Oh and I'm falling hopelessly behind on the story, and I miss Murphy Michaels and watching Remington Steele and updating my tumblr and hate school and this is one BIG run-on sentence but oh well because I took a big breath.

I'm KERRAZY.

Televisión Española estrenó Remington Steele en 1986, cuatro años después de que empezase a emitirse en la cadena americana NBC. A mediados de los noventa Telecinco empezó a emitir la serie otra vez pero sólo llegó a programar trece episodios porque la empresa que tenía en exclusiva los derechos de emisión y la distribuidora demandaron a la cadena. En 1997 salió la primera sentencia que condenaba a Telecinco a pagar 181.505 euros y la cadena apeló.

Ahora el Tribunal Supremo, once años después, ha confirmado la sentencia condenatoria pero ha reducido la indemnización a 31.252 euros porque la primera cifra se marcó como si la cadena hubiese emitido la temporada completa, y sólo se emitieron trece capítulos.

Ahora habrá que ver si esta es la única cuenta pendiente de Telecinco con el pasado o si el Tribunal Supremo va a empezar a resolver casos parecidos de aquellos tiempos, que no ha llovido ni nada desde entonces. Yo no recuerdo polémicas parecidas pero es que tampoco me acordaba de ésta.

Por otro lado, lo mejor de esta noticia es que me ha traído a la memoria una de mis series favoritas de todos los tiempos. Remington Steele era encantador, tierno, gracioso..., y Laura Holt era muy guapa y muy inteligente. Una pareja de detectives de los que ya no hay. La serie tenía un fundamento feminista radical porque Laura Holt, una detective, monta una agencia y le pone un nombre de hombre para allanarse el camino. Pierce Brosnan, un ladrón cinéfilo, es contratado por Laura para hacerse pasar por el jefe fantasma cuando la ocasión lo requiriese, y terminan trabajando juntos y coqueteando entre sí. Por cierto, tenían un secretaria que se llamaba Mildred y que me caía fatal.

Hace tiempo se rumoreó que se haría una adaptación al cine de la serie. Pierce Brosnan declinó la oferta de ejercer de protagonista porque se sentía viejo y la productora Irish Dreamtime, a pesar de la negativa, afirmó estar trabajando en la adaptación. Yo creo que, por suerte, aquello quedó en agua de borrajas, aunque ahora que parece que las series sirven más que nunca de inspiración al cine, con el nuevo resurgir de la franquicia Bond, quizá retomen el proyecto. Yo espero que no porque no hay cosa que más me fastidie que perviertan un clásico.

¿Alguien se acuerda del crossover entre Remington Steele y Luz de luna? Fue en el episodio nueve de la temporada tres. Qué cosas, ¿eh? Lo he encontrado mirando la IMDB.

The so-called "jukebox musical" is a relatively new and pretty lazy form of entertainment. It's kind of mindless, stuffing an already beloved piece of art into a new medium. And it's worked, at least on the stage. Plays like Jersey Boys, Movin' Out, and others are hits, and have fit in pretty naturally into the Broadway landscape, making money, winning Tonys, and packing in huge crowds over long runs.

The idea is making its way to the big screen. And they're not even all bad. Last year's Across the Universe and Romance and Cigarettes were both surprisingly pleasant, though flawed, films. There's something to be said for lazy packaging when the contents are worth the price of admission.

I came to this same conclusion when I saw Mamma Mia!, the ABBA musical, on stage. When the actors performed the songs, the play works as delightful, escapist fare. When the show attempts to advance its plot, it mostly fails. Good thing the plot is so knowingly paper thin that the writers don't see fit to dwell in it too much.

There are probably a hundred reasons why Mamma Mia! borders on great as a stage play but disappoints so spectacularly on screen, but I'll only bother with a few of them. There is, of course, the discussion to be had about the suitability of musical talent. In a stage musical, actors are cast with their singing voices as the main showpiece, with their acting ability a secondary concern. In movie musicals (or at least in recent ones), the face and the name are far more important than the voice. In Mamma Mia!, this couldn't be more evident. Sure, the audience gets to see Pierce Brosnan star as one of Amanda Seyfried's potential fathers, but they soon get to see Brosnan embarrass himself trying to sing "SOS," one of the film's intended showstoppers. Meryl Streep, who plays Seyfried's overbearing, hotel owning mother, has a nice enough voice (as shown in A Prairie Home Companion), but she can't really rise to the material here. And thankfully, Stellan Skarsgard (who, with Brosnan and Colin Firth, rounds out the trio of daddies) didn't have to sing much of anything. Seyfried herself has a beautiful voice, but, despite the fact that she's really the lead character in the story, her role was minimized in the film version.

Besides casting, there's another fundamental difference between stage and screen. On stage, the pure spectacle of the musical number is enough to engender a great deal of goodwill in the audience. A theater audience is much more likely to overlook silly plot points, as long as they don't come at the expense of that spectacle. Audience motivations are different. On screen, a musical performance, even a great one, will never rise to the level of a real live performance, which strikes an audience on a visceral level that film can't attain. The real thing is so much better than the substitute. Film, obviously, can do things a live performance can't. It needs to play to those strengths. Without a plot deeper than something a four year old could carve onto a sheet of construction paper, the vocal performance can't do much.

In an era where the Hollywood sheen can make a phony genre like the musical seem even phonier, a successful movie musical needs to go in one of two directions. Either make a play at realism, or go impossibly big. There are good recent examples on both counts. Once, the Irish musical which one an Academy Award in 2007, went the earthly route, keeping its production minimalist, setting the action in a recognizable, real cityscape, and weaving its music seamlessly into the narrative. Across the Universe, a Beatles themed jukebox musical, went the other way, providing an unabashed fantasy with elaborate production numbers that could never prove functional in any other medium.

Mamma Mia! stays so close to its source material that it doesn't allow itself any room to operate. Granted, it would be impossible for a story like this one to go for a realist structure, but it certainly could have gone for overblown fantasy. I would have like to have seen this film not take itself seriously at all, but it felt alternately too weighty and too thin.

Ed. Note: I thought about ending this post with some real zinger of an ABBA pun, but decided to cut my losses. You can thank me later.

Film: Mamma Mia!
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Stars: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski

Viewing Situation: Only gentleman in a half full audience; digital projection
Rotten Tomatoes Average: 53%
My Grade (Out of 10): 4

Next Up: The Dark Knight 

>> Jukebox musical [Wikipedia]

Why Pierce Brosnan? The dude is hot, and he made an excellent James Bond; however, I saw Mamma Mia, this weekend, and Remington Steele cannot sing. In fact, when he sang his first song, SOS, the theater erupted into laughter. I felt embarrassed for him because the dude has looks, charm, and a very lovely wife who is both real and age-appropriate; however, he cannot carry a tune despite his best efforts.

Pierce Brosnan, keep your day job!

PS - Pierce, if you're reading this, some good will come of your singing -- if only because you started a new feature on my blog. Also, please call me. I heart you. Big time.

Hulu is a free streaming video site- like Youtube, but they carry entire shows and movies.  It's legal, and there's some stuff you have to sign in to watch, and there are a couple of commercials played during each episode.  But the videos stream pretty quickly and without weirdness for me, so that's a nice big plus.

You can watch clips or episodes from "Big Ideas for a Small Planet", which is a documentary series about sustainable topics- power, water, fashion (!?), and the like. "Eco Biz" profiles entrepreneurs in green businesses, and new eco-business strategies. "Ecoist" appears to be clips of famous people talking about their environmental activism. National Geographic has a passel of short environment documentaries posted, also. Oh, and Fox was helpful and posted their 10-second clips of famous people telling you to do green things from Earth Day. So, if you feel the need to hear Omar Epps lecture you on reusable bag use, be Hulu's guest.

As for environment movies, there's...uh...The Day After Tomorrow.  Which is awesome, but not in the informative way.

Looks like there are some entire channels dedicated to green programing now- Sundance's The Green, Discovery's Planet Green.  They've got reality shows (on Planet Green: Greensburg- after a tornado destroyed everything, they're trying to rebuild, well, green) and celebrities (Sundance does Ecoist, but a more entertaining series has Isabella Rosselini in elaborate insect costumes while describing in graphic detail their mating rituals.  Probably NSFW, or children for whom the facts of life have not been outlined, though bug love presents a much less loaded conversation-starter than most cable programming).  Plus home makeovers, science, history, business...like other cable channels, only I'm hoping the show host banter is less grating and more informative.

I've got at least a season of Steele left, but maybe I'll stream some Big Ideas afterward.  Anyone else seen these shows?  Whats good?

On television, it was the end of some TV shows: Dance Fever, The A Team, Remington Steele, Fraggle Rock and Welcome to Pooh Corner all went off the air in 1987. Oh well.

On the other hand, TV exec's had some new shows to introduce in 1987: TeenAge Mutant Ninja Turtles, Colby's Clubhouse and Ducktales were some of them.

But most notably, in my mind, anyway, 1987 is the year Live with Regis and Kathie Lee went nationwide. Not long after, I became a "hooked" viewer and have basically watched it ever since- especially since we've had TiVO! Of course, Kathie Lee left the show after 15 years. I absolutely hated it when she did. However, her replacement Kelly, has been great- and I love her on the show as well. I kind of enjoyed Kathie Lee a little better. She and I are more in the same age group- and she is a believer- but Kelly is funny and down-to-earth. The glue that holds it all together anyway, is Regis.  As long as he is there, any co-host will shine! The big news is that as part of the 20 year anniversary, Kathie Lee will return as a guest on September 14. I'm really excited- it will be fun to see her with Regis again. Plus, starting September 4, Live with Regis and Kelly is giving away 20 mini-vans in 20 days as part of the 20 Year celebration. Not bad!

Here are some pictures of Regis (and his lovely wife, Joy):

However, there is a bigger 20 year anniversary than Live with Regis and Kelly. It's the 20 year anniversary of the M&M Puppeteers!! You've not heard of them, you say? Well, this is a team of people with a common goal of expanding God's Kingdom using puppets. And have we done that! It's been a long, fruitful and fun 20 years. And we're celebrating with a reunion dinner as well as an anniversary performance at the Atlanta Puppet Festival. Check here  for more info.

Hey, we're not giving away 20 minivans- but everyone who gets involved will for sure get some M&Ms! Here's some M&Ms fun for you right now!!

http://www.mms.com/us/fungames/games/stacker/

This is an M&M commercial from about 20 years ago. It's a good thing they've hired some new ad designers, don't you think?

USA aims for the lighter side of espionage in its newest spy television show Burn Notice. After watching a couple of episodes, I’d say it’s more or less on target.

The spy in this spy show is played by Jeffrey Donovan (who incidentally was not in Mumford). Donovan is Michael Westen – a US Government agent who is unceremoniously fired, beaten up, and discarded in Miami without so much as a pink slip or explanation from his former agency (I’m assuming this is the case. I missed the beginning of the first episode so I’m going with the commercials on this one). To make matters worse for Westen, his money’s gone, his history’s been erased and he’s stuck in the same city as his possessive mother and combative ex-girlfriend who also happens to be a spy. It’s now Westen’s job to figure out how things went wrong and then put them right again.

Jeffrey Donovan has a severe case of puppy dog eyes

Burn Notice has a difficult mission. It wants to be two parts James Bond to one part Remington Steele. It’s a fine line to be edgy, dangerous, and comedic and I have strong suspicions that Burn Notice will end up falling on the softer side of Remington Steele.

For one thing, leading man Jeffrey Donovan isn’t quite suave enough to be Bond (or even Steele, really) but he fits smoothly into the role of an everyday nice guy caught in a jam -who just happens to be an ex-spy. And in many respects, Donovan’s acting is a lot like his character’s personality; he wants to be a tough guy but deep down inside he’s all softie. Sure, he may help immigrants and little old ladies because he needs the money and information, but we know it’s really because he’s a decent guy who can’t ignore a genuine plea for help.

That’s not to say that Michael Westen is a wuss. Donovan is sleek and muscular enough to be a credible killing machine even if his puppy dog eyes (I may be a dude but I do notice these things) convey an inner good guy-ness. It’s only when Donovan tries to be cold and conflicted that he instead comes out sounding stiff and stilted.

It’s still early in the show’s career, but the simplistic plotlines also keep Burn Notice out of Bond territory. Westen quickly meets a wronged victim and sets out to help them in exchange for some cash or helpful intel. The bad guys are then identified within the first ten minutes and the remaining time in the hour long show is spent going through the espionage motions of bugging, shadowing, and general tomfoolery. This could get formulaic real fast except for the key additions of some excellent co-stars.

Gabrielle Anwar is the trigger-happy ex-girlfriend and she manages a solid performance despite an Irish (?) accent that makes her sound like a female version of Colin Farrell. By the second episode, some actual chemistry exists between her and Donovan and the makings of a relationship that isn’t quite “love-hate” begins to emerge.

The real scene-stealer, however, is good old Bruce Campbell. Brisco County Jr. has aged considerably since the last time I saw him, but he’s still got that same loveable charm and goofball wit. Campbell plays washed out ex-agent Sam who is Westen’s energetic foil and reluctant ally. Sam looks like he’ll be a frequent partner for Westen and bringing in Bruce Campbell already looks like the smartest move Burn Notice has made.

Visually, this is unmistakably a beach show. It doesn’t have the crazy colors of CSI:Miami (or David Caruso’s baby lips), but the washed blues and beiges remind me of Pacific Blue from back in the day. And perhaps I’m simply spoiled on high-definition television, but the film quality on Burn Notice seems grainer than most shows.

If a baby were aged 50 years and forced to pose relentlessly, then that baby's name would be David Caruso

Burn Notice is set to live and die by the performance of its relatively small cast. While the early episodes already show the beginnings of an Investigation-of-the-week formula, it’s up to the ex-spy and his friends to keep the action fast and light. With any luck, they’ll tighten some plots, throw in a few new characters and survive for a little while longer. Burn Notice is a spy show that’s more comedy than killer but it’s already captured my attention.

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