Shining a Light — A Concert and Conversation About Race, Tonight on Television

Posted on November 20, 2015 at 8:00 am

Tonight six television networks join together for Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America.

Campus unrest over bigotry and complaints about racism in law enforcement demonstrate the urgency of constructive engagement on race. It is part of an initiative from A+E Networks, iHeartMedia and United Way. They have joined forces to launch Shining a Light, “a multi-platform initiative designed to promote real progress on race in America, following the Emanuel AME Church tragedy and inspired by the reaction of the family members and Charleston community. The program is designed to inspire others to go beyond short-lived, symbolic gestures and to explore the uncomfortable truth about the racial inequity and bias in our country and to help individuals and organizations that are working to make progress on issues of race.”

The concert will include Pink, Pharrell Williams, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen, Sia, Jamie Foxx, Jill Scott, and Sting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMCg6MwcOSk
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Television

Now on DVD: The Great American Dream Machine

Posted on November 18, 2015 at 8:00 am

Between the anarchic comedy of “Rowen and Martin’s Laugh-In” and sketch comedy powerhouse “Saturday Night Live” was the outrageously funny PBS series The Great American Dream Machine from 1971-73. It was hosted by humorist and commentator Marshall Efron and featured Chevy Chase, Albert Brooks, and Andy Rooney, and it featured sketches, short films, and political commentary.

This classic show is now available on DVD and I am delighted to have one to give away. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with American in the subject line and tell me your favorite PBS series. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only) I’ll pick a winner at random on November 30, 2015.

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Contests and Giveaways Neglected gem New on DVD/Blu-Ray Television

My New Favorite Binge: The British Baking Show

Posted on November 13, 2015 at 3:02 pm

I spent last weekend in bed with a cold and was immensely comforted by lots of chicken soup and binge-watching the British Bake-Off (called The British Baking Show on PBS), which I first heard about on the Slate Culture Gabfest. I happily went through the entire Season 5 on Netflix. On PBS, they’re showing Season 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqAZiOfsdOo

It is great fun because no one is there to become rich and famous, there is no tiresome product placement, and no one is a drama diva, not even the celebrity judges, cookbook author Mary Berry and artisan baker Paul Hollywood. The contestants are amateurs, all endearingly earnest and immensely talented. Their love for what they do shines through every task put to them. And the tasks are very daunting, involving all kinds of exotic techniques and ingredients and design challenges. Everyone is there for the love of baking, and the competition never gets in the way. For those who want to learn more, YouTube has the masterclasses available, with Berry and Hollywood taking you through some of the series’ best recipes.

I’m pleased that Mary Berry is bringing the show to the US for a limited-series American version. But it will never match the simple bliss of the original.

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Television

This Year’s Best New Show: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Posted on November 9, 2015 at 3:23 pm

The only new show to make it to my DVR series list is “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” co-created by its sensationally talented star, Rachel Bloom. Each episode is a full-on original musical that takes place mostly inside the head of its slightly demented heroine, Rebecca, a Harvard and Yale-educated lawyer who walked away from her type-A career in a New York City law firm to move to West Covina, California, where her boyfriend from summer camp lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ctFmXGm_yE

It has a tremendous cast of singers and dancers, most with Broadway experience, including Donna Lynne Champlin, who plays Rebecca’s new friend, Paula, Santino Fontana (from the Broadway “Cinderella”) as a bartender who for some reason he cannot understand is drawn to Rebecca, and Vincent Rodriguez III as Josh, the object of Rebecca’s obsessional affection.

My favorite musical number so far is NSFW, the very funny “Sexy Getting Ready Song.” Here’s my runner-up, Rebecca’s boy band fantasy song, performed by four Joshes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C5fHfG_ptE

And here’s an Astaire-and-Rogers themed song with Fontana.

The songs are by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, who created the pitch perfect title number for “That Thing You Do” and the songs for the Drew Barrymore/Hugh Grant film “Words and Music.” They are funny and smart and earwormy in the nicest possible way. It’s on the CW Monday nights at 8/7 central and you can catch up on the previous episodes on Hulu.

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