moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (11/25/85)
[Gibbering mode initiated, Potpouri forthcoming]
Hmmm... take a week in review, eh? OK, let's see what we get...
First, I'd like to join with other people and recommend that you
take a look at "Spenser: For Hire" on Tuesday nights. This is the
only thing on ABC that I watch, but it has been consistently
entertaining, right down to the acting. I am beginning to see
Robert Urich as Spenser -- he's obviously putting a lot more effort
into this than any of his previous roles (which isn't say much, I
know...). Avery Brooks as Hawk is just astounding -- you'd think
they built him to Robert B. Parker's (the author of the Spenser
series of mysteries) specifications. His voice and intonations are
particularly good. I suspect Parker has a lot of input on this
show...
I'm sure that any of you TV in-joke connoisseurs who saw last
week's "St. Elsewhere" were enjoying yourselves... remember,
please, that Mark Tinker (one of the co-producers) is Mary Tyler
Moore's son (and St. E is a MTM production), so all the little jibes
were pretty amusing. The reintroduction (after 7 years) of Mr.
Carlin from the old Bob Newhart show also tended to distort
"reality" further (also his comments about the old show "The White
Shadow" -- another show by MTM enterprises). Finally, the little
discussion between Weis and Auchlander about TV characters not
being real was perfect -- it was done without tongue-in-cheek,
and gave you the feeling of confronting a paradox head-on. "St.
Elsewhere" is not a normal show by any means (thank goodness).
What is it with bit actors on "The Equalizer"? Are they hiring
every New York-based actor they can get their hands on for
cameos? Mark Linn-Baker, Robert Lansing, Meatloaf (yes,
Meatloaf). Actually, it's kind of nice -- they have built (and are
still building) a collection of stock characters (mostly from The
Company) who McCall contacts during one of his crusades, and he's
letting them develop (and in some cases, disappear -- Robert
Lansing, who played occasional walk-ins on early episodes as
"Control", has been supposedly "replaced" by a younger yuppie-type
(played by Linn-Baker? I think not -- Linn-Baker seems to be
playing a Company techno)). I particularly liked Cossmeyer (a
somewhat-crazed, eccentric CIA commando type) being given a bit
more fleshing out -- hope to see he and his lady friend in further
episodes. Except for its lurid intro (which, to be fair, has a nice
electronic score), this is a very entertaining show.
Speaking of fleshing out characters, I particularly like the way
Dennis Franz is filling out the new Hill Street character Norman
Buntz. Buntz has been played up in the press as the "bad cop" at
the Hill. And there is no doubt that he fails as a good cop in many
ways -- the attempted seduction of a khaki applicant, and the
hunting down of a street punk (who, to be fair, was an animal and
an even less-likable character). But (like the early years of LaRue)
he shows that he has some excellent qualities, also -- his standing
up against the Polk Avenue cop who was dropping vagrants on the
hill, and his capable handling of several busts. His conversations
with the semi-regular stool pigeon have been a lot of fun to watch.
My one comment to people who have said HSB is on the downslide
is to watch the last two episodes, and especially the sequence
with Hill's father, Frank and Ray's conversation, and Belker's
proposing marriage to Robin. All very nicely done, and certainly
about 50 times better than (ugh) Knot's Landing (Passion! Cheating!
Sex! Lust! And all in the suburbs! Pfui!). There is still good
television out there, if you know where to look, and in my opinion,
this is still the best TV on TV...
...In fact, there's even good NEW television, as evidenced by The
Best `new' show since "St. Elsewhere" -- "The Twilight Zone". I
haven't seen an episode yet that didn't (at least) entertain me, and
several have moved me (especially the Danny Kaye/Harlan Ellison
story, and the one about the boy and Pilgrim girl who can talk to
one another through time). They are almost always containing one
funny episode -- I hope you all got to see the one with the fellow
who play's Carla's husband, Nick, on Cheers playing the Devil --
who is visiting New Jersey for a game of five-card stud. I was
laughing so hard at some of the lines I had to play the videotape
over twice to catch what was said. Obviously, it's better than that
other fantasy anthology; please give it a try, so it won't be
cancelled. By the way, the Nov. 29th episode will contain episodes
by both Joe (Gremlins) Dante and John (Conan) Milius -- it looks
like an all-demon episode, which has been rare for TZ so far this
season, as they prefer to deal with non-monster weirdness. I
thought S.S. was getting all the big guns -- perhaps the New Talent
is ALSO comparing anthologies, hmm?.
Finally, finally, FINALLY, an episode of "Miami Vice" that was good
all the way through. I usually turn this off ten minutes into it;
none of the promise of the head-turning season premiere movie has
been evident in the last two months of shows, until this one. Not
coincidentally, it dealt mostly with Castillo (and was directed by
the actor who plays him, Edward James Olmos) and some people
from his ex-CIA days. "Vice" rarely has much substance to its
stories, and this one was hardly different (though the dialogue was
good through the first 3/4). But the dialogue was good, and the
photography and Jan Hammer's music made that kind of
snap-crackle-pop camera-work that leaves you staring at the
screen, and produces mood all over the place. Two flaws -- the
ending was just too hokey (Crockett and Tubbs, agents of D.I.V.I.N.E.
I.N.T.E.R.V.E.N.T.I.O.N.), and could someone explain how these guys
run around with so many bullet holes/knife wounds in them? Must
be that CIA/KGB training...
Finally, a few comments about the New "Saturday Night Live".
First, I'm getting tired of the way it's being dumped on by the
press. To be sure, there are plenty of flaws; but the reason the
majority of critics panned the first episode was not because of
the writing or because of bad jokes -- they just didn't see any new
cast members who were "comic geniuses" or "recognizable talents"
right off. Good lord, it took long enough for the likes of Belushi,
Ackroyd, and Murray (I still remember him as pretty bland for the
first half-year) to take off (Chase actually took off quickly). The
only person the local critic liked was the black actress on the
show, because she "reminded me of Whoopi Goldberg". Gosh, great
criticism -- we want something new and exciting, but it HAS to
resemble something we've seen elsewhere!
My general impression of the show is that it has it's share of
losers in the performing department -- in particular, Anthony
Michael Hall, one of the few recognizable performers, looks like he
can hardly remember his lines through much of the show. However,
it is nowhere as dismal as those years when Eddie Murphy and Joe
Piscopo were the only two things holding SNL up -- anything they
weren't in usually stunk, and even their talents didn't guarantee
laughs. This year, while not having last year's excellent cast (Brad
Hall and Christopher Guest were just as good as Short and Crystal,
I think), it has several things going for it:
1) Willingness to do more than slapstick, and do either topical or
commentary humor -- I really enjoyed the fake commercial
lampooning peer-pressure commercials and registering for the
Army. I attribute much of this to Lorne Michaels and Franken &
Davis being back at the helm.
2) Writing as good as last year. No mean feat, that...
3) Letting the guest stars do their own brand of humor. This may
backfire (as with Chevy Chase, who looked like he hadn't rehearsed
at all), but it may make a terrific show. Pee-Wee Herman's outing
last night was an excellent example -- hilarious! Especially the
dinosaur ranch bit. And I don't even like Pee-Wee much...).
4) THE BEST Weekend Update News shows since Chase left. Dennis
Miller is primo, and the one-liners are usually hits about 70% of
the time. Remember Brad Hall? Ick! This guy is really quite good,
though he doesn't seem to do anything but the news.
5) Randy Quaid, who is doing consistently good performances (the
way he looked in the Pat Stevens sketch, about the depressed
Depression author, is an excellent example).
6) Varied musical guests, instead of the latest popular rock band.
I suspect Queen Ida (cajun music), who was on last week, is the
first performer to appear on Saturday Night Live, A Prairie Home
Companion AND at Reed College (gee, maybe even at the first two
alone! :-) ).
As usual, the commercials are the funniest -- I've saved the first
episode's take-off on Michelob ads ("You know JUST where you're
GO-ING... Straight... To.... HELL!" "This message brought to you by
Almighty God").
In summarily, it depends on the host, but I think you'll find this worth
watching. At least catch the news.
"Hayl, you know an' I know that th' only way in th'
world we can get that kind o' money is if we found
a bottle of Coke with a mouse in it."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
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