in the way she talks), Grace Kelly, and my mother, though I'm happy to say my mother, in addition to being beautiful, was and is a warm and caring mother (Betty, not so much, despite the bedtime reading scene).  I love the fact when they turn the TV off the screen goes down to a pinpoint of light.  (As kids we used to race to be the first to the TV to put our index finger on the dot as it disappeared.)  I love Joan's walk.  I love the way the women are all freaked out by the new divorcee in the neighborhood.  I love the typewriter covers.  I love the depictions of things we did then that seemed normal but now seem insane, such as when Betty's son sails over the front car seat to get to the glove compartment, and when her daughter Sally appears in the kitchen wearing a "this is not a toy" dry cleaning bag over her head and Betty's only concern is whether Sally had thrown Betty's dry cleaning on the floor.  As a result of the extraordinary consumption of hard liquor that goes on in the offices of Sterling Cooper in each episode, I confess to at least once giving in and pouring myself a Scotch.  I wonder if Lucky Strike has had an unexpected increase in revenue.  I find Peggy to be an enigma.

I could go on and on.  Obviously.  If you missed it the first time around, Season 1 is available on four DVDs from Netflix. For anyone on your holiday gift list, Amazon's got the set for $27.49 right now.  If you watch it, and are able to figure out what the deal is with Peggy, please fill me in.

tvPalaver: Lynley and Havers' Last (BBC) Case

Tonight and next Sunday PBS will air the last two BBC productions of "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries." Sadly for fans of the show, the BBC pulled the plug on the series after this one.  I've enjoyed the TV series for a couple of years, but on the recommendation of my mother and mysterywriter I started reading the novels about six months ago. I feared I'd have to tape these episodes and hold them until I get to the later of Elizabeth George's novels, but as far as I can tell these episodes, "Limbo" and "Know Thine Enemy," not to mention a bunch of other filmed versions, were based only on Elizabeth George's characters, not on specific books.  That's a relief, because it could take me a year to get through the rest of the books.  It's all a bit confusing, not least because the PBS Mystery! series is calling this Series VII, though it seems the BBC called it Series VI.  And PBS will be re-airing Season VI (PBS's Series VI, that is) on four Sundays beginning August 24.

Be sure to check your local listings for times.  Here in DC, it doesn't seem WETA is airing it tonight, and it's not coming on MPT until 10:30 p.m., though it can be found in its usual 9 p.m. slot on PBSHD (if you get that).  I am a bit late on this programming note, but for those who don't check mbpalaver every five minutes for updates, you can always count on PBS to repeat during the week. See all episodes in the DC market this week here. 

THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES:  SERIES VII

Two 90-minute mysteries — Sundays, August 10 and August 17, 2008
Six years after their debut, it's time to say goodbye to novelist Elizabeth George's seemingly mismatched partners — the dashing blueblood Thomas Lynley, eighth Earl of Asherton (Nathaniel Parker), and his working-class sidekick, Barbara Havers (Sharon Small). In Series VII, the celebrated New Scotland Yard duo collaborate on two final cases.

Episodes of THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES: SERIES VII:

Episodes of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: Series VII:

• August 10, 2008
  Limbo
  As Lynley still struggles with a great personal tragedy, he's drawn back in to the 15-year-old unsolved abduction of his godson. A second shock occurs, and this time Lynley is at the center of the investigation. Can Lynley's name be cleared?

• August 17, 2008
  Know Thine Enemy
  Lynley and Havers try to solve the murder of one girl and the disappearance of another. Is a serial killer on the loose? What is the mother of one of the girls hiding? And who is the mysterious redhead seen with both girls before they disappeared?

tvPalaver: What's Happening!!

I just looked up what's new on amazon under tv and movies.  This was prominently displayed under "New and Notable."  Hey hey hey.

tvPalaver: Tina Fey on Baby Panic

This morning NPR ran a story about women waiting too long to have children.  It was irritating for a host of reasons, but it reminded me of one of my favorite Tina Fey'Weekend Update segments on "Saturday Night Live."  I made a mental note to do a post on it tonight.  I lost the mental note, but tonight's "30 Rock" episode (in which Tina's character Liz Lemon thinks she's pregnant) reminded me. Here's a transcript of the Weekend Update bit, based on one posted on snltranscripts.jt.org:

Tina Fey: The cover story of New York Magazine this week is "Baby Panic". This goes perfectly with the other magazines on my coffee table - "Where Are The Babies?", "Why Haven't You Had A Baby?", and "For God's Sake, Have A Baby!" Thanks, Time Magazine, just what I need - another article so depressing, I can actually hear my ovaries curling up.

According to author Sylvia Hewlett, career women shouldn't wait to have babies because our fertility takes a steep drop-off after age 27. And Sylvia's right; I definitely should have had a baby when I was 27, living in Chicago over a biker bar, pulling down a cool $12,000 a year. That would have worked out great. But Sylvia's message is basically that feminism can't change nature - which is true, alright. If feminism could change nature, Ruth Bader Ginsberg would be all oiled up on the cover of Mac - but she's not.

Ladies, there's no reason to panic, though. It's out of your control, anyway. Either your cooter works, or it doesn't. My mom had me when she was 40, and this was back in the 70's, when the only fertility aid was Harvey's Bristol Creme. So, waiting is just a risk that I'm going to have to take. And I don't think I could do fertility drugs, because, to me, six half-pound translucent babies is not a miracle. It's gross. I'd rather adopt a baby, I don't need a kid that looks like me. I was an ugly kid. I looked like a cross between that chick from the Indigo Girls and.. the other chick from the Indigo Girls. Not a cute kid, alright.

Dratch, Poehler, Maya? how do you feel about author Sylvia Hewlett?

Together: We hated Sylvia Hewlett!!

Rachel Dratch: Yeah. Sylvia, um, thanks for reminding me that I have to hurry up and have a baby. Uh, me and my four cats will get right on that.

Amy Poehler: My neighbor has this adorable, cute little Chinese baby that speaks Italian. So, you know, I’ll just buy one of those.

Maya Rudolph: Yeah, Sylvia, maybe your next book should tell men our age to stop playing Grand Theft Auto III, and holding out for the chick from "Alias".

Rachel Dratch & Amy Poehler: Yeah.

Tina Fey: You're not gonna get the chick from "Alias"!

tvPalaver: Cranford

 

Tonight at 9 Masterpiece will begin airing "Cranford," a three-part series based on three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.  It stars the always excellent Judi Dench and has received good reviews.  But that's not why the very thought of it gives me the warm fuzzies.  It's because I spent much of my childhood in Cranford (New Jersey).  The photo above, of a carnival on the Rahway River, dates from 1910 -- long before my time.  But the Cranford Canoe Club, below, looks like it hasn't changed a bit since we left New Jersey for West Virginia in 1972.

Back to the point, if you missed the first episode of "Cranford" tonight, check your local PBS listings for repeat airings, or watch it online -- a new feature on PBS.  [Edited 5/27/08 to add:  The "watch online" feature was short-lived; it's no longer available.]  Here's a description from their website:

Welcome to Cranford, circa 1840...a rural English town where etiquette rules, undergirded by a healthy amount of gossip. Modernity is making a move in town as construction of a railway comes harrowingly close. Cranford's eclectic residents, among them Matty Jenkyns (Dame Judi Dench) her sister Deborah (Dame Eileen Atkins), and Miss Pole (Imelda Staunton), stay immersed in the sweet pleasures and sometimes heartbreaking realities of simple village life. But when a handsome, young doctor arrives with cutting-edge new techniques, it rapidly becomes clear that as the world changes, so Cranford will change with it. Based on three Elizabeth Gaskell novels (Cranford, My Lady Ludlow and Mr. Harrison's Confessions), and boasting an all-star cast, Cranford breathes life into one town during one extraordinary year.