I still have a cold that could clog the entire L.A. sewer system. It doesn't feel bad as long as I don't try to swallow and don't try to talk to producers or editors. My voice has modulated from Harvey Fierstein to somewhere north of Suzanne Pleshette, and my nose alternates between not being able to breathe in and not being able to breathe out. So, Dear Blog, I guess I'll be fine in a day or two or whenever Trump is out of office, whichever occurs first.
I'm not following the fallout from the Cohen sentencing a lot. I guess Trump has now given up denying that he authorized the hush money payments to Stormy and Karen…or is that still Fake News? He has this maddening way of insisting that mutually-exclusive positions are both true. One thing which must be frustrating the hell out of the Republicans in Congress is that they wish they had this kind of scandal stuff about a Democrat. They'd know what to do with it. They'd have the guy impeached faster than you could say "Paula Jones." And isn't that the first time in a decade or so you've seen that name?
I read a number of reviews of Mary Poppins Returns and couldn't find any real valid points in the negative ones. Those reviewers all struck me as being too stodgy to surrender themselves to the proceedings. If Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance doesn't enchant you, you may just be incapable of enchantment. Yes, this sequel does constantly echo the original. Sequels do and those who carp at this one for that would be savaging the film if it didn't. The reviews for Emily Blunt seem to be pretty good except for one of two who fault her for not being the exact same actress as in the 1964 film. I guess they figure that for what Disney must have paid her, she could at least have managed that. Ignore these people.
On last night's Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Stephen needed a volunteer for a bit. He went out into the audience, selected a lady named Pam and led her by the hand towards the stage. Seamlessly, the cameras cut to a shot of him leading her onto the stage…but it wasn't really seamless. She suddenly had a small microphone on the scarf around her neck and was holding the microphone pack connected to it in her hand. They edited out the part where she and Stephen stopped and someone put a wireless microphone on her.
This is my main gripe about Colbert's show: The editing. It feels edited and sometimes, obviously so. I could understand that if the host was so inept that they had to way overtape and then cut out his clumsy, boring moments. You might have that need if, for example, your host was kind of slow with no background in improvisation.
I have occasionally worked on TV shows where someone performed a magic trick and there was an inviolate rule: No editing. Even if it's undetectable, it's subtly detectable. Viewers will sense it wasn't really the way they saw it. I think that applies on any show that is supposed to be spontaneous to any degree…and that's what we watch late night shows to see: Real people making real conversation…and real mistakes.
Has anyone who watches The Price is Right? ever noticed how they handle the microphone problem? When someone is first called to come on down from the audience, they are (of course) unmiked and they stay that way until the next commercial break when they're outfitted with wireless mikes. If they're lucky enough to win and come up on stage to play another pricing game before a commercial break, they remain unmiked. Drew Carey uses his hand mike to catch whatever they say. If there's been a commercial since they "came on down," they have a wireless on and he doesn't have to do that.
That show is edited for pace and for tech reasons…but they don't stop it to put a microphone on someone. They do as much as they can to keep the feel that the hour-long show was recorded in one hour. Late night shows should strive for just such a feel. Or better still, actually do everything in real time.
