Category: TV

RIP: Andy Rooney

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Andy Rooney, the long time [1978 – 2011] closing commentator for CBS’ 60 Minutes, died yesterday after complications following an undisclosed minor surgery.  Mr. Rooney was 92.

Although best known for his “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” segment on 60 Minutes, Mr. Rooney actually started working in television right after World War II.  Mr. Rooney worked as a writer for Arthur Godfrey, Garry Moore, Victor Borge, and others.   Yet it was Mr. Rooney’s commentaries on 60 Minutes that made him a household name.  We came to know his likes likes [football, books, shined shoes, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Christmas, etc.] and dislikes [ads in magazines, roadmaps that you can’t fold back, people who ask for autographs, etc.].  Mr. Rooney said what we thought and came to feel like a friend of the family.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Rooney’s family, friends and fans.

The Punisher in Name Only

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Deadline Hollywood announced today that FOX has a commitment for a tv series based on the popular Marvel comic book character The Punisher.   According to the article…

  • The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a Marvel signature and a new take on one of the comic book giant’s iconic characters, Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher, seeking justice for those the system has failed.

Let me break it to you gently, that ain’t The Punisher.  A “rising star detective” who moonlights as The Punisher?  Sheesh.   Why in the world are they calling the series The Punisher?  Why take one of comics’ most “iconic characters” and change what made him iconic?

The [real] Punisher drawing by Mike Zeck.

Moon Return: Forms, Zombies and Memories

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Did you know that when the first men to land on the moon returned to Earth that they completed a report for customs?  That’s right, NASA astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins completed a customs form upon their return.   A spokesman for NASA has confirmed the authenticity of the document and you can see a full-moonsized version at Space.com.

I was ten years old when we first landed on the moon.  I can remember watching black and white images beamed to us from 240,000 miles away as all of the adults in the room and Walter Cronkite on the tube got giddy.  It was is pretty cool stuff.

We were on the moon!  How long w0uld it be until we had flying cars like Nick Fury?  How long until astronauts were going to Mars and beyond? Perhaps even  a five year mission to go where no man had gone before was in order.

But getting back to the custom’s report, I never knew about it before a few days ago.  I do remember that when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins returned to Earth that they had to wear special biological containment suits and  were kept in quarantine for three weeks to be sure that they didn’t bring back a virus or germ that could start a zombie-apocalypse.

Ok.  I made up the zombie-apocalypse part, but the astronauts were kept in quarantine and did have to wear the biological containment suits.  Even at ten years old, I remember thinking that the end of the human race would be like a cool episode of The Twilight Zone if the astronauts accidentally brought  back a virus or germ that killed us all.

Think about it, our greatest human triumph leads to our extinction.  Now that would be a cool episode for The Twilight Zone,  except it really wouldn’t be so cool in real life, would it?

 

Breaking Bad Paper Dolls

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Two of my favorite things are 1] the tv series Breaking Bad and 2] art.  Combine the two and you could come up with Breaking Bad art for paper dolls.  Illustrator, Kyle Hilton created.  They’re pretty cool.  And this is coming from a guy who normally would not say that about paper dolls.

Jerry Lewis & the MDA: Winning

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I’ve always had mixed feelings about Jerry Lewis and the MDA telethon.  It really surprised me to find out that the MDA basically dropped Mr. Lewis without so much as a fare-thee-well.  But love him or hate him, don’t you think that after 130 years as the host, Jerry Lewis should be allowed to go out in style?

Mark Evanier came up with a plan that would do just that plus raise a ton of money for the cause.  Let’s hope someone with pull reads Mr. Evanier’s blog.

THR: Frank Darabont Was FIRED!

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The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Frank Darabont was fired from The Walking Dead! Here are some tidbits from the article:

  • When Frank Darabont appeared on a Comic-Con panel July 22 to promote The Walking Dead, he didn’t realize he was a dead man walking. Neither did the cast and crew.
  • One insider says those gathered were stunned at “the duplicity of AMC” for having used Darabont to promote the show at Comic-Con before firing him.
  • But this source says that AMC had its own ideas about how to make the show more cheaply. The show shoots for eight days per episode, and the network suggested that half should be indoors. “Four days inside and four days out? That’s not Walking Dead,” says this insider. “This is not a show that takes place around the dinner table.” That was just one of what this person describes as “silly notes” from AMC. Couldn’t the audience hear the zombies sometimes and not see them, to save on makeup? The source says Darabont fought “a constant battle to keep the show big in scope and style.”