Regis Says Goodbye to Daytime

Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:27 am

Regis Philbin has announced that he will leave his daily “Live” show sometime this year. He is 79 years old and has been doing the show for 28 years. His many television appearances have made him the Guiness Book of Records champ with more than 15 thousand hours on the air.
It is not easy to host a show that people welcome into their homes every day. Regis makes it look easy, which is what makes him so good.
So, do you think they’ll have a bunch of guest hosts, as they did before selecting Kelly Ripa to replace Kathy Lee Gifford? Who would you like to see in Regis’ chair?

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Television

Eyes on the Prize (Part 1)

Posted on January 17, 2011 at 8:00 am

A+
Lowest Recommended Age: Middle School
MPAA Rating: NR
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: Smoking, drinking
Violence/ Scariness: Historical violence
Diversity Issues: The theme of the series

This is the story of the civil rights movement, from 1952-1965. Interviews and archival footage tell the story of the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that declared school segregation unconstitutional and the Montgomery bus boycott that forced the South to begin to allow equal access in public accommodations. As momentous as those events were, they were even more significant in what came next — decades of social, legal, and cultural upheavals that would lead to the Civil Rights Act, the 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia abolishing the laws that prohibited inter-marriage, and, a generation later, the country’s first African-American President. The bigotry is shocking to us today, which is all the more reason we need this documentation. And the heroes are here: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, and more.

The PBS series, its sequel, and the companion volumes by Juan Williams are an indispensable reminder of our past and inspiration for our future. The struggle continues.

I’m not where I want to be.
I’m not where I’m going to be.
But thank God, I’m not where I was.

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Documentary DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Television

Downton Abbey

Posted on January 16, 2011 at 8:00 am

I love the new Masterpiece Theatre series, “Downton Abbey.” It’s a gripping story of fascinating characters and an enthralling depiction of a society undergoing seismic changes.

English society flourished for centuries based on a system that kept property from being dispersed through “entailment” — land was transferred to the oldest male heir. And anyone who’s ever read a Jane Austen book knows that while that system was great for keeping property in the same family for generations, it was tough on families. In this story, Hugh Bonneville (“Notting Hill”) plays the Earl of the title estate in pre-WWI England. Like many nobility of his generation, he married an American heiress to get the cash he needed to run the estate. But unlike most of them, he fell in love with his wife, played by the ravishing Elizabeth McGovern (“Ordinary People”).

And then they had three daughters. Which meant the property would go to the nearest male relative, a cousin. As was often the practice in these families, a marriage was arranged with the earl’s daughter. All seemed resolved. And then, as this show begins, the earl receives some very bad news. The heir and his father were on the Titanic. And that means that the estate will go to a distant relative they scarcely know who seems, to use the language of the era, unsuitable and disobliging. He arrives, filled with modern ideas and bourgeois habits — and bringing his mother.

And in the tradition of “Upstairs, Downstairs,” there is a whole other set of stories going on among the staff, including the arrival of a new valet for the earl and a footman who wanted that job for himself.

The show has already been a big hit in the UK and I am delighted to hear that there is a second season. In tonight’s episode, there is romantic intrigue for Lady Mary, the oldest daughter, and the arrival of a stranger. I’ll be there!

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Television

Tonight: Critic’s Choice Awards!

Posted on January 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm

The first big awards show of the year is the one from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. I am a proud member, and spent a lot of time making sure my votes on the impressive list of nominees were just right. Be sure to watch tonight on VH1!

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Awards Television

Tribute: David Nelson

Posted on January 12, 2011 at 5:55 pm

I loved “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” one of the most enduring sitcoms from the early days of television. Ozzie Nelson, bandleader turned radio and then television personality, played “Ozzie Nelson,” perpetually genial but often befuddled suburban father. His wife Harriet and sons David and Ricky played not themselves but television versions of themselves. The show ran from 1952-66 and we all felt we grew up with the Nelsons, as Ricky went from cute kid to pop idol to married man. When David and Ricky got married, their wives joined the cast. And the house on television was the real house they lived in. But it was far from a reality series; it was a light but very scripted comedy, with episodes about the usual mix-ups, misunderstandings, and gentle arguments that exemplified middle-class America’s aspirational sense of itself in the Eisenhower era. A baseball mitt that didn’t arrive in time, Ozzie gets a cold, David has a crush on a girl at school — and no one ever figured out what Ozzie did for a living.

David Nelson, who died today at age 74, was the last of the Nelson family. He began producing and directing while still on the show, and continued to work on commercials and in television. He also appeared in John Waters’ “Cry-Baby” with Johnny Depp. He — and the sweetness and innocence of the stories his family brought to us — will be missed.

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Television Tribute
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