As a reminder, in the Boston Legal television show William Shatner played Denny Crane, James Spader played Alan Shore, and Candice Bergen played Shirley Schmidt. Now watch this video and I’ll explain why afterwards. That’s from the episode entitled “Can't We All Get a Lung?” There’s a reason that that particular sequence came to my mind, … Continue reading The Living Doll
Television
Rene Auberjonois
One of the pleasures of watching television programs from 40 or more years ago is to see actors in their younger days before they became better known and received larger roles. Case in point is Rene Auberjonois. Unlike many actors of his generation, he refused to changed his last name to something pronounceable by the … Continue reading Rene Auberjonois
Tragedy and Comedy
Walter Kerr, in addition to being the husband of humorist Jean Kerr, was a theater critic for the New York Herald Tribune and later on for the New York Times. During his time as a critic, he gave absolute raves to fluffy musicals such as Hello, Dolly!, and he consistently panned everything that Stephen Sondheim … Continue reading Tragedy and Comedy
Task Is at It Again
Once is not enough apparently as far as Task is concerned. You may recall that the television series Task, which was broadcast on HBO, did some filming in my neighborhood a couple years ago, although in the finished series, I never was able to identify which scenes those were. I assume that filming must have been … Continue reading Task Is at It Again
John Oliver on Soap Operas
A while back John Oliver offered to appear on a soap opera if they could meet his conditions. On his most recent episode he revealed what became of that offer:
The American Experiment
It seems that “Donald” is no longer a very popular name for babies. The name peaked in 1934 when more than 30,400 babies in the United States were given that name, and it remained in the top ten of baby names until 1990. In 2025 it hit its lowest point, becoming only the 690th most … Continue reading The American Experiment
Maximo Pleasure
When Apple began its TV streaming service several years ago, I tried watching the sitcom Acapulco but gave up after one episode. It seemed like a pretty conventional sitcom that was set in Mexico. Then not too long ago I noticed that there were four seasons of the show available. Perhaps I had been too … Continue reading Maximo Pleasure
Escape from Ben Casey
In the early 60s there were two medical shows on TV, Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey. I watched the first one which was on in the early evening, but I couldn’t watch the latter which was shown at 10 o’clock, as that was past my bedtime for a school night. However, Ben Casey was rather famous for a … Continue reading Escape from Ben Casey
The One with David E. Kelley
David E. Kelley has been responsible for more TV shows than just about other single writer-producer. From LA Law (created by Steven Bochco) to The Practice to Ally McBeal to Boston Legal to Chicago Hope to Harry’s Law to Love and Death to The Lincoln Lawyer to Big Little Lies to— The list goes on. … Continue reading The One with David E. Kelley
The Pitt
The Pitt just concluded its second season, and I have rather mixed feelings about the show. Each season takes place in an emergency room in Pittsburgh over fifteen hours in “real time” although there are a lot of cheats and quick cuts so it isn’t truly real time; I guess they figure most viewers won’t … Continue reading The Pitt