Lacy (winner, Most Affectionate)
@ Dupont Circle
Q:If your dog was a celebrity, who would it be?
A:"Charlize Theron. She's glamorous."
FANS OF FANGED FICTION may have noticed a cable-TV entry in the genre. It's that hourlong show about a mortal female with vision issues, a smoking-hot male vampire with a strict no-kill policy an the supernatural shenanigans that bring them together to save their town.
The town, of course, is Toronto - oh, wait. We're not talking about "True Blood," HBO's complex, fraught and fascinating series that returned for season two in June. The series of interest here is "Blood Ties," a Canadian crime-and-romance romp aired on Lifetime that flies under the radar on its stylish bat wings.
Viewers can be forgiven for missing "Blood Ties" during its season one run. After "True Blood" elbowed aside CBS's execrable "Moonlight" for supremacy, that seemed to be the definitive end to TV's vampire wars. But Eagle Rock Entertainment has released "Blood Ties'" first 13 episodes, so the dog days of reruns and no-brainer viewing are a good time to check out this nifty serial thriller.
Continue Reading "Fanged Fiction: Lifetime's 'Blood Ties'" »
IF GEEKS ARE the new cool crowd, don't tell that to the producers of "The IT Crowd," a ridiculously funny British sitcom whose second season has just been released on DVD.
The show was produced, not surprisingly, with the help of British "The Office" alumnus Ash Atalla, and it shows in the series' tone and tempo, as well as its taste for the occasional mind-boggling quirk, tossed off so casually you'd think — well, many people do anway — the British Isle are populated by only weirdos and perverts. But the basic parameters of a low-key Britcom are all in place: Soul-crushing, pass-the-time work environment; eccentricities bristling from behind every desk; absurd bureaucracy hampering our heroes' every move - check, check, check.
In a forgotten basement of Reynholm Industries, a huge corporation of unspecific purpose, biracial, literal-minded ubergeek Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Roy (Chris O'Dowd), a rumpled slacker cutie with low self-esteem and a bitter sense of humor, toil under the none-too-focused supervision of Jen (Katherine Parkinson) a technical naif who tries to keep the boys in line but is just as happy to play "Guitar Hero" with them in slow times. Soon after her introduction to the basement office — that's how the first episode of the series kicks off; the Season One DVD is an amusing, but not necessary adjunct to the recent release — Jen's own facade begins to crack, and hilariously. She's the "normal one," but only when thrown into contrast with these two losers (and with Richmond, the sweet-souled Goth even the geeks find off-puttingly weird; they keep him locked in a little room behind a red door.)
AS "TRUE BLOOD" demonstrates, being an old vampire doesn't mean you can't be modern. Consider Count Gore De Vol, the first TV horror host to move his show online. On Saturday, the AFI celebrates Dick Dyszel's 1972-1987 tenure as the Count and kiddie emcee "Captain 20" with the premiere of the documentary "Every Other Day Is Halloween," hosted by "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" co-director Jeff Krulik.
» EXPRESS: How did you get involved?
» DYSZEL: Curtis [Prather] would show up with cameras at events, and ask for clippings and footage. About a year ago, he said he would put it together as a film. Speaking as someone who grew up with hosted kids' shows, if you grew up here and watched Channel 20, you owe it to yourself to see this film.
» EXPRESS: What horror hosts did you watch growing up in Chicago?
» DYSZEL: There was "Shock Theater" with "Marvin," a beatnik with Coke-bottle glasses. After Universal released their classic films for TV, almost every station that bought the package put on some kind of hosted showcase around these movies.
FOR SEVEN SEASONS, Jane Kaczmarek hilariously handled a brood of boys as the crazed, slightly crazy mom on "Malcolm in the Middle." Now, she takes charge of the courtroom as Judge Trudy Kessler on TNT's legal drama "Raising the Bar" (Mon., 10 p.m.), which just started its second season. When she's not on set, she and her husband — "West Wing" alumnus Bradley Whitford — live an idyllic life with their three children in Pasadena, Calif.
» EXPRESS: "Raising the Bar" is such a change from your "Malcolm" days.
» KACZMAREK: The funny thing is that I went to Yale School of Drama, and the work that I got for years afterwards was serious stuff. I couldn't even get auditions for comedies! After "Malcolm," people now think of me as such a comedian. But "Raising the Bar" is really returning to what I've done for most of my career.
» EXPRESS: Do you prefer being on a drama?
» KACZMAREK: Doing comedy is really a blast, but "Malcolm" had its challenges, like working with children all the time. What I really love about "Raising the Bar" is working with adults. It's fun to go to work and be surrounded by grown-ups — really, really good-looking grown-ups.
Continue Reading "All Rise: 'Raising the Bar's Jane Kaczmarek" »
BEFORE MICHAEL BAY, Shia LaBeouf or Megan Fox put their grubby paws all over the "Transformers" series, tainting it with bad direction, stagnant dialogue and lackluster Angelina Jolie impressions (yeah, we'll tell you how we really feel), there was the '80s cartoon that started it all, laying the groundwork of the rivalry between the Autobots and the Decepticons and revving up a franchise that would evolve for decades.
First airing in the United States in September 1984, "The Transformers" — starring the upstanding, peace-loving Optimus Prime and the manipulative, ruthless Megatron — introduced viewers to those huge shape-shifting robots from Cybertron, made terms such as "Space Bridge" and "energon cubes" a part of kids' vernacular and got that metallic-sounding theme song (and the noise Transformers make when they switch from car/fighter jet/dinosaur/cassette tape to robot) stuck in parents' heads.
The initial popularity of Generation 1 of "The Transformers" would not only make Hasbro tons of money off of themed toys and games, but inspire four more seasons of Generation 1; a Generation 2 series; comic books; "Beast Wars," in which every Transformer was an animal instead of a car, jet or other machine (for example, Optimus Primal — a gorilla — was the leader of the Autobots, while Megatron was a Tyrannosaurus rex); and the Bay atrocity and its upcoming sequel, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
And if you're ready to brush up on your vintage "Transformers" before seeing "Revenge of the Fallen" later this month, then "The Transformers: The Complete First Season, 25th Anniversary Edition" (Shout! Factory) should probably be next on your list of investments before you visit Fandango.
Continue Reading "More Than Meets the Eye: 'The Transformers: The Complete First Season'" »
EVEN IN BLACK and white, Jimmy Sparks must have seemed like the coolest kid in the 1960s. He's 12 and doesn't go to school, but he does drive a car, carry a gun and sometimes fly a jet fighter. Oh, and he controls this 50-foot flying robot his dad built.
Yes, it's "Gigantor," the mid-'60s import cartoon (sorry, "anime") from Japan whose 52 episodes sometimes beat Walter Cronkite in the ratings and whose first 26 episodes have been digitally transferred from the original 16mm film for "Gigantor: The Collection Vol. 1" (E1 Entertainment, $39.98). It's a strange mix: There's a lot of humor, but the plots, usually involving some would-be conqueror and a lot of onscreen shooting deaths, are deadly serious. (Speaking of serious, you can't hit pause during an episode.)
Continue Reading "Still Stronger Than Strong: 'Gigantor' on DVD" »
IT HAS BEEN a good run, D.C. Despite the continued dominance of reality programming on television, the worst depiction of our home city we've had to endure was "K Street," the semi-improvised and HBO-legitimized political drama that ran for a single season in 2003.
That show might have attempted to integrate current events into storylines, but it appears we're in for legitimate reality TV saturation. Now that both MTV's apparently immortal "Real World" franchise and Bravo's "Real Housewives" are set to film seasons set in Washington, we may as well acquaint ourselves with the depravity to come.
Here's a sampling of the trashiest, most offensive reality programming airing this summer, just so you know what to expect should you happen upon a camera crew in the coming months.
Continue Reading "Televised Sophistication: Summer's Trashiest TV" »
PART OF THE JOY of reading P.G. Wodehouse's stories about the idly rich cad Bertie Wooster and his more knowledgeable valet Jeeves is doing so slowly, savoring the cleverness of the author's wordplay and the drollness of his wit.
On the other hand, part of the joy of watching Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie play these characters in the series "Jeeves & Wooster" is keeping up with their fast-paced delivery and parsing their verbal parries and thrusts,
By the time Laurie donned his checked blazer and Fry his black bowler, the two had spent nearly a decade as comedy partners, sharpening their rapport on shows like "Blackadder" and "A Little Bit of Fry and Laurie." Appropriately, the duo approach these characters with spirited affection.
Continue Reading "A Bit of What You Fancy: A&E's 'Jeeves & Wooster'" »
IN A QUICK SYSNOPSIS, Lifetime's show "Army Wives" sounds like "Desperate Housewives" set on a military post: five couples dealing with their lives, careers, families, and friendships, when one member of each pair is employed by the Army.
While there are a few common themes between the shows, there's none of the husband-swapping, bizarre mysteries, or other such frivolity that makes the implausible "Housewives" such a guilty pleasure.
Instead, "Army Wives" focuses on five middle-class couples who aren't afraid to be vulnerable or make mistakes, learn from them, and move forward. It's not a reality show, but the characters Lifetime has created certainly feel authentic — and viewers have flocked to the show. It's the highest-rated series in the network's 25-year history, and while that may be because there aren't many other scripted series on this network known for its made-for-TV movies, "Army Wives" has already been renewed for a fourth season before its third season has even started to air.
For those who haven't been watching (or who have forgotten, or who didn't watch the reruns of season 2 that recently aired on Sundays at midnight (crank up the DVR), here's a quick overview of the five main families on the show:
DID AT&T GIVE "American Idol" contestant Adam Lambert the finger? Or more to the point, did some AT&T employees turbo-charge the fingers of fans of his opponent, Kris Allen, to help Allen win the mega-popular singing competition?
It's possible, according to a report in the New York Times, which alleges that AT&T employees in Arkansas taught Allen fans how to "power text," or send a super-charged text with the strength of 10 our puny human text messages.
The Times makes reference to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story that reported on Allen's win and opened the door to questions about how so many text messages were sent so quickly. When you read the text of the story, it's no wonder folks got curious. An excerpt:
In Conway after Tuesday's performances, fans at the Estes Stadium watch party took out wireless phones and started making calls and firing off text messages - some voting on their own devices and others on phones borrowed from AT&T, which supplied about 50 display units and representatives to teach multiple "power texting."AT&T also made about 30 phones available in a "texting zone" at a watch party at the Peabody Little Rock hotel, where Megan Lynch and friend Rainey Gibson, both 22, watched Allen perform his first song of the night, Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine."
And then, there's this from another Democrat-Gazette story:
Among the Arkansans who helped Allen gain the title with their votes was Erika McMahan of Conway, who held a sign at her hometown's watch party that read: "We voted 11,692 times for Kris Allen last night."Said AT&T in a statement to the Times:"There were three of us. It wasn't all me!" she said.
Bobbie Kierna of Greenbrier, who wore a Kris Allen shirt to the Peabody finale party, said she stayed up texting until 11:48 p.m. Tuesday and sent 10,840 votes for Allen.
In Arkansas, we were invited to attend the local watch parties organized by the community. A few local employees brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested.No such assistance was apparently offered to Lambert fans, the Times reports.
Continue Reading "Fleecing Lambert: Did a Texting Trick Throw 'Idol' for Kris Allen?" »
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