Yearly Archives: 2015

Saturday night, TBS is running the AFI Lifetime Achievement Salute to Steve Martin. A friend who was there for the event told me it was a gloriously funny evening and one hopes the recorded, edited version of it will be, as well.

While you're at it, you might want to check your D.V.R. settings for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a series I would hope you're all watching. What he's doing with F.I.F.A. officials is gutsy and hilarious and the only thing I don't like about this program is that it exists, thereby making him unavailable to succeed Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Anyway, the next few weeks, the first telecast of the show is not at 8:00. It's like 8:01 or 8:06 or some odd number that could present a problem for some recording set-ups.

Sunday afternoon, Turner Classic Movies is running an interesting back-to-back combo: Mr. Bug Goes to Town followed by Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. What do these two films have in common? Well, in each, someone goes to town. That's about it.

If you're never seen the old sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? and you get MeTV on your cable or satellite, set your D.V.R. to record the first of the two episodes they're running very early this coming Sunday morning, then watch it when you have time. If you don't like that installment, don't bother trying any others. (It's the one where comedian Jan Murray is judging a barbershop quartet contest. One of the funniest sitcom episodes I've ever seen.)

Two new "oldies" TV channels have just been launched, neither of which are currently being carried on my cable provider. They're broadcast over the air in L.A. so if I went to the trouble to hook up my old roof antenna which I suppose still works, I could get them but I'm not that industrious these days. One, Decades, is running a lot of the old TV shows that others have run, interspersed with news documentaries intended to evoke certain time periods in both news and entertainment. The other, Buzzr, is like Game Show Network used to be running old episodes of Family Feud and Let's Make a Deal, and they're running ancient episodes of I've Got A Secret, To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? in the wee small hours, too.

I expect both will show up on my Time-Warner Cable eventually. It may depend on who winds up acquiring it. The F.C.C. stopped the merger with Comcast. There's a new one provisionally arranged with Charter. If the F.C.C. stops this one, I hope we see Time-Warner try merging with the Five Guys chain. It may not lead to better service but at least there'll be good burgers and fries.

Tomorrow, MAD magazine is vacating its offices on Broadway in New York for new digs. Here from a year or two ago is a brief tour of the old offices conducted by Dick DeBartolo, who's been writing for MAD since Al Jaffee had to do his fold-ins as cave paintings. Dick is also, as you may be aware, a frequent on-air contributor to whatever the heck TV show this is.

Once upon a time at its first location, the MAD offices were pretty dull. They didn't look that much different from the place in which a publication about preventive maintenance might be assembled. Visitors were therefore disappointed and the publisher, Bill Gaines, decided they had to decorate the walls with silly pictures and gags. The hallways at their office on Broadway were similarly colorful and right now, the crew is probably trying to make their new workplace funny. Here's where they're moving out of…

Scott Walker has said that if the Supreme Court makes Gay Marriage the law of the land, he'll champion a constitutional amendment to undo that decision. But of course he won't. There won't be a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, either. In this country, when you promise to ram through a constitutional amendment, you've lost but you're trying to impress your followers as an "I never give up" guy.

I would guess that if you tallied up all the vows to change things via a constitutional amendment, you'd find that less than 1% of the folks making those vows even took the first steps towards making that amendment happen. Why not? Well, for one thing because they know they're never going to get two-thirds of Congress behind it, let alone get 38 states to ratify.

Quick: When did this country pass its last constitutional amendment and how long was it from the time it was sent to the states for ratification and the time it was finally passed?

Bzzzz! Time's up! The correct answer is that the 27th amendment was sent to states to ratify on September 25, 1789 and finally ratified 202 years and 7 months later in 1992. And that wasn't even that controversial an issue. It was to say that when Congress votes itself a pay raise, that raise doesn't take effect until after the next election.

We don't change this country through constitutional amendments. On the very rare occasions when we pass one, it's for a matter where everyone is pretty much on the same page. This is never going to happen with Gay Marriage or Citizens United. The only thing that totally undoes a Supreme Court decision is another Supreme Court decision.

In the absence of one of them — and they're pretty absent or long in coming — we pass workaround laws, chipping away at the decision via loopholes and dogged legislation. Ever since Roe v. Wade, we've been hearing vows of constitutional amendments to overturn that decision and ban abortion. There, of course, has not been one nor have advocates for that cause come within fifty miles of getting one sent out for ratification. Instead, they've nibbled away at legal abortion by passing laws that close clinics or hamper the process. They can't make abortion illegal but they somehow seem able to make it very, very difficult for some women to get one.

That's why I don't think anyone should waste their time trying to ban assault weapons. They should be passing laws that say that to obtain one, you have to go to another state, be lectured that you'll be taking another human life and then undergo serious anal probing before you get your rifle. (No, wait. Some people might enjoy that…)

I have no idea how the Supreme Court is going to rule. People who get paid to cover that court do not have a great track record of predicting swing votes lately. They can usually nail how five or six of the justices will vote but they're not good at the last few nor do they always foresee the details. If I had to guess — and I'm glad I don't have to — I'd say the high court will make Gay Marriage legal but that the wording of the decision will leave all sorts of openings for laws that can chip away at the practice.

It'll be legal but there may be wiggle room for clergymen to not perform the ceremonies or for cake makers to not make the cakes, etc. Some federal or state legislator will then try for a law that says, yes, Gay Marriage is legal but in order to marry, any couple must demonstrate that they possess one penis and one vagina, preferably not on the same person…or something like that. Lawyers will go without sleep for days trying to come up with "It's legal but…" contrivances.

But that's just a guess. What I am sure about it is that there won't be a constitutional amendment either way. Or if there is, it will take 202 years and 7 months to make it a reality. By that time, no one will care about Gay Marriage. They'll be arguing whether it's legal for differing alien life forms to wed. And whichever side loses will vow to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn that decision.

Hard to believe but it's less than a month before Comic-Con International convenes down in San Diego so…

• No, I don't know where you can find a hotel room and no, you can't crash in mine.
• No, I can't help you get a badge no matter how many dying children you have with just this on their bucket lists.
• And no, I especially can't help you arrange a panel to promote your new project. The programming schedule was locked a long time ago, fella.

Speaking of that schedule: I'm goofing off this year and only hosting eight panels, down from a career high of (I think) fourteen. I'm not supposed to announce them until the official list is released, which should happen two weeks before the con kicks off. Preview night is Wednesday, July 8 and then the non-preview part runs Thursday, July 9 through Sunday, July 12. So they should start posting the programming schedule on June 24.

But I will tell you that I'll be doing all of your old faves (Quick Draw!, The Sergio & Mark Show, Cover Story, the Jack Kirby Tribute Panel and so on) and that I'm especially excited about the Cartoon Voice panels where you'll meet the voices of Avengers, Turtles, Justice Leaguers, Rugrats, Jedi Knights and a recently-retired Gay Robot Skeleton. Also on Sunday, we have this panel I do each year called The Business of Cartoon Voices, which is a serious attempt to give sound, pragmatic and free advice to folks who aspire to become voiceover performers. One of our guests on the panel this year is a gent I've been trying to land for years…one of the best agents that field has ever seen. Gonna be quite a panel.

I'll post some convention-going tips here shortly but a big one is to keep your eye on the convention website. It's really good and at least half the questions people call or write me to ask can be found there with just a mouse-click or two. And when the programming schedule is posted, study it carefully. You might even find an event there that's worth attending even though it's not hosted by me.

I just realized what this blog has been missing lately: Baby panda videos. Here's footage of a baby panda who was taken from his mother at birth and placed in an incubator. You're about to see them reunited…

Larry Levine has just informed me that the Second Avenue Deli in New York relocated in 2007 to E. 33rd Street between Third and Lexington Avenues. Actually, their website says there are two Second Avenue Delis in New York and neither one of them is on Second Avenue. They're doing this just to confuse us.

Beginning in August, Cal State University in Northridge will host "Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby." This is an art show of Jack's work curated by Professor Charles Hatfield, founder of CSUN's popular "Comics and Graphic Novels" course and the author of Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby, a very good book on its subject. The exhibition opens Saturday, August 29 — one day after what would have been Jack's 98th birthday — and continues until October 10. I'll be posting further info on it as we get closer to the date, and I'll be there for the opening and speaking about Jack at a later event.

Dan Gheno has become our unofficial reporter on the status of the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. As you can see, a temporary structure adorned with CBS logos is up there for now. Stay tuned to this blog for further updates.

In other news of the neighborhood, the Carnegie Deli a block away has now been closed for more than a month due to…well, it's a complicated story possibly involving some sort of illegal theft of public utilities. Since I mentioned this, several of you have e-mailed to recommend better delicatessens in New York…which might matter to me if I had any plans to be in that town in the next few months.

Yes, I am well aware there have always been better delis in that town than the Carnegie — Katz's, to name one. I would also prefer the Second Avenue Deli if only it weren't all way over on Second Avenue where I never have occasion to roam. Katz's is out of the way, too. When you're in town for a limited time and rushing from meeting to meeting and trying to see as many shows as you can, you sometimes have to settle for the eighth best deli or the twelfth best place to get pizza. My two favorite places to eat when I'm back there are Peter Luger's Steakhouse in Brooklyn and the Grand Central Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station…and I can rarely squeeze in both during any one trip. Some year, I hope to spend a month or two in New York and go to all the places (only a few of which are places to eat) that I've always wanted to go to. Some year…

The 1975 movie of The Sunshine Boys is about to come out on Blu-ray and you can order a copy here. While you wait for it, you can read an interview with Richard Benjamin, who played the nephew in it…and quite well. Unmentioned in the interview is that he was the second choice for the role. Harvey Keitel was originally signed but during rehearsals, Neil Simon and director Herbert Ross decided he was wrong for it so Benjamin — who was quite right and good — replaced him. It is said Mr. Keitel is still fuming.

One caveat: In the interview, Mr. Benjamin tells how he met Stan Laurel and says that Laurel was then living in a six-story building in an apartment which Jerry Lewis paid for because Stan was broke. This is not so. Mr. Laurel was not broke. He was not swimming in cash but he was not broke and Lewis did not pay his rent at the Oceana Apartments — which, by the way, was a three-story building.

But I still admire the heck out of Richard Benjamin.

And just so we get this clear because almost no one does: When it came time to do the movie of The Sunshine Boys, they did screen tests of many old Jewish comedians including Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Jan Murray and others. The role of Willie Clark was won by Red Skelton and the role of Al Lewis went to Jack Benny. Then Skelton, for reasons no one quite understood, withdrew. He said it was because he found the script vulgar, which was a silly reason because (a) it wasn't in the slightest and (b) off-screen, Mr. Skelton was a pretty vulgar comedian. He was replaced by Walter Matthau so it was going to be Matthau and Benny. Then Benny got too sick to do the film and after he passed, he was replaced by George Burns, who was just about the only old Jew comic they hadn't auditioned in the first place. Thus, all three lead roles were filled with second choices. It's still a pretty good movie.

We all love Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone and other grand avenues of incredible fiction. Well, someone who really loved Rod Serling was his daughter, Anne Serling. She has many, many wonderful stories and insights into this talented man, not just as a writer-producer but as a human being — one who often based teleplays on true episodes from his life. Twilight Zone episodes were based on his life? How? Well, you can find out by tuning in today as Stu Shostak interviews Ms. Serling…and after you hear that, you'll probably want to click over and order her new book, As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling. It has even more such stories…so listen, order, enjoy!

Stu's Show can be heard live (almost) every Wednesday at the Stu's Show website and you can listen for free there. Webcasts start at 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern and other times in other climes. They run a minimum of two hours and sometimes go to three or beyond.  Shortly after a show ends, it's available for downloading from the Archives on that site. Downloads are a measly 99 cents each and you can get four for the price of three. Submitted for your approval.

My friend Dan Gheno sent me this photo he took of what the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York looks like now that Dave's old marquee has been taken down. I hear that its replacement will be a three-sided electronic billboard which will feature fancy computer graphics. Dan, by the way, is an artist of tremendous talent and he has a new book out that I will soon be recommending here.

I wonder how many people know that the Ed Sullivan Theater was more than just the place where Ed did most of his TV shows. It opened in 1927 as Hammerstein's Theater featuring the play Golden Dawn, which starred a young man named Archibald Leach. Mr. Leach would soon be better known under the name Cary Grant. The theater changed names a few times as it housed plays until 1936 when CBS took a lease on the building and converted it for radio broadcasts. The first one done there was Major Bowes' Amateur Hour and many more followed until 1950 when the place was retooled for television. Sullivan eventually began doing his popular Sunday night program from there but so did hundreds of other shows while Ed was still on the air, including for a time What's My Line?, which was also live on Sunday nights at 10:30, requiring a fast switchover of sets after Ed went off at 9 PM. Among the shows done there after Ed went off in 1971 were The Merv Griffin Show, Kate & Allie and The $10,000 Pyramid. The place was called Studio 50 until 1967 when it was renamed for Ed.

Pre-Letterman, CBS leased the building. In 1993 when Dave needed a place to do his new show, CBS purchased it for $4.5 million and then spent a ton o' dough refurbishing what had become a pretty shabby place over the years. And now Stephen Colbert will become its next inhabitant.

The iconic Late Show logo, which was removed from the marquee was designed by a gentleman named Roger White. Here's what he went through to get to it.

Barbara Gaines, who went from being Dave's receptionist to being his producer writes about the sense of loss now that the show is over.

Lastly: This has only a tenuous connection to Letterman but all the years he did his show there, he was right across the street from 1700 Broadway where DC Comics and MAD Magazine had their offices. A month or so ago, DC finally moved out as part of a plan to relocate (as they have) in Burbank, California. MAD is remaining in New York and this week, they're moving their office from that building into new digs over on Avenue of the Americas. Dave's style always admittedly had a lot of MAD in it. He sometimes said that all his show was was the TV version of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." Well, Dave's gone from that area and now MAD's departing…and that stretch of Broadway is already suffering from a serious lack of snide wisecracks.

A conversation between Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro. They talk about a lot of the kind of things that writers talk about.

As I've mentioned here, I've occasionally thought Mike Huckabee was a Republican I could have voted for. I never thought though that he could be elected. This piece by Bob Moser — a gay liberal — tracks a lot of the odd veers that Huckabee has made in his run-up to his running. He said and did things that clearly made him a "maverick" Republican, unwilling to parrot what the Tea Party folks demand to hear. But then he also said things that made him clearly unacceptable to those in this country who lean left. Once, that independence made him look somewhat like a candidate who could bridge the partisan divide and bring this country together on something, or at least someone. Now, it makes him look like a guy who can't get support from either side.

Congress recently voted to rescind the powers of the National Security Agency to collect and store info from Americans' phone records. So what's changed and are we safer from terrorism or just safer from the N.S.A.? Fred Kaplan explains.

Here's a lesson in how to create strong passwords. I would take it a step farther. Make up a six or seven letter string of gibberish using upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters like X4$zQY& or k8%WWzi. Memorize it. It's not that difficult. Then use a different, simple password on each site you visit but append that string to it. If you used DRAGON as your Amazon password…well, that's pretty easy for someone to guess and relatively easy for password cracking software to crack. Ah, but supposing the whole thing as entered was DRAGONX4$zQY&. Once you've memorized your special string, you just have to remember DRAGON as your Amazon password. But watch this…