I saw the first episode of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and it wasn't quite as terrible as I was expecting. The set, especially the curtain, which may as well be the same one Carson used, looks fantastic and there will never be a better late night house band than the Roots. The opening bit with Conan was good but the rest fell pretty flat. You can watch the entire episode over here.

Fallon looked genuinely terrified and his interview with Robert De Niro was one of the most awkward since Chevy Chase's short stint as a late night host for Fox in the early '90s. Not that De Niro even bothered to phone it in, forcing Fallon to break out a pre-prepared collection of easy questions specifically designed for the actor's inevitable monosyllabic responses. Couldn't the show's producers have just brought Justin Timberlake out for the full interview segment?

The first episode played more like The Tonight Show With Jay Leno than Late Night with Conan O'Brien. It was too stiff, too forced and it played it too safe. Where was the quirky humor and the "we don't care" swagger of Letterman and O'Brien? Of course, O'Brien's stint at Late Night required years before he hit his stride but, then again, Fallon doesn't have his wit. So far, all he seems to have is the same rushed, slurred delivery that haunted him during his "Weekened Update" days and all that nervous blinking.

Labels: tv

Late Night With Conan O'Brien, one of things that got me through college, only has three shows left before its host moves to LA to take over The Tonight Show. O'Brien is sure to tone things down for his new time-slot. Among the things not invited to go with him? The best self-pleasing, fur-covered, diaper-wearing character in the history of late night American television.

That's right. The Masturbating Bear has been retired. What could be his final appearance occurred during last night's show. It can be viewed in its entirety here. The bit, which involved the bear getting frozen into carbonite, escaping and hooking up with a certain cast member of the original Star Wars trilogy was hilarious but maybe not quite as memorable as the time he jumped out of a plane and interrupted Conan's stint in Chicago.

Throughout the past two weeks, the show has rolled memorable clips from its 16 year run. Among my favorites, an evening when O'Brien made the mistake of getting drunk with his producer in an Italian restaurant and the time he went target shooting with Hunter S. Thompson.

Labels: tv

Last week's episode of The Simpsons was the series' first in HD and it also marked what I'm pretty sure is the first time the opening has been updated since the show debuted in 1990. There's new gags and the "whip-pan" has been redone to include an epic, split-second face-off between God and the devil. The new opening can be found on YouTube over here.

Neat. A side-by-side comparison can be found here (thanks, Bill).

Labels: tv

There's a pretty good audio interview with St. Helens' own Katee Sackhoff currently on KUFO's website. Topics discussed: which cast members have the clout to get their family members on the show and what Edward James Olmos' breath smells like.

Labels: BSG, nerds, tv

I probably won't catch tonight's premiere live. There's a screening of Anchorman at the Baghdad tonight and I can't miss that. I'm not sure if this makes me more or less of a nerd.

The Mercury devoted half of their today's blog posts to the show, including a series of incredibly important BSG-related polls. So far, "no" is leading over "yes" in the "Isn’t Starbuck Kind of a Moose-Face?" poll.

I'm sure some big plot twist will be revealed tonight. I've got five bucks on "Bob Dylan is a Cylon sleeper agent."

Also: Roslin '08 t-shirts can be found here.

Labels: nerds, tv

Regardless of whether or not this is a good idea it's sure to make for some great local television. The Today show seems to draw nothing but tourists in NYC. Who's going to turn out to stand in the background of news broadcasts in Pioneer Courthouse Square? Readers over at OMI are speculating that the crowds will consist of street kids, protesters and crazies. Whatever the scene, it's sure to be more entertaining than the still backdrops of Mt. Hood and the Portland skyline.

Labels: tv

...if KPDX wasn't running two "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of The Simpsons every evening beginning last night through Halloween. It's an annual tradition, as are ads for Fright Town and bumper segments filmed at local businesses celebrating the holiday (area Dairy Queens are selling Halloween ice cream cakes. Yippie!). The older episodes air at 6:30, the newer ones at 7:30.

It's a shame the more recent episodes keep moving further and further away from horror satire, instead relying on random fantasy plots (Harry Potter and comic book parodies? Zzzzzz...) Where's the parody of the Saw franchise, people? Or at least another segment based on an Edgar Allen Poe story? I don't think James Earl Jones is doing much these days.

Labels: tv

Or at least that's my theory on what happened to Tony Soprano after that fade-out at the end of The Sopranos' series finale. In a new book, creator David Chase revealed that there are "no esoteric clues" in the final moments of the episode but that Tony didn't get whacked. More here, including the eventual fates of his kids.

Labels: the mafia, tv

Worst. High-rated. Universally. Beloved. Television. Sensation. Ever.

[Link]

Labels: tv

I'm one of the (hopefully) many HBO subscribers out there that are hoping the cable station comes its senses and brings back Deadwood, a show that I thought trumped the last few seasons of The Sopranos. Now that John From Cincinnati has been given the axe, here's hoping this will clear the way for creator David Milch to cobble together a few hinted-at TV movies, if not another season or five.

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Labels: tv

The History Channel's Cities of the Underworld series stopped by Portland for an episode that aired last night. Of course, the first segment covered the (alleged) history of the Shanghai Tunnels. The show's host followed Michael Jones through the area below Hobo's in Old Town, covering all the same stuff typically seen by his tour groups. The torture closet, the opium den, the holding cell with the tiny bars and the abandoned pile of shoes were all covered.

Since the show focuses on tales of crime and debauchery instead of the supernatural, it skipped over the ghost stories and moved on to a segment on Prohibition Rose, a brothel owner who once cranked out whiskey from a distillery beneath a Eastside building that now houses a graphic design firm. The show also touched on a speakeasy in the basement of Huber's, how the water bureau deals with flammable meth makings flushed into the city's sewers and an underground fight club that once entertained visiting cattle ranchers. One notorious bare-knuckled brawler reportedly bit off the ear of an opponent decades before the idea ever crossed Mike Tyson's mind.

Portland's installment is worth watching, if only for the cheesy, horror movie tracking shots that pan from spots like Skidmore Fountain down through the pavement into the city's subterranean. One overly-dramatic shot makes SW Natio look positively evvvvvvvviiiiiiiil. The show also offers CGI graphics of what the tunnels and Rose’s distillery would have looked like back in the day.

Everything's amped-up to keep viewers watching. During the host's introductions, he walks at a rapid pace through Old Town, the Hawthorne Bridge and past the Santa Fe Taqueria on NW 23rd, talking at a breathless clip as if the viewing audience's VERY LIVES depend on the information he's about to reveal. The typical intro:

"We're standing in Portland’s Old Town district near a former WILD WEST BAR where INNOCENT men were brutally DRUGGED, KIDNAPPED and SENT OUT TO SEA a century ago. When they regained consciousness, they had two options: work for low pay or GET THROWN OVERBOARD!"

All definitely worth seeing. The episode will reair this Sunday morning at 10 AM.

Labels: Portland, tv

Say what you will about Family Guy but I still think there's enough decent jokes in any given episode to make it worth watching. The show will return with new episodes in November. First up, an hour long parody of the first Star Wars movie.

A good chunk of clips from the upcoming season premiere were shown at this year's Star Wars Celebration in Los Angles a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, they've all been yanked off You Tube, save for a short bit of the trailer. Which character plays which Star Wars character should be obvious but Meg's short cameo is pretty gosh darn killer. I won't blow the joke here. Is it worth waiting five months for? If you have any memory of this post come November, feel free to come back and tell me.

Labels: tv

Is anyone out there watching the last season of The Sopranos? From what I've read, viewership is down and, for a show that was once considered the best thing on tv, no one seems to care that the Jersey crew's saga is drawing to a close. I haven't seen much press or promotion for the final season but maybe I haven't been paying enough attention.

Regardless, with three episodes left in the series' run, and after two disappointing seasons, the show is finally back on track. The show's past two episodes have been knock-outs. After a major turn of events, Tony's house of cards is either back on solid ground or on the verge of collapse. Will the series close with a sitcom, "everything's back to normal" finale, leaving the door open for a big-screen adaptation, or a shock ending that will slam the door shut on the Sopranos world forever?

I'm hoping for the later. This saga has run its course and should have wrapped things up by season five. It's clear that the writers were just treading water during season five and six. There isn't much gas left in this engine so why not end things with a bang?

{Look out, spoilers to follow]

With a major character dead at the hands of Tony, it's clear that this guy, despite being lovable family man, is an irredeemable monster. His actions last Sunday were those of a demented tyrant. WIthout giving too much away, the second half of the episode follows Tony as he flees from his guilt during a lost weekend in Vegas. He tracks down a former fling of his victim and quickly seduces her. Later, they make the wise decision to gobble a few peyote buttons and wander around Ceaser's Palace. I've been a sucker for Tony's dream sequences and hallucinations over the years and this one's a doozy. A revelation at a roulette table, occassionally refered to as a "Devil's Wheel" because all its numbers add up to 666, sends the mob boss to the floor in a fit of laughter. The episode closes with him and his mistress out in the desert, still woozy and watching the sun rise. As the ball of fire rises over a hill, it seems to wink at him. Tony gets up, raises his arms to the sky and shouts, "I get it!" into the canyon below.

A wink from God or Satan? Has he finally come to terms with who he is? Does Tony know he's doomed but now couldn't care less? That's what I make of it.

I suspect that The Sopranos will end with Tony dead or in prison but, all things considered, let's hope not. As a friend pointed out, "gone is the guy that once cared about ducks. His punishment [should be] becoming a pure sociopath." A sociopath with a destroyed marriage and no friends or family by his side? Yeah, that's more like it- a Michael Corleone, Godfather 2 fate for ol' Tone. At the top of his world but completely and miserably alone.

Labels: tv

This page has been making the rounds around town. It first popped up on Oregon Media Insiders and on Jack Bog's Blog this afternoon. If you grew up or lived in Portland in the '80s and '90s, prepare to lose at least an hour of your time.

The page, apart of site called Platypus Comix, contains a treasure trove of commercials and promos from Portland's past. We're talking about ancient advertisements for late-great restaurants like the Organ Grinder and Farrell's. A Meier and Frank commercial for the Atari 2600 and an ad or two for Smith's Home Furnishings. There's dozen of obscure clips in here and the only thing it seems to be missing is something from the old Ramblin' Rod Show.

Here are a few direct links to some of the ones that I think are super terrific:

An ad for the Organ Grinder Pizzeria? Click here

A 1980 Christmas commercial for Tom Petterson's? Click here

"NOW IS THE TIME, CHANNEL 2 IS THE PLACE....FOR RICHARD SIMMONS!" Click here

A Les Schwab "Free Beef" ad from 1988? Click here

Labels: Portland, tv