Weekend Viewing: The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 5:34 PM - 8 Comments

Among failed spinoffs, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. is one of the better-known ones, probably because the parent show has been popular enough in syndication that stations would sometimes show the one-season spinoff as well. It was part of the spinoff genre that I have dubbed, for want of a better word, “spinsploitation,” where a show is launched that is basically a copy of the parent show. In this case, it’s what the title suggests: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. with a girl, this being Stefanie Powers, playing a character who was introduced in an episode of Man for the purpose of being spun off. However, when the character was introduced, Mary Ann Mobley played her. Powers was a much better choice for the series than Mobley, though.

This was in the 1966-7 season when every adventure show, including The Man From U.N.C.L.E., was trying too hard to imitate Batman. (I think the only show that benefited from this was the freshman Star Trek, whose bold colours, beautiful women in ridiculous costumes, and crazy plots had a certain Batman influence, but it managed to incorporate those elements without going completely over the top.) It also allowed Leo G. Carroll to get some extra paychecks, since he was the boss on two shows at once.

The show is most remembered as a sign of the faltering, stumbling attempts of U.S. networks to portray a female action hero comparable to Emma Peel on The Avengers. There was usually a reluctance to let Powers’ April Dancer do anything that isn’t stereotypically “feminine.” So she could knock a guy out by using gadgets, but she couldn’t just hit or even kick somebody, and more often than not she winds up as a conventional damsel-in-distress.

This episode, “The U.F.O. Affair” (they used the same titling gimmick as the parent show), guest-stars Fernando Lamas and the wonderful veteran Joan Blondell.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Continue…

Futurama Contract Dispute Over?

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 4:50 PM - 0 Comments

If so, it ended pretty much the way most sensible people predicted it would:

The Star has learned exclusively that the voice cast of Futurama has just signed a new contract with Fox after weeks of intense salary negotiations… The compromise agreement, with the studio paying more and the actors accepting less, comes after the announcement of a 26-episode pick-up here by Comedy Central.

So the studio threatened to replace them as a hardball negotiation tactic, but it was never likely that they would actually be replaced. See Mark Evanier’s post from a few weeks ago, where he explained how these things usually play out.

(Link via Topless Robot)

The Least Promising TV Pairing Since Mel Gibson and Mike Scully

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 4:32 PM - 0 Comments

When I wrote the HBO-skeptical section of my last post, I hadn’t yet seen the news that HBO will be doing a half-hour comedy starring Diane Keaton and created by Marti Noxon. There’s something strangely apropos about the teaming of cinema’s most neurotically self-indulgent star and TV’s most neurotically self-indulgent showrunner, but it doesn’t fill me with great anticipation.

The show appears to be HBO’s attempt to get back the Sex and the City demographic, though the premise — an aging feminist pioneer vaguely based on Gloria Steinem tries to start a sexy-yet-empowering magazine — sounds like Just Shoot Me with nude pictures and an older version of Laura San Giacomo. But the network has been on the lookout for another show that can have its cake and eat it too the way Sex did, providing sexually-frank material with a feminist veneer, so maybe this will be it. It’s a reminder that HBO’s programming choices are often, in their own way, as cynically and obviously calculated as any of the broadcast networks’; it’s just that the calculations are different and the formulas are a bit different.

And no offense meant to Diane Keaton fans; I’m one of those who finds it difficult to like her acting style (and I always have, even in her ’70s prime), but that’s personal taste. (I do feel a great kinship with her character in Manhattan, because when she tells Woody Allen that his hated lowbrow sitcom is “brilliantly funny,” she’s pretty much me.) On the other hand, offended Marti Noxon fans can lump it.

House bails out bailout program

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 4:12 PM - 1 Comment

Even though it only launched last week, the U.S. government’s “cash for clunkers” program, which gives vouchers worth up to US$4,500 to people trading in old cars for more fuel efficient models, is almost out of money. The government started the US$1 billion program as a green attempt to stimulate the car industry, and it was supposed to continue until November—or until funding ran out. But tens of thousands of people rushed to trade in their clunkers, completely overrunning the system. So the house of representatives passed a bill granting an additional US$2 billion in funding to keep the program afloat, but auto dealers say the cash infusion will only buy the program another week.

The Washington Post

Sarah and Hillary: A study in contrasts

By John Parisella - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 3:55 PM - 28 Comments

Aside from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008, the respective campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin remain the highlights of the last political season. Clinton got 18 million votes in the Democratic primaries and nearly became the nominee. Palin came out of nowhere to energize a lackluster McCain bid, and, for a couple weeks in September at least, helped him take a lead in the polls. Since then, she has easily become the most sought after personality in the GOP.

Last Sunday, both Clinton and Palin were in the news, albeit for different reasons, and made it clear why both fascinate the media and the American public. The Secretary of State  was on Meet The Press doing a one-hour interview. Meanwhile, Palin was delivering her farewell address to the people of Alaska. Events dealing with health care reform and yesterday’s ‘Beer Summit’ limited the interventions of the two politicians to one-day news stories. I might add regrettably because both these political figures will continue to play a vital role in the public life of the United States. Continue…

Harper: "No one wants another election"

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 3:25 PM - 48 Comments

Speaking in rural Quebec yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Canadians don’t want a fall election. The country, he said, is recovering from “the biggest economic crisis since World War II,” and Canadians don’t want instability. When asked about the Liberal’s plans to overthrow the government this fall, Harper said, “We will see.” The Conservatives are currently at odds with the Liberals over changes in employment-insurance benefits, which has led some to conclude that the Liberals will use the issue to trigger a fall election.

Canwest News Service

Unelected representative democracy

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 2:54 PM - 54 Comments

Dale Smith sings the praises of the Governor General, then goes ahead and makes a case for the Senate.

Our political life is richer for having someone like Michaëlle Jean in it. It’s the same for the makeup of the Senate – we have a far more diverse, representative slice of Canadian society in the Upper Chamber because of its particular makeup than we do in the Commons because as it stands, our electoral politics still self-selects toward the model of the authoritative straight white middle-aged man. But rather than denigrate it like many Canadians do, we need to embrace it for what it offers us, and the way that it can help us to connect to our political culture.

Don't let them tell you there's a monster under your bed

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 2:28 PM - 4 Comments

Jack Layton talks health care at Huffington Post.

No care for life-threatening conditions, no choice, exorbitant costs, bureaucrat control, poor outcomes — these are the bogeymen of the right-wing smear campaign. And like all bogeymen, once you look under the bed they don’t exist.

Our system does have flaws. We need better prescription drug coverage, better remote access to care and better practices in hospitals and clinics. No honest advocate for our health care system would dismiss these things. But Canadian health care works — and works well.

One way to fill blogspace on a pre-long weekend Friday – Liveblogging a PMO background briefing

By kadyomalley - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 2:15 PM - 44 Comments

The Scene:

With just moments to go before the briefing gets underway, there are seventeen media representatives clustered around the table, including ITQ. So far, three of them have expressed amazement and surprise that this room — 112-N — exists, which boggles ITQ’s mind. Have they never covered Procedure and House Affairs?! Wait, don’t answer that.

This now looks like the ultimate revenge fantasy for the press gallery — a committee comprised entirely of journalists, and A Senior Government Official in the witness chair.

The dress code, incidentally, is what you would call “hypercasual”, with the exception of the representative from the National Post, who is otherwise garbed in traditional Friday-before-the-long-weekend gear, but with vibrantly pink socks and loafers. It’s kind of hypnotic, actually.

1:04:40 PM

And we’re off! (What? Apparently I just like recording life in liveblog format.)

Continue…

Danger zone

By Nancy Macdonald - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 1:30 PM - 5 Comments

It’s been quite the year for North Korea. The Hermit Kingdom rang in July 4 by test-firing seven short-range missiles. In May, Pyongyang, the prime suspect in a cyberattack that knocked out the websites of several U.S. agencies, tested a nuclear weapon as powerful as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima—two days after tearing up the truce that ended the Korean War. Since April, it has also walked away from disarmament talks, restarted its nuclear reactor at Yongbyong, tossed out international monitors and aid workers, jailed two U.S. reporters, and cranked up war rhetoric against rival South Korea. No, it’s not the first time Pyongyang has threatened to turn Seoul into a sea of fire or put its one-million-strong army on high alert. But combined with the naming of an heir—Kim Jong Il has apparently appointed his third son, 26-year-old Kim Jong Un, to succeed him, according to South Korean intelligence—it amounts to a lot of noise from Dear Leader’s regime.

Not since Kim Jong Il took power in 1994 following the death of his dictator father, amid purges, suicides and helicopter crashes, has North Korea’s behaviour appeared so erratic, say top Pyongyang watchers. Yet one thing seems clear: the tub-thumping is aimed at a domestic audience, first and foremost. To North Koreans, it suggests that Kim, dramatically reduced by a stroke (and, if recent reports are true, suffering from pancreatic cancer), remains fierce and in charge. That same message is also aimed at anyone who might attempt to capitalize on his now unmistakable physical weakness. A coup is every dictator’s biggest threat; according to Chinese leaks he has faced such attempts as recently as the late ’90’s. And for Kim the current danger is real: North Korea is effectively bankrupt, he can barely afford to keep the lights on or deliver basic food, and instability is said to be mounting. For all anyone knows, there could already be a power struggle in this state sealed off from the outside world. “If there is an incipient coup under way or being planned,” says Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, “we will be the last to know.” Continue…

Seinfeld reunion!!!

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 1:22 PM - 0 Comments

Larry David, co-creator and executive producer of Seinfeld, never wanted any part of it. Neither did the character he now plays on TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm—Larry David, the co-creator and executive producer of Seinfeld, whose many, many interpersonal disasters make up the bulk of the HBO show’s story lines. Now the real David has agreed to a reunion of the legendary Seinfeld cast, who will appear in roughly half of this season of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes, a plot detailing efforts to write and produce a Seinfeld reunion. “[H]e became interested in the idea when he began to think of it as a ‘show within a show’ that plays off of his curmudgeonly character on Curb,” writes the New York Times‘s Edward Wyatt. But while the David of reality might countenance the idea of bringing George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer back together again. Curb‘s David never would. Indeed, says David: “My guy could well wreck it.”

The New York Times

Finally, a website for moviegoers with small bladders

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 1:20 PM - 0 Comments

Even the best of us need to use the loo mid-film. “When we return to our seats, we pray the answer to ‘What did I miss?’ isn’t ‘Darth Vader is really Luke’s father’ or ‘the girlfriend is really a guy,’” writes Jake Coyle, of the Canadian Press. A new website and iPhone application—runpee.com—makes such a scenario high unlikely. “The site provides recommended opportunities to race to the restroom,” Coyle says. “It tells you when the action or romance wanes, and gives you a cue (‘Baby O.J. is taken from Bruno’) for your exit.” The site very helpfully gives you a countdown of the minutes you’ve got left for your potty sojourn and a summary of what you’ve missed. The site gets between 3,000 and 6,000 visitors a day, says its creator, Florida Flash developer Dan Florio, who got the idea in the three-hour 2005 dud King Kong.

The Canadian Press

A Second Helping Of Slimmed-Down Emmys

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 1:03 PM - 0 Comments

Here are a few more perspectives on the “streamlining” of the Emmy show:

- Diane Kristine Wild at Blogcritics: “The Emmys Snub Writers… Again”

- Cynthia Littleton and Brian Lowry of Variety write more about one of the other main purposes behind this change: to de-emphasize niche cable shows (which are heavily represented in the chopped-out categories) and focus more of the show on the broadcast-network hits. That’s another possible reason for the decision to show the full writing award for 30 Rock but pre-tape the writing award for Mad Men. This placates the broadcast executives who are tired of turning the Emmy show into a three-hour commercial for cable, and it also theoretically boosts ratings by leaving more time for the mass-market hits. It’s a bit like the Motion Picture Academy expanding Best Picture to 10 nominees in the hopes that maybe one of them will be an actual hit film.

- HBO is ticked off: “For a show that has always recognized the best in the television industry, it now seems to be increasingly focused on recognizing broadcast network television.”

Speaking of HBO, they held their TCA presentation yesterday, and the impression I get from reports of that presentation is the same impression I get from that statement: there’s this weird sense of entitlement that permeates the culture at HBO, like every decision they make should be considered brilliant and every show they make should be considered a cut above every other show, simply because it’s them. The quotes from the Hung presentation were full of dumb jokes peurile self-justification (including justifying the decision not to show the organ around which the entire show revolves) that would be considered proof of philistinism or laughable pretension coming from the producers of a broadcast show. But then part of the promotional brilliance of HBO is that they’ve created a brand that allows their bad shows to benefit from a certain presumption of quality. So while HBO has some shows that are quite weak by broadcast-network standards, their weak shows have certain things going for them that make them look like they’re operating on a higher level, when they’re really not.

It’s a bit like how Are You Being Served? is known to be a stupid show in the UK, but outside the UK it’s sometimes mistaken for a quality show because it’s British.

Week in Pictures: July 23rd – July 30th, 2009

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:31 AM - 0 Comments

Helena Guergis meets Kid in the Hall Scott Thompson

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:29 AM - 12 Comments

Helena Guergis, Minister of State (Status of Women), was recently in Toronto. Her visit was part of a series of meetings across the country with stakeholders to share their thoughts and ideas for the government’s upcoming Federal Action Plan for Women. While on Queen Street West, Guergis bumped into Scott Thompson (left) and Paul Bellini. Thompson and the rest of The Kids in the Hall are working on a new mini-series which Bellini is helping to write.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

By Wayne Tefs, Takeoffeh.com - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:07 AM - 0 Comments

Driving in Europe can be daunting. But it’s also one of the most exhilirating ways of visiting a country. Here’s a handy run-down of what you can expect:

Roads
Off the multi-lane turnpikes, the roads in Europe are narrow and often wind through the countryside, flanked by hedgerows, stone fences and trees. Bucolic, in one way, but North Americans can feel a little claustrophobic. On the plus side, the tarmacs are well maintained and the signs on secondary roads provide good directions between major centers.

Maps
Getting from A to B sounds easy in guidebooks and when someone says, oh just head north towards Upton Downberry and stay to the right. But the European countryside is a tangle of criss-crossing small roads. On these side roads, the signs are not entirely trustworthy. You need good maps. Michelin produces excellent ones for France, as does IGN. The Ordnance Survey series is unmatched for Britain, as are the Carta Turistica in Italy and Kompass in Germany.
Tip: Even the best maps can still be confusing, particularly once you’ve made a wrong turn. Your best bet is to bring, rent or purchase a GPS which covers the area you’re driving in. That reassuring voice somehow always manages to get you back on track, no matter how lost you may think you are! Money well spent.

Signs
The vast majority of road signs are universal—stop, yield, right lane must turn right, and so on. But a few in each country are not. A triangle with a red border and an exclamation point may throw you. It is the symbol for “roundabout approaching”. And the infamous French priorité à droite (below) calls for watchfulness.
Alert: know rules on alcohol consumption limits: penalties can be stiff, beginning with a night in jail. Most of this information is readily available on the internet.

Roundabouts (traffic circles)
The intersections of major roads in Europe are governed by roundabouts: cars already in the roundabout have the right of way. You enter yielding right-of-way to vehicles to your left, circle counter-clockwise until you locate your desired exit point, and exit to the right. (It’s the opposite in the U.K. and other right-hand drive countries) If you’re unfamiliar with the system, it can be tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, you might prefer it to light-controlled intersections.
Tip: you’re not required to exit at any point, so if you miss your exit, make a second loop until you’re comfortable turning out.

Turnpikes versus Secondary Roads
Motorways and superhighways connect most of the major centers in European countries. These freeways are often toll routes: they whisk you on three and four lanes quickly from one urban center to another. There are also non-toll roads, usually of one lane per direction. By contrast, these meander through the countryside and its many cramped and quaintly cluttered towns. The downside is that traffic plugs up at every town—and you can be trapped behind a lorry going 40KpH for 30 or more kilometres.
Choose your poison—the freeways are fast but costly and you don’t see the countryside; the picturesque smaller roads can be slow and frustrating.

Partageons la Route
If you’re trapped behind a lorry, you simply have to wait it out. Europeans drive fast and well compared to North Americans. But they also respect others on the road: sheep crossing between meadows, a tractor chugging from one field to another, cyclists out on a ride. There’s little zooming past such encumbrances.

Britain’s “right-hand” Drive Set Up
Most people have heard that motor vehicles in Britain drive on the opposite side of the road to everywhere else. It’s surprisingly easy to catch on to being on the “wrong” side of the road. The tricky bits are making turns crossing traffic (left-hand turns for North Americans, right for Britons), and backing up—where the disorientations are multiplied.
Tip: if you rent near an airport, take a half hour to drive around near the lot just to familiarize yourself before heading out onto the highways and freeways where traffic is really moving.

Europe’s priorité à droite (priority to the right)
Under this rule, traffic entering intersections (including T-junctions) from a road on your right has the right of way, no matter how small the road it’s coming from (unless that traffic has a stop or yield sign or two broad white bands of paint indicating it must stop). A yellow diamond edged with white is the sign that indicates you are on a “priority” road. But drivers sometimes play loose and easy, so always exercise caution.

A few points on renting in Europe:
All the major companies are at the international airports and rail stations, but prices vary greatly, so you’ll want to shop in advance of your arrival. Europcar often offers the best deals – you can expect to pay about $50-$75 / day. It’s very important to check with your credit card company about third party liability coverage. If you aren’t covered, you’re best to buy liability insurance — in some countries drivers seem to treat parking as a giant bumper-car game.

Photo Credits: fotoVoyager, DivaNir4a, aspectimages, Wayne Tefs, wikipedia, jimx

Comets a "highly unlikely" cause of mass extinction

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 10:47 AM - 1 Comment

Researchers from the University of Washington have declared that it is highly unlikely that comets caused mass extinctions on Earth. With new data about the Oort Cloud—a region in space approximately 93 billion miles from the sun where the majority of Earth’s comets originate from–scientists used a computer model to map the statistical likelihood of a comet crossing through Earth’s orbit. They concluded that no more than two or three comets could have passed through Earth’s orbit in the last 500 million years. Even then, they say the comet showers would have not been large enough to cause a mass extinction.

Science Daily

Katherine Heigl: Who's sexist now?

By macleans.ca - Friday, July 31, 2009 at 10:46 AM - 3 Comments

It’s been two years since Katherine Heigl remarked that the film Knocked Up was sexist because it “paints the women as shrews,” but her co-star Seth Rogen, and director Judd Apatow, still don’t seem to have forgiven her. Promoting their new, Heigl-free movie Funny People, Rogen and Apatow took a shot at the actress for her current movie, The Ugly Truth, for being much more sexist than she accused Knocked Up of being. “I hear there’s a scene where she’s wearing underwear with a vibrator in it,” Apatow says. “I’d have to see if that was uplifting to women.” The director-star team added that Heigl was a pleasure to work with on the actual movie and that she improvised a lot of her own material, but she never apologized to them for bad-mouthing the project after the fact. Rogen’s not upset, though: “It’s not like we’re the only people she said some bats–t crazy things about. That’s kind of her bag now.”

Us Magazine

Semi-rhetorical question of the day

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 11:22 PM - 78 Comments

Is it now the government’s official position that democracy is dangerous for the country?

Righting the course: Charles McVety, Tony Clement and … ITQ?

By kadyomalley - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 10:49 PM - 42 Comments

Yes, in this week’s webisode of the Charles McVety Show, ITQ gets a shoutout from McVety himself. You can watch the whole show here, at least for the moment — I’m not sure how often he rotates them out for new material — and the segment on sex parades, and more specifically, his self-proclaimed success in putting a stop to the federal funding thereof, kicks off just before the 20 minute mark. Happy viewing, all!

Slimmed-Down Emmys

By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 5:17 PM - 3 Comments

Looks like the Emmy Awards are going to do like the Tonys and streamline the show by leaving out some of the less-showy awards. They’ll show the acceptance speeches, taped before the live show, but not the presentation of the awards.

The main criterion seems to be which of the awards would make for the least interesting (no, that’s the wrong word — “ratings-friendly” is more like it) presentation. So that might help explain the otherwise bizarre decision to pre-tape the awards for best writing in a drama but leave the best writing in a comedy award for the show proper. The inevitable 30 Rock victory might produce a funny speech or at least a shout-out to Tina Fey (though she isn’t nominated for any of the four scripts). The equally inevitable Mad Men victory might produce a funny speech, but they wouldn’t be expecting it in advance.

Dumbo's ancient ancestor discovered

By macleans.ca - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 4:53 PM - 0 Comments

Paleontolists at the Paris Museum have discovered fossil remains of the oldest-known relative of elephants. Found in Paleocene beds in Morocco, the newly discovered species—Eritherium azzouzorum—dates back 60 million years when it weighed about 11 pounds. The discovery gives scientists information about how the elephant species evolved.

Science Daily

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz allegedly on 2003 doping list

By macleans.ca - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 3:59 PM - 1 Comment

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, who helped the Boston Red Sox in 2004 win their first World Series in 86 years, are allegedly among the 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing substances in 2003. If the New York Times sources are correct, this will mark the first time Ortiz has been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Ramirez was recently suspended 50 games for violating baseball’s drug policy.

The New York Times

ITQ's Poetry Local Architectural History Corner

By kadyomalley - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 3:49 PM - 12 Comments

While we wait for the latest development in Wafergate-gate to reveal itself to ITQ — yes, she’s still on it –  let’s all sit back and learn a little bit more about Langevin Block and the Blackburn Building, courtesy of the Privy Council Office.