"It was literally and metaphorically night and day," Brokaw said. "He was much more open, he had a very good relationship with reporters. He didn't treat the press like an enemy. We were often adversarial but it wasn't a blood sport as it was with Nixon."
Brokaw even remembers a live interview from the White House that Ford agreed to do with him and John Chancellor.
"Think about that: Live. That just doesn't happen anymore," Brokaw said.
Despite his infamous stumble down the stairs of Air Force One (immortalized by Saturday Night Live's Chevy Chase), Brokaw recalls Ford as more graceful than Nixon. CNN analyst Jeff Greenfield mentions how personable he was, and recalls a photo of Ford toasting his own English muffins! But per usual, Fox News' Chris Wallace takes the cake in another article:
"He had a consequential presidency. I think over the coming days Americans will be surprised to see how influential he was, domestically and in foreign affairs," Wallace said. "He was the president who brought Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Alan Greenspan, James Baker to national prominence."
Posted by Corina Zappia at 10:53 AM, December 28, 2006
TVsquad.com
Eye's been bad. Eye's been absent.
And Eye missed this: Reality Blurred lists the biggest reality whores of 2006, with Tim Gunn topping the list (and really, wasn't it time for a backlash?). The website tries to turn it into Gunn praise at the end, but eh — those Gunn parodies by Project Runway cast members were getting old. Also on the list: YouTube sluts, why-won't-he-die Richard Hatch and E! wonderstuff Ryan Seacrest, who inked a deal to be the gossip channel's talking head for $21 million over three years.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 1:17 PM, December 21, 2006
My stocking overrunneth. Washington Post features the "Do-It-Yourself TV Christmas Movie," with choose-your-own lead actors including James Brolin and the indefatigable Meredith Baxter. Eye would add Mark Harmon to the list of male leads and an appearance by a winsome Raven Simone knock-off, but this is gold.
Then there's a little gift courtesy of Dave Larsen of the Dayton Daily News, who pulled together a hiliarious list of the worst holiday films and TV movies. The latter includes a sorry attempt to capitalize on the Pac-Man craze entitled "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land," and "The Star Wars Holiday Special," complete with the original cast plus, I shit you not, Jefferson Starship and Bea Arthur. The intro, below.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:04 PM, December 21, 2006
HBO.com
Here's an interesting op-ed from the Baltimore Sun: A schoolteacher named Michael Corbin, who teaches at the public Baltimore high school the Academy for College and Career Exploration, comes down on HBO's The Wire. Normally praised for its realism in depicting life in Baltimore's inner city, the police drama series focused on education this past season. Corbin claimed his students didn't "perceive a critical message" but did come away with one important lesson:
"This season of 'The Wire' ended with the heavy-handed metaphor of bodies of young men from the streets of Baltimore being stacked in the gym of a city middle school. Without question there is a kind of truth here, but more, there is a variety of cruelty.
Tomorrow, I will go teach to kids who aren't on TV and who aren't part of some taxonomy of failure, but who are real human beings who often learn how little society values them. They hear us talk about it. Maybe they read about it. And now, along with the rest of the world, they can see it on TV."
Posted by Corina Zappia at 4:56 PM, December 20, 2006
Nielsen just issued its "most popular list" for 2006. Here's what America watched the most:
Top 10 TV Programs - Regularly Scheduled - 2006
1 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY
2 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY
3 DANCING WITH THE STARS
4 CSI
5 DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
6 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
7 CSI: MIAMI
8 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
9 HOUSE
10 DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON
10 WITHOUT A TRACE
American Idol still continues to surpass expectations, with 17.7 percent of U.S homes tuning in. Eye doesn't get it, either.
Top 10 TV Programs - Single Telecasts
1 SUPER BOWL XL 2/5/2006
2 SUPER BOWL POST GAME 2/5/2006
3 ACADEMY AWARDS 3/5/2006
4 ROSE BOWL 1/4/2006
5 GREY'S ANATOMY 2/5/2006
6 FOX NFC CHAMPIONSHIP 1/22/2006
7 AMERICAN IDOL-WED 5/24/2006
8 AMERICAN IDOL-TUES 1/24/2006
9 AMERICAN IDOL-TUES 1/17/2006
10 AMERICAN IDOL-TUES 3/21/2006
For single telecasts, after the Super Bowl (41.6 percent of American homes), the Superbowl Post Game (29 percent), the Academy Awards (23.1 percent), and the Rose Bowl (21.7 percent), we have . . .Grey's Anatomy, the patient-as-human-bomb episode. Huh? This was by far the most ridiculous episode of the season.
Well, whatever. On to the most interesting part of the ratings, the advertiser portion. What's TV without product placement? Here are the advertisers who stuck their products in your faces the most, and what shows they did it on.
Top 10 Programs: Product Placement
1 AMERICAN IDOL FOX 4086 (occurences)
2 AMAZING RACE CBS 2790
3 EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME ABC 2701
4 THE BIGGEST LOSER NBC 2405
5 AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL UPN/CW 2309
6 HELLS KITCHEN FOX 1909
7 THE APPRENTICE NBC 1831
8 KING OF QUEENS CBS 1742
9 ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA CBS 1609
10 BIG BROTHER 7 CBS 1591
Posted by Corina Zappia at 11:35 AM, December 20, 2006
Pixelcreation.fr
So what of On the Lot, Steven Spielberg's new Fox reality show, the search for the next great filmmaker? Word from Fox PR is that the show will be broadcast earliest May 2007, and that the judges (supposedly a "a high-ranking motion picture executive" and "a prominent film critic") have yet to be announced. Then there's the news that God Spielberg won't even be attending his own party until the bitter end, when he pulls one lucky On the Lot contestant up to a million-dollar Dreamworks development deal in the sky. (Nice Trump dis, by the way.)
That said, submissions have been rolling in for a few months now, and, well, Eye's a little scared. Maybe she just never had that many Dawson-type film pals growing up, but she's noticing more than one fan of The Crow here. What fortunate underling gets to screen all these?
The "next great filmmaker" might be less stumbled across and more actively recruited. Deadline for submissions is February 16.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 1:06 PM, December 19, 2006
We suppose the tenets of Jay Bakker's Revolution Church will be spelled out as the series One Punk Under God progresses, but for right now it's a slow-moving doc on Sundance with little attached to it beyond Bakker's infamous parents, Jim and Tammy Faye. Jay, founder of the Revolution Church (and creator of the NYC branch, now meeting in Williamsburg at Pete's Candy Store), still appears vague on exactly what his church espouses beyond loving Jesus and accepting tattoos into your life.
A check of the Revolution NYC website points to two major mantras, "Jesus is the saviour not Christianity," and "Religion Kills," as "it's a false perception of holiness that focuses on law and kills the true message of Christ." Add to this the selling point, "a church for people who have given up on church," and it all feels a trite cannibalistic. Still, you've got to hand it to religion moderne, hooked in via podcasts and MySpace. There is also an explicit breakdown of the budgetary costs of 2006: $148,800, with only $8,600 going to salaried positions. So punk rock.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 11:00 AM, December 19, 2006
The Times reports this morning on the passing yesterday of Joseph Barbera, 95, who with William Hanna created some of the world's most enduring cartoon characters, including Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Yogi Bear. The article also mentions Barbera's relunctance to discuss his work, as he simply believed "the way to appreciate them is to see them.”
Here again are the famous intros to The Flintsones, The Jetsons, and Yogi Bear, and—because parody is the most sincere form of flattery—clips from The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 1:21 PM, December 15, 2006
. . . one leg at a time.
Rollingstone.com recently announced the new contestants for its reality show with MTV. Love that ratio there: four men, two women.
The site just posted an early clip today: Arm wrestling with Method Man? Trips to festivals in Europe? Phone convo with Snoop Dogg? One-on-ones with Jann? Just a day in the life of another music intern, friends.
The Most Fascinating People of 2006: Worst. Writing. Ever. "When Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie finally hooked up, their combined star power lit up the media universe in a blaze of sex and humanitarianism!"
House: Christmas Eve + oxycodone= The vomity detox episode!
The Biggest Loser: The finale. With a weight loss of 214 pounds, Erik wins and becomes The Biggest Loser. Reality TV in a nutshell.
Spike's Video Game Awards: Final plug just in time for the gift-giving season! Game of the year, Elder Scrolls IV.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 11:13 AM, December 14, 2006
"Mad Sally" Baur moves into her new life as a professional organizer (ABC/Michael Rubenstein)
Eye spoke recently with Dominique Bouchard, the casting director for ABC reality series Wife Swap, where wives swap husbands and children for two weeks to experience life in a drastically different environment. With participants in the past including families of competitive eaters, pirates, child-pageant advocates, and a wife who trains cage fighters, one can only imagine the casting gets fairly interesting.
How do you find some of these families, like the pirate or freak-show families? There's definitely a low percentage we actually choose that apply within the show. Families like the pirates, we come up with an idea of people we want to find. Then we try to contact different organizations and put the word out there. A casting AP would be assigned to that particular project of finding a family like that. We offer a finder's fee—so if we contact a particular organization, by helping us out they are going to receive the fee. And the families get a financial honorarium for being on the show.
We're going to have an episode coming up where we wanted to find a family of little people. So for an organization like the LPA [Little People of America], we might have given them the information to spread around.
Can you tell me more about the pairings? It always seems like the conservative family is paired with the unconventional family, the family with the wife who does all the work is paired with the family with the husband who does all the chores. Without giving our secrets away, I would say it’s not about pairing opposites. It’s really not. We look at the family, what one family could teach another, and what they could possibly learn.
Have there ever been any wife swaps where the husbands wound up with the other wife? Divorces? Any where members of each family still keep in touch? From season 3, there are definitely one or two families who are in contact. I have heard that through the grapevine; I wouldn’t give out who those families are. Divorces—as far as we know, no. But if someone from season 1 got a divorce, I wouldn't know for sure. As far as a permanent wife swap—absolutely not.
Why are so many kids on the show home-schooled? Do you ever recruit through home schooling agencies or organizations? We should really ask America that. There are a lot of families [in America] that believe in home schooling. I'm pretty sure we’ve contacted these agencies, but now we don’t even need to.
Clearly there are rules spelled out that aren’t discussed on the show. Can you talk a little about that? The wives obviously don’t sleep with the husbands. A mom will always have her own room in the home, with locks on the door.
What are the families told in the beginning? They know the process from their end. But the mom doesn't know where she's going or what family she's going to be matched with.
This show is really a collaborative effort; they're part of the process 100 percent. They get a manual with the way they live their life that they need to sign off on.
As hard as it may seem, we go through 1,000 different families a week [looking for this]. When you swap a mom, you don’t want a mom who’s happy to be gone.
With the Riveras, they really felt that they had a lot to offer and that there was nothing wrong.
Have there every been any pairings that were so turbulent, the week couldn't be finished out? We've never had a show we haven't been able to put on air.
Have any of the end confrontations turned violent? We've had really heated table meetings, but not to the point where we felt like something got out of control. We have a crew there, we monitor—especially on ABC; it's a family show.
Why do you think people are willing to be on the show and air their most private family behaviors, some of which might not be the most flattering? What it boils down to is the family has to be confident in who they are and the way their family runs. They already know their good and bad qualities. It's usually a family that’s more adventurous. The Rivera family knew some people wouldn’t agree, but they didn't really care. You can't have parents who are worried about what others are going to think of them.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 3:16 PM, December 13, 2006
TV Squad reports today on Rosie's semi-apology for making fun of Chinese people with her weak imitation of—what was that? Cantonese? Mandarin? Here it is again:
Rosie's publicist hasn't been doing much apologizing, despite New York City Councilman John Liu's letter to Barbara Walters and angry reactions from a host of major Asian-American organizations.
But today, reports TV Squad, Rosie penned a bad haiku on her blog:
i am sorry it hurt u
i didnt think of it the way it was taken
i will b more sensitive
promise.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:45 PM, December 13, 2006
ABC Photo
Lots of useful and not-so-useful tidbits during Barbara Walter's annual Most Fascinating People of 2006. (Nancy Pelosi took Most Fascinating of the fascinating, and then proceeded to give the least fascinating interview. Fascinating!)
To recap:
Anna Wintour
—Been rocking that same bob since she was 15.
—Dropped out of school when she was 16.
—When asked about Vogue's dress code, replied, "We expect, we don't dictate, a certain style of dress." Snap.
—Careened smoothly around those Devil Wears Prada questions/lied well through her teeth: "I'm a decisive person . . .so if Meryl seemed somewhat strong, I appreciate that."
Patrick Dempsey
—Barb glossed over his awkward youth and actually referred to Can't Buy Me Love Dempsey as "the fantasy boyfriend of millions of teenage girls." Barb was clearly not a teenage girl then or she would know the fantasy boyfriend was Ponch from Chips.
Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt
—No Brad interviews. And why did those Angelina interviews look so old? Eye suspects the ol' cut-and-paste on this one, friends.
—Worst. Writing. Ever. "When Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie finally hooked up, their combined star power lit up the media universe, in a blaze of sex and humanitarianism!"
Sacha Baron Cohen
—Didn't show. That's weak.
—Didn't show because he's getting the crap sued out of him. That's understandable.
—Hello, what's this? Used to be an investment banker?
Terry Irwin, i.e., Crocodile Hunter's widow
—Their honeymoon with crocodiles was Crocodile Hunter's first episode. That's how I like to romance my bitches too.
Jay-Z
—Initial demo tape rejected by every major record label
—Calls his comeback album after retirement his most fearless album because he "needed to show people we can grow up in hip hop. Guys who are 33 years old, rapping like their 15. It's embarrassing." Almost as embarrasing as waiting a mere three years to "come out of retirement."
—Eye nearly barfed up her chicken pot pie when she heard Barb ask, "Do you think Beyoncé is bootylicious?"
Posted by Corina Zappia at 4:53 PM, December 12, 2006
The hardest person to shop for on your Christmas list always has at least one show they watch religiously, and therein lies the beauty of the DVD box set.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:32 PM, December 12, 2006
(ComedyCentral.com)
Baxter & McGuire
The show: Two-minute shorts on Comedy Central's website.
The character(s): Baxter & McGuire, two testicles that happen to be best friends.
The notables: Baxter's and McGuire's arms are pubes. Also, for some inexplicable reason, Baxter smokes cigarettes and wears a porkpie hat.
((c) & TM 2006 Cartoon Network)
Assy McGee
The show: 15 minute TV program on Adult Swim
The character: Assy McGee, a hard-nose, Dirty Harry style cop that happens to be a unbelievably well-toned ass. Check it out.
The notables: Assy has legs but no arms, so his gun levitates, usually near his right ass cheek. "Why does he sound like Benicio del Toro?" Eye's sister asks.
In the showdown, who would win?
Baxter & McGuire's the better show, but the winner would be Assy McGee, a crazy motherfucker who's the Travis Pickle of Adult Swim. Baxter and McGuire come off as pussies afraid to stand up to Boss Dick . . .which brings up the deeper question: Can balls have no balls?
Posted by Corina Zappia at 1:35 PM, December 11, 2006
Many, many reports on Tori Spelling's garage sale from this weekend: Around 300 people showed up at what was officially billed the "Tori Spelling Studio City Estate Sale," filmed for Spelling's VH1 show NoTORIous. Set to bolt LaLa Land's filthy clutches and start up a bed and breakfast with husband Dean McDermott, the happy and preggers Tori desires none of the trappings of Hollywood fame. So suck it, Furby.
Let's see how much Tori's cast-offs fetch on eBay:
Posted by Corina Zappia at 11:55 AM, December 11, 2006
God Bless America: La Toya preps to be a cop. (The Star Press)
I don't know about you, reader, but Eye sleeps well at night not knowing about La Toya's access to firearms. That's soon to change: CBS has started production on a new show called Armed & Famous, which will feature La Toya, Wee Man, Jack Osbourne, WWE wrestler Trish Stratus, and Eye's kiddie TV crush, "Ponch" Poncherello from Chips (shut up). Erik Estrada and the gang will get trained as reserve police officers in Muncie, Indiana and earn the right to carry both the badge and a registered deadly weapon.
Local newspaper The Star Presshas extensive coverage of the crew's time in its home city thus far. Be very scared.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 5:31 PM, December 8, 2006
(Top left) The Wire: Bodie gets popped!
(Bottom left) Heroes: Nurse Peter discovers he is the bomb that will blow up the world!
(Top right) Top Model: CariDee, right, beats out girl who owns too many berets for comfort.
(Bottom right) I'm a couch: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show hits record ratings low.
(Top left & bottom right) Victoria's Secret Fashion Show sells to high school grads and the drowning.
(Top right) Billboard Awards: Kattan disses Paris, who is too nice a girl to slam her friends.
(Bottom left) The Billy Gibbons' conundrum at the Billboard Awards: Shoot my face off—or cover ZZ Top with Nickelback?
Posted by Corina Zappia at 3:10 PM, December 7, 2006
Eye lost every IQ point she acquired watching Springer last night on MTV's new reality show, Twentyfourseven. Aiming for a real-life version of Entourage, the storyline revolves around a group of friends in L.A. all on a path to fame and fortune—and that's a path they're pursuing twenty-four seven, in case you didn't know. Laguna Beach is riveting by comparison.
Eye's read a few reviews of the show this morning, our favorite from Sun-Sentinel. Still, no one seems to really push at the big question here. How did rejects from a Jersey Wet Seal score their own show? How does a 23-year-old club promoter see fit to advertise his new beverage on the side, with a fascinating play-by-play of the launch?
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:50 PM, December 7, 2006
Washingtonpost.com
So TMZ reported this week that Andy Dick, shameless capitalizer on the whole Michael Richards scandal, used the n-word during comedian Ian Blagg's set at the Improv Club in LA and issued a weak apology later. (Also quick to follow: A letter from the club claiming that Dick was merely providing commentary of the Richards imbroglio. Fantastic.)
Another coup for Andy. Let's rack 'em up:
1998: The voice of Nuka in Lion King II: Simba's Pride.
1999: Drove his car into a telephone poll. Charged with possession of cocaine, driving under the influence and hit-and-run.
2001: Played a hologram in Star Trek: Voyager.
2005: Dropped his pants at a comedy club in London; poor Brits exposed to the dick of Dick.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 4:15 PM, December 6, 2006
Umusicimages.ca
Eye, lax in catching up on her network press releases, heard about this first via TV Tattle. Scissor Sisters will be making their acting debut on the NBC soap Passions, performing "I Don't Feel Like Dancing." They are, no lie, conjured up by a young witch named Endora, a Scissor Sisters superfan. "In this two-episode arc, young witch Endora (Nicole Cox), a big fan of Scissor Sisters, conjures them up in Tabitha's (Juliet Mills) living room. The band, extremely disoriented, plays their first song and then suddenly disappears into thin air, leaving Endora wanting more."
Update: NBC got back to us and said that it was the Scissor Sisters' management who contacted the show personally. "They're huge fans of the show, especially Anna and Jake," said Kellie Kulikowsky, the press manager for the soap. "Specifically, they requested being in a scene with Tabitha. They love that kind of magical witchery, from what I understand."
Posted by Corina Zappia at 12:18 PM, December 6, 2006
Eye, when she was just a mere cornea (optic nerve?) reviewed last year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which was Tyra Banks' last. No Tyra or Heidi storming the runway this year, which meant no Seal serenade either. Bummer dude. "SexyBack" JT came to the rescue.
This year's sexiest moments:
1. The Victoria's Secret "hidden cam" in the model's hat (Eye believes it was of the Blossom crusher variety), so you can know the magic through her eyes.
2. Gospel choir singing about living in harmony to the million dollar bra.
3. The cheeky yet ultimately discomfiting marketing of the Victoria's Secret PINK line for tweens, now a part of the annual lingerie show. Observe:
Rihanna thanked "her number one fan, Jesus." Okay.
Shoot-My-Stylist Award goes to Denise Richards. Nice nest, dude.
Janet Jackson performed for the opening and appears to have worked a nipple tweak into the choreography. Reference to the Superbowl fiasco?
Woman undone: Courtney Love. She announced the artist of the year with the Killers, who were slated to perform but Brandon Flowers lost his voice. Alas.
Gwen Stefani yodeled in the world's shortest jumper. Still needs to lose the moronic-Harajuku-dancers schtick.
The most touching moment of the night: Stevie Wonder presented the Century Award to Tony Bennett, and discussed Bennett's contribution to the civil-rights movement. Bennett remarked graciously, "I've been singing for sixty years. The way you're treating me tonight, I want to sing for another sixty years."
Cynical a witch as Eye is, she teared up like a babe.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 10:39 AM, December 5, 2006
Eye put in a call yesterday to Comedy Central to find out more about Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States, the network's new half-hour animated series that follows the shenanigans of a grade-school Bush with pals Lil' Rummy, Lil' Cheney, and Lil' Condi. Originally just a series of five-minute shorts available to Amp'ed mobile customers, Lil' Bush will be stretched out to a half-hour and, according to Comedy Central Vice President of Communications Aileen Budow, make the move to television in the summer of '07, in the prime 10pm-11pm slot next to South Park and the Daily Show. "It's the first mobile program to ever become a network television series," Budow added excitedly. "Immediately we wanted to do a development deal."
The network describes Lil Bush as "Lil Rascals with the A-bomb," and based on what Eye saw from the Amp'ed shorts on YouTube, the show is merciless at poking fun at President Bush—but reserves its greatest skewering for Jeb, the mutant moron of the family. Lil' Cheney doesn't speak so much as growl unintelligibly and foam at the mouth; Lil' Condi has a crush on Bush and does all his homework.
It will be interesting to see if the television network version stays true to the Amp'ed mobile shorts; the original pilot for Amp'ed features a risqué comedic bit about Abu Ghraib. Check it out:
Posted by Corina Zappia at 8:50 PM, December 2, 2006
Eye recently spoke with Masi Oka, who plays Hiro Nakamura in the new NBC fall hit, Heroes. The Tokyo-born, L.A.-bred actor talked with Eye about accurate depictions of Japanese on American TV and movies, about translating all his own dialogue into Japanese himself, and about his previous career as a computer programmer at Industrial Light & Magic—Oka is, as you may have read, a bit of a whiz kid, the man behind the water effects for The Perfect Storm and the first and second Pirates of the Caribbean.
The final fall episode of the Heroes airs Monday, Dec. 4 at 9/8c.
What accounts for Hiro's ecstatic attitude about his superpowers? He grew up reading comic books; that's his bible. He learned everything about life and what it should be, the laws and rules, what a good person is through comic books. It's easy for him to accept that reality. And it's his dream to be a superhero, and his dream came true.
I was reading where one writer called you some kind of cute muppet she'd like to put on her shelf. Do you ever feel like your character is a perpetuation of the Japanese "cutesy" stereotype? There is some truth [to stereotypes], that's why they're stereotypes. But Hiro is a blank canvas, and the world kind of paints him. So you see a lot of layers coming. He starts with the whole wide-eyed wonder kid going on an adventure, and he begins his journey with naiveté and sincerity. But he's going to grow, change. As he goes through tests and obstacles, he's going to mature. And we've seen where he ends up. We've seen Future Hiro.
Future Hiro. You'd so gone through the matrix, man. But it's the whole beginning and the end of his journey.
You don't feel like he's that simple a character. But he starts out that way. Which is great, because that's the way you want to start out. You'll slowly find him morphing into the future Hiro as time progresses. It's only nine episodes [so far]! You want to see people grow. And definitely, he'll grow.
Do you feel like American TV and movies "get" Japanese people and culture, that they're accurately depicted? It's catered toward an American audience. I have to say that in Lost, when they do the Korean flashbacks, that's pretty much dead-on. Some of the Indian stuff we do is great, some of the Japanese stuff . . . . It's hard, because they don't have someone sitting there, telling them about this. It's like the telephone game, right. Because somebody's done it correctly in Japan, or what they think is correct, and people see that as, "Oh, that's supposed to be it," and then somebody writes that about that. And after the eighth generation, it's something completely different than what it used to be. And the problem is, when they first see it, it's hard to tell if that's real or not in the first place, because it might have been a Japanese parody of something else.
Can you give an example? I could talk about our show. Even in the pilot, [in Japan] we don't have clocks with Japanese kanji characters. The only place you'll see them is sushi restaurants or gift shops. But it makes sense for the American audience, because it was a great promotional thing to be able to show that clip and know you were in a foreign country. What's necessary for the story . . .there's always going to be a fine line.
Who writes your dialogue? I write my own dialogue; I translate it. They write the English dialogue and I translate it into colloquial Japanese or whatever a 24-year-old would talk like.
You translate it yourself? I didn't know that. There's a little bit of subtle jokes with words I use.
Who puts all the techie, trekkie references in? In English, the writers all write that. We have a bunch of trekkies on our show, so they know.
But when I translate into Japanese, I watch the Japanese episode of, like, Star Wars, and see what words they use to say, for instance, "dark side." I want to make sure I use the right ones.
You should get a bonus for translating your own dialogue. I asked them if I could do it. It helps me get into character. That's something I have control over. I can't control what kind of dialogue they write or the set pieces. But I have control over what I say in Japanese.
Does Mohinder speak Hindi? He doesn't speak it.
Why didn't they want him to speak Hindi? Well, [Hiro] speaks it because he is from Japan. In India, they speak Hindi and English. Although [Mohinder] has an English accent.
Is the actor British? He's actually from Detroit, I think. Or somewhere in South Texas, maybe? But he studied in London a lot. You don't notice it anymore. It's kind of interesting.
Oh, so he wasn't supposed to have a British accent? I don't think so.
That's funny. I always just assumed the character was sent away to some British school. But if you listen to the pilot, he had an Indian accent.
Did the producers ever get any flak that Isaac can only paint visions of the future when he's high on heroin? There's a pretty un-Nancy Reagan twist to that. I haven't heard of anything.
And he can only paint when he's high, but that's starting to change. I don't know if you've seen the recent episode.
Mr. Sulu is playing your father in an upcoming episode. What was it like working with him? It was amazing. He can be really, really intimidating. He gave me a glare, and I felt so much in trouble.
I read something about you in Wired, that you actually used to be one of the top programmers for Industrial Light & Magic. Do you still work with them? I consult for them one day a week; it's getting hard with the seven day weeks we pull off sometimes. I've written a lot of legacy code—code I've written that's been around for a long time, so you like leave your legacy. There's so much stuff I've written that's archaic but still gets used. It's easy for me to go in and say, "Fix this, that's what that meant, do this." I don't get to work on the shows, which is the fun part. They're working on Transformers and Pirates III right now. That's the thing I kind of miss.
Why did you want to get into acting? I studied theater arts in college, and it's cool, the idea of using the left brain and the right brain together. I got into theater in the first place because I wanted to learn more about myself and human nature in general. And I felt it was the best exercise of studying human beings. And also, to conquer the fear. It opened me up to a different way of thinking and exposed me to a lot of different kind of people than I was used to. It was very different from my math team or chess club, the comp-sci geeks.
Did your ILM friends give you any flak about going into acting? Actually not. And right now, they're big fans of the show. They ask me for spoilers. And I'm like, I can't give you spoilers. Remember when we were working on Star Wars III, remember that confidentiality [agreement]?
Do you hang out with one group more than the other? Do you ever get tired of listening to actors talk about their craft? I don't get tired, [but] I sometimes feel like I don't fit in.
I hang out with Milo a lot [Peter]. All of us get together a lot; we really like each other. And I respect them not only as artists, but as people. But yeah, at the same time, I do feel a little bit out of my element, because I don't have the past . . .
Right, I've been working on commercials since I was 12 . . . Yeah. I'm starting to ease into the actor [world], but I feel more comfortable with the writers. I enjoy hanging out with the writers, geeking out intellectually and talking about the time-space continuum and how I feel about the sixth dimension.
Get out to New York often? Not that often. I would love to come more, but not the biggest fan of flying.
You don't like flying? But you travel through space and time. If I could travel through space and time, it would be in an instant. But it's five hours.
Posted by Corina Zappia at 1:35 PM, December 1, 2006
Monday
How I Met Your Mother: Barney's gay brother comes into town; Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) learns James wants to lead a life of gross monogamy.
Heroes: Why Sylar slices heroes' heads open is revealed. Oh, and Nikki was was abused as a child. No shit.
The Bachelor: The finale episode. Here, have a promise ring. No, wait, sorry, a family ring.
Tuesday
Veronica Mars: The finale, in which Veronica is not raped again.
Wednesday
Top Model: End of the twins, with a photo shoot in a freezing cold pool. Tyra chastises CariDee for not telling the photographer she was getting hypothermia, but also not being tough enough to take it. Makes sense.
Thursday
The Office: Ricky Gervais, writer/star of the British original, comes to us. Boss Carell morphs into Prison Mike. It gets ugly.
Iconoclasts with Dave Chapelle and Maya Angelou: Touching. "There are people who wondering, will I speak to him because I am almost fifty years older than he," Angelou says beforehand. "That's just who I should be speaking to. And that's just who he should be speaking to."
Friday
Rachael Ray: Perfect gift for someone you love, the Rachael Ray photo blanket.
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