You’ll Be Sari….


…if you don’t check out Turner Classic Movies’ “Hooray for Bollywood” festival this month. Even if you’ve never deliberately watched an Indian film, you’ve probably already been exposed to their unique charms if you watched Moulin Rouge, for instance. The over-saturated visual imagery, imaginative and frequently mind-blowing stylistic touches, and musical numbers that make no pretense at reality are hallmarks of this wonderfully vibrant movie niche. You’ve got a terrific chance to sample a wide range of some of the best of Indian cinema every Thursday night this month, thanks to TCM.

My recommendation would be to crank up the ol’ TIVO or VHS machine and record these movies, for a couple of reasons. Number one, they’re really long, and there are three movies each night. Tonight first movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, for example, is a tad over three hours and that’s a lot of watching. It’s different in a theater, and I can personally attest to that. Not too long ago I watched the recent four-hour-long Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India at the movies, and believe it or not, the time flew by. It's a long time on your couch though, especially at night. Number two, unless you can set up your viewing area sans distractions, it could be better to plan on watching these some free afternoon when you can give them the attention they deserve. These movies are a lot of fun and might warrant a little more festivity than a Thursday night can muster up.

I also highly recommend taking a look at TCM’s website to get some background information on the individual films. You’re probably going into unknown territory here, and it’s always nice to get a little guidance.

I’m looking forward to seeing Lagaan’s Aamir Khan in a few of the films (next week’s Rangeela, for one), and you’ll probably end up having some favorites of your own as you watch the movies, too. The Indian actors and actresses have oodles of charisma, and I’d venture to say that our American matinee idols would lose a lot of their zing if lined up next to their Indian counterparts.

Of course, not all the movies are musicals; India’s serious cinema is well-represented in TCM’s line-up also, so you’ll get a nicely-rounded view of this thriving industry. A chance like this doesn’t come along very often, though you can catch more Indian movies next month on the Sundance Channel as they do a Bollywood festival of their own. The real nugget to take from this increased visibility of Indian movies is simply that they’re some of the most imaginative and inspirational treats your eyes will ever behold. With the current state of American movies one in which sequels beget sequels and even the magic of the Matrix has lost its creative luster, it will do your movie-loving heart good to see something so celebratory on the screen, small or large.

My recommendation: pick up some Indian take-out and immerse your taste buds as well as your eyeballs in extreme sensations. If you unhook your own cultural corset, I guarantee that you’ll find something touching and unusual in these movies, and that’s definitely something worthy of a “Hooray!”.

TCM’s “Hooray for Bollywood” begins tonight at 8pm, and continues every Thursday night in June.

For more information on all the films, check out the TCM “Hooray for Bollywood” website.

If you get bitten by the Bombay music bug, be sure to visit this website where you can download songs from some of the movies. Beware, though, there are of lots of pop-up ads!

And if you want to get a real taste of the current Bollywood scene, you could take a look at Planet Bollywood’s site, or Bollywood Online.

 
Okay...Catch the 2nd Episode, At Least

Bloody brilliant! I really liked Keen Eddie last night on Fox, so my advice is watch it while you can because it's probably doomed. The series was announced last fall but hasn't seen airplay until last night, and for all the talk about how TV is now a 52-week-a-year business, being shoved into the summer isn't exactly primo placement. But what else can a network do with a show that's clever, quick, slightly non-linear, kinda nutty, and basically different from most of what's working on network television these days?

And god help it, but Keen Eddie is even described as a drama/comedy, and we know -- despite America's penchant for claiming it loves a sense of humor -- that viewers (except for some watching pay channels) absolutely hate a hybrid. If you have any doubt, take a look at the dramas that are working these days -- both CSI series, all the Law & Orders, and whatever's in between, and certainly most of what looks like gold for next year. Pity the poor show that tries to dispense a little wit along with the woe. It seems as thought the teen-oriented shows can sometimes make a go of it -- I'm thinking of Buffy The Vampire Slayer here, for instance -- but as a rule, keep it grim.

If you're one of those people who need the slow and steady pacing of Law & Order, then Keen Eddie may not be for you, but try not to let the fancy editing and snazzy exciting visually tricks put you off. Those techniques are some of what makes Keen Eddie fast and funny, in addition to the breezy dialogue and a requisite complicated storyline. The basic premise of Keen Eddie -- disgraced American cop is sent to London to redeem himself -- is actually quite like that of Dempsey & Makepeace, a syndicated show from the '80s (some of you may recall it), but a lot of water has flowed under Tower Bridge since then and this series is strictly nowsville. Yes, I know I've got a thing for everything British, but Keen Eddie knows that a lot of Americans think Brits are somewhat weird-looking, often priggish and overly-polite, and the show plays on these preconceived images very effectively. If nothing else, you'll get a kick out of Eddie's main Scotland Yard partner Monty (played by Julian Rhind-Tutt), who looks like an Upper Class Twit yet is anything but a prude. Keen Eddie himself is played by Mark Valley (Once and Again, Days of Our Lives), and he's got a brash Yank charm that sounds like it could be cliched as hell but really works. There's also a lovely lady in the mix, Eddie's reluctant roommate Fiona (Sienna Miller), who presumably will end up in a romance with Eddie (or not...), and for cheap laughs a randy bull terrier who's got the hots for Fiona's pussycat.

A show like Keen Eddie may not change the world, but it just might make living in it a little more enjoyable. As I said before, I don't think the smart money would be on the show surviving, but evidently they've already produced 13 of them so at least we'll have a little bit of heaven while it lasts.

Keen Eddie airs on Fox Tuesdays at 9pm. For more information, check out Fox's website for the show.

 
Fall 2003-2004 TV Schedules & Analysis

It's finally up, so be sure to check out my early analysis of the upcoming network TV season, network by network. It's too soon to tell who will prosper and who will bite the dust, but there are certainly some sure things and some that seem doomed to failure. And like always, there are some great shows that are sure to fail.

Take a look and tell me what you think you'll be watching this coming season!

Here's the direct link to Lisa's 2003-2004 Fall TV Schedules and Analysis. Enjoy!

 
Go Go Golden Girls!


It’s true. Scientists at the T.I.T. (Television Institute of Technology) have proven a direct relationship long considered true but never verified: in females, how funny you think The Golden Girls are is a direct inverse ratio with the amount of your remaining ovarian function. If they’re fully operational and spewing eggs like crazy, The Golden Girls barely raises a smile. But once you reach 40 or so, those Girls start to get to you. And by the time you hit menopause, this show is your comedy god.

Of course, what this really means is that liking The Golden Girls is practically inescapable at a certain point. It doesn’t explain away all the other people who love the show, but maybe there’s an answer in tonight’s The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments special on Lifetime.

I can personally attest to the aging ovary syndrome. I never watched the show on network, and used to not watch it on Lifetime, but am now a fan of this terrific show. In addition to all the warm and fuzzy stuff about empowering women of a certain age, encouraging female support systems and the like, The Golden Girls is a wonderfully absurd show, much more than you might imagine, and frequently hilarious in ways that might surprise anybody who doesn’t watch the show.

How could it be otherwise? The cast of the show were all pros with many years of comedic excellence on their resumes, and when the four of them were put together on this show, way back in 1985, what transpired truly was golden. Although every fan has their own favorite Golden Girl; you can’t go wrong with any of them, each of the ladies adding their own particular flavor to the nutty household mixture. I’m a Dorothy Sbornak gal myself, loving Bea Arthur’s tough and sardonic delivery (I’m outraged that nobody’s running Maude anymore), but if your taste runs more to Betty White’s addled Rose Nyland, Rue McClanahan’s hot-blooded Blanche Deveraux, or Estelle Getty’s outspoken Sophia Petrillo, any of these gals more than delivers the goods.

The Golden Girls isn’t for everybody, but for a TV show to keep working and working by real world standards – getting ratings – as well as engendering intense fan loyalty and affection, something very special has to be going on. If you’re one of those who can’t imagine watching a show about four old hags eating cheesecake, nothing will change your mind. But let me tell you…you don’t know what you’re missing.

The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments airs tonight on Lifetime TV at 8pm. It’s preceded at 6pm by an hour of viewers’ choice favorite TGG episodes, at 7pm by an Intimate Portrait viewers’ choice on one of the Golden Girls. Following the special at 9:30p you can watch show’s pilot episode, then at 10pm the two-part finale (co-starring Leslie Nielsen), and of course two more episodes at 11pm.

Here’s the Lifetime TV website for The Golden Girls and the new special. Be sure to check out all the silly extras on the site, then send all your menopausal girlfriends an E-card.

Take a look at this excellent fan-based site for The Golden Girls.

Here’s an astute overview of The Golden Girls and its place in TV history.

And if you still hate them, go to The Golden Girls page on WhoWouldYouKill.com to vote (and describe in gruesome detail) how you’d do it.

 
More on the FCC

Although as I'm writing this the FCC has already voted and passed the ownership changes, at this point writing to your representatives is crucial. In addition to the Molly Ivins' article linked to in the previous post, check out this good column from ZDNet's David Coursey.

 
FCC Travesty

If you don't believe me that today's vote in the FCC changing media ownership rules is bad news, I urge you to read this great Molly Ivins column on AlterNet today. While it looks like the vote's outcome is a fait accompli, writing to your congressional representatives is at least one thing that we can do at this point to express our dismay and disgust at the FCC's conduct.

You may think this doesn't affect you, and you may even believe it's a good thing if you work for one of the media companies who will benefit from this ruling, but it's lousy stuff at the core, and needs to be protested on all fronts.

Read the article and start screaming, will ya, already?