The other night I went (blessed with the company of the amazing Ngoc em and her cousin, Bao -- and my co-worker Hiland) to see the filming of the pilot for a Chris Elliot vehicle called Chrissy Plain & Simple. I like the name and concept. Just pure, unadulterated Chris Elliot, without any bells and whistles and jangles and bangles and be-bops and re-rops and flee-flops... or something to that effect. If you're a fan, you know how he just stupidly starts rambling to that effect.

On the downside-- it's sketch comedy with pre-filmed satirical segments that we had to watch a couple of times and force some laughter for the second time around. At one point I looked up at a monitor and the entire frame was filled with my chin and some teeth laughing at nothing but the instructions of the episode's director, Bobcat Goldthwait.

The show takes place on a stage cluttered with Chris Elliot cut-outs of Chris in different poses, always wearing socks regardless of the character being portrayed and, I have to say, his stupid expressions forced me to smile over and over before filming whilst Jimmy Kimmel cracked jokes-- and talked about the fact that he, I and some other guys were all coincidentally wearing maroon shirts.

The show started with an introduction and the first skit was a parody of My Super Sweet 16, which gave Chris a chance to do his annoying, entitled brat shtick, which is one of my favorites but, of the MTVs, I only have MTV trés, which seems to be mostly videos and not reality programming so some of it might've gone over my head.

In all of the tributes written about skilled American television host Tom Snyder,  who passed  this week  at age 71 - a victim of leukemia,  one common accolade was how the TV host with the personal yet tough interview style, really knew how to listen to his subjects - something very rare in most television talk show hosts, especially today.  Additionally, unlike most commercial television interviews which never seem to ow to delve deep, his interviews were conducted with enough time for the able host to really allow him, and us, to get to know his guests.

But of all of the interviews he conducted on his NBC program The Tomorrow Show the clip below (in my opinion) is one of the most compelling to watch.  It is Snyder's 1980 interview with both John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten) and his Public Image Limited  (PIL) band-mate Keith Levene. Bear in mind that by this stage that Rotten as main spokesman of the Sex Pistols had earned a justified reputation as one of the most difficult and unpredictable interviewees for any  radio or  television host.  But watch it and witness how brilliantly Snyder handles his tough subject and how Lydon, used to knocking over - especially older generation - interviewers seems to have finally met his match and has to struggle a bit to keep in character and try to maintain an upper hand. 

The end result is a perfect sparring match, with both Snyder and Lydon puffing away on cigarettes, that makes for the most engaging type of TV.  Do me a favor: watch it and in the COMMENTS box below rate (on a scale of 1 to 5)  both Snyder's and Lydon's performances. EG:   Tom = 3,  John = 3.

I am exhausted today. Totally exhausted, after spending 24 hours with Jack Bauer, or rather, with the entire seven DVD set of Season 5 (from 2006) of the popular television series 24 starring Keifer Sutherland. I watched it from start to finish over the past three days, and honestly, it wore me out, just watching it. It felt as if I was right there with Jack Bauer, going through every draining confrontational thing that the cool-headed Jack endured from moment to moment and never once having time to stop to just drink some water or even grab a sandwich. Poor Jack Bauer!

My goal was to watch the entire  season of 24 in real time, as in over the course of one day/24 hour period. * Actually it's 18 hours due to fact that each show is approx 45 minutes,   But even at 18 straight hours, it proved just too exhausting for this viewer. Simply put, I couldn't keep up with Jack Bauer! Not owning a TV, I had never seen the show before. Of course, I had read about it and heard about it from friends who are diehard fans of the show. They told me it was a rare good TV show and addictive viewing. They were right! They just didn't prepare me for the relentlessness of each minute of every hour (episode) of Jack Bauer's day.

Other things I learned from watching 24 include that the word "schematics" is used a lot and that Jack Bauer utters the word 'dammit' frequently. And I noticed that, despite all the turmoil and danger he finds himself constantly in, he never loses his head or that little shoulder bag of his. And neither he nor anyone else ever seem to have to charge their phone batteries -- yet they are on them all the time. Same for their laptops, although they are usually plugged in. They also never laugh or smile, eat food or drink water, or catch a wink of sleep as far as I could see from watching Season 5 of 24. I also learned, after doing a bit of online research, that there is a Jack Bauer Appreciation Day (May 9th) and that there are numerous spoofs of 24 including an episode of the Simpsons in which Bart prank calls Jack Bauer.
         
But exhausting as watching 24 for the first time was for me, I am hooked on the great TV show and want to see the other seasons (which should by the way be available in Amoeba's DVD section). I am told that the earlier seasons were better so I am looking forward to checking them out...but first I need to rest some more.