Having decried the choice of shows honored at this year's William S. Paley Festival at the Museum of Television and Radio, I should report this: The two evenings I attended were both terrific.
Michael Moore showed three segments apiece from TV Nation and The Awful Truth. He was so funny and real that he even "won over" a friend of mine who loathes his politics but attended, hoping to learn how to do a similar kind of show from a conservative P.O.V. I dunno if he learned that but he did laugh a lot and admit that Moore had made some solid points. (In one segment, George W. Bush yells at Moore to go find a real job. They then cut to Moore phoning his father and saying, "Dad, you got an oil company or a major league baseball team I can run?" Funny.)
Eric Idle and Neil Innes were among the guests for a screening of The Rutles, the "mockumentary" they made about a group not unlike the Beatles. When their film (aka All You Need Is Cash) first aired, it was one of the lowest-rated TV-movies ever, and I seem to recall it being generally ignored by the press. But it's had an amazing endurance…so much so that Idle is currently assembling a sequel, Can't Buy Me Lunch, some of which was also shown. It also seems very funny and it even goes farther with an interesting aspect that was noted about the first. It's that many of the real people interviewed about The Rutles, such as Mick Jagger and Paul Simon, wound up indirectly expressing their feelings about The Beatles.
For the new version, Idle has interviewed — among others — Tom Hanks, Jewel, Conan O'Brien, Robin Williams, Steve Martin, etc. And many of them, though they're speaking about the Rutles, are really talking from the heart about John, Paul, George and Ringo. There's no airdate for this, nor has any network picked it up, nor is it even finished. But whenever and wherever it turns up, it's a must-catch.
Funniest line of either evening: I was sitting in the front row for The Rutles, along with a bunch o' friends including writer Charles Schlotter. Charlie asked, "Is the rumor true that all of the Rutles' songs were purchased by Jermaine Jackson?" Huge laugh from the audience, followed by another huge laugh as Mr. Idle whipped out a pen and wrote it down for future use…then answered, "No, Jesse Jackson."