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Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
You'll never mistake this one for "Citizen Kane", but it's great frothy fun
I was getting ready for work this morning, but almost didn't come in thanks to this movie being on TCM. This was a totally silly, frothy, fun movie to watch, and was reminiscent of "Bye Bye Birdie" (at least in the opening) and a thousand other movies that involve a small-town girl moving to the Big Apple to pursue her dreams of being a Broadway star.
Tony Martin was a revelation to me; I don't think I'd ever heard of him or heard his singing, but I thoroughly enjoyed his performances, solo and with "his girlfriends". Janet Leigh was a solid choice for the ingenue. Bob Crosby looked and sounded like a slightly more famous man with the same last name, and even did a song poking fun at that.
:LIke I said in the title, you'll never mistake this movie for "Citizen Kane", but it's a funny take on the girl-makes-good genre.
The Drew Carey Show (1995)
Inventive, Creative, show. I miss it.
Having worked at a Winfred-Louder type of store back in the day, I can tell you that I actually worked for a man like Drew's character. Our store director, on the other hand, was the antithesis of Craig Ferguson's character--a dolt who relished being in charge of "smart college guys".
Anyway, about the show: I loved the absurdity of so much of the show--an ice cream truck that still played the jingle used as a delivery truck for Buzz Beer. The kids chasing it was classic. I LOVED the chaotic improvisatory aspects of the April Fool's Day episodes. Yes, Drew, Oswald, and Lewis reminded me of fraternity brothers of mine. The episode where Tammy Fae Bakker is Mimi's upline for a multi-level marketing cosmetics company was priceless. I would watch this again in a heartbeat on TV Land or one of the other nostalgia channels. Cleveland Rocks!!!
Little People, Big World (2006)
I hate to contribute to the dogpile, but...
I'm not a huge fan of so-called reality TV, and this show is a big reason why. At least with "The Little Couple" we have a reasonably intelligent married couple who adopted children and are successful in their professional lives.
On the other hand, each of the characters on LP-BW is grating and annoying in their own way. They spend WAY too much time with the up close and personal interviews, complete with mundane questions and interminable droning answers. It's as though the production team is scrambling to have enough material for a single episode. Not for me, thanks.
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
This was a tough view, but compelling musical performances saved the day.
My brother recommended this movie to me after viewing it at an art-movie house. My wife and I saw it with maybe a dozen other people in the local multiplex.
I'd first like to deal with the way IMDB is listing this movie. Calling Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chris Rock, and Redd Foxx the "stars" of this film just isn't right. Yes, they're arguably just some of the famous people commenting on the action, both in 1969 and 2021, but I hesitate to call them the stars of "Summer of Soul". The true stars of "Summer of Soul" are the musicians pouring their heart and soul (yes, I said it) into their performances. I would also agree with others on this thread that this film is not going to win any awards for excellence in editing, either as a so-called "concert film" or as a documentary--the category in which I think this film falls most easily. If people take this as a documentary rather than a concert film, I think it'll have more converts.
That said, I think that it's an important story, one that needs telling and perhaps re-telling.
Fred: The Movie (2010)
Add a spoiler? Nothing I say could spoil this turkey further
i think there's a special place in the seventh circle of hell reserved for anyone connected with this show. The title character is so immensely unlikeable as to make wish I attended his school, if only to point him out to the jocks, the greasers, the potheads AND the bullies so that they would convince him not to return to school. As a parent, I curse the makers of this monstrosity for making something so gratingly awful. If I were responsible for programming at the local multiplex and I wanted my theater to go out of business or be burned to the ground by angry patrons, I'd program this movie along with "It's Pat: the Movie", "Down and Derby", and "Yentl". Bad? It's a shame the scale for quality on this website doesn't have negative numbers. You notice by now that I haven't actually talked about the movie. Here's a plot summation--I don't't want to give it away, like the German joke writer in "And now for something completely different" who saw two words of the funniest joke ever written and ended up in the hospital--but here goes: Boy meets girl; boy spends rest of movie trying to make girl fall in love with him.
The Green Mile (1999)
Not as awful as everyone says, but...
I've seen this movie several times, and while I'm a Stephen King fan, it does rely a little too heavily on the "large hulking slow-witted man as Christ" motif. I'm reminded of Faulkner's "Light in August" and the Joe Christmas (John Coffey) (Jesus Christ) character, who meets a fate similar to Coffey.
Once the Coffey/Christ analogy is even hinted at, the end of the movie is inevitable. Weird ending, too. Individual performances are solid if undistinguished. Brutal, played by one of my favorite actors, David Morse, has that slightly sinister vibe going on. Tom Hanks, as much as I like him, doesn't convince me as a deep-Southern prison guard.
All in all, a movie to see once, maybe twice, but not worthy of a night on AMC.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
awful, awful, awful
In the dictionary of American TV jargon, this show is featured next to the phrase, "Jumped the shark". Here's why:
The last episode of the current season--Benson and the ADA (don't remember her name) perform a surgical procedure on the Medical Examiner while she's conscious and directing them, screeching in alleged pain, after the M.E. been shot in the chest.
Get real.
This travesty is clearly aiming for syndication on the Lifetime channel or Oxygen. Better to kill it off now and put us out of our misery.
Richard Belzer and Ice-T ought to have their own spin off show, but a comedy this time-- they'd be much more at home. This is not to say that they're not good at their craft, but simply that they've been given such wretched material over the run of the show. I could see them in their own "buddy cop" show--I might even watch it.
The rest of them can rot in syndication, and Dann Florek can keep doing his gold commercials--apparently what he's paid for them has "never been worth zero". Unfortunately, this show has outlived its usefulness.
January 2012: I can't believe I'm writing this. Harry Connick Jr. has joined the cast as an "Executive Assistant to the DA". Isn't "Executive Assistant" an overpaid secretary? The first thing that sprang to mind after I saw him in character on screen was "Elvis movie". As a huge fan of Harry Connick's music, I am equally disappointed in his choice to take on this role. Stiff and stumbling don't even begin to describe it. Stick to jazz, Harry.
The Fairly OddParents (2001)
I'm close to 50 and this show makes me laugh my guts out!
I ran across this show while channel-surfing one day. There are many reasons why I still watch this show.
First, I LOVE the catchy theme song. Second, evil babysitters are funny, and I love how he gets revenge on Vicki one day during cheerleading tryouts! Third, how can you NOT like characters like Cosmo's mom, Jorgen von Strangle, Wandissimo (the Latin-lover masseuse), the mattress king (who sounds like Jackie Mason), Chet Youbetcha the news-reader (who always seems to leave town on a burro), and, of course, Timmy's parents. It's tempting to discover their names but it's almost more fun NOT knowing.
He is loyal to his friends to a fault, even if one does live in a trailer, another is an uber-genius, and another has a talking boil (why can't HE have a brother named "Lance"?).
This cartoon makes fun of everything from boy bands to conspiracy theories and just about everything in between. It's good to know that nearly nothing is sacred to the writers of this show. It should be noted that they DO stay within the bounds of good taste, and if this makes it boring for you, well, there's always South Park.
I can't recommend this show highly enough. "This show stinks! It's terrible" is the exact opposite of how I feel about it! May it have a long life in syndication.