| THE BOOTLEG FILES: "EUNICE" | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:53:43 PM by Blog57 Team | | One of the most enjoyable aspects of writing The Bootleg Files is to hear from readers with inquiries and suggestions about possible titles to profile. This weeks column came about thanks to Sherman FitzSimmons, who pointed me towards an obscure made-for-television production called Eunice. Eunice is based on the long-running sketch The Family that was part of The Carol Burnett Show. Set in a small Southern town, it focused on an acutely dysfunctional relationship between the strident Eunice (Burnett), her loutish husband Ed (Harvey Korman) and her exasperating mother, Thelma Harper (Vicki Lawrence), who everyone referred to solely as Mama. During the run of The Carol Burnett Show, Eunice was given three siblings played by Betty White, Roddy McDowall and Alan Alda.... | |
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| | | Get It Tuesday | DVDs and games | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 11:40:35 AM by Blog57 Team | | CARS (Walt Disney Video, $29.99): The first bona fide disappointment from the geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles), Cars is the only Pixar movie so far that you don't feel like watching again the moment it's over. Set in a world much like our own, except without any life forms present other than cars, the movie suffers from an insurmountable problem: No matter how ingeniously anthropomorphized, automobiles are difficult to warm up to as anything other than transportation devices. The film bears all the hallmarks that have made Pixar famous -- deft characterizations, witty humor, resonant plotting and wondrous, eye-popping visuals -- but this time, the elements don't coalesce into a truly satisfying picture. LITTLE MAN (Sony Pictures, $28.95): The Wayans clan returns with this comedy about a man (Shawn Wayans) who mistakes a height-challenged ex-con (Marlon Wayans, playing small with the help of special effects) as his adopted son.... | |
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| | | Frankie Valli To Collect Niaf Lifetime Achievement Award | | Posted Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:18:56 AM by Blog57 Team | | Veteran singer FRANKIE VALLI will be presented with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Lifetime Achievement Award on 21 October (06). The GREASE star will collect his honour at the NIAF's 31st Anniversary Awards Gala at Hilton Washington + Towers in Washington DC. The night before (20OCT06) the ceremony, Valli will perform at the hotel with his group THE FOUR SEASONS. Elsewhere at the awards event, late actress ANNE BANCROFT will be posthumously inducted into the NIAF Italian American Hall Of Fame. Her film-maker husband MEL BROOKS will pick up the award, which will be presented by actor ALAN ALDA, on her behalf. 11/10/2006 20:02 .... | |
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| | | This week on reality TV | | Posted Thursday, October 05, 2006 7:09:39 AM by Blog57 Team | | It's tough to complain about a reality TV schedule that includes an ethnically diverse melting pot of castaways, Jerry Springer doing a little soft-shoe, Xena Warrior Princess singing '80s power ballads and a one-legged amazing racer. And yet, we still find a way. Because we're just that good. Survivor: Cook Islands (Thursday at 8 p.m. on Global and CBS): Last week's hug-infested reshuffling of Survivor's four racially divided groups into two mixed tribes has put an end to the race war hoo-ha for the time being. Pfft. All that fuss, and not even one machete fight to show for it? Still, you have to admit it's a colourful cast of characters this season, and I don't mean the pleasing rainbow of skin hues. How long before naive rollergirl Flicka lives up to her horsey nickname and gets shipped off to the glue factory? Will Parvati's giggling and eyelash-batting win over Nate? And doesn't Jonathan sound weirdly like Alan Alda? Last week, Candice learned of ousted Billy's baffling declaration of love, Parvati continued to establish herself as the tribal slut, Yul revealed to Becky that he found the individual immunity idol on Exile Island (bad idea, dude) and Cecilia got blindsided by her tribe and was voted off.... | |
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| | | LET'S TRAVEL BACK TO DAY ONE | | Posted Saturday, September 23, 2006 7:15:58 AM by Blog57 Team | | IF you didn't read yesterday's column - and why I even speak to you if you didn't, I don't know - I mentioned that today, this very day, marks my 25th year at the New York Post. My very very first column was Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1981. In those days, I wrote three a week. It graduated to five, and when the paper expanded to a Sunday edition I added a sixth. I hereby reprise that first column. So, any speedreader-type who thinks today's is an up-to-the-minute, right-on-top-of-things modern column, forget it. It's from Sept. 15, 1981: Jacqueline Onassis is into chopped liver. Real kosher chopped liver. Buys it off a classy Madison Avenue emporium . . . Egypt has beefed up the security surrounding Farah Pahlavi, Iran's once-upon-an Empress . . . Drums along the Potomac say ex-Congresswife Rita Jenrette and comedian Dan Ackroyd are playing games like "Spin the Bottle." Biographer Kitty Kelley's vivisection of Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner, which won't be published until Oct.... | |
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| | | Alan Alda Was Shocked To Win Another Emmy | | Posted Sunday, September 10, 2006 9:24:10 PM by Blog57 Team | | Alan Alda was stunned when he won his sixth Emmy last month because he was so sure he wouldn't win that he went on a family holiday to Europe and skipped the ceremony. The actor decided to go ahead with plans for a family vacation, even after learning the ceremony had been moved to August from its traditional slot in September. He talked about his win today on Live With Regis And Kelly saying, "I'm so thrilled by this. I'm so happy. I swear to God, if I were Tom Cruise and you were a couch, I would jump up and down on you! It made me so happy and I couldn't be there. My daughter planned a trip to Europe months and months ago and it was her children's first time seeing Europe. I didn't want to miss that. "I knew that in August they didn't have the Emmys, so we'd be safe.... | |
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| | | '24' wins Emmy as best drama, 'The Office' as best comedy | | Posted Saturday, September 02, 2006 11:27:07 AM by Blog57 Team | | LOS ANGELES - The groundbreaking action series "24," which turns one dangerous day into a season, found a satisfying end Sunday as it won three Emmys, including for best drama series and best actor for star Kiefer Sutherland. "The Office" was honored as best comedy. One Emmy front-runner, sexy medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," was shut out in the awards. "Every once in a while you'll have an evening that just reminds you that you're given too much and this is that evening," Sutherland said. "This experience on '24' has been nothing but remarkable for me." Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and Julia Louis-Dreyfus of the freshman comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine" struck Emmy gold with lead actress awards for drama and comedy, respectively.... | |
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| | | ALDA STUNNED BY WEST WING SUCCESS | | Posted Sunday, August 27, 2006 9:12:32 AM by Blog57 Team | | Veteran actor ALAN ALDA was stunned presidential drama THE WEST WING attracted so many viewers, because he didn't realise how many Americans were quick-witted enough to understand the dialogue. The former M.A.S.H. star, 70, was a fan of the NBC White House show for many years before he was invited to play Senator ARNOLD VINICK in 2004, but admits he found it hard to keep up with the programme's snappy dialogue. He says, "They talk too fast - it's so dense. "I don't understand how eight million people are so glued to it and could follow it. "I was proud of my country that so many people could get into it." 21/08/2006 20:06 .... | |
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| | | Skin care for natural, radiant baby boomers | | Posted Monday, August 21, 2006 7:16:32 PM by Blog57 Team | | Because this is a story about Lauren Hutton's eponymous makeup line, we'll begin with the question inevitably asked of cosmetics moguls: If you were marooned on a desert island, what three makeup items would you most want with you? "If I were on a desert island, I wouldn't be wearing makeup," responds this maverick model-actress-amateur-anthropologist in her distinctively husky voice. "When I travel to Africa and places like that, I don't take makeup with me." So what would she want on that island? "Books. Pencil and paper. And someone to love," she says. "A man. A beautiful, exotic man." Hutton launched her makeup and skin-care collection on the Home Shopping Network four years ago. The market was crowded with cosmetics, so why go up against all that competition? "Because it's what I know very, very, very well," says Hutton, 62.... | |
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| | | You choose the winners of the Emmy Awards | | Posted Tuesday, August 15, 2006 9:13:43 PM by Blog57 Team | | Will Kevin James beat out Steve Carell for best actor in a comedy series? Will NBC's West Wing trounce ABC's Grey's Anatomy in the best drama category? We'd love to know which shows and actors you think will win an Emmy Award this year. Please tell us your picks for the winners in the top categories. We'll publish the results of your votes Aug. 27 (the day the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be aired) - along with the picks of our TV critic, David Zurawik. .... | |
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