Video Runway

The fall TV season is well under way and what do you think so far?

Some of my own favorite shows have returned after their summer off, refreshed and rarin’ to go, so I thought it was a good time to point out some highlights and some lowlights.

Highlights

• “Dancing with the Stars:”  Even if you’ve never watched this show, you have to tune in just to watch 82 year old Cloris Leachman totter across the dance floor.  She’s a hoot and a half.

• “True Blood:”  This HBO series is based on the books by Charlaine Harris and if you like a good vampire yarn, this show is for you.  It’s set way down in Louisiana and stars Anna Paquin as a telepathic waitress who has a thing for the local vamp.

• “Grey’s Anatomy:” is back and I couldn’t be happier.  The two hour premiere was chock full of all the things “Grey’s” does well:  romantic trials, medical mishaps and life and death decisions.  Based on those two hours alone, I’d say “Grey’s” is back.

• “Somebodies” is a comedy on BET…yeah you heard me, BET…and it’s the network’s first originally scripted show.  Starring Hadjii as a professional college student who can’t get his act together, this sitcom, though done on the cheap, has some decent laughs and a solid supporting cast.   And in spite of BET’s proven lack of respect for black women—don’t get me started—the show actually has a couple of decent black women characters.

So far I have only one substantial lowlight, that is if you don’t count the Emmy Awards.  That’s “Ugly Betty.”

I’ve been a big “Betty” fan, but last week’s premiere was a huge disappointment.  In spite of the wonderful New York backdrops (the show now shoots on location in New York), there was very little humor, the characters were flat and except for Wilhemina and Mark, there was little entertainment to be had.  Hopefully things will pick up this week.

Feel free to add to this list.

Based on the ratings, odds are you weren’t watching the Emmy Awards Sunday night.  The ratings were lousy and so was the show.

But there were a couple of high points, so to make sure you have a little something to talk to your co-workers about around the water cooler, I’m here to fill you in on some of the good things about the show you missed.

1. Ricky Gervais.  He was the funniest thing about the show and I’m starting a petition to have him host the Emmys next year.
2. Don Rickles.  Yeah, if you’re under thirty, you may not know who he is, but he’s a comic legend and got off a couple of good zingers.
3. Kathy Griffin yelling at the audience to “Get up!!” when she brought him on stage was a high point as well.
4. Christina Applegate looking healthy and fabulous after her recent double mastectomy for breast cancer.
5. The hotness that is Jon Hamm of “Mad Men.”  Yummmmmm.
6. Jimmy Kimmel having the five reality host nominees wait around on stage while they went to commercial break before announcing the winner.  It was Jeff Probst, by the way.
7. Zeljko Ivanek winning Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for “Damages.”  He looked genuinely touched and since “Damages” was one of my favorite shows last season, I was very happy.
8. Ditto Glenn Close winning Best Actress for “Damages.”  She didn’t look quite as touched, but I was just as happy.
9. Bryan Cranston’s almost bitter acceptance speech after winning for Best Drama Actor.  He’d been nominated quite a few times for “Malcolm In The Middle” and never won, so I guess he hasn’t forgotten that.
10. All the presenters later in the show like Kathryn Joosten who were pissed because their “bits” were cut due to the truly deadly and long opening by the five reality show hosts.

I know this list is pretty thin, but then again, so was the show.

You can read a complete list of all the Emmy winners here.

The movie, “The Women” literally has no men, boys or testosterone of any kind in it.  Except…well, I won’t tell you that because it would be a spoiler.

But it was very cool to see that in every scene there wasn’t a man to be found.  Scenes on the street: every extra in the background was a woman.  Scenes in department stores: every shopper in the background was a woman.

Enough of that, how was the movie?  Well…it was just okay.  I didn’t run screaming from the theatre in agony, but I didn’t run out and recommend it to everyone I saw either.

The story in a nutshell is about a woman (Annette Bening) who finds out from her manicurist that her friend’s husband is cheating on her.  The friend is played by Meg Ryan, and Jada Pinkett Smith and Deborah Messing play the other two friends in this girl group quartet.

The movie is a remake of the 1939 version of the Clare Booth Luce play and my friend Kay says the 1939 version starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell is much better.

In this current version, Annette Bening does the best acting job, but the main problem with the movie is the chemistry between the women is contrived, and it’s simply not funny enough.

It’s fun seeing the world of the wealthy Mary Haines (Ryan) and that of fashion magazine powerhouse Sylvie Fowler (Bening) but ultimately, that’s not worth recommending a $10 box office investment.

This season’s contestants on “Project Runway” are the most thick headed ever.   It’s one thing if you get auf’d because you did a design the judges didn’t like, but quite another if you get auf’d because you didn’t do what the challenge asked you to do. If you do that, you deserve to have your butt kicked out.

That was evident once again last night when Joe got bumped off because he thought a recent college graduate who aspires to be a graphic designer wanted to go around wearing a dowdy, black pin striped skirt, and ugly, badly fitting, black jacket and blouse.

Just like Keith, Daniel, Kelli and Jennifer, he didn’t do what was asked of him:  create an outfit that was professional but which also represented the job that his young client aspired to.  Suede was extremely lucky not to get his butt kicked out with that hideous jacket he made for his photographer.

I swear this group of designers have such bad cases of tunnel vision, it’s a wonder they can get through life without preaching to whoever will listen about their “design aesthetic” and “their vision.”  If you’re asked to create sportswear, you create sportswear.  If you’re asked to create an over the top outfit for a drag queen, you create an over the top outfit for a drag queen.  It doesn’t matter that most of the time you design panty waist dresses.  You do what the challenge requires.

And if Kenley doesn’t get tossed out next week, I’m going to end up going through the TV set to rip up one of those ghastly print dresses she keeps making.

When I was a kid, I was never drawn to movies like “Peter Pan” or “Huckleberry Finn,” because as far as I was concerned they were “boy stories.”  I didn’t have anything against them, but I wanted to see more “girl stories.”

That’s why when I found this list of the “Ten Movies Every Girl Should See,” at Film.com, I felt the need to share it.  Erin Nolan who wrote the article suggests the list as iconic movies every girl should see in her lifetime.

Of the ten movies, I’ve seen and agree with six of the ten.  None of them are the greatest movies ever made, but “Shrek,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Kill Bill,” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” are superior films and examples of spectacular filmmaking.  “13 Going On 30″ is good, clean fun, and “Million Dollar Baby” is distinguished by the magnificent acting.

I do however have a few movies I would add to that list (in no particular order):

• The Little Princess
• Akeelah and the Bee
• Terms Of Endearment
• When Harry Met Sally
• Thelma and Louise
• The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants
• Mamma Mia
• A League Of Their Own
• The Color Purple
• My Brilliant Career
• A Raisin In The Sun
• All About Eve

Feel free to add your own to this list.

This is a tough day for so many Americans.  Here are some videos relating to today’s memorials:

Comments of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The President’s remarks at the Pentagon.

CBS background story on the Pentagon Memorial.

Also, tonight on the History Channel, there’s a special documentary, “101 Minutes That Changed America,” that uses snippets of video from different sources to show what happened on 9/11 in real time.

It airs tonight at 9 PM.

If you lost someone on that day, my thoughts are with you.

Courtesy TNT

Tonight’s episode of “The Closer” is a family affair.  Star Kyra Sedgwick’s real life husband, Kevin Bacon directed the episode “Sudden Death” which find’s Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson and her squad hunting for the killer of Det. Julio Sanchez’s brother.

Emmy nominee Sedgwick gets to shine as does Raymond Cruz who plays Det. Sanchez in this gripping episode that has as it’s focus the senselessness of gang violence.

I haven’t watched “The Closer” much this season but whenever I do, I’m always drawn in by Sedgwick’s very natural portrayal of Brenda Johnson.  She’s a steel magnolia who’s not afraid to get her hands dirty and I’m almost never disappointed by tuning in.

If you want some added entertainment after watching the episode, you can always play the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game by trying to figure out which of the other actors in the show have Kevin Bacon connections.

The Closer airs weekly on TNT at 9 PM.

A drag queen, that is.  This week’s episode of “Project Runway” had our intrepid designers creating stagewear for a copious array of curvaceous queens with names like, Miss Understood, Hedda Lettuce, Farrah Moans, and  Annida GreenKard.

Chris March from last season was there in a Ride Of The Valkyries costume to introduce the challenge and set the mood for the episode.  And honestly, if you didn’t chuckle when some of those outfits worn by the six foot six drag queen goddesses came strutting down the catwalk, there’s something seriously wrong with your funny bone.

RuPaul was a guest judge and why not?  She brought her own unique perspective.  Blayne’s “teradactyl out of a gay Jurassic Park” was my favorite.  It had a drag queen purity that was tough to beat.

Daniel totally deserved to be dumped for doing that lame “so far from a drag queen dress as you could get” thing he created.  He succumbed to the same ego driven self-destruction that Kelli did last week.  What part of “go over the top” didn’t he understand?

But that’s okay ’cause there was enough stuff over the top to go around.  Kenley’s liquid silver Marilyn Monroe dress for Farrah Moans,  Joe’s fabulous Varla Jean hot pink “Ann Margaret on the Love Boat” sailor catsuit, Terri’s Samurai outfit for Acid Betty, Korto’s red shimmer sheath for Sweetie, and Leanne’s “Lost in Space” alien outfit.

Best line of the show?  RuPaul’s description of the huge belt on Varla Jean’s catsuit as”hiding the candy.”

It was the best comedy I’ve seen on TV in a while.

Looking for some fun videos just in time to go back to school?  Check out College Humor.  There’s the Bollywood classic, “Benny Lava,” featuring unique subtitles.  Or watch the Offensive Coke Ad to see the most value for the advertising dollar.

College Humor also has a blog where you can read Susanna Wolff’s roundup, “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” One example?  The guy who used his parents’ laptop with odd results:

This was apparently the first time anyone had closed the laptop because I got a phone call from my mom an hour later at work asking me “to not mess with the home computer and to put the screen back on when I got done with work.”

And Katie Marino’s new use for Google Maps:  “Google Maps Leads You To Buried Treasure.”  They even have a Will Ferrell Movie Generator that allows you to generate movie plots for Ferrell’s next six or seven movies.  the only problem?  The plots are pretty much the same, only the character names change.

Enjoy.

Well good for Paris Hilton.  Not only does she take a pot shot at Senator John McCain’s backhanded pot shot at her, she actually shows that she can do comedy…with cue cards of course.

But seriously, good for Paris for making this little video as an answer to McCain’s “Obama’s just another celebrity” ad.  Here’s the McCain ad:

And here’s the link to Paris’ response.

Personally, I think her energy policy’s got potential.  Vote Paris in ‘09!