Christmas (not so) Specials

With no cable and extremely small amounts of viewing time, our kids look at any time in front of the tube as a grand event. With the Christmas specials, they think their lives will never get any better. For some reason, watching this year has been excruciatingly eye-opening (for me).

1. Rudolph - Cute, nice reindeer is born. Shows talent. Is attracted (and attractive) to the opposite sex while still practically in diapers. Is cruelly dissed and rejected by his father, his friends, Coach, and SANTA because of an aspect of his appearance. Things turn around with the Nosists due to a freak weather occurrence. The Burl Ives-voice snownarrator is almost as scary as the Abominable Snowman.

2. Frosty the Snowman - Love Jimmy Durante's voice and the title song. Not much else. The animation looks like it was rush job done over a boozy weekend in some Eastern Bloc country. The magician reneges on a promise. Karen nearly freezes to death. Not much redeeming.

3. Frosty Returns - more crappy animation with much worse music. Jimmy Durante gets replaced by a truly god awful Jonathan Winters. Plot involves spraying chemicals everywhere to melt all the snow.

4. A Charlie Brown Christmas - a classic, I suppose, but Charles Schultz was one depressed dude. Love every scene that snoopy is in. Could do without Linus's bible speech.

5. All the other Charlie Brown Specials - competing with each other for ever higher levels of suckitude.

6. It's a Wonderful Life - "Help you down?" is one of my favorite lines in all of cinema. I used to love this movie (and sort of still do) up until George's father dies. Fantastic screenplay, great acting, a hot Donna Reed. After that point I have to get up and leave the room as it's just too painful for me to watch. Sure, give up your dreams so that others can have the fantastic life you always wanted!! Do it over and over again! Seems I'm not alone in my opinion.

7. A Christmas Story - You'll hear no complaints from me about Ralphie. Wherever this movie came from, I wish they'd go back and make about a dozen more.

Great Comeback

Last year's season of "The West Wing" was a huge disappointment.  To the point where after 5 years of watching, I was ready to call it quits.  But, I'm happy to say, the new producers hit their stride this season and produced one memorable episode after another.  The infusion of new blood (Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits) was badly needed and produced a well-spring of new plot opportunities.

And most importantly, they set themselves up for next season beautifully.  They picked two of the most likeable characters in television history to go mano a mano for the presidency.  Who do you like: Hawkeye Pierce or Victor Sifuentes/Bobby Simone?

Point Conspiracy

I was riding on the rollers last night down in my frigid basement.  To occupy my brain during this mind-numbing exercise, I turned on the little black-and-white TV I keep down there (for just this purpose).  The only thing mildly entertaining was "Point Pleasant," Fox's new Exorcist/OC combo show.

It was the same gumbo you expect from Fox: hotties in bikinis; designer clothes; beach-front locale; evil-doers and nasty plotting by the fistful.

But then I started to wonder.  Could there be something more to this show than ratings?  It is Fox, after all.  I'm the last person to ever buy into conspiracy theories, but with all the red-state evangelicals suddenly running amuck...

On The UpsWing

Anyone catch "The West Wing" last night?  I thought it was a pretty damn good episode.  Actually, the last 3-4 have been good (save last week's beating the dead Leo) and last night's show took it up a notch.

For one thing, it wasn't linear.  Showing Donna's, Josh's and Vinick's parallel days--and decisions--was a genuinely interesting way of telling an overall story.

Ending it with Ryan Adams' version of "Desire" over the montage of what drives us all was just plain inspired.  Let's hope Santos runs over Josh with a snowmobile when the campaign moves to New Hampshire.

Farewell, "Friends"

Last night was, as everyone in the Western World knows, the series finale of "Friends." After a ten-year run, it was the last time, other than mid-day syndications, that we'll ever see Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe together.

The wifey and I were fans. Not so much in the last 3-4 years when the writing turned crude and the six amigos started coasting. But during the first 6-7 years, we were die-hards. The writing was sharp, the actors were completely settled into their characters and well, we thought they were like us. Or maybe, they lived the lives we wanted to live. They had cool apartments, active love lives and pals to hang out with right across the hall. Who wouldn't want that?

Watching Ross and Rachel embrace at the end of the show last night, we were sad and a little wistful. Not because the show was done, but that ten years of our own lives had passed. I thought back to where I was when the show started. I was working for a cool startup at the peak of its powers. That company has since merged and been acquired and the multi-million dollar products I helped create have vanished. After years of apartment dwelling, we had just bought our first house. I was writing almost every day and had some stories published.

And now, three companies, a dog and two kids later, here I am. Already missing some "Friends" who helped mark my life.

West Wing Wednesday

Since there's no The West Wing tonight, I thought I'd offer my critique of last week's episode. In case you missed it, the show presented, in documentary fashion, a day in the life of CJ Cregg, the White House press spokesperson. Unlike the usual filmed episodes, the show was shot in video and the contrasts were somewhat startling.

First off, I think the producers deserve an 'A' for effort for trying to do something special and different. Unfortunately, the results weren't so special. The actors, except Allison Janney, looked stiff and unnatural. I was constantly reminded that these were actors delivering lines. The two interns working under CJ were particularly bad.

But what was noticeably missing was the usual drama and intrigue we've come to expect from the show. It came off as flat; I was antsy the whole hour and left with the feeling of "who cares?" They tried to drum up some suspense with the whole Casey Creek thing, but that was underdeveloped to the point where the connection to the present-day FBI crisis felt thin and forced.

Nice try, but I really look forward to the next new "real" episode.

Chopsticks vs. Beethoven's 9th

Fans of The West Wing need look no farther than last night's repeat episode to remember how much better the show was under Aaron Sorkin. Not even a great episode by Sorkin's standards, it still stood in stark contrast to this season's straightforward bleck.

The cinematography was dark and brooding. The plot had more layers than a North End lasagna. There were script elements that added nothing to the story but gave depth and dimension to the characters. It was literary. The music inspired. And as usual, Sorkin deftly showed that there are always two sides to a story.

The last new episode had basically one story line: Toby fixing Social Security. Besides the absurdity of one man overhauling the system--in one hour minus commercials, no less--the story was told linearly, under blinding klieg lights. The actors looked as stiff as their lines. Where was the subtlety, the texture?

Mr. Sorkin, I hope you're getting lots of rest and staying away from the blow. Your baby needs you.