Author: ssw15

Considering all the hype on this new Fox sitcom (9:30pm, Sundays), I checked it out that Sunday night. Hmm…

Basically, it’s about the Bluth family – the eccentric George Bluth, Sr., (played by Jeffrey Tambor, a great character actor) is arrested for some bad investments and accounting in his corporation. The SEC continues to investigate, so the family has to watch its (extremely expensive) spending. Middle son Michael (played by the 1980’s child actor, Jason Bateman) is the Good Sane Son, trying to reform the family and claim the control of the family corporation. However, the family is undermining all his efforts. He’s a widower and has a 13-year old son, George Michael, who tempted (in a near incestuous sense) by his cousin Maebe (pronounced “Maybe”?), a 13-year old siren (who doesn’t seem that attractive in personality; more like a praying mantis). Maebe’s mother (played by Portia deRossi, formerly of “Ally McBeal”) is Michael’s spoiled-brat sister, who’s married to an out-of-work “actor.” The oldest brother Gob (pronounced “Job” (the tested man from the Bible), is a magician, who’s jealous that Michael is trying to make things better (but Gob is a total incompetent about everything anyway). Mrs. Bluth, the matriarch of this clan, loves her wealth, and is not helping Michael (but he’s able to predict his mother, more or less). There’s another brother, who’s apparently quite immature and eccentric too (I don’t recall seeing him in the episode I had watched; but he’s in the commercials, acting rather screwy).

So, there are lots of interesting characters. I like Jason Bateman’s acting (he’s convincing as the responsible, exasperated one). But, maybe I’m not totally impartial – I liked him in NBC’s “The Hogan Family” (he helped carry the show even after Valerie Harper left it). He deserves to finally have a good series, after being in a bunch of cancelled stuff over the last several years. But, it’s weird to see him as the father of a teenager; he has a baby face himself and just exudes a youthful exuberance.

I don’t think the series is a laugh-out-loud kind of funny; of course, then again, there’s no laugh track to give cues to the audience about what’s supposed to be “funny” (for better or for worse; take your pick). But, the scenarios did make a smile on my face and got me reacting “Geez, Michael; get with the program – where do you think your father was hiding the money!” There’s hope that this series will work. On the plus side (it’s not a negative, anyway) – Ron Howard (whose production company is behind “Arrested Development”) is the narrator. Think about it – “Richie Cunningham” of the old “Happy Days” is back on tv (well, his voice anyway). (sorry, I tend to still think of him as Richie, not Opie – I never saw the whole Andy Griffith show (I’m of a generation that knows Andy Griffith as Matlock. Kind of like how I’d think of Henry Winkler as “Fonzie” and John Ritter as “Jack Tripper” and the Dukes of Hazard as the Dukes of Hazard…).

Okay, enough rambling. I’m otherwise still looking for better Sundays…

NYC: It’s quite quiet. And, cold. Etc. NY Giants lost, NY Jets somehow won, but I’m not that into football.

The cover of the New York Daily News tv guide has a picture of the star of “Saving Jessica Lynch.” I do not know if it’s a good thing that there are movies about Jessica Lynch, the woman GI of the recent Iraq war, and Elizabeth Smart, the Colorado teenager who was kidnapped. After much criticism (deserved or not), the Ronald Reagan movie was shifted to Showtime, instead of the producing network, CBS, the same network that broadcasted a movie on Hitler. What does all this say about our society? Then there’s CBS’ “60 minutes,” with a story on the other POW’s of the war, and we have to ask ourselves – who is a hero; what is truth; are we accepting what the on-screen media is feeding us, and shouldn’t we hear other stories and perspectives, to know what is “truth”? Hmm. Some food for thought, I suppose.

WB’s “Everwood” is still interesting tv. The annoying Dr. Harold Abbott, even if annoying, is a portrayed by a subtle actor. I just hope this show doesn’t wind up spending all its time inviting guest stars (maybe it’s just for November sweeps).

“Star Trek Enterprise” is slowly improving, but it’s still frustrating, especially when it lapses into the curse of recent Trek (i.e., hitting the reset button with a time travel episode that returns us to the correct timeline, yet declining to follow up on intriguing potential consequences or focusing on consequences with shortcomings).

I’ve noticed this since the baseball playoffs, and I figure I might as well mention this now – the Delta airlines commercial, where the lady who orders her seat on-line and her seat pops out of the printer and accompanies her to the airport. The jingle is strangely catchy; I would end up singing along with it, while still not actually knowing the words. And, yes, the subliminal (or not so subliminal) message: yes, Delta, let’s see the grandest of canyons and enjoy our traveling campanion, that comfortable seat. It’s campy, but scary too (because, I don’t know, the lady seems to like her seat way too much; and watching a seat with legs dressed in khakis must be a straight out of Twilight Zone). I’d give it extra credit for being a hypnotic commercial; both eye-and-ear catching.

Better Sundays ought to be out there. Really.

I caught most of tonight’s “Angel” – quite funny and angsty, in the best of the “Angel” way, wherein the vampire-with-a-soul, Angel, fights along side these Mexican fighters (guys with masks). Angel’s trying to regain his sense of being a champion for good since he’s been feeling disconnected (since he’s currently running the L.A. branch of The Big Evil Law Firm); finding out what it takes may still take awhile for Angel, but maybe he’ll find his way.

Still can’t get over seeing the Dukes of Hazzard (John Schneider and Tom Wopat) singing tv show theme songs during that CBS 75th anniversary show on Sunday night (11/2/03). It was eerie. The two of them are caliber level Broadway actors (Wopat, in particular, having done “42nd Street” recently) and yet singing the Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle? Aye Carumba, as Bart Simpson would say.