Posts Tagged NBC

Shows Cancelled Too Soon: 2007′s Journeyman

Posted by admin in episodic TV, streaming video on January 15, 2010

Another series partially hurt by the Writer’s Strike of 2007, but mostly canceled due to low ratings, was 2007′s Journeyman. While the show, about an unwilling time traveler (played by Kevin McKidd) and its impact on his family, only last 13 episodes, it’s a delightfully far-reaching 13 episodes. Set in San Francisco, in one episode toward the end of the 13-episode run, they even deal with the 1989 earthquake. Despite its limited run, I loved how the show explored family dynamics, like an adult son’s sense of abandonment (from when his father left the family) coupled with his fear that his time-traveling would force him to abandon his own son.

The casting of Reed Diamond as McKidd’s brother was an amazing bit of casting–as they looked like they could be brothers.

It’s unlikely to ever be released on DVD, but fortunately Hulu hosts the entire 13-episode run.

To get you started, here’s the pilot.

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Les Paul’s Passing Teaches Me About Mary Ford

Posted by admin in Music on August 13, 2009

Try as I might, I cannot absorb all the information in the world. I was reminded of this fact when I read Les Paul’s obituary today. While reading the obituary I learned about Paul’s former wife, Mary Ford, a vocalist who performed with him.

While she died in 1977 (long before I knew to appreciate music or the past), I have lucked out in a sense, because in 1977 laptops and the Internet were nowhere close to existing. So today, when I popped Mary Ford’s name into a search engine, I quickly gained access to 11 episodes of The Les Paul Show (featuring Ford) as well as some YouTube clips.

Paul deserves every bit of praise he gets in the coming days. But I hope one or two folks take a moment to remember his late former wife as well.

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NBC, Hulu and Letterman: How Long Before…

Posted by admin in late night TV on May 22, 2008

So I swung by Hulu.com the other evening and on a lark, I did a search for Letterman to see if they had anything. Much to my surprise they had a documentary (my term, not theirs, and I use this term quite loosely) called Early Dave: The Letterman Tapes (1978-1993). It’s a mixture of Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Tom Snyder and other NBC interviews with Dave, not really a documentary.

They are tightly edited, sometimes annoying so. For example, one Snyder interview they do has Dave along with Merrill Markoe and other folks–whom you never see. Letterman refers to Markoe at one point in the interview, that’s the only way I know, because they edit her bits completely out. Markoe, I dare say, is as funny as Letterman at times and I’m annoyed she was edited out of the piece.

It’s vintage Dave, shown driving his old pick-up truck to his gigs to substitute for Carson. Dave doing a stand-up routine. A tour of his new home, where you can see his beloved dog, Bob, is another interesting bit. A 1970s era Johnny Carson associate Fred de Cordova (with baseball cap no less)  talking to Letterman before a taping of the Tonight Show. Later we see a clip of Letterman talking to Mariette Hartley about his morning show for NBC (I forgot he got a whole 90 minutes with that show…) and an upcoming feature on the show called Stupid Pet Tricks (still in its infancy, I believe). It’s a fun romp leading up to Brokaw’s interview with Letterman on the night of his last NBC show.

I was surprised to find this on Hulu, given that as a Universal property in some ways it is very much an NBC product. And more importantly, while I know Carson had the rights to his Tonight Show (meaning unless the estate/company makes a deal, it will not be showing up on Hulu), was this an effort by NBC to test the waters and ultimately start offering Letterman’s old NBC shows on Hulu?

Part of me would love to see that, but I’m sure it would irk Dave to no end. Maybe I’m wrong on both counts. We’ll have to wait and see. Either way, be sure to check out the documentary for vintage and I do mean vintage Letterman. I would love to know what producer thought it a good idea to have Today show host Jane Pauley interview Letterman while the both sat on an inactive merry go-round…

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