The Summer of Mail

July 17, 2015 stephenthescoop Leave a comment

Please email Stephen all of your movie, TV, and random entertainment questions: stephenthescoop@hotmail.com

The dog days of summer are officially upon us, and with the heat and humidity making everyone miserable, I would gladly take some of that “Winter is coming” that Jon Snow is always talking about. This is a very unusual time of year with baseball taking a break for a few days, most of the summer blockbuster movies have come and gone (RIP Indominus Rex), and Comic-Con has completed sending sweaty nerds home with visions of Joker dancing in their head. There will not be any grand studio movie announcements anytime soon, and we have to wait until the fall for the TV shows we love to come back into our lives.

What I am trying to say is that I am bored, and even though Ant-Man and Trainwreck come out this weekend, there is nothing exciting on the horizon. So what is a bored writer to do during this dark time when “Winter is coming,” but it won’t be here for quite some time? He opens up the mailbag and answers some questions from his readers. There are some terrific questions that I’ve wanted to get to, so let’s dive in and help each other beat the heat with some entertainment talk.

This time of year sucks as far as TV goes, what should I be watching right now? I miss Sunday nights being the best night for TV, and True Detective isn’t doing anything for me.

Shane – Dallas, Texas

Sunday night is still must watch and I will tell you why: Battlebots!!! There is NOTHING more metal that robots fighting each other with sparks flying, flames throwing, and nerds getting mad at each other. If there was a way to gamble on this, then I might like this show more than Game of Thrones. The smart money is on Tombstone, an intimidating number one seed, who has taken a basic robot design and is using it to make spare parts out of the rest of the field.

Sure, there may be other decent shows on that are dramatic and enthralling, but I am with you on not being able to get into True Detective, and I think part of that is that I need a break this time of year. For years now, Sunday night was all about Breaking Bad or Mad Men or Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead, so during the summer I am really enjoying my “drama” in 3-minute fights between two robots that were built by really smart people to destroy each other. It is exciting and fun for all ages, so why not just enjoy the lull with something like this. Battlebots is a bracket style tournament; you will quickly find someone to root for and even people to root against, like spoiled MIT kids who act entitled and who I hope meet Tombstone and have to watch their dreams destroyed in a violent manner. Suck it MIT kids, Tombstone Fo Life!!

Can you give me any recommendations for a video game?

Jessica – Houston, Texas

Does this count? This is the last time I was current on video games.

I have spent the last month arguing with friends trying to decide who would win in a “John off” and have gone back and forth several times, so I’m sending this to you for help deciding. Who would win in a fictional fight between Jon Snow and John Cena?

Jeremy – Waco, Texas

I hate to break it to you Jeremy, but both answers are wrong when it comes to who wins the battle of the John’s. John Wick walks into a room with Cena, Snow, Wayne, or any other John you want, and walks out of that room alone. Nobody wins a fight against John Wick, and I mean nobody, just ask Theon Greyjoy how it worked out.

That is one of the secretly underrated parts of John Wick, while we are on the subject. If you are a fan of Game of Thrones, then you can watch full-dick mode Theon Greyjoy for the first part of the movie, and then seem him shit his pants and go full Reek as soon as John Wick shows up. I’m sorry that I couldn’t settle your internal struggle of John; nobody stands a chance in this fight.

Is it me or is July 17^th starting to resemble a heavyweight fight between Trainwreck and Ant-Man? Who do you think wins the opening weekend?

It’s the most underrated movie battle of the year, and on top of those two movies going at it, don’t forget about those pesky Minions who will also be in the mix. Trainwreck has been promoted so much now that it almost feels like I have seen the movie, so I am hoping there will be some surprises along the way. Amy Schumer is one of the funniest people in the world, and Judd Apatow is widely known and respected, so I have a strong feeling that this movie will be good, but you never know.

I had that same feeling about Funny People, and it is far from being a good movie. It has good parts, but for the kind of star power it has, it drastically missed the mark. Will Trainwreck have that same type of thing happen or will it stand out as the best comedy of the summer? I honestly don’t have an answer, just the opinion that it will succeed, and even if it doesn’t, it is going to have a strong opening weekend.

Ant-Man, however, is something that I know will be good, but I’m not so sure about how it is going to open.

I am sure that it will be good because Marvel is a well-oiled machine at this point, and I trust that studio more than any other right now to turn out a quality product. Guardians of the Galaxy had a solid opening weekend at $94 million with characters that nobody knew about at the time, but the only other movie it was going against was the less than stellar James Brown biopic Get On Up. With Ant-Man, there is serious competition, and this may be the first Marvel movie that doesn’t open strong, even though it is going to be a strong movie. I have a feeling that one of these two movies is going to suffer because of the other, and come in third at the box office with Minions coming in second. I’m calling it now.

Who won Comic-Con this year? I have watched the Batman v. Superman trailer at least 20 times. It has to be that right?

Kenneth – Houston, Texas

I absolutely loved the Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, and it was exactly what I wanted to see from the movie. Seeing portions of Wonder Woman in-costume fighting is something that is new and exciting, and the only other thing that I wanted was Aquaman footage, but I get why they are waiting at this point. I actually think Aquaman is going to be a key to part of the plot, so who knows if they will show him in the trailer at all. All of that being said though, Suicide Squad, and more specifically The Joker, is what I came away from Comic-Con being the most excited about. The trailer from that movie showed just enough of Leto as The Joker and holy shit does it look and sound amazing!

I have never seen a version of Joker like this on film, and I could not be more excited about Leto being the one who is bringing it to life. In the Bats v Supes trailer, there is a brief shot of the Bat Suit with The Joker’s writing on it, so it appears as if this is post Killing Joke where it is taking place, which puts it in some of the most dark and scary Joker times that there have ever been in the comics. The one thing that DC DEFINITELY does better than the competition is produce villains that are terrifying, and for my money, there is no better villain in the world than The Joker. That short 20-second look at him in this trailer, and the knowledge that David Ayer is the one in charge, makes me so very excited to see the darkest version of this character. That, to me, won Comic-Con and was the loudest reaction that I heard from any of the footage.

Stephen Balding is the Entertainment Badass for The Scoop. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenB_41.

Pop Culture, Television

True Detective is The Beatles vs. The Stones

July 11, 2015 kevinthescoop Leave a comment

Seasons 1 & 2 of True Detective — Different, Similar and All Too Brilliant at the Halfway Mark

– Kevin Donnan – Regular Contributor to The Scoop Entertainment and The Scoop Sports

[Let me begin this piece by saying there are no episodic spoilers ahead.]

Over the past 50 years, it’s probably fair to say that the question of, “Are you a Beatles person, or a Stones person?” is asked at least once a day on this planet.

In the times it has come up, I’ve always said, “Both.” No need to debate, and no need to take up time and space to something that has been explored to death, but I couldn’t help but think of this analogy as HBO’s True Detective has returned to the small screen.

Divergent as the bands may be, there’s also no denying their similarities. The same can be said, for seasons one and two of True Detective. They are decidedly different, yet similar, while adding the critical element that makes it all work: maintaining a nostalgic look, feel and perhaps laudatory tribute to the cinema of the days when Mick, Keith, and The Fab Four were on everyone’s lips.

True Detective is amazing film noire that takes the viewer back to the days of Serpico, In Cold Blood, and Bonnie and Clyde.

Whether you are a fan of the tortured and brutalized partnership of season one featuring the brilliant Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, or the unlikely and unlucky quartet that is season two, the unifying element beyond its name is that this show or series or whatever you want to call it, like the Beatles and the Stones, is the best the medium has to offer and quite possibly episodic television among the very best we’ve seen.

The Series That Isn’t a Series

I’m not sure anyone who has seen it can deny the power of a television series that really isn’t a television series. True Detective is back this summer, and this time the dark and greasy underbelly of L.A. serves as the backdrop, and creator Nic Pizzollatto has created another gem.

Its first run was as if you were watching a classic 1970s movie every Sunday for two months. One week, Chinatown. The next? Dog Day Afternoon. It carried that kind of brilliant intensity. No matter the turn, you never could truly anticipate whether there would be light or more darkness.

That hasn’t been lost this season either. At its midway point (four episodes), Pizzollatto can still generate the boil of those classic and gritty dramas of the 70s for this new generation that is all too unfamiliar with that bygone and beautiful genre of film.

Mick & Keith and Ringo

The most obvious and most definitive difference for season two is the replacement of the Mick and Keith of the bayou for a somewhat unlikely quartet navigating the murder and mayhem. Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch and Vince Vaughn meet at he intersection of greed, sex, power and murder. Three different cops, from three vastly different places, yet, all broken, and a crime boss desperately trying to go legit.

As the tragically flawed and tortured ‘Glimmer Twins’ chased pedophiles and the occult in season one, this time around True Detective is a lot like The Beatles. The performances of Farrell, McAdams and Kitsch represent Lennon, Harrison and McCartney, mesmerizing, evolving and exploring. And then you have Ringo Starr.

The jury remains out, but halfway? Vince Vaughn at this point seems a little like Ringo. As the rest of the band evolved, Ringo always seemed stuck back in The Cavern Club.

Make no mistake, he is an undeniably important and essential piece, but hasn’t every Beatles fan pondered if Ringo‘s abilities could have been somehow enhanced, if he could have had someone else sit in, or was Pete Best actually worse?

Right now Vince Vaughn is having to do the most work to keep up and move beyond his very strong work in comedy over the past two decades. It’s a gamble, and a not-so-easy transition for someone who’s predominantly known as a comedic actor. Every fan of this show certainly hopes that Vaughn‘s talent will win out and he will pull off a career-altering performance.

Every Beatles fan has had to face the difficult reality that from album to album, Ringo never got better, but that never kept you from silently hoping he would. The same can be said for Vaughn as this story starts the turn for home.

Season one with Jagger and Richards, or season two with The Fab Four (with Ringo warts and all)? Either way, it’s television you can’t, shouldn’t and don’t want to miss, and is the most intense series we’ve seen since The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.

When it comes to which one I prefer, or which one I think is technically better, like the Beatles and The Stones, I’ll say, “Both.”

Kevin Donnan is a regular contributor to The Scoop, and is a sports obsessed and self-confessed Pop Culture idiot savant trapped in a frozen, northern wasteland, yet, loves all things Texas, and is the most “American” Canadian who has ever lived above the 49^th parallel.

Gaming, Life, Movies, News, Pop Culture, Television

2015 San Diego Comic-Con Preview

July 10, 2015 stephenthescoop Leave a comment

Please email Stephen all of your movie, TV, and random entertainment questions: stephenthescoop@hotmail.com

If you walk outside right now, face west, and inhale really deeply, then it is possible that you will catch a whiff of the type of smell that can only happen when 1000s of sweaty nerds in costume converge in one place. The 2015 San Diego Comic Con is this week, and this year, like every year, Whale’s Vagina becomes mecca for all things movie, TV, and comic book related. If you are one of the people who says it has just turned into a corporate event and has lost all of its charm, then I’m here to offer you a counter-argument to that.

It would have never became such a large event if it wasn’t for those nerds who grew up reading comics and are now in charge of making those comics come to life. Would you trade a smaller crowd once a year for no Dark Knight trilogy? Some things are worth it, and I, for one, welcome those corporate studios because they want to get the crowd excited by huge announcements and fanfare. The announcement two years ago that Batman was finally going to be on screen with Superman in the same movie made me cry and jizz at the same time, and that kind of movie or announcement wouldn’t be possible without the SDCC. I mean, just look at the reaction and tell me that this still doesn’t give you the bumps of a goose.

I am very curious to see whose movie or news will dominate all of the talk this year, and have a few thoughts on the topic. Let’s run through some of the top panels and preview what we hope to hear this year.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Marvel has dominated the SDCC for the past few years and has established themselves as the top dog when it comes to comic movies, but they will not be there doing a panel this year. Age of Ultron has already been released, and Ant-Man comes out next week, so all of their movie releases came at points that promotion here isn’t needed. That gives DC a wide open lane to come in with some good footage and a couple of announcements, and destroy the minds of everyone there.

They have to put on a show because they are miles behind Marvel and need to make up some ground. There is a trailer that has been released, but I’m expecting some new footage that includes more than Bats and Supes glaring at each other. I’m hoping for some Wonder Woman footage because she is going to be one of the main characters, and if they don’t show her, then the fears that are present that they made a bad choice in casting are going to show up again.

On top of wanting some Wonder Woman footage, I would like to see Aquaman and his trident pimping around on the back of a whale. I have a sneaking suspicion that Aquaman is going to have more to say in the plot than the title would suggest, so there may only be a quick shot, but it still needs to be a shot nonetheless. This movie has so much more than Batman and Superman, and even though it is a year away, we want and need to see those other elements, and hopefully DC doesn’t let us down the way they did with that piece of shit Green Lantern movie like it has in the past. Bring it on DC, drop your big movie dick on the table and show us what you’ve got!

The Hateful Eight

Quentin Tarantino will be making only his second appearance ever at SDCC, and could quite possibly steal the show. There haven’t been any formal announcements on who will be showing up from the cast with him, but I can’t think of a better way to spend an hour than listening to Samuel L. Jackson say mother fucker while there is some awesome footage of people getting shot in the old west. A trailer hasn’t been released for the movie yet, so get prepared to see it hit the web in the very near future since it will most likely debut in Hall H.

Now, it is very possible that Quentin doesn’t care about making a splash and is only showing due to a studio obligation, and if so, then it will be boring and he’ll be out the door. However, if he is there to drink and party and blow people away with possibly the best cast he has ever had, then I am all for him showing everyone that he means business. You never know which Quentin will show up, but I’m expecting movie fan/heavy-drinking Quentin to show up to crash parties and end up on YouTube doing something ridiculous.

Fear the Walking Dead

Say what you will about having The Walking Dead, the highest rated show on television, to anchor Sunday nights, but AMC is getting scared that they are almost out of programming. Mad Men is gone, Better Call Saul isn’t the hit they thought it would be, and Walter White isn’t walking back through that door……wait, what?? Breaking Bad might have a season 6?? That scares me, and not in a good way. With Fear the Walking Dead, this is a pure spinoff that the network is hoping will catch on the way its predecessor has and give them another show in their depleted arsenal.

The first season is premiering soon, and will only have 6 episodes, so you know full well that those episodes are going to be intense and action-packed. They have some things in their favor, the top of those things being Kim Dickens being cast as the lead, and so there is a chance that it catches on, but for it to be successful, the Comic-Con/comic-reading audience needs to be on board.

This new show isn’t something adapted from the comics, this is a straight spinoff, so part of that huge audience might not respond to the characters the they did with the original. At the end of the day, it’s still zombie-killing, and zombie-killing is fun to watch, but without that emotional connection from the story it will be a failure. I am a huge The Walking Dead fan, so I’m rooting for it to work and for them to eventually meet the Atlanta group, but who knows if that ever happens.

At SDCC, however, the new show will be on the same panel as the old show, so any clips that are seen will have to be taken with a grain of salt. Fans are going to go crazy, but that doesn’t mean they will watch it. A good showing here might change that, or it might ruin it before it ever gets out of the gate. This panel will be one that I watch closely.

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

Here is your odds-on favorite to show up this weekend (2^nd to last show on Saturday) and shut down Comic Con like Eminem rap-battling a toddler. JJ Abrams could walk into Hall H with a lineup that includes all of the members of nerd Mount Rushmore and make the force awaken in everyone’s pants at the same time, and I wouldn’t put it past him to do exactly that. Sure, there has been some hype about the movie, but that is mostly from fans, and it is close enough now that the studio is going to start ramping up the excitement themselves.

What better way to do that then with Han, Luke, and Leia on stage together at the same time on a panel that will melt the faces of every fanboy in attendance? I’m sure they have appeared together at some point since then, but if they have, I don’t remember it, and it is time for that to happen, even if Harrison Ford will be comatose the entire time and doesn’t give a shit about you. He is still Han Solo, and his presence alone wins the SDCC; if he is as stoned as he normally is, the look on his face when 84 Chewbaccas are looking at him at the same time wins going away. Someone please make that happen! I don’t ask you for much!

Stephen Balding is the Entertainment Badass for The Scoop. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenB_41.

Life, Movies, Pop Culture

The Dark and Dangerous Descent of Actors

July 1, 2015 stephenthescoop Leave a comment

Please email Stephen all of your movie, TV, and random entertainment questions: stephenthescoop@hotmail.com

All actors are not created equal, no matter what you read about actors describing their “process” for preparing for a movie and how they get into character. Sure, most actors put in months of research in preparation to play a role that might entail shooting a gun, playing a cop, or playing an instrument. The majority of the time, studios will pair an actor with an expert on the profession they are attempting to portray, so some of the more subtle things see natural.

For instance, when Matt Damon was preparing to play Police Officer Colin Sullivan in The Departed, he spent time with a Massachusetts State Police unit where he learned how to properly do a pat down, he went on a raid, and rode along with various officers on patrol. All of that is good preparation, but that is what separates a solid actor like Matt Damon from other actors who rolecan win an Oscar every single time they appear in a movie.

The list of actors and actresses who can pull that off is smaller than you might think, and what separates them from the rest of the pack is that they are so methodical in their acting and preparation that it can be borderline dangerous. When I think of the people who have a legitimate chance of winning an Academy Award with each movie, it is a fairly small list in relation to the volume of working actors in Hollywood right now.

Here is a version of what I think that list could look like:

Daniel Day Lewis (DDL is the reigning GOAT and only actor to win 3 Best Actor Oscars.)

Leonardo DiCaprio (This is the hardest sell since he’s never won, but I honestly believe Leo is one of the best around.)

Tom Hanks (He has 2 wins and 5 nominations, but he’s starting to slow down)

Meryl Streep (I think it’s easy for her to get nominated because of her name, but winning isn’t the same. 15 nominations and 2 wins is still impressive.)

Cate Blanchett (She’s the best working actress in Hollywood and it is not close.)

Christian Bale (I am much more surprised by this than you are, trust me. I was never a fan of his early on.)

Sean Penn (The former Mr. Madonna has 2 wins and 5 nominations.)

Kate Winslet (Kate has notched 6 nominations and just 1 win.)

You could possibly make the case for Hillary Swank or Joaquin Phoenix, but those are hard sells to me. I think Phoenix is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood, but he is also a legit crazy person which keeps him from being nominated more than he has.

So that is the entire list: eight total people who have a legit chance of WINNING an Oscar each and every time they appear on screen. So what separates them from everyone else? What puts them in the category of award-winning caliber and also box office successes?

The answer for me is fairly simple; it is the way they descend into a character to sometimes scary levels, and voluntarily transform their body in sometimes scary ways. I want to call this the Heath Ledger Corollary, but I’m not sure he is the best example. He’s the most well-known example, which is different, but it is also a great place to start.

Ledger was on the rise as someone who could make the category above, but when he was cast as The Joker, the wheels fell off so much that he could never recover. There were numerous reports that he locked himself in an apartment for a month prior and after shooting, and never broke character the entire time. There were also reports that he would show up to set on his days off, in character, to watch creepily from the back in a way that seriously disturbed everyone on set. We all know how that ended, but what we don’t know is how much of that was mental stress that he brought on himself because of his commitment, and how much of it was him taking drugs and falling off of the rails. The answer probably lies somewhere between the two. The reason I have been thinking about this is that there are already reports from the set of Suicide Squad that Jared Leto, a renowned method actor, has sent gifts to his costars in the forms of a live rat in a black box, bullets, and a dead hog with a video of him in character. Is Leto heading down the same path as Ledger did? Is there something about method actors and The Joker that makes it too hard to shake? I’m sure there isn’t, and I don’t want to practice overreacting to certain things like that, because that is serious subject matter and I’m not one to make light of that topic.

What I am sure of is that The Joker is unique to any other character, especially any other villain, in any form, from any movie. As someone who has read 1000s of Batman comics, I can say without pause that The Joker is the scariest villain you could ever imagine. He is completely insane, but also has a split personality, and can go from “over the top” scary to “having a quiet conversation in a car with a dead person that he killed” subtle-scary in a second. To take that on as a method actor could absolutely be overwhelming, but I’m sure Leto will be fine and shake it off eventually. I am not comparing the two actors; just the menacing psychosis that I’m sure would infect anyone who pretended to be that for months at a time.

I’m not the only one who thinks that, because this time with The Joker around, the filmmakers have what they are calling a “Life Coach” on set at all times because of the very dark subject matter that will be in this movie. There aren’t any reports of any talks he has had with anyone, but when Leto dives into a character, he goes deep, and I’m curious to see him on the other side of that evil coin once filming has ended. What I expect to see is an actor who is on his way to the “every time” Oscar category we touched on earlier, and someone who can get any role he wants.

That is how he breaks into the categor,y and is also what separates the category from the rest of the field. If you look at that group, all of them are fully capable of disappearing into a role and not coming out until they are done filming. Daniel Day Lewis might be the best example since he is the acting GOAT of a generation, and the only 3-time Oscar winner for Best Actor.

This is a man who takes very few roles, but please don’t try to argue that anyone else is better than him at acting or preparation for a role. Your kneejerk reaction is say that Tom Hanks is the best actor of his generation, and he is a terrific actor and an American treasure, but he is not better than D. Day. Lewis has won 3 Oscars to Hanks’ 2, but Lewis has taken on 28 acting roles to get that and Hanks has taken on 76. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what they call killing it! DDL sinks so far into roles that when he played Christy Brown in My Left Foot, he refused to get out of his wheelchair for the duration of the role, and not only that, he refused to even sit up straight so as to not break character. That commitment is what got him the Oscar, but it also got him 2 broken ribs from the stress and over a year of physical therapy to recover.

That is incredible to me! When you read stories of Christian Bale dropping down to 120 pounds to play a role, and then turning around and gaining 90 pounds to play Batman eight months later, it seems like a good story, and it is, but it is also incredibly dangerous. Those types of physical transformations take their toll on a body and mind, and it’s something that these type of actors do on a regular basis, which I think is taken for granted. That is why I worry when I see a method actor taking on a role like The Joker or when I read that actors are struggling with drug abuse.

There have been some tragic examples of this, with the likes of Heath Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but that is where this corollary shouldn’t be a surprise, and one that we should be on the lookout for. These people do this for their craft, they do it for us, but they also leave behind families, so keep that in mind the next time you see someone lose weight or you hear a rumor about drug abuse. These people are better at their jobs than we are at ours, and it is something that I think about when I can forget that someone is award-winning famous for two hours and just be impressed by the performance. It’s an amazing transformation!

Stephen Balding is the Entertainment Badass for The Scoop. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenB_41.

Pop Culture, Television

Edie Falco Hangs up the Scrubs

July 1, 2015 kevinthescoop Leave a comment

“Nurse Jackie” exits as one of the most underrated shows of all time

– Kevin Donnan

(Edie Falco as Showtime’s Nurse Jackie)

If you watched The Sopranos as faithfully and relentlessly as I did, you know that very few could ever follow Carmela Soprano. When ‘Carm’ entered a room, she was a force of nature, and typically in (likely stolen) Italian pumps, a magnificent Chignon and perfect nails.

And she was all Jersey girl too. Exactly the way Bruuuuce helped us imagine that yes, even a depressive, psychopathic, tortured soul and mobster like Tony Soprano would surrender his heart because, “Nothing matters in this whole wide world, when you’re in love with a Jersey girl.”

Beautiful, tough and unbeatable. Edie Falco played the role of the smart, conflicted, devoted and all too suburban mob wife to perfection, picking up eight Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe awards.

Following The Sopranos, when it was announced that she was taking on the role of the unethical and indomitable “Nurse Jackie,” I wasn’t about to turn away after her performance as the matriarch of La Familia, North Jersey.

Now, as Nurse Jackie has come to a close after seven seasons, I wonder about the prospects of a meeting between Carmela and Jackie Peyton? That’s a showdown that would give Sergio Leone a chill.

Falco‘s first significant recognition was on the HBO series Oz as the tortured prison guard Diane Whittlesly. It was The Sopranos that launched her into the stratosphere. Her scenes with the incomparable James Gandolfini are the stuff of legend, and no matter the situation, be it in a kitchen, a funeral parlour, or a hospital room, when Carmela was in a scene you couldn’t take your eyes off of her.

The Sopranos was not for every taste, but if you had to pick one episode to simply gain an appreciation for her work, watch “Whitecaps.” It is that penultimate episode where you will see the most raw and real interpretation of a relationship laid bare. It has been rightly compared to Taylor and Burton in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and if you’ve ever seen it, there is no way you could forget it.

From the outset, Nurse Jackie was a difficult series to pin down. Always placed and hinted as being a comedy, Nurse Jackie was significantly and dramatically more geared towards drama, and critics have also suggested that at times, this factor was part of its struggle to find its place and a wider audience. However, when it had to be funny it was downright hilarious, and when heart-wrenching drama was required this cast and its star could most certainly pull it off.

Through its smallish, and even cult-like audience, it has carved out its own place thanks to the toughness and unrelenting passion of the actress and the role. That audience has been riveted and pained while watching the navigation of addiction, with its central character fighting to remain strong as she desperately battles for something to hold on to, all the while trying to save the lives of others.

As she descends, she elevates. Redemption and heartbreak, and as she falls, she tumbles. Criticized at times, and perhaps was at its best a season or two ago, it’s hard not to call this series one of the quietest, most underrated shows of recent vintage.

In Oz and The Sopranos, Falco was part of substantial ensemble casts. When she signed on for Nurse Jackie, however, this was the series where she took an even bigger step forward.

During its seven year run, and as the undeniable core of the ensemble, is where she found another gear, showed another facet and even more depth. Through this series, which in its final season rebounded from a somewhat slower previous season-and-a-half, Falco has shone while working within multiple storylines and jousting with the entire cast seemingly all at once. It’s that ability, and perhaps agility, to deliver time and time again as both the actor and the character are in the nucleus of chaos, that should cement Falco‘s status as easily the best working actress in television over the past 20 years.

No matter its challenges or successes, this sharply written, beautifully paced and incredibly clever character study was very unique. Yes, we’ve seen the ‘rebel with good intentions’ before, but we’ve never seen it from as wide a spectrum. The caregiver who at the core is inherently good, is also an addict.

You can now add the incomparable and insufferable Jackie Peyton in the lexicon of “Mary” and “Elaine” and “Murphy.” In addition, and in as much as you can add the character to that list, it is time to start looking at Falco as an actress you can start to mention with the likes of Mary Tyler Moore, Julia Louis Dreyfus and Candice Bergen. As much as those three ushered in their own eras on the small screen and left indelible performances behind, Edie Falco has been the unquestioned heroine and trailblazer for female characters on cable television.

From the prison guard, to the suburban hausfrau and now, the addict and caregiver, she took the trials and tribulations of nurse/addict Jackie Peyton and created another one of the most dynamic female characters in the history of television.

While ironic that Nurse Jackie, like The Sopranos, ended with its own open-ended and audience interpretive conclusion, the one constant remains. No matter what has happened or what’s been thrown at them, Carmela and Jackie will survive.

All I can think now is that I hope she takes a well deserved break, but comes back soon. Because from Diane, to Carmela, and to Jackie, Edie Falco always leaving you wondering and wanting more.

Kevin Donnan is a regular contributor to The Scoop and is a sports obsessed and self-confessed Pop Culture idiot savant trapped in a frozen, northern wasteland, yet, loves all things Texas and is the most “American” Canadian who has ever lived above the 49^th parallel.

Pop Culture, Television

Game of WTF?!

June 26, 2015 stephenthescoop Leave a comment

Please email Stephen all of your movie, TV, and random entertainment questions: stephenthescoop@hotmail.com

I know that I promised more on Jurassic World and how casting and execution is the key to summer movies, but that has been put on hold for now. Now that Game of Thrones has ended, and everyone has had a couple of weeks to catch up and work though what they saw, I want to recap Season 5 and make some predictions on the upcoming Season 6.

Spoiler: If you haven’t watched all of Season 5, then stop reading immediately and come back after you have finished.

After watching the Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones, every theory I had about the show was left lying in the snow making me want to punch a kid in the throat for what he just did. Say what you will about GOT, but no other show in history has ever made it more acceptable for wanting to blast a child in the face. I didn’t know if I was a bad person for wanting to see something worse happen to King Joffrey than the fate he encountered, but settled on the fact that this is fantasy and as such, that kid deserved way worse than he got. Of course, it also has made watching a brother and sister have sex next to their dead son in a church seem like just another episode too, so take that for what you will.

Season 5 did, however, give us some of the best moments from the entire run of the show, so does Jon Snow bleeding into the snow as the camera pulls back mean that everything we loved from the season wasn’t true? My favorite moment from Season 5 was Daenerys and Tyrion sitting next to each other drinking wine and talking about their fathers. It took 4 ½ years for everyone’s two favorite characters to meet face to face, and they did not disappoint at all. I think that both of them will have a big say in the end of the series, but the main person who I thought/think will have the biggest impact on who ultimately decides the rightful person to sit on the Iron Throne was killed in the finale. Jon Snow took several knives to the stomach, the most crushing of which coming from Olly the trusted house boy.

So does that mean it’s a wrap on Jon Snow forever, or will something else happen to undo the bitter end of being betrayed by those you depended on and who depended on you?

Here are some predictions on what will happen next season…

Jon Snow is dead and not coming back – This theory is one that I don’t like at all, and ruins all of my future theories, but it has to be considered a possibility. Where does that leave the Stark house, though? Well, it leaves the Stark house with its 4 youngest members all scattered about, which includes one who hasn’t been seen for an entire season. All of them think that Jon Snow is still alive and running the Night’s Watch, so it is conceivable that some or all of them will seek him out, which may lead to their eventual harm at the wall, or team them with others who wish to protect them…i.e. Sansa Stark and Brienne of Tarth.

The best bet for the Stark house is Bran proving to be much stronger in his ability to possess people and things, and attempting to take over something that makes the Stark house a force and rally the North behind them.

What could he take over? The last scene we saw him in, he was told that he would never walk again, but that he would fly. The only two things that fly in Westeros are ravens and dragons. Could he take over one of the dragons and do some major damage alongside Dany and Tyrion? If that happens, then it would really mean that Dany is the one true ruler, and that she will sit on the Iron Throne alone with the best of the other houses there to support her. A nice thought, but a much too obvious one for something that has changed course so many times like Game of Thrones has over the entirety of its run.

The odds of this happening are around 17%.

Jon Snow will end up alive, but not show up for Season 6 – There were several people who did not have a single scene in Season 5 that I’m sure will show up in Season 6. Bran, most notably, but also The Hound was never actually seen dead, and I don’t believe he is.

The Hound was far too important for his death to be shown off camera and for him to go out without killing his brother (or what is left of his Frankenstein brother at this point), and he is going to show back up. It’s easy to forget how great his scenes with Arya were, but they rank among the very top of any scenes from the show.

So with The Hound and Bran both being out for the entire season, it could stand to reason that Jon Snow will have the same kind of fate. He could show back up to save the day when what is left of the Stark family tries to take back the kingdom that belongs to them. That would also get Jon Snow away from the wall and back with his family. Nothing gives you a free pass away from the wall like a bunch of stabby dudes tricking you into playing pin cushion in the middle of the night. Jon Snow is brought back to life and shows up a year later, a little changed, but a lot more fired up about killing people that fuck with his family.

I also hope that Theon, aka Reek, sticks around long enough for Jon Snow to put a sword through his face for everything he has done to his family. I don’t care how much has happened to Theon or how much he ends up doing to save Sansa, that dude is a straight up dick and needs to go.

Odds of this happening are 38%.

Lady Melisandre brings Jon Snow back to life and we find out who his real parents are – Look, I know that Melisandre isn’t winning any awards for talking Stannis into having a Fourth of July BBQ with his daughter, but if she brings Jon Snow back to life, then I’ll totally forgive her. Don’t forget that she rode into Castle Black on the same day that Snow was stabbed, so it’s possible for her to have seen that, and bring him back when nobody is around. She saw it happen and believes in the same god that did it before, so you know she would be crazy enough to try it. Plus, she doesn’t know that Stannis is dead, and for all she knows she could be raising Jon Snow from the dead to protect herself. As for Jon Snow’s parents, that is the thing that I’ve been bugged about since Season One, Episode One.

By all accounts from everyone, everywhere, Ned Stark was the most trustworthy and honest person in all of the Seven Kingdoms. Except for this one time that he was off to war trying to save his sister, he comes home with a bastard kid? That never made sense to me, and I think I know the reason why. There have been a few times that other characters have spoken about Lyanna Stark running off with Rhaegar Targaryen, and they always leave it with Ned finding her at her dying moments, and then coming home with a bastard kid.

Those are Jon Snow’s real parents, and it makes even more sense that the season is going to be spent partly in flashback, since casting news has GOT looking for a young Ned Stark and a man who can only be described as Arthur Dayne. If the series is going to spend time on the Tower of Joy storyline from the books, why would they do that when Ned Stark and Jon Snow are both dead? The answer is that they aren’t, and Jon Snow is still alive!

Not only is he going to be alive, he is of royal bloodlines and will end up on the Iron Throne with Dany, Tyrion, and Bran by his side. I’m not the first one to put this theory together, but from all of the reading and research and years of figuring out plots, this is the one that I think is most likely to happen. The Starks are making a comeback in a big, bad way, and the Lannister’s house is about to come crashing down.

Odds of this happening are 65%.

Stephen Balding is the Entertainment Badass for The Scoop. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenB_41.

Money, Movies, Pop Culture

Summer Movie Scorecard

June 16, 2015 stephenthescoop Leave a comment

Universal Pictures

Please email Stephen all of your movie, TV, and random entertainment questions: stephenthescoop@hotmail.com

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to tent pole movie season, where blockbusters are currently jumping off of the screen in 3D! The summer movie excitement is in full swing, and this weekend marks the first statement made by the movie-going public. I predicted back in April that this would be a big year for movies at the box office, and that this summer would see Avatar get knocked off of its perch as the highest grossing movie of all-time, but the movie I picked to do it, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is not going to have the legs to run it down.

20th Century Fox

Avatar’s reign may still be in jeopardy, however, as the statement made these last few days is that movie goers cannot get enough dinosaurs and Chris Pratt. Jurassic World is gaining steam after a tremendous opening weekend, and the end to its momentum is still very far away.

So what has been the best movie of the summer? I am so glad you asked! I want to run through a few of them to take a look at the summer scorecard, which is 6 rounds into a 12-round heavyweight fight. A fight that has already seen one movie crack the top 10 of the highest grossing movies of all time, and another one steaming towards the top spot like a runaway train that even Denzel and Captain Kirk can’t stop.

*All numbers current worldwide box office totals as of 06/19/2015

Mad Max: Fury Road

Current box office total – $335,316,904

Village Roadshow Pictures

The point of a summer movie is to sit back, turn off your mind, and enjoy explosions. Mad Max: Fury Road has this by the truckload, and knows exactly what it is the entire time. You will not see Max pretend to be something it is not, nor will you see it apologize for how over-the-top it is. There are times during this movie that I saw what was on screen and had two thoughts at the same time.

“That is absurd.”

and

“That is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Those two thoughts typically don’t go hand-in hand, but for this movie it is an excellent balance, and the main reason that it is so much fun to watch. You are not going to get very much message and meaning, but what you will get is two hours of explosions, car chases, gun fights, fist fights, awesome cars, and at least 20 things that you have never seen on any screen at any point in your life. When I left Max, I walked out into the desert sun (literally – I was in Arizona) and needed some water and wanted to yell, “WITNESS ME!!!!” as I drove my rental car back to my hotel at high speeds.

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If the box office numbers are any clue, however, you are probably going to wait to see this movie when you can watch it at home, but I’m begging you to reconsider. This movie is the perfect combination of fever dreams, acid flashbacks and “looking back over your shoulder at cool explosions” faces. Go see this on the big screen with a bottle of water and a smile on your face. You will not regret that you did.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Current box office total – $1,356,373,457

Marvel Studios

It’s hard to describe any movie that has climbed to 5^th on the all-time highest grossing movies of all time a disappointment, but Age of Ultron was made by Marvel to claim the top spot on the list. I have heard this movie described as lackluster, but I see it as the first comic book movie that combined all of the characters you love, and does not have to spend much time on backstory. Other incarnations of the Marvel franchise have moved past origin stories at this point, so why the backlash when the studio does that exact same thing with the group?

This movie starts out action-packed, it ends action-packed, and there is plenty of action inbetween, so the quieter moments stand out more, but that exposition is what has tied the entire Marvel movie franchise together. Marvel has never sacrificed story, and the future of their name, just to make a mindless summer action movie. That is why they are so respected, so it baffles me that Age of Ultron is catching the type of reviews it has. Was the entire movie great? No, but they are building for a much, much larger payoff than any other movie this summer.

A conversation between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers while chopping wood seems unnecessary, but will fit perfectly when Captain America: Civil War kicks off. Ant-Man will make money and be a good movie, but again, it will not be a stand-alone because the studio has already told us that he will be on screen with other characters from the franchise at some point. That is very much a comic book trait and the reason that people have continued reading comics since the 1930s. Do you think that generation after generation after generation would continue to read comics if the stories weren’t well thought out and compelling? Do you think that Marvel could have existed for this long as a comic book company if they put each character on an island and never brought characters over from different books?

digitaltrends

Marvel studios will continue to plan for the future and will continue to give the fans what they want, but if the occasional movie spends 20 minutes setting up the next 5 years, then we should trust them that it will pay off. I have more faith in Marvel Studios than I do almost any other studio or executive group in the world. They had a plan that has been executed perfectly, and they have the next part of that plan that has been put in progress, which will also be carried out precisely. Trust me, it will all pay off when you see Spiderman slinging webs alongside Cap while the Guardians are protecting space with the help of Hulk. This is your childhood coming to life on the big screen, so don’t judge farm scenes and exposition too harshly.

Jurassic World

Current box office total – $594,000,939

Universal Pictures

This is all the movie review that you need…This movie is so much fucking fun!! I distinctly remember seeing Jurassic Park in the theater in 1993 and loving it. I have also watched it several times since, and while parts of it do not hold up, (I’m looking at you Laura Dern’s high-waisted-khaki-mom-shorts) I still love the movie. You could do worse than Steven Spielberg directing a movie with a clever script about dinosaurs, but when he signed on to direct the original there was always going to be a heart at the center of everything. That is why the original is remembered so fondly and nostalgia for Jurassic Park is one of the main reasons loved I Jurassic World so much.

Jurassic World does such a wonderful job of including the past with the future, especially when they end up at the old park while lost on the island. Seeing those old familiar doors and buildings, if only for a few minutes, made this sequel the first one that actually picked up the original story and made sense where Lost World did not. The story itself isn’t going to win any awards, but I am a sucker for casting, and Jurassic World knocks it out of the park with the casting here and I’m not just talking about Chris Pratt. Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, and Ty Simpkins make for a tremendous cast, especially when Chris Pratt is on screen doing Chris Pratt things on Chris Pratt motorcycle next to Chris Pratt raptors.

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I had concerns about how Pratt would do outside of the Marvel machine, and he completely exceeded my expectations. He is a full-on movie star and carried this movie so well. How well you ask? At one point he is telling the two boys the names of the raptors, with the last one being named Blue, the beta male. When they ask him who the alpha is, he responded with, “You’re looking at him,” at which point I leaned over to my date and told her, “I think I would f*ck this guy.” I’m lucky that she has a great sense of humor, but she also very much agreed that he is a bad ass.

This is one of those rare occasions where a sequel is made that makes you like the original better, at the same time you like the movie you are watching. It is a fun, well-cast, kind of scary, really well done movie that needs to be seen in the theater, and everyone in the world must agree. Through its opening weekend it is already half-way to the Avengers: Age of Ultron box office total, and at $204.6 million it is showing no signs of going away. I’m not sure that it will take down Avatar, but I’m absolutely rooting for it to do just that.

You have possibly noticed that I don’t have much negative to say about any of these movies, and that is because I take them for what they are: summer popcorn movies that are an exciting two hours. Does that mean there aren’t flaws in any of these movies? Absolutely not, but what is the point of negative reviews for movies that aren’t pretending to be award-winning productions? Sure, several summer movies aren’t great, but those are the movies I choose to watch at home instead of at the theater. I’m sure I wouldn’t like San Andreas, and several summer movies tend to be sequels, but it all depends on the execution and casting. Daredevil has as many interesting storylines from the comics as Batman, but Daredevil the movie and The Dark Knight don’t belong in the same category. Execution is key, and casting is equally as important, so that is how I make my decisions, which is something that I’ve picked up from years and years of being a movie fanatic. I knew every beat that was coming in Jurassic World, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of how they presented it.

More on this next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel.

Stephen Balding is the Entertainment Badass for The Scoop. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenB_41.

Life, Money, News, Pop Culture, Radio, Television

Is Howard About to Say, “Buh-Bye, Baba Booey?”

June 9, 2015 kevinthescoop Leave a comment

Like David Letterman and Jon Stewart, will Howard Stern exit in 2015?

Losing two comedic legends and innovators within four months of each other is devastating, but will one more make 2015 the year comedy died in December?

(Letterman, left, signed off in May — Stewart will say his goodbyes in August)

Last month, with a heartfelt, “Thank you and good night,” David Letterman signed off, and Jon Stewart will exit The Daily Show in August.

Now all eyes, or in this case, ears are fixed on Howard Stern.

Legacy Secured

I started listening to The King of All Media during a tour of duty in radio in the early 1990s. Stern had exploded on the national scene with his book Private Parts and luckily, I had a co-worker who had a friend in New York State who would send bootlegs and underground recordings of his show.

It was like finding your older brother’s porn stash for the first time, or when you were assembling your own. No matter, it was forbidden, it seemed wholly wrong, but you couldn’t live without it either.

Since then, with the help of YouTube and my own conversion to satellite at over $200 per year, I’ve become become an unabashed “Stern Fan.” I have to say I’m grateful to have had the privilege of not only listening to a legend ‘live’ while also gaining a greater sense of his unique place in history, thanks to his unending catalog of back material and shows.

There’s little to no point debating Stern‘s impact on radio and pop culture. Love him or hate him, he revolutionized radio as we all know it. Quite simply, modern radio doesn’t exist without Stern. For every “morning zoo” in any city, to every silly stunt, prank call or celebrity interview that goes too far, Howard‘s fingerprints, the genius of his staff and writers and influence, are in there somewhere.

Scoop Photo 5 — Stern on Letterman (CBS)

He’s done all there is to do. The bestsellers, the movie, it has all contributed to a very secure legacy and perhaps a very appealing retirement. His leap into satellite has made both him and Sirius extremely successful, with over 27 million subscribers and a balance sheet that is making shareholders very happy. Stern has become decidedly more acceptable to the mainstream, and a more respected talent thanks to his reach via America’s Got Talent.

One of the most recent estimates pegs Stern’s net worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and he recently purchased a home in West Palm Beach worth $52 million that is only slightly smaller than the actual island of Manhattan. To put it into perspective, the entire Wack Pack could visit for the weekend and likely never find him.

Has he finally had enough?

Like in 2010, Stern fans have started the second or even third, Bataan Death March. In December, Stern’s second five-year contract at Sirius-XM comes to an end. In 2010, at roughly the same point on the calendar, he had already begun to lament his schedule and the demands.

Not long after his re-signing in 2010, Stern sued his employer over stock options in 2011 and came up short, but it’s seemingly the only serious bump in the road on the corporate side.

America's Got Talent (NBC) — America’s Got Talent (NBC)

On his show, he has talked about expanding his interests in painting and photography, while also cutting back his schedule even further and to spend more time with his wife. As recently as last week he was speculating about which job he would prefer, the radio gig, or America’s Got Talent.

Seemingly every hurdle he faces makes him yearn for a life away from the spotlight, and between now and quite likely a few days before the contract is up, listeners will either be entertained or beaten down by the daily speculation.

No matter what, it’s going to be a long, hot, summer.

Further Cementing History

The twisted part is that these negotiations make for great radio. An angst-filled Howard is pretty much radio gold.

Without having to worry about timelines and sponsors, he has simply flourished since his foray into satellite. The satellite medium has given him the freedom to widen and expand his show’s reach in terms of comedy, news and features.

(LtoR - Stern, Billy Joel and Robin Quivers) — (LtoR – Stern, Billy Joel and Robin Quivers)

The porn stars and lesbians, while never far away, have been supplanted in some ways; the Stern channels run features on everything from embedded news items about specific members of the Wack Pack, to amazing projects like a three-hour Billy Joel interview/performance and a birthday bash that will go down in history in terms of both performances and guests. He’s also booked exclusive concerts that have reunited acts like Soundgarden and brought in other bands like The Flaming Lips.

As a further indication of how much better and more mature Stern has become, twenty years ago, if anyone would have guessed that Howard Stern would produce a men’s health show on radio, you likely would have been committed.

These highlight what has been a better than brilliant second term for Stern at Sirius.

Rumors are more than strong that one of the key factors in re-signing in 2010 was Stern’s loyalty and worry about the fate of his staff going forward without him. While nearly every member of his staff pushes him to the breaking point, arguably the most poignant and beautiful aspect of this second term was his outpouring of love for Robin Quivers during her yearlong battle with cancer.

It exposed a side of Howard not often seen, and the kindness and loyalty to Quivers, and begrudgingly at times to the rest of his crew, demonstrate that Howard is not only a legendary figure, but deep down a very good and gentle man.

The revolution and the high profile rebellion of years gone by may be over for Howard Stern, but he’s rich, comfortable and ultimately needs this forum. The pain and suffering hides the importance of this forum to him. He knows he’s a far more important voice than he ever was and is reaching a wider audience year by year.

Even though new technologies and platforms continue to emerge, he’s not overly interested in companies like Apple and their platforms via iTunes, and has all but denounced podcasts as being a waste of time. Most importantly, and any time he’s pressed, he’s intensely proud of what he has accomplished at Sirius, both for himself and the company.

In spite of the pain in his voice, the wealth and the legacy, I’m not sure we’ll hear a final “Baba Booey” for a while.

Kevin Donnan is a Contributor at The Scoop and is a sports obsessed and self-confessed Pop Culture idiot savant trapped in a frozen, northern wasteland, yet, loves all things Texas and is the most “American” Canadian who has ever lived above the 49^th parallel.

Life, Movies, Music, Pop Culture

Then and Now: The Jazz Singer

June 3, 2015 SPow26 Leave a comment

Welcome to the first installment of what should be a fun film review series here at The Scoop! My objective is to select films that have been remade, and see how the remakes stack up against the originals. The fun will come when the details and distinguishing features of each are discussed. As always, this series is meant to inspire debate and conversation.

We start with The Jazz Singer, originally made in 1927, starring Al Jolson as Jakie Rabionvitch/Jack Robin. Its comparison is the 1980 iteration starring Neil Diamond as Yussel Rabinovitch/Jess Robin.

The Story

Cantor Rabinovitch is the worship leader of his temple. He is training his young son, who also possesses a great vocal talent, in the ways of Hebrew worship. This is because he is to be the sixth generation Rabinovitch to be a cantor, in service to God through holy song. Jakie/Yussel, however, appreciates all types of music, and feels that he’s meant to share his voice with the congregation of the world, not just a synagogue.

Father and son clash over this spurning of familial tradition, and they part ways on the worst of terms. Several years after Jakie/Yussel leaves, he becomes a famous singer and gains quite a bit of popularity. He even goes as far as to take on a stage name: Jack Robin/Jess Robin. The night before a big performance, he is informed that his father is ill and will not be able to lead the Yom Kippur worship service. This is a very sacred service, as Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, and a Rabinovitch has led it for five generations.

A family friend asks Jakie/Yussel to return, make amends with his father, and lead the service in his stead. He decides to choose family and faith over his popularity, and returns to lead the service. Father and son are reconciled and peace is restored to the Rabinovitch family.

The Similarities

In each film, both Jakie and Yussel are pressured by their fathers to follow in line with the family tradition and become the next cantor of their synagogue. They also manage to engage their audiences via popular music of the day. In the 1927 original, Jolson was featured singing the classic Blue Skies, while Diamond used the occasion in 1980 to introduce the world to America, Love on the Rocks and Hello Again.

Interesting note: Jolson‘s original is mostly silent, but helped usher in a transition to “talkies” by featuring a complete soundtrack for the movie that was available for purchase after the release of the film.

The big payoff is when Jakie/Yussel returns on Yom Kippur to lead the congregation in a prayer called the Kol Nidre. It’s a powerful moment seeing the son finally stepping up to lead the congregation, as his father had wished of him.

Here is Jolson‘s take:

Here is Diamond‘s take:

The Differences

This is where this particular duo of movies gets interesting. The years 1927 and 1980 look equally intriguing and odd to my 2015 eyes, especially when watching the Jolson version.

The biggest difference between the two is the relationship between father and son. In the Jolson original, he is presented as a stubborn youth who won’t conform to his father’s wishes and revolts and runs away. In the Diamond remake, he gets his father’s blessing to go record a demo track in LA for two weeks. While there, he gets discovered and tells his father he will probably remain there and not come home.

This leads to change number two.

Jakie runs away from his father and loving mother and becomes the star of a music review show. There, as Jack, he meets and falls for a lovely dancer, who encourages his pursuit of fame. Jakie‘s disregard for his God-given voice is what sets his father off. Yussel leaves behind his cantor father AND a wife, Rivka, who is also his high school sweetheart. While in LA, he falls for his talent agent (played by Lucille Ball‘s daughter, Lucie Arnaz) and divorces Rivka. This is what shames Yussel‘s father the most, and causes Cantor Rabinovitch to ceremoniously proclaim Yussel dead.

The most interesting difference is the use of blackface by Jakie/Jesse in a musical performance. In Jolson‘s day, blackface (the art of applying dark makeup to one’s face) was used by white entertainers to portray black characters in song. Jolson uses it prominently in the original, whereas Diamond uses it as an “homage” in a scene where he is filling in for a friend who is part of a singing group performing at a club specifically for an all-black audience. As accepted as it was in Jolson‘s day, modern eyes will have trouble adjusting to either use of a bye-gone theatrical device, and it does come across as plain silly in the 1980 film.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the story is one that not many may identify with at face value in 2015. What may echo with viewers, though, is the sense of achievement that one can feel when pursing a dream, whether it’s to be famous or return home and reconcile a broken relationship. As I mentioned near the beginning, both eras represented are not easy to relate to as presented, and some things in both come across as silly. If anything, both singers do a wonderful job of presenting popular music to their newfound congregations. I led with this one, though, because of my musical bent, and to truly watch and observe the cultural and cinematic differences of 50 or so years.

Do you have a suggestion for this series? Contact Sarah Powers on Twitter at @SPow26.

Life, News, Pop Culture, Television

It’s Not Just “Dave” That’s Leaving

June 3, 2015 kevinthescoop Leave a comment

Late Night TV Will Never be The Same

We loved him because he “got” us.

As David Letterman seemingly closes the curtain on an amazing near 40-year run in network television, he leaves as an icon for generations of stand-ups, talk-show hosts, actors/actresses, directors and producers, while also becoming a skeptical and cynical form of an “anti-hero” for his legion of fans, while also finding the formula that probably worked better than anyone before (Johnny included) or since.

One with the Audience

As Jerry Seinfeld helped expand and even create his own brand of comedy, David Letterman helped expand and create an entire genre of his own as the bridge from the traditional shows of Paar, Cavett and Johnny, to where we are today.

Whether it was the painfully long staredown of the camera and breaking the fourth wall over a failed joke, or the altogether too phony comment by some vacuous celebrity whose movie you knew would likely bomb, he not only let us in on the jokes, but he also made us feel like we shared in his pain and the absurdity of show business at its core.

From his entry in the late night talk arena in 1982, he was different. It wasn’t seamless. He never took himself or his position very seriously, and somehow he made YOU feel like you were one of the buddies he had around tossing ideas over a case of beer and at least three or four opened pizza boxes.

He was simply “Dave” and if he could do it, why couldn’t anyone else?

Watching the original Letterman show made you root for the guy. Here was a typical Midwestern kid, the son of a florist and a church secretary, who was simply trying to entertain while navigating his show through the haze of corporate and broadcast bureaucracy (the NBC and General Electric bits), vapid celebrities and the challenges of day-to-day life.

Nowhere was that more apparent than during a “dream sketch” when Dave decided the three people living or dead he would want to have dinner with were: William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln and NBC movie reviewer Gene Shalit. Or, when asked by Shirley MacLaine whether he “believed in having past lives,” he responded with, “I may have delivered a pizza to the Eisenhowers.”

He was the sophomoric smart-ass, and one of the true reasons why David Letterman was so inspirational to so many is that Dave made us feel like he was an “outsider” among all of the ridiculous people in an even more ridiculous business.

Taking Johnny to Another Level

Where Johnny’s show had the feeling of a polished, well-oiled machine, with a flawless big band and a show that was fondly nicknamed “How America Went to Sleep,” Letterman was there to show us that his studio wasn’t much bigger than a broom closet, and he had a four-piece band that could rock the place if necessary. He wasn’t in Burbank with the perfect set, kibitzing with the A-listers who played cards with Johnny on his yacht. Johnny had sketches and bits, but they always seemed a little forced and focused on rim-shot humor.

Dave was the guy who drove in from somewhere in Connecticut and tried things that no one dared, or considered. And when he tried to put a fresh spin on bits from other acts like Steve Allen or Howard Stern, he would either pay tribute, or apologize (rather than outright stealing them and taking credit for them as original, a-la, Jay Leno).

The Top 10 List, Late Night “Thrill” and “Monkey” cams, “The Guy Under the Stairs,” Stupid Pet and Human Tricks, “What’s Hal Wearing” and Dumb Ads. Some of them worked brilliantly, and even the ones that failed somehow became absolute gold.

Bill Carter’s book, Late Shift, captures in brilliant detail the Tonight Show triangle of Johnny, Dave and Jay. The account is a reporting masterpiece that unlocks the backstage door of a power struggle that changed television and Hollywood, and in the end, Letterman never got what he and many, many, others felt was his just reward for essentially re-inventing the formula of the talk show.

As he made the transition to an earlier time-slot at CBS, it always felt like Letterman had a Van Halen type of existence in terms of his career. Where once he was edgy, raw and people were even slightly afraid of him, when he went to CBS, he suddenly became “Buttoned-Down Dave” and put away the wrestling shoes and tan khakis for designer suits, and suddenly became more mainstream.

The name was the same, but we all had to adapt to a rather seismic change. While fans could spend years debating, which Dave they prefer, much like Van Halen, the foundation, and yes, even some of the magic, was somehow still there, albeit in a more reserved, more mature and perhaps, more confident place. Everyone mellows out and gets old. Yes, even Dave.

As Dave became an adult, so did we, begrudgingly. And as he put away a good chunk of the old bits and gags, he became a better interviewer, and found the perfect balance where a true late night talk show could still explore complex issues like war, race relations and terrorism, while still ending a long day with a smile.

You only have to watch his performances following 9-11 to understand just how important, how reasoned and valuable he became in that time. Somehow the guy who wore a Rice Krispies suit helped an entire nation heal.

Dave leaves an ever-evolving medium where the balance has shifted. The emphasis no longer on the “talk” and the celebrity, but rather sketch comedy and bits where celebrities make fools of themselves and only appear interested in release dates and favorite songs to lip-sync. Times change, but the absence of Letterman will see that style of late night fade to black. At the same time, I’m not sure anyone could ever feel at all comfortable with either of the Jimmys (Fallon, Kimmel) discussing foreign policy today, tomorrow or anywhere else in the future.

No Matter the Dave

The magic of Letterman was his ability to find that perfect balancing act that gives the viewer enough celebrity to draw you in, and enough humor to keep you coming back.

The Velcro suit should probably be in the Smithsonian. We’ll miss the gap-toothed grin, the wild guests, jokes and the brilliant cynicism, but what we’re really going to miss is a guy who understood and appreciated his audience better than anyone.

David Letterman may not have the title “The King,” but for at least a generation, maybe two, we’ll settle for “perfect,” simply because he was one of us, and leaves with the legacy of the ultimate balancing act that made us keep coming back no matter what version of Dave you liked best. In the end, an entire nation is showing its well-deserved gratitude, and having a hard time saying farewell to both.

Kevin Donnan is a Contributor at The Scoop.