Today's Political Comment

In case anyone asks me: I disagree with the recent Supreme Court decision that says medical marijuana users can be prosecuted on the federal level even though their state says such usage is okay. I disagree with the recent Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to contribute as much money as they like to political campaigns. I disagree with the recent Supreme Court decision that said that evidence which may have been obtained illegally can still be used against a defendant.

There. That's not so hard, is it?

It's That Time Again!

tomatosoup

This is your first notice. My favorite soup, which the Souplantation people call "Classic Creamy Tomato Soup," is back for one week at their restaurants. (Some Souplantations are called Sweet Tomatoes but I can't help that. Here's a link to search and see if there's one near you. If not, plan a quick road trip.) The week starts tomorrow but some outlets probably have it right this minute. They'll have it all this coming week and then it goes away and they're current scheduled to bring it back for the month of March…and then not 'til October, 2011.

Do yourself a favor and try it. If you like it, do us all a favor and tell the manager of the store that you'd eat there more often if they had that soup more often…like, say, always. Then don't stop there. Call the Souplantation Customer Service number, which you can find on this page and which is often answered in the evenings. Tell them you crave the stuff and don't be afraid to lie. Lying in pursuit of Creamy Tomato Soup is no sin. Tell them you have a family of twelve and you'd bring them to Souplantation every day, seven days a week and twice on holidays, if only you could get more of that Classic Creamy Tomato Soup. Tell them Grandpa is dying…wasting away to nothingness because he can't stand food…but he did gobble down three bowls of you-know-what and just might survive to finish his cure for some heretofore-incurable disease if only he could have a steady supply of the one thing he'll eat. Just make up anything.

And I hope you understand that I really oversell this soup. If you do go and try it, remember…it's not the Nectar of the Gods or a potion to reverse aging. It's just good tomato soup. But these days, that's a fine and comforting thing to have.

I'm There

dickvandyke08

One of my favorite performers, Dick Van Dyke, is doing a stage show — a musical autobiography. He's debuting it December 8 through January 16 at the Geffen Playhouse here in Los Angeles and I guess if audiences like it and he likes doing it, he'll do it in other cities. I'm going.

I don't think I ever told this story here but one day I was over at NBC Burbank and I realized I was about to get into an elevator with Dick Van Dyke. This would have been around 1981 or so and I can still remember the whirring noise of my mind racing to think of an appropriate thing to say to him. I knew it would have to be short — the building was only three stories — so I laid mental rubber and came up with: "Mr. Van Dyke, I know you've probably heard this a thousand times but I became a comedy writer because of The Dick Van Dyke Show. I thought it would be great to spend my life hanging out with Buddy and Sally, tripping over footstools and sleeping with women who looked like Mary Tyler Moore." That was somewhat true and I thought he'd be flattered and it didn't sound, at least in my head at that second, too gushy. If I'd had thirty minutes or even thirty more seconds, I might have come up with something better but that's what I instantly decided I was going to say to Dick Van Dyke.

We got into the elevator. He punched "3." I was going to "2" but I didn't push that button, the better to prolong the encounter. As soon as the doors closed, I turned to him and said, "Mr. Van Dyke, I know you've probably heard this a thousand times but I became —"

I got about that far before he put a friendly hand on my shoulder and said, "You became a comedy writer because you wanted to work all day with Buddy and Sally, trip over footstools and sleep with women like Mary Tyler Moore." He looked with amusement at whatever expression I had on my face and added, "And it's a lot more than a thousand times."

In case it doesn't come across that way in my telling, his tone was so friendly and delighted that I just wanted to grab the guy and hug him. Well, I wanted to grab the guy and hug him before that but he could not have been nicer. And then with that perfect timing that made him Dick Van Dyke, the elevator doors opened and he shook my hand, stepped off and left me there to head downward just as my appreciation of him was going up, up, up.

That was not the first time I'd spoken to him. The first time was when I attended a filming of The Dick Van Dyke Show in early 1965 when I was just shy of thirteen years old. I wrote about it in this article and as I reread it now, I see that I inexplicably left out the fact that Mr. Van Dyke and I had a brief conversation that evening. He was on the stage during a lull in filming. I was in the first row of the bleachers when he asked idly if there were any Laurel and Hardy fans in the house. There were quite a number but he was most pleased to see the young kid put up his hand and he asked me what my favorite film was. I rattled off about ten titles, the better to impress him that I really was not just a Laurel and Hardy fan but an expert. I still have a tendency to overanswer questions like that. He chuckled and told me to keep watching them. I decided to keep watching him while I was at it.

Anyway, as you may have figured out by now, I really like Dick Van Dyke and I'm going to see him. I can't imagine how I won't enjoy the heck out of that evening.

Briefly Noted…

This is really only to members of the Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America, West. I'm the special guest at the meeting this coming Tuesday evening at 7 PM at the WGA headquarters. I mention this again because the WGA website says it's Wednesday, October 19 and it isn't. It's Tuesday, October 19.

Also, I should apologize to the folks who run the event and were nice enough to invite me to speak. I have a knee-jerk belief that you should never take any honor seriously so I kinda mocked this and I hereby take back the mocking and thank them for thinking of me. And I'm so sincere that I just deleted the smartass remark that I wrote at first to close this item.

Today's Video Link

Here's that much talked-about Old Spice commercial as it would appear on Sesame Street

Recommended Reading

Here's an article about Stephen Colbert and his devotion to Catholicism. The author doesn't appear to have interviewed Colbert and I wonder if that's because she didn't try.

Go Read It!

Hey, I enjoyed this adolescent sexual (sort of) remembrance by comedian Mike Birbiglia. I first saw Mike opening for Lewis Black at the Improv in Brea and I thought he was too funny to be opening for someone else, working at an Improv or working in Brea. I'm going to order the entire book from which this was excerpted.

Some years ago, a publisher engaged me and even gave me a modest advance to write a modest book about dating in the seventies and my own modest experiences, all of which were a lot more comical than sexual, in that area. I was sorta fortunate: Just when I decided the few chapters I'd written weren't good enough, the publisher went out of business. Mike's piece has me thinking I should dig out that old manusript — done so long ago, I think it was on paper — and have another go at it.

More Stuff 2 Buy

Warner Home Video has a sister division called Warner Archive which puts out simple DVDs of movies and old TV shows they own. They generally don't restore the prints and there are no special features…but you do get a nice, legal copy of the material. I mentioned they brought out Thundarr the Barbarian, a cartoon series I worked on. Coming soon or already out, they have Goober and the Ghost Chasers, The Addams Family (the 1973-1974 Hanna-Barbera cartoon), The Funky Phantom and they're even bringing out a DVD with those campy, live-action Legends of the Superheroes specials that Hanna-Barbera produced in 1979. Remind me to tell you the amazing story of how those specials came about. In the non-animated category, they're bringing out Pretty Maids All in a Row, which is not a good movie but I may buy it because it was filmed at my old high school and the place looks just like I remember it except for the naked girls running around.

Now, Sony-Columbia has set up a line called "Screen Classics by Request." These are limited edition DVDs from their library and they've launched with 100 titles and the promise of more to come. This link will take you to their website which is full of info and video previews of the movies so it's worth a browse just for that. While there, you can order a DVD of — just to name a few — The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Genghis Khan, I Never Sang for My Father, The Interns, A Song to Remember, Johnny Allegro, The Juggler and that Soupy Sales classic, Birds Do It. I'm not overwhelmed at these offerings but let's keep an eye on this and see what goodies are next.

Recommended Reading

Do Americans really want to repeal Health Care Reform? This PDF file is a report from the non-partisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and it notes, for one thing, that polls are all over the place. So whatever your viewpoint is, you may be able to find a poll to cite as proof that most of America sees things as you do. But a fairer view of the situation might suggest that even Americans who oppose H.C.R. like a lot of the changes contained in it. Personally, I think that what a lot of people don't like about it is that it came, albeit indirectly, from Barack Obama. I don't believe that a lot of the loudest folks attacking it would disapprove if the exact same thing had been instituted by President McCain. Not that it would have been…

Today's Video Link

For my money, the best political-type talk on television isn't on television. It's on the Daily Show website. About once every other week, Jon Stewart has on someone who's of an opposite political mindset and he actually talks to that person. That alone is nearly unique on TV where some shows don't want to unnerve their viewers with alternative viewpoints and only want to bring on dissenting views so their deliverer can be body-slammed and outshouted for the enjoyment of those who hate (or don't want to believe) what he or she says. But Stewart actually talks to these people and what's more, he rarely asks them any of the questions they could have expected or which they've answered so often they have rote answers at the ready. So it's a discussion as opposed to a yelling match or a recital of scripted talking points.

I'm sure many who are invited will not come on with him. Since the last election, his once-frequent guest John McCain won't. Stewart does enjoy home court advantage and has a studio audience full of folks who are Liberals and also big Jon Stewart fans. He's also a charming guy…and one who I think a lot of them envy and respect even if their careers are built on opposing viewpoints. Still, The Daily Show does sell an awful lot of books for any author who comes on and if you think you can conduct yourself with wit and sparkle, it ain't a bad place to show any viewers who might be "gettable" that you're not the stereotyped, Cheneyesque ogre that Republicans are too often assumed to be.

The discussions can and do run long…and lately, rather than have his staff chop them down into highlights (thereby leaving themselves open to the charge of selective editing), Stewart says, "We're outta time but let's keep talking and we'll throw the whole thing up on the website, unedited." If you're not going there and watching them, you're missing some good conversation.

Last week, he had on Representative Eric Cantor, the House minority whip from Virginia…who forgot a fundamental rule authors should remember. Though your publisher may tell you to mention your book at every possible opportunity, after the third mention you look like a bad Home Shopping Network host…and if you're a politician, you look like you're trying to avoid answering a question. But Cantor didn't do a bad job of staying "on message," even though Stewart boxed him in with a few points that he could not deny. I think in the back-and-forth, some differences were brought to light…like the fact that the current G.O.P. leadership is worried about government limiting Americans' freedoms but not the least bit worried about corporations limiting our freedoms.

I've decided to embed the entire interview, starting with the part that aired on Comedy Central…

VIDEO MISSING

And then we continue with the first part of the Extended Interview…

VIDEO MISSING

And here's the Grand Finale. I won't do this every time Stewart has an intriguing conversation of this sort so you might want to keep an eye on his show's website

VIDEO MISSING

Two Quick Comments

I voted for Proposition 19 in California, the one that would legalize some usage of marijuana…and yes, I know the federal government says that won't stop them from prosecuting those who use it. I just think it oughta be legal even though I've never used it and can't imagine I would ever use it. I feel the same way about tobacco and alcohol, and have yet to hear a convincing reason marijuana should be treated differently. So why vote to legalize something that still won't be legal? To send a message…and also because it will amuse me to see certain folks who argue for states' rights do a one-eighty and argue that on this issue, the citizens of a state should not decide what's best for them.

Also: I said here the other day that I thought that "…any time anyone of any party says 'I've got a plan to make taxes fairer,' what they've got is a plan to lower theirs and directly or indirectly raise someone else's. Several of you have sent me links to various sites where various folks offer various alternative tax proposals. I went to all those sites, looked over all those ideas…and I still think that any time anyone of any party says "I've got a plan to make taxes fairer," what they've got is a plan to lower theirs and directly or indirectly raise someone else's.

The Missing Link

I instantly understood Twitter and I quickly learned to kinda appreciate Facebook…but for the longest time, I used to wonder what the deal was with LinkedIn? A year or so ago, I started getting these messages from friends that said they wanted to connect with me via LinkedIn so I signed up and clicked the little thing that said yes, my friends could connect with me…

…and that was it. Nothing more happened. It seemed to be a networking site where no one networked or at least, they didn't network in my direction. It was like a lame cyberspace version of "Tag, you're it" where all LinkedIn did was suggest that I connect with more people. And more people and more people. I was supposed to upload my entire address book (that's 900+ people) so LinkedIn could send them all messages about joining LinkedIn. I didn't do this. I was supposed to consider linking to folks whose names they showed me…folks who seemed to be in the same industry as me. This meant that they showed me a lot of people who worked at Freelance. I didn't do this, either. I received a couple of actual messages through the service but all from folks who already had my e-mail address and could have written me that way. So why were any of us on LinkedIn?

I finally developed the theory that LinkedIn wasn't for people like me who are all over the Internet. I mean, yes, I do occasionally hear that someone somewhere is having trouble finding my e-mail address and I marvel that anyone that dumb even knows how to turn on their computer. If Google doesn't get you here in two shakes, you can always try typing www.markevanier.com or even just www.evanier.com…and, Eureka!, you find one of my sites. Then all you have to do is somehow decipher that link at the right that says "E-Mail me." But not everyone is easy to find on the 'net and maybe LinkedIn is just to make sure that those folks have a means of connecting with others of common interest. That's what I figured.

Then today, I got a LinkedIn request from an actress I know named Kelli Maroney. There is no male — alive or dead, straight or gay, horizontal or perpendicular — who would turn down an invite to connect, even via something as non-connective as LinkedIn, with Kelli Maroney. When I went to click on "Yes, oh God, yes" (or whatever it said), I noticed that LinkedIn wanted to also link me with other folks it thought I might want to communicate with…like, as you can see above, Dan DiDio. Dan DiDio is the head honcho these days at DC Comics, an outfit I've worked for since Richard Nixon was honeymooning with the press. So sure, I'd like to communicate with Dan DiDio but I could just pick up a phone and do that.

And then below that, I saw the chance to communicate with one of my closest friends, Steve Gerber — and I thought, "Wow!" Steve passed away in February of 2008 and I've missed him…and it turns out that this isn't one of the 55 other Steve Gerbers on LinkedIn. I went to this one's profile page and sure enough, this is my old buddy, the late Steve Gerber. There's even a link there to his weblog which I've been running for him since he died.

Of course, I want to connect with him again. I can't do that on friggin' Facebook. And now I understand the miracle of LinkedIn. It can connect you with departed friends and loved ones…and for a lot less than that Sylvia Browne lady charges to tell you that your grandmother is in a peaceful place. In fact, I'll bet LinkedIn can get you as close to them as Browne, John Edward, John Van Praagh or any of those "I can communicate with the dead for a price" people can. I am not, however, going to use it to contact my grandmother who died 20 years ago. I already believe she is in a peaceful place and I don't want to ruin that by badgering her with stupid messages from LinkedIn.

Recommended Reading

Daniel Larison on why no one will ever cut military spending in this country, no matter how much it could be trimmed without endangering our national defense.

Go Read It!

barneythelmalou

Here's Wayne Curtis with a good article about Mt. Airy in North Carolina. The town has patterned much of itself after Mayberry and The Andy Griffith Show and it's boosted tourism and civic pride. It's also provided a great retirement home for Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou in the popular TV series. In the article, you'll see it noted that Ms. Lynn lived in a house in Los Angeles for fifty years. That house was right next door to the one in which I grew up…the house in which my mother now lives. Betty was like my unofficial aunt and I still love her dearly and talk to her from time to time. That's when she can tear herself away from her current vocation, which is being the town celebrity and officiating at all the important events.

I still find it amazing that of all the fine TV shows, that one has had the most longevity by some measures. Even though most (the best ones) are in dreaded black-and-white, those shows are rerun and rerun and rerun to the point of exhaustion. The Danny Thomas Show, which was produced by the same company, was on for 11 years and 351 episodes. The Andy Griffith Show, which spun off from The Danny Thomas Show, was on for 8 years and 249 episodes. The two shows received about the same ratings…

…and yet today, nobody remembers much about The Danny Thomas Show and there's no audible demand for reruns, whereas there are few towns that don't air Andy Griffith at least once a day, and most people can quote you memorable lines (most of them from Don Knotts) and tell you their favorite storylines. In the last few years of his life, my friend Howard Morris couldn't believe the money he was making from appearing as his Griffith Show character, Ernest T. Bass — this, despite the fact that he only appeared in five episodes of the series. No one ever asked him about his years working with Sid Caesar on programs that some critics call the greatest comedy show ever on television…but everywhere he went, they knew Ernest T.

I think it's great that Mayberry represents a simpler time for so many people and I understand it being someone's favorite. Absolutely, I understand…and some of those episodes (especially those that spotlighted Barney Fife) are quite funny. I just find it curious that it became so timeless and beloved in such a disposable business.

Today's Video Link

I'm kind of amazed, not necessarily in a bad way, about what "barbershop quartet" has become. Here, considerably larger than a quartet, is a group called the Westminster Chorus…