I Am A TV Junkie

Video -- Peter Falk Dies, We Remember Him

Peter Falk was a actor's actor. Cemented that reputation on stage and in the films of his friends John Cassavettes, Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands.

On TV he was Columbo. He made a beige trenchcoat the lack of an iron a trademark. The clip above from a 1973 episode features Jackie Cooper, who we also lost recently.

Falk's final years were rough, dementia encroached and his wife was then named the conservator of his estate. If there's relief for his family at all it's that he's no longer suffering.

Falk was 83 and is survived by wife Shera Danese Falk and two daughters from his first marriage to Alice Mayo, Catherine and Jackie.

This is What You Will Be Watching Tonight: Wilfred, Louie, FX, 10 pm

(Sorry I'm late with this, not for the usual reasons -- not liking it -- but because all the floors in my house are being replaced and I'm ... busy.)

Raising a child is fraught with ... oh, what the hell do I know about it I've not done it, but Louis CK has. Anyway, one morning he's brushing his daughter's teeth and she comes out with this while discussing the split custody parenting situation with him:

"I like mama's better. I like mama's better because she makes better food. And I love her more, so I like  being there more."

Louie says OK, but as she turns her back to walk away he give her the finger. And so would I. And a couple scenes later he starts working on making better food. And so would I.

There are things that happen in tonight's Louie premiere (FX on cable, 10:30 pm) that you will never see on another TV show. Period. And I'm not telling you what those things are because I hate spoiling the viewing experience for you.

What you need to know about the new season of this show is that it's even better than last go-round, it may elicit from you moments of real clarity about your life and relationships, you'll be moved ... and for the most part you'll laugh right through every scene.

Tonight, Louie's sister Gretchen shows up very pregnant and it opens up an entirely new vein for the show creator/writer/director to drain. Family, failed marriage, body issues, trust ... it's like he's reading my journal, if I had one.

Something happens (not telling) that tests Louie in a way that I don't think has happened before, and the sequence is shot and edited masterfully, there's real urgency and compromises with higher powers that happen right in front of you in an instant and you will get so wrapped into it that you'll find your breathing labored and pulse racing.

And the denouement of it all will slay you, just cut you into pieces, into happy funny laughing pieces.

BTW, great performance by Yul Vazquez, who you'll remember as Bob, one of the two intimidating gays from Seinfeld (think AIDS Walk and armoire ... yeah, that guy). The whole sequence hangs on his work here and it's perfect.

This is just the first of four outstanding episodes that I got from FX (thank you Kristy). The rest are actually even better than this one. With these four half hours Louis CK cements the fact that he is clearly among the best in his field as a writer and director.

Years from now when Louis CK is among the most respected auteurs in film these shows with be held up as some of the best television produced in this era.

My comments on Louie's season two lead-in, Wilfred starring Elijah Wood and Jason Gann, after the jump.

Video -- TNT's Falling Skies -- Family Drama Amid Apocalypse or Apocalypse Amid Family Drama?

So, which one is it? I'm not really sure. Falling Skies premieres Sunday night on TNT and as you can tell by the timing of my post (on premiere day) I'm not a huge fan. I don't hate it, either.

I'm just kinda ... sorta ... what was it we're talking about?

Here's the premise, which is related to us in the opening credits by the Noah Wyle's characters young son while we look at pictures he's drawn in crayon of the attack on the Earth by aliens ... big spaceships come from ... somewhere ... and chaos ensues. 90% of humanity is wiped out, kids are taken live and fitted with devices (called "harnesses") that attach to their spinal columns and turn them into zombie-like creatures.

But we don't get to see any of that. Maybe later on?

There is a resistance to the alien occupation. Structured as 100 fighters to each 200 civilians, this one group we follow is headed by a grizzled Vietnam vet played by Will Patton. Wyle plays Tom Mason, a former history prof at Boston University  who is Patton's second in command. He has three boys, two of them (Matt & Hal, played by Maxim Knight and Drew Roy) are with him and a third (Ben, played by Connor Jessup) is one of those kids wearing a harness.

The wife apparently died in the initial attacks. Moon Bloodgood plays a pediatrician that travels with our group of 300 (I'm sure history guy Tom will reference the Battle of Thermopylae, eventually). I imagine at some point she'll be Tom's love interest.

I like science fiction shows that are big on details and the heightened excitement that comes from reveals during the show. The problem with Falling Skies for me is that it's really cheap when it comes to handing over details. We don't get to see the initial alien attack. There's no talk at all about why the aliens are there at all, just resignation that they are. The only thing that intrigues is this harness thing that the aliens strap connect to the spinal columns the kids they catch.

Kids. Being used by aliens for nefarious means that aren't immediately apparent. Sounds like a great sci-fi miniseries from two summers ago that we called Torchwood: Children of Earth. They did a much better job feeding the details of its story. Then again, it was just a five episode series.

Still, at the end of the first hour of tonight's two-hour premiere event (actually two episodes just running one after another) it felt like an episode of CBS' failed Jericho from a few seasons back seen through the filter of a Syfy Channel movie.

Oh, and the CGI is not great. You might think something with Spielberg's name on it would have great effects. You would be wrong. You'll see.

The second hour's story concerns itself with a post-apocalyptic biker gang who our group come up against at a weapons depot. The leader of said gang is played by a guy named Colin Cunningham and you'll be happy to see him, he really livens things up. His scenes with Wyle in this second hour are totally responsible for my even posting about the show and by the end of the episode it seems as if we'll see more of him, which is a good thing for those of us who slogged through all the family drama of hour one.

Is this the alien attack show you've been waiting for? I don't quite know. The Event was not, V stands for very campy and that's gone, FlashForward did not go forward. That doesn't really spell well for yet another post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama.

Of course Falling Skies is not just that, it's the story of the Mason family, too, making this a cocktail of two different genres. Should be interesting to see if they can feed both stories to the satisfaction of the various audiences they hope will tune in.

Rumormonger: Is Dave Chappelle Returning to Television?

In short, no. James Hibberd has the details at the Entertainment Weekly website.

The longer answer, apparently, is that Chappelle is looking for some sort of video outlet for a new show of which no details are being shared at the moment. Names being bandied about include Hulu, Crackle, Netflix ... others that will provide him with more creative freedom.

More? It's just me reminiscing, but I'm pretty sure he had a huge amount of creative control on the Comedy Central show. From what I remember that wasn't Chappelle's issue at the time. What was troubling Dave was that people like me (caucasian) were laughing at the stuff he was doing, but apparently not in a way that Dave appreciated.

I've never really understood what that meant. I thought people of the same mind regarding the issues addressed in the Chappelle sketches would laugh in the same places for pretty much the same reasons.

Now I believe I am of the same mind as Chappelle on those issues but maybe he doesn't feel the same way.

I'm still kinda pissed off about Chappelle's turning on Neal Brennan, without whom he would not have had all that success. I hear Chappelle is still slamming Neal in his standup act, which is pretty juvenile if you ask me.

So if Dave is starting a new project I don't really know how interested I am in watching it. I'm not sure that Chappelle wants me to be his audience anyway. He seems to have developed an interest in only a certain kind of person watching his work and I'm not that kind of person.

I know when I'm not wanted.

Tracy Morgan and a Notch Too Far: Why He's Apologizing For the Wrong Thing

This is not Tracy Morgan speaking with his image consultant. Or is it?

Nah, the pic comes from the movie Cop Out, which isn't such a bad film, btw, considering it got one star. Tracy, Bruce Willis and Seann William Scott directed by Kevin Smith, some solid laughs though possibly not the most solid script in the world. Whatev, that's not why we're here.

(Not why we're here, but here's the movie's trailer, anyway. LINK.)

You all know what Tracy said in Nashville ... blah blah blah stab my gay kid blah blah blah.

I don't for a second think that Tracy Morgan would stab his child with a knife if he were gay. What I think is that Tracy Morgan will say anything during a live show to get a laugh. That's the kind of comic he is.

I obviously wasn't in Nashville to see this show and I haven't found any video or audio, but I've seen Tracy work enough to know what he does on stage and with a crowd. More than some other comics Tracy will wander off from his usual set when something is working, and I'm presuming here that something he said got a response from the crowd that indicated to him that if he escalated the joke he'd get a bigger laugh.

I know Tracy has used that line "if gays can take a dick up their ass, they can take a joke" before, so we know he plays in this area during his act. I would bet that his gay material was doing really well on this particular night in this particular city and he thought he'd take it up a notch.

On this night, he would take it up a notch too far. And for THAT he should be apologizing.

I want Tracy Morgan to apologize for attempting to throw red meat to that crowd and not knowing when to stop. I've seen politicians do this much more judiciously and I haven't even liked it then.

When you say something unsettling like this to a group in that setting, there are two possible outcomes.

1. They go wild in response to the shock value and continue to laugh.
2. They turn against the performer and chaos ensues.

Sounds like a bit of both happened. And someone who is newly out of the closet was so offended that he took to Facebook to complain about it, but first called his mom to come out to her ahead of time (like I said, newly out).

And I'm sure he was offended. I just happen to be offended by something else.

So when Tracy runs to GLAAD to apologize and to Russell Simmons (?!?) to have a public conversation about the affair, I'm kinda just not feeling it.

To be frank, I don't think Tracy Morgan thinks about a lot more than Tracy Morgan. I don't imagine he sits and ponders the political issues of the day or the vast chasm forming between the haves (of which he is one) and the have nots or the travails of people who love each other but are not allowed by law to get married.

He certainly proved he doesn't think about his TV gig on 30 Rock while doing his stand up act during hiatus. He wouldn't be in this jam if he did.

The truth is probably that Tracy Morgan has not been much of a thoughtful person in his adult life. If his actions since the whole blowup result in him being a more thoughtful person? Great.

But I don't need him to apologize to GLAAD or Uncle Rush or Ellen or anyone else for what people think is homophobia. I need him to apologize for being an irresponsible comedian.

Video -- Tony Awards DVR Cutoff Video: Chris Rock Presents Best Musical

I wasn't like I didn't know The Book of Mormon was going to win ... I just wanted to see it. In case you did, too, but your DVR cut the show off, here it is.

Great show. Outstanding ratings, too. Neil Patrick Harris, you have risen to the rank of national treasure. Enjoy that in between the kids' feedings and that promo tour for The Smurfs.

Trey Parker's black sequined blouse? Faaaaaaaabulous.

Neil's spoken word ending for the night's festivities, also cut off by my DVR, is in a clip after the jump.

Billy Bush, Keepin' It Real Re: Paris Hilton's New Show & Brooke Mueller

Hey, the last time that Billy Bush made the blog was when he went off on his shoe/foot/ankle/leg fetish.

Relive it at this link.

That was great. This is almost as good.

I don't know if you've been following this on Access Hollywood Live (middays, check your  listings) but Billy's not a fan of the new Paris Hilton series on Oxygen.

(Disclaimer: I did try to watch this show. DVR'd it, sat down, hit play ... 5 minutes later I was done. DONE! She walks in her mother's house after being on the news in a bedsheet on her balcony when someone breaks in. She whines from the get go, makes a mess of the refrigerator and kitchen counter, whines some more and then slumps into a chair will continuing to simultaneously whine. That's when I deleted the show from my machine, lest it infect the other shows.)

Billy's beef is that Paris Hilton should be nowhere near someone who needs help with an addiction problem. That person would be Charlie Sheen's ex Brooke Mueller (above left), who comes to Kathy Hilton for help. The scene, which they've just replayed on AH Live, is Kathy in her now cleaned up kitchen compelling Brooke to cry/yell "I need help" for the benefit of the show's videographers. Then a voiceover of Paris lamenting that Brooke didn't come to her with her massive drugs problem.

To her?

Seriously, Paris, you are only the go-to-gal when the topic is how to create undetectable smuggling pockets in stuffed animals and other plush toys.

And this drugs problem of Brooke's is so massive that for a moment and I'm guessing because he had so much drugs, Brooke almost went back to Charlie as one of three of his Goddesses. (image right)

Imagine that, leaving your husband because he tried to kill you on a couple of occasions (allegedly) but wanting to be high so badly that you would relent to returning to that guy not in a marriage but as one of three glorified sex slaves (allegedly ... just put the word allegedly after everything in this post).

That, boys and girls, is drug addiction. It's a very serious subject and Paris Hilton, despite the protestations that came with this new Oxygen reality show, isn't a serious woman. She's her own plaything.

So Billy Bush, here's to you for keepin' it real.

The thing about this show is that it has such potential to destroy Paris' brand I'm surprised her management let her go through with it. She comes across as exactly what she is. And it's not good.

If you're completely morbidly wanting to see Brooke lose it, I posted the clip after the jump.

Video -- Preview Tonight's Franklin & Bash, a Great Summer Addition to TNT

Welcome to the light-hearted summer cable TV dramedy season, where the men are of a certain age, the CIA agents are blonde, stunning and charming, the reformed con artists are some of the most attractive men who have ever set foot upon the Earth ...

... and the legal system is gamed by rakish, scheming manboys with clever pickup lines and great asses.

Yeah, summer.

What's great about Franklin & Bash, even before you see it, is that it gives Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer jobs. And who doesn't want to see them working, right? They're like people you know, only ... well, they're not. But I can get more excited about Gosselaar getting a series than, say, Christian Slater.

(BTW, what series will Slater get plugged into pilot season, huh? And how fast will it get killed by a network? I kinda think he got a raw deal with Breaking In, which I liked. Don't get me wrong, the others sucked like a vacuum, but Breaking In was okay. I hope this doesn't kill Bret Harrison's career. I enjoyed Michael Rosenbaum throwing himself all over the set.)

Another thing about this show is it uses Malcolm McDowell really well. This is the character he should have been playing since he returned to US television a while back. This kind of possibly slimy older guy corporate type with bags of cash to spend on naughty stuff but you don't necessarily see it but you can just tell by the kind of guy he is.

Oh, and there are plenty of hot women.

And Kumail Nanjiani (you know, from Twitter ... and his standup act) as a quirky employee (agoraphobia). And Dana Davis from the ill-fated final days of Heroes.

It is solid summer fun and you should watch. You can't look at pics of that asshole Anthony Weiner's penis all day.

No, you can't. Stop it.

After the jump first a trailer for tonight's episode and then after that I posted the pilot that ran last week ... for you ... because I care.

Love, your TV mensch, Joe.

Which Late Night Comic is Engineering a Massive Human v. Technology International Incident for Paris

Interpol, you have been warned.

Craig, in Paris, with Geoff, Kristen Bell, Michael Naidus ("Naidus!") and hopefully a suitcase full of pals inc. Sid.

As you know, the lovely Ms. Bell doesn't exactly have what you would call affection for Geoff. Craig knows this and is apparently stoking the flames of conflict and completely willing to engineer an international incident.

Thus the Interpol tip.

That bitch! She does love the drama now, doesn't she. No, no, not Kristen, I'm talking about the Scottish guy.

I'll remind you of this as we get closer. To August. Which is like forever from now.

In the meantime, watch last night's monologue. Click this, it'll pop up right here.

Sorry About My Lacking in the Prolific Dept. Lately

I've had some back pain which is much improved with time away from the chair.

Anything I should know? Tell me!

Something more here soon. Well more sooner than later. Or something else mildly generic.

Video -- Jane Lynch Subs for Rupert Murdoch at Tech Conference, Hilarious Truth Ensues

This should cement Lynch as front runner for Emmy hosting duties. She's amazing. If she does get the gig she'll be only the second blonde lesbian comic to host the show.

Yes I was being ironic.