Thursday, June 25, 2015

THE BIG "YOU'RE A VIRGIN WHO CAN'T DRIVE" NUMBER HAS BEEN CUT:  So, a book for Clueless: The Musical is done, and it's a jukebox musical.  Provide your suggestions for what songs need to be included (does "Kids In America" become an intro number?)  and who needs to be cast.
POOR YOU:  We have the official winner for 2015's TV Villain of the Year, Duvall added the past victors in the comments:
1999: Livia Soprano
2000: Regis Philbin
2001: Richard Hatch
2002: Marti Noxon
2003: Simon Cowell
2004: Al Swearengen
2005: Aaron Echols
2006: Lucille Bluth
2007: Benjamin Linus
2008: Chuck Lorre
2009: Vic Mackey
2010: Boyd Crowder
2011: Mags Bennett
2012: Gustavo Fring
2013: Tywin Lannister
2014: Walter White
I nominated "The System" for 2006 (The Wire season 4), but otherwise that's a mighty solid list. Any additions?  J.R. Ewing for 1978-79, "Bob" for 1990-91?

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

WILL THE REAL SLIM SHADY PLEASE STAND UP?  ABC has plans to revive To Tell The Truth in primetime, with Anthony Anderson hosting and Betty White as a regular panelist.
IS THIS THE REAL LIFE?  IS THIS JUST FANTASY?  We haven't talked about what's been the surprise of the summer (from a TV perspective) for me, which has been unREAL on Lifetime.  I'm as shocked as you are that the home of classics like Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life, Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?, and Too Young To Be A Dad has produced something this solid (if annoyingly capitalized)--a drama built around the making of a Bachelor clone called Everlasting, including a producer who's both gifted at doing bad things and with a healthy conscience about them, a "suitor" who's more interested in promoting his business than finding true love, the franchise's coke-addled "creator," and the executive producer who will stop at nothing to get "good TV."  Even for someone like me, whose total Bachelor viewing consists of about 10 minutes, it's instantly addicting, and Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer are both doing solid work bringing characters who could otherwise come off as one-dimensional to full life.  It's well worth checking out, and Lifetime is streaming it.
IT'S A MIRACLE!  As part of Vulture's 2014-15 in TV Awards, Marti Noxon has named the Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne as TV's Villain of the Year, beating Papa Pope, Lucious Lyon, and others.

Episode of the Year?  "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer," with which I also heartily agree. Maybe there's stuff as good, but this was perfect.

Monday, June 22, 2015

SORRY, KORFBALL:  The eight sports making the cut for consideration for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics are baseball/softball, squash, karate, surfing, roller sports, sport climbing, wushu, and squash.

"The sports that applied but failed to make the cut were: air sports, American football, bowls, bridge, chess, dance sport, floorball, flying disc, korfball, netball, orienteering, polo, racquetball, sumo, tug of war, underwater sports, waterski and wakeboard."

Damn.  I wanted Olympic tug-of-war, but only if it were contested by athletes who had medaled in other disciplines earlier in the competition.  As for underwater sports, only if it looks like this.
#LONGREADS, JUNIOR EDITION:  So Lucy's going away for two weeks of sleepaway camp tomorrow, and "care packages" are not allowed ("so as not to create a culture of 'haves' and 'have-nots'") but letters are.  But I figure I can split the difference for a comics-loving (yes, she is already loaded up with Lumberjanes) blessedly nerdy 12-year-old by smuggling in fun things for her to read which aren't as large and conspicuous as books.  Any ideas?
IS HE STRONG?  LISTEN, BUD!  HE'S GOT RADIOACTIVE BLOOD! When SCOTUS decides a patent licensing statutory interpretation case (about a Spider-Man toy), including noting (in the statement of fact) that "The parties set no end date for royalties, apparently contemplating that they would continue for as long as kids want to imitate Spider-Man (by doing whatever a spider can)," and explaining stare decisis with:
What we can decide, we can undecide. But stare decisis teaches that we should exercise that authority sparingly. Cf. S. Lee and S. Ditko, Amazing Fantasy No. 15: “SpiderMan,” p. 13 (1962) (“[I]n this world, with great power there must also come—great responsibility”). 
You better believe we're on it.
IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER THERE IS NOW "MAD LOVE" BETWEEN THE PARTIES: So, Taylor Swift posted an open letter yesterday explaining why she was withholding 1989 from Apple Music's streaming service, most notably that during the three month free trial of the service, Apple was paying no royalties to performers or songwriters.  Apple quickly responded by changing its policy, confirming in a series of tweets that "#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period."  No word on if the album will make its way there yet, but, y'know, streamers gotta stream stream stream stream.