So last night Paul L and I ventured down to the Museum of Television and Radio in Hollywood for The Simpsons' Paley Festival event. Overall it was a great time, and the initial coolness of being able to listen to the like of Matt Groening, Al Jean, Nancy Cartwright and others speak in person made for a very exciting evening for all of us lifelong Simpsons fanatics. The event began with Groening and co introducing two recent episodes of the show, both from this season - the one where Bart befriends Nelson and Homer gets into a Harry Potter-esque books series, and the one that is about a documentary filmmaker who's been chroniclling the lives of The Simpsons and other denizens of Springfield. It was cool to see the episodes in front of a live audience, but at the same time I was hoping for some kind of sneak peak, possibly of the upcoming 400th episode, or even a scene from the movie. I had seen both of these episodes already, and both, though decent, are about on par with most episodes of the show in the last few years, meaning not classics. I will say though that I really did enjoy that first Bart-Nelson episode on the second viewing, which is a testament to the fact that many episodes really need to be seen a few times to be fully appreciated. There's one line in there where Martin says something like "Alone we are each but a fragile twig, but together we shall form a mighty fagot!" (with a disclaimer popping up explaining how a fagot means a bundle of sticks) that had me rolling on second viewing, as did Homer's lamentations for fictional wizard Greystache.
Anyways, after the screenings we got a lamely-moderated Q and A session with a guy from TV Guide leading. The questions were sooooo mundane, the type that Simpsons fans and all of the guys on stage had heard countless times: "When did you know the show was a true success?" "What celebs were the most fun to work with?" etc. The been-there, done-that line of questioning led to a rather sedate session, livened up a bit during the audience Q and A, where a little nine year old girl sweetly asked Matt Groening: "If I got your autograph how much could I sell it for on e-bay?" Hilarious. One guy asked an oft-wondered question when he asked Groening what his actual day to day role on The Simpsons is. I've wondered this a lot myself, but Groening kind of dodged the question a bit, settling on an answer of "I'm the guy who stands in the corner and approves or shoots down ideas for jokes." Personally, I've always been very curious about the guy - he is, of course, the public face of The Simpsons, but was he ever really the creative force behind the show after its initial conceptualization? And why, other than Futurama and his ongoing Life in Hell comic strip, has he never really branched out and done anything other than The Simpsons? Has he not been approached? What's his deal? Until I know more, I'll continue, I guess, to assume the man's the genius I like to think he is, because, really, wouldn't it be a shame if he wasn't?
It did strike me though, that most of the old-school Simpsons guys did have a kind of weary demeanor - inevitable after 18 years working on one show, I guess, but you do get the sense that these guys' glory days have come and gone and they're now kind of coasting on the good will they initially earned and the energy brought in by the younger writers. I don't know, it's hard to describe, but I guess it IS kind of odd that guys like Groening and Al Jean are content to just coast along doing merely decent Simpsons episodes instead of moving on to the next great comedic endeavor. I mean, these guys have a Simpsons MOVIE coming out, and yet no one was really jumping out of their seats, chomping at the bit to crow about how awesome and hilarious it was going to be. The one person who was absolutely GREAT was Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, Nelson, and Ralph, among others. She was just a pleasure to listen to, bursting with enthusiasm about the show, and not a bit jaded by it all. She is just very cool. This isn't to say that everyone else wasn't very interesting, funny, and smart ... just that, like I said, there was that hint of weariness in the eyes of many of the veteran creators.
In any case, it was a great event and through the Q and A discussions I was reminded of a ton of great Simpsons memories. It really is amazing to see the breadth of people who are fans, from 50 year old men to 10 year old girls - it's just unbelievable that a show can be so smart and funny yet have such wide appeal and work on so many levels. I can't wait for the movie, and am crossing my fingers that it delivers.
- By the way, just had lunch today with one of my good friends from BU, Christine T, now Christine W after her recent marriage (!!!). Man, I don't think I've seen her in almost three years so it was great to catch up and meet her husband Michael, younger brother, and his girlfriend. It's a shame we didn't have more time to hang out, but as always it's great to meet up with real New Englanders!
TV STUFF:
- SMALLVILLE last night delivered a very solid episode that was easily one of the better installments of what has been, so far, a pretty lackluster season. The wedding of Lana and Lex delivered some of the best performances we've seen from the regular cast in a while, and was very artfully shot, structured, and scored. In fact, the music in this episode was mostly awesome - and sound and image came together to create a few classic scenes. The one with Lex going medieval on Lana's physician in the church crypt was just kickass, and yet another fine showing from Michael Rosenbaum as the young Luthor. Lionel was also excellent here, and after a long stretch of him being played as a relative do-gooder, it was nice to see him return to his old villainous form (even if, plot-wise, it makes little sense ... oh well). Anyways, there was some good drama here, and I was legitimately unsure of whether Lana would end up going through with the ceremony. My one big complaint was in the episode's structure ... I liked, in theory, how it jumped around in time, but why did they make us watch whole conversations over and over again? That got kind of annoying. And of course there were the usual inexplicable Smallville moments - Clark showing up wherever and whenever he pleases, Lana's continual moping, etc ... Otherwise, one of the better episodes in a while. And next week's looks to have some much needed action, courtesy of the WWE's Kane. Nice!
My Grade: B+
- I watched ABC's OCTOBER ROAD last night. I read the script for this last year, and while I found it kind of an oddity, I respected the fact that it was going for something different and trying to be a little bit more artfully-minded than your average coming-of-age TV show. Of course, it was riding a fine line between being a script with a lot of quirky, almost literary touches and a pretentious crapfest. I was hoping it'd come off well, and it did okay, but mostly, the show is just kind of annoying. The characters all feel like every young adult stereotype you've ever seen - the prodigal son, the girl next door, the stern dad, the doting younger brother, the goofy friend, etc. And yet, the show asks us to not only take all of these characters at face value, but asks us to buy into their mopey, one-dimensional angst as if we were watching the latest Zach Braff movie. Unfortunately, the quality of October Road makes Garden State look like The Catcher in the Rye by comparison. This isn't to say that October Road is totally unwatchable as some critics have suggested. It has a lot of appeallingly familiar faces who give energy to otherwise thankless roles - people like Bill Bellamy, Laura Prepon, and Tom Berringer are all very likable even if they are suffocated with lame dialogue and contrived personalities. The constant musical flourishes are often annoying, but once in a while endearing, like in the opening when our hero drives off to the big city to Boston's "Don't Look Back." However, EVERY scene seems to be burdened with the weight of THE most cheesy, mopey pop songs imaginable. When I heard Collective Soul's "World I Know" immediately followed by the Gin Blossoms, I knew we were in trouble. Similarly, the main character here just can't pull off his role as some kind of modern day JD Salinger. There isn't much going on behind his eyes. He's plenty believable as a NYC scenester, but not as a best-selling author. Then again, in a world where Pamela Anderson is a best-selling novelist, who's to say? Actually, the idea of Pam Anderson as a novelist kind of sums up how I feel about October Road -- interesting to check out and nice to look at, but all the while making me wonder how I'm supposed to take it seriously.
My Grade: C
- I can't take the drama surrounding VERONICA MARS' fate! First I read in horror that the show was being cancelled, and I was all ready to write a rant of doom about what's wrong with America when a show this brilliant can't find an audience. Then, I hear that rumors of VM's death were greatly exaggerated. Now, I'm hearing the plan is for the show to possibly go forward with a reduced budget, contingent on the show being revamped with Veronica now a young FBI intern. Sounds cool, though I hope that wouldn't mean the loss of too many supporting characters, as one of the show's greatest assets is its colorful array of Neptune, CA residents. So ... I don't know for sure if it will be back, but I'll reserve my ranting for now.
- Alright, I'm about done for the week. Tommorow it's off to WizardWorld LA, and then I will need Sunday to recover from the last 10 days! PEACE.
And by the way ... I wanted to throw up when I read confirmaiton of the Gerard Butler remake of Escape From New York today, and listneing to this audio clip only made the original that much cooler and the idea of a remake that much more lame:
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