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 Ben Stone update
3/25/06 13:46:33
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Ever since Michael Moriarty lost his job on Law and Order, various and sundry disturbing stories have circulated about his fights with Janet Reno, his multiple divorces, and other colorful, headline-generating behavior.
And now comes written proof that, to coin a phrase, Moriarty behavior can’t just be written off as a manifestation of "artistic temperament". Read it and weep:
Revolutionary Law & Order
A recent plug by John Leonard for Dick Wolf’s latest spinoff [“Television: A Soap in Wolf’s Clothing,” March 6] described my role in the original Law & Order as that of a “Robespierre.” What gives? For those of you who might not know, Maximilien Robespierre was the murderous ideologist of the French Revolution. He was most assuredly not a good man like my character, Ben Stone. Executing France’s aristocracy wasn’t enough for Robespierre, who sent his former comrades to be guillotined during the Terror. Dick Wolf had his own share of purges: I watched the real genius behind Law & Order, executive producer Joseph Stern, leave after two years. Actors Richard Brooks and Dann Florek were summarily fired. Paul Sorvino was eased out because he’d repeatedly suffered from a respiratory ailment after working on New York street locations and wanted to work indoors. Chris Noth was icily informed that his contract hadn’t been renewed at the end of the fifth year. I’m running for president of the United States in 2008 on a third-party ticket, entering the race on a basically comic note, since no one in the mainstream press is taking me seriously, certainly not John Leonard. Or is he? Someone at New York is reading my editorials and articles on enterstageright.com and mmuuuhp.com, or Leonard’s French Revolutionary comparison would never have been made. No, Mr. Leonard, I didn’t play Ben Stone as a Robespierre. If you want to lay a French moniker on me, try Lafayette, who advised George Washington to abolish slavery. As Lafayette cried for an end to slavery, I’m declaring, “End abortion! Overturn Roe v. Wade!” The last great lion, Sir Winston Churchill, suffered from sudden depressions he called his “black dog.” Churchill’s occasional funk will prove a mild case of the blues when compared to the eternal despair about to descend on the American careerists of the Third Millennium. Once the breathtakingly self-evident truth about abortion enters their Princetonian, Yalie, Madison Avenue, spin-doctoring, Rolling Stone, New York Times, exploitative souls, the effect of that light upon their eugenics-inspired darkness will be like rabies in a raccoon. Dick Wolf and John Leonard are minor raccoons swept up in the rabies of American careerism.
Michael Moriarty, Maple Ridge, British Columbia
Dc Media Girl Permalink
Comments (10)
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Thanks Gilly
3/13/06 18:49:19
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Thanks to Steve Gilliard for pointing out George Clooney’s unapologetic self-affirmation over at the Huffington Post, and for making the following observation:
You know, when George Clooney calls up a woman, I bet he isn’t asking her to shove a dildo up his ass and he knows what a loofah is.
I’m sure you’re right, Gilly.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
Comments (18)
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Oddball
3/13/06 11:08:30
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From Saturday’s TVNewser:
Special Edition of Hardball Tonight
 MSNBC has scheduled a 9pm special edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews tonight from the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis, Tenn. Matthews’ interview with John McCain will air. Also, MSNBC will have the results of the 2008 straw poll around 8pm. Check out Hardblogger for more...Yes, that sounds special. Schlepping Chris Matthews and staff to Tennessee to cover a non-binding straw poll (in other words, a non-news generating publicity stunt) AND to interview John McCain, who is on Hardball every other day (or so it seems), sounds like a great way to utilize MSNBC’s meager resources.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
Comments (5)
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Back again
3/13/06 09:47:06
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Sorry for the long break, but I’ve been swamped with all sorts of projects, namely a) work, which is extremely time consuming, and b) buying a house, which is one of the most frustrating, humiliating, labor-intensive activities known to humankind (particularly when you live in the D.C. area). So now that that’s sorted, back to blogging.
So how about that Sopranos debut? I repeat: how about that Sopranos debut? Will Tony pull through? Will we now see the sullen, spoiled, feckless AJ forced to step into the old man’s shoes a la Michael Corleone? And how is it that David Chase has created a series where we actually care so deeply about an assortment of cheap hoodlums and sociopaths?
Now to the Olympics. I confess I didn’t watch that much of the competition, even though I’m a rabid figure skating and ice dancing fan. So why didn’t I watch? In a word: costumes. What the hell happened to the costumes this year? From Chess King/International Male-cheesy (the men) to a Cirque de Soleil outfits by way of Jenna Jameson and Larry Flynt (the women), the skating events were one big horror show of bad fashion and atonal, grating "musical" accompaniment.
Then there was Bode Miller, the human exploding cigar of the 2006 Games. The press get very angry when a massive publicity campaign yields a product that falls short of expectations, so it was no surprise that Miller ended up getting it in the neck, done in by the same scribblers who’d previously wet their pants over his I-don’t-give-a-fuck-where’s-the-keg swagger. Honestly, we haven’t seen an Olympics publicity stunt flame out this badly since Reebok’s ill-fated "Dan and Dan" campaign. What’s funny about the Bode Miller saga is the sports press’s hyperventilating, over-the-top prose, to wit:
The San Francisco Examiner’s Gwen Knapp wryly put it: "The phrases Miller heard most in the Turin Games were ’Did Not Finish’ and whatever means ’last call’’ in Italian." The headline on her column said: ’Bode Miller: He’s the biggest bust in Olympic history."
Actually, I’d think that in terms of Olympic busts, Munich probably ranks right up there. The Hitler games of 1936 weren’t a barrel of laughs. And Atlanta was bombed by Eric Rudolph. So how about getting off Bode’s back for a bit?
Now for the Oscars.
I’m still not sure whether Jon Stewart understood he was hosting the Oscars, since his jokes seemed to have been written for a much hipper, more intelligent and less thin-skinned audience. But I enjoyed his performance immensely all the same. He didn’t exude the oleaginous cynicism our the outright self-loathing of other Oscar hosts, and for that I thank him.
Now to the fashions.
I’m really not sure what Cherlize Theron was thinking wearing that shoulder bowed monstrosity, which looked like a castoff from the Dynasty wardrobe closet. The fabric and cut were decades too old for her, and the dress was hideous. When you’re as beautiful as she is, you really have to work very hard to end up looking so bad, and clearly she and her team put in overtime. Another dart goes to Naomi Watts for her colorless, hideously shredded shmatte. As far as gorgeous goes, Jessica Alba looked every inch the star, although she’s looking so emaciated that her head seems to have expanded to twice its normal size. I also can’t help but question the decision to have her present, since she’s not exactly Oscar material, and her ouevre isn’t exactly that distinguished, but what the hell - the horny middle aged men who run the place love her, and that’s all that counts.
More thoughts later, including a critique of Dominick Dunne!
Dc Media Girl Permalink
Comments (8)
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Some real entertainment
3/1/06 07:57:28
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To make up for the Washington Post’s excesses in covering the four white hip-hop dancers, I present you with two Asian kids channeling the Backstreet Boys. Fantastic!
Dc Media Girl Permalink
Comments (12)
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