Late Show - Don Rickles

Don Rickles talks about his recent health problems and Reagan's second inaugural (almost).





Are inaugurals like that anymore? I've never seen anything that looks like that.

The special "One Night Only: An All-Star Comedy Tribute to Don Rickles” will air May 28th on Spike TV.

Tonight Show - The Drum Off

When Will Ferrell was told he looked like Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Will Ferrell replied that he WAS Chad Smith. Chad Smith was a character, he said. This sparked a feud that has lasted for weeks. But in the latest episode of The Tonight Show it was time to finally put an end to this feud with a good old-fashioned drum-off of epicness.

Conan - Norm Macdonald's Talk Show Audition

The always unpredictable Norm Macdonald has thrown his hat in the ring for the Late Late Show host job. Current host, Craig Ferguson, has announced his retirement at the end of the year.

In his recent appearance on Conan, he puts together a 1 minute audition tape:



The Late Late Show with Norm Macdonald? Seems unlikely but man, I'd watch that.

Tonight Show - Lost Monologue Update: Still Lost

A few days ago I wrote a blog entry about how a recent Tonight Show monologue (5/13/14) had been removed from the online version of the show. Since that time, nothing has happened. Jimmy didn't mention the incident in the show, there was no post of facebook, twitter or any social networking site and the missing clip was not posted anywhere as far as I'm aware...

Speculation amongst fans was that the monologue had referenced Jay-Z's current 1 problem and had to be removed because it angered him. It's not a theory that makes much sense but it is a theory. Another fan has speculated that a song was used in the show with an exorbitant licensing fee. That, at least, sounds much more likely. But some of the same concerns remain: why didn't they just edit out the song, why throw out the whole segment? The whole thing is strange.

On a personal note, as someone who's seen every single Tonight Show but can't watch this monologue, does that mean the streak has ended? Can I say that I saw MOST of the episode so it still counts? That's probably what I'll do.

IMDB 250 - The Hunt (2012)

The Hunt (2012)

Lucas is a male teacher who lives alone and works at a kindergarten.  He lives in a small small Danish town where everyone knows everyone else. One day a female student says that Lucas exposed himself to her. Could she be making it up? The head of the school suspects not: "I don't think children, not in that way." Lucas is sent home and the girl's parents are called in and told the story. The girl recants, says she made it all up but her parents assure her that it did happen - sometimes when memories are bad, we convince ourselves that we made it up. Lucas finds his life is changed forever - he's fired, ostracized from the community and eventually arrested.

This is Director Thomas Vinterberg's second movie in the IMDB 250 and both deal with sexual abuse. The first was "The Celebration" (1998).

As you'd expect, this isn't the kind of movie that makes for a great Friday evening. Or any evening. This movie is difficult to watch. It's harrowing material. But by no means does that mean it's a bad movie... far from it. It's a thoroughly realistic situation with authentic characters who act the way people sometimes act. Particularly when the stakes are so high and the accusations are so heinous.

7/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 381.

P&S - Casey Kasem is Missing

I love Steve's Casey Kasem impression. I can't get enough of it. Recently it was revealed that Casey Kasem may be on a Native American reservation and it lead to a short tirade.

The pre-requisite to any Steve bit on Kasem is knowing this audio (warning: language):



And this is the new result:

Late Night - Second Chance Theatre

Last night Late Night aired the first truly innovative segment in the Seth Meyers era. It's called "Second Chance Theatre".

It works like this: Seth Meyers was, for a long time, the headwriter at Saturday Night Live and in his tenure there he had the job of deciding which skits work and which don't in order to determine what gets into the actual show. There were quite a few times where a writer was SURE that a skit was funny but Seth disagreed and vetoed it. Now that he has his own show, he's inviting various cast members back to actually perform their rejected sketches and give them a chance to convince the audience that what they wrote actually had merit.

The first episode of Second Chance Theater is Will Forte's sketch "Jennjamin Franklin". I'm not embedding it, if you want to see it it's here, but I'm not going to post it directly because it's actually more disturbing than funny. But what I did enjoy much more is the "after show" where the creators discuss the sketch and how they thought it went.

Turns out I'm not going to embed that video either because hulu is broken. You can watch it here.

Tonight Show - The Lost Monologue

A funny thing happens if you go to hulu and watch the latest episode (the 5/13/14 episode) of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon... the show starts, the band plays, Jimmy comes out and the video cuts to the band playing again. The latest episode on hulu edits out the monologue completely. If you go to the video on nbc.com, it's the same thing.

Lately the show has been uploading monologues to youtube. It's missing from there as well.

Twitter is abuzz with questions and conspiracies. Well, not really but some people are wondering. One theory is that the monologue addresses the Jay-Z surveillance video and this has upset Jay-Z. Hmm, seems pretty vague and pretty unlikely. Everyone's talking about the Jay-Z thing so why would this show be any different? Also, why not just excise that one section and leave the rest intact? But, as no one has a clue at this point, I suppose that theory is as good as any.

The full monologue did air on television and so some viewers did see it, it's just gone from the online sources. Odd.

Tonight Show - Best Show Ever?

It really probably isn't the best show ever. It's really just a catchy title. I should probably change it. Of course, that would take work.

This is a post that's a bit different from the norm. Yesterday's Tonight Show was significant for the lineup of guests it contained. The three guests were Louis C.K., Jack White and Neil Young. It doesn't get much better than that.

Watch the full episode here. If you don't want to watch the whole show and are looking for the one "must-watch" segment, it's the musical performance where Neil Young performs "Crazy" in a recording booth. Why is Neil Young recording in a booth? They explain that in the show but you just said you didn't have time for that! Good grief.

Tonight Show - Word Sneak with Bryan Cranston

Jimmy and Bryan Cranston play "Word Sneak", a game where they are given a list of words that they have to subtly insert into their conversation. Their subtlety needs work but it's fun.

Movie Review: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)

This is a slasher movie. And like many slasher movies, it begins with a group of sexy teens headed (unescorted by an adult) to a lake house. They have beer, bros and music and it's time to party. There is a legend that a group of teens was murdered at this very spot years earlier but that's not a big worry.... and there are a couple of creepy "mountain man" locals who seem to be staring and carrying scythes but no matter.

But this is where the movie gets interesting.

The movie steps back from the main college kid plot and follows the creepy locals to explore their perspective. It might be, we start to suspect, that they're actually fairly normal people. In fact, they might be pretty nice guys once you get to know them. I don't know, could it be, perhaps, that this whole "psycho killer" "mass murderer" thing is just one big misunderstanding? What if we sat down with the "slashers", had some chamomile tea and talked things over?

"Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" is an extremely clever turn on the slasher genre and a very funny comedy. Very much in the vein of "Shaun of the Dead" and certainly "The Cabin in the Woods". It's available now on Netflix Instant and definitely worth checking out.

7/10.

Conan - WikiBear

Conan unveils the new teddy bear for children that actively answers kids' questions by looking up the answers on Wikipedia.

Tonight Show - Jamie Foxx Lays Down a Beat

Self-explanatory. No need to watch after 1:30.

Tonight Show - Unsexy Words

It's pretty safe to assume my "audience" is predominantly male. That's true enough. But even so, this one goes out to all the ladies...



This bit might remind you of the classic Top Ten list: "Top Ten Words That Sound Romantic When Spoken By Barry White".

Brian Williams Raps

In the newest edition of "Brian Williams Raps", Brian Williams raps "Gin and Juice".



On this particular night, Brian Williams happened to be the first guest so he actually got to react to it and express his view of the segment...

The Science of Dance

A scientific study was recently conducted to determine, scientifically, what type of dancing attracts women. Not knowing how to dance myself - and being a fan of both science and women - this was of utmost interest to me.

Here's what the conclusions of that study look like:



I had previously heard of the results of this study on the radio. And if you can imagine how hard it is to describe dance moves over the radio, you can imagine I didn't get much out of it. But even with this new visual format there are still more questions than answers.

I love the "tatanka" comment. That's a nod to a scene in "Dances with Wolves".

Colbert to Replace Letterman

CBS has apparently announced that Stephen Colbert will take over the Late Show when David Letterman retires next year. He will not be playing "the Colbert character" but will be himself.

Personally, I have mixed feelings. I think he's a funny guy and I loved him when he was a cast member on "The Dana Carvey Show" way back when. But how is he as a talk show host? Or.... How is he as a talk show host when he's just being himself? Don't know, no one knows. Seems like a complete gamble.

I don't like the move but I don't hate it either.

Conan Reviews Video Games - Stadium Edition

The TV screen at AT&T stadium is one of the largest in the world... So Conan plays some XBox on it...



PS - Dallas Sucks.

Reaction to Letterman

I was stalling this post in order to include Conan's reaction. But, oddly, in his first show back, Conan didn't say anything.

So here's Jimmy Fallon's reaction to the announcement:



And here's Seth Meyers:



Strange that Seth Meyers said it best but even stranger that Conan said nothing at all.

Adventures in Single Life

How do you know when you have too much time on your hands? Well, I'll tell you.

Yesterday I was fondly remembering my favorite beverage from the mid-nineties, Clearly Canadian, and looking to buy some. I was saddened to hear that the company had folded a while back. But there's a new kickstarter-type program where they're taking advance orders for 25,000 cases and, once they reach their goal, they'll re-start production.

And it occurred to me, during as well as all throughout the completion of my purchase of one case of Wild Cherry, that, yes, this is the kind of stupid thing that someone does when they have way too much time on their hands. In fact, both this and the purchase of Castleton t-shirts are indeed signs to that effect.

This has been Adventures in Single Life.

I Never Went to Castleton

It's pretty amazing... just a few days ago I mentioned that David Letterman's autograph was the only autograph I own. I said it confidently because there hadn't been much activity in that area for about a decade. Little did I know that, at that very moment, another one was headed straight to me via the United States Postal Service...

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Time Chasers" is a classic and one of the best episodes in my opinion. It begins with a title card that Mike Nelson reads out loud as "A David Giancola Film.... is not something you'd want to see."

The hero of the film is Nick Miller, a 10-speed riding academic who has figured out the secret to time travel .... and yet his ventures into the future don't allow him to see the datedness of hockey hair (AKA the mullet). The movie was independently made and entirely filmed in the Vermont area. And so it's not surprising that Nick wears a Castleton t-shirt throughout MOST of the film (there's a brief shirtless scene). It looks like this (the shirt, not the shirtless scene)...

The ever-present shirt is often referenced by Mike and the Bots - Crow: "Remember when everybody got the 'Nick Miller' haircut and went around wearing Castleton t-shirts?" - and has therefore become an iconic image of the show.

When I saw that Edgewood Studios (the makers of the film "Time Chasers") were selling an official Castleton t-shirt, I bought one. And it came today. It also came wrapped around a piece of cardboard. "Probably to keep it from crumpling up", I thought. No, the cardboard was this...

That, my friends, is a flattened VHS cover of the film "Time Chasers" with a personalized autograph from the Director of the film, David Giancola.

So now I own two celebrity autographs (not counting Disney characters, which probably should count)... David Letterman and David Giancola. And if you were only going to get autographs from two celebrities named "David" it probably would be those two.

The Tonight Show - Thought at Work

Black Thought stops by Jimmy's cubicle for a little office chat.



This is a bit they do fairly often but this is one of the better ones.

Conan - Jordan Schlansky the Cowboy

Still in Dallas for a week of shows, Conan gives Jordan Schlansky a "cowboy makeover".



If I'm nitpicking, they already did the "shaving" bit, almost word-for-word.

Letterman's Retirement Announcement (Video)

David Letterman to Retire

During tonight's episode of the Late Show, David Letterman will announce his retirement in 2015.

One can't help speculating as to how much pressure (if any) he was under to retire. Low ratings have to be weighed against the problem that there's nothing else out there for him to do. I mean, in many ways he can do anything he wants but he always seemed to respect the fact that when Johnny Carson retired, that was it - except for a few minor appearances Carson wasn't seen on TV again.

And so it would officially be retirement - a concept that seems totally foreign to someone like Dave. After he came back from the writers' strike, he candidly joked that, as often as retiring people like to say, "I'm going to spend more time with my family", the reality of that situation is not all it's cracked up to be. And, of course, Letterman was the one who came back on air while the strike was still on-going.

It just seems like some people shouldn't stop working. Andy Rooney died one month after he left "60 Minutes", Fred Rogers was diagnosed with cancer just months after he went off the air. Let's hope this isn't one of those situations.

From the early 90's until about 2008, you would not find a bigger fan of David Letterman than myself. As long as you don't count Disney characters, I believe his is the only celebrity autograph I own. I watched every single episode that I could, night after night. I would tape the best bits of his show and play them back anyone who shared my comedic sense. You'll recognize that reflex as the blueprint of this very blog I'm writing today. You might find this hard to believe but I actually consciously thought during those years, "He's going to retire some day and talk shows don't get reruns so I'm going to watch every second I can while I can." But my viewership quickly diminished from 2008 until now as he became much more politicized and comedy took a back seat to espousing his political views. I don't think I'm alone in this because his ratings started diving around the same time frame. And so now that the retirement is a reality (the announcement at least) it doesn't feel like a major upheaval or an entertainment tragedy. I feel like the Late Show disappeared long ago and this is just going through the motions of making it official.

The Tonight Show - Always Bet on Boy

Samuel L. Jackson performs a Slam Poem about the 90's TV Show "Boy Meets World".

Conan Sells Mary Kay

In Dallas for a week of shows, Conan works for Mary Kay for a day. Let's face it, it's just an excuse to wear makeup.

Live: Fingers on a 4x4

There's been an ongoing saga on the Tonight Show. One day out of the clear blue sky, Jimmy decided he was going to buy a truck. He didn't know which one to buy so he asked people for advice. Recently he decided on a type and now it's just a matter of going to a dealership to buy it.

But not so fast!

Instead of the conventional route, he's made a contest out of it. He has a group of car salesman touching the truck he wants to buy and whoever keeps their hand on the truck for the longest period of time is the person he's going to buy from.

And the action is streaming live:



I think this is a first for my blog. As far as I can remember, this is the first live streaming video I've ever posted.

By the way, I avoided posting the ongoing story of the truck because it just seems like it has to be a commercial. Fallon has said that he's not getting paid for this but I find that very hard to believe considering how much airtime and attention they've given to such an "every man" purchase... and the number of times he's mentioned the make and model whilst showing the ad photo. Call me cynical, I guess.

The Tonight Show - The Sixers' Losing Streak

The 76ers tied an NBA record by losing 26 games in a row and Jimmy has some fun with it in his monologue.



Incidentally, they could only tie the record, they couldn't break it. On Saturday, the 76ers beat the Detroit Pistons easily to end the streak.

MST3K to Return to TV (In a Way, Maybe)

As you probably already know, after "Mystery Science Theater 3000" was cancelled, Mike Nelson took the essence of the show online in the form of Rifftrax. As the online "show" has become more popular, a TV version felt somewhat inevitable. And so it isn't too surprising that a three episode Rifftrax TV show will begin airing April 1st. What is surprising, however, is that according to Zap2it, the robots Crow and Tom Servo will be returning. The article doesn't say whether Mike Nelson will be reprising his role as Mike Nelson.

Little else is known about the show except the word is that it's going to be mocking TV programming rather than movies.

First off, the prospect of the robots returning is huge. That's the part that would really make it feel like a MST3K comeback. The main reason that's so exciting is because it's so surprising. A word of warning: I have a feeling that the article is simply getting that part wrong, unfortunately. That's a copyright issue.

Only 3 episodes? According to Charlie Bucket, it's not enough. But the main thing is, if it goes well, it opens the door for the possibility of a real series.

Watch for all three 1-hour episodes of the show "Total Riff Off" on the National Geographic Channel (I have to check to see if I get that) starting at 8PM on April 1st.

The Tonight Show - Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon is on the show to promote his show "The Following" and it just so happens to be the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie "Footloose".

Here's where it gets a little strange though. Apropos of nothing, Jimmy reveals that there's a Tonight Show rule that dancing is not allowed. It's unclear whether he just declared that himself or if it was a pre-existing rule but either way, dancing is against the rules. So then this happens...

Youtube Irony

I can't really explain this without giving it away so I'll just say here's some irony via youtube (or maybe "serendipity" is a better word):



Incidentally, the interviewer at the beginning is Steve Merchant, co-creator of The Office.

Peanuts Teaser Trailer

This caught me by surprise...



Let's face it, there are a million ways that they'll screw this up... but for the time being, I'm excited.

The Tonight Show - Ice Cream Date

When the monologue turns to the subject of Tinder, the whole show takes a slight detour...



Later in the show we got a small update on the date but it was still very vague and I'm not sure of the situation. I was wondering about the girl to her right. She seemed to be with them and was left alone but Jimmy didn't inquire about the full story.

Movie Review: The Bridge (2006)

The Bridge (2006)

The Golden Gate Bridge is the suicide "capitol of the world". Documentary filmmakers filmed it for a year, capturing actual suicide footage and then interviewed the friends and family members of the deceased to learn their story. The film is the fullest exploration of suicide I've ever seen - it explores mental illness, the causes of suicide, the warning signs and the pain that's left for the living.

The most harrowing story (and the one that made me watch the movie) is a man who decides to kill himself and realizes he's made a huge mistake the second his hands let go. It's absolutely chilling. But he survives to tell others his experience.

Obviously, with this subject matter, the movie is extremely intense. It's an experience that's not for everyone... and it's not something that I'm going to watch on repeat... but it is well made and powerful.

8.5/10.

2014 Cardboard Classic

Preston and Steve's tradition continues... the 2014 Cardboard Classic. People create sleds out of nothing but cardboard, tape and glue and then ride them down a ski slope.

IMDB 250 - Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

This movie is 3 hours, 44 Minutes and 29 Seconds long. Feel free to stop reading the review now because that pretty much tells you all you need to know.

"Lagaan" is a movie about an Indian town in colonial times who challenges the Evil British to a game of cricket. If the villagers win (in a game they don't know anything about) they will not have to pay the back-breaking taxes levied on them. If they lose, they'll have to pay triple.

I say "The Evil British" because the movie makes sure to avoid all nuance and subtlety. The Good Guy is good all the time and is never not good. The Bad Guy is a mustache twirling baddy who has no redeeming qualities. In one of his first scenes, the main bad guy ("Captain Evil") meets a vegetarian and makes him eat meat. But it's against his religion, the man protests, and besides what does Captain Evil even get out of it? Nothing, but he's just pure evil and, as we need to keep the movie under 4 hours, he needs to be established as pure evil.

Following the Good Guy everywhere is the terrifically attractive Love Interest who makes her affections obvious. The Good Guy doesn't seem to notice or care. What is he thinking? Will they ever be together? Then mid-way through the movie he declares that he loves the Love Interest. Why did he not say anything before this? Because that wouldn't be contrived enough for this story.

Of course the movie ends with the climactic BIG GAME... The Big Game... of Cricket. In between song and dance numbers, the movie packs in every cliche from every terrible sports movie ever made by humans. Heightening the action slightly is that it's cricket and I have no idea what's going on. At the midway point of the match the score is 273-3 and it's not looking good for our heroes but there's always a chance that they'll make a miraculous comeback. And at that point in the movie, I knew I was nearing the end and looked at the time... still an hour left. Have you ever "neared" the end of a movie and there was still an entire hour left to go?! I have.

4/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 380.

Freestylin' with The Roots #1

For the first time on The Tonight Show, it's time to freestyle with The Roots:

Randy Newman & The Roots

Randy Newman was on the Tonight Show and used The Roots as his backing band. With a nod to the fact that The Tonight Show has moved from L.A. to New York, they performed "I Love L.A."

Randy Newman's songs are famously sarcastic but "I Love L.A."

Embedding doesn't seem to work but you can see the video here.

IMDB 250 - Underground (1995)

Underground (1995)

My first impression watching "Underground" was that it reminded me a lot of "Black Cat, White Cat" and it turned out that it has the same director. So that's a private victory for me.

"Underground" is a Yugoslavian film that follows a group of characters from the beginning of World War II, to the end of the war, through the Cold War until the Yugoslav Wars. It doesn't play the comedy as comedy or tragedy as tragedy, it simply presents life as a series of strange, chaotic and unpredictable events.

I feel I've been saying things like "it's not a bad movie, it just didn't do anything for me" way too often lately. So, I'll skip that. It doesn't help that as charming as some of this movie is, it's almost 3 hours long. I remember liking "Black Cat White Cat" though.

5/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 379.

IMDB 250 - Rush (2013)

Rush (2013)



I'm definitely not a racing fan myself and so I was excited to see "Rush" as an interesting peek into that world. I'll put aside the fact that "I don't get it" and see if the movie depiction of Formula 1 racing can communicate the excitement of the sport, the adrenaline-pumping speed and the reason it stirs so much passion in the fans. The obvious equivalent is "Days of Thunder", of course. I can't stand NASCAR but still really enjoy watching that movie.

But the definitive movie about indie car racing doesn't really focus on indie car racing (or focus enough for my taste). The movie is a true story about two rival drivers (James Hunt and Niki Lauda) from the seventies. In the first half of the movie we see them attracting women, we see them wooing women, we see them getting married, we see things go badly and the divorce that follows. Why should we care about any of this? Show us the racing, show us what makes these people special, show us why they're the best. On that front, the movie is content to resort to exposition - they just put "James wins" on the screen in nice titles.

The second half of the movie steps it up a little bit with some nice racing sequences but overall I don't care about either of these characters, I don't care how many women they've been with and, even going into it with no knowledge of the sport, I really didn't learn anything about Formula One. It made it into the Top 250 though. So, like Formula One itself, certainly some people out there must be enjoying it but I don't get it at all.

4/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 378.

Late Night - Episode #2

Can you imagine if I posted a review for every episode of Late Night? Don't worry.

Just a few notes. It's only the second episode and still it was a huge improvement over the first. The monologue was much more conversational and the yelling has been almost completely eliminated. It seemed he still had a tendency to attempt it and had to consciously make an effort to ratchet it back.

The comedy piece was one where "audience members" stand up and start complaining about the show to Seth. Sure, it's not a groundbreaking concept but it was pleasantly reminiscent of Conan's Late Night.

The first guest was Kanye West - a notoriously tricky interview but it was handled well.

Overall, much, much, better. I still have to question whether I really want to commit to three talk shows every weekday but it's at least more tempting than it was yesterday. There's definite potential here.

Tonight Show - Lip Sync Battle #1

They did it once (or twice?) on the old show but this is the first time for The Tonight Show: Jimmy Fallon vs. Paul Rudd in a lip sync battle.

IMDB 250 - Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

As the title suggests, this is a dog story. It's a "G Rated" "Family Film" that's appropriate for the family of all ages.

I went into it quite cynically. Family films rarely make it into the IMDB 250 and this one I'd never even heard of before. Ever. Could it really be that good if it's been out for three years and I've never even heard of it?

The first half is an exercise in formula. Through some sort of mix up a man (Richard Gere) finds a lost puppy. The puppy is about the cutest puppy ever and yet he simply can't find anyone else to take him and nobody comes forth to claim him. So he keeps him despite his wife's disapproval. And, of course, the puppy gets into all sorts of mischief.

But while we've seen the first half in movies before, the second half takes a turn that is a "different take" on things. And even going into it with arms folded, it did get to me. You know how it is... If you've ever owned a dog or simply like dogs or have any feeling towards any animal whatsoever, I think you'd have to be made of stone not to (at the very least) well up at this movie. And it's safe to say I'm definitely not made of stone.

7.8/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 377.

The Late Night Premiere

The first episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers premiered tonight and the future is uncertain.

Late night talk shows almost always start slow, they almost always take time to find their groove and get the proper footing. So I don't think anyone can predict anything from just the first show. However it did have noticeable weaknesses.

What should have been the obvious strength of the show was a huge weakness. Seth Meyers comes from the "Weekend Update" desk at Saturday Night Live so making jokes about the news is second nature at this point. But that's also the problem. The monologue is supposed to be direct communication to the audience - it's supposed to be conversational - Seth belted out the jokes in exactly the same "fake newscaster" style that he's been doing on "Weekend Update". Everything he said sounded like yelling and the jokes suffered. That's an easy fix though so hopefully it happens.

Over to desk chat: more yell-talking. The band is also a bit strange, one of the members is Fred Armisen (which would be a bonus) but there's some strange arrangement where he's going to be in the band some of the time but often leave to do other things, I don't know how it works. The comedy was standard cheap late night stuff but at least he stopped yelling for them. The interviews (Amy Poehler and Joe Biden) were fine if a little low on energy.

And that's the show. In summary, it felt like Steps 1-5 on how to do a talk show. It's as if they're simply going through the motions of filling up network time with no passion for originality or personality. I want to emphasize again that the long-term success of a talk show is just about impossible to predict. But right now the point is more about whether I'm suitably interested in following it nightly. I don't see anything to grab onto thus far.

As of now the episode isn't available online. When it is, you'll find it here.

Edit: To be totally fair to the new Late Night, my viewing of it may have been affected by the news that I may have just lost a large sum of money. That isn't good for entertainment, surely. That's a whole other story. You can watch the show and decide for yourself anyway.

IMDB 250 - Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010)

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010)

"Elite Squad: The Enemy Within". If you're like me, that title sends a shiver of awfulness up your spine. Well, I can tell you it isn't as bad as the title suggests. It's a Brazilian movie and the title is probably just a matter of translation.

"Elite Squad: beh beh behbeh" examines crime and corruption within Rio de Janeiro at all levels. Drugs and guns are rampant, the police are thoroughly corrupt and the people who command them (the government) are criminals themselves. The gangs are out of control and so the police employ extremely draconian measures to fight back... which makes them ever more unpopular with the people they're supposed to protect. There is seemingly no end to the city's problems and no solution in sight.

"Elite Squad: etc, etc" is more about events than characters and has an almost constant stream of world-weary narration. It's gritty, it's violent, it's "action-packed". It's actually well made and well acted. But it's one of those movies that's not bad, but also didn't interest me in any way. There was no point where I cared about what happened. Thus, the two hour running time seemed like an eternity.

5/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 376.

Serious Jibber-Jabber - Ken Burns

Conan sits down and talks to Documentarian Ken Burns ("The Civil War", "Baseball", "Lewis and Clark", etc.) about speeches, Lincoln, Presidential History and the history of our nation.

I've said this about other interviews in the past but I'll say it again because it's true.... an hour-long interview with a Documentarian is a big commitment but it really is worth it. It's a great interview.

IMDB 250 - Three Colors: Red (1994)

Three Colors: Red (1994)

"Three Colors: Red" feels like the quintessential foreign movie. It's slow, deliberate, nothing but conversation and it deals with weighty philosophical ideas. It's also a French language film set in Switzerland and has a Polish Director.

A model in Geneva hits a dog with her car and looks for the owner. She finds the owner is a retired Judge who now spends his time listening in to his neighbors phone conversations. She's disgusted but also clearly drawn to the man and attempts to know him.

Although this movie is from 1994, it looks like it's from 1984. It looks and feels like Director Krzysztof Piesiewicz's other work "The Decalogue". That's not a criticism exactly, just an observation. In fact, I liked "The Decalogue" so much that I enjoy it. It must be a particular camera or type of film he used.

"Red" is part of a trilogy in which some of the characters in one movie show up in the other two. There's also a suggestion that some of the characters are actually the same character, but at a different point in time. The "Three Colors" trilogy, and this film, are about the interconnectedness of all of our lives and about the way all of our lives are disconnected as well. And it's all up to chance, destiny or serendipity as to which lives touch which others.

8/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 375.

Conan Delivers Flowers

For Valentine's Day Conan helps deliver flowers. Though some people call it "Valenties Day".

Conan's hair is outta control in this one. It's like Catherine O'Hara in "Waiting for Guffman".

Tonight Show - Brian Williams Raps

Jimmy Fallon is back with another episode of "Brian Williams Raps" and this one is extra special. You gotta love "Rapper's Delight", everyone loves "Rapper's Delight". It's basically the law.