Monthly Archives: January 2013

Michael Kinsley on government spending. He's saying the folks arguing about what to do about it don't disagree as much as it appears. That's interesting. I don't know that he's right but it's interesting.

Actress Emma Fitzpatrick sings a song on behalf of Anne Hathaway's Oscar candidacy. The video is so well sung and photographed that you may be able to overlook the fact that almost none of the rhymes work…

Thomas Mallon recalls Richard Nixon's memorable "Checkers" speech. In an era where every day some politician needs to apologize or defuse a scandal…and how Nixon handled that one could serve as a textbook example.

Sorry to hear that Patty, the last of the Andrews Sisters, has passed on. There were a thousand "sisters" acts out there in the thirties and forties. There was a reason the Andrews Sisters were more famous and successful than all the rest. Click the little arrow to hear an example of them at their best…

Here's a piece about a scientist who's using DNA testing to find out if your tuna sushi is really tuna. O.J. Simpson is just lucky he didn't kill those two people with a mackerel.

Paul Dushkind writes to ask…

I have to ask, why do screenwriters type in Courier? Does it make it easier to count, if you're paid by the word? In direct mail advertising, we used to use Courier or other "Typewriter" fonts, because a direct response letter is more compelling if it looks like a personal letter, which in those days might have been composed on a typewriter. That doesn't apply now.

Well, I've never heard of a screenwriter being paid by the word so it's not that. Beyond that, I'm speculating here but I suspect a lot of it is simple tradition. Courier is what almost everyone uses. If you started getting fancy with your font, someone's going to complain it's harder to read or to estimate time…but no one can complain about Courier.

Directors and production assistants learn to estimate timing based on your traditional page set in Courier. If you use something else, they have to pause and wonder if ten of your pages will turn into the same amount of screen time as ten pages in Courier. Also of course, agents tell new writers to make their scripts look as much like produced scripts as possible. If you type in something odd, it can seem amateurish to some. If you were writing a "spec" episode of 30 Rock to submit for consideration, why would you not want your script to look like a real, ready-to-shoot script for that series? So that kind of thinking has probably helped institutionalize Courier as the professional font.

Does anyone have another theory?

The exclusive private dining spot in Disneyland is called Club 33. Here's a little rundown of its history and a brief tour…

And here's a video shot by some folks who made it inside…

Here's a nice profile of my buddy Steve Stoliar, a very clever gent who writes and acts and does many things but is of special note because he was once secretary to someone named Groucho Marx. Read all about him and then order a copy of the book he wrote about his experiences in that job.

Professional registration is still open for Comic-Con International 2013. If you want to attend and you qualify, go here and do as you're told.

Starting next Monday, Boomerang is running two episodes of The Garfield Show every morning — 6 AM and 6:30 AM on my satellite dish, perhaps another time on your TV. They're starting at the top with Show #1 and Show #2 the first day, #3 and #4 the second day and so on. I have no idea how long they'll keep this up but there they are. I'm told the shows are also available on Netflix.

This runs a hair under an hour. It's an odd interview with Norman Lear — odd because he's allegedly interviewed by Rob Reiner but it seems someone else asked the questions, then Reiner's voice was dubbed in later. And the questions — which from the credits would seem to have been prepped and posed by that fine writer and gent, Del Reisman — are pretty simple and perfunctory. Still, some interesting things get said and it's fascinating to watch the clip they run of the disclaimer CBS aired to precede the first episode of All in the Family. You might want to watch until at least that, which is not far from the top…

Jimmy Kimmel had a good week last week, owing mainly to his Thursday night show with Matt Damon. If you didn't see it, ABC is rerunning it tonight in prime-time at 10 PM. The fact that Letterman was in repeats all week also seems to have given Kimmel a little boost.

If you're scoring at home, all three shows are neck-and-neck with Leno slightly ahead. No one is finishing a distant third so no one is in danger of cancellation. There seems to be some speculation that if Letterman consistently finds himself running third behind Kimmel, Dave might take that as a cue to announce his retirement…but that's just speculation, mostly (maybe wholly) from folks who don't know Dave.

If that did happen, there would be some sort of O. Henry ending to it all. Imagine if Kimmel who loudly proclaims his dislike of Leno and love of Letterman wound up knocking Dave off the air. He may already be helping Jay in that he's demonstrating that a young guy with allegedly great demographics will not necessarily do any better in that time slot with the 18-49 age bracket than Jay is doing. All the recent rumors that Leno was soon to be ousted flowed from the belief that a younger host would do markedly better in that department.

Me, I find myself watching less late night TV than I have in a long while. I record Leno and Ferguson every night on my TiVo but rarely make it through either show. I still think Leno's monologues are sharp and I like the fact that he's the only late night host who looks like he (a) even wants to do one and (b) seems to have seen the jokes before he reads them off the cards or prompter. (Yes, I know they all do but the rest all seem so disconnected from the material they're performing.) Craig Ferguson used to be an exception to that but lately, he seems to care more about dancing and making faces at the camera…the exact same thing that caused me to lose much of my interest in Conan O'Brien. Yeah, guys. The studio audience loves it. Does it matter to you that the folks at home probably don't?

I don't watch Conan at all…which surprises me because I used to love his show. With Jay, I may watch the first comedy bit if it's not about how stupid people are when you put a camera on them or arrange some Candid Camera bit designed to make them look stupid. If it's a comedy bit that's actually written — as opposed to being written to seem spontaneous — it's usually pretty good…and I sometimes like one of Jay's guests, though rarely both.

Ferguson, I will usually watch through his first guest. I wrote here not long ago that I thought he was the best interviewer of all the late night guys…and I still think he was. But a couple of you wrote to me that he's been talking more and more about himself lately and not letting his guests get to where they were trying to go…and you're right. Some nights, it's like the guest is intruding on a private conversation between him and the robot. I still like the guy but an hour of Craig Ferguson is starting to have too much Craig Ferguson in it for me.

Letterman? I find the best thing about Dave's show when I watch it is that he occasionally reminds you of when he was really, really great. He's had a lot of tributes lately and I notice that every time someone assembles one of those, they always put in a montage of bits from his NBC show, especially the one where he donned the Velcro® suit. That was 29 years ago. 29 years is almost as long as Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show.

In his day, Letterman was terrific — better than Carson in many ways. But he doesn't show a lot of enthusiasm for the monologue (or any prepared material) and only minimal interest in most of his guests. His well-noted crankiness used to strike me as the humorous complaining of a smart guy who had valid criticisms of the world around him. Now, he's starting to sound like an unhappy guy who just doesn't like anything very much including himself. When I watch him now, it's when he has a guest on that I like…or better still, someone he likes. That's when you get echoes of the old Dave. If I got more of them, I wouldn't just watch when he has on someone I really, really want to see.

I've tried watching both Jimmies, Kimmel and Fallon, and will try again in the future, probably when they have on guests I really, really want to see. Right now, my view is that I really like Jimmy Fallon as a person and don't enjoy watching his show…and I really don't like Jimmy Kimmel as a person and don't enjoy watching his show. I also don't like Bill Maher as a person but do enjoy watching his show. Maybe one of these days, I'll again find a case where I like a host and also like his or her show all the way through.

Our pal Bob Elisberg discusses how some Republicans hate Barack Obama so much, they're willing to praise Bill and even Hillary Clinton to do it. Of course, this won't last long if Hillary looks like she may be the Democratic candidate in 2016…

That's right: Two guys have developed a better version of the Courier font.  You can download it here.