by Joseph on January 31, 2008
The third season set of my favorite sitcom of all time The Odd Couple was released last week. Since I have not had a chance to pick it up yet, I am concerned at some comments on-line about the episodes being edited. The Amazon reviews were, before the release, glowing, as they were based on the reviewers recollection of the series as originally aired. After it was released lots of negative buzz (and reviews) started showing up.
The problem, as with the horrid WKRP DVD season set, is music rights. CBS/Paramount/Viacom does not want to pay for the extra music licensing rights for those scenes where music was used (wither sung by a character or used as a background theme). Season Three had lots of music like this, and one episode had a joke that featured Tony Randall singing as part of the punchline (this, reviewers say, was cut).
Color me disappointed, but I got ta have this show on DVD, cuts or no (of course I would prefer unedited episodes). And I fear for future seasons as they feature EVEN MORE licensed music than season three…
Check out the reviews on the Amazon page.
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by Joseph on January 31, 2008
by Joseph on January 30, 2008
by Joseph on January 30, 2008
Flew back Sunday night from a three-day weekend (with my middle son Neal) in Charleston, SC. Had a grand time and fit a ton of stuff in, including:
- A visit to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory restaurant, based on the movie I can barely stand Forrest Gump…
- The Patriots Point Maritime Museum, featuring the U.S.S Yorktown as well as other retired naval vessels…
- The Carolina Aquarium
- The Boone Hall Antebellum Plantation (where the miniseries North and South was filmed)
- The Charles Pickney house, one of the authors of the Constitution
- Charles Towne Landing, a historic park
- The Charleston Military Museum, featuring uniforms dating back to the War of 1812!
- Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War was fired
LOTS of pictures and some video are forthcoming, as well as some video. Stay tuned.
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by Joseph on January 22, 2008
Wow. I’m driving home and hear the news break that Heath Ledger, who is playing the Joker in the new Batman film The Dark Knight has died at the age of 28. He was found surrounded by sleeping pills…
It’s way to early to speculate as to what drove him to whatever point he was at in the ends (if his death was a suicide) but, of course, people already have. It’s part of the Cult of Celebrity, where peoples’ lips wag at anything curious or new – and this is the latest in that long sad cycle of obsession. Sadly, I’m part of it/interested in it too, but at least I acknowledge that this obsession is… far the ideal area we should focus our attention on.
I was (and am) looking forward to his portrayal of the Joker, and, if you’ve seen the trailer, you can see he is genuinely creepy in the role. That said, I wonder…
I’d read that Ledger was a true method actor, and often spent weeks and weeks in hotel rooms researching and preparing for roles. His (now) last role was a murdering sociopath. I also read that Michael Caine, who plays Alfred, said he was genuinely frightened when he shot his scenes with Ledger. Heath, apparently, stayed in character throughout the shoot. When he was supposed to be thrown on a table by another character, he had them shoot it again…
“Harder. I want to FEEL it.”
Someone on a message board brought this up, and like I said, we don’t know (and will probably never know) what happened, but the point is so spot-on I have to repeat it here:
In the end, the only person the Joker ever killed in real life may have been Heath Ledger.
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