Film and Television

Antiques Roadshow – Behind The Scenes

by

47122533 If, like me, you're a fan of the Antiques Roadshow, Marsha Bemko's book provides a fascinating peek behind-the-scenes. And even if you're not a fan, but simply love antiques, Antiques Roadshow: Behind the Scenes is full of great anecdotes and tips that will help you in your collecting. And if you aren't a fan of the show, or an antique collector, but are a student of television, you'll find this book packed with interesting producing info on the making of a reality series. There aren't many books about TV shows that can satisfy on so many levels and also be a pleasure to read — but this one succeeds.

The book is written by AR's executive producer, who tells you how the series evolved, what you should (or shouldn't) bring to have appraised, how they decide which cities to visit and which appraisals they will put on the show. But that's not all. Bemko gives you deep background on all of the popular appraisers… and, as a bonus, gets them to share some tips on how to hone your own collecting skills. No book about AR would be complete, or satisfying, without a recap of some of their most memorable moments — fleshing out what happened before, during, and best of all, after the appraisal. This is a breezy, informative and highly entertaining must-read for Antiques Roadshow fans.

Murder on the Boob Tube

by

41MvsvCsbML._SS500_  I love TV reference books, but John William Law's MURDER ON THE BOOK TUBE is, to put it bluntly, terrible in every way, factually worthless and devoid of any fresh information or thoughtful insights. The listings are superficial and generic to the point of uselessness and riddled with typographical errors and inept sentence structure.

Here are some examples from his listing for MANNIX. The typos are his, not mine:

"The show started off one one path, but changed courses after the first season and never strayed much after that."

"With less than spectacular ratings in season one, the changes were hoped to bring new live to the fledgling series"

"The showed featured an unsolved MANNIX case and use flashbacks of the original series along with present day Mannix back on the case"

And here's another example of his poor writing and proofing skills from his listing for IRONSIDE. Again, the errors and lack of punctuation are his, not mine:

"While the original series took place in San Francisco, little of the show was actually filmed there with some early location filming of the actors in popular locations and the footage would be intersperse through-out the season."

And, finally, here's an example from his listing for ELLERY QUEEN:

"At one point there were rumor's the younger Hutton might reprise his father's most famous character for a TV movie, but the closest he came was as the star of his own mystery series based on another famous detective when Timothy Hutton starred in A NERO WOLFE MYSTERY in 2001-2002."

The author hasn't done any meaningful research, hasn't interviewed anybody, and the "rare photos" he uses are merely amateurishly cropped, black-and-white scans of TV Guide covers. It's embarrassing and not worth $1, much less $14.95.

Craptastic Sammy A-Go-Go!

by

It doesn't get much more craptastic than this — Sammy Davis Jr. sings the theme to "My Mother The Car," one of the worst sitcoms in television history. What the hell was he thinking!?

UPDATE 5/30/2010: YouTube has blocked my clip, so  here's another one… and this one is even better. You can actually see Sammy performing the song with dancers on his TV show!

But wait, there's more! Here's Sammy singing the theme to "The Jeffersons"

And, in case you missed'em before, here's Sammy singing the themes to KOJAK, HAWAII FIVE-O, MARY HARTMAN, CHICO AND THE MAN and MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

by

Ashes-to-Ashes-last-episo-006  If you can't wait for the third season of ASHES TO ASHES, the sequel series to the worldwide hit LIFE ON MARS, to show up on DVD or come to BBCAmerica, this article from The Guardian newspaper will tell you in detail how it all ends in the final episode. It's a big spoiler, so think twice if you really want to know.

Personally, I thought this season was very weak story-wise, not nearly as compelling or as well plotted as previous seasons of either ASHES or LIFE. The show probably should have ended with a variation on this episode last season instead of limping pointlessly through seven more. 

That said, the final episode tied up the two series in a way the felt right and packed an emotional punch, even if the "reveal" was obvious and strongly telegraphed from the start…and I mean going all the way back to LIFE ON MARS. It was certainly a much better final episode than the atrocious American take, which revealed that all the central characters were astronauts in suspended animation on a journey to Mars to conduct a "gene hunt."   I kid you not.

Pickups and Letdowns

by

This week, the networks announced their new fall dramas with the usual hype and hoopla. But what has been forgotten in all the attention is that most of the new dramas launched last season bombed, even those that pundits thought would be mega-hits (like FLASH FORWARD).  

The hour-long drama series cancelled this season include FLASH FORWARD, TRAUMA, THREE RIVERS, MIAMI MEDICAL, MERCY, THE FORGOTTEN, EASTWICK, THE DEEP END, HAPPY TOWN, PAST LIFE, MELROSE PLACE, and THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE.

In fact, not only did NBC's Leno experiment fail, but all of their new hour-long dramas tanked, too (along with such venerable dramas as HEROES and LAW AND ORDER).  

The only new dramas that have survived the primetime bloodbath are THE GOOD WIFE, THE HUMAN TARGET, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, LIFE UNEXPECTED, GLEE, VAMPIRE DIARIES and V.

So don't believe all the hype you're hearing about the new crop of pilots and don't get too invested in any of the shows…because it's a safe assumption that most of'em will be gone and forgotten by this time next year.