Television

For rambling about idiot box entertainment outside of the Star Trek universe.

Buffy and Angel?

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Some questions for Buffy/Angel fans…

Never having seen any of the show before now, I’ve been slowly working my way through the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, renting the DVDs one by one from NetFlix. At the moment I’m about 2/3 of the way through Season Three and just found out while bouncing around old episode reviews that I’m coming up on the spinoff point for Angel’s series.

Firstly: is Angel as good of a series as I’m finding Buffy to be? Should I start working my way through this series also?

Next, assuming that the answer to that question is a “yes”, my question is simply how best to proceed. Given that there were four years of overlap between the two series, did they relate to each other in any major ways than sharing characters? While I certainly don’t expect that the two series would be sharing events and plot lines back and forth every week, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they occasionally at least referenced each other, if not outright sharing a common story line from time to time.

I figure I’ve got two basic methods of watching both shows: continuing my run through the end of Buffy and then starting to work through Angel (jumping back four years in the timeline in the process), or alternating renting discs of Buffy and Angel in order to make an attempt at following both shows concurrently in an attempt to keep the respective timelines as close as possible.

At the moment, I’ve got all of Buffy lined up in my queue, with all of Angel (at least, the three seasons that have been released on DVD so far — I’m just hoping that by the time I make it through those three, at least one more season will have been released, if not both) queued up afterwards. If enough people think that it would be worthwhile to mix the two together, it would be easy enough for me to do so.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

(And please — no spoilers on upcoming events! As I mentioned at the beginning, I’ve never watched these shows before now, so aside from bits and pieces of information that I picked up over the years as they filtered into the popular consciousness (for example, I know that Willow comes out as a lesbian at some point, though I don’t know when, how, or with/to whom; I know that there’s a musical episode sometime towards the end of the series; and I know that Jim Morrison dies at the end (sorry…in-joke with my friends)), I’m very clueless about where things are going as the series progresses, and I’d like to keep it that way. Thanks!)

iTunes: “Sweet Soul Sister” by Cult, The from the album Sonic Temple (1989, 5:08).

A love letter to Star Trek

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Something to bring a smile to your face (especially if, like me, you’re a life-long Trekk[ie/er]) — A love letter to Star Trek.

One year and a couple months ago, on Star Date something-or-other, my sons and I started a family tradition by accident. We rented the first disk of what seemed like an endless set of Star Trek: The Next Generation DVDs.

[…]

I don’t remember those early shows now. All I remember is watching three boys huddled under a navy blue crocheted afghan, mouths open, eyes krazy-glued to the small screen in our sunroom while reflected images of people with ridged skulls and pointed ears flickered on three glass corner windows. They were hooked.

[…]

One day, a bad bad day, when many soldiers lost lives in that distant senseless war, my middle son stood with barefeet on the cold tile floor of the kitchen, listening to NPR, and clenched his fists in frustration.

“Why don’t they stop fighting? We’re never going to join a Federation of Planets if this continues. Don’t they know that? Why don’t they want to help end starvation instead? I wish we lived in the future.”

[…]

Something about the mythology, the space, the ongoing conundrums of time, kept my sons going, kept them full of hope. They started reading books about the solar system. They followed the NASA mission to Mars and knew more about it than their teachers. They built star ships of blankets and chairs in the sunroom and spent lazy Saturday afternoons playing with styrofoam planets. All peaceful, all scientific and humane. Children from the future.

The last season of Star Trek came too fast. We watched the last episode last night. My boys have grown tall and already those Star Trek shirts are getting tight. They look forward to renting Deep Space Nine episodes. I look forward to it, too, but my heart knows this time is over, no anomalies can bring it back.

As a child who grew up on the origninal Star Trek, sitting on my dad’s lap and pointing excitedly somewhere over my shoulder as the Starship Enterprise swept across the screen, I can easily identify with the sense of wonder, excitement, and hope that these kids are just finding now.

Wil Wheaton also has some nice things to say about this post.

(via Jacqueline)

What a deal!

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While on my lunch break today, I heard the sounds of Queen’s “We are the Champions” emanating from the television mounted in the corner of the burger joint I frequent daily. I looked up to see shots of middle-aged men running down the street, jumping into the air, and pumping their arms in jubilation. Then the subject of the commercial came on.

Some sort of Viagra “club” deal — buy six doses, get the seventh free.

This struck me as completely bizarre.

I’m also left wondering just what the punchcard for this deal must look like…

iTunes: “Music (Groove Armada Club)” by Madonna from the album Music (2000, 9:31).

Spitting Image returning?

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One of the best discoveries I made when visiting England during the mid-80’s (sometime around 1985 or ’86, I think) was Spitting Image, a BBC political satire show using latex puppet caricatures of political figures. Hilarious stuff, and something that never really caught on in the states — for most people in the US, their only exposure to the Spitting Image puppets was in the video for Genesis’ “Land of Confusion“.

The BBC Comedy Guide has a good summary of the show:

In Spitting Image, famous characters in British and international life were re-created in the form of latex puppets, which – in the manner of newspaper political cartoons – grossly exaggerated that person’s most obvious facial or personality characteristic. Given voices by top-line impressionists and vocal caricaturists, the puppets were manipulated by a team of skilled handlers to act out the quantity of wickedly witty sketches that comprised each edition of the show. Essentially, then, viewing Spitting Image was not only like watching your favourite or most despised public figures taking part in topical comedy skits but also seeing and hearing them in a dialogue free of the omnipresent facade of PR gloss and occasional deceit – revealing, perhaps, the true personality underneath, or at the very least, a wicked, exaggerated guess at same. In this fashion, many hundreds – perhaps even a thousand – of people in the news, or faces just plain familiar to TV viewers, spanning the years 1984-96, were lampooned by Spitting Image. (To have been a Spitting Image target was deemed an honour by many.)

Now it looks like Spitting Image may be coming back!

Spitting Image producer John Lloyd is in talks with ITV in a bid to bring the satirical series back to the channel.

Mr Lloyd was an original producer of the show, which lampooned politicians and celebrities using latex puppets.

ITV confirmed having “early stage talks” with Mr Lloyd over the show, which originally ran from 1984 to 1996.

The article doesn’t mention whether the original puppetmakers Fluck and Law will be overseeing the puppet construction process or not, though as many of the original puppets were auctioned off in 2000 when Roger Law moved to Australia, that may be doubtful.

Another interesting tidbit I learned while reading about this: one of the voice actors for Spitting Image was Chris Barrie, known primarily to me as Rimmer in Red Dwarf.

iTunes: “Maestro, The” by Beastie Boys, The from the album Check Your Head (1992, 2:52).

Powell on Meet the Press

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Here’s something you don’t see in today’s political arena very often these days. Colin Powell was on Meet the Press Sunday night, when one of his staffers attempted to cut off the interview in the midst of one of Tim Russert’s questions. Powell was not pleased, going so far as to rebuke the staffer on-air, and had the camera brought back in order to finish the interview.

As Tim Russert, the program’s host, began to ask his final question, the camera unexpectedly panned away from Mr. Powell, who was being interviewed in Jordan via a satellite link from Washington. In the confusion, Mr. Powell could be heard saying, “He’s still asking me questions,” to which a woman’s voice answered, “No, he’s not.”

Mr. Powell, still off camera, said, “Tim, I’m sorry, I lost you,” and added, “Emily, get out of the way.” Mr. Russert, slightly irate, responded: “I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary. I don’t think that’s appropriate.” After a few seconds the camera returned to Mr. Powell and he finished the interview.

Video of the interview can be found on Lisa Rein’s Radar.

(via Boing Boing and Dave Winer)

iTunes: “Trouble In Mind” by Joplin, Janis from the album Janis (1965, 3:03).

Nightline on Friday

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As I don’t do the TV thing I won’t be watching this, but for those of you who do, this Friday’s Nightline is looking to be a doozy.

From their daily e-mail update for today, April 27th 2004:

Now I want to tell you about this Friday’s broadcast. We’re going to do something different, something that we think is important. Friday night, we will show you the pictures, and Ted will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That’s it. That will be the whole broadcast.

…Whether you agree with the war or not, these men and women are serving, are putting their lives on the line, in our names. We think it is important to remember that those who have paid the ultimate price all have faces, and names, and loved ones. We thought about doing this on Memorial Day, but that’s a time when most media outlets do stories about the military, and they are generally lost in the holiday crush of picnics and all. We didn’t want this broadcast to get lost. Honestly, I don’t know if people will watch this for thirty seconds, or ten minutes, or at all. That’s not the point. We think this is important. These men and women have earned nothing less.

Wow. Powerful stuff.

(via Atrios)

iTunes: “Legion” by VNV Nation from the album Empires (2000, 5:11).

Good for you, Janet

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Given how incredibly silly all the controversy was, I think it’s great that Janet is spoofing her “wardrobe malfunction” — and doing it in character as Condi Rice, no less!

It was inevitable: Janet Jackson spoofing her infamous wardrobe malfunction by flashing a heavily pixillated breast on “Saturday Night Live.” The one surprise was the context. Jackson portrayed national security adviser Condoleezza Rice opening her blouse at the Sept. 11 commission hearings, in an opening skit on the comedy show.

The skit showed Vice President Dick Cheney, played by Darrell Hammond, suggesting Rice should “flash a boob” to distract the public from her testimony.

“Just one headlight, real quick,” he said. “It does two things. You win over the liberals, plus, it’s a distraction for the press. I guarantee that’s going to be the headline, not the bin Laden thing.”

Jackson, as Rice, huffily refuses.

“I am not a prude, sir, but this hearing is not the forum for that kind of lewd conduct,” she said. “There are other forums, like pay television or national sporting championships. That would be fine, but I am the national security adviser.”

Cheney reluctantly agreed. “It was Ashcroft’s idea,” he said.

iTunes: “Among Myselves” by Future Sound of London, The from the album Lifeforms (1994, 5:52).

TV got your brain

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The last car I owned had three bumper stickers on it, all dead-center on the rear end, one above the other.

DIE MTV DIE

KILL YOUR TV

TELEVISION IS DRUGS

It appears that my sentiments now have the backing of scientific research showing that television causes ‘attention problems’ in young children.

Early television exposure in children ages 1-3 is associated with attention problems at age 7, according to a study from Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle published in the April issue of PEDIATRICS. The study revealed that each hour of television watched per day at ages 1-3 increases the risk of attention problems, such as ADHD, by almost 10 percent at age 7. The study controls for other attributes of the home environment including cognitive stimulation and emotional support.

… The AAP recommends parents avoid letting their children under the age of 2 years watch television and that parents exert caution — such as setting limits on TV viewing, helping children develop media literacy skills to question, analyze and evaluate TV messages, and taking an active role in their children’s TV viewing — in children over the age of 2.

A Seattle P-I editorial mentions that some 3 year olds in the study were watching 12 or more hours of television a day.

Twelve or more?

My lord.

I wish I still had a copy of this, but years ago I saw an editorial cartoon called “The Pacifier” that showed a toddler sitting on the floor with dazed, glazed-over eyes, with a pacifier created from a television crammed into his mouth. I ended up turning that cartoon into a t-shirt (which I still have — the cartoon is by Jim Morin of the Miami Herald, unfortunately I can’t find a date on the cartoon to see if a copy might be available online anywhere). People who treat their children like this — and I’ve known more than a few — have always disturbed me, and while I’m sure I whined about it when I was younger, I’m very glad parents kept stricter controls over the viewing habits of my brother and I when we were growing up.

iTunes: “Light (Fat Back)” by K.M.F.D.M. from the album Light (1994, 7:29).

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

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Sesame Street's original cast

Wow — Sesame Street has been around for 35 years.

My two most present memories of Sesame Street (see if you remember them too…)

“Yup, yup, yup, yup yup yup yup yupyupyupyupyupyupyup TELEPHONE!”

“Around…around…around…around…over, under, and through!”

There’s even a 35^th^ anniversary trivia game on their site, which I did horribly at.

This entry was brought to you by the number 7.

iTunes: “Sesame’s Treet (12″)\” by Smart E’s from the album Sesame’s Treet (1992, 5:12).

That’s no pastie!

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Janet's not happy

I’ve been reading various accounts of yesterday’s “accident” during the SuperBowl when Justin Timberlake removed part of Janet Jackson’s top, exposing one of her breasts on live television. Viacom, CBS, and MTV are all madly apologizing, and apparently there is going to be an FCC investigation into the incident.

An outraged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell on Monday ordered an investigation into the broadcast of the Super Bowl’s halftime entertainment show, during which singer Janet Jackson’s right breast was exposed.

During the break in the National Football League’s championship game, pop singer Justin Timberlake reached for Jackson as they sang a duet and tore open part of her black leather bustier.

“That celebration was tainted by a classless, crass and deplorable stunt,” Powell said in a statement. “Our nation’s children, parents and citizens deserve better.”

I’ve got to admit, in some ways, this whole thing has been amusing me to no end.

In the middle of a heavily-publicized violent sports event (maybe not as overtly violent as boxing, but when many players are injured and hospitalized each year, sometimes gravely so, we’re not talking tiddlywinks), in the midst of a halftime show known for excess and pushing the boundaries, the world got a momentary one-or-two second (accidental?) glimpse of a single breast.

One breast. A couple seconds. And it’s instant controversy.

Roughly half the world’s post-pubescent population already has two breasts of their very own, and I’m assuming that unless they ensure that all lights are off every time they get dressed or take a shower, they’ve probably already seen those; and the other half of the population generally spends a fair amount of their waking hours trying to find ways to see those breasts that they don’t have! This isn’t exactly a new thing, folks.

Ah, well — my views aren’t about to change anyone’s mind. Still, I’m constantly frustrated by a culture that glorifies violence and vilifies sexuality (unless it’s being used to sell something). Seems pretty backwards. But that’s just me.

One thing I just noticed this morning, though. When I first saw pictures of the dastardly deed last night, it looked for all the world like Janet was wearing a pastie on the exposed breast — which, when combined with the conveniently detachable breast cup, definitely called into doubt the “accidental” nature of the flash. This morning Drudge Report posted some better-quality images though, and when zoomed in, it’s apparent that it’s not a pastie — but rather a nipple piercing with a silver sun shield around it.

Okay, so maybe it was accidental. I’ve gotta say, though –decent taste in body jewelry. Good for her!

Update: Lane posted video footage — that does not look “accidental” to me!