Vee

When Bravo and A&E had non-reality show based aspirations.  

I'm writing a book, called "Kevin S. Fowler, Will You Please Go Now?".

That and how I spent part of Christmas remembering and worrying about North Korea's "Christmas present." 

I know he's said he wants to get back into standup. I'm not sure he'd ever want to host again but I could see him having cameos. I agree that he and Maya Rudolph would be great in a movie together. Maya's such an amazing talent but I am not sure if she ever gets the right vehicles. Her cameos this year have gotten her more attention than her shows...

 

@Khan yeah if memory serves Eddie was the only one in that cast Bill liked. He only hosted as a favor to his brother Brian, who was still a writer on the show. In the goodnights for the episode it's especially evident Eddie was the only one he had positive feelings for.  

 

(the full episode is available...somewhere, but some clips are on their site - here's the monologue https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/bill-murray-monologue/n8823 )

@Vee: Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I can't see Lorne being down with Eddie making recurring appearances like Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin do.  He flat-out resents that Eddie not only pulled SNL back from the brink but proved to be its' biggest star/alum ever.  I'd love to be wrong, though!  Just as I would love for NBC to put real pressure on Lorne to bring back Eddie more often!  (Maybe some of his humor doesn't work in these ultra-P.C. times, but Eddie Murphy's resurgence -- on SNL, in stand-up and in the movies -- is one "return from the '80's" I wouldn't mind seeing in the era of Trump.)

 

@DramatistDreamer: Ironically, Robert Townsend was who Jean Doumanian WANTED to go with before Neil Levy (and someone else, forget who) convinced her to give Eddie the "token Black guy" slot for the '80-81 season.  (Doumanian says she discovered Eddie's talent and wanted him on the show more than anyone, but don't believe her, lol.)

 

Listen, I'm down for Eddie Murphy in anything, even a PG-13 family comedy (w/ Maya Rudolph, or anyone else).  I just want the script to be GOOD, and to give Eddie the opportunity to do the kind of envelope-pushing, laugh-'til-you-ache comedy I know he's still capable of.  (By the way, I truly don't begrudge his decision to make so many awful movies strictly for coin -- like he said, he's got a lot of kids to support; and also, where he's from, you just don't turn down money.  Nor do I mean to chastise him for defending himself for MAKING said POS movies.  As much as I will always love, respect and look up to him, though, he will never convince me he was genuinely happy (beyond the paychecks) to be in tripe like "Meet Dave" or "A Thousand Words."  I mean, even the third "Beverly Hills Cop" suffers from Eddie's virtually sleepwalking through the damn thing -- and I say that as someone who HATED BHC2, even though he was clearly more engaged at that point. You could tell (in BHC3 and several other movies) it was all Eddie could do just to come to the set.)

 

@DRW50: Yup, that's the clip, lol.  Again, Bill and Eddie aren't doing much beyond riffing on Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder's "We bad" routine from "Stir Crazy."  And I'm sure everything about that monologue was scripted, too, right down to Murray's romp all over the mainstage, the band and the audience sitting directly in front.  However, the whole segment was effective in getting an otherwise tuned-out audience (both in the studio and at home) jazzed about SNL again after a half-season stretch of their most embarrassing episodes yet; and that, IMO, speaks to the brilliance of Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy; two comedians who, at their best, can take the worst material and, if not spin gold out of them, they can, at the very least, elevate them into serviceable.  (Well, almost.  I still think nothing could have saved "Pluto Nash.")

 

They're older now, and perhaps not as "zany" as they had been in their heyday.  However, I think a Murphy/Murray team-up on the big screen could still work today, and that's because chemistry like that never really goes away.  (That's why even certain soap couples still manage to elicit interest even decades later).  If anything, the fact that they've acquired genuine, dramatic acting skills over the years on top of the comedy means you can do more with them than the "buddy comedy" stuff I'm sure they would've been given BITD.  (Dan Aykroyd's original intentions for "Ghostbusters" springs to mind).  Now, you could trust them with material that's poignant AND funny.

@Khan the first National Lampoon's Vacation was rated R and was a huge hit, so not all family comedies are PG-13, although I could see HBO or Netflix more willing to take that perceived risk nowadays than the risk-averse Hollywood movie studios.  

 

Eddie must have returned the favor because I remember Murphy produced a comedy revue (that aired on HBO) in the 1980s called Uptown Comedy Express, the same year as Hollywood Shuffle but I wouldn't see Hollywood Shuffle for at least another year or two when it came to cable, so the first time that I actually remember seeing Robert Townsend or Chris Rock was on that HBO special.

A few years later Townsend got his own HBO special with Partners In Crime, which he co-produced with Keenan Ivory Wayans around the time that In Living Color was in its early seasons.

So, Peter recognized almost immediately that he had an unhealthy attraction to his sister; and she, to him.  And he spent the rest of that day and the next doing his best to avoid being alone with her.

 

Finally, their parents, sensing the tension between their children, sat Peter down and told him the truth: he was not their biological son.  Rather, they had adopted him at birth, because his biological parents were entirely too young to raise a child.

 

Peter was both stunned to learn the truth about his birth and relieved that his feelings for his "sister" were not perverted.  Nevertheless, his adoptive parents' revelation left him with a ton of questions about his biological ones: Who were they?  Did the family know them?  Whatever happened to them?  Were they still together?  Did he have any brothers or sisters?  (Okay, so it left him with only five questions.)

 

That's when Peter's (adoptive) father retrieved a VHS tape from his locked desk drawer.  "The answers to all your questions," he said, "are on this tape."

 

Later that night, after dinner had been eaten and the Christmas gifts opened, Peter was left alone in the study to play the tape on the family's old VCR.  What he watched changed his life forever....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmuNpadhxo0

 

Never saw that ad when it originally aired and the first time I ever found out about it was when I saw a skit of it.

I remember when it originally aired and NEVER thought it had incestuous tones at all. The fact that she proudly established herself as his sister prevented me from ever going in the "Oh, they're [!@#$%^&*]" direction.

I wholeheartedly agree. Exceptional show, and an outstanding performance from Helen Mirren.

I remember being amazed by that first story when I watched years ago. I hated the second one so never really went back.

I love the first three series and most of four. Five is kind of silly. Six and seven are good but run together for me. Colin Salmon and Fraser James are incredible in PS2 despite the plot getting silly in the second half.

A legend and groundbreaker in many ways. I don't know anyone out there who can fill the space he is vacating.

Part of me expects that Joyner is looking for the next medium to continue on, in some way.  He pretty much said that the business model of radio pushed him out so, maybe sometime down the road, we might hear from him on another platform--maybe a podcast interview here and there?

Me too. The voice of my morning commute for many years.

Oh, goody.  It's set in Oklahoma.  Can't wait to see which broad stereotypes (based on "Oklahoma!" and "The Grapes of Wrath") about my state and its' people await us THIS time around.

The grandfather who died, EGON???

I found it a bit too somber myself. But I know it won't be; it's just amping up the mystery and hiding the original cast (who are all back including Annie Potts and Sigourney, minus Ramis and Rick Moranis).

I do like that Y&R's Mckenna Grace, who is everywhere now and very talented, is apparently the lead and styled to look like Egon.

glad to hear the Leslie Charleson one was respectful. I was a bit concerned so now I know it is a safe listen.

Very few people can stand Steve Burton.

Well, if it worked for the Australian version of "Wilfred"....

More I didn't know about from twitter:

 

 

Please tell me it's "Bionic Woman: The Game"

Jacqueline Babbin? 

Too soon!

LMAO!

Love her! Definitely one of American Horror Story's greatest assets. 

It ain't just me saying it, so you can both ease on down the road!

Then everyone who is saying it is totally wrong. 

Vee is completely right! 

Same @Khan

❤️☕️🥧

LOL me too @Khan

Yes.

Watched the first two episodes of AHS 1984. It's has impressive 1980's aesthetics. Covering for a paper thin story.  The amazing Angelica Ross's talents are being wasted in this mess. AHS has always been a mixed bag. Some seasons are great, good, mediocre or bad. 

One of these days, people are gonna catch onto the con Ryan Murphy has been pulling with everyone since "Popular."

I agree and it helps that Jarlena are hugely popular with a ginormous fanbase. Tide knew who to market too and it worked

Part of me wants to applaud P&G for finally seeing what's obvious-- that the synergy between soap and soap operas can always be renewed and will never grow stale as long as innovative and creative ideas come to the fore.  The other part of me is irritated that someone at that wretched corporation didn't have the brains to implement this when P&G still actually produced soaps.  So, in effect, one hand is clapping or maybe a Pelosi-style of applause.

Always nice to see talent rewarded. 

I watched one of the other clips, where he was talking about his fear of death or injury since losing a leg. Very powerful. It's especially moving when you remember the Ferengi were created as cheap jokes. 

DS9 took what had been a catastrophic failure of a villain race on TNG since early on, the Ferengi, who had been considered a lost cause at that point, and made Nog, Quark and Rom some of the most complex characters on the new show. Strip away some of the chintzy syndication production values and many of their great monologues would be at home on HBO, on Deadwood or The Wire.

 

If nothing else comes of this sad event I hope it spurs more people to watch DS9. It starts slow and episodic but by the end of Season 2 is starting to hum, and by Season 4 is cooking with gas. It's there for me every time. I'll watch some again today.

Thanks for telling me about that. A great read. She reminds me of some of my aunts, which...is something. 

I am starting to love her for being such a drama queen. That New Yorker article was great and really won me over. Also, I love Eddie Huang.

I think she's as much of a nightmare as many journalists say, but good lord is she entertaining.

And the MST3K channel!

Pluto TV is underrated and it's a lot better since they've cleaned up that once messy interface.

Yes I love it. I binge the Unsolved Mysteries channel a lot lol. I'm glad the constant buffering has stopped too

You may be just about the only human being who watched it when it aired. Congratulations, Khan.

Thank you...?

That theme song is a low-key banger, though! They fit Rodney's one-liners in with the beat well. And I love me some Thea!