The Couch Potato Report - September 27th
This week The Couch Potato Report is still only doing a summary.
BUT, this is the last week for that! Starting next week the full Couch Potato Report will return!!!
I know what you are thinking, "didn't Dan write that last week?" Well, the answer is yes. Soon I will need to get back into my regular routine, but this week I spent the time I would normally writing reading books and playing PSP.
Am I slacking off? Perhaps. Am I still locked out and making the best of a bad situation? Definitely!
For now, please bare with me, bear with me even, and enjoy these summaries:
Up first is FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY. This is a direct-to-DVD release and is being promoted as a FAMILY GUY movie. In actuality it is three unaired episodes of the hilarious TV show edited together.
That said, since it is a direct-to-DVD release, the "film" includes words, phrases and things that they can't do on TV.
PLUS, as I mentioned, they are unaired episodes!!!!!!
Creator Seth MacFarlane has said that FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY is sort of a gift to the fans who helped get his show back on the air.
So those fans will enjoy it, in fact they will love it.
Especially the segment that features Stewie as Saddam Hussein in a worm hole. It is priceless!
Anyone who is a non-convert to the show won't become a fan because of FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY, but if you are already a fan, enjoy Seth's gift!
A few years ago the good people at Blue Sky Studios gave us the gift of a great film called ICE AGE.
This year they follow that wonderful piece of animation with another one. This one is called ROBOTS and while it isn't as good at it's predecessor, it is still pretty darn entertaining!
The round, bouncy, and ramshackle forms of hero Rodney Copperbottom and his computer-animated friends are part of an ornate and weird world. A world you won't mind visiting!
Rodney (voiced by Ewan McGregor) is a young inventor who sets off for Robot City to work for Big Weld (Mel Brooks), the supreme inventor of the mechanical world. But upon his arrival, Rodney discovers that Big Weld has disappeared, and the slick, shiny Ratchet (Greg Kinnear, As Good As It Gets) is phasing out the spare parts that lumpen robots need to function and replacing them with "upgrades"--expensive and glistening new exoskeletons.
ROBOTS also featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and many, many more.
And it is very, very fun!!
So is the hilarious, direct-to-DVD release FAMILY GUY PRESENTS STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY!
That film, and ROBOTS, are both available now at a store near you.
Coming up in the next Couch Potato Report is the return of full reviews (I really, really hope) including my comments on:
Nicole Kidman's work in THE INTERPRETER. She has been terrible in the many remakes she has done and I will tell you if she is any better in this film about a UN translator who overhears assassination plot. Sean Penn also stars.
The names of the people who starred in the 1950 Disney film CINDERELLA are Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, and Verna Felton.
Their work has helped the film stand the test of time and now there is the CINDERELLA SPECIAL PLATINUM EDITION available for you to share with your family.
I'm Dan Reynish, enjoy whatever you choose to watch and I'll meet you back here next week on The Couch!
And here's a list of notable TV-on-DVD titles coming your way this fall:
27 September:
Gilmore Girls – The Complete Fourth Season
Hogan's Heroes – The Complete Second Season
Star Trek Enterprise – The Complete Third Season
Law & Order Special Victims Unit 2
SpongeBob SquarePants – Season Three
Creature Comforts – The Complete First Season
The Amazing Race – The Complete First Season
4 October:
Stargate SG-1: Season Eight
The Bob Newhart Show: Season Two
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season One
11 October:
Veronica Mars: Season One
South Park: Season Six
Arrested Development: Season Two
18 October:
CSI New York: Season One
25 October:
Alias: Season Four
The L Word: Season Two
Point Pleasant: The Complete Series
Hart to Hart: Season One
In Living Color: Season Four
Tales from the Crypt: Season Two
Bewitched: Season Two
1 November:
Sex and the City: The Complete Series
Star Trek Enterprise: Season Four
8 November:
The White Shadow: Season One
Beavis & Butt-head Vol. 1: The Mike Judge Collection
15 November:
Friends: Season Ten
The Oprah Winfrey Show: 20 th Anniversary DVD Collection
Fantasy Island: Season One
Stargate Atlantis: Season One
Charmed: Season Three
That ‘70s Show: Season Three
Scrubs: Season Two
22 November:
Seinfeld: Seasons Five and Six
The Golden Girls: Season Three
Home Improvement: Season Three
Leave it to Beaver: Season One
The Andy Griffith Show: Season Four
29 November:
Family Guy: Season Three
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Season Five
6 December:
24: Season Four
M*A*S*H: Season Nine
Full House: Season Two The West Wing: Season Five
13 December:
The Dukes of Hazzard: Season Five
Gilmore Girls: Season Five
20 December:
ER: Season Four
The Amazing Race: Season Seven
27 December:
The Shield: Season Four
Bizkit, Blink 182 Look Back With Retrospectives
Rock radio mainstays Limp Bizkit and Blink 182 will look back on their careers with upcoming Geffen "best of" retrospectives, each of which will be issued in tandem with a separate DVD of music videos. Bizkit's "Greatest Hits" is due Nov. 8 and features three previously unreleased songs, while a similarly titled Blink 182 album will arrive a week earlier.
In addition to hits like "Nookie," "Rollin'," "Break Stuff" and "N 2 Gether Now," the Bizkit collection includes the unheard tracks "Lean on Me" and "Why," plus an as-yet-untitled "mash-up" of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" and the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony."
No tracks are featured from Bizkit's recent EP, "The Unquestionable Truth," which failed to make much of a dent on the Billboard charts. The seven-song release debuted at No. 24 on The Billboard 200 and fell of the chart after just four weeks. It has sold 83,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
As for Blink 182, its "Greatest Hits" sports two bonus items: "Not Now" (an outtake from its 2003 self-titled album) and "Another Girl Another Planet," which serves as the theme to the MTV reality show "Meet the Barkers," starring Blink drummer Travis Barker.
The pop/punk trio announced in February that it was going on an "indefinite hiatus" and has yet to reveal any plans to begin working together again.
Larger Than Life: Biggie, Marley Duet On New Song
Even in death, rapper Notorious B.I.G. continues to surprise. The artist, who died in a March 1997 shooting, "duets" with fellow deceased music legend Bob Marley on a new single, "Hold Ya Hand," which is available today (Sept. 26) from AOL Music. It will also appear on "The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter," due Nov. 29 via Bad Boy.
"Hold Ya Hand" was produced by Clinton Sparks and includes a sample of Marley's "Johnny Was." The rest of the album is still coming together, although Bad Boy promises participation from "some of music's greatest vocalists and MCs" and "the industry's top producers."
The project will also include a DVD with previously unreleased Biggie performance footage, interviews and music videos.
Like fellow gunned-down rapper Tupac Shakur, Biggie remains the subject of fascination. As previously reported, director Antoine Fuqua is planning a big-budget biopic about the rapper, which is expected to begin production early next year.
Last year, Bad Boy released an expanded, 10th anniversary edition of Biggie's debut, "Ready To Die," which featured the evergreen singles "Juicy," "One More Chance" and "Big Poppa."
Coming back for seconds, thirds...
After three smash American Pie movies, the film's producers figure fans are up for a fourth slice.
But American Pie: Band Camp won't arrive in theaters; it's going direct to DVD. And only Eugene Levy remains from the original cast of the hit comedy franchise.
For movies that have developed fan bases through several theatrical sequels, direct-to-DVD versions can be a cost-effective way to wring more dollars out of an established movie franchise.
Producer Martin Bregman, whose Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, the prequel to 1993 Carlito's Way, arrives on DVD Tuesday, says that with rising production costs and star salaries, "in many cases a film will go directly to DVD because it's simply a more profitable situation for a studio."
Carlito's Way had a budget of $30 million, vs. $9 million for Carlito's Way: Rise to Power.
Direct-to-DVD sequels — which generally don't have the stars who carried the original films or the budgets — were once limited to animated films, horror and sci-fi franchises. Now, thrillers, dramas and comedies are getting the treatment.
"It's all about the story," says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, which is distributing Carlito's Way: Rise to Power. "The quality is higher, and the films we are choosing are ones that really found their audience in a massive way through DVD."
The American Pie trilogy took in $351.2 million in theaters and sold millions of DVDs, Kornblau notes, while a special-edition DVD of Scarface - like Carlito's Way, a modern gangster film produced by Martin Bregman — generated more than $100 million in consumer spending, twice its theatrical gross.
Some films don't warrant a full-blown theatrical release; the cost for making prints of a movie, plus advertising it, now average $34.4 million, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
Home video "is a $24 billion (a year) business," Kornblau says. "And yet there is very little content made only for this business."
Bregman says many adults prefer watching movies on DVD to going to theaters. "A good movie is a good movie, regardless of where it's shown."
Luis Guzman, who was in the original theatrical Carlito's Way and stars in the prequel, agrees.
"As an actor, sure, there's nothing like walking into a theater and sitting in the back and seeing how the audience reacts to a movie you've done.
"But at the same time, for me, there's nothing like being able to sit home with my family and watch an awesome movie right there on DVD. Technology has made it possible to have a home theater system in your living room that's just as good as going to the movies."
------ Familiar titles, different faces
Direct-to-DVD sequels often don't have the same stars as the originals. Details of some upcoming releases:
Out Tuesday, Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (Universal, $27), actually a prequel, finds Jay Hernandez (Ladder 49, Friday Night Lights) portraying a young Carlito Brigante, played by Al Pacino in the 1993 original. Luis Guzman plays hit man Nacho Reyes.
On Oct. 25, Single White Female 2: The Psycho (Columbia TriStar, $25), a sequel to the 1992 movie about roomates gone bad, stars Brooke Burns (TV's North Shore) and Kristen Miller (Team America: World Police).
On Nov. 11, 8mm2 (Sony, $25), a sequel to the 1999 snuff-movie thriller that starred Nicolas Cage, arrives.
On Dec. 27, American Pie: Band Camp (Universal, price not set) focuses on Steve Stifler's little brother, Matt, played by newcomer Tad Hilgenbrinck. Eugene Levy, the only major cast member from the three previous movies returning for this, plays a camp counselor.
In 2006, a sequel to the 1994 bull-riding movie 8 Seconds is due, as is a sequel to the 2004 thriller The Butterfly Effect, and a fifth House Party, the second sequel to the urban comedy to go direct to DVD.
NEW CD RELEASES FOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2005
The 69 Eyes Devils (456 Enterprises)
Abandoned Pools Armed to the Teeth (Universal)
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals Jacksonville City Nights (Mercury Nashville)
Ashton Allen Dewdrops (High Wire Music)
Rusty Anderson (Paul McCartney guitarist) Undressing Underwater (guests Paul McCartney, Stewart Copeland and more) (Surf Dog)
B-Legit Block Movement (two CDs) (SMC)
Jello Biafra and the Melvins Sieg Howdy (Alternative Tentacles)
Eric Bibb A Ship Called Love (Telarc)
Big Star In Space (new album) (Rykodisc)
Biology Making Moves (Vagrant)
Bizzy Bone Speaking in Tongues (845 Entertainment)
Black My Heart Before the Devil and The Fuck Hearts EP (Eulogy)
Blackalicious The Craft (guests George Clinton, Floetry, Lateef and Lyrics Born) (Epitaph)
Bloodhound Gang Hefty Fine (Geffen)
Bone a Fide Soul Lounge (Heads Up)
Toni Braxton Libra (Universal Motown)
Junior Brown The Austin Experience (Telarc)
Bump J Nothing to Lose (w/songs produced by Kanye West and one featuring Rick James) (Atlantic)
Calla Collisions (Beggars Banquet)
Bruce Campbell Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (Rykodisc)
Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard guitarist) Two Sides of If (Sanctuary)
James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Reginald Veal and Ali Jackson Gold Sounds (Brown Brothers)
The Casanovas The Casanovas (IRock Entertainment)
Ray Cash C.O.D. (Cash on Delivery) (Columbia)
Tom Chapin Some Assembly Required (Razor & Tie)
Craig Chaquico Holiday (Higher Octave)
Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart Love Is Here to Stay (duet album of standards from mother/son team) (Blue Note)
Cher The Farewell Tour (UMD format) (Image)
Cherish the Ladies Woman of the House (Rounder)
Cherryholmes Cherryholmes (Skaggs Family)
Bruce Cockburn Speechless (instrumental album) (Rounder)
Code Red All Aboard (Toucan Cove)
Milton Creagh Spoken (Thump)
Criteria En Garde (reissue of 2003 debut album) (Saddle Creek)
Sheryl Crow Wildflower (Deluxe Edition available same day) (Interscope)
Carlene Davis Rock Me Jesus (VP)
Default One Thing Remains (TVT)
The Detroit Cobras Baby (enhanced CD; includes import-only EP plus new R&B covers album; w/songs by Isaac Hayes, Bobby Womack and more) (Bloodshot)
Dion Bronx in Blue (Orchard)
DJ Jazzy Jeff The Soul Mixtape (Groovin)
The East Village Opera Company (performs rock versions of classic opera) The East Village Opera Company (Decca)
Michael Feinstein with George Shearing Hopeless Romantics (Concord)
Renée Fleming Sacred Songs (Decca)
Freeway Free at Last (Def Jam)
Lafayette Gilchrist Toward the Shining Path (Hyena)
Grace Gale A Few Easy Steps to Secure Heli-Camel Safety (Blackout!)
Grandaddy Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP (V2)
Gryphon Crossing the Styles (two CDs) (Sanctuary)
H.I.M. Dark Light (Sire)
Zac Harmon The Blues According to Zachariah (Bluestone)
The High Strung Moxie Bravo (Future Farmer)
HIM Dark Light (Sire)
Hinder Extreme Behavior (Universal)
Hogg Boss It's All Boss (Avatar)
I Am the Avalanche I Am the Avalanche (Drive-Thru)
I Nine Live EP (J Records)
The Ike Reilly Assassination Junkie Faithful (Rock Ridge)
Ill Niño One Nation Underground (Roadrunner)
Index Case Index Case (Platform Group)
India.Arie Music in High Places: Live in Brazil (UMD format) (Image)
Jo Jo Gunne Big Chain (first album since 1972 w/all original members; includes new songs plus re-recorded versions of songs from their first album) (Blue Hand/Select-O-Hits)
The Joggers With a Cape and a Cane (StarTime International)
Jonas Brothers Jonas Brothers (Columbia)
King Britt Late Night with (mix CD of originals and remixes) (Swank)
Curt Kirkwood (of Meat Puppets) Snow (Little Dog)
KTU 8 Armed Monkey (w/members of King Crimson) (Thirsty Ear)
Last Target One Shot, One Kill (BYO)
Bettye LaVette I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Epitaph)
Ramsey Lewis With One Voice (Narada)
Lil' Kim Naked Truth (Atlantic)
LMS London to Paris (VP)
Logh A Sunset Panorama (Hydra Head)
Mack 10 Hustla's Handbook (Capitol)
Tiger Mansurian String Quartets (ECM)
Kathy Mattea Right Out of Nowhere (Narada)
Joe McBride Texas Hold 'Em (Heads Up)
Brian McDade Love Bayou (OTN)
Brad Mehldau Trio Day Is Done (Nonesuch)
Idina Menzel Still I Can't Be Still (Hollywood)
Mercy Me The Christmas Sessions (Epic/INO)
Mommy and Daddy Duel at Dawn (Kanine)
Morcheeba The Antidote (Echo)
Alanis Morissette Music in High Places: Live in the Navajo Nation (UMD format) (Image)
Mr. Criminal Sounds of Crime (Thump)
Mark Murphy Once to Every Heart (Verve)
My Ruin The Brutal Language (Rovena/33rd Street/Bayside)
Neuraxis Trilateral Progression (Willowtip)
New Black Time Attack (Thick)
Jon Nicholson A Lil Sump'm Sump'm (Warner Bros.)
Ric Ocasek Nexterday (guests Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains and ex-Cars' Greg Hawkes) (Sanctuary)
PJ Olsson Beautifully Insane (Brash Music)
Orange Sky Upstairs (CD/DVD combo) (Granite)
Ozzy Osbourne Under Covers (covers album; part of box set) (Epic)
Sean Paul The Trinity (Atlantic)
Houston Person All Soul (HighNote)
Regis Philbin The Christmas Album (Hollywood)
Plastic Noise Experience Noised (Van Richter)
Robert Pollard Music for Bubble EP (Fading Captain)
Praxis Profanation: Preparation for a Coming Darkness (Sanctuary)
Ramallah Kill a Celebrity (Thorp)
Reatards Not Fucked Enough (Empty)
Diane Reeves Good Night, and Good Luck (soundtrack) (Concord)
Revelation Theory Truth Is Currency (Idol Roc Entertainment)
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys Dominos (Rounder)
Carmen Rizzo The Lost Art of the Idle Moment (w/guests Esthero, Grant Lee Phillips and Ladybug Mecca of Digable Planets) (The LAB)
Wallace Roney Mystikal (HighNote)
Boz Scaggs Fade Into Light (DualDisc; previously released in Japan only; includes acoustic versions of hits plus new songs) (Virgin)
Señor Coconut Presents Coconut FM (Essay)
Anoushka Shankar (daughter of Ravi) Rise (Angel)
Sharissa Every Beat of My Heart (guests R. Kelly, Wyclef Jean, the Game and more) (Virgin)
Shimmer Shimmer (Cake)
Si*Sé More Shine (MOB)
Smile Empty Soul Anxiety (Lava/Atlantic)
Spin Doctors Nice Talking to Me (first new studio album in 11 years w/original lineup) (Ruff Nation/Universal)
Supergrass Road to Rouen (Capitol)
Three 6 Mafia The Known Unknowns (Columbia)
Trio Mediaeval Stella Maris (ECM)
Twelve Girls Band Romantic Energy (Domo)
U-God (of Wu-Tang Clan) Mr. Xcitement (Free Agency)
Weather Calling Up My Bad Side (Cake)
David Wilcox Out Beyond Ideas (W.A.R.?)
Gerald Wilson In My Time (Mack Avenue)
Gretchen Wilson All Jacked Up (guest Merle Haggard and others) (Epic)
Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop)
Yo Gotti Back to the Basics (TVT)
Neil Young Prairie Wind (CD/DVD combo) (Reprise)
VA Back Against the Wall (two CDs; Pink Floyd tribute w/members of Yes, Jethro Tull and more) (Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra)
VA Christmas Classics Remixed (Capitol/EMI)
VA Da-Nang (w/Thievery Corporation, Bebel Gilberto, Wax Poetic and more) (Quango)
VA ESPN Arena Anthems (Hollywood)
VA Indy 500 Sampler (Indianola)
VA Suicide Girls: A Black Heart Retrospective (Epitaph)
VA Taste of Chaos (DVD same day; live performances from the Used, My Chemical Romance, Killswitch Engage and more) (Image)
OST An Unfinished Life (Robert Redford/Jennifer Lopez movie; score by Christopher Young w/13 bonus tracks not included in the film) (Shout! Factory)
OST An Unfinished Life (score by Deborah Lurie) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST Grey's Anatomy (ABC TV show) (Hollywood)
OST Las Vegas (soundtrack to NBC TV show; w/songs by Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Stereophonics, Fatboy Slim and more) (Treadstone)
OST Serenity (score by David Newman) (Varèse Sarabande)
OST The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (live-action adaptation of C.S. Lewis classic; w/Christian artists) (EMI CMG)
OST The Greatest Game Ever Played (score by Brian Tyler) (Hollywood)
OST Veronica Mars (UPN TV show; w/songs by the Dandy Warhols, Stereophonics, Mike Doughty and more) (Nettwerk)
DVD Bouncing Souls Live at the Glasshouse (Kung Fu)
DVD The Sun Blame It on the Youth (full-length album released as DVD only; includes video for each song and links to audio downloads) (Warner Bros.)
DVD Keith Urban Livin' Right Now (live 2004 Los Angeles performances) (Capitol Nashville)
SACD Roger Waters Ca Ira (two SACDs w/bonus DVD; opera about the French Revolution) (Sony BMG Masterworks/Columbia)
YOU BASTARDS!
Comedy Central releasing the sixth season of South Park on DVD Oct. 11.
Foster Fights Cinema Battle
Jodie Foster almost lost her famous cool in a cinema recently when she stood up to a woman who was upset about her young son's questions.
The actress took her kids to see nature documentary The March Of The Penguins and ended up confronting the bitter woman in front of her, who turned on her kid for quietly asking questions in the dark.
Foster recalls, "This woman went berserk. She started with the shushing from the get go... and then she starts yelling at me.
Finally, I just turn into the most perfect police officer where I was whispering, 'You know, you're really disturbing everybody, and I think it would be a good idea if you moved if you're not happy.'
It almost came to blows. I'm pretty sure I did say something offensive at some point, something like, 'You're awfully young to be that bitter.' She really lost her mind. But I was insulted. I understand. I go to a movie, I don't want to be disturbed. But don't go to a noon Sunday matinee of a family movie. I mean, what do you expect?"
Crucial Blue Jays-Red Sox Game Washed Out
BOSTON - The scheduled game between Boston and Toronto was postponed by rain Monday night, forcing the Red Sox to play a day-night doubleheader and alter their pitching rotation in the middle of a tight pennant race.
The game will be made up Tuesday at 1:05 p.m., and the teams will play again at 7:05 p.m. as scheduled.
With Curt Schilling's start washed out Monday, Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided to go with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (15-11) in the opener Tuesday, a move made easier by Wakefield's ability to come back on short rest. Schilling (7-8) is scheduled to pitch the night game.
"We're doing it now for obvious reasons, rest," Francona said. "We're trying to take whatever happens and make it to our advantage."
The Red Sox, who entered Monday tied with New York atop the AL East with seven games to go, subsequently changed plans for a potential showdown series at Fenway Park this weekend against the Yankees. Schilling was pushed back from Saturday to Sunday to allow for his normal four days of rest. Wakefield is scheduled for Saturday.
Toronto manager John Gibbons will go with the same order of starters Tuesday that were scheduled for the first two games of the series: David Bush (5-10) in the opener and Gustavo Chacin (12-9) in the nightcap. Bush is 0-2 with an 11.70 ERA in three starts against the Red Sox this season.
Francona was happy the game was called early and Schilling wasn't forced to warm up a few times. The tarp was never taken off the field, and the postponement was announced by team officials approximately 35 minutes after the scheduled starting time.
"Oh yeah, that's huge," Francona said. "That was something we wanted to stay away from. That gets you in a tough situation — up and down, pitch, don't pitch. He'll pitch tomorrow and it's fairly normal, just like having an extra day."
Toronto has been one of Boston's toughest opponents this season, winning nine of 14 meetings. The Red Sox play the Blue Jays on Wednesday and Thursday before the highly anticipated three-game series against the Yankees opens Friday night.
"I've never been involved in a pennant race, but I think it increases the pressure on them," Blue Jays first baseman Shea Hillenbrand said. "It's tough to win two games in one day. We're feeling good and we're ready to take on the Red Sox."
After Francona met the media and explained the change in plans, most of the players were gone from the clubhouse.
"I don't think it affects us in any way," Red Sox reliever Mike Myers said. "We've still got the same guys going in Game 1 and Game 2. I know history says it's harder to win a doubleheader, but with what we're going for I don't think it'll affect anything."
Tickets from Monday's rainout will be honored for the day game Tuesday.
Schilling, Boston's postseason star after pitching Game 6 of the AL championship series and Game 2 of the World Series following surgical procedures that sutured a tendon to skin in his right ankle, could be going with a playoff berth on the line Sunday.
"For Curt to have the opportunity, it's great to have him out there," Myers said.
CBC, union meet labour minister, continue talks in Ottawa area
The CBC and its largest union have agreed to continue talks to find a solution to their labour dispute after meeting with the federal labour minister.
Joe Fontana urged CBC management and leaders of the broadcaster's largest union to find a solution to the disruption now in its seventh week.
Fontana told negotiating teams in Gatineau, Que. - just across the Ottawa River from Ottawa - that the "current situation is unacceptable."
Senior representatives present at the meeting included Arnold Amber, president of the Canada Media Guild branch representing CBC workers and CBC president Robert Rabinovitch.
The Guild represents 5,500 employees - including journalists, technicians and other staff - that the CBC locked out on Aug. 15, after more than a year of negotiations.
Since then, managers have provided reduced coverage on the CBC's radio, TV and web services. The lockout affects all CBC centres except those in the province of Quebec and Moncton, N.B.
In a communiqué Friday, Amber said, "We need some assistance to get the contract done and we need the right people in the room. If the main decision-makers from CBC senior management are there, this thing could be settled within five days after Monday." Following Monday's meeting, CBC released a statement that it "welcomes efforts to move negotiations with CMG to a conclusion."
Fontana commented that "Both parties have demonstrated a willingness to resolve this dispute. They have agreed, at my invitation, to remain in the building and resume negotiations on the remaining issues - I will be meeting jointly with the parties later today to get a status of their talks."
Mediator Elizabeth MacPherson, the head of the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service, will assist the union and the CBC in their deliberations.
While the talks were going on, about 500 CBC workers from Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa rallied outside Parliament as MPs returned from summer break.
AFI Scores With "Star Wars"
The Force is strong with John Williams.
Not only was his score for 1977's Star Wars named the number one Greatest Film Score of all time by the list-happy folks at the American Film Institute, but the music he wrote for 1975's Jaws and 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also made the cut, coming in at number six and 14 respectively.
A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians were tapped to determine which of the most memorable scores would be chosen for The Big Picture—AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores, a new list commissioned by the famed institute in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
Of the movie music rounding out the top 10, a number predictably belong to some of the most beloved films ever made. Coming in at number two was Max Steiner's majestic score for 1939's Gone with the Wind. That was followed in third place by Maurice Jarre's sweeping orchestrations for 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, Bernard Herrmann's heart-piercing composition for 1960's Psycho in fourth, and Nino Rota's epic score for 1972's The Godfather in fifth.
The rest of the AFI's top ten were respectively: Jaws, John Williams; Laura (1944), David Raskin; The Magnificent Seven (1960), Elmer Bernstein; Chinatown (1974), Jerry Goldsmith; and High Noon (1952), Dimitri Tiomkin.
A who's who of the cinema's best tunesmiths were represented on the list: giants like Hermann, Steiner, Bernstein, Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, John Barry and Alfred Newman.
The committee based its selections on criteria such as its creative impact—i.e. "scores that enrich the moviegoing experience by bringing the emotional elements of a film's story to life;" its historical significance, or scores that help advance the art form; and the scores' legacy in cinema history. The works chosen also had to be from American films.
Steiner, Herrmann, Bernstein, and Goldsmith each had two films on the list.
Aside from Gone with the Wind's second place finish, Steiner also placed 13th with the score for 1933's King Kong. Herrmann followed up Psycho's fourth place victory with his thrilling orchestrations for 1958's Vertigo, which came in at number 12. While outdoing himself with the music for The Magnificent Seven, Bernstein also etched himself in cinema lore with his stirring score for 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird, which was ranked 17th. And last but not least, Goldsmith shifted from Chinatown's murder-mystery vibe to sci-fi with his score for 1968's Planet of the Apes.
Some of the other notable composers on the list were Erich Wolfgang Korngold, whose swashbuckling score for the The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) ranked eleventh and helped make Errol Flynn the object of every girl's desire; Franz Waxman, whose evocative music for noir classic Sunset Boulevard (1950) came in at 16 and revealed the darker side of Tinseltown; Alex North, who made his mark at number 19 with his score for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); and Miklos Rozsa, who roused the masses with his work on Ben-Hur, which placed 21.
Mancini's beloved theme from The Pink Panther (1964) landed in the 20 spot, Leonard Bernstein's music for On the Waterfront at 22; and Morricone's classic score from 1986's The Mission at 23. Wrapping up the list was Dave Grusin's score for On Golden Pond (1981) and Afred Newman's for How the West Was Won (1962) at 24 and 25 respectively.
Here's the complete list of AFI's 25 Greatest Film Scores:
Star Wars (1977); John Williams
Gone with the Wind (1939); Max Steiner
Lawrence of Arabia (1962); Maurice Jarre
Psycho (1960); Bernard Herrmann
The Godfather (1972); Nino Rota
Jaws (1975); John Williams
Laura (1944); David Raskin
The Magnificent Seven (1960); Elmer Bernstein
Chinatown (1975); Jerry Goldsmith
High Noon (1952); Dimitri Tiomkin
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Vertigo (1958); Bernard Herrmann
King Kong (1933); Max Steiner
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); John Williams
Out of Africa (1985); John Barry
Sunset Boulevard (1950); Franz Waxman
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962); Elmer Bernstein
Planet of the Aples (1968); Jerry Goldsmith
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Alex North
The Pink Panther (1964); Henry Mancini
Ben-Hur (1959); Miklos Rozsa
On the Waterfront (1954); Leonard Bernstein
The Mission (1986); Ennio Morricone
On Golden Pond (1981); David Grusin
How the West Was Won (1962); Alfred Newman
Don Adams of 'Get Smart' Dies at 82
LOS ANGELES - Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV spoof of James Bond movies, "Get Smart," has died. He was 82.
Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said Monday, adding that the actor broke his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since.
As the inept Agent 86 of the super-secret federal agency CONTROL, Adams captured TV viewers with his antics in combatting the evil agents of KAOS. When his explanations failed to convince the villains or his boss, he tried another tack:
"Would you believe ... ?"
It became a national catchphrase.
Smart was also prone to spilling things on the desk or person of his boss — the Chief (actor Edward Platt). Smart's apologetic "Sorry about that, chief" also entered the American lexicon.
The spy gadgets, which aped those of the Bond movies, were a popular feature, especially the pre-cellphone telephone in a shoe.
Smart's beautiful partner, Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon, was as brainy as he was dense, and a plot romance led to marriage and the birth of twins later in the series.
"He had this prodigious energy, so as an actor working with him it was like being plugged into an electric current," Feldon said from New York. "He would start and a scene would just take off and you were there for the ride. It was great fun acting with him."
Adams was very intelligent, she said, a quality that suited the satiric show that had comedy geniuses Mel Brooks and Buck Henry behind it.
"He wrote poetry, he had an interest in history ... He had that other side to him that does not come through Maxwell Smart," she said. "Don in person was anything but bumbling."
Adams had an "amazing memory" that allowed him to take an unusual approach to filming, Feldon said.
Instead of learning his lines ahead of time he would have a script assistant read his part to him just once or twice. He invariably got it right but that didn't stop people from placing bets on it, she recounted.
Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Brooks and Henry had written the pilot script, he accepted immediately. "Get Smart" debuted on NBC in September 1965 and scored No. 12 among the season's most-watched series and No. 22 in its second season.
"Get Smart" twice won the Emmy for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor.
CBS picked up the show but the ratings fell off as the jokes seemed repetitive, and it was canceled after four seasons. The show lived on in syndication and a cartoon series. In 1995 the Fox network revived the series with Smart as chief and 99 as a congresswoman. It lasted seven episodes.
Adams never had another showcase to display his comic talent.
"It was a special show that became a cult classic of sorts, and I made a lot of money for it," he remarked of "Get Smart" in a 1995 interview. "But it also hindered me career-wise because I was typed. The character was so strong, particularly because of that distinctive voice, that nobody could picture me in any other type of role."
He was born Donald James Yarmy in New York City on April 13, 1923, Tufeld said, although some sources say 1926 or '27. The actor's father was a Hungarian Jew who ran a few small restaurants in the Bronx.
In a 1959 interview Adams said he never cared about being funny as a kid: "Sometimes I wonder how I got into comedy at all. I did movie star impressions as a kid in high school. Somehow they just got out of hand."
In 1941, he dropped out of school to join the Marines. In Guadalcanal he survived the deadly blackwater fever and was returned to the States to become a drill instructor, acquiring the clipped delivery that served him well as a comedian.
After the war he worked in New York as a commercial artist by day, doing standup comedy in clubs at night, taking the surname of his first wife, Adelaide Adams. His following grew, and soon he was appearing on the Ed Sullivan and late-night TV shows. Bill Dana, who had helped him develop comedy routines, cast him as his sidekick on Dana's show. That led to the NBC contract and "Get Smart."
Adams, who married and divorced three times and had seven children, served as the voice for the popular cartoon series, "Inspector Gadget" as well as the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo. In 1980, he appeared as Maxwell Smart in a feature film, "The Nude Bomb," about a madman whose bomb destroyed people's clothing.
Tufeld said funeral arrangements were incomplete.
McEntire Gathers Old And New For "#1s"
Reba McEntire has included two new songs on her upcoming two-disc hits collection "Reba #1s." Due Nov. 22 via MCA Nashville, the set is the country superstar's 30th release through the label.
Its first disc is led by the new track "You're Gonna Be (Always Loved by Me)," which is No. 47 in its third week on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Accordingly, the second disc starts off with the other new cut, "Love Needs a Holiday."
The rest of the set is filled with 33 familiar McEntire hits, spanning more than three decades, although not all reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Songs chart. Among those that did are "Can't Even Get the Blues," "How Blue" (1985), "Little Rock" (1986), "One Promise Too Late" (1987), "Love Will Find Its Way To You" (1988), "New Fool at an Old Game" (1989), "For My Broken Heart" (1991), "The Heart Won't Lie" (1993), "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" (1995) and "How Was I To Know" (1997).
McEntire is among the artists who performed in May in Las Vegas for the Academy of Country Music's (ACM) 40th anniversary concert, which will air on CBS in December. At deadline, the only show on the artist's itinerary is a Dec. 4 performance in Friant, Calif.
Here is the "Reba's #1s" track list:
Disc one:
"You're Gonna Be (Always Loved by Me)"
"Can't Even Get the Blues"
"You're the First Time I've Thought About Leaving"
"How Blue"
"Somebody Should Leave"
"Whoever's in New England"
"Little Rock"
"What Am I Gonna Do About You"
"One Promise Too Late"
"The Last One To Know"
"Love Will Find Its Way to You"
"I Know How He Feels"
"New Fool in an Old Game"
"Cathy's Clown"
"Walk On"
"You Lie"
"Rumor Has It"
Disc two:
"Love Needs a Holiday"
"For My Broken Heart"
"Is There Life Out There"
"The Greatest Man I Never Knew"
"It's Your Call"
"The Heart Won't Lie"
"Does He Love You"
"Till You Love Me"
"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter"
"And Still"
"Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands"
"The Fear of Being Alone"
"How Was I To Know"
"If You See Him/If You See Her"
"Forever Love"
"What Do You Say"
"I'm a Survivor"
"Somebody"