Friday Questions

Aloha. On my way to Hawaii, but while I stand in the endless TSA line I thought I’d answer some Friday Questions.

Stephen gets us started.

Have you ever seen a single-camera comedy which you thought might have worked better as a multi-camera, or vice versa? For example, I think The Crazy Ones is an 'okay' show, but with the large primary office set, the ensemble which is together in almost every scene, and of course Robin Williams' manic energy, the multi-cam/live audience might have served it just as well, if not better - especially as it airs on CBS where it is surrounded by other multi-cams. I am not suggesting changing the format of an established show (we all saw how that went for NBC with Up All Night last season), but I'd like to get your thoughts.

Yes, but if they made THE CRAZY ONES a multi-camera show then they’d have to write actual “jokes” and not just joke-like rhythms. They’d be held accountable to an audience. That said, Robin Williams is always 1000% better in front of a live audience and it would help that show immensely.

Some shows like MASH could only be done one-camera. But if you had to, you could do a version of NEW GIRL or MINDY PROJECT multi-camera. Make no mistake, when a network takes a single-camera show and redevelops it as a multi-camera show it is not to save money in production. It is to make the show funnier. And in most cases it works, a la THE ODD COUPLE and HAPPY DAYS.

Jim S asks:

Are there shows that you just don't get? I just saw the first two episodes of "Community" last night and while they were, at least to me cute, not the second coming of comedy. I keep reading from critics how it has the Harmon touch again.

I just don't get it. I always thought "Community" was a fairly clever show that all too often became one big inside joke. I didn't think season 4 was terrible. Yet I keep hearing about the genius that is a low rated prime time show and a low-rated show in syndication. What am I missing?

COMMUNITY goes out of its way to not be a traditional sitcom. As a result it has its loyal fans and detractors. There are so many sitcoms on the air that are so bland no one could have an opinion either way. I’d sure prefer to be doing something interesting.

I appreciate COMMUNITY more than I enjoy it. But then it’s not meant for me. They make it very clear by the references that they’re aiming for a younger audience and really don’t care if older viewers watch it or not. So the fact that COMMUNITY doesn’t speak to me, that’s fine. The danger with that approach is that you severely limit your audience and on a major broadcast network that can be treacherous. Especially when it’s up against a show like THE BIG BANG THEORY, which draws more younger viewers and millions of older viewers as well. THE BIG BANG THEORY drew a whopping five times the audience of COMMUNITY for COMMUNITY’S season premiere last week.

So if you don’t “get” COMMUNITY, you’re not alone.

I never got TWO AND A HALF MEN. I don’t get TWO BROKE GIRLS. And as anyone who has read more than two posts of this blog knows, I don’t get GIRLS.

George wonders:

Is there a TV show where you have the sole writing credit? I’ve read 2 of your 3 books (even paid for one of them) heard you on KABC, seen a few of your “Directed By” shows and of course follow this blog. I’ve watched at least one Frasier show written by David Isaacs, but has a TV script been broadcast where you alone have the “Written by” credit?

And finally, from Mike in Seattle:

After listening for so long to Boss radio and WLS, did things change for you when you started hearing stations like KLOS and DJs like JJ Jackson?

For me those changes seem to coincide with changes in the music, too. The end of the Beatles, the beginning of Zeppelin.

One of my first jobs in radio was as a board operator for KLOS so I engineered shows for JJ Jackson, Jim Ladd, Damian, Shauna, Jim Patton, Jerry Longden, Dion, Marc Driscoll. Some great disc jockeys and great music.

But I traveled in both worlds because I still loved that DJ’s in Top 40 radio could have more fun and be sillier. So when I became a disc jockey I was one of those guys who played “The Night Chicago Died” on the air then went home and played Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

What’s your question? Please leave it in the comments section. Mahalo.

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So I asked Siri the tough questions...

Going along with my review today of HER, I wanted to get some things straight between me and Siri.

These were not reassuring answers. So I decided to go for broke. I popped the big question.

This should send me back into therapy for five years.

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My review of HER

HER is a modern love story about a guy who falls in love with his imaginary friend. And yet it’s the most honest, heartfelt, and funniest love story of the year.

Set in the near future (I’m guessing eleven minutes) Joaquin Phoenix signs up for a computer operating system companion. (If Siri could really talk.)  She takes the name Samantha and over time they have the best romantic relationship one can have without oral sex. They also encounter problems, complications, jealousies, dead philosophers, and reception issues.

Spike Jonze wrote and directed this film and deserves an A+ for both. The script is smart and touching, and it’s one of the prettiest films visually you’ve seen in ages, which is quite a feat considering most of the movie is a guy talking to his portable device. The look, the color scheme, even the pants are all fun to look at.

Scarlett Johansson plays “Samantha.” And Jonze does a sly thing here. He doesn’t try to make her the sexiest girl in the world. He creates the ideal “girl friend.” He understands that guys would rather have a voice that sympathize with his past break-ups than one who repeatedly asks for it from behind. Interestingly, Scarlett was not the original voice. Samantha Morton played the part, but Jonze felt the vibe just wasn’t right. Since I’ve never heard any of Samantha Morton’s performance I can’t compare, but I can’t imagine anybody doing it better that Scarlett Johansson. (Of course it also helps that you can picture Scarlett Johansson. That certainly adds to the fantasy. Who do you imagine for Siri? I picture Ann Curry.)

Also, notable in the cast are Chris Pratt, Matt Letscher (known to the world as Rob from ALMOST PERFECT) and Amy Adams. I’ll be honest. I know Amy is getting a lot of award buzz for her performance in AMERICAN HUSTLE (and she was terrific), but I liked her better in this. I enjoyed seeing Amy not doing an accent and not playing a “character.” She was very natural and effortless in HER. To me the mark of a great actor is when they can be great without having to work so hard. Every scene with her was a delight.

Spike Jonze is Charlie Kaufman but accessible. HER is brimming with ideas yet it’s never so weird you feel like you need to be on meth to follow it. There have been a number of movies like LARS AND THE REAL GIRL that tried to cover similar subject matter, but none has done it as well as HER. You’ll never think of your GPS system in the same way again. And the movie asks some provocative questions: is a genuine romance with a virtual partner possible? What happens if the company goes out of business? And if you are in love with your O.S., should you be allowed to drive in the carpool lane?

Go see HER. It opens nationwide tomorrow.  Have Siri remind you (if she doesn't get jealous).

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INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS: My review

I don’t care how many film critics bestow how many awards on INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS -- I thought it was a bleak, bloodless, soulless, awful motion picture. And…

I love the Coen Brothers.

And...

I love that era of time and music.

There wasn’t a film that disappointed me more last year than this one. The Coen Brothers are known for their detachment, but there’s usually a sly humor underneath, and an affection for their characters. Not here. The main character,  Llewyn Davis (played by Oscar Isaac) was just a dick. Every time I felt the least bit sorry for him, every time I had the slightest urge to root for him he would do some other schmucky thing. And after awhile I so stopped caring.

Add to that, paint dries faster than this moody depressing movie.

To be fair, along the way there are fun moments, but they’re so fleeting, and they only remind you of how much you’re missing in a good Coen Brothers movie. John Goodman is a standout. Wait till the movie is on HBO. Fast forward past the first six hours and watch his (essentially stand-alone) segment.

Reading the reviews, I swear I didn’t see the same picture. Among the platitudes: “a tuneful wake intended to arouse us from our slumber to desires worth remembering”, The Coen brothers have crafted another unique period piece,” “The broad, black humor of the Coens' early features has ripened over the years into a sadder, more philosophical brand of comedy”, “A cold, cruel wind cuts through every frame of this brilliant, mysterious and lyrical black comedy” and my favorite: “This is one of the finest works by -- let's just call it -- the most consistently innovative, versatile and thrilling American filmmakers of the last quarter-century.” Are they fucking kidding?!

Here’s what I think: The Coen Brothers are laughing at all of them. And if they are then I applaud them. That’s the kind of detached delicious black humor I’ve come to admire from the creators of FARGO, BLOOD SIMPLE, RAISING ARIZONA, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, and others. Maybe they said, “Hey, just for fun, let’s make an incredibly self-indulgent pointless film and see how many critics find meaning in it and crown us the most thrilling American filmmakers of the last quarter-century.”

Were that the case, suddenly the movie would make sense.

I was listening to an Entertainment Weekly film critic fawn all over this movie recently. He went on and on about how the Coen Brothers really captured the time period. To him this movie felt exactly like 1961. Authentic in every detail. I checked and this film critic was 2 years-old in 1961. Meanwhile, Dave Von Ronk’s wife (the movie was loosely based on his life) said the film was inaccurate from the people involved to the fixtures in the bar. Still, she obviously didn’t know the world like the 2 year-old cinema expert.

As usual there is a disconnect between film critics and the public. In Rotten Tomatoes the film scores a 93% with reviewers and only a 75% with us rabble.

I’ll be very interested to read your comments today. I’m sure many of you will rally to the film’s defense. This is just another case where I’m too shallow and pedestrian to appreciate genius. There could be a thousand of you (and I hope there is, I could always use the traffic) and I still won’t change my mind. But I wonder how many others are going to say, “Thank heavens. It wasn’t just me. This was the Emperor’s New Clothes.”

The early 1960’s Greenwich Village folk scene was a magical time of creativity and exploration. Not every folk singer made it, not every story had a happy ending, but there was an energy that inspired many and ultimately resulted in a lot of music that shaped a generation. The Coen Brothers weren’t sure whether to celebrate it, mock it, or debunk it.

But they certainly didn’t treat it with affection.  For example: they present a husband-wife singing team, Jim & Jean (Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan). There really was a husband-wife singing team named Jim & Jean. Jean Ray has since passed away. In the movie Jean fucks around on her husband, is a bitch, and of course the real Jean can’t defend herself. Is tarnishing someone's reputation just another example of “brilliant, mysterious and lyrical black comedy?” Or is it mean-spirited and cruel?

Oh, and fair warning: INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is not for cat lovers.

Tomorrow: a movie I absolutely loved. Hint: It's brimming with humanity and it's not even about a real person.

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My pick for best movie of the year is...

The envelope please.

Oh, this is so exciting.

And the winner is...

THE LONE RANGER.

No... wait. 


GRAVITY.

And I can’t even see 3D. If I could, I’d say GRAVITY was the best picture of 2009-13. When you think of “Best Picture” in the classic sense you think of epic pictures, innovative pictures, thrilling stories, spectacular performances, movies that have lifted the art form. That’s not the struggle to get MARY POPPINS produced, or a three-hour look at a Wall Street asshole who encourages midget bowling. You don’t crown Best Picture to a cute caper movie, or a ridiculous civics lessons because Oprah Winfrey is in it. When techniques have to be invented to realize a director’s vision, that’s Picture of the Year material.

That said, if 12 YEARS A SLAVE were to win I would not be unhappy.   It's important and remarkable in its own right.  I just think GRAVITY is groundbreaking, no matter how many D's you see it in.  


First I will say, see it on a big screen. Or bigger. You will not get the full effect watching GRAVITY on your smart phone. The long opening sequence, which is one continuous shot, is maybe the most amazing thing I’ve seen in cinema. More amazing even than watching a downtrodden folk singer hold a cat and ride on a subway for five minutes. As I watched the opening sequence in GRAVITY I kept saying, “How did they do that?” Considering this is the age of CGI and amazing special effects, it now takes a lot to get a person to say that.

Alfonso Cuaron is quite the eclectic filmmaker. It’s hard to believe the same man who directed Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN also helmed HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. And now GRAVITY. Had I known he was so versatile I would have gotten him to direct an episode of ALMOST PERFECT.

And yet for all the dazzling effects and relentless suspense, it is the characters that really launch this picture into space. George Clooney proves he can play charming even in a bulky space suit, and Sandra Bullock is downright remarkable as the newbie astronaut who must somehow get home without the help of Superman or any of the Avengers.

I don’t know if I’ve ever rooted for a character more. She brings such depth to her character, which is quite a task considering for most of the movie she’s in a space suit slamming against the sides of the shuttle. And then there’s this gorgeous scene where she sheds the suit and emerges like a butterfly, all the while weightless. All that Kubrick was trying to do in three hours plus for 2001: A SPACE ODESSEY (the evolution of man, yada yada) Cuaron achieves in that one sequence.

There are a number of excellent movies that came out in 2013. In fact, it was a year better than most.  Again, 12 YEARS A SLAVE might well take the gold. But for my money, GRAVITY rises to the top.

TOMORROW: A movie I wanted to love but didn't... although film critics did. 

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Are movies too long?

Yes.

As you may have guessed, another rant coming up.

Have you ever noticed that sitting through a 2 ½ hour movie is excruciating yet you can binge-watch a television series and burn through eight hours at a time?

A movie should be as long as it takes to best tell its story. Period.

And most stories don’t require 2 ½ hours.

Many many times a screenwriter is faced with this: He has a great beginning. That’s fifteen minutes. And he has a boffo ending. That’s another fifteen minutes. But now he has to fill an hour or two in the middle. And trust me, a lot of it is “fill.” Subplots are concocted to kill time. Scenes are elongated. Scenes are repeated. Strangers in restaurants spontaneously sing. We’re treated to endless shots of a car driving through fields. When the car starts running low on fuel, we watch the driver pull into a service station, get out, pump gas, and walk five yards to the cashier, pay for the gas, then duck into the convenience store, buy a hot dog, wait for it to come out of the microwave, eat it, walk back to the car, start the engine, and drive off. More beauty shots of fields to follow. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET repeats so many sequences you’ll think the projector malfunctioned and ran the same reel over and over. For the greatness of Martin Scorsese, I could hack an hour out of that movie and no one other than Martin Scorsese would miss it.

Quite simply: many filmmakers have become over indulgent. Once they get a few hits under their belts they’re given more creative leeway and their movies begin to creep and creep in length. They start believing longer means more important. More epic. Is ANCHORMAN 2 an epic? Its running time is two hours.

Comedies should never be more than 1:45 and even that’s too long. 1:30 is perfect. If you have the funniest movie in the world, audiences will get tired after laughing for ninety minutes.

ANCHORMAN 2 is one joke. Over and over for two full hours. And Will Ferrell is hardly the only offender. Judd Apatow comedies are always over two hours. And they’re never as good as a result. Do they need to be that long? Are the jokes so hysterical and the stories so complex?  Do you think I would have any trouble getting a half hour out of THIS IS 40 or FUNNY PEOPLE?  Better yet, do you think YOU'D have any trouble trimming a half hour out of either of those pictures? 

Meanwhile, there is some great storytelling going on in television these days. All in hour-long bytes. Unlike movies, where you wish they were shorter, with some TV series you get to the end of thirteen hours and are bummed that it’s over. Why? Because the STORY sweeps you along. And I’m not even saying it has to be fast paced. MAD MEN is not exactly a thrill-a-minute.

But filmmakers beware: your work is not just being judged against fellow indulgent filmmakers anymore. It’s now being judged against BREAKING BAD and HOUSE OF CARDS and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. Do you really really really need that scene of a guy pumping gas?

For the next three days I will review possible Oscar films. Two you should rush to see and one you can skip. Coincidentally, the one I liked the best is also the shortest of the three. See you tomorrow.

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R.I.P. Jerry Coleman

So sorry to hear of the passing of Jerry Coleman. He was 89. Jerry was a standout second baseman for the New York Yankees in the ‘40s and ‘50s, a Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Yankees, CBS radio, and Padres, decorated war hero who as a fighter pilot flew hundreds of missions in World War II and Korea, loving husband and father, and most important to me – my broadcast partner with the San Diego Padres for three years.

I loved Jerry.

He was your favorite uncle. Always cheerful, always there for you. His passion for the game of baseball was infectious and his zest for life was inspiring. Other than having to broadcast meaningless spring training games, I can’t think of anything Jerry Coleman didn’t view in a positive light. You can see why it was such a pleasure to be around this man.

He was also incredibly humble. To baseball fans of a certain age, Jerry was a God in New York. Whenever we would go into New York to play the Mets, the pressbox attendants and TV tech people treated Jerry as if he were Prince Charles. And yet he always downplayed it. He shook everyone’s hand, asked how they were, and joked with them.

When my son Matt was bar mitzvahed Jerry drove up to Los Angeles to attend the reception. When we were on the road I picked his brain for hours, and he graciously and patiently answered all of my questions. A lot of what I know about baseball I learned from “the Colonel.”

Jerry is known of course for his malapropos. A typical example: "Winfield goes back to the wall. He hits his head on the wall and it rolls off! It's rolling all the way back to second base! This is a terrible thing for the Padres." But truthfully, calling play-by-play for three hours every day, every baseball announcer has those. I’ve had my fair share, believe me. Many way more embarrassing. What I learned (from Jerry) is to take it in good humor. It all goes back to not taking yourself too seriously. Thank you, Jerry.

Jerry Coleman worked Padres games up until his death. He led a rich full life. He would often point out how lucky he was. So many of his friends had died young in a war. He lived to be 89 in relatively good health.  There was not one day he didn't appreciate his good fortune. 

I will miss him greatly. And I can almost hear him. “At least I won’t have to do the damn spring training games from Peoria.”

RIP Jerry Coleman.  You will forever be a Hall of Famer.

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