Quote of the Day

This one goes out to the Phillies…

“So, here’s some advice I wish I woulda got when I was your age:
Live every week like it’s Shark Week.”

–Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan on “30 Rock”)

My blogapology to misdirected readers.

Thanks to WordPress’s really cool technology, I can see that a bunch of readers were referred here from another blog (at Reason.com) – which had hyperlinked the terms “cache out the yin-yang” to my little ramblins’.

However, I really didn’t get into discussing that Seinfeldian quote – which is one of my favorites.

Courtesy of my very good friends at Seinfeldscripts.com, here’s the scene:

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[Blogger's Note: George has recommended "Soda" as a baby name to Susan's cousin, but the cousin didn't like the idea. He told Susan privately that he had already chosen "Seven" as the name for their first child, boy or girl. Susan did not like this idea, despite the name being a tribute to New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle. And we fade up...

[Restaurant]

George and Susan are having dinner.

GEORGE: Aw c’mon. It’s a fantastic name. It’s a real original, nobody else is gonna have it and I absolutely love it.

SUSAN: Well, I dunno how original it’s gonna be any more.

GEORGE: Why not?

SUSAN: Well I was telling Carrie about our argument, and when I told them the name, they just loved it.

GEORGE: So, what’re you saying?

SUSAN: They’re gonna name their baby Seven.

GEORGE: (disbelief) What?! They’re stealing the name?! That’s my name, I made it up!

SUSAN: I can’t believe that they’re using it.

GEORGE: (anger) Well now it’s not gonna be original! It’s gonna lose all its cache!

SUSAN: I dunno how much cache it had to begin with.

GEORGE: (rage) Oh, it’s got cache, baby! It’s got cache up the yin-yang!!!

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Speaking of Seinfeld…

The Seinfeld Campus Tour Heads to The Big Apple:
The Seinfeld Campus Tour, a 26-city, 10,000 mile portable Seinfeld experience from Sony Pictures Television, is heading to Union Square Park in New York City between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. this Thursday, Sept. 4. The 60-foot, Seinfeld-branded bus will help integrate the show into the digital, multi-tasking lifestyle of college students and members of the 70-million-plus millennial demographic. For more information, click on www.seinfeld.com.

(Courtesy: The Programming Insider e-newsletter from Mediaweek)

Some of the best news…

Arrested Development – The Movie:
According to today’s New York Post, there is a big-screen version of Arrested Development in the works for 2009.

(source: The Programming Insider from Mediaweek)

RIP, George Carlin

Another comedy great is gone. As a very lame tribute, I would like to note something that would hopefully annoy Mr. Carlin enough to rant…

Our local paper published an online “article” from The Associated Press, which was basically just quotes of some of Mr. Carlin’s best and funniest observations.

And below the “article,” the AP had their legal mumbo-jumbo, copied here verbatim:

“© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.”

So it’s OK for the AP to redistribute Mr. Carlin’s material – without, by the way, citing where they got it – but we can’t copy and paste it?

You know what, at least the Internet is awesome and we can go find, as Jon Stewart said last night, HOURS of Mr. Carlin’s video.

RIP Harvey Korman & Sydney Pollack

First blog post in a while, and it’s a downer.

The great Harvey Korman has passed away.

You may remember him from Mel Brooks’ classics like Blazing Saddles (as Hedley Lamarr) and History of the World, Part 1 (as Count DeMoney), or from The Carol Burnett Show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Korman

And it was a few days ago that director/actor Sydney Pollack left us.  I’ll remember him best as Dustin Hoffman’s exasperated agent in Tootsie (which he also directed), but he was probably more successful as a director (The Way We Were, Out of Africa, The Firm).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Pollack

Wherever they are now, it’s a much funnier and more interesting place with those guys there.

Review: Reno 911!

An incredibly underrated, very very funny Comedy Central show.

For the uninitiated, it’s basically a fictional “Cops,” but with character actors/comedians playing both cops and criminals.

Most of the cast members of “The State”–MTV’s greatest sketch comedy show ever–are involved as actors, writers or producers.

Ridiculously absurd (or absurdly ridiculous) crimes are committed, the cops show up and usually make things worse, etc.

There are plenty of running gags, like Deputy Junior (that’s his last name) constantly getting rendered unconscious by car doors opening into his head.

A sample plotline from the most recent season’s first episode: Crazy Deputy Weigel, who had impregnated herself with a sample “donated” by one of the other deputies, was trying to sell her baby.

This is good stuff.  Catch it on Comedy Central or in syndication.

Re-View: The inspiring “Newsradio”

Not the AM format where you get your news, sports, traffic and weather.

The awesome, underrated mid-to-late 1990s sitcom with the incredible ensemble cast and great writing.  That happened to be about an AM radio station from which New Yorkers got their news, sports, traffic and weather.

Why review a show that hasn’t run a new episode in about a decade?  Because I recently got reacquainted with the show, being re-run at like 1:00 a.m.  (When you don’t have to be in work early, late-night TV is a rare treat.)  Anyway, I now DVR it.

As I re-viewed the first few episodes, I was reminded of the show’s greatness.  Dave Foley’s exasperation.  Maura Tierney’s overachieving.  Andy Dick’s, well, Dick-ness.  Beth, the redheaded spitfire whose real name always escapes me.  And of course, the late great Phil Hartman, as the pompous Bill McNeal.

Watching the show made me long for the days when quality sitcoms roamed the Earth like packs of wild velociraptors, clawing their way through our funny bones.

Maybe I’ll use some of this free time to try my hand at a sitcom script again.  I do have a pretty interesting idea, one that I’m kind of excited to explore.

Stay tuned for updates.

Review: Kenny vs. Spenny

This is a Comedy Central show where two friends challenge each other in ridiculous or humiliating or painful competitions.  Kenny always cheats, and he’s deliciously evil.  Spenny is innocent and trusting, and therefore a perfect mark.

I laughed out loud (or would have, if Shannon wasn’t sleeping next to me).  You just might too.

Sundays at 11:30, probable reruns at other times.