Monthly Archives: March 2013

Ezra Klein on why Obama can't make a deal with the Republicans. Long story short: They don't care what he offers unless it's unconditional surrender. That's no way to make a deal, especially when you just lost a big election and your demands don't even reflect the majority of your own party rank 'n' file.

The Hollywood Reporter is once more telling us that NBC is planning to forcibly retire Jay Leno from The Tonight Show and rotate Jimmy Fallon into that slot as soon as next summer. We went through this a few months ago with many a media expert saying Jay's departure was a Done Deal; that there was no way the network would extend him again. Then they extended him again.

It kinda fascinates me how often everyone has been wrong about this guy. In Bill Carter's book on the Jay/Conan debacle, he quotes Lorne Michaels as saying "Fortunes have been lost underestimating Jay Leno." I can't think of anyone who so consistently defies predictions of impending demise. He more or less became Johnny Carson's Guest Host as a second choice. Most at NBC then wanted Garry Shandling to replace Joan Rivers in that capacity but Garry was too busy so at first, it was Garry and Jay switching off and the sense was that Shandling was the new Guest Host and Leno was kind of the Guest Host's Guest Host. Then Shandling withdrew and industry pundits doubted Jay could hold down the fort.

He did just fine. Then when Johnny left, they said he couldn't hold Carson's audience. He did. Then when Letterman came on against him, they said Jay would be replaced. He wasn't. Then they said okay, so he's finishing a respectable second…but he'll never beat Dave in total viewers. He did. Then they said he'd never best Dave in the 18-49 age bracket. He did. Then they said it wouldn't last. It did. Then they said Jay was just being buoyed by strong programming at 10 PM and would never hold his lead once those shows died out. Then they did and he stayed on top…and so on and so on. There's something about this guy that turns everyone who forecasts his collapse into Dick "Obama has zero chance of getting re-elected" Morris.

People in this business get fired all the time because they aren't in First Place. Only with Leno do his bosses say, "He's in First Place. Let's get rid of him." He was in First Place when there was a move inside NBC to dump him and install Letterman in that job. Dave didn't accept or they would have. Jay was in First Place when they actually did dump him and put Conan O'Brien there. That didn't work out so now Jay's back and he's in First Place…and they're reportedly talking about firing him yet again.

Don't tell me it's because his show sucks. First of all, I don't think it does. I think he's phoning it in…but I find the current Letterman less watchable and the two Jimmies unwatchable. And secondly, even if it does, when has that ever been a consideration in cancelling a network television show? Do we think one single person in the television industry believes Dancing With the Stars is a quality program? Or the current Saturday Night Live? It's almost a running gag in television that the folks running any network don't watch their biggest hit and don't understand why anyone does.

Now admittedly, Leno is only in First Place by a hair or two lately. He's a bit ahead in Total Viewers and holding his own against Jimmy Kimmel in the 18-49 bracket. In the latter category, he's again topping all expectations though, also admittedly, he has a lot more viewers at the 49 end of that demographic than around the 18. It would not be unscientific to presume he will start losing in that capacity before long…except for the fact that for something like two decades now, every single prediction that Leno's Tonight Show numbers would plunge has been dead wrong.

They always underestimate this man. You know the one time they didn't? When they thought he could establish a franchise at 10 PM every weeknight. And even that got the numbers they expected but so damaged the affiliates' 11 PM local news programs that NBC had to yank it. So they stuck him back in at 11:30 and again, wizened heads said that while he'd do better than Conan did there, he could never get to First Place there again…and now there he is in First Place with NBC saying, "Let's get rid of him." I don't know if they will or even if Fallon would really be the replacement…but someone's suggesting it again. Yeah, it doesn't make sense but it didn't make sense the last time they did it, either.

I don't really care that much about Leno's show. I just like something about a guy who so consistently gets written-off and then proves the prognosticators wrong. Eventually, predictions of his permanent departure will come true. Maybe that time is at hand, in part because NBC will make it be at hand. All I know is that whenever he goes off and stays off, all those who've been wrong over and over for two decades about Jay Leno will say, "See? I told you he wouldn't last."

Actress Megan Hilty made her Broadway debut in Wicked playing Glinda, the role originated by Kristen Chenoweth. Ms. Hilty was much acclaimed for her work there, particularly in her rendering of the song, "Popular."

So here we are a few years later at "Defying Inequality," a benefit to amass funds to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation. Performing is the inestimable Jason Graae, a fine fellow with whom I have had the pleasure of working on a few occasions. Jason opts to serenade Megan Hilty with his rendition of "Popular" and — well, you'll see how it goes. Sorry about the shaky camera work but it's worth it…

John Cassidy on Bob Woodward.

Are you stopping into a Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes this month to try the Classic Creamy Tomato Soup I like so much? Well, if you are, here's a coupon for 20% off your entire check…and it's good through the end of April. I don't see why you couldn't print it out again and again and keep going back.

Boy, do I like this one. I've seen a lot of great books lately reprinting classic comic books with reproduction worthy of the material…and not to belittle the desirability any others but IDW's "Artist's Edition" of MAD is the best one I've seen. Some of that, of course, is because the material itself is so wonderful — twenty whole stories and a number of covers and loose pages from the comic book issues of MAD, back when it was written and edited by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by the likes of Wally Wood, Jack Davis and Will Elder. But a lot of the wonderfulness has to do with what IDW and editor Scott Dunbier have done with it.

The big thing they did right was to track down the original art itself and scan directly off it…so you see every erasure, every white-out, every stray pencil marking that didn't get erased. Then they printed the art the size it was drawn. Now, this has its drawbacks because the resultant book is roughly the size of Penn Jillette. It's 15½" by 22¼" and will fit on no shelf in your home or anyone else's. You can't hold the thing in your lap either. You need to open it flat on a table. I'll be storing mine in a wide art drawer I have. That is, when I'm not hauling it out to show everyone who comes by and doesn't have their own yet.

One thing that stands out is that not only does the reproduction live up to the work but the work lives up to the reproduction. Davis, Wood and the others drew this material for dime comics printed on crappy paper and they had no reasonable expectation that it would ever be reprinted once, let alone dozens and dozens of times, eventually full-size and crystal-clear. They could have put a lot less work into the pages and all would have looked fine in what they then thought would be the one and only printing.

They didn't. The panels are loaded with detail and nuance that wasn't visible the first time around — or the second or the third or the ninth. I know these stories real well and I'm seeing things in them I never saw before, not even in Russ Cochran's excellent hardcover reprints. You know how wonderful Wally Wood's art for MAD was? Well, it turns out, it was even better than we thought. Same with Davis, same with Elder, etc. (One minor quibble: John Severin is unrepresented. You may also regret that your particular favorite MAD story didn't make the cut…but there wasn't room for everything and not every story's original art could be located.)

I am similarly impressed with what Harvey Kurtzman did. Years ago, I had the chance to study the original artwork to Marvel's Not Brand Echh #1, which was more or less their attempt to do Kurtzman's MAD. Some very talented people worked on it including Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and even John Severin but the effort fell leagues short of Kurtzman & Company. Looking at the originals, you could see one reason why: Almost every panel had retouches and relettering and patches to indicate they passed it around the office and let everyone take a crack at adding silly signs and gags.

The pages of MAD in this volume show very few examples of relettering or pasteovers or of anyone going through the work after it was completed, trying to make it funnier. Kurtzman was notorious for fussing over pages and redoing his own roughs over and over, spending whole days on one page to make it 1% better. But the stories in IDW's splendid collection have sparse evidence of after-the-fact renovations. The pages really demonstrate that these guys knew what they were doing and did what they wanted to do. I never felt the sheer professionalism so strongly in any other book reprinting great comic art.

The book lists for $150 and it would be a bargain if you paid that. Right this moment, there's one dealer selling it via Amazon for $85.10 and I'll bet that price doesn't last long. I'll further bet that when this book is outta-print, you see copies going on eBay for $300 and up, maybe way up. If this material interests you in the slightest and you can find a place in your home for a copy, don't delay.

In case you can't tell, I kinda liked it.

Kevin Drum explains the Sequester in all its glory.

I don't eat Oreos or any kind of cookies anymore. If I did eat Oreos, I don't think I'd want one of these…