If you’re under 45 years old, you probably never saw Tom Synder at the top of his game on NBC’s Tomorrow.

It aired after The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from 1973 to 1982. And Snyder and his show couldn’t have been more different from Carson and his show.

While Carson was like martinis at a slightly naughty upper class dinner party, Snyder was like beers at the corner bar where a fight might break out.

Carson was cool, Snyder was edgy.

While Snyder was a newsman, his quirky, self-referential, break the fourth wall, talk to the crew, digressive manner was a major departure for talk show hosts at the time. Most were like Carson–cool, controlled, not looking to push the medium’s envelope.

And unlike David Letterman, the young comedian who replaced him in the time slot at NBC and went on to have the most creative talk show in the history of the medium, Snyder was Letterman’s John the Baptist. Snyder paved the way for something even more truly different–and better. Like Letterman, Snyder wasn’t afraid to take chances. When you watched Tomorrow, you didn’t always know what was going to happen next.

Snyder might be the only person in the history of TV who made a medium closeup shot interesting–which was seemingly how most of the show was shot. He sat there with his bushy shock of graying hair, bushy eyebrows, his arm up next to his head holding a lit cigarette, talking directly into the camera, nay, directly into your eyes.

He was like the loud, obnoxious uncle from Milwaukee who wore plaid sports coats, smoked too much, was smarter than everyone else in the room, and had the most robust laugh you ever heard.

As a kid in junior high and high school, I lived for the times I could stay up and watch his quirky guy interview odd people, never being too judgmental but engaging in what is now a long lost art–conversation.

So, youngsters, broadcasting lost a giant yesterday when Snyder died at age 71 of leukemia. As he used to say between breaks, “Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air.�

And when Snyder was in those pictures, it was a joy to watch them fly through the air.

Above: Tom Snyder Sighting at NBC-TV Studios - June 9, 1981.

[tags] Tom Snyder, David Letterman, NBC, Tomorrow, The Tomorrow Show [/tags]

My thanks to Kimberly at CBS for providing me the tentative guest schedule for CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman through August 17, 2007.

UPCOMING GUESTS ON THE “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN”

ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

Monday through Friday, 11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT

(*Denotes changes and/or additions to previous schedule)

*Monday, July 30 Actor/comedian Andy Samberg; actress Catherine Bell; musical guests The Bravery

*Tuesday, July 31 Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. Joe Biden (Del.); actor Seth Rogen; musical guests Gogol Bordello

Wednesday, August 1 Actor Matt Damon; comedian Jeff Altman; musical guest Angelique Kidjo

*Thursday, August 2 Comedian Al Franken; actor Jackie Chan; musical guest Michael Buble

*Friday, August 3 Actress Glenn Close; director Judd Apatow; musical guests Chris & Rich Robinson

*Monday, August 6 Actor Adam Sandler; sportscasters Mike & Mike; musical guests Mute Math;

*Tuesday, August 7 Actress Michelle Pfeiffer; actor Jonah Hill; performance artist Michele Lauziere

*Wednesday, August 8 Actor Steve Martin; David Cota & AJ the Parakeet; musical guests Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck and Steve Martin

*Thursday, August 9 Actor Bruce Willis; San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker; diving dogs demo on 53^rd Street

*Friday, August 10 Actor Denis Leary; musical guests Flight of the Conchords

*Monday, August 13 Actor Kevin James; chef Jose Andres; musical guests White Rabbits

*Tuesday, August 14 Actor Don Cheadle; summer toy demonstration; musical guests Smashing Pumpkins; a Top Ten List presented by Wimbledon champion Venus Williams

*Wednesday, August 15 Actor Robin Williams; Julie Chen, host of CBS’ “Big Brother 8�

*Thursday, August 16 Actor John Travolta; reality television star Paula Abdul; musical guest Teddy Thompson

*Friday, August 17 Actor David Duchovny; Philadelphia Phillies star Ryan Howard; musical guest Andrew Bird

While I wish I liked Mad Men more and wish I liked Blind Date less, there’s this little mini-series on Spike that’s got me all addicted. It’s The Kill Point and I can’t wait for each new episode.

It’s really a fairly shopworn concept that been explored in movies like Dog Day Afternoon and countless TV cop shows. But bank robberies gone bad that have hostages, complicated bad guys, and complicated good guys and just enough shoot ‘em bang-bang, well, you can hardly go wrong.

Set in Pittsburgh at a mythical Three Rivers Trust, “Mr. Wolf”s” (John Leguizamo) Iraqi Marine platoon decides to rob a bank. But Legumzano’s angry Iraq War vet is a sympathetic character who is against the war, acts tough, but really is a conflicted person.

His nemesis is Horst Cali (Donnie Wahlberg), the Pittsburgh PD’s top hostage negotiator, who has a very humanistic–but successful–negotiating style. He’s never lost a hostage.

Through in local politics, father/son issues, corporate greed, FBI hubris, unexpectedly rogue Marine buddies, and taut storytelling and you have some pretty decent summer fare. You think you’ve seen this all before but there are enough twists to keep you on your toes.

I didn’t particularly think Leguizamo’s last series outing in NBC’s ER was all that good. I never got into his cocaine addicted, sex-crazed, seat of the pants character. But his portrayal of the leader of the robbery is complicated, nuanced, and, at times, sympathetic.

The last time Donnie Wahlberg was in a major series, he was also a cop in the hugely underrated NBC series Boomtown. Wahlberg was great in Boomtown and great here, playing a grammar obsessed negotiator with a non-macho style at odds with his fellow cops.

While Mad Men might have The Kill Point beat in things like set design and trying to explicate Great Issues, sometimes there’s nothing better on a hot summer evening than a good old fashioned thriller, well told. And that’s exactly what The Kill Point does.

Top: Donnie Wahlberg’s Horst Cali is not your father’s hostage negotiator. Donnie Wahlberg, The CW Summer 2006 TCA Party - Arrivals, July 17, 2006.

Bottom: John Leguizamo plays an Iraqi war vet with a desire for money and a penchant for hostage taking–but he ain’t all bad. John Leguizamo,6th Annual Tribeca Film Festival - “Where God Left His Shoes” - Arrivals , April 28, 2007.

[tags] Spike, Spike TV, The Kill Point, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg [/tags]

I keep wondering why I don’t enjoy AMC’s 1960s-set Mad Men more.

• The art design is spectacular.
• It’s set in a fascinating time–1960–a date on the cusp of massive social change in America.
• The series is filled with gifted actors.

Yes, after watching the first two episodes, I’m left feeling, well, flat.

I’ve thought about this off and on for the past week or so and I think I know what the problem is.

The storytelling is flat.

While The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Six Feet Underwere also episodic and developing their characters over the arc of time, each individual episode stuck to the story telling convention of rising action, climax, denoument.  Maybe not a big climax, but the stories all seemed to have a climax within the greater story arc.

Not so, yet, with Mad Men. In the first episode, the “payoff” as such was that hero/anti-hero, adulterer, and advertising genius Don Draper also seemed to love his family.  In the second episode, we find out that Betty Draper is actually very unhappy in her upper class suburban world.  The “payoff”?  Husband Don talks secretly to her pyschiatrist.

These are not the kind of moments that make you sit in front of your TV in awe while the credits roll that The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Six Feet Under regularly provided.

Maybe Mad Men will get there.  But so far, their storytelling arc is mostly a flatline.  Hopefully, executive producer Matthew Weiner, formerly of The Sopranos, will pull out some back episodes of that show and remember how it’s done.

Above: BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JULY 15: Bridget Bedard, Mathew Weiner, John Slattery and Elizabeth Moss at AMC’s premiere party for “Mad Men” held at the Friars Club of Beverly Hills on July 15, 2007 in Beverly Hills, California.

[tags] Mad Men, AMC, Matthew Weiner [/tags]

If I’ve watched fifteen minutes total of CBS’s Big Brother, I’d be shocked. The show is kind of the granddaddy of reality TV in American but certainly not the best of an awful genre.

But because I love and I know my wonderful readers might like such a show, here’s the latest from my CBSBFF Jennifer Gunderson.

P.S. I do think Julie Chen is pretty cute.

P.P.S. Here’s a Flash video of Julie interviewing the poor Mikey Dutz: EARLY SHOW INTERVIEW (Flash)

“BIG BROTHER 8″ HOUSEGUESTS GIVE MIKE HIS WALKING PAPERS WHILE KAIL, HIS FORMER ALLIANCE PARTNER, ESCAPES EVICTION

Mike Dutz Is The Third Houseguest To Officially Be Evicted From The BIG BROTHER 8 House

Dustin Erikstrup Becomes the New Head of Household

Mike Dutz was evicted last night from the BIG BROTHER 8 House by a vote of 7-2 (Head-of-Household and the two eviction nominees do not vote).

This past Tuesday, Jen won the Power of Veto and took herself off of the chopping block. Kail was left up for eviction and Head of Household Dick Donato then chose Mike Dutz to join her.

During last night’s LIVE broadcast, the 26-year-old painting contractor from Three Lakes, Wis., learned his fate and left the House. After leaving BIG BROTHER 8, Mike was interviewed by Julie Chen about his experience.

Each Thursday, immediately following the eviction ceremony, the remaining Houseguests compete to become Head of Household. The perks of the position include a luxurious private bedroom and bathroom, along with a plasma screen spy cam to monitor the activities of the other Houseguests. However, it also includes the responsibility of having to nominate two fellow Houseguests for eviction. On the weeks when there are veto challenges, one of the Houseguests has the opportunity to win the Power of Veto which rewards them immunity from eviction if they are currently nominated. If the winner is not up for eviction, they can choose to remove one of the Houseguests who is nominated which then forces the current Head-of-Household to immediately nominate another Houseguest for eviction.

After last night’s eviction, the Houseguests competed in a competition called “The Eliminator” to see who would become the next Head of Household. Dustin Erikstrup, won the coveted position.

For more information about the aftermath of Mike’s eviction from BIG BROTHER 8, log on to www.CBS.com.

BIG BROTHER 8 is broadcast each week on Sundays (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) and the live eviction show, hosted by Julie Chen, on Thursdays (8:00-9:00 PM live ET/delayed PT).

The Houseguests:
Joe Barber, 23, Chicago – EVICTED 7/19
Jameka Cameron, 29, Waldorf, Md.
Daniele Donato, 20, Huntington Beach, Calif.
Dick Donato, 44, Los Angeles
Mike Dutz, 26, Three Lakes, Wis. – EVICTED 7/26
Dustin Erikstrup, 22, Chicago
Kail Harbick, 37, MacKenzie Bridge, Ore.
Jessica Hughbanks, 21, Haysville, Kan.
Jen Johnson, 23, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Carol Journey, 21, Lawrence, Kan. – EVICTED 7/12
Amber Siyavus, 27, Las Vegas
Nick Starcevic, 25, Kimball, Minn.
Eric Stein, 27, New York
Zach Swerdzewski, 30, Burbank, Calif.

Top: Big Brother host Julie Chen: beautiful host, ugly show. Actress Julie Chen arrives at the CBS Summer Press Tour Stars Party 2007 at the Wadsworth Theatre on July 19, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. CBS Summer Press Tour - Stars Party 2007 - Arrivals.

[tags] Big Brother, Big Brother 8, CBS [/tags]

There are no socially redeeming qualities to syndication’s Blind Date.

It is shallow and snarky and features attractive but generally boorish young men and women in heat.

But not that I’m complaining.

If I’m waiting for something else that I really want to watch, I can easily be amued for thirty minutes or five minutes by watching Blind Date. As guy who’s been married for nearly 26 years, it’s not like I’m doing a lot of dating. So it is fun to watch horny young people try to impress each other while the producers add really funny and nasty cartoon comments.

Surprisingly, most of the dates don’t work out. The debriefings are almost as good as the dates. The women always think they are too good for the guys and guys just aren’t into whatever it is that the woman is into.

Host Roger Lodge also seems to know that what he is presenting is pure schlock, but he has fun with it. While he acts like he wants the dates to work out, he, like me, seems to want them to fail as badly as a typical Bush Administration initiative.

If Roger ever decides to leave the show, I hope he turns it and his snazzy suede jackets over to me.

Blind Date is definitely my guilty TV pleasure.

Above: Blind Date host Roger Lodge gets a little love–from the missus.  Roger Lodge and Pamela Lodge,“Blind Date” Celebrates 1000th Episode,  April 3, 2004.

[tags] Blind Date, Roger Lodge, syndicated shows [/tags]

These come from Winson, my WBBFF.  Comic-Con sounds like a blast and I wish I were going.  If you end up going and want to send me a report, email me at epplaw(at)gmail(dot)com.

Drop by the Warner Brothers’ events if you make it to the big show.

[tags] Warner Brothers, Comic-Con [/tags]

TV Guide is reporting that the Sara Sidle character (Jorja Fox) may be leaving the show–and replaced with some sweet young thing.

CSI’s Sara Replaced?
	Buzz about a new CSI character may spell Jorja Fox’s exit

Except for the Gil Grissom character (William Petersen), most of the CSI characters are fungible.  Plug another one into the forumla.  I’m not saying Ms Fox isn’t a good actress, she is.  It’s just the police procedural is procedure-driven not character driven.

If you want characters, watch USA or HBO.

[tags] Sara Sidle, Jorja Fox, CSI, CBS [/tags]

It’s interesting how broadcasters and others are trying to get mobile phone users to watch their content. Pretty soon, we’ll need a microscope to watch our favorite shows on iPods the size of fleas.

An email I recently received from HBO touting their mobile programming services:

[tags] HBO, broadband, mobile, mobile TV [/tags]

My girl Audrey isn’t just cool, she knows cool–like Dean Martin. 

Dean Martin is an icon from my childhood.  My parents never missed his variety show, where he sang and smoked and mugged and sang and smoked and smooched. 

He was just too damn hip for the room.

Audrey has the details about a new project featuring Dino.

Hope you had a fantastic week!  I wanted to fill you in on something with are so psyched to work with…Dean Martin’s upcoming release “Forever Cool” coming out August 5th.

The concept behind “Forever Cool” is today’s top artists in all different music genres have recorded classic Dean tracks from his incredible career.  Dean Martin could be one of the coolest men to ever exist in music so the talent they rounded up for this release is nothing short of amazing. 

Here is the track listing:

1.  Who’s Got The Action – Featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (3:02)

2.  Ain’t That A Kick In The Head – Featuring Kevin Spacey (2:38)

3. I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face – Featuring Chris Botti (3:15)

4. Baby-O – Featuring Paris Bennett (3:09)

5.  Who Was That Lady? – Featuring The Capitol Studios Orchestra (2:27)

6.  Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone – Featuring Robbie Williams (2:27)

7. I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me – Featuring Joss Stone (2:29)

8. Just In Time – Featuring Dave Koz (2:36)

9. Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Featuring Martina McBride (3:01)

10. King Of The Road – Featuring Kevin Spacey (2:28)

11. You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You – Featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy & Shelby

       Lynne (3:09)

12. Arrivederci Roma – Featuring Tiziano Ferro (2:45)

13. Everybody Loves Somebody – Featuring Charles Aznavour (3:16)

14. Brahm’s Lullaby A Capella – Dean Martin (2:05) Also, be sure to take the “Are You as Cool as Dean Martin?” quiz.  I definitely scored a 76%…ugh I will so never be cool enough to roll with the rat pack!Here is the quiz:
http://www.deanmartin.com/quiz/

All the best,
Audrey

www.myspace.com/deanmartin
www.deanmartin.com

Above: How cool was Dean Martin?  He got to hang out with Frank Sinatra, that’s how cool he was.   Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra In Concert - August 24, 1980.

[tags] Audrey, Dean Martin, DVDs [/tags]

Watch CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman tonight and you’ll hear the announcement–Drew Carey is replacing Bob Barker as the host of the long-running game show, The Price Is Right.

Here’s CBS’s release:

DREW CAREY ANNOUNCES THAT HE WILL BE THE NEW HOST OF CBS’S “THE PRICE IS RIGHT” DURING HIS APPEARANCE ON THE “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN,” MONDAY, JULY 23

Drew Carey announced that he will become the new host of the Emmy Award-winning CBS game show “The Price is Right� during tonight’s taping of the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN.

Carey’s LATE SHOW interview will be broadcast tonight, Monday, July 23 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

“I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch,� Carey said. “I couldn’t tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for ‘Power of 10,’ and they called me, I said, ‘No.’ Then they called me a month later, they said, ‘What if we really’ — they called my agent: ‘What if we really go after Drew.’ This is like a month later after I did the pilot for ‘Power of 10’ and I said, ‘Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.’ I go, ‘What kind of schedule?’ He said, ‘I don’t know,’ so I met with them and stuff and we’ve been negotiating ever since. Couldn’t say anything, but during your ‘Harry Potter’ bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It’s a done deal. I’m the new host of ‘The Price Is Right.’�

With the audience wildly applauding, Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra played the theme to “The Price Is Right� in honor of Carey’s announcement.

Letterman offered Carey his congratulations. Carey said that he’s not sure when he’s going to start working on “The Price Is Right,� but did say that already “my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf’s.�

“Well, history says that this will be a nice long career for you as the host of ‘The Price is Right,’â€? Letterman commented. Carey said, “It’s fun doing a show for years and years, isn’t it?â€? and Letterman concurred.
Carey is also host of the new game show “Power of 10,� which premieres Tuesday, Aug. 7 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

The LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN is a production of Worldwide Pants Incorporated. Barbara Gaines, Maria Pope, Jude Brennan and Rob Burnett are the executive producers.

My own view is that Drew Carey is way to talented and funny to waste his talents on a daytime game show. The Drew Carey Show on ABC was one of the funniest sitcoms in TV history. Carey is a gifted comedian.

On the other hand, I’m sure he’s going to make a fortune at the new gig. Perhaps he can breathe some new life into what is frankly a tired old show from another era of TV.

Above: Drew Carey spills the news tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman.

(Hat tip to Jennifer Gunderson at CBS for providing the release and graphics.)

[tags] Drew Carey, David Letterman, Late Show, The Price is Right, CBS [/tags]

 

From my WBBFF, Winson:

Here’s a sneak peek at the cover for the special “Pushing Daisies” comic book created exclusively for the 2007 Comic-Con. Be sure to stop by the Warner Bros. booth to pick up a copy!

[tags] Pushing Daisies, ABC, Comic-Con, comic books [/tags] 

As I continue my withdrawal from The Sopranos and Deadwood, I keep hoping I’ll find a series worthy of my devotion.

I’ve given HBO’s John from Cincinnati a few viewings and so far, I just think it’s odd not interesting.  I’ve gone from thinking John is Jesus to an incarnation of one of Bill’s parrots.

HBO’s Big Lovehas some promise but Bill Paxon is no Ian McShane or James Gandolfini.

USA’s Psych I find funny and silly and fun to watch but it doesn’t challenge my intellect much.

So, I have placed my hopes in the season premier of AMC’s Mad Men (Thursdays 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT), about early 1960s New York and its ad executives on Madison Avenue.

What I like about the drama is one of the things I loved about Deadwood–the art direction is impeccable.  The suits, the dresses, the furniture, the cars, the hairstyles, the smoking–boy, is there a lot of smoking–are fabulous.  You are in 1960 New York just like you were in 1876 Deadwood.

And like The Sopranos, you get to see inside a subculture that appears to have only slightly more morals than Tony’s crew–high falutin’ NYC ad executives and their exploited women employees.

This is definitely a man’s world–and if you are a secretary–or even if you are an “uppity,” highly educated psychologist or a successful woman business owner–don’t you forget it, bub!  Thursday’s premier was Exhibit A in why there needed to be a women’s movement.  In Mad Men, women are sexual objects, not much of a step up from Deadwood’s Al Swearengen’s “troughs for cum” who also just so happen to type and fetch coffee.

The treatment of the women at the mythical ad agency is barely a step up from Swearengen’s brothel on Deadwood.  It is ugly, ugly, ugly.

What is sadder is that most of the women–except the “man haters”–adapt by sublimating their own intelligence, hopes, dreams, and drives–except their sex drives.  They are to use their “feminine wiles” to basically trap a man, who will deliver them to the suburbs to be baby machines.

The men without exception are all boors–they harass their secretaries, they talk about their “gal’s” “attributes” in front of them, and they expect them to jump when they yell froggy and show a little leg while doing it.

So far, there are no male characters that seem likeable, at least yet.  Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is ostensibly the “hero” as a top writer at the firm, good looking, apparently a wounded Army officer from the Korean War, with a loving wife Betty (fellow South Dakotan January Jones) and a young son–but also a lover–and a man who is on the prowl for more skirt. 

At a dinner with Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff) after a meeting where Don said he “wasn’t going to take thatfrom a woman” (and perhaps worse, a Jew as well–anti-Semitism is rampant as well) after the female department store president told him his ideas for an advertising campaign were stupid, Rachel actual comes to pity Don for his abject cyncism about life and love.

It is the women like Rachel, wide-eyed newbie secretary Peggy (Elizabeth Moss), office manager Joan (Christina Hendricks), Betty, and Don’s artist lover Midge (Rosemarie DeWitt) who are the interesting characters.  The men are like over sexed, over sotted frat boys.  The women are on the cusp of the women’s movement, The Pill is changing sexual mores, and with the pending election of JFK, American society is about to explode with change.

Unfortunately, at least in the premier, the acting was not at the level of The Sopranos or Deadwood.  Perhaps it will get there as the series develop.  I hope so.

I am pulling for the series to be my next TV obsession–it has everything–sex, history, social change, wonderful views of New York City, and a look into one of the most influential institutions in contemporary American society–advertising.

In my next review, I hope I am truly mad about Mad Men.

Top: Don Draper, ace advertising excecutive, is stumped on how he can promote a product–Lucky Strike cigarettes–that the government now says can kill you, in the premier of Mad Men on AMC.

Middle: Betty Draper, Don’s wife, portrayed by January Jones.

Bottom: Department store owner Rachel Menken, portrayed by Maggie Sitts.  (Photos from AMC.)

[tags] Mad Men, AMC, advertising [/tags]

CBS has a slick idea to let viewers know when NFL games and other events might disrupt the primetime schedule.

A blurb from Mediaweek:

CBS Eye-lert to Tip Off Viewers to Overruns
There’s nothing more frustrating than tuning-in for a TV show, only to find out that the game is still on. This fall, when an NFL game runs beyond 7 p.m., CBS will attempt to lessen that annoyance with CBS Eye-lert, a new program that allows viewers to be notified via e-mail and text message when the start time of a program will be delayed. Although network scheduling delays from sports and breaking news are a common occurrence, this is the first time network TV has leveraged new technology to let viewers know of the overruns. Katy Bachman reports. more »

Above: “Dude, did you get the email from CBS saying the game was going to run late?” “Yeah, man, got it.  Nice to know Survivor is going to be on at 8:17 p.m. Eastern!”  Washington Redskins defensive back Ryan Clark and tight end Robert Royal smile and celebrate after the NFC Wild Card playoff game as the Washington Redskins defeated the Buccaneers by a score of 17-10 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on January 7, 2006.  2005 NFC Wild Card Playoff Game - Washington Redskins vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers - January 7, 2006.

[tags] CBS, CBS Eye-lert, NFL, football, viewers, primetime [/tags]