Tag: Television

RIP – James Van Der Beek

Van Der Beek shot to fame in 1998 as Dawson Leery, the teenage film buff who was as obsessed with Steven Spielberg as he was with his neighbour and lifelong crush, Joey Potter (played by Katie Holmes). Later that year, he was voted one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People in the World. On the 25th anniversary of the show starting, Van Der Beek wrote: “Twenty-five years ago today, my life changed. Not gradually, not day-by-day … instantly. It was the culmination of five years of auditioning, hundreds of hours on stage, thousands of hours travelling, preparing, dreaming, hoping, hearing ‘no’ and making up reasons to keep going. But the shift was overnight.”

The intense pressures of celebrity proved difficult to cope with given his youth. After Dawson’s Creek became a smash hit, he said in an interview: “Walking around at that time was very tricky because one autograph could turn into a mob scene. So I walked around in fear of teenage girls.”

James Van Der Beek, star of Dawson’s Creek, dies aged 48
Actor who also starred in Varsity Blues and Rules of Attraction revealed in 2024 he had been diagnosed with cancer

From the last Dawson’s Creek recap on Television Without Pity:

…which Dawson picks up at the office in Los Angeles. “It’s us!” Pacey and Joey squeal, offering him their congratulations. “I can’t wait until next season,” Joey says, and Dawson tells them that he can’t wait for the next day. Because he’s meeting Spielberg. Whatev. Pacey and Joey, like good friends (and unlike me), are thrilled for him. The three of the yammer about what he ought to wear to the meeting, as the camera pans to framed photo of Pacey, Joey, Dawson, and Jen, framed on Dawson’s desktop. “Say goodnight, not goodbye,” the soundtrack sings.

And that’s it. We’re out. Thanks for coming along for the ride. It was long and occasionally painful, but I don’t regret a second of it. See you around.

Snark 1998 – Television Without Pity Archives

View the archives via the wayback machine:
televisionwithoutpity

From Wikipedia :

Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism and opinion alongside a retelling of an episode’s events, which the site referred to as “snark“. Their official motto is “Spare the snark, spoil the networks”, a takeoff on “spare the rod, spoil the child”, and its mascot is Tubeelzebub (a portmanteau of tube and Beelzebub, “Tubey” for short), a devilish television set with horns and a pointed tail.

From Dawson’s Creek Season 1 ep 2 recap:

Cut to the Sanctum Dawsonorum; Joey clicks off the TV in the middle of the scene we’ve just watched, and Dawson works on a fake head with makeup and tells Joey she’s “going to have to” kiss Pacey, because the movie “doesn’t work without the kiss — it’s a love story.” Joey corrects him, “It’s a horror movie, Dawson.” Dawson in turn corrects Joey, “It’s an homage with a heavy allegorical slant.” “Homage”? “Allegorical”? Mark those Sars Maalox Scorecards at “1 minute 10 seconds,” folks. Joey, to her credit, rolls her eyes and flops back on Dawson’s bed and calls Pacey “un-kiss-worthy,” and Dawson says manipulatively, “Do it for me?” and Joey says she doesn’t “want to regurgitate on-camera — why don’t you kiss him?” Dawson, coyly: “‘Cause my lips are reserved for someone else.” Joey asks if he and Jen have kissed yet, to which Dawson smugly responds, “There’s no need to rush fate.” Joey advises Dawson not to “wait an eternity” because Jen comes from New York “where things tend to move faster.” Dawson theorizes that Jen will therefore find it “enchanting to meet a strapping young man who doesn’t have sex on the brain.” Another eye-roll from Joey, along with the skeptical comment “if it helps you sleep at night.” Dawson reminds Joey that Jen “is a self-proclaimed virgin.” “For another second,” Joey snipes. Dawson defends Jen as “a bright, intelligent young woman who is clearly in charge of her own body.” Joey shoots back, “I’m not suggesting leather straps and Crisco, just a kiss.” Dawson, who hasn’t looked up from the fake head once during this convo, announces, “Jen and I will kiss, don’t you worry. Question is, will your lips ever find Pacey’s?” Joey votes for “an extensive rewrite.” Dawson: “Well, that’s too bad, ’cause you definitely have kissing lips.” Joey (and Sars): “What?” Dawson turns the head around to reveal a replica of Joey, then suggests that Joey get through the kiss with Pacey by closing her eyes and thinking about someone else. Joey slumps down on a pillow and looks sidelong at Dawson. Dawson arches a brow and says, “Explain to me the Crisco.” Well, Dawson, it might help ease the passage of your giant head out of your ass. Just a thought.

Credits. Paula Cole ululating.

Seinfeld Writing Prompts

Kramer gets a ticket for Jaywalking and decides to paint cross walks in the middle of every road. Elaine finds a key on her key ring she doesn’t recognize and becomes obsessed with what it goes to. Jerry and George find out they’ve slept with the same woman and try to find out who pleased her more.

Elaine can’t tell if the Gen-Z girl in her building is complementing or insulting her new bag. George claims he’s a gay man who has had multiple sexual partners to get vaccinated for monkeypox. Jerry is convinced that his new girlfriend draws on her freckles.

Elaine falls asleep with a towel covering 1 side leaving half a tan. Peterman thinks it’s a political fashion statement/Banyan starts doing funeral gigs & Jerry thinks it’s wrong/A cop car keeps following Kramer’s car but never pulls him over/The Wal-Mart greeter always greets everyone except George

Jerry dates a woman that claims to be a food connoisseur and “knows all the best places in NY,” but it’s all chain restaurants. George realizes each waitress at Monk’s brings him something different every time he orders “his usual.” Kramer, with the help of Newman mails himself to a penpal.

via:
RedditWritesSeinfeld

Austin Powers as Metaphor for Change

‘This Fool’ (Hulu)
Season 1, Episode 5: ‘Sandy Says’

The closing seconds of this episode-long homage to “Austin Powers” were perhaps the most satisfying payoff I saw this year. “Sandy Says” exemplifies the tricky tone “This Fool” is able to strike, combining the structure of traditional sitcoms with the style of auteur comedies, hitting a sweet spot of goofy and clever. Luis (Frankie Quinones), newly out of prison, is in annoying-eighth-grader mode with his constant “Austin Powers” references, and the episode is packed with shagadelic Easter eggs before Luis explains part of why the movie means so much to him. “I’m tired of wasting time living in the past,” he says. “Ideally, we’ll change. The world is ever-changing, homey. I gotta change with it. That’s what ‘Austin Powers’ is all about. You know, I used to think that movie was a comedy. But now I know, it’s a tragedy.”

NYTIMES
The Best TV Episodes of 2022
TV in the streaming era is an endless feast. This year, series like “Barry,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Pachinko,” “Station Eleven” and “This Fool” offered some of the best bites.

Baywatch Goes Meta – Rescue Bay

Summary: When TV-producer Don Brand visits the beach, he is delighted to discover that the actions that take place on the beach are perfect for a TV-series. He calls the TV-series “Rescue Bay”. He gets inspired when he witness Stephanie, Matt and Summer rescue two men on a boat, and when Garner catches a bad guy with the help of a kid’s kite. Brand is convinced that he has a number one show in his hand.

Brand follows the lifeguards around interviewing them about their jobs and personal lives. Stephanie reveals her and Mitch’s relationship to him. Matt and Summer are played by two network-deal ingenues. Stephanie wants to play herself but when C.J. returns from Hawaii unaware of the shooting of a TV-series, she rescues the victims not knowing they are only acting. Brand is immediately smitten and offers Stephanie’s part to C.J. and Stephanie becomes real upset. When the two roommates argue over who is best suited to play the role, Mitch agrees to help them with a kissing scene, but that doesn’t change anything.

The character based on Mitch is played by a bodybuilder named Dolph Apolganger. Garner is played by an actor named Sly Hutchinson who could be Garner’s identical twin. The series pilot is supposed to be a fifteen-minute series presentation. In the end, Garner ends up stealing Sly’s girlfriend Dawn.

The opening action sequence features a boat explosion, but when the explosion is too big, the real lifeguards have to make a big rescue. Brand films the whole rescue and when Mitch returns from the water, he orders Brand to leave the beach. When the Baywatch gang have watched the clip Brand showed the network, Mitch reveals to everyone that the network didn’t like the idea, although they will sell it to foreign countries and the States will send it in syndication.

Metacritic

C.J. Parker: It just so happens that I can act! I played Medea in high school!

Lt. Stephanie Holden: Oh yeah? Well, I played Medea in college!

—

Don Brand: Hey come on, wouldn’t you rather cooperate and have an accurate portrayal of lifeguards in action?

Lt. Stephanie Holden: Come on yourself, you’re talking about television!

IMDB

RIP – Gregory Sierra

Gregory Sierra was born on January 25, 1937 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Towering Inferno (1974), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Vampires (1998). He was married to Helene and Susan Pollock. He died on January 4, 2021 in Laguna Woods, California, USA.

…

He is familiar to fans of Barney Miller (1975) as “Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale”, and as “Julio Fuentes”, the Puerto Rican neighbor on Sanford and Son (1972), wherein his character was often the butt of racist insults and jokes via the show’s main character, “Fred G. Sanford” (portrayed by Redd Foxx).

He worked with the National Shakespeare Company and in the New York Shakespeare Festival, appeared in off-Broadway productions and, in one brief brush with Broadway, was a standby in The Ninety Day Mistress in 1967.

Attended the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception, a Brooklyn, New York prep school for boys aiming for the priesthood.

IMDB

RIP – Larry King

Unlike many interviewers, King had a direct, non-confrontational approach. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions made him attractive to important figures who wanted to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics. King said that when interviewing authors, he did not read their books in advance, so that he would not know more than his audience. Throughout his career, King interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. According to CNN, King conducted more than 30,000 interviews in his career.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_King

Why does Kotter return in Welcome Back Kotter?

I haven’t seen Welcome Back, Kotter in years, but the theme song popped into my head a few days ago. I know that his dreams were his ticket out of there but that they have turned him around, but do we know why Kotter returned to James Buchanan High School?

Gabe Kaplan was a remedial High School student in Brooklyn. He fashioned his sitcom on the concept of a student from his background, returning as a teacher to teach the next generation of remedial students.

So, to answer the question, Kotter was supposedly a founding member of the Sweathogs, and he was returning to the high school he graduated from to teach the next generation of Sweathogs, who he knew he could relate to and therefore unlock their potential.

“Who’da thought they’d meet ya
back there where they’d need ya?”

They needed a teacher who could get through to the kids. But, in reality, they expected to only get (at best) a babysitter to hold class until the sweathogs dropped out. Of course, since Kotter could relate to them, he was able to actually get them to learn.

stackexchange