{"conf": "tv", "generated_at": "2026-04-26T08:00:02.954878Z", "threads": [{"num": 1, "subject": "Howdy! Introduce yourself", "response_count": 57, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "duke", "date": "Mon, Dec 23, 1996 (01:54)", "body": ""}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Dec 23, 1996 (22:11)", "body": ""}, {"response": 3, "author": "jung", "date": "Thu, Dec 26, 1996 (03:22)", "body": ""}, {"response": 4, "author": "jung", "date": "Thu, Dec 26, 1996 (03:26)", "body": ""}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Dec 26, 1996 (21:30)", "body": "Welcome Yunsab, you'll catch on!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr  8, 1997 (09:16)", "body": "howdy! New to the net, newer to the spring. Addicted to t and v as an adult since my parental units denied access thereunto in my childhood. Seems every show I like gets cancelled (too numerous to name here; most egregious recent example being Due South)or messed with (Naked Truth). What's up with that? I liked Northern Exposure early on but in later seasons it rubbed me wrong and then they brought in a bunch of characters I didn't care for (the new doc and his whiny wife, eg) so I stopped watching. I even have cable now, heaven forfend! NEVER thought I'd do that!!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr  8, 1997 (22:58)", "body": "What do you like that's on now."}, {"response": 8, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (13:02)", "body": "Of the regular shows (ie, non cable and non PBS) I'd have to say that I tune into a variety of sitcoms and dramas but am passionate about nothing right now. I think NYPD Bleu and Homocide (yes those are deliberate typos) are good but getting a little ?stale or ?self-referential now. I love Christine Baranski on Cybill and am even willing to watch the show despite my loathing for the increasingly self-conciously cutsie Ms Sheppard (actually don't know how to spell her name!) in order to see the exquisite comedic antics of the lovely Ms Baranski. I hope if they ever do ruin AbFab by remaking it for US TV, they cast her in the Joanna Lumley role. I enjoy Tea Leoni in the Naked Truth in much the same way: great comedic turns, poor show. My more low-brow selections include Nash Bridges--the chemistry between Cheech and Don is incredible and makes an otherwise mundane cop dramedy watchable. Let me think some more!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (14:39)", "body": "my goodness--how could I be so forgetful?!?!--XFILESXFILESXFILES!!! Ok, ther IS one show I'm addicted to nowadays. I'll think of more when I get home, but that's the BIG KAHUNA."}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (21:12)", "body": ""}, {"response": 11, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Fri, May 23, 1997 (16:53)", "body": ""}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, May 24, 1997 (10:08)", "body": ""}, {"response": 13, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Sun, May 25, 1997 (09:22)", "body": ""}, {"response": 14, "author": "ginger", "date": "Sun, Jun 15, 1997 (01:00)", "body": ""}, {"response": 15, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Jun 18, 1997 (07:48)", "body": ""}, {"response": 16, "author": "ginger", "date": "Sun, Jun 22, 1997 (13:55)", "body": "Good to be here. Have you heard of the potential migration of folks here from Electric Minds?"}, {"response": 17, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Jun 23, 1997 (08:11)", "body": "I saw a post from terry somewhere in here about that--I don't know what electric minds is but any influx is welcome!"}, {"response": 18, "author": "Lecteur", "date": "Thu, Aug 14, 1997 (19:42)", "body": "Hi, I'm introducing myself. Love TV. Lots of cable channels too. NYPD Blue is like a religion. I don't agree that's it's getting stale, but I just love the show. ER. Frasier. Ellen. Party of Five. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. When the networks came out with the fall season, I put my TV schedule on paper. It's packed away right now as I just moved otherwise I could respond better. Yep, I'm nuts. Does anyone remember the wonderful Bonnie Hunt show that lasted what three months? I loved it. Looking forward to Kirstie Alley this fall. I suppose that's all."}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug 14, 1997 (22:55)", "body": "Welcome Lecteur! Glad you're with us."}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Sep 23, 1997 (14:13)", "body": ""}, {"response": 21, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Sep 24, 1997 (06:11)", "body": ""}, {"response": 22, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Sep 24, 1997 (09:40)", "body": ""}, {"response": 23, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Wed, Sep 24, 1997 (16:37)", "body": ""}, {"response": 24, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Sep 25, 1997 (09:40)", "body": ""}, {"response": 25, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Thu, Oct  2, 1997 (12:41)", "body": ""}, {"response": 26, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Oct  3, 1997 (09:38)", "body": ""}, {"response": 27, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sun, Oct 12, 1997 (11:22)", "body": "What kind of games do you play, Lore?"}, {"response": 28, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (13:38)", "body": "Pictionary, trivial pursuit, scrabble, among others. I myself prefer games with bells and whistles (noisy buzzers and the like), but I'm actually best at any game that involves song lyrics. To tell the truth, in my circle of friends the women always know the lyrics while the guys really don't have a clue what a song is actually about, even when they're VERY familiar with it. Anyway, enough digressing. Tell me what you like to do to keep busy and have fun."}, {"response": 29, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (13:58)", "body": "Guys, take a hit off the clue bong."}, {"response": 30, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Nov  6, 1997 (11:46)", "body": "That is just what I need to go with our new DSS. WER"}, {"response": 31, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Nov  7, 1997 (12:10)", "body": ""}, {"response": 33, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Nov 17, 1997 (10:11)", "body": ""}, {"response": 35, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Nov 18, 1997 (11:28)", "body": ""}, {"response": 36, "author": "EEK", "date": "Fri, Apr  3, 1998 (11:56)", "body": ""}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr  3, 1998 (21:22)", "body": ""}, {"response": 38, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Apr  4, 1998 (22:17)", "body": "Hi Emily! I'm hooked on cop shows, especially \"Law & Order\", \"NYPD Blue\" and the local favorite, \"Homicide.\" Boy, you sure like Fox!"}, {"response": 39, "author": "EEK", "date": "Mon, Apr  6, 1998 (12:19)", "body": "I guess I am a big FOX fan. I have watched \"NYPD Blue\" before and I really liked it. I just lost track of when it was on. I try not to watch too much TV. I always in front of the tv on Wednesday and Thursdays though =)"}, {"response": 40, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (21:45)", "body": "hi guys! first time in the TV conference (thanks to wer who wondered why a certain fav topic of mine wasn't here *grin*)"}, {"response": 41, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jun 27, 1998 (02:31)", "body": "nonono...the topic is here, couldn't figure out why you hadn't posted in it yet!!!"}, {"response": 42, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jun 27, 1998 (04:49)", "body": ""}, {"response": 43, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Tue, Jun 30, 1998 (22:34)", "body": ""}, {"response": 44, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (00:41)", "body": ""}, {"response": 45, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (14:26)", "body": "does anyone else have the problem of missing posts in here?"}, {"response": 46, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (14:35)", "body": "Yes - the scribbler was in there tidying up, perhaps?"}, {"response": 47, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (14:37)", "body": ""}, {"response": 48, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (16:59)", "body": "or perhaps not..."}, {"response": 49, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (22:33)", "body": "Geez, you go away for a week and when you get back the whole place has changed! (for the better--whoever's responsible!)"}, {"response": 50, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (22:52)", "body": "William is the genius and I was his fetch and tote person. Pretty, isn't it!"}, {"response": 51, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (23:40)", "body": "Bright and bold!"}, {"response": 52, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (23:45)", "body": "and cool and edgy?"}, {"response": 53, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Aug  9, 1999 (00:04)", "body": "Simple yet elegant"}, {"response": 54, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Aug 17, 1999 (21:26)", "body": "cool and edgy. and you did the tvshows.com deal at the top too, huh? where'd that great tv clip come from?"}, {"response": 55, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 17, 1999 (22:11)", "body": "*smile* The secret vaults of RG"}, {"response": 56, "author": "KateB", "date": "Sat, Dec  9, 2000 (05:40)", "body": "Hello Everyone, I'l give this a try and see how it goes. My favorite actor, for many years, has been British actor Trevor Eve. Does anyone else here enjoy his work? I also like Masterpiece Theatre and \"Britcoms\", such as \"AbFab\" and \"As Time Goes By\"."}, {"response": 57, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Dec 17, 2000 (21:58)", "body": "Gotta love AbFab!"}, {"response": 58, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Dec 18, 2000 (10:16)", "body": "What is AbFab, I haven't seen this. Welcome KateB!"}, {"response": 59, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Dec 21, 2000 (18:36)", "body": "Oh, you've seen it, Terry--it's those two outrageous English women, Edina and Patsy, who are absolutely over the top in every way. It's a scream!! Its real name is \"Absolutely Fabulous\", but its devotees refer to it as AbFab. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 10, "subject": "Please help me save SLIDERS, and I'll help you save your favorite show!", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "GVG3", "date": "Tue, Jul  1, 1997 (20:39)", "body": "SURE I'LL HELP YOU BUT, CAN YOU TELL ME HOW I CAN E-MAIL THE TV ANNOUNCERS OF THE MILWAUKEE BREWERS SO I CAN HAVE THEM READ A NOTE ON THE AIR?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "moocow2", "date": "Thu, Jul  3, 1997 (00:02)", "body": "G'day from the Sydney Australia. We're fortunate enough to still have Sliders on air on the ten network (Although we are about a year behind you guys. If there is anything I can do to help...CRESTGIRL....give me a buzz at my email address. Hoo Roo."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jul  3, 1997 (07:04)", "body": "Alright a supporter for Crestgirl! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 100, "subject": "Mark Cuban - Is the Benefactor only the beginning?", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 25, 2004 (10:46)", "body": "Here's what Mark Cuban says about it on his blog, dated 10/4/2004: The Benefactor I had no idea how crazy, how much fun and how intense it would be doing this show. I know I\ufffdm having fun when I get there about 8:30 in the morning, and when I realize I\ufffdm hungry and haven\ufffdt eaten, it\ufffds past midnight! We have an amazing, amazing cast of 16, split evenly between guys and girls. I wanted diversity and that\ufffds exactly what I got. I\ufffdm not just talking demographics. We have nice people, and people who I thought would be nice and weren\ufffdt. There are fun people and serious people. We have Divas and Drama Queens. We have an Oprah wannabe, a professional football player, collegiate athletes, and two people who sing show tunes when under pressure. The game is always on. The competition is always in play. I wanted this to be like the real world. If you want to make a million dollars, you\ufffdd better be ready to compete 24x7x365, and the game reflects that. The pressure is intense and continuous, and response of the contestants under pressure has been eye-opening. Personally, the game is getting more and more difficult for me. I have really grown fond of most of the contestants. They are really cool people. Making the cuts is like firing a friend. It hurts. I have had to cut people several times already and it is not easy. The good news side is that unless someone is completely scamming me, and it\ufffds still possible, I am going to really enjoy giving the check for 1mm dollars to winner. Stay tuned for more! m http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/5214323776608633/ will get you to the blog entery where you can make comments on Mark's statement about hte Benefactor."}, {"response": 2, "author": "pmnh", "date": "Tue, Nov  2, 2004 (10:32)", "body": "never seen this (or any) reality show, and probably never will... highly recommend BBC comedy 'the office', though (from a few years back)... some of the funniest tv ever done... if you haven't seen it, rent it immediately"}, {"response": 3, "author": "pmnh", "date": "Wed, Nov 17, 2004 (17:02)", "body": "'the office' christmas special (2 episodes finishing the series) just released... (they have 6 or 7 copies at vulcan)"}, {"response": 4, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (23:58)", "body": "Man, the Mavs just came an inch away from an NBA Title. What a season. Mark turned off comments on http://blogmaverick.com it was getting so crazy. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 101, "subject": "The Office", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 19, 2004 (07:57)", "body": "More from the above article: This year, though, the academy lowered the qualifying number of episodes from eight to six, meaning \"The Office\" could have been eligible had it not chosen to enter the International Emmys. \"We were victims of timing, really, but there was no way around it,\" BBC America COO Jo Petherbridge tells The Hollywood Reporter. \"But we totally accept the situation, and it's actually been fantastic going back and forth trying to find a solution to this with the TV academy.\" \"Office\" co-creator/star Ricky Gervais also won a Golden Globe this year for best actor in a comedy series. The show also picked up a Peabody Award recently. NBC has ordered an adaptation of \"The Office,\" starring \"Daily Show\" alumnus Steve Carell, for midseason next year."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 19, 2004 (07:58)", "body": "From topic 100 Resp 3 of 3: nick a'hannay (pmnh) Wed, Nov 17, 2004 (16:02) 2 lines 'the office' christmas special (2 episodes finishing the series) just released... (they have 6 or 7 copies at vulcan)"}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (23:58)", "body": "Needs update. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 102, "subject": "Google Video", "response_count": 8, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jan 26, 2005 (06:11)", "body": "Google and Yahoo, the two biggest Internet search engines, introduced functions that search the Web for video clips as the companies compete to lure Web surfers and the advertisers trying to reach them. Google, the most-used search engine, offered a service that searches television transcripts and provides links to video stills and text. The new service offered by Yahoo, the second-most-used search engine, lets users search for and play back video files found on the Web. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft's MSN are racing to add more features to their search engines. Searches for video content such as news clips, movie trailers and music videos may increase as more consumers sign up for fast Internet connections. http://www.suntimes.com/output/tech/cst-fin-emain26.html"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jan 26, 2005 (06:12)", "body": "Couch potatoes could become mouse potatoes with new services that allow users to search the content of television programs online. Google said yesterday it would allow users to search the closed-captioned text of programs, showing snippets of the text and snapshots of the program. Google rival Yahoo announced a similar service last month. Google's foray into video is one more venture in the company's goal to archive the world's information. Last month, the leading search engine announced it would archive books of major libraries. The company also is incubating search capability for scholarly literature. Google's video search engine indexes television programs on PBS, C-SPAN, Fox News and four stations in the San Francisco Bay area by picking up signals with antennas on the Google complex, called Googleplex. Video search isn't new, said Danny Sullivan, London-based editor of searchengine watch.com. \"The interesting thing is that we haven't had a whole lot of people make a ton of money off of it yet,\" he said. \"But that may change. And it will remain to be seen how Google is going to make the money off of it.\" John Piscitello, product manager for Google Video, said it's too soon to announce definite plans for revenue, but Google may make money from advertising or subscription fees. Yahoo is also hoping to find a moneymaker in video search. Its service indexes closed-captioned content from Bloomberg and BBC, and Yahoo will work with its partners to offer searchable movie trailers, music videos and news. Yahoo will also allow users to view the video. Google now offers only still photos of the video. Yahoo, which began as a directory - analogous to the table of contents of a book - has pushed further and further into search - analogous to the index of a book - heating up the rivalry with Google. http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzgoog264125525jan26,0,5009325.story?coll=ny-business-headlines"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jan 26, 2005 (06:16)", "body": "The Insider Stupid human tricks. ... to wear a fat suit. >> And the one question that got this reaction -- >> no. My God. >> Oh, my God. >> I'm taking desperate housewife Teri Hatcher rock hunting. >> You're with us now. >> Or as they say in Tokyo, Mina-isho. >>> The entertainment hour starts right now. There he is. And here we... KRON4 - Thu Jan 13 2005 at 7:00 PM PST - 30 minutes that's what one of the search results looks like."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jan 26, 2005 (06:17)", "body": "the url for this discussion of google video on the spring's web is http://spring.net/yapp-bin/public/read/tv/102/since/-90"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan 27, 2005 (02:40)", "body": "After months of rumors and speculation, Google finally made its entry into video search on Tuesday and its offering has received mixed reviews, an atypical reaction, considering the company's new services are normally greeted with enthusiasm. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1480753941;fp;2;fpid;1"}, {"response": 6, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Oct 18, 2005 (12:10)", "body": "wow, google is into everything aren't they?"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 18, 2005 (12:41)", "body": "Sure are."}, {"response": 8, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (22:59)", "body": "I have quite a few videos on google video. Search for 'walhus'. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 103, "subject": "Amazing Race", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Mar  8, 2005 (08:40)", "body": "Rob and Amber, the happy couple from Survivor, are one of the 12 teams. They're a serious contender if the fist show is any indication. I really like the first destination. Peru. What a magnificent country. The \"rope a lama or rope a basket\" event was cool. It became obvious that hauling a heavy basket with rope is much easier than roping a lama. The thrill ride on a cable over a gorge was awesome. What a ride! No one seems thrilled about Rob and Amber, probably because they already have a million under their belt. What a scramble."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar  9, 2005 (07:00)", "body": "Wow, Rob and Amber rolled in first on last night's ep. Peru and Argentina are excellent places to start the first two legs of the race. Correction, there were 11 contestants to start. The fat redneck guys didn't make the cut!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (22:59)", "body": "I stopped watching this. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 104, "subject": "news - network and cable", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar  9, 2005 (07:14)", "body": "Rather rides off in to the sunset, Bessie put the cows in the barn. oppossing views http://ratherbiased.com http://rathergate.com (CBS) CBS News will mark the end of Dan Rather's 24 years as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with a one-hour primetime CBS News special. The program, \"Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers,\" will be broadcast Wednesday, March 9, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Rather announced last November that he would step down from the broadcast on that day, exactly 24 years from his first day in the anchor chair for the broadcast. He will continue to work full-time at CBS News as a correspondent for both editions of 60 Minutes, as well as on other assignments for the division. The hour is a candid memoir of Rather's extraordinary career, told in his own words. The story spans the past 50 years of his life and of the nation's history. The special will contain never-before-seen footage from the CBS News archives."}, {"response": 2, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Jan 30, 2006 (19:18)", "body": "y'know, i've been watching abc for as long as i can remember until Peter Jennings passed. now i'm having trouble watching abc at all (except for a couple fave shows). not that bob woodruff (hope you get better really soon, thanks for what you do) and elizabeth vargas aren't doing an excellent job (they have some big shoes to fill), it's just tough without seeing peter's reassuring face and hearing his voice."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 31, 2006 (07:12)", "body": "Yeah, I hope Bob Woodruff is ok. They're possibly flying him back to the States today. Peter Jennings did have a comforting voice."}, {"response": 4, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Jan 31, 2006 (18:49)", "body": "heard he is back in the states (along with his cameraman--can't remember his name right now)."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 31, 2006 (19:57)", "body": "Yeah, they said he's doing much better but has a long haul. I like his co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas, she's a pretty good anchor. The ABC report I heard said one side of his face was pretty scraped up but, the important news, his brain swelling had subsided."}, {"response": 6, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (22:59)", "body": "I'm relying more and more on Jon Stewart for news. Even if it's fake. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 105, "subject": "Invasion (Weds on ABC)", "response_count": 12, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Sep 25, 2005 (11:46)", "body": "Anyone see this? Reaction?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Sep 29, 2005 (21:32)", "body": "yes, i think i talked about it somewhere else in tv land.....i'm not as into this one as i'm with lost. something fishy's going on (oh, that was a pun, if you watched the show)..... the sheriff's wife is becoming somebody else, thje sheriff IS somebody else, i thought it was a bulb that came out of the AF guy's head (it looked like the ones the wildlife/fisheries dude was showing Rose)..... am i the only watch who watched the first and second episode?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (12:14)", "body": "Poor kid, both her parents are turning in to, something elses. \"Mommy, you don't smell the same.\""}, {"response": 4, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (19:55)", "body": "was talking to a co-worker about this and it \"smells\" suspiciously like \"V\" -- remember the lizard people?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (22:08)", "body": "Vaguely."}, {"response": 6, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (22:27)", "body": "yeah, they were a bunch of lizards dressed up in people suits and some were pretty hot! *laugh* i watched that series religiously (even when i was babysitting)...."}, {"response": 7, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (22:27)", "body": "(the lizards were the alien race) will have to find a link to refresh your memory...."}, {"response": 8, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (22:33)", "body": "here's what i found at amazon.com (forgot the html code to just post the link so you'll have to cut and paste into your browser): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005B8UD/qid%3D1128132909/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-7062051-1383966#product-details"}, {"response": 9, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (22:35)", "body": "found this interactive website too: http://members.tripod.com/Vicki_98/"}, {"response": 10, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct  5, 2005 (23:09)", "body": "y'know, i've completely lost interest in this show......it's not pulling me in like lost did...."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  6, 2005 (12:19)", "body": "Yeah, I'm still in."}, {"response": 12, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sun, Jul  2, 2006 (00:00)", "body": "I didn't catch the finale. Watched every show except the last one. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 106, "subject": "Threshold - CBS Friday", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Dec  1, 2005 (11:41)", "body": "Well, it got canceled. Just like Alias. Suddenly, there will be no more new episodes. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 107, "subject": "Reunion - Fox on Thursdays", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (23:00)", "body": "This must have gotten canceled. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 108, "subject": "Boston Legal", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  4, 2005 (23:34)", "body": "And Candace Bergen."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  4, 2005 (23:36)", "body": "Heather Locklear is on trial for poising her husband. The guy who played Nixon is her prosecutor. Did I say what's her name Bowen is playing Ms. Bower? Yep, yep. yep."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  4, 2005 (23:42)", "body": "Bowen is Bower, a high powered lawyer in the firm. She's getting a divorce. \"I just caught Tara laughting with another man\" said Spader... referring to Taqra and the old returned lover. .... \"she's gone.\" Sad."}, {"response": 4, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (23:00)", "body": "Still one of my favorites. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 109, "subject": "Reality tv shows - the rest", "response_count": 8, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 12, 2005 (06:44)", "body": "Here's a pretty complete list. \ufffd The $25 Million Dollar Hoax \ufffd 30 Seconds of Fame \ufffd Airline \ufffd All American Girl \ufffd The Amazing Race 1 \ufffd The Amazing Race 2 \ufffd The Amazing Race 3 \ufffd The Amazing Race 4 \ufffd The Amazing Race 5 \ufffd The Amazing Race 6 \ufffd The Amazing Race 7 \ufffd The Amazing Race 8 \ufffd American Dream Derby \ufffd American Idol 1 \ufffd American Idol 2 \ufffd American Idol 3 \ufffd American Idol 4 \ufffd American Juniors \ufffd America's Next Top Model 1 \ufffd America's Next Top Model 2 \ufffd America's Next Top Model 3 \ufffd America's Next Top Model 4 \ufffd America's Next Top Model 5 \ufffd Amish In The City \ufffd The Anna Nicole Show \ufffd Anything For Love \ufffd The Apprentice 1 \ufffd The Apprentice 2 \ufffd The Apprentice 3 \ufffd The Apprentice 4 \ufffd The Apprentice: Martha Stewart \ufffd Are You Hot? \ufffd The Ashlee Simpson Show \ufffd The Assistant \ufffd Average Joe 1 \ufffd Average Joe 2: Hawaii \ufffd Average Joe 3: Adam Returns \ufffd Average Joe 4 \ufffd The Bachelor 1 \ufffd The Bachelor 2 \ufffd The Bachelor 3 \ufffd The Bachelor 4 \ufffd The Bachelor 5 \ufffd The Bachelor 6 \ufffd The Bachelor 7 \ufffd The Bachelorette 1 \ufffd The Bachelorette 2 \ufffd The Bachelorette 3 \ufffd Battle of the Network Reality Stars \ufffd Beauty And The Geek \ufffd Beg, Borrow & Deal \ufffd Being Bobby Brown \ufffd The Benefactor \ufffd The Beverly Hillbillies \ufffd Big Brother 1 \ufffd Big Brother 2 \ufffd Big Brother 3 \ufffd Big Brother 4 \ufffd Big Brother 5 \ufffd Big Brother 6 \ufffd Big Brother International \ufffd The Biggest Loser \ufffd The Biggest Loser 2 \ufffd Big Man on Campus \ufffd Blow Out \ufffd Boarding House: North Shore \ufffd Boot Camp \ufffd Boy Meets Boy \ufffd Brat Camp \ufffd Britney And Kevin: Chaotic \ufffd But The Sex Is So Good \ufffd Canadian Idol \ufffd The Casino \ufffd Celebrity Fit Club \ufffd Celebrity Mole Hawaii \ufffd Celebrity Mole Yucatan \ufffd Change of Heart \ufffd Chasing Farrah \ufffd The Club \ufffd Cold Turkey \ufffd College Hill \ufffd Combat Missions \ufffd The Complex \ufffd The Contender \ufffd Croc Hunter Challenge \ufffd Cupid \ufffd The Cut \ufffd Dance Fever \ufffd Dancing with the Stars \ufffd The Dating Experiment \ufffd Dog The Bounty Hunter \ufffd Dog Eat Dog \ufffd Dream Job \ufffd Eco-Challenge \ufffd Extreme Makeover \ufffd Extreme Makeover: Home Edition \ufffd Fake-A-Date \ufffd Fame \ufffd The Family \ufffd Family Business \ufffd Family Plots \ufffd Fear Factor \ufffd For Better Or For Worse \ufffd Forever Eden \ufffd For Love Or Money 1 \ufffd For Love Or Money 2 \ufffd For Love Or Money 3 \ufffd For Love Or Money 4 \ufffd Giving Hope \ufffd The Good Life \ufffd Growing Up Gotti \ufffd Hell's Kitchen \ufffd He's A Lady \ufffd High School Reunion \ufffd Hit Me Baby One More Time \ufffd Hogan Knows Best \ufffd Hooked Up \ufffd Hooking Up \ufffd House Rules \ufffd I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here! \ufffd In Search of the Partridge Family \ufffd Invasion Iowa \ufffd The It Factor \ufffd I Want To Be A Hilton \ufffd Jackass \ufffd Joe Millionaire \ufffd The Joe Schmo Show 1 \ufffd The Joe Schmo Show 2 \ufffd Laguna Beach \ufffd Last Comic Standing 1 \ufffd Last Comic Standing 2 \ufffd Last Comic Standing 3 \ufffd The Last Resort \ufffd The Law Firm \ufffd The Littlest Groom \ufffd Liza & David \ufffd Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska \ufffd Love Cruise \ufffd Love Shack \ufffd Mad Mad House \ufffd Making The Band \ufffd Manhunt \ufffd Married By America \ufffd Meet Mister Mom \ufffd Meet My Folks \ufffd Million Dollar Idea \ufffd Minding The Store \ufffd Model Citizens \ufffd The Mole 1 \ufffd The Mole 2 \ufffd Mr. Personality \ufffd Mr. Romance \ufffd Murder in Small Town X \ufffd My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss \ufffd My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance \ufffd My Life Is A Sitcom \ufffd Nanny 911 \ufffd Nashville Star \ufffd Nashville Star 2 \ufffd Nashville Star 3 \ufffd Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica \ufffd Next Action Star \ufffd The Next Great Champ \ufffd The Next Joe Millionaire \ufffd No Boundaries \ufffd The One Who Got Away \ufffd The Osbournes \ufffd Outback Jack \ufffd Paradise Hotel \ufffd The Partner \ufffd Pepsi Play for a Billion \ufffd Perfect Match: New York \ufffd Performing As... \ufffd The Player \ufffd Playing It Straight \ufffd PoweR Girls \ufffd The Princes Of Malibu \ufffd Project Greenlight \ufffd Project Runway \ufffd Punk'd \ufffd Push, Nevada \ufffd Queer Eye For The Straight Girl \ufffd Queer Eye For The Straight Guy \ufffd R U The Girl With T-Boz & Chilli \ufffd Race To The Altar \ufffd The Real Gilligan's Island \ufffd The Real Gilligan's Island 2 \ufffd The Real Roseanne Show \ufffd The Real World \ufffd The Real World: Austin \ufffd The Real World: Paris \ufffd The Real World: Philadelphia \ufffd The Real World: San Diego \ufffd The Rebel Billionaire \ufffd Recovery \ufffd Renovate My Family \ufffd The Restaurant \ufffd Rich Guy, Poor Guy \ufffd Rich Girls \ufffd Road Rules \ufffd Road Rules: South Pacific \ufffd Road Rules X-TREME \ufffd The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliott \ufffd Rob And Amber Get Married \ufffd Rock Star: INXS \ufffd Scare Tactics \ufffd The Scholar \ufffd The Search For The Most Talented Kid In America \ufffd Second Chance: America's Most Talented Senior \ufffd Sex in the Itty Bitty City \ufffd Shipmates \ufffd The Simple Life 1 \ufffd The Simple Life 2 \ufffd The Simple Life 3 \ufffd The Simple Life 4 \ufffd Sorority Life \ufffd So You Think You Can Dance \ufffd Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search \ufffd The Starlet \ufffd Star Search \ufffd Starting Over \ufffd Super Millionaire \ufffd Supernanny \ufffd Superstar USA \ufffd Surf Girls \ufffd The Surreal Life \ufffd The Surreal Life 2 \ufffd The Surreal Life 3 \ufffd The Surreal Life 4 \ufffd The Surreal Life 5 \ufffd Survivor: Pulau Tiga \ufffd Survivor: The Australian Outback \ufffd Survivor: Africa \ufffd Survivor: Marquesas \ufffd Survivor: Thailand \ufffd Survivor: The Amazon \ufffd Survivor: Pearl Islands \ufffd Survivor: All Stars \ufffd Survivor: Vanuatu \ufffd Survivor: Palau \ufffd Survivor: Guatemala \ufffd Survivor 12 \ufffd The Swan \ufffd Temptation Island "}, {"response": 2, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Oct 18, 2005 (13:09)", "body": "there's really that many? i don't watch any of them! my friend is addicted though. i don't know how she can keep up!!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 18, 2005 (13:42)", "body": "These are a lot of past shows too. Like all the Survivors."}, {"response": 4, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 19, 2005 (14:13)", "body": "yeah, and they keep having reunions and stuff---B-O-R-I-N-G!!"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 19, 2005 (14:35)", "body": "What do you think of the Martha Apprentice show?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 19, 2005 (22:37)", "body": "haven't caught it.....i'm not into reality shows---watch tv to escape! *giggle*"}, {"response": 7, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sun, Jul  2, 2006 (00:01)", "body": "It got canceled. Donald's the Apprentice had a second so so season. This was a bit better tan the last one where Randall one. The Brit guy won this time around and he seemed pretty sharp."}, {"response": 8, "author": "southernalps", "date": "Fri, Jul  7, 2006 (06:47)", "body": "Kia Ora Reality TV should not claim to be something it clearly is not. Rob tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 11, "subject": "Monkey!", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jul 10, 1997 (09:42)", "body": "I'll take a look later, thanks!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sun, Oct 12, 1997 (11:29)", "body": "Thanks! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 110, "subject": "Surface", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Nov 19, 2005 (21:59)", "body": "A new form of sea life begins to appear all over the earth's oceans. Lake Bell from Boston Legal fame is an oceanographer who discovers this phenonomenon and in the last episode she's heading down in the deep with a fellow chaser to see the new life form first hand. They're in a big metail ball that breaks loose, so they're heading in to the abyss in the last episode."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Nov 19, 2005 (22:14)", "body": "NBC. Mondays. 7 pm CST."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 20, 2005 (16:46)", "body": "It's getting more interesting as it goes along, and it's just getting to a peak part of the plot."}, {"response": 4, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (23:01)", "body": "Canceled. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 111, "subject": "Other tv award shows", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Dec 28, 2005 (11:03)", "body": "AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR-OFFICIAL SELECTIONS 24 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA DEADWOOD GREY'S ANATOMY HOUSE LOST RESCUE ME SLEEPER CELL SOMETIMES IN APRIL VERONICA MARS from http://www.afi.com/tvevents/afiawards05/default.aspx"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Dec 28, 2005 (11:04)", "body": "24. Well ok. Batttlestar Galactica. yes!!! Lost kinda lost me toward the end of the season. The rest I haven't been watching."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Dec 28, 2005 (18:10)", "body": "http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1141640,00.html 1- Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi) Most of you probably think this entry has got to be a joke. The rest of you have actually watched the show. Adapted from a cheesy '70s Star Wars clone of the same name, Galactica (returning in January) is a ripping sci-fi allegory of the war on terror, complete with religious fundamentalists (here, genocidal robots called Cylons), sleeper cells, civil-liberties crackdowns and even a prisoner-torture scandal. The basic-cable budget sometimes shows in the production, but the writing and performances are first-class, especially Edward James Olmos as the noble but authoritarian commander in charge of saving the last remnants of humanity. Laugh if you want, but this story of enemies within is dead serious, and seriously good. -2- The Office (NBC) Last year I put the finale of the BBC's The Office on my top 10 list, after putting the original series on my list in 2003. \"NBC is working on an adaptation for next year,\" I wrote. \"If they can find the American equivalent of this comedy of quiet desperation, it'll be welcome on next year's list too.\" They did, and it is. Naysayers who complained that this version wasn't as dark as the British one, or that Steve Carell's boss wasn't as tragicomic as Ricky Gervais', missed the point. Producer Greg Daniels created not a copy but an interpretation that sends up distinctly American work conventions (the staff party at Chili's, the mandated diversity seminar), with a tone that's more satiric and less mordant. We Americans are different that way; sorry if that bugs you. The new boss is different from the old boss, and that's fine by me. -3- Weeds (Showtime) When you're slinging pot in your suburban neighborhood to support your kids on your dead husband's meager insurance payout--that's when you can call yourself a desperate housewife. Mary-Louise Parker gave a performance so human and conflicted, you could practically see the needle of her moral compass spinning. Creator Jenji Kohan's writing put the new in nuance, as she drew not only Parker but her various upscale associates (including a surprisingly appealing Kevin Nealon as a stoner accountant) in a way that neither judged nor let them off the hook. The best comic suburban soap on TV, ounce for ounce. -4- Sometimes in April (HBO) Next time someone tells you TV is a poor cousin to the movies, show them Hotel Rwanda, then this harrowing, complex story of the same genocide--if they can stand it. Don Cheadle's performance notwithstanding, Hotel Rwanda ultimately fell back on the Schindler's-List template of one-good-man-against-the-world Hollywood uplift. April was unsparing, without being gratuitous, in showing how horrific yet casual the violence was, and Idris Elba (The Wire) was stunning as a Rwandan officer who came to see the light too late to save his mixed-ethnicity family. Equally important, this movie explored the important -- if sometimes impossible -- process of reconciliation and justice in present-day Rwanda. I doubt I could bear watching this movie a second time, but I'm grateful to have seen it once. -5- Project Runway (Bravo) One of the hardest things to portray in fiction is the creative process; it's more interesting to watch, say, Jackson Pollack empty a whiskey bottle than a tube of paint. But somehow, this gimmicky, bitchy, wonderful reality show pulled it off, by challenging a set of aspiring fashion designers to do things like make a garment out of products from a grocery store (the corn-husk dress won). Unlike so many reality game shows, Runway actually cast intelligent, interesting creative people interested in doing good work in their field rather than media whores out to become future Style channel hosts. If you missed the first season, the second is just getting started. As model/host Heidi Klum would say, this show is een. -6- Wonder Showzen (MTV2) What does it take to get a person on the street to tell a cute hand puppet to ____ off? This and other imponderables were answered by this twisted kids'-show parody, inexplicably relegated to MTV's satellite channel, orbiting the frozen outer reaches of digital cable. From man-on-the-street interviews by an obnoxious puppet to an adorable child asking a butcher, \"Who's going to pay for these steaks... I mean, spiritually?\" this show is a hilarious, disturbing trip far away from Elmo's World. -7- The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) By rights, this spinoff of Stephen Colbert's supercilious Daily Show correspondent character should have have one good week in it, two, tops. But sharp writing and Colbert's wholehearted inhabiting of his blowhard alter ego showed that there's as much potential in mocking cable opinion shows as in the news itself. Like The Daily Show, the show is uneven -- between the pair, you've got 14 minutes of solid comedy every night -- but it's worth catching for Colbert's nightly editorial, \"The W\ufffdrd,\" in which his bluster is counterpointed "}]}, {"num": 112, "subject": "fall 2010 tv lineup", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 2010 (06:55)", "body": "$#*! My Dad Says 30 Rock 90210 The Amazing Race America's Got Talent America's Next Top Model American Dad American Idol The Apprentice The Bachelorette Better With You The Big Bang Theory Big Brother The Biggest Loser Blue Bloods Boardwalk Empire Body of Proof Bones Bored to Death Breaking Bad Brothers and Sisters Burn Notice Castle Chase Chuck The Cleveland Show Community Cougar Town Criminal Minds CSI CSI: Miami CSI: New York Dancing With the Stars The Defenders Desperate Housewives Detroit 1-8-7 Dexter Doctor Who Eastbound and Down The Event Family Guy Fringe Futurama Glee The Good Wife Gossip Girl Grey's Anatomy Hawaii Five-0 Hellcats Hell's Kitchen House How I Met Your Mother Human Target It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Last Comic Standing Law and Order: Los Angeles Law and Order: SVU The League Life Unexpected Lone Star Lost Mad Men Medium Men of a Certain Age The Mentalist The Middle Mike and Molly Modern Family My Generation NCIS NCIS: Los Angeles Nikita No Ordinary Family The Office One Tree Hill Outlaw Outsourced Parenthood Parks And Recreation Persons Unknown Pretty Little Liars Private Practice The Real Housewives of New Jersey The Real Housewives of New York City The Real Housewives of D.C. Raising Hope Running Wilde Sanctuary The Secret Life of the American Teenager Saturday Night Live School Pride The Simpsons Smallville So You Think You Can Dance Sons of Anarchy Stargate Universe Supernatural Survivor Terriers Top Chef Treme True Blood Two and a Half Men Undercover Boss Undercovers V The Vampire Diaries The Walking Dead The Whole Truth . tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 113, "subject": "An American Family", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Tue, Apr 26, 2011 (16:14)", "body": "AN AMERICAN FAMILY was television's first reality show, shot documentary style in 1971 and first aired in the United States on PBS in 1973. The show was twelve episodes long, edited down from about 300 hours of footage, and chronicled the experience of a nuclear family, the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California, during a period of time when parents Bill and Pat Loud separated (in a infamous and powerful on-camera sequence) and Pat filed for divorce. The Loud family was not your stereotypical American family with 2.5 children and an American flag on the front porch. The parents had a total of five children.One of them, Lance Loud, was a gay 20-year-old man who occasionally wore lipstick and women's clothes and took his mother to a drag show in the second episode of the series. He lived in the Chelsea Hotel during its Warholesque heydey and this is captured in the second episode (Holly Woodlawn was his neighbor and appears in several scenes, along with Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, and other famous drag queens of the time). Scholars sometimes mention that Lance came out of the closet on TV, but this is technically incorrect \u2014 he was simply gay without announcement or drama; his family says that they had known for quite a while. As such, Lance was the first openly gay character on television and has become something of a gay icon. On airing, the show drew over 10 million viewers \u2014 phenomenal viewership for PBS in 1973 (or even presently) \u2014 and drew considerable controversy. The series was widely discussed in the media in 1973, and the Loud family appeared on the cover of the March 12, 1973 issue of Newsweek magazine. In 1983, PBS broadcast AMERICAN FAMILY REVISITED, and in 2003 PBS broadcast A DEATH IN AN AMERICAN FAMILY, shot in 2001, visiting Lance and his family again at Lance's request. Lance was 50 years old, had gone through 20 years of addiction to crystal meth, and was HIV positive and dying of hepatitis C. In the winter of 2001, a few months after 9/11, Lance Loud was gone. Far from a conventional \"happy ending\", watching the entire arc of this brilliant masterpiece from start to finish is unforgettable: Lance's downfall from a young, vibrant and magnetically alive kid in 1973, to a man reaching middle age in 1983 (with shorter hair but still cheerful) to the incredibly painful final images of him in 2001 (at the age of 50), walking with a cane, losing teeth, looking like a non- survivor of a concentration camp ... it is a truly shattering experience. But the entire series as a whole is a very life (and family) affirming tale, and it includes alot of vintage 70s music, often played over a car radio while someone is driving a car (The Who, John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Elton John, etc). Its possible that the cost of re-acquiring these music rights for a re-release is the prohibitive factor in PBS not releasing the series in a factory boxed set. Unfortunately, this is all too often the reason than cinematic masterpieces rot in studio vaults, and apparently the Louds are destined for that same fate. __________________________________________________________________________________________ THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS COURTESY OF: JANUARY MAGAZINE BANG THE DRUM LOUDLY Reviewed by RICHARD KLIN _______________________________________ From May to December 1971, the Loud family of Santa Barbara, California -- parents Bill and Pat, sons Lance, Kevin and Grant, daughters Delilah and Michelle -- were filmed going about their daily lives for an eye-opening, unrelenting total of 300 hours. Under the aegis of producer Craig Gilbert, the finished product, AN AMERICAN FAMILY, was shown in 12 episodes to a transfixed viewing public. Broadcast in 1973, the groundbreaking PBS chronicle engendered an absolutely enormous amount of attention, notoriety and commentary. AN AMERICAN FAMILY, such fodder for dissection at the time, has essentially passed from media memory. This year -- the 30th anniversary of the show's original airing -- PBS has promised to rebroadcast an episode. Airings of the show are few and far between. As of this writing, the series is oddly unavailable on video. If AN AMERICAN FAMILY is at all recalled today, it is essentially as a curio. Basically two incidents are considered seminal: the real-life, on-air dissolution of Bill and Pat's marriage, and the celebrated \"coming out\" of eldest son Lance. Nowadays, when the show is discussed -- if at all -- the nature of the series is dumbed-down; it is now the supposed forerunner of \"reality television.\" The implication is that there is a strong causal connection between the Louds' complicated family saga and today's exhibitionist, omnivorous media: MTV's REAL WORLD or SURVIVOR or BLIND DATE. Media scholar Jeffrey Ruoff's book, AN AMERICAN FAMILY: A TELEVISED LIFE, stands as an insightful, long-overdue undertaking and a sterling look at the seminal, though oft-overlooked, series. It cannot be a coincidence that AN AMERICAN FAMILY, such an important event in the ann"}]}, {"num": 12, "subject": "marvelous Marv Albert, or maybe not so marvelous", "response_count": 42, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 25, 1997 (20:23)", "body": "So no more \"YESSSSS!\" No more jokes about Mike Fratello, Czar of the Tellustrator. What about appearances on Letterman, Albert has been a frequent guest there and they (him and Letterman) are pretty good friends. Can you imagine the jokes about this we're going to hear about the force blow job and the parading around with panties, and Marv's toupee? This should last a good year or more. Quite a celebrity scandal. And then there's the threesome aspect to all this."}, {"response": 2, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Sep 26, 1997 (09:22)", "body": "\u0005xactly the reason I have shunned the tv from my home."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Sep 27, 1997 (15:38)", "body": "You haven't missed much."}, {"response": 4, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Thu, Oct  2, 1997 (12:45)", "body": "Now, now. If you read in the Austen or Bronte conferences, you'd think you've missed quite a lot. The excellent shows may be few and far between, but they are out there and not every good movie is shown in a commercial theater. I'm a fan of A&E, of the classic movie cable stations (and the original show \"Remember WENN\", and I love some current shows like \"Highlander\" and \"Law and Order.\" I am living proof you can own a TV and have missed most of the OJ trial, or anything else you don't want to see. A ter all, you control the power and the channel changer!"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  2, 1997 (23:13)", "body": "Good point, Lorie, there are some bright spots."}, {"response": 6, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Oct  3, 1997 (09:42)", "body": "Agreed Lorie. But you may just have more self control than I! If I had a tv... I'd watch CNN (just for 30 minutes!), Shark Week on Discovery (?), and USA \"Up All Night\" -- is that still on? The big 'B' movie fest with Gilbert Godfrey (Mr. Annoying)? I love the silly/stupid/old horror flicks!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Fri, Oct  3, 1997 (17:07)", "body": "Actually, there's another channel that does a silly movie fest on weekend nights called \"Dinner & A Movie\" that is fun, too. So I'm not always watching classics or uplifting the human spirit, either. The odd thing is, when we go on vacation we deliberately go where there's no TV, no phone, etc. And we love it, it is a very special time for us. But I know so many lonely older people depend on their TVs to keep them in touch, to make them feel like a part of life, to give them \"friends\" as their real friends age and die/move away. So I have to defend the TV, even though I know it can be a monster."}, {"response": 8, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct  6, 1997 (12:13)", "body": "Sad that older people are so often lonely. I wonder if relying on an electronic device for a friend doesn't actually shorten your life span. I know many older people who enjoy getting out and living life as opposed to watching it. But I am also aware that many people cannot get out and tv is there only tether to the outside world. a sad situation. Interesting that you go on vacation to get away from tv. I know that B and I find it exciting to be in a hotel room with a tv. Saturday morning cartoons sure have changed but now there's a whole station with just old cartoons on it! Crazy stuff!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct  6, 1997 (14:43)", "body": "It felt refreshing to get out this weekend and away from all CRTs and tubes and get into the world of crystals, healers, massage therapists, and spiritual goings on. Such warm, good vibes."}, {"response": 10, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct  6, 1997 (17:58)", "body": "welcome to Boulder."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct  6, 1997 (20:01)", "body": "Really, I was there years ago on the Caravan trip across the country, our spiritual community traveling in schoo buses. We had a great time picking rosehips up near Ward. Heard of it?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Oct  7, 1997 (09:15)", "body": "been to Ward, didn't pick up any rosehips."}, {"response": 13, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct  8, 1997 (00:08)", "body": "We were up there in the snow. It felt great to be at that altitude, what's your favorite mountain spot in Colorado?"}, {"response": 14, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Oct  8, 1997 (10:07)", "body": "Top of Gray's peak, top of Mt. Democrat, top of Mt. Lincoln. Bottom of any mtn. on my way to climbing up. Rocky Mountain Nat. Park, Glenwood Springs, cycling on the Continental Divide, next to the train tracks that run through the mountains... driving due west at sunset..."}, {"response": 15, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct  8, 1997 (20:29)", "body": "What's the highest elevation you've reached?"}, {"response": 16, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Oct  9, 1997 (10:51)", "body": "30,000 feet (in a plane) *giggle* 14,286 was Democrat but I'm not sure if Gray's was higher or not. Oh, nevermind. Pikes Peak is higher and I've been there."}, {"response": 17, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  9, 1997 (18:53)", "body": "Since we're talking Marv Albert here, what was the most spectacular view you've seen from ahigh?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Oct 10, 1997 (10:46)", "body": "what kind of high? just joking. There are so many spectacular views that I believe the ones I keep close to my heart are the ones where I can still conjure the smells and emotions of the moment. Waking up in a humid tent, opening the fly, stepping out into a brand new morning overlooking the forest 1000s of feet below."}, {"response": 19, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sun, Oct 12, 1997 (11:29)", "body": "Where are you going next? I heard Marvellous turned down a job offer."}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (12:52)", "body": "Kinda off the subject but... speaking of long shaggy do's.... I heard John Denver died. I just saw him last Monday at the Broncos game."}, {"response": 21, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (18:49)", "body": "I just heard that too, he died in a light aircraft accident, he was a friend of the environment and a decent guy from everything I've heard."}, {"response": 22, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (11:37)", "body": "Sad. An icon from my childhood to be sure..."}, {"response": 23, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sat, Oct 18, 1997 (12:12)", "body": "And someone from your place."}, {"response": 24, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct 20, 1997 (10:01)", "body": "Colorado doesn't feel completely like home yet... Its getting there though!"}, {"response": 25, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sat, Nov  8, 1997 (18:04)", "body": "How was your weekend in Colorado, Stacey?"}, {"response": 26, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Nov 10, 1997 (12:38)", "body": "More snow, baby! Not like the \"Blizzard of '97\" but enough to play in! Lazy weekend, including lotsa cooking, writing and even a nap!"}, {"response": 27, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 10, 1997 (13:27)", "body": "Alright, catchin' those zzzs."}, {"response": 28, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Nov 10, 1997 (15:07)", "body": "Naps feel so sinful. I like 'em. Especially when you can nap with a good buddy!"}, {"response": 29, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 10, 1997 (21:11)", "body": "Let me guess. Marv Albert?"}, {"response": 30, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Nov 12, 1997 (12:29)", "body": "Not my nap buddy type!"}, {"response": 31, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 12, 1997 (12:37)", "body": "Just trying to stick to the topic. LIke we always do (not)."}, {"response": 32, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Nov 12, 1997 (12:48)", "body": "How 'bout that do?"}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 12, 1997 (13:22)", "body": "Are you feeling marvelous?"}, {"response": 34, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Nov 13, 1997 (12:54)", "body": "I was over at Brandon's parents last night (the tv freaks -- 11 tvs, 3 VCRs) and we watched part of Marv on Letterman after seeing Voyager's Year in Hell -- they'd taped both parts for me. Fun to be a sloth with popcorn, tea a blanket and the boob tube."}, {"response": 35, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov 13, 1997 (14:54)", "body": "So do you think more highly of Marv now, or less?"}, {"response": 36, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Nov 14, 1997 (10:12)", "body": "Eh... I really don't give a damn one way or the other."}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 14, 1997 (11:31)", "body": "One of those \"frankly I don't give a damn\" scenarios like in Gone with the Wind, or Gone with the Marv."}, {"response": 38, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Nov 14, 1997 (12:08)", "body": "That was the visual I had going."}, {"response": 39, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 14, 1997 (13:12)", "body": "Are you marvelous today?"}, {"response": 40, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Nov 17, 1997 (10:11)", "body": "Simply."}, {"response": 41, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 17, 1997 (10:56)", "body": "Rather myself."}, {"response": 42, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Nov 17, 1997 (11:12)", "body": "*smile* good. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 13, "subject": "Nightline with Ted Koppel", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (14:04)", "body": "Last night I tuned in to see if they were doing something on John Denver. They didn't but I wasn't let down. They did an incredible Robert Krolich special on the effect of big money on nerds like me in Silicon valley, I watched the first 10 minutes and got the rest on tape. So I'll have a lot more to say later. It was awesome."}, {"response": 2, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (15:25)", "body": "Well, Terry, I think it is later..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (15:32)", "body": "I was in Denver last year and they don't even mention him or play his music in the entire state that I am aware of, as we hunted for a station carrying his music. None to be found. Barry posted a long commentary on something on Nightline...perhaps he will add his comments here, too. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 14, "subject": "Babylon 5", "response_count": 0, "posts": []}, {"num": 15, "subject": "suggestions for new topics", "response_count": 20, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 17, 1997 (09:10)", "body": "These are the topics on the WELL, listed in order of the most responses, the first column is the topic number, the second column is the number of responses. 547 2008 Melrose Place 582 1651 The X Files 511 1403 Clueless Old People Ask Questions of Youth 648 1373 LATE SHOW NEWS Discussion Topic 861 1103 BABYLON FIVE-PT. II 789 1030 The X Files 894 1001 The X-Files Part V: Season 4 594 948 NYPD Blues 837 907 The X-Files -- Part III 917 899 The X-Files Part VI: Season 4 (cont'd) 514 886 The Simpsons 434 883 Babylon 5 610 880 Highlander 141 809 On Having No TV 141 809 On Having No TV 461 797 90210 849 771 Connections! The Movie/TV Version 848 754 Melrose Place [part 2] 873 722 NBC and the 1996 Olympics 863 703 SEINFELD-II \"800 684 Xena, Warrior Princess (brought to you by the U.S. Navy)\" 315 670 Live from New York - It's Saturday Night!!!! 711 644 My So-Called Life 702 579 TV Nation 763 575 Ellen: What's Going On? \"768 554 Check out \"\"Politically Incorrect\"\"-your life will never be the same\" 867 537 The X-Files Part IV (summer reruns) 449 513 Seinfeld 762 499 ER 948 479 Iron Chef 10 476 Late Night with David Letterman 10 476 Late Night with David Letterman 398 462 Neat Facts I Learned From Television 857 450 Nash Bridges 862 443 THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN 931 438 Babylon 5 -- Part III 472 434 Mad about You 386 422 Star Trek: The Next Generation; The Undiscovered Conference 942 419 The X-Files Part VII: Season 4 (cont'd) 630 418 Homicide 583 402 Lois and Clark 830 400 Friends: Are They Cute or What? 581 395 (larocket)'s new show 571 392 Music Videos as a cinematic art form 579 389 Late Night Wars \"718 385 The Tick - Animated Series, on Fox\" 828 381 Simpson's again ! 872 368 MSNBC-The Future of TV News???? 629 362 Tales of the City 561 357 MST - Mystery Science Theater 3000 807 343 SNL Dead Pool 532 341 Bevis & Butthead 664 338 Stephen King's _THE STAND_: Whassup? 341 335 Roseanne 273 323 Star Trek: The Next Generation \"721 322 Ken Burns' _Baseball_, on PBS\" 518 321 AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH by Neil Postman \" 16 317 Cartoons, classic or otherwise\" \" 16 317 Cartoons, classic or otherwise\" \"362 315 Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mark IV\" 910 315 King Of The Hill 526 292 Barney must die. 13 283 Good commercials 13 283 Good commercials \"865 277 Millenium, Chris Carter's new series\" 754 272 ABC's World News Now 272 264 thirtysomething 279 259 Who Killed Laura Palmer? 4 258 Favorite shows of the past 4 258 Favorite shows of the past 856 244 The 1996 Academy Award Show! 380 238 Ren & Stimpy 311 232 Jeopardy 447 231 jstraws really weird tv quiz topic 657 221 Post-Reregulation Cable 700 221 AB FAB -- British comedy at its best??? 333 212 Twin Peaks - The Continuation 268 210 Twin Peaks 710 209 E! is Key! 799 196 American Gothic \"959 194 South Park, Goddamnit!\" \"151 191 The Morton Downey, Jr. Show\" \"151 191 The Morton Downey, Jr. Show\" 505 191 Issue Number One: The McLaughlin Group 471 188 It's the Larry Sanders Show 351 180 WHAT CHANNEL 32 SHOULD DO IS... 334 179 Book Programs on Radio/TV \"422 176 Who, What, Where, When, or How?\" 797 176 Murder One \"843 176 The Meaning of \"\"Friends\"\" and its popularity\" 801 175 Space: Above & Beyond 486 166 Interactive TV 766 166 Sliders 735 164 Northern Exposure 501 163 Talk Soup 545 161 Wild Palms 952 154 Best Episodes 881 152 THE NEW TV SEASON 96-97 343 151 Twin Peaks (part III) 235 150 SF TV 423 149 TV Advertising 725 146 Chicago Hope 809 146 Mad TV 460 145 Hidden Ethnicity On Television And In Film 520 143 Kids in the Hall 406 141 More neat facts I learned from television 764 140 NewsRadio 885 135 The Drew Carey Show 540 133 Why Don't They Ever Run Reruns Of . . . . 662 132 GRATEFUL DEAD ON L.A. LAW 729 132 Sam Raimi's Hercules \"771 132 \"\"Marker\"\" on UPN\" 781 131 Chung Out at 'CBS Evening News' 743 129 Charlie Rose 634 128 Miscellaneous TV questions 227 127 Your favorite television program 935 126 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 909 125 The Top 50 TV *Characters* of All Time \"852 124 Dana Carvey Show, It's New!\" 576 122 The New Season. 186 121 SmarTV (tm) 186 121 SmarTV (tm) 529 119 Worst TV Shows of All Time 381 114 Murphy Brown 5 113 Favorite shows of the present 5 113 Favorite shows of the present 248 112 Changing Video Technologies and Standards 496 111 Psychiatry on the TV 6 107 The worst thing on TV 6 107 The worst thing on TV 14 106 Bad commercials 14 106 Bad commercials 712 106 Quality Television News 879 106 Edgewise with John Hockenberry 445 105 The Science Fiction Channel 727 103 The WELL TV POLL....watch out Nielsens!!! 462 98 Wilma vs. Betty 919 98 Classic Sports Network \"672 97 The Nanny - Oy, who knew...\" 770 95 Of a Certain Era: TV-Style 927 95 Spy Game 432 94 Name that show! 587 94 Frasier 625 94 Animaniacs! 24 93 Pee Wee's Playhouse 24 93 Pee Wee's Playhouse 313 91 Good stuff on PBS 659 91 Sexism on the Tube 963 91 Channel ideas 544 90 Shows you'd never admit to watching 876 90 Relativity 875 89 MTV: Fifteen Years 761 88 VR.5 626 87 Max Headroom 888 87 'Dark Skies"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 17, 1997 (09:11)", "body": "I'll have some other topic listings from other bbs and conference systems to post. The above listing represents quantity of listings over several years so it doesn't necessarily reflect what are popular topics of conversation now."}, {"response": 3, "author": "Alicia", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 1997 (19:51)", "body": "Hi Terry! Well you should know my two favorite shows in the world: DUE SOUTH and REMEMBER WENN Those are my suggestions for new topics but I'm afraid that they are not well known enough. I would hate them to end up as dead silent topics. Maybe I should create a topic over at Drool for Paul Gross. BTW, what is the address for the topics above? Alicia"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 1997 (21:00)", "body": "Those were on the WELL, which is a private for pay community that I've been on for about 10 years. They have about 10,000 members."}, {"response": 5, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (09:45)", "body": "HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Ponch and Jon are pulling the choppers and mirrored sunglasses out of storage -- ``CHiPs'' is ready to roll again, with a reunion telefilm set for an October debut on cable network TNT. Original series stars Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox are on board while series creator Rick Rosner will produce the two-hour ``CHiPs '99.'' The made-for-cable movie will find hard-working highway patrolmen Frank Poncherello and Jon Baker reuniting, after a 15-year separation, to break up a car-theft ring. ``CHiPs,'' whose title was derived from the acronym for the California Highway Patrol, was an action-packed 8 p.m. staple on NBC from 1977 to 1983. Car chases and fiery crashes were the hallmarks of the MGM-produced series. Turner Broadcasting acquired the original ``CHiPs'' as part of its 1986 purchase of the MGM movie and TV library. The reunion telefilm promises to serve up a slew of celebrity cameos, such as producer Garry Marshall appearing as a bus driver. ``CHiPs '99'' is tentatively slated for an Oct. 27 premiere on TNT, which continues to get ratings mileage out of Monday-Friday airings of the original ``CHiPs'' segments."}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (14:08)", "body": "CHIPS hit Namibia in 1991! Loved it! Wonder how those guys will look now . . ."}, {"response": 7, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (14:21)", "body": "my guess would be old..."}, {"response": 8, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (16:13)", "body": "with big beer bellies! Ugh, and I so liked the dark one."}, {"response": 9, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (21:51)", "body": "yeah well he was stuck on himself *grin* (he's a big hit in Spanish soap operas, though!) hey terry, how about Dexter's Laboratory? Can we include it, huh, huh, huh?"}, {"response": 10, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (21:51)", "body": "Oh, and the Animaniacs! Just luv 'em!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jun 27, 1998 (02:34)", "body": "Wolf, two questions: How are we going to keep DeeDee out? and How are we going to keep the Warner brothers and sister Dot in?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jun 27, 1998 (04:51)", "body": "Some cryptic conversations going on in here . . ."}, {"response": 13, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Tue, Jun 30, 1998 (22:35)", "body": "good points wer, lemme consider them a moment....."}, {"response": 14, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (00:42)", "body": "then again, why think if you can howl!"}, {"response": 15, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (00:42)", "body": "I know it's on hiatus right now, but when it returns in the fall, I would enjoy seeing a topic for \"Party of Five\"."}, {"response": 16, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (00:42)", "body": "for the first coupla seasons, I'd have to agree with you..."}, {"response": 17, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (09:27)", "body": "I watched Dexter's laboratory last night. Loved it!"}, {"response": 18, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (22:23)", "body": "Never heard of it--is it for kids or grown-ups?"}, {"response": 19, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (00:53)", "body": "Both, I think. About a little scientist boy whose sister, Dee Dee pesters him constantly. Very true to life, really."}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Mar  4, 1999 (09:29)", "body": "tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 16, "subject": "SNL - Saturday Night Live", "response_count": 28, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 18, 1998 (21:36)", "body": "Even though I'm a self professed SNL expert, there is something I would like to know. There's a skit with these two guys, and they usually add a third person who is the show's host where these guys go to the discos and hit on chicks. They also play this song that goes \"What is love? Baby don't hurt me... baby don't hurt me... no more...\" What is this song and who sings it? The disco guys also being known as the Roxbury guys. And why are they called the Roxbury guys. I'll dig for the answer myself and see who comes up with the answer first."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 19, 1998 (01:17)", "body": "Found the answer on a net search: What Is Love By: Haddaway Source: A Net Search What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more What is love Yeah Oh I don't know why you're not fair I give you my love but you don't care So what is right and what is wrong gimme a sign What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more uoh oh... Oh I don't know what can I do what else can I say it's up to you I know we're one just me and you I can't go on What is love ?... Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more uoh oh.. What is love What is love What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Don't hurt me Don't hurt me I want no other No other love This is your life our time When we are together I need you forever Is it love What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more uoh oh.. What is love Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more What is love ?... Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me no more what is love?!... Are you overcome by the profundity of all this?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jan 19, 1998 (21:51)", "body": "uoh oh yeah, baby!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Jan 22, 1998 (17:02)", "body": "uh.. you're hurtin' me"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 22, 1998 (09:26)", "body": "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Comedy Central (repeats) Tu 11/17 11:00AM & Midnight - Jeff Daniels / Color Me Badd (1991-'92) Johnny Carson Tribute; Making Copies; Community College Bowl; 3:00PM - Justine Bateman / Terrance Trent D'Arby (1987-'88) featuring: The 1988 Republican Debate We 11/18 11:00AM & Midnight - Kirstie Alley / Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1991-'92) featuring: Thomas Hearings; Look Who's Talking Also;Coffee Talk; 3:00PM Tom Hanks / Randy Travis (1987-'88) featuring: Barbara Bush and Elizabeth Dole visit The Pat Stevens Show Thu 11/19 11:00AM & Midnight - Christian Slater / Bonnie Raitt (Halloween Show) (1991-'92) featuring: The McLaughlin Group; Dysfunctional Family Feud; 3:00PM Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs (1987-'88) featuring: Pumping Up with Hanz & Franz; Church Chat Fr 11/20 11:00AM & Midnight - Kiefer Sutherland / Skid Row (1991-'92) The William Smith Jury Selection; The Democratic Debates; Stuart Smalley ; 3:00PM Tom Hanks / Keith Richards (1988-'89) featuring: Pumping Up; Jew, Not a Jew; ABC '88 Campaign Update Sa 11/21 11:00AM - Matthew Broderick / Sugar Cubes (1988-'89) featuring: Dan Quayle Gets a Pep Talk Su 11/22 11:00AM - Kevin Bacon / INXS (1990-'91) Desert Storm press conference; Making Copies; The Dark Side with Nat X Mo 11/23 11:00AM & Midnight - Linda Hamilton / Mariah Carey (1991-'92) featuring: Pat; Levis 3 Legged Jeans; The Chris Farley Show; 3:00PM John Larroquette / Randy Newman (1988-'89) featuring: Gay communist gun club"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 15, 1999 (09:32)", "body": "Overheard from almanac@well.com: Well, Debbie Matenopoulos has got to win some kind of Good Sport of the Year award, at the very least... Three days after her canning from \"The View\" was announced (with Barbara Walters, who did the firing, doing the old \"Debbie is leaving to pursue other interests\" euphemisms), Matenopoulos showed up to portray herself in one of SNL's recurring series of sketches lampooning her former show (in the past, she has been rather savagely portrayed as a perky idiot in these sketches, by Cameron Diaz, Sarah Michelle Gellar and, most memorably, Claire Danes). She did a pretty fine bit of self-parody in the sketch, too. Darn It! I missed this show."}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (10:29)", "body": "There was an awesome SNL 25th year anniversery live show last night, the clips from old shows really captured the essence of SNL through the decades, and all the major cast members from every era showed up last night. Folks you haven't seen for a while like Laraine Newman and Nora Dunn. Billy Crystal was on a big roll with his roast of audence members. The lost sketch tribute to Phil Hartman was incredible. It was touching with Jan Hooks ( http://www.janhooks.com ) singing a tender farewell to Phil. I made a tape and it's now the best tape Ihave in my huge collection of tapes."}, {"response": 8, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (10:30)", "body": "*sigh* somedays I rethink this no television business..."}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (10:35)", "body": "You can catch some of the comedy sketches via Realvideo at http://www.snl25.com It's a site they put together just for this show."}, {"response": 10, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (14:59)", "body": "Woo Woo! ,"}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (15:03)", "body": "Also check outt he Spring's main page video right now."}, {"response": 12, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (15:04)", "body": "Chevy Chase (in costume): (knock knock) \"Candygram\" Jane Curtin: \"I don't believe you.\" Chase: \"Flowers.\" Curtin: \"I didn't order flowers. Who are you?\" Chase: \"Land Shark.\" Curtin: \"I don't believe you'd be that obvious.\" (opens door and gets devoured by the land shark...)"}, {"response": 13, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (15:06)", "body": "Then there the ohter one. Land Shark: \"I'm not a shark, I'm just a porpoise.\" Well, ok then."}, {"response": 14, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (15:08)", "body": "Great bit...hard to believe that Chase was only on one season (17 shows). Lorne Michaels guessed \"about 40\" when reporters asked him (trick) question."}, {"response": 15, "author": "Irishprincess", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (17:00)", "body": "I thought the tribute to Phil Hartman, the lost sketch with Jan Hooks, was very touching. I was getting a little choked up myself! It was, however, the only time that I stopped laughing!"}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Sep 28, 1999 (10:14)", "body": "It was touching that they showed that wonderful \"Life is a Dream\" black and white Schiller film with Hartman and Jan Hooks. Hartman genius was cut off from us by tragedy. There are lots of critics blasting this show and telling us how lame it is, but look at all the comedic genius that springs from it. Belluchi, Bill Murray, Dana Carvey, Dan Akroid, the list is huge. And it's still trucking after 25 years, gee, how many shows have they done. If they do 40 a year that's a thousand epissodes, and at ten sketches to a show, say, that's about 10,000 comedy sketches."}, {"response": 17, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Tue, Sep 28, 1999 (10:39)", "body": "I think it was Eugene O'Neill (I could be wrong) who said, \"Critics are like eunuchs. They know how it's done. They've seen it done before. But they can't do it themselves.\""}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (11:21)", "body": "Both new SNL's this season have been stellar, especially the show with Heather Graham. The opening skit where various cast members were taking her aside to overcome her \"nervousness\" was classic. And the Airplane skit with her envied the sexual exploits of the couple across the aisle was great. The Hans and Franz Where Are They Now? bit was side splitting. And the threesome skit with Heather was fine. Of course, how can a show miss with Heather Graham? (maybe her name has an e on the end?)"}, {"response": 19, "author": "Irishprincess", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (12:01)", "body": "I only saw a little bit of the Halloween show last night, but the \"Goth Talk\" skit was the best! That's always been one of my favorites!"}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (12:56)", "body": "Goth Talk is Chris Kattan and Molly Shannon is a crack up. They're doing their Goth public access show from their garage. And their bubba brothers keeps busting their bubble. They made him say \"weis\" .. you know the Bud weis er bit with the lizards. They really bully the little Goth kids while they try to do their show. That was an oldies show."}, {"response": 21, "author": "Irishprincess", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:06)", "body": "I like it because I used to be an aspiring Goth girl...now I'm studying Gothic literature in graduate school!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:07)", "body": "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC Sa 10/23 Norm MacDonald, Dr. Dre, featuring Snoop Dogg and Emeinem SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Comedy Central (reruns) Mo 10/18 1 PM & 12:30 AM Roseanne Barr / Deee-Lite with Bootsy Collins & The Rubber Band (1990-'91) Mr. Subliminal, MetroCard, Misery II, It's Pat!, Happy Fun Ball, Comedy Killers, Victoria's Secrets 6 PM David Hyde Pierce /Live (1994-'95) Amazin' Laser, Tales Of Little Women, Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly, Perspectives, Internet sex, Movie News Tu 10/19 1 PM & 12:30 AM Alec Baldwin / Whitney Houston + EvanderHolyfield (1990-'91) The McLaughlin Group, The Dancer, The Sinead O'Connor Awards, Cyrano de Bergerac, Lank Thompson's \"I'm A Handsome Actor\" 6 PM George Clooney / The Cranberries (1994-'95) Taxicab Confessions, \"W.R. - Waiting Room,\" Zagat's, Bruce McCulloch film \"Snowbird\" We 10/20 1 PM Michael J. Fox / Black Crowes (1990-'91) Back From The Future, America's Most Wanted, A. Whitney Brown, Daily Affirmation, Sting's elevator fans 6 PM Fred Savage / Technotronic (1989-'90) Church Chat, The Pat Stevens Show, Space Shuttle delays Th 10/21 1 PM 12:30 AM Jeremy Irons / Fishbone + Razor Ruddock (1990-'91) Pumping Up With Hans & Franz, McIntosh Jr., Makin' Copies, Wayne's World Oscar picks, Sherlock Holmes Football Days- a Jennifer Meyer film 10 PM Anthony Edwards / Foo Fighters (1995-'96) Swabby, Grimaldi's nativity scene, The Joe Pesci Show, Mary Katherine Gallagher, G-Dog, Spade in America, Princess Di interview, The Hulk Hogan Talk Show!!! Fr 10/22 1 PM & 11:30 PM George Wendt / Elvis Costello (1990-'91) Dennis Miller's Last Show, Lil' General Fireworks, Mr. No-Depth Perception, Super Fans, It's Pat!, The Carsenio Show, I'm Chillin', Burger Barn 6 PM Damon Wayans / Dionne Farris (1994-'95) Men On Film, Jeff Foxworthy, Perspectives, \"Cirque du Soleil\", Christopher Walken for Skittles 10:30 PM Bill Murray / Sting (1992-'93) The WhipMaster, Frequent Flyer, I'mChillin' Sa 10/23 11 AM MC Hammer + Wednesday & Pugsley Addams (1991-'92) Michael Jackson vs. host, Dick Clark's receptionist, Remembrances Of Love 4 PM Pamela Lee / Rollins Band + Tommy Lee (1996-'97) Spartan Spirits, Tiger Woods Biography, Roxbury Guys, Ambiguously Gay Duo, Goat Boy, Oprah, Larry King 6 PM Brendan Fraser / Bjork (1997-'98) Xena, The Delicious Dish, Go-Lords!, Collette Reardon's medication, Harry Caray, Courtney Love's Biography, Mango, Shark Channel 8 PM Jason Alexander / Peter Gabriel (1992-'93) Clinton's Indecent Proposal, Woody Allen's fan club, \"You Like-a Da juice\""}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:08)", "body": "oops, slipped. Amy you *are* a goth girl! What is that like?"}, {"response": 24, "author": "Irishprincess", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:17)", "body": "Well, when I was in junior high, it was cool to wear all black clothing, tons of black eye makeup (I still wear too much,) combat boots, and that kind of stuff. We listened to really strange music, avoided popular people, and gave ourselves pseudonyms (mine was Byron, who I am consequently going to write my thesis about!)"}, {"response": 25, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:39)", "body": "What's the character on SNL's name, Azrael or something like that?"}, {"response": 26, "author": "Irishprincess", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (22:57)", "body": "Yup. And the girl is something Nightshade. The guy they threw in the pool was Baron Nocturnal."}, {"response": 27, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Wed, Mar 29, 2000 (04:03)", "body": "Wow, did Irishprincess slide away. Who was that masked woamn? The Heather Graham hosted SNL *still* stands out head and shoulders above all other shows this season, and they wisely re-ran it a couple of Saturdays ago."}, {"response": 28, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Mar 29, 2000 (15:34)", "body": "Irishprincess communes with me on email when she has the time away from her thesis and graduate assistant teaching responsibilities. I shall tell her you miss her. You are not alone! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 17, "subject": "Golden Globe Awards - tv only", "response_count": 7, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 19, 1998 (03:20)", "body": "Nominees BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA Chicago Hope ER Law & Order NYPD Blue The X-Files BEST ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES - DRAMA Gillian Anderson, The X-Files Kim Delaney, NYPD Blue Roma Downey, Touched By An Angel Christine Lahti, Chicago Hope Julianna Margulies, ER BEST ACTOR IN A TV SERIES - DRAMA Kevin Anderson, Nothing Sacred George Clooney, ER David Duchovny, The X-Files Anthony Edwards, ER Lance Henriksen, Millennium BEST TV SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY 3rd Rock From The Sun Ally McBeal Frasier Friends Seinfeld Spin City BEST ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY Kirstie Alley, Veronica's Closet Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen Jenna Elfman, Dharma and Greg Calista Flockhart, Ally McBeal Helen Hunt, Mad About You Brooke Shields, Suddenly Susan BEST ACTOR IN A TV SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY Michael J. Fox, Spin City Kelsey Grammer, Frasier John Lithgow, 3rd Rock From the Sun Paul Reiser, Mad About You Jerry Seinfeld, Seinfeld BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION 12 Angry Men Don King: Only In America George Wallace Miss Evers' Boys The Odyssey BEST ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Ellen Barkin, Before Women Had Wings Jena Malone, Hope Vanessa Redgrave, Bella Mafia Meryl Streep, First Do No Harm Alfre Woodard, Miss Evers' Boys BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Armand Assante, The Odyssey Jack Lemmon, 12 Angry Men Matthew Modine, What the Deaf Man Heard Ving Rhames, Don King: Only in America Gary Sinise, George Wallace BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Joely Fisher, Ellen Angelina Jolie, George Wallace Della Reese, Touched By An Angel Gloria Reuben, ER Mare Winningham, George Wallace BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jason Alexander, Seinfeld Michael Caine, Mandela and DeKlerk Eriq LaSalle, ER David Hyde Pierce, Frasier George C. Scott, 12 Angry Men Noah Wyle, ER"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 19, 1998 (03:22)", "body": "Ving Rhames called Jack Lemmon up to the stage and gave him his award. An awkward yet touching moment. One lady was in the bathroom and they had to wait about 10 mintues for her to get out. She thought it was a joke when someone yelled at her to come out when she was flushing the toilet. Hightlight: Shirley Maclaine and Jack Nicholson's speeches."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 19, 1998 (03:31)", "body": "A complete list of winners at the 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Sunday night. TELEVISION BEST DRAMA SERIES: The X-Files BEST ACTRESS DRAMA: Christine Lahti, Chicago Hope BEST ACTOR DRAMA: Anthony Edwards, ER BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES: Ally McBeal BEST ACTRESS MUSICAL OR COMEDY: Calista Flockhart, Ally McBeal BEST ACTOR MUSICAL OR COMEDY: Michael J. Fox, Spin City BEST MINISERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: George Wallace BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Alfre Woodard, Miss Evers Boys BEST ACTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Ving Rhames, Don King: Only in America BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Angelina Jolie, George Wallace BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION: George C. Scott, 12 Angry Men"}, {"response": 4, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jan 19, 1998 (22:54)", "body": "Missed the awards, just caught the pre-game show on E! where Joan Rivers and her daughter gush or trash everybody's clothes. Hope the award segment was better."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 20, 1998 (09:20)", "body": "It was better. Loose, informal, not your stiff academy awards."}, {"response": 6, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Jan 22, 2001 (09:48)", "body": "Anyone catch the Golden Globes last night? I watched part of it but saved it on tivo, so I'll check out the rest tonight."}, {"response": 7, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:36)", "body": "Guess we'll have to wait till Junuary. The GG's sure fell off our radar screen around 2001. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 18, "subject": "Calista Flockhart - Allie McBeal", "response_count": 126, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar  4, 1998 (09:08)", "body": "See, there's this tv show called Ally McBeal. And it features three *hot babes*. That little bit of sexual subconscious out of the way, let me say it's a very funny show. It's a great show, I'll go even further. It's about a law firm. And Allie's ex lover just happens to be a member of the firm and he's married to a gal that has a jaw and blonde hair that Allie doesn't have. Billy, the ex lover of Allie, has mixed emotions And Allie has become friends with Billy's wife. We're talking age ranges of 25-28 here, folks. My theory is that this is a guy type show, and that women will find it embarassing. I don't think it will end up on the feminist top ten listing of tv shows, maybe the bottom ten. The women are too cute and too bimboish at times. And the women aren't the aggressive, free wheeling Marcia Clark types, they're quite timid usually. But how can you not like a show whose lead actress is *** Calista Flockhart *** That name just does it for me. I would love to have a girlfriend like her just so I could introduce her to people. Uh, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, *Calista Flockhart*. Dream, dream. I'll have more to say about Allie McBeal. It's my favorite tv show. I hope others will join me in this quaint little discussion."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar  4, 1998 (09:23)", "body": "Georgia is the name of Billy's wife, I forget the name of the bimbo that is Allies assistant. But she gets the bimbo of the year award. I can hear the grinding of feminist teeth out there."}, {"response": 3, "author": "NICK", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (00:08)", "body": "Howdie....Allie Mcbeal is a real kool show. I hope they don't get stupid and cancel it down the road. The theme song is great too. Nick"}, {"response": 4, "author": "NICK", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (00:11)", "body": "Hey, what do ya think of that \"Face Bra\"? Some invention ha? NIck"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (09:24)", "body": "Someone, I have a feeling it won't catch on!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (17:45)", "body": "OK, I am going to have to watch this show just once to see what all the hype is about!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (17:51)", "body": "Yep, check it out, it might creep up on you. Curious about the \"face bra\"?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (17:59)", "body": "You got it!!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Fri, May  8, 1998 (22:23)", "body": "know what the face bra is, but not from calista's show. saw a couple of them and i thought they were funny! kinda reminds me of \"dream on\" with the asides involving music and b/w films."}, {"response": 10, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Sat, May  9, 1998 (20:00)", "body": "hey, i remember Dream on! we had it over here - used to be on a friday night, really late :)) haven't seen it for years now"}, {"response": 11, "author": "NICK", "date": "Wed, May 13, 1998 (22:07)", "body": "IT REALLY BOTHERS ME WHEN A SHOW CATCHES MY ATTENTION AND THEN AFTER TWO SEASONS GETS CANCELLED. LIKE \"NED AND STACEY\" WHATS THE DEAL WITH THAT? WHY?..:SEINFELD\"....AND WHAT THE HELL HAPPEN TO \"TGIF\" FRIDAY NIGHTS ON ABC? YOU HAD \"FAMILY MATTERS\" FOLLOWED BY \"BOY MEETS WORLD\" THEN \"STEP BY STEP\" OH..REMEMBER \"DINOSOURS\"? OK THREE OUT OF FOUR AINT BAD! I'M SURE YOU GUYS CAN COME UP WITH SOME SWEET CANCELLATIONS LET ME KNOW! NICK"}, {"response": 12, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 13, 1998 (23:17)", "body": "Prophet"}, {"response": 13, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, May 14, 1998 (18:43)", "body": "Almost Perfect."}, {"response": 14, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, May 14, 1998 (21:24)", "body": "Manimal"}, {"response": 15, "author": "NICK", "date": "Thu, May 14, 1998 (22:48)", "body": "Married People"}, {"response": 16, "author": "NICK", "date": "Thu, May 14, 1998 (22:49)", "body": "Anything but Love"}, {"response": 17, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, May 17, 1998 (21:48)", "body": "My all-time fave show, thirtysomething."}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (07:43)", "body": "It's a great show, my room mate Ellis' favorite. She relates to it."}, {"response": 19, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (19:58)", "body": "It's my life (*gasp*)! I AM Hope...(kind of frightening to see yourself on TV)"}, {"response": 20, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Sat, May 23, 1998 (05:48)", "body": "It's coming to the UK! I'll finally be able to find out what all the fuss is about"}, {"response": 21, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Mon, Jul  6, 1998 (20:53)", "body": "I've seen it! Calista Flockhart? SCHWOOOOOOOOON :-)"}, {"response": 22, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Mon, Jul  6, 1998 (20:54)", "body": "i'm starting to like this new bg colour :)"}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul  6, 1998 (21:43)", "body": "What a great show. And what do you think of the 'other' babes that populate the show? And the singer/piano player?"}, {"response": 24, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Mon, Jul  6, 1998 (21:50)", "body": "well, i've only seen the one episode, and only half of that. i didn't really notice the other women in it, i don't think...the coloured girl? not my type, and the secretary/PA type is a bit dozy for me! But, Calista can drop by anytime. Any time :)"}, {"response": 25, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jul  7, 1998 (01:09)", "body": "Don't know this show at all!"}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jul  7, 1998 (12:06)", "body": "The singer in the bar recently did a pass through Austin. Big hit."}, {"response": 27, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Tue, Jul  7, 1998 (19:19)", "body": "oh yeah, the bar singer! what's that all about?"}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jul  7, 1998 (21:27)", "body": "She got famous by being on the show and now has hit records. Missed her gig here in Austin, though."}, {"response": 29, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (14:00)", "body": "oo-er :) the bar singer, although a babe, is a bit cheesy, don't you think?"}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (15:44)", "body": "Cheesy in what sense?"}, {"response": 31, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (17:48)", "body": "Spreadable and yummy, perhaps..."}, {"response": 32, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (19:49)", "body": "dunno...i just get a cheese feeling off of it. like somehow she should either be a character, or just be a background part; not the sort of in-between thing that she is at the moment."}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (23:14)", "body": "Thought she was the big cheese, a lot of people relate to her in betweeness, I think that's what makes the show, she just doesn't have a slam dunk on a man and that makes her more appealing."}, {"response": 34, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Thu, Jul  9, 1998 (15:04)", "body": "heheh :) good point. i've forgotten which day of the week it's on. i've a feeling it might be this evening, so i'll have to check the tv guide."}, {"response": 35, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (11:18)", "body": "During the world series, they had a cut of Ally jumping onto John Ritters face, her legs on his shoulders. Sex education for the kids watching the series."}, {"response": 36, "author": "osceola", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (12:35)", "body": "What do other guys see in her? he looks like she has an eating disorder -- I'm not kidding. I like women to look healthy."}, {"response": 37, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (12:36)", "body": "mmmmmmmm.....I could probably cope with that happening :-)))"}, {"response": 38, "author": "osceola", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (12:38)", "body": "I meant, of course, SHE is that second sentence."}, {"response": 39, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (18:07)", "body": "of course, so, george what do you consider healthy looking? i have a friend who is skinny as a rail (and i mean this literally). she eats all day long but she is such a hyper gal--just like the batter, keeps going and going and going!"}, {"response": 40, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (18:07)", "body": "of course, so, george what do you consider healthy looking? i have a friend who is skinny as a rail (and i mean this literally). she eats all day long but she is such a hyper gal--just like the battery, keeps going and going and going!"}, {"response": 41, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (18:08)", "body": "oooops *grin*"}, {"response": 42, "author": "osceola", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (19:01)", "body": "A gal with some meat on her bones."}, {"response": 43, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (03:27)", "body": "You make me feel so sexy! What a MAN! (I'm also convinced that lady has a serious problem. Do you really get people who are SO desperately thin and eat alot? I wonder.)"}, {"response": 44, "author": "sonja", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (09:43)", "body": "I think the last time I was her size was when I was about 3 months old."}, {"response": 45, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (09:55)", "body": "LOL!! sonja, you'll be a member of our real-women modelling agency, then, won't you?"}, {"response": 46, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (11:07)", "body": "my opinion of CF is that she has lovely eyes and a lovely face, but is way, way too thin. soft, round, and voluptuous is what i like."}, {"response": 47, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Oct 23, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "You called, darling?"}, {"response": 48, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Fri, Oct 23, 1998 (11:03)", "body": ";)"}, {"response": 49, "author": "sonja", "date": "Sat, Oct 24, 1998 (12:01)", "body": "What do those symbols mean? Alot of people here make them. Is it like a special code?"}, {"response": 50, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Sat, Oct 24, 1998 (14:26)", "body": "sonja, that symbol is one of several hundred different types of smiley faces. if you look at it as a face laying down on its side you can see. the one i used above is a smiley face winking at you. here are some others: standard smiley-- :) standard smiley with a nose-- :-) non-smiley-- :( devilish smiley-- >:> there are hundres of others. do a web search for smiley and you can find archives of them"}, {"response": 51, "author": "sonja", "date": "Tue, Oct 27, 1998 (04:53)", "body": "I see! How sweet!"}, {"response": 52, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Jan 26, 1999 (19:23)", "body": "Has anyone seen that Calista dear is in \"A Midsummer's Night Dream\"?"}, {"response": 53, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 26, 1999 (21:16)", "body": "Nope. On Broadway. I actually watched Allie McBeal this weak and it was quite a melange of subplots, including Allie in a boxing match. They crammed a lot in to one episode. And something about one of her firms lawyers touching Janet Reno's \"waddle\" . . . Dyan Cannon as the Judge and several other celeb cameos."}, {"response": 54, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 26, 1999 (21:22)", "body": "Should have read On Broadway? I was asking this as a question as opposed to making a statement of fact."}, {"response": 55, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 27, 1999 (15:07)", "body": "Nope...a movie..."}, {"response": 56, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Jan 31, 1999 (16:32)", "body": "i noticed that calista is in that film. anyone notice that michelle pfiefer (also in this film) looks a bit like madonna in her ray of light video?"}, {"response": 57, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb  1, 1999 (09:03)", "body": "They had a cool shot of Calista at the Superbowl."}, {"response": 58, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb  1, 1999 (09:22)", "body": "Sitting in the stands with one of her co-stars, forget his name. The curly haired guy. Not Billy."}, {"response": 59, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Apr 27, 1999 (04:04)", "body": "How could you tell that Calista Flockhart was in that movie? It's not like one can see her!"}, {"response": 60, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Tue, Apr 27, 1999 (05:21)", "body": "that was mean"}, {"response": 61, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Apr 27, 1999 (10:50)", "body": "I saw that show last night... she is pretty damn sickeningly thin... but the show was funny (knee pit stuff!)"}, {"response": 62, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 27, 1999 (16:21)", "body": "Missed it this week."}, {"response": 63, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, May  7, 1999 (08:49)", "body": "Did you see the joke Jay Leno did about this girl? He wondered what she would say if one compared her to Kate Moss. And came up with: \"WHAT?? That FAT BITCH??\" ha-ha!! It IS a funny show though, I have to admit."}, {"response": 64, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, May 13, 1999 (23:08)", "body": "She's going to be in a \"Midsummer Nights Dream\" with an awesome cast. The trailers look great."}, {"response": 65, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, May 14, 1999 (16:29)", "body": "why do they call em 'trailers' when they actually come out BEFORE a movie opens?"}, {"response": 66, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 14, 1999 (18:17)", "body": "Good question, don't know. It should be called a \"leader\". Wonder where that term came in to play?"}, {"response": 67, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, May 18, 1999 (09:35)", "body": "I always think of them as surprise-spoilers."}, {"response": 68, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, May 18, 1999 (09:36)", "body": "ha-ha, Or maybe they call them trailers to remind the movie stars of their roots!"}, {"response": 69, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Jun  1, 1999 (17:53)", "body": "ok, has anyone seen the movie yet? certainly not i, you know me, always months behind the current showings!"}, {"response": 70, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jun  2, 1999 (14:15)", "body": "Haven't yet. It's down at the Dobie. The Dobie is one of Austin's hippest, most intimate movie theaters. Last movie I saw there was Boogie Nights."}, {"response": 71, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Jun  2, 1999 (17:12)", "body": "i saw boogie nights in a dinner theatre--well, fast food theatre...."}, {"response": 72, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Mon, Jun  7, 1999 (10:48)", "body": "how appropriate"}, {"response": 73, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (00:32)", "body": "Having just looked into this subject, the singer-pianist at \"the club\" on Ally McBeal is Vonda Shepard, executive producer David Kelley's (who is lucky enough to be married to babe Michelle Pfeiffer) favorite babe singer. This show is filled with babes. Calista Flockhart, though pretty, is too anorexic, although she's a terrific actress and I enjoy Ally's hallucinations and self-absorbed angst. Those who find Kate Moss beautiful (count me out) would call her \"waifish.\" My favorite babes on this show, n order: 1. Lucy Alexis Liu--I'd love to start another topic with her and one on Mariah Carey, as well. 2. Portia DeRossi 3. Lisa Nicole Carson 4. Courtney Thorne-Smith 5. Dyan Cannon (still fabulous although she must be pushing 60!) 6. Jane Krakowski 7. Calista Flockhart (Calista is Greek for \"beautiful\" and if she weighed 15 more pounds, she would be."}, {"response": 74, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (00:55)", "body": "John, I can create the topics for you (I have some few small powers around here thanks to Geo conference). Name them and they will be yours. (Callista is the only one I have ever seen skinnier than I am...)"}, {"response": 75, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (01:04)", "body": "You don't look anorexic, though. She does...and television allegedly puts 8-10 pounds on people's appearances. She must be downright skeletal in person."}, {"response": 76, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (01:06)", "body": "If you saw that People Mag photo of her at the Emmys (?) she was painful to look at..."}, {"response": 77, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (17:55)", "body": "What a bevy, don't the drool ladies wish they had these many objets desire in one place at the same time on a weekly basis?"}, {"response": 78, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (18:32)", "body": "Oh, I don't think they feel slighted. When they do, they discover the rest of The Spring...and the rest of life. Happy thought, indeed...*smile*"}, {"response": 79, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (21:16)", "body": "Actually the drool ladies, if they are not at work or married to their computers on The Spring (heh, heh) can turn to any daytime soap on any of the original 3 networks and find a veritable cornucopia of stud muffins ages 16 to 60."}, {"response": 80, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (21:38)", "body": "John, you have us seriously underestimated. We have a huge brain trust in Drool and in The Spring as a whole, and we do not admire \"bodies\" without intellects attached. Sorry, dear, but it just isn't that way."}, {"response": 81, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (21:46)", "body": "What about Kevin Costner?"}, {"response": 82, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (21:58)", "body": "Firthians occupy most of Drool, and I can only speak for them. Hafta find a KC Droolie who can write...I guess (I am ducking under my computer as I hit the submit button.)"}, {"response": 83, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (22:15)", "body": "Why? Do you have a camera attached? Or are you afraid a pie is going to hit you from the monitor?"}, {"response": 84, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (22:30)", "body": "Words hurt, John!"}, {"response": 85, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (03:30)", "body": "I know. I was only joking. I keep forgetting Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (or is that vice versa?) What is banter to men is a deadly brickbat to a woman. I'm sorry."}, {"response": 86, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (03:38)", "body": "Okay, let's post pics of all the babes of Ally McBeal! Now that Marcia has taught me to do this, I am unstoppable! VONDA SHEPARD (the singer-pianist at \"The Club\")"}, {"response": 87, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (03:47)", "body": "Be still, my beating heart. Here is an incredible photo (nevermind the mag copy) of Lucy (Alexis) liu, who plays the beauteous legal viper, Ling Woo."}, {"response": 88, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (04:06)", "body": "Portia de Rossi is Australian by birth (birth name: Amanda Rogers). She plays Ling's best friend, Nelle, the firm's hired rainmaker who has a thing for \"Biscuit\" (Peter McNicol)."}, {"response": 89, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (04:16)", "body": "Okay, maybe this picture of the lovely Ms. Portia will post without hassle:"}, {"response": 90, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (04:29)", "body": "And now, the fantastic Courtney Thorne-Smith, former \"Melrose Place\" regular, now Georgia Thomas on Ally:"}, {"response": 91, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (04:40)", "body": "Here is lovely Lisa Nicole Carson, a former semi-regular on \"E.R.\" and a stand up comedienne (\"The Apollo Comedy Hour\") who plays Ally's roommate, Renee:"}, {"response": 92, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (04:51)", "body": "Jane Krakowski (right), who plays Ally's nosy secretary, Elaine, with Courtney Thorne-Smith:"}, {"response": 93, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (04:58)", "body": "I guess it didn't work, and I can't find downloadable pics of Dyan Cannon either, although she's been in show biz for 40 years."}, {"response": 94, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (05:05)", "body": "Maybe this solo picture of Jane, while not as flattering, will work:"}, {"response": 95, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (05:06)", "body": "Oops, wrong photo..."}, {"response": 96, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (05:07)", "body": "Here's Calista:"}, {"response": 97, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Aug 19, 1999 (05:12)", "body": "Jane, Jane, Jane:"}, {"response": 98, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (09:21)", "body": "What's that in her hand? A face bra?"}, {"response": 99, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (13:48)", "body": "As much as I dislike writing on men's drool topics because it irritates John...I do so to give you the female opinion of what she is holding. I am guessing it is, as Terry suggests, to keep the chin from sagging and all the rest of the \"stuff\" she has accumulated because she is too zoftig...she would find it more affective if she lost some of that baby fat she is harboring...*smirk* (just trying to be helpful...)"}, {"response": 100, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (15:57)", "body": "It is a \"face bra.\" And the picture is unflattering and the dress is shapeless. She is not the least bit zaftig or Reubenesque. Sorry, Marcia."}, {"response": 101, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (16:33)", "body": "You're sorry...So am I...(the non-Reubenesque and non-zaftig Marcia)"}, {"response": 102, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (16:34)", "body": "BTW, just exactly what is a face bra for? (I lead a v e r y sheltered life...)"}, {"response": 103, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (16:38)", "body": "It's an \"invention\" of her character, Elaine, the irritating, nosy secretary. You did nail the purpose. You're supposed to wear it while sleeping or hanging out around the house to prevent facial sag. Everybody laughs about it behind Elaine's back, but patronizes her (which of course, she's clueless about). But old neurotic, angst-ridden Ally is worried that her face will sag and she will actually need one."}, {"response": 104, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (16:59)", "body": "Thank for you that. I watched the first 2 years of Ally but got hooked on something far more interesting...and here I sit writing in little boxes =) I do know her character and the rest of them, for that matter...!"}, {"response": 105, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Aug 22, 1999 (17:52)", "body": ":-)"}, {"response": 106, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (14:33)", "body": "Charlotte can write... and, don't forget, this topic is tied into the tv conference, as well..."}, {"response": 107, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (14:36)", "body": "I had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder."}, {"response": 108, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (14:40)", "body": "Actually, I wish she would - more! And, as I said before, words hurt...!"}, {"response": 109, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:05)", "body": "I was referencing you saying you needed to find a KC drooler who could write... (and don't they just...)"}, {"response": 110, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:37)", "body": "(yessir, they do, indeed)"}, {"response": 111, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (09:11)", "body": "Some related to topic, dept. KELLEY \ufffd WHO WON double Emmys for Fox\ufffds \ufffdAlly McBeal\ufffd and ABC\ufffds \ufffdThe Practice,\ufffd and just had his latest effort, \ufffdSnoops,\ufffd picked up for the season by ABC \ufffd is reportedly ready to ink a deal with Fox that will pay him $50 million up front, plus back-end guarantees (based on such criteria as ratings performance, ad revenue and syndication sales) that could amount to hundreds of millions more. Although \ufffdNYPD Blue\ufffd creator Steven Bochco recently signed a $50 million development deal, Kelley\ufffds incentive-laden pact is virtually unheard of in tube-land. Usually, only A-list film directors like Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis or guaranteed box-office locks like Tom Hanks or Adam Sandler can finagle a percentage of the gross as part of their pay. FOX GETS DIBS The Kelley deal, which has been in the works for months, will extend an existing relationship the wonder boy has had with Fox Broadcasting Company, where he created series both for the Fox network and for ABC. The new financial terms will apparently be retroactive to cover \ufffdAlly McBeal\ufffd and \ufffdThe Practice,\ufffd meaning Kelley could get a substantial chunk of those show\ufffds first-run and syndication revenues. Under the new pact, Fox gets dibs on all Kelley\ufffds TV projects \ufffd hoping Kelley\ufffds one-man factory can crank out up to four new shows in the next five years to replace such aging Fox dramas as \ufffdThe X-Files,\ufffd \ufffdParty of Five\ufffd and \ufffdBeverly Hills, 90210.\ufffd The deal also purportedly contains a feature component, though Kelley\ufffds recent big-screen forays \ufffdLake Placid\ufffd and \ufffdMystery, Alaska\ufffd didn\ufffdt exactly wow audiences."}, {"response": 112, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Oct 29, 1999 (16:37)", "body": "I am not crazy about what they have done to \"The Practice \" this season. I am also aware that they couldn't care less that I am no longer a viewer of that program."}, {"response": 113, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Sat, Oct 30, 1999 (13:55)", "body": "Good we're only shown last season's shows, then (or season before that?)."}, {"response": 114, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 30, 1999 (14:34)", "body": "Alexander, enjoy your year-or-two-year-old shows while you can. They are sadistic and more gorey than I need before I go to sleep...!"}, {"response": 115, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Mon, Nov  1, 1999 (11:55)", "body": "Oh, THAT good? Didn't notice yet..."}, {"response": 116, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (03:50)", "body": "From a review in http://www.girlson.com Let me start with the things I hate about \"Ally McBeal\": the music. Yark. That crappy, girly, gimme-love-slow-dancy Melissa Ethridge knock-off stuff nearly killed me. Along with the music, I hate the bar they play it in, and everyone and everything in it. Next, I hate the unisex bathrooms. The last thing we need is a device to create sexual tension at the office, since our little stammering vixen, Ally (Calista Flockhart), and her cohorts happily supply plenty. Third, the \"imaginary\" device ran out of steam early on; they should just drop it. I've seen enough of those rubber rolled-out tongues dropping to the floor to last several lifetimes. And lastly, I hate the stammering vixen herself, Ally McBeal, who is unapologetically not feminist."}, {"response": 117, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (12:39)", "body": "Wow! Harsh critic. Truthfully, I stopped watching her last year because I was tired of her same neuroses over and over and over. Her reactions to me are so alien to me that I figured I was not the target audience!"}, {"response": 118, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:36)", "body": "She had nice things to say also, I just posted an excerpt."}, {"response": 119, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:51)", "body": "It got my attention! It is a really cute show but the male remote control person does not like it...*sigh* Of course, I ususally do not watch TV with him anymore. Guess I could tear myself away from the Spring for 1/2 hour each week."}, {"response": 120, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (18:51)", "body": "*smile* Thank EWE ....always!"}, {"response": 121, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (01:33)", "body": "I hear Renee Zellwegger is giving Calista Flockhart some competition in the thin dept. since she lost 20 lbs after Bridget Jones Diary."}, {"response": 122, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (06:13)", "body": "She signed an agreement with the production company saying that she didn't have to gain loads of weight to do the Bridget Jones sequel - that was the only way she was prepared to take the part again!!!"}, {"response": 123, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (07:16)", "body": "And Renee now has her own topic. After all, Bridget Jones traffic generated about a million hits in the last ten days, so she deserves it!"}, {"response": 124, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, May  1, 2001 (09:00)", "body": "And the traffic has been roaring to new heights these last two days, a 2 million hit a week clip!"}, {"response": 125, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Jun 11, 2001 (20:47)", "body": "Guess what, Guys, it wasn't Renee doing all that generating. Did you get a good look at Mark Darcy? Oops wrong topic... Renee is deightful and I am happy to have her amongst the admired!"}, {"response": 126, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:36)", "body": "Calista's coming back in a new show. First since Allie. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 19, "subject": "Cow and Chicken", "response_count": 37, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Jun 25, 1998 (20:53)", "body": "huh? no idea Riette. Where's it from?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:24)", "body": "Cartoon Network! Isa and I always watch Tom and Jerry or Roadrunner on that channel before they go to bed. Usually we finish dinner in time to watch Cow and Chicken, which comes just before that. It's just this really really sick cartoon about a cow with super powers and a huge udder. Imagine a cow with in a Superman suit with four holes in it to allow for the udder. It's really sick, and Mr. C. and I are sometimes really rotfloao-fing when we watch it."}, {"response": 3, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:33)", "body": "Mama had a chicken Mama had a cow Daddy was proud He didn't care how"}, {"response": 4, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:44)", "body": ""}, {"response": 5, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:50)", "body": ""}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:52)", "body": ""}, {"response": 7, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:55)", "body": ""}, {"response": 8, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:56)", "body": ""}, {"response": 9, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jun 26, 1998 (01:57)", "body": ""}, {"response": 10, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Jun 30, 1998 (21:35)", "body": "huh? (glad to see you could convince him to get some shuteye Riette. you indeed have magical powers!)"}, {"response": 11, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (00:43)", "body": "Absolutely . . . the magical power of boring people into oblivion!!!"}, {"response": 12, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (01:31)", "body": ""}, {"response": 13, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (01:38)", "body": ""}, {"response": 14, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:35)", "body": ""}, {"response": 15, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": ""}, {"response": 16, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": ""}, {"response": 17, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": ""}, {"response": 18, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": ""}, {"response": 19, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": "really? why, I never knew, do tell..."}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": "are you a visual, auditory or kinestenic learner?!?!"}, {"response": 21, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (07:44)", "body": "depends on the lesson... kinda prefer learnin in all of the above ways (and adding taste and smell components don't hurt, neither)"}, {"response": 22, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:52)", "body": "ah ha! Then I shall use a multi-sensory approach!"}, {"response": 23, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:54)", "body": ""}, {"response": 24, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:57)", "body": ""}, {"response": 25, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:59)", "body": ""}, {"response": 26, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (23:04)", "body": ""}, {"response": 27, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (23:05)", "body": ""}, {"response": 28, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (01:33)", "body": ""}, {"response": 29, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:02)", "body": ""}, {"response": 30, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:12)", "body": "who said I did it?"}, {"response": 31, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:18)", "body": "you just did..."}, {"response": 32, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:22)", "body": "who said I just did?"}, {"response": 33, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:25)", "body": "I.M. Weasel"}, {"response": 34, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:47)", "body": ""}, {"response": 35, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Oct 16, 1998 (13:07)", "body": "How do you serve good pork butt?"}, {"response": 36, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct 17, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "ha-ha!! With ketchup, I'd say."}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 31, 2000 (23:43)", "body": "We're on the new site! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 2, "subject": "Favorite TV Shows/Miniseries", "response_count": 188, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "lisaC", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (21:46)", "body": "My favorite television shows are: The Simpsons (I'm partial to Lisa's intelligence, Krusty's sarcasm and the overall originality of the show.) Seinfeld ( I can't get enough of Newman, Kramer and George) Law & Order ( I prefer watching the reruns on A&E. I can't forgive the producers for firing Chris Noth. He brought humour, pain, and intelligence to the role of Mike Logan. Not to mention, he wasn't bad to look at either. I wonder what kind of Darcy he would have made.) Another World (I've been watching this soap since I was 4 years old. I love Carl Hutchins. What a great villain he was. He has transformed into a good person to gain the respect and love of his one and only Rachel Cory. He sort of sounds like Darcy when I think about it. Maybe that's the attraction. Or maybe it's the English accent and poetry he utters. Favorite Miniseries: Without a doubt, The Thorn Birds. I have it on tape and watch it whenever I get a chance. Richard Chaimberland is fantasctic as Father Ralph, the priest torn between his love for God and his love for Meggie. Not to mention, Barbara Stanwyck as Mary Carson, the older woman in love with Father Ralph. She plays a bitch to perfection."}, {"response": 2, "author": "Kali", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (22:18)", "body": "Chris Noth! Oooh, what a fine suggestion for Darcy (no substitute for CF, however)! ;)"}, {"response": 3, "author": "alfresco", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (22:45)", "body": "When my kid is watching TV, I enjoy RUGRATS on Nickelodeon--really! To see cartoons done from toddlers and babies' viewpoint (and eyelevel) is a scream, especially when the wicked Angelica is in her cynical, pick-on-the-babies mode. I used to watch MACGYVER since I'm an inventions and quick-fix freak (and the guy ain't bad lookin', either). There's a MACGYVER website, by the by, with great pix, scripts, etc. ARE YOU BEING SERVED? is my British comedy fix some evenings on PBS. Yes, I do have more culturally elevated tastes in TV also."}, {"response": 4, "author": "Kali", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (22:54)", "body": "OMIGOD, France! I love Are You Being Served? ! It's the only thing that will get me through The Jim Lehrer Newshour ...;)"}, {"response": 5, "author": "Karen", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (22:55)", "body": "My favorite TV shows are Chef (PBS Comedy), The Eastenders, The Simpsons, Frazier, Homocide and Murder One. I have others but if I mention them I feel I watch too much TV. Karen"}, {"response": 6, "author": "Kali", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (22:58)", "body": "Karen...you're the only other person I know who's even heard of Chef ...what a concept - an anal, egotistical cook..."}, {"response": 7, "author": "Ann", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (22:59)", "body": "Historically: Bob Newhart Show, Dick Van Dyke Show, Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies (Granny's a hoot!), SCTV (Love the pototo joke), Yes, (Prime) Minister (The best-written sit-com in history), Today: Babylon 5, X Files, Homicide, Frasier, Cracker, Pinkey and the Brain (they were better before they got their own show)"}, {"response": 8, "author": "Ann", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (23:00)", "body": "Kali, I love Chef! They don't seem to have made very many episodes though."}, {"response": 9, "author": "Donna", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (23:05)", "body": "Kali, I watch all PBS love \"Keeping Up Appearances\" also \"Charlie Rose\"."}, {"response": 10, "author": "Kali", "date": "Thu, Dec 12, 1996 (23:44)", "body": "Hyacinth Bucket? ;) I'm a Rhoda kinda girl right now. I'm waiting for Nick at Nite to bring back the Patty Duke Show ..."}, {"response": 11, "author": "Donna", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (00:39)", "body": "Hyacinth Bucket is the modern version of Caroline Bingley. Oh Patty Duke Show, cute. My daughter loves Shirley Temple movies."}, {"response": 12, "author": "Kali", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (00:52)", "body": "Or Mrs. Bennet! ;)"}, {"response": 13, "author": "Cheryl", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (01:22)", "body": "Historically (as someone has said, love it!) That Girl Dick Van Dyke Mary Tyler Moore Bob Newhart Carol Burnett Hill Street Blues LA Law MASH Northern Exposure All Star Treks Now: NYPD Blue ER Frasier Mad About You Murphy Brown Chicago Hope News Radio"}, {"response": 14, "author": "Donna", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (01:26)", "body": "Cheryl, \"Anything But Love\" Richard Lewis and Jamie Lee Curtis."}, {"response": 15, "author": "Kali", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (01:58)", "body": "Oooh, MASH! ;)"}, {"response": 16, "author": "kendall", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (07:03)", "body": "I love all cheryl's picks except Star Trek. I have to add Cheers and (I hope) INK which may be a new Cheers - I only saw one episode but it was great. Kali - I love Rhoda and Valerie Harper but really did not much care for the Rhoda show. The Mary Tyler Moore show seems timeless. My husband and I are always calling each other's attention to a \"great MTM moment\" about to strike."}, {"response": 17, "author": "Bernie", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (07:04)", "body": "I can't believe so many of you enjoy British comedies. In answer to one of the earlier responses. They are currently running the 4th or 5th series. I'm also astounded that some of you have seen Eastenders. BTW I've been told that my 6 month nephew looks just like Grant Mitchell!"}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (07:05)", "body": "Saturday Night Live is my all time favorite tv show, followed by Sunday Morning."}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (07:05)", "body": "slippage!"}, {"response": 20, "author": "Kim", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (08:40)", "body": "I do not watch very much network T.V. However, I always try to watch Mad About You and Chicago Hope. I like the old shows such as I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, and Perry Mason. I used to watch Murder She Wrote. I love the two mini-series of Poldark. I suppose my favorite mini-series is Jane Eyre with Timothy Dalton."}, {"response": 21, "author": "Kim", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (08:42)", "body": "I forgot about Fawlty Towers. I absolutely love that series. It is hilarious.."}, {"response": 22, "author": "Carolyn", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (09:36)", "body": "The only show I make it a point to see is Remember WENN on AMC. I also like Rugrats (and I am 32 with no kids--but it is hilarious and Angelica is so bad) I think my favorite British sitcoms are The Good Neighbors and To the Manor Born I do like Biography on A&E, though I wish they would do JA."}, {"response": 23, "author": "LauraM", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (10:06)", "body": "I love Doug, Rugrats. Angelica is not bad just normal. I was the same way nasty to the little ones but sweet as pie to the adults. I love David Duchovny. And I purposely stopped watching Law & Order when they canned Chris Noth, I loved him!!!!! I watch Chicago Hope, NYPD Blue, ER, Early Edition, Kyle Chandler is sooo Hot!!!! Laura"}, {"response": 24, "author": "amy2", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (11:45)", "body": "My guilty pleasure: TOO HOT TAMALES on the Food Channel. Featuring two fine female chefs who are great friends -- their banter is very P&P!"}, {"response": 25, "author": "Cheryl", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (13:27)", "body": "Oh Katy, how could I have left out Cheers? I am amazed at the oversight! Thank you for reminding me that it was one of my favorite shows! Donna, I also watched Anything But Love and was sorry to see it end so soon!"}, {"response": 26, "author": "Kali", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (14:25)", "body": "Which is better? Cheers or Frasier? I like Frasier better...much less caricature than the original series...the characters are a little easier to identify with..."}, {"response": 27, "author": "Mari", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (17:01)", "body": "Does anyone remember ''He and She\" with Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentis, Kenneth Mars and Jack Cassidy? I loved it, would be in heaven if Nick at Nite would pick it up."}, {"response": 28, "author": "Amy", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (17:21)", "body": "Speaking of shows that you don't see in syndication or on cable networks with nostaligic sensibilities, how about Beanie and Cecil?"}, {"response": 29, "author": "PatK", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (20:25)", "body": "Beauty and the Beast All Star Treks (though the first is so hokey now that it's camp) Babylon 5 ER NYPD Blue Grace Under Fire Touched by an Angel Cybil MASH Fame Mary Tyler Moore Hill Street Blues China Beach Call to Glory Perry Mason Favorite mini-series (other than P&P2) -- Shogun (didn't like Thorn Birds because they didn't do the book justice though I did like Richard Chamberlain in it) Also -- has anyone ever seen a British comedy called Sweet Sixteen (I think that was the name of it)? Had to do with an older woman marrying a younger man. Only saw a couple of episodes but really enjoyed it."}, {"response": 30, "author": "Anne3", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (20:57)", "body": "Re: Eastenders Bernie, Eastenders has been shown on many public tv stations in the U.S. for 8 or 9 years now (although it's no longer available in my area). When it first started it was my absolute favorite thing on television--I would tape episodes I couldn't be there for, a real addict. But when they killed off Den the whole thing went downhill for me. He was the heart of that series. And then all the other good people left--Ethel (I loved Ethel!), Angie, Lou, Lofty, that nice Indian family that ran the convenienc store, etc. And now I hear that even Michelle is gone. Sad. BTW, a cable station ran Coronation Street for a couple of years in the early eighties and I really got into that too!"}, {"response": 31, "author": "Karen", "date": "Fri, Dec 13, 1996 (22:54)", "body": "Kali, I agree with you regarding Fraizer (vs. Cheers). I really liked Cheers but I love Fraizer. The whole dynamic with his father, Niles, Roz and Daphne. The first episode this season had me in tears. Karen"}, {"response": 32, "author": "elder", "date": "Sat, Dec 14, 1996 (19:40)", "body": "Old tv shows never die, they just go into syndication! (As long as they'r available on videotape, that is.) Recent faves include: Absolutely Fabulous; Rugrats; Star Treks; ER; Homicide (incredible acting). Historical faves change, depending on what's in syndication, but include: The Addams Family; Hill Street Blues; Mary Tyler Moore; Bob Newhart. I could probably add many others. I actually watch a lot of tv -- have become a talented channel surfer, so I can watch several shows at the same time! It's an interesting way to view movies -- it takes me several viewings to figure out the full story line on some of them."}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Dec 14, 1996 (20:21)", "body": "Does anyone watch Dark Skies or X Files?"}, {"response": 34, "author": "McBruce", "date": "Sat, Dec 14, 1996 (23:43)", "body": "Actually, Dark Skies is on my tv right now. Wheew. Unfortunately, getting access through my provider is on a hit or miss basis, so it's divided attention time. Trying to run through here during the ads."}, {"response": 35, "author": "mrobens", "date": "Sun, Dec 15, 1996 (16:54)", "body": "I never miss X Files (except if it involves maggots)"}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Dec 15, 1996 (17:20)", "body": "See the X-files topic in the tv conference. There's some new stuff there."}, {"response": 37, "author": "Inko", "date": "Mon, Dec 16, 1996 (21:20)", "body": "My favorite TV shows are mostly part of the Masterpiece Theatre genre. They are the ones I tape and watch over again - Six Wives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Upstairs Downstairs, The Duchess of Duke Street, Lily, etc. Also loved the four Cadfael series I've seen, and among comedies, Waiting for God - another British comedy on PBS."}, {"response": 38, "author": "Becks", "date": "Thu, Dec 19, 1996 (14:50)", "body": "My faves are: ER Seinfeld Fashion Television (Can. Show) Anything on A&E--Biography, American Justice The Anne of Green Gables Miniseries Cybil The Discovery Channel Thorn Birds The New Music (Can. show)"}, {"response": 39, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Dec 19, 1996 (20:53)", "body": "Cybil. I only saw one episode but it was very funny."}, {"response": 40, "author": "alfresco", "date": "Sat, Dec 28, 1996 (14:50)", "body": "Like I said elsewhere, I'm a MACGYVER fan as is my family. Love the ironic humor, the inventiveness, and Richard Dean Anderson's looks. If you're likeminded, check out this link for info on the show, actor, etc. (excuse me, I think my Swiss knife and duct tape are needed to fix something in the next room...) :-) http://www.cjnetworks.com/~mkelley/macgyver/"}, {"response": 41, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Dec 28, 1996 (14:57)", "body": "What are you fixing? The kitchen sink?"}, {"response": 42, "author": "fen", "date": "Sat, Dec 28, 1996 (18:17)", "body": "Knowing the tv series, it could be anything from the sink to loose floor tile to a broken table leaf to tying up a burglar to creating a makeshift bow-and-arrow!"}, {"response": 43, "author": "JohanneD", "date": "Sun, Dec 29, 1996 (13:29)", "body": "Our local family channel is still running some childhood faves : Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Joe 90, etc. I love comparing different point of view regarding the news/events : american (ABC, PBS, NBC and CBS), French canadian: TVA and Radio-Canada, Anglo-canadian: CTV and CBC, Brit (BBC Newsworld and ITV) and European (TV5 presents news from the Belgium, Swiss and French). I really believed to be privileged of getting all those. In English, not to be snobish but much prefer PBS, A&E, Showcase and Bravo not to mention the Movie Network. Some network shows do distinguish themselves and love Frazier, an ER. Some fav series : the BlackAdder, P.G. Wodhouse's Jeeves and Wooster, Fawlty Tower, the Internet series. PBS Drama including most Mystery or Masterpice Theater programming like I, Claudius. Would the Wallace and Gromit trilogy fit in this category or in films?"}, {"response": 44, "author": "Kali", "date": "Sun, Dec 29, 1996 (20:05)", "body": "Inko, I love Waiting for God ! I fear I will be just as ornery as Diana when I am her age...;)"}, {"response": 45, "author": "Donna", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (13:04)", "body": "Did you know that \"Coke a Cola\" is handing out 3D glasses for \"3rd Rock From the Sun\" sometime soon. I do like to watch this show."}, {"response": 46, "author": "elder", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (15:05)", "body": "Donna -- \"3rd Rock From the Sun\" is fun, is it not? I think John Lithgow is hilarious, much better at comedy than some of those dramatic/horror parts he has played in the movies."}, {"response": 47, "author": "Donna", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (17:35)", "body": "Mobil Masterpiece Theatre WGBH Boston Winter 96-Spring 97 Schedule http://www.boston.com.80/wgbh/pages/masterpiecetheatre/mptwintspr97.html"}, {"response": 48, "author": "Donna", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (17:42)", "body": "For some reason it doesn't work. Try this one http://www.pbs.org/programs/navigator/mse.html \"Scroll\" down to MMasterpiece Theatre \"click on\" Schedule and your there."}, {"response": 49, "author": "Ann", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (19:04)", "body": "Lithgow made a great Lord Whorfin in Buckaroo Bonzai!"}, {"response": 50, "author": "Anne3", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (19:13)", "body": "I just discovered this web site: http://www.neponset.com/brittv/index.htm It belongs to an outfit called Brit TV, which sells a videos of many British TV programs, including many never shown in the U.S. They also maintain a search service for videos not listed in their catalog, publish an industry-oriented newsletter about British tv, and sell related stuff like books, photos, trading cards, t-shirts, etc. They say, \"Brit TV is not a fan club but a service open to anyone with the need or desire to collect items from British film and television.\" Of course I can't vouch for them, having just discovered the site, but others may want to check it out."}, {"response": 51, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Dec 30, 1996 (21:42)", "body": "I mentioned this in chat the other night. In the Prime. PBS. Sunday night on PBS. Mention was made last night of Jane Austen's influence on relationships and loving between mature adults. This show is about midlife romance. It's on at 6:30 pm in Austin."}, {"response": 52, "author": "mrcollins10", "date": "Thu, Jan  2, 1997 (11:45)", "body": "Washington Week in Review. History Channel. Politically Incorrect. Discovery Channel. A&E programming. Local nightly news."}, {"response": 53, "author": "Cheryl", "date": "Thu, Jan  2, 1997 (12:25)", "body": "Carl, I am a greta fan of Politically Incorrect as well! Do you think that it's move to a major network will have a taming effect? I certainly hope not! ;-)"}, {"response": 54, "author": "Kali", "date": "Mon, Jan 13, 1997 (00:33)", "body": "Anybody like TV Nation ?"}, {"response": 55, "author": "Cheryl", "date": "Mon, Jan 13, 1997 (01:19)", "body": "Kali: Anybody like TV Nation ? Yes! Isn't it a hoot? Just saw one the other day about payback...they called the CEO of a telemarketing firm at 11pm posing as a phone soliciter-- it was so wonderful hearing him get so angry at someone bothering him at home, trying to get him to buy something! Ah...payback can be a bitch, can't it! LOL!"}, {"response": 56, "author": "Kali", "date": "Mon, Jan 13, 1997 (03:15)", "body": "CLassics, Cheryl...absolutely CLASSIC! Michael Moore really has a pulse on teh vengeance thing, does he not? ;)"}, {"response": 57, "author": "Kali", "date": "Mon, Jan 13, 1997 (03:27)", "body": "CLassics, Cheryl...absolutely CLASSIC! Michael Moore really has a pulse on teh vengeance thing, does he not? ;)"}, {"response": 58, "author": "JohanneD", "date": "Fri, Jan 24, 1997 (22:06)", "body": "Haven been part of the tv generation, some will undoubtebly resurge every now and then like this one : UFO series 1969-1971, Century 21 (Alerte dans l'espace) Producers : Gerry Anderson, Reg Hill With Ed Bishop(Col. Straker), George Sewell, Michael Billington, Gabrielle Drake, Grant Taylor Music :Barry Gray In 1980, Earth is threaten by UFOs. The SHADO organization, based on both Earth and Moon is specialized in anti-UFO defense. Links : http://www.cnw.com/~mmartin/ufo/ http://www-bi.inrialpes.fr/cgi-bin/han/?FV=UFO"}, {"response": 59, "author": "sld", "date": "Fri, Jan 24, 1997 (22:50)", "body": "TV: X-Files Politically Incorrect Extreme Sports Seinfeld TV Nation 3rd Rock from the Sun NYPD Blue Homicide MINI-SERIES: Pride and Prejudice War and Rememberance"}, {"response": 60, "author": "Tracey", "date": "Wed, Jan 29, 1997 (10:28)", "body": "I'm new here--just finished reading this thread and wanted to add something to the miniseries category: Lonesome Dove. Like P&P, the production is extremely faithful to the book, (which won a Pulitzer) and is one of the best examples of characterization and old fashioned storytelling I've ever seen! And I'm not really that big a fan of Westerns."}, {"response": 61, "author": "Kali", "date": "Wed, Jan 29, 1997 (14:33)", "body": "I liked the book, but never saw the miniseries..."}, {"response": 62, "author": "Tracey", "date": "Wed, Jan 29, 1997 (15:19)", "body": "I urge you to rent it if you get a chance! Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall are excellent, as is the rest of the cast. After seeing the miniseries, I couldn't ever picture any other actors as Capt. Call and Gus."}, {"response": 63, "author": "Kali", "date": "Thu, Jan 30, 1997 (04:08)", "body": "ooooh, Tommy Lee Jones! :)"}, {"response": 64, "author": "cassandra", "date": "Thu, Jan 30, 1997 (17:17)", "body": "Favorite TV shows: Remington Steele(this is probably my fav, historically. Still have the pic his fan club sent me) Homefront Seinfeld Frasier Moonlighting Eastenders Absolutley fabulous Second Thoughts Fav miniseries: Winds of War, Thorn Birds, Jane Eyre(with yummy Tim Dalton), The Buccanners(can't get enough of EW or Nan and Guy) and being a good Canadian girl-the Anne of Greene Gable miniseries."}, {"response": 65, "author": "Susan", "date": "Thu, Jan 30, 1997 (23:40)", "body": "I definitely agree with Moonlighting and the Jane Eyre with Timothy Dalton. Also loved Northern Exposure."}, {"response": 66, "author": "Donna", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (06:31)", "body": "\"Timothy Dalton\" will be on Regis and Kathy Lee on Wed. Feb.5."}, {"response": 67, "author": "JohanneD", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (09:21)", "body": "surely for Beautician and the Beast.... another Rocketeer? he can do better than that, can he?"}, {"response": 68, "author": "Mari", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (12:43)", "body": "Yes, one certainly hopes so. He seems to have abominable taste in scripts. Started out with 'Lion in Winter', and moved on to.. 'Flash Gordon'!?! Needs a better agent, methinks."}, {"response": 69, "author": "cassandra", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (17:01)", "body": "I read that Dalton made a tv movie of Edith Wharton's the REEf which will be shown on CBS, early this year. Let's just hope for his sake(I loved him in JE) and especially for EW's sake that the movie is good."}, {"response": 70, "author": "alix", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (18:58)", "body": "Myself, I never watch TV that much (odd,I know for a high school student), but I do make it a point to watch Remember WENN on AMC, as well as The X-Files, The Nanny, and my fave, The Simpsons. That has to be the only show other than Seinfeld that my friends watch- and I am always trying to keep up with my friends."}, {"response": 71, "author": "Anne3", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (19:15)", "body": "Cassandra: I read that Dalton made a tv movie of Edith Wharton's the REEf Timothy Dalton as Darrow? Isn't he much too old? And Darrow's an American. Do you know who play Sophy Viner and Anna Leath?"}, {"response": 72, "author": "JohanneD", "date": "Fri, Jan 31, 1997 (21:57)", "body": "It has been an unfortunate downfall, say since the 007 debacle. I'll always remember him as Heathcliff and he was remarquable in it."}, {"response": 73, "author": "cassandra", "date": "Sat, Feb  1, 1997 (14:21)", "body": "NO. 72. Sorry Anne, I don't know."}, {"response": 74, "author": "LynnMarie", "date": "Sun, Feb 23, 1997 (19:50)", "body": "The only one so far that I like but haven't seen mentioned is One Foot in the Grave (British). Bill Cosby's show is supposedly based on this, but is really nothing like. I also like The single guy. Not sure why. I agree with: Anne of Green Gables! Jeeves and Wooster!! The stories are hilarious to read, aas well. Keeping up Appearances, Remember WENN - what great writing - but I always forget to watch it or when it's on. TD jane Eyre is great, too. has anyone seen the William Hurt one? Any good? Hard to imagine him as the brooding Mr. Rochester!!"}, {"response": 75, "author": "elder", "date": "Sun, Feb 23, 1997 (21:28)", "body": "One Food in the Grave -- yess! That is good. I was especially pleased (w/ myself) that I recognized Eric Idle singing the title song. This year I got into Babylon 5 -- haven't watched it previous seasons. Favorite funny line a couple of weeks ago included the comment that the character did \"not need a vacation at the Disney planet.\" I almost snorted my coffee. :-)"}, {"response": 76, "author": "Ann", "date": "Sun, Feb 23, 1997 (21:54)", "body": "\"This year I got into Babylon 5\" I love that show, it's my favorite! If you want me to fill you in on some of the back story, let me know."}, {"response": 77, "author": "bernhard", "date": "Tue, Feb 25, 1997 (01:11)", "body": "For a while I was having a string of really good luck jinxing my favorites right off the air - The Days & Nights of Molly Dodd, Reasonable Doubts, (something else which I can't remember right now), so that I resolved to not like anything so much that I couldn't bear to do without. My heart still hurts for these. Right now, tho' we do tape and watch Caroline, Friends(just for the Chandler, Joey, Phoebe half - the rest of them are wayyy too whiny!), Frasier, and Jeff Foxworthy (probably the only prime time my kids are into) DH does a lot of the ST:DS9 and Voyager, but I only watch with him if I really don't have anything else to do."}, {"response": 78, "author": "Susan", "date": "Wed, Feb 26, 1997 (20:29)", "body": "I really love Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I had never watched it in primetime, but I had surgery over the holidays and was home for three weeks; got hooked on the reruns being shown in the morning and have had to tape it since I got back to work. Parts of it are really sappy or fake (this is Colorado, yet the sun is always shining and it never snows, even when they're discussing having a \"hard winter\"), but the people interactions are right on and they're pretty realistic in dealing with Native American ssues of having their land taken away. Also, they have historical figures show up in town, which is kind-of fun. Plus, Joe Lando and William Shockley are pretty easy on the eyes. Anybody else like this?"}, {"response": 79, "author": "lasalle", "date": "Fri, Feb 28, 1997 (12:59)", "body": "I sort of like HOMICIDE--LIFE ON THE STREETS although there is some graphic violence, against the backdrop of Baltimore, Maryland. Interaction of the various policemen as they go about doing a very stressful job is very interesting. Extraordinarily realistic and I like the way certain characters continually reappear. An imperfect justice system where even serious crimes are never solved. Unfortunatly there is talk of taking that off the air."}, {"response": 80, "author": "Susan", "date": "Wed, Mar 12, 1997 (23:42)", "body": "Anybody else a fan of Beauty and the Beast (Ron Perlman - Linda Hamilton version)? I loved it the first time around, then taped most episodes when they reran it on the SciFi channel."}, {"response": 81, "author": "elder", "date": "Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (05:21)", "body": "B&B -- an earlier obsession of mine!"}, {"response": 82, "author": "Susan", "date": "Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (22:03)", "body": "Kathleen, what are some of your favorite episodes/scenes? I love the pilot, of course, but I also really love the \"A Happy Life\" episode where Catherine is so confused about what she and Vincent have and goes to spend some time with her friend in upstate New York. The ending, going back and forth between her driving home and Vincent coming up from the depths of below, with the beautiful music playing...wonderful!"}, {"response": 83, "author": "elder", "date": "Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (22:11)", "body": "Susan -- yes. A Happy Life was wonderful. I remember watching, and I kept wanting to shout, \"Kiss him. Kiss her.\" What a lovely ending for that episode. I saw Roy Dotrice at a B&B Convention once. Marvelous storyteller. (I was embarassed when a B&B fan asked him if he was afraid he would be typecast. This was less than an hour after he told us about doing Abraham Lincoln in a one-man show.) Another episode (or part of it) was once when Catherine was in the hospital, and Vincent sneaks in to see her. She is barely recovered from the sedatives, but she tells him she had a dream about him. When he said, \"About me?\" I just wanted to melt. [Now, when am I going to have time to find, let alone rewatch, some of those tapes?!]"}, {"response": 84, "author": "Susan", "date": "Thu, Mar 13, 1997 (23:12)", "body": "Kathleen, you reminded me of another fave episode, which I unfortunately couldn't catch on tape. It's the one where Catherine's father dies and she brings Vincent to him and introduces them first, then she goes to live below for awhile and Vincent can't bear having her so near and not being able to do anything about it. Also really liked \"Winterfest.\" We find time for the things that are important to us! :-)"}, {"response": 85, "author": "kendall", "date": "Fri, Mar 14, 1997 (06:04)", "body": "This week, my husband and I 'discovered' Spy Game (8:00, Monday) and laughed all the way through it. It was so much fun. Like a combo of \"Get Smart\", \"Man from Uncle\", and \"Remington Steele\" with central characters who could get drool thread of their own."}, {"response": 86, "author": "JohanneD", "date": "Fri, Mar 14, 1997 (15:09)", "body": "haven't seen Spy Game and be sure to tune in next Monday, BTW here's the link to the show http://www.silcom.com/~njhua/spygame/spygame.html That's somewhat reminds me of 85-86 LTW' Dampsey and Makepeace, a coper show with a romantic comedy twist to it, now there was great chemistry between the two characters set in beautiful London. Let's say it was kind of counterpart to Remington Steele."}, {"response": 87, "author": "cassandra", "date": "Fri, Mar 14, 1997 (18:45)", "body": "Hmmm, I'll have to check that one out. I loved Remington Steele. One of my all-time fav tv themes too: \"Try this for a deep, dark secret. The great detective RS. HE doesn't exist, I invented him....\" I used to recite that every week and drive everyone crazy!! Anyone seen/like the 1984 adaptation of Scott Fitzgerald's classic Tender is the Night? It was a three-four part miniseries with Peter Strauss. Personally, that's the best adaptation I have ever seen of Fitzgerald's work. It came the closest to capturing the feel, look, magic of his novels-great location work and the music and costumes were wonderful. Peter Strauss made a convincing Dick Diver too."}, {"response": 88, "author": "Kali", "date": "Sun, Mar 16, 1997 (03:54)", "body": "Are Donna and I the only people who watch and enjoy the Red Green Show? It's a riot...a parody of male idiocy and human folly in general."}, {"response": 89, "author": "elder", "date": "Sun, Mar 16, 1997 (14:39)", "body": "Kali -- did you catch last weekend's PBS fundraising special: Red Green live for two hours! It was a stitch. It is a very funny show. (I guess that makes three of us, at the very least.)"}, {"response": 90, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Mar 16, 1997 (21:13)", "body": "My favorite is \"Politically Incorrect\" with host Bill Maher. I started a topic on this in the tv conference just now. http://www.abc.com/pi/index.html"}, {"response": 91, "author": "candace", "date": "Sun, Mar 16, 1997 (21:39)", "body": "Politically Incorrect was a huge favorite with my family. Alas, since it moved to ABC none of us can stay up late enough to see it. :-("}, {"response": 92, "author": "Tracey", "date": "Mon, Mar 17, 1997 (09:49)", "body": "Kali, Kathleen, Donna - I watch Red Green, too. Thought I was the only one....guess that makes four!"}, {"response": 93, "author": "Linda", "date": "Mon, Mar 17, 1997 (21:54)", "body": "Did anyone else love \"Homefront\"? Jeff and Ginger are among my favorite on-screen duos. Kyle Chandler kept me watching every week, no matter how many times ABC moved the show in order to kill it. I have been looking for it to be repeated on a cable station (History Channel, A&E), to complete my tape collection."}, {"response": 94, "author": "Inko", "date": "Mon, Mar 17, 1997 (21:59)", "body": "Yes, Linda, I loved \"Homefront\", but it was so difficult to follow all over the dial. I also loved \"Brooklyn Bridge\" and CBS (I believe) killed that. I think I gave up watching much TV after all my favorites kept being killed off and was replaced by something a lot more stupid! I now watch mostly PBS!;-)"}, {"response": 95, "author": "cassandra", "date": "Mon, Mar 17, 1997 (23:12)", "body": "Loved Homefront!!!! And yes Jeff and Ginger-their romance was so cute, like a 30s screwball comedy. I especially loved Mimi Kennedy as the waspish Ruth Sloan. Great actress. My favorite Homefront episode has to be the thanksgiving dance episode when Jeff and Ginger compete against Charlie and his British war bride, the trampy Caroline. Ruth even dances-\"do you know how to make a martini, with palatable gin? DId you see her waistline-how young are these people?\" Terrfific writing."}, {"response": 96, "author": "bernhard", "date": "Wed, Mar 19, 1997 (22:17)", "body": "Me, too, on loving PI and not being able to catch it. I must admit that I don't even know when it's on! Also, absolutely love the showings of Whose Line Is It Anyway whenever they air!"}, {"response": 97, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Mar 20, 1997 (17:55)", "body": "Right after Nightline on ABC. They have transcripts on the website."}, {"response": 98, "author": "bernhard", "date": "Thu, Mar 20, 1997 (18:04)", "body": "thx, Terry!"}, {"response": 99, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Mar 20, 1997 (19:57)", "body": "It's handy if you have a vcr with delayed recording so you can set it to tape for 11:00 pm every weekday night. Some VCRs do this."}, {"response": 100, "author": "bernhard", "date": "Thu, Mar 20, 1997 (21:38)", "body": "but that means I'll have to take my P&P2 tape out!!! :("}, {"response": 101, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Mar 20, 1997 (22:45)", "body": "Mercy sakes."}, {"response": 102, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (15:15)", "body": "Man, this is scary--you guys are JUST LIKE ME!!!!! I htought I was the only me and here you are, hundreds of you--so WHY ARE OUR SHOWS BEING CANCELLED?!?!? Anyway, as they say, ditto to almost all of the above. I live for AbFab (bought all the tapes, got cable for The Last Shout)--got hooked on all the British soaps during a brief stint there in 88 (EastEnders, Coronation Street, etcetcetc)...adore the Brit SitComs (any other Vicar of Dibley fans? Dawn French is a riot as *spoiler alert?* well, not re ly since it's self-evident from the title, as the vicar of a small town in rural England). Man, how do you guys make fave lists? I'm such an indiscriminate addict!"}, {"response": 103, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (10:34)", "body": "Wow! I almost couldn't sleep last night--I was so excited about coming back here and I kept waking up to write down one more thing I wanted to mention. I'll split it up into several boluses, shall I? You must understand, I'm surrounded by anti-TV snobs wherever I go, so I have nowhere to chat about my Grand Obsession (background: In my childhood, my parents denied us almost any TV except Brady Bunch, so as an adult, I'm making up for lost time!). Throw on your life vests, this dam's about to burst! ne show I didn't see mentioned was Family (K MacNichol)(caveat: I can't spell actors' names). Loved it as a prepubescent. Can anyone name the show about the lady who ran a modeling agengy but was also a spy/detective (Cover Up?)--it also starred Jon-Eric Hexum before his tragic on-set accident with the prop gun (well, obviously it was before the accident--they wouldn't be able to use him afterwards!). It was cheesy but fun. Speaking of c-b-f, Fantasy Island? Love Boat? Mainstays of my pathetically ateless high school years. Watched Starsky & Hutch at slumber parties. Let's move on."}, {"response": 104, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (10:40)", "body": "Does anyone else follow actors instead of shows? I find myself watching otherwise unwatchable shows just because of one actor--case in point: I endured the execrable Evening Shade and the painful lack of chemistry between Burt Reynolds and that gal from Taxi solely to watch the magnificent Micheal Jeter. I put up with Cybill Shepard's excruciatingly self-conscious clowning (and, yes, I liked Moonlighting, bet there it was the chemistry, not her acting hooked me) in order to enjoy the amazing Christine aranski (any chance she'll take the Joanna Lumley role in the US AbFAb?). They destroyed Naked Truth , but I stay put because Tea Leoni's just that good (remember Flying Blind?)(Fox show a few years back). There are more, but let's move on..."}, {"response": 105, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (10:47)", "body": "Well, I had a really great segue, but now I forget...ah well. So, does antone else find themselves almost unable to enjoy t a show because you're smacking your forehead and saying \"I KNOW that actor--where have I seen them before?!?\"--drives me NUTS and I always remember it at 2AM! It's particularly bad with BBC-ers because they're all over the place in dramas, comedies, miniseries, and boy! do they endure! Like right now we have *spoiler alert* the murderer from a Morse episode (antique dealer kills an in wheelchair; plot hinges on telephone repair) as a CID detective in Thin Blue Line (MUST SEE this sidesplitting Rowan Atkinson vehicle!); also *spoiler alert* the murderer from the 1st Prime Suspect has ended up an alcoholic journalist in Class Act (MUST SEE this post-ab-fab Joanna Lumley vehicle: funny, sassy, entertaining). Which leads us to..."}, {"response": 106, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (10:54)", "body": "I'm so excited my typing is all shot to pieces. I'll try to edit this one more carefully. I only saw passing mention of my true passion, the mysteries--they're almost the only thing I read, and I'm always thrilled to see them on screen: Morse, Dalgleish, the guy who *spoiler alert* married the artist Agatha Troy what is his name...; Marple/Wimsey/Poirot; Lovejoy, Dalziel&Pascoe, Frost, Cracker; and the frosting on the cake, the unbelievable Helen Mirren (oooh--gotta go back to the movie chat to rave ab ut Peter Greenaway!) as Jane Tenison in Prime Suspect. Any others out there I should know about or forgot to mention? Any news about Eliz George going to film?"}, {"response": 107, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (11:00)", "body": "Don't have a good segue as we've reached the miscelleneous portion of my notes. Shows I adore because they evoke a simpler time or place: Open All Hours (Diana from Waitg Fr God as the indominatable widow Mrs Featherstone: \"You're wierd, Greville!\"; the old bat NOT applying for the housekeeping position, addressing the mop: \"Coostomeh? Ai'm noot a coostomeh!\"); All Creatures Great and Small (just hearing the opening theme music relaxes and cheers me like an hour of medidative yoga); I'll Fly Away (a t me of strife, yes, but depicted with such grace and dignity)."}, {"response": 108, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (12:13)", "body": "I got kicked off the super departmental computer and am now on a much lesser model with no editing capabilites and very limited access so let's see how far we get. Last few notes: other actors I follow are Alison LaPlaca (what was the name of that Fox show where she was the bitchy realtor/sidekick to the sappy love story of the main character?); Helen Hunt (blew me away with her NON Method, totally natural acting in St Elswehere); Patricia Heaton (Was that It Takes Two where she was the TV exec with mom Linda Lavin?); the skinny lanky-haired brunette with slightly buck teeth who's currently a former AIDS researcher on Chic Hope but used to be on WIOU and ?Live Shot, two short-lived but entirely watchable shows from a few seasons ago. Run-on sentence! Take a breath. WARNING: Do NOT get hooked on any show I mention: I am the kiss of death. Even shows I don't like but tune into (EZ Streets) burst into flames and die horrible deaths, all because I GOT HOOKED! I tried to watch Sentinel, but gave up whe they refused to actually hinge plots on his unusual abilities--why bother making this quasi-90s-bionic guy if his powers are extraneous to the plot?!?! OK, almost done. Anne3--THEY KILLED OFF DEN?!?! I had a bizarre viewing of Eastenders: In London, Den had done something very bad and was in everyone's bad graces; I came home and PBS was showing episodes that were leading up to Den doing something bad, BUT I NEVER GOT TO SEE WHAT HE DID!!! Did he burn down the bar? I have a great video store nearby that has a huge selection of various TV series (Cracker, Froct Class Act, etc) but man! I wish they'd get some of the Brit soaps! One more actor: The gal in all the Britcoms from Good Neighbors, To The Manor Born, Executive Stress--adore her!! What was the name of that one where the main character ran a temp agency with her daughter and ended up re-connecting with her old WWII flame? OK, that's all I can think of for now. I hope someone returns to this topic to help me out!"}, {"response": 109, "author": "fen", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (14:19)", "body": "Sorry, but I'm a terse writer by contrast, Aubrey! Just a quick response: 1) I too love Herriot series and wish the'd be replayed in entirety soon; 2) There's a gal who has a McGyver web page that's good & she too is sadly bemused by her Kiss of Death on loved TV shows, too."}, {"response": 110, "author": "Susan", "date": "Thu, Apr 10, 1997 (20:55)", "body": "OK, Aubrey, after all that effort, I'd feel bad if I didn't respond at least a little bit. I put up with Cybill Shepard's excruciatingly self-conscious clowning (and, yes, I liked Moonlighting, bet there it was the chemistry, not her acting hooked me) in order to enjoy the amazing Christine Baranski. Isn't CB the best? Unfortunately, I don't like the overall show enough to watch regularly, though. Alison LaPlaca (what was the name of that Fox show where she was the bitchy realtor/sidekick to the sappy love story of the main character?) That was Duet, with Mary Page Keller and Chris Lemmon (Jack's son). I LOVED that show!"}, {"response": 111, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (08:39)", "body": "THANK YOU for your responses--sorry I'm so wordy but I really have been storing all of this up for so long with no one to talk to! And thank you for your helpful i.d., Susan--I really liked Duet a lot, and actually first started watching it for the \"sappy love story\"; only later did I come to appreciate the sassiness of Ms LaPlaca (who has shown up guesting on TWO shows in a row this week: as the egomaniacal fashion maven in Temporarily Your, a dubious sitcom starring Debra Mazar, who might want to rethi k the whole career switch from drama; and her recurring role as Rachel's boss on Friends!) You guys must have (a) fabulous computers and (2) amazing know-how to be able to do things like put the pertinent sections of my ramblings in your response in italics no less, plus all that business of linking to other websites. This truly is a whole nother world!"}, {"response": 112, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (20:57)", "body": "It's not that hard, Aubrey. We even have a place in austen, middlemarch or drool somewhere where you can practice your html. And if you decide you want a website, it's yours free for the asking."}, {"response": 113, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 14, 1997 (08:43)", "body": "You are too kind, terry--no I mean it, REALLY too kind. Clearly you weren't present during my teeny tiny baby intro to the internet class where I made an aspic of myself by axing all kind of dumbo questions. However, I shall remove myself to the aforementioned topics/conferences and see if there's anything I can do without ruining life as we know it on this planet! Getting my own website might be a little TOO scary!"}, {"response": 114, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (09:08)", "body": "I missed your comment, fen--all my verbiage got in the way! Did you loathe the replacement wife on ACG&S as much as I did? The first one was so pretty and sweet and the second one was just a cow!"}, {"response": 115, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (10:31)", "body": "Did anyone else get all caught up in The Dame Edna Experience?"}, {"response": 116, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (10:41)", "body": "And by the way, terry, I'm not finding anywhere to \"practice\" html! Any further guidance?"}, {"response": 117, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (21:25)", "body": "Did you check middlemarch and drool?"}, {"response": 118, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 17, 1997 (13:26)", "body": "I did yesterday; the problem is with my hookup which wouldn't even take me to the casbah where htmling goes on (it's only available in one of the 3 places you suggested, austen I think). Instead I get some yield sign and a halt who goes there message. I'll try again. When I'm less cranky."}, {"response": 119, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Apr 17, 1997 (23:38)", "body": "Really, give it another go. Do you want a telnet account, aubrey? It's *much* faster. That's what I use."}, {"response": 120, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 18, 1997 (08:12)", "body": "I think a telnet account, whatever that might be, would be WAY too much fun for the likes of me! Does it work for people using state-owned and operated computers? Sadly, I lack my own device and depend heavily on the kindness of The State to support my ever-growing Net addiction. How good does you computer have to be? This one is total crap. The one I usually use is better but belongs to the whole department so I can't really treat it as mine. I'll try the htmling thing again later today (right now omeone's using the dept, good comp for slide-making, actual work-related projects. Fancy that!) because sometimes I get yield messages but it's just our server acting cranky."}, {"response": 121, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Apr 19, 1997 (00:48)", "body": "Any Windows 95 or 3.11 machine has telnet. Take a look at the telnet programs at http://www.stroud.com . I like ws-ftp. Windows 95 is easy. Just click on the start button and type telnet://www.spring.com Login with your username (you have to email me a username and password to set up) then type bbs. Then you just type 'r' to read, 'r' to respond and 'b' to browse. It greatly reduces your wait time."}, {"response": 122, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 21, 1997 (13:18)", "body": "I've got that CAN DO! attitude (see my ramble--I changed my car tire! I am woman hear me roar!) so when I get a minute, I'll get on it!"}, {"response": 123, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 22, 1997 (23:29)", "body": "You'll need a username and password set up by me to do this, which I'll be glad to do. Email or call me for this. mailto://terry@spring.com or phone 512.303.4000 evenings."}, {"response": 124, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 23, 1997 (09:05)", "body": "ummmm...I'm in over my head...that stroud thing is all greek to me! Let me e-mail you (can't do it from this computer for some reason) and try again. There doesn't seem to be a start button at stroud, just a lot of gibberish about apps. I'll also try the html site wherever it was here. Just to be sure: it's not a problem that this is not in any way my own computer, that it belongs to the State, etc? (the reason I can't e-mail is it's departmental so there is no one person for whom it has an specifie e-mail return address)"}, {"response": 125, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Apr 24, 1997 (16:15)", "body": "Go to any app in Stroud and then go to Forrest's review. The next step takes you right here, to the apps conference on the Spring."}, {"response": 126, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 25, 1997 (08:31)", "body": "I don't know why I'm having such a block here. Though I know I've been to that Stroud location before (from the app conf, maybe?), now my computer slams me with \"does not have a DNS entry\" whenever I try to go there. It says that a lot. What does that mean? Can I get around it? Also, my friend who's trying to get on the spring said he left me a message in \"telnet\"--when I try to go there (from welcome page), mr.computer says \"unable to find application\". Application THIS, pal! What am I doing wrong Besides giving up too easily (I am a little cautious about trying anything too fancy with this machine, since if I break it, the wheels of science grind to a halt in the neuro dept!). I'm sorry to seem like such a whinger, terry, but I do want to try some of the cool things you've suggested and I don't seem to be getting anywhere!"}, {"response": 127, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 25, 1997 (08:40)", "body": "Plus, another message I get all-too-often just happened when I tried to click on the homepage line on the first spring screen: \"FILE NOT FOUND The requested URL (whatever) was not found on this server.\" This happens a lot with Spring stuff. Also when I jump around topics, I sometimes get some message about how it can't go back to a previous page because the information has expired (let's have a little funeral) or something. Do I have a lazy server?"}, {"response": 128, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 25, 1997 (09:21)", "body": "\"does not have a DNS entry\" whenever I try to go there. Go where? To www.spring.com? You need to email with the username and password that you want to be set up with. Please have your friend email me for an account or they can sign up through the web. If you get \"file not found\" messages. Make a note of the exact link and I'll make it work."}, {"response": 129, "author": "Celt", "date": "Sat, Apr 26, 1997 (17:56)", "body": "I was just trying to get some info about the new version of Jane Eyre that'll be on A&E. Does anyone happen to know when it'll be on yet? Also, I noticed that there are many fans of Ciaran Hinds and Timothy Dalton around here..good-I like them too. I'm extremely excited to see how Ciaran will fill the Rochester role."}, {"response": 130, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 28, 1997 (08:18)", "body": "On your welcome screen I have 3 choices vertically and 4 choices horizontally. Of the 4 horizontal choices, clicking on \"telnet www.spring.com\" gives me the \"unable to find application\" response (I will e-mail a username and password,if that's what's required--but I guess I need more info: what does it mean to have a telnet account? Not philosophically, of course, but practically); clicking on \"Stroud CWSA\" produces (after a loooong pause) the \"no DNS entry\" response. Not that that's critical--I know can get to Stroud from your html thingie a few responses back. The other links that don't work--let me play around, make careful notes (that's the research scientist in me comin out!) and get back to you. I appreciate all your help terry!"}, {"response": 131, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 28, 1997 (08:43)", "body": "Well, I played around a little with your first page, the one that appears when one types in \"www.spring.com\". I suspect most of the problems I'm having are related to my lazy server! I used to get cool graphics, a really neat \"The Spring\" lettering thing. That doesn't come up anymore (there's a hole at the top of the page where there obviously should be something nice), there's just one of those little symbols that lets you know you're not seeing all there is to see (ok, that's not very descriptive, s rry). For \"sign up or log in now\" I get \"unable to locate server: yapp.html does not have DNS entry\". For \"visit our home pages\" I get the same message. When I click on the URL right after \"Here's a sample...\" I get \"The requested URL/yapp-bin/read/homepage/2 was not found on this server\"--again, it's probably just my server! So I'll let you know that kind of trouble I land in in future, ok?"}, {"response": 132, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 28, 1997 (08:55)", "body": "Here's the coolest error message I get: when I go away from the spring abruptly--like, I try to send e-mail, I'll suddenly get the message \"DATA MISSING This document resulted from a POST operation and has expired from the cache. If you wish you can repost the form data to recreate the document by pressing the reload button\" which works great, incidentally, always brings me back to The Spring!"}, {"response": 133, "author": "Susan", "date": "Tue, Apr 29, 1997 (00:11)", "body": "I was just trying to get some info about the new version of Jane Eyre that'll be on A&E. Does anyone happen to know when it'll be on yet? Also, I noticed that there are many fans of Ciaran Hinds and Timothy Dalton around here..good-I like them too. I'm extremely excited to see how Ciaran will fill the Rochester role. Heather, Jane Eyre is supposed to be on in September in the US. People who have already seen it in England say it's pretty good, and Hinds was a fairly effective Rochester. I can't wait to see it!"}, {"response": 134, "author": "Lecteur", "date": "Thu, Aug 14, 1997 (19:54)", "body": "Well, I have a few levels of favorite shows. NYPD BLUE is my religion practically. Never miss it. Never go out and tape it. Ever. Am always home to watch it every week. I don't watch repeats of it at all. Then, there's ER, Frasier, Ellen, Party of Five, and 3rd Rock which I watch every week, but tape if I won't be home. Then there are a few others that I like to watch if I'm home. The saddest cancellation of my life was the Bonnie Hunt show on CBS. Followed by My So Called Life. My favorite miniseries was the Thorn Birds, but I've only watched one and a half miniseries. The other one was The Odyssey."}, {"response": 135, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug 14, 1997 (22:45)", "body": "My favorite tv show remains Politically Incorrect, if I can hang in there that late. And of course Saturday Night Live, as always."}, {"response": 136, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Feb 27, 1998 (22:16)", "body": "Does anyone else think TV really sucks this season? NYPD Blue: Diane lost the baby and Sipowicz can't pee: yawn. Homicide hasn't been on for like a month, being pre-empted by everything from the Olympics to Hanson. ER is running hot and cold, and even my absolute fave, Law & Order has been forgettable this year. I wind up watching reruns of Almost Perfect on Lifetime at 11:00 because it's the most entertaining thing on (well, next to Loveline)..."}, {"response": 137, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Feb 28, 1998 (12:46)", "body": "What's Almost Perfect like?"}, {"response": 138, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Mar  1, 1998 (20:13)", "body": "It's a romantic comedy featuring Nancy Travis as a harried TV producer, supported by a writing team of 3 guys, each hilarious in his own way. She's in love with an equally harried D.A. and the chemistry between them is very magnetic. Even my husband enjoys watching this show (if he can stay awake that late!) Check it out (unless you've scrambled the \"Lifetime\" channel!)"}, {"response": 139, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Mar  6, 1998 (09:25)", "body": "hey ho everyone! I got near a tv the other night and watched part two of the Star Trek holodeck extravaganza! Gotta love them moving pictures!"}, {"response": 140, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 28, 1998 (22:28)", "body": "Anyone see Merlin on NBC the other night? See my comments in 'babes' about Miranda Richardson, Isabella Rosellini, and Helena Bonham Carter's performances which were very fine."}, {"response": 141, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 28, 1998 (22:47)", "body": "We have a hot debate on who some of the actresses were over in topic 17 in babes. And some pix of the three lead actresses. Worthwhile stuff!"}, {"response": 142, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Apr 29, 1998 (20:54)", "body": "Did anybody catch NYPD Blue last night??? WOW! I think that's the best episode all season. And I'm not at all looking forward to next year, with Jimmy Smites leaving (he is SO hot!); I hope he turns up somewhere else...."}, {"response": 143, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (01:45)", "body": "like on film at your house on RealTV?"}, {"response": 144, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (22:26)", "body": "No, just at my house..."}, {"response": 145, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:21)", "body": "got it..."}, {"response": 146, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:23)", "body": "Glad you found it . .. What? I'm bored."}, {"response": 147, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:32)", "body": "how come?"}, {"response": 148, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (01:33)", "body": "Couldn't sleep last night - Chris bought a scanner, so I was trying it out. It's cool. And then I worked on my still life until 6:30. Now I'm too tired to sleep, but bored as he\ufffd\ufffd, because everyone else is still asleep. Good answer?"}, {"response": 149, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (01:34)", "body": "good as any, I 'spose..."}, {"response": 150, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (01:42)", "body": "Ooh, sounding a little cranky . . . bedtime coming up here."}, {"response": 151, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (10:31)", "body": "So are we gonna get that Rietta pic now?"}, {"response": 152, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (12:52)", "body": "later perhaps . . ."}, {"response": 153, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Sep 26, 1998 (22:56)", "body": "Well, George, what did you think of the season premieres of \"L&O\" and \"Homicide\"? I like the new ADA, except she has to lose the Farrah Fawcett hairstyle. Jamie and Claire would never have worn a ponytail into court. All the new characters on Homicide could be interesting, especially the love triangle among Ballard-Falsone-new woman. Bayliss is already getting on my nerves, though, with all that \"reality is illusion\" crap."}, {"response": 154, "author": "osceola", "date": "Mon, Sep 28, 1998 (17:55)", "body": "The new L&O character is Babe City. Definitely up there with Jill Hennessey. As for Homicide, this office romance stuff strays so far from the show's roots, and I don't like it. That whole beauty queen turned homicide detective premise is utterly stupid. They're injecting sexy stuff into the show in a ploy for ratings that turns it into just another cop show. I'll give it a chance, though because I've been a fan of the show since its first episode. I hope to see more of Munch, because we seem to have the same sense of humor (isn't that sick?)."}, {"response": 155, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Sep 30, 1998 (21:56)", "body": "I LOVE Munch! He is so sexy, I am not kidding! After Beau & Kay, he's my favorite detective. His surly demeanor would make coming to work fun, I think. I understand the new ADA comes to \"L&O\" from \"Baywatch\". What do you think Jill H. is up to these days?? I cannot wait for Det. Mike Logan to turn up in his TV movie, \"Exiled.\" He is my absolute favorite TV character of all-time (even beats out Hope from \"thirtysomething\"!)"}, {"response": 156, "author": "osceola", "date": "Fri, Oct 16, 1998 (12:17)", "body": "Homicide's finally on again tonight. Woo-hoo!"}, {"response": 157, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Oct 20, 1998 (08:48)", "body": "I found it a little disappointing, if only because it's Tuesday and I can't even remember what is was about."}, {"response": 158, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Oct 20, 1998 (12:33)", "body": "That may say something about the show in general recently. I don't have cable, so I can't watch the late night reruns, but I can still remember plots, scenes, and pieces of dialog from 6 years ago. That's one hell of a show if it can stay in your mind like that. I forgot the main plot, too, by the way. I like Munch being Bayliss' partner, especially if Bayliss is on this trippy psuedo-Zen rap. Munch's cynical humor can be put to good use shooting down the things Bayliss says in this state of mind. \"Behind that dogma, there's still a dog,\" Munch told him. Don't like the new set. Too arty, especially the office of G's son. The old office looked like a drab public office building, with drab walls and florescent lighting. It looked real."}, {"response": 159, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (22:07)", "body": "Absolutely! Miss the yellow cinder block \"box.\" You are right about being able to recall threads of plot and conversation from old episodes, yet not retaining anything about the past season. Munch should be a great foil for Bayliss and should lighten him up considerably. Did you catch \"Law & Order\" last night? I set the VCR but it didn't work :-(. I heard a rumor (*holding my breath*) that Det. Mike Logan is going to be on L&O in 2 weeks--true??"}, {"response": 160, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Oct 27, 1998 (12:13)", "body": "L&O's going to be a 2-hr. Sunday movie, and Logan will be in it. Don't know which Sunday. I'm looking forward to the \"Temptations\" TV movie, too. Last Homicide was better than the previous two. I especially liked Much taking a date to see the Zapruder film. He would do something like that."}, {"response": 161, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Oct 28, 1998 (10:51)", "body": "Friday's episode was much better than any from perhaps last season. We are finally learning a little bit about some of the characters that were new last year. I am really starting to like Laura Ballard! And I'm a little (bi) curious what's going to happen between Bayliss and Sheppard. 2 hours devoted to Mike Logan?? (*swooning*) Can't wait!!"}, {"response": 162, "author": "osceola", "date": "Mon, Nov  9, 1998 (13:18)", "body": "Hey Autumn. Did you catch the documentary about Homicide that was on PBS last week? If it hasn't aired yet where you live I don't want to be a spoiler."}, {"response": 163, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Nov  9, 1998 (22:21)", "body": "George, I saw the write-up on that in the paper and they cracked on it big-time. Said it was full of inaccuracies, that no one had fact-checked it. I must say though, the subway episode was my favorite (well, it's tied for first with the one where Kay quit smoking. And the one where Crosetti died and Frank was the honor guard at his funeral.) Boy, that L&O movie was a MAJOR disappointment! Not very true to the Mike Logan character and rather anticlimactic. I'm sure going to miss the guys at the two-seven (that's the 27th precinct for you neophytes) referring to calling Profachi for back-up."}, {"response": 164, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Nov 10, 1998 (12:51)", "body": "Well, I liked the Homicide documentary. It was mostly about production of that one episode from the writer's idea through actually shooting the episode. They had a hard time getting permission from the subway authority to shoot there because they don't want riders to thnk that could EVER happen. But the show was also a tribute to Homicide in its entirety (they showed clips of all previous cast members) and talked about the show's difficulties with the networks. That's what the Washington Post criticized - the reporter said the network execs deny ever giving Homicide pressure to be more mainstream. The documentary producer sticks by his story, though (and I believe him). Then they showed the subway episode without commercials!"}, {"response": 165, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Nov 13, 1998 (21:39)", "body": "It's a good one, isn't it? I'm taping tonight's show as we speak--and the L&O that preceded it was a freebie! So, is Bobby Simone going to die or what?"}, {"response": 166, "author": "osceola", "date": "Mon, Nov 16, 1998 (17:42)", "body": "Actually, I've never really followed NYPDB. Reruns come on Sunday night after the news, and I watch them now. Kim Delany's H-O-T."}, {"response": 167, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Nov 17, 1998 (12:07)", "body": "BTW, Dennis Franz and I grew up about 3 or 4 miles from each other, on the West Side of Chicago. We have the same accent. I'm younger and have a better hairline."}, {"response": 168, "author": "TIM", "date": "Tue, Nov 17, 1998 (12:13)", "body": "So when is your audition? Give it a shot!! Who knows?"}, {"response": 169, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Nov 17, 1998 (15:19)", "body": "Hey, if he can wind up with Sylvia (who's pretty H-O-T too), who knows--you may get lucky with Diane Russell after all... (Why did they show a re-run of L&O before last week's \"Homicide\"?)"}, {"response": 170, "author": "TIM", "date": "Tue, Nov 17, 1998 (16:20)", "body": "It never hurts to try. The only way you know you won't get it is not to try."}, {"response": 171, "author": "osceola", "date": "Wed, Nov 18, 1998 (12:27)", "body": "Maybe they showed the L&O rerun Fri. night because the regular show at that time, a new one, sucks and is about to be cancelled. I wouldn't know, as I've never seen it. I try to be selective in my TV watching, and only have the tube on when I know what I want to watch. When I'm home alone (which is too frequently) I'm into books and music and TV."}, {"response": 172, "author": "TIM", "date": "Wed, Nov 18, 1998 (16:09)", "body": "A variety of interests is good, Too much TV makes you a vidiot."}, {"response": 173, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Feb 12, 2000 (14:29)", "body": "Since this topic IS about favorite Tv Shows and miniseries and no one has discussed much of either lately (other than NYPD Blue)...My favorite TV show is James Burke's \"Connections\" and my favorite miniseries is (brace yourself for the obvious) \"Pride and Prejudice\" which is how I found myself in the hallowed precincts of Spring and Drool in the first place. Too obvioous?"}, {"response": 174, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Feb 16, 2000 (15:22)", "body": "\"P&P\" is the best!"}, {"response": 175, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Feb 16, 2000 (16:09)", "body": "*Gasp* You are right, of course. That is why there is all that Drool in that conference... I had no idea! Good for you, Autumn. It is the best!"}, {"response": 176, "author": "suzanneb", "date": "Thu, Jan  4, 2001 (11:31)", "body": "I love The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. Wonderful characters, writing, acting. Had episodes taped, but they were lost in a move, which broke my heart. Now, it seems as though no one even remembers this great series. No one is showing reruns, no tapes available, nothing. Does anyone remember Molly Dodd? I thought it was great! (I think David Kelley used it as a premise for Ally McBeal, which I think is a commercialized Molly combined with L.A. Law - not a criticism, apparently it worked. I hear about Ally all over the place - not a word about Molly). Also really like Northern Exposure and Absolutely Fabulous. Haven't seen any new series to get excited about for the past few seasons. Everything seems cloned, commercial and aimed at 14-22 year olds. I do kind of like Welcome to New York. Hope they don't cancel it and give it time to develop."}, {"response": 177, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (13:25)", "body": "Suzanne, my mother used to watch that show when I still lived at home, so that must've been at least 13 years ago. My current fave show is Once and Again."}, {"response": 178, "author": "bayouvetty", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (21:07)", "body": "Fav. shows: (in no particular order) King of Queens Who's line is it anyway Drew Carey Jeopardy Law & Order ( AND L&O SVU ) Everybody Loves Raymond Any and all Lucy shows Inside the Actors Studio ( Why no Colin Firth yet? ) City Confidential ER Most missed Sit-Coms: Friends Seinfeld Frasier Favs from the Way Back files: Pink Panther cartoons Dobey Gillis (Loved Maynard G.) Family Brady Bunch Hogan's Heros"}, {"response": 179, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (23:03)", "body": "Firth should be on Inside the Actors Studio, he'd be perfect on that show."}, {"response": 180, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sat, Feb  5, 2005 (21:19)", "body": "the only series i've been watching is Lost....and it's really ticking me off with all the reruns stuck right in the middle of the season!"}, {"response": 181, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Feb  6, 2005 (22:38)", "body": "Same thing with \"Desperate Housewives\". It's hard to predict when the reruns will be."}, {"response": 182, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Wed, Mar  2, 2005 (15:16)", "body": "SHARK SIGHTINGS CURRENT SHOWS NYPD Blue | Deadwood | The Bachelor | Good Day Live | CSI: Miami from http://jumptheshark.com Do you know about this website? The Academy Awards First Show 1953 Last Show Genre Awards Network ABC Jumped The Shark when... Votes Whoopi hosts 14 Day One 11 Michael Moore's acceptance speech 11 Halle wins the Oscar 11 Titanic 11 Billy Crystal hosts 6 Roman Polanski wins 5 Nicole Kidman goes home empty handed 5 Rob Lowe dances with Snow White 5 Uma. Oprah. 5 Shakespeare In Love 4 Richard Gere's Tibetian vibes 3 Eminem wins 3 Fight Club gets shut out 3 Julia Roberts wins 3 Roman Polanski wins 3 The Lord of the Rings sweep 3 I guess Chris Rock hasn't gotten votes yet."}, {"response": 183, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar  2, 2005 (17:14)", "body": "Jump the Shark is a phrase for a show or celeb that has started downhill. Not a good thing."}, {"response": 184, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Mar  5, 2005 (12:32)", "body": "My favorite MiniSeries has to be Battlestar Galactica. The last episode was a comic farce. The sets are awesome. The acting is superb. And there's sex, lots of it. The cylons have destroyed the system which the colonials, led by Edward Olmmos Captain Adama, are fleeing. The cylons in hot pursuite. And the cylons have gained the ability to simulate human form. And it has been renewed for another 20 episodes!"}, {"response": 185, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Mon, Mar  7, 2005 (08:57)", "body": "new tonight on tv The Contender will follow 16 aspiring boxers from training camp through an evolving series of ring challenges and boxing matches over 16 episodes - with the final victor claiming a million dollar prize. The driving force behind the series will be the pursuit of the American dream and the natural trials, tribulations and heartbreak inherent in that quest combined with the drama and tension of the sweet science. The canvas of the show is much broader than boxing - it will give viewers a first hand look into the real life hopes, triumphs and defeats of the contestants. The Contender will be a joint production of Mark Burnett Productions, DreamWorks Television and Rogue Marble. Stallone , Burnett and Katzenberg are the executive producers. The Contender will trace aspiring boxers from training camp through an evolving series of ring challenges over 16 episodes \ufffd and the final victor would claim a chance at becoming a professional prizefighter , and winner of 1 million dollars. Sundays 8:00 PM"}, {"response": 186, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Mar  7, 2005 (09:21)", "body": "http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/8098224.htm \"Kirstie Alley's Wild Ride\" will be at 7 p.m. Sunday in the 1922 atmospheric-style theater at First and Broadway. Alley is backed by six Los Angeles-based actors, gospel singer Michael Speaks and a 12-member swing band from London called the Jive Aces. She'll also use a Wichita gospel choir at one point. The show is hard to describe, Alley acknowledged. It will be a multimedia experience based on Alley's life and career -- both the highs and the lows -- with the help of the Emotional Tone Scale discovered by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. What inspired the show, Alley said, is that people are always asking how she got to where she is. \"They never ask the important question: How I survived,\" Alley said \"Acting is a tricky, insidious business full of invalidation. Whenever there are bright lights, there are vampires hanging around to suck your blood, so to speak,\" she said. She said Hubbard's Emotional Tone Scale -- ranging from exhilaration at the top through moods like enthusiasm and boredom down to fear, pain, despair and death -- helped her identify and avoid people who are chronically stuck in one of the dark tones. \"Everybody goes up and down the scale. That's not the problem. The problem comes when a person is chronically angry, hateful or invalidating, it can destroy your life if you stay around them.\""}, {"response": 187, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:31)", "body": "My favorite tv show right now is OLN's coverage of the Tour de France. If it's July, or juillet, it's le tour. OLN has excellent coverage. Of course, this year I'm not doing a big TourWatch event so I can just watch it at home. See http://touroftexas.com and http://touroftexas.com/blog which I'm cranking up again for the occasion."}, {"response": 188, "author": "historian", "date": "Mon, Jan 15, 2007 (18:28)", "body": "24 is back! Don't miss part two tonight of the four hour season opener. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 20, "subject": "Favorite Cartoons", "response_count": 60, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Sat, Oct 17, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "ok, i love scooby doo! (and i don't mean the one with scrappy doo or where all the characters are little kids, either)"}, {"response": 2, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Oct 17, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "felix the cat betty boop the rocky and bullwinkle show the new adventures of johnny quest rupert cow and chicken dexter's laboratory johny bravo scooby doo mighty mouse (old and new) animaniacs tiny toons oh, and the list goes on..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Sat, Oct 17, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "the tiny toons? the tiny toons?? my kids luv 'em too...."}, {"response": 4, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:40)", "body": "old warner bros. cartoons animaniacs rocko's modern life"}, {"response": 5, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:43)", "body": "rocko is good hey, ratthing, we didn't run you off from the philosophy conf did we?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (01:36)", "body": "RAY!!!!!! You're back?!?! For good?? Where have you been???? We missed you! Didn't we? Warner bros - all of them Cow and Chicken (all-time favourite) Dexter I.R. Johnny Bravo (all the cartoons by that guy - they're hilarious)"}, {"response": 7, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (10:02)", "body": ":) nope, i am still here just busy! i will be coming in as often as possible with my usual assortment of 2 to 3 line non-sequiturs, but will try to continue on with my hostly duties and interacting with you very terrific people."}, {"response": 8, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:03)", "body": "Wow, Scoob, did ya here that?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (12:17)", "body": "No, but I did. And I'm sitting on a chair, beaming my arse off! Great to have you back, Ray!"}, {"response": 10, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (22:07)", "body": "The Powerpuff Girls"}, {"response": 11, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul 22, 1999 (13:46)", "body": "YEAH!!! I wish I had ice powers too!"}, {"response": 12, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jul 29, 1999 (23:57)", "body": "I'm sure you have your own version..."}, {"response": 13, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Aug  5, 1999 (03:01)", "body": "Yeah right! Your nearest thing must be . . . BAKING POW(d)ER!! Stoopid joke, sit."}, {"response": 14, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (16:00)", "body": "yeahyeahyeah...I like Reboot, as well...and Dragonball Z..."}, {"response": 15, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (16:17)", "body": "This new stuff you got going in the background and on the horizontals is awesome. Some pretty good minds at work, I think! Roger Ramjet"}, {"response": 16, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (16:39)", "body": "has anyone else seen the ads for SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon?"}, {"response": 17, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Aug 16, 1999 (21:58)", "body": "Nope, don't have cable anymore."}, {"response": 18, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Aug 17, 1999 (21:24)", "body": "johnny bravo, or did i say that already? background and dividers are great!! never heard of those other cartoons, squarepants? i was having trouble with ed edd and eddy!!"}, {"response": 19, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Aug 21, 1999 (07:23)", "body": "ROAD RUNNER (have a tattoo on left arm with Wile E. Coyote choking the Road Runner and the inscription \"Beep Beep your ---!\") BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD (my impressions of both and Mr. Anderson crack up my students.} KING OF THE HILL (do impressions of Hank, Dale, and Boomhower) SOUTH PARK (do impression of Eric Cartman--and look a little like him grown up and bearded) FAMILY GUY (Stewie the baby slays me and I wish I could do impression of him) THE SIMPSONS (Have been working on Homer impression for years. Should get it about the time it goes off TV. Doh! Did a \"celebrity wakeup call\" on Harry Shearer in 1986 when I was doing mornings on KPOI-FM in Honolulu. He was totally cool...talked to our morning crew for a half hour on the air and kept us in stitches!) CLUTCH CARGO (So low budget it was camp. Only the mouths, which were human lips superimposed on still drawings, moved!) SPEED RACER (A classic Japanese import from the 1970s. Maybe the grandfather of the current Japan anime craze, which is huge in Hawaii. Go, Speed Racer, Go!) DUCK TALES (Does anyone realize the voice of Scrooge McDuck is none other than Alan Young, who played Wilbur on MR. ED?) REN & STIMPY (Totally psychotic. Sing along with me! \"Happy, happy, joy joy!\" BUGS BUNNY (His \"Barber of Seville\" episode and his encounters with Marvin the Martian will live forever in the annals of cartoon greatness!) FRITZ THE CAT (How could one not love the first x-rated feature length cartoon movie!)"}, {"response": 20, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (19:19)", "body": "Re: bugs bunny and friends ... how many of the GenX-ers heard classical music for the first time while watching these cartoons. I used to irritate my son by telling him what the music actually was. There are some he can still sing the cartoon words to... My favorite BB aside from TBoS is the Wagnurian one which ended with Tannheuser... and it was lovely and very touching. *sniff*"}, {"response": 21, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (20:15)", "body": "OK going to correct my spelling from Telnet...Tannh\ufffduser...before I offend someone..."}, {"response": 22, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (20:39)", "body": "still love dexter's laboratory, scooby doo, etc.!!"}, {"response": 23, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:00)", "body": "Scooby Doo (original one) Rocky and Bullwinkle old Warner Bro stuff Roadrunner Tom and Jerry (my sister used to do cells for these) (any of the old ones with \"gratuitous violence\" in them...)"}, {"response": 24, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:04)", "body": "Mel Blanc did wonderful comic opera. As for Scooby Doo, I love that big chicken. Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy. I do an impression of Casey that would fool his mother."}, {"response": 25, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:04)", "body": "Sherman and Mr. Peabody"}, {"response": 26, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:07)", "body": "Rocky and Bullwinkle are classics. I used to work with a burned out old disc jockey named Lan Roberts who was the voice of Bullwinkle after the original guy died. It was spooky hearing him doing the voice on the air. It was so good it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. What I love about Rocky and Bullwinkle is the many levels of the humor, from silly kids stuff to groan out loud puns, to geopolitical satire spoofing the Cold War."}, {"response": 27, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:07)", "body": "Sherman and Mr. Peabody are great painless fractured history lessons."}, {"response": 28, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:17)", "body": "Great stuff, John! Can't wait to talk to you in person!!! David rediscovered Rocky and Bullwinkle when he was in college and finally understood why I never missed an episode while he was watching as a kid - and laughing with him but on a totally different level, as you say. Too good!"}, {"response": 29, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:20)", "body": "BTW, John, very interesting background you gave with your initial long post on Cartoons. I really appreciated that stuff...where else would one learn that than here?!"}, {"response": 30, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:23)", "body": "Too much useless stuff inside my noggin..."}, {"response": 31, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (21:33)", "body": "Join the crowd, Dear! I have heard that from some other brilliant minds around here, and (without putting myself in the same league, mind you) I have also voiced the same thought about myself! You are in good company... You've found a home!"}, {"response": 32, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (17:54)", "body": "old scooby doo definitely. and am i the only one who can't stand scrappy doo? i could strangle him!"}, {"response": 33, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (18:51)", "body": "Wer can't and neither can I. Who needs a yappy hyper dog. The kids are noisy enough! I'll hold him - you strangle...!"}, {"response": 34, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (22:59)", "body": "I'll third that one (as if my vote was needed!)"}, {"response": 35, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (23:11)", "body": "Always glad to add your discriminating vote for the good stuff."}, {"response": 36, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Aug 27, 1999 (21:41)", "body": "Can you say \"Speed Racer\"?"}, {"response": 37, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug 27, 1999 (22:12)", "body": "I can sing it (if I could sing!) Is is tarnishing my image to admit to liking Hanna-Barbera Cartoons?!"}, {"response": 38, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Aug 27, 1999 (23:46)", "body": "No, it is enhancing it!"}, {"response": 39, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (01:23)", "body": "Autumn may not have noticed that I mentioned 'ol Speed in my first post here. \"Go, Speed Racer, Go!\" Definitely ground-breaking low budget Japanese animation! MTV may still show it (I know they did a couple of years ago, but it was on some ungodly hour, like 3:30 am Hawaii time)."}, {"response": 40, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (01:24)", "body": "Marcia, As for Hanna-Barbera...The Flintstones are still some of the greatest cartoons ever...and Yogi Bear was the first impression I did as a child (other than female singers...maybe I should've become a castrato...my love life would still be the same)!"}, {"response": 41, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (12:20)", "body": "Oh, My Dear John...perish the thought! The Castrati command very high prices indeed, but I think your sex life might have been altered beyond recognition... But, that is not an appropriate discussion for this topic."}, {"response": 42, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (19:52)", "body": "What sex life? And where WOULD be an appropriate forum for that comment?"}, {"response": 43, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (20:11)", "body": "In the Sex Conference http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/browse/sex/all Contrary to what it says at the top of the conference, it is not private and you may post any lament you wish and there will be others to join your side."}, {"response": 44, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (22:11)", "body": "There it will be taken seriously and not with the humor it deserves."}, {"response": 45, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (22:42)", "body": "Not if you are as skillful writer as I know you are and you utilize that talent in telling of your plight. A deadpan dire story can be hilarious to the point of making one ill...just by being so straight-ahead in your tale. Go for it!"}, {"response": 46, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (04:58)", "body": "Has anyone seen the new Mickey Mouse Cartoons yet? I haven't, but I read in the Sunday Telegraph last night that they have to keep it sort of politically correct and all this time round. None of that shooting and hitting each other over the head with frying pans anymore. Apparently the cartoonists thought it all went a bit too far when Donald went whitewater rafting, inevitable fell out in the water, and the board wanted them to put a life-jacket on him..."}, {"response": 47, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (05:15)", "body": "Now that's funny! A life jacket on a duck! That's like testing fertility drugs on rabbits!"}, {"response": 48, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (15:47)", "body": "HA! Good comparison!"}, {"response": 49, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Jun 15, 2000 (20:54)", "body": "back to hanna barbera, i love their cartoons!"}, {"response": 50, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Jun 17, 2000 (19:21)", "body": "Yup, but the subtlties of Bullwinkle gets to me every time. I find them irresistible."}, {"response": 51, "author": "TMC", "date": "Fri, Nov 23, 2001 (21:05)", "body": "My fav's:Johnny Bravo, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. And does anybody else remember the Samurai Pizza Cats?"}, {"response": 52, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Nov 23, 2001 (22:33)", "body": "Geez, Samurai Pizza cats made it to the mainland? I thought only Hawaii was so beset. Aloha, Tex!"}, {"response": 53, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Nov 25, 2001 (14:04)", "body": "i made need a refresher on the cats--they sound familiar--perhaps the teenage mutant ninja turtles was a spin off?"}, {"response": 54, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Apr  7, 2002 (18:23)", "body": "sponge bob, we've watched him since the kids discovered him a couple of years ago."}, {"response": 55, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Apr  7, 2002 (23:04)", "body": "What's a sponge bob? I am definitly at an awkward age - my son is too old yet has not yet produced grandchildren to make excuses for me to watch cartoons."}, {"response": 56, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Apr  9, 2002 (17:02)", "body": "he's exactly as he sounds--a square sponge (like kitchen sponge) and his pants are square because he is. he lives under the ocean (bikini bottom - as in the atoll) and is very naive. he works at the crusty crab (btw, we have a Krusty Krab right down the street) and loves his job, a grumpy squid is the cashier and a greedy crab is the boss. his two best friends in the whole world are patrick, a big pink starfish, and sandy, a squirrel, who lives in an air aquarium (complete with airlock doors) undersea. he has a pet snail named Gary who meows. anyway, we love it even for all it's silliness. it makes us laugh!"}, {"response": 57, "author": "AlFor", "date": "Tue, Nov 19, 2002 (19:00)", "body": "Top Cat G-Force/Battle Of The Planets Most versions of Scooby-Doo, including those with Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Dum and/or Dyno-Mutt. (Blue Falcon - and Dog Wonder - AWAY! He-he HEYYY!!!!) Fraggle Rock doesn't count; that was (originally) done with puppets, not animation. I wish Don Bluth would do an animated series."}, {"response": 58, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Nov 21, 2002 (13:24)", "body": "I am too old for all those, except the original Scooby-Doo!"}, {"response": 59, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Oct  5, 2003 (18:22)", "body": "scooby is the best!"}, {"response": 60, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:37)", "body": "Don't have any right now. Don't really watch cartoons. Maybe anime. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 21, "subject": "ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!", "response_count": 24, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Jul 16, 1998 (16:15)", "body": "I had a friend in Austin who owned all the tapes... He even went as the shorter one (I forget her name) for Halloween! (Spending Halloween at Oilcan Harry's is quite a trip!)"}, {"response": 2, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jul 17, 1998 (01:09)", "body": "No, Stacey, aren't you thinking of French and Saunders? That was the series that made them both famous. Then Dawn French did 'The Vicar of Dibley', which was a gem, totally hilarious. And now Jennifer Saunders has done this one in which she plays an drug-loving, alcoholic, decadent fashion designer (or something like that - one can't quite work it out). But if you ever thought French and Saunders had a few foul moments, 'Absolutely Fabulous' will blow you mind!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jul 17, 1998 (05:43)", "body": "Tell us more, Riette!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jul 17, 1998 (10:20)", "body": "I'd love to, but now I can't remember any of the really good punchlines. But there are loads of them, and each and every one is mega vulgar. Last night at one point I thought: WHAT IN THE HELL AM I LAUGHING ABOUT?! Because it is just so vile! But I could not help myself. So look out for it on your TV's!"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jul 17, 1998 (11:23)", "body": "I'm looking, but I can't find it so far. I might be able to find it somewhere on one of the satellites at my Cedar Creek digs."}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jul 17, 1998 (15:10)", "body": "Do try, you'll laugh yourself into a coma. Ask Mike if he's seen it - he must have."}, {"response": 7, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jul 17, 1998 (21:03)", "body": "I am a HUGE Ab Fab fan!!! You can catch here on cable at Comedy Central. Patsy and Edina are a hoot! Of course, I can't understand a third of what they say, but the other 2/3 are hysterical! Gotta love this show--my sister & I are hooked."}, {"response": 8, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul 18, 1998 (00:41)", "body": "Thank you, Autumn, thank you!!!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Jul 19, 1998 (11:45)", "body": "Don't you love it when Edina always asks, \"Is it a Delacroix, darling?\" while Patsy chain smokes and blows bubbles in her champagne glass? Those two are so over the top, their decadence always makes me smile no matter how crummy my day has been."}, {"response": 10, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Jul 19, 1998 (15:00)", "body": "Oh, I know, it's wonderful! And the way Edina calls everyone Sweety is too much. The programme just cracks me up, folds me double, and leaves me with stomach cramps - never miss an episode. It's really astonishing."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (10:00)", "body": "What station carries this, Autumn?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (22:24)", "body": "In the Baltimore/DC area, it's Comedy Central. Does your cable co. have this station? They're also the ones who brought us \"Mystery Science Theatre 3000,\" another one of my absolute favorite shows."}, {"response": 13, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (23:40)", "body": "Yeah, we get the Comedy Channel in Austin."}, {"response": 14, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (00:54)", "body": "Right then, WATCH Absolutely Fabulous when it's on again, and report back here. Tell us whether you're appalled or amazed."}, {"response": 15, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (06:09)", "body": "What day is it usually on, Autumn?"}, {"response": 16, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (20:38)", "body": "Nope Riette... I truly was thinking of Absolutely Fabulous... My friend went as Patsy (this was 2 1/2years ago!)"}, {"response": 17, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul 22, 1998 (01:01)", "body": "OH! So, the shorter one you meant will have been Edina - sorry, my mistake."}, {"response": 18, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jul 22, 1998 (15:01)", "body": "Here it used to be on every day (like at 10 p.m.), but I noticed lately they've put something else in that slot. Now I only seem to catch it on the weekend, when I'm flipping thru the channels and come across it. You may need to check your newspaper's TV listings under Comedy Central. I wish we had a' la carte cable service, where you only pay for the channels you want to watch (like a hotlist--yeah!) There are entirely too many. I have most of them blocked out anyway, yet I have to pay for them all. :-("}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 22, 1998 (17:18)", "body": "Hey, thanks for checkin' Autumn!"}, {"response": 20, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul 23, 1998 (01:00)", "body": "We only have it once a fortnight - but, thank God, in English."}, {"response": 21, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jul 24, 1998 (21:00)", "body": "How much do you pay for cable, Terry? I'd ask you too, Riette, but I have no idea what the exchange rate is for Sfr! Here it's $35/month."}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jul 24, 1998 (23:52)", "body": "I think it's about the same here. I'll let you know when my cable bill comes. We're getting Internet via cable soon. Austin's one of the first cities to get this."}, {"response": 23, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul 25, 1998 (00:32)", "body": "Here it's about the same too."}, {"response": 24, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Oct 15, 1998 (12:55)", "body": "Here Sonja: I was introduced to this one last night, by my brother in-law. Funniest comedy I've EVER seen. The Patsy character is really really fabulous - she steals the show from Jill Saunders. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 22, "subject": "Ruby Wax", "response_count": 12, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (10:01)", "body": "Not only do I watch her Wax, I watch her polish."}, {"response": 2, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (10:46)", "body": "ha-ha! Is that supposed to be a 'yes'?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (12:49)", "body": "Just kidding. Just Kidding. Never heard of her."}, {"response": 4, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (12:59)", "body": "What a shame. She's a hoot. And an American. In some of her programmes she interviews stars, but in such a way that that person's exact nature shines through within minutes. Sharon Stone, for instance, came across as an intelligent, easy-going, nice person, and Ruby was quite normal and nice to her too. Then she interviewed Pamela Anderson. Now PA may have an magnificent pair of bosoms, and she may have blond hair, and she may be beautiful, but brightness is not her strong point. Vanity is. And Ruby Wax SAVAGED her, without her noticing a thing I was lying on the floor! Same with Jean Claude Van Damme - he was SUCH a joke! And sometimes she goes on a health quest, which is interesting and informative, and great fun, because she's so quick-witted. If the programme should ever come to America (she lives in England), you must try and watch it."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (14:10)", "body": "Interesting, Van Damme seems like he might have some smarts. Seagal may have a lock in that dept among martial arts mavens, he's a Tibetan tulku I believe. (discussed in a topic on him in our spirit conference)."}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (14:40)", "body": "The only kind of smarts van Damme has, are the few smarties rattling around in his lower section. All he wanted was to show the camera his thighs - for which he of course had to take his trousers off (!!!) - and then he had this brilliant, highly original idea for a movie he wanted to make. About a man and a woman who fall in love . . . and, God, he's so SEXIST!!!! Just the way he speaks about his x-wives are enough to make me feel a tantrum coming on. Yuk. He's disgusting and I don't like him. Lucki y Ruby savaged him too. And, yes, she once did an interview with Seagal too. To my surprise he came across as being a very sympathetic, nice sort of person. Not vain at all. I can imagine him being a Tibetan tulku - I have great respect for them."}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (15:04)", "body": "I may be off on that designation. Check the Seagal topic in the spirit conference for the straight scoop. Some interesting stuff there, Riette."}, {"response": 8, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (22:28)", "body": "I've never heard of this personality, either, but I love watching someone get sliced to ribbons without even knowing it! David Letterman used insult his guests with a smile on his face, and it would go right over their heads."}, {"response": 9, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (00:56)", "body": "I know! And those people make millions every year without acting out a single line. Witless, brainless, ball-less. \ufffdsigh\ufffd"}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (06:10)", "body": "Are you talking about the Spice Girls again?"}, {"response": 11, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jul 21, 1998 (06:54)", "body": "No. They at least have balls!"}, {"response": 12, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (15:33)", "body": "? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 23, "subject": "Ushuaia: The Ultimate Adventure", "response_count": 10, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 29, 1998 (09:17)", "body": "Great show! I loved the episode on the Amazon ethnobotanist who built an awesome network of tree passageways with ropes. Worth taping!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul 29, 1998 (13:08)", "body": "sounds really neat... not worth getting a set over though!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 29, 1998 (17:22)", "body": "Maybe worth a trip to a public tv somewhere. Esp. the show I mentioned. This guy lived at treetop level in the Amazon and traversed on hundreds of miles of \"rope highways\"; he made some major contirbutions to medicine with his discoveries. My friend Leslie Taylor, who has the company Rain-Tree, is in the Amazon now moving a tribe to a new location. She's highly regarded in Brazil, and known as the white witch or cuandero ( http://www.rain-tree.com )."}, {"response": 4, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Aug  5, 1998 (11:28)", "body": "I hope this one comes to us too - sounds like great fun."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Aug  5, 1998 (16:43)", "body": "I hope they replay it cause I'd like to tape it."}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Aug  6, 1998 (00:42)", "body": "You must have ALOT of video tapes, Terry. Seems to me you tape everything in your path! Do you tape your computer as you type your responses in too? \ufffdBIG BIG KISS\ufffd"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug  6, 1998 (11:21)", "body": "I tape of lot of events around Austin, and parties, I've got one going right now the SXSW Multimedia show with a lot of excerpts from Austin's own Bruce Sterling. Good listening. I'll publish a list sometime so folks can make requests."}, {"response": 8, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Aug  6, 1998 (16:02)", "body": "Sounds good! You should become a movie producer, earn lots of money, and sleep with Pamela Anderson. Then you can come back and brag in front of all us little people. I'm talking nonsense, right?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug  6, 1998 (17:11)", "body": "No, that sounds realistic to me."}, {"response": 10, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Aug  7, 1998 (00:49)", "body": "ha-ha! I knew you'd understand! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 24, "subject": "Millenium", "response_count": 19, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Oct  2, 1998 (23:18)", "body": "Sorry ratthingy, I've never seen it. I don't do sci-fi. Plus it probably conflicts with \"Homicide\"!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Oct  3, 1998 (02:28)", "body": "Didn't see it, what's going on with it? What happened in show 1?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct  3, 1998 (04:51)", "body": "I like Millenium - isn't it written by the same guy who writes the X-files? I always think so, because it's pretty cool - except when the dialogue gets 'deep'. Then it stinks. But otherwise it's cool."}, {"response": 4, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct  3, 1998 (04:53)", "body": "Oh, to answer your question, Terry. Millenium is about a guy called, Frank Black, who 'sees' things. So he helps to solve murders and serial killings and stuff like that. He can sort of enter the mind of the killer, and see through the killer's eyes, and so manages to solve the crimes."}, {"response": 5, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Sat, Oct  3, 1998 (11:42)", "body": "in the opening ep, we find out that frank's wife died as a result of the plague that was spreading in the season ender last season. he and his daughter used the vaccine provided by the millenium group to survive. they moved back to virginia. the episode begins with a big passenger plane crash. turns out some enemies of the millenium group were on the plane (some blond haired blue eyed clones). also turns out that the plague may have been released by the group to kill these people. frank is probably going to start fighting the millenium group and to make them answer for their crimes!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (01:29)", "body": "OH, COOL! His wife always irritated me! It's a brand new series then? That's great. Now that the wife is gone, he can get down to REAL business. Hope it comes to us soon!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (13:14)", "body": "hi wife irritated me to! sometimes i just wanted to smack her upside the head and tell her to chill out. the overarching message in the season opener did seem to be that this was going to be a new type of show, with frank actively fighting against the millenium group."}, {"response": 8, "author": "stacey", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (19:28)", "body": "Like an alien type of show?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (20:18)", "body": "no, not like that at all. it is more of a good v. evil type of show, cast on a background of the federal, government and big conspiracies. frank black was an FBI serial killer expert who has a gift of being able to get right into a criminal's mind. in the beginning of the show, they portrayed frank as having just been through some horrible life changing experience, probably related to his getting to involved with his work of capturing serial killers. so he and his family move to seattle, and there frank is contacted by the Millenium Group. the MG is a shadowy group with a long, long history of thousands of years. their goal is to save the earth from the pending destruction they see coming in the new millenium. anyway, throughout the first seasons we follow frank as he and the millenium group help to fight evil. frank becomes disgruntled with the group when he begins to percieve it as more of a cult. at the end of last season some sort of horrible disease was released in and around seattle. it turns out that this disease was released by the MG to kill off a group of clones that represented some form of evil. in the process, frank's wife is killed by the plague. he and his daughter survive thanks to a vaccine supplied by the MG for it's members. in this season's opener, frank finds out that the MG was behind the plague and the death of his wife and thus sets out to bring the MG to justice."}, {"response": 10, "author": "ricky", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (20:56)", "body": "yo wuz up"}, {"response": 11, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (21:17)", "body": "yo homey what it is my man?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "stacey", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (22:21)", "body": "thanks for the explanation ray!"}, {"response": 13, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Oct  5, 1998 (02:17)", "body": "Wonder if Ricky will stay... It's going to be so cool now that all the sentimental crap is out of the way - well perhaps not quite; perhaps they could kill the little girl off as well?"}, {"response": 14, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Mon, Oct  5, 1998 (09:32)", "body": "i think that they need some sort of balance between all of the morbidity and something nice. they will probably keep the little girl on the show."}, {"response": 15, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Oct  6, 1998 (10:29)", "body": "Damn! I so like the morbidity."}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Feb 11, 2005 (09:22)", "body": "The show is in it's best season yet. No more Run Kim Runs. The Terrorists captured the Secy of State but Jack got him back. Now they're blowing up a dozen or so nuke plants. Good season."}, {"response": 17, "author": "pmnh", "date": "Wed, Feb 16, 2005 (23:33)", "body": "No more Run Kim Runs lol (i agree... do miss david palmer, though)..."}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Feb 17, 2005 (12:13)", "body": "Yeah, just wondering if they'll regress to Kim and/or David at some point. After all, isn't Kim his *daughter*. Doesn't she at least rate a phone call from time to time? I predict someone will be on the run soon and that we'll get at least one cameo of the old cast."}, {"response": 19, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:39)", "body": "Last season was great. But we didn't talk about it. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 25, "subject": "What did you see on tv lately?", "response_count": 13, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov 12, 1998 (08:57)", "body": "I saw tv worth watching last night. It was about Frank Lloyd Wright. It was riveting. Burns introduces you to the man, and then looks at his most famous and prolific period, from age 60 to his death. The second half talks about the major projects - Fallingwater, the Guggenheim, the Johnson Wax building - and some of the less so, plus the Usonian homes and Taliesin West and a bunch of other stuff. The story of how he designed Fallingwater is amazing. I couldn't get enough of this building. You wanted to be there and feel the rushing water and explore every nook and cranny. Wright's personal eccentricities, scandals, enmities and philosophy had a direct effect on his career, and on how his work was perceived, both during his lifetime and in the years since his death."}, {"response": 2, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Thu, Nov 12, 1998 (10:51)", "body": "I saw it too. Burns never fails to amaze me. And yes, the story of how Fallingwater was drawn in its entirety in less than three hours was the most electrifying segment of the documentary. If anyone ever doubted Wright's genius, that story would convince them."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 13, 1998 (08:53)", "body": "A couple of more FLW tidbits. http://www.pbs.org/flw/index.html The movie, A Summer Place, takes place in a stunning FLW house on the beach."}, {"response": 4, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Nov 17, 1998 (14:34)", "body": "I never doubted his genius we were in AZ around this time last year and visited several of his creations including Taliesin West. Amazing stuff. Taliesin West still houses students following in his theoretical footsteps."}, {"response": 5, "author": "TIM", "date": "Tue, Nov 17, 1998 (16:23)", "body": "I like everything I've ever seen by him. the man was a genius."}, {"response": 6, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (00:13)", "body": "Is anybody else watching \"The Sopranos\" series on HBO?"}, {"response": 7, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (00:15)", "body": "http://www.hbo.com/sopranos"}, {"response": 8, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (17:21)", "body": "Don't get HBO."}, {"response": 9, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sun, Jan 24, 1999 (13:35)", "body": "awww..."}, {"response": 10, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jan 25, 1999 (22:27)", "body": "If'n I had my way, I'd cancel the cable...(all I need is ABC, NBC & WB)"}, {"response": 11, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Mon, Jan 25, 1999 (22:30)", "body": "if'n it's not your way, whose way do it be?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Jan 26, 1999 (12:16)", "body": "I get along fine w/o cable. If I had it, I'd watch even more TV than I already do. Last time I had cable I stayed up way too late watching Nick at Nite. Right now, I see cable as a luxury expense."}, {"response": 13, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 27, 1999 (20:49)", "body": "My thoughts exactly, George. But my husband has to have instant access to any channel that might possibly carry Notre Dame football, plus he's a WWII fanatic and watches Hitler rant and rave every night on the History channel. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 26, "subject": "what's on tv tonight or coming up", "response_count": 38, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 18, 1998 (09:25)", "body": "ER: The Live Internet Episode by Ronald Warren Deutsch 3:00 a.m. 18.Nov.98.PST If the dramatic intrigue of television's ER, Chicago Hope, and L.A. Doctors aren't delivering enough blood and surgery for you, how about a 12-hour webcast from a real live emergency room? The American Health Network, which filmed the first live Internet birth, will be at the Ben Taub General Hospital Emergency Room in Houston, Texas, on Friday. Trauma Center Live will be hosted by Dr. Winnie King, an emergency-room physician and host of AHN Television's Women & Children First, and Dr. Alix Casler, host of AHN's Ask the Pediatrician. Cameras will follow doctors and patients through the halls and examining rooms, documenting emergency procedures. Doctors also will discuss \"how to act when an emergency strikes at home,\" according to J. Tod Fetherling, AHN.com's president. Ben Taub, located in the heart of Houston, Texas, is considered one of the busiest Level 1 Trauma Centers in the nation. Level 1 centers are equipped for very severe injuries. \"We're really very excited about letting the rest of the nation see what kind of work is being done here,\" said Carol Kohn, a hospital representative. AHN hopes to produce other medical webcasts in the future, including open-heart surgery, hair transplants, and eye surgery. Just remember: Don't try these procedures at home."}, {"response": 2, "author": "TIM", "date": "Wed, Nov 18, 1998 (16:12)", "body": "So, is it on the web? If so, what address? If not, what channel?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov 19, 1998 (08:57)", "body": "All I have is the above info, maybe you could do a web search?"}, {"response": 4, "author": "TIM", "date": "Thu, Nov 19, 1998 (12:48)", "body": "Maybe, I'll give it a shot."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 24, 1998 (14:42)", "body": "Some really good stuff! Wednesday, November 25 8:00 Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet (CC)-This special chronicles the growth of the Internet and how self-described \"geeks\" have turned into billionaires. With flair and humor, host Robert X. Cringely (Triumph of the Nerds) explains the Internet and its implications so even the most Web-shy viewers will understand. 11:00 The Band-This documentary chronicles the history, triumphs and tragedies of the rock group The Band."}, {"response": 6, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Nov 24, 1998 (20:13)", "body": "The most dramatic thing on TV tonight is going to be Jimmy Smits's final episode of \"NYPD Blue\"--it's going to be a real sob-fest!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (22:10)", "body": "Have the tears dried up yet, Autumn?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (22:18)", "body": "Occasionally, a wayward tear still rolls down my cheek, but now we have bigger problems--Diane might start drinking again to cope with her loss!! Don't do it, Diane! Also, we got to see the new guy's butt (Ricky Shroeder) already, which was a sort of balm (*sigh*)."}, {"response": 9, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (22:21)", "body": "Silver Spoons butt makes good balm? And you're not even using Erin Gray's?"}, {"response": 10, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (22:30)", "body": "Ha-ha! Did you catch L&O tonight? It was pretty groovy, when they pulled that VW bus out of the Hudson River, I was, like, tripping!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (23:44)", "body": "nope, Cartoon Network..."}, {"response": 12, "author": "osceola", "date": "Fri, Jan 15, 1999 (12:25)", "body": "Autumn, hey there. L&O was pretty good (almost always is, right?) I thought it was interesting seeing how they dug up info from 30 years ago. I also liked the part about cops being agents-provocatuers (see? French!), which was true in many cities and even the FBI back then (and probably even now). I also liked the generational differences that the regular characters had. NYPDB is an OK show, but the thing about Diane buying a bottle at the end of one show, then not drinking it the next show was something done before on Hill Street Blues with Capt. Furillo. The exact same thing. The producers of NYPDB also produced Hill Street. They're stealing from themselves. The bad thing about Jimmy Smits leaving is that we won't see Diane's butt again for a long time. :-( Promo for Homicide tonight looks pretty good. Munch and Lewis look like the main guys. It's about time. Did you catch the one where Kellerman came back as a sleazy private eye? It was great."}, {"response": 13, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jan 15, 1999 (15:21)", "body": "George, re: NYPD Blue--everything old is new again, eh? There is nothing new under the sun. No new storylines, period. That new detective seems pretty concerned about Diane, so you may see her butt sooner than you think. God knows we've already had to see his! I liked L&O too, especially because it dealt with an old homicide. For some reason I prefer the ones that require investigations that cross over time periods rather than \"fresh\" murders, you know? Like tonight, for instance, Homicide is supposed to be about some old bones found somewhere. These investigations tend to be interesting, probably because of both cultural and generational differences in the players, as you pointed out. As far as the agent-provocateur theme goes, do you think the gov't still plays that role today? Naturally, in the arenas of drugs and terrorism there is that undercover element, but what about other areas? By the way, I did see the Kellerman two-parter, and it was good! My, how Mikey has fallen...I'm glad to hear Munch is going to get some air time tonight, I feel like he's hardly gotten a handful of lines in each show since the new season aired."}, {"response": 14, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Jan 19, 1999 (12:56)", "body": "That Homicide last Friday was really good. I especially liked the fact that she ripped off her fellow bank robbers and put the money in a trust fund for her daughter. It was a pretty smart show. Well done."}, {"response": 15, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (17:22)", "body": "Well, of course the all-important ice skating quarterfinals have pre-empted it this week! Now we won't know how much trouble Falsone & Ballard will be in for continuing their relationship."}, {"response": 16, "author": "osceola", "date": "Mon, Jan 25, 1999 (13:43)", "body": "If we're lucky, maybe Falsone will get fired and off the show. I like the actress who plays Ballard, though."}, {"response": 17, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Jan 25, 1999 (22:29)", "body": "If there's one romance I'd like to see more of, it's Munch & Bobbie Lee's."}, {"response": 18, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Jan 26, 1999 (12:19)", "body": "I thought it was hilarious when Munch and Bobbie Lee were getting all excited talking about this movie they were going to see, and it turns out to be the Zapruder film. He would take a date to something like that!"}, {"response": 19, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 27, 1999 (20:51)", "body": "Yeah, that was pretty funny! I read a critical write-up about Homicide recently, namely that they are relying too much on the newcomers this season and not enough on the established characters, such as Munch and Bayliss. It's true, they seldom get many lines in each episode."}, {"response": 20, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, May 24, 1999 (20:02)", "body": "tonight, the conclusion to Cleopatra on ABC at 8 PM CST.....had to watch this movie after seeing the special about her on discovery!"}, {"response": 21, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (09:35)", "body": "Cleopatra, - aaah, wasn't that the snake who bit Caesar so he fell into the salad?"}, {"response": 22, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (09:53)", "body": "caeser and marc antony...."}, {"response": 23, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (10:01)", "body": "Wait, you tellin' me Caesar bit Tony, who fell over Cleo who was just tending her garden?"}, {"response": 24, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (10:41)", "body": "nope, cleo bit both of them....."}, {"response": 25, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (11:16)", "body": "Autsch!"}, {"response": 26, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (11:16)", "body": "Hey, come to think of it - I guess I met here once!"}, {"response": 27, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (12:02)", "body": "huh??"}, {"response": 28, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (12:07)", "body": "Yeah. When I was a young boy..."}, {"response": 29, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, May 25, 1999 (12:38)", "body": "you were bitten by cleo? dude!"}, {"response": 30, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (21:29)", "body": "Penn State Football starts the 28 of August with the Pigskin Classic against Arizona to be played at Penn State and broadcast on ABC"}, {"response": 31, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Nov 13, 1999 (10:30)", "body": "First there was print. Then there was radio and television. Now, a whole new medium to sell advertising has emerged: the Internet. And fans of \"The Drew Carey Show\" are rejoicing over it. Internet executives have realized the potential for webcasts to elicit thousands of viewers for some time now. But until recently, because the necessary technology (faster modems, higher processing speeds) was not widespread, few webcasts had much of a turnout. Victoria's Secret, of all things, changed that perception. Their webcast display of underwear babes brought 100,000 simultaneous viewers. The potential became a reality, and a new twist on TV was born: simultaneous broadcasting over two different mediums designed to further enhance the viewing experience. ABC is promoting an event that it's hoping will at least double the numbers that Victoria's lingerie models brought. Says Pat Vance, vice president of Internet marketing at ABC, \"We are assured that this is going to be the largest streaming event that has ever occurred.\" These are high ambitions. So what can bring those numbers? None other than the first beer-swigging, accordion-playing comic ever to grace primetime airwaves: Drew Carey. On November 17, a video webcam will be placed on the set of \"The Drew Carey Show\" that will capture the same action that's simultaneously playing on the television, but from a different angle. If the camera moves to a different room, the webcam will stay on, providing webcast viewers with completely new scenes of the show that are unavailable to television-only viewers. The whole idea is to allow webcam viewers to see \"inside\" jokes that occur within the program -- like seeing the oft-praised \"Director's ut\" of a movie right then and there. \"This is the first time a show has been created with the webcast component to it,\" says Vance. \"It is very unique in that regard. We've never explored this area in the past and neither has any other network.\" But are viewers hungry for more scoop on their favorite television stars? It certainly seems so. Do a keyword search on the Web portal of your choice. You will find that not only is there an official show site devoted to the bespectacled comedian, but also there are sites created by Drew-obsessed fans all over the country. Try Geocities, where there are more than 50, all with gratuitous information about the show. Apparently, there is a demand. The number of viewers expected to tune in, log on and sit back is expected to be a quarter of a million -- more than twice the previous webcam record - and ABC will be sitting at the forefront of a move that's providing an entirely new twist on the viewing experience. In the ultra-competitive world of primetime sit-coms, quick editing is not enough. Short commercial breaks are not enough, nor is a high laughs-per-minute ratio enough. In a country where Attention Deficit Disorder prevails, viewers are hung y for more and more exciting means of entertainment. ABC and \"The Drew Carey Show\" are happy to oblige."}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 15, 1999 (09:36)", "body": "It's only the beginning. I hope they do this with some other shows, the different webcast view. What a cool idea, and it's obviously the next step."}, {"response": 33, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Nov 15, 1999 (16:26)", "body": "There will soon be no substance at all on TV, I am afraid. There is already enough advertising to allow me to assemble a 7 course dinner during an hour's show. (Well, almost!) Is that \"cool idea\" pertaining to all of the semi-clad lovlies enriching your screen or is the very idea cool to you?"}, {"response": 34, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 16, 1999 (08:33)", "body": "I think I'll tivo \"Just Shoot Me\" as a Season Pass, I'm down on Ally McBeal."}, {"response": 35, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 16, 1999 (14:54)", "body": "...I don't like that title...is it so good that you want the entire season's worth of the show? Especially considering about March or April they will begin to thow them all over again...and again...and again. Ally has gotten weird...!"}, {"response": 36, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Thu, May  4, 2000 (09:14)", "body": "Laurel's TV Picks for Wednesday, May 3 New episodes of The West Wing (NBC, 8pm) and Law & Order (NBC, 9pm) . . . need I say more? Two of the season's best dramas, back to back. Watch 'em. Oh alright, there are some other items of note, too: TV Land has picked up some new series and they start airing regularly this week: Homefront (TV Land, 11am weekdays), Maverick (TV Land, Noon weekdays), and China Beach (TV Land, 1pm weekdays) (one of my favorite TV dramas ever). Queen Latifah, Ray Romano, Drew Carey, Emeril, Rosie O'Donnell, and others are among the celebrity contestants this week on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire (ABC, 7pm). Party of Five (FOX, 7pm) ends it's run with a two-hour series finale. New Dawson's Creek (WB, 7pm) and Felicity (WB, 8pm) which were hyped to high heaven during Buffy and Angel last night. Kes returns! on a new Star Trek: Voyager (UPN, 8pm). Politically Incorrect (ABC, check local listings) is doing episodes from prison all this week. From the great Laurel's tv picks site for Wednesday, I know it's Thursday, but I'm sure she'll be posting somehting new for today. http://www.windowseat.org/tv/"}, {"response": 37, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, May 29, 2000 (07:51)", "body": "Every Tuesday, American Movie Classics, has Reel to Reel which is a documentary followed by a related movie or movies. This Tuesday, May 30th at 8 pm eastern, AMC will be showing Reel Models: The First Women of Film. It was produced by Barbara Streisand's production company. It focuses on directors Alice Guy-Blache, Lois Weber and Dorothy Azner and screenwriter Frances Marion. There is more info on it at http://www.amctv.com/ontheair/realtoreel/archives/reelmodels1.html It is followed by a number of related films. 9 pm Elain May's A New Leaf 11 pm Nocturne, a film noir produced by Joan Harrison 12:30 am Algie, the Miner - a silent short by Alice Guy-Blache 12:45 am How Men Propose, a silent short written and directed by Lois Weber 1 am Pollyana, a silent film written by Frances Marion Then Reel Models repeats at 2 am and a New Leaf at 3 am. A related book by Cari Beauchamp is Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8227.html"}, {"response": 38, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Dec 18, 2000 (14:43)", "body": "Emma, at 8 pm CST on Lifetime, channel 40 in Austin. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 27, "subject": "Videotape movies - what's out now", "response_count": 58, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 22, 1998 (09:39)", "body": "11/17/98 Video Releases Fire Passion in the Desert TwentyFourSeven A Bright Shining Lie Can't Hardly Wait Dirty Work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas More Tales of the City Operation Condor 2: Armour of the Gods (which is actually 1986's 'Armour of God') Any of these worth renting at the video store?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Sun, Nov 22, 1998 (18:59)", "body": "Haven't seen any of those, Terry. BUT...yesterday I rented and watched \"The Opposite of Sex\", starring Christina Ricci, and Lisa Kudrow. I highly recommend this funny, warm, insightful, and memorable film!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 22, 1998 (19:49)", "body": "I hear that Dangerous Beauty is \"absolutely gorgeous, sexual, sex-positive, engrossing . . . and a true story too.\" Anyone heard of this film, it's not even listed in XL this week."}, {"response": 4, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Nov 22, 1998 (21:15)", "body": "I want to see both of those!! Where is Jim??"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 23, 1998 (06:30)", "body": "I'd really like to hear Jim comment on Dangerous Beauty. Where is that boy when we need him?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Nov 23, 1998 (09:48)", "body": "I saw Dangerous Beauty in a theatre. It is indeed sumptuous, provocated, beautifully acted, and based on a true story. I read somewhere, however that the filmmakers took many liberties with history for the sake of drama. Can't fault them for that, really. Rufus Sewell fans should be in 7th heaven."}, {"response": 7, "author": "jgross", "date": "Mon, Nov 23, 1998 (17:19)", "body": "I thought that movie was about Charlotte. And it actually took place way in the past, you say? And it's not quite accurate history-wise? Well, the title sure is on the mark. I hate to see movies twice, but this time I may need to."}, {"response": 8, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Nov 23, 1998 (18:07)", "body": "*grin* What a sweetie. We missed you, Jim! And thanks for the lovely thought. Not the same as talking about me over breakfast with Kevin, but almost as exciting."}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 24, 1998 (07:11)", "body": "11/24 Video Releases Bang Little Boy Blue Other Side of Sunday Phoenix Dr. Dolittle"}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 24, 1998 (07:11)", "body": "12/1 Video Releases Go Now Sliding Doors Almost Heroes The Mask of Zorro Land Before Time VI Last Seduction 2 (Really! Straight to video, starring Joan Severance)"}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Dec  9, 1998 (09:52)", "body": "La Promesse Lawn Dogs Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (the Monty Python 'Wind in the Willows,' renamed for video) The Parent Trap Six Days, Seven Nights Sour Grapes Yep, La Promesse! Anyone seen it?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Dec  9, 1998 (10:04)", "body": "Those were the 12/8 releases, forgot to mention that."}, {"response": 13, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Dec  9, 1998 (17:55)", "body": "The only one of that last batch I saw was--yep, you guessed it--\"Parent Trap.\""}, {"response": 14, "author": "jgross", "date": "Mon, Dec 14, 1998 (20:26)", "body": "I couldn't guess it....I tried for 53 solid seconds. But that's the one I always get caught on. And I'm not even a parent. (pretty apparent, though, isn't it)"}, {"response": 15, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Dec 15, 1998 (22:37)", "body": "Jim--you gonna be in PA over Christmas??"}, {"response": 16, "author": "jgross", "date": "Tue, Dec 15, 1998 (23:28)", "body": "I'm gonna get on the PA and speak occasionally to the whole state at once about mistletoeing with the right one while they ride flying reindeers under that particular plant with the thick leaves and berries. Last year I talked to them about \"Jack Frost\", a whole year before the movie came out."}, {"response": 17, "author": "PT", "date": "Wed, Dec 16, 1998 (15:28)", "body": "Well someone has to talk about the dangers of flying low."}, {"response": 18, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (23:56)", "body": "\"Diary of a Seducer\" (not rated) starring Chiara Mastroianni and Melvil Poupaud; directed by Daniele Dubroux http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572521953/thespring This French film of obsessive love--which takes its title from a book by Soren Kierkegaard--delves into a complicated tangle of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and romance. Available January 26."}, {"response": 19, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jan 13, 1999 (23:59)", "body": "\"Schizopolis\" (not rated) starring Steven Soderbergh, Betsy Brantley, and David Jensen; directed by Steven Soderbergh http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572521481/thespring (widescreen) From the director of \"Sex, Lies, and Videotape\" comes this surreal and experimental film that defies brief description. You might call it an avant-garde look at religion, romance, and the nature of language. Available January 26. \"Fanny and Alexander\" (R) starring Pernilla Allwin and Bertil Guve; directed by Ingmar Bergman http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0792840240/thespring Admirers of Bergman's film have been awaiting this rerelease for a long time. \"Fanny and Alexander,\" an autobiographical story set in Sweden at the beginning of the 20th century, is probably the most accessible and magical of Bergman's oeuvre. Available March 2."}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan 14, 1999 (07:37)", "body": "1/5/99 Video Releases Disturbing Behavior How Stella Got Her Groove Back Out of Sight Big week this week. 1/12/99 Video Releases Dance With Me 54 Henry Fool Hi-Life Pi The Truman Show Wilde"}, {"response": 21, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jan 15, 1999 (15:23)", "body": "I want to see \"Henry Fool.\""}, {"response": 22, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Jan 15, 1999 (16:37)", "body": "was it charlotte that gave it such a glowing review? (I know, iknow, what in the hell am I doing in this topic?)"}, {"response": 23, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jan 15, 1999 (23:21)", "body": "(my thoughts exactly!!!)"}, {"response": 24, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Sat, Jan 16, 1999 (11:09)", "body": "No, it wasn't me. It was somebody else. I'm on the list of those anxious to see it! :)"}, {"response": 25, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Jan 17, 1999 (18:50)", "body": "It was Jim, I think."}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jan 20, 1999 (08:44)", "body": "1/19/99 Video Releases Buffalo '66 Fireworks Love and Death on Long Island Mafia! The Only Thrill Return to Paradise Slums of Beverly Hills Smoke Signals"}, {"response": 27, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (17:25)", "body": "I want to see \"Love & Death on L.I.\" This week I saw \"Clockwatchers\", which is a would-be film noir about the tedium of office work as seen through the eyes of a temp, and \"Wings of the Dove,\" which started out great and then kind of petered out."}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 26, 1999 (09:51)", "body": "1/26/99 Video Releases Cube Kurt and Courtney Marie Baie des Anges Rush Hour Whatever"}, {"response": 29, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 27, 1999 (20:52)", "body": "Marie Baie des Anges? Foreign film, I assume. Anyone seen this one? (Jim?)"}, {"response": 30, "author": "jgross", "date": "Fri, Jan 29, 1999 (22:34)", "body": "Hadn't heard of it either. But I prefer to think that James Berardinelli has. Maybe, though, he writes his reviews first and then goes to see the movie to see if it checks out to be what he thought it would be: Marie Baie des Anges A Film Review by James Berardinelli France, 1997 U.S. Release Date: beginning 6/19/98 (limited) Running Length: 1:30 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, sexuality, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cast: Vahina Giocante, Frederic Malgras Director: Manuel Pradal Producer: Philippe Rousselet Screenplay: Manuel Pradal Cinematography: Christophe Pollock Music: Carlo Crivelli U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics In French with subtitles Some films use a strong narrative to explore themes. Others utilize detailed character development for the same purpose. More rare are movies like Marie Baie des Anges, which attempts to use images and atmosphere to convey emotions and advance the plot. This is the kind of motion picture that will frustrate anyone who looks for a solid storyline, but may fascinate viewers who aren't bothered by this reliance upon the compelling power of well-photographed visuals. In other words, only art house audiences need bother. Marie Baie des Anges is slow moving but hypnotic, and always pretty to look at even when the story strays into the realm of the improbable and the incomprehensible. The film stars the alluring and sensual Vahina Giocante as Marie, a 15 year-old girl who spends her summer wandering the beaches in the South of France. Using her undeniable charms to enflame the libidos of several American soldiers (all portrayed as unflattering caricatures), she enjoys their attention as they take her to nightclubs and ply her with champagne. When she is around them, she feels like a queen. But Marie is a tease, and the GIs soon tire of her. In parallel with Marie's story, the film introduces us to 17 year-old Orso (Frederic Malgras), an outsider who is also spending his summer on the French Riviera. Like Marie, Orso does not feel bound by the conventions of society, but his rebellion manifests itself in violence and lawlessness. Orso is easily one of the most dangerous and uninhibited boys roaming the beaches. Ultimately, he and Marie meet, and, although their initial encounter is unfriendly, they soon find themselves attracted to each other, and embark on a journey to an island paradise. However, reality intrudes. Manuel Pradal, making his directorial debut, treats the film as if it is a canvas, juxtaposing images of incredible sensuality, amazing beauty, and graphic violence. In this movie, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. The film shows how somewhere as beautiful as the Riviera (and the \"Baie des Anges\" in particular) can conceal great pain and misfortune. Every shot is carefully selected to emphasize the director's vision of how this Eden is a place of contradictions. By carefully choosing the times of day when the lighting is just right, Pradal and cinematographer Christophe Pollock have sought to recreate the Riviera captured in the paintings of Matisse. For Marie Baie des Anges, Pradal has assembled a cast of newcomers and screen neophytes, many of whom came from poor backgrounds. The two leads, Vahina Giocante and Frederic Malgras, have charisma, although Malgras occasionally shows his lack of acting experience. Before landing this role, he lived in a caravan of Russian gypsies north of Paris. Giocante, a dancer for the Marseilles Opera, was only 13 when Pradal chose her to play Marie, and she is a true natural. Already, she has been called \"the new Bardot\" by virtually everyone. In the wake of her stunning debut here, there is little doubt that she will be heard from again. Pradal's attention to visual detail has its pros and cons. On the positive side, it effectively captures the chaos of youth, when girls and boys struggle with intimacy, clumsily learn about the power of sexuality, and feel the sting of rejection. It's not so much love that eventually binds Marie and Orso together, as their unspoken recognition of how much they have in common. Too often, however, Pradal becomes so enraptured with his visual poetry that he lets the thin narrative fragment to the point where it makes no sense. For those willing to endure the frustration engendered by such lapses, Marie Baie des Anges offers a few unconventional pleasures. \ufffd 1998 James Berardinelli"}, {"response": 31, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jan 30, 1999 (02:58)", "body": "Did you post this before you read this or did you just make up this imaginary reviewer as your new psued, leplep? Which is it?"}, {"response": 32, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jan 30, 1999 (13:08)", "body": "Because of our posting schedule, his post will take place three weeks after we see it."}, {"response": 33, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Feb  1, 1999 (14:44)", "body": "James Berardinelli is, in my unremarkable opinion, the finest reviewer on the Web, or most any place else. I *always* check his reviews for information on new films, and only very rarely have my on viewpoints differed radically from his. I have only seen him give a perfect score to one film, and that was Schindler's List. James Berardinelli"}, {"response": 34, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb  1, 1999 (17:55)", "body": "I will bookmark that one for sure. And how does he stack up the perennial Siskel and Ebert?"}, {"response": 35, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Feb  1, 1999 (18:44)", "body": "Well, for one thing, he keeps nobody around to argue with him. :) Ebert has visited James' site, and commented favorably on it. I find him equally articulate, discerning, knowlegeable. I think you will agree after you visit his site and check out some films that you have already seen. S&E do not post their reviews in readable form, merely audio. I do not have a sound card, so this is useless to me. Even so, I watch S&E each week, and will continue to do so for the film clips, but for thorough, thoughtful reviews, I prefer James. I have been his fan even BEFORE he had a website."}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Feb  2, 1999 (06:32)", "body": "That's too bad Siskel and Ebert don't publish their reviews in text, only audio. I checked out http://www.siskel-ebert.com and couldn't find any written reviews like you said. And I didn't have a sound card in this machine so I had to give up on that site."}, {"response": 37, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Feb  7, 2036 (00:39)", "body": "Wow, great site, Charlotte--we agreed on 4 out of 5 films I clicked on. That's a pretty good ration! I was getting tired of those smug reviews at http://www.mrshowbiz.com ."}, {"response": 38, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Thu, Feb  7, 2036 (01:32)", "body": "Spread the word, Autumn! James is the greatest! Incidentally, which one did you disagree on?"}, {"response": 39, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Feb  7, 2036 (01:42)", "body": "\"Trees Lounge.\" But we were dead-on with the others! It's at the top of my entertainment bookmarks now."}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb  8, 1999 (18:55)", "body": "2/9/99 Video Releases Antz Clay Pigeons John Carpenter's Vampires Legionnaire (Van Damme!) Next Stop Wonderland Office Killer Rounders"}, {"response": 41, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Feb  8, 1999 (19:28)", "body": "Rented \"Sliding Doors\" and \"Grosse Pointe Blank\" this weekend--both were terrific, especialy GPB. My kind of humor! I haven't laughed so hard in ages."}, {"response": 42, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb  8, 1999 (20:51)", "body": "What kind of humor is that?"}, {"response": 43, "author": "pmnh", "date": "Tue, Feb  9, 1999 (21:05)", "body": "(dark?) (i liked grosse pointe blank a lot too)"}, {"response": 44, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Feb 11, 1999 (11:12)", "body": "Wry, dark, clever, a real dry wit--I mean, any film about a hit man going to his High School reunion just has to be a scream! It's on my top ten list now."}, {"response": 45, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Feb 17, 1999 (10:59)", "body": "2/16/99 Video Releases Beyond Silence Fetishes First Love, Last Rites The Governess A Merry War Snake Eyes This Is the Sea Welcome to the Woop Woop Without Limits"}, {"response": 46, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Feb 18, 1999 (13:49)", "body": "Never heard of any of 'em. Rented \"Wag the Dog\" for the weeekend."}, {"response": 47, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb 22, 1999 (19:35)", "body": "OK. It's that time again. 2/23/99 Video Releases Digging to China Last Emperor: The Director's Cut Permanent Midnight Ronin Shadrach Urban Legend"}, {"response": 48, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Mar  2, 1999 (09:35)", "body": "Slim pickin's 3/2/99 Video Releases Ever After Slam"}, {"response": 49, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Mar 12, 1999 (08:45)", "body": "3/9/99 Video Releases Dead Man on Campus Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammemeyer Story Slam What Dreams May Come"}, {"response": 50, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Fri, Mar 12, 1999 (09:41)", "body": "Hello everybody! I'm collecting home movies on Super8, Normal8 or 16mm FILMS! That's right, not on magnet tape but on genuine reel-to-reel-film. Is there anybody interested in the same thing? Please check http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/collecting/24 ."}, {"response": 51, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 18, 2000 (19:34)", "body": "what's out in stores now: Toy Story 2 The Green Mile"}, {"response": 52, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Oct 28, 2000 (20:05)", "body": "9/26/00 Video Releases Black and White * Final Destination The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas * Joe Gould's Secret The Last September Screwed * Waking the Dead Where the Heart Is Center Stage East-West The Skulls Snow Day * U-571 10/10/00 Video Releases Committed * Love and Basketball * Pitch Black Rules of Engagement * Shanghai Noon * Time Code 10/17/00 Video Releases * Keeping the Faith Picking Up the Pieces * Toy Story 2 10/24/00 Video Releases Center Stage * The Patriot * Up at the Villa More Video's I'd like to check out: American Psycho Anna and the King with Jody Foster Bicentennial Man Bob Roberts - I hear this has a tremendous cast. It's got Tim Robbins in Chasing Amy - Ben Affleck Cider House Rules Dangerous Beauty Fight Club From Dusk till Dawn Gun Shy with Sandra Bullock Hanging Up Heat - I hear it's a real character actorfest. Deniro's in it. Hurricane Liberty Heights Lost Highway, David Lynch on the Indie Film Channel Love and Basketball Magnolia Mansfield Park Next Best Thing Ninth Gate Pitch Black - a sf film Prophecy - Christopher Walken horror film. Red Violin Saragossa Manuscript Straight Story Sweet and Lowdown Talented Mr. Ripley The Green Mile Time Code Titus Topsy Turvy, a Mike Leigh movie True Crime Twin Falls, Idaho What Planet are you From?"}, {"response": 53, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Nov  5, 2000 (17:15)", "body": "Of the above, I have only seen three of them. Chasing Amy - HATED it. Very vulgar. Mansfield Park - I really liked it, but Jane Austen would roll over in her grave if she could see what they've done to spice up her novel. Talented Mr. Ripley - Disliked it; Matt Damon's character came off as unwitting and clueless, not malevolent like I believe the author intended. Best rental I've had lately is \"Waiting for Guffman\", another \"documentary\" by Christopher Guest (Remember \"This is Spinal Tap\"?)"}, {"response": 54, "author": "Moon", "date": "Sun, Nov  5, 2000 (17:39)", "body": "Here is a movie to rent, Apartment Zero. We plan to start the AZ discussion on Thursday Nov. 9th at our CF film discussion topic. I hope you will all join us."}, {"response": 55, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Nov  6, 2000 (07:49)", "body": "Happy Texas should have been on that list, I just saw it and really enjoyed it. About a couple of guys, Jeremy Northam was one, who escaped from prison, faked being gay child beauty pageant managers. It was a fun diversion. I'm going to see Fight Club, when tivo records it in a couple of days. Otherwise I haven't made a dent in the list."}, {"response": 56, "author": "CherylB", "date": "Tue, Nov  7, 2000 (18:19)", "body": "Autumn, have you seen the earlier film adaptation of \"The Talented Mr. Ripley\"? It's a French film from the early 1960's called \"Purple Noon\". It's available in both sub-titled and English-dubbed versions. It's the movie which launched Alain Delon as an international star."}, {"response": 57, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Nov  9, 2000 (18:05)", "body": "No Cheryl, did you enjoy it? I will look for it in the foreign film section and compare the two."}, {"response": 58, "author": "CherylB", "date": "Sat, Nov 11, 2000 (10:22)", "body": "Yes, I did enjoy the film. I saw the sub-titled version in the theater when it was it was re-released about a year and a half ago. Delon is wonderful as Tom Ripley. The director Martin Scorcese admired the film so much he was responsible for the reissuing of a clean, new print. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 28, "subject": "Sundance", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan 21, 1999 (09:23)", "body": "Sundance Enters Digital Era by Jason Silverman 3:00 a.m. 21.Jan.99.PST PARK CITY, Utah -- The quick evolution of digital filmmaking -- some are calling it a digital revolution -- will be a focus of the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, which begins here Thursday. Just as 1915 is remembered for The Birth of a Nation, the first Hollywood epic, and 1927 for The Jazz Singer, the first talking picture, 1998 could go down in film history as a watershed for digital film. Three digital movies reached theaters last year, including Bennett Miller's documentary The Cruise, a horror film called The Last Broadcast, and Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration, a likely candidate for a foreign language Oscar nomination. But unless you were reading indie publications like Res magazine, you might not have known. The New York Times and Roger Ebert, in reviews of The Cruise and The Celebration, did not use the word digital. Thanks in part to the festival's New Media and Technology Center, though, Sundance '99 is taking stock of recent advances in digital technology. During the 10 day festival, the New Media and Technology Center will host numerous events marking the rise of digital filmmaking. Included are demonstrations of Sony digital cameras and Avid nonlinear editing systems; panel discussions on digital cinematography, sound, and editing; a seminar exploring the changing realities of distribution in a digital world; and \"The Digital Shoot-Out,\" a side-by-side demonstration of various formats, including Digital Beta, mini DV, Beta SP, Hi-8, and 35 mm film. According to Ian Calderon, a founder of and senior consultant to the Sundance Institute, the New Media and Technology Center, instituted in 1996, represents but one portion of Sundance's long history of commitment to video and digital filmmaking. In 1981, the Sundance Filmmakers Lab began using video as a \"sketchpad\" to work out problematic scenes before committing them to film. Nearly two decades later, video, Calderon said, is considered \"finished product.\" \"The independent-film community in 1981 considered video second class,\" Calderon said. \"Fast forward to 1999, and digital video is becoming an accepted state-of-the-art technology for independent filmmakers. It can take a while to size up a new technology, but video and digital video are now fully engaged by the filmmaking community.\""}, {"response": 2, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (00:10)", "body": "it's a great movie channel..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (17:25)", "body": "Our cable company doesn't carry it at present."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (18:00)", "body": "I get it on the dish out in Cedar Creek but not on our cable in Austin. I don't like having to put in one of those little black boxes. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 29, "subject": "Titanic", "response_count": 64, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Mar 23, 1998 (07:36)", "body": "This is a film that cost $200 million to make, and has already made 5 times that. Have you seen it?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Mar 23, 1998 (10:24)", "body": "yes."}, {"response": 3, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Mar 23, 1998 (12:38)", "body": "Yes. I think it's overhyped and overrated. Sure, it was good. But who couldn't make a good film with $200 million bucks. I do not think it rated 19 Oscar nominations."}, {"response": 4, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Mar 23, 1998 (16:01)", "body": "lemme know hoe many it actually wins."}, {"response": 5, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Mar 23, 1998 (18:19)", "body": "Haven't seen it but I'm getting pressured to by my better half. :-)"}, {"response": 6, "author": "Clarry", "date": "Mon, Mar 23, 1998 (22:03)", "body": "If you've seen it, what is your favourite part... Mine is when 'Rose' jumps back on the boat. I am proud to admit I actually cried!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Mar 24, 1998 (09:19)", "body": "*gasp* i SAW the oscars with my own two eyes last night (hooking up a new 10-spin over at the Tinianow's)"}, {"response": 8, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Tue, Mar 24, 1998 (12:06)", "body": "\"I've had this sinking feeling all evening...\" ---- Jack Nicholson :)"}, {"response": 9, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Mar 24, 1998 (15:49)", "body": "yes, a great line!"}, {"response": 10, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Mar 25, 1998 (22:33)", "body": "I bet he was saving that one up all night! Can't you just imagine if he'd lost, and the reporters would ask him if he were disappointed? He'd have used it then!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "pip", "date": "Mon, Mar 30, 1998 (11:34)", "body": "Aside from the ones who won't see it, I think that I'm the only (female) person who doesn't want to see Titanic again. Once was more than enough for me. I didn't cry- I was too depressed and stunned to cry. I found the whole thing to be heartbreaking and nerve-racking. After seeing the dead woman and her baby floating together, and of course after LEO dies, that was it for me. I actually wanted to leave the theatre at that point. Fixed my self a double gin & tonic when I got home."}, {"response": 12, "author": "EEK", "date": "Mon, Mar 30, 1998 (12:05)", "body": "I saw the movie twice and I loved it and I would see it again in a second. The clothing, music, special effects, make-up and actors did a fabulous job. Although I do think Leonardo was a baby for not attending the Oscars. I think it is a movie that is both educational and romantic. I cannot wait till it is out on video."}, {"response": 13, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Mar 30, 1998 (19:49)", "body": "Did you ever see \"A Night to Remember\", made in the 60s/70s? I saw it on video a few years ago, and never cried so hard at a film in my life. when \"Titanic\" came out, I swore I wouldn't see it just because the reality of it is so sad."}, {"response": 14, "author": "EEK", "date": "Wed, Apr  1, 1998 (12:11)", "body": "I have never seen that movie, who stars in it? I guess you would recommend it! I love to cry at movies, I cry so easily, so you can imagine what I was like after \"Titanic.\""}, {"response": 15, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Apr  1, 1998 (21:33)", "body": "I would recommend it if your idea of a good film is a heart-wrenching sobfest! It follows the storylines of several passengers and the crew. I honestly can't remember who was in it (I'm really bad at that!), but it's probably in the cheap section of your video store because it's so old."}, {"response": 16, "author": "EEK", "date": "Fri, Apr  3, 1998 (11:47)", "body": "Thanks I will probably check that out sometime when I need a good break from school =)"}, {"response": 17, "author": "LorieS", "date": "Fri, Apr  3, 1998 (14:32)", "body": "Has anyone seen some of the documentaries being shown on A&E lately re Titanic? I've watched with fascination (and depression). I have to admit I haven't seen the movie -- older, less graphic movie versions have been traumatic enough for me. I don't need nightmares from seeing the new, high-tech version."}, {"response": 18, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Apr  4, 1998 (22:20)", "body": "My husband's been watching & taping them, Lorie, and I try to ignore it when I come into the room but it's like a traffic accident--you just have to look! Sad, sad, sad."}, {"response": 19, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Apr  6, 1998 (17:31)", "body": "shit. I find the fact that my kids have to go home to drug addicits and abusive parents friggin sad. I find that an 86 y.o. disaster is now something I can learn from. Heck. In this case... the Civil War is sad. Conquering of Rome. The way Europeans came onto N America, renamed it and murdered and sequestered the true native peoples. The slave trade. F*** it's all just a sob fest I suppose. (I'm really REALLY sorry. I think I should probably erase this but it makes me feel better to have it down. One of my students ended up in an orphanage over the break. Seems the 'boyfriend' did something to the mother. F*** this. It pisses me off what some of my kids have to go through. just need to cry. Brandon's on a trip. No human shoulders at home. I suppose I should've gone to Venting for this, but the 'sad' remarks kinda set me off here.) sorry."}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr  6, 1998 (22:33)", "body": "No need to be sorry, venting is really ok. Here, here's this shoulder."}, {"response": 21, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Apr  7, 1998 (17:58)", "body": "thanks Paul. I am actually checking in from school right before I head down to the shelter to see my student. I've been trying to pull transportation strings all day (in between teaching the rest of my class) and I may have found a way to get him back in school here. *fingers crossed* and my apologies again for dumping on all last night."}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr  7, 1998 (20:04)", "body": "No apologies necessary. I like it that we all trust and confide in each other here. It's hard to find places where cynicism doesn't abound these days."}, {"response": 23, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Apr  7, 1998 (20:55)", "body": "Hope this situation has straightened out, Stacey--there are tragedies all around us, and not all of them are marketable by the entertainment industry. (for the record, I will not see \"Schindler's List\" or \"Amistad\", either)"}, {"response": 24, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Apr  8, 1998 (08:51)", "body": "*laugh* Autumn, I commend you for being so consistent! And about my student... I went to see him at the shelter last night and brought cards the class had made. He is doing fine and in a safe place. The abusive parent is out of the picture and he is getting a lot of TLC down there. Certainly happy news!"}, {"response": 25, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Apr  8, 1998 (13:55)", "body": "It's nice to know that sometimes these stories can have a happy ending. Must be a real weight off your shoulders, Stacey."}, {"response": 26, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Apr  9, 1998 (08:46)", "body": "kind of Autumn. the weight never felt like it was on my shoulders... more in my heart."}, {"response": 27, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Thu, Apr  9, 1998 (08:46)", "body": "OK, i FINALLY went and watched Titanic. It flew by pretty quick. The part that got to me was when Rose died and went back. Since I drove myself, had to put off the bawling episodes."}, {"response": 28, "author": "pmnh", "date": "Mon, Apr 13, 1998 (00:40)", "body": "(so... that's how you've been spending your nights? driving yourself to chick flicks? no table dancing in biker joints, cruising boulevards for lonesome sailors, etc...?) will never see \"titanic\", i have determined... don't understand the point of purposely seeing sad (pardon me, \"sad\", i mean) movies- where you KNOW characters you are manipulated into caring about die and stuff... why would one do that to one's self? (wouldn't have seen, for instance, \"terms of endearment\" if someone had only warned me that debra winger was gonna die... i mean, why in the hell would i actually PAY to watch debra winger die?) exception are movies (i.e., \"schindler's list\", \"michael collins\", etc...) where the sadness has a relevent, important point to make... and just what is the point, re:\"titanic\"? (and stacey... whoa... that venting thing was pretty cool... glad the kid is alright... far too few happy endings out there... here... hell, anywhere)..."}, {"response": 29, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Apr 13, 1998 (09:19)", "body": "good question nick, \"what's the point?\" Some people claim seeing sad flicks makes them appreciate their own lives more, some claim it's like having company for your own miserable existence, some just want to be saddened and prefer this means as to reading the daily news. Do you ever listen to sad songs? Is it because you want to be sad for a minute? Or do you just like the song? I have a tendency to write about my sadness and don't use movies as a catalyst or catharsis but I also refuse to watch the evening news. so... To each his own. I certainly don't question anyone's refusal to see a flick (not true, I DO question it, but I am not judging the decision) but I am curious about the circumstances. And I gues I'm also curious about, \"what the point is.\""}, {"response": 30, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Apr 13, 1998 (20:07)", "body": "Glad to see you back, Wolf!"}, {"response": 31, "author": "IronMan", "date": "Fri, May 15, 1998 (10:58)", "body": "Well I have seen Titanic more than 20 times since its been out in theaters and I must say that, even though it is a good movie, I've seen better. For all you action buffs out their that didn't like Titanic, see L.A. Confidential. Now that movie should have won best picture (I've seen it more than 30 times)."}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 15, 1998 (17:53)", "body": "Wow, you are a true movie fanatic. Welcome aboard.y j ]"}, {"response": 33, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, May 16, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "I still haven't seen Titanic..."}, {"response": 34, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, May 17, 1998 (21:52)", "body": "Wow Iron Man, which time did you figure out it wasn't that great? \"LA Confidential\" was a little too violent for me, and I haven't seen \"Titanic.\" Are you gonna see it, wer?"}, {"response": 35, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (01:07)", "body": "maybe, if it ever makes it to cable/satellite..."}, {"response": 36, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (01:08)", "body": "(I only get to see, on average, one new movie a year)"}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (07:44)", "body": "It will make it to cable, trust me."}, {"response": 38, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (16:18)", "body": "no videos WER?"}, {"response": 39, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (18:22)", "body": "maybe three or so a year..."}, {"response": 40, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (18:38)", "body": "I thought for sure you had a membership to 'pleasure land' (29th and Guadalupe) *grin*"}, {"response": 41, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (19:19)", "body": "true or not as that may be, renting anything there with the word Titanic in the title is very depressing..."}, {"response": 42, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, May 22, 1998 (15:48)", "body": "LOL!!! (still laughing) *cackle* *giggle* *chuckle* *sob* *giggle*"}, {"response": 43, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan 21, 1999 (09:26)", "body": "How did this item get linked to both movies and tv? I screwed up, that's how."}, {"response": 44, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (00:07)", "body": "done that, been there! (actually, I think it's on my daily itenerary(sp?)...)"}, {"response": 45, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (06:27)", "body": "Well, maybe they'll show the Titanic movie on tv someday."}, {"response": 46, "author": "osceola", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (10:38)", "body": "I read one of the networks bought the TV rights and will show it in a few years."}, {"response": 47, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 22, 1999 (13:18)", "body": "See, this a leading edge topic!"}, {"response": 48, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (00:36)", "body": "it's tres cool, as well..."}, {"response": 49, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (17:33)", "body": "Still haven't seen it..."}, {"response": 50, "author": "mikeg", "date": "Sat, Jan 23, 1999 (20:42)", "body": "me neither"}, {"response": 51, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sat, Jul 17, 1999 (21:39)", "body": "you guys have to see it!"}, {"response": 52, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul 17, 1999 (22:23)", "body": "I think I've watched it with Zoe enough for both of them..."}, {"response": 53, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul 22, 1999 (13:52)", "body": "I hated the Titanic, really - what the heck was all the fuss for?? He can't act, she can't act, but the old lady can act, and she was only on for 2 minutes. The special effects were good, but I thought movies had something to do with the art of 'acting'. No? I guess I'm too old-fashioned. Now, Shakespearre in love (despite Paltrow) . . . THERE'S a movie!"}, {"response": 54, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Jul 23, 1999 (18:24)", "body": "i liked the storyline of titanic... what's the matter with paltrow? i thought she was great in this film. although if i were to compare her with the gal from elizabeth, elizabeth would win hands down. now that girl can act!"}, {"response": 55, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (01:42)", "body": "Yep! Why the hell didn't they use her??? Although, they had Julia Roberts in mind for Paltrow's role at first - I'm just glad THAT didn't happen! I like Julia Roberts, but the role would have never have suited her, she's too good playing yuppies ; at least she had the sense to turn it down. Paltrow is not BAD, but I find she's a younger, imitated version of Emma Thompson as far as acting is concerned. Thompson is a wonderful actress, but her style of acting doesn't look right when it's copied. I wish Paltrow would develop her own style - I think she could do better putting in her own touches. Or, why didn't they just use Emma? Yes, she's too old for the part - but that's what they have computers for, right?"}, {"response": 56, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (17:03)", "body": "julia roberts? nope, glad they didn't do that!! i don't see emma thompson in paltrow....hmmmmm...."}, {"response": 57, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Jul 25, 1999 (01:31)", "body": "Watch 'Much Ado about Nothing' with Emma Thompson doing Shakespeare. Paltrow does a near perfect copy of the part she played in that."}, {"response": 58, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Jul 25, 1999 (10:47)", "body": "didn't care for much ado about nothing...."}, {"response": 59, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Jul 25, 1999 (12:39)", "body": "Ye didn't??? I adored it. And Peter's Friends. I love English films."}, {"response": 60, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jul 28, 1999 (10:26)", "body": "I thought they were asking a bit much of us by casting Emma Thompson as 20 year-old Elinor in Sense and Sensibility . And while I like Gwyneth Paltrow, I'm getting tired of the English accent ( Emma, Sliding Doors, Shakespeare in Love ). I expect it to sound fake so it does."}, {"response": 61, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Aug  4, 1999 (17:31)", "body": "haven't seen emma yet...."}, {"response": 62, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Aug  5, 1999 (03:04)", "body": "I though Sense and Sensibility was just stupid - it's so unreal. Even my wildest romantic fantasies don't get ANYWHERE near that sort of soppy feel-good sort of stuff. I didn't see Emma or Sliding Doors; the shorts didn't look that interesting. The accent's GOT to be a put-on! I mean, Autumn, you've been to England - they have a bloody appalling accent unless they put it on!"}, {"response": 63, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (22:37)", "body": "Oh, Ree, you should rent Sliding Doors , it was quite good. The accent just makes you want to roll your eyes."}, {"response": 64, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (05:00)", "body": "Really? Okay, I'll rent it and report back. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 3, "subject": "Northern Exposure", "response_count": 48, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "kbhr", "date": "Thu, Apr  3, 1997 (19:35)", "body": ""}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr  4, 1997 (06:15)", "body": "Copy the url of this topic and get it on the search engines. That way you'll start getting responses. If you need help with this, let me know. You have to give out the read only url which you get when you come in to the Spring's read only conferences. You might also try getting some Northern Exposure websites to link to this topic."}, {"response": 3, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (08:47)", "body": "I put in a comment about NExp somewhere but by now I've been so many places...anyway, yeah, LOVED NExp in its early seasons (hated the new doc and his whiney wifs; stopped watching right before Rob Morrow ditched). The unique use of unusual music totally blew me away--they apparently sell actual compilations of the tunes used. I did get my hands on that incredible piece used on the episode where (and your eyes glaze over) at the end all the men run bare-assed through the streets to the strains of Lindse Buckingham \"if we all-all-all-all go insane-sane-sane, we can all go together...\"--there are some shows that actully USE music, but none with the intelligence, taste, and savvy of NExp."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (20:58)", "body": "It must be playing re runs on my satellite dish somewhere, with all these 600 channels you'd think it would be running somewhere."}, {"response": 5, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 14, 1997 (08:45)", "body": "have you ever found it on video? they're doing more & more of that (see X-files)"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 14, 1997 (23:29)", "body": "Not yet, my satellite magazine hasn't come yet. It may be listed on http://www.tripled.com under wild feeds."}, {"response": 7, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (08:47)", "body": "Sadly I'm still an umbilically-connected cable kind o' gal. You satellite folk have all the fun!"}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (22:31)", "body": "It is fun, but it was a lot of work to get that 10' dish in synch with all those satellites."}, {"response": 9, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (09:57)", "body": "10 foot? I thought the major advantage was nowadays they're tiny (18 inches). Could I get a little man in to synch my dish (should I elect to make such a $400 purchase) or is that prohibitively expensive? How did you know where the satellites were (your observatory?)? Once again we've drifted...."}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (21:26)", "body": "I think they're under $200 for the little digital jobbies now and they are the only way to go if you don't already have a big dish. If I hadn't put in a big dish years ago I wouldn't even consider it."}, {"response": 11, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 17, 1997 (13:23)", "body": ""}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Apr 17, 1997 (23:40)", "body": ""}, {"response": 13, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 18, 1997 (08:15)", "body": ""}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Apr 19, 1997 (00:52)", "body": ""}, {"response": 15, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 21, 1997 (13:20)", "body": ""}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 22, 1997 (23:29)", "body": ""}, {"response": 17, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 23, 1997 (09:07)", "body": ""}, {"response": 18, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 23, 1997 (09:10)", "body": "\"classier\" babewatch chick? I missed that the first time around. Classier than what, exactly?"}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Apr 24, 1997 (16:16)", "body": "heh heh"}, {"response": 20, "author": "crestgirl", "date": "Sun, May 25, 1997 (13:04)", "body": "I also ADORED Northern Exposure. I also quit watching when that AWFUL new doc and his yucky wife showed up. I couldn't help being totally mad at ROB MORROW for leaving, and where is he now? I realize a person doesn't become an actor to play only one part all the time, but where is their loyalty to the shows that make them rich and famous, as well as to the fans? Oh well, where I live it was in reruns during the day for awhile, then in the middle of the night, now it appears to be gone. Don't you think LIF TIME should pick it up? By the way, my favortie show, SLIDERS, has recently been canceled. I'll help you save your favorite shows if you'll help me bring SLIDERS back from the dead! It worked once before! Please, it won't take very long, write a nice letter to Peter Roth, President Fox Entertainment PO BOX 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213 And don't write SLIDERS on the outside of the envelope or it will be dumped into the fan mail bin. Thanks, everyone, and look in your bookstores for NORTHERN EXPOSURE books. I bought a book of photos all taken by ROB MORROW and captioned by him. I also bought a NORTHERN EXPOSURE cook book! And a cd of music from the show! Thanks, everyone!"}, {"response": 21, "author": "crestgirl", "date": "Sun, May 25, 1997 (13:04)", "body": "I also ADORED Northern Exposure. I also quit watching when that AWFUL new doc and his yucky wife showed up. I couldn't help being totally mad at ROB MORROW for leaving, and where is he now? I realize a person doesn't become an actor to play only one part all the time, but where is their loyalty to the shows that make them rich and famous, as well as to the fans? Oh well, where I live it was in reruns during the day for awhile, then in the middle of the night, now it appears to be gone. Don't you think LIF TIME should pick it up? By the way, my favortie show, SLIDERS, has recently been canceled. I'll help you save your favorite shows if you'll help me bring SLIDERS back from the dead! It worked once before! Please, it won't take very long, write a nice letter to Peter Roth, President Fox Entertainment PO BOX 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213 And don't write SLIDERS on the outside of the envelope or it will be dumped into the fan mail bin. Thanks, everyone, and look in your bookstores for NORTHERN EXPOSURE books. I bought a book of photos all taken by ROB MORROW and captioned by him. I also bought a NORTHERN EXPOSURE cook book! And a cd of music from the show! Thanks, everyone!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, May 26, 1997 (14:11)", "body": ""}, {"response": 23, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, May 27, 1997 (08:29)", "body": ""}, {"response": 24, "author": "ginger", "date": "Sun, Jun 15, 1997 (01:01)", "body": ""}, {"response": 25, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Jun 18, 1997 (07:53)", "body": ""}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jun 18, 1997 (11:58)", "body": ""}, {"response": 27, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Jun 20, 1997 (08:07)", "body": ""}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jun 20, 1997 (18:46)", "body": ""}, {"response": 29, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Jun 23, 1997 (08:13)", "body": "HELP ME I AM LOSING MY MEMORY--so what is the name of the show that the Nexp DJ actor is now doing???? I saw a blurb about it in the paper but of course in one eye and out the other for me!!! I want to watch the show but I don't even know what it is!"}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jun 23, 1997 (08:31)", "body": "I don't know but you may want to add 'minds' to your conference list, aubrey. Join it and see what's going on."}, {"response": 31, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Jun 27, 1997 (13:03)", "body": "Thank you terry! I might want to add a mind to the inside of my skull too!"}, {"response": 32, "author": "Moocow2", "date": "Wed, Jul  2, 1997 (00:13)", "body": "G'day guys, I'm Andrew from Australia. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but you guys sound absolutely crazy! Anyway I'm a devoted NE fan.... Yahdeh, Yahdeh. I know you guys always talk about the show as being \"cool\" etc, but don't you really think that the show was appealing because of the lack of superficiality of the characters (ie..Chris and Maggie). I'd love to be able to live a life like that! Maybe I'm full of crap.... I don't know. Anyway Cheerio."}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul  2, 1997 (11:06)", "body": ""}, {"response": 34, "author": "moocow2", "date": "Wed, Jul  2, 1997 (23:58)", "body": ""}, {"response": 35, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jul  3, 1997 (07:04)", "body": ""}, {"response": 36, "author": "Azucena", "date": "Sun, Jul 13, 1997 (17:06)", "body": ""}, {"response": 37, "author": "KBHR", "date": "Tue, Jul 15, 1997 (20:49)", "body": ""}, {"response": 38, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug 21, 1997 (23:22)", "body": ""}, {"response": 39, "author": "moocow2", "date": "Sun, Aug 24, 1997 (01:28)", "body": ""}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Aug 24, 1997 (07:42)", "body": "And she's thinking about marrying the guy, maybe."}, {"response": 41, "author": "Puddin", "date": "Sun, Aug 31, 1997 (12:50)", "body": "Hi everyone! I've been running around the net trying to locate other NX fans to talk with. Since the show went off the air,It's left a void that only other fans can understand . The answer to an eariler question I read about the new show (Chris) John Corbett will Star in is \"The Visitor\" on Friday nights, I can't wait!!! Favorite episode? That's tough,but Spring Break,and The Bear {that's not the real name of the ep but I always remember it that way}. are two that stand out in my mind. What about your favorite episodes? Did any of you go to or hear about the Moosefest?"}, {"response": 42, "author": "paxzen", "date": "Mon, Feb  2, 1998 (05:44)", "body": "Northern exposure was the best thing tv ever did. Now the only good thing I watch is the Simpsons! I loved Chris in the morning, didnt really dig it when he started dating Maggie, btw, I thought Maggie and the doc were the weak points of the show (IMHO). I mostly liked the feel of the town. One of my favorite episodes was the one where the amateur movie guy(name?) did his film of the town. That episod would bring tears to my eyes each time I saw it. I dont have cable or satellite, so I dont see the s ow anymore."}, {"response": 43, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Feb  4, 1998 (14:41)", "body": "Well, there are always Northern Exposure websites, maybe you could find a group that trades old tapes."}, {"response": 44, "author": "DW", "date": "Sat, Feb 14, 1998 (22:26)", "body": ""}, {"response": 45, "author": "DW", "date": "Sat, Feb 14, 1998 (22:36)", "body": ""}, {"response": 46, "author": "DW", "date": "Sat, Feb 14, 1998 (22:37)", "body": ""}, {"response": 47, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (22:33)", "body": ""}, {"response": 48, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (10:35)", "body": "tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 30, "subject": "Dean Truitt's <A HREF=\"http://www.capzeyez.com\">http://www.capzeyez.com</A> music talk show which we webcast", "response_count": 20, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (12:14)", "body": "The website for this is: http://www.spring.net/capzeyez"}, {"response": 2, "author": "DaveSpice", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (15:07)", "body": "It's really cool to beon The Spring - everyone be sure to tune in via the Spring or on Austin Cable Access ch 10 and tell us what you wanna see! We thrive off requests! You canpost here as well, and we will check in from time to time. Feel open to discuss ANY musical format here, as we probably know something about it. If not, we'll make it up! :) Anyhow - \"keep tha flava\" dave"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (18:06)", "body": "How did your show get started and can you fill us in on a little of the history? What is your musical affiliation? What band(s)? etc."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Mar  4, 1999 (06:44)", "body": "Hey, guess who's co hosting Capzeyez this week. Give up? Why me and Bob Nagy, of course. He'll be Garth and I'll be Wayne. Excellleent! Excelllent! Schweee! I hope we can match up with the intellectual level of the call ins, the phones get pretty heady at times. Not!!! Schweeee!!! Anyway, tune in, call in and rock out. We're gonna head down to Northwest Av Sat night and look for a coupla guys drinking beer out in front of the station (Dean and Dave). This show's been on a long time! I just discovered it, but then, I just moved back to Austin and got cable. Bob's an amazing guy as you'll find out Saturday night/Sunday morning. Really this show's a Sunday morning show, though I keep saying Saturday night. I guess I'll have to tape Saturday Night Live this week. Dawood will be manning the webcam operation and keeping it going while I'm co-hosting."}, {"response": 5, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Mar  4, 1999 (16:05)", "body": "okay then!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Mar  4, 1999 (20:59)", "body": "Party on, Terry!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Mar  9, 1999 (08:13)", "body": "In case you missed it, it's running on the webcam this week, Bob and I co hosted the Capzeyez show this week. It was funny! We got called \"three generations of Austin slackers\" and \"Ben and Jerry\" and propositioned more than once. Bob brought his slide whistle and I brought some Spring videos of the Austin scene. Check it out on http://www.spring.net or http://www.spring.net/capzeyez . It was fun seeing Dave work the control rooom, at one point, the Cheriln Fielding (the opening act) broke her guitar string so he had to move fast to get another music video running. Our chance to be Wayne and Garth!"}, {"response": 8, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Mar  9, 1999 (11:21)", "body": "sorry I missed it... I'll spend some time watching the webcam feed!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar 10, 1999 (10:08)", "body": "Yep, it's going now. I think it's pretty funny. Of course, I'm biased."}, {"response": 10, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Mar 10, 1999 (13:11)", "body": "Paul! This is AWESOME! The slides aren't really going along with the audio now ( you're talking about video and a caller just called up to say \"you suck\" - the audio is HILARIOUS!!!!!! You guys were hysterical with her! I can't see the groovy video though!! Man! I'm so psyched hearing a familiar voice over my computer... wish I could see the pics!! The girl who fists her mouth... man... you guys are a trip! And your callers are freaks!!! what fun!!! who's playing the flute/whistle!!! this is a trip!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Mar 10, 1999 (13:14)", "body": "uhhh... and my vocabulary is really much larger than this... usually!"}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar 10, 1999 (13:42)", "body": "That's Bob playing the flute whistle. The pictures should change if you hit your refresh button every 30 seconds."}, {"response": 13, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Mar 10, 1999 (15:51)", "body": "they didn't!!!!! but I really enjoyed the audio!"}, {"response": 14, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Mar 10, 1999 (22:58)", "body": "clear your cache between each re-fresh..."}, {"response": 15, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Mar 11, 1999 (07:38)", "body": "What browser are you using, Stace?"}, {"response": 16, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Mar 11, 1999 (12:12)", "body": "Netscape 4"}, {"response": 17, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Mar 11, 1999 (13:55)", "body": "Hmmm, I don't use that, I wonder if there's a setting that turns off refresh?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Mar 11, 1999 (14:42)", "body": "well... you'd think it'd be bypassed with me clicking refresh every 15 secs!"}, {"response": 19, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Mar 11, 1999 (15:36)", "body": "good point... (or, you could try turning the cache off...)"}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Mar 11, 1999 (15:44)", "body": "hmmm... tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 31, "subject": "Any comments?", "response_count": 56, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Apr 19, 1999 (19:01)", "body": "dammit! I did it again! hey Mr. Host fix this damn thing willya? And I promise to stop adding topics while telnetting!!! (really!) I wanted a Star Trek topic... *sigh*"}, {"response": 2, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jun 17, 1999 (17:23)", "body": "I'll delete it next time I log in as wer..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Aug  5, 1999 (23:42)", "body": "then I suppose I should not post here - want to give it to me to run? Terry wants us to have lots of topics active but tonight I am mostly Brain Dead. William, I'll leave the decision up to you!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (02:27)", "body": "Brain Dead...hmmm...me, too!"}, {"response": 5, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (05:55)", "body": "duh duh .... DUH \ufffdfailing miserably at showing signs of brain activity\ufffd"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (09:51)", "body": "We need to ship out some bottles of brain enhancer."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (11:34)", "body": "Send loads to Hilo, please!"}, {"response": 8, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (15:11)", "body": "none here, I would never sleep again..."}, {"response": 9, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (15:19)", "body": "(Terry's special elixir comes with an antidote as soon as you don't need it any longer. He just offered it to the Brain Dead in Hilo as a kindness..."}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (00:59)", "body": "I was allowed to be the little kid today and tag along behind our resident genius, William, as he did some serious interior decorating on this conference. It has been an incredible 12 hours and I appreciate how much work went into some of the details which make it so special. Thank you for letting me come along on this incredible journey to enlightenment."}, {"response": 11, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (22:39)", "body": "Your hard work really shows! (*kissing up big time*)"}, {"response": 12, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (22:54)", "body": "Ssssshhhh.....don't want him to notice....Don't tell! btw, Welcome back!"}, {"response": 13, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (22:55)", "body": "If that comment is for me, thanks, but what did you do to need to kiss up to me?"}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (10:04)", "body": "I'm going to have to jump on the web and see all these changes, I'm telnetting in as usual."}, {"response": 15, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (10:07)", "body": "Wow, I'm on the web, and cool stuff!"}, {"response": 16, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (11:25)", "body": "Thanks, any other suggestions?"}, {"response": 17, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (11:53)", "body": "You rule ok?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (18:27)", "body": "Wer, you're like the Dow scrubbing bubbles--You work hard so we don't have to!"}, {"response": 19, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (18:36)", "body": "Love the look of carpeting in here. Every time I load the TV Conference I feel like there is plush stuff on the floor inviting me to stay. Lovely stuff!"}, {"response": 20, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Aug 17, 1999 (21:29)", "body": "if she says so herself *grin* wer: gots an idea for the buttons. maybe we can make them like the old tv dials or just a tv screen with the choices in them (you know, for creat topic, etc.)!! watcha think? huh, huh, huh?"}, {"response": 21, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Aug 17, 1999 (21:30)", "body": "*blush* should be \"create topic\" not \"creat topic\" *blush again* thanks for entertaining my ideas!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (14:38)", "body": "no prob...and, I could do that or, better yet, so could you..."}, {"response": 23, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (20:36)", "body": "got me there! i just want to say that this place looks so great!! netfusion will allow me to create whole websites but i'll check to see if i can make buttons and save them as such."}, {"response": 24, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (22:07)", "body": "you gotta be able to somehow... you made the ones in paraspring afterall..."}, {"response": 25, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (15:27)", "body": "Nice telly... Now the buttons? Puleeeze?"}, {"response": 26, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (19:06)", "body": "the paraspring was made with a trial version of netstudio, which i no longer have. but i'll see what i can do, k?"}, {"response": 27, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (19:16)", "body": "Cantcha just go to Paraspring and hokus pokus up some just the right color and size?"}, {"response": 28, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (23:30)", "body": "besides, Wolf, you have PaintShopPro, and that's what I made the banner in here with... and the little tv is Microsoft clipart, btw..."}, {"response": 29, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Aug 26, 1999 (18:07)", "body": "no, don't have paint shop pro. had the trial on that too but it's gone now *smile*"}, {"response": 30, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Aug 26, 1999 (18:15)", "body": "She should have MS paint. Would that be of any help? It is on the computer from the bigness of Bill Gates' heart when you get W95."}, {"response": 31, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 30, 1999 (16:51)", "body": "Are we getting paid for that banner at the top of the page? I rather think not since it is a dead link. Want it removed or should well enough be left alone?!"}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (10:25)", "body": "Put a visto link there! I wonder when they'll pay us the hundreds they owe us?"}, {"response": 33, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (14:14)", "body": "The person who put the Visto links up so well ( who is vacationing on the lovely Greek Island of Hiatus) admitted it was not as easy as it appeared, but I shall give it a try since I have access to the template for it in Geo. I'll wait till everyone is asleep so I can restore it back to the banner which is already there if necessary...!"}, {"response": 34, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (14:15)", "body": "Yeah - I check through a lot - they should pay you!!!"}, {"response": 35, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (14:25)", "body": "I just tried to do it, but I am not authorized to change anything in there so I could not do it. I know how, but it will not accept my changing anything. Suggestions?"}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:18)", "body": "We can change your permissions so you can."}, {"response": 37, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:24)", "body": "As you wish...I am only too happy to be of help."}, {"response": 38, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:27)", "body": "Maybe our Halloween ghost cfadm will help with this?"}, {"response": 39, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:30)", "body": "That would be even better."}, {"response": 40, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (23:57)", "body": "Perhaps we should make the request in another more private conference where the cfadm is more likely to see it?"}, {"response": 41, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Nov 14, 1999 (17:42)", "body": "With the new colorfully ethnic buttons and the amazing horizontal bars and the red visto banner, this is the most colorful conference on the entire Spring. I have emergency sunglasses beside the monitor just in case... It is lovely in here...*smile"}, {"response": 42, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 15, 1999 (09:36)", "body": "Wow, makes me wish I were on the web now."}, {"response": 43, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Nov 15, 1999 (16:20)", "body": "When I telnet, I keep a window open on main (so I can see me logged in on telnet and smile.) If there is some post including a graphic or photo I want to see, I can just go to the window, look, then comment in telnet. The best of both worlds, is it not? I can also quickly check if there have been new posts by using the /confifty/ url without having to scroll through all of the conferences again. I like that! So, pop up a windown and peek in. Put on your shades first, though...it is very edgy in here now!"}, {"response": 44, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 16, 1999 (08:39)", "body": "I like that last 50 comments feature, thanks to William for that."}, {"response": 45, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 16, 1999 (14:48)", "body": "I use it regularly. In fact, I check into Spring that way and login there. I believe he told me about it when I was hunting posts to which he was referring. It is a brilliant concept and most useful. Mahalo Mucho"}, {"response": 46, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 16, 1999 (15:07)", "body": "Next on the wish list is a page that automatically puts up all the new posts as they are posted and allows you to respond to them."}, {"response": 47, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 16, 1999 (15:23)", "body": "That is what confifty does in Windows. Just click on the newest (at the top of the order)in the topic on interest to you...Or do you wish for one on which you do not have to hit the reload button? Actually, when you go post a comment then return to confifty, it is auto-magically updated."}, {"response": 48, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 17, 1999 (04:12)", "body": "I'd like to see the whole post with all the text and a text box after each post where you could comment and submit. Wouldn't that be awesome?"}, {"response": 49, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Nov 17, 1999 (12:02)", "body": "Awesome, indeed. Especially considering the volume put out by Drool alone...! Would that entice you into windows to read and post?! *gasp*"}, {"response": 50, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Apr 29, 2000 (17:00)", "body": "Can anyone tell me if Harsh Realm is on televison anywhere, please!"}, {"response": 51, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Apr 29, 2000 (17:15)", "body": "http://www.comics2film.com/HarshRealm.shtml X-Files creator Chris Carter recently spoke to Eon Magazine about his upcoming Harsh Realm TV Series. The show is based on a comic book created by James Hudnall and Andrew Paquette. Of the comic, Carter said, \"There were elements in it that I really liked a lot and I thought it was a great vehicle for telling a series of stories. No one had ever tackled virtual reality in a satisfactory way on network television. I think parallel worlds are great ways to tell stories. This is really what I was shooting for, a way to tell stories about the human condition, using war as a backdrop.\" Carter also commented to Eon about cinematic influences on the show, \" What I wanted to do was to do a TV show that had elements of some of my favorite movies: Paths of Glory, Platoon, Blade Runner, a lot of really good early war movies. And this was my way of doing that, using a contemporary element, which was the virtual reality element. This I think has a tremendous romantic story and has a great mythology potential as well. There's a conspiracy at work here. There is another world, a parallel world that people can go back and forth between. I think it's a great chance to tell allegorical stories, which is I think one of the storytelling conventions that provides the best of series television.\" One movie that didn't influence the show is the recent virtual reality hit, The Matrix. \"I didn't know about The Matrix until our show was shot,\" Carter told Eon. \"I saw it and there were elements that I think you're going to find in any kind of parallel world idea. So I think there were some similarities. I was impressed by a lot of what they did in that movie. I was super impressed by the special effects in that movie. I think that Harsh Realm, even though it is a virtual reality idea, is much different than The Matrix. And I think that what we've done, too, is we've set the stage for many episodes of this show, where a show like The Matrix I think might have to change its concept a little bit in order to do the same thing.\" Fans can read more of Carter's thoughts on Harsh Realm at the Eon Magazine website. Fans can also view a teaser trailer for the show at the Fox.com website."}, {"response": 52, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Apr 29, 2000 (19:40)", "body": "I think it may be a while before Fox airs it: http://www.hollywoodcomics.com/paq0.jpg Reported by Comics 2 Film 3/1/2000 Andrew Paquette and James Hudnall scored a victory against Twentieth Century Fox, Chris Carter and Harris Publications yesterday in U.S. District Court in New York. Paquette and Hudnall are the creators of the Harsh Realm comic book and the plaintiffs in a well-publicized lawsuit over appropriate credit and fair dealing with regards to Carter's TV version of their concept. District Judge John S. Martin, Jr. rendered a preliminary injunction against Fox and Carter, which orders them to display an improved credit on the show. Harsh Realm is slated to begin airing this month on the FX Network. \"I'm pretty happy,\" Paquette told Comics 2 Film. \"Of course, we've been expecting this for a long time.\" When the show originally aired on the Fox network, it sported a prominent, opening-credit card which read \"Created By Chris Carter\". Hudnall and Paquette's names did not appear in the initially aired episodes at all. Subsequent episodes ran with a tiny \"inspired by\" credit which flashed by during the closing scroll. Tuesday's ruling by Judge Martin states that this is unacceptable. \"The problem with this solution is that the 'Created by' credit appears at the very beginning of the show almost an hour earlier,\" Martin wrote. \"It is not reasonable to believe that viewers dashing to get to the refrigerator between television shows will give the same attention to the credits at the end of the show as they do to those at the beginning. Thus, the defendants' actions, while an improvement, do not solve the problem of consumer confusion.\" The ruling orders that, if the show is to air, Fox must insert an \"inspired by\" credit in the opening credits. The new card would be inserted immediately after the \"written by\" credit. The ruling allows a created by credit for Carter to appear earlier in the opening sequence. While it's not exactly what Hudnall and Paquette hoped for, the injunction is a first-round victory in what is likely to be a long legal process. While Carter and Fox maintained that the credits were appropriate in regards to the regulations set forth by the Writers' Guild of America, Judge Martin ruled that the network's agreement with the guild is no defense for violating federal laws. Quoting the same authority that the defendants' cited, the ruling reads, \"the 'reproduction of a work with a false representation as to its creator' could support a finding of false designation [of] origin where the defendant failed to credit the original creator.\" The suit also spotlights inconsistencies in the WGA's handling of the issue. WGA rules forbid awarding a \"created by\" credit when source material exists. The Harsh Realm TV show is obviously an example of something developed from source material. The court ruling solidifies the claim that the comic is the source material for the show. If the WGA continues to allow Carter to hold the \"created by\" credit, it would seem to be in violation of the WGA's own regulations. Paquette tells C2F that, while the victory is very encouraging the \"inspired by\" credit is still short of what he and Hudnall want. \"In the industry, an 'inspired by' credit is not really worth all that much. An 'inspired by' is typically given to people who have no business in 'the business' and who have no future prospects in 'the business' either.\" Paquette suggested the 'inspired by' credit would typically be awarded to a concept exchanged during something like a casual, coffee-shop conversation. Conversely a 'based on' implies much more substantial source material. \"There's a huge difference between having six published issues of a comic book series, that we're paid for as source material, and a coffee-shop conversation.\" As stated earlier, the injunction is just the first ruling in the ongoing suit. There are still issues concerning the creators receiving fair compensation for their creation. In a previous interview, Paquette told C2F that he and Hudnall were only collecting $625 apiece for each episode of the show. Paquette told us that he expects the suit to continue for \"a hell-of-a long time, primarily because I've got no intention of giving up.\" \"I don't like dishonesty in any form,\" Paquette assures us, \"and I am perfectly willing to sacrifice money for that principal.\""}, {"response": 53, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Apr 29, 2000 (20:32)", "body": "Well, I found this, but would love to hear from anyone seeing the episodes which were aired. http://www.zealot.com/news/archives/200003/20000302.html Harsh Realm Is Still Cancelled The creators of Harsh Realm have won their case! Writer James Hudnall and artist Andrew Paquette have won their lawsuit against Fox and Chris Carter over creator credits on Harsh Realm. Carter created it, it ran 3 episodes, then it was unceremoniously yanked from the air by Fox. The credits will now read \" INSPIRED BY THE COMIC SERIES 'HARSH REALM' CREATED BY JAMES D. HUDNALL AND ANDREW PAQUETTE, PUBLISHED BY HARRIS COMICS\" after the \"Written By\" screen in the opening credits. Six episodes that no one has seen yet, in addition to the original three (for you math majors out there, that's nine total) will be shown on FX, Fox's cable channel. Fox will have to redo the credits on those shows. The score now reads Little Guy 1, Big Networks something like 2 zillion."}, {"response": 54, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sun, Apr 30, 2000 (10:53)", "body": "I kind of liked this sci fi show, and I wished they had kept it going. It kind of had a road warrior quality to it."}, {"response": 55, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Apr 30, 2000 (13:49)", "body": ""}, {"response": 56, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Apr 30, 2000 (13:50)", "body": "I know the brother of one of the injured parties. What ever happened to protecting intellectual property?! I wish them luck - $600-something is not adequate compensation per episode. I would also like to see it succeed. Interesting websites for Harsh Realm out there. http://www.harshrealm.com tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 32, "subject": "Star Trek", "response_count": 35, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, May 10, 1999 (08:46)", "body": "guess I'll have to score a tv on a regular basis now!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Mon, May 10, 1999 (09:09)", "body": "Score!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Aug  5, 1999 (23:39)", "body": "At least you have thought up a topic. Our fearless leader suggested we do so and here I am with blank where brains should be. I have a real tribble!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (09:52)", "body": "Who's your favorite Star Trek character?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (15:13)", "body": "of all time, or the original series?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (15:22)", "body": "Intellectually, Spock. Gut level, Kirk. Cute, Tribbles."}, {"response": 7, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (18:03)", "body": "couldn't stand kirk. luved scotty but wasn't a real trekkie anyway."}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (19:02)", "body": "Truthfully, everyone else from green aliens to little girls in my Living room loved Kirk, so I agreed. I was a closet Dr Bones McCoy person."}, {"response": 9, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Thu, Aug 12, 1999 (16:19)", "body": "My favorite character was the bond between the original three, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. It was so strong it was nearly tangible. Especially in the films. I loved how they found ways to say \"I love you\" without actually mothing the words. Each had strong characteristics, but each also had some characteristics lacking, which the others supplied. Spock gave Kirk reason, McCoy gave Spock compassion, Kirk gave them both spontenaiety and strength. I miss them still."}, {"response": 10, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Aug 13, 1999 (13:38)", "body": "If you're looking for information on the ships of \"Star Trek,\" then visit the \"Daystrom Institute Technical Library.\" http://www.scifiweekly.com/issue121/site.html"}, {"response": 11, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug 13, 1999 (13:48)", "body": "Charlotte, I know exactly what you mean, and I miss them, too. *sigh* Thanks for the link for the starship fleet, William."}, {"response": 12, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (10:04)", "body": "WILLIAM??? :)"}, {"response": 13, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (10:55)", "body": "There are other options, but his Mother chose this one, so I thought it might be a good one to use. William the Conquerer fits, too. (Would that not be a great name for some space megalomaniac as well as our RG?!) Or, am I being far too formal?"}, {"response": 14, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (11:39)", "body": "Yes, Charlotte?"}, {"response": 15, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (12:32)", "body": "I think that might have been a question to me about my method of address rather than summoning you, but I shall get out so you may converse."}, {"response": 16, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Sun, Aug 15, 1999 (12:19)", "body": "Marcia's right. I've never known him as anything other than WER or kitchenmanager, which frankly, I always thought were rather impersonal, but hey...it's an impersonal medium. Odd that you call him William, Marcia...instead of Bill, or Billy, or BillyBob. :) I'd nix the Conqueror bit, tho. We wouldn't want to pollute his ego. :)"}, {"response": 17, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug 15, 1999 (13:15)", "body": "I know him outside of here, and in the real world he is known as William, which I call him there. Some slips over into here. Wer it is on The Spring...it wouldn't do to confuse everyone. Besides, Initials are so manly, are they not?! (IMO, he's NOT a Bill, most certainly not BillyBob, and NEVER Willy...not to me, at any rate.)"}, {"response": 18, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug 15, 1999 (13:18)", "body": "ah....Charlotte...I did not mention what he had conquered...and I think I had better leave it just that way =)"}, {"response": 19, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Aug 16, 1999 (21:41)", "body": "Oooo! Now I get it! Now I will never be able to think of him without appending \"the conqueror\"! You go, William!"}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (15:34)", "body": "sorry to ruin the revelry and jump back on topic but I really did enjoy Dr. Spock a great deal. Charlotte, i agree the bond was tangible and I suppose, if it counts, that was my second fave character"}, {"response": 21, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:02)", "body": "lookit Stacey getting on topic!!! (this is more like a Twilight Zone episode than one of Star Trek, though...) Harry Mudd(sp?) was my fave from the original series..."}, {"response": 22, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:09)", "body": "... my name is muddd... (do do do do...)"}, {"response": 23, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:13)", "body": "*lol*"}, {"response": 24, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:15)", "body": "*grin*"}, {"response": 25, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:17)", "body": "I loved the way the Harvey Mudd story ended. Comeuppance for sure!"}, {"response": 26, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (16:26)", "body": "Yes, I know!!! Profuse apologies to graduates of Harvey Mudd College. The Star Trek Episode to which I concur was Harry Mudd, of course."}, {"response": 27, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (17:45)", "body": "Harcourt Fenton Mudd!"}, {"response": 28, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Aug 24, 1999 (17:56)", "body": "i know...i know...why did I not post it that way???!!!"}, {"response": 29, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (09:49)", "body": "William the Conqueror....Harvey Mudd. Makes perfect sense. :)"}, {"response": 30, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 25, 1999 (10:52)", "body": "*lol* I'd be interested in hearing your line of thought leading to that conclusion. My feelings were quite the opposite!"}, {"response": 31, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Aug 27, 1999 (21:43)", "body": "Off topic...Charlotte, that link to the movie critic you like that I enjoyed so much seems to have expired. Do you have a new one for him?"}, {"response": 32, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (21:22)", "body": "James Berardinelli? I haven't changed my link to his site in ages. It still points to: \" http://movie-reviews.colossus.net \" and I just tested it and it works."}, {"response": 33, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Aug 29, 1999 (04:02)", "body": "\"Harcourt? Harcourt Fenton Mudd! Have you been drinking?\" \"No, Stella...\""}, {"response": 34, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Aug 29, 1999 (04:52)", "body": "Khan was pretty cool, too. \"Kirk, you are in a position to demand nothing. I am in a position to grant nothing.\""}, {"response": 35, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Aug 30, 1999 (14:51)", "body": "\"Khaaaaaan\" *shaking little walkie talkie in fist...* tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 33, "subject": "Sex in the City with Sarah Jessica Parker", "response_count": 43, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jun 17, 1999 (13:58)", "body": ""}, {"response": 2, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jun 17, 1999 (14:50)", "body": "good show...not as good as The Sopranos, of course, but a good show..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Jun 17, 1999 (15:56)", "body": "when we were in the motel in Moab I saw 'Daria' a cartoon. hilarious!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Jun 17, 1999 (17:19)", "body": "it's a spinoff of Beavis and Butthead..."}, {"response": 5, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Jun 18, 1999 (10:21)", "body": "really? did not seem nearly as boneheaded actually it seemed to be spoofing people like Beavis and Butthead"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jun 18, 1999 (10:44)", "body": "I guess they're having a new Sex in the City every weekend now. I'll try and find the schedule."}, {"response": 7, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Jun 18, 1999 (11:02)", "body": "do they have sex in different cities?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Jun 18, 1999 (13:23)", "body": "now wait, i don't get hbo, but is this a movie made to look like a documentary (like that one with ethan hawke and winona ryder)? are they acting, or are they having real life girl talk????"}, {"response": 9, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sun, Jun 20, 1999 (00:29)", "body": "it's acting...my \"review\" of it is kind of a 90's New York Tales from the City where the four main characters are all female... go to http://www.hbo.com/city/ for more info..."}, {"response": 10, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sun, Jun 20, 1999 (00:30)", "body": "it's a series, Wolf, and the second season just started..."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jun 20, 1999 (10:04)", "body": "It's a re-run on HBO tonight (at least here in Austin). Then Tues at 10 and Weds at 7:30. (reruns)"}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jun 25, 1999 (18:36)", "body": "Spoiler Alert! Contains synopses of episodes. Don't read on if you want to be surprised. AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES Starring Sarah Jessica Parker Sex and the City Schedule of encore broadcasts Episode 4: \"They Shoot Single People, Don't They?\" Written By Michael Patrick: Directed by Allen Coulter Is it better to \"fake it\" than be alone? Carrie thinks she likes being single, Miranda dates a guy and fakes orgasm, Samantha gets \"taken in\" by a club-owning jerk, and Charlotte convinces herself to like a \"fix-it\" actor friend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode 3: \"The Freak Show\" Written By Jenny Bicks: Directed by Allen Coulter Are all men freaks? Carrie dates a bunch of freaks before she meets Ben, then ruins a great thing when she turns into a freak: Samanatha goes on a first date with a man who wears dog collars and likes to be slapped around: Charlotte dates \"Mr. Pussy\" but realizes that's all he's good for; Miranda gives up on dating entirely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode 2: \"The Awful Truth\" Written by Darren Star: Directed by Allen Coulter Are there certain things in a relationship that one should never say? Carrie invites Mr. Big to her birthday party, Samantha struggles to tell her boyfriend about his shortcomings, Charlotte gets a puppy as a \"man replacement\" and Miranda musters up the courage to talk dirty with her lover - until she says something a little too revealing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode 1: \"Take Me Out to the Ballgame.\" Written by Michael Patrick King; directed by Allen Coulter After Carrie ends her relationship with Mr. Big, she goes through the \"rigamarole of breaking up\" and dates a new member of the Yankees. Meanwhile, Miranda is annoyed by all the \"man talk,\" Samantha's not satisfied with her boyfriend's \"shortcomings\" and Charlotte's new flame has a problem with \"crotch adjustments.\""}, {"response": 13, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jun 25, 1999 (18:38)", "body": "Spoiler Alert 2 (reveals shows contents) First Seasons Episodes Episode 1: \"Sex and the City\" Written by Darren Star; directed by Susan Seidelman At a birthday party for thirtysomething Miranda, Carrie and her friends vow to stop worrying about finding the perfect male and start having sex like men. Carrie experiments with an old flame and meets Mr. Big; Miranda warms up to Skipper; Samantha has a one night stand with a man Charlotte wouldn't sleep with on the first date. Episode 2: \"Models and Mortals\" Written by Darren Star; directed by Alison Maclean Miranda makes the mistake of going our with a \"modelizer\" (someone who's obsessed with models); Samantha chooses to go out with a modelizer and has her sexual encounter videotaped; Carrie experiments with Derek the Model and flirts with Mr. Big. Episode 3: \"Bay of Married Pigs\" Written by Darren Star; directed by Nicole Holofcener Carrie is invited to a couple's house in the Hamptons only to be flashed by the husband; Miranda's law firm thinks she's a lesbian; Samantha gets to know her doorman better; Charlotte dumps an eligible guy with the wrong china pattern. Episode 4: \"Valley of the Twentysomethings\" Written by Michael Patrick King; directed by Alison Maclean Carrie discovers the limitations of going out with a twentysomething hunk. Charlotte's boyfriend has a sexual favor to ask; Samantha comes to the sobering realization that she'll always be older than her boy toy. Episode 5: \"The Power of Female Sex\" Story by Jenji Kohan; teleplay by Darren Star; directed by Susan Seidelman Carrie goes on a date with a gorgeous French architect who shows his thanks with a thousand dollars; a famous painter uses Charlotte as one of his models; Skipper becomes sexually obsessed with Miranda. Episode 6 \"Secret Sex\" Written by Darren Star; directed by Michael Fields How many of us out there are having sex with people we are ashamed to introduce to our friends? Carrie thinks Mr. Big is keeping her a secret, while Miranda discovers a secret about her new boyfriend. Samantha has never been discreet with anyone she's ever slept with, and Charlotte divulges her past love affair with one of God's chosen people. Episode 7: \"The Monogamists\" Written and directed by Darren Star Carrie wants a monogamous relationship with Mr. Big, while Samantha refuses to have one with her realtor. Miranda's feelings for Skipper intensify when she sees him with another woman, while Charlotte is faced with her new boyfriend's sexual demands. Episode 8: \"Three's a Crowd\" Written by Jenny Bicks; directed by Nicole Holofcener Carrie discovers not only that Mr. Big was once married, but that he and his ex participated in a threesome. Meeting the ex-Mrs. Big, Carrie is disappointed to find her smart, sexy and successful. Charlotte's boyfriend wants to add another woman to their relationship, and Miranda feels left out. Samantha finds that she has unwittingly become too involved with a married couple. Episode 9: \"The Turtle and the Hare\" Written By Nicole Avril and Susan Kolinsky; directed by Michael Fields Mr. Big tells Carrie he will never marry again. After a harsh dumping, Samantha tries to turn \"The Turtle\" into a Helmut Lang-wearing \"catch,\" but realizes he's still just The Turtle. Miranda introduces Charlotte to a very special vibrator called \"The Rabbit,\" which turns Charlotte into a recluse. Episode 10: \"The Baby Shower\" Written by Terri Minsky; directed by Susan Seidelman A baby shower for Laney, a wild child turned soccer mom, gets the girls thinking about their futures. Carrie is late for her period, but unsure whether she wants her pregnancy test to be positive or negative. Charlotte is fearful she may never have the daughter for which she has been preparing her whole life, while Laney yearns for the freedom she sacrificed for her family. Episode 11: \"The Drought\" Written by Michael Green and Michael Patrick King; directed by Matthew Harrison An accidental emission has Carrie certain that she and Mr. Big will never share a bed again. The last three months have Miranda convinced she will never share a bed with any man again. A foray into tantric celibacy leaves Samantha craving old-fashioned sex, and Charlotte's boyfriend would rather be mentally balanced than sexually active. Episode 12: \"Oh Come All Ye Faithful\" Written by Michael Patrick King; directed by Matthew Harrison. Mr. Big introduces Carrie to his mother as a friend, causing Carrie to ponder where their relationship is headed. Miranda breaks up with Catholic Guy because of his sexual hangups and returns to Skipper's always open arms. Samantha finally gives relationships a try, but soon finds out that size does matter. Charlotte is dismayed to discover that all the fortune tellers in the city agree on one thing--her eternal status as a single woman."}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jun 25, 1999 (18:45)", "body": "Stacey asked \"Do they have sex in different cities?\" Fair question. I'm pretty sure it does, I've only seen this seasons First and Second Episodes and it all seems to take place in a big city. New York City? Possible tipoff: \"After Carrie ends her relationship with Mr. Big, she goes through the \"rigamarole of breaking up\" and dates a new member of the Yankees.\" Yankees=NYC."}, {"response": 15, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jun 25, 1999 (23:30)", "body": "I already said it was in New York..."}, {"response": 16, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Jun 26, 1999 (19:24)", "body": "Mr. Big = Chris Noth, the sexiest guy on TV..."}, {"response": 17, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jun 26, 1999 (22:27)", "body": "Bewware, another spoiler. \"If the world's fattest twins can find love, there's hope for all of us.\""}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jun 26, 1999 (22:29)", "body": "New episode Sunday night at 9."}, {"response": 19, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jun 26, 1999 (23:39)", "body": "episode spoiler or just spoil life in general?"}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jun 27, 1999 (08:52)", "body": "episode"}, {"response": 21, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Jul  6, 1999 (23:55)", "body": "did you watch tonight?"}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul  7, 1999 (16:04)", "body": "Yep, caught the last 20 minutes but they'll have reruns through the week. This is a funny show and gives you almost a voyeuristic thrill. Being a guy listening to girl talk."}, {"response": 23, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jul  9, 1999 (02:43)", "body": "just go to drool for that...or be young, male and work with a bunch of married women..."}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jul  9, 1999 (10:26)", "body": "I wonder if any of the drooeurs watch Sex in the City?"}, {"response": 25, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Jul  9, 1999 (11:17)", "body": "Paul... you're in a rut..."}, {"response": 26, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jul  9, 1999 (11:18)", "body": "but the man knows what he likes!"}, {"response": 27, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Jul  9, 1999 (13:48)", "body": ".. but he lives in the country... doesn't bode well..."}, {"response": 28, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (13:49)", "body": "we can all dream, can't we?"}, {"response": 29, "author": "stacey", "date": "Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (23:16)", "body": "yes we all can..."}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 28, 1999 (09:11)", "body": "\"Sex and the City\" is explained in the current Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/ae/cu0105_1.htm The life of single women in the big city has had a powerful hold on our psyches since Helen Gurley Brown's Zeitgeisty book \"Sex and the Single Girl\" in the '60s and Mary Tyler Moore's bachelorette pad in the '70s. But the single heroines in today's popular imagination are worlds apart from Helen and Mary, and an even farther cry from their old-maid aunts. They're well dressed, well paid and sexually gratified. \"I don't understand why women are so obsessed with getting married,\" says Samantha. \"Married people just want to be single again. If you're single, the world is your smorgasbord.\" And more and more, it seems, this undomesticated fantasy world is seeping into the daily lives of single women. . . ."}, {"response": 31, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:55)", "body": "By the way it's Sex *and* the City, not Sex in the City as the t Interesting piece by neo-Victorian Wendy Shalit, on *Sex and the City*: http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_4_a4.htm"}, {"response": 32, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Nov  8, 1999 (14:39)", "body": "bummer....*grin* Is Wendy Gene's Daughter? If so, I hope she resembles her mother!"}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (09:58)", "body": "I'm going to ask a question of the women here who may have seen this show. Which of the characters do you relate to the most personally? OK, guys too. Who do you have the hots for the most?"}, {"response": 34, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (13:37)", "body": "Gonna watch it just so I can answer the question. I usually do not identify with any of the characters on TV shows..."}, {"response": 35, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (13:47)", "body": "Ooops! Can't. We do not afford HBO...gonna have to read and be voyeuristic here, myself."}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (20:07)", "body": "Maybe watch it at a friends?"}, {"response": 37, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (20:50)", "body": "Good thought...I'll work on that."}, {"response": 38, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Dec  1, 1999 (09:40)", "body": "I'm working on my answer, I still have to get the names and faces matched up."}, {"response": 39, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Dec  1, 1999 (12:24)", "body": "...and I will canvas the people at tonight's game to note their comments..."}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Dec  2, 1999 (08:30)", "body": "What's the game. I have about 5 Sex and the City's stacked up on TIVO. Yum!"}, {"response": 41, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Dec  2, 1999 (12:30)", "body": "Basketball - we are back to our regular season. We won the game with Christian Heritage College of California on an abysmally wet and thundery night. So bad, in fact, that we remained warm and dry at home and listened to John do the play-by-play on the radio. Happy SatC orgy (or is it more properly a marathon?!) when you get around to it..."}, {"response": 42, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Oct 13, 2000 (08:42)", "body": "The lst show rocked, with Charlotte getting the hots for the gardener and moving back to her apartment. Trey just couldn't get it up. And Samantha Jones falling for adolescent Sam Jones, who ends up stalking her after outrageous sex."}, {"response": 43, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Oct 13, 2000 (08:43)", "body": "And the red head (can't remember her name) falls for the cop who showed up at the scene of Carries mugging and ends up drinking so much he has to leave her a note to join AA. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 34, "subject": "farscape", "response_count": 12, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jun 26, 1999 (23:45)", "body": "this is definately my favorite space exploration series on at the moment..."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 19, 1999 (09:58)", "body": "What's it about?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Jul 19, 1999 (18:49)", "body": "bout this astronaut dude who got wormholed thru time (or space) and is trying to get back. hooked up with some cool alien beings who are fugitives of some kind. kind of a rip off of Star Trek Voyager, but only slightly. Got a lot of humor in it and good set design and FX. but Dargo is the UGLEEEEEIST thing I've ever seen!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Jul 20, 1999 (00:39)", "body": "Dargo is great! not as cute as Virginia Hey's character, but..."}, {"response": 5, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Jul 20, 1999 (00:41)", "body": "and how are you, Charlotte?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Tue, Jul 20, 1999 (10:10)", "body": "I'm fine. Thanks for asking, wer! Say, would you happen to know how the ship got pregnant?"}, {"response": 7, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Jul 20, 1999 (10:48)", "body": "been curious about that myself... and for everyone else... ************************************************************* CHAT WITH CLAUDIA BLACK AND ANTHONY SIMCOE, STARS OF FARSCAPE Wednesday, July 28 @ 10:30pm Eastern/7:30pm Pacific/3:30am UK ************************************************************* Meet Moya's muscles! Anthony Simcoe (who plays Luxan warrior D'Argo) and Claudia Black (ex-Peacekeeper solider Aeryn Sun) of Sci Fi's original series FARSCAPE will be logged on from Australia's FOX Studios to answer your questions. Learn more about FARSCAPE here: http://www.scifi.com/farscape/"}, {"response": 8, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (17:25)", "body": "Charlotte, how did the ship crash on the planet yesterday? I missed the beginning of the episode!!!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Thu, Aug 12, 1999 (16:21)", "body": "I missed the entire episode. :) Fear not. Sci-Fi is fond of reruns. (did anyone ever figure out how the ship got pregnant?)"}, {"response": 10, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, Aug 12, 1999 (17:50)", "body": "not that I have discovered..."}, {"response": 11, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Fri, Aug 13, 1999 (09:11)", "body": "I asked my friend about the crash. She says the Peacekeepers had implanted a beacon in the ship and the crew needed to disable it because it started sending out signals. They decided to land on the planet in water so it would muffle the beacon. But they landed in mud instead and the ship sank into it. Does that help?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Aug 13, 1999 (11:39)", "body": "Yes it does. Thanks! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 35, "subject": "TV tech : from the very beginning and how it grew", "response_count": 12, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Aug  5, 1999 (23:53)", "body": "The first TV set I can remember was born before I was. It was in a huge mahogany box and had a mirror in the lid. The picture tube sat face-up in the huge cabinet and we watched the reflection in the mirrored lid. 13 fine-tune knobs took care of horizontal hold, vertical hold, widening the picture, squeezing it down from the top and bottom, diagonal distortion, and contrast plus volume and some I have forgotten. I was the only one other than my Dad who ever mastered the mighty brute, but what an educa ion I got from it. Now, I have its descendant in my pocket with a 2\" tube - in color."}, {"response": 2, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (02:31)", "body": "sounds like a good Alexander topic, this one..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (05:57)", "body": "You mean you're thinking of taking up studying as well?"}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Aug  6, 1999 (11:32)", "body": "I sure hope it appeals to someone. I did not want to write a book in here all by myself."}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Aug  8, 1999 (00:15)", "body": "A bit of correction before the world descends on me. Television was not a post WW2 invention. It was in working order in the 30's and transmissions were broadcast on a somewhat erratic schedule, mostly to test the equipment. Full fledged commercial TV did not happen for mass audiences until after the war, but I was watching the liberation of concentration camps live and direct as my horrified mother tried to get me into another room and onto more wholesome persuits. I can still see the images..."}, {"response": 6, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (18:29)", "body": "I remember being positioned directly in front of our mammoth console constantly fiddling with the horizontal hold."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (18:40)", "body": "Oh yes! The memories....Kids have no idea how lucky they are. Actually, this monitor is doing a bang-up job, too. Have not had to fiddle with the adjustments for weeks! No more flip...flip...flip...flip..."}, {"response": 8, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Thu, Aug 12, 1999 (04:53)", "body": "They already had tv during the Olympics in Berlin in 1936 - only prototypes and not for the masses, who by that time still had to get a radio, anyway... But still, there it was! The first proper broadcast was in London, but this factoid walked in without a date written on the forehead, and it doesn't know where it's from, either. Yes, the flip-flip-thing! Drove you mad, didn't it? Actually, I never noticed it doesn't happen anymore... Just goes to show nobody ever really notices improvements (doesn't go for anything Mr. Rolnad does, though)."}, {"response": 9, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (05:04)", "body": "I love Leni Riefenstahl's old films. The conditions under which they were make were appalling, of course, but the woman is an artistic genius."}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (13:17)", "body": "She was, indeed, and is still so considered. Her abberation must have been her employer's idea, which she carried out in inspired ways...I would be interested in more of her inner workings and what was driving her thinking and creativity!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Sep  4, 1999 (15:49)", "body": "I think she was simply selfish as an artist and as a person. Didn't give a damn about anything but the art, felt no responsibility outside it."}, {"response": 12, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Mar 10, 2000 (12:35)", "body": "How does a television work? If you've ever looked at the back of a TV on the inside, you know that there is a metal coil which is very hot. An electric current runs through the coil, and the high temperature forces the electrons to jump off (this is known as thermionic emission). Magnets are positioned along the sides of the electrons' direction of motion, which alter their trajectory by applying varying voltages in order to hit specific parts of the TV screen. The inside of the screen is covered with phosphorus compounds, and when the electrons strike it, the phosphor glows, producing red, green, or blue light. The hundreds or even thousands of bits of phosphor are called pixels, and together they form the images you see. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 36, "subject": "New tv season 1999-2000", "response_count": 67, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Sep 21, 1999 (14:55)", "body": "TV guide has a cover story on their 6 hot new shows http://www.tvguide.com/tv/magazine/990920/ftr1.asp They are West Wing, Now and Again, Angel, Roswell, Action and Freaks & Geeks. 2 from ABC, 2 from the WB and one from fox and NBC."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Sep 21, 1999 (16:24)", "body": "I am interested in how ThePractice will proceed this season. It left us with a particularly nasty image of a murderer who got away with it - we know it, but the laywers do not...Should be an interesting opening episode. Does anyone else dislike Leslie Visser on Monday Night Football? (It's a new season for them, too.)"}, {"response": 3, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (04:04)", "body": "We've only now started on the 6th X-files series..."}, {"response": 4, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (04:05)", "body": "marcia, what is 'The Practice' all about?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (07:55)", "body": "No I like Leslie Visser. Not as much as I like Hannah Storm. Does Leslie Visser push your buttons, Marcia."}, {"response": 6, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (17:07)", "body": "The Practice is a about a legal firm who takes on some unconventional clients, and whose senior partner has slept with the main females on the show including the DA and her roommate, the second highest paid lawyer in the firm. It is not a conventional legal show or I would not watch it. (Very little has to do with his sleeping accommodations.) Leslie Visser is getting better, and they have finally gotten her into some more appropriate clothing. I think I am laboring under the ancient \"thing\" of not liking women in men's locker rooms nor on the sidelines. It is probably just me, but the resident male does not like her even more than I don't! Hannah is great, btw!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (17:20)", "body": "I call your Leslie and Hannah and raise you one Robin Roberts (ESPN, not the oldtime pitcher). I enjoy Action . Jay Mohr, who played the sleazy agent in Jerry Maguire is properly cast as an amoral Hollywood producer and Ileana Douglas, who has always had adventurous roles, is properly scintillating as Wendy Wald the prostitute/former child actor (I think inspired by the late Dana Plato). I'm also glad That 70's Show has been given another season by Fox. Kurtwood Smith (Red) is an am zing actor. You may remember, he was the overbearing father who caused his child's suicide in Dead Poet's Society . Now, he plays the same role for laughs. I never thought that I would hear a father telling his son on network television, \"You're a dumbass!\""}, {"response": 8, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (17:21)", "body": "oops, closing my HTML tag so Marcia doesn't have to :)"}, {"response": 9, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (17:21)", "body": "it didn't work, so trying again."}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (17:42)", "body": "Oh Yeah! Robin Roberts! Indeed! (thank you...)"}, {"response": 11, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (18:07)", "body": "and i completely missed x-files *sniff*"}, {"response": 12, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (18:18)", "body": "I didn't think it began the new season until next week...most don't, do they?"}, {"response": 13, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (18:19)", "body": "i dunno, haven't been watching much tv lately...."}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (23:42)", "body": "Did anyone see Martin Sheen as the President in the new series about the oval office. They showed the White House as a busy place, with people bumping in to each other and yelling across each other, it really moved along in an interesting way. Most movies and tv shows about the White House depict it as some kind of museum with nothing going on except the President and events around him. In this show, the President didn't even show up till the last ten minutes. The show really ripped in to the Christian Right with little mercy."}, {"response": 15, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (23:44)", "body": "I would expect that political bent from Mr. Sheen (nee Ramon Estevez). Haven't seen it. I loved him as \"A.J.\", President Andy Shepard's (Michael Douglas) Chief of Staff in the film The American President ."}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Sep 22, 1999 (23:50)", "body": "He makes a great President in this new series and Rob Lowe has a good role as a major staffer. This and \"Action\" are my two favorite shows of this new season."}, {"response": 17, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (00:28)", "body": "\"Action\" is cool. I've seen both episodes, thus far (the one with Keanu Reeves and Salma Hayak twice)."}, {"response": 18, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (03:37)", "body": "God, I haven't even HEARD of all these shows! They'll probably hit this part of the world in a year or two. \ufffdsigh\ufffd"}, {"response": 19, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (09:04)", "body": "I saw the season premeire of Voyager last night over at a friend's house... good but not great... The captain lost her head there for awhile..."}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (09:17)", "body": "Interesting Ree, you mean you don't get all our mainstram tv shows? I guess you get broadcast tv where you are?"}, {"response": 21, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (12:43)", "body": "We do get mainstream tv shows, but always a season or more behind you. At the moment we have stuff like the 6th X-Files series, E.R., Millenium, Pretender, P.S.I. Factor (which is the worst crap ever), Chicago Hope (also crap), N.Y.P.D. Blue ( boring), and then comedy-wise we have Ellen, Veronica, Golden Girls (which will always be my favourite), Home Improvement (but still the series where the kids are very young, which is just not funny anymore), and Full House (CRAP!). We sometimes get very good docu entaries, like the current 'People's Century' series on BBC Prime. I never miss that."}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (13:33)", "body": "YOu have something to look forward to then, none of these shows compares to the very excellent West Wing and Action. These are interesting, fast moving shows. I can't decide which is funnier, Just Shoot Me or the new Michael Fox series. And of course there's Sex in the City, which I taped last nighyt but haven't seen."}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (13:37)", "body": "According to tv Guide a bunch of new seasons are starting tonight: Friends The sixth season commences with the aftermath of a marriage in Las Vegas and a honeymoon that's anything but sweet. At the end of last season, we saw Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) stumble arm-in-arm from a quickie-wedding chapel. But when the couple wake in a fog the following morning, they have no idea if they did indeed do the deed. In other engagements, Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) continue to let fate be their guide as they warily cross a different kind of threshold in their relationship, and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) don't fare too well in a cross-country trip home in her cab. Rick: Bill Stevenson. (8 pm/ET, NBC) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago Hope Old becomes new again as Mandy Patinkin and series creator David E. Kelley return for the medical drama's sixth season. \ufffdIt'll be much more like the first year, with searing medical stories and David's darkly comic sensibility,\ufffd says Patinkin, whose quirky character (a repository of much of that sensibility) is now the hospital's board chairman. In the opener (which Kelley wrote), the stories center on a 7-year-old with a heart defect and the nether reaches of a priest's anatomy. The dark comedy involves a patient who dies following surgery \ufffd while his surgeon (Bruce Davison) is playing the stock market on the Internet. Hanlon: Lauren Holly. Simon: Carla Gugino. Alberghetti: Barbara Hershey. (9 pm/ET, CBS) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Third Watch Debut: New York City paramedics, uniformed police and firefighters work the 3-11 pm shift in this drama series. A hit-and-run, a tenement fire and an out-of-control shooter are among the problems faced in the fast-paced opener. Handling the calls are paramedics Kim and Bobby (Kim Raver, Bobby Cannavale); veteran Doc and \ufffdnew kid\ufffd Carlos (Michael Beach, Anthony Ruivivar); and Kim's ex, fireman Jimmy Doherty (Eddie Cibrian). Two cop teams are also on hand: Sully (Skipp Sudduth), who is matched with his late partner's son (Coby Bell); and hot-headed Boscorelli (Jason Wiles), who shares a squad car with Faith (Molly Price), a mother of two. (10 pm/ET, NBC) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stark Raving Mad Debut: This broad-humored sitcom stars Neil Patrick Harris as a fastidious editor working with eccentric horror author, Ian Stark (Tony Shalhoub). Editor Henry McNeely is not especially pleased when his boss (Harriet Harris) assigns him to help Stark solve a case of writer's block. Things only get worse after he arrives at the scribe's loft, where, as Henry soon discovers, Stark's liable to be hanging around or popping up anywhere. Adding to the madness are Stark's live-in assistant, Jake (Eddie McClintock); waitress-actress Maddie (Heather Paige Kent), an affable neighbor; and Edgar, Stark's overly friendly dog. (9:30 pm/ET, NBC) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frasier A seventh season begins with the Crane brothers celebrating Dad's birthday by taking a trip down memory lane. Besides having old home movies transferred to videotape, Niles and Frasier arrange a trip to the cabin where they vacationed as kids. While Martin (John Mahoney) looks forward to fishing, Niles dreads the insects: \ufffdThe last time I was there, the mosquitoes drew so much blood they brought me orange juice and a cookie.\ufffd And Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) brings along his latest love (Rita Wilson), whose appearance startles the others. All goes well with the new romance until a touch of Oedipus wreaks havoc with Frasier's plans. Young Frasier: Dustin Tragethon. Young Niles: Sean Cast. (9 pm/ET, NBC)"}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (13:40)", "body": "And Action is back on tonight. Action: Blood Money To finance his new pic---\ufffdBeverly Hills Gun Club\ufffd---Dragon pitches such potential backers as a stuffy banker and a wacko potentate. Former Dodger Steve Garvey has a cameo. Bobby G.: Lee Arenberg. Jane: Cindy Ambuehl. Momo Shabong: Eddy Saad. Schlomo Gluckstein: Alfred Dennis. Cast: Jay Mohr, Illeana Douglas, Buddy Hackett, Jack Plotnick, Jarrad Paul, Lee Arenberg, Cindy Ambuehl, Eddy Saad, Alfred Dennis, Steve Garvey, David Franco, Jeff Austin"}, {"response": 25, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:56)", "body": "Sheesh! That's alot of new stuff! Let's hope it doesn't take too long to get here. We've got Friends too, but I'm not really into that one."}, {"response": 26, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:58)", "body": "Actually, I only watch E.R., The X-Files and Golden Girls. Hey, is Dr. Quinn still going in America? Isn't it hilariously silly? Every now and again it hops across some channel to give me a good laugh."}, {"response": 27, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (02:11)", "body": "The Golden Girls has been out of first run for over a decade, but it is one of the best--and best written--sitcoms ever...if you have ever been to St. Olaf, Minnesota, you'll find that Rose Nyland's stupid stories are true. What a great ensemble cast of actresses, as well. I love every episode I've seen, but the very best are the ones written and/or directed by Christopher Lloyd (Rev. Jim Ignatowski of Taxi)."}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (10:29)", "body": "My dad graduated from St. Olafs!"}, {"response": 29, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Sep 26, 1999 (15:00)", "body": "Any of his pixillating stories you'd like to share with us, Terry? Yah! Shurr...you betcha!"}, {"response": 30, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Sep 26, 1999 (22:11)", "body": "That's right, there's a Lutheran college there...I'd forgotten about that. Rose apparently never made it quite that far."}, {"response": 31, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (02:16)", "body": "Ha-ha!!! I love the episode where Dorothy gets involved with a married man, and Rose chastizes her for it. So she says, 'I wonder how you can ...' this and that - really quite sensible things. And Dorothy asks sarcastically if there is anything else she is wondering. And Rose answers, 'Yes. I wonder how a thermosflask can keep things hot AND cold.'!!!! That had me crawling!!!!"}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (10:08)", "body": "There was a great Saturday Night Live 25th year celebration last night, did anyone see it?"}, {"response": 33, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Sep 27, 1999 (12:38)", "body": "We don't get that."}, {"response": 34, "author": "infospryte", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (17:39)", "body": "We preview three of this fall's hottest new SF series: Chris Carter's \"Harsh Realm,\" the \"Buffy\" spin-off \"Angel\" and Jonathan Frakes' latest show, \"Roswell.\" http://www.scifiweekly.com/issue128/screen.html"}, {"response": 35, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Oct  1, 1999 (11:48)", "body": "I missed the SNL anniversary. I'm hoping for a rerun, but if that doesn't happen, it'll likely be released on video. Actually St. Olaf's College is in Northfield, Minnesota (where Jesse James tried to rob a bank and a train and got his a-- whupped, twice). I remember Rose and the thermoflask question. \"How does it know the difference?\" Killer stuff... I also remember an episode where all the women talked about how they learned about sex. Rose said she learned on the farm by watching bulls and horses mate. Blanche said, almost off-handedly, \"Tough act for a man to follow.\""}, {"response": 36, "author": "infospryte", "date": "Fri, Oct  1, 1999 (13:28)", "body": "Joss Whedon gets big, bad and grown-up with \"Angel.\" He also tells us what's in store for \"Buffy,\" why he's not happy with his movie career, and much more. http://www.scifiweekly.com/issue128/interview.html"}, {"response": 37, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct  2, 1999 (01:37)", "body": "ha-ha, John! In last night's episode Sophia described a Sicilian party at which some guy was wounded 27 times, and 'nobody saw a thing'! Brilliant!"}, {"response": 38, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (16:06)", "body": "My favorite new show is \"Once and Again\" on Tuesday nights on ABC. I love Sela Ward, and it's by the producers of \"thirtysomething\", my all-time fave TV show."}, {"response": 39, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (16:15)", "body": "It is really a neat show so far...really cute. Welcome back to the dry land, dear...we missed you!"}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (16:25)", "body": "wow, Autumn! Welcome back, I'll check this show out."}, {"response": 41, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (17:13)", "body": "It's good to be back! Enjoy it while you can, there's no telling if/when it will be on when ABC puts NYPD Blue back in its time slot in November."}, {"response": 42, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (17:15)", "body": "The fast pace of West Wing reminds me of the tempo of Hill Street Blues, remember that show. My girlfriend at the time, Gail Moss, loved that show and it was the highlight of her week. Thsi was back when I lived in Bolinas, CA."}, {"response": 43, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (19:58)", "body": "Where is Bolinas? Is it near Salinas? I hated \"thirtysomething\" (although I love Patricia Wettig)...everytime I tried to watch it was just a bunch of yuppies whining...my girlfriend at the time, Sheri Reeves PhD, loved it. But I do love Sela Ward--she is sultry in a younger Suzanne Pleshette kind of way--and I thought \"Sisters\" was a very clever show. I haven't seen \"Now and Again\" yet. I think I'm angry they killed off John Goodman, one of my favorite actors (although I hated \"Roseanne\")."}, {"response": 44, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (21:17)", "body": "Bolinas is a little coastal town North of San Francisco, from the mesa in Bolinas you can see San Francisco, it's mostly populated by poets, rock musicians, writers, and artists. The Bolinas lagoon is famous for osprey, kingfishers and a variety of wildlife. I once rented a barn there on 20 acres next to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, it had an island in a little lake and there was a willow tree on the island. I met some incredible folks there and had some great times. Nowadays, it's probably becoming very affluent because of it's location. I haven't been there in years. Bolinas occupies the very southern tip of the Pt. Reyes peninsula; all of the peninsula lies east of the fault, which runs right up the Olema valley. Indeed, the soil on the peninsula is somewhat different than the rest of the soil in Marin and northern California, which is why no redwoods grow out there."}, {"response": 45, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (21:41)", "body": "I saw that post in \"Places I Have Been\" after asking. Sounds like a totally cool place."}, {"response": 46, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (21:55)", "body": "David took me out to Point Reyes and John Muir Woods and it was totally incredible. Of course, we were looking at the rocks - and they do vary in the extreme. The seaward side lies on the Pacific Plate whereas the most of the rest of Marin county in on the North American Plate. Amazing to see were the SF earthquake moved so much of the land around - still visible today!"}, {"response": 47, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (22:11)", "body": "Bolinas is a nice entry point to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. The Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Starship lived there, among other well known bands, maybe they still do."}, {"response": 48, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (22:27)", "body": "we exited at Bollinas since we were coming from Fairfield and came around Sears Point to get there."}, {"response": 49, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct  4, 1999 (10:20)", "body": "Newly Revamped Fall Television Season NBC 8:00 Friends 8:30 Girlfriends 9:00 One Guy with Several Female Friends 9:30 My Gay Friends 10:00 Friends You Wish You Had But Don't FOX 8:00 Real Humans in Real Pain 8:30 Feral Dingoes Eating Children on Tape 9:00 Jiggle It Beach 9:30 LA Chicks 10:00 Beverly Hills 90210: The 90,210th Episode UPN 8:00 The Unwatchables 8:30 Voyage To The Bottom Of The Ratings 9:00 Theoretically Existing Show 9:30 Praying For Syndication 10:00 The Last Thing You'd Ever Want To Sit Through WB 8:00 Where My Wife At? 8:30 Gittin' Yo Freak On 9:00 Me & My Psychic 9:30 Kids Suck The Darndest Things 10:00 Dawson's Clothes PUBLIC ACCESS 8:00 Blurry Steve 8:30 Inaudible City Council Meeting 9:00 Do We Have A Caller On The Line? Hello? 9:30 The Best Of Lunch Menus 10:00 My Friend Made This Short Film 10:30 Men With Braids Speak Out E! 8:00 Andy Gibb: A Nightmare Descent Into Booze & Pills 8:30 John Belushi: A Nightmare Descent Into Booze & Pills 9:00 Margot Kidder: A Nightmare Descent Into Booze & Pills 9:30 River Phoenix: A Nightmare Descent Into Booze & Pills 10:00 Boy George: A Nightmare Descent Into Booze & Pills ESPN2 8:00 Finland's Brutalest Men 8:30 Being Hit By A Trolley Regional Semifinals 9:00 60 Minutes OfJoe Theismann's Leg Breaking 10:00 Coed Spread-Eagled Weight-Training From Maui LIFETIME 8:00 How Can I Choose Between My Daughters? 9:00 The Abused Wife Who Didn't Mean To Kill Her Policeman Husband in Self-Defense 10:00 The Boy Whose Mommy Watched Far Too Much Television TNN 8:00 Well, I'll Be Dipped in Pigslop! 8:30 Roadkill Recipe to Warm the Cockles of Your Heart 9:00 You Hush Up, Wanda Mae 9:30 Sheeeeeeee-it! 10:00 Hold 'Er Down While I Get the Rifle From the Truck TELEMUNDO 8:00 Roberto Amorosa en Agua Caliente! 9:00 Whoomp! Donde Esta? 9:30 Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! 10:00 Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! 10:30 La Hora de Goya CINEMAX 8:00 Bare Ambition (Tanya Roberts) 8:30 Naked Exposition (Traci Lords) 9:00 Body Of Nudity (Dana Plato) 10:00 Unclothed Anguish (Joyce DeWitt)"}, {"response": 50, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Oct  4, 1999 (16:57)", "body": "That is hilarious, Terry! Is it your creation? *LOL* (...and someone had to watch all of that stuff to realize that was how it really is!)"}, {"response": 51, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Mon, Oct  4, 1999 (23:48)", "body": "Bravo, Terry...don't tell anyone...I was the cameraman for Blurry Steve."}, {"response": 52, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  5, 1999 (09:55)", "body": "No, it was from an email. Forget the source."}, {"response": 53, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  5, 1999 (13:47)", "body": "Buffy the Vampire Slayer starts a new season: ttp://eXaminer.com/991004/1004goodman.html"}, {"response": 54, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Oct  5, 1999 (14:31)", "body": "Cameraman, too, John?! No matter how much I know about this man, there seems to be much more I still have to learn. Verrrrrrry Interesting!"}, {"response": 55, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (01:42)", "body": "I've done most low level radio and TV jobs at some point. But Blurry Steve was some of my best work!"}, {"response": 56, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (08:25)", "body": "What's on tonight? (from tvguide.com) Roswell Debut: This engaging sci-fi drama focuses on three teen survivors of the famed 1947 UFO crash who have quietly lived in Roswell, NM, for 16 years. In the intriguing opener, the aliens' secret is jeopardized when Max (Jason Behr) uses his powers to save the life of Liz (Shiri Appleby), a girl he has secretly admired for years. His actions lead Liz to discover the truth about Max, his sister Isabelle and their friend, Michael. The promising series is more than a science-fiction show, says executive producer Jason Katims. \ufffdAt its heart, it's a love story,\ufffd he says. \ufffdThe love story is the glue that holds everything together.\ufffd (9 pm/ET, WB) As Time Runs Out This absorbing 1999 TV-movie about a kidnapping generates suspense from an intriguing twist: the sudden death of the abductor, who never revealed the whereabouts of his 6-year-old captive. The youth is the son of a widowed industrialist named Dan Carlin (Stephen Collins) who accidentally kills the kidnapper \ufffd a former employee \ufffd during a fight over ransom demands. Now Carlin and an investigative team spearheaded by a sympathetic police lieutenant (Karen Sillas) have 24 hours to find the boy before a bomb, hidden in one of the youngster's toys, detonates. Redman: Rick Roberts. Marcus: Emmett Shoemaker. (9 pm/ET, CBS) Norm Artie Lange (Mad TV) joins the cast as Norm's (Norm Macdonald) ne'er-do-well brother who cooks up a shady way to get toys for Laurie's (Laurie Metcalf) orphan party. (8:30 pm/ET, ABC) The West Wing Barlet (Martin Sheen) wants an unexpected response to a plane being shot down; Josh (Bradley Whitford) believes that a job applicant (Dule Hill) might be just right for the President's aide. (9 pm/ET, NBC) Law & Order After a female civil-court judge (Lindsay Crouse) is shot in her building's garage, evidence points to a suspect the judge refuses to believe was involved. Grobman: John Heard. (10 pm/ET, NBC)"}, {"response": 57, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (15:24)", "body": "Terry, you answered my question on 38 as to when West Wing was aired. Thanks!"}, {"response": 58, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (15:29)", "body": "....uh...John...are they going to do re-runs of Blurry Steve on Channel 2 sometime soon? You really must be famous. Even in California they air BS all the time, it seems, and he speaks about 10 different languages with outfits to match!"}, {"response": 59, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (23:25)", "body": "Yeah, unfortunately the cash on public access is nil. But, as usual, BS is everywhere!"}, {"response": 60, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Oct 16, 1999 (20:11)", "body": "DATE: October 15, 1999 FROM: Dr. Jerry Falwell CBS BREAKS BROADCAST GROUND WITH PROFANITY: Last night, CBS' \"Chicago Hope\" used a heretofore unmentionable vulgarity during its broadcast. ABC's \"NYPD Blue\" and Fox's \"Action\" are the two network series that continually push the envelope in terms of profanity, but neither of those shows had ever utilized the \"s\" word, as \"Chicago Hope\" was permitted to do. \"It's nothing I haven't tried a couple of times before, except this time, I won,\" series executive producer Henry Bromell told the Associated Press. By Mr. Bromell \"winning,\" America, in my opinion, loses. We can expect other network producers to push even harder to shatter broadcasting standards. CBS said that the word was necessary for \"artistic truthfulness,\" according to the AP. However, my staff members who watched the episode said the use of the word did nothing but divert attention from an otherwise compelling story. CBS should be ashamed for allowing a producer to convince them that no other words were appropriate for the climactic scene. In my opinion, this was nothing more than artistic laziness. If you would like to tell CBS that you are displeased with their decision to allow the profanity to air, please E-mail the network today. To E-mail the network, go to www.cbs.com, click on \"feedback\" (under \"utilities\"), then select \"Chicago Hope\" to make your comments. I encourage all of you to get involved. The network - which is now the number-one rated network - will not take this type of risk in the future if enough people complain about this episode. you can register complaints or praise by clicking on feedback at http://www.cbs.com Or not!"}, {"response": 61, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 16, 1999 (20:18)", "body": "The 's' word does not bother me nearly as much as the 'f' word. If I ever hear that on TV, they are going to hear from me! (I have been known to use the 's' word on the proper occasion, and it is quite satisfying to the overloaded mind!)"}, {"response": 62, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 16, 1999 (20:21)", "body": "Or not. I think I would avoid watching the offending program and avoid being lumped in with the likes of Jerry Falwell...no matter how well-intentioned his actions."}, {"response": 63, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sat, Oct 16, 1999 (22:50)", "body": "FOX TV announced that it is putting two of my favorite shows \"Action\" and \"Family Guy\" on hiatus during November sweeps. Most likely in favor of blockbuster first-run movies. A Fox programming exec stressed that those two shows are not being cancelled, but are being held back to keep from getting killed in the timeslot. Damn, \"Action\" was getting funnier as my lip-reading skills improved!"}, {"response": 64, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 17, 1999 (14:04)", "body": "Tell me about it...we both liked it and were looking forward to it after Baseball was finished. Now, we have to wait for December? Bah Humbug!"}, {"response": 65, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Oct 20, 1999 (21:55)", "body": "They've been saying \"dick\" on NYPD Blue for years, but Sunday was the first time I heard it on \"Felicity\" (an 8:00 show, no less!)"}, {"response": 66, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:42)", "body": "Fox has cancelled 'Harsh Realm' and 'Ryan Caulfield: Year One,' despite the fact that both of them got generally good reviews. Oh well, so much for starting a Harsh Realm topic. Has anyone seen Roswell? High schoolers who are aliens. Jason Katims, the executive producer who has also written some of the shows helped create My So-Called Life. Another producer, David Nutter, was a writer and producer on X-Files. So it comes from a decent lineage. I like this show. Scary police chases replaces 'Harsh Realm' bummair!"}, {"response": 67, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Mar 10, 2000 (12:30)", "body": "tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 37, "subject": "Action", "response_count": 46, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (21:02)", "body": "Anyone see tonights episode?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (21:44)", "body": "I will, but it hasn't aired in Hawaii yet. I saw Jay Mohr on the Spring front page, though."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (22:09)", "body": "There are few people in the universe I respect as much as I respect Terry and John. You both love this show, and we know nothing about it. Can you brief a lady who avoids TV most of the time about this show, please?!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (22:33)", "body": "Jay Mohr, who played sleazy agent Bob Sugar in the movie Jerry Maguire , plays a sleazy movie producer. His number one confidante is a good-looking, smart hooker (and former child actress) he hires as an executive v.p. Fox describes the series as \"pushing the envelope\" (cliche). There is a lot of bleeped-out profanity. It is irreverent, but it is also a smart, self-deprecating view of Hollywood. When Peter Dragon (Mohr) hired the hooker (Wendy Wald, played by Ileana Douglas), one of his toadies said, \"But she's your whore!\" To which Mohr replied, \"No, she's my prostitute; you're my whore!\" Dragon was slapped repeatedly by Salma Hayek, who he allegedly wanted to strip for him for a part as a nun. He also parked in the studio \"employee of the month's\" parking space...a chef in the commissary, who got even by peeing in Dragon's Cobb salad. You'll either really love it or really hate it, but I doubt you'll see it and go \"oh, it's okay...\""}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (22:37)", "body": "Ok, do I get to see him peeing in the salad? I'll be sure to watch just for curiosity's sake. Two such intelligent men using an hour of their precious time on this show, and actually loving it...speaks volumes to me! Thanks, John!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (22:39)", "body": "When do we get it here?"}, {"response": 7, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (22:46)", "body": "The show's only a half-hour. No, you didn't get to see the actual urination. And that episode has already aired. But you got to see Mohr's face when he allegedly tasted the urine (he's a very good comic actor at the relatively callow age of 28--he always plays a prick, and does so well). it's at either 8 or 8:30, I'm not sure which (last week they showed 2 episodes). If you watch Joe Moore, they'll have the lineup either between world and local news or after local news."}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (23:05)", "body": "I just noted that it is 8:30 this evening...thanks - I'll be watching and I told Ray I needed to see it...I can watch in the bedroom if he has something else in mind for the big TV in the LR."}, {"response": 9, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (23:10)", "body": "Good. Hope it's good viewing!"}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (23:15)", "body": "Do you think he will think it appropriate for \"a lady\" (me) to watch, or should I try to watch it alone?"}, {"response": 11, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Thu, Sep 23, 1999 (23:59)", "body": "I don't know his private moods, but the show definitely has attitude."}, {"response": 12, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:00)", "body": "Up next on Fox \"When Morons Program\"..."}, {"response": 13, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:04)", "body": "Gotta watch that - he's watching stuff about hillbilly music on TNN...Thanks!"}, {"response": 14, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:07)", "body": "I'm not sure about his private moods anymore either...he has been distant and nearly broke my laptop this afternoon. Something is bothering him and he will not talk about it - unless it is what I am doing at this moment - \"playing with my computer\""}, {"response": 15, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:10)", "body": "usually the \"silent treatment\" is a woman's weapon, although I do know a few--a very few--men who use it."}, {"response": 16, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (00:24)", "body": "NOT EVER this woman's !!! That is a cheap trick and beneath me. Shows total lack of concern about the other person's feelings. I cannot do that to anyone! He ceased to annoy me with it years ago - I just find something more pleasant to think about and do *grinning wickedly*"}, {"response": 17, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (02:02)", "body": "I've never had a girlfriend--or wife--who didn't use it. This week's episode of Action didn't quite have the bite of Cobb Salad in it, but I do love Wendy's \"motivational techniques\" to alleviate writer's block. Don't you think the writer character Adam Rafkin, would qualify as a nebbish?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (10:32)", "body": "So, did you get to see it, Marcia. Great descriptions of the first show, John."}, {"response": 19, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (16:43)", "body": "I didn't think it was as good as the first two episodes, although I did enjoy it. Marcia e-mailed me and said she wasn't really impressed, that it must be more of a \"man thing.\" I think she's probably right."}, {"response": 20, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (21:07)", "body": "Loved the peeing with the door open...how territorially male of him. And a bit of exhibiting which we were not allowed to see...but for a guy show, perfectly understandable...I guess. Will give it another try."}, {"response": 21, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (21:10)", "body": "Yes, the guy definitely qualifies as a nebbish...but not lovable to me. Wendy's inspirational techniques deserved to be noted for future reference, so I did *grin*"}, {"response": 22, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Sep 24, 1999 (21:43)", "body": "I'm glad Buddy Hackett has work, even if he has to play a guy with only one testicle."}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Sep 25, 1999 (09:35)", "body": "Wendy's a great ho. Buddy's great line \"I prefer to think of my sac as half full.\" I've only seen the first two episodes, not the third. I understand that Sandra Bullock, Austin's own!, is playing next week. How did I miss the third episode? Maybe it's on Sunday nights show. The bit about the Jewish guys getting Beverly Hills Gun Club prayer shawls and hats was hilarious. Do you know the scene I'm talking about?"}, {"response": 24, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Sep 25, 1999 (12:53)", "body": "I know...I know the scene! The funniest bit for someone who grew up in the proximity of New York City! Buddy was hilarious...and Wendy is great. I shall give it another go to see Austin's own next week."}, {"response": 25, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (14:06)", "body": "Action is on again tonight. I'll give it another go, and hope the housemale is otherwise occupied. I am sure he would not want me watching it...but things have changed around here and I am going to watch what I want to watch. Review to follow viewing."}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (15:28)", "body": "Good for you, it shouldn't be otherwise. No one should have the power to dictate what you do, or watch. You are master of your destiny. Anyway, thatnks for hte reminder. I'll tune in to see Austin's own Sandra Bullock."}, {"response": 27, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (15:38)", "body": "Thanks for reminding me - this littlest kid in the family has to be reminded from time to time. It is something quite new to me... Bring on Sandra and let us all admire her! Of course, you will be seeing it 5 hours before we do."}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (16:00)", "body": "Wow, that's right. It's 4 in the afternoon here now so it must still be morning there now, about 11 am. I'm thinking dinner and you're thinking lunch."}, {"response": 29, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (16:25)", "body": "Indeed! You are 5 hours ahead of us! We do not go on Daylight Saving Time, so we shall move 1000 miles closer to you and be only 4 hours behind you at the end of the month of October - or whenever the time changes..."}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (16:36)", "body": "Where are you moving?"}, {"response": 31, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (16:43)", "body": "Staying right here. For each 1000 miles of longitude there is an hour's time difference. Since you will only be 4 hours from us at the end of October, we like to think of the mainland moving closer to us. Nothing moves...just the hands on the clock. Actually, with our computers due to fail, John and I will be the only ones still working for 2 hours after the west coast falls silent at midnight December 31st...(all said tongue-in-cheek and with great amusement)"}, {"response": 32, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Sep 30, 1999 (16:46)", "body": "All of this is meaningless except for network TV. We get Monday night football pretaped to be shown beginning at 6:30pm local time. That means we have to avoid listening to or watching any news or other programs which might inadvertantly give the score prior to our seeing the game. All is not sweetness and light in Paradise. Fortunately, the college games on Saturdays are shown live as are all cable programs."}, {"response": 33, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Fri, Oct  1, 1999 (02:41)", "body": "I loved the way Peter talked the gay star out of walking away from his $10 million \"no play, no pay\" contract for the lead in \"Beverly Hills Gun Club\" and then the guy got him back by saying on Entertainment Tonight that Peter was gay and his lover..."}, {"response": 34, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Oct  1, 1999 (13:59)", "body": "We both watched it...it IS a guy-program, but I enjoyed it too. But, where are they hiding Sandra Bullock? They mention her name each week but we never see her. Curious! I also liked Wanda's reaction to the ET announcement."}, {"response": 35, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct  2, 1999 (01:39)", "body": "She was probably in camouflage as the gay star..."}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (16:40)", "body": "Here's a piece about the blow job scene they tried to cut out. http://www.nydailynews.com/1999-09-30/New_York_Now/Television/a-42188.asp"}, {"response": 37, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct  3, 1999 (16:49)", "body": "Thanks for the link. I think I need to watch that episode again...I was not that aware of a BJ... To censor what was seen by me would have been ludicrous! You had to be paying careful attention - or at least, I did...!"}, {"response": 38, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct  4, 1999 (09:26)", "body": "Action isn't going to be on this week, because of baseball, guys. And gals."}, {"response": 39, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Oct  4, 1999 (16:52)", "body": "Boo! Hiss! Bummer...!"}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:13)", "body": "Wow, I guess this is off for the sweeps, I hope they break it back in December. It's a funny show."}, {"response": 41, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (14:55)", "body": "Are you getting re-runs, too? We watch them anyway because they are clever."}, {"response": 42, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:18)", "body": "Yep, reruns."}, {"response": 43, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:41)", "body": "Good...at least I can catch up with the ones I missed."}, {"response": 44, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (09:51)", "body": "From tvbarn.com (an excellent review site): The last days of \"Action\": While Fox TV is now denying that the network has stopped work on the ratings-challenged comedy \"Action,\" behind the scenes it sure doesn't look like this marriage can be saved. Typical, we're told, is an internal memo recently obtained by TV Barn. Written by Kevin Spicer, Fox's executive director of broadcast standards and practices, it was sent to \"Action\" exec producer Chris Thompson earlier this month and concerns the fifth draft of a script for episode no. 12 (which in all likelihood will never see air). The memo reads in part: \"This script is unacceptable and is rejected. The past three scripts [presumably the second through fourth draft ] have contained escalating levels of gratuitous nudity and graphic language. The exploration in this draft of Regan's nude scene, herattempts to arouse Peter, Holden's attempts to maintain an erection, the Holden/Reagan love scene (for starters) are completely inappropriate for prime-time television. The end result feels like the day-to-day activity on a porno set, not a mainstream action picture.\" Well, at least this confirms the show has a bright future at HBO ..."}, {"response": 45, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 1999 (13:16)", "body": "*Sigh* That means I will not get to see it any more. I kinda wondered where they were taking this show in prime time with the subject-matter, but since I am the conservative one here, I thought it was just me. Oh well... Thanks for telling us, Terry."}, {"response": 46, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:48)", "body": "http://tvbarn.com is Aaron's blog: If you're a faithful TV Barn reader and are looking for a break from the T-and-V this weekend, may I make a movie suggestion: \"Wordplay,\" the documentary about competitive crossword solving that opens in wider release this week in better cities across the country. Even if you're not a faithful TV Barn reader, I'm still recommending that you go see \"Wordplay.\" As is typical of the genre, the film follows around several contestants, including one seen here in the theatrical trailer and known as \"The Maestro.\" He is Jon Delfin, who has won more American Crossword Puzzle Tournaments than any other person: seven over three decades. He is also an accomplished musical director and arranger. And I have been privileged to have him serve as the editor of the most complete daily television column (I wrote, modestly) to be found anywhere: TV Barn's TV Picks, which are conjured up by Tom Heald in South Dakota, then emailed to Jon at his apartment in New York City, where they are streamlined and then posted on the Web and an email list (that you can join). With the passing of Knight Ridder Digital, our paper is taking full control of KansasCity.com, and as part of that, I am adding TV Barn's TV Picks back to the home page of TV Barn ... where, frankly, it belonged all along. Welcome back, Jon and Tom. Speaking of TV and crosswords, \"Jeopardy!\" runnerup Ken Jennings is making \"Wordplay\" a weekend pick as well. As do Ebert, Butler and the Baltimore reviewer who had the common decency to mention Jon. Posted by Aaron Barnhart on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 04:12 PM in Admin | Permalink | Comments (0) tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 38, "subject": "West Wing", "response_count": 23, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Oct  5, 1999 (18:40)", "body": "any cute young and willing interns in it? (as if I had to ask...I imagine that is a given!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  5, 1999 (20:04)", "body": "Given, but there's a lotta young guy studs too."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Oct  5, 1999 (20:10)", "body": "Sounds like I'm going to have to check this one out, as well. Since you say it is your favorite new show this season, do you like it better than Action? I wonder if there will be the requisit older female predators after those young guy studs...and how much of Bill Clinton they are going to infuse into it. It would be interesting to see just for that!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (08:26)", "body": "Martin Sheen isn't a very Clintonesque President, the show I saw he only made an appearance at the end."}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 1999 (15:21)", "body": "You don't think he was doing something in that little corridor we have heard so much about, do you (she asked, rhetorically)?! What night is it on?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 1999 (09:16)", "body": "They did have a young, black, male intern as one of the featured subplots last night. It's about a good kid, who just wanted to be a bicycle messenger, but because of his honesty and integrity, got pushed into the spotlight. Another good, fast moving episode. Martin Sheen as President got a lot more air time."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 1999 (13:56)", "body": "...and I managed to sleep through most of it...(root canal still bothering me)I will attempt to catch it next week."}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (13:17)", "body": "This week, Weds at 8 on NBC in these Central Zone parts, \"Mr. Willis of Ohio\" Toby and Mandy work to convince some congressmen to approve a commerce bill that includes a census provision. Martin Sheen, John Spencer, Brad Whitford, Alison Janney."}, {"response": 9, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (14:58)", "body": "Thanks - another sticky note going up on the calendar..."}, {"response": 10, "author": "zx6rider", "date": "Sun, Apr 23, 2000 (10:00)", "body": "I love this show! I think I've only missed one episode. Made me almost repect the presidency once again. I like that it shows the seamy side of politicians. I like that each week I actually learn some little tidbit about government and I love it that Stockard Channing has a regular job ;-)"}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug 16, 2001 (20:34)", "body": "Is this an idealized depiction of the Clinton White House? Your view?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "zx6rider", "date": "Wed, Oct  6, 2004 (10:00)", "body": "Hey Terry! Nothing like waiating 3 yrs for an answer, huh? I don't think I ever considered it an idealized view of the Clinton White House. It is possibly an idealized view of a democratic white house... that is the party occupying (on the show). I'm looking forward to the new season start... Nov 20, 2004 according to their website. This ought to be the last year for Bartlett, right? Will it go on with a new pres? Will it still be a democrat? Speculation anyone?"}, {"response": 13, "author": "bayouvetty", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (09:34)", "body": "HMMMMMMMMMMM... I'd always thought that that show would just end with his term. Never occured to me that they may (try to) extend the show with a whole new cast. It will be interesting to see."}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (09:35)", "body": "Wow, that's pretty cool. They could really throw in some twists."}, {"response": 15, "author": "zx6rider", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (12:17)", "body": "Especially since the creator A. Sorkin is reputed to be a democrat to the core... though I've read far worse descriptions. I am a dem, but I pride myself on making my own decisions based on wht I see, hear, read. I hate all the mudslinging by both parties... it always has the smell of an adolescent pissin' contest by guys in suits. Enough of that... I think it would be very interesting to keep it going. Does this V.P. win? He's turning out not to be the dummy he was assumed to be. Will something terrible happen, preventing elections to go on and forcing Bartlett to continue? Will a Rep get elected, thus M. Sheen will lose a good gig? Which actor would make a 'typical' Rep pres believable. I kinda liked John Goodman in the episode \"25th Ammendment\". an aside: terry drop me a line. i have a few questions... the place seems really different. i are confused."}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (16:04)", "body": "The 'community' you checked in to is experimental, not really operational yet till I get it running under more stable software. Otherwise, the hot conferences are screwed, geo and drool. But drool is member list only now. Otherwise, it hasn't changed that much. Stacey shows up from time to time and wer lurks."}, {"response": 17, "author": "bayouvetty", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (20:22)", "body": "How about Michael Douglas or Chris Cooper for Rep. pres? I agree, JG was awesome in 25th ammendment episode. He's got to get some help with his weight though. Or he may not be with us for 8 more years :o( Which actor would make a \"typical\" Independant pres. believable?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "zx6rider", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (21:08)", "body": "Independant. Hmmmm... OK, he's/she's gotta be at least 35 (min. age for pres). Oprah Winfrey; Susan Sarandon; Tim Robbins; Jim Caviezal (the Passion guy); oh, how about pulling Gary Sinise off CSI NY and tossing him onto West Wing as Susan Serandons VP?"}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  7, 2004 (23:06)", "body": "Michael Douglas would be great in the role, he did well as a power player in Wall Street. Morgan Freeman? He's the most experienced at playing President and is better than Dennis Haysbert (sp?). Bill Clinton would be good, he's still young enough to get in to acting."}, {"response": 20, "author": "zx6rider", "date": "Fri, Oct  8, 2004 (08:22)", "body": "Bill in interview: \"I'm not really the President. I just play one on TV\" I can see the entertainment rag headlines now ;-) Terry... do you anybody on West Wing staff? Lets send all these fine suggestions to them for casting consideration."}, {"response": 21, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct  8, 2004 (08:34)", "body": "Don't know anyone on staff. There may be a contact email on their site http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/"}, {"response": 22, "author": "bayouvetty", "date": "Fri, Oct  8, 2004 (15:30)", "body": "Too funny!! I considered both Sinise and Freeman. Didn't mention cause GS has been recently added to CSINY and MF did play pres. in Deep Impact. Susan Sarandon is a GREAT idea!! Bill Clinton...*Snort!!*"}, {"response": 23, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:48)", "body": "Don't know anyone Gena. Oh gosh, Gena, is your site working ok since we moved? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 39, "subject": "TIVO and Replay TV - the new age of tv?", "response_count": 34, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 16, 1999 (21:50)", "body": "...and I thought getting a DVD player was state of the art...*sigh*"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 26, 1999 (10:19)", "body": "Tivo is pretty cool, I can watch whatever show whenever I want now. Like Sunday, I went on a raft trip on town lake, full moon and all, and caught the Longhorn game on TIVO when I got back. It was fun to replay UT's final touchdown. It does up to 14 hours, expandable up to 30. I'm getting ideas for a new website, http://www.tvreviewer.com . Not up yet."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Oct 29, 1999 (17:06)", "body": "How is it different from using a VCR?"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 29, 1999 (21:22)", "body": "It has 14 hours of record time and it has \"season passes\" to record shows regularly. It tracks your preferences with a \"thumbs up\" \"thumbs down\" system. And videotape is linear, this, being digital, means you can get to a place on the hard disk quickly. You can always dump a tivo recorded show to a vcr. Actually, since I got it, I watch tv less because I no longer have the feeling that I'll miss something. They have a lot of information on http://www.tivo.com ."}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Oct 29, 1999 (22:34)", "body": "Ok, now I understand. Interesting. Videotape mildews over here like everything else. How nice to have a digital recording capability!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Oct 30, 1999 (05:15)", "body": "It let's you spend a lot more time choosing what to watch, rather than just sitting down and watching what's on. The remote actually has a thumbs up and a thumbs down button and it suggests a list of shows based on what you like. You can pull up a list of \"what's playing\" at any time and start one of your recorded programs. The speed at which you can fast forward or rewind can be slow or lightning fast, much faster than with video tape. From their website faq: How many shows can I tell TiVo to record at any one time? You can schedule TiVo to record hundreds of hours of shows. Because TiVo uses a dynamic file management system all of TiVo's storage capacity is always available for you to use. TiVo will guarantee all of your season pass recordings, but when you are not using space to record a season pass TiVo will use it to record other shows. That way, all of your storage capacity is always in use and there's always something you'll like to watch when you turn on your TV. How do I know what programs TiVo is planning to record for me? TiVo's To Do list displays the recording schedule for the next two weeks listing all the shows TiVo is planning to record for you. The To Do list gives you additional control by allowing you to selectively cancel or change the status of individual recordings. How is the TiVo Service different from a VCR? Because the Personal TV Receiver enables viewers to record, rewind and fast forward television programs, it has been compared to a VCR. The TiVo Service though, goes far beyond what a VCR can do. Here are some unique features of TiVo's revolutionary Personal TV Service: There are many ways to look through TiVo's program listings to easily find your favorite shows to set up for recording. Unlike recording programs with a VCR, with TiVo all you need to know is the program's name, channel, genre or time. A Season Pass automatically records each episode when it is broadcast - ensuring that you'll never miss your favorite programs. Using the exclusive Smart Store capability you can schedule hundreds of hours of programming ahead of time. You can check your recording schedule by viewing TiVo's To Do List. The disc drive's capacity is used to its maximum without wasting any space. All programs are guaranteed. When you begin rating your favorite shows with Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down all your preferences are saved locally on your Receiver. Your individual PTV Receiver matches these preferences with the program data it receives from the TiVo Broadcast Center to make recommendations suited uniquely for you. Again, this process happens locally in the PTV Receiver in your home. TiVo keeps a list of suggested programs under \"TiVo Suggestions\" and, if space is available, TiVo will automatically record suggestions so that the Receiver is always full of good shows. TiVo records shows digitally so you don't have to scan through videotapes to find the show you want. You can instantly access the recorded show from the TiVo \"Now Showing\" screen - the shows are labeled and you can watch them in any order. TiVo lets you start watching your favorite show, whenever you want, even if you're a few minutes late. You no longer have to wait for your VCR to record the entire program before you can tune in to the start of the show. With TiVo, you can fast forward to catch up with the live broadcast, or continue to watch at your convenience, pausing, rewinding or even using the slow motion instant replay as you wish. TiVo automatically records the live television shows you're watching, so that should you be interrupted, you can rewind and watch what you missed. You'll never miss a minute of the action again."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 30, 1999 (17:44)", "body": "How costly is the TIVO system... It sounds so perfect for Hawaii's nasty humid conditions. You cannot believe how deft Droolians are at ff and rw functions on videotapes...and with digital you cannot wear out the scenes you like the best. (I am one of those who goes through the TV section on Sunday and marks the things I want to see for the entire week...This would be good for me!"}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (11:27)", "body": "It's $400 or $500, and some places have a hundred dollar rebate, then it's $10 a month or $100 for 2 years or $200 for a lifetime subscription. I had fun with the replays during the Longhorn game yesterday."}, {"response": 9, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (15:34)", "body": "Ah..it is a service as well as equipment. Thanks for the information. I shall look into it (abd how COULD you tear your eyes away from the game? I listened to yours while posting on Spring...!"}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (17:20)", "body": "I did replays during the commercials."}, {"response": 11, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (17:27)", "body": "Good use of the time...!"}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (22:10)", "body": "I haven't watched much tv since I got the unit. I can now cruise through the playlist and screen what I watch, and fastforward the commercials or half times, etc. There's a bunch of stuff on there now. I haven't seen the need yet for the 30 hour version, but I can see needing it if I didn't watch anything for a couple of weeks. 14 hours seems to be enough, it works on a first in, first out basis but you can mark programs for non-erasure. It always informs you of when your program will expire."}, {"response": 13, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (23:14)", "body": "Wait'll the Olympics are on. If you are like me you will want them all and hate the ads. Think ahead to those kinds of events. That and when there are 4 bowl games on at the same time and that continues all day New Years Day..."}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov  1, 1999 (14:29)", "body": "Ad erasure is coming in the next units, and I'll probably order to upgrade to 30 hours soon."}, {"response": 15, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Nov  1, 1999 (22:54)", "body": "Excellent idea re the ad erasure. I think I'll wait for that feature!"}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Nov  6, 1999 (11:41)", "body": "Replay just came out with a new unit with more hours, I don't know the details. Their website is probably www.replay.com I would guess."}, {"response": 17, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Dec  1, 1999 (15:52)", "body": "AOL teams with TiVo for TV By Erich Luening Staff Writer, CNET News.com August 17, 1999, 7:35 a.m. PT America Online today said it plans to invest in TiVo, a creator of personal television services, and partner with the company to expand its interactive TV business. The TiVo service enables consumers to shift their favorite shows to specific hours and create a customized television lineup for viewing at any time. The deal is significant for AOL in its push to move beyond personal computers into television sets and portable devices--known as its \"AOL Anywhere\" initiative. As consumers begin to use means other than traditional desktop computers to access the Web, AOL needs to be available to them on other devices to stay on top of the consumer Net access market. But competition also remains stiff on the desktop, where AOL is fighting on a number of fronts. It is locked in a battle with AT&T and others over access to cable lines so it can offer high-speed service via cable. To cover its bases, AOL has made deals with a number of Baby Bells to offer access via digital subscriber lines. It also invested $1.5 billion in Hughes Electronics, parent company of satellite TV and Internet services DirecTV and DirecPC, to keep from getting pushed aside in the high-speed access market. As part of today's agreement, AOL and TiVo will collaborate to bring consumers interactive events by combining TiVo's personal television service with AOL TV's interactive television offerings. In addition, future versions of TiVo's personal video receiver are expected to provide consumers access to the new services, the companies said. Instead of a traditional videocassette, TiVo's TV set-top recording device uses a large hard disk drive like the one found in a desktop computer. Coupled with an easy-to-use electronic programming guide and pared-down online service, these devices can be easily programmed to record shows in advance, the company says. In addition, these devices can pause and resume shows on the fly--and allow users to skip over ads. With its investment announced today, AOL joins a growing list of high-profile TiVo backers, including Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, NBC, CBS, Philips Electronics, Disney, and Cox Communications. Tivo isn't the only on-demand TV company getting an infusion of cash. Tommorrow, ReplayTV is expected to announce that it has gained investments from heavyweights such as Disney, Showtime, Time Warner, and ten others. \"AOL has always focused on making the online experience a key part of our members' lives. As consumers want to extend that interactive experience to devices beyond the PC, we see TiVo as a great way to help us deliver our hallmark, ease of use, and convenience to the television,\" Bob Pittman, president and chief operating officer of America Online, said in a statement. AOL TV will offer members AOL interactive service on television. It is designed to include key pieces of AOL's current features as well as new ones designed to augment the television experience, the company said. Along with the Hughes Electronics investment, AOL recently announced agreements with Hughes Network Systems, Philips Electronics, and Liberate Technologies (formerly Network Computer), which also are key to the development of AOL TV. Related News Stories on News.com \ufffd TiVo plans IPO to support TV recording device July 27, 1999 \ufffd NBC invests in digital set-top maker TiVo June 9, 1999 \ufffd AOL works its way around cable TV May 11, 1999 \ufffd TiVo gets backing from Philips April 28, 1999 \ufffd DirecTV investing in TiVo April 27, 1999"}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Dec  2, 1999 (09:33)", "body": "I've got TIVO hooked to DirecTV at Cedar Creek and it works really well. But it won't work with my C Band dish. I've got the 14 hour version but I'm considering the upgrade to the 30 hour version."}, {"response": 19, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Dec  2, 1999 (13:25)", "body": "Good idea...especially with Olympics coming soon (realtively, that is.) At least it would be for Hawaii. Invariably, the best events are in the middle of the night for us, and all we get are the highlights the next day from a bunch of gloating play-by-play people who were there in person to witness it."}, {"response": 20, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Thu, Mar  1, 2001 (08:40)", "body": "Here's a real good comparison of tivo and replay tv: http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum1/HTML/004998.html The person has used both systems a lot, so they're speaking from experience."}, {"response": 21, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (02:34)", "body": "I'm upgrading my tivo to 155 hours with an 80gb hard drive. It's only a 14 hour unit now. I have another 30 hour unit. Wow, 155 hours!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov 22, 2001 (23:41)", "body": "I want to use tivo like a recorder and move my digital videos to tivo for dumping to tapes. What's the trick to recording from a video source like a camcorder instead of a satellite signal? If this has already been hashed over just point me to a previous response or a website address."}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (09:23)", "body": "http://www.9thtee.com/turbonet.htm This is an ethernet card you can add to your tivo for network access. From the above website: \"TiVo Software Update 3.0... The TurboNET card, is alive and well with the latest software release from TiVo for the standalone TiVo. Support for the TurboNET is now built-in to the TiVo software. Do NOT use the older installation procedures if you have 3.0. You do need a DHCP server running on your network, like the one that the Linksys router provides, and you must set the dialing prefix to \",#401\" (without the quotes and this is entered with Pause Enter 4 0 1). Since 3.0 has built in drivers, you do not need to install any additional software to get updates over the internet. However, if you want telnet or ftp access to your TiVo, you will need to modify some files and install some software. Click here for instructions on getting telnet and ftp going with 3.0.\" And Tony Jenkins writes on the http://www.tivocommunity.com forum I've created a detailed step-by-step how-to guide for beginning TiVo hackers who are using TiVo software version 3.0. It's not a FAQ, but a sequence of plain-English procedures that starts with an unhacked TiVo, and ends with a fully hacked one including telnet and ftp access. It's a bit too long to post here in its entirety, so I've posted an HTML version on my site: http://www.stevejenkins.com/tivo/newbie.html This how-to will walk a beginning TiVo hacker through the following procedures: 1. Installing a network adapter in your TiVo 2. Gaining telnet access to your TiVo 3. Configuring your TiVo to make its Daily Call via the network adapter 4. Installing binaries on your TiVo that are useful for further hacking 5. Including your hack binaries in your PATH for easy access 6. Automating READ/WRITE and READ ONLY switching in the file system It's based on much of the information I've found in the Underground, and is a consolidation and update of the individual how-to's I've previously written that are posted in the Underground. I would very much appreciate suggestions and corrections from Underground members. I've tried to give proper credit in the Acknowledgements section for all the information and advice I've \"borrowed,\" but please let me know if I forgot anyone. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=65853"}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (10:21)", "body": "A good drive to swap in to your tivo unit: http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20020920/index.html"}, {"response": 25, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Nov  1, 2005 (21:06)", "body": "wait a sec.....this is going to sound really dumb but.....how do you pause live tv? i mean, it's live, and then, it's not? (i get stuff going into the recorder, etc.) but how do you catch up to live?"}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov  1, 2005 (21:19)", "body": "It's easy. Since you're recording it you can pause it and start it up again. You see, wolfie, by default TiVo records everything you watch. The only thing you can't do is fast forward when you're watching live tv in real time, if you get what I mean. It's odd that we now avoid watching tv in real time; because we can't blow by the commercials. So we usally watch things about 10 minutes late so we have this little cushion. By the way, and this is way off topic, the name of that really great San Antonio restaurant is Acenar, it's on Houston street. But I'll mention that again inthe food conference."}, {"response": 27, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov  1, 2005 (21:24)", "body": "Was that clear enough?"}, {"response": 28, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Nov  2, 2005 (21:14)", "body": "yeah, i get it......tivo records all the time which is why we can pause and stuff.....hmmmmmm....wonder if i can convince the AM that we NEED one of these!"}, {"response": 29, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov  3, 2005 (04:25)", "body": "It might be an easy sell. But once you've tried it you're hooked. You'll never have to labor with commercials except the occasional ones that are kind of cool."}, {"response": 30, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Nov  3, 2005 (18:52)", "body": "the commercials are fun to talk about at work!"}, {"response": 31, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov  4, 2005 (09:25)", "body": "Yeah, some people watch the Superbowl for just the commercials so maybe they fast forward the football."}, {"response": 32, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Nov  4, 2005 (23:58)", "body": "*laugh*"}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Mar 29, 2006 (05:48)", "body": "If you are in an area served by Time Warner, you may end up with a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD like I did. In which case, you may want to read this very useful blog entry. http://www.gearbits.com/archives/2005/03/scientific_atla_1.html an excerpt from this fine blog: Now, before I discuss the interface, I have to confess that I am a diehard TiVo junkie. TiVo is my gold standard that any other DVR will be compared against when it comes to the UI. With that said, the SA box is mediocre. It's not horrible, but some anthropological engineering of the user interface could offer some dramatic usability improvements. Plus, there are several features that I miss already (e.g., recording quality setting per show, auto-record by keyword, and the \"boing\"....where's the \"boing?\"). They may be in there, but I didn't find them in my brief usage tonight. And why is the remote (center) so darn big? 8300HD3.jpg However, on the plus side, the 8300HD is chock-a-block full of good specs. It has dual tuners, meaning that you can record two programs at the same time while watching a different pre-recorded one. It sports a 160GB hard drive (20 hours of HD content or 90 hours of SD content), and, most surprisingly, an external SATA connector so you can hook up an external hard drive to expand your storage capacity without monkeying around in the DVR's guts...nice! Anyway, I'm sure my opinion will evolve with time. Perhaps I'll even forgive the lack of a cute little mascot and forget about that big, friendly, yellow Pause button. Not likely, but maybe..."}, {"response": 34, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:49)", "body": "The 8300 HD rocks. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 4, "subject": "X-files", "response_count": 87, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Dec 15, 1996 (01:56)", "body": "Gillan \"Scully\" is going to be interviewed live on HotWired today. Info at: http://www.hotwired.com/poptalk/96/50/index3a.html"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Feb  9, 1997 (21:53)", "body": "What did you think of this weeks episode?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (14:43)", "body": "well, \"this week\" is now ages ago. I just rented some first-season episodes (ok, I'll admit I was on a quest for The Red Speedo episode, which if anyone wants to know, is Duane Barry, airdate 10/14/94 or was it 10/7? anyway) and they were great, really filled in some things about Kruychek (sic) I needed to know. My first month or so on the net were devoted exclusively to David Duchovney searches. Save me!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (21:14)", "body": "OK bring me up to date what happened last week. I hear I can get next weeks episode tonight on the satellite dish (it's the network feed they send out to stations in advance). They publish the wild feed schedule on http://www.tripled.com . So bring me up to date ok?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (08:50)", "body": "Now, terry, we've discussed my poor memory and how it's a good thing I research Alzheimer Disease (maybe if I spent more time in the lab and less time here, we'd have a cure and then I COULD remember the plot to last week's episode!!!)--I'll confab with my sister and see what we come up with eh? (and now you're wondering how my memory came up with those endless ramblings about long-gone TV shows over on that other topic)"}, {"response": 6, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (09:55)", "body": "Please understand, I rented 4 '94 episodes and watched them back-to-back right before I watched last week's episode, so it's no surprise I got a little confused after OD'ing like that (but what a beautiful way to go: Duane Barry, Ascension, and One Breath are truly the Big Kahuna trilogy). So ANYHOOO-- the plot I remember that's NOT the plot of any of those (& I checked \"the official Xfiles web site's plot synopses\") involved a teen faith healer who thinks he's become Satan because suddenly he's killing the very folks he once healed; it turns out *whatever alert you choose* someone's been administering some poison (you'd think as a doctor I'd remember a detail like WHAT poison) prior to his laying on of hands. I'm sketchy on the details (see excuse above) but he did die and then come back from the dead to haunt the bad guys doing the killing. Wish I could remember more!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:30)", "body": "my server's messing up--will it transmit or not?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:33)", "body": "my server's messing up--will it transmit or not?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:34)", "body": "apparently my server will only transmit these \"test\" messages"}, {"response": 10, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:37)", "body": "apparently my server will only transmit these \"test\" messages"}, {"response": 11, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:38)", "body": "oooo, and it's even screwing THOSE up. I'll come back later and finish"}, {"response": 12, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:55)", "body": "I seem to be transmitting better in the PI topic (you know I don't know anything about computers) so you may have to join me there. All I wanted to say was I checked the tv guide on-line, and they don't have plot synopses in their back issues on-line. But the plot for this week's show looks totally unrelated to what I think was last week's plot...if this doesn't transmit I'm gonna SCREAM"}, {"response": 13, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (14:58)", "body": "And heyyyyy--exactly how stupid do I have to be??? If you were going to watch THIS week's episode \"tonight\" meaning Wed nite, and I'm only just getting back to you today, Fri...YOU ALREADY KNOW THE PLOT! I'll get the hang of this one of these days!"}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (20:59)", "body": "Missed it this week, maybe I'll catch it this weekend. I think they do the feed on Wednesdays on one of the birds."}, {"response": 15, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 14, 1997 (08:38)", "body": "I am reliably informed that I couldn't BE more wrong: the teen faith healer was 3 weeks ago; 2 weeks ago was a repeat from a previous season; this week was the copsicle/labsicle episode (and may I just say from personal experience that you don't thaw out all pretty like that. Cold burns. Of course, the whole point of the show is to suspend disbelief...). For more details--just ask!"}, {"response": 16, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, Apr 14, 1997 (08:57)", "body": "and may I just say that the room I am in right now is just about 2 degrees above freezing! I'm turning into some kind of 'sicle myself!"}, {"response": 17, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 14, 1997 (23:29)", "body": "What's the best x files website?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (09:00)", "body": "Well, it depends on your needs. I must see David Duchovney wearing nothing but a tea-cup at least once a day or my life is meaningless. (and hey! it's a BIG tea-cup so let's not have any sniggering) So I go to (and don't rap my knuckles for not rising to your html challenge; I had a rough insomnia-wracked night) www.scibernet.com/xfiles/david and gaze to my heart's content at endless photos of The Man in various stages of undress. On the other hand, a good place to start is www.writer.yorku.ca which has lots of jumping-off places, one of which is www.thex-files.com which is labelled \"the official x-files web site\" or some such rot; it's where I get plot synopses and so forth. And what about next week's episode where they sneak in some Fox-n-Dana hooochey cooochey under the guise of \"oh! it's actually an alien who can transmorgify to LOOK like Fox\"--kind of cheap, I think. That's the kind of creative genius that keeps me miles from the Star Trek crap."}, {"response": 19, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (09:01)", "body": "Not that Star Trek is crap, if you're a trekkoid."}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (22:32)", "body": "I'll stick with Gillian Anderson and a teacup any day."}, {"response": 21, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (10:05)", "body": "And I'm sure YOUR teacup is a ten-gallon hat! Well, you're in luck, because there are just as many GA jumpoffs as DD jumpoffs available at the aforementioned scibernet site. I haven't looked at the GA stuff much (between DD and The Spring, I barely have time to get any work done as it stands!), so I'm not sure what sort of photos/info they have. I do know there's an actual hot nekkid photos site if you look up David Duchovney on hot-bot; I did not sign in there, tho, since this IS a departmental comput r and I'm in enough trouble already!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (10:08)", "body": "I've also been mulling over how I'll cut Xfiles so much slack for their scientific inaccuracies (not that I'm a stickler, and not that I actually expect a TV show to be in any way accurate) but there are other shows that I will just tune out if they start any gobbledygook. Not really important, just musing."}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Apr 16, 1997 (21:27)", "body": "Whatever happened to Dark Skies, the latest X Files knockoff?"}, {"response": 24, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Apr 17, 1997 (13:28)", "body": "You know I never even watched it? Maybe I'll try to catch repeats if it was any good?"}, {"response": 25, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Apr 17, 1997 (23:40)", "body": "It was ok for a knock off. They must have moved it to another slot."}, {"response": 26, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 18, 1997 (08:23)", "body": "On the other hand, I watch a lot of the shows that are knockoffs of the mood, rather than the plotline, of XF: Millenium, Pretender, Profiler, etc. They're pretty good but sometimes it just all gets too dark for me and I skip a week or so to refresh my psyche. Then I lose the plotline! Such is the life of a tv addict. Have you ever seen Sliders? I flipped past it once and it seemed like you'd need to have watched from the beginning of the season. Or maybe I'm just dim!"}, {"response": 27, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Apr 19, 1997 (00:53)", "body": "Haven't seen Sliders."}, {"response": 28, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, May  5, 1997 (09:35)", "body": "So what is with Scully's brain tumor? Doyou see a miracle cure/spontaneous remission via CancerMan? Or kill em all off? My sister sez Chris Carter is serious about stopping the XFiles (rumors have abounded thereunto). Do you have the scoop (do you even watch any more?)? None of my XF web sites seem to deal in rumor-mongering. Is that one word or 2? Anyway--if they quit the Xfiles I must protest. I am the Kiss of Death for TV series!"}, {"response": 29, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Mon, May  5, 1997 (13:49)", "body": "let's see if a telnet response shows up in the website, shall we?"}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, May  5, 1997 (22:20)", "body": "X Files is way to popular for them to give it up. What's the current day and time of the x files... I have a wild feed listing now."}, {"response": 31, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, May  6, 1997 (07:47)", "body": "For D/FW it's Sundays at 8."}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, May  6, 1997 (09:18)", "body": "On the satellite, it's Sunday at 5:32 am on E2/8. It's also on Sunday at 10:20 am on T4/5. These are the \"wild feeds\" that the networks use to send the program to their stations."}, {"response": 33, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, May  7, 1997 (08:17)", "body": "Gotta get a satellite! So you're voting for them NOT cancelling a wildly popular show...gutsy move, that. I guess that means you're also voting for a surprise remission in Scully's cancer? Even tho every other woman who got it died? Of course, she could get leverage over CancerMan that none of them ever could...."}, {"response": 34, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, May  7, 1997 (14:09)", "body": "I haven't visited the ol' XF websites in a while...either something is up with my computer or they've gone to hell in a handbasket: NONE of the links work anymore. Where do I go to see hot nekkid photos of DD? I didn't write down the urls b/c I always got there ok before by hotbot. Boo hoo."}, {"response": 35, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Thu, Jul 24, 1997 (14:26)", "body": "I can't get the fave TV shows topic to load fast enough so I am switching horses midstream and giving 3 CHEERS for the return os DUE SOUTH!!! Paul Gross is THE MAN!!!"}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jul 25, 1997 (09:36)", "body": "Time and day?"}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Nov 29, 1997 (22:40)", "body": "From Reuters today Anderson's Alien Theories \"X-Files\" star Gillian Anderson says she believes extraterrestrials have definitely landed -- and the authorities are covering it up. According to the New York Post, she told Allure magazine that \"It would shock the hell out of me if the government had never been involved in a UFO cover-up and if there was not life on other planets.\" She also said she believes aliens seem hostile became they are projections of our own negative vibrations. She also concedes, \"This is going to make me sound like a complete nut.\""}, {"response": 38, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (22:35)", "body": "wonder why Wolf never came in here to drool over David... maybe that should be an episode!"}, {"response": 39, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (19:56)", "body": "I don't think I ever saw her in the TV conference, wer...."}, {"response": 40, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (19:59)", "body": "guess we should tell her when she gets back, huh?"}, {"response": 41, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (20:07)", "body": "We got a chat thang going, huh?"}, {"response": 42, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (20:16)", "body": "sumpin like dat..."}, {"response": 43, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (20:16)", "body": "OK, i'm here. i adore david duchovny. there."}, {"response": 44, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (20:16)", "body": "oh, there's more to it than that!"}, {"response": 45, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (23:30)", "body": "ok, i'm obsessed with david duchovny *blush*"}, {"response": 46, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (01:27)", "body": "I like the way he moves . . ."}, {"response": 47, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (17:56)", "body": "you too?"}, {"response": 48, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (00:43)", "body": "Well, Anthony Hopkins and Sean Connery are the ones who give me the hot shivers, but David, he has the beautiful surname, and he has those pucky lips, and, boy, the way he moves!"}, {"response": 49, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (15:03)", "body": "luv sean connery too...anthony hopkins is gooooooood. it's david's eyes....."}, {"response": 50, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (17:13)", "body": "I've never managed to look that far up."}, {"response": 51, "author": "Wolf", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (21:34)", "body": "well, you really oughta...i know i'm gonna get dogged out for this, but that is the FIRST place i look (eyes/face)"}, {"response": 52, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:21)", "body": "No, me too. I just find David's face too pretty pretty for my taste. But his moves make up for it, of course . . ."}, {"response": 53, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:22)", "body": "if they're facing you, anyway..."}, {"response": 54, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:23)", "body": "now my response makes even less sense, thanks!!!"}, {"response": 55, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:25)", "body": "Don't thank me now - wait till the day you look me up; I might even get nervous."}, {"response": 56, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (00:34)", "body": "might?"}, {"response": 57, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (01:33)", "body": "might not"}, {"response": 58, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Feb  5, 1999 (08:08)", "body": "the answers will be revealed in a two part story beginning sunday, 7 feb at 8 pm central time. the conclusion will be shown 14 feb. not the end of the show, as x files is contracted through the year 2000."}, {"response": 59, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Feb  9, 1999 (17:24)", "body": "woo woo! did ya see part 1?"}, {"response": 60, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Feb  9, 1999 (17:43)", "body": "no and i was upset. our fox station has been down for awhile. and even after they placed a notice in the paper that it was back up, it wasn't! so i missed the whole thing."}, {"response": 61, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Feb  9, 1999 (17:53)", "body": "*frown* sorry."}, {"response": 62, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Tue, Feb  9, 1999 (21:50)", "body": "that sucks, wolfie. it was a great ep."}, {"response": 63, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Tue, Feb  9, 1999 (22:03)", "body": "so, what are the answers so far?"}, {"response": 64, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Wed, Feb 10, 1999 (08:55)", "body": "Cancer Man's name is C.G.M. Spender. the Evil Old Men have been working with an alien race to prepare the earth for an invasion and takeover. these aliens are going to use the black oil to turn the human race into a slave race. the Evil Old Men have been working on this since the crash at Roswell. They are also working to develop a vaccine to protect themselves from being turned into slaves. also, they have been working to develop an alien/human hybrid, but i am a little unclear as to why. Spender's mom (Veronica Cartright) is the first successful alien human hybrid and she has gone to Mulder for help. all of this was pretty much known so far. the entire episode was narrated by Cancer man, and he was asking someone for help in rescuing the project. it turns out that the person he was taling to was Mimi Rogers, so next week we shall see how he tries to execute cancer man's plans."}, {"response": 65, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Wed, Feb 10, 1999 (08:57)", "body": "oh, forgot to mention that there is another alien race that is fighting the first one. this other alien race are the Fire Starters, the ones with their faces all sewn up to protect them from the black oil. in this ep, they killed off some scientists working for the EOM, as well as one of the EOM. they have the ability to make themselves look like others."}, {"response": 66, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Feb 10, 1999 (11:31)", "body": "cool. well, fox was up and running last night. guess we'll find out what happened to mulder's sister on sunday. (so what does the vaccine and black oil have to do with corn and bees?)"}, {"response": 67, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Wed, Feb 10, 1999 (13:07)", "body": "AFAIK, the bees were to be used as a vehicle for spreading the virus associated with the black oil, to help create the race of human slaves."}, {"response": 68, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (21:44)", "body": "so didja see part 2? i did, and i still have questions. when they all went to el rico afb for the (bad?) aliens, with spencer's mother, and the good face-changing aliens showed up and burnt them all to chards, what was the tip off? how come they all thought if they went there they would be saved and instead, a bunch of the EOM were snagged (with innocent victims)? i think spencer has fox snowed as to who the \"good\" guys are, using mulder's sister as bait. and why was mimi rogers kissing fox? hmmmm.....s meone want to tell me about that?"}, {"response": 69, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (21:47)", "body": "she got tired of me?... (I know, \"as if!\")"}, {"response": 70, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (21:48)", "body": "didja see your response #? coinkydink? i think not......"}, {"response": 71, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (21:50)", "body": "I do what I can..."}, {"response": 72, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (21:51)", "body": "heard that.... night!"}, {"response": 73, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Mon, Feb 15, 1999 (21:53)", "body": "g'night... (rolling over and going to sleep on me I see...)"}, {"response": 74, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, May 17, 1999 (13:38)", "body": "alright, anyone catch the x-files season finale? no? well, i DON'T get it. why do they have fox in an insane assylum and what did mimi do to him when they were in his apartment? hmmmm???? now i have to wait allllll summer to find out!"}, {"response": 75, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Mon, May 17, 1999 (15:23)", "body": "i caught it and really thought it was overall kind of lame. i cant really say why. i was just unimpressed with the plot, and i am not really all tha t anxious to catch the season opener because it does not seem to hold anything new or exciting."}, {"response": 76, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul 22, 1999 (13:43)", "body": "I hate it when the writer of X-files, whoever he may be, and bless his dark little soul, tries to do something 'deep'. That's not what we watch it for, is it?? We want inbreeding, mutilation, cannibalism, GORE!"}, {"response": 77, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (08:03)", "body": "Oh Sun of my equinox, not romance? Tragedy? Oh. Silly me. \"Male Logic (tm)\" again."}, {"response": 78, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (13:11)", "body": "Of course!! Whatever gives people (and men) the idea that all women like romance on tv??? It has worked for a few films, and for many theatre production, but on tv I want blood and gore all the way!"}, {"response": 79, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (15:29)", "body": "looks like the tv and violence culture extends outside the U.S...."}, {"response": 80, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (16:15)", "body": "ha-ha! We were great He-man fans as kids, you see - that's where it comes from, no doubt. I HAVE THE POWER! He-man, he-man-he-man-he-man!!! (Sonja only got to be Skeletor though...)"}, {"response": 81, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (16:30)", "body": "and your little brother had to be She-Ra, Princess of Power?"}, {"response": 82, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Jul 25, 1999 (01:28)", "body": "ha-ha!!! NO! He was Leach - do you remember Leach? The one who sucked everything."}, {"response": 83, "author": "aschuth", "date": "Sun, Jul 25, 1999 (03:21)", "body": "Well, if I ever watch something through, I sure don't want all-violence and all-gore. I want there to be suspense, romance and a good, convincing storyline and then - KABOOM! the hammer of fate smashes the lovers. Dooms their future. Whatever it takes... Yeah, I guess I'm just an olde fashioned fella, Riette. Sorry 'bout that."}, {"response": 84, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Jul 25, 1999 (09:22)", "body": "OOH! You've really got it in for me now after that Italian business!! ha-ha! But don't worry, I can take it!! Okay, okay, so it doesn't have to be ALL violence. But if it's going to be 'Hollywoodie', then it has to be - it's what they're best at. The kind of non-violence programmes I like are normally BBC productions - they're great. The English, I find, are a bit more down to earth about romance and happy endings - they've not yet reached the stage of clich\ufffds. The same goes for their films - it's so much more believable, because the endings are usually not perfect."}, {"response": 85, "author": "infospryte", "date": "Fri, Oct  1, 1999 (13:26)", "body": "My apologies. This is not completely on topic, but at least the first part is! Mulder may be leaving \"The X-Files,\" \"Farscape\" is due for some surprises, Patrick Stewart may play \"Doctor Who,\" Whedon's \"X-Men\" rewrite is axed, and more. http://www.scifiweekly.com/issue128/news.html"}, {"response": 86, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct  2, 1999 (01:35)", "body": "Mulder leave the X-Files??? Mulder IS the X-files!!!!!"}, {"response": 87, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sat, Oct  9, 1999 (15:28)", "body": "what??? then where am i gonna get my dose of david duchovny? hmmmm????? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 40, "subject": "tvreviewer.com - a Spring website", "response_count": 7, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 16, 1999 (20:23)", "body": "Not yet, but I am going to find some. Congratulations! Great idea!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Oct 17, 1999 (09:53)", "body": "cooooool!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 26, 1999 (09:19)", "body": "Ideas?"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (11:56)", "body": "I'm going to pump up this conference with new topics before creating tvreviewer.com. Anyone want to be on the design team? (hint, hint to the folks who creating firth.com and austen.com)."}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Nov  8, 1999 (14:40)", "body": "You might need to email them with your plea...they only lurk certain places, and I do not think this is one of them!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 14, 2002 (05:58)", "body": "Shocking Behavior: ABC and Fox Sue Over Reality Shows http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34210-2002Jan11.html"}, {"response": 7, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:49)", "body": "http://tvreviewer.com needs a overhaul, desperately. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 41, "subject": "good stuff on PBS", "response_count": 11, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (11:17)", "body": "There's a great series running about Africa, hosted by Henry Louis Gates from Harvard. It's a travelogue, as he makes his way through Africa looking for Africa's ancient centers of learning and civilization, as well as looking at Africa today as it emerges from colonialism and apartheid. It elevates Africa to a level that we never dreamed it had, with the primitivistic images we've been fed as schoolchildren."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:54)", "body": "Three staples I never miss are Nova, Nature, and The Smithsonian. I also like Antiques Roadshow which was filming in Hilo recently. I could not find the much-lauded African series in our program guide. When is it aired?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (16:56)", "body": "...and Masterpeice Theater...in fact, any BBC production."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (21:11)", "body": "I tivoed Nature, I'll mark those other two you mentioned for watching later. Do you have good local PBS programming in Hawaii? How many tv stations and radio stations are there on the Hawaiian Islands?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (21:18)", "body": "Did you catch that show on \"Nature\" Friday night about Antarctica? I wished I'd taped it for the girls, we just finished a unit on the Poles."}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (21:26)", "body": "It may be on my hard drive out in Cedar Creek, I'll check next time I cruise out there."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (21:43)", "body": "John can answer this one better than I, and I will let him tell you how many there are out here. Daytime is pretty poor - 4 AM stations on this side of our 14,000-foot mountains and several FM. Good FM is available through the cable connection. Out TV PBS is one of the best from what I saw in the Los Angeles area. We get the top of the line shows...\"Cats\" this week, again."}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (21:46)", "body": "At night I can get all the way to the West Coast and Texas on occasion on AM. Short wave is an whole nuther option not considered in here."}, {"response": 9, "author": "mrchips", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (22:47)", "body": "There are nearly 30 radio stations in Honolulu alone and a dozen here on the Big Island, there are also several on Maui and Kaua`i. Honolulu has 6 VHF TV broadcast stations and 2 UHF stations as well as several cable only stations. Marcia puts up with my FM station only because I'm on it (she is basically into classical music). Hilo is the largest city in the U.S. not currently served by National Public Radio. There has just been a large fundraiser here and we are in the process of putting up a repeat r. Portions of the Big Island can pick up Maui's NPR repeater. There are some good local programs with Hawaiian folk music, and Hawaii's #1 TV news anchor, Joe Moore, does a highly-regarded \"Mostly Mozart\" program on KHPR, Honolulu's public radio station. Moore is an actor and playwright as well as a TV newsman. He is a former wide receiver for the University of Maryland. He writes one-man plays for himself. He has basically three obsessions in life and is a walking encyclopedia on each of them: Wil Rogers, John Wayne, and Mozart. He has taken one-man plays as each on the road. All of them are surprisingly good. He is a big man (6-3 about 220 lbs.) with an ego to match, but is a decent guy. Other than his wife, I don't know if he has any close personal friends. As one of his station co-workers puts it: \"Joe is a loner and doesn't hang out with anyone, but he's nice to all of us and we all care about him.\" As far as PBS goes, we have some good local programming: \"Rice and Roses\" is an excellent alf-hour historical documentary series, \"Spectrum Hawaii\" is a very good public affairs interview show, and we've also has some locally produced PBS made-for-TV movies that have gone national. \"Damien,\" a one-man show about Dutch priest Father Damien DeVeuster, who worked with lepers on Moloka`i in the late 19th century (and died there of leprosy himself) won an Emmy both for KHET-TV and the star, English-born actor Terence Knapp. Father Damien is now \"Blessed Damien,\" one step away from sainthood. Ano her KHET production about the house arrest of Hawaii's last queen, Liliu`okalani, has also been broadcast nationally. Local singer Marlene Sai starred as the queen, who reigned when the U.S. illegally overthrew the sovereign Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. Marcia mentioned she could pick up West Coast radio at night. That includes a Los Angeles station I worked for in 1979-80, KFI, 640 AM (I wrote and did voices for Gary Owens' morning show and did weekend mornings). The station I call UH-Hilo Vulcan baske ball and baseball on, KPUA (670 AM in Hilo) can also be picked up in some areas of Los Angeles at night. Some players parents drive to certain vantage points both in Honolulu and in L.A. to listen to the games (our AM is not on the internet, and management has no plans to put it there--we can't put it on full-time as long as we carry Rush Limbaugh)."}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (23:09)", "body": "Thank you John! Again I am impressed with your encyclopedic knowledge of things broadcast. I would hate to loose Rush Limbaugh... and I did not know you worked for KFI...gadzooks, I've been a fan of yours since before I knew you existed. I thought I liked Gary Owens when it was John I was admiring all the while. When the propagation is right I can get skip on the scanner and pick up CHP frequencies, but it has been pretty poor this cycle. Thank you for a most interesting discussion. I had no idea a epeater was in the offing for this side of the Island. About time!!!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:50)", "body": "Local documentary filmmaker Don Howard doesn't look like the sort of guy to challenge existing stereotypes and subvert accepted knowledge, but then he doesn't look too much like an ex-high school quarterback either, though he is. His documentary Letter From Waco (which aired nationally on PBS in September) took preconceived notions of one of Texas' more notorious cities and peeled them away to reveal something far more interesting and unique than just botched ATF raids and Southern Baptists. As a Waco native who currently lives in Austin, Howard is in the right position to point out the \"Wacons\" (a term he used in the film to describe the semi-spiritual collisions between things like football, race, religion, and death) in an otherwise fairly prosaic setting. The resulting documentary, slyly humorous without ever stepping over into outright parody, has become a crowd favorite, playing to sold-out audiences at SXSW (where it received \"best documentary\" honors) and elsewhere. It's hardly surprising given Howard's unique perspective on things. Currently at work on \"part one\" of a trilogy of half-hour documentaries on football, cheerleading, and weddings (all filmed here in Texas), Howard will be screening a rough version of the football segment, Game Day, (which consists of footage shot in 1982 by Geoff Winningham and re-edited by Howard), as part of the ongoing Texas Documentary Tour at the Alamo Drafthouse on Wednesday, December 10 at 6:30pm. Recently, I spoke with Howard about the art of the Texas documentary, the great Independent Television Service (ITVS), and why local PBS affiliate KLRU dropped the ball when it came to airing Letter From Waco. Austin Chronicle: What sort of film background do you come from? Have you always had an eye toward documentary filmmaking, or is this something that just sort of came about? Don Howard: I came to Austin [from Waco] to study philosophy, but I ended up getting a Masters in Radio-Television-Film instead. I ended up doing a lot of stuff with ACTV [now ACAC] at one point, and I was hoping to make documentaries, and so I did my thesis documentary about a high school marching band, of all things. That's kind of how all this began. AC: Tell me about Game Day, the new football project you're screening. DH: It's kind of an in-progress thing. The plan is to do another version of it which will be one of three parts of a bigger project called Nuclear Family. Basically, I'm going to use the same footage and re-edit it slightly to sort of accentuate some things that are in it now. For it to wind up on PBS -- which is the plan -- it's got to be about two minutes shorter than it is now. For me, the good side effect of showing it now is to watch it with a crowd. It's amazing how that changes your outlook. Something that you think is funny might suddenly not be, or vice versa. So, that's kind of one reason I'm really happy about being able to show it in this setting. AC: I know the film deals with high school football in Texas, but what exactly are you trying to get at here? DH: The finished product will be more of an examination of father-son relationships than it is right now. Right now it's more about the rituals of high school football. AC: And it's all set in Waco? DH: No, not all of it. It was shot by a guy named Geoff Winningham who teaches art at Rice. He did a book on high school football called The Rites of Fall -- one of the best things that's ever been done on the subject. On the strength of that, he got some money together to do a film about high school football, with the idea of examining those rituals you see over and over again -- the Lord's Prayer before the game, the way pep rallies work, the whole thing. He ended up picking a school in each of the divisions and following them around, with the intention of figuring out which team had the best chances and then focusing on them. Unfortunately, he was hurt mid-season and abandoned the project (this was back in 1982). I met him later on and became interested in this 16mm footage because it's just so great. To my mind, nobody will ever capture high school football quite this way -- it's that good. As it ended up, I said, \"Will you let me play around with this footage for a while?\" He agreed, and I ended up spending all my spare time for about three years making various versions of this film. At first, I just wanted to put it in a context so people could see this footage, really just to save it. As I went further and further, though, through seven or eight versions, it all came together. from http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol17/issue14/screens.donhoward.html tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 42, "subject": "King of the Hill", "response_count": 8, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Apr 25, 2002 (17:57)", "body": "you know, i like king of the hill but won't watch it when hank's dad is supposed to show. i've even stopped the kids from watching when he's on. this man is terrible (and i know it's pretend)"}, {"response": 2, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Apr 26, 2002 (16:18)", "body": "He is obnoxious to an extreme. It comes on too late (11:30-12:30 here) for it to be an issue with the kids."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (09:15)", "body": "The new season starts this Sunday."}, {"response": 4, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (13:04)", "body": "I used to watch that in re-runs on Fox at 11:30 every night--hysterical! I get S. laughing doing my Boomhauer impersonation."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (13:23)", "body": "That, I would like to hear. Can you make a sound file for us?"}, {"response": 6, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Oct 30, 2003 (20:53)", "body": "Now, Terry, you know better than that...I can barely check my email! I'm still running Windows '95 AND I use Netscape 4.7!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 31, 2003 (07:52)", "body": "Nuthin' wrong with keeping something that works. The old \"if it ain't broke\" saying."}, {"response": 8, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:51)", "body": "http://www.deeplake.com/koth King of the Hill Welcome to Arlen, Texas -- home of the Hill family (Hank, Peggy, Bobby and Luanne) and Hank Hill's beloved propane and propane accessories. King of the Hill is a hilarious animated series which while being funny manages to explore diverse and \"difficult\" issues such as illegal immigration and adultery. At our King of the Hill site, we've got sounds, pictures, character information and more. Just click on a link at the left of your window or below this text to start exploring the site. Peggy Hill rumoured to be dead after sky-diving tragedy! We received many reports of this, but it now seems that Peggy was only injured and has since recovered from this unfortunate accident. Read our \"Peggy dead, is it true?\" page for more information. Introduction to King of the Hill Find out more about the Hills, Hank's friends (Boomhauer, Bill, Dale) and the quiet Texan town of Arlen itself at our information page. Cast list Who does what voice? All is revealed on our King of the Hill cast list page. Sound clips Personalise your computer with these fun King of the Hill sound clips. We've got sounds (in WAV format) of Hank Hill, Dale, Peggy, Boomhauer and Bobby. Our favourite quotes Send us yours too! Pictures Some pictures of the King of the Hill characters. King of the Hill viewing guide What channels is King of the Hill on in what countries? Our viewing guide might be able to help you. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 43, "subject": "Sports Night", "response_count": 9, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (11:55)", "body": "Next week, \"Kafelnikox\" a y2k test plunges the studio into darkness; Dan meets an attractive therapist. Josh Charles, Peter Krause, Felicity Huffman, Robert Guillaume."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (12:57)", "body": "sb \"kafelnikov\""}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (12:59)", "body": "Felicity Huffman is awesome, by the way."}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct 31, 1999 (14:30)", "body": "This is one show I have managed to forget about until the day after it was on. I will make a sticky-note to remind me this well."}, {"response": 5, "author": "Ann", "date": "Sun, Jun 11, 2000 (23:43)", "body": "AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Canceled!!!! Stupid networks!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Jun 11, 2000 (23:48)", "body": "Unreal! If it works and is funny and even mildly engages your intellect, get rid of it. Sheesh - lowest common denominator strikes again. Arrrhg! Indeed!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "Ann", "date": "Sun, Jun 11, 2000 (23:53)", "body": "They also had the problem that the writer was busy writing West Wing, and was having trouble keeping up with both. I think he wanted to hand SN off to someone else."}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Jun 12, 2000 (12:09)", "body": "When they lose the creative first writers something vital goes with them....Sad!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:52)", "body": "from http://sportsnight.tktv.net/ # 4.20.06 - From TVGuide.com: Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman and Lindsay Lohan are in talks to play grandma, mom and daughter in Georgia Rule, a dark comedy to be directed by Garry Marshall. # Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com 3.10.06 - TVGuide.com Caught in the Act: Class act William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman must be the envy of every Hollywood couple \ufffd they're talented, happy together and look great, too! # 1.31.06 - Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Oscar for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role for her part in \"Transamerica!\" The 78th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre, and broadcast live on ABC. # 1.17.06 - Congratulations to Felicity Huffman for winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) for her role in Transamerica. Click here for a picture of her arriving at the ceremony, and click here for a picture of her with her award. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 44, "subject": "top tv actors", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Feb  1, 2000 (22:58)", "body": "deja.com's ratings Deja.com ratings category: TV Actors"}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Feb  4, 2000 (23:40)", "body": "You do not want our personal opinions here? Just surveys? (Cannot be!)"}, {"response": 3, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Feb  5, 2000 (12:01)", "body": "Of course personal opinions! Pleasse comment."}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Feb  5, 2000 (12:36)", "body": "I checked into that URL you posted. I was amazed (rather, aghast) at the narrow selection of \"top actors\" It makes me wonder who they are asking. Do David Duchovney(sp) of Wolfie fame and adoration? Of course, the first time I ever saw a certain gentleman it was on A&E in a miniseries and I searched the web for more about him and here I am. Colin Firth first came to our attention in a miniseries made for TV, and I am still a fan of Darcy rather than CF, in all honesty! Betcha there are a bunch more in the Babes conference under Male Babes (which Mike tried to supress...*grin*)"}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:24)", "body": "What do we hafta do to get people posting in here - especially this topic! Come on...lets the fluids flow and get down!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (01:36)", "body": "I hear Jerry Manthey (Survivor I) is going to play herself on the Young and the Restless. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 45, "subject": "tv websites for listings and reviews", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (03:43)", "body": "One of my current favorites is http://www.girlson.com . Just click on the tv tab. Some samples. ShannonStar barely contains her anticipation about \"That '70s Show\". \"After making numerous jealous remarks, Jackie has a frightening epiphany: she must have feelings for Fez!\" Rosalita stitches together the madcap capers on \"Friends\". \"Pheebs offers Chan one of her sock bunnies, but he finds a mix tape at the last minute in the back of his closet and gives that to her. Then Mon gives him--Phoebe's sock bunny!\" \"The Practice\" \"Race Ipsa Loquitor\" Original Air Date 2/20/00 by ALeve ABC, Sunday at 10pm EST Remember the Henry Winkler plot-line from last season? Well, I didn\ufffdt either. But since a large part of this week\ufffds \ufffdPractice\ufffd centers around it, I will, briefly, try to refresh your memory: Henry Winkler played Henry, the man with the bug fetish. He liked to watch women step on bugs and he went to jail on a life sentence for a murder he didn\ufffdt commit. We know he didn\ufffdt commit the murder because his son confessed to Jimmy that he did it. But Dad went to jail anyway because he felt guilty and Jimmy never told anyone. Sadly though, the son ended up hanging himself, leaving Jimmy with terrible guilt (he\ufffds friends with Henry too, by the way), which brings us to the opening of this week\ufffds episode. Phew. Jimmy wants to re-open the case. Henry is in jail . . ."}, {"response": 2, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (03:48)", "body": "And this excerpt from the review of Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire: On to the \ufffdbeachwear\ufffd competition. As if we haven\ufffdt sunk low enough, our contestants now show their true mettle by strutting around in bikinis and platform mules, and Mr. Multi-Millionaire slashes it down to five finalists. Most notably, my personal circus sideshow, Darva, the nurse with the Ann Jillian haircut and lots of gums, straight off Baywatch Beach Patrol, numbers among them. The high point of the evening is the Bridal Gown Parade: the finalists flock out in full wedding regalia, which actually translates into some totally hideous Jessica McClintock junior prom dresses with satin pumps. Mostly they look terrible, and terrified--their flammable cathedral-length trains and ohmygod-I\ufffdm on-TV-and might marry-a stranger within-seconds zombie grins lend them all the look of floozy runners-up for the Playmate-of-the Year competition."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (14:59)", "body": "I'll see what I can do for you. You are talking commercial tv networks not the cable sort like Discovery and The Learning Channel? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 46, "subject": "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:02)", "body": "You need guys to help on this topic. Not my thing, I'm afraid!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Mar 27, 2000 (00:14)", "body": "What's her name is doing and Audrey Hepburn show tomorrow, the previews looked good on the Oscars tonight."}, {"response": 3, "author": "SadieR", "date": "Thu, May 25, 2000 (16:09)", "body": "Just thought I'd try to get the Slaying going. Obvious Slayer-in-action scene: Bridgy gives what-for to naked blonde bronzed giantess on rooftop (who is OBVIOUSLY EVIL) and not only saves Daniel's life, but avenges all vertically and horizontally less spectacular girlfriends everywhere. Loud savage cheers! Any suggestions for what Daniel will do next? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 47, "subject": "Charmed", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (04:49)", "body": "I haven't seen this show yet."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:03)", "body": "Me either"}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Mar  8, 2000 (21:59)", "body": "Neither of you is missing anything."}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Mar  8, 2000 (22:55)", "body": "Doens't sound as though it'll be around next year. Catch it or ignore it while you can! Is is a summer filler rather than replays? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 48, "subject": "Dawson's Creek", "response_count": 0, "posts": []}, {"num": 49, "subject": "Dharma and Greg", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (04:49)", "body": "I like it that Dharma is a hippie, new age type gal. I can relate to those kind of folks."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:07)", "body": "Do you also relate to the ones who are still tripped out and living in trashbaggie tents in the woods on the volcano growing their weed and living on welfare? We gottum and will send them all to Austin, if you'd like! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 5, "subject": "Seinfeld", "response_count": 30, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "Margaret", "date": "Tue, May 20, 1997 (00:54)", "body": "This season has been terrific. It's as if they rediscovered the fun in their work. Warning: I'm a very irregular visitor here, but I received an e-mail request to post a test posting here. I hope this is okay, and I really really do enjoy Seinfeld. My favorite episode? Maybe replacing the marbled rye in Susan's parents' place Yours?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, May 20, 1997 (08:17)", "body": "The one in the deli where the deli owner is picky about who he serves."}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Oct 12, 1997 (16:51)", "body": "I was addicted to \"Seinfeld\" and never missed a single episode (I taped if I couldn't be there). I liked it not because it's a show about nothing, but a show that exaggerates things that really happen (or could happen). For instance, the long wait at the restaurant...the friends that hound you about seeing their new baby...the urge to tell a limo chauffeur at an airport that you are their party. I used to LOL (I am really getting hip here) at those episodes, and then suddenly they ran out of things tha might happen and relied on things that would NEVER happen, like other sit-coms. I couldn't bring myself to stop watching it, but it got to the point that I dreaded 9:00 on Thursday. So a few weeks ago I watched the opening show for the season for \"closure\" and when it was over I turned it off having made the decision to never turn it on again (except a half hour later for ER). So, I'm in Seinfeld recovery and there is no relapse in sight."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 12, 1997 (19:49)", "body": "Is there a 12 step program that you're in?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (12:49)", "body": "good luck with the rehab! I had to get rid of my tv to stop turning it on!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (13:41)", "body": "Nope, no 12-step program--just pure willpower! But I could never get rid of my TV; I'm still addicted to too many other shows. Moderation in all things is good."}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (15:27)", "body": "I just turned my tv in to a web browser with webtv. Now I can surf around and email from my living room couch. So do you really think Seinfeld has run out of situations?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (11:35)", "body": "Paul, you are too much!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (13:59)", "body": "We won't run out of situations, will we, Stace?"}, {"response": 10, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (14:11)", "body": "I haven't even figured out how to de-program my VCR so it will stopping coming on every night at 11:00! I suspect there's only one kind of mouse I'll even see in my living room."}, {"response": 11, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Oct 15, 1997 (09:55)", "body": "(LOL)"}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 17, 1997 (01:21)", "body": "Remind Seinfelds girlfriend in the restaurant with the bad laugh. That was Jessica Lundy and she's so *hot*, I love women who are smart, funny and sexy. And her mugs are so great."}, {"response": 13, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Oct 17, 1997 (11:11)", "body": "mugs??"}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 17, 1997 (12:26)", "body": "Do I really have to go into explicit detail?"}, {"response": 15, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sat, Oct 18, 1997 (12:06)", "body": "Let him off the hook."}, {"response": 16, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct 20, 1997 (09:59)", "body": "I like to imagine Paul turning red and sweating around his t-shirt collar. It soothes the sadist in me!! *evil laugh*"}, {"response": 17, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sat, Nov  8, 1997 (18:03)", "body": "Easy Stacey."}, {"response": 18, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Nov 10, 1997 (12:37)", "body": "thanks for talking down my dark side, george!"}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, May 13, 1998 (08:44)", "body": "Hey, Thursday, night. The Last Seinfeld. Anyone tuning in? That's as in, tomorrow night."}, {"response": 20, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, May 13, 1998 (11:31)", "body": "I've been tuned out to it for so long, it'll be weird to watch it again. But I can't resist seeing how they tie everything up after all...but I'm skipping the pre-game show at 8:00."}, {"response": 21, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, May 13, 1998 (13:05)", "body": "What about the postgame show?"}, {"response": 22, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, May 13, 1998 (17:26)", "body": "Ah, the Tonight SHow? Hmm...we'll have to see who the guest is on \"Loveline\" in order to make that decision! How 'bout you? Gonna watch ER's season ender too?"}, {"response": 23, "author": "NICK", "date": "Thu, May 14, 1998 (22:53)", "body": "Got some mixed feelings about the Seinfeld Final Episode. I enjoyed the courtroom scenes but the way it ended in the jailcell was kind of dull. Overall I give it an 8."}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 15, 1998 (03:01)", "body": "Whew! Nick you found the caps lock key. Good thing. It was mixed. The retrospective was good, but too bad they didn't make it to Paris and there wasn't any love scene between Seinfeld and Elaine."}, {"response": 25, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, May 15, 1998 (17:23)", "body": "wow. guess I really missed something big, eh?"}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, May 16, 1998 (04:26)", "body": "It will be in re-runs on syndication, Stace. Trust me."}, {"response": 27, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, May 17, 1998 (21:47)", "body": "Actually, they're airing it again Wednesday night. It's not too late, Stacey! Get yourself to the nearest bar! LOL! I give it a 6, and that's only because I liked the retrospective and appreciate all the work that went into its compilation. I don't know if I even cracked a smile for the rest of it. Yada, yada, yada. I'm ready for the next hot show to come along."}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (07:42)", "body": "What show will go in Seinfeld's time slot now?"}, {"response": 29, "author": "NICK", "date": "Wed, May 20, 1998 (21:41)", "body": "Whatever show replaces Seinfeld will probably be \"nothing\" like it. Especially if its a show about \"something\"."}, {"response": 30, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, May 21, 1998 (19:57)", "body": "I just read that \"Frasier\" will get the coveted 9:00 must-see-TV spot. Probably appeals to the same audience. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 50, "subject": "ER", "response_count": 5, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (04:48)", "body": "I've known a lot of nurses and doctors, and none of them watch this show, I wonder why? And I don't watch this show even though it's the highest rated show on tv, or was, until those stupid millionaire shows came along."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:12)", "body": "Heck - that's weird, Terry! When my roommate was an ER RN (she is now manager of the ER and Cardiac Unit) we had to watch each and every espiode of ER. And, as a result of her not being in my life anymore ER is not, either. Having spent many days with her as she went though the routine ER duties (they are NEVER routine!) I can vouch for the hours of boredom broken by moments of terror and adrenaline rushes as the ambulance pulls in. It is an incredibly extreme thing to do every day for work, and it changes the people who do it. Funny thing, but those who do it for a living are usually the most socially squeamish. Funny!!!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Mar  8, 2000 (22:01)", "body": "I have two friends who are nurses; one is addicted to it and the other can't take it--she prefers to be entertained when she's not working, not re-living her day."}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Mar  8, 2000 (22:44)", "body": "We need to get Annette's take on this!"}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Mar  8, 2000 (22:46)", "body": "It could be that the ER RN I was visiting was trying to explain what they were doing and educating me rather than enjoying the show. I should think it would just be more stress after a stressful day! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 51, "subject": "Friends", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Mar  4, 2000 (15:15)", "body": "Ah, Babes extension... It does nothing for me, either. Must be me...*grin*"}, {"response": 2, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Mar  8, 2000 (22:02)", "body": "It's one of those shows that is hopelessly unrealistic (these people spend more time together than most married couples, and why isn't anyone ever at work?), yet it's always good for a laugh."}, {"response": 3, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Aug 28, 2000 (09:48)", "body": "From the CBS website: The Next Survivor Is Coming Soon Stranded in the Australian Outback! The next 16 Survivors will meet a whole new set of sights and challenges. Will they be able to survive the vast arid lands, massive waterfalls and rivers, and fierce crocodiles of the Outback? And perhaps more importantly, will they be able to survive each other? The place may be different, but the game is still the same: Who will outwit, outplay, and outlast all others on Survivor: The Australian Outback? Tune in to the season premiere on January 28, 2001, right after the Super Bowl. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 52, "subject": "Survivor", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Aug 28, 2000 (14:57)", "body": "CBS will reportedly run all 13 episodes of 'Survivor' starting on 9/15 to counter-program against the Olympics."}, {"response": 2, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Aug 28, 2000 (14:59)", "body": "I would have voted for Kelly. She proved she could survive in 5 consecutive competitions, Rich was the victory for corporate America with his cunning allicance (his gig is a corporate trainer)."}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Aug 31, 2000 (21:24)", "body": "I am the only TV viewer who never watched that show..."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep  1, 2000 (09:10)", "body": "Judging from the response to this topic, maybe not! I barely became a viewer, only because I saved it to Tivo and watched it later. Did anyone else see this final show?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Thu, Sep 14, 2000 (07:44)", "body": "NBC, we learned today, is paying Survivor creator Mark Burnett $35 million for the rights to Destination Mir, a reality-based TV series in which Americans will compete for the right to spend time on the Russian space station Mir. Let me get this straight: The winner gets sent to the space station Mir? What does the loser get\ufffda year in a Russian submarine? Or maybe an Indy 500 slot in a Ford Explorer equipped with Firestone tires? from Slate at http://slate.msn.com/Earthling/00-09-13/Earthling.asp"}, {"response": 6, "author": "Moon", "date": "Thu, Sep 14, 2000 (07:51)", "body": "LOL! Just think of the lively conversation to be had in space. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 53, "subject": "Temptation Island", "response_count": 31, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (08:32)", "body": "Four couples are sent to a fantastic ilsand to encouter 26 drop dead good looking singles who try to tempt them. Why would they go? To break up on national tv? It would seem logical only if they were contemplating a breakup already. This makes Survivor pretty tame by comparison. By the way, the Crossfire piece does not reflect my views. I posted it solely to stir up discussion and controversy."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (13:24)", "body": "My question exactly - why put yourself through that agony? I was alerted to the program by a man I know there on that private island resort where it was filmed. It is more fantastic than you can imagine, and he was in it - though I am still wondering which part - or on the cutting room floor..."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (13:57)", "body": "For the lowdown on the resort at which it was really filmed: http://www.aprivateisland.com/"}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (13:59)", "body": "Even better: http://www.belizereport.com/lodging/espanto/"}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (14:03)", "body": "http://www.global-travel.co.uk/espanto.htm"}, {"response": 6, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (19:07)", "body": "What a place! I already asked if you had visited here back on the porch."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (19:43)", "body": "Do check out the urls I posted for that place - luxurious and totally private. It is nirvana for those lucky enough to visit there. Not all those ugly thatched houses - much nicer than that. They also provide services such as the resident genius making ship-purchasing runs to Miami - millions involved at times. The staff is as interesting as the visitors if not moreso."}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (19:46)", "body": "(what happened to the horizontal dividers??!!) Btw, that place was pretty much levelled by the last hurricane. All back good as new and purring along with great efficiency, tact and all the amenities one would expect from a place of that calibre."}, {"response": 9, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (21:46)", "body": "So what would it cost to go there for a week, high end and low end?"}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Jan 11, 2001 (22:41)", "body": "One site mentioned package deals but most visitors stay a week minimum... Minus gratuities??? or plus???? Not sure you want to think about it at an average of $1000/person /day including your own private butler and chef who has won more blue ribbons than Citation cooking whatever you desire fresh and served privately in your own suite. You do the math. \"If you have to ask you cannot afford it\" an ancestor of my friend once said...or someone did... What does a woman do with her own private butler?!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (08:20)", "body": "Well it's pretty pricey it sounds like. How big is \"Temptation Island\" and what is the population? Just a few cooks and butlers?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (13:29)", "body": "Have any of you seen this show (can't remember the name) where couples who are contemplating a break up go out on a date with someone the show selects and then the four meet back to report on it? Then at the end they decide whether or not they want to stay together (either out of jealousy or having a bad date, not because they really have come to appreciate anything redeeming about their partner). It's kind of like \"Love Connection\" run amok. Anyway, my point is that \"Temptation Island\" sounds like the next step in the progression after that show (and yes, it is on Fox)."}, {"response": 13, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (13:31)", "body": "sounds like this one, Autumn... My ex looked up the rates http://www.aprivateisland.com/rates.html Number of cabanas = 5 Max. number of guests on island = 14 All cabanas are sea front and on the beach All cabanas have private pools Meals and drinks (excluding wine and Champagne) are included in the above rates Meals are served in cabanas for private dining or on the various docks or in our dining palapa A varied cuisine is available. We can meet the need of most special diets and requests. Rates do not include a 18.5% Belize Government Tax and Service Charge. Deposit Policy Upon confirmation of reservation, a 50% deposit is required within 5 days to hold reservation and is to be paid with personal check, bank check or money order. If a reservation is made within 90 days, Cayo Espanto may request that deposit be sent via overnight mail. Full payment is due 90 days prior to date of reservation (excluding high season which requires full payment 120 days prior to reservation date) If reservation is made within 90 days of reservation date, please make full payment at time of reservation. Cancellation Policy A full refund (less a 10% administrative fee)will be given if reservation is cancelled more than 90 days prior to reservation date excluding high season which requires 120 days. If reservation is cancelled less than 90 days but more than 45 days prior to reservation date, a 50% refund will be given (excluding high season which will result in a 50% refund if between 120 and 90 days prior). If a reservation is cancelled less than 46 days prior to reservation date, no refund will be given (excluding high season which requires 91 days notice) Cayo Espanto strongly suggests buying travel insurance. All Prices are in U.S. Funds. Prices do not include an 18.5% Government Tax. All Rates, Prices, or Promotions subject to change without notice. (Or until a Deposit has been confirmed) For more details please contact by mail. * The extra set of couples staying in the Dockhouse will incur an add'l $80.00 food charge per person, per day."}, {"response": 14, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (13:34)", "body": "The staff is about 5 per one guest... as I recall. Will have to check back though the communications to see for certain."}, {"response": 15, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (14:37)", "body": "Somehow, autumn, I'm not surprised it's on Fox. It would be more fun and less imtimidating if they just threw 14 single guys and 14 single women on the island and let them mix it up. That would be just as interesting and not threatening to some couples."}, {"response": 16, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (14:51)", "body": "Exactly my thought - why put youself through something like that!!!"}, {"response": 17, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Jan 13, 2001 (00:06)", "body": "This is show is lame, it's based on getting people to cheat, and it's awful. But it's fun to talk about and use as a departure point for what reality shows could be if they tried. And, hey, it might act as an aphrodaisiac for some and help them improve their sex lives (as in the show's viewers). Should this topic be linked to the babes conference? I will watch this show next week and for the 4 episodes after that most likely, because it's fun to talk about and I like seeing the island and all the cute women. And we can use it as a talking point."}, {"response": 18, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Jan 13, 2001 (00:17)", "body": "Salon wrote a piece on temptation island, one great quote: In the good old days nobles and gentlemen settled disputes about women with glove-slaps to the face and duels, addressing each other as \"Sir\" all the while. The 21st century reality-TV version of this process involves the manager of an Athlete's Foot shop dropping a Deadhead bracelet in front of a masseur on a Caribbean beach in an attempt to stop him from having on-camera monkey sex with his girlfriend."}, {"response": 19, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Jan 13, 2001 (00:21)", "body": "The Salon piece is good, with some cool pix. http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/temptation/2001/01/11/island1/index.html"}, {"response": 20, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Jan 13, 2001 (00:23)", "body": "And another quote from that piece: Of the boys, only Billy is different. Billy is afraid that Mandy will find someone else and he'll be left alone and \"just as in love with her as I am now.\" We love Billy. We are rooting for Billy. Billy is screwed. \"Billy has never given me indication of going astray,\" says Mandy, wrinkling her nose, \"and I think I kind of need it.\" Suddenly, a boatload of fantasy singles arrives! \"Boys! Oh, yay!\" squeals Mandy, as Valerie's expression turns sour and Shannon visibly panics. Billy is patient and easy-going. Billy is screwed."}, {"response": 21, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Mon, Jan 15, 2001 (09:06)", "body": "From local tv critic Diane Holloway: \"Embarrassed or not, Fox is proceeding with plans for another \"nonscripted\" program, \"Love Cruise,\" in which a boatload of beautiful people will flirt and possibly consummate their flirtations.\" \"Temptation Island,\" airing Wednesdays on Fox, is one of three recent additions to the burgeoning reality genre. ABC's \"The Mole,\" on Tuesdays, sends a group of contestants, including a mystery saboteur, around the world to complete a series of tasks. And the WB on Friday trotted out \"Popstars,\" about the formation of a \"girl band.\" So far, the rush to reality is paying off for its purveyors. \"The Mole\" finished second behind CBS's \"JAG\" and ahead of NBC's \"Frasier\" in the national Nielsen ratings. \"Temptation Island\" beat everything except NBC's \"The West Wing.\" And in Dallas, the Fox show was No. 1. Of course, those numbers could build or drop in weeks to come, depending on first impressions and subsequent interest."}, {"response": 22, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 17, 2001 (14:22)", "body": "Poor Billy!"}, {"response": 23, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Wed, Jan 17, 2001 (19:01)", "body": "Tonight's the night. Another episode. Let the cheating begin! The number one tv show. I guess we're just killing time until it starts, ha!"}, {"response": 24, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Jan 19, 2001 (09:20)", "body": "I call Billy and Mandy the power island couple. Every woman wants Billy. Mandy is the hottie, and she's really hot for Billy. They kicked off the Playboy model! They all went on their first \"dates\" and the fireworks are just starting with next weeks show."}, {"response": 25, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Wed, Feb 28, 2001 (20:05)", "body": "Last episode is starting in two minutes."}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (01:38)", "body": "It's over and all the couples stayed together. Will they run this again? Probably."}, {"response": 27, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Aug 23, 2001 (22:56)", "body": "Another of this sort is being filmed in this island: HOLLYWOOD'S fascination with reality-based television shows has reached Hawaii. The Big Island will be the location for two contrasting reality shows in September and October, in which couples in one show try to rediscover romance, and in the other, singles aim to find love. ABC will shoot the pilot \"Last Resort\" at Kona Village for a week beginning in mid-September. The program each week will take four couples on the brink of breakup or marriage to engage in a series of challenges and therapy. The syndicated show \"Blind Date,\" entering its third season, will film 10 episodes over a two-week period in October -- five on the Big Island and five on Maui. This show brings singles together on blind dates that involve a variety of activities. more... http://starbulletin.com/2001/08/23/features/story2.html"}, {"response": 28, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Aug 23, 2001 (22:57)", "body": "another thing being filmed here is Kailua-born Pyun to film in 3D on the Big Island Ever wanted to watch 3D films on television without having to wear those funny glasses? Now you can but you're going to need a high-definition television. Kailua-Kona based Hawaii Filmwerks will use a 3D system in the action scenes of two, two-hour kick-boxing themed pilots to be filmed on the Big Island next month, that allows viewing of the high-definition or analog images without the aid of special glasses. Although the 3D images cannot be viewed without the high-definition set, the images will not be as blurry as in the past to those with regular TV sets. The company is targeting its 3D technology and its digital broadcast expertise at the global entertainment content market, said Chris Curnan, president and chief executive officer. Hawaii Filmwerks has licensed the first use of the special 3D system to Rigel Entertainment of Los Angeles for use in the six-week production of two \"Kickboxer\" high- definition television pilots with a combined budget of $3 million. More... http://starbulletin.com/2001/08/23/features/story3.html"}, {"response": 29, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Aug 24, 2001 (07:13)", "body": "I haven't seen the show \"Blind Date\"; have you seen this Marcia?"}, {"response": 30, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Aug 26, 2001 (19:40)", "body": "You're not missing much--it's an updated version of \"Love Connection\"."}, {"response": 31, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:59)", "body": "It's totally off the radar screen. I might have a vhs tape buried somewhere. I was so hot on this show too. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 54, "subject": "The Mole", "response_count": 5, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (13:31)", "body": "Better yet, what do you get for being the Mole or the ultimate survivor? A million bucks or a lifetime supply of Lee Press-On Nails?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (14:39)", "body": "The winner gets a lot of money which is determined by different little challenges they set up each week. Like last week, they had everyone look at these montiors with everyones personal stats and eveyone tried to remember them. Then, based on that they picked the two folks they thought could remember details best and had them remember about a dozen stats which they added up and used as a pin number to unlock an ATM somewhere on the island where they were."}, {"response": 3, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Jan 13, 2001 (00:09)", "body": "Then everyone took a quiz and the person who knew least about the mole got booted off the island. I thought it would be the older lady. It wasn't. Oh, and the place where they had the ATM was inhabited by French speaking folks, that made it interesting. They voted another person as a sidekick to find the ATM because he spoke French, which cost them 15 mintues off the two hour time limit. Then there was the parachute incident. I have some thoughts on that but I'll save them for another day because I want to entice you to come back to this topic."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (01:39)", "body": "The Mole is over now, we're left with Survivor II for reality shows."}, {"response": 5, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:59)", "body": "The Mole never caught on. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 55, "subject": "Survivor - the Australian Outback", "response_count": 11, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Jan 12, 2001 (13:31)", "body": "\"Whose Line is it, Anyway?\" did a great \"Survivor\" spoof on TV last night."}, {"response": 2, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Jan 13, 2001 (00:10)", "body": "Cool, I wish I had heard about this in advance so I could have set tivo to record it. Can you tell us what happened in the spoof, Autumn?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Jan 17, 2001 (14:25)", "body": "Three of the guys (you don't expect me to remember their names, do you?) pretended to be characters from Survivor, such as Rudy, Gervase and Richard. The other guy was the \"announcer\" who put them in situations (such as eating rat); at the end, they each came up to the camera and voted on who to kick off. One guy voted for himself! It was amusing."}, {"response": 4, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Tue, Jan 30, 2001 (07:49)", "body": "Well, well, well. It's back. Did you watch episode one? We've already got a Susanlike lady voted off with a near unanimous vote. We have the testosterone twins, Michael and Keith. We have a night screamer who obsesses on masturbation. Wonder if he'll get voted off? We have a weakie, weakie software engineer, but he's cute, drooleurs. We've got the old guy with the bible who let's them use its pages in their futule attempts to start a fire. No one knows how to start a fire! They just couldn't do it. The raft race across the river to win the fire torch was cool. The losing team (were they green or blue?) had to vote one of it's own off. This is some beautiful Australian country. Move over Temptation Island, the big guy's back. Is the tall guy really a seven footer? Mitchell, the tall guy, may be too nice to stick around. Next week, it won't be riding on the Superbowl coat tails, it will be head to head against Friends."}, {"response": 5, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Mar  2, 2001 (07:40)", "body": "Anyone see last night's Survivor? Mike got burned badly. He was at the campfire and inhaled smoked, passed out and fell in to the fire. Then he bolted up and in to the stream while everyone watched. No one came to help him for a long time until finally Eliszabeth went in after him. Then the medics came and took him back to civlization. He got hurt pretty bad. Now they're merging the two teams of five each into one. And Mike's departure elminated this weeks immunity challenge."}, {"response": 6, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Mar  2, 2001 (07:42)", "body": "There's such an obvious contrast between the two tribes. Kucha is very much a team, while Ogakor are individuals. Kucha practiced running around with blindfolds in the day time whole the other tribe was yelling \"Oh my God\" and fantasizing about the food. Quite a contrast."}, {"response": 7, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Mar  9, 2001 (08:46)", "body": "So now that the tribes have merged, I think that the 4 kuchas left will bite the dust and the 5 ogakors will then have to sort it out. Nick will bite the dust next, then Alicia, Elisabeth and the Rodger and we'll be down to Colby Jerri Keith Amber and Tina Who will bite the dust in that order. Unless the tribal unity breaks, in which case all hell will break loose."}, {"response": 8, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Mar 30, 2001 (11:08)", "body": "Ding Dong! Jerri's gone! The remaining Ogakor broke with their plan to oust all the Kuchas and sent Jerri packing in last night's tribal council. High risk for the Ogakor's. She got her \"dream date\" with Texan Colby, but she daydreamed it away while clever Colby gathered sea shells for the rest of the survivors. She gave Tina an orange one for Tennessee, etc. My tivo missed her parting comments because I forgot to add the extra couple of minutes at the end, did anyone catch this? Only Amber and Jerri voted for Elisabeth, everyone else voted for Jerri. http://survivor.cbs.com/primetime/survivor2/survivors/jerri_h.html Elisabeth may not be too happy with Tina having told her why she just had to vote her out, that was cold. So now it's a three on three game with Amber as the wildcard. Amber may jump boat and go with Colby, Keith and Tina and pick of Roger, Nick and Elisabeth. That's how dangerous this unexpected move by Ogakor may turn out!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Mar 30, 2001 (11:08)", "body": "I mean \"pick off Roger\" not \"pick of\" of course."}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Apr 30, 2001 (01:39)", "body": "Down to the final three, Tina, Keith and Colby. I guess only two more episodes."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May  4, 2001 (00:28)", "body": "Well, my prediction came true, Tina Wesson beat out Colby and Keith for the million dollar prize, It was on tv live last night and Jeff Probst flew in with the urn containing the votes in a helicopter and Bryant Gumbel did the postgame show. Tina looked a lot better skinny and emaciated! I think's going to get very fat! But she has some great ideas on how to spend the money in charitable ways, and she's a Tennessean to boot. I guess they're on the morning show on CBS today, I'm tivoing it, and on a live special next week, next Thursday night. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 56, "subject": "Satellite tv", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Fri, Jan 26, 2001 (15:01)", "body": "I just got this *great* email: please distribut freely and widely from the not-as-think-as-you-dumb-we-were dept. 4 or more years ago DirecTV launched its service. DirecTV was one of the very first large distributors of smart card technology in their product. So much so, that Hughes corp (the primary owner of DirecTV) decided to create their own smart cards. Each receiver has a smart card located inside that is keyed to the subscriber, and actively participates in the decryption of the digital satellite video stream. However, considering Hughes decided on this technology when it was virtually in its infancy, they made several mistakes. The cracker community caught onto these mistakes, and there has been a war between DirecTV and the crackers ever since. For the past two or more years, it was apparent the crackers would win this war, completely opening the DirecTV signal. However, over the last 6 months, DirecTV has fought back with a vengeance, displaying the most extensive technical campaign against the cracking of their product... One of the original smart cards, entitled 'H' cards for Hughes, had design flaws which were discovered by the cracking community. These flaws enabled the brighter of the crackers (not the usual script-kiddies, but the rare smart ones) to reverse engineer their design, and to create smart card writers. The writers enabled the crackers to read and write to the smart card, and allowed them to change their subscription model to receive all the channels. Since the technology of satellite television is broadcast only, meaning you cannot send information TO the satellite, the system requires a phone line to communicate with DirecTV. The crackers could re-write their smart cards and receive all the channels, and unplug their phone lines leaving no way for DirecTV to track the abuse. DirecTV had built a mechanism into their system that allowed the updating of these smart cards through the satellite stream. Every receiver was designed to 'apply' these updates when it received them to the cards. DirecTV applied updates that looked for cracked cards, and then attempted to destroy the cards by writing updates that disabled them. The cracking community replied with yet another piece of hardware, an 'unlooper,' that repaired the damage. The cracker community then designed software that trojanized the card, and removed the capability of the receivers to update the card. DirecTV could only send updates to the cards, and then require the updates be present in order to receive video. Each month or so, DirecTV would send an update. 10 or 15 minutes later, the cracking community would update the software to work around the latest fixes. This was the status quo for almost two years. 'H' cards regularly sold on eBay for over $400.00. It was apparent that DirecTV had lost this battle, relegating DirecTV to hunting down Web sites that discussed their product and using their legal team to sue and intimidate them into submission. \"Four months ago, however, DirecTV began sending several updates at a time, breaking their pattern. While the cracking community was able to bypass these batches, they did not understand the reasoning behind them. Never before had DirecTV sent 4 and 5 updates at a time, let alone send these batches every week. Many postulated they were simply trying to annoy the crackers into submission. The updates contained useless pieces of computer code that were then required to be present on the card in order to receive the transmission. The crackers accommodated this in their software, applying these updates in their cracking software. Not until the final batch of updates were sent through the stream did the crackers understand DirecTV. Like a final piece of a puzzle allowing the entire picture, the final updates made all the useless bits of computer code join into a dynamic program, existing on the card itself. This dynamic program changed the entire way the older technology worked. In a masterful, planned, and orchestrated manner, DirecTV had updated the old and ailing technology. The crackers responded, but cautiously, understanding that this new ability for DirecTV to apply more advanced logic in the receiver was a dangerous new weapon. It was still possible to bypass the protections and receive the programming, but DirecTV had not pulled the trigger of this new weapon. Last Sunday night, at 8:30 pm est, DirecTV fired their new gun. One week before the Super Bowl, DirecTV launched a series of attacks against the crackers of their product. DirecTV sent programmatic code in the stream, using their new dynamic code ally, that hunted down cracked smart cards and destroyed them. The IRC DirecTV channels overflowed with thousands of people who had lost the ability to watch their stolen TV. The crackers by and large lost not only their ability to watch TV, but the cards themselves were likely permanently destroyed. Some estimate that in one evening, 100,000 smart cards were destroyed, removin"}]}, {"num": 57, "subject": "Mists of Avalon", "response_count": 9, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jul 16, 2001 (22:19)", "body": "If you haven't caught it, here are the replay dates and times. All times Eastern/Pacific. Friday July 20 8 pm on TNT. Saturday July 21 at 12 pm on TNT. Monday July 30 at 8 pm on TNT."}, {"response": 2, "author": "admin", "date": "Tue, Jul 17, 2001 (22:11)", "body": "Spoiler, this is the ending so don't read this if you haven't seen it. From Malory: Therefore, said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again and tell me what thou there seest. My lord, said Bedivere, your commandment shall be done, and lightly bring you word again. So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft was all of precious stones; and then he said to himself: If I throw this rich sword in the water, thereof shall never come good, but harm and loss. And then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And so, as soon as he might, he came again unto the king, and said he had been at the water, and had thrown the sword in the water. What saw thou there? said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but waves and winds. That is untruly said of thee, said the king, therefore go thou lightly again, and do my commandment; as thou art to me lief and dear, spare not, but throw it in. Then Sir Bedivere returned again, and took the sword in his hand; and then him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword, and so eft he hid the sword, and returned again, and told to the king that he had been at the water, and done his commandment. What saw thou there? said the king. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but the waters wap and waves wan. Ah, traitor untrue, said King Arthur, now hast thou betrayed me twice. Who would have weened that, thou that hast been to me so lief and dear? and thou art named a noble knight, and would betray me for the richness of the sword. But now go again lightly, for thy long tarrying putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken cold. And but if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I shall slay thee with mine own hands; for thou wouldst for my rich sword see me dead. Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword, and lightly took it up, and went to the water side; and there he bound the girdle about the hilts, and then he threw the sword as far into the water as he might; and there came an arm and an hand above the water and met it, and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished, and then vanished away the hand with the sword in the water."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Tue, Jul 17, 2001 (23:32)", "body": "You are right - want to check on Geoffery of Monmouth? I have that, too. I rather enjoyed the show but not as I envisioned Arthur, Lancelot nor Gwenivere"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 18, 2001 (09:35)", "body": "The ending departed substantially from the print version, or most print vresions like the above."}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Jul 18, 2001 (16:13)", "body": "I was discussing the differences between the miniseries and the book (together we must have read it about 10 times). We came to the conclusion that they enlarged some roles and changed others from the way it was originally written. We also agreed that it is such a complex book that 6 part miniseries might do it better justice. That is a book to get lost in. When I first read it, I finished the last page and immediately began again. I was not willing to leave it so quickly. If you liked the series, get the book! I got mine for $1.00 at a garage sale to add to my collection of Arthuriana. Little did I know I would like it quite as much as I do."}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 18, 2001 (23:05)", "body": "I agree. The first part was very satisfying. The first two hours. The second part was kind of compressed and rushed. I thought part two could have been expanded to 4 to 6 hours. I would have like to have seen more character development, especially the character of the son, Mordred (sp?). Wow, ten times! You must know every detail, that's a pretty big book too."}, {"response": 7, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Jul 18, 2001 (23:22)", "body": "I read fast. I also crawl into a book and only grudgingly emerge when necessary until I am finished. Herman's book on Books 31 is that big and I have it just about memorized. I have a large collection of Arthutiana from archaeology straight stuff to off the wall - Geoffrey of Monmouth to Geoffrey Ashe. I have most of all that has been written including Mark Twain's opus. My least favorite was one everyone will jump me for - T. H. White's Once and Future King . I hated how he characterized Merlin! We can haggle about it in Books 23."}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Jul 18, 2001 (23:31)", "body": "OK, bring it up in books 23! I'll follow up. Angelica Huston was particularly suited for her role. She grew up in an English castle. She was so adept at her role, didn't you think? The lady who played Morgaine was great, and I liked Joan Allen as well (who played a villain instead of a good person like she usually does). The story got kind of kinky around the cave scene where Mordred was conceived, but I guess that was the way back then? Or was it?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (19:59)", "body": "I loved this show. I still have it on vhs tape and need to transfer it to a dvd. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 58, "subject": "Emmy Awards", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct  5, 2001 (09:41)", "body": "THE AWARDS CEREMONY, which was delayed three weeks because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. In this now-solemn race, we\ufffdre predicting NBC\ufffds White House drama \ufffdThe West Wing\ufffd will triumph, perhaps matching its own record of nine trophies set last year. HBO\ufffds mob drama \ufffdThe Sopranos\ufffd received 22 nominations this year to \ufffdThe West Wing\ufffds\ufffd 18 bids, but the latter has top honors including best drama series and best actor in its sights. Ellen DeGeneres will serve as master of ceremonies, during which 27 awards in acting, directing and writing categories will be presented. Voting was completed Aug. 17. \ufffdThe West Wing\ufffd already won four Emmys at a September creative arts ceremony, including trophies for casting, cinematography, editing and sound mixing. \ufffdThe Sopranos\ufffd claimed a single award, for makeup. more at http://www.msnbc.com/news/637472.asp includes their predictions on who will win in the major categories."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Sep 24, 2002 (16:56)", "body": "Anyone watch the Emmy's the other night. Oprah got the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. She looked and acted great. Comments? Observations?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:00)", "body": "Five years since any Emmy comments. Erk."}, {"response": 4, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sun, Sep 20, 2009 (07:52)", "body": "The 61st Primetime Emmy\ufffd Awards and 2009 Creative Arts Emmy\ufffd Awards Nominees are... Outstanding Animated Program (for programming less than one hour) American Dad \ufffd Sixteen-Hundred Candles \ufffd FOX \ufffd 20th Century Fox / Underdog / Fuzzy Door Rick Wiener, Executive Producer / Writer Kenny Schwartz, Executive Producer / Writer Seth MacFarlane, Executive Producer Mike Barker, Executive Producer Matt Weitzman, Executive Producer David Zuckerman, Executive Producer Michael Shipley, Co-Executive Producer Jim Bernstein, Co-Executive Producer Dan Vebber, Co-Executive Producer Jonathan Fener, Supervising Producer Brian Boyle, Supervising Producer Nahnatchka Khan, Supervising Producer Kara Vallow, Producer Diana Ritchey, Animation Producer Caleb Meurer, Director Ron Hughart, Supervising Director Anthony Lioi, Supervising Director Mike Mayfield, Assistant Director/Timer Robot Chicken \ufffd Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II \ufffd Cartoon Network \ufffd ShadowMachine Seth Green, Executive Producer/Written by/Directed by Matthew Senreich, Executive Producer/Written by Keith Crofford, Executive Producer Mike Lazzo, Executive Producer Alex Bulkley, Producer Corey Campodonico, Producer Ollie Green, Producer Douglas Goldstein, Head Writer Tom Root, Head Writer Hugh Davidson, Written by Mike Fasolo, Written by Breckin Meyer, Written by Dan Milano, Written by Kevin Shinick, Written by Zeb Wells, Written by Ethan Marak, Animation Director South Park \ufffd Margaritaville \ufffd Comedy Central \ufffd Central Productions Trey Parker, Executive Producer/Writer/Director Matt Stone, Executive Producer Anne Garefino, Executive Producer Frank C. Agnone II, Supervising Producer Eric Stough, Producer Adrien Beard, Producer Bruce Howell, Producer Erica Rivinoja, Producer Vernon Chatman, Producer Bill Hader, Producer Ryan Quincy, Director of Animation The Simpsons \ufffd Gone Maggie Gone \ufffd FOX \ufffd Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox Television James L. Brooks, Executive Producer Matt Groening, Executive Producer Al Jean, Executive Producer Matt Selman, Executive Producer John Frink, Co-Executive Producer Kevin Curran, Co-Executive Producer J. Stewart Burns, Co-Executive Producer Michael Price, Co-Executive Producer Marc Wilmore, Co-Executive Producer Ron Hauge, Co-Executive Producer Rob Lazebnik, Co-Executive Producer Jeff Westbrook, Co-Executive Producer/Writer Brian Kelley, Co-Executive Producer Tom Klein, Animation Producer Laurie Biernacki, Animation Producer Billy Kimball, Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham, Written by Chris Clements, Directed by Mike B. Anderson, Supervising Director Matthew Faughnan, Assistant Director Scott Brutz, Animation Timer Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or more) Afro Samurai: Resurrection \ufffd Spike TV \ufffd A Studio Gonzo Production in Association with Spike TV and UppiTV and FUNimation Entertainment Leo Chu, Executive Producer/Screenplay by Eric Garcia, Executive Producer/Screenplay by Shinichiro Ishikawa, Executive Producer Samuel L. Jackson, Executive Producer Arthur Smith, Executive Producer Yuji Hori, Animation Producer Kenichi Hayashi, Animation Producer Takashi Okazaki, Story by Yasuyuki Mutou, Screenplay by Joshua Hale Fialkov, Screenplay by Eric Calderon, Screenplay by Fuminori Kizaki, Animation Direction/Story by Destination Imagination (Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends) \ufffd Cartoon Network \ufffd Cartoon Network Studios Craig McCracken, Executive Producer/Story by/Directed by Brian Miller, Executive Producer Jennifer Pelphrey, Supervising Producer Ryan Slater, Producer Michelle Papandrew, Animation Producer Lauren Faust, Written by/Story by Tim McKeon, Written by/Story by Darrick Bachman, Story By Ed Baker, Story By Vaughn Tada, Story By Alex Kirwan, Story By Rob Renzetti, Story by/Directed by Robert Alvarez, Animation Direction Eric Pringle, Animation Direction Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries Or Movie Generation Kill \ufffd HBO \ufffd Company Pictures and Blown Deadline Productions in association with HBO Films Rob Harris, Production Designer Mickey Lennon, Art Director Emelia Weavind, Set Decorator Grey Gardens \ufffd HBO \ufffd Specialty Films and Locomotive in association with HBO Films Kalina Ivanov, Production Designer Brandt Gordon, Art Director Norma Jean Sanders, Set Decorator Into The Storm \ufffd HBO \ufffd Scott Free and Rainmark Films production in association with the BBC and HBO Films Luciana Arrighi, Production Designer Paul Ghirardani, Art Director Ian Whittaker, Set Decorator Little Dorrit \ufffd PBS \ufffd A co-production of BBC Productions and WGBH Boston James Merifield, Production Designer Paul Ghirardani, Art Director Deborah Wilson, Set Decorator Taking Chance \ufffd HBO \ufffd Motion Picture Corp. of America and Civil Dawn Pictures in association with HBO Films Dan Leigh, Production Designer James Donahue, Art Director Ron Von Blomberg, Set Decorator Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series Hell's Kitchen \ufffd Episode #515 \ufffd FOX \ufffd An ITV Studios production in association with A. Smith & Co. John Robert Janavs, Produ"}]}, {"num": 59, "subject": "remotes", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 11, 2002 (09:10)", "body": "I don't know how I stumbled on to this website, but this http://www.easyzapper.com offers a tivo enabled remote with a usb port that shows your tv listings on an lcd on the remote. It has very few buttons. It claims it will simplify using all the stuff in your entertainment cabinet like your dvd, tivo, vcr, etc. The listings and member web page is free. No monthly charges (good thing!) It's called the \"Harmony\". From the website: For example, you do not need a separate button to choose between controlling your TV or your VCR. With the Harmony, you say what you want to do (e.g. Watch a Video) and the Harmony automatically controls your TV and your VCR at the same time! There are two buttons on the right hand side of your Harmony, the scroll wheel button and the round button. To tell your Harmony what you want to do, use the buttons on the right hand side to interact with the LCD screen. Pretty basic looking."}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:01)", "body": "http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/inside-rc.htm Inside your remote control. If you are like most Americans, you probably pick up a TV remote control at least once or twice a day. Let's look inside and see how they work. Here is the remote we will be dissecting today: The remote control's job is to wait for you to press a key, and then to translate that key-press into infrared (pronounced \"infra-red\") light signals that are received by the TV. When you take off the back cover of the control you can see that there is really just 1 part visible: a printed circuit board that contains the electronics and the battery contacts. The components that you see here are typical for most remotes. You can see an integrated circuit (also known as a chip) labeled \"TA11835\". The chip is packaged in what is known as an 18 pin Dual Inline Package, or a DIP. To the right of the chip you can see a diode, a transistor (black, with three leads), a resonator (yellow), two resistors (green) and a capacitor (dark blue). Next to the battery contacts there is a resistor (green) and a capacitor (tan disk). In this circuit, the chip can detect when a key is pressed. It then translates the key into a sequence something like morse code, with a different sequence for each different key. The chip sends that signal out to the transistor to amplify the signal and make it stronger. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 6, "subject": "Home Improvement - the tv show", "response_count": 22, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct 16, 1997 (12:16)", "body": "Tim Allen is going to get 1.25 million per show next season. Pretty good handyman's wages, for a guy who rehabbed himself from a federal prison."}, {"response": 2, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Oct 16, 1997 (12:31)", "body": "did not know that. what was the crime?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct 16, 1997 (13:34)", "body": "I found this on Geocities: TIM AT THE TOP With a No. 1 movie, a No. 1 TV show and a No. 1 book, Tim Allen is having an unbeatable year BY RICHARD ZOGLIN Tim Allen is still learning the protocols of stardom. On a promotion tour for his new book earlier this fall, he went on a talk show and laughed about the private plane that his publisher, which is owned by Disney, was flying him around in. Known for its thriftiness, Disney hates being made to look like a typical, money-burning Hollywood studio, and a few days after Allen made his remarks, he received a curt memo from headquarters. Never brag about Disney's use of corporate jets, the company's biggest star next to Simba the Lion was told; don't even mention corporate jets and Disney in the same sentence. Now, some stars might have thrown a fit - or got their agent to do it for them. But Allen reacted like a chastened fifth-grader; he told Disney it was just a joke. Good thing Allen didn't mention the new four-wheel-drive Porsche the studio just bought him. But then, the Disney comptroller can hardly complain. Allen has made a pirate's galleon of loot for the company during a year in which he has pulled off an unheard-of triple play. Home Improvement, his ABC sitcom now in its fourth season, is TV's No. 1-rated show, earning Disney $400 million thus far in the sale of reruns. His jokey autobiographical book, Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man, reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list in October and is still riding high in second place (trailing only the Pope); it is the most successful book yet published by Disney's 3 1/2-year-old book division, Hyperion. Now The Santa Clause, Allen's first movie, is the surprise hit of the Christmas season, earning $71 million in its first 17 days and jumping to No. 1 at the box office over the Thanksgiving weekend - surpassing Tom Cruise's fangs, Schwarzenegger's pregnancy and both generations of Star Trek. It's a success story as heartwarming as one of those sentimental father-son talks on Home Improvement. Allen, 41, is hardly the most brilliant comedy star of his generation, though some might call him its most brilliant example of multimedia Hollywood marketing. But few superstars seem less inflated by their success. Allen still keeps a home in an unpretentious neighborhood in suburban Birmingham, Michigan, where he retreats for holidays and other family gatherings. He has been married for 10 years to his college sweetheart, who waited for him while he served more than two years in a federal penitentiary on drug charges. And when he throws temper tantrums on the set of his TV show - \"My set! My camera! My props!\", he's been heard to shout - everybody knows it really is a joke. In contrast to stories about some other sitcom stars, like Roseanne and Grace Under Fire's Brett Butler, those about Tim Allen's rampaging ego are all but nonexistent. \"He just never lost perspective,\" says Bruce Economou, an old friend from Michigan. \"When he first went to the Home Improvement stage, where they were building the sets, and the people from Disney were walking him through, they told him, 'This is all for you.' Tim looked at it and said, 'Well, if this show doesn't work, can I have the wood?\"' Now Allen can have almost anything he wants. After the success of The Santa Clause, Hollywood insiders predict he will command upwards of $8 million for his next movie (on top of the $5 million he reportedly made this year from the TV series). But talking in his TV dressing room last week, in between bites of a tuna-salad sandwich, Allen said he'd be happy with a small token of his achievement. \"It's so cheesy,\" he says, \"but I just want a little plaque that says, no. 1 tv show, no. 1 book, no. 1 movie. Just something for me, because I worked so hard I almost died: 18-hour days getting in and out of a fat suit, typing ((my book)) on my laptop. I looked forward to this day, right before Christmas, when it would all be over.\" Or maybe just starting. With The Santa Clause, Allen has joined the tiny fraternity of stars (John Travolta, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey) who have successfully made the leap from TV to movies. Many more - including the two most dominant prime-time stars of recent years, Bill Cosby and Roseanne - have conspicuously failed to transfer their popularity to the big screen. Perhaps they are too closely identified with TV roles in which they essentially play themselves. Perhaps their very living-room familiarity makes it impossible for them to be fully convincing on the larger-than-life movie screen. For whatever reason, the stars with whom viewers get cozy around the TV hearth are rarely the same ones they surrender to when the lights go down at the multiplex. Yet with his white-bread affability and a face as wide open as the Great Plains, Allen seems at home everywhere. On Home Improvement he plays Tim Taylor, a father of three and host of a TV fix-it show. Tim is a guy's guy who gets excited about playing with power"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct 16, 1997 (13:42)", "body": "Ooops, that was a bit long, I should have put out a warning first."}, {"response": 5, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Oct 17, 1997 (11:12)", "body": "NO KIDDING! that's EXACTLY what I was saying, spam man!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jun  2, 1998 (06:14)", "body": "I can't believe there's a topic on Home Improvement - I just LOVE the programme. I love the jokes about Al's mum and his shirts. And Wilson is great too."}, {"response": 7, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Jun  2, 1998 (09:12)", "body": "What other shows do you like, Riette?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jun  2, 1998 (12:39)", "body": "I don't watch that much TV, because I'm with the kids during the day, and work at night. But the girls and I never miss and episode of The Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman series - in German, that is. It's a SCREAM!!!!!!! When the naf sounds come on the kids cheer and I crawl around on the floor with laughter. We adore it. What's your favourite?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Jun  2, 1998 (14:04)", "body": "(where do you work Riette, what do you do?) no tv. i've seen the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman MANY times! Ever watched The Incredible Hulk or CHiPs (two of my favorites!)"}, {"response": 10, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Jun  2, 1998 (15:36)", "body": "I work at home. I'm an artist. Have an (for me) important exhibition together with three other young artists coming up in August, and a solo of 30 pictures the end of the year, so I use my sleepless nights well! What do you teach, Stacey? I would have loved to have been a teacher; I like kids . . . some of the time! Well, perhaps someday I can teach art, who knows. Yeah, I saw the Incredible Hunk, and Chips when I was a young girl, not to mention Buck Rogers in the 20th century - those were cool programmes, I tell ya! Oh, and my sister and I used to run in slow motion and fight over who is the REAL bionic woman. But we were disgusted when we found out that Lindsay Wagner, the TV bionic woman was as old as our mother!!! The programmes one gets now are so dry and realistic - no fantasy at all!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Jun  2, 1998 (17:03)", "body": "sadly enough, some are straying into the world of anti-imagination. Occassionaly my students are simply too lazy to use that part of their mind. I am a special education teacher. I have a self-contained ED (emotionally disturbed) classroom. I teach English, math, reading, writing, science, social studies and art but the concentration for these kids is on how to get along in the real world and overcome some of their anger. Anger management, appropriate socialization skills, acceptance, responsibility and (the MOST important) self-respect. Wow! and artist. An Arteeest?!?! pictures? photography, drawing, painting, mixed media???"}, {"response": 12, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jun  3, 1998 (01:25)", "body": "Wow. I'm really impressed - now that's what I call a real job. A job where one can actually make a difference to people's lives. What a responsibility. It must be wonderful and very difficult at the same time. It must also take alot of commitment, hey? You think and artist is wow? Not really. I'm getting more and more frustrated with the profession, because half of all well-known recognised artists are a bunch of thieves. They have the right contacts and family money, then they promote themselves to stardom and sell their pictures for millions to get even richer. Never mind the fact that there are people dying of hunger and illness in this world. That stinks. I don't see why art should not be available and affordable for everyone. So I'm having difficulties because the gallery where I'm doing my next exhibition wants me to put my prices up by about 200 percent, and ask around 15 000 per paintinc, and I'm refusing to do that. I mean, just 2000 already covers my costs - so, what the hell is the other 13000 for? Even if I give half of that to the gallery as a commission fee (which would be proposterous), I'd still sit with 6500 which I don't need. I think my art is already too expensive and am not budging - which means I could get thrown out for not going along with the rest. But I don't really care. I have no intention of getting rich, it's far too much fun to be poor like most people. And I think it grossly unfair that only rich people should be able to afford art, because often it is poor people who can appreciate it best. Oh, and yes, pictures (man, I always have to get argumentative, don't I?? Sorry.) I paint in acryllics, because it dries fast, and the style is . . . well, imagine African ethno meets baroque stained glass . . . Luv-it-or-loathe-it-art! Ha-Ha!"}, {"response": 13, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jun  3, 1998 (15:19)", "body": "the 'wow' part is admiration and a little bit of envy for having the 'guts' for lack of a better word, to put your images out for all to see. I love to fiddle around with multi-media projects, junk sculptures and collages because they make me feel better (usually theraputic processes) and I enjoy fiddling but I only have two that I've actually displayed in my home. I've made a few for friends who have come over and asked me to but I don't have the 'guts' to present my 'stuff' to the public. Smae problem with poetry. I write a lot but publish/share very little. There are only a handful of people who I feel comfortable showing my work to, I wish I knew how to improve the confidence level (without taking the obvious first step!) hold fast to your principles... they are one of the few things that are uniquely yours!"}, {"response": 14, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jun  3, 1998 (16:07)", "body": "Hmm. Well, I think it's just great that you recognize your own creativity, and that you do something with it. I don't think one must necessarily exhibit to be an artist - as long as you use the talent to serve yourself more than anything or anyone else. So don't stop, okay? Same with writing. I never even consider sending the things I write to publishers, because they make me happy, and I need nothing more. I became an artist quite by accident after I came to Z\ufffdrich. I did voice work between the ages sixteen to twenty when I came here permanently (radio drama and reading and stuff like that), and actually, although it is also a kind of 'performing' art, it was much 'easier' than this, because I know exactky what the voice sounds like, I have the control over how other people will perceive of it. With art it's different - to do it professionally you can't just do it for yourself anymore, you also have to go for what will appeal to the people outside your studio. That's difficult. Some of the 'realness' of expression gets lost, and it's difficult staying true to yourself and trying to make a success of it. But the upside is - the more success you have, the more you can dare to be yourself. Know what I mean? The past two years have been difficult and unsatisfactory, but this year I'm getting a little interest in things I like too, so I'm feeling a little more optimistic; I've seriously been considering falling back on the old smoker's talking organ for lack of guts to carry on. Oh, and I must confess - for the life of me I'm totally hopeless with collages; I'm just far too damn clumsy to stick those bits of paper and stuff onto something else. Always end up on the verge of having to go to hospital to remove all the objects sticking to my face. So I've given it up. And I wanted to ask: would you like for more people to see your work? Because a good way of starting out is to find a restaurant that does exhibitions. It's not all that personal, and a little informal, and yet the kind of restaurants who do it are kind of fancy - it's a good beginning, in case you ever should consider the possiblility."}, {"response": 15, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jun  3, 1998 (16:48)", "body": "thanks for the suggestion. and the support. no, I don't think I'll ever stop 'making stuff' because, as you say, it just makes me happy. makes me feel good. gives me time to work things out in my head. makes my face all happy smiley (even if I'm working on something dark). not quite ready to share. it's that first step that's a doozie. i had a friend once who, at the onset of our relationship, i felt comfortable sharing everyhting I made with. sometimes it crossed my mind that perhaps he was a soul mate. i know i loved him (and even in that instant love you and jim sometimes speak of). i was not attracted to him and he drove me insane with all his probing questions. sometimes he irritated me because he tried to hard.... but i always shared with him. on some enigmatic plane, he and i were very close to being one. (Riette, I'm glad your here. you are easy to talk to and very sincere. i like you."}, {"response": 16, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jun  3, 1998 (17:05)", "body": "Oh, I think there are many different sorts of soulmates one can have. I don't exclude women. My best female friend here in Z\ufffdrich (the one I go to Paris with every year) must be my soulmate, because we have nothing at all in commen, yet we can just talk in a way I can't even dream of talking with most people with the same interests as me. And my sister is a part of my soul as my finger to my hand - we 'probe' each other like that all the time, so forgive me if I do it with you and others as well. I think it has become a habit. My own husband finds some of my questions and statements akward and provokative. It's just that because of my sister, and our mutual openness, the way we love and lash out without holding back, I'm just so used to answering and putting questions that most people might find akward that I forget about it. But it's not an excuse, and for that I apologize, and if I should ever ask you an akward question, just say 'no'. No guilt, no evasion, no this or that - just NO. I'm sorry your friendship with your soulmate did not last - you talk of him in the past tense, so I presume it didn't. And you're really nice."}, {"response": 17, "author": "jgross5", "date": "Wed, Jun  3, 1998 (17:57)", "body": "my cat is very close to me. [maybe] his name's Jah. hi everyone, this is Jah. he's right here, licking himself pretty much all over. me and Jah talk alot. or i do and he doesn't walk off. he's one of those more detached cats. so i was telling him about some of my more deeper personal feelings. and Jah, he didn't even look at me when he said this: \"Jim, couldn't you try doing that just once with those of your own species?\" he said that to me about a week ago. i believe they were the only words he's ever spoken. took me 3 days to be able to talk to him again. as soon as I started talking, his eyes got depressed and sad. he walked off like he knew i'd just never really get the drift."}, {"response": 18, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jun  4, 1998 (01:37)", "body": "Liar. If that were true you would not be here."}, {"response": 19, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jun  4, 1998 (01:38)", "body": "Not angry, so don't sulk."}, {"response": 20, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Jun  4, 1998 (09:29)", "body": "Tahja and Rafikki (the kitties) love to listen to me. I can tell them anything and they sit attentively for hours, purring their responses, licking on my hands and sometimes my face. I only realized recently that when I'm talking to them, I pet them out of nervous habit. Cats are good to have around. And I think cats must agree that people are good to have around."}, {"response": 21, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jun  4, 1998 (09:43)", "body": "I'm sure. And it reminds me of a very funny incident in my kitchen with a Hungarian woman. See, Mr. C. is a music historian, but also an active musician as conductor, and so I get to meet some foreign musicians - pain and pleasure. Anyway so once we have this Hungarian couple over for fondue. Very decent people, and so, when the wild cat that always comes to me to feed him, comes in, he somehow senses that the woman likes cats. So he jumps into her lap and sits there. Sure enough she adores him. And says affectionately: 'Just like my pussy - all soft and warm and furry.' I could have died!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "stacey", "date": "Thu, Jun  4, 1998 (11:31)", "body": "lol! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 60, "subject": "new technology", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Feb 15, 2002 (10:35)", "body": "Don't look at me, I'm still trying to figure out how to program my betamax!"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:01)", "body": "Wonder if she still has her betamax??? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 61, "subject": "Xena", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Mar  8, 2002 (08:22)", "body": "Kevin Smith fell from film set tower, agent reveals 19.02.2002 It has been revealed that New Zealand actor Kevin Smith climbed a film set tower from which he suffered his fatal fall last week. He hit his head several times on his way down and landed on the tower's stone base in the early hours of February 6, his agent said today. Robert Bruce said he was releasing more details of the incident on behalf of Kevin's wife and family. The Smith family had earlier asked the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing not to release any information about how the actor died. Mr Bruce said Mr Smith had been \"checking out\" some sets at the CCTV Film Studios in Hebei Province, the province surrounding the Chinese capital Beijing. He said the tower was not on a set Mr Smith had been filming on and that he was not at a party celebrating the end of filming at the time. Mr Bruce said Mr Smith was semiconscious when he was transported to the local hospital. After a CT scan, hospital staff decided Mr Smith should be transferred to the main hospital in Beijing. It was while at this hospital that Mr Smith fell into a deep coma, Mr Bruce said. \"After several days in the coma, Kevin showed signs of recovery but unfortunately on the 4th day his body went into shock and he subsequently passed away on Friday.\" Mr Bruce said he and Mr Smith had negotiated that he leave the film Warriors of Virtue II early, to allow him to spend time with his family before beginning the Bruce Willis shoot. \"He was off to Navy Seal boot camp before going to Haiwaii for 15 weeks filming.\" Shocked fans were yesterday desperate for more information about the actors death. \"Although I now know it is true, I still know nothing of what happened to him,\" said one fan on an internet site where tributes to Smith are being posted. \"If someone could fill me in I would be most grateful.\""}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:02)", "body": "Xena - Lucy Lawless - now has a a great role on Battlestar Galactica. I understand she's going to be on the new season starting in November. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 62, "subject": "Survivor: Marquesas", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Mar 29, 2002 (09:57)", "body": "This fun loving guy Gabe got voted off. Why? Well he was pretending that he didn't want to play the game. And that just ate away at the other members of his tribe. The new Maraamu tribe could be in a strong position if they win the immunity challenge next week."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Mar 29, 2002 (10:05)", "body": "Best thing to happen in the next two episodes. Sean goes. Rob goes. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 63, "subject": "Six Feet Under", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Mar 31, 2002 (21:25)", "body": "http://www.nerve.com/opinions/Gay/burieddesire/ It's well-written, but the dramatic resolutions on Alan Ball's HBO funeral-home opus are a little too clean, a little too let's-everyone-hug gooey. The show's principal device \ufffd having dead people haunt/guide the living cast members \ufffd is theater-camp hokey. Plus, I'm instinctively prejudiced against any series that gives a role to Ed Begley Jr. That said, the show is better than 95 percent of the junk on TV, and it has true innovative merits. The first is Rachel Griffiths, who plays Brenda Chenowith, the brilliant yet emotionally tortured girlfriend of Nate Fisher. The hardest thing to authenticate on screen is a brain \ufffd usually the solution is to put a pair of glasses on someone like, um, Sandra Bullock \ufffd and yet Griffiths manages to project a frayed intelligence that makes her both human and a bit unnerving. Everyone knows a Brenda. Some of us even broke up with a few. But Six Feet Under's greatest contribution may be its portrayal of sex. That's not simply because the principal character, David Fisher (Michael C. Hall) is gay, wound tight as a top, and spent much of the first season trying to come out to family and friends. Nor is it because Six Feet Under is on HBO, and therefore can show a bit more T&A than, say, 7th Heaven. (Though it does show a breast or a penis now and again, or a naked stiff, Six Feet Under is actually somewhat restrained with the flesh, especially compared to the theatrics of Sex and the City, or the peepee-a-minute Oz.) No, what makes Six Feet Under a breakthrough for sex and television is its staunch unwillingness to draw attention to the act itself. After years of watching television repeatedly push the boundaries of sex, sex talk and sexual depiction \ufffd to the point where the show practically bragged how in-your-face they were \ufffd it's pleasing that the sex on Six Feet Under is just matter-of-fact. That's not to say it's repressed, or ignored \ufffd it just exists. Whether it's David's dalliances in clubland, his sister Claire's teenage misadventures (which usually take place in the back of a hearse), or Nate and Brenda's flat-abbed, yogalike lovemaking, the show steadfastly seeks to depict sex as it is \ufffd an act between people, not something used to hype a television series upon, or to give jollies to chubby television critics. And though the sex portrayed on Six Feet Under is hardly conventional for television \ufffd Ball's greatest barrier-breaker may be giving a sex life to Fisher matriarch Ruth (Frances Cornoy), now widowed in her late fifties \ufffd it's not freighted with the self-conscious, look-how-daring-we-are theatrics that pretty much take the fun out of sex on TV. Sexual breakthroughs on TV have usually been important but pretty boring, to tell the truth, whether it was Ellen, the two guys in bed on thirtysomething, the Big Lesbian Kiss on L.A. Law, or even Dylan getting into Brenda's pants after the prom on Beverly Hills 90210. Producers often are so proud of themselves for taking sexual risks that they fail to make the act interesting at all. Or they go so over the top, it becomes boring, too. Seriously, when was the last time you got excited after seeing Kim Cattrall get some action? Six Feet Under also refuses to engage the oldest rule of sex in television, which states that for every misbegotten sexual adventure, there must come a big learning moment. You've seen it in everything from Friends to a Very Special Episode of Blossom \ufffd no good boink goes unpunished. Even Sex and the City's characters do some morning-after learning. Six Feet Under, however, doesn't feature much post-coital deliberation. That's not to say there isn't scattered reflection and regret \ufffd by the end of season one, for example, David had sworn off his booze and ecstasy-fueled one-nighter, and sought a return to monogamy \ufffd but there's never been the overarching finger-wag that usually accompanies TV sex. David ultimately realized his quick-pleasure sex life was making him feel empty. He wanted to fix it and find his old boyfriend. And you know, that's how real people usually do it. There's other stuff \ufffd Claire's teenaged sex life is about as genuine a portrayal as you'll get, full of mistakes and contradictions, fits of insecurity and queasy pleas from unfit boys. The fact that she's having sex \ufffd and the writers don't use it to force some gigantic household meltdown \ufffd is remarkable unto itself. Mom Fisher has slept with two suitors already (and accidentally taken one of David's ecstasy tabs, which had been hidden in an aspirin bottle). Ironically, it's Nate and Brenda who lately seem to be doing it the least, but then again, that's not unusual in couples where the initial attraction was sex. They'll likely get back to it in due time. But at least on Six Feet Under, it won't merit"}, {"response": 2, "author": "Charlotte", "date": "Mon, Apr  1, 2002 (14:26)", "body": "I watch TV 2 hours a week: West Wing on Wednesday, Six Feet Under on Sunday. The writing on both boggles my brain, and I love having my brain boggled. The characters on SFU are so flawed, so perfectly flawed, that they are lovably real. Lauren Ambrose, who plays Clare, is phenomenal. This actress is 24, but effortlessly makes me believe she is an angst-ridden, struggling to survive teenager. THen again, I can't find fault with ANY of the regular actors. I do, however, agree with you about Mr. Begly, Jr. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 64, "subject": "Coupling", "response_count": 7, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (06:56)", "body": "Ah ha, an episode guide. Episode # Prod # Original Air Date Episode Title Season 1 1. 1-1 12-May-00 Flushed 2. 1-2 19-May-00 Size Matters 3. 1-3 26-May-00 Sex, Death & Nudity 4. 1-4 02-Jun-00 Inferno 5. 1-5 09-Jun-00 The Girl with Two Breasts 6. 1-6 16-Jun-00 The Cupboard of Patrick's Love Season 2 7. 2-1 03-Sep-01 The Man with Two Legs 8. 2-2 10-Sep-01 My Dinner in Hell 9. 2-3 17-Sep-01 Her Best Friend's Bottom (1) 10. 2-4 24-Sep-01 The Melty Man Cometh (2) 11. 2-5 01-Oct-01 Jane and the Truth Snake 12. 2-6 08-Oct-01 Gotcha 13. 2-7 15-Oct-01 Dressed 14. 2-8 22-Oct-01 Naked 15. 2-9 29-Oct-01 The End of the Line"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (07:02)", "body": "Coupling - Episode Guide Season 1 1. Flushed gs: Raji James (Waiter) Jeff reckons Steve is still in 'The Zone' with Jane: the time after the breakup when there can still be sex, but he wants to date Susan instead. When he has a meal in a restaurant with Jane, Susan walks in. b: 12-May-00 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Size Matters gs: Angus Deayton (Himself) Mariella Frostrup (Herself) William Scott-Masson (Howard) Adam Astill (Barman) Susan invites Steve for a date at home, and offers to cook. Jeff warns him about 'The Sock Zone', and Patrick alerts him to her collection of remote controls. Somehow everyone's conversation seems to revolve around Patrick's size, and Jeff is asked by several people to accompany him to the toilet to check. b: 19-May-00 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Sex, Death & Nudity gs: Nigel Betts (Neighbour) Adam Astill (Barman) Simon Bateso (Michael) Gwenllian Davies (Aunt Muriel) Katharine Page (Agatha) Jeremy Peters (Undertaker) Brian Shelley (Vicar) Jeff explains to the guys about 'The Giggle Loop': the danger that the more you try to suppress laughter in important silences, the harder you want to laugh. Jane's aunt has died, and she wants Steve to come to the funeral, pretending to be her boyfriend still. Susan invites herself, and so Patrick must come as her 'boyfriend', and all six end up going. b: 26-May-00 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Inferno gs: Elizabeth Marmur (Jill) Steve is worried that Susan has discovered a compromising tape in his video collection. Jane persuades her therapist to come along as a guest at a dinner party. Steve ends up explaining why his tape is \ufffdartistic\ufffd and not pornographic. b: 02-Jun-00 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The Girl with Two Breasts gs: Anat Dychtwald (The girl) Ruth Lass (Alice) Sarah Joseph (Girl at bar) Alaistair Southey (Barman) Jeff has a torturous time when he tries to chat up a beautiful foreign woman in the pub, as they do not have a language in common. b: 09-Jun-00 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. The Cupboard of Patrick's Love Patrick has a cupboard of video tapes of his former girlfriends, not to mention Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man. Jeff is excited, but Steve is appalled, when he realises that Susan must be amongst them. Susan is also horrified when she realises this in the company of the other girls. Later on, she arrives at Patrick's, and is outraged at what she finds going on there. b: 16-Jun-00 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season 2 7. The Man with Two Legs gs: Alison King (Chrissy) Paul Moody (David) Simon Chadwick (Liam) Imogen Bain (Woman on train) Jeff finally gets to speak to Chrissy, the woman on the train whose leg he has been fancying for days, and tells her that he only has one leg, a lie which becomes ever harder to undo. Meanwhile, Sally is dating a \"surgeon\" called David, and Jeff wonders whether it would be easier... b: 03-Sep-01 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. My Dinner in Hell gs: Mariella Frostrup (Herself) Wanda Ventham (Edna) James Woolley (Robert) Nick Moorcroft (TV presenter) Wendy Wason (Sex shop assistant) Samuel Barnett (Sex shop assistant) After watching an embarrassing program on TV with Susan, Steve bumps into his dream celebrity, Mariella Frostrup, in the bar, but it is not the dream encounter he might like, as she pours her drink down his trousers. Jane and Sally's attempt to make friends with her get him into more trouble as he then has to have dinner with Susan's liberal-minded parents, which turns into a nightmare as misunderstandings multiply. b: 10-Sep-01 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Her Best Friend's Bottom (1) gs: Jack Pierce (Junior shop assistant) Alan Cowan (Senior shop assistant) When Steve pops into Susan's flat, he accidentally sees Sally's naked bottom. This incident leads to dilemmas and awkwardness all round, which are dealt with in the classic sequence outlined by Jeff: the prickles (an embarrassed silence), the blurts (talking too fast), followed by the \ufffdhead laugh\ufffd. b: 17-Sep-01 w: Steven Moffat d: Martin Dennis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. The Melty Man Cometh (2) gs: Gresby Nash (Mark) Eddie Allen (Patrick's friend) Following their disastrous encounter, Patrick seeks reassurance from Steve & Jeff, and Sally seeks reassurance from Jane & Sus"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (07:05)", "body": "http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/EpisodeGuideSummary/showid-7895/ source for the above episode guide"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (07:23)", "body": "illiant! I can't wait for the next series! A Very Useful Opinion Advantages: Good character interaction., Fantastic scripts., Disadvantages: Only 6 episodes made so far. Product Rating: written on 07.05.01 by spiffo Who has rated this opinion? View comments Six twentysomethings. 3 male and 3 female. Plotlines revolve around sex and relationships. Shown on a Friday night. I know what you're thinking, and yes, the show is a little bit like Friends. In fact, the only weak point of Series 1 seemed to be that it was trying to be like other shows. In one episode, five of the characters are in a room and there's a knock at the door, leading to a sarcastic question of \"I wonder who that could be\" penned by writers who must have had Friends on their mind. In another episode, the writers have a go at being a bit more like the writers of Seinfeld by trying to have the characters articulate ideas that we all know of by giving them clever names. Thus, the term \"giggle-loop\" is coined for the way in which the more you know you shouldn't laugh, the more you do. Both of those examples are handled masterfully, though. The giggle-loop concept worked so much better than most of Seinfield's phrases and the way in which six people with tenious links almost end up together is less irritating than the way the six \"Friends\" are always hanging around in one person's appartment. There were only six episodes made, and the time taken over each script shows with the intensive scripts. One particularly good episode, \"Lesbian spank inferno\" managed to fit as many really good, laugh-out-loud jokes into half an hour as you'd get in about 5 or more episodes of most American sit-coms. I'm hoping that the BBC are going to do another series of Coupling. If they're not, I hope they repeat Series 1... I only realised how good the show was after a couple of episodes, so I've only got half the season on tape! from http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/review/252381.html"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (07:26)", "body": "Commit to Coupling A Very Useful Opinion Advantages: cast, lines, Stories Disadvantages: none Product Rating: written /modified on 03.06.01/21.10.01 by Terry Mcintyre It seems that every other year someone has a moan about the state of British situation comedy and that it\ufffds not up to the standard of Only Fools and Horses or Dad\ufffds Army. The only show to emerge from all that seems to be The Royle Family that, while being original and funny, is a little overrated. Nobody seems to mention the marvellous Coupling though; one of the funniest sitcoms of recent years and it\ufffds only had one series so far. When I first tuned in I immediately thought \ufffdFriends clone\ufffd which to be honest it is in a way but is perhaps more like Seinfeld in creating its own weird world but still strives to be different. For a start the main characters are not all friends and only get to know each other through the getting together of Steve (Jack Davenport from This Life) and Susan (Sarah Alexander from Smack the Pony). The others are: Jeff (Richard Coyle) Steve\ufffds Welsh sex-mad best mate who works with Susan, Sally (Kate Issitt) Susan\ufffds neurotic beautician best mate, Jane (Gina Bellman) Steve\ufffds mad ex and Patrick (Ben Miles) Susan\ufffds sex-mad ex. And most of the action takes place in a bar. Sounds familiar so far but that\ufffds where the similarities end. The series concentrated on Steve and Susan\ufffds blossoming relationship and used it as an excuse to put its own spin on the dating game. For example: the first phone call- in which Steve can\ufffdt think of anything to say \ufffdit\ufffds like the pause becomes a third person in the conversation\ufffd notes Jeff \ufffdonly one that doesn\ufffdt say much\ufffd. It\ufffds these Seinfeld-like pearls of wisdom that pepper the show and help it create it's own language and world therefore setting it apart from Friends and every other clone. When the first show ('Flushed')opens, the action flits between Steve and Susan talking to their friends about breaking up, and they both enter and sit by opposite partners, taking no notice of each other and fooling the viewer, that you know this is something different. There are many great moments such as the men doing their Reservoir Dogs impression while dressed in black suits for a funeral, Patrick\ufffds \ufffdCupboard of Love\ufffd containing videos of everyone he\ufffds slept with, Steve trying to explain the plot of \ufffdLesbian Smack Inferno\ufffd without making it sound pervy. It also put a new spin on the old \ufffdpretend the audience is naked\ufffd chestnut when Jeff, nervous about an interview, starts picturing everybody naked (\ufffdI can\ufffdt switch off the naked people\ufffd) until he goes into the interview room and looks in a mirror. The same episode,'Sex, Death and Nudity', introduces the \ufffdgiggle loop\ufffd \ufffdthe thing that makes you laugh in solemn situations. There are some great conversations such as Jeff claiming he and Steve are \ufffdporn buddies\ufffd (if one should die then the other immediately clears his house of porn before his parents come round), Sally saying that \ufffdage brings you more to shave\ufffd, Jane dating a gay guy because she\ufffds bisexual, Patrick spending an episode thinking up porn film names (\ufffdThe Girl with Two Breasts\ufffd) and a discussion about politics using Star Wars metaphors. The series is further enhanced by flashbacks during on going situations or similar visual devices that enhance the comedy rather than becoming it like \ufffdTeachers\ufffd. Richard Coyle\ufffds nervous, neurotic, helpful but dateless Jeff is the best character along with Gina Bellman\ufffds nutty, clingy Jane (\ufffdnow the lesson we can learn from the Crippen\ufffds\ufffd\ufffd). Jeff has possibly the best episode in which he attempts to chat up an Iranian girl. After the conversation has finished we hear the whole thing back in her language which then leads to a brilliant finale. The acting is good but there\ufffds something about Sarah Alexander that sets her apart, for the worst reasons, perhaps she\ufffds playing it too straight, I don\ufffdt know. Another problem would be that the format isn\ufffdt that original and it\ufffds a bit strange that Patrick and Jane manage to integrate themselves with their respective groups so quickly. These are just silly quibbles though in what is overall a brilliant, hilarious and shamefully underrated production. I know it\ufffds a clich\ufffd to say it but if you like Friends and Seinfeld then this is definitely for you. Luckily a second series is in production and I hope it will keep up to the quality of the first and that in itself is a rarity- a good first season that is critically acclaimed (except for the bloke in Time Out who must\ufffdve been watching a different show). Relationships will never seem the same again. Now if only I could get a date\ufffd"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (07:27)", "body": "\"Coupling\" BBC America is showing a British sitcom called \"Coupling.\" Now in its second season, the show is often inspired. Have you seen it? It has received zero coverage in the U.S. The show is very much a \"Friends\"-type situation, but much funnier. Most episodes give me at least one laugh-out-loud, a rare thing for an American sitcom (save \"Scrubs\" or \"Undeclared\"). I think something must be wrong with me. \"Grapevine,\" \"My So-Called Life,\" \"Cupid\" \ufffd everytime I like a new show, it gets cancelled. For a while there, I thought ABC held some personal vendetta. HBO seems to be the only channel willing to let an audience develop these days and as great as Dream On, Larry Sanders, Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Six Feet Under were and are, it would be nice to have an actual full season of shows. \ufffd Sam Israels \"Coupling,\" which you liked a lot more than I did, is a Beeb production that airs here on BBC America a few months after it premieres in England. It is currently in its second season (or \"series,\" as they say over there), and BBC America will show all nine episodes in a Valentine's Day marathon beginning 1 p.m. on Feb. 14. You've been spoiled by American television. Here, the networks typically air 22 episodes of a show over 39 weeks, which means 17 of those weeks, or nearly half the season, are taken up with reruns and pre-emptions. The British show all the episodes in a season consecutively, but their \"series\" are much shorter, usually no more than seven episodes (\"Coupling's\" popularity apparently led Beeb programmers to order a couple extra). You may not think 13 episodes of an HBO program constitutes an \"actual full season,\" but by British standards 13 episodes is epic. from http://www.tvbarn.com/ask/asktvb-01302002.shtml"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May 24, 2002 (07:37)", "body": "Tired of NBC's 'Friends'? Why not try 'Coupling'? By DONNA J. PLESH of TheColumnists.com SHORTLY AFTER I watched the first episode of NBC\ufffds \"Friends,\" a friend asked me what I thought about the show\ufffds chances for success. Pleased to be asked my opinion as a person considered knowledgeable about television and the industry, I replied, \"It will be gone by the end of October.\" Right. Wrong! It\ufffds 2001 and the show about a group of now thirtysomethings living in Manhattan is in its eighth season as part of NBC\ufffds \"Must See\"--or perhaps it should be retitled \"Must See Sometimes\"--Thursday night lineup. Last season the show faced its first real ratings competition when CBS dropped its 800-pound gorilla \"Survivor\" opposite it in the 8 p.m. Thursday slot. The ratings told the story: \"Survivor\" won the 8 p.m. war, but \"Friends\" survived. The ratings brought no real panic in the NBC camp, but was it just a coincidence that the long-running hit\ufffds season-ending epsidode featured the wedding of \"Friends\" friends Chandler (Mathew Perry) and Monica (Courtney Cox Arquette) and the surprising pregnancy of Rachel (Jennifer Aniston)? In the past, the marriage of lead characters on a hit TV show hasn\ufffdt ended happily ever after. (Anyone remember what happened to \"Rhoda\ufffd\ufffd when the title character got married? In fact, does anyone remember much about the show at all?) When sexual tension is gone, where does the plot--and the hook to keep viewers coming back week after week--go? Of course, in the case of \"Friends,\" there still are the unmarried Joey (Matt LeBlanc), Ross (David Schwimmer), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Rachel. But the sexual tension, whatever little there ever was on \"Friends\" (Ross and Rachel--the early years) pales in comparison to the overt sexuality and seemingly constant talk about sex on BBC America\ufffds \"Coupling.\" After watching the first season of \"Coupling,\" I thought it would be interesting to get a \"Friends\" fan\ufffds take on the show described by BBC-A Chief Operating Officer Paul Lee as a \"very grown-up 'Friends' meets 'Sex and the City.'\" \"Coupling\" begins its second season of episodes on BBC-A on Oct. 26. Like \"Friends,\" the Brit import focuses on a group of thirtysomethings.The friends on \"Friends\" hang out a lot in a coffee bar, while the \"Coupling\" gang spends a goodly amount of time at the neighborhood pub, preoccupied with finding someone of the opposite sex for sex. Or at least talking about sex. A lot. from http://www.thecolumnists.com/plesh/plesh1.html This is just a tease, visit the site to get the rest of her article. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 65, "subject": "Hawaii Five-O", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Apr 25, 2002 (09:34)", "body": "http://www.scriptsales.com/DDScriptSales.htm Title: Hawaii Five-O Log Line: The specialty unit of the Hawaii State Police, which answers only to the governor, focuses on going after organized crime. Writer: Roger Towne Agent: n/a Buyer: DreamWorks Price: Seven-figures Genre: Cop Drama Logged: 4/23/02 More: To be based on the classic CBS series into a feature film. Studio beat out many others in part of a bidding war. This is great. Who would you cast in these roles? Det. Steve McGarrett Det. Danny Williams Det. Chin Ho Kelly Det. Kono Kalakua Duke Lukela The Governor Det. Ben Kokua Che Fong (lab guy) The Atty Gen Doc Sandi Welles Truck Kealoha Kimo Carew Lori Wilson"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:06)", "body": "Sample of some customer reviews on softforall.com 1 of 2 customers found the following review helpful: Still a Great Show!, 2006-04-25 I watched Emergency faithfully as a young kid and thought it would have lost some of its magic by now. But no, it's still great! Watching it from an adult perspective is a whole new experience. Some of the rescues are amazing even by today's standards. Real edge-of-the-seat stuff. And to have all of these episodes commercial-free, uncut and in sequence is priceless! There have been some complaints about the quality of these DVDs. I was hesitant to buy Season 1 but took the leap anyway (after going for Season 2 first). I've run through each episode completely and the DVDs in my particular Season 1 set have been fine -- no freezing or skipping problems. I highly recommend Season 2, also. The characters are a bit more developed and Captain Stanley arrives on the scene. 2 of 3 customers found the following review helpful: Emergency:The first show of its kind, 2006-04-24 All throughout the 1960's,there was an overload of police dramas such as Dragnet,Adam 12,and Hawaii Five-O just to name a few,so the profession of law enforcement was well documented and the TV airwaves were \"cop crazy\". When the 1970's came along,it was time for something new.Creator Jack Webb along with producer R.A.Cinader came up with the idea of paying tribute to firefighters and paramedics who were the \"other\" public service workers.An original two hour pilot movie was made in 1971 and got very good ratings,so they decided to launch a regular weekly series.The very first episode was aired on NBC on January 22,1972 and it continued until September 1977 pulling in top ratings in its Saturday night time slot through those years. Randolph Mantooth,Kevin Tighe,Bobby Troup,Robert Fuller and veteran actress Julie London who would retire at the end of the show's run all are on here.The season one episodes are a little rough and the storyline is a bit uncivilized but the program really shows you what firefighting and paramedic work really is all about and the real danger involved. and Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe did a good job despite their limited acting experience.It shows several trademark scenes such as getting a call at the firehouse with those wierd sounds over the PA system that we all remember and shows them putting on their fire helmets before they drove off which is actually a very strict California regulation that they have to do that which adds to the realism of this program. The best thing about owning this DVD set is that you actually get to see the episodes in order of release whereas,the episodes that were shown on TV Land back in 1999-2000 tended to skip around a lot which disrupts continuity.Prior to Emergency,there had never been a show on television dedicated to the firefighting/paramedic profession and this show had a strong impact.Emergency definitely sparked rabid interest in the firefighting and medical field.There was a sharp increase in the enrollment at firefighting schools and paramedic and nursing programs at colleges all across the country and a lot of people chose this as a career as a result of this show. So there you have it.Six seasons.122 episodes,although only Season One is included in this DVD set.A staple on the NBC network from 1972-1977.I recommend this for people who were born in the late 1960's or early 1970's who watched this show as children and it was definitely one of my childhood favorites.Call Rampart and order this DVD set today or of course you can get it right here at Amazon. 1 of 2 customers found the following review helpful: A GREAT Work...In Progress, 2006-03-24 This is a great set and a \"must-have\" for anyone who grew up with Emergency. Season 2 is now available, and there are some noticible differences between the two. Emergency Season 1 is a bit slow off the \"hole-shot\". The episodes are not as exciting as you may remember them as a kid. In the early episodes, there is not really a consistant format at all. It is as if you are watching a \"work in progress\". In this early version of Emergency, they were obviously experimenting with the storylines, characters, and general direction of the show. Quite simply, this set is an Emergency \"primer\". When I first got this set, I popped in disc one and sat back expecting a pleasant trip down memory lane. I must admit, I was a bit dissapointed. The first episode is a movie that explains how the entire paramedic profession was born. It is a really good story, but again, not the Emergency you will remember. What you may not remember is that Gage and DeSoto did not know each other before the show began. What we see is the development of a professional relationship, as well as a personal friendship. The \"dynamic-duo of search and rescue\" aspect of the show just isn't there. Remember Dr. Brackett? He could do no wrong. If he lost a patient, there was no hope to begin with. He was as much of a hero as Guage and DeSoto. I"}]}, {"num": 66, "subject": "Bill Clinton talk show on NBC?", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, May  3, 2002 (12:28)", "body": "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television talk show viewers may be saying goodbye to Rosie O'Donnell and Sally Jesse Raphael, but are they ready to say hello to Bill Clinton? And is he ready to say hello to them? The 55-year-old former president met NBC executives this week about the possibility of hosting a talk show of his own at the Los Angeles offices of his old friend, TV producer Harry Thomason. There was some disagreement over who called the meeting. Clinton's spokeswoman Julia Payne confirmed that it took place but said the ex-president was listening to proposals, not demanding his own show. http://story.news.yahoo.com/newstmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20020502/ts_nm/media_clinton_dc_5"}, {"response": 2, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, May  5, 2002 (13:46)", "body": "Former presidents have been going on the lecture circuit for decades--isn't television the natural extension to going on the road? Makes perfect sense to me."}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:06)", "body": "Never happened, did it. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 67, "subject": "Science Fiction \"sci fi\" on tv", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, May 16, 2002 (08:03)", "body": "Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 13:45:45 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: nessie.usanetworks.com: nobody owned process doing -bs From: \"Scifi.Com\" To: All Members Subject: SCIFI.COM NEWS : Star Wars: Episode II Review, Farscape Double Feature, More! Precendence: bulk SCIFI.COM WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE 05.12.02 * -FARSCAPE- DOUBLE FEATURE* * INTERVIEW: GEORGE LUCAS and the -STAR WARS: EPISODE II- CAST * * -STAR WARS: EPISODE II- REVIEW * * SCI FI ONAIR: -FARSCAPE- DOUBLE FEATURE http://www.scifi.com/farscape/ Friday, May 17, at 9PM ET/PT and 10PM ET/PT ----------- What's better than watching -FARSCAPE- on a Friday night? Watching two episodes of -FARSCAPE-, of course! This Friday, see the classic episodes, \"DIE ME, DICHOTOMY\" and \"SEASON OF DEATH.\" For new fans especially, these are two great \"jumping-in\" episodes with background on astronaut John Crichton and the crew of the living ship Moya. * SCI FI TODAY: GEORGE LUCAS and the -STAR WARS: EPISODE II- CAST http://www.scifi.com/sftoday/ Monday, May 13 ----------- -STAR WARS- fever will be an epidemic this week. To help spread it around we bring you an eye-opening interview with GEORGE LUCAS and stars SAMUEL L. JACKSON and HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN of -STAR WARS: EPISODE II -- ATTACK OF THE CLONES-. * SCI FI TODAY: -STAR WARS: EPISODE II- REVIEW http://www.scifi.com/sfw/advance/17_screen.html Sunday, May 12 ----------- After all the hype, all you really want to know is, \"Was it any good?\" Read our ADVANCE REVIEW to know what to expect before battling box-office crowds this weekend. * SCI FI ONAIR: WATCH ALL FOUR NIGHTS of -STEPHEN KING'S THE STAND- http://www.scifi.com/onair/events/ Part 1 - Monday, May 13, at 9PM ET/PT* Part 2 - Tuesday, May 14, at 9PM ET/PT* Part 3 - Wednesday, May 15, at 9PM ET/PT* Part 4 - Thursday, May 16, at 9PM ET/PT* ----------- The epic miniseries -STEPHEN KING'S THE STAND- is an apocalyptic tale of the ultimate battle of good vs. evil. After 99 percent of the human race is decimated by a man-made plague, all who survive must ally themselves with the forces of darkness or light in the final fight for humanity. The cast cornucopia includes ROB LOWE, GARY SINISE, MOLLY RINGWALD, LAURA SAN GIACOMO, MATT FREWER, MIGUEL FERRER, RUBY DEE, OSSIE DAVIS, JAMEY SHERIDAN and -STARGATE SG-1-'s newest member, CORIN NEMEC. * SCIFI.COM UFOLOGY RESOURCE CENTER: NEW POLL http://www.scifi.com/ufo/ Monday, May 13 ----------- Do you believe in alien abductions? Take our poll,and check out the ongoing results. * SCI FI WIRE POLL: WHAT COMIC-BOOK MOVIE DO YOU WANT TO SEE? http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/ Sunday, May 12 ----------- -SPIDER-MAN- may soon have a lot of company, as studios scramble to mount comic-book movies. Which heroes are you most eager to see? * SCIENCE FICTION WEEKLY: ISSUE 264 HIGHLIGHTS http://www.scifi.com/sfw/ Monday, May 13 ----------- Many shows are wrapping for the season -- or for good! We review the season finales of -ANDROMEDA-, -MUTANT X- and -EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT- ... and the series finale of -ROSWELL-. Also reviewed in this issue: DAW Books' two 30th-anniversary anthologies! * SCI FICTION ORIGINAL: \"JOSEPHINE\" by CAROL EMSHWILLER http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/ Wednesday, May 15 ----------- A magical tale about an elderly man and his relationship with the belle of the old folks home, an enchantress who walks the low wire every talent night. Strange and charming. We also present ANTHONY BOUCHER'S classic terror tale \"THEY BITE,\" about madness and greed in the American Southwest. * SCI FI ONAIR: -LAKE PLACID- http://www.scifi.com/onair/events Saturday, May 18 at 9PM ET/PT ----------- Bill Pullman (-INDEPENDENCE DAY-), Bridget Fonda (-ARMY OF DARKNESS-, -SINGLES-) and Oliver Platt (-BICENTENNIAL MAN-) fight to stop the killing spree of a monstrous, man-eating crocodile that has taken up residence in Lake Placid, N.Y. It's a woodland romp from DAVID E. KELLEY: -ALLY McBEAL- meets -TREMORS-! * SCI FICTION: PERIODIC TABLE OF SCIENCE FICTION http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/periodictable.html Friday, May 17 ----------- Every element has a story to tell in this ongoing weekly short-story series from award-winning author Michael Swanwick. This week, Michael gives away some of the \"Dark Secrets of the Western Heroes\" in a tale of Silver. * SCIFI.COM WEB GUIDE http://www.scifi.com/webguide/ Monday, May 13, and Thursday, May 16 ----------- On Monday, learn all there is to know about the ABC miniseries -DINOTOPIA- at its official site. On Thursday, read news from across the galaxy and every corner of The Republic at -HOLONET NEWS-. Use the SCIFI.COM Web Guide to find 2,000 of the best sci-fi sites around -- categorized for your convenience! * EVENTS CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS http://www.scifi.com/events/ ----------- This week, don't miss the miniseries, -DINOTOPIA-. If talking dinosaurs aren't your thing, catch the final episode of UPN's -ROSWELL-. Oh, and -STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES- opens this week, too. If you have any energy left after all that,"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:07)", "body": "November. Battlestar Galactica. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 68, "subject": "Inside the Actors Studio", "response_count": 15, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jun 30, 2002 (12:15)", "body": "The official website is: http://www.bravotv.com/series/actorsstudio/frames/index_ad.html Benicio del Toro is one of the newest, up and coming shows. I watched a wonderful compilation of earlier shows today on this Bravo program. What I like about this show is how much the guests reveal of themselves, Lipton is unerringly great at drawing these actors out of their usual public personas."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jun 30, 2002 (12:18)", "body": "The focus is, clearly, on craft. I can't recommend this series enough."}, {"response": 3, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (21:13)", "body": "I love James Lipton and love the parodies of him even better. I miss this show more than any other !"}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (21:16)", "body": "Your link did not work - this is the current hot link to Inside the Actors Studio http://www.bravotv.com/Inside_the_Actors_Studio/"}, {"response": 5, "author": "alyeska", "date": "Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (21:57)", "body": "I'm glad to see posts from you, Marcia, it's been too long."}, {"response": 6, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct  2, 2005 (18:09)", "body": "Lucie!!! I have been thru some really strange things lately but am back and delighted to contact old friends! I hope all is well with you. Let me know how your family is. I do care! How did you survive the storms?"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct  4, 2005 (23:52)", "body": "Yeah, it's great. You're one of our rock stars, Marci."}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Oct  7, 2005 (16:07)", "body": "Wow ! Thanks Terry. Wow ! Imagine !!!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct  7, 2005 (23:33)", "body": "Hey, do you like documentaries? Let me know what you think of this one. http://www.bio.indiana.edu/~hangarterlab/broodx/broodxmovies/NSFmovie.htm"}, {"response": 10, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 15, 2005 (17:57)", "body": "I'll let you know as soon as I get enough RAM to load it properly. Maybe this evening?! Right now I am watching two football feeds online while trying to hunt down fascinating stuff for Geo. The latter is easy. The former is proving painful."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 16, 2005 (15:36)", "body": "What games?"}, {"response": 12, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Apr 14, 2006 (21:32)", "body": "Surely one was the Penn State game . I am guessing the other was Tennessee"}, {"response": 13, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:07)", "body": "Some featured guests: FEATURED GUESTS: A-F BEN AFFLECK ALAN ALDA TIM ALLEN LAUREN BACALL ALEC BALDWIN ANTONIO BANDERAS ELLEN BARKIN ROSEANNE BARR DREW BARRYMORE KIM BASINGER KATHY BATES NED,, BEATTY JULIETTE BINOCHE CATE BLANCHETT JEFF BRIDGES MATTHEW BRODERICK PIERCE BROSNAN CAROL,, BURNETT,, ELLEN BURSTYN GABRIEL BYRNE JAMES CAAN NICOLAS CAGE MICHAEL CAINE GEORGE CARLIN STOCKARD CHANNING DAVE CHAPPELLE DON CHEADLE GLENN CLOSE FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA KEVIN COSTNER RUSSELL CROWE TOM CRUISE BILLY CRYSTAL WILLEM DAFOE GEENA DAVIS ROBERT DE NIRO JOHNNY DEPP MATT DILLON STANLEY DONEN MICHAEL DOUGLAS RICHARD DREYFUSS DAVID DUCHOVNY OLYMPIA DUKAKIS FAYE DUNAWAY CLINT EASTWOOD THE CAST OF EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND PETER FALK SALLY FIELD RALPH FIENNES LAURENCE FISHBURNE HARRISON FORD JODIE FOSTER MORGAN FREEMAN MICHAEL J. FOX JAMIE FOXX"}, {"response": 14, "author": "paul", "date": "Sun, Jul  2, 2006 (04:23)", "body": "Sorry about the all caps."}, {"response": 15, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sun, Jul  2, 2006 (04:42)", "body": "You're just not an all caps guy. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 69, "subject": "Janni Smith - Petrofsky resurrection from paralysis", "response_count": 10, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:06)", "body": "Her own words: Janni Smith Story airs on CBS television Editor's note: The following letter was written by Janni Smith Petrofsky, RN, to Carol Hudson in the School of Allied Health Professions. Ms. Smith's husband Jerrold S. Petrofsky, PhD, is professor of physical therapy in the School of Allied Health Professions. The following is used with permission. * * * Dear Carol: As promised, I am sending some of my \"thoughts\" about the television movie to be aired on CBS this month [the film was aired on Tuesday, April 22]. These are informal musing I scratched down quickly in no particular order. This move is not my life story. I served as a member of the production team and as a technical advisor. I also had an infinitely tiny acting part, which was great fun. A few events form my life became a springboard for the script. There are many things in the movie that are contrary to who I am, what I stand for and what I believe. I asked the producer not to use my name and he was kind enough to comply. The character does not reflect my attitude, feelings, or beliefs. The movie does not include any of my hard-won accomplishments or the work I've been involved in all these long years. It also does not include Dr. Petrofsky's Nobel prize nomination. This move is going to help me fulfill a lifelong dream--to go to medical school I've had numerous move and book offers over the years and although many of them were generous, I've always declined. But in this case the timing seem providential. I want to attend medical school (hopefully Loma Linda) and this move has provided me with the tuition to do so. I was shot four times at point blank range and as a result I am paralyzed form the chest down. When those four bullets struck my body, I prayed that my life would be spared. And I promised that if it was, I would make my life as rich and productive and fulfilling as possible. I have always been grateful that my prayer was answered. The character in the movie becomes bitter and angry when she learns of her paralysis, because this is a more \"normal\" response. Still, I think it's a shame that it was done that way, because it doesn't acknowledge the power of prayer and the gratitude we owe for our good fortune. At one point in my life walking was my dream and I pursued it vigorously. It was exhilarating beyond words when that dream came true. But I hope this move does not send a message that walking is the end-all for people with paralysis. Really, it's something most two-year-olds can do and it shouldn't define you as a human being. I do hope, instead, that the move inspires people to go after their dreams, whatever those dreams might be. All of the actors, members of the production team, crew, and extras were a great pleasure to work with. Shannon Doherty was an angel who put in endless hours training for this role. I think she gave what read in the script as a weak, self-possessed, whiny character an extraordinary strength. Sincerely, Janni Smith"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:06)", "body": "And here's the official press release. July 21, 1994, Thursday, Orange County Edition SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Column 1; Metro Desk LENGTH: 810 words HEADLINE: MARATHON WAIT IS OVER: FUGITIVE MILLIONAIRE CAUGHT; ARREST: HE FACES A $60-MILLION JUDGMENT WON BY IRVINE WOMAN LEFT PARAPLEGIC IN A 1980 SHOOTING. BYLINE: By DENNIS McLELLAN and NANCY WRIDE, TIMES STAFF WRITERS BODY: Irvine rehabilitation specialist Janni Smith always believed that the Texas millionaire she claims arranged to have her shot -- leaving her paralyzed from the waist down -- would one day be captured. After a 14-year wait, her fugitive ex-lover was behind bars. Richard Minns, 64, was arrested Tuesday at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on suspicion of obtaining several passports with fraudulent information and names. Minns, who was never charged in Smith's shooting, fled the country in 1981. He now faces a $60-million judgment she later won against him in a personal injury lawsuit. \"It took me completely by surprise,\" said Smith, 41, a former wheelchair marathoner whose work at the Petrofsky Centers for Rehabilitation and Research has been featured on national television news programs. \"I'm one of those people who never really gives up hope.\" Back in the '70s, the millionaire and his young girlfriend were a glamorous presence on the Houston social scene. Minns was a charismatic, youthful-looking health club tycoon when they met on a Colorado ski slope. Smith, whose name at the time was Barbra Piotrowski, was a bright and beautiful California pre-med student and part-time model 24 years his junior. * Seven months after Smith broke up with Minns in 1980, she was shot four times in the back while parked in a Houston lot. Four men, including a private detective hired by Minns to tap her phone and harass her after they broke up, were later imprisoned for conspiracy to commit murder. Fearful for her life after the shooting, she changed her name. The district attorney's office, which was criticized by members of the legal community and the public for not having indicted Minns, maintained there was insufficient evidence. Frustrated by the failure of the criminal justice system to charge or even question Minns regarding her attack, Smith in 1982 filed a civil suit against him for causing her injuries. But by then Minns already had liquidated all his assets and left the country. On Tuesday, he was on a flight from Cancun, Mexico, that stopped off at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport when he was arrested, according to Eric Nichols, the assistant U.S. Attorney who will prosecute the case. The flight's final destination was Vancouver, Canada, where Minns now lives. During a routine customs check, Minns was stopped and later detained. Nichols would not comment on whether law enforcement agencies had been pursuing Minns for anything besides the alleged passport violations. But during a Wednesday night phone call to The Times, he quoted the county district attorney saying on television that local prosecutors still believed there was insufficient evidence to pursue Minns for the Smith attack. Nichols would not comment on how federal authorities discovered the passports, which the indictment alleges were obtained by using false names. He said they will argue in court Friday that Minns should remain in custody during his trial. The attorney who represented Minns in court Wednesday, Michael Ware, could not be reached later for comment. * Minns, who has been living in different countries over the past decade, was using the alias Harlan Allen Richardson at the time of his arrest. His capture is the result of a two-year investigation. As a wheelchair athlete after the shooting, Smith won more than a dozen marathons. As president of the Petrofsky Centers for Rehabilitation and Research, she has helped develop medical technologies that enable paralyzed muscles to move for exercise as well as for walking and hand movement. The shooting and Smith's love affair with Minns was chronicled in the 1991 book, \"Sleeping With the Devil,\" by former trial lawyer Suzanne Finstad. Finstad, who was attending law school in Houston at the time, remembers a full-length, front-page photo of Smith in her bikini with the headline: \"Who Shot the Golden Girl?\" During her research for the book, Finstad had discovered that Minns was living under the name Richard O'Toole in the Bahamas, where he was posing as an international tax lawyer and living in a lavish waterfront estate. Finstad said a State Department official heard an interview with her on TV's \"Hard Copy\" in which she expressed her \"frustration that the (Houston) DA hadn't pursued a case against Minns.\" Steve Sumner, the Dallas lawyer representing Smith's civil suits, said Minns' arrest is a \"positive development from Janni's standpoint. Now that he's surfaced, it opens the door for us to be able to take his deposition and find out where his assets are so she can collect on the judgments against him.\" Sumner also r"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:10)", "body": "6:06 PM 4/17/1997 MAXINE MESINGER Houstonian's book on Minns hits small screen The Sunday snooper: Houstonians who knew former Houston health spa chain owner Richard Minns and have been following his escapades for years will want to watch Sleeping With the Devil, a TV movie adaptation of former Houston writer Suzanne Finstad's book of the same title. It will air on CBS, Channel 11 here, at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Minns originally got a lot of attention years ago performing odd physical feats, such as swimming umpteen times around Lake Tahoe. He was in the news again in 1994 when he was nabbed at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport for passport fraud and was jailed for awhile by immigration officials. Some years ago, Minns allegedly hired a hit man to kill his then-fiancee, Houstonian Barbra Piotrowski, who didn't die but was paralyzed and remains in a wheelchair. She has since changed her name to Janni Smith, is married and lives in California. Shannen Doherty is playing Rebecca Dubrovich, the character based on Smith, and Tim Matheson co-stars as Dick Strang, who is based on Minns. Steven Ford, the actor son of former President Gerald and Betty Ford, plays the character based on Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin. ..."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:12)", "body": ""}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:14)", "body": "The above picture from a page chronicling the heroes in the fight against paralysis. http://www.cureparalysis.org/pioneers/"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:25)", "body": "December 28, 1997, Sunday, Final EDITION SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 66, CRIME FLASHBACK LENGTH: 1381 words HEADLINE: SKIING INTO DISASTER BARBARA PIOTROWSKI MET DICK MINNS AT ASPEN AND THINGS WENT RAPIDLY DOWNHILLFROM THERE BYLINE: MAX HAINES BODY: There must be some secret ingredient in the air over Texas which compels husbands, wives and assorted lovers to shoot each other. Today's Texas tragedy had its roots on the ski slopes of Aspen, Colo. That's where Barbara Piotrowski met Richard Minns. Barbara was 24 years old. She had the body and looks of a movie star. Long blonde hair accentuated her finely chiselled features. She had won several beauty contests and had been a part-time model since the age of 16. No dumb blonde, our Barbara - her school marks were straight A's. The day she met Dick on the slopes, she was taking pre-med courses at night. From the time she was little more than a child she had wanted to be a medical doctor. When they met in 1977, Dick was 48-years-old. On that fateful January day, he told Barbara he owned a chain of health clubs in Texas and made his headquarters in Houston. No flies on Dick either. He was a health nut and it showed. Dick Minns had the body of a Greek god. Barbara was impressed, if a little dubious, about her new friend's financial status. By the time their stay in Aspen was over, the pair agreed to exchange telephone numbers. Barbara returned to California and her studies at UCLA; Dick to Texas and his health clubs. Within a few weeks, Dick was on the phone imploring Barbara to join him in Aspen that March. Initially, she resisted the invitation, but gradually gave in. At Aspen the pair were inseparable. They soon became lovers. Both were totally intrigued, one with the other. Dick coaxed Barbara to move to Houston and live with him. She could continue her medical studies there. He claimed he couldn't live without her. For her part, Barbara had never met anyone quite like Dick Minns. He was the answer to every woman's dream. She moved to Houston. What Dick neglected to tell Barbara was that he was married - well married for the past 25 years - and the proud father of three children. His daughter was older than Barbara. Wife Mimi was an active partner in his health club business. Dick had started out in the advertising game and had switched to the health-club business when that industry was in its infancy. He made it big, real big. While still in his twenties, Richard Minns was worth several million dollars. He called his luxurious health spas Presidents Club. Later he would pioneer women's health clubs which he christened First Lady. At the zenith of his business success, Dick owned 32 clubs throughout the U.S. and employed over 1,000 people. He and Mimi were millionaire celebrities in a city of millionaire celebrities. Dick let Barbara know he had been married and introduced her to his children. He had the gall to tell her he was divorced. Somehow he managed to spend two or three nights a week with Barbara. Friends were amazed at the open affair he carried on. For some time, neither Mimi nor Barbara knew of the other's existence. Little by little, Dick stick-handled around the truth. He told Barbara he wasn't exactly divorced; he was legally separated. She accepted that. That summer Mimi found out about Barbara. Within weeks, she informed Dick she would be seeking a divorce. For financial reasons, he implored her to stay married to him. They could come to some sort of arrangement short of divorce. Mimi eventually obtained her divorce and walked away with over $ 5 million as her cut of the business. Meanwhile, Barbara was ensconced in a townhouse in fashionable Ethan's Glen. For some months all went well. Naturally enough, now that her man was free to marry, Barbara longed to become Mrs. Minns. Dick expressed undying love, but constantly delayed the marriage. He felt quite content to live with Barbara. Sometimes the couple had heated arguments. According to Barbara, Dick struck her on a couple of occasions. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She moved out, taking the contents of the townhouse with her. That was a big mistake. When Dick came home to the empty townhouse, he was livid. He immediately had Barbara charged with the theft of their furniture. It had been three years since the blonde beauty had moved to Texas to be with her handsome millionaire lover. Now he was charging her with theft. If ever the bloom was off the rose, it was with this pair of lovers. Barbara attempted to build a life of her own. She taught aerobics classes to support herself and continued her studies at the University of Houston. She instituted \"common law\" proceedings against Dick, claiming some portion of his assets, while he continued to press the theft charges against her. Always, in the back of her mind was the thought that Dick would punish her for leaving him. On Oct. 20, 1980, Barbara pulled into the parking lot of a doughnut shop. She made her purchase and returned to her red Fire"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jul 13, 2002 (23:28)", "body": "March 18, 1992, Wednesday, 2 STAR Edition SECTION: HOUSTON; Pg. 1 LENGTH: 1011 words HEADLINE: \"Unsolved Mysteries' takes on Minns-Piotrowski case BYLINE: ANN HODGES, Houston Chronicle TV Editor; Staff BODY: One of Houston's most notorious murder-for-hire cases is the main reason to watch tonight's \"\"Unsolved Mysteries,'' at 7 on NBC and Channel 2 This mini-drama was made in Houston, by mostly Houston actors. Only the two starring roles were cast in Los Angeles. Barbra Piotrowski, \"\"mid-20's, blonde, brown-eyed, great figure, very athletic,'' according to the \"\"Unsolved Mysteries' ''official casting sheet, is played by Molly Basler. Her onetime lover and Houston health club tycoon Richard Minns, \"\"mid-40s, bottle blonde, eternally tan . . .bodybuilder type,'' is played by Joe Catucci. One day in October 1980, Piotrowski came out of a southwest Houston doughnut shop and was shot four times in the back. She has been paralyzed since that day. Four men were tried for the shooting and are serving prison sentences. Minns has never been criminally charged, but the tangled case has been in and out of the courts for years. Suzanne Finstad wrote a book about it recently, \"\"Sleeping With the Devil. '' Piotrowski sued Minns for $ 220 million, charging that he planned the shooting. Minns denied it and left the country. His son, attorney Michael Minns, who represented him last year in court, said then that Minns was in Israel and had joined the Israeli army. In 1987 District Judge Bill Elliott ordered the court to accept that Minns was responsible for the shootings, and ordered him to pay $ 28.6 million in damages to Piotrowski. In 1991 Piotrowski won a second civil suit she filed against Minns, and the jury ordered him to pay $ 32 million. Minns has never appeared in court himself, and no money has been paid. Piotrowski is now known as Janni Smith and lives in California. Late last year, she married the man who runs the medical center where she works in rehab research for paraplegics. \"\"This is a very complex and complicated story, not at all our standard unsolved mystery,'' said \"\"Unsolved Mysteries' ''Shannon McGinn, who produced this dramatic re-creation of that case. It runs a full 25 minutes, twice as long as most of the cases on \"\"Unsolved Mysteries. '' And at the end, it poses two questions: Where is Richard Minns, and does anyone have knowledge of his financial affairs? \"\"Assistant District Attorney Ted Wilson, who was directly related to the case, comes on to say that if anyone has information, they would love to hear it, because it is still an open case,'' McGinn said. The odds are good it could happen. One reason \"\"Unsolved Mysteries'' is one of the most-watched series on TV today is that its viewers have solved so many of the cases it spotlights. The show shot a full week in Houston, and that, too, is unusual. Most \"\"Unsolved'' cases take about half that time. It was shot at the Fort Bend County Courthouse in Richmond, at Shipley's doughnut shop on Stella Link (not the shop where Piotrowski was shot), in Memorial Park, and at several condominiums in southwest Houston. The show always uses local actors and technicians, and for this one, McGinn used a bigger-than-usual staff of 25. \"\"In Houston, both the actors and the technicians were especially good,'' she said. \"\"There are so many experienced, talented people there. The only reason we brought actors in from Los Angeles was that the looks were so specific for those two main characters. '' TV's story begins with the meeting of Minns and Piotrowski, and then the real Piotrowski/Smith comes on to tell the story herself, as it proceeds to the shooting and two of the court cases. There are 21 roles in this mini-drama, and Houston's Pastorini-Bosby talent agency placed 13 of them. Many of the real names -- on both sides of the casting sheet -- are familiar to many Houstonians. Minns had divorced his wife of 30 years, and the role of Mimi Minns (\"\"no description, no pictures available'') is played by Houston TV personality Warner Roberts. \"\"She won an ovation from the crew,'' McGinn reported. Piotrowski's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin (\"\"short, blond, good-looking, very intense, dresses sharp and knows how to manipulate a case his way'') is played by Greg Roach. HPD Detective Ken Williamson (\"\"tall, well-built, real police officer type, someone you can trust, he helps break the case'') is Drew McManigle. Dudley Bell, the private investigator who was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in prison and a $ 10,000 fine for trying to arrange the murder (\"\"a real P.I. type, tough, hardened'') is Dell Gibson. Dorothy Wolfe, Dudley Bell's ex-wife (\"\"heavy Texas accent . . . a real character'') is Louise Winner. Judge Bill Elliott (\"\"conservative . . . very serious . . . looks like a judge even without the robes'') is Brady Coleman. The cast also includes the men who did the shooting; Judge Myron Love (\"\"older, gray hair, could be an Ed Asner or Robert Prosky type''); Assistant D"}, {"response": 8, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Wed, Mar  2, 2005 (16:18)", "body": "http://www.disabilityfilms.co.uk/ Welcome to this list of feature films which involve disabilities. This site presents a detailed list of 2,500 feature films which involve in one way or another various disabilities. It is directed towards teachers, students and anyone who has an interest in how disability is represented in films. Films are listed in 15 categories and recommended films. Each category is split into Major and Minor films. Each film is either reviewed or includes a summary."}, {"response": 9, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Mon, Mar  7, 2005 (09:40)", "body": "http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039384/ ? A correspondent writes: \"The one I saw was a TV movie about one of Jerrold Petrofsky's Functional Electrical Stimulation patients, Nan Davis, a paraplegic. Lots of wheelchair scenes and references to life with a spinal cord injury. \"Leg braces\" are really limited to the apparatus to stimulate her muscles to walk and aren't traditional orthotics. The real Nan Davis supposedly appeared in at least one or two scenes. Much of the movie was a glowing account about Petrofsky and (unless I am mixing it up with another TV movie) starred Judd Hirsch as Petrofsky. Hope this helps, your website is very nice as usual!\" from http://www.geocities.com/legcaliper/4film.htm"}, {"response": 10, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Mon, Jul 21, 2008 (21:09)", "body": "This topic had 163 page views so far this month. But no responses! Speak up, folks! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 7, "subject": "Is there any feedback for Austin TV News?", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Jan 18, 1997 (17:41)", "body": "You've created the place Keith, now spread the word and let folks know. What specifics can you point to about recent news stories, what is your favorite local news source? Least favorite?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug 21, 1997 (23:23)", "body": "Jim Spencer gets the \"best response to an El Nino question\" for pointing out the fact that the ocean is 9 degrees warmer. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 70, "subject": "Big Brother", "response_count": 5, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jul 21, 2002 (09:14)", "body": "Housemates frolic with Big Brother's 'giant condom' Big Brother's four remaining housemates have been rolling around inside a \"giant condom\". They have been making novel use of the plastic tunnel used in the obstacle course task which they dubbed a \"gigantic condom\". They clambered inside in pairs to play a clothes-swapping game. Once the couple inside they removed all but their underwear, then tried to put on their partner's discarded garments - all against the clock. Jonny and Jade were the first ones in. Then after the second pair's attempt, Alex paraded around in Kate's figure-hugging jeans and red T-shirt. They later spent the evening drinking and chatting. As they played word association games and Alex, Jonny and Kate did impressions of Jade laughing at her answers. Story filed: 03:42 Sunday 21st July 2002 Ananova"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jul 21, 2002 (09:15)", "body": "Ex-housemates to determine tonight's live task A race involving former Big Brother housemates will determine the outcome of tonight's live task. The first part of tonight's task will involve a blindfold obstacle course in the garden. The housemates will have to retrieve eggs from one end of the course to the other. They will receive \ufffd25 towards their shopping budget for each egg, and will have 8 minutes to complete the task. But Alex, Jade, Jonny and Kate will then have to gamble their budget on the outcome of an egg and spoon race involving ex-housemates Sophie, Lee, Spencer and PJ. The housemates must bet on who they think will win. The race will then be played into the house on the plasma screen. The result will determine how much the group get to spend on their final week's shopping. Fans can watch the eighth live task on Channel 4 from 10pm tonight. Story filed: 14:18 Saturday 20th July 2002 Ananova"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jul 21, 2002 (09:16)", "body": "sky.com: Ginger Tim Booed Off Big Brother Closet redhead Tim Culley was greeted with a barrage of boos as he became the eighth person to be booted off Big Brother. The final eviction brought a landslide of votes for the former public schoolboy branded an arrogant toff by his critics. Of 1.78m votes cast, 81.5% were in favour of ditching Tim and just 18.5% wanted Alex out. Red wigs The 23-year-old took the news with a wry smile and a nod of his head before packing up his hair dye and heading for the exit door. Big Brother fans jeered as he left the house, with many wearing red wigs and holding banners calling him a \"ginger nut\". Tim, a business finance graduate from Worcester, said he didn't enjoy the experience as much as other housemates because he was mature \"beyond my years\"."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 20, 2002 (08:38)", "body": "Watched last night, looks like they're down to three, two women and a man. I hadn't watched this till last night. There must be only one or two episodes to go."}, {"response": 5, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:08)", "body": "There's a new Big Brother show running and I copied an ep. But haven't brought myself to watch it yet. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 71, "subject": "The Forsyte Saga", "response_count": 422, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (09:46)", "body": "Comments moved from 160: Topic 160 of 163 [drool]: Odds and Ends - Part 5 Response 1614 of 1633: Mari (mari) * Fri, Oct 4, 2002 (10:43) * 4 lines I think a number of us will be up for a Forsyte discussion. Rave review in TV Guide, and a nice little interview with Damien Lewis. I haven't checked if it's online. Topic 160 of 163 [drool]: Odds and Ends - Part 5 Response 1615 of 1633: Mari (mari) * Fri, Oct 4, 2002 (10:51) * 37 lines Here's the New York times review. It's the Forsytes, Reduxing Again By CARYN JAMES Oh, the English and their wacky sense of humor! Mark Thompson, the chief executive of Channel 4 in Britain, recently gave a lecture about the state of television and said, \"When you're looking for ambitious, complex and above all modern TV, you find yourself watching not British, but American pieces.\" To American viewers that idea rings with a Monty Pythonesque absurdity that could keep us howling with laughter all season. If American television represents the avant-garde, we're all in very deep trouble (even though Mr. Thompson was right in citing the anomalous \"Six Feet Under\" and \"24\" as models of innovation). His provocative remark is especially resonant as a new version of \"The Forsyte Saga\" arrives, revealing how global and how topsy-turvy the television world has become. In the dark ages before cable, about 30 years ago, British television was routinely, if wrongly, considered the standard Americans could scarcely hope to achieve. All that started with the once-and-future \"Forsyte Saga.\" With its new eight-hour version of the Forsytes (beginning with a two-hour episode Sunday and continuing for the next six weeks), \"Masterpiece Theater\" on PBS literally goes back to its roots. In 1969 a 26-part black-and-white series imported from the BBC was such a smash that it led directly to the creation of \"Masterpiece Theater,\" which carried on the tradition \"The Forsyte Saga\" had inaugurated: that of the refined soap opera, in which British class and money give an intellectual veneer to costume dramas about lives run amok. Now \"Masterpiece Theater\" is a catchphrase, both scorned and beloved, for reliable, entertaining escapes into a cozy, prettily designed past, the middle-brow version of a guilty pleasure. Today's \"Forsyte Saga\" (jointly produced by Granada TV of England and WGBH in Boston; the BBC had nothing to do with it) fits comfortably in that tradition, sometimes too comfortably for its own good. Based on \"The Man of Property\" and \"In Chancery,\" the first two books of John Galsworthy's \"Forsyte Saga\" trilogy, it has the soothing appeal of sinking into a distant world, this one about an upper-middle-class family fraught with infighting and facing social changes as Victorian England gives way to the modern age. Those familiar themes seem fresh, thanks to three stunning performances. Damian Lewis is Soames Forsyte, a man of property and of excruciating propriety; with his red hair, cool blue eyes and pinched mouth, the actor's very presence suggests the complex, deeply buried passion that destroys Soames. Rupert Graves is his bohemian cousin, an artist known in the family as Young Jolyon; Mr. Graves gives life and substance to a character who, as written, could easily have become a caricature. And Corin Redgrave, wearing huge mutton chops, is endearing as Young Jolyon's father, Old Jolyon, who at first cuts off his disreputable son but in old age becomes open-minded enough to embrace him. There is a major casting problem in the center, though. As Irene (pronounced eye-REE-nee), the woman who entrances all three of these Forsyte men, Gina McKee's enervated performance makes the character's supposedly irresistible allure hard to accept. The streamlined, lucid script introduces the complicated Forsyte family at an engagement party in 1874. Soames's sister, Winifred, is about to marry Montague Dartie, who will prove himself a ne'er-do-well many times during the quarter-century the story covers. As the steadfast and sometimes mischievous Winifred, Amanda Root is one of many actors who charmingly fill the secondary roles of aunts, uncles and cousins. \"Soames, you're such a stick!\" Winifred tells her oh-so-proper brother, an irrefutable comment that makes Soames an unlikely character to hold a series together. And the tension between the old and new social orders, which had so obvious a contemporary echo in 1969, seems more remote today. But Mr. Lewis (who was also powerfully subdued as Dick Winters, the laconic hero of \"Band of Brothers\") overcomes these obstacles, suggesting a passion so profound and repressed that Soames himself cannot fathom it. When he meets Irene, who is living in genteel near-poverty with her stepmother, he goes after her with the single-minded determination of a man who assumes his wealth can buy him anything. Irene gives in, but by Episode 2 the entire family knows she has a separate bedroom. As Irene, Ms. McKee (best known as Hugh Grant's wheelchair-bound friend in \"Notting Hill"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (09:46)", "body": "Wow, our friend Karen mentioned this to us yesterday, she's taping this today I believe. What is the show time, network, etc?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (09:52)", "body": "It is on PBS on Sundays on Masterpiece Theatre, which starts (at least for me in central time) at 8 pm."}, {"response": 4, "author": "Moon", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (11:06)", "body": "I have the book on my table too. Plan to start it too. I am looking forward to the FS. Too bad Angel has its season premiere tonight. :-( You know I have a preference for period pieces and vampire stories. :-D"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (12:06)", "body": "I programmed this as a season pass on Tivo. It looks like they're rerunning it later in thw week on the other PBS channel that my sat dish gets. I'm going to a viewing party for this tonight at Bob and Karen's place in Webberville. It should be fun to watch with them. The 10/6 8 pm showing conflicts with \"Mind of the Married Man\" where I'm looking for another Firth mention so I chose the 10/7 3 am showing on our local PBS channel 18 and the 10/14 3 am showing on the same PBS channel. So parts one and two of this miniseries are qued up for digital recording on Tivo."}, {"response": 6, "author": "mari", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (12:16)", "body": "Nice review in People Magazine. \"Lewis's performance is a constant marvel.\" Get out the VCR, Moon. I'll catch Sopranos on the Monday night rerun."}, {"response": 7, "author": "dianes", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (12:46)", "body": "I am interested in Forsyte Saga for my first official discussion. I loved Ioan as Horatio and in Solomon and Gaeynor, so rented Blackhawk Down. The five minutes he was on screen at the beginning were painfully bad. I was so disappointed I couldn't bring myself to watch the rest of the film. Hope he redeems himself in FS. Wonder if afterward I will be able to stomach another viewing of Mind of the Married Man to see if MB jokes about Colin for the third week in a row..."}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (22:49)", "body": "I enjoyed watching this epiose this evening, but I must say I haven't read the book. Do folks who have read the book feel thqt the tv rendition is true to the spirit of the book?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (06:54)", "body": "I enjoyed the first 2 hours very much. It realed me right in and left me wanting more! Damien Lewis is terrifc--the expressions on his face when Irene finally deigns to marry him were priceless. I found Soames to be a far more sympathetic character than Irene. She went into the marriage expecting it to fail, and trying to carve out an escape hatch for herself--a poor start to say the least. Soames was so besotted with her, he was willing to accept those terms. It didn't seem to me that she ever worked at the marriage--just stood around looking morose."}, {"response": 10, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (07:54)", "body": "And I loved it when Soames pulls off her glove and kisses her arm. Ioan is the weak link so far, IMO. A good beginning. Am planning to start book soon. Did manage to tape Angel at 12am. :-)"}, {"response": 11, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (08:29)", "body": "Agree with all. I am disappointed with casting Gina Mc Kee as Irene; she's no beauty , for sure. But I think she could have interpreted the character with more sympathy.I really don't feel sorry for her; she got her bargain.Damien Lewis is the real standout. But how about Rupert Graves..his love story is touching. Looks like he'll be succeeded by Corin Redgrave though:-(("}, {"response": 12, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (08:58)", "body": "Since I never read the book (and never saw the original series), I can't comment on what Irene is suppposed to be. If she's the type that turns men's heads when she walks into a room or captivates them with her sparkling personality, then Gina McKee is wrong. If she's supposed to be the demure, delicate beauty of another age, well, then maybe she's OK. Throughout the entire two hours, I kept trying to think of another actress for that role. That's not good. :-( Now, Rupert Graves! I've always liked him."}, {"response": 13, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (09:04)", "body": "(karen) Throughout the entire two hours, I kept trying to think of another actress for that role. LOL. I did too. Gotta be a British TV actress.But not many of them are beauties. I liked Amanda Root...she always gives a good performance. Re: the book....You know me;-)....The film has to stand on its own."}, {"response": 14, "author": "lindak", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (12:31)", "body": "(karen) Throughout the entire two hours, I kept trying to think of another actress for that role. I enjoyed the first installment of TFS last night. But, I spent the entire two hours looking for someone to play Catharina or Maria Thins."}, {"response": 15, "author": "lindak", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (12:35)", "body": "(Terry)The 10/6 8 pm showing conflicts with \"Mind of the Married Man\" where I'm looking for another Firth mention BTW, was there a mention? Actually looking for an excuse not to tune in on the rebroadcast Wed. night."}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (12:39)", "body": "No mention this time around."}, {"response": 17, "author": "susanne", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (13:08)", "body": "The whole time I was watching GM, I was thinking that she was a poor man's (or poor studio's) Sophie Marceau. I did not find GM exceptionally stunning, but rather bland. So far, she has the role of cold fish down pat. All my sympathy goes to Soames. I can't quite figure out what he saw in Irene that made him want her so desperately."}, {"response": 18, "author": "Lizzajaneway", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (13:40)", "body": "I have to agree with all your views on GM. I think this will be further demonstrated as we move deeper into the storyline, tho' if GM does have a moment , then I think it's in her scenes with Corin Redgrave. Glad you like RG, I did too. We had it running simultaneously with 24, a real dilemma for those who are lazy with the video;-) Costumes and set give the right period feel, tho' it's all so effortless, as it should be."}, {"response": 19, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (14:44)", "body": "I was mesmerized for the full two episodes! Lewis is excellent but I have no sympathy for Soames. He is a hypocrite of the highest magnitude, judgmental and spoiled. He wants Irene - he is used to getting whatever he wants and he doesn't care how he gets her even if he has to buy her. If he were not so self-centered he might have realized that marriage would be a mistake. He gets what he wants and deserves what he gets, IMO. I thought about other actresses for the part of Irene but probably because I have read McKee isn't right. I think she is lovely - haughty, austere and probably playing the part the way she was directed to play it. (Don't know if she can be \"sparkling\" and \"madly in love\" yet.) I haven't read the book so can't make that comparison (and I remember very little about the original series). But it's hard to be scintillating when you are marrying for all the wrong reasons. Don't forget the time period and the position of women then. Irene really has no choice but to marry as well as she can. Certainly her stepmother is offering no support and is pushing her to marry Soames. She tries to resist but she is trapped by a lack of money, which means she has no options at all. As for how Soames feels about Irene, blind attraction is not definable. Women seemingly far less attractive have ravaged men's lives - Wallace Simpson comes to mind. I liked Amanda Root, too, as always. But Rupert Graves is the standout for me as he often is - an underrated actor, I think."}, {"response": 20, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (15:09)", "body": "(Suzee) I have no sympathy for Soames. He is a hypocrite of the highest magnitude, judgmental and spoiled. Totally agree. If he were not so self-centered he might have realized that marriage would be a mistake. He gets what he wants and deserves what he gets, IMO. Woo wooo!!!! What I found strangely implausible is Irene's complete turnaround into a cold fish toward Soames. Initially, at Bournmouth, she seems to welcome his attentions. True, the stepmother (Joanna David looking a little chunkier) is not only pushing her into it but saying she'll have to go out and work. However, Irene looks like she's having a good time at the party, dancing with Soames. After that, she does a complete about face. Did I miss something? Do I need to review my tape?"}, {"response": 21, "author": "Lizzajaneway", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (15:49)", "body": "One of the great things about DL's portrayal of the character is the sympathy issue, we must come back to this theme when you've seen another few episodes! Karen, did I miss something? Not at all Karen, I thing that is an another example of the weakness of GM's characterisation, don't worry there are plenty more to come, hee hee. Just checking...... you are getting it in weekly 2 hour chunks like us?"}, {"response": 22, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (15:54)", "body": "He is a hypocrite of the highest magnitude, judgmental and spoiled. I didn't see where he was a hypocrite. A little conniving,maybe. (He'll rue the day he gives Ioan the job;-)She knew what she was getting into. BTW Sue reminded me that JE was once approached to play Irene right after P&P.(Can't see her in that role, no way) But she wanted to play Fleur (whoever she is) and then the project was scrapped.That was in 1997!"}, {"response": 23, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (15:56)", "body": "Where was Soames hypocritical in last night's show? I think he was hoping that Irene would come to love him. Remember he promises to make her happy. People like Soames are accustomed, I think, to having things within their sphere of control. Not illogical given his privilieged background. I recall Mr. Bennett's words when talking about Darcy, saying he is probably no worse or selfish than other rich men. Irene could have gotten a job. Maybe as a governess or something, and then she could have met somebody like Rupert Graves.;-) He's another one who could have gotten a job. I like RG and his perfromance, but did not care for his character. Nothing laudable about cheating on your wife (while she's in the house, no less!) And there's no honor in keeping your family piss poor just because you won't do anything but paint (poorly, I might add). I still like Soames. He is filthy rich, dresses well, and he looks like Damien Lewis.;-) Agree that Irene's change in attitude toward Soames is abrupt. Just because he's a philistine when it comes to art is no reason to reject him, IMO. I hope this isn't going to turn into one of these stories about how the rich people are all BAAAAAD, and the poor people are all noble and GOOOOOD.;-)"}, {"response": 24, "author": "Lizzajaneway", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (16:02)", "body": "SPOILER Fleur is Irene's daughter. Susan Hampshire was agreat success in the role first time round."}, {"response": 25, "author": "dianes", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (16:08)", "body": "I spent the two hours interested in TFS last night, but also was mentally playing degrees of connection to ODB. Barely recognized Joanna David at first, but then all her lines and her delivery seemed lifted right out of P&P! Moon, I hope Ioan improves as the series goes on and converts you into a fan. I did not feel a genuine spark pass between the characters played by GM and Ioan, their exchanging of meaningful glances seemed contrived or flat somehow. I am holding my breath hoping Ioan breaks new ground and develops some depth as an actor. Did his eyes look tired to anyone besides me? Maybe because I liked him so much as Horatio and promoted him to my friends, I feel self-conscious and weirdly responsible for his performance in TFS. I responded to DL as Soames with utter disgust. What an arrogant selfish manipulative pig. I don't know how Irene lasted five minutes with him, not that she was that engaging or interesting a character, herself. Not very loyal to her only friend, either. But I imagine unmarried ladies of her class were trained to be stiff as boards. I can't help but compare this to P&P, where Lizzie was funny, spunky, Darcy was decent at heart, and Lizzie would rather risk poverty than marry unhappily, though her family of origin was vastly more supportive. So far, TFS lacks the humor and warmth of P&P. I'll shut up now."}, {"response": 26, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (16:16)", "body": "(Karen)What I found strangely implausible is Irene's complete turnaround into a cold fish toward Soames. Initially, at Bournmouth, she seems to welcome his attentions. She was at least \"friendly\", I think. Hmmm, believe I'll have a look at the first few meetings over dinner. [Possibly one or two of RG's scenes, too] ;)) (Lizza)you are getting it in weekly 2 hour chunks like us? The first night was 2 hours and then it goes to one episode each Sunday through November 10, plus whatever repeats are on individual stations. The PBS site has loads of information plus photos (on the main page and more on linked pages). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/forsyte/"}, {"response": 27, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (16:29)", "body": "I saw hypocrisy in his handling of his Winifred's settlement. Monty had no money but I believe does love Winifred. They're quite a cute couple. The hypocrisy lies with the parallels to his own marriage to a person without means. In his case, he's willing to shell out a fortune to get his wife to love him or make her happy, yet he's not willing for his sister's fortune to help make her marriage easier. (Mari) People like Soames are accustomed, I think, to having things within their sphere of control. Sure, he hoped she would come to love him as was very customary in those times. But, Mr Realist shouldn't be surprised or disappointed when it doesn't turn out a la cousin Jolyon, a loveless marriage. (Mari) Nothing laudable about cheating on your wife (while she's in the house, no less!) He hadn't, until his wife forced his hand. Would he have continued to love her from afar? I don't know. Just because he's a philistine when it comes to art is no reason to reject him, IMO. LOL! And then he bought the painting! Does that not show he's trying?? Doesn't make sense to me."}, {"response": 28, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (16:44)", "body": "(Evelyn) I didn't see where he was a hypocrite (Mari)Where was Soames hypocritical in last night's show? I saw him as hypocritical in the sense of being sanctimonious and self-righteous as in the scene where he refuses to raise Young Jolyon's allowance. He can fall blindly, hopelessly in love with Irene without regard to her station or means, but he cannot accept or even make an effort to understand the same thing happening to his cousin - or his sister as Karen said."}, {"response": 29, "author": "Lizzajaneway", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (16:46)", "body": "Whoops, I did the wrong spoiler, wrong woman, wrong child!!!! Suffice to say that Fleur is an important character in the next generation."}, {"response": 30, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (18:52)", "body": "He can fall blindly, hopelessly in love with Irene without regard to her station or means, but he cannot accept or even make an effort to understand the same thing happening to his cousin - or his sister as Karen said. Same thing happening to his cousin? (I thought it was brother....) Anyway, Soames was *single*...Jolyon was a married man.The family was horrified. It was a sweet love affair...but one wonders who supported Jolyon's child those years. As for the sister's husband...he looked smarmy out to marry Winifred's $$$."}, {"response": 31, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (19:08)", "body": "(Karen)I saw hypocrisy in his handling of his Winifred's settlement. Monty had no money but I believe does love Winifred. They're quite a cute couple. (Evleyn)As for the sister's husband...he looked smarmy out to marry Winifred's $$$. I agree with Evelyn. Monty is a bum. No job, was depending on papa's wealth to get his start, then he contemplates hocking the wife's pearls! Her family paid for the rent on their house, plus gave her an allowance. Nobody paid for my house or gave me an allowance when I got married.;-) These people are all looking for handouts. *Nobody owes you nuthin'* (Karen)He hadn't, until his wife forced his hand. Would he have continued to love her from afar? I don't know. Nobody forces you to commit adultery. Even if his marriage vows meant little to him (which is bad enough), he had a young child to think about. The family provided for the estraged wife and the child--what did Young Jolyon contribute to their support? Nothing. Another bum.;-) Soames is trying to help the niece by sending the architecture business Bosinney's way. And he'll wind up getting kicked in the teeth for it. (Karen)But, Mr Realist shouldn't be surprised or disappointed when it doesn't turn out a la cousin Jolyon, a loveless marriage. But I think Soames had a right to expect that Irene would at least make an honest effort at the marriage. She was only too willing to take his money. Did you see her expression in bed? LOL! She could have, um, applied herself a bit more.;-)"}, {"response": 32, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (20:08)", "body": "(suzee), He wants Irene - he is used to getting whatever he wants and he doesn't care how he gets her even if he has to buy her. If he were not so self-centered he might have realized that marriage would be a mistake. Nothing to do with it. Back then, men used to chose the women they wanted to marry. Some women as we\ufffdve seen with Irene would not have a choice. IMO, Irene should consider herself lucky to have married so well. She has an attitude and obviously has no intention of helping her marriage suceed. She doesn\ufffdt even want children. I don\ufffdt think Sloanes behaves well with Rupert Graves, but he treats Irene well. (Irene reminds me of spoiled Princess Diana). I too like Rupert Graves very much. (Mari), Nothing laudable about cheating on your wife (while she's in the house, no less!) And there's no honor in keeping your family piss poor just because you won't do anything but paint (poorly, I might add). It\ufffds what he knows! He was willing to humiliate himself and did try to get more money from Sloanes. I will always defend the gentleman of old I hope this isn't going to turn into one of these stories about how the rich people are all BAAAAAD, and the poor people are all noble and GOOOOOD.;-) Amen! (diane), Moon, I hope Ioan improves as the series goes on and converts you into a fan. I like him as Horatio very much. But He is miscast here. (Karen), I saw hypocrisy in his handling of his Winifred's settlement. Monty had no money but I believe does love Winifred. I agree! That was despicable! Winifred\ufffds father is worse. He sent the men to remove their furniture. I like W & M. Poor Monty is now left with making horse bets when he originally wanted to go into the family\ufffds construction business. If Monty is a bum it is because of those circumstances. Just because he's a philistine when it comes to art is no reason to reject him, IMO. And notice that their house if filled with expressionist paintings. Did he keep buying them to please her? Very likely. The family provided for the estraged wife and the child--what did Young Jolyon contribute to their support? The family was Jolyon\ufffds father. He has the money. The money also belongs to Jolyon (as the eventual sole heir), and as such they were supported. Jolyon is not a bum, he is a gentleman."}, {"response": 33, "author": "lindak", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (20:09)", "body": "(Karen)He hadn't, until his wife forced his hand. Would he have continued to love her from afar? I don't know. My problem is his abandonment of his daughter, June. He tells Frances that she(June) will be alright. Then after reading of his wife's death, he says again, that she will be alright. She will be the focus of her grandfather's life. What about him and his duty toward her. He never makes a move, not yet at least, to see her."}, {"response": 34, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (20:15)", "body": "What about him and his duty toward her. He never makes a move, not yet at least, to see her. When he leaves the house, he makes a choice. It was probably arranged this way. He realises that even if he had made an effort, he would have been turned down as he was with the money had asked for. Those were the Victorian times. We can not try to modernize them."}, {"response": 35, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (20:22)", "body": "Adulterer + Abandonment of Child + No Job = Bum ;-)"}, {"response": 36, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (21:04)", "body": "Adulterer + Abandonment of Child + No Job = Bum Am checking math as done in Victorian times. Comes out = Gentleman estranged from family ;-)"}, {"response": 37, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (21:18)", "body": "I just re-watched a little looking for clues to Irene's detachment from Soames, whoever observed that she originally seemed to encourage him, that's what I thought too. Looking out the window with the opera glasses at him walking along the pier, she almost smiled. Then, in what seemed to be exultation, she runs her fingers along the piano keys. But next we're watching the painting scene and I think this is huge. He wonders if it's not too modern, is it accomplished, would it look well in the hall? She gets a strong sense of the artist, his/her passionate feel for beauty and for life. The trees show a strong sense of life. She actually turns and walks away from Soames(an unmistakable psychological disconnect.) It is in (I believe) the next scene, she says \"clearly we are not suited\". Without appreciating the painting for its artistic merit, he bought it anyway. She says \"I do not wish to be bought.\" Small wonder the architect/artist seems to be able to elicit the response he does. BUT...(becoming longish)....she allowed herself to be bought...or was forced into it? (How pathetic was the scene in the rain? and what happened to the understanding, supportive \"Mrs. Gardiner\"?! And wasn't HER scene delicious as she engaged her dance partner only to find he too would pledge his troth and his $3000 to Irene?) I can't get past Irene's post-coital bathtub scene. No one has mentioned it yet. I did not get to re-watch that far yet. Was she making NO effort? I don't think this was supposed to be purely contraceptive, I felt it spoke more to her sense of violation. If she is supposed to be a tragic figure, she lost me there. And I'm still trying to figure out what was up with him and could water be any more a potent image in that scene?"}, {"response": 38, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (21:40)", "body": "There was an interesting piece on TFS in Sunday's New York Times. Some of it is a rehash of things we've read before but there's some new information too. Be warned that there are some spoilers: \"A Tale of Lust, Greed, and Other Familial Feelings\" by Ted Loos A ruthless, controlling family in which money and loyalty mean everything. An ill-tempered, sometimes violent husband and his despairing wife. A world where a code of silence and proscribed rituals dictate social behavior. These are the Soprano-like elements that make up \"The Forsyte Saga\", an eight-hour \"ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theater\" presentation about an upper-class family in late Victorian and Edwardian England. And starting tonight at 9, while Tony and Carmela are working out their problems on HBO, Soames Forsyte and his wife, Irene, will be doing much the same on Channel 13 and other PBS stations. \"The Forsyte Saga\" is based on the first two books of an immensely popular nine-book series by the British author John Galsworthy. (The novels, published between 1906 and 1934, were grouped into three trilogies: \"The Forsyte Saga,\" \"A Modern Comedy\" and \"The End of the Chapter.\") (ed. note - does that make each of the trilogies a three-volume novel? :-) \"It actually feels very modern, despite the fact that the first book was written almost 100 years ago,\" said Christopher Menaul, who directed the first half of the series. \"Maybe these long-running family stories are all the same at base. They all boil down to the same themes - lust, greed and all the usual things that make the world go round.\" Among the lustful are Soames Forsyte, the repressed young protagonist played by Damian Lewis; Irene Forsyte (Gina McKee), a beautiful and mysterious woman who attracts all the story's men (ed. note - the main mystery in my mind is WHY she attracts them); Soames's cousin Jolyon (Rupert Graves), a sensitive painter; and Philip Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd), a dashing architect who romances two of the Forsyte women. This version of \"The Forsyte Saga,\" produced by WGBH and Granada Television, spans 34 years in the characters' lives. \"It's very difficult to adapt to film,\" said Jan McVerry, who wrote the script with Stephen Mallatratt. \"You have a huge amount of material which has to be condensed down to the absolute crux.\" The story includes a rape, a violent death and several affairs - the types of events the writers had grappled with before. \"One of the reasons they brought me an Stephen on board was that we had written soaps,\" said Ms. McVerry, who had worked with Mr. Mallatratt on the long-running British series, \"Coronation Street.\" \"We weren't afraid to tackle these big, bold stories.\" \"What interests me most,\" Ms. McVerry said of Galsworthy's epic, \"are the issues of people being trapped by class and by gender, and the whole theme of imprisonment.\" The title of the first novel, \"The Man of Property,\" sums up Soames Forsyte's obsession with convention, order, and ruthlessness in business - all thrown out of joint when he falls for a penniless beauty. \"Soames is a pedant,\" Mr. Lewis said of the character he plays. \"He's bigoted and fastidious and mean at times. But then he falls in love. It shows that whatever kind of human you are, love can strike you down.\" The series centers on Mr. Lewis's portrayal, but not the way the creators thought it would. \"On the page, he was just the man you love to hate,\" Mr. Menaul said. \"But Damian gave it this vulnerability and complexity. We were actually worried Soames was too sympathetic with Damian in the role.\" Soames and Irene, who marries him for money but then despises him, are like two negative magnets bound together, and \"The Forsyte Saga\" revolves around their dysfunctional relationship. \"There are arguably no sympathetic characters in the whole drama,\" Mr. Lewis said. \"Everyone is drive by self-interest.\" Irene emerges as an oddly enigmatic figure. \"Galsworthy tells you a huge amount about Soames. We know what he's feeling,\" said Ms. McKee. \"When he talks about Irene, it's always through someone else's eyes. We never know where she's really at. She's almost a figment of their imagination. And yet she's idolized by some of the characters.\" The creators tried to remain true to an era when small gestures had huge impact. \"It stays focused on the everyday lives of these characters,\" Mr. Lewis said of the production. \"The drama comes in a look - the way someone is crossed at a party. Or the way someone yearns for someone else. It's an intimate story that takes on an epic scale.\" But Mr. Menaul, who directed the first \"Prime Suspect\" on \"Masterpiece Theater\" in 1990, also wanted to avoid drawing room claustrophobia. \"When I was sent the scripts, I liked them, but they were very talky,\" he said. To \"open up\" the series and make it more cinematic, Mr. Menaul employed a Steadicam in one of the elaborate ballroom dancing sequences and moved some scenes outdoors. Many of the exteriors were shot in Liverpool because of its abundance o"}, {"response": 39, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (21:44)", "body": "(Barb S) I can't get past Irene's post-coital bathtub scene. No one has mentioned it yet. I did not get to re-watch that far yet. Was she making NO effort? I don't think this was supposed to be purely contraceptive, I felt it spoke more to her sense of violation. If she is supposed to be a tragic figure, she lost me there. Agreed. Perhaps a different actress could make us feel her pain. It felt like she was doing her best to prove that the marriage wasn't a success so she could hold him to his premarital promise."}, {"response": 40, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (21:59)", "body": "(Karen)Am checking math as done in Victorian times. Comes out = Gentleman estranged from family ;-) LOL! \"On the page, he was just the man you love to hate,\" Mr. Menaul said. \"But Damian gave it this vulnerability and complexity. We were actually worried Soames was too sympathetic with Damian in the role.\" Aha! Good article, Rika, thanks. DL is such an amazing actor, IMO. To me, it's richer this way. DL's Soames is not a boo-hiss villain, but a mix of attributes. Like real people in real life. Who needs another JR Ewing?;-) (Barb)Was she making NO effort? I don't think this was supposed to be purely contraceptive, I felt it spoke more to her sense of violation. Interesting thought, Barb. IMO, she made no effort whatsoever, thereby compounding her own misery."}, {"response": 41, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (22:05)", "body": "he is used to getting whatever he wants and he doesn't care how he gets her even if he has to buy her. If he were not so self-centered he might have realized that marriage would be a mistake. (Moon)Nothing to do with it. Back then, men used to chose the women they wanted to marry It had everything to do with it. Men of a certain class were expected to choose the proper wife, yes. Not always one specific woman. Some of them even married for love - gasp!!! Even in this story! Soames became obsessed with Irene probably partly because she was the first thing he ever wanted that didn't come easily. I re-watched a few scenes earlier tonight about Soames and Irene - she did smile at him early on and she smiled appropriately (as girls were taught to do) when she first danced with him. But she walked away as soon as the music ended. Then she immediately told her step-mom that she didn't want to marry someone she did not love - she did not wish to be \"bought;\" she told her at the art exhibit that she and Soames were not \"suited\" to one another; she turned down Soames next offer to dance, saying she would rather not and she was clearly repulsed by the glove/arm kiss. Step-mom continually told her she was selfish and had to marry and threatened to abandon her. When Soames asked her to marry him the last time, he said, \"Will you be mine?\" and she pointedly replied, \"I will marry you.\" We are not shown the first 2 years of the marriage, but when it picks up, she isn't really trying, I agree. Probably a lot easier to smile nicely at someone you don't want to be dancing with than to smile and pretend wh le having sex with someone you dislike LOL (Mari)there's no honor in keeping your family piss poor just because you won't do anything but paint (Moon)It's what he knows! He was willing to humiliate himself and did try to get more money from Sloanes. (lindaK) My problem is his abandonment of his daughter I don't like the fact that he left his daughter either, but I don't think he had a choice about seeing her after he left. He was banned from his father's house. Now that he has reconciled with his father, maybe he will see the daughter. I was confused about Young Jolyon's income so I also watched those scenes again. When he is talking to his father at the club about leaving and the father offers to continue to send him part of his allowance, he turns Old Jolyon down, saying to give the money to the wife and daughter for their needs. When the father asks what he'll do for money, he says he'll get a job. So he did the right thing then. And when he went to the trustees including Soames, he was asking for money from his trust fund left by their grandfather. Apparently he was receiving the interest yearly from the trust, but in order to withdraw from the capital, he had to have permission from the trustees. He wanted to use part of that to buy a larger home and that was what Soames refused to release. Plus, all that time he thought he was earning money by selling those paintings - he just didn't know his father was the one buying them. He wasn't perfect, but overall he was trying to do the right thing. I don't think this will be a rich=bad and poor=good show. Already there are some very likable \"richies\" - Old Jolyon for one and even Aunt Ann (loved her \"you were expecting some\" [of your features]? comment about the baby. I like Monty and Winifred a lot - loved the entire scene at the dance and the conversation about whiskers - depends on \"where they tickle\" - so funny. But I didn't get that the father was behind the removal of the possessions from their house. I thought it was just the people Monty owed. Do we learn later that the father was behind it?"}, {"response": 42, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct  7, 2002 (22:30)", "body": "(Mari) Monty is a bum. No job, was depending on papa's wealth to get his start.. This was typical of the times and the class struction. Have we forgotten Col Fitzwilliam, the dilemma of the second son, et al.? Their circumstances of their class did not allow them to work and it was perfectly acceptable for men to marry for money. If he were such a bum, he could've jilted her when he was told she wouldn't come with a settlement. Monty was treated like a child by her family. (Mari) But I think Soames had a right to expect that Irene would at least make an honest effort at the marriage. Sure but as the Victorian math shows: Man who marries cold fish who recoils from his touch = fool ;-) [the glove scene] (Linda) What about him and his duty toward her. He never makes a move, not yet at least, to see her [June] I'm sure those were the terms dictated by his family, as Moon also said. It was done for the child's benefit, for her future well-being. (Barb) It is in (I believe) the next scene, she says \"clearly we are not suited\". Good catch, Barb! However, using Mari's measures, quite a few people here should be staying in separate bedrooms from their husbands because they don't enjoy the same movies, books, television shows, sports teams and hide their interest in CF, etc. ;-) (Barb) I don't think this was supposed to be purely contraceptive, I felt it spoke more to her sense of violation. From what I've heard, this was not in the book. But I'd go with purely contraceptive as the motive to ensure that she wouldn't have anything (i.e., like children) to bind her to Soames in the event she wanted out. Her freedom was more important to her. Children would complicate things. Thanks for the NYT article, Rika."}, {"response": 43, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (00:34)", "body": "Great job ladies. Watched last night and enjoyed very much. Can't ad anything to comments already made as you have touched all the bases. Irene knew what she was getting into. I think Soames honestly thought he would be able to win her over. And is beginning to realize this is not going to happen. IMO Irene just detests him. She can't tolerate his touch. Obviously does not care to have any children by him, and also feels violated by him with sex. Obviously she is planning to get out IMO. Just thought she cared enough for June not to get involved with Bossiny. So now Soames is going to isolate her, albeit in extreme magnificance in the country. He's no fool. He see's the attraction between her and Bossiney, he comments that she doesn't laugh with him the way she does with Bossiney and he asks her if she finds him attractive and she says yes. Great point about employing Bossiny to give him the money to marry June, thinking this will abet their attraction. Good stuff, looking forward to Sunday."}, {"response": 44, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (03:36)", "body": "The \"water scene\" is very hard to figure because not only were women taught that this could prevent pregnancy,they often were taught that they were \"unclean\" after sex and this was standard procedure to cleanse themselves. This was at least as late as the 1930's,1940's (or later - I can't remember exact dates that I have read but I think the idea of \"cleansing\" may have lasted longer than the birth control aspect). If that's not enough, for part of that time it was believed that women were unclean and must \"wash\" themselves with this procedure prior to sex or they would be too unclean to become pregnant. How Soames and all that water he was drinking fit into this equation is the question! ;-)"}, {"response": 45, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (04:05)", "body": "(NY Times)Irene emerges as an oddly enigmatic figure. \"Galsworthy tells you a huge amount about Soames. We know what he's feeling,\" said Ms. McKee. \"When he talks about Irene, it's always through someone else's eyes. We never know where she's really at. She's almost a figment of their imagination. And yet she's idolized by some of the characters.\" McKee's performance seems to fit this perfectly so far.(Thanks for posting, Rika) I just discovered that the text of the book is online as part of Project Gutenberg: http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03/fsaga10.txt Gutenberg multiplexer: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4397 Also,there is a radio interview with Gillian Kearney here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01_04_02/thursday/info3.shtml"}, {"response": 46, "author": "freddie", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (07:11)", "body": "Am absolutely petrified to read this thread. I know there are spoilers in it and I don't know if it shown yet in Australia. But I have heard the name. See what happens when you don't watch TV and you haven't a clue what's going on? Is it being shown down here?? Anyone know?"}, {"response": 47, "author": "annea", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (08:52)", "body": "(Lisa) Is it being shown down here?? Anyone know? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, TFS has been and gone - it was shown on the ABC over 6 consecutive weeks and finished about 2 weeks ago. Shame that you missed it."}, {"response": 48, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (09:17)", "body": "(suzee) But I didn't get that the father was behind the removal of the possessions from their house.... I didn't get that either. The recognition on the street as the movers drove past with the household goods was explained when he said he \"used them too\" which sounded like it added to his embarrassment. (suzee)...not only were women taught that this could prevent pregnancy,they often were taught that they were \"unclean\" after sex and this was standard procedure to cleanse themselves. That might help explain it. Clearly he wanted children so I wondered why he would lay there either oblivious to what she was doing or not caring. If it was SOP, it makes more sense. Gah! How heartless and cold...not even a little snuggle?! (Not that she would have wanted it!)"}, {"response": 49, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (09:45)", "body": "A woman being \"unclean\" has its roots in the bible, but mainly relates to following a period or preparing oneself to get married. \"Vaginal irrigation - 'douching' - probably originated in prehistory. But at least from the latter part of the 19th, and well into the 20th, centuries, douching became common, in step with wide-spread Victorian fears of odor and of the body in general. In the American Sears, Roebuck & Company catalogs from this century, a woman could pick from many different models of apparatus.\" Pictures here: http://www.mum.org/DoucheAu.htm (including one that looks like Irene's contraption) There are numerous papers up on the net dealing with Victorian women's health issues. Since coitus interruptus or condoms were not possible in Irene's case, she would've used one of the more common methods, as described: \"From the 1830s on, newspapers carried advertisements for \"female syringes\" with the purpose of douching as a method of contraception. The syringes were typically sold along with certain chemicals that killed sperm, such as alum, or sulphate of zinc and iron.\""}, {"response": 50, "author": "Moon", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (11:45)", "body": "But I didn't get that the father was behind the removal of the possessions from their house. I thought it was just the people Monty owed. Do we learn later that the father was behind it? There is a shot of Winnifred's father walking to her house where we see him greet the creditors who are driving away with the furniture. That greeting spoke volumes. Will be back with more time."}, {"response": 51, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (12:23)", "body": "(Moon)Poor Monty is now left with making horse bets when he originally wanted to go into the family?s construction business. If Monty is a bum it is because of those circumstances. Parents had to subsidize any son-in-laws livelihood? I'd have to see that in print. (Moon) The family was Jolyon?s father. He has the money. The money also belongs to Jolyon (as the eventual sole heir), and as such they were supported. Jolyon is not a bum,he is a gentleman. He is also a leech. (Mari)Adulterer + Abandonment of Child + No Job = Bum Agree. I know it's Victorian times, but has morality changed since then? Ten commandments (read: adultery) didn't apply in Victorian times??? But I didn't get that the father was behind the removal of the possessions from their house.I thought it was just the people Monty owed. Do we learn later that the father was behind it? I'd have to see that in print. NYTimes: Damien Lewis: \"There are arguably no sympathetic characters in the whole drama,\" Mr. Lewis said.\"Everyone is drive by self-interest.\" Amen. BTW anyone catch the front entrance of \"Pemberley\" in the first few scenes? Where Mr Darcy came down to talk to Lizzie and the Gardiners. *sigh*"}, {"response": 52, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (13:18)", "body": "(Evelyn) Ten commandments (read: adultery) didn't apply in Victorian imes??? He is also a leech. Okay, he was an adulterer. But how is he a leech? He refused his allowance, turning it over to his wife and child, he was painting and selling his paintings, he had a private income (the interest on his inheritance from his grandfather) and when his father assumes he must be in debt after all the years on his own and asks, he says no, he is not in debt. BTW, in the book it further explains that he uses part of his inheritance to join Lloyd's as an underwriter (don't think this is clear in the series so far)."}, {"response": 53, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (13:50)", "body": "(Barb) The recognition on the street as the movers drove past with the household goods was explained when he said he \"used them too\" which sounded like it added to his embarrassment. Exactly, he was appalled that they had been called to repossess property from a place in *his* name. The greeting on the street was of professional recognition and I think the repo men were having a private chuckle at his expense. Rather than speak to morality, I think mores would be better. When OJ is talking to his son YJ at the club, when YG is going to leave his wife, OJ doesn't even hint around that there are \"other\" ways of dealing with the situation, i.e., keep Helene as a mistress. Morality be damned. The mores of the period would countenance such an arrangement. Much later, OJ mentions that June is just like her mother, when IMO, she is just like her father. Love and passion mean everything to her, but honesty about one's feelings is foremost. Notice the advice she gives Irene when told about their separate rooms. She tells Irene to leave him. I really do like the Jolyon F side of the family best. True, OJ is feeling his own mortality after Aunt Ann dies, but it's like part of his heart was cut out when he felt he had to cut his son off. I've watched the courtship again. Sorry, no sympathy from me for any of them. I do not suffer fools easily."}, {"response": 54, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (15:06)", "body": "My thoughts on Gina McKee's performance are this: She is playing Irene Heron Forsyte as a cypher or perhaps a prism; a reflecting and refracting surface in which the men besotted with her see what they choose to see or maybe even better versions of themselves. Perhaps McKee and the director view Irene in more \"modern\", or perhaps more aptly \"post-modern\", terms than Galsworthy created her. Is she an intense and artistic woman thwarted from the pursuit of an artistically creative life? Is she the beautiful possession of a rich man who, on some level, views being married to her as an expression of his wealth, and more powerfully, his virility? Or neither? Someone else entirely? As for her look, I find her quite aristocratic in her appearance, reminding me a bit of both Anjelica Houston and Nicole Kidman. McKee is tall, slender, with ivory black hair and porcelain-pale skin. She is in many ways, visually, the polar opposite of Nyree Dawn Porter, who played Irene in the earlier television version of The Forsyte Saga , who was petite, blond and voluptuous. Galsworthy described Irene as being a blond goddess. It been about five years since I've read the books for a lit course, so I might not remember correctly. Quite enough of me rambling on to no end. I am not Australian. Nor do I live there. Those statements will make more sense if you read on. This is a review I found on the web. It's from about 2 months ago when the series ran in Australia. It explores the power of television, in that it asserts that the oringinal is the 26 part BBC series and not John Galsworthy's series of 9 novels. New saga's novel touch By Sarah Crompton August 15 2002 Television adaptations of Dickens, Austen, and Trollope come and go with monotonous regularity, but The Forsyte Saga stands alone. Made by the BBC in 1967, it looms unique, preserved in black and white, an inviolate beacon of excellence. Now, the British production house Granada has spent $18 million on a new view of John Galsworthy's epic trilogy about the effects of sex, money and power on the lives of an upper-middle-class family. In six 90 minute parts, they take the family from the 1870s to the birth of Fleur in 1901. A second series, based on the third novel, will be made this year. It's a grand undertaking. You can imagine the producer's irritation, then, when all the questions at the launch I attended concerned not the handsome opening episode we had just seen, but comparisons with \"the original\". The original in this case is not the books. Poor old Galsworthy may in his day have won the Nobel prize for literature, but now he is just a footnote in televisual history - the begetter of the most popular classic serial of all time. This is no exaggeration. One hundred million people in 26 countries saw Donald Wilson's version of the saga. It was not the first literary adaptation on TV, but it was longer and more ambitious than anything screened before, and it has come to represent every standard to which British TV has aspired ever since. When you watch it on video now, what is striking is not the oldfashioned production - live acting in 20 minute takes on cramped and illlit sets - or even that the performances are sometimes magnificent (step forward Eric Porter as Soames Forsyte and Fay Compton as Aunt Ann), and sometimes only barely competent (Nyree Dawn Porter sobbing in her negligee). No, what hit me is the boldness with which Wilson and his team of writers handled Galsworthy's text. The adaptation is exciting and radical in ways we have all but forgotten. Although Wilson had wanted to put the novels on screen for years, the then head of BBC drama, Sydney Newman, doubted whether a \"costume piece\" would appeal to popular taste in the Swinging Sixties. Presumably with this in mind, Wilson's version is acutely nonreverential - he alters his source material for dramatic effect, inventing conversations and scenes, such as the death of young Jolyon's first wife, Frances, in a grisly hunting accident. The serialisation seizes on Galsworthy's central, searing notion - the almost tragic desperation of Soames, who falls in love with a woman who will not love him - and shapes everything around that, preserving some details, abandoning others, but at all times respecting Galsworthy's examination of what it means to have property and propriety. In so doing, Wilson, who died this year at the age of 91, did something much more dramatic and important than simply transposing a wellloved novel on to television. He made it into a confection for television, simultaneously more \"soaplike\" and more direct than its source material. Its greatness - and even after all these years it is still great - is intrinsic in itself, and not a result of fidelity to the text. In this sense, the current doyen of British literary adaptation, Andrew Davies, so often criticised for taking creative liberties with the classics, is Wilson's direct heir. Ironically, the version of The Forsyte Saga that Stephen"}, {"response": 55, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (15:22)", "body": "Thank you for your take on Irene and the article. it asserts that the oringinal is the 26 part BBC series and not John Galsworthy's series of 9 novels. Hmm, I didn't get that from the article. Yes, there were comparisons between the original TV series and the new one, but Galsworthy's novels are mentioned throughout, with each series' faithfulness to the original novels assessed."}, {"response": 56, "author": "mari", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (15:52)", "body": "(Suzee)I don't like the fact that he left his daughter either, but I don't think he had a choice about seeing her after he left. He was banned from his father's house. My point is that I am questioning the values of someone who would abaondon his young child to go off with his lover. It was either/or, all or nothing, and he chose the lover. Bum.;-) (Karen)This was typical of the times and the class struction. Have we forgotten Col Fitzwilliam, the dilemma of the second son, et al.? Their circumstances of their class did not allow them to work I'm aware of that, and at the same time I'm criticizing it. \"I'll just prostitute myself for the sake of money because, after all, I am a gentleman and can't work.\" ;-) ;-) However, using Mari's measures, quite a few people here should be staying in separate bedrooms from their husbands because they don't enjoy the same movies, books, television shows, sports teams and hide their interest in CF, etc. ;-) Huh? (Suzee)Soames became obsessed with Irene probably partly because she was the first thing he ever wanted that didn't come easily. I didn't get that impression from these 2 episodes. He loves her from the first moment and, early on, she encourages him--or at least does not discourage him. When she finally rejects him, somehting like 9 months passes before they meet again. If he were single-minded in his pursuit of her--and saw her merely as a challenge to be won--he would have continued pursuing her during the 9 months."}, {"response": 57, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (15:54)", "body": "(E) He is also a leech. (Suzee)Okay, he was an adulterer. But how is he a leech? Jolyon is the adulterer. His brother in law, Montague is the leech."}, {"response": 58, "author": "Rika", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (16:04)", "body": "(Evelyn) BTW anyone catch the front entrance of \"Pemberley\" in the first few scenes? Where Mr Darcy came down to talk to Lizzie and the Gardiners. Really?? Missed that - I hope I haven't taped over it yet. (Suzee) The \"water scene\" is very hard to figure because not only were women taught that this could prevent pregnancy,they often were taught that they were \"unclean\" after sex and this was standard procedure to cleanse themselves. Am I remembering correctly that Irene flinched and looked frightened when she heard the water flask fall to the floor in the other room? That, combined with her whole attitude, made me think that she didn't want Soames to know what she was doing, which suggested that her primary motive was contraception."}, {"response": 59, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (16:53)", "body": "(me) However, using Mari's measures, quite a few people here should be staying in separate bedrooms from their husbands because they don't enjoy the same movies, books, television shows, sports teams and hide their interest in CF, etc. ;-) (Mari) Huh? You pinpointed the only reason we've been given for Irene's extreme dislike of Soames: \"Just because he's a philistine when it comes to art is no reason to reject him, IMO.\" It makes no sense to me, just as it doesn't to you. That she doesn't love him doesn't require explanation. One either does or does not. But her extreme dislike and the lengths she goes to offend him make her a character I cannot accept. Another fictional beauty who married for money and social position come to mind: Rebecca DeWynter. She put up a great front, while detesting Maxim, and had no sexual relations with him. She had everyone fooled. Irene has no one fooled, except Soames who is living in Cloud Cuckooland. ;-)"}, {"response": 60, "author": "ceirdre", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (17:24)", "body": "By chance I saw that a Forsyte Saga discussion has recently begun here. I haven\ufffdt seen the TV mini-series so. In fact I watch very little TV. But I have actually read the books a couple of years ago and still remember some of it. This is a chronicle of an influential family dynasty, taking place in the transition period from Victoria era into modern age. In short this is a drama of passion, obsession, deceit, power and money. The characters are not one-dimensional; they are all self-centred and have plenty of flaws. Does it sound familiar? Even if one at first does not like Soames or Irene, as the story progresses, they become, if not sympathetic characters, at least merely human. Soames is both reprehensible and tragic in his obsession for his wife. While Irene, a remote and kind of enigmatic beauty, marries, after pressure, to a man she feels repulsion. In the book it says that she refused him five times. Of course, the marriage is faded to disaster\ufffd Be prepared for surprises!"}, {"response": 61, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (17:44)", "body": "(Barb) The recognition on the street as the movers drove past with the household goods was explained when he said he \"used them too\" which sounded like it added to his embarrassment. I watched this again, too. (What did we do before video!) James does at first appear to be tipping his cane and sharing a laugh with the movers until you see his reaction at the house. Plus, later Winifred tells Monte that her father will bail him out which would make no sense if James was the one taking everything away. (Karen)I really do like the Jolyon F side of the family best. True, OJ is feeling his own mortality after Aunt Ann dies, but it's like part of his heart was cut out when he felt he had to cut his son off. I agree. I think, perhaps, Winifred has a bit of OJ in her - but the genes from that side of the family seem to have skipped right over Soames. (s)Soames became obsessed with Irene (Mari) I didn't get that impression from these 2 episodes. He loves her from the first moment and, early on, she encourages him--or at least does not discourage him. When she finally rejects him, somehting like 9 months passes before they meet again. If he were single-minded in his pursuit of her--and saw her merely as a challenge to be won--he would have continued pursuing her during the 9 months. (Karen)I've watched the courtship again. Sorry, no sympathy from me for any of them. I do not suffer fools easily Fools all - Irene, Soames and the stepmother,too. I still think Soames is blindly obsessed with Irene. I give Irene a little more rope than the others only because she tries to resist and because as a woman without money or real family she has no options at all. She does very quickly try to discourage him. I still like the glove/arm/kiss equation and even before that, she really jerks that hand away when he tries to hold it. What was Soames thinking! -\"Cloud Cuckooland,\" indeed! You're right Mari, there is a break in the story after the dance but I had the impression that he kept \"trying\" all that time because of the step-mother's comments in the first scene after, plus when he joins Irene at the table I think he says he's sorry to be late. And, I have trouble calling what he felt for Irene \"love.\" BTW, the preface for the online book has Galsworthy's take on Irene and Soames. It's very interesting, but be careful if you read it - there is a huge spoiler. (Mari)My point is that I am questioning the values of someone who would abaondon his young child to go off with his lover. It was either/or, all or nothing, and he chose the lover. Bum.;-) Well, Young Jolyon has a rather cute \"bum\" - I'll give you that. LOL"}, {"response": 62, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (18:12)", "body": "(Rika) Am I remembering correctly that Irene flinched and looked frightened when she heard the water flask fall to the floor in the other room? That, combined with her whole attitude, made me think that she didn't want Soames to know what she was doing, which suggested that her primary motive was contraception She was definitely startled. My first reaction was that she had made it through the sex she hated, thought she had escaped him for some privacy and was afraid he might be coming near the bathroom. (Karen) That she doesn't love him doesn't require explanation. One either does or does not. But her extreme dislike and the lengths she goes to offend him make her a character I cannot accept Proper etiquette required that she smile and treat him politely when he was courting her but I think almost from the very beginning he was just someone who made her skin crawl. But if she decided to marry him, then she should have also decided that she could treat him civilly after marriage. I wonder if the book tells anything about the first two years of marriage and how it was between them then. (I've read only the first two chapters.)"}, {"response": 63, "author": "Moon", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (18:38)", "body": ""}, {"response": 64, "author": "Moon", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (18:41)", "body": "closing tags, sorry."}, {"response": 65, "author": "Moon", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (18:44)", "body": "Trying again. (Karen), using Mari's measures, quite a few people here should be staying in separate bedrooms from their husbands because they don't enjoy the same movies, books, television shows, sports teams and hide their interest in CF, etc. ;-) ROTF! Not a ladylike thing to do. ;-) (Mari)My point is that I am questioning the values of someone who would abaondon his young child to go off with his lover. It was either/or, all or nothing, and he chose the lover. Bum.;-) It's drama, it's passion, it's life. I wonder what he saw in his wife to begin with. And, as suzee said, Young Jolyon has a rather cute \"bum\" \"I'll just prostitute myself for the sake of money because, after all, I am a gentleman and can't work.\" ;-) ;-) Now you are having him have all the fun. ;-) (Karen), That she doesn't love him doesn't require explanation. One either does or does not. But her extreme dislike and the lengths she goes to offend him make her a character I cannot accept. I agree! (suzee), later Winifred tells Monte that her father will bail him out which would make no sense if James was the one taking everything away. So she says, but that is still to be seen. (suzee), How Soames and all that water he was drinking fit into this equation is the question! ;-) Too funny! I will have to take notice."}, {"response": 66, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (19:25)", "body": "(Suzee) because as a woman without money or real family she has no options at all. She would if she had any integrity. Her marriage was high -class prostitution..plainly she's a gold-digger. The film is based on the book....stands on its own. Different medium than the book."}, {"response": 67, "author": "lindak", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (21:37)", "body": "(Rika)made me think that she didn't want Soames to know what she was doing, which suggested that her primary motive was contraception I agree, but my take is that she loathes him, loathes sexual relations with him, and their marriage. I think she is cleansing herself of all those things."}, {"response": 68, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (22:09)", "body": "(suzee) I give Irene a little more rope than the others only because she tries to resist and because as a woman without money or real family she has no options at all. I've not been able to let her off the hook so easily. Certainly she had few options, but work WAS one of them, as vile as it might sound. Ellen (sp?) certainly made a go of it as a governess. Is there something I missed that this would have been so WAAAAY below Irene that it was just not to be considered? And coming back to the fact she accepted Soames...she had to have gone into it with the expectation that there would be expectations on her. Conjugal relations and child-bearing come to mind. The loathing and martyrdom she is portraying are not supported by any reason we've been made to understand. And she's about to snatch up her friend's fiance. Why, if it were not Ioan Gruffudd doing Bosinney, I think the whole thing would make me just too mad to even watch. I guess I shall have to force myself and make the best of it ;-)"}, {"response": 69, "author": "Moon", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (22:37)", "body": "LOL, Barb! (Suzee) because as a woman without money or real family she has no options at all. (Evelyn), She would if she had any integrity. Her marriage was high -class prostitution..plainly she's a gold-digger. You are too hard on her Evelyn. I agree with suzee. Her mistake is not making an effort to like her husband. Irene was brought up well, like a lady. She plays the piano beautifully and has artistic leanings."}, {"response": 70, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (22:44)", "body": "(Suzee) Young Jolyon has a rather cute \"bum\" Off to rewind that tape. Did I miss this? ;-) (Barb) Certainly she had few options, but work WAS one of them, as vile as it might sound... Is there something I missed that this would have been so WAAAAY below Irene that it was just not to be considered? I don't believe so. Her father was only a professor. She wasn't so high class that working would be below her. I have no respect for Irene's actions. In fact, she looks more mercenary in my mind than Monty (or any of the other leeches). She gives him (false) hope that she *might* come to love him when she tells him that she would accept. But she has no intention of allowing herself to make a good marriage. Her post-coital activities show that. Children would bind them together, giving the appearance of a \"successful\" marriage. If she only wanted to avoid having relations with Soames, becoming pregnant would be the perfect excuse. She'd be incapacitated for months and then could beg off for longer after the fact. ;-)"}, {"response": 71, "author": "Rika", "date": "Tue, Oct  8, 2002 (23:49)", "body": "I re-watched the first episode tonight and DH watched part of it with me. He was very unimpressed with Gina McKee and started snickering every time one of the Forsytes would mention how beautiful Irene was. But I did notice that she's much more attractive when she smiles - it's just that she almost never does. I've found myself wondering how much Soames and Irene's marriage is like Elizabeth and Darcy's would have been had she accepted his first proposal. I think that both Lizzy and Darcy would have behaved better, but they both learned lessons by taking the long path, without which they would have had some major problems in a marriage."}, {"response": 72, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (01:31)", "body": "(Evelyn)Her marriage was high-class prostitution..plainly she's a gold-digger If her marriage was prostitution so were many, many other marriages of that era. It was more the norm than not to make an effort to \"marry well.\" But I don't think Irene was the gold digger, I think that was her step-mom who had her hands firmly planted on Irene's back pushing her into that marriage. (Barb)Is there something I missed that this would have been so WAAAAY below Irene that it was just not to be considered? (Karen) I don't believe so. Her father was only a professor. (Moon) Irene was brought up well, like a lady. She plays the piano beautifully and has artistic leanings Her father was a professor, but it does seem obvious that she was brought up for \"better things.\" Some of her conversations with the stepmother seemed to indicate that she was definitely not prepared to work for a living. She was probably still in shock from the loss of her father and the life she had with him."}, {"response": 73, "author": "freddie", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (07:36)", "body": "Damn! Wouldn't you know it? Now that Anna (thanks) posted about this just finishing in Australia I remember seeing it. I think it was on right after Edwardian House. But, *gasp* it looked dull and I would go clean up the kitchen instead of watching it! :(((("}, {"response": 74, "author": "ceirdre", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (08:31)", "body": "(Suzee) I wonder if the book tells anything about the first two years of marriage and how it was between them then. (I've read only the first two chapters.) As far as I remember it does not tell much, except in fragmentary comments and thoughts. But it seems to me that their relationship was not any different from the typical marriage of convenience in those days. She submitted to the marital \ufffdduties\ufffd, but kept herself detached, frustrating him. .\ufffd *His business-like temperament protested against a mysterious warning that she was not made for him. He had married this woman, conquered her, made her his own, and it seemed to him contrary to the most fundamental of all laws, the law of possession, that he could do no more than own her body \ufffd.* But he did so want own her soul."}, {"response": 75, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (10:03)", "body": "(Evelyn), She would if she had any integrity. Her marriage was high -class prostitution..plainly she's a gold-digger. (Moon)You are too hard on her Evelyn. I agree with suzee. Her mistake is not making an effort to like her husband. Irene was brought up well, like a lady. She plays the piano beautifully and has artistic leanings. The latter still does not give one integrity. (Suzee) If her marriage was prostitution so were many, many other marriages of that era. It was more the norm than not to make an effort to \"marry well.\" True. But they didn't go on sabotaging the relationship. Hey, Charlotte made it with Mr. Collins. Now, that girl had a stategy;-) (Suzee) But I don't think Irene was the gold digger, I think that was her step-mom who had her hands firmly planted on Irene's back pushing her into that marriage. Irene's step-mother was a gold-digger too!Bemoaning the fact that the ole man only left them 100 Pounds a year.Besides, she wanted Irene out of the way because she was interferring with her own suitors."}, {"response": 76, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (11:35)", "body": "Now, don't read on ahead, but I found this Damien Lewis website that has done episode recaps, with commentary on various scenes. Definitely read the right-hand column. The subject titles are a scream (certainly much like we would have for ODB) and I loved the description of DL's look after he tries kissing her arm in public as \"constipated.\" LOL! I thought the same. BTW, it is very evident that the content of each episode as shown in the US is not the same as in the UK. Our little PBS has no doubt been editing out scenes to make room for the patronizing commentary of Russell Baker. Blech! http://www.chgoredhead2001.com/DamianLewis/ForsyteRecaps/Ep1.html"}, {"response": 77, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (12:01)", "body": "Suzee mentioned earlier about the book's preface, which is online, and has huge spoilers in it. I found Galsworthy's comments quite interesting: The figure of Irene, never, as the reader may possibly have observed, present, except through the senses of other characters, is a concretion of disturbing Beauty impinging on a possessive world. One has noticed that readers, as they wade on through the salt waters of the Saga, are inclined more and more to pity Soames, and to think that in doing so they are in revolt against the mood of his creator. Far from it! He, too, pities Soames, the tragedy of whose life is the very simple, uncontrollable tragedy of being unlovable, without quite a thick enough skin to be thoroughly unconscious of the fact. Not even Fleur loves Soames as he feels he ought to be loved. But in pitying Soames, readers incline, perhaps, to animus against Irene: After all, they think, he wasn't a bad fellow, it wasn't his fault; she ought to have forgiven him, and so on! And, taking sides, they lose perception of the simple truth, which underlies the whole story, that where sex attraction is utterly and definitely lacking in one partner to a union, no amount of pity, or reason, or duty, or what not, can overcome a repulsion implicit in Nature. Whether it ought to, or no, is beside the point; because in fact it never does. And where Irene seems hard and cruel, as in the Bois de Boulogne, or the Goupenor Gallery, she is but wisely realistic--knowing that the least concession is the inch which precedes the impossible, the repulsive ell. Ya see? Even Galsworthy says that Soames is \"unlovable.\" ;-)"}, {"response": 78, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (12:49)", "body": "a repulsion implicit in Nature. Ah. Matter and anti-matter. Stripes and solids. Sandals and socks. Soames and Irene. Just because. Can't fight karma. At first I thought it too easy an answer, but I'm at work and it does not take much looking around to identify my own Soames (high repulsion factor.) --------->this is me sliding over (just a little) to the \"poor Irene\" camp. (OK, did I do the \"greater than\" thing right? Hope I don't wreck the board)"}, {"response": 79, "author": "Brown32", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:10)", "body": "So glad Mari directed me here. I am loving The Saga, eps one and two. Here is this week's New Yorker review. So many reviewers in the UK and here did not like Gina McKee. A friend of mine noted that it is the women reviewers who did not like her performance more so than the male ones. I thought she captured so well, in body and face as she climbed the stairs, that awful experience of having to go to bed with someone you despise. I love Montague Dartie! Must look up more on Ben Miles. Does anyone think Amanda Root looked a little old for the younger Winifred? Of course, since Persuasion, she can do no wrong in my eyes. And young Jolie's hair, Louisa!!! ****************************************** PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE by HILTON ALS \"The Forsyte Saga\" revisited. Issue of 2002-10-14 and 21 Posted 2002-10-07 As Irene Forsyte, in the new, eight-part Masterpiece Theatre version of \"The Forsyte Saga\" (based on the first two books of the trilogy by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist John Galsworthy), Gina McKee calls the term \"Galsworthian pale\" to mind. It's an invented phrase, but apt, when it comes to describing both the coolness of McKee's temperament and the white, white skin that she wears like an alabaster shield-to protect her against the brutal physical and psychological demands of her husband, Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis). McKee, who played Hugh Grant's wheelchair-bound ex-girlfriend in the 1999 film \"Notting Hill,\" and a waitress in search of love in the same year's \"Wonderland,\" must have exercised an extraordinary amount of discipline to flatten and mute her colorful modern edge; here she delivers a masterly performance as a woman trapped in the upper-class fiction of Victorian respectability, dying for the truth. She is just what Galsworthy (whom Virginia Woolf once called a \"stuffed shirt\") must have been getting at when he first envisioned Irene. In his cooked-up prose, he writes, \"The gods had given Irene dark brown eyes and golden hair, that strange combination, provocative of men's glances.\" He goes on, \"The full, soft pallor of her neck and shoulders, above a gold-colored frock, gave to her personality an alluring strangeness.\" In McKee, that \"strangeness\" comes out in her rare, slow, and deliberate enunciation; her internal life, her search for love outside her empty marriage, keeps her mostly silent as she watches desperately for an escape route. You sense that if she were to open her mouth she'd start to scream and never stop. When we are first introduced to Irene in \"The Forsyte Saga\"-the first installment aired on PBS on October 6th-she is living with her stepmother, Mrs. Heron (Joanna David), in Bournemouth. Irene is a middle-class provincial girl with few prospects for a successful marriage (she does not have an impressive dowry). She has been trained, as many young women at the time were, to be \"at home.\" Her natural intelligence, sensitivity, and wit all go into her efforts to perfect her skills as a pianist. The rest she blocks out: her grief over her father's death, her stepmother's dreary clucking about cash and position, and, eventually, the unwelcome attentions of a young London solicitor, Soames Forsyte. Stiff-necked, stiff-lipped, and with stiff red hair, Soames is the beloved child of the Forsyte family and the heir apparent not only to its fortune but also to its long-standing imperialist ideals-maintain order at all costs, bear your burdens lightly, and keep the class distinctions clear. His cousin Young Jolyon (the sweet-faced Rupert Graves), who is first in line to the Forsyte throne, has been virtually disinherited, having left his wife and his daughter, June, for June's governess, Helene (Amanda Ooms). Soames's sister, Winifred (Amanda Root), has married a bounder and a cad named Montague Dartie (the suitably creepy Ben Miles). In the huge extended family, then, Soames is the only truly \"correct\" Forsyte. The melodrama of Galsworthy's trilogy filled twenty-six episodes in the first adaptation of \"The Forsyte Saga,\" which aired in the United States in 1969, and was, at the time, the most ambitious series of its kind. Its power, as I recall, lay in its ability to persuade American viewers to give in to their closet Anglophilia. Since then, however, Americans have picked up another white man's burden-Tony Soprano's-and the flushed cheeks, the rustlings of silk, the tinkling of servants' bells that adorned the decline of an Empire would make precious little sense now if the producer of the new series, Sita Williams, had not incorporated some critical distance into the enterprise. Without sacrificing narrative-or the superficial thrill to be got out of simply examining the gleaming objects on Irene Forsyte's dressing table-the \"Saga\" has been adapted to our times, by Jan McVerry and Stephen Mallatratt, who have given it a distinctly feminist slant. From the first, we're made to feel both Irene's disgust and Soames's neurotic need to possess what he cannot have-Irene's love. Soame"}, {"response": 80, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:14)", "body": "Ya see? Even Galsworthy says that Soames is \"unlovable.\" ;-) Who cares? Galsworthy ,is long since gone; that's the book. And Damian Lewis doesn't play Soames that way;-) Hey, I'm not ready to canonize the guy , but IMO Irene got more than what she deserved. Thanks for the DL website, but I think I want to keep focused on the film and not be prejudiced. Will read it at the end."}, {"response": 81, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:15)", "body": "I am reading the book - trying to do it on the side while I finish another book, but I am really enjoying it. It is easy reading and addictive. How did I miss this book in the past? The adaptation does seem to be very, very close to the book. Huge chunks of dialogue in the series come from the book verbatim. I promise not to dwell on the book (Evelyn!) or get ahead of the series, but.......Ceirdre mentioned before that Soames asked Irene to marry him many times. This was over a year and one-half period, during which time he \"besieged\" her and kept her other admirers away with his \"constant presence.\" He would not accept \"no\" as an answer and once she accepted, he saw her as his property - he lumped her in with his furniture, etc. He \"owned\" her -or wanted to own her in that same way. And he didn't choose Bosinney to build the house to help June. he simply was determined to get Irene away from friends and a life in London and he thought she would find it harder to protest the house in the country if her est friend's fellow was doing the building. I don't think there is a charitable one in Soames body. I am not inclined to spare pity for him!!!"}, {"response": 82, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:23)", "body": "(Evelyn)And Damian Lewis doesn't play Soames that way;-) (Crossing postings again) I saw Lewis as Soames exactly that way in the first 2 episodes. BTW, did anyone see Gina McKee in Notting Hill? I was reading her credits and made the connection. She was HG's friend in the wheelchair. I seem to remember liking her character, although I didn't really like the movie. I would like to take another look now though. If I am remembering correctly, she was certainly very different in that role."}, {"response": 83, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:34)", "body": "\"The gods had given Irene dark brown eyes and golden hair, that strange combination, provocative of men's glances.\" I'm missing something here...I don't see her as provocative.Maybe \"golden hair\" might have helped.The word \"boring\" comes to mind.I'm optimistic she'll improve in Episode 3. Hope springs that Bosinney might stir up her hormones a bit. BTW, did anyone see Gina McKee in Notting Hill? Yes...liked her, the movie and the soundtrack:-))) Thanks Murph for the NYer review.Maybe the reviewer saw the UK version;-)"}, {"response": 84, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:38)", "body": "I just read the New Yorker review and see they mentioned the Notting Hill part. I'm glad to see McKee getting some praise. I think she is very good - better IMO than the first Irene. (New Yorker)\"You sense that if she were to open her mouth she'd start to scream and never stop.\" An excellent description. (Mary)I thought she captured so well, in body and face as she climbed the stairs, that awful experience of having to go to bed with someone you despise Ugh! Yes, I agree. And a very, very, very looooong walk upstairs that would be. LOL (Thanks for posting the article.)"}, {"response": 85, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (13:47)", "body": "I don't think this link has been posted for Rupert Graves' website. It has some pics and info about TFS, although not as much as Lewis' site. http://www.rupert-graves.com/"}, {"response": 86, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (14:01)", "body": "(suzee) and see they mentioned the Notting Hill part. I'm glad to see McKee getting some praise. That's nuthin! They mentioned Wonderland, which absolutely blew me away. McKee is one of the main characters and she's wonderful in it. (Barb) this is me sliding over (just a little) to the \"poor Irene\" camp. LOL! I still don't feel sorry for her. She should've gone to work, being the middle-class girl she was. I see governess written all over her. Given the choices she's made, she doesn't even try to make anything positive out of her situation (i.e., become something, a grand hostess, work for a charitable org, anything!) (Suzee) I don't think there is a charitable one in Soames body. Even without the \"b\" I'm in agreement. ;-) (New Yorker) Soames's idea of marriage is based on what he sees as his mother's devotion to his father, a man whom she never loved, but whom she tolerated and made a home for. Why, he wonders, is Irene unwilling to do the same? It is his right, after all-he has bought and paid for a wife, and isn't it her duty to love him in precisely the way his imagination and experience dictate? Hmmm, have they told us this?"}, {"response": 87, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (14:17)", "body": "I love the DL website - thanks Karen. (\"Money can't buy me love\" tra la ), but how annoying that PBS is cutting the episodes. I like Russell Baker very much, but not that much. Apparently the entire thing is already available on DVD with the complete U.K. broadcast edition, \"Making-of\" featurette; behind-the-scenes photos and cast biographies, Barnes and Noble: http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ean=54961528998 Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/dvd/B00006FHZE/002-5840521-6484045"}, {"response": 88, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (14:24)", "body": "(Karen)Even without the \"b\" I'm in agreement. ;-) Sorry, Yapp apparently doesn't always like it when I type elsewhere and paste. As if I don't make enough mistakes on my own without Yapp's help!! (New Yorker) Soames's idea of marriage is based on what he sees as his mother's devotion to his father, a man whom she never loved, but whom she tolerated and made a home for. Why, he wonders, is Irene unwilling to do the same? It is his right, after all-he has bought and paid for a wife, and isn't it her duty to love him in precisely the way his imagination and experience dictate? (Karen)Hmmm, have they told us this? In the book, yes. I don't think so in the series so far."}, {"response": 89, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (14:41)", "body": "FYI, Yapp drops a single letter every so many lines. An endearing idiosyncrasy. ;-) So far, all I can tell is that the episodes aren't ending in the same place. We don't know what scenes are being sacrificed. :-("}, {"response": 90, "author": "mari", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (15:19)", "body": "I see no evidence on that DL site that anything has been cut by PBS. Where do you get that sense? (New Yorker) From the first, we're made to feel both Irene's disgust and Soames's neurotic need to possess what he cannot have-Irene's love. Soames's idea of marriage is based on what he sees as his mother's devotion to his father, a man whom she never loved, but whom she tolerated and made a home for. Thanks for the New Yorker review, Murph. Using the snippet above, I conclude that this writer is obviously influenced by what is in the book. I can only draw conclusions based on the 2 episodes I've seen and will confine my comments to those. Irene is a middle-class provincial girl with few prospects for a successful marriage (she does not have an impressive dowry). Let me pose this question to the group: who did middle-class provincial boys marry???? By this description, Soames is above her station. Why wouldn't she have choices from among her own class? Or is that not good enough for her? Soames is the beloved child of the Forsyte family There! He's not unlovable!;-)"}, {"response": 91, "author": "Rika", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (15:35)", "body": "I'm missing something here...I don't see her as provocative....The word \"boring\" comes to mind Yes. She seemed so languid and empty right from the start - it's not like she only became dull and lifeless after the wedding. I can accept that as perhaps being fashionable during that era, but \"provocative\"? (Karen) Given the choices she's made, she doesn't even try to make anything positive out of her situation (i.e., become something, a grand hostess, work for a charitable org, anything!) She's supposed to be so aesthetically aware (this being one reason she despises her philistine husband), so why not do something to support the arts? It's sad to have to live without romantic love, but she has plenty of resources to allow her to bring other sources of enjoyment into her life. But instead she's chosen the pathetic, self-pitying route. Well, anyhow, it saves me from the need to pity her - she's got that covered all by herself."}, {"response": 92, "author": "Brown32", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (15:57)", "body": "Irene is a middle-class provincial girl with few prospects for a successful marriage (she does not have an impressive dowry). Mari says: Let me pose this question to the group: who did middle-class provincial boys marry???? By this description, Soames is above her station. Why wouldn't she have choices from among her own class? Or is that not good enough for her? ******************************** I think it was not good enough for her step-mother. The woman was aiming high, money-wise, for herself and for Irene, and Soames, an unexpectedly big fish, swam right into their ocean. I have the feeling too, that Irene was something of a snob and a dreamer. She was looking for a romantic ideal in a man. I don't see a provincial farmer or clerk filling that desire. Look at Bosinney, not any money, but great connections and a look Bronte readers, as I imagine she was, would love. It is almost impossible for us today, it seems to me, to put ourselves in the place of an Irene. In her mind, there was no way out of her situation, and Soames was there and waiting. Her mistake was to think she could control him, and his was to love her with a passion he could not control. That New Yorker reviewer did have a lot of spoilers in his review. Sorry about that. Should have put it at the top of the review. Did anyone else think of Dorothy in Middelmarch, marrying a man she did not love, and loving another? The difference is, of course, that Dorothy had the money to make any choice she wanted."}, {"response": 93, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (16:15)", "body": "(Karen) BTW, it is very evident that the content of each episode as shown in the US is not the same as in the UK. Our little PBS has no doubt been editing out scenes to make room for the patronizing commentary of Russell Baker. Blech! (Mari) I see no evidence on that DL site that anything has been cut by PBS. Where do you get that sense? It appears that way at first glance but on second look, it is just that the series is cut and shown differently - the BBC apparently was in 6 episodes and the PBS series is being shown in 8 episodes so we are seeing the same thing, but not corresponding perfectly to the DL episode guides."}, {"response": 94, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (16:25)", "body": "(Karen) Given the choices she's made, she doesn't even try to make anything positive out of her situation (Rika) She's supposed to be so aesthetically aware (this being one reason she despises her philistine husband), so why not do something to support the arts? She's using all her energy to keep her mouth shut, hold in that scream and \"look desperately for an escape route.\":-)))"}, {"response": 95, "author": "ceirdre", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (17:23)", "body": "(Suzee) She's using all her energy to keep her mouth shut, hold in that scream and look desperately for an escape route.\":-))) POOR IRENE\ufffd!!!"}, {"response": 96, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct  9, 2002 (23:39)", "body": "(Suzee) the BBC apparently was in 6 episodes and the PBS series is being shown in 8 episodes so we are seeing the same thing, but not corresponding perfectly to the DL episode guides. *mental head slap* You've solved it. (Murph) I think it was not good enough for her step-mother. The woman was aiming high, money-wise, for herself and for Irene, and Soames, an unexpectedly big fish, swam right into their ocean. Frankly, I think her step-mother would've married her off to practically anyone--so she wouldn't have to spend any of her paltry annual income on Irene. But the step-mother was looking to hook another one herself."}, {"response": 97, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 10, 2002 (02:58)", "body": "(Moon) Too bad Angel has its season premiere tonight. :-( You know I have a preference for period pieces and vampire stories. :-D So then, did you watch 'Forever Knight'??? :-)) Pics and info about the original series (watch out for spoilers down the page): http://www.ceejbot.com/EricPorter/Forsyte/ CT Now Forsyte' Earns Title Of `Saga' October 5, 2002 By ROGER CATLIN, Courant TV Critic If you're among those who assume you've missed the pinnacle of television by failing to sign up for HBO, take heart. Even if you've declined the myriad channels of basic cable and have left your TV fare entirely up to broadcast networks, don't worry. You still can take part in one of the season's best events. The height of commercial-free TV entertainment is yours starting Sunday with the two-hour premiere of a lavish new eight-hour production of \"The Forsyte Saga\" on public broadcasting. The last time John Galsworthy's irresistible story of temptation and betrayal amid the British aristocracy made it to TV, in a 26-episode black-and-white import in 1969, it altered Sunday-night viewing as we knew it. PBS found that there was enough of an audience for episodic, quality British-made drama to create \"Masterpiece Theater.\" More than 30 years later, the venerable showcase offers a lush, sharply written new version of the saga from Granada TV. With all the splendor expected in an imported period piece that covers the last quarter of the 19th century, \"The Forsyte Saga\" excels largely in its striking acting. That's obvious from the first moments when, in a very short time, the various personalities of the large Forsythe clan stand out. The first episode concerns an artistic young Forsyte who throws over his wife and daughter to fall for a governess. But most of the epic follows the story of his cousin Soames Forsyte and his efforts to find a wife, which is done in a manner as fastidious as what he displays as a London solicitor. Soames spies an ethereal beauty at the opera and single-mindedly pursues her. Because her father's recent death has left her family in a precarious financial state, her mother encourages her to accept his proposal. The new Mrs. Irene Forsyte realizes her mistake as soon as she accepts, and the tension between the two fuels several episodes. It's quite a tightrope for the two actors to walk. Is Soames completely detestable because his personality is so cold? Or is Irene to blame because she never gives him a chance? Audience members will make their own decisions, but they won't be helped by the characters. Damian Lewis, as Soames, is a familiar face in quality Sunday-night drama from his role as Maj. Richard Winters in the epic HBO miniseries \"Band of Brothers.\" Here he succeeds in portraying a tightly wound Soames, who fervently wants a family, no matter how ineptly he goes about it. His character could be written as a cartoon, but he brings it far more humanity. Gina McKee as Irene almost has a more difficult job. Previously seen as Hugh Grant's friend in a wheelchair in \"Notting Hill,\" McKee has a luminous beauty and mystery that's sufficient to attract no less than four different men throughout the saga. Yet she also must also be a sympathetic character despite eschewing her chosen husband, practically from the start. It's a grim business, but her days are brightened when she meets a similarly artistic soul, a young architect who unfortunately happens to be engaged to the daughter of the Forsyte whose father ran off with the governess. And now you begin to see the outlines of the tangled web. The intrigue helped make Galsworthy's three-volume original drama, originally published between 1906 and 1921, hugely popular. Galsworthy went on to win a Nobel Prize for literature in 1932. Streamlined in the new version to just eight hours (with a second part that began filming last month), the action fairly flies by. While fans of \"The Sopranos\" may be awaiting the first major whacking of the seasons, major figures drop in just about every Forsyte episode, with plotlines taking breakneck curves at high speed. The temptation when collapsing the story to a relatively neat size is to explain it all away in dialogue. But there are plenty of scenes in \"The Forsyte Saga\" that are explicated visually: in telling looks from Lewis, or in a series of sketches by Rupert Graves, as the artistic Forsyte, that clearly shows his infatuation with his governess. There is a splendid performance too from Corin Redgrave, who is less well known than his sisters, but shows every bit as much talent in showing a gradual change from the kind of Forsyte who would cast away his son for leaving his wife, and then welcome him back, decades later, when old age softens his world view and makes him more open for change. When offspring of the various Forsyte factions begin to grow and mingle with one another - and go off to fight the Boer War shortly after the turn of the century - the underlying family history that the audiences knows but the "}, {"response": 98, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 10, 2002 (03:15)", "body": "NY Daily News (4 stars) Victorians victorious 'Forsyte Saga' worthy of 'Masterpiece' name MASTERPIECE THEATRE: THE FORSYTE SAGA. Sunday nights at 9, PBS (WNET/Ch. 13). The last time television presented a long-form adaptation of John Galsworthy's \"The Forsyte Saga\" novels, the result was a minor revolution, leading eventually to such ambitious miniseries as \"Roots\" in this country and \"Brideshead Revisited\" in England. This time, we can only hope for a similar string of inspired successors. It's not likely - but this new \"Forsyte Saga,\" presented in eight parts on \"Masterpiece Theatre\" beginning Sunday night at 9 with the first two installments, certainly deserves to inspire. Not only is this \"Forsyte Saga\" the best \"Masterpiece Theatre\" offering in five years (since 1997's \"Prime Suspect 5\"), but it ranks among the best costume dramas the venerable PBS umbrella series has presented in its 31-year history. The original \"Forsyte\" predates that history, and predates even PBS. It was the previous public-TV entity, NET, that brought the smash British hit to this country in 1969 and made Susan Hampshire a star, as the fiery Fleur. This new version, though only eight hours, actually is a less hurried affair. The '60s version condensed six of Galsworthy's nine \"Forsyte\" novels into 26 parts; the new version takes eight hours to cover only the first two novels. Fleur hasn't even shown up yet. But she will, because the next two miniseries sequels of \"Forsyte\" are in the works, and eventually will be shown on \"Masterpiece Theatre.\" Meanwhile, we have these eight hours, spread over seven Sunday nights - opposite HBO's \"The Sopranos\" and ABC's \"Alias,\" making for a maddeningly competitive hour of TV. \"The Forsyte Saga\" is full of the rich detail and broad vision that the miniseries form allows, and which the commercial broadcast networks seem uninterested in pursuing. Viewers who take the time to get to know these characters (a process that happens very quickly) will be rewarded with a dramatic story that pulls them into every loving embrace and painful betrayal. The first eight hours in this Victorian drama introduce us to the Forsyte men, who are variously tortured or passionate, and their women, who are likewise. There's the family patriarch, Old Jolyon (Corin Redgrave); his artistic namesake, Young Jolyon (Rupert Graves), and another son, Soames (Damian Lewis), the veritable embodiment of British repression. Almost immediately, Young Jolyon announces his intention to walk away from his wife and daughter, and his family fortune, to live in happy scandal with the family governess. Soames pursues a woman, Irene (Gina McKee), who loathes him - but, because of his position, doesn't reject his advances. We also meet, among others, a dashing architect named Phillip Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd), and Young Jolyon's neglected daughter June (Gillian Kearney), who loves the architect. And she's not alone. In fact, by the time these first eight hours are up, the principals will have played mix-and-match romances more often than the characters on \"Friends.\" There, it's done for laughs. Here, it's done with high drama and in high style, with precise language, English gardens and delicate waltzes adding to the atmosphere, intrigue and romance. Lewis and McKee are the riveting standouts, but you'll be hooked by everyone, and everything. \"The Forsyte Saga\" today, even more than yesterday, is a true TV masterpiece. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/story/24083p-22765c.html"}, {"response": 99, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 10, 2002 (03:38)", "body": "Here is one man apparently smitten with McKee. Blimey! If it isn't Gina McKee By JOHN DOYLE The Globe and Mail Friday, September 27, 2002 What ho, Canadians! It's a rather British weekend on TV. Chaps in top hats do beastly things and a young member of the Royal Family gets tired and emotional in a pub. Most of the action takes place on Sunday. Dilly-dally with something else until then, but it's the Sunday menu that matters. The Forsyte Saga (Sunday, CBC 8 p.m.) is the big deal. It goes on for weeks and it also starts airing on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre the following Sunday. It's very good, absorbing TV, especially if you're crazy about a certain English actress named Gina McKee. Allow me a small tangent here. In L.A. in July, during the television critics press tour, American TV stars are everywhere. You get used to seeing them \ufffd the stars of Friends, ER and all the others. Veterans and legends mosey around the events and you stop being startled by their presence. However, one day I was gob-smacked and star-struck. Walking down a corridor, I spotted three women sitting in a small circle and chatting amicably. As I passed, I glanced at the lady nearest me because she looked vaguely familiar. Tall and very pale, she was dressed in a black, lace top and a black skirt. Her hair was as black as a raven's wing. She glanced up at me and I was startled by the shock of recognition. I whispered, in awed urgency to a colleague: \"That's Gina McKee.\" The colleague looked puzzled: \"Who's Gina McKee?\" As soon as you start watching The Forsyte Saga, you'll understand. McKee (who also starred in the Canadian/British drama Dice and the monumental Brit miniseries Our Friends in the North) plays Irene Heron, a woman who drives a man named Soames Forsyte out of his mind. It's late-Victorian England, you see, and the Forsyte clan is powerful in a swanky, nouveau riche sort of way. Soames (Damian Lewis, who is excellent) decides he needs a wife and sets his sights on the alluring, mercurial Irene. She has no money. Her stepmother puts pressure on her to marry Soames, a man she doesn't love. Irene reluctantly agrees, telling Soames that he must set her free if the marriage doesn't work. He agrees to this condition but the viewer knows he is so besotted that he'll never let her go. Irene meets a dashing architect. Sparks fly. She dances in a red dress of sumptuous beauty and the world shifts. Don't talk to me about the 26-part BBC version of The Forsyte Saga in the 1960s. I was about eight years old and rather bored by it. Sorry. So many people remember it with affection, but I suspect that memory makes it better than it was. This version is eight hours long (it continues on Monday on CBC and then next week) and another eight hours will arrive next spring. Unlike most period dramas set in the Victorian period, this Forsyte Saga isn't about propriety. It's about money, power and lust. It's that simple. In the first few minutes, when we meet Soames, he's assessing how much money should be given to the too-handsome (and therefore unreliable) chap named Montague who is wooing his sister. The dashing architect Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd) comes into the picture because he's told he cannot marry another Forsyte girl until he earns a certain amount of money. Everything hinges on money, power over other people and lust after property and beautiful women. The drama is drenched in contemporary themes. And, of course, once you're set your eyes on Gina McKee, you'll understand what Soames Forsyte is going through. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.TVGAMArticleHTMLTemplate/A/20020927/27_gam_doyle?tf=TV/TVFront_fullstory.html&cf=TV/config-TVFrontLayout1&slug=27_gam_doyle&date=20020927&archive=TV&site=TVFront"}, {"response": 100, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 10, 2002 (14:34)", "body": "I noticed at IMDB that the British version was shown with a \"pilot\" of 90 minutes, which I assume was the first episode and then picks up for 5 more episodes of 75 minutes each. Since PBS started with an almost 2 hour version that means we are completely off kilter with those episode guides, I guess. It also means (if that is actual showing time in the UK w/o breaks and if my math isn't also off kilter) that PBS has a little less than 2 minutes per show for intro, exit credits and Russell Baker's comments so it may squeeze it all in, but just barely. There are a few messages at TFS boards at IMDb. There were no spoilers when I read it today. Current: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0260615/board/threads/ Old: http://www.imdb.com/oldboards/wwwthreads.pl?action=list&Board=b0260615"}, {"response": 101, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Fri, Oct 11, 2002 (03:16)", "body": "USA Today 10/09/2002 - 'The Forsyte Saga': Rupert Graves Friday, August 23, 2 p.m. ET Thirty-three years ago, the fledgling Public Broadcasting Service won an enthusiastic audience for sumptuous period drama with a riveting rendition of John Galsworthy\ufffds The Forsyte Saga. Now, this tale of true love and unbridled lust at loose in Victorian London arrives on EXXONMOBIL MASTERPIECE THEATRE with a fresh approach, a new cast and 21st-century production values. The eight-hour The Forsyte Saga opens with a two-hour premiere on PBS Sunday, October 6, 2002, 9:00 p.m. ET, followed by six one-hour episodes on Sundays, October 13-November 17, 2002, 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). Talk to Rupert Graves, who plays Young Jolyon, about the series. Missed the chat? Read the transcript below: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weehawken, NJ: I've recently seen you in the Broadway revival of The Elephant Man. As an actor, how did you prepare to play oppposite a character (John Merrick) who would likely command the audiences attention at all times, perhaps at the expense of other characters? Rupert Graves: I went to see the Elephant Man's skeleton, read what I could about Frederick Treves, and a little bit about London in that era. The script states that the actors who played John Merrick to have no makeup whatsoever, because the story had become more about the deformities than his inner strength. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- new york, new york: What are some of the factors that you consider before making a decisiion to accept a script? Rupert Graves: I try to find a connection. If you can't make a connection, it's not worth doing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexandria, VA: Rupert: A Room With a View is one of my favorites -- a classic. I've enjoyed your movies and plays in London. What's been your favorite role and why? Rupert Graves: I did a play called the Pitchfork Disney by Philip Ridley, where I played a character called Presley. The play was about two young adults whose parents have been killed, and they sort of become refugees in their own home. They're terrified of the outside world, and keep each other sane by feeding each other stories and chocolate. Someone comes through the door, which terrifies them both. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : I am Russian living in the US and I have a degree in the English Language and Literature from a Russian university. I have not seen the movie, but have read and loved the book. We had to read it for our English Literature class and it took us a year to complete it. We analyzed it to death! Soams was a \"bad guy\" in the eyes of our professors. I hated it that I had to look for bad characteristics of him when I thought him to be a decent man who found himself with a wrong woman. I absolutely disliked Irene, but had to call her sensitive, fragile, not willing to compromise her feelings, etc. in my essays. I n order to pass a class, we had to follow what a certain school of thought, you know. I am looking forward to the movie! How close is it to the book? Usually, it is always a disappointment to see how a movie is a far cry from a book. However, I will keep an open mind watching this one, and the fact that it was filmed 32 years ago (I was born 32 years ago!) suggests that it is going to be a better quality p oduction than what you might see nowadays. At least, that's what I think! Thank you. Rupert Graves: I think it's a close adaptation in spirit. The novel is incredibly long, and we've changed and rearranged some of the incidents. But in spirit, it's very close indeed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WDC: Since PBS has done this series before, did you feel any sense of trepidation about the new version? Did you study any of the old tapes, or just start from scratch? Rupert Graves: I myself read the book and based my acting on that. I didn't look at the previous series at all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New York, NY: What is it about you that leads directors to cast you in so many costume dramas? Do you think you've been typecast? Rupert Graves: I think that's what happens, yes. I don't really know why. When I started out as an actor, costume dramas were quite popular. I do other stuff as well, but I don't really understand why I've been so typecast. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New York,NY: What kind of preparation do costume drama actors have to put themselves through? For example, how long does it take to get dressed in period clothes? Rupert Graves: It takes a bit longer, not much. It takes longer because of all the buttons. For men it's easier, because women have to wear the corsets. They're arranged in a formal manner that"}, {"response": 102, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Fri, Oct 11, 2002 (08:33)", "body": "(Qustioner) I hated it that I had to look for bad characteristics of him when I thought him to be a decent man who found himself with a wrong woman. Found himself?!!!! And s/he read the book and analyzed it to death with all five proposals??? LOL! (RG) I think he strikes out for his own belief against the accepted way and formula that the Forsytes did things. He wants to be completely independent, and he's trying to escape his father's Forsythe values. It'll compromise his independence, basically. *cough cough* Takes a strong character to do this. *cough cough* ;-) Thanks, Suzee, for the finding this. Maybe you could get Rupert to join us here? ;-)"}, {"response": 103, "author": "Moon", "date": "Fri, Oct 11, 2002 (10:37)", "body": "Rupert would be good any of them. ;-) Washington, DC: How long did it take to film the series, and is there a sequel? Rupert Graves: We're starting next week on a sequel. It took six months to do the first series, and it'll take from September to Christmas to do the second. Is he joking? A sequel? in my essays. I n order to pass a class, we had to follow what a certain school of thought, My son has the same problem in his English class. :-( Thanks, suzee."}, {"response": 104, "author": "lafn", "date": "Fri, Oct 11, 2002 (11:20)", "body": "Thanks Suzee. (RG) Usually, it is always a disappointment to see how a movie is a far cry from a book. True. Which is why I plan to read the book(s)after the series. (Q.)What are some of the factors that you consider before making a decisiion to accept a script? Rupert Graves: I try to find a connection. If you can't make a connection, it's not worth doing. That's a new answer. Sounds plausible. Usually, the answer is the old story about the fabulous \"director\". (RG)\"I hated it that I had to look for bad characteristics of him when I thought him to be a decent man who found himself with a wrong woman. I absolutely disliked Irene, but had to call her sensitive, fragile, not willing to compromise her feelings.\" Tell 'em Rupe ;-)"}, {"response": 105, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Fri, Oct 11, 2002 (14:14)", "body": "(Qustioner) I hated it that I had to look for bad characteristics of him... New equation: Russian Blind Man/Woman + TFS book= Person Who Cannot See Blatant-Examples-Of-Bad-Characteristics-On-Many-Pages in my essays. In order to pass a class, we had to follow what a certain school of thought, (Moon)My son has the same problem in his English class. :-( I guess this person was in school in Russia, but my kids, too, had this happen and I still remember how I disliked it myself, especially with poetry - the interpretation was usually pre-determined. There's not enough room for creativity and individualism. (such as we have here LOL). (RG)\"I hated it that I had to look for bad characteristics of him when I thought him to be a decent man who found himself with a wrong woman. I absolutely disliked Irene, but had to call her sensitive, fragile, not willing to compromise her feelings.\" (Evelyn)Tell 'em Rupe ;-) It may not be clear because of the way it is on the page, but RG didn't say that. It was the \" I am Russian living in the US\" questioner who said it. Washington, DC: How long did it take to film the series, and is there a sequel? Rupert Graves: We're starting next week on a sequel. It took six months to do the first series, and it'll take from September to Christmas to do the second. (Moon) Is he joking? A sequel? No. They are filming now. This series is approximately the firs t book and a half of three books (plus short stories) and the next one will finish the story. It's going to be a long time to wait :-( (RG) Usually, it is always a disappointment to see how a movie is a far cry from a book. True. Which is why I plan to read the book(s)after the series. I agree it is often a disappointment, but I don't think that is so much the case here - at least not what I have seen so far. I am now into the second book and IMO the casting is very good and they are following the story nicely. (Karen) Maybe you could get Rupert to join us here? ;-) Wouldn't that be fun??!!"}, {"response": 106, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (02:42)", "body": "Shooting star Watching Damian Lewis leading the men of Easy Company to victory in Spielberg's WWII epic Band of Brothers, you'd never guess he went to Eton and attended drama school with Ewan MacGregor. Now, though, he is returning to more familiar territory as the iconic Soames in The Forsyte Saga Jay Rayner Sunday March 10, 2002 The Observer The middle-aged Italian waitress clearly does not recognise the actor she is shouting at or, if she does, she has had enough experience at being a sour-faced waitress not to show it. This is the second time she has asked Damian Lewis to choose what he wants for lunch and it is the second time he has asked for a few more minutes. 'Look,' she says, with a fearsome shrug, arms spread wide. 'We are busy. You don't order now, then the kitchen, it become busy. You wait too long for your food. You get cross.' There is a convincing logic here: the small, smokey cafe in London's St James's is indeed already crammed with people. I assume Lewis will cave in immediately and just pick something at random, because it is exactly what I want to do. This woman scares me. But then Lewis has a head start on me. He knows how to play a man dealing calmly with fear. In Band of Brothers , the TV war extravaganza produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, he played an American soldier constantly facing up to fear with a quiet certainty. As if slipping into character, he raises his hands in a sign of mock surrender and, keeping his voice low, his eyes fixed on hers, says simply, 'It's not a problem. Just give us another minute and we'll be right with you.' She retreats and he breaks into a broad grin. 'Wasn't that great?' He spreads his arms wide, shoulders up, in tribute to our waitress. 'Looooook!!!' he says, with just the hint of an Italian accent. 'You want to eat? You order now !' It is a moment Damian Lewis may eventually come to savour. He was being treated like an ordinary person and that is likely to become a less than ordinary experience in the coming months. Sure, he's already had the big parts. He's played leads in BBC dramas such as Warriors and Hearts and Bones. The Band of Brothers role was immensely important for his career, a sudden bump up into the American TV big league. But the attention he received for it in this country - where it was scheduled in a sleepy backwater slot on BBC2 - will be as nothing compared to the intense scrutiny he will receive when ITV begins screening its glossy remake of Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, in which he stars as Soames Forsyte, the role made famous in the 1960s by Eric Porter. And then there's the lead in a new movie adaptation of a Stephen King novel, directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Sitting here in this low-rent Italian cafe, being barracked by the staff, Lewis is that curious creature: a very successful actor on the verge of becoming a ver major star. No matter. He says he knows what fame means and he thinks he can handle it. The key, he says, is to carry on doing good work; to follow each good performance with another one. Simple as that. 'There are ways of avoiding becoming tabloid fodder and therefore giving people license to pry into your private life,' he says. 'And there's a distinction between being an actor and being a celebrity. You may become a celebrity through acting, but you don't need to do so. For example you don't need to appear in Hello! or OK! magazines, both of which have asked me to do it. I mean, what must it feel like to be Brad Pitt with all that interest in you?' I suggest it's inevitable that people will pour over every detail of your life once you start appearing in huge, multi-million dollar films. He shakes his head. 'But Harrison Ford has managed to avoid it. It's a lifestyle choice.' In this simple declaration of intent, the young actor on the way up has told us exactly where he is right now. His terms of reference are the c reers of Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford. For some reason it doesn't seem unreasonable, this casual way with the roll call of Hollywood celebrity. He may not yet be turning heads whereever he goes, but he already looks the part. Lewis has a certain physical assuredness to him, a curious glow which isn't simply down to the brilliant copper flame of his red hair which, in any case, one could easily assume would actually be a bar to on-screen success. There are very few red-headed male leads. It's one of those stigmatised characteristics, a colouring so sharp and vivid that it's seen more often as a negative by casting directors, rather than a plus. Clearly that has not been a problem for Damian Lewis. Earlier, striding into the hotel foyer for our meeting, or assuming poses for the photographs, he looked like a man who understood instinctively why people should wish to look at him, why they should be at all interested. Only once have his looks been criticised, he says. 'A cricket ball broke my nose when I was a kid so I couldn't breath through it. Before I had it operated on I used to stand on stag"}, {"response": 107, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (02:55)", "body": "Cute, his comment about Gosford Park. I wonder what part he would have played. (Like the Camus quote, too.) Rupert bared Rupert Graves found fame portraying public schoolboys - and in The Forsyte Saga he plays a bohemian toff. But Emma Brockes discovers a very different man behind the screen image Monday April 22, 2002 The Guardian Bleary and unshaven, Rupert Graves drags himself to a hotel on the banks of the Thames. It is end-of-the-world weather and his mood suits it. Last night, he partied till three in the morning and the over-lit hotel room aggravates his hangover. Jangling with brittle energy, he presents himself mockingly, contemptuous of the need to look pretty and talk nice for the journalist. \"Look,\" he says, with a sarcastic leer, \"a hole in my jumper.\" Graves' routine this morning is a response to his image as a soft, mannered public schoolboy. He is often confused with Rupert Everett, who lives more plausibly up to the first name by being posh and slightly neurotic-looking, like a rare breed of hound. Graves can look rarefied too - he has played enough floppy-fringed toffs to provoke the occasional \"I think my brother was at Ampleforth with you\" encounter, but in reality, he attended Wyvern comprehensive in Weston-super-Mare; his dad is a teacher, his mother a housewife, and his brother a lorry driver. Still, there is something about his baleful brown eyes that people insist looks privileged. Graves says: \"I think they mean girly,\" and slumps dejectedly into a chair. The actor lives modestly in north London with his girlfriend, Yvonne, a mature student, and only does interviews because he has to. \"It's just very dull,\" he sighs. \"Talking about yourself and about something that you've got less interest in than you had, because you've always moved on to something else. But you have a contractual obligation.\" Today's contractual obligation is to ITV1, in whose remake of the 1967 drama series The Forsyte Saga he is appearing on Sunday nights. With polite enthusiasm, he talks up the production. \"It's a saga of a family, the intricacies of a family tree that are woven into one big, old story. I read the first book and I thought, 'Oh Christ, it's so pompous.' And then you realise that he's being ironic. It's beautifully written. It's worth telling again.\" His eyes begin to bend out of focus. Graves became famous when he was 22 and played Freddy Honeychurch, Helena Bonham Carter's brother in Merchant Ivory's A Room with a View. His co-stars were Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Daniel Day-Lewis. It was his first film and the one he is remembered for, by girls at least, because of a tennis scene in which he flopped exquisitely about in white flannels on a perfect summer evening. That was 16 years ago - he is 37 now, incredibly - but when I mention to friends that I am meeting Rupert Graves, they gasp and say immediately, \"Freddy!\" Graves went from unknown stage actor to the boy girls screamed at in the street. \"I expected it,\" he says. \"It was the first film role I did and everything I'd read about people who appeared in films indicated that this is what happened. I suppose, in my innocence, I would have been gutted if it hadn't. I thought, you make a film, then people come and scream at you.\" Viewers assumed that Graves shared Freddy's background - he looked at ease on the terrace. But at the time of filming, he had a strong west country accent and had to dub poshly over a lot of mispronounced lines. He spent the shoot in a state of almost constant mortification. \"My first scene was with Denholm Elliott and Simon Callow. I just kept my back to camera because I was so embarrassed. I was red and ashamed of myself. I thought, 'What am I doing here?'\" Were they kind to him? \"Yes, very. If you get a young bag of bones turning up and floundering around, you'd have to be a bit of a bastard to pick on him.\" After A Room with a View came out, Graves was offered copious public schoolboy roles and literary adaptations. He appeared in the EM Forster biopic, Maurice; The Madness of King George; and Mrs Dalloway. I was surprised, I say, not to see him in Gosford Park. \"Yeah,\" he says. \"I was too. I kept expecting myself to pop out. I was asked to go and audition, but I couldn't because I was doing The Forsyte Saga.\" His name almost certainly contributed to his typecasting. People assumed that he was related to the writer Robert Graves and the Rupert bit didn't help either. As a child, he hated it. \"My mum called me it because there was a man called Billy Wright who used to be England captain and apparently he knew someone called Rupert who used to kick a ball against my grandad's house in Shropshire years ago. She thought he was a bit dangerous, a bit racy. I'm named after him. I always liked the name Michael, but I never got round to doing anything about it.\" He isn't ambitious but he always wanted to act. His teachers thought he was arrogant, a fact he still finds strange as he remembers himself as an anxious child. "}, {"response": 108, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (10:20)", "body": "( DL) When he was 16, Lewis formed his own theatre company and put on a production of Nicholas Nickelby Impressive for a 16 yr old or anyone . Thanks Suzee. When you're sleuthing around,pl see if you can find some UK reviews of Forsyte."}, {"response": 109, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (12:14)", "body": "(Note: the use of \"dad\" or \"daddy\" is in the book so it's hard to fault the show for that) Top of the Fops TV review Gareth McLean Monday April 8, 2002 The Guardian Prim widows, cheeky urchins, grizzly patriarchs, porcelain heroines and purse-lipped men of property - The Forsyte Saga (ITV1, Sunday) had them all in corseted and cosseted abundance. Needless to say, this being a period drama, there was also a governess who had mad staring eyes, an artist in a big straw hat, inappropriate waltzing and a piano-playing heroine (though obviously we only saw Irene and her hands in separate shots). But far from being a bog-standard tale from the time of buttoned-up women and repressed men, The Forsyte Saga had much to recommend it. For this new adaptation of John Galsworthy's books, we were also treated to Victorians who say \"Hello Dad.\" (I suppose it's Queen Vicky, is it?) In the main, Stephen Mallatratt's script was sharp and clever. While the plot cantered along, characters were skilfully hewn and adroitly played by the uniformly excellent cast, and the notion of possession, financial and otherwise, was writ large but subtly. \"Will you do me the honour of becoming mine?\" asked Soames of Irene, to which she replied, \"I will marry you, Mr Forsyte.\" Thus, the occasional stumble into parody was forgivable. Moments of overheard chit-chat were straight out of French and Saunders, while street scenes also had a distinct flavour of the House of Idiot. Regardless, Damian Lewis was a suitably reptilian Soames, Gina McKee was luminous and tortured as Irene, Rupert Graves, a cracking actor who knows when less is more, played Young Jolyon, and Gillian Kearney shone as a blooming June. Yet the most remarkable thing about The Forsyte Saga was that it wasn't very beautiful. While the sum of its parts was great - bar the clumsy direction - the whole wasn't as luscious or as rich as I had expected. In fact, an awful lot of it looked decidedly pedestrian. It would be easy to dismiss The Forsyte Saga as \"just\" a soap opera with the emphasis on plot, but you could argue the same of The Way We Live Now. An epic story, it managed to look epic too. The Forsyte Saga, alas, did not. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv_and_radio/story/0,3604,680544,00.html"}, {"response": 110, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (14:38)", "body": "Beward of possible minor spoilers in the UK reviews. According to the UK articles, what we are seeing now is the first 2 books - not 1 1/2 as I said before. . http://www.sourceuk.net/ The Forsyte Saga - a Review John Rimington Sita Williams\ufffd Forsyte Saga promises well - as a kind of educated supersoap. It is fastidiously costumed and ravishingly set. There are new and interesting faces in the cast, and already we have a quite brilliant performance, as Young Jolyon\ufffds first wife, the half-Austrian Helene. Above all, Damien Lewis\ufffds Soames is highly watchable, though far removed from the universally English figure imagined by Galsworthy and played as a singleton \"outsider\", a potential rapist in fancy dress. There is a great deal missing from this pretty play, beginning with a misinterpretation and under-estimation of the novel itself, which Williams claims \"is about property, ownership, money. All the things we\ufffdre interested in now\", and which The Times reviewer dismisses as \"a tale of the loves, lusts and dynastic ambitions of a Victorian merchant family\". What above all is missing, both from the play and from these two summaries, is precisely what our own age lacks - the original book\ufffds impeccable sense of historical perspective, and a grasp of its great and particular theme - love. The Man of Property - a unique, nearly great, novel, attempts the impossible - to describe and analyse love in all its forms and in all its gravity. Specifically, \"the instincts of self-forgetfulness, of passion, and of love, hiding under the trees, away from the trustees of their remorseless enemy, the \ufffdsense of property\ufffd\". Its flaw perhaps is the character of Irene, the ultimate love-object but neither Christian nor Greek. Soames Forsyte is the universal figure at the book\ufffds heart, incapable of sacrificing himself to the love he actually feels, or of interpreting it to himself as other than a species of possession. In the end, after throwing away the house that represents this conflict, and breeding a daughter he also loves but cannot control, he sacrifices his life for the one thing he can both love and have - his beautiful pictures. Young Jolyon, his cousin and rival, as tenacious, calculating and perseptive as Soames himself, can and does sacrifice himself to love, while fully recognising that \"it is dangerous to let anything carry you away - a house or a woman\" Will the series recognise anything of this? It seems doubtful. It has already muffed the significance of the elder generation, who are seen as fairly conventional old buffers with a champagne lifestyle, equipped with a chorus of Coronation Street deluxe sisters. It is Old Jolyon and James who, while fully representative of the Forsytism the book sets out to describe, reflect the two opposed principles of love and property in undiluted form, and Old Jolyon who comes nearest to reconciling them. For James, the possession of property is to live in a well protected state of terror, with Pan and Attila lurking in the shape of a dissolute son-in-law, an unfaithful daughter-in-law and - to shake hell\ufffds foundations,- unreliable Boers gnawing at the price of Consols. For Old Jolyon, property is simply the price of what is truly desirable in life;- love, serenity, order, succession and benignity. His death in a July afternoon is one of the most touching scenes in English literature, releasing all the madness that fol ows. But Jolyon and James themselves are in hieratic succession to an order represented by their elder sister Ann, born in the Eighteenth Century, embodying a time seen in Forsytian lore as starker, more enduring and more productive than their own, a time when you could get ten percent for your money, and which did not reflect on \"the inexorable nature of sex antipathies\" because there were better things to do. Anne\ufffds judgement on the reckless, over-sensitive Bosinney \"He is a good looking young fellow, but I doubt if he\ufffds quite the right lover for dear June\" is passed off as a casual obiter dictum that might be expected of someone stuck in a bygone era, but not as it was - the considered and corporate, but gentle, rejection by a confident generation of something manifestly alien to its spirit. For if there is one dimension that the production entirely misses it is the historical. \"History\" is seen as a cosmetically different re-wind of the modern spirit. If it wasn\ufffdt, it wouldn\ufffdt sell. Or, as Galsworthy ironically put it, Forsytian style, \"Rubbish that sells is not rubbish, but is worth what it will fetch\". Galsworthy saw the Forsytes as archetypically English, and their dynastic development as a microcosm of English history in real time. He, less than anyone, would have been surprised at the callow representation of his great idea by the present generation, for he knew that that is what Forsytism and the death of Old Jolyon leads to. Indeed, he might have been mildly surprised that it has taken so long for the dissolution of the vital spirit of Englishness to re"}, {"response": 111, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (14:45)", "body": "http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/23/nsaga23.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=99411 (Glad they dicided to go ahead with the second part) Spoiler marked below: ITV shortens 'highbrow' Forsyte Saga By Chris Hastings and Charlotte Edwardes (Filed: 23/09/2001) ITV has scrapped plans to film a complete version of the The Forsyte Saga fearing that the programme could prove too highbrow for viewers. Despite the fact that the BBC made one of the most celebrated British drama series ever screened when it based a series on the John Galsworthy books in 1967, ITV is concerned that modern audiences might not be gripped by the sprawling drama of the Forsyte family between 1879 and 1926. The commercial channel, which originally announced that it was to spend \ufffd14 million on an adaptation of the nine-volume story, will now film only six episodes, which will cover the first two books. The programme makers will then wait to judge audience reaction before committing themselves to any further episodes. ITV announced plans for a new adaptation in August 2000. It did not say it was a partial adaptation. At the time, Simon Lewis, the controller of drama, said: \"These novels are as relevant and entertaining as when they were first adapted in the 1960s. We are convinced the combination of sex, power and money will again make great drama.\" The adaptation will compound fears that ITV has abandoned its commitment to quality drama in the face of pressure from advertisers to come up with undemanding popular entertainment. The show is being produced by Granada, the Manchester company that won international acclaim in the early 1980s for its adaptations of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Scott's four novels, which were filmed as The Jewel In The Crown, were adapted in their entirety. The plan to film only the first two books has infuriated the family of John Galsworthy, who only learnt of the changes last week. They are worried that the new version, which stars Corin Redgrave, Gina McKee and Damian Lewis, will not compare well with the BBC version. In 1967, the cast list included Kenneth More, Michael York and Nyree Dawn Porter. The series gave Susan Hampshire her first big role. Jocelyn Galsworthy, the author's great-niece said: \"It seems very strange that they now won't make the complete series. \"I think it shows an overall lack of confidence in the project. They have got the BBC adaptation hanging over their heads and I think they know they can't compete with it.\" Miss Goldsworthy has been in contact with the producers to express concern about the way characters in the novels will be treated.\"It's only a gut feeling but I don't think the new version will work,\" she said. \"I think there will be a tendency to make it raunchier and with lots of sex, and I think that will prove fatal.\" ************************spoiler below******************************* ** ** ** Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, who is Galsworthy's literary agent, told The Telegraph: \"I am also worried how the producers will treat some of the characters in the novels. The rape of Irene Forsyte is a crucial part of the story and was brilliantly handled by the BBC. In the original it was touched on very slightly and very delicately. I just have a feeling it won't be like that this time around.\" *************************End Spoiler************************************** ** ** ** ** A spokesman for Granada defended the decision to wait and see how the audience reacted to the first instalment. \"It is the way things are done today,\" she said. Zita Williams, who is the producing the current adaptation, said: \"I am sure the programme will prove popular with viewers. There is a feeling that the audience is ready for something different. This show will provide that. The books and the original BBC adaptation are like national treasures but I think people are genuinely delighted we are pushing ahead with this.\" Comparisons with the original black-and-white BBC version will be hard to avoid. The 26-part series attracted six million viewers for its first showing on BBC2; the second, on BBC1, attracted up to 18 million viewers. The adaptation also drew a global audience of more than 160 million. Hampshire, who played Fleur in the original BBC adaptation, told The Telegraph: \"ITV, probably quite rightly, think the first few books are more powerful and easier to adapt, but having said that, the BBC decided to do the entire series and they had a tremendous success with it. \"Everyone who had a speaking role had a major role. As a result they were very committed to the project and that was part of the reason for its success. My character will not even appear in this version.\" \ufffd Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002. Terms & Conditions of reading. --------------------"}, {"response": 112, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (14:59)", "body": "http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/03/18/btvfors18.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=100808 Spoiler marked below: Play it again, Soames (Filed: 17/03/2002) In the Sixties, publicans and vicars shut up shop as 'The Forsyte Saga' held television viewers spellbound on Sunday evenings. Now John Galsworthy's classic novel has been adapted for TV once more. Robert Dawson-Scott reports from the set. The scene: Tabley Hall, near Knutsford in Cheshire; a gracious Victorian drawing-room. Wintry sun trickles through high west-facing windows on to a grand piano at which sits a very pretty girl in a long cream dress. A table covered in white damask is laden with an extravagant buffet. In between stand two elderly women in black lace and shawls, and a younger woman with her husband. A fresh-faced youth in a dove-grey suit and a 10-kilowatt smile waits nervously. Outside the charmed, brightly lit circle is the usual wagon train of television production; two cameras, monitors, dollies, booms, mikes, cables, lights and the worker bees of hairdressers, set-dressers, make-up and wardrobe. Enter the guest they have obviously all been waiting for: a tall, elegant figure in a black frock coat, his short red hair brilliantined to his head, his high collar gleaming with starch. It is the visitor's 45th birthday party, and it is a surprise. It is also quite a surprise to see how well Damian Lewis, last seen in combat fatigues and camouflage as Captain Winters in Band of Brothers, Steven Spielberg's Second World War epic, scrubs up into an eminent Victorian. Registering far higher on the Richter scale of surprises, though, is the identity of the arriving guest who Lewis plays. It is none other than Soames Forsyte, a character whose name summons up everything that was, is, and will be The Forsyte Saga. Yes, it's true. The Forsyte Saga is back. Granada has been filming a new adaptation of the series in locations all over the north of England, over the past year. It changed the face of British television in the Sixties. To see another set of features in the role - and one so different from the late Eric Porter, who played the cold and ruthless solicitor Soames in the BBC's version - is quite a shock. For ITV, which has spent \ufffd6.5 million on it, the hope is that the mixture of something familiar with a fresh adaptation and a new generation of actors will give them a big upmarket ratings win against the BBC. \"I have to fight very hard to make the point that this is not an adaptation of the BBC's Forsyte Saga,\" says producer Sita Williams. \"People see it as a television drama as opposed to a great series of novels. I just hope that after the first five minutes, the audience will forget about the earlier version.\" Williams knows, however, that she is setting herself an exacting test. You can argue all you like about how the story, with its dysfunctional, multi-generational family, its twists and turns of fate, its star-crossed lovers, its obsession with possessions and status, is a story as much of our times now as any other. But ask anyone much over 45, and in an instant the talk is suddenly of \"Oh my Soames, my Irene, long ago\". John Galsworthy's sprawling trilogy which follows this grand London middle-class family through half a century of trials and tribulations was part of a literary output respected enough to win him the Nobel prize in 1932. But what stitched it into the popular imagination was bringing it to the small screen. Every Sunday evening from January to July, 1967, The Forsyte Saga had people on the edge of their seats, its 26 episodes quite unlike anything that had ever been seen before. In the first place, the series was simply much longer than any before, challenging all sorts of received wisdom about what was possible in TV production. It was also exceptionally strongly cast - with Kenneth More, one of Britain's best-known film stars, taking the central role of young Jolyon Forsyte, and Fay Compton and Porter taking leading roles. It also made watching television respectable. Never mind it had all the elements of a good soap - the familiar cast of characters, the cliff-hanger at the end of each episode, the shocking plot twists - here was a book straight out of the canon of English literature. It was not the first literary adaptation but it was so detailed, so lavishly costumed and set (the budget was \ufffd250,000, an eye-watering sum at the time), that the viewers who still shied away from shows such as Coronation Street felt comfortable watching it. So deeply did it enter the public consciousness that it was featured not once but twice in that bellwether of British culture, the Giles cartoon in the Sunday Express.It was in part deliberately commission ed to do just that, a way of getting audiences to tune into Britain's third television channel, the fledgling BBC2. Six million people - three-quarters of those who could receive it - saw that first run. There are stories of church service times being "}, {"response": 113, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (15:49)", "body": "My character[Fleur] will not even appear in this version.\" I wondered why she wasn't listed in the cast on imdb. Thank you Suzee. The UK reviews give more background and peripheral comments than the US."}, {"response": 114, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 12, 2002 (16:17)", "body": "I happened upon this new site for the young man who will be playing Val Dartie -Julian Ovenden. He will be in #5 and #6. http://www.curtaincall.co.uk/julianovenden/news.html"}, {"response": 115, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Sun, Oct 13, 2002 (21:20)", "body": "Still not 100% caught up from last week, but on track now. I was all set for two hours tonight, but after the end of one I found myself in front of that whining Gordon Clune (Frontier House) again...gah! Anyway, I'm rapidly coming to dislike Irene, especially after what she did to June. The actress is certainly talented, but I'm stuck seeing the character as a cold fish, even after tonight. She seemed to be on some kind of weird emotional high when she was happy, although that might seem more extreme held up against the flat affect she's displaying the rest of the time. In light of this, I'd almost consider her acceptance of Soames' proposal impulsive! It didn't help that she was dressed after the manner of Madame X in the Sargent portrait in the middle of an otherwise restrained ballroom. I saw her act of ablution in the previous chapter as done in passive-aggressive rejection. Not that I feel that much sympathy for Soames, either; he's going to need something earthshattering to make him see that his way isn't the only way. It's been awhile since I read the book, but I seem to recall old Jolyon being much more of a force in the family than he's coming across in this production. I'm a big Wright fan; I wanted to steal that house, although the interior was reinterpreted for the needs of the story. The facade is a very close copy of one of his more famous residences; I can go to the books and find it if anyone's curious."}, {"response": 116, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Oct 13, 2002 (22:28)", "body": "Was that how it was supposed to be? Bossinay was the English Frank Lloyd Wright? Jeez Louise! When I saw the plans last week, I was taken aback and then this week, the actual house and its interiors. There is that Scot (Rennie???) who was Arts & Crafts, but he did furnishings (I thought) and was not an architect. Sorry, but it seemed so odd to see the house in the English countryside. A \"Prairie\" home, which is supposed to blend into the landscape???? (Elizabeth) It didn't help that she was dressed after the manner of Madame X in the Sargent portrait in the middle of an otherwise restrained ballroom. Exactly! Or her Jezebel dress. Could anything be more obvious? Was chuckling when Monty told the aunts that \"she'd been plucked\" and one didn't understand his slang. Seems that phrase even Elizabeth (first) used in SIL. ;-)"}, {"response": 117, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (00:11)", "body": "(Elizabeth S) Anyway, I'm rapidly coming to dislike Irene, especially after what she did to June. Agreed. I already disliked her after last week, but this week it just got worse. Irene is utterly self-absorbed. Not that Soames is much of a human being either - but I was on his side about the breach of contract. He kept warning Bosinney about the cost overruns, and Bosinney kept willfully ignoring him. And is it just me, or is Gruffudd a really bad screen kisser?"}, {"response": 118, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (00:49)", "body": "(Elizabeth)It's been awhile since I read the book, but I seem to recall old Jolyon being much more of a force in the family than he's coming across in this production. OJ had more money than any of the others and that was the one thing they all knew how to respect - at least until he committed the 'unpardonable sin' of forgiving his son. I love Redgrave's performance -- I think OJ as he plays him is wonderful."}, {"response": 119, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (01:37)", "body": "(Karen)There is that Scot (Rennie???) who was Arts & Crafts... Charles Rennie McIntosh, did both, but rigorous angularity isn't the hallmark of his style as it is of Wright's. A quick search through my big book o'Wright produced several candidate houses, all in Oak Park or environs and pre-Taliesin (the first). Maybe they were looking for an unusual style and a scandalous life? Wright abandoned his first wife to run away with the woman who later became his second; it was all over the papers in its day and nearly destroyed his career. (Rika)And is it just me, or is Gruffudd a really bad screen kisser? Well, it darn sure ain't me. ;) He's got that boyish enthusiasm down pat, and his part was played much better in this installment, IMO. I noticed lots of fine lines in Irene's face in the closeups here that made her look even more prim and cold than in the last round."}, {"response": 120, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (02:17)", "body": "(Elizabeth) It didn't help that she was dressed after the manner of Madame X in the Sargent portrait in the middle of an otherwise restrained ballroom. (Karen)Exactly! Or her Jezebel dress. Could anything be more obvious? Obvious - over the top, but I enjoyed that dance. I kept comparing her smile with the restrained (constipated) one she had during that first dance with Soames last week. And all the shots of the folks on the sidelines, whispering and rolling their eyes once again. LOL (Rika)And is it just me, or is Gruffudd a really bad screen kisser? I like him well enough as Bossiney, but if you want kissing lessons, go back to the first episode and watch Young Jo and the great, long, multifaceted kiss he gives Helene. It's a work of art. :)) (Rika)Not that Soames is much of a human being either - but I was on his side about the breach of contract. He kept warning Bosinney about the cost overruns, and Bosinney kept willfully ignoring him Not much of a human being is a real understatement. When a man starts grabbing and threatening to beat a woman, it is waaaay past time to get as far away from him as possible. About Bosinney,Soames kept agreeing to the extra costs and insisting Bosinney stay on longer even when he wanted to leave (at least once he sincerely intended to leave. Other times seemed just angry threats). Both were at fault maybe, but the amount of money was insignificant to Soames and all along it was about 'control'for him. But the lawsuit really had nothing to do with money or the house. He had just figured out that something was going on between Bosinney and Irene - *that's* what the suit was all about. (Rika)And is it just me, or is Gruffudd a really bad screen kisser? I like him well enough as Bossiney. I'll have to see his kisses again, but if you want kissing lessons, go back to the first episode and watch Young Jo and the great,long,multifaceted kiss he gives Helene. It's a work of art. :)) We talked earlier about the missing first years of Soames and Irene's marriage. I found one paragraph in the book where Soames is thinking about Irene and thinks 'she tried to love him (meaning himself) but she could not.' So my impression is that she may have made some effort, however small. He simply cannot understand why she doesn't love him. He is such a complete emotional cripple in every way - it is beyond his deductive ability to understand and completely beyond his ability to change even if it would help his situation. I could *almost* have some sympathy for him because he is so lacking in human qualities (operative word: almost)."}, {"response": 121, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (02:19)", "body": "Sorry about the repeats - it is very, very late.:0("}, {"response": 122, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (03:32)", "body": "I hope this isn't a repeat - info pages at TV Tome (UK). The blurb at the top of the page has huge spoilers in it, but if you scroll down, there is a cast list with links to info about individual cast members. http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-7197/"}, {"response": 123, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (07:56)", "body": "but I enjoyed that dance. I kept comparing her smile with the restrained (constipated) one she had during that first dance with Soames last week. And all the shots of the folks on the sidelines, whispering and rolling their eyes once again. LOL I only got a tiny snippet of this with the narration in the beginning. Did I miss something? Same with the house interiors. (Rika)And is it just me, or is Gruffudd a really bad screen kisser? (suzee), I like him well enough as Bossiney. I'll have to see his kisses again, but if you want kissing lessons, go back to the first episode and watch Young Jo and the great,long,multifaceted kiss he gives Helene. It's a work of art. :)) LOL!"}, {"response": 124, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (09:16)", "body": "(Rika) but I was on his side about the breach of contract. LOL! Reminded me of when I had a lawyer reviewing a contract with a building remodeler. He said these contracts are virtually worthless and it goes way back historically. However, this had to do with the subjective elements like completion, quality, satisfaction, etc., and not costs. (Elizabeth) Maybe they were looking for an unusual style and a scandalous life? True about FLW's personal and professional notoriety, but I guess I'm most curious as to whether Galsworthy modeled him after FLW or was Bossiney merely \"an architect\" with no description given of his style or work techniques. Wright had total control over the interiors as well. (Perhaps, I should bring Bill over here. He would know which house.) (Suzee) He simply cannot understand why she doesn't love him. It was truly pitiful when he seemed to be begging Irene in the carriage to find out what he could do or change about himself so that she would love him. Yes, pitiful, but I still have no sympathy for him. ;-)"}, {"response": 125, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (10:13)", "body": "(Elizabeth S) I'm stuck seeing the character as a cold fish I've been having another vision of Irene, it hit me last night, the pinched lips with just the hint of teeth, I saw a hamster. Can't get the thought out of my head. (Karen) Bossinay was the English Frank Lloyd Wright? (Elizabeth S) Charles Rennie McIntosh, did both, but rigorous angularity isn't the hallmark of his style as it is of Wright's. Funny, I know very little about architecture though I have certainly heard of FLW and have seen examples of his work but the minute I saw the house (in its finished condition, I missed the first 15 minutes or so of the show so any work-in-progress drawings, construction, etc, I missed) I thought of Wright. Even if it's not the intention to model Wright, what it tells me about Bosinney is sufficient - noncomformist, nontraditional, artistic, a visionary with the ego to pull it off. How interesting to find there may be parallels with his life and am also curious to know if this is from the book? Nice touch to the production if not."}, {"response": 126, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (10:41)", "body": "Right now, about the only character I feel sorry for is June. Poor June. She didn't deserve to have Bossiney's attraction for Irene thrown up in her face in such a public venue. And the way he slowly but surely was dumping her??? Be a man about it, will you? How about Soames' mother, when she had her heart to heart with Irene? OK, now we know how she felt about being a wife, but I didn't get the impression that Soames would've known the details. At least, she made the best of the situation and played the wife and mother. A daughter may have been told, but not a son."}, {"response": 127, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (11:14)", "body": "Poor June. How I ached for her - \"No! Don't go to the ball\" I actually almost cried out. Even her choice of clothes gave me pain. As I said, I missed the first 15 minutes or so, so if the character was developed in such a manner perhaps I read more into it than was there, but I thought her choice of gown and accessories for the ball were very sophisticated and femme fatale...if you know what I mean. Made me think of a young girl playing dress up, trying too hard to appear grown up. And then to watch her eyes fill with tears when she saw them....heart-breaking. But then, Gran takes her to Paris, she returns home laden with packages and seems right as rain. I'm anxious to see if this is a brave girl putting a good face on things or an immature, shallow little girl whose heart really was not touched."}, {"response": 128, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (12:19)", "body": "(Barb) I'm anxious to see if this is a brave girl putting a good face on things or an immature, shallow little girl whose heart really was not touched. Right now, I'd say the former, but who knows with this story. ;-) June does seem far older than her years. In her role as Irene's confidante, she seems fairly knowledgeable about marital relations for a 17 year old and her advice (to leave him) is surprising for one whose own father's deserted her."}, {"response": 129, "author": "ceirdre", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (12:27)", "body": "(Karen) I'm most curious as to whether Galsworthy modelled him after FLW. There is at least no direct evidence in the book to support this view. Anyway, the book does not say much about Bosinney\ufffds background. The Forsytes refer to him as the \ufffdbuccaneer\ufffd and someone outside their own class. His relationship to June is a mystery and I still do not know the reasons he ended up engaged to her at all. But the impression I got of Bosinney is of a man who knows his own mind and can stand for it. About Soames\ufffd motive for choosing Bosinney as his architect: \ufffdThe house must be in good style, something that would always be certain to command a price, something unique \ufffd no common edifice. And a common architect was no good \ufffd.This was why he had thought of Bosinney \ufffd... he had made inquiries the result of which had been meagre, but encouraging: One of the new school.\ufffd(As FLW?) \ufffdHe had not been able to discover what houses Bosinney had built, nor what his charges were. The impression he gathered was that he would be able to make his own terms\ufffd\ufffd In addition. \ufffdit would be keeping the thing in the family.\ufffd"}, {"response": 130, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (12:30)", "body": "(BarbS) I've been having another vision of Irene, it hit me last night, the pinched lips with just the hint of teeth, I saw a hamster. LOL! Yes, very like a hamster or perhaps a weasel. She also has beady, glittery little eyes. And when she is filmed from the side, it's even worse. Way too skinny. The term \"hatchet-faced\" keeps coming to mind. Not at all someone who would inspire so much admiration in so many men, IMO. I just finished catching up with TFS last night, so forgive me if I've repeated anything that's already been said. Haven't had time to read all of the posts so far, and didn't want to do so earlier for fear of spoilers."}, {"response": 131, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (12:39)", "body": "(Karen) A \"Prairie\" home, which is supposed to blend into the landscape??? (Suzee)pre-Taliesin (the first). Interestingly, I've been watching Ken Burns' FLW two-parter. The house looks like the one he built in Montana.Second part tonight on PBS. (Rika)And is it just me, or is Gruffudd a really bad screen kisser? (suzee), I like him well enough as Bossiney. I'll have to see his kisses again, but if you want kissing lessons, go back to the first episode and watch Young Jo and the great,long,multifaceted kiss he gives Helene. It's a work of art. :)) Hey, you want a work of art...look at Stephen Dillane as the master and Sophie Marceau as the governess in \"Firelight\". Makes Young Jo look like a teenager. Gruffudd needs kissing lessons from Jeremy Northam. I'm missing the big passion between Irene and Bossiney.No chemistry, IMO. Still think Irene was miscast. DL puts in some acting. How about the dinner scene in the dining room.What acting...you could feel the tension.I though last night's episode was the best. Gorgeous costumes and cinematography. I smell a BAFTA and Emmy. Poor June. Only likeable character in the lot."}, {"response": 132, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (12:40)", "body": "(Karen) I'm most curious as to whether Galsworthy modelled him after FLW. When you copy and paste, there's no need to change spelling, Ceidre. In fact, I wondered if I had actually written that, since I would never have doubled the L in modeled. It is not the preferred American style. ;-) Thank you for the additional details about Bossiney from the book. Soames does think he would be better able to control him because of his lack of experience and reputation. Proceeding with a home that is clearly not of the classical style preferred by architects of that period shows me he is doing it for Irene. Soames' taste in art (pre-Irene) was not for modern or anything that bucked up against traditional representations."}, {"response": 133, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (12:47)", "body": "(suzee) Both were at fault maybe, but the amount of money was insignificant to Soames and all along it was about 'control'for him. I think to some extent it was about control for Bosinney too. Each overage was presented to Soames as a fait accompli, never proposed in advance. So it was a way for Bosinney to ensure his own legacy AND have the fun of being a bit of a thorn in Soames' side without Soames being able to do too much about it. Until..... But the lawsuit really had nothing to do with money or the house. He had just figured out that something was going on between Bosinney and Irene - *that's* what the suit was all about. I know that. But what's interesting about the decorating budget was that if I remember correctly, Bosinney was the one who said, \"Will you put that in writing??\" So it was his own fault that Soames had a piece of paper specifying the agreed-upon budget this time. Bosinney was a fool not to adhere to the letter of that contract, given that he and Irene hadn't exactly been discreet. (Suzee) if you want kissing lessons, go back to the first episode and watch Young Jo and the great,long,multifaceted kiss he gives Helene. It's a work of art. :)) Oh, yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about. (Karen) How about Soames' mother, when she had her heart to heart with Irene? OK, now we know how she felt about being a wife, but I didn't get the impression that Soames would've known the details. At least, she made the best of the situation and played the wife and mother. And tried to explain to Irene, based on personal experience, that there can be rewards to motherhood that might compensate for other deficiencies in one's life. But Irene was having none of it."}, {"response": 134, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (13:42)", "body": "Charles Rennie Mackintosh seems more likely (did you notice the art nouveau typeface used on Bosinney's office's nameplate?) but I took the tour at this site http://www.crmsociety.com/ and didn't see the horizontal lines FLW's works are noted for."}, {"response": 135, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (13:54)", "body": "(suzee) Both were at fault maybe, but the amount of money was insignificant to Soames and all along it was about 'control'for him. I thought he was benevolently giving the job to Bosinney. As he explained to Irene...\"keep it in the family\". Give the young couple a start. I'd be livid with a builder too who took it upon himself to spend my money without my permission.Never mind how much it was. T'is the principle. My heart went out to poor June when she sees Bosinney across the street in London and calls out to him...only to have him tip his hat to her and walk away. Why didn't he have the guts to tell her the truth.The cheek to walk into the ball with Irene on his arm. They're exhibitionists."}, {"response": 136, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (13:58)", "body": "Thanks for the Rennie website...but none of those houses look like Robbin Hill."}, {"response": 137, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (14:18)", "body": "How I ached for her - \"No! Don't go to the ball\" I actually almost cried out. Even her choice of clothes gave me pain. I thought her choice of gown and accessories for the ball were very sophisticated and femme fatale...if you know what I mean. Made me think of a young girl playing dress up, trying too hard to appear grown up. And then to watch her eyes fill with tears when she saw them....heart-breaking. June when she sees Bosinney across the street in London and calls out to him...only to have him tip his hat to her and walk away. then, Gran takes her to Paris, she returns home laden with packages and seems right as rain. This is very upsetting! Non of this I saw last night! I rewatched the video and nada. How could this be? I watched from the beginning. It seems I missed the best parts. Maybe they showed my area the next episode by mistake. I saw Irene's rape by Sloane, I saw her and Bosinney make love. I saw Bosinney get killed, what is going on? Did anyone see what I saw?"}, {"response": 138, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (14:43)", "body": "Moon, you're describing the episode we've yet to see...sounds like the preview I saw last night for the next episode...except what I knew/didn't really know was coming (regarding Bosinney.) My post above was what would have been, I suppose, episode 3 (assuming the first night on PBS was a double episode...)"}, {"response": 139, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (15:08)", "body": "(Karen) Right now, about the only character I feel sorry for is June. Poor June. She didn't deserve to have Bossiney's attraction for Irene thrown up in her face in such a public venue. And the way he slowly but surely was dumping her??? Be a man about it, will you? Totally agree. He isn't being much of a man. Felt particularly sorry for June in street scene after she'd been to his office and he just doffed his hat and didn't even speak to her. Not a man IMO. Don't care for him very much and also feel Irene is lacking in manners. There must be a way to do this without hurting other people so openly. Don't like her much either at this point. IMO her talk with Soames mother was very smart, letting her know there was no future with him and that she certainly did not intend to have children with him. Definitely paved the way, so to speak, for whatever she plans to do. Smart move. However, Soames deserves what he gets. He is forcing her to stay with him against her will, which he said he would not do. (Evelyn) I'd be livid with a builder too who took it upon himself to spend my money without my permission.Never mind how much it was. T'is the principle. I agree. I think Bossiney was willingly taking advantage of the family situation. If he was employed by someone else, I'm sure he would have asked permission for over expenditures. Bad business form."}, {"response": 140, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (15:31)", "body": "(Moon) Non of this I saw last night! I rewatched the video and nada. How could this be? How on earth is your PBS station showing the next week's installment? I bet their phones are ringing off the hook...unless they're showing the series in some other manner (double episodes each week). (Evelyn) I'd be livid with a builder too who took it upon himself to spend my money without my permission.Never mind how much it was. T'is the principle. Who wouldn't? But the laws have been very much on their side. Have you never heard of a mechanic's lien? Talk about having way too much latitude. ;-) (Pam) However, Soames deserves what he gets. He is forcing her to stay with him against her will, which he said he would not do. Good point. That was a condition of marriage and he's reneging on it. Granted we haven't seen her lift a pinkie to make the marriage a success, but she did ask to leave and he turned her down."}, {"response": 141, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (15:31)", "body": "She probably should've gotten that in writing! LOL!"}, {"response": 142, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (15:50)", "body": "(Karen) She probably should've gotten that in writing! LOL! LOL Karen, that came to you just as you hit submit didn't it? (I hate when that happens!)"}, {"response": 143, "author": "ceirdre", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (15:55)", "body": "(Karen) I would never have doubled the L in modeled. It is not the preferred American style. ;-) Sorry about the doubled L. It just came out that way. I know that \ufffdmodelled\ufffd is the British spelling. I just did not think it over at the time."}, {"response": 144, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (15:55)", "body": "He is forcing her to stay with him against her will, which he said he would not do. But.... a) He thought he could get her to love him. b) She never planned to make that marriage a success. If she did,like Moon,...I missed that episode."}, {"response": 145, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (16:06)", "body": "(Evelyn) But.... a) He thought he could get her to love him. Am humming to Beatles song, \"Fool on [Robbyn] Hill\" b) She never planned to make that marriage a success. If she did, like Moon,...I missed that episode. Right, which bugged me last week and made me dislike her then."}, {"response": 146, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (16:14)", "body": "How on earth is your PBS station showing the next week's installment? I bet their phones are ringing off the hook...unless they're showing the series in some other manner (double episodes each week). It was hard, but I got PBS on the line. They did make that mistake and they will be showing us both episodes 2 & 3 next Sunday. I was so upset that I had missed the ball! You know me and balls. I felt so isolated! So I am not going to be able to partake in the discussion this week. :-( Bloody cheek."}, {"response": 147, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (16:19)", "body": "(Pam) He is forcing her to stay with him against her will, which he said he would not do. (Evelyn) But.... a) He thought he could get her to love him. But...he needs to cut his losses. Actually, if she and Bosinney hadn't made such a spectacle of themselves at the ball, he might have been able to let her go and still save some face in society. But now that the *everyone* is certain of a relationship between Irene and Bosinney, Soames has been backed into a corner. He's bound to be embarrassed either way. Also, he'd have this huge house...but for whom? Re why all these men are so enamored of Irene...not only does she resemble a hamster, she has virtually no inflection in her speech. Completely devoid of any kind of passion, even with Bosinney. I would think carrying on with Bosinney would cause at least some deep breathing. And is Monty really interested in her too? What was that while they were dancing and out in the garden? Or is he just trying to get a rise out of her?"}, {"response": 148, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (16:32)", "body": "(Dorine) But now that the *everyone* is certain of a relationship between Irene and Bosinney, Soames has been backed into a corner. How astute, I had missed that part of the dynamic. Maintain appearances at all costs. I would think carrying on with Bosinney would cause at least some deep breathing. At a minimum you would think so, given the subject, 'cept as noted above some think he needs kissing lessons. Just the thought gets my respiration up! And is Monty really interested in her too? What was that while they were dancing and out in the garden? Or is he just trying to get a rise out of her? I liked Monty until that. It took me a minute to think of who that reminded me of...the Jason Alexander character in Pretty Woman who tries to take his shot with Julia Roberts when Richard Gere is not around. The JA character was even more loathesome but it felt like the same \"you do it with him so you'll do it with me\" opportunistic thing."}, {"response": 149, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (16:50)", "body": "Completely devoid of any kind of passion, even with Bosinney. I would think carrying on with Bosinney would cause at least some deep breathing. Devoid of passion???? LOL. Didn't you see when Bosinney asked her to go away with him and she looked shocked: \"I'm married\" LOL. Then she jumped into bed with him.(And was that a yawner;-(("}, {"response": 150, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (17:02)", "body": "(Barb re Bosinney) some think he needs kissing lessons I don't have a huge problem with his kissing. I think the problem is he has to work with what he's got...how great can you look when you're kissing what appears to be a dead fish. ;-) And was that a yawner I'm with you there :-)"}, {"response": 151, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (17:16)", "body": "(moon) You know me and balls. I felt so isolated! Poor baby! Have a sip of champagne, straighten up your tiara, and pretend you were there. ;-) (whoever started this thread) he needs kissing lessons. My main concern was how he was going to kiss her with that hat she was wearing. That took above-average skill (and possibly double-jointedness) on IG's part. ;-0 (Barb) I liked Monty until that...reminded me of...the Jason Alexander character in Pretty Woman who tries to take his shot with Julia Roberts when Richard Gere is not around. The JA character was even more loathesome but it felt like the same \"you do it with him so you'll do it with me\" opportunistic thing. I too liked Monty and your analysis but am not willing to write him off yet. Perhaps by the next episode. I think he did it to take her down a peg. The sad thing about Soames is that he's unwilling to cut his losses. Instead he wants to take on his rival and he still thinks it's possible for he and Irene to have a marriage. What does he really think taking Irene to Florence would achieve?"}, {"response": 152, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (17:20)", "body": "(Karen) My main concern was how he was going to kiss her with that hat she was wearing. That took above-average skill... And then she took it off 2 seconds later! How stupid. It was funny to watch that little head dance/maneuver before the kiss though. ;) What does he really think taking Irene to Florence would achieve? Getting her out of town and away from Bosinney. And getting them both away from prying eyes and the whispering for a while...ostensibly to make a new start. He is so idealistic."}, {"response": 153, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (17:56)", "body": "(Karen) I think he did it to take her down a peg. You know, I like that perspective, that is actually more in keeping with the feel I had for Monty anyway, though I think there is still something of the opportunistic bad-boy there too."}, {"response": 154, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (18:22)", "body": "(Dorine) And is Monty really interested in her too? What was that while they were dancing and out in the garden? Or is he just trying to get a rise out of her? (Karen) I think he did it to take her down a peg. Some of both, maybe? He just can't help himself, he's a bit of a troublemaker. LOL Monte is a scoundrel, albeit a much more adorable one than Soames and, unlike Soames, he probably has at least some redeemable qualities. (Karen) A \"Prairie\" home, which is supposed to blend into the landscape??? (Suzee)pre-Taliesin (the first). (Evelyn)Interestingly, I've been watching Ken Burns' FLW two-parter. The house looks like the one he built in Montana.Second part tonight on PBS. I didn't say the above -- but I do think FLW is interesting and have read some books about him. I don't really like his houses for myself but they are fun to see. I had to miss the Burn's show when it was on.but hope to catch it when it runs again. What does he really think taking Irene to Florence would achieve? (Dorine)Getting her out of town and away from Bosinney. And getting them both away from prying eyes and the whispering for a while...ostensibly to make a new start. He is so idealistic. He wanted to get her away, yes. Away from any semblance of a life. . He wanted her to have no friends,no activities so he could control her every thought and move like all his other property, like his furniture and his paintings which for years he bought and put in a room where he looked at them and touched them and no one else did. \"He is so idealistic\" -- Very funny! (Evelyn)Hey, you want a work of art..look at Stephen Dillane as the master and Sophie Marceau as the governess in \"Firelight\".Young Jo look like a teenager. Oh, I have, I have - over and over LOL (Dillane does another goodie (or two) in 'Deja Vu' - it's worth the rental even if you don't buy it as I did. I think the camera does a full circle for at least one.) But even so, I don't exactly think either makes YJ look like a teenager - at least no teenage boy I ever knew, darn it."}, {"response": 155, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (18:22)", "body": "Sorry,closing (I hope) italics"}, {"response": 156, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (18:27)", "body": "I don't feel sorry for any of them...but at least Soames' liabilities are up front. Miss Goodie-Two-shoes with her virtuous pout and her boyfriend are in the same league under a pretentious facade."}, {"response": 157, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (18:31)", "body": "(E)Hey, you want a work of art..look at Stephen Dillane as the master and Sophie Marceau as the governess in \"Firelight\"...... (Suzee)Oh, I have, I have - over and over LOL (Dillane does another goodie (or two) in 'Deja Vu' - it's worth the rental even if you don't buy it as I did. LOL.Great minds, Suzee....I own both of them too;-))) And did you see him on stage in The Real Thing with JE? Dynamite. Won a Tony ...on his kisses....LOL"}, {"response": 158, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (18:33)", "body": "(Suzee) I don't really like his houses for myself but they are fun to see. Elizabeth was the one who mentioned the pre-Taliesen period BTW. But I've been in enough FLW houses (his own too) to know they're not great to live in either. LOL! Barb: Monty may well belong in the Stuckey category. We shall see. He's been called a leech here and worse. He may be a Stuckey too. ;-)"}, {"response": 159, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (18:35)", "body": "(Evelyn) Miss Goodie-Two-shoes with her virtuous pout and her boyfriend are in the same league under a pretentious facade. Goody Two Shoes? Not with that red dress! Reminds me of when Rhett forced Scarlett to wear that red dress to Ashley Wilkes' birthday party and everybody was gossiping about her. Might as well dress the part. ;-)"}, {"response": 160, "author": "Tress", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (19:48)", "body": "I have been lurking for the past two weeks because I missed the first hour, but I feel somewhat caught up now... (Karen) Goody Two Shoes? Not with that red dress! The dress was something else! Did anyone notice the straps? They were up and then when she was with Bosinney, they fell off her shoulders... I really dislike Bosinney (sorry). I think he is a total cad right now. He sees June in the street and just tips his hat to her. Then, at the ball he openly flirts with Irene, holding her hand as he walks right by Soames (not that I think he deserves a lot of sympathy). What is it with him? He isn't man enough to call off his engagement (face June and tell her in-person that it is over), yet he will bait Soames in a very public place with his wife! It's not that he is a coward...it's almost as if he is being intentionally cruel to June. Does he resent her 'class' maybe? He openly hates Soames (and I don't think it just because of Irene) and he doesn't appear to love June at all...I'm confused as to what he is all about...suppose I should try to read the book."}, {"response": 161, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (20:18)", "body": "I still rather like McKee in the part. In that family where most of the women are short and not raving beauties, I can imagine that Irene, tall and regal etc., would certainly stand out. I wonder, though if her hair and makeup are not part of the problem - the very severe hairdo - and the way she is photographed. (Maybe she needed some advice from some of the older actresses like Doris Day and her gauze, for example!!). There are moments when she is with Bosinney when she is lovely - when her hair is mussed especially. I don't think she is a goodie-two-shoes or cold. Certainly not in last night's show - unless I saw a different one, too. And she is brutally honest - even with the mother-in-law. In the conversation with her M-I-L, I found her desperation, (when she denied being cold) touching. Not that it excused what she did to June. I think, though, that most telling will be how she handles the role in some of the episodes and surprises to come, so will wait to see that. (Barb)But then, Gran takes her to Paris, she returns home laden with packages and seems right as rain. I'm anxious to see if this is a brave girl putting a good face on things or an immature, shallow little girl whose heart really was not touched I feel for June, too. She seems to be a really good person and probably putting up a good front, but also maybe a 'happy person' at heart who simply doesn't stay miserable for a long time (unlike most of the other characters LOL). (suzee) Both were at fault maybe, but the amount of money was insignificant to Soames and all along it was about 'control'for him. I thought he was benevolently giving the job to Bosinney. As he explained to Irene...\"keep it in the family\". Give the young couple a start. Ack!!!!! Soames did nothing \"benevolently\" - nothing, I say!! :-) He gave it to Bosinney because he thought that since June was Irene's best friend and it would help June, Irene would find it difficult to refuse the house and the move to the country. It was all about controlling Irene. (Evelyn)And did you see him on stage in The Real Thing with JE? Dynamite. Won a Tony ...on his kisses....LOL No - but I read enough about it to know how good both were - they must be \"some kissers\" together LOL"}, {"response": 162, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (21:34)", "body": "(Suzee) He gave it to Bosinney because he thought that since June was Irene's best friend and it would help June, Irene would find it difficult to refuse the house and the move to the country. It was all about controlling Irene. Excellent point! Soames was desperate to remove Irene from the temptations of town. Too bad didn't see trouble brewing in his choice of architect. Maybe she needed some advice from some of the older actresses like Doris Day and her gauze, for example!! LOL! Now I'm envisioning a hazy Irene, with everyone else in sharp focus. :-)"}, {"response": 163, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (21:42)", "body": "Of course Bosinney's got a little of that cliched tortured artiste mentality going on, too, contracts are an impediment to true art and all that dreck. Hey, I like Ioan, so sue me. ;) Yep, the interiors of real Wrights let in much less light and the space is much more manipulated. Wonder if he built her something where the roof leaks? But on Soames' part, Suzee is right; it was definitely all about controlling Irene."}, {"response": 164, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (21:45)", "body": "He gave it to Bosinney because he thought that since June was Irene's best friend and it would help June, Irene would find it difficult to refuse the house and the move to the country. It was all about controlling Irene. I'm sticking to my story.In this instance he was giving the job to \"family\". Can't see why you have been blinded by Irene. Regardless of the fact that she entered into a marriage with no intentions of making it work, she steals her best friends fiancee. She's a slut."}, {"response": 165, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (22:21)", "body": "Soames gave it to \"family\" only because he thought he could get something for nothing (\"make his own terms\"/\"favored-nation\"/\"nominal terms\": \"He had not been able to discover what houses Bosinney had built, nor what his charges were. The impression he gathered was that he would be able to make his own terms. The more he reflected on the idea, the more he liked it. It would be keeping the thing in the family, with Forsytes almost an instinct; and he would be able to get 'favoured-nation,' if not nominal terms--only fair, considering the chance to Bosinney of displaying his talents, for this house must be no common edifice...\" and about Irene: \"...Irene would not be to likely to object to leave London if her greatest friend's lover were given the job. June's marriage might depend on it. Irene could not decently stand in the way of June's marriage; she would never do that, he knew her too well. And June would be pleased; of this he saw the advantage.\" and: \"He really believed it was only because she had taken to Bosinney that she tolerated the idea of the house at all.\" I know, I know - that's the book, but the series makers did say they were working closely from the book ;-)"}, {"response": 166, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 14, 2002 (22:53)", "body": "(Evelyn)Can't see why you have been blinded by Irene. Regardless of the fact that she entered into a marriage with no intentions of making it work, she steals her best friends fiancee. She's a slut. I believe I said I rather liked McKee in the part - not that Irene is without fault. And I definitely said nothing excused what she did to June. But she is a human being. (And I think she did try at first re the marriage.) Sheesh! I hope you guys aren't around judging me when I make a mistake. LOL (Elizabeth)Of course Bosinney's got a little of that cliched tortured artiste mentality going on, too, contracts are an impediment to true art and all that dreck. Hey, I like Ioan, so sue me. ;) Bosinney's no prize - I agree he was trying to control and also maybe posture for Irene's sake. He was definitely building the house for her and her only. But He and Soames agreed to a price plus extras - they just had different ideas about how much the extras could be! I watched Sunday's show again and I think Ioan's quite good, and I don't think I would turn down his kisses LOL Anyway, here is someone else who likes him a lot: Entertainment Weekly The Forsytes return in a tale of power, money, love and lust. By Gerri Sutton There are two good reasons to relish the new version of that old classic The Forsyte Saga, one more respectable than the other. One is that it's a super soap of the finest imported variety, frothing with love, lust, envy, deceit and vulgar wealth, charting the end of the Victorian era. The word is lavish-the sets, the costumes, the language, the horseflesh and the real estate-in an adaptation that breathes freshness and youth into a veteran story. The other reason is the sheer perve factor of Ioan Gruffud as the architect Bosinney, who falls foul of the powerful Forsyte family. Gruffud has such dramatic good looks he kidnaps the camera, just as Bosinney steals the hearts of two Forsyte women, June (Gillian Kearney) and Irene (Gina McKee). It is the affair between Bosinney and the beautiful Irene Forsyte (rather a wet fish) that rocks the family's foundations. But before \"the buccaneer\" enters, this episode introduces the Forsytes, with their peacock pride and fallibility. Among them is young Jolyon (Rupert Graves), disinherited by his father (Corin Redgrave) after he runs away with the governess (Amanda Ooms), abandoning his young daughter. And at the top of the tree, his cousin Soames (Damian Lewis), cruel and calculating, but relentless as he persuades the reluctant Irene to marry him. There are too many fine performers in this epic to be named but Lewis must be for the way he plays Soames as deeply despicable, with the slightest hint of vulnerability. Although in episode four, he almost evokes sympathy. Almost. A\ufffd"}, {"response": 167, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (09:11)", "body": "(Suzee)(And I think she did try at first re the marriage.) Maybe in the book. But I didn't see that in the film (Suzee) Sheesh! I hope you guys aren't around judging me when I make a mistake. LOL Mistake?...*Judge you*? Hon, if you came after my man, I'd hunt you down with a knife;-)"}, {"response": 168, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (09:56)", "body": "I finally got to see the parts of this episode I had missed. Gee, I thought I missed more. Are you really telling me the first time Irene and Phil were intimate was that apparent afternoon delight that began with the intimate legal pillow talk and kicked into low gear with him getting tangled in her skirts? There were some good parts. June - \"I could come to your room.\" Ah child, he is not worthy of the gift you offer. And Mother Forsyte's conversation with Irene, a mother's pain and Irene's brutal honesty, well done I thought. But what's up with the camera work, the single shots that move focus from one speaker to another further from the camera -- for example, I think, when Irene and Soames were discussing her cancelling the carriage ride with Swithin? Pretty distracting."}, {"response": 169, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (15:09)", "body": "(Evelyn)Hon, if you came after my man, I'd hunt you down with a knife;-) Hmmm..hmmm...I was thinking more about the fact that she married someone she didn't love, but...(Note to self: remain in a physical location that is at least 1000 miles apart from Evelyn LOL)"}, {"response": 170, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (15:10)", "body": "(Barb) what's up with the camera work, the single shots that move focus from one speaker to another further from the camera.... Pretty distracting. LOL! When I was watching, I actually thought that was pretty neat."}, {"response": 171, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (15:22)", "body": "(Barb)There were some good parts. June - \"I could come to your room.\" That was heart wrenching - she was offering him *everything*. I love the way June stands up to Soames as at the little foursome dinner party when talking about the women in the park. She tells Soames off beautifully, but it's terrible to see the look on her face when she turns and sees Bosinney looking at her with irritation. He should have been proud!"}, {"response": 172, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (16:00)", "body": "I still don't understand what was going on with the lilies. Must rewatch to see why there was this powerplay going on. Take them away. No, leave them be. No, take them away. Shut up. Shove them up Soames' !@#$ ;-0 What started it? Didn't Bossiney compliment the table, making a mention of the lilies and then the nonsense between June and Martha Stewart began?"}, {"response": 173, "author": "Rika", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (17:25)", "body": "Yes - thanks for reminding me of the lilies, Karen. I even re-watched it to see if I could figure it out. (suzee) That was heart wrenching - she was offering him *everything And talk about a cold reaction! \"No, I don't want to take this gift you're offering because I'm busy, and it's none of your business with whom/what I'm busy either.\" What a heel. Actually, maybe he and Irene deserve one another."}, {"response": 174, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (19:57)", "body": "Someone sent me this : \"There was a blurb in one of the papers a while back: 'HELENA BONHAM CARTER is set to step into the shoes of Nyree Dawn Porter. HBC is being lined up for the role of Irene in a remake of The Forsyte Saga. Dawn Porter, who died last week, played the character in the original series, which won an audience of over 100 million. Other actors being considered for the pounds 6m ITV series are Michael Gambon, Stephen Dillane and Natasha Little.\" I assume MG would play Old J, Natasha Little Winifred or Fleur, SD Soames and HBC Irene. I recently saw a pic of Nyree Dawn Porter (Irenee ,TFS '67) and she was a startling beauty. With Kenneth More. Old J."}, {"response": 175, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (20:26)", "body": "(Karen) What started it? Didn't Bossiney compliment the table, making a mention of the lilies and then the nonsense between June and Martha Stewart began? I think so - I think Bosinney complimented them, Irene mentioned the great smell and June being justifiably upset said who could like the smell? Irene said take them away, June said don't, etc /so forth/so on!!!! Priceless! Loved poor Wilson trying to decide what to do, caught in the middle. Shove them up Soames' !@#$ ;-0 Good one,old thing. Spot on!! ;-) (I think Monte is getting to me.) I liked the scene in the park,too, when YJ pointed out to OJ that he would be rather an odd choice to talk to Bosinney."}, {"response": 176, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 15, 2002 (20:33)", "body": "Friday 5th October 2001. Actor Rupert Graves holding an exclusive telephone interview with the website from a noisy and busy Camden. Excerpt: PB: Now then, the big thing you are doing at the moment is obviously The Forsyte Saga for Granada ? Rupert Graves: Yeah, it's from a novel by John Galsworthy - that they are re-doing again....it's a great big saga, one of those things...and what you hope with these things is that it becomes really fascinating when you get to know the character...you need at least two episodes to get into it I think, you hope that people will stick with it for at least two episodes....then it becomes like a monumental 19th century soap opera, it's a real old saga, and it covers the family, from say the 1870's to maybe 1910's.... PB: And you play the role of Young Jolyon... Rupert Graves: Yeah. PB: Do you find it difficult to do roles that have been done before, and do you worry about it a bit , with comparisons and such like ? Rupert Graves: Well, obviously when you say it, people assume that you are making a remake of the TV series, but you're not....like there are many versions of Dickens novels that have been made into films...so it's such a shame...I think the difficult thing is for the producers, who tend to worry about audience numbers, is that it was such a big hit in the 1960's. PB: Yes, I see.. Rupert Graves: Because it was challenging, because it has sex scenes, because it has a rape scene, stuff that had never been shown then...and now it's all over the place, you have films like Intimacy, you know..I mean like oral sex on scene, which is dumb. PB: Exactly. Rupert Graves: I mean, we are going to suffer on the shock front, definitely, well we won't suffer, but we won't have that kind of prurient interest. PB: You mentioned there the audience numbers, which crossed my mind as well, simply because with ITV doing it, they are going to be more interested in ratings as against say The BBC for example. Rupert Graves: Yeah, you might be right there, but there's not being much of that really - we've got a good director for the um..first three episodes, Chris, who is just doing what he wants, he's very good at the politics....and also I think that they are confident that it's going to do alright....the only thing I'm kind of worried about is that people are heartily sickened of period...you know costume dramas on TV again. PB: Yeah. Rupert Graves: However, it is very well written, the books are fantastic, and hopefully the scripts are good - the directors are good, the actors are good - so hopefully it will all come together and make something really good. PB: It's all sounding as though it should really work well then... Rupert Graves: Yeah, you have to get over the audience numbers thing, and hopefully the audience can get over their antipathy towards..you know...period dramas being on TV again - it is great, it's really good. PB: You sound as though,well very enthusiastic..you are really enjoying doing this. Rupert Graves: I am , though I've not been too busy with it at times, I'm not in the first three episodes too much, I'm in the last episodes a lot more, so it's been quite good for me, having a job and only having to work something like two days a week. PB: That's alright then, it's alright for some! Rupert Graves: (Laughing) Yeah!"}, {"response": 177, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (02:44)", "body": "That should have been \"poor Bilson\" - not Wilson."}, {"response": 178, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (09:42)", "body": "(RG)\"the only thing I'm kind of worried about is that people are heartily sickened of period...you know costume dramas on TV again. He thinks TV is bad...he should try a costume drama film. I bet those guys take those jobs only if they're desperate. Spring excluded, of course.We all lap up all the Masterpiece Theatre stuff."}, {"response": 179, "author": "Lizzajaneway", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (12:30)", "body": "Evelyn, I think Kenneth Moore played Rupert graves part. At least they aged! i think you will all be interested in June's ageing process;-) Say no more! I am following your excellent discussion and viewpoints with great pleasure and wished I had set my video earlier in the year :-(( Won't make that mistake with the second series. Thank you all."}, {"response": 180, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (12:47)", "body": "(Lizza) i think you will all be interested in June's ageing process;-) Say no more! Arg!! A teaser...I hate teasers!!"}, {"response": 181, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (13:25)", "body": "(lizza) Evelyn, I think Kenneth Moore played Rupert graves part. At least they aged! That ole guy is Rupert Graves?"}, {"response": 182, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (15:12)", "body": "I read that most of the stars of the first series were much too old for their parts in the beginning episodes. Kenneth More (YJ) had been something of a movie \"heart throb\" but was \"aging\" - he was in his mid 50's and was actually a few years older than Joseph O'Conor who played OJ. Someone involved with the making of the new series said that they definitely didn't want to repeat that sort of casting. I also read that Porter, although prettily blonde, was not much of an actress. I don't remember the first series very well - it's been a long time since I have seen it (a rerun in the 70's or 80's?). I vaguely remember liking Eric Porter in his part and not liking her (meaning the actors, not the characters). I can't remember much about the others except Susan Hampshire. Lizza, I have also read some interesting comments about June's aging process - if it's the same as your teaser, it will be interesting, but makes little sense to me now - have to wait to see it. I looked up Gillian Kearney's age - she is 30. I certainly think she looked younger in her first scenes! I also noticed she played the young Shirley Valentine, a movie I haven't seen but have intended to rent."}, {"response": 183, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (15:38)", "body": "I just read the dinner/lily scene in the book again. When June arrives before dinner and goes to look for Bosinney, she's inside looking out and the room was \"filled with a sweet hot scent of flowering azaleas. She took a long breath of the perfume, and heard Bosinney's voice, not in the room, but quite close...\" Then she sees B and Irene standing in the midst of the azalea blossoms,she watches them through a \"screen\" of blossoms and \"A wave of the azalea scent drifted into June's face; she felt sick and dizzy.\" Then when she speaks to let them know she's watching, she says, \"I can't bear this scent!\" No wonder she'd had it with azaleas/lilies by the time they had dinner. LOL I didn't look at the scene again - guess maybe they were standing among lilies?"}, {"response": 184, "author": "Lizzajaneway", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (16:02)", "body": "Barb.. I hate teasers! I didn't want to say any more and make a teaser a spoiler;-) (Evelyn) That ole guy was Rupert Graves? Yup! Same part. (Suzzee) I can't remember much about the others except Susan Hampshire I saw her on stage last year, she still has a luminous beauty. I expect you remember Martin Jarvis as Jon? Mustn't say any more... more teasers! Yes it's true the original cast were too old for their parts. We will no doubt come back to revisit June and her age quite soon, then you can tell us what you've read;-) Anyone in UK who watches \"Coupling\" with Emilia Fox, it also stars Ben Miles, Monty, he looks very different (obviously!), worth checking him out. I believe the series is being sold to NBC, but will play with US cast."}, {"response": 185, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (16:15)", "body": "(Lizza)I didn't want to say any more and make a teaser a spoiler;-) I know, I know, and I DO thank you. *sigh* I'm awful at Christmas too ;-)"}, {"response": 186, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (16:40)", "body": "Azaleas? Fragrant? Hmmm, mine are so low to the ground that I wouldn't even know if they were. But will try to remember to check next spring. ;-) So there wasn't a flower arrangement struggle over dinner, huh, Suzee?"}, {"response": 187, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (17:09)", "body": "There was. It just didn't go on so long - although June disagrees with everything from food to sunsets during dinner (*very* uncomfortable atmosphere): And smilingly Irene said: \"The azaleas are so wonderful this year!\" To this Bosinney murmured: \"Wonderful! The scent's extraordinary!\" June said: \"How can you like the scent? Sugar, please, Bilson.\" Sugar was handed her, and Soames remarked: \"This charlottes good!\" The charlotte was removed. Long silence followed. Irene, beckoning, said: \"Take out the azalea, Bilson. Miss June can't bear the scent.\" \"No; let it stay,\" said June."}, {"response": 188, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 16, 2002 (17:40)", "body": "(Lizza)I expect you remember Martin Jarvis as Jon? A bit - I certainly remember the story. According to IMDb, he is in one of the new Inspector Lynley mysteries, but not the one we have already seen in the US. (Lizza)Anyone in UK who watches \"Coupling\" with Emilia Fox, it also stars Ben Miles, Monty Miles was in 'The Life and Crimes of William Palmer' as Thomas Palmer. I can't remember - I'm thinking that may have been Dr. Palmer's brother, but I'm not sure. I think I still have that series on tape somewhere around here. I am definitely interested in seeing more of him."}, {"response": 189, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (03:44)", "body": "The British National TV awards were announced yesterday. When the first nominations were announced in July, TFS was included, but it didn't make the shortlist, nor did any of the actors. I'm not sure how the first nominations are determined but the public votes for the final winners. Original Nominees for 'Most popular Drama' (Only the last 3 made the shortlist cut and 'Auf Wiedersehen,Pet' won.) The Bill The Forsyte Saga Spooks Cutting It Band Of Brothers. Casualty Bad Girls A Touch of Frost Auf Wiedersehen, Pet Complete Shortlist: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2329203.stm Winners: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2331507.stm#picture --------------------------- Period drama the Forsyte Saga continues... In Rodney Street Oct 7 2002 Daily Post PERIOD drama The Forsyte Saga meant a city centre street needed a complete make-over to film scenes for a new series. Residents of Rodney Street, Liverpool, came home to find the area bustling with vintage cars and characters in period dress. Lead actor Rupert Graves casually walked down the recreation of Harley Street in London dressed in top-hat and long coat. The BBC have written a script which picks up where the original John Galsworthy novel left off and will be unveiled in the spring. It sees Jolyon Forsyte, played by Rupert Graves, aged 20 years as the characters' lives continue with the followup script. Speaking on set, Graves revealed his character, Jolyon Forsyte, has to visit the doctor because of terrible pain in his heart. With theatrical smoke billowing from behind the row of vintage cars, he left fans pondering on his character's future. He said: \"It's a brand new script which tries to recreate the spirit of the John Galsworthy concept and we hope it will be a success.\" http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/page.cfm?objectid=12261016&method=full&siteid=50061"}, {"response": 190, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (04:43)", "body": "News From Merseyside The Saga Continues... FILMING in Liverpool has started on the second series of hit ITV1 period drama \ufffdThe Forsyte Saga\ufffd. The Granada production, which is based on the novel by John Galsworthy, tells the tale of the lives and loves of English aristocrats James and Emily Forsyte. The high profile cast includes Rupert Graves, Damian Lewis and Wendy Craig as well as local actress Gillian Kearney. Parts of Liverpool will be transformed into Victorian Britain, with scenes to be shot around Canning Street later this month. It will mean signposts being removed, period gas lamps installed temporarily and sand being placed on the road to make the scenes look authentic. Liverpool Cricket Club has been used to depict Lords in a scene which will involve a crowd of more than one hundred extras in period costume. Councillor Warren Bradley, Executive Board member for Leisure and Culture, said: \ufffdThe Forsyte Saga proved to be one of the biggest TV hits of the year when it was screened earlier this year, and it\ufffds great news that the second series is being filmed here too. \ufffdA major theme of our Capital of Culture bid is the fantastic heritage we have in this city \ufffd and this is a wonderful way of showing it off to millions of television viewers.\ufffd Film Office manager Lynn Saunders added: \ufffdI\ufffdm delighted to welcome back the Forsyte Saga to the city. I know the production team were very impressed with the variety of locations we were able to offer them last time, coupled with the co-operation they received from the city council and the people of Liverpool.\ufffd The first series of the drama attracted up to nine million viewers, and has been hailed as one of ITV1\ufffds biggest successes of the year. The second series is due to be screened next year. ------------------- Press Release: The Forsyte Saga - Second Series. By Granada Media. Filming \ufffd 29 August to December 2002 Excerpt: DAMIAN LEWIS, GINA MCKEE and RUPERT GRAVES are to reprise the famous roles of Soames, Irene and Young Jolyon this month when production begins again in Manchester, Liverpool and Cheshire. Key new cast includes EMMA GRIFFITHS MALIN (The Cazalets) and LEE WILLIAMS (The Debt) who will take on the...roles of Fleur and Jon...MICHAEL MALONEY (Prosper Profond) and OLIVER MILBURN (Michael Mont) will also star in the drama, which is to be produced by David Boulter with Executive Producer Sita Williams and written by Kate Brooke and Phil Woods. Andy Wilson is to direct. Producer David Boulter said: \ufffdIt\ufffds a classic \ufffdfirst love\ufffd story. Our adaptation of the third book will have a completely different look and feel to our first series because, apart from the opening scenes, the whole story is set over a two month period in 1920. The story focuses on the individual journeys of the characters and their trials and tribulations. It\ufffds an emotional epic which will make compelling viewing.\ufffd ----------- Pic of a home in Manchester: \"The gardens of the 20th century estate served as one of the settings for Granada's highly-acclaimed production of the Forsyte Saga\" http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/homes/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=18641.html"}, {"response": 191, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (04:45)", "body": "First published on Tuesday 15 October 2002: What a saga! Arley becomes home to Forsytes by Gareth Dunning IT WAS lights, camera action at Arley Hall where Granada has been filming the next series of the ITV drama The Forsyte Saga. The grounds were filled with camera crews, trailers and lighting equipment and the actors in the series, based on John Galsworthy's To Let trilogy. With its ancient history and more than 100 acres of picturesque gardens and parklands Arley Hall, near Appleton Thorn, was the perfect setting for the 1920s' period drama. Granada spent the past two weeks at Arley Hall and used Lord Ashcroft's private house and parts of the gardens for filming. Stars including Damian Lewis (Soames) Gina McKee (Irene) from the first series and new cast member Emma Griffith Malin (Fleur) have been filming inside the stately home. Mick Graham, location manager for The Forstye Saga, said: \"We chose Arley Hall because it was perfect for the period. \"The gardens are fantastic too and it is supposed to be set in Green Park in London and parts of the gardens look similar. \"The rooms are beautiful and again are similar to those you might find in an expensive house on Park Lane, London.\" Arley Hall is certainly not camera shy as the splendid area has been used as a setting for several television programmes including Coronation Street, The Adventures of Sherlock Homes and part of the gardens were used in the first series of The Forsyte Saga. Judy Popley, marketing manager, said: \"We are always delighted to welcome television companies into Arley Hall. \"We are delighted to have The Forstye Saga crew back and we're looking forward to working with them again.\" http://www.thisischeshire.co.uk/cheshire/archive/2002/10/15/Warrington_News985ZM.html"}, {"response": 192, "author": "lafn", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (07:55)", "body": "Only the last 3 made the shortlist cut and 'Auf Wiedersehen,Pet' won.) Wonder if it was a costume drama;-) Thanks Suzee. Wish they wudda given us a pic of Arley Hall."}, {"response": 193, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (08:37)", "body": "Ask and ye shall receive:"}, {"response": 194, "author": "ChgoRed", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (09:00)", "body": "Hello all! Am stepping out of lurking to say how much I've enjoyed following your Forsyte conversation. My name is Tori, and I run the \"Damian Lewis: Posh Rough\" Website (the one with the Forsyte recaps). While I love the series, I have to say that the one character who I definitely do *not* like is Bosinney (no offense to any Ioan-ites). I hate the way he treats June--that scene where he doffs his hat and walks on...ooh! Just want to--grrr... Mixed feelings about Irene, I must admit. I can understand her position, but that bit at the waltz (love that dress) was beyond the pale. Maybe she can't/won't ever love him, but that's no reason to humiliate the guy in front of friends and family. I say this even though I know that his behavior in later episodes makes me wish she'd give him a good kick in the shin. So there ya go. Anyway, my two cents. (And thanks to Moon and Karen for helping me get signed on here. :) Tori"}, {"response": 195, "author": "mari", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (11:34)", "body": "Tori, that's an excellent job you've done with the site. I really enjoyed looking at it. Were you a DL fan prior to Forsyte? I got hooked during Band of Brothers. I think he's terrific. Catching up on the comments on last week's episode: I told you from the start that Monty was a bum, and he proved it last week by hitting on Irene. You people are so taken in by the appearance of goodness.;-) Re: Irene and Bosinney's in-your-face behavior at the ball: whatever happened to discreet cheating? You almost get the sense that they want to be discovered. I know, I know, Soames is not without his faults, but think how humiliating this was for him. Geez, he even offered to take her on vacay to Florence! He wouldn't have to ask me twice.;-) Irene is a big dope."}, {"response": 196, "author": "Moon", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (14:25)", "body": "Nice to see you here, Tori! I agree with Mari, you've done a great job."}, {"response": 197, "author": "lafn", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (18:07)", "body": "Hi Tori. Glad our friends helped you find us...would you pl give us the address of the DL website. I thought DL was terrific as Major Dick Winters too . Thanks Karen for Arley Hall pic. Looks like the same house as \"Middlemarch\". Good Forsyte discussion on Virtual Views on Pemberley. Consensus: on Irene. Several had seen the original series."}, {"response": 198, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (19:51)", "body": "Reading your comments on The Forsyte Saga are really adding to my pleasure in viewing it. You raise many interesting points, plus you're all so entertaining in your posts. I quite like Gina McKee as Irene. She really does remind me of Anjelica Huston, tall, dark and regal. I really do respect the opinions of those who feel she was miscast. As many of you, are probably, have read or are currently reading the Galsworthy novels; you might be familiar with this passage. I feel that it goes a long way in explaining the Soames/Irene marriage. That she was one of those women--not too common in the Anglo-Saxon race--born to be loved and to love, who when not loving are not living, had certainly never even occurred to him. Her power of attraction, he regarded as part of her value as his property; but it made him, indeed, suspect that she could give as well as receive; and she gave him nothing! \"Then why did she marry me?' was his continual thought.\" He had, forgotten his courtship; that year and a half when he had besieged and lain in wait for her, devising schemes for her entertainment, giving her,presents, proposing to her periodically, and keeping her other admirers away with his perpetual presence. He had forgotten the day when, adroitly taking advantage of an acute phase of her dislike to her home surroundings, he crowned his labours with success. If he remembered anything, it was the dainty capriciousness with which the gold-haired, dark-eyed girl had treated him. He certainly did not remember the look on her face--strange, passive, appealing--when suddenly one day she had yielded, and said that she would marry him. Thanks for the articles, links and great discussion."}, {"response": 199, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (20:21)", "body": "(Saskia -- from TFS -- re Irene) who when not loving are not living; adroitly taking advantage of an acute phase of her dislike to her home surroundings; He certainly did not remember the look on her face--strange, passive, appealing--when suddenly one day she had yielded Thanks for this Saskia. I'm not an Irene fan though given your insightful citations, I find I might be able to be a Gina McKee fan. She just seems so dead to me. But it seems maybe she is as she should be."}, {"response": 200, "author": "ChgoRed", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (21:20)", "body": "Thanks all for the nice welcome, and the compliments on the Website. Much appreciated. To answer your questions--I'd never heard of Damian before Band of Brothers, and didn't really even pay him much attention until about the 4th or 5th episode. Believe it or not, I think Winters and Soames actually have something in common, in that they both have so much going on beneath the surface. Neither is easily categorized. I think if you want to watch Gina do a remarkable job, watch her in the movie \"Croupier.\" It's a rather odd film, but she is quite good in it. She even smiles! More than once! And yeah, Monty is a bum. You'll see. ;) Tori http://www.chgoredhead2001.com/DamianLewis.html"}, {"response": 201, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (21:43)", "body": "Welcome, Tori - I've already very much enjoyed looking around your site! (Mari)You people are so taken in by the appearance of goodness.;-) Methinks many of **You People** are soooo taken in by the appearance of Damien Lewis!;-). I really must see this guy in something else so that I don't picture the actor as Soames. Ugh! He makes my skin crawl. If I had to be in a room alone with Monty or Soames, Monty would win hands down. I wouldn't have lasted as long as Irene with Soames creeping around, watching me and - worse - touching me. (I'm thinking he is a good actor to give this impression.) Monte is a scoundrel and weak but more of a human being than Soames (and I know the rest of the story). If Soames had treated him with some modicum of respect, Monty may have had a chance at success. I believe he did care for his wife. As you all know, I agree with Saskia about Gina McKee. And I think the producers should have included more of the little clues about those first two years of the Soames/Irene marriage. Besides Soames' thoughts about how Irene tried to love him, but just couldn't, there is another passage that is even more telling. This is just after she has asked him to let her go. He, of course, has conveniently forgotten his promise (some \"gentleman\" - he has a very selective memory) and tells her that she is talking nonsense; she should just behave herself. The he insists that (against her will) she go to the park with him, they sit on a bench and: . \"It was some time since he had enjoyed her company in the Park. That was one of the past delights of the first two seasons of his married life, when to feel himself the possessor of this gracious creature before all London had been his greatest, though secret, pride. How many afternoons had he not sat beside her, extremely neat, with light grey gloves and faint, supercilious smile, nodding to acquaintances, and now and again removing his hat. His light grey gloves were still on his hands, and on his lips his smile sardonic, but where the feeling in his heart? The seats were emptying fast, but still he kept her there, silent and pale, as though to work out a secret punishment. Once or twice he made some comment, and she bent her head, or answered \"Yes\" with a tired smile.\" ---------- Also Good Forsyte discussion on HW Forums - \"Potpourri\" Board Consensus: thumbs UP on Irene (and McKee);-D"}, {"response": 202, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (21:48)", "body": "(Mari) You almost get the sense that they want to be discovered. Interesting point. Maybe that's the only way Irene thinks she can force Soames' hand, that he'll have to let her go or dump her. (Mari) I told you from the start that Monty was a bum, and he proved it last week by hitting on Irene. I'm still reserving judgment on him because I didn't take his hitting on Irene seriously. OK, next week, he'll probably be batting Freddie around and I'll have to turn on him too. ;-) Thanks for the passage from the book, Saskia. That only made me more critical of the production, because we didn't get a sense of how ardently Soames pursued Irene and how he drove off other potential suitors. Much as I love Gina M (and I do), Croupier isn't her film. Go find Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland. Go buy Wonderland. The music is magnificent as well."}, {"response": 203, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Thu, Oct 17, 2002 (21:50)", "body": "(Mari) You people are so taken in by the appearance of goodness.;-) (Chgo Redhead) And yeah, Monty is a bum. You'll see. ;) I believe I am convinced. Among them all, there is not goodness \"enough to make one good sort of man\" (Sorry, mixing my novels but the J Austen quote seemed too apt.)"}, {"response": 204, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (02:35)", "body": "(Barb)I believe I am convinced. Among them all, there is not goodness \"enough to make one good sort of man\" I think you hit the nail on the head!!! Galsworthy didn't give us any heroes. He was supposedly skewering the entire English middle class. I read an essay about his books where the writer speculated that because he wrote the story over such a long period of time, he changed his mind or his attitude about certain of his characters and so allowed them to have redeeming (or not) qualities that surprised even him. 'A Man of Property' was published in 1904 (or 1906) and at the time was intended to stand-alone - he supposedly didn't plan more about the family. But that changed. Besides the rest of the\"Saga\", there are three short novels, which were published as \"A Modern Comedy\" in 1928/29 (in his preface for that, he claimed he still did not know \"precisely what [Soames] stands for.\") and still more up until 1931. He died in 1933. Also interesting is the fact that Galsworthy lived secretly with his future wife for 10 years. His father didn't approve of her and he didn't marry her until his father died and he became financially independent. She had been married before (to Galsworthy's cousin) and he used her unhappy first marriage as the basis for Irene and Soames, including some of the specifics we have yet to see. BTW, I think this upcoming episode will end where the first book does."}, {"response": 205, "author": "lafn", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (11:07)", "body": "Thank you Tori, for the terrific DL website. V. comprehensive. I remember reading that in casting for BoB,Stephen Speilberg remembered DL as Laertes in \"Hamlet\" on B'way with Rafe Fiennes. Will have to check him out on Mickey Love ,a TV play from 1993. Also with JE and Alan Cumming.Love all those early works. Just for the record, I liked Gina Mc Kee too in Notting Hill. Thought she had more chemistry with Hugh Bonneville than with current lover Boissney. That's my objection to her acting skills in this production. She is so one dimensional; same languid expression (or expressionless!) throughout. Where's the passion?Nada. Perhaps in Eps #4, she'll warm up;-)"}, {"response": 206, "author": "lafn", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (11:16)", "body": "I didn't see Wonderland (wide release?). But I did see Croupier. Don't remember her as Marion Nell. Was she the girlfriend? Terrific film, BTW. Seen it twice; LOL, to figure it out."}, {"response": 207, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (11:18)", "body": "(Ev) Thought she had more chemistry with Hugh Bonneville Really? He didn't play her husband, but was the friend who worked in the City. ;-)"}, {"response": 208, "author": "lafn", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (11:35)", "body": "LOL. Ooops....I *really* meant Hugh Grant;-) (But thanks for the *winkie*)"}, {"response": 209, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (15:45)", "body": "(Suzee) Also Good Forsyte discussion on HW Forums - \"Potpourri\" Board Consensus: thumbs UP on Irene (and McKee);-D Thanks, Suzee, for the information about the Forsyte discussion at HW Forums and for posting the passage concerning Soames forcing Irene to go to the park with him. I thought that in particular this passage was particularly telling. That was one of the past delights of the first two seasons of his married life, when to feel himself the possessor of this gracious creature before all London had been his greatest, though secret, pride. That perfectly expresses the point that Soames is indeed \"the man of property\" and Irene is very much a prized possession. But I do think that, in his way, he does love her as much as he is able. It's just that she finds him repellent, emotionally, intellectually and physically. Soames wants desperately to be loved by Irene, yet he almost literally makes her sick. Karen is right, Wonderland is a great movie and Gina McKee is terrific in it. Tori, thanks for the link to your Damian Lewis site. It looks great. I think that your comment about the characters, Richard Winters and Soames Forsyte, having points of similiarity was interesting. Like you, I also, really liked GM in Croupier and she did actually smile, more than once, in it! One more thing about the character of Irene. It seems that Nyree Dawn Porter wasn't the first actress to have played her. No, actually it was Greer Garson, who at one time also played Elizabeth Bennett. It was in a 1949 Hollywood adaptation of The Man of Property titled That Forsyte Woman. Errol Flynn played Soames. Here's are some links concerning it. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll and http://home.clara.net/digger/that.htm"}, {"response": 210, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (15:48)", "body": "I'm so confused. I didn't know if I wanted to type \"Here are some links...\" or \"Here's some links...\" So I make a mess by typing \"Here's some links...\" Anyway...I hope it made sense."}, {"response": 211, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (16:08)", "body": "I'm posting this because I'd forgotten that the All Movie site can be a real pain when posting links. If you clicked on the first link that I posted and got an error message, please try this. http://www.allmovie.com/ Which will take you to the main page of the site. Then type That Forsyte Woman into the search window and enter. That is only if you're interested, of course."}, {"response": 212, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Fri, Oct 18, 2002 (16:55)", "body": "Thanks for the links, Saskia - however you typed them! I vaguely remember this movie as not very good. I love Greer Garson, but IMO Errol Flynn was a lousy actor. I most remember a very young, very pretty Janet Leigh. It would be interesting to see it again now. -------------- Here's a link to the Madame X portrait mentioned before: http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/Madame_X.htm ---------------- I don't think this has been posted before: The Hollywood Reporter The Forsyte Saga Oct. 04, 2002 By Laurence Vittes Thirty years ago, the original \"Forsyte Saga\" started a craze for sophisticated soap operas that led to the rise of Masterpiece Theatre and, along with it, public television. Now, PBS brings back an outstanding new version that will make new converts and perhaps even convince some old-timers. It's never easy to remake a classic, but Granada and WGBH have risen to the challenge with a superb new production of the entertainment, based on the novels of John Galsworthy, that created an insatiable appetite for miniseries of the sophisticated British kind. Spread over seven Sundays, the eight hours of this gorgeous new version feature a brilliant cast working with a series of scripts that time the relentless twists and turns of the Forsyte fortunes with hair-trigger accuracy. It's a little slow-going at first, as all miniseries must inevitably be when they have to introduce such a large cast of characters. But once away, there's hardly room to take a breath. A large amount of the credit must go to directors Christopher Menaul and David Moore, who employ an unusually varied repertoire of emotionally charged angles and perspectives that, aided by some razor-sharp cutting, allow viewers to get to know the actors on a very intimate basis -- including some heart-pounding seduction scenes that leave very little to the imagination. Assembling a large cast of such high quality cannot have been easy, especially when the producers were obviously intent on finding actors whose charismatic looks, instead of being conventionally beautiful, were reflective of their personalities. Indeed, the degree to which the protagonists in this tawdry story -- Damian Lewis as colder-than-ice Soames Forsyte and Gina McKee as his sultry, unwilling bride -- project the intensity of their roles is at times powerful beyond belief. Key roles in the first two hours are played by Corin Redgrave, who epitomizes the tragic class consciousness of the old guard without becoming sentimental; Rupert Graves, whose struggle toward decency never becomes cloying; Amanda Ooms, who summons up unsuspected beauty and courage from her plain face; and Ioan Gruffudd, who blossoms into beauty before the viewer's eyes. True, some old-timers may miss the more refined elegance of the original. And, of course, some cynics may see this new version as bordering on a Monty Python-type parody. But all in all, it's hard to imagine it being done better."}, {"response": 213, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (02:00)", "body": "Great analogy Karen on the red dress between Scarlet and Irene. Were that it was Ms. Leigh as Irene. What a difference an actress can make."}, {"response": 214, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (16:29)", "body": "(Saskia)It's just that she finds him repellent, emotionally, intellectually and physically. Soames wants desperately to be loved by Irene, yet he almost literally makes her sick I read another interesting passage last night that indicated how Irene did try at first to be a wife to Soames, but did find him repellent. It seems clear that when she married him, she had no idea what marriage involved, i.e. sex. If she knew it involved some kind of closeness, she didn't know what it really meant. She says that she knew the first week of marriage that she had done a terrible wrong by marrying him, that only then did she realize what a horrid mistake she had made. This makes sense because a young girl at that time often did not know anything about sex - especially if a single father had raised her. To think that she could marry him and be a wife - entertaining, keeping a home, going about, etc. is much different from marrying him and being that physically close. Part of the reason that Irene is so repressed, so sad, so devoid of emotion is that she had reached the bottom, she really gave up. She is described more than once as 'passive.' She had tried, but simply could not feel anything but disgust for Soames and she despised herself for it, she believed that she was a bad person. I think she is very depressed, almost in a fog, and then when she is able to feel 'something' for Bosinney, she is so relieved and thrilled, she doesn't care about anything else - she does want Soames to know and to let her go as he promised. It gives her courage in a way to simply know that she can feel love for someone after all. The more I read, the more I realize how perfect McKee is for this part. This woman was not a cutesy type, or a super-model type or a Southern Belle type. Someone described her (McKee as Irene) as a paragon of British upper-class beauty (at that time) - she was beautiful, not \"pretty.\" A standard issue pretty actress would be wrong. There was a mystery abou Irene, a sense that she was unattainable. The fact that she seemed emotionally withdrawn, that it was impossible to understand what was going on inside her -- these things were what made her so attractive to men rather than simply perfect features as we think of them today. BTW, there is more 'possess'/'possessing'/'possessed'/'possession' in this book than in Possession :)"}, {"response": 215, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (17:11)", "body": "(Suzee) I read another interesting passage last night that indicated how Irene did try at first to be a wife to Soames, but did find him repellent. It seems clear that when she married him, she had no idea what marriage involved, i.e. sex. I think the production has done us a huge disservice by not attempting some representation of that. It would do so much to explain that relationship which is central to so much. With that understanding of extreme depression and self-hatred, Irene (as played by McKee) is more understandable. Still annoying but understandable. And I don't think it would have taken an Andrew Davies with his single common denominator (sex) to fashion a traumatizing wedding night that would have filled in many of the weak areas. I think she is very depressed, almost in a fog, and then when she is able to feel 'something' for Bosinney, she is so relieved and thrilled, she doesn't care about anything else... It gives her courage in a way to simply know that she can feel love for someone after all. But why Bosinney? Despite the fact I think Ioan Gruffudd is a hot little firecracker, Bosinney is egotistical, despicable and very self-centered. Soames in a prettier package? Not enough to explain her night-and-day response to him. Suzee, thank you for posting what you are finding. The insights are great and it helps me to remember I almost could not get through P&P because the Mrs. Bennet character was so annoying."}, {"response": 216, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (17:32)", "body": "(Suzee)she had no idea what marriage involved, i.e. sex. If she knew it involved some kind of closeness, she didn't know what it really meant She's more of a dud than I thought.(Mc Kee was perfect casting in that light).And beats me how Galsworthy got a Nobel for this one; the pickings must have been slim that year. I think Middlemarch was much better in content and execution. I read the same thing,Suzee. Apparently Irene writes a letter at the end(!) explaining all.Too late!"}, {"response": 217, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (18:35)", "body": "Evelyn, are you reading the book now? Wasn't Middlemarch published much earlier? 1870's? I think these books are wonderful. I am amazed at how easy to read and modern the writing is. The passage in the book I referred to seemed to illuminate Irene's sadness and regret over what she had done in marrying Soames. It struck me as sort of \"if only I had known then what I found out during the first week of marriage, I wouldm't have done it.\" Girls in Victorian times were not duds if they knew nothing of sex. It often wasn't discussed. **Someone** had to explain it to them - and I don't think Step Mom was thinking enough about Irene to have that discussion. (She probably would have been afraid to bring it up after finding Soames for fear it would stop Irene from marrying him.) I haven't reached the Irene letter - guess I'm not that far yet. I'm not sure if that is in the part of the book that is the current TV show?"}, {"response": 218, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (19:04)", "body": "(Barb)I think the production has done us a huge disservice by not attempting some representation of that. It would do so much to explain that relationship which is central to so much I agree. I wonder if this was because they were afraid Soames would be seen as the only bad guy? It seems clear that both were at fault even in the book. I also wonder if any of this background will be revealed in future episodes. The way the book is written, we learn about the past at different times well into the story so it's possible. But why Bosinney? Despite the fact I think Ioan Gruffudd is a hot little firecracker, Bosinney is egotistical, despicable and very self-centered. Soames in a prettier package? Not enough to explain her night-and-day response to him. He was there??? And in IG's body?? LOL Agree about Bosinney's qualities, but then again, he is a very pretty package! I don't think this is explained even in the book, but it is clear that she is madly in love with him. Some points are made that both are artistic, that they have a lot in common. They are always deep in conversation when they are seen walking together. Maybe it was the physical attraction, which she had not felt before - and who can explain that? A good point about \"Soames in a prettier package\" because in the book, he and Bosinney are described as very much alike in many ways and that is partly why they clash all the time over building the house."}, {"response": 219, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (19:43)", "body": "(Suzee)Evelyn, are you reading the book now? Oh God no.And don't plan to. Story is strictly soap opera stuff.And I dislike all the characters;not one has a redeeming bone in his/her body. Besides, by the time I finish the TV series I will have given John Galsworthy 26 hrs of my life... I should read his book too??? (Suzee)He was there??? And in IG's body?? LOL Agree about Bosinney's qualities, but then again, he is a very pretty package! All I can say is...\"With a friend like Irene....\" She's a witch."}, {"response": 220, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (21:37)", "body": "(Suzee) I also wonder if any of this background will be revealed in future episodes. The way the book is written, we learn about the past at different times well into the story so it's possible. Interesting point. (Me) But why Bosinney? (Suzee) He was there??? And in IG's body?? LOL OK, sold. I'm a believer, I'm easy, but I'm a believer. (Evelyn) Besides, by the time I finish the TV series I will have given John Galsworthy 26 hrs of my life... I should read his book too??? LOL Evelyn, the thought occurred to me I might read the book, but now you put it that way, I guess I'd need to like some one of these people more before I'd spend more time with them."}, {"response": 221, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (22:05)", "body": "For the Gruffudd fans here, I just noticed that one of my PBS stations is running both parts of Great Expectations in about an hour and a half - starting at 12:30 am (EST)."}, {"response": 222, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sat, Oct 19, 2002 (23:39)", "body": "(Evelyn) All I can say is...\"With a friend like Irene....\" She's a witch. But one with v.g. taste in china. *thumbs up* ;-) (Barb) But why Bosinney?...Not enough to explain her night-and-day response to him. As I recall, it wasn't immediate like love at first sight based on pure physical attraction. In their case, it was a shared artistic bent and one he didn't really share with June. Irene catches his eye after the \"arty\" comment and he looks like he's sizing her up, assessing what is behind that serene facade. And so the world turns..."}, {"response": 223, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (02:38)", "body": "(Evelyn)Story is strictly soap opera stuff Oh, my. Galsworthy really was anticipatory: J.R., Sue Ellen and Bobby hangin'out at Robin Hill..."}, {"response": 224, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (09:01)", "body": "(Suzee) Oh, my. Galsworthy really was anticipatory: Apropos...I read somewhere that Galsworthy depicted Irene as the 'modern' woman who entered this Victorian family. Surely not know anything about the intimacies of marriage. Am I making this up?Anybody else read this?"}, {"response": 225, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (17:23)", "body": "(Evelyn)I read somewhere that Galsworthy depicted Irene as the 'modern' woman who entered this Victorian family Galsworthy wrote that Irene represented beauty (beauty = that which Forsytes wished to possess) and a desire for freedom. Both of those interfered with ownership and possession such as the Forsytes believed was their right. She was no modern woman when she married Soames, rather a young girl completely dependent upon her stepmother. Had she been more modern then, she would never have married him. But the instinct was there - remember, she said that she wanted to marry for love and she didn't want to be bought - and circumstances led her to become more modern in the sense that she wanted her freedom from Soames and her independence at any cost. She learned (the hard way) that being independent, even if it meant being poor, was more tolerable than belonging to, being a possession of, someone like Soames. And that's something modern women have learned, and in some cases are still learning. (I don't want to say more re Irene until more is shown in the series.)"}, {"response": 226, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (17:40)", "body": "I meant both of those things combined - beauty and a desire for freedom - interfered. Most of the other 'things' that the Forsytes owned didn't seek freedom.:)"}, {"response": 227, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (18:48)", "body": "Annual Fund Raising Newsflash for Australian Drooleurs We're making it easier and easier to make international donations. For those who haven't availed themselves of PayPal, we now have new Country Rep for Australia. Jane Scott has volunteered to collect funds on our behalf and will be able to transmit them to us when this drive is through. You may contact her directly at gaea@mailcity.com for her mailing address or other questions."}, {"response": 228, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (19:39)", "body": "(Suzee) being a possession of, someone like Soames. And that's something modern women have learned, and in some cases are still learning. I don't mean to be adversarial here...but I've known women who relished the adulation and being the center of their husband's life.If this is possession, they seemed v. happy in that role."}, {"response": 229, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (19:54)", "body": "TO KAREN, FOR ORGANIZING THIS FUNDRAISING And to Jane Scott in Australia and Lizza in UK for assisting...."}, {"response": 230, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (19:55)", "body": ""}, {"response": 231, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (19:58)", "body": "Courtesy of the New Yorker...."}, {"response": 232, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (21:43)", "body": "Oh, I so dislike both Soames and Irene now. Revoke my 'feminist sympathizer' card if you must, but what she said to June was inexcusable IMO. I was cheering for June when she stood up to her in return. And I still don't feel sorry for Irene; she knew she didn't care for Soames, much less feel the slightest bit of affection for him, when she married him. Otherwise, why would she have made him promise her freedom if it failed? The late Bosinney showed his arse as well, with the \"Why did I listen to YOU\" as he stomped out the door. I don't really like any of these folks very much, except perhaps June and Old Jolyon, who have both had their bad moments too and are now steadily working to redeem themselves. So is Young Jolyon, come to think of it. Damian Lewis is really pulling it off; he looked like unintentional evil incarnate standing at the foot of the stairs, going through her things, looking out the window when he realized she'd gone... The way he sniffed at her clothes made it very clear that he sees her as just another expensive possession, IMO, almost as though he expected to find her in the wardrobe like all his other purchased goods and chattels, a place for everything and everything in its place. God, did that morgue look like the height of authentic clean-scrubbed gloom or what?"}, {"response": 233, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (21:57)", "body": "(Evelyn)I don't mean to be adversarial here...but I've known women who relished the adulation and being the center of their husband's life.If this is possession, they seemed v. happy in that role I doubt verrrry seriously if that included women with husbands like Soames, especially husbands who raped them. Certainly I hope it doesn't. (\"Someone like Soames\" being the operative phrase in what I said.)"}, {"response": 234, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (22:15)", "body": "I was surprised that she went back. I dont' understand that woman very well, she's in shock and still wants a way out. Did Irene and Bosinney pass each other in the fog before Bosinney's death?"}, {"response": 235, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (22:23)", "body": "(Elizabeth S) Oh, I so dislike both Soames and Irene now....I don't really like any of these folks very much, Ditto to your entire statement Elizabeth. I started to copy in the applicable parts and decided to just \"ditto\". Especially Soames looking like evil incarnate. I'm not as sure though about June redeeming herself of late. Her victorious demeanor when she went to Bosinney's rooms did not make sense for me once we understood he had lost. Irene's perception of the situation, that June would believe Phil would be more willing to come back around now he had nothing, made great sense. I don't fault June so much, I don't think she is maliciously manipulative (yet, who knows what comes later,) I think she just acts and thinks in the way she's been exposed to. What is sad is that if her ploy had been successful, she would have been buying him as surely as Soames bought Irene. Does she really think so little of herself? And June's attack on the \"lifeless\" Irene, I wondered if she had been reading here? I also don't like feeling like the serpent is back in young Jolyon's garden either. I have no idea how that story line will play out but it can't be good and the saddest thing is that with all the good intentions in the world, OJ is probably going to bring great pain to his son and his family."}, {"response": 236, "author": "kathness", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (22:48)", "body": "(Barb) Her victorious demeanor when she went to Bosinney's rooms did not make sense for me once we understood he had lost. I didn't understand that at all. Why would she seem so happy (when she thought it was his footsteps she heard), knowing that he'd lost the case? Was she thinking that she'd break the bad news, and then be there to console him? And I dislike all the characters;not one has a redeeming bone in his/her body. Besides, by the time I finish the TV series I will have given John Galsworthy 26 hrs of my life... I should read his book too??? I wholeheartedly agree! Before MT's miniseries started, I thought I might read TFS, but watching this is enough to convince me that I really don't want to do there! I thought this episode was definitely the best thus far. DL is certainly doing a fine job. Thought GM was better in this episode -- actually showed a little emotion."}, {"response": 237, "author": "kathness", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (22:49)", "body": "(Barb) Her victorious demeanor when she went to Bosinney's rooms did not make sense for me once we understood he had lost. I didn't understand that at all. Why would she seem so happy (when she thought it was his footsteps she heard), knowing that he'd lost the case? Was she thinking that she'd break the bad news, and then be there to console him? And I dislike all the characters;not one has a redeeming bone in his/her body. Besides, by the time I finish the TV series I will have given John Galsworthy 26 hrs of my life... I should read his book too??? I wholeheartedly agree! Before MT's miniseries started, I thought I might read TFS, but watching this is enough to convince me that I really don't want to go there! I thought this episode was definitely the best thus far. DL is certainly doing a fine job. Thought GM was better in this episode -- actually showed a little emotion."}, {"response": 238, "author": "kathness", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (22:50)", "body": "Oops. Sorry!!"}, {"response": 239, "author": "Rika", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (23:30)", "body": "It was nice to see more of Rupert Graves tonight. YJ and June are my favorites, even if they both have their own flaws. (Kathy) Thought GM was better in this episode -- actually showed a little emotion. Here and there she did, but I still wasn't impressed. At the end when Soames (can he spell \"denial\"?) was prattling on about a new start, shouldn't her face have shown pain, hatred, revulsion, disbelief.... something? The camera sat there on her forever, so I assume there was supposed to be some sort of emotional reaction, but I didn't see one. By contrast, I was impressed by the woman playing the housekeeper, who had to communicate her distress as the observer of some terrible events, yet whose job required her to maintain outer calm and detachment. DL is certainly doing a fine job. He sure is. Soames is cold - almost reptilian - much of the time, and yet we get glimpses of something underneath. And it's fascinating that Soames seems to be totally unaware of how despicable his behavior is. Of course, back then they wouldn't have acknowledged that it was possible to rape one's wife, right? So in his mind he was asserting his rights, not committing an atrocity."}, {"response": 240, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (00:12)", "body": "(Rika) At the end when Soames (can he spell \"denial\"?) was prattling on about a new start, shouldn't her face have shown pain, hatred, revulsion, disbelief.... something? The camera sat there on her forever, so I assume there was supposed to be some sort of emotional reaction, but I didn't see one. True, she looked rather like she was sucking on a lemon, or perhaps trying to dislodge some particle of food from her teeth. Yet prior to that scene, she had actually managed to achieve tears. Perhaps I was being too kind earlier. I'm trying to find something positive in all this. (Rika) Soames is cold - almost reptilian - much of the time, and yet we get glimpses of something underneath. And it's fascinating that Soames seems to be totally unaware of how despicable his behavior is...back then they wouldn't have acknowledged that it was possible to rape one's wife, right? So in his mind he was asserting his rights, not committing an atrocity. Definitely! Watching him undress, I looked for something in his face that would indicate he understood the violence of his intended actions. There was nothing. It was merely Soames' usual \"you're my wife\" mentality."}, {"response": 241, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (00:37)", "body": "(Rika) shouldn't her face have shown pain, hatred, revulsion, disbelief.... something? The camera sat there on her forever, so I assume there was supposed to be some sort of emotional reaction, but I didn't see one. I saw a tear fall from her left (I think) eye. You could only see it very briefly at one angle. When the camera moved you couldn't see it, and matter of fact, when she was shot from the side, just before she started up the stairs again, her face looked dry. A little continuity faux pas to me. Soames is cold - almost reptilian - much of the time, and yet we get glimpses of something underneath. I was impressed how he looked as if he was going to cry, either from sadness or anger, but stifled it, when he was in her room after reading that note she left."}, {"response": 242, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (00:56)", "body": "Wonderfully dramatic episode! I really think GMcK did some fine work, consistent with her \"stone-line\" character (as June said) and DL was superb as well. Could anyone be more odious? Doubtful. The rape scene was gut-wrenching to watch and who wouldn't have pitied Irene for that one scene alone. However, I too found it impossible to believe that she would return to the house, after Bosinney was killed and YJ offered to help her out either by taking her in or putting her up in a hotel. Surely, someone who had experienced love and made a commitment to a lover to leave her husband could not return. Yes, her world was turned upside down and she might again feel like she had no alternatives, but sheesh (!!) hadn't she learned anything for being with Soames all those years? Hadn't she figured out that she should've tried to work for a living instead of going with marriage. Uggghhhh! That last scene was also unbelievable from the standpoint of the cuckolded husband. Even though Soames viewed her as a possession, wouldn't most husbands slam the door in her face? Then, Soames' words on the stairs. Good gracious, someone put this man in an institution! All working out for the best? They would have another chance? He's from another planet. He has lost all sense of reality. *shiver* And Irene's reaction to that was in keeping with her retreat to stony facades. Disbelief and disdain tucked under the surface. While she was still in shock, if I were she and heard my odious husband say those things, I probably would've catapulted myself at him, hoping to break his neck! You know it's good when it engenders such emotional responses. BTW, I thought June nailed it, when she told Irene off."}, {"response": 243, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (07:37)", "body": "A decent guide to the series: http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-7197/"}, {"response": 244, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (09:00)", "body": "Why would she[June] seem so happy (when she thought it was his footsteps she heard), knowing that he'd lost the case? She still loved Bosinney...any excuse to just be near him. Like any woman in love. Great dramatic acting here. Rape scene was painful to watch. But I've seen worse (\"Sunshine\" with RF and JE. Gut wrenching). Even though Soames viewed her as a possession, wouldn't most husbands slam the door in her face? I dunno...now she's his captive as well. He knows what a weakling she is. Any woman with intelligence and self-respect would have taken Young J. up on his offer to come to his home for a while and get her life together. But no, she goes back Soames.. knowing what's in store for her. I 'm supposed to have sympathy for this woman? Reptilian is a word used a lot in the reviews to describe Soames. LOL he was such a nice guy in BoB. Some actor! Anybody else get confused with all those old men..all have beards and chops. Is June going to be the martyr in this story...never marry? How about that fog? You don't see that often in current Brit movies.Just the old ones with Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor! Sorry IG checked out so fast.Barely half-way through."}, {"response": 245, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (09:24)", "body": "(Karen) And Irene's reaction to that was in keeping with her retreat to stony facades. Disbelief and disdain tucked under the surface. I'm glad you can see those things under the surface - I want to, but I just just don't, and it's why GM isn't doing it for me in this role. I don't expect her to throw screaming fits like she did at Bosinney's club, but her eyes seem vacant to me most of the time, and the eyes should be the place where her repressed emotions sneak out. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the expressive eyes of a certain actor and so my expectations are too high. :-) (Evelyn) Anybody else get confused with all those old men..all have beards and chops. Oh, thank goodness it isn't just me. I need them all to line up in a row with name badges so I can learn to tell them apart. Any woman with intelligence and self-respect would have taken Young J. up on his offer to come to his home for a while and get her life together. I had a shred of respect for her when she gave her reason for not doing so - out of consideration for June - though it's a little late to start thinking about June's feelings. But going back to Soames was a potentially dangerous choice, considering what he'd done to her even before she left him for another man. Certainly she must know that she can expect, at minimum, more of the same, and maybe worse."}, {"response": 246, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (09:46)", "body": "(Evelyn) Anybody else get confused with all those old men..all have beards and chops. Other than OJ and Soames father (James??), what other ones were there? Surely all the clerks in the law offices didn't confuse you or the members of the club. Now, that tall blonde guy, I believe his name is George, and who is at all family functions and was at the court with Dartie...he's a character! Ever listen to the stuff that comes out fo his mouth? Is he related to someone or just a friend? (Rika) I don't expect her to throw screaming fits like she did at Bosinney's club, but her eyes seem vacant to me most of the time Normally, I'd agree but I thought she really shined in this episode in those scenes where she had to express pain (still deficient in the love dept IMO). At Bosinney's club, I thought the way her grief finally slowly and painfully seeped out was wonderful. The stony-faced one was cracking, despite how hard she tried to keep it in. But by the time she got home, she was done, empty of all feelings, drained, until Soames welcomed her home with his hopes for a new beginning. The expression on her face was disbelief and disdain for this man."}, {"response": 247, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (09:59)", "body": "(Rika)I'm glad you can see those things under the surface - I want to, but I just just don't. Agreed. June had the best lines last night when she told her, \"Don't just stand there like a stone statue\" (am paraphrsaing), and \"I'd like to shake some like into you.\" I'm not sure if it's Gina McK's failure or a failing of the script. Where's Irene's stepmother in all this? She shoved her into marriage and isn't available now to give her any support. (Karen)That last scene was also unbelievable from the standpoint of the cuckolded husband. Even though Soames viewed her as a possession, wouldn't most husbands slam the door in her face? He loves her irrationally. There's no logic to it."}, {"response": 248, "author": "Tress", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (10:10)", "body": "(Barb S) I'm not as sure though about June redeeming herself of late. Her victorious demeanor when she went to Bosinney's rooms did not make sense for me once we understood he had lost. I think June went there because she thought that w/o money or prospects for the future, he may feel vulnerable...realize that he needed her. She knew the gossip about Irene, and I'm sure she may have thought that Bosinney might think that a woman like Irene would never be with him w/o cash or a future. I think she was trying to win/buy his love back. She was desperate...not calculating (IMO). So in love with a man who would not return her love (just like Soames and Irene). (Rika) But going back to Soames was a potentially dangerous choice, considering what he'd done to her even before she left him for another man. Very dangerous choice. I think she was acting very much like an abused spouse. You always wonder why they go back to their abusers. I think she just had too much to deal with....Emotionally she felt drained (after being raped, after her confrontation with June, learning that Bosinney had lost the case, finding out that Bosinney had been killed...all within 24 hours...it is a lot to deal with and process). I do agree with June's comment about her 'sucking the life out of others' (sorry, I can't remember her exact words). It's as if she lacks some ability to feel, and is attracted to those who can 'do it for her' (Bossiney is described as the Buccaneer by the family, and has that 'artistic temperment'). Soames is too like Irene for her to love....nothing to'suck the life out of'....."}, {"response": 249, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (10:14)", "body": "(Mari) I'm not sure if it's Gina McK's failure or a failing of the script. With June's comment (which I thought was great as well), doesn't that tell you Irene is supposed to be emotionless on the exterior? I thought the way GMK cracked was right on the money for a person like that and then she turned back into stone again. He loves her irrationally. There's no logic to it. OK, but he has reacted logically by going after the lover and trying to take her away. He would have to have absolutely no ego or self-esteem to take her back in given everyone's knowledge of Irene's affair. Sorry but it doesn't seem realistic to me. How many years can a person go on trying to gain someone's love without realizing it is a hopeless case? At some point (like this one), he would have to come to the realization."}, {"response": 250, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (10:43)", "body": "(Tress)...sucking the life out of Great comment, rang true for me when I heard it. (Karen) With June's comment (which I thought was great as well), doesn't that tell you Irene is supposed to be emotionless on the exterior? I thought the way GMK cracked was right on the money ... Agreed. In fact, I hate that I can't remember his exact words, but the camera is on her and he says something like \"just like it was\" (?) and that single tear falls down her face...her first evidence of emotional response that affected me. Regarding going back to Soames at all...I thought it rather pathetically underscored the total nothingness that was left for her and the fact that none of it mattered anyway, sort of \"if I'm dead already, I might as well be here as not.\" That Soames took her back at all I have more trouble with, though as with the court case, for him, it must be the principle of the thing. It will be apparent to society he has won at all costs, but he becomes a pathetic picture into the bargain. What price victory?"}, {"response": 251, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (10:57)", "body": "ITV shortens 'highbrow' Forsyte Saga By Chris Hastings and Charlotte Edwardes (Filed: 23/09/2001) ITV has scrapped plans to film a complete version of the The Forsyte Saga fearing that the programme could prove too highbrow for viewers. Despite the fact that the BBC made one of the most celebrated British drama series ever screened when it based a series on the John Galsworthy books in 1967, ITV is concerned that modern audiences might not be gripped by the sprawling drama of the Forsyte family between 1879 and 1926. The commercial channel, which originally announced that it was to spend \ufffd14 million on an adaptation of the nine-volume story, will now film only six episodes, which will cover the first two books. The programme makers will then wait to judge audience reaction before committing themselves to any further episodes. ITV announced plans for a new adaptation in August 2000. It did not say it was a partial adaptation. At the time, Simon Lewis, the controller of drama, said: \"These novels are as relevant and entertaining as when they were first adapted in the 1960s. We are convinced the combination of sex, power and money will again make great drama.\" The adaptation will compound fears that ITV has abandoned its commitment to quality drama in the face of pressure from advertisers to come up with undemanding popular entertainment. The show is being produced by Granada, the Manchester company that won international acclaim in the early 1980s for its adaptations of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Scott's four novels, which were filmed as The Jewel In The Crown, were adapted in their entirety. The plan to film only the first two books has infuriated the family of John Galsworthy, who only learnt of the changes last week. They are worried that the new version, which stars Corin Redgrave, Gina McKee and Damian Lewis, will not compare well with the BBC version. In 1967, the cast list included Kenneth More, Michael York and Nyree Dawn Porter. The series gave Susan Hampshire her first big role. Jocelyn Galsworthy, the author's great-niece said: \"It seems very strange that they now won't make the complete series. \"I think it shows an overall lack of confidence in the project. They have got the BBC adaptation hanging over their heads and I think they know they can't compete with it.\" Miss Goldsworthy has been in contact with the producers to express concern about the way characters in the novels will be treated.\"It's only a gut feeling but I don't think the new version will work,\" she said. \"I think there will be a tendency to make it raunchier and with lots of sex, and I think that will prove fatal.\" Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, who is Galsworthy's literary agent, told The Telegraph: \"I am also worried how the producers will treat some of the characters in the novels. The rape of Irene Forsyte is a crucial part of the story and was brilliantly handled by the BBC. In the original it was touched on very slightly and very delicately. I just have a feeling it won't be like that this time around.\" A spokesman for Granada defended the decision to wait and see how the audience reacted to the first instalment. \"It is the way things are done today,\" she said. Zita Williams, who is the producing the current adaptation, said: \"I am sure the programme will prove popular with viewers. There is a feeling that the audience is ready for something different. This show will provide that. The books and the original BBC adaptation are like national treasures but I think people are genuinely delighted we are pushing ahead with this.\" Comparisons with the original black-and-white BBC version will be hard to avoid. The 26-part series attracted six million viewers for its first showing on BBC2; the second, on BBC1, attracted up to 18 million viewers. The adaptation also drew a global audience of more than 160 million. Hampshire, who played Fleur in the original BBC adaptation, told The Telegraph: \"ITV, probably quite rightly, think the first few books are more powerful and easier to adapt, but having said that, the BBC decided to do the entire series and they had a tremendous success with it. \"Everyone who had a speaking role had a major role. As a result they were very committed to the project and that was part of the reason for its success. My character will not even appear in this version.\""}, {"response": 252, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (11:03)", "body": "Is it just me, or does anyone else think that young Jolyon is slightly taken be Irene? They way she looked at him before she enters the house... she's trouble."}, {"response": 253, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (11:37)", "body": "*******Make sure you note that the article was written in 2001********* (lit agent) \"I am also worried how the producers will treat some of the characters in the novels. The rape of Irene Forsyte is a crucial part of the story and was brilliantly handled by the BBC. In the original it was touched on very slightly and very delicately. I just have a feeling it won't be like that this time around.\" But that was 35 years ago, when that *couldn't* be shown on television. To me, what is more important than a comparison with an old TV show is how did Galsworthy treat it in the novel. If it was \"crucial\" as he says, then I doubt it was glossed over. Seems a little contradictory to me and typical of someone who is apprehensive, has reservations, is an old fogey, etc. ;-) Since other articles have said nothing in the book is expressed through Irene's POV, how was the rape handled?"}, {"response": 254, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (12:19)", "body": "(Tress)So in love with a man who would not return her[June] love (just like Soames and Irene) Good one Tress....You got the exact comparison tht Galsworthy is telling us. Didn't you like when Irene tells June....\"Your friendship is what saved me\". With that pathetic look on her face. Awwww. She was never contrite..like \"it was fate and I couldn't help it.\" Think Galsworthy is peaking through June? I get Soames father and OJ mixed up.(Duh...they're brothers.) LOL That's why I thought at first Young J and Soames were brothers. I know, I know...I'm thick."}, {"response": 255, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (15:10)", "body": "Re \"ITV shortens 'highbrow' Forsyte Saga\" - can't remember if I posted the follow-up, but the decision to go ahead with the second part was given as soon as the first week's ratings (UK) were so good. (Karen) is an old fogey, etc. ;-) Hee,hee... BTW, if you go to the TV Tome link, there are huge ***spoilers*** in the blurb with the \"Welcome\" - be careful!!!!"}, {"response": 256, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (15:50)", "body": "(Terry)I was surprised that she went back. I dont' understand that woman very well, (Karen) However, I too found it impossible to believe that she would return to the house, (Evelyn)Any woman with intelligence and self-respect would have taken Young J. up on his offer (Rika) I had a shred of respect for her when she gave her reason for not doing so - out of consideration for June - (Barb) Regarding going back to Soames at all...I thought it rather pathetically underscored the total nothingness that was left for her and the fact that none of it mattered anyway, sort of \"if I'm dead already, I might as well be here as not I think Barb has the idea as we are supposed to get it, but again this is changed slightly from the book and I'm not sure why. The rewrite gave us the great scene of Irene going through the club - my heart was in my throat - but still. In the book Soames goes home and finds her sitting there like a \"wounded animal\" who crawled back because she didn't know what else to do. Looking at her then is what absolutely convinces him that she had slept with Bosinney. We are not told how she got there and he assumes she found out about the death some way - heard it on the street or read it, etc. They don't talk, everything is happening in Soames head. Meanwhile, OJ and YJ decide they should try to help Irene, that she should not be \"alone\" in that house and YJ goes to the house. Soames tell YJ that his wife can see no one. YJ catches a glimpse of Irene in the hall and then Soames says, \"This is my house. I manage my own affairs. I've told you once - I tell you again, we are not at home.\" Then he slams the oor in YJ's face. That's the end of the book!!!! Ack! I'm glad I wasn't reading then with no second book to read. Galsworthy made his point, but I would have thrown something at him instead of Soames. Sort a GWTW ending without the hope of tomorrow-is-another-day. The TV ending is harder to understand except for the June part and the fact that Irene for all purposes is \"dead.\" (Of course, personally, if YJ looked at me with those eyes, I would have gone wherever he suggested. LOL)"}, {"response": 257, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (16:08)", "body": "Suzee, thanks for your insights from the book. While it's true I'll probably never read it, it is still interesting to see the comparisons. Thanks!"}, {"response": 258, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (16:10)", "body": "(Karen)With June's comment (which I thought was great as well), doesn't that tell you Irene is supposed to be emotionless on the exterior? Maybe I didn't explain my comment well. I meant that I didn't know if it was McKee's or the script's fault that the viewer doesn't have a more sympathetic view of Irene (as presumably a reader of the book does, or at least it appears that way from the postings here). (Moon)Is it just me, or does anyone else think that young Jolyon is slightly taken be Irene? God knows why. What is there to like? She has no personality that I can discern. I think Young J felt pity for her. But I wouldn't put it past him to take up with her; would be as realistic as anything else in this series.;-)"}, {"response": 259, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (16:39)", "body": "Suzee, the June/Irene confrontation isn't in the book? (Suzee) Soames tell YJ that his wife can see no one. YJ catches a glimpse of Irene in the hall and then Soames says, \"This is my house. I manage my own affairs. I've told you once - I tell you again, we are not at home.\" Then he slams the door in YJ's face. That's the end of the book!!! That would have been the end of BCC too."}, {"response": 260, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (16:40)", "body": "Thanks Suzee for the detail from the book. That certainly is different and makes her appear even more pathetic than I already view her. OK, now I'm getting militant!! Doesn't she know anybody in London? See what you get for only befriending a relative who you then betray? (Soames) \"This is my house. I manage my own affairs. I've told you once - I tell you again, we are not at home.\" And he manages them so well. BTW, I loved that Irene left that note in the jewelry box. What a great touch. (Mari) the viewer doesn't have a more sympathetic view of Irene I thought we'd all come to the conclusion that there were no wholly sympathetic characters in the entire series. ;-) So, Suzee, tell us about the rape scene in the book. Did Bosinney know about it?"}, {"response": 261, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (16:43)", "body": "(Karen)that last scene was also unbelievable from the standpoint of the cuckolded husband. Even though Soames viewed her as a possession, wouldn't most husbands slam the door in her face? (Mari)He loves her irrationally. There's no logic to it I think you said it earlier Karen: \"someone put this man in an institution! He's from another planet. He has lost all sense of reality.\" So true. His thoughts are going round in his head and are all over the place -I should turn her out, I should divorce her/I should let her go, she's suffered enough/ I could make a slave of her, she's under my power now. But in the end he can't do anything and just wonders why he should have to suffer - what have I done, it's not my fault, etc. She is his property and that's that. He's not capable of making rational decisions. Ohhh, and the rape and the way he says at the end \"If only it could always be like this.\" GOG, This man needs help, except I'm not convinced he can be helped!! But I do love Old Jolyn! Someday, I'm going to make a list of my favorite OJ moments. Last night: when he took his will and his business away from the family firm/when he said Soames wouldn't know how to spell \"principle\"/when he said \"She'll be waiting\" and let it hang there while they all knew it meant Irene but all pretended it meant June! Oh, and when he told YJ that he (YJ) was even less of a Forstye than he'd thought and then said he was grateful for that! OJ has come a long way!!! I thought some of the moments last night between YJ and his wife were touching, too. At least it's clear they really love each other and it seems to be lasting."}, {"response": 262, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (16:59)", "body": "(Suzee) At least it's clear they really love each other and it seems to be lasting. ******knocking on wood real hard******** (Moon)Is it just me, or does anyone else think that young Jolyon is slightly taken be Irene? SSSsss sss said the serpent in the garden...."}, {"response": 263, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (17:27)", "body": "The rape scene is told in Soames thoughts, too, but it's pretty much as shown. And his thoughts go 'round and 'round again, but he convinces himself that he did the right thing and has problably saved the marriage by doing it. Guy can convince himself of anything. George Forsyte is out in the fog and sees Bosinney and Irene talking at the train station, both looking awful. Then Bosinney runs off into the night, muttering and stumbling and George follows, knowing something is wrong and thinking to help him. George hears enough to know what happened between Irene and Soames and to figure out that Bosinney is going after Soames (which rather pleases him as he can't stand Soames either). It's clear that Bosinney is extremely agitated as he crosses from side to side of the street without paying any attention to what is around him. Then George loses him. The next thing we know is that B doesn't show up for the trial."}, {"response": 264, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (17:32)", "body": "(Barb)SSSssssss said the serpent in the garden... LOL!"}, {"response": 265, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (18:05)", "body": "(Evelyn)the June/Irene confrontation isn't in the book? It is. And June thinks ahead of time that B will lose the case and makes her plans. (Nice as she is, she's still a Forsyte!) She also thinks or hopes that he will not show up in court to defend himself. As soon as she hears he has lost she goes to his room - she is there first and there for a purpose and she does not intend to fail. June is even pleased to see lots of dust because that tells her he has had to give up his maid, plus she notes all the missing (pawned) items. Clearly he will need June's help (read: money). Then Irene comes in. June is enraged because she still thinks B will come soon and doesn't want Irene there when he does. The rest is much the same except there's no slap (and June tells Irene she has no right to be there and Irene says I have no right anywhere - was that in the show?) Basically the conversation is the same. Irene leaves, June is confused about what that means- she goes to the door and says come back but Irene is gone. That's it."}, {"response": 266, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (18:16)", "body": "(Karen) thought we'd all come to the conclusion that there were no wholly sympathetic characters in the entire series. ;-) I'm not asking for her to be \"wholly\" sympathetic. Even slightly would do. (Suzee)His thoughts are going round in his head and are all over the place -I should turn her out, I should divorce her/I should let her go, she's suffered enough/ I could make a slave of her, But we see none of this in the series, at least not so far. Maybe it's in the book, but it sure ain't on the screen."}, {"response": 267, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (18:39)", "body": "(Suzee) At least it's clear they really love each other and it seems to be lasting. (Barb)******knocking on wood real hard******** ROTF.My sentiments exactly, Barb.Too lovey-dovey in my books. ...how about the detective suggesting B. death could have been a suicide. What's he getting at? I think Irene lacks street- smarts at best.Actually, this woman has never made a decision and doesn't know how.Clearly Soames didn't fall in love with her for her intelligence or wit....or bod."}, {"response": 268, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (19:42)", "body": "(Dorine) I saw tear fall from her left (I think) eye. You could only see it very briefly at one angle. When the camera moved you couldn't see it, and matter of fact, when she was shot from the side, just before she started up the stairs again, her face looked dry. A little continuity faux pas to me . I watched her eyes fill with tears and then overflow on one side, tear rolling down her face. Quick cut - another shot of her face just briefly before she turns to go upstairs -- and no tears. Definitely bad continuity!!! Didn't the editor see this? Or director? Or someone? (Karen) Now, that tall blonde guy, I believe his name is George, and who is at all family functions and was at the court with Dartie...he's a character! Ever listen to the stuff that comes out fo his mouth? Is he related to someone or just a friend? Tall George, a \"sardonic\" sort and follower of Bosinney, is Soames cousin, son of Roger, nephew of Old Jolyon and of James and Swithin (James' chubbier twin), Timothy, Ann, Hester and Juley. (I think! LOL) (BTW, George tells Dartie about following B and part of what he heard. He refuses to name the woman [Irene], but Dartie knows anyway.)"}, {"response": 269, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (19:55)", "body": "(Me)At least it's clear they really love each other and it seems to be lasting. (Barb)******knocking on wood real hard******** (Evelyn) ROTF.My sentiments exactly, Barb.Too lovey-dovey in my books . Too lovey dovey? Is this the same romantic Evelyn who said \" I've known women who relished the adulation and being the center of their husband's life\"? ;-)"}, {"response": 270, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (20:21)", "body": "(Suzee) At least it's clear they really love each other and it seems to be lasting (Barb)******knocking on wood real hard******** (Evelyn) Too lovey-dovey in my books. At the risk of sounding dense, why is this a bad thing? Is it because he already left one woman for another and you think he'll probably do it again?"}, {"response": 271, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (20:23)", "body": "(Suzee)Is this the same romantic Evelyn who said \"I've known women who relished the adulation and being the center of their husband's life\"? ;-) LOL."}, {"response": 272, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (20:42)", "body": "(Dorine) At the risk of sounding dense, why is this a bad thing? Is it because he already left one woman for another and you think he'll probably do it again? No, I think it's because they're tempting the gods by being happy. In stories like this you're better off being only mildly happy - anything more than that and you're probably being set up for a big fall."}, {"response": 273, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (21:04)", "body": "(Rika) No, I think it's because they're tempting the gods by being happy. In stories like this you're better off being only mildly happy - anything more than that and you're probably being set up for a big fall. What she said. It's like this...see, I'm a recruiter, I've got this location we can't keep fully staffed to save my soul. And G*d help us, when we get close, WE DON'T SAY IT! It's a karma thing, you don't tempt fate (sorry, returning from meaningless real life digression....) and he's a Forsyte and the fates are laying in wait for him."}, {"response": 274, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (21:50)", "body": "(Barb) WE DON'T SAY IT! It's a karma thing, you don't tempt fate LOL! I do the same thing! And you're right they are asking for trouble just by being happy. But they have had quite a long time together. BTW, when was this filmed? I saw RG in The Elephant Man on B'way a few months ago and he wasn't looking as adorable in that as he is in TFS. He looks much thinner in the series."}, {"response": 275, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (22:04)", "body": "(Karen) BTW, I loved that Irene left that note in the jewelry box. What a great touch. IMO, the best thing Irene has done thus far! (Dorine) At the risk of sounding dense, why is this a bad thing? Is it because he already left one woman for another and you think he'll probably do it again? That's exactly what I was thinking. This is, unfortunately, usually the way it goes in real life. Once a man has found a way to rationalize dumping one wife, it's even easier to dump a second (or a third, fourth...)."}, {"response": 276, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (22:30)", "body": "(Dorine) I saw RG in The Elephant Man on B'way a few months ago and he wasn't looking as adorable in that as he is in TFS. He looks much thinner in the series I read a recent interview in which RG said he gained weight after he stopped smoking and had to start going to the gym to work it off. Apparently, he has lost the weight and is still not smoking. So hurray for quitting the ciggies. (I saw photos of TEM, though - he still looked pretty good to me. :)"}, {"response": 277, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (22:41)", "body": "(Dorine) And you're right they are asking for trouble just by being happy. But they have had quite a long time together. Ah, but I'm worried that is a masterful attempt to lull us into a false sense of security! I REALLY have not seen any spoilers and did not see the old story, I promise, but we have lovely, lonely OJ making reconciliation overtures to YJ, we have YJ and Helene making a glowing restatement of their devotion to one another and we have YJ playing 'knight-in-shining-armor' when Irene's world comes crashing down around her. And he's an artist (pardon me, is that a prejudice showing?) I hope I am wrong. I'm sorry to be severe on them (and such a cynic), but there it is."}, {"response": 278, "author": "Rika", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (00:43)", "body": "Barb, I hope you're wrong too, but I worried about that when I watched the last episode, and I hadn't even connected the dots to the fact that he's (gasp) an artist."}, {"response": 279, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (09:06)", "body": "(Suzee) Someday, I'm going to make a list of my favorite OJ moments. I'd put the Bronco chase scene near the top of the list. ;-) One of the many irrationalities of Soames' behavior stems from the length of time they've been married. Isn't it like nine years? (or am I recalling another interval flashed on the screen?) Love is irrational, as Mari says, but realistically, how long does a person go on thinking he can make his wife love him when she's been rejecting him for that long? Unless he's hoping for her to get a brain injury, trauma or amnesia, her feelings wouldn't change and would only get worse. *shaking head* (Moon)Is it just me, or does anyone else think that young Jolyon is slightly taken be Irene? I didn't see anything except concern. However--and I've been avoiding spoiler information like the plague--I have heard a smidgen about what will transpire and am not a happy camper. (Suzee) And his thoughts go 'round and 'round again, but he convinces himself that he did the right thing and has problably saved the marriage by doing it. Guy can convince himself of anything. Lordy, lordy!! Even Rhett was ashamed of his *ungentlemanly* behavior the next morning. (Rika) I think it's because they're tempting the gods by being happy. In stories like this you're better off being only mildly happy - anything more than that and you're probably being set up for a big fall. Excellent observation. Ya' see, these formulas have been around for a long time."}, {"response": 280, "author": "ChgoRed", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (09:34)", "body": "(Dorine) BTW, when was this filmed? They filmed this in the fall of 2001. In fact, according to the Damian interview on the PBS Web site, they filmed the rape scene on September 11. From the interview: Is it very difficult to do a scene like that? Yes, it's horrible to do. And it was all the more horrible because we happened to be filming it on September 11th. Gina and I were doing this harrowing scene as news was filtering in about what was happening in New York. It was a very weird, very upsetting day. We were just acting, and meanwhile this real thing was going on."}, {"response": 281, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (11:15)", "body": "(Karen) Lordy, lordy!! Even Rhett was ashamed of his *ungentlemanly* behavior the next morning. Esp since he was drunk. Did anyone think the ruby necklace was a way of saying \"I'm sorry\". (Heinous crime, I'm not defending him)"}, {"response": 282, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (11:17)", "body": "And so was Soames. (Evelyn) Did anyone think the ruby necklace was a way of saying \"I'm sorry\". If it were anybody else but Soames, then yes. But since it was Soames, he was probably giving her the gift to thank her for lovely evening. ;-) And as an inducement for more. See what you get, girlie, if you let me into your bedroom?"}, {"response": 283, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (11:25)", "body": "(Karen) See what you get, girlie, if you let me into your bedroom? ACK! Yuckpoo, nasty taste in my mouth on that one. You're right though...had not given much thought to his motivation but that sure rings true....but gawd, now I need to go wash."}, {"response": 284, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (11:33)", "body": "And being the twisted person he was, Soames would interpret Irene's door being unlocked that night as an invitation. :-("}, {"response": 285, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (12:56)", "body": "(Suzee)The rape scene is told in Soames thoughts, too, but it's pretty much as shown. And his thoughts go 'round and 'round again, but he convinces himself that he did the right thing and has probably saved the marriage by doing it. Guy can convince himself of anything. This is a passage from the novel concerning some of Soames thoughts and actions as he tried to set about the routine of his life the day after the rape. In his corner of the first-class compartment filled with City men the smothered sobbing still haunted him, so he opened the Times with the rich crackle that drowns all lesser sounds, and, barricaded behind it, set himself steadily to con the news. He read that a Recorder had charged a grand jury on the previous day with a more than usually long list of offences. He read of three murders, five manslaughters, seven arsons, and as many as eleven rapes--a surprisingly high number--in addition to many less conspicuous crimes, to be tried during a coming Sessions; and from one piece of news he went on to another, keeping the paper well before his face. Maybe somebody here can clarify this for me. Under the law of the time Soames, in fact, wouldn't have been seen as someone who committed a rape. His acts might have been sanctioned by the law and society at large. Is it a fact that Soames would've been considered within his rights to have beaten Irene with a stick no thicker than his thumb, if he'd chosen? (Moon in quote from Telegraph article)Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, who is Galsworthy's literary agent,...\"The rape of Irene Forsyte is a crucial part of the story and was brilliantly handled by the BBC. In the original it was touched on very slightly and very delicately. I just have a feeling it won't be like that this time around.\" Here's a link from an Eric Porter fansite. It's of how the rape was handled in the BBC's adaptation of The Forsyte Saga. A word of warning about exploring this site though, it does have lots of spoilers about upcoming plot developments. So if you don't want to know what's in store for the Forsytes, you might be advised to not check around the site at large. Again here's the link. http://www.ceejbot.com/EricPorter/Forsyte/episode_06/episode_06.end.mov For those of you who have trouble loading it, please try this. http://www.apple.com/quicktime/"}, {"response": 286, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (13:26)", "body": "(Saskia) Under the law of the time Soames, in fact, wouldn't have been seen as someone who committed a rape. Quite right but the distinction I think still holds between what is legal and what is morally right. They are married and he can do with her what he likes, pretty much. Interesting site. I didn't play the clips (or check around for other chapters), but there are screen caps of Chapter 6 here: http://www.ceejbot.com/EricPorter/Forsyte/episode06.php and under the rape bits, you see Soames dialogue: \"Any man can have you, is that it? Well, I can too! You're my wife!\" Here is some Commentary on that episode: This is the episode that shocked the television viewership of the UK. We see Soames at his darkest, allowing sexual jealousy to spill over into business decisions (suing Bosinney despite the certainty that he'll lose the money and the costs, because Bosinney will go bankrupt), and into an act of violence that will reverberate through the rest of his life. And yet we feel a little sorry for him, because he clearly cares for Irene, though he has no way to express that caring. The rape is not depicted directly in the novel, but is instead described indirectly by a nervous Galsworthy. The hints are that it was much less violent than the shocking act Eric Porter gives us. The television depiction of the rape has its genesis in a scene from the novel, in which Soames watches Irene come home, give a donation to an organ grinder, and enter the house. He complains about her blouse and demands to know where she's been. The novel scene ends with Soames wondering why he doesn't follow Irene up the stairs, and being prevented by his awareness that she'd just come from Bosinney. The television script takes off from that point, getting energy from the barely controlled sexual violence of Porter's earlier portrayals of Soames. We get a hint of the psychology with his shouted dialog: \"Any man can have you, is that it? Well, I can too! You're my wife!\" He has previously explained away her aversion to him as frigidity. Faced with the knowledge that she is not frigid, and has given herself willing to another man, Soames concludes that she is in fact promiscuous, and is denying him out of malice. The attraction of his rival Bosinney is minimized in this view. Or something like that. The camera catches a bloodstain on Irene's blouse in the assault. The blood is actually Eric Porter's. While ripping off Irene's blouse, he gashed his hand on her brooch. Nyree Dawn Porter later said, \"I didn't have any difficulty putting on a horrified expression. When I looked down and saw blood, I thought: 'What has he done to me?'\" In reading what you posted from the book, Soames was indeed bothered by the events of the night before (sobbing that haunted him), but he wasn't about to let it continue. His choice of reading (all the murders, etc.) seemed to put it into perspective, as not so bad."}, {"response": 287, "author": "Moon", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (14:16)", "body": "(Saskia) Under the law of the time Soames, in fact, wouldn't have been seen as someone who committed a rape. (Karen, And being the twisted person he was, Soames would interpret Irene's door being unlocked that night as an invitation. :-( So in Soames eyes, he did not rape her."}, {"response": 288, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (14:49)", "body": "(Me)Someday, I'm going to make a list of my favorite OJ moments. (Karen)I'd put the Bronco chase scene near the top of the list That list is already complete. Check the archives for Old Topic 666. ;) (Moon)Is it just me, or does anyone else think that young Jolyon is slightly taken be Irene? (Karen)I didn't see anything except concern. However--and I've been avoiding spoiler information like the plague--I have heard a smidgen about what will transpire and am not a happy camper Rumors, rumors, rumors... what is the old saying about repeating rumors? (Evelyn) Did anyone think the ruby necklace was a way of saying \"I'm sorry You are looking for the pony?;-) I think he had \"reclaimed\" her as his wife, his property and this is what one did - part of keeping one's property looking it's best. I'm going to look again, but I thought the rape scene was handled well in this version - especially considering what you see on film today. The camera work was excellent - my strongest images are of Irene trying to get away, Soames slamming her against the wall and of her sobbing and covering her face with her hands. I still think the creepiest part was Soames' whispered, \"Why can't it always be like this?\" (Something he overheard on the street - he could only \"mirror\" real people and didn't even know which ones to copy.) Ugh. Joining Barb in the washroom now. (Karen)I thought we'd all come to the conclusion that there were no wholly sympathetic characters in the entire series. ;-) Well, there is one wholly sympathetic, beautifully written character who never lets us down --- Balthasar, the dog."}, {"response": 289, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (15:43)", "body": "The thing about Soames that sometimes makes him almost (**almost**) sympathetic is that he is truly handicapped. He is like a mildly retarded person caught between two worlds. He knows enough to know he isn't completely normal, but he doesn't know enough to be any other way. He can't quite grasp what is wrong. So there is 'something' somewhere in him that knows he did a bad thing by raping Irene, yet he can overcome that feeling and convince himself that he did the right thing. And by the last chapter he sees himself as the only one in the right. From the book: The morning after a certain night on which Soames at last asserted his rights and acted like a man, he breakfasted alone... He ate steadily, but at times a sensation as though he could not swallow attacked him. Had he been right to yield to his overmastering hunger of the night before, and break down the resistance which he had suffered now too long from this woman who was his lawful and solemnly constituted helpmate? He was strangely haunted by the recollection of her face, from before which, to soothe her, he had tried to pull her hands--of her terrible smothered sobbing, the like of which he had never heard, and still seemed to hear; and he was still haunted by the odd, intolerable feeling of remorse and shame he had felt, as he stood looking at her by the flame of the single candle, before silently slinking away. And somehow, now that he had acted like this, he was surprised at himself. Two nights before, at Winifred Dartie's, he had taken Mrs. MacAnder into dinner. She had said to him, looking in his face with her sharp, greenish eyes: \"And so your wife is a great friend of that Mr. Bosinney's?\" Not deigning to ask what she meant, he had brooded over her words. They had roused in him a fierce jealousy, which, with the peculiar perversion of this instinct, had turned to fiercer desire. Without the incentive of Mrs. MacAnder's words he might never have done what he had done. Without their incentive and the accident of finding his wife's door for once unlocked, which had enabled him to steal upon her asleep. Slumber had removed his doubts, but the morning brought them again. One thought comforted him: No one would know--it was not the sort of thing that she would speak about. And, indeed, when the vehicle of his daily business life, which needed so imperatively the grease of clear and practical thought, started rolling once more with the reading of his letters, those nightmare-like doubts began to assume less extravagant importance at the back of his mind. The incident was really not of great moment; women made a fuss about it in books; but in the cool judgment of right-thinking men, of men of the world, of such as he recollected often received praise in the Divorce Court, he had but done his best to sustain the sanctity of marriage, to prevent her from abandoning her duty, possibly, if she were still seeing Bosinney, from.... No, he did not regret it. Now that the first step towards reconciliation had been taken, the rest would be comparatively--comparatively...."}, {"response": 290, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (22:49)", "body": "Thanks for all the great commentary ladies. I thought this was the best episode so far, acting-wise. I, too, am fearful of something with YJ and Irene. As you say no one is going to be happy in this one. If Irene goes after a married man though, especially a family member, even though ostricized this would look pretty bad, don't you think? Let's hope she uses a bit of decorum although must admit she doesn't seem to have much."}, {"response": 291, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 23, 2002 (02:47)", "body": "(Evelyn) How about that fog? You don't see that often in current Brit movies.Just the old ones with Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor! The fog was really something. I started to look around for Jack the RipperLOL Couldn't see anything, except I could see too much of the gruesome scene when Bosinney rolled out from under the carriage! (Karen) I really think GMcK did some fine work, consistent with her \"stone-line\" character ...Then, Soames' words on the stairs. And Irene's reaction to that was in keeping with her retreat to stony facades. Disbelief and disdain tucked under the surface . An excellent observation. Another description of Irene in the book (during the years we have seen so far) \"[her face] like a mask, with something going on beneath it.\" (Karen) One of the many irrationalities of Soames' behavior stems from the length of time they've been married. Isn't it like nine years? Not nearly that long. I think it was more like 3-4 years. I just discovered that there is a complete family tree in the front of my book, but as Irene is a \"wife\" there is no birth date. Plus there seem to be some discrepancies with the dates in the book - not a lot, only a year or two. But Irene was at most mid-twenties when Bosinney died. (Of course, she could have married at 16, but I don't think so. I just can't remember where I read the 3 or so years.) Someone on another list suggested that Dartie and George should have their own comedy show!!!"}, {"response": 292, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Wed, Oct 23, 2002 (08:52)", "body": "Maybe the 9 year title was between YJ leaving wife and the next segment where Soames goes to Bournemouth. (Suzee) Someone on another list suggested that Dartie and George should have their own comedy show!!! They are a riot, on the sidelines, making their little jabs and snide remarks."}, {"response": 293, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Oct 23, 2002 (19:19)", "body": "Pics of the CGI house and garden created by Matt Wood for the series: http://www.mattwood3d.com/image_pages/FS1.htm http://www.mattwood3d.com/image_pages/FS2.htm"}, {"response": 294, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Sun, Oct 27, 2002 (22:32)", "body": "Just a few thoughts tonight to start the ball rolling... To begin with, who are these kinder, gentler Forsytes and what have they done with the real ones? This was so different in tone it could almost be an alternate universe. I love old Jolyon. I even like his dog. (That's saying a lot for me, ask my DH.) Irene's content and at peace looks don't differ all that much from her distraught and conflicted looks. Is there an acting school that teaches minimal use of facial muscles? With that said, I liked her better tonight. One of the differences I suppose is she got to show some humor (\"should have stayed with polite chit chat.\") So many more impressions, but I'll yield for now and give someone else a chance to exhibit."}, {"response": 295, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Oct 27, 2002 (22:52)", "body": "(Barb) who are these kinder, gentler Forsytes and what have they done with the real ones? LOL!! Everybody forgiving everybody. *am sobbing profusely* ;-) It started out so well, with Irene walking out. Then I felt blissful in that she didn't reappear for nearly 25 minutes (did check clock) and I was bordering on ecstatic that she wouldn't make an appearance at all. An Irene-free episode!! That being said, I did like the OJ-Irene scenes, especially when she related what had transpired. I can understand her empathy for Ladies of the Night, but at least many of them like what they do. Did everyone not jump to their feet and shout \"Bravo\" to June when she went after Soames at the funeral! What a speech! Did she not give him what-for? Not only was that a episode highlight for me, but only a speech like that would've caused Soames to came to his senses and send him to his sick bed. His mother's assessment--that he loved too much--was a revelation not only to us but to him. Ah yes, now I can feel a teensy bit sorry for the poor reptile. ;-) But the best part was coming attractions. Rupert has cut his hair (nicely slicked down) and only has a trim mustache. Yipee!!! Oh yeah and before I forget: Bad Montie. Bad Montie. Cheating on Winnie. :-("}, {"response": 296, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sun, Oct 27, 2002 (23:34)", "body": "Ya'll must have watched a different show! I thought McKee was wonderful tonight - pitch perfect! As was CR. [Not to mention Balthasar the dog] :-) And Soames!!! Please! Mommie should have taught him not to love so much? Let Sister and Mommie make sure Soames doesn't take any responsibility for the situation. Let them make sure he blames it all on Irene (or them). Give me a break!!!!! The big disgusting self-centered reprehensible baby. Yuck! (Karen)but at least many of them like what they do Huh? Bravo June! Bad Montie...bad Montie...bad Montie...bad...bad...bad..."}, {"response": 297, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Sun, Oct 27, 2002 (23:41)", "body": "(Barb) To begin with, who are these kinder, gentler Forsytes and what have they done with the real ones? LOL! It's now science fiction with the same characters in an alternate universe. (Karen) Did everyone not jump to their feet and shout \"Bravo\" to June when she went after Soames at the funeral! What a speech! Did she not give him what-for? Yes, indeed!.... shouting \"June, you go girlfriend!\" ;-) His mother's assessment--that he loved too much--was a revelation not only to us but to him. Ah yes, now I can feel a teensy bit sorry for the poor reptile. ;-) I started to feel bad for him as he so obviously can't let himself go a bit and just have a good cry and get it over with, even in front of his family. Couldn't do it by himself last week after Irene left him either. It looks so painful trying to keep it in control. But the best part was coming attractions. Rupert has cut his hair (nicely slicked down) and only has a trim mustache. Yipee!!! LOL! I perked up on that, too. Am completely fascinated at how all these Forsyte men just line up for Irene, one after the other. Poor OJ, too. He seemed so happy, even if it was with Irene. She can't catch a break either. Did he sign the codicil to the will so she'll get the money he left her? Did anyone notice that sound just before OJ came down the stairs in the middle of the night thinking Irene was at the piano? It sounded like the same sound/animal cry that was in P&P when Darcy was writing the letter after the proposal."}, {"response": 298, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (03:07)", "body": "Burns, Forsyte rate for PBS By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 10/23/2002 3:14:00 PM PBS appears to have scored with its showcase of Ken Burns fare and its new take on The Forsyte Saga. PBS shows that are aired on the same night, which include Ken Burns American Stories and Masterpiece Theatre, are averaging a 2.0 Nielsen Media Research rating for the first five weeks of its season. That\ufffds up 18 percent over the same period last year."}, {"response": 299, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (07:36)", "body": "I loved the way old Jolyon physically changed last night. His facial expressions from pure happiness to pain. He almost seemed like a different person. (Karen), Did everyone not jump to their feet and shout \"Bravo\" to June when she went after Soames at the funeral! What a speech! Did she not give him what-for? Not only was that a episode highlight for me, but only a speech like that would've caused Soames to came to his senses and send him to his sick bed. Big highlight for me too. She was great! And we now know that she forgave Irene for falling for Phil. His mother's assessment--that he loved too much--was a revelation not only to us but to him. Ah yes, now I can feel a teensy bit sorry for the poor reptile. ;-) (suzee), Please! Mommie should have taught him not to love so much? Let Sister and Mommie make sure Soames doesn't take any responsibility for the situation. Let them make sure he blames it all on Irene (or them). LOL, suzee! I felt it more like Karen did, but you have a very good point. But the best part was coming attractions. Rupert has cut his hair (nicely slicked down) and only has a trim mustache. Yipee!!! I liked him as the \"artiste\" too. ;-D Ruperet does look like he will be taking control (as a Forsyte does), soon. Can't wait! Oh yeah and before I forget: Bad Montie. Bad Montie. Cheating on Winnie. :-( Might this have come about because her family never backed him in his original plans for business. The Forsytes have not treated him very well in that respect. Does anyone here really like the house?"}, {"response": 300, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (07:39)", "body": "(Suzee) I thought McKee was wonderful tonight - pitch perfect! So did I. My not wanting to see her was based on past episodes and I was tired of seeing the stoic, unsympathetic Irene. Let Sister and Mommie make sure Soames doesn't take any responsibility for the situation. Let them make sure he blames it all on Irene (or them). I found this very plausible. Naturally they'd side with blood, not to mention the fact that she's been an ungrateful woman who wouldn't perform the role of dutiful wife, as they both have. Did you see the look on the mother's face when she was told Irene took measures not to become pregnant? You'd think that she had committed the crime of the century (perhaps it was). Being barren (or thought to be barren) is one thing; this was another. Besides, they had to have something bad to pin on her. Everyone knew she left without taking her Forsyte jewels, another insult which pointed up the fact that her situation was so bad, she's leave with only the clothes on her back. No, these is totally understandable. Soames' immediate family has to characterize her as the bad guy. Her faults were at odds with society's norms (not being a wife and adultery)."}, {"response": 301, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (07:54)", "body": "(Karen) It started out so well, with Irene walking out. Agreed, this was the only thing that made sense after last week when it made no sense that she came back. (Suzee) I thought McKee was wonderful tonight - pitch perfect! Oh, I liked her too! It's just in pondering her performance, some things don't change much. She's such a minimalist in this role (IMO). But for this episode, minimalist felt right, sort of like everything else is burned away and peace is all that remains. That was the impression she left me with anyway. (Karen)Did everyone not jump to their feet and shout \"Bravo\" to June when she went after Soames at the funeral! Yes yes yes! That girl's eyes can spit fire! ..the best part was coming attractions. Rupert has cut his hair... Thought that too, glad to see it looks like he will grow out of his artistic dishabille. (Dorine) Am completely fascinated at how all these Forsyte men just line up for Irene, one after the other. Me too. Do you suppose it's genetic? Imprinted on their DNA? Best laugh=Montie and George at pool. What cads! And thinking back on my prior posts, I acknowledge my excess of cynicism regarding YJ and Helene. They were too happy, it could not last, but it did not end the way I saw it shaping up (YJ eventually throwing her over for Irene.) And one more thing...I have tried to avoid spoilers but it's been impossible not to pick up on a few names. Have to admit I thought Fleur would be introduced with Irene's return, guess I will have to wait to figure out who she is."}, {"response": 302, "author": "Rika", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (09:04)", "body": "(Barb) Have to admit I thought Fleur would be introduced with Irene's return, guess I will have to wait to figure out who she is. Considering that the previews for the next ep show YJ and Soames sparring over Irene, I have an idea who Fleur's parents might be. And I agree with everybody who remarked that they liked Irene last night. It did her a lot of good to take some responsibility for herself and to think about someone's needs besides her own. And she and OJ were rather sweet together."}, {"response": 303, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (09:08)", "body": "Will it be revealed how Soames knew Irene and OJ were keeping company? Did he hired a private detective to find her?"}, {"response": 304, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (11:19)", "body": "(Rika) Considering that the previews for the next ep show YJ and Soames sparring over Irene, I have an idea who Fleur's parents might be. Yeah, that thought occurred to me too but I originally discounted it because I was tangled up in ages. If it turns out to be the case, there will be, what...25 years between YJ's oldest and youngest child? No reason it can't be I guess. (Dorine) She can't catch a break either. Did he sign the codicil to the will so she'll get the money he left her? This thought startled me, had not thought of that, but surely so? Did anyone notice that sound ...? It sounded like the same sound/animal cry that was in P&P when Darcy was writing the letter after the proposal. I noticed that too and had the same thought. If whatever it is keeps showing up, they might have to include it in the credits. (Karen) Naturally they'd side with blood, not to mention the fact that she's been an ungrateful woman who wouldn't perform the role of dutiful wife, as they both have. ...as they both have. Interesting perspective, that adds dimension to both of them. A couple of things about Soames' family...when OJ was talking to Soames' parents about the house and OJ would not tolerate them bad-mouthing Irene, I thought they gave in too easily...too willing to grant OJ's point about two sides to the story and how Soames after all loved her once. Did not ring true for me. Also, Winnie has been intriguing me. At the opera, she was a social chatter-bug. During the scene with Soames she is nattering about school bills and how Dartie does not have a mind for it or whatever. She comes off a light-weight and sort of giddy, accomodating and willing to let things slide. We've just seen Montie be \"bad Montie\", here's hoping Winnie gets her dander up and we see her go at him. She is after all, a Forsyte, I bet she finds her teeth. And the last thing...does it seem to anyone else that Irene really seemed to have \"no visible means of support\"? She left Soames with nothing, she had money enough for food, has just been taking in some music students, yet she has a comfortable appearing home and the means to go to the opera now and then. I suppose maybe good stepmother is gone and some of her father's estate became available for her?"}, {"response": 305, "author": "susanne", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (11:35)", "body": "Can't say I was yelling \"Bravo\" at June's tirade. It's not like Soames forced Phil to sleep with Irene creating a chain of events that result in \"poor \" Phil's death. Okay, the truth is out--someone actually likes Soames. I can't say I like all that he does, but I feel sorry for the guy. No one forced Irene to marry him. He asked twice--that's not exactly twisting her arm. It was her decision. Speaking of Irene, I see nothing there that would make man after man fall for her. Bland in looks, bland in character, bland in voice. JMO Overall a bland episode. I would be spiced it up, keeping Helene alive and having YJ run off with the new governess, Frau Broom Hilda."}, {"response": 306, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (11:42)", "body": "I still don't trust Irene. We weren't shown her transformation, after all, and her source of income doesn't seem like enough to buy those relatively lavish clothes. June definitely went for Soames' blood, but at the wrong place and time, IMO. That bugged me a bit, but she sure hung in there and said what needed saying. (Karen) His mother's assessment--that he loved too much--was a revelation not only to us but to him. Agreed, but then she turned around with the \"I should have stopped you back then\" (over the kitten) and absolved him of the responsibility for dealing with it! How awfully convenient for him. I love the house now that it's furnished, although it's not Wright-style, and hope we get to see more of it."}, {"response": 307, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (11:43)", "body": "drat drat double drat"}, {"response": 308, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (13:46)", "body": "Finally, some evidence that Irene has a pulse! I have to wonder that if she was as pleasant toward Soames in the early years of their marriage as she was towards Old Jolyon, if they couldn't have had a decent marriage. I guess Old J was \"safe\"--no sexual component in the relationship, no demands. Poor Irene, born about 80 years too late--no Dr. Ruth, no Dr. Phil, no Oprah, no Sally Jesse, no Montel . . .;-) (Sue)Can't say I was yelling \"Bravo\" at June's tirade. It's not like Soames forced Phil to sleep with Irene creating a chain of events that result in \"poor \" Phil's death. Agreed, Sue! And how realistic is it for June to sympathize with the woman who cuckholded her with her fiance? When she said to Soames that she understood why Irene took Phil away from her because \"the only alternative she had was you\" I was scratching my head. Hello? The alternative is to leave the bad marriage, attempt to become self-supporting and not commit adultery with your best friend's fiance. Whatever happened to personal responsibility??"}, {"response": 309, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (14:11)", "body": "(Elizabeth) and her source of income doesn't seem like enough to buy those relatively lavish clothes. They were provided by ITV. ;-) (Mari) And how realistic is it for June to sympathize with the woman who cuckholded her with her fiance? I wasn't sympathizing with June, just cheering because she was expressing *my* thoughts. Remember this is fiction, where the good have a happy ending and the bad do not, per Miss Prism. ;-)"}, {"response": 310, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (14:33)", "body": "(Mari) And how realistic is it for June to sympathize with the woman who cuckholded her with her fiance? Karen) Remember this is fiction,... Indeed, real people seldom act like that. Her little tirade at the cemetery showed abominable manners on June's part and lack of grief for her recently enterred lover.Imagine cheering for her best friend who stole her lover! And blaming Soames for Boisinney's death is stretching it. Irene does wear clothes well..if only her expressions changed as often as ITV changed her costumes. Same ole tiresome looks. She did get 30,000 Pounds out of the old goat though. Young J. and Irene? Why am I not surprised? (Moon saw the look in the carriage....!) I like the house...esp the setting."}, {"response": 311, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (14:41)", "body": "(Karen) Did everyone not jump to their feet and shout \"Bravo\" to June when she went after Soames at the funeral! What a speech! A great speach! I'm so proud of June -- definitely her grandest moment so far. But the best part was coming attractions. Rupert has cut his hair (nicely slicked down) and only has a trim mustache. Yipee!!! Oh, yes!!! Oh yeah and before I forget: Bad Montie. Bad Montie. Cheating on Winnie. :-( I'm disappointed, but not surprised. After all, he did hit on Irene that time at the ball. (Suzee) I thought McKee was wonderful tonight - pitch perfect! (Karen) So did I. My not wanting to see her was based on past episodes and I was tired of seeing the stoic, unsympathetic Irene. I thought she was wonderful. If we'd seen this side of Irene before, I would have understood every male character falling for her. (Moon) I loved the way old Jolyon physically changed last night. His facial expressions from pure happiness to pain. He almost seemed like a different person. CR has done a fantastic job throughout. I enjoyed his scenes with Irene. Perhaps they would have been the perfect couple, in some ways. (Dorine) Did anyone notice that sound just before OJ came down the stairs in the middle of the night thinking Irene was at the piano? It sounded like the same sound/animal cry that was in P&P when Darcy was writing the letter after the proposal. That's a bird's cry -- either a jackdaw, rook or crow. Hard to say which, as they are members of the same family and sound similar. All three are common throughout England."}, {"response": 312, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (14:56)", "body": ""}, {"response": 313, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (14:58)", "body": "(Evelyn) Her little tirade at the cemetery showed abominable manners on June's part Gee, no one seemed to think Moira's outburst at the funeral was so bad, except me. ;-) And blaming Soames for Boisinney's death is stretching it. The lawsuit. (Kathy) That's a bird's cry -- either a jackdaw, rook or crow. Any of these harbingers of continuing bad soap operas? ;-)"}, {"response": 314, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (15:42)", "body": "(Barb S)A couple of things about Soames' family...when OJ was talking to Soames' parents about the house and OJ would not tolerate them bad-mouthing Irene, I thought they gave in too easily...too willing to grant OJ's point about two sides to the story and how Soames after all loved her once... I can see your point but I think it was more likely a business maneuver on the part of James Forsyte (Soames's father). I got the impression that he felt that if he gave into his brother Old Jolyon on the point about Irene; Old Jolyon would have to concede a point to him. Which may be very much in keeping with a solicitor's way of thinking. Both James and his son Soames were both solicitors. The concession was that James would not negotiate on the price of Robin Hill. If Old Jolyon wanted to buy the house and grounds he would pay Soames's asking price or he simply wouldn't get them. Another reason for James's refusal to bargain with Old Jolyon on the price of Robin Hill was that James was still angry with his brother's removing his will from his offices and taking his business to other solicitors. As for June giving Soames \"what for\" at Bosinney's funeral. I felt really badly for both of them. Although I found June coming off as the more pathetic of the two. She really is clueles as to her own motivations. She is, in many ways, the feminine Soames. Like Soames, June has chosen to love someone completely and utterly wrong for her. She also appears to ignore the fact that she was willing to use her money as leverage in the relationship between her and Bosinney. (When she went to his rooms after he had lost the suit with Soames.) But, perhaps because she is young, she refuses to acknowlege this. It is far easier for her to wring her hands and whine on that if Soames weren't such a self-satisfied, possesive prig who had to have what he had to have, Irene as his wife. He never would've have made Irene unhappy; consequently she never would've met Bosinney. There never would've been a commission for Robin Hill. Bosinney would've built his reputation and income. Then, of course, she would've hav married her beloved Phil and all would've been well. Maybe she should've thanked Soames for saving her from an unhappy marriage. Perhaps she had grown to be thankful to Irene for saving her from one. I'm sorry, I found it so extraordinarily childish to that June would act so indecorously at her beloved's funeral that she would stalk off and stamp her foot and yell at Soames that it was all his fault that Phil is dead. Let me interject that I find Gillian Kearney's playing as June superb. I thought that Soames held his own very will against June, until she told him that Irene practiced contrapception. That really hurt him. And why should't it. He, no doubt, found it incomprehenisible that any woman didn't want a child. He was a man of his times and felt that all women were pretty much equipped with inate maternal instincts. He was also a successful professional man, the scion of a respectable and wealthy family. A family whose name he wants to pass on, he wants heirs. He simply cannot understand any woman finding fault with that. Particularly not a woman whom he loves, in his mind, to distraction. Soames is also clueless. Now for that enigma who is Irene. She is very passive. She is very passive in the book, maybe even more so. To be fair, Galsworthy never does give her a voice and some believe that he intended her to be a metaphor for art. Which is why we only know this character from the perceptions of others. I never saw the first series of The Forsyte Saga but have heard from those who did that Irene was presented as lovely and charming and almost everyone who met her loved her. She was also described by some viewers of the earlier adaptation as having hot passions in a cold exterior. As far as this production goes I think the assessment of the hot passions/cold exterior is a more acurate discription of Soames as played by Damian Lewis. Soames is very passionate, exceptionally so. He is also very repressed. The perfect image of a member of the grand bourgeois in his expensive, perfectly tailored dark suit, high collar and silk top hot. He looks for all the world very cool and composed, the perfect Victorian gentleman. But he is a man of very deep and strong passions. He seems to be a very sexual person, as well, far more sexual than Irene. That seems to be a large part of their incompatibility. Irene isn't moved by \"the voluptuous friction of two intestines\", as one French cynic once phrased it. What can touch her is the world of art and ideas, certainly not sex or commerce. What draws her to Bosinney is his conversation. They are always talking, exchanging ideas. It is his mind and talent which first attracts her and holds her. Even when they start their sexual affair; I go the impression that after they completed the dirty deed, they then set about discussing the influence of Japanese prints on the work of fashionable or unfashi"}, {"response": 315, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (19:20)", "body": "(Barb)And the last thing...does it seem to anyone else that Irene really seemed to have \"no visible means of support\"? She left Soames with nothing, she had money enough for food, has just been taking in some music students, yet she has a comfortable appearing home and the means to go to the opera now and then. I suppose maybe good stepmother is gone and some of her father's estate became available for her? She had the 50 pounds a year from her father's estate plus the music lessons (many more than 3 students in the book). She was living in a 'dump' - very low-rent side of town, in a 'flat' in a building behind other buildings where others in the family would not even want to go. Also, in the book, she had almost no furnishings when we first see her flat - just the bare minimum. Any extra money she could put together, she spent to help the 'women in the park,' although she says she can do little for them - just a meal or a place to sleep, etc. When first they meet again, OJ gives her a check to help care for the women. (They find a woman sitting in the hall outside her flat waiting when they go home one night.) I think Irene's comment last night to OJ saying she was sorry that she was not dressed properly may have been intended to help us understand her situation. (Of course, the TV clothes look great.) Irene may have been able to afford a night or two at the opera and one or two appropriate dresses, but she couldn't travel, live in a nice home, etc. Everything being relative, this is unthinkable to a Forsyte and OJ is very troubled by the way she is living. That's one of the reasons he decides to leave her the bequest - that, and the fact that she has given him some unexpected happiness at his advanced age, reminding him of the beautiful side of life. It is not sexual in fact, but it reminds him of what it was like to be sexual and of how much he loves life, the 'beauty'of life and doesn't want it to end. He wants to hold on to every minute of the life he has left, to appreciate it all. I think he sincerely wishes he were young again, but he knows he is not and that he can only enjoy the relationship with Irene for what it is. At one point in the story, he tells her that he would have been proud to have her as a daughter. This part of the story comes from 'Indian Summer of a Forsyte' - a short story published separately after the first book. It is a remarkable piece, beautifully written. It is written from old Jolyon's perspective as an 85 year old man at the end of his life and perfectly captures that perspective. It is funny at times and unbelievably poignant at others. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to read and IMO, Galsworthy could have been awarded the Pulitzer for this alone. [Also, for another piece alone, but we are not there yet in the series and may not be until next year :-)] The TV show last night did a very good job of capturing much of the essence of the story, although I don't think it is possible to match the written words. I wasn't disappointed, but I am sad that Corin Redgrave is gone. (Maybe they'll bring him back for flashback scenes!)"}, {"response": 316, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (20:20)", "body": "(Evelyn) Her little tirade at the cemetery showed abominable manners on June's part (Karen)Gee, no one seemed to think Moira's outburst at the funeral was so bad, except me. ;-) LOL..Me, Me... I remember saying Gamma would have been mortified. V. unrealistic...well brought up young women just didn't behave like that. Thank you Barb for your comments on last night's eps. Suzee, I only wish I could get as excited as you are about these worthless people. I feel I'm missing out."}, {"response": 317, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (21:41)", "body": "I guess I only think most of the people are completely worthless. LOL!! Some of the people have redeeming qualities and I am enjoying the book(s). I like the way Galsworthy writes, the descriptions of the time period, the UK history and the family history, the scenes of the city, transportation changes,etc. - lots of information that can't be on screen. The characters seem like very real, flawed people to me (don't know too many perfect people). But, (huge \"but\") so far (and I'm almost finished with 'In Chancery') nothing has made me like Soames, on screen or on the page."}, {"response": 318, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (22:02)", "body": "(Suzee) This part of the story comes from 'Indian Summer of a Forsyte' What a lovely name, it's perfect for this part of the story. Thanks for sharing the information from the books. I agree with sentiments that the movie has to stand alone but having the insights from the books helps fill out the experience...thanks!"}, {"response": 319, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Oct 28, 2002 (23:01)", "body": "Great commentary, ladies. I've been enjoying the read. (Saskia) But he is a man of very deep and strong passions. He seems to be a very sexual person, as well, far more sexual than Irene. Could you comment further on Soames being a \"very sexual person\"? Is there something in the book which has led you to this conclusion. No need to make any comparisons with Irene here. ;-) Soames may love very deeply and be a hopeless romantic, but I haven't seen this at all. With respect to Irene and Bosinney, it would appear they've attemped to play up the sexual aspect of their relationship. The two did constantly speak of art and ideas, but it appeared to me that their physical relationship was not lacking."}, {"response": 320, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 29, 2002 (00:56)", "body": "(Saskia) But he is a man of very deep and strong passions. He seems to be a very sexual person, as well, far more sexual than Irene. (Karen)Could you comment further on Soames being a \"very sexual person\"? Yes, please. I don't thimk I agree with this, but maybe you are seeing something I'm not? (Karen) Naturally they'd side with blood... His mother's assessment--that he loved too much--was a revelation not only to us but to him. (Elizabeth) Agreed, but then she turned around with the \"I should have stopped you back then\" (over the kitten) and absolved him of the responsibility for dealing with it! How awfully convenient for him It may have been a revelation to you but not to Soames. Not in a million years. I doubt he even heard it LOL I agree that the family would take Soames side. But it is so d*** frustrating! June seemed to reach him a bit with her tirade (even if the funeral was not the proper time and place) and then sister and mother turn around and reinforce his own opinion that he is always in the right. \"Poor Soames\" doesn't need any help feeling that he is the wronged party. In his mind he did everything exactly right with Irene, even the rape. And that darn cat shouldn't have been so easy to smother, either. Thank God Irene got awayt with her life ;-) I was 400 plus pages into the book before I had a twinge of sympathy for him. Then it took just about 10 more pages to regret ever feeling that way. LOL I think Soames may be the most completely self-centered, narcissistic character I have ever seen on page or screen. Certainly I can't think of many who are more so, (Dorine) She can't catch a break either. Did he sign the codicil to the will so she'll get the money he left her? (Barb)This thought startled me, had not thought of that, but surely so? If OJ didn't sign it, do you think that Young Jolyon and/or June would be likely to give it to her anyway?"}, {"response": 321, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Tue, Oct 29, 2002 (03:11)", "body": "(Karen) But the best part was coming attractions. Rupert has cut his hair (nicely slicked down) and only has a trim mustache. Yipee!!! (Dorine)LOL! I perked up on that, too. (Moon) I liked him as the \"artiste\" too. ;-D Ruperet does look like he will be taking control (as a Forsyte does), soon. Can't wait I loved in the preview when YJ warned Soames about how he treats Irene: \"She's not alone this time.\" Yes!!!! ( I liked his 'artiste' period, too.) ((Moon) Might this have come about because her family never backed him in his original plans for business. The Forsytes have not treated him very well in that respect . I think it's possible. They treated him like a possession, a \"thing\" - he wasn't allowed a life or business. So all he had to do outside of sitting at home was to hang around with George, play cards and pool and bet on horses. (Karen)Will it be revealed how Soames knew Irene and OJ were keeping company? Did he hired a private detective to find her? No detective when OJ and Irene were together (at least not in the book). But Soames was such a sneak and he did lots of checking up, following and spying. Every time anyone told him anything about Irene, he already knew it, although he would not admit it. I'm afraid if I say more, I'll give something away."}, {"response": 322, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Wed, Oct 30, 2002 (14:31)", "body": "(Karen)Could you comment further on Soames being a \"very sexual person\"? (Suzee)Yes, please. I don't think I agree with this, but maybe you are seeing something I'm not? I'm sorry for being so unclear on this in my last post, despite its excessive verbosity. I went on and on and really wasn't very clear as to what I wanted to say. In my previous posts I had commented on the novels and their relationship in relation to the current television production. So it would seem that I was doing the same in my last post. What I failed to clarify was that I was referring specifically to the TV adaptation now running as it can be judged as a discreet production separate from Galsworthy. That explanation is still pretty darned obscure. Quite simply, to me, in this particular production Soames comes off as sexy in some twisted way. Or more precisely Damian Lewis makes him seem sexy. I just thought that it was funny that people to whom I've spoken who've seen the old BBC series felt that the character of Irene came off as being someone with \"hot passions in a cold exterior\". To me that descriptions more apt of Soames in the current Granada adaptation. So that particular statemen was made in reference to the television series and not Galsworthy. (Karen)With respect to Irene and Bosinney, it would appear they've attemped to play up the sexual aspect of their relationship. The two did constantly speak of art and ideas, but it appeared to me that their physical relationship was not lacking. I do agree with you, Karen, so far as that really did seem to be the intent of producers of the series. The real problem for me was Ioan Gruffudd. Could he and Gina McKee possibly have had less chemistry with each other? Irene had more chemistry and sexual tension with Soames! Granted she started out not particularly interested, which became dislike and grew to absolutely loathe him. But at least it went somewhere, there was something palpable between them. Despite the efforts to suggest rapturous sex between Irene and Phil, I could never quite believe it. I still think that they spend most of their time in bed discussing current trends in the arts. I'm sorry, my feeling toward Ioan Gruffudd was that he felt the only requisite to playing Bosinney was looking very pretty. What a dud. I was at a loss to what either June or Irene saw in Phil, aside from his obvious good looks. I really do like Gina McKee as Irene and personally find her performance terrific. But Gruffudd just came across as woefully miscast. He was god awful. He appeared to be cast for no other reason than being very pretty. I wanted to applaud when Bossiney went under the wheels of that carriage. I didn't have to be exposed to his sub-standard acting anymore. Bosinney is supposed to be a true artist and architectural genius. I never got any hint of that talent from Gruffudd's lame portrayal. Bosinney is called the Buccaneer by the Forsytes. That left my scratching my head because I never got a hint of anything remotely like a buccaneer from Gruffudd. At least not until Bosinney, enraged by Soames's assault on Irene, works himself into a rousing rage, goes looking for Soames and if he eve got hold of him, would probably have attempted to kill him. I believed Ioan Gruffudd then, but maybe he was accessing Horatio Hornblower. That was a bad observation. Hornblower was a naval officer not a buccaneer. Please let me apologize to the Ioan Gruffudd fans out there. I am speaking only for myself. It's okay if you think that I have bad taste or no taste at best, or that I'm completely crazy and perfectly wrong at worst. Just one more thing. I loved Ioan Gruffudd as Horatio Hornblower and as Pip in Great Expectations."}, {"response": 323, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Wed, Oct 30, 2002 (14:32)", "body": "Help! Hope that the tags are closed."}, {"response": 324, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Wed, Oct 30, 2002 (15:29)", "body": "This is a link to a site which has screen captures from the older BBC production of The Forsyte Saga . Episode 8 was titled \"Indian Summer of a Forsyte\". http://www.ceejbot.com/EricPorter/Forsyte/episode08.php"}, {"response": 325, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Oct 30, 2002 (17:57)", "body": "(Saskia)Quite simply, to me, in this particular production Soames comes off as sexy in some twisted way. Or more precisely Damian Lewis makes him seem sexy. He certainly plays Soames in a sympathetic manner. BTW I'm glad we are discussing the film adaptation separate from the book."}, {"response": 326, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (10:13)", "body": "No need to apologize for your lengthy comments or your views, Saskia. I'm thrilled that you and others are providing such interesting details from the book and from the series. (Saskia) Quite simply, to me, in this particular production Soames comes off as sexy in some twisted way. Or more precisely Damian Lewis makes him seem sexy. Ah! So that's it. Glad you said \"twisted\" though. ;-) Personally, I don't see it but I suspect this has to do with personal preferences. Don't get me wrong, I think DL is a excellent actor, but no sexiness is coming through. Perhaps, it's just that he is not my type (in BOB, Ron Livingstone and his character were more to my liking). When I try to imagine the sexuality beneath the Soames skin, all I can see is that early scene at Bournemouth, where he clumsily tries to kiss Irene's arm. That didn't look like a sexual being to me. However, to be logical, if he is repressed, then there must be something he is repressing. It just doesn't look like passion to me. But Gruffudd just came across as woefully miscast. He was god awful. He appeared to be cast for no other reason than being very pretty. I wanted to applaud when Bossiney went under the wheels of that carriage. I didn't have to be exposed to his sub-standard acting anymore. LOL! Don't hold back, Saskia. Tell us how you really feel about IG. Pssst! He doesn't do anything for me either, and I don't think him particularly handsome (something to do with his mouth) but as he's gotten older, what I viewed as a baby face is melting away. As to IG's performance, I didn't think it was so bad. While they needed to have a \"hunk\" in that role, the issue of chemistry I fear all hinges on our attitudes toward Gina McKee and her Irene, i.e., do we believe it when men are falling all over themselves for her? That is the crux of the chemistry issue. When we first saw Bosinney giving Irene that mooney look at the church, what should we be questioning? Was IG's gaze bad or unbelievable because we didn't think Irene was such a catch? (Evelyn) He certainly plays Soames in a sympathetic manner. Depending of course on whether you share his views and attitudes. ;-)"}, {"response": 327, "author": "susanne", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (11:54)", "body": "I don't think Soames should be judged by modern sensibilites."}, {"response": 328, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (15:01)", "body": "(Saskia)but maybe he was accessing Horatio Hornblower LOL, Saskia - he was accessing his \"inner HH\" :-) Re Soames and his sexuality: now I understand what you are saying even though I don't see anything sexy or sexual (or sympathetic) about Lewis as Soames (repressed or otherwise). To tell the truth, I think I have a similar problem with Lewis as you have with Gruffudd and others have with McKee. I keep wondering if another actor had played Soames, might I have enjoyed the Soames' scenes. I have enjoyed actors playing cads in the past, but this time it's not working for me. (Karen)the issue of chemistry I fear all hinges on our attitudes toward Gina McKee and her Irene, i.e., do we believe it when men are falling all over themselves for her? That is the crux of the chemistry issue. When we first saw Bosinney giving Irene that mooney look at the church, what should we be questioning? Was IG's gaze bad or unbelievable because we didn't think Irene was such a catch? Ah! Beauty (or chemistry) is in the eye of the beholder! What better examples than all of our different attitudes expressed here about the various actors/characters? :-)"}, {"response": 329, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (15:05)", "body": "(Suzee) I have enjoyed actors playing cads in the past, but this time it's not working for me. Do you consider Soames to be a cad? That's a better description (now) of Monty. Soames seems to be an upstanding prig, and DL is playing *that* very well. ;-)"}, {"response": 330, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (15:53)", "body": "(Karen) However, to be logical, if he is repressed, then there must be something he is repressing. It just doesn't look like passion to me. I think what Soames is repressing is rage - rage at the whole world and everything in it. He is furious because he wants to control every single little thing. He cannot and that is impossible for him to accept. Do you consider Soames to be a cad? What I consider Soames to be is much much worse than either a cad or an upstanding prig and I'm not sure it can be printed here. LOL However, what I was trying to say is no matter how despicable a character may be, I can often appreciate the actor's performance, enjoy watching it, etc. I do not feel that way about DL as Soames."}, {"response": 331, "author": "lafn", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (17:38)", "body": "I bet Masterpiece Theatre has lost half their audience with this one. I wouldn't be hanging in 'cept for this discussion. Wish Irene would have gone under with Bosinney, but then we wouldn't have Fleur...and I want to see about her. LOL. Reminds me of the recent \"Anna Karenina\"...If she hadn't jumped, I was ready to push her under that train."}, {"response": 332, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Thu, Oct 31, 2002 (19:30)", "body": "(Suzee) I think what Soames is repressing is rage - rage at the whole world and everything in it. Oh well said. From the tightness of his face to his stiffness as he moves, that's what I see. And I've been wondering if I was missing something, DL does less than nothing for me but this is the first thing I've seen him in, maybe I need to expand my experience. I just find Soames totally repulsive, someone said reptilian earlier, I agree."}, {"response": 333, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Fri, Nov  1, 2002 (16:21)", "body": "(Suzee) I think what Soames is repressing is rage - rage at the whole world and everything in it. (Barb S) Oh well said. From the tightness of his face to his stiffness as he moves, that's what I see. Interesting and it certainly is a point of view which can work. But I don't see Soames repressing rage. What I find him to be repressing is fear. His very need to be desperately in control over everything at all times seems to be a a fear reaction. He is a afraid of life, afraid of the monstrous emotions inside of him, afraid his facade of stiff-upper lipped composure will slip, afraid that others (at least the \"people who matter\") will see him for what he really is. Which leads to the question of who and what is Soames, really? I find that Soames is very passionate in the sense that he is a person of immensely strong, although repressed emotions. His attempting to break down the bedroom door when Irene had locked him out gives some indication of the depth of his emotions, at least to me. Soames is also someone who chooses to live a life which has been largely defined by duty. He became a solicitor like his father. He carries on the family tradition of being a man of business, of a man of commerce, of being a man of property. It is what he was born into and he has accepted it not only as his birthright but as what is expected of him. Has it ever occurred to him to question any of this? Soames's attitude toward duty forms the basis for much of his being unable to fathom Irene. He simply cannot understand someone who doesn't feel obligated to be dutiful. Soames, in his estimation, has fulfilled his part of the business of being married. He was a good provider and gave Irene every comfort which he could afford to give her. She wanted for nothing. Irene repaid him by refusing to bear his children and even by refusing his conjugal rights. By law, he had the right to expect sex from her. Clearly, to him, she wasn't a person who respected duty. I can understand people thinking that Soames was a horrid husband. However, in his defense what we, and Galsworthy, perceive as his being possessive and controlling, Soames would see as being attentive and protective. Remember, being a man of his times, Soames may well have seen women, in general, as being only slightly more self-sufficient than children. I don't really see Soames as a cad, or a monster who is the author of everybody's unhappiness. I can see the upstanding prig; but I can also see that perhaps there was a damaged, unhappy and frightened man behind that."}, {"response": 334, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Nov  2, 2002 (23:10)", "body": "(in BOB, Ron Livingstone and his character were more to my liking) I haven't seen a lot of him, but at the urging of my son I recently watched Office Space and enjoyed RL and the movie. (The opening sequence is hilarious, especially if you have ever commuted to work by auto!) (Evelyn)LOL. Reminds me of the recent \"Anna Karenina\"...If she hadn't jumped, I was ready to push her under that train That would have been two of us, shouting 'heave-ho! LOL Thank goodness for Levin - that was the only part of the story I enjoyed. (And I love the book and story.)"}, {"response": 335, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sat, Nov  2, 2002 (23:37)", "body": "(Suzee) I haven't seen a lot of him [RL] You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to the next season of Sex and the City! The last episode was a melter IMO."}, {"response": 336, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (15:22)", "body": "So ,what gives here. Didn't anybody see Eps # 5 last night? I can see an intriguing plot progressing... Will Young J. and Irenee hook up? Long lingering shots of their holding hands.... Winifred and Darite...\"I told you so..\" What a rat.At first I thought he had pawned the pearls to pay for his gambling debts. But no...to injure her further he stole the pearls to give them to the spanish tart. The cousins Imogen and Val are sweet on each other.... Will Soames try to force Irenee to come back to him, and if she doesn't he can sue for divorce and marry Annette. How old is Soames? Was the party for his 40th or 50th? Lastly...don't these people age???Only the children seem to get older."}, {"response": 337, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (15:50)", "body": "I was surpirsed I and J ddidn't hook up last night. But maybe that's the cliff hanger of the 6th episode. I am assuming we will get only 6 now. right? And what is wrong with June? Why does she want to be an old-maid? \"Losing a husband is not as bad as losing a butler\" what a great line! I lol! (Evelyn), How old is Soames? Was the party for his 40th or 50th? I would think 40th. But that's a good question. Soames and his art collection, his passion. Something left from his years with Irenee. At least he can possees it, unlike her. What was Annette's comment when he asked her about art? I didn't hear it well. But it can tell us something about their future. Did anybody get to see next week's coming attractions? They didn't show it in my area."}, {"response": 338, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (16:03)", "body": "(Evelyn) So ,what gives here. Didn't anybody see Eps # 5 last night? LOL Evelyn, yeah, I saw it, I guess it just didn't make quite the impression the other ones did. Seems this must have been a building episode, setting us up for the kids. With the exception of Montie self-destructing and black-hearted Soames being a loving and supportive brother *snort*, not much really seems to have gone on. And anticipating the Soames Anti-Defamation League, perhaps Freddie deserved some of what she got, but could his sneered \"We know what's best\" (or whatever the line was) have been any more vicious? That man gives me chills. I'm not so sure about Irene and YJ, wasn't the hand holding thing right after OJ died and they were discussing the will? Then 12 years pass. And my goodness, this thing takes some huge chronological leaps. Makes my head spin. But of course they will have to have a thing, if for no other reason than to make true what June said about every man in her life loving Irene more than her. (I gasped when I heard that.) I liked the scene with June and YJ after the funeral...the drinks, the smoke. What I did not like was the scene when they got home and presumably were just hearing about OJ's death. I thought they showed about as much emotion as they would have upon coming home and hearing the bathrooms had been repainted. And Broom Hilda the governess (who coined that for her?) has presumably departed on her broom. I'm thinking she did not care much for Irene. And the family gathering for the funeral, I'll probably rewatch it just for that part. Those are some vicious people...the aunts are a hoot. Regarding them all aging, I think they're doing a better job of aging the men than the women. Even Soames' mother looks well-preserved, so did the aunts for that matter. I saw no change in Irene and maybe a few lines had been added to June, mainly they are just dressing her in a more sophisticated manner. But I thought Soames and Jolyon were showing their age fairly well. And is it Imogen and Val (aren't they brother and sister?) or is it Val and Holly? And if it IS Holly, they need to do something with her hair. And they really ought to come up with something for Holly's brother Jolly, I thought I had missed something, he did not seem to be at Robin Hill before OJ died but he did not come back with YJ and June but then didn't we see him go off to Oxford and honk June off by taking a painting with him? He must have been away at school or something. So, my \"few\" notes above indicate it must have made some impression, I guess if it's a building episode, it did it's job. Either that or I am excessively cranky today and too annoyed at all of them."}, {"response": 339, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (16:37)", "body": "LOL Evelyn! \"Can a girl from a little mining town in the west find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?...\" Oops, wrong show! ;-) I'm almost through - off to finish the tape."}, {"response": 340, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (16:57)", "body": "(Barb) Regarding them all aging, I think they're doing a better job of aging the men than the women. I don't know about that. Except for getting rid of the facial hair, YJ looks remarkably well-preserved. June looks more like his sister than his daughter. IMO, nobody is aging very much at all in this, with the exception of the children. And if it IS Holly, they need to do something with her hair. It was horrible, especially in the horseback-riding scene! I wanted to grab that errant hank of hair and stick it back in the snood, or whatever that was! It looked like some sort of animal had died on her head. (Evelyn) What a rat.At first I thought he had pawned the pearls to pay for his gambling debts. But no...to injure her further he stole the pearls to give them to the spanish tart. I thought exactly the same thing (that he pawned them). That would have been bad enough, but I was appalled when he told her what he'd really done with them, and so sorry for Freddie. (Moon) \"Losing a husband is not as bad as losing a butler\" what a great line! Probably the best of the whole series!"}, {"response": 341, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (18:03)", "body": "Timeline: Birthdates: 1847 Young Jolyon 1855 Soames 1858 Winifred 1863 Irene 1869 June 1879 Jolly 1881 Holly 1880 Val 1882 Imogen 1883 Irene and Soames marry 1886 Bosinney appears 1887 Bosinney dies Irene goes back to Soames' house 'A Man of Property' ends 1892 'Indian Summer of a Forste' Old Jolyon dies, Irene has been alone for years 1899 'In Chancery' begins Monty leaves, Soames sends Young Jo to ask for a divorce So how does the 12 year on-screen jump in the series fit in? (After Old Jo dies to the birthday party.) Did PBS do that and confuse the time? The series makers? Didn't Soames say it had been 12 years - long enough? Monty didn't say those awful chicken neck things to Freddy in the book LOL But then neither did he give his 'hear hear' during YJ's funeral speech. Loved that moment! I like the way Rupert Graves uses his entire body when acting - lot of natural movements, sitting, standing, hands, etc."}, {"response": 342, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (18:46)", "body": "(Moon)What was Annette's comment when he asked her about art? Basically she deferred to Soames in his estimation of the paintings. She said something to the effect that she didn't really have any set views and asked what were his thoughts about his collection. (Moon) \"Losing a husband is not as bad as losing a butler\" what a great line! (KathyF)Probably the best of the whole series! I love Aunt Juley and Aunt Hester; they are so delightfully dotty. I think that they should have their own show. I'm only suggesting that because it was suggested here that George and Monty should have their own show. But that was last week and now all and sundry know that Monty is, or has become, a perfect rotter. (Barb S)And anticipating the Soames Anti-Defamation League... Hi there! After reading my last post I did come off as though I were running for the presidency of that particular organization. Okay, Soames was a rat in the last episode, but he was taking out his bitterness and frustration at the failure of his own marriage on his sister Winifred. Soames has a history of hurting the ones he loves. That's a shame, really, because Freddie has doted on her elder brother Soames. A word for Winifred here, she is a loving person who needs the patience of Job. When Monty tosses the comment about Val at her, that she raised him to be the perfect Forsyte, a priggish little snob; do you think he might have been referring, as well, to the model for this? Her adored brother and Val's beloved uncle, Mr. Soames Forsyte. It would seem that Soames has settled into a bitter middle age. I read some commentary where Soames had been described has having the cliche stick up his, well you get the idea. May I suggest that by the time he reached his mid-forties the proverbial stick had given him splinters. Still being Soames, he maintains his stiff upper lip and has more starch in his personality than in his collar. Soames is repressed, he's passionate, he's dutiful, he's annoying as all get out. (Suzee)So how does the 12 year on-screen jump in the series fit in? Actually the 12 year jump was the time elapsed between Irene's leaving Soames (1887) and the birthday party (1899). Old Jolyon and Irene shared the tender interlude of the \"Indian Summer of a Forsyte\" (1892) 5 years after Bosinney's death (1887). It was really confusing following all that in the episode. I think that the series might have given us a bit more background from the novels and not have jumped around so much. Thanks for posting the timeline."}, {"response": 343, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (19:27)", "body": "(Saskia)Actually the 12 year jump was the time elapsed between Irene's leaving Soames (1887) and the birthday party (1899) I understood where the 12 year jump was supposed to be, but it didn't seem the series makers or PBS did. They flashed \"12 years later\" on screen after the scene where YJ told Irene about OJ's will (1992) and just as the scene at the birthday party was starting (1999). (Barb)I saw no change in Irene and maybe a few lines had been added to June, mainly they are just dressing her in a more sophisticated manner. But I thought Soames and Jolyon were showing their age fairly well. (Kathy) YJ looks remarkably well-preserved. June looks more like his sister than his daughter I read somewhere earlier a complaint that YJ and June looked more like brother and sister than father and daughter. But he *was* very young when she was born. (Barb)black-hearted Soames being a loving and supportive brother *snort*..., And anticipating the Soames Anti-Defamation League, perhaps Freddie deserved some of what she got, but could his sneered \"We know what's best\" (or whatever the line was) have been any more vicious? That man gives me chills In the book Soames went to see Winifred to look for sympathy for his own situation with Irene. When he found out about her problem with Dartie and realized that she wanted sympathy from him, he lost it because it wasn't going to be all about him! Did anyone notice the scene when YJ visits Soames in his office? After YJ leaves, Soames breaks the pencil? The man is full of rage - I rest my case LOL"}, {"response": 344, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (19:37)", "body": "(suzee) They flashed \"12 years later\" on screen Very briefly, and anyone who missed that was probably very confused. June's approach now comes clear; she'll nurture her resentment against Irene in private, but go to great lengths not to show it to the wider family. Has no one ever showed her how to behave at a funeral? The family gathered around Old Jolyon's grave was a standout scene for me. I just wanted to rub Monty's face into the carpet in the casino. Soames' repressed anger is so white-hot now that those coals up his arse must be well on the way to turning into diamonds."}, {"response": 345, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (20:12)", "body": "I like Soames new country house mobetta than Robbin Hill. Cozy;-) Think we should warn Annette about joining this dysfunctional family?"}, {"response": 346, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Mon, Nov  4, 2002 (20:29)", "body": "(Barb S)And anticipating the Soames Anti-Defamation League... (Saski) Hi there! After reading my last post I did come off as though I were running for the presidency of that particular organization. LOL Saskia, that particular comment was not meant to anyone in particular. Soames just seems to be someone, who at least early on, inspired different feelings, perhaps based on individual perception. Commentary on him has been all over the place. To tell the truth, I was convincing myself as much as anyone else, every time I convince myself he is either all saint or all sinner, he wavers the other way. The man is giving me a whiplash! Suzee, thanks for the timeline. It will come in handy and already helps to flesh some stuff out though I need to go back and check, I was thinking June was significantly older when Jolyon left. (Elizabeth) Soames' repressed anger is so white-hot now that those coals up his arse must be well on the way to turning into diamonds. And I think from the look on his face a couple of times, a couple of them might be working their way out (my apologies if that comment is just too gross!)"}, {"response": 347, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Tue, Nov  5, 2002 (23:11)", "body": "(Evelyn) Lastly...don't these people age???Only the children seem to get older. Thank God you agree Evelyn. I was beginning to think I was the only one critical of this fact. We're talking what 15-20 years here and no one except the children are older. Absolutely amazing. I really hope Irene and YJ do not hook up. What surprises me is in all these years June has never married. She's quite a catch financially. And now living with Dad since Gran's passing. Soames wants children, and we know Irene will never give him any, so hopefully they can divorce and he can marry sweet Annette. I have a gut feeling Annette knows the ropes and will be able to handle Soames. Just my opinion of course."}, {"response": 348, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Nov  6, 2002 (14:48)", "body": "Old article: Pressbox UK Added : (Fri Apr 12 2002) Forsyte Saga Star Offered Film Role Amanda Ooms, one of the stars of the new ITV Forsyte Saga, has suddenly found she is in demand for all her talents from film to photography. The Swedish star now based in Brighton and last seen on British TV as a female warewolf, has been offered the lead in a multi-million Hollywood/UK/Swedish film project, has a script she has just completed being looked at for financing, has found buyers for her latest paintings and just seen thousands of people visit an exhition of photographs where she featured. Amanda told us, \ufffd Obviously I thought a major TV role in the Forsyte Saga would be the most exciting thing to happen but suddenly people seem interested in all the things I do. I love acting first, but have 2 published novels and now the script, have had exhibitions of my paintings, have had a few photographs taken which people have thought worth showing and my film career seems to be expanding.\ufffd Neither Amanda or her Agent will reveal the detail of the film other than to say it involves a secret international scandal involving Russia and a European country and which Governments have tried to \ufffdkeep hidden\ufffd. Apart from Amanda, a USA lead actor is being cast with shooting scheduled for September/October this year. UK Film Services are currently looking at her script and spokesman Robert Sidaway said today, \ufffd Obviously Amanda is a leading actor in Scandinavia having won aclaim and awards for her parts but we did not realise she could write scripts with such depth. We will be involved in the funding of around 15 films in the coming months and believe one of them could be Amanda\ufffds.\ufffd The tens of thousands of people who visited the White Chapel Gallery in London over the last few weeks may well have a feeling of dejavu when they watch the Forsyte family and that is because one of the principle subjects of the exhibiton by Nan Golding was Amanda. This is the third major photographer who has chosen the multi talented Miss Ooms as their subject. Meanwhile viewers can see Amanda on Sunday in the rerun of episode one of the Forsyte Saga and then episode 2."}, {"response": 349, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Wed, Nov  6, 2002 (14:55)", "body": "Excerpt from a very old interview (1996) with Nyree Dawn Porter: Title: A TOUCH OF CLASS , By: Eramo, Steven, British Heritage, 01952633, Jun/Jul96, Vol. 17, Issue 4 A TOUCH OF CLASS ...Producer Donald Wilson cast Porter in two major television series, Madame Bovary and Judith Paris. The strength of her work in both programmes led Wilson to offer her the role of Irene in The Forsyte Saga. 'Donald Wilson asked me to come to the BBC and meet with David Giles, who is, I think, an extraordinarily gifted director. During this meeting I was told that they had it in mind to offer me the role of Irene. Apparently, MGM Studios, which used to hold the copyright to The Forsyte Saga with the BBC, had seen a clip of some of my work and decided I was okay.' Based on John Galsworthy's series of novels, The Forsyte Saga follows the lives of an upwardly mobile family of the late Victorian era. It stars Kenneth More as Jolyon Forsyte, who longs to abandon his bourgeois lifestyle to become an artist. His cousin Soames, played by Eric Porter, is a cold, somewhat harsh lawyer, tolerating an unconsummated marriage to Irene. 'Irene was one of the most difficult but rewarding roles I've ever had to play,' recalls Porter. 'She's a gentle soul but passively strong and very, very much a survivor, the sort of person that some people find quite threatening. 'I had great difficulty with the character at first. I'm quite jolly and optimistic by nature and I also like to chat, all the things that are not Irene, but I did find the secret to her. It's in the novel, actually, and is revealed by the other characters in the way that they talk about her. What comes across the strongest is the character's repression. She's actually a slave to society, constantly struggling to become a free spirit. Throughout its 26 episodes, The Forsyte Saga gave television viewers their share of heartstopping moments... Although both these characters were at odds on the small screen, the relationship between the actors portraying them was far less tumultuous. 'People often made the mistake of assuming that Eric Porter and I were married, or at least brother and sister, but, in fact, we were no relation at all. The first filming we did for the programme was on location down in Brighton. I walked up to the front desk of the hotel we were staying at and asked for the key to my room. As I stood there, Eric Porter walked up to the desk as well. The clerk looked at both of us and said, \"Ah, yes, Mr. Porter, here are the keys for you and your wife.\" 'We hadn't even been introduced,' laughs the actress. 'Eric with his wonderful dry sense of humour turned to me and said, \"Well, I guess that does away with, 'How do you do?' and breaking the ice. They already have us in the same room.\" He was an extraordinary man with whom to work.' The Forsyte Saga was the last major series filmed in black and white and is also the most successful programme in BBC history. Forsytemania took hold all round the world. The series helped the BBC make a breakthrough in selling programmes to America. and it was the first drama series from the West to be bought by the former Soviet Union. In Britain, pubs emptied on Sunday nights when the series aired. The programme caused students to delay a rally in Prague; restaurateurs in Malta started opening later; and in New Zealand a cricket match began early so that the players could finish in time to watch the series. At first Porter and her fellow cast members didn't realize the impact the series had on its viewers. 'To me it was just another job, albeit a very difficult one,' the actress recalls. 'But, I kept getting feedback from people who obviously knew better than I, including, Kenneth More who said, \"You do realize our lives will never be the same again, don't you?\" The programme took off straightaway. 'I feel very privileged to have been a part of one of the original big television blockbusters and the first series to get BBC2 out of the red and into the black in terms of finances,' she concludes. After finishing work on The Forsyte Saga, the actress went on to other television work in series such as The Gamblers, Never a Cross Word, and The Liars."}, {"response": 350, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Nov  6, 2002 (16:44)", "body": "\"But, I kept getting feedback from people who obviously knew better than I, including, Kenneth More who said, \"You do realize our lives will never be the same again, don't you?\" Thank you, Suzee. I know FS was a popular series in the UK, but I don't think Forsytemania hit the US. Not as poplular as \"Upstairs, Downstairs\" I doubt the series catapulted them to stardom ... I never heard of Nyree Dawn Porter or Kenneth More til now ."}, {"response": 351, "author": "kathness", "date": "Wed, Nov  6, 2002 (17:06)", "body": "(Evelyn) know FS was a popular series in the UK, but I don't think Forsytemania hit the US. It may not have brought on Forsytemania, but it led directly to the creation of Masterpiece Theatre."}, {"response": 352, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sun, Nov 10, 2002 (04:39)", "body": "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 10/6/02 'Forsyte' actress brings 'fantasy figure' to life By STEVE MURRAY Atlanta Journal-Constitution TV Critic She appears at times like a statue, her marble-pale skin caressed by the watery gray sky. At other times, she could be mistaken for a John Singer Sargent portrait: an exquisite work of art. The fact that she is not, that she's an individual with a will of her own, is at the heart of \"The Forsyte Saga,\" the eight-hour \"Masterpiece Theatre\" miniseries starting tonight. The \"she\" in question is Irene Heron (Gina McKee), whose marriage to 19th-century London materialist Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis) and its impact on his extended family is central to Nobel Prize-winning novelist John Galsworthy's intimate epic. It was published in three volumes between 1906 and 1921; the new miniseries covers the first two books. \"I do think the idea of possession and possessions is key to the drama,\" McKee says by telephone from England. \"I think that it's a hideous thing for Irene to be thought of in those terms. She really does believe that if you truly love somebody, you should have the generosity of spirit to let that person be.\" That's the condition Irene (pronounced \"eye-REE-nee\") sets for Soames, who courts her with the same acquisitive spirit he brings to buying a landscape painting. She agrees to marry him only if he promises that, if they find themselves emotionally unsuited to each other, he will give her her freedom. That Soames does not honor, or even understand, this vow begins a series of repercussions for Forsyte family members, who are forced to weigh which is more important in life: passion fulfilled or a full purse. That Soames does not honor, or even understand, this vow begins a series of repercussions for Forsyte family members, who are forced to weigh which is more important in life: passion fulfilled or a full purse. McKee points out that Irene was raised to be a lady, but as a young woman had neither income of her own nor practical experience or training: \"She is basically in a social no man's land and takes the option of marrying Soames because she is young and naive and thinks perhaps you do earn love, rather than find it.\" This isn't the first time this drama has played out. A 26-hour BBC adaptation aired in the United States in 1969 and was such a surprise hit that it led producers at WGBH Boston to create \"Masterpiece Theatre\" as a venue for British drama. The new version, airing as part of that series, is a co-production of WGBH and Britain's Granada Television. The miniseries was broadcast in the United Kingdom last spring. \"People talk about it constantly even now, and the press really supported it,\" McKee says. As a result, she has limited time for interviews these days, because the final book of the series is currently being shot. As for the original '60s version, she has never seen it. She wanted to wait until after she had played the role herself. The actress, 38, has worked in both costume and contemporary films (she was Hugh Grant's friend in the wheelchair in \"Notting Hill\" and Clive Owen's lover in \"Croupier\"). But she found playing Irene to be a unique challenge, and not just because she had to wear a corset. \"It's an interesting role, because Galsworthy speaks of her only through the eyes of others,\" McKee says. \"It's never in the first person. He has descriptions of her, but it's always the other characters who are putting the spin on who they think she is. In some ways, she becomes a fantasy figure in the books. That's a wonderful challenge.\" Plus, there were those pesky corsets. \"It changes so many fundamental elements about your movement, your breathing, your digestion,\" she says. \"It's uncomfortable and inconvenient and restricting, but at the same time you do find a way to use it.\" The worst kind of dress she had to wear for the miniseries? She says it's the ones with underwire cages with wires that poke and bruise the legs: \"It's like having a small classroom of children banging into you.\" http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/living/tv/1002/06mckee.html And, Mr. Murray's review: The thematic tension between love and lucre in \"The Forsyte Saga\" is established in the opening minutes, set in London in 1886, when Young Jolyon Forsyte (Rupert Graves) falls in love with his daughter's governess and leaves his family to be with her. His decision remains a scandal for the wealthy Forsyte clan nine years later, when his cousin Soames (Damian Lewis), the family's reigning scion, woos Irene Heron (Gina McKee), who marries him because she has few other options A union that starts out on the wrong foot grows worse every year. Soames' failure to see Irene as a person makes her withdraw. The more she does, the more he wants her -- but as something to possess, not to love. With her cool, intelligent stillness, McKee maintains interest even during Irene's most enigmatic moments. As Soames, Lewis (\"Band of Brothers\") is more than her match in his own bran"}, {"response": 353, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Sun, Nov 10, 2002 (08:26)", "body": "Clive Owen's lover in \"Croupier\" That's interesting, I didn't notice it was her and had already seen her in Notting Hill. Will have to watch it again. I also didn't realize that a MT program didn't show everywhere on the same week. I know they are on different times and days in various markets. Thanks, Suzee."}, {"response": 354, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Sun, Nov 10, 2002 (11:06)", "body": "Thanks Suzee for the interesting articles. Didn't know that was her in Notting Hill or Croupier. Will watch again."}, {"response": 355, "author": "lafn", "date": "Sun, Nov 10, 2002 (14:50)", "body": "I didn't realize McKee was that old (38). She holds up pretty well. Has done 30 films! Mostly TV."}, {"response": 356, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Sun, Nov 10, 2002 (20:57)", "body": "What a self-centered bastard Soames is. He dumped the one he supposedly loved as soon as he realized she couldn't give him the new possession he wanted, didn't he? Dang, he's nothing if not tenacious, but the prostitutes defending her was quite a scene. Again, Damian Lewis is acting his hindquarters off. And I still don't like Irene. Nice to see June thawing just a bit towards her, if only in private; it'll serve her better in the end. I loved the humor that finally got ahold of Monty and Winifred."}, {"response": 357, "author": "BarbS", "date": "Sun, Nov 10, 2002 (21:39)", "body": "Just quick impressions (argh.. missed the first 10 minutes again...I need something to do): Loved the gown Freddie wore the night Val made his announcement. And while he was waiting in the park, it occured to me it's a shame men don't wear hats anymore. Hmmm, two boys go off to war. Don't think both will return. Not to be cold, but while I don't think both will buy it I can't decide whether it will be Jolly who does not return and breaks his father's heart or Val who will break Holly's. Freddie was spectacular when she threw the crystal...\"One rule for me, another for you.\" Soames' reaction was priceless. He just does not get it. Esoteric keeper lines for general usage on the boards (FUP's, if we had them here): Winifred, compose yourself. You need a lie down. Kick me, I'm down. And the final thing...in Paris, did YJ get to do what OJ only wished he could do?"}, {"response": 358, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov 11, 2002 (07:21)", "body": "Soames doesn't get it at all, he's a master of self flagellation. I don't think YJ got any."}, {"response": 359, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Nov 11, 2002 (10:24)", "body": "YJ did not get any yet. (Eliz), Damian Lewis is acting his hindquarters off. I agree! (Barb), I can't decide whether it will be Jolly who does not return and breaks his father's heart or Val who will break Holly's. It's better for the plot if they both come back. Who klnows they might become good friends at war. And BTW, we need Napolean. ;-) On the right side of course. By the previews it looks as if Soammes might be Fleur's father."}, {"response": 360, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Nov 11, 2002 (10:49)", "body": "(Barb) Esoteric keeper lines... Winifred, compose yourself. You need a lie down. Kick me, I'm down. Weren't those a hoot! I immediately decided to stop taking naps and start taking lie downs. I also liked \"Monty's back.\" I was checking the aging factor last night. Freddie seems to be aging a little (they added some gray). Monty looks as if he's had a face lift or perhaps a peel. Soames looks perhaps a little paler. Other than that, everybody looked pretty much the same to me (as they did in the beginning)."}, {"response": 361, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Nov 11, 2002 (12:10)", "body": "(Eliz), Damian Lewis is acting his hindquarters off. (Moon)I agree! Agree. But it's getting so one dimensional. I thought the episode belonged to Freddie. As for Irene...I can't see why men would be attracted to her. On my screen she's no beauty ..nor does she have charm , personality or a figure!!No sex-pot for sure. She's a dead fish, IMO (Moon) By the previews it looks as if Soammes might be Fleur's father. I guess....anyway look like she's coming baaaack. Dartie lends a little humor to the story. Glad he's back from Argentina. And who cares about the next generation? (Same with The Sopranos!)"}, {"response": 362, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Nov 11, 2002 (18:54)", "body": "(Evelyn) As for Irene...I can't see why men would be attracted to her. On my screen she's no beauty ..nor does she have charm , personality or a figure!!No sex-pot for sure. She's a dead fish, IMO I probably said it before, but Irene reminds me so much of Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz). Not that Irene is green, but when she had on the black hat and the top of it was cut off by the frame of the picture, the brim looked a lot like MH's witch hat. Also, there's something about her jawline. Eerie resemblance, IMO."}, {"response": 363, "author": "ekelley", "date": "Mon, Nov 11, 2002 (21:25)", "body": "(KathyF) Irene reminds me so much of Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz). YES!!! I thought the exact same thing last night while I was watching it! The profile is so similar... As for the aging comments, I was flicking around the channels last night after Forsytes and came to BBCAmerica, and was watching \"Coupling\" for a little bit. I think that the actor who plays Patrick on that show and the one who plays Monty are one in the same...I'm not sure, as I can never remember names. But it just stuck me as I was watching the sitcom. So, if they are the same person, there has got to be about 2 inches of pancake on his face for Forsytes... Monty's cheek bones look as if they are about to burst through his skin! at least they did last night."}, {"response": 364, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Tue, Nov 12, 2002 (12:45)", "body": "(Kathy) I probably said it before, but Irene reminds me so much of Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz). Not that Irene is green, but when she had on the black hat and the top of it was cut off by the frame of the picture, the brim looked a lot like MH's witch hat. Also, there's something about her jawline. Eerie resemblance, IMO. Great Observation. I knew she reminded me of someone, but just couldn't place her. Now I know who it is."}, {"response": 365, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Thu, Nov 14, 2002 (10:32)", "body": "(BarbS) And the final thing...in Paris, did YJ get to do what OJ only wished he could do? No, YJ did not. Anymore would be getting into spoiler terrritory. (BarbS) I can't decide whether it will be Jolly who does not return and breaks his father's heart or Val who will break Holly's. (Moon) It's better for the plot if they both come back. Who knows they might become good friends at war. I read the books so I know, but I'm not going to spread any spoilers about. Yet if you think about it Holly would be very hurt if either one of them were to be killed. She does love Val and would be devastated to loose him. She also loves her brother, Jolly, very much, and would be heartbroken both for herself and her father if he were to die. (ElizabethS) Damian Lewis is acting his hindquarters off. (Moon)I agree! Yes, he's doing a great job. Thankfully you're speaking metaphorically. It would be such a shame for him to loose those hindquarters since they are such nice hindquarters. Sorry, I couldn't resist. (KathyF) Irene reminds me so much of Margaret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz). \"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too.\" Okay, I've posted it before and I'll post it again. Speaking only for myself, I like Gina McKee as Irene. I think that she's doing a really good job. I do admit that have never really liked the character of Irene. But I'm happy with the job G.McKee is doing. Did anybody besides me think that the ensemble that Irene was wearing in Paris was really ugly. The one with the blue and white striped skirt, red jacket type thing over a white blouse, with what looked to be some sort of royal blue dyed feather scarf-type thing hanging around her neck. I mean what was up with that?"}, {"response": 366, "author": "Moon", "date": "Thu, Nov 14, 2002 (10:52)", "body": "with what looked to be some sort of royal blue dyed feather scarf-type thing hanging around her neck. I mean what was up with that? LOL! Welcome to the Fashion Patrol, Saskia! :-) It would be such a shame for him to loose those hindquarters since they are such nice hindquarters. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Oh, but he would not longer be retentive. He must act on all fronts and backs. ;-)"}, {"response": 367, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Nov 17, 2002 (08:56)", "body": "I've caught up with my FS episodes (thank goodness for those toothpicks propping open my eyelids) before the next airs and read all the comments. Was LOL at many of the observations. Is there a website for the Soames Anti-Defamation League? If not, there should be. ;-) And the Gina McK-Margaret Hamilton connection! Too funny. Could someone make Gina's face green, so we could a better evaluation? \"I'm mellllllllllllting\" With the exception of the children (different actors being used when they were mere tykes) and YJ and Freddie, I haven't seen much in the way of aging. It really is driving me crazy that Soames and Irene look the same. And what about Soames' mother and father? Exactly the same as when the series started. Come on! Whatshisname (Matthew?? Forsyte) should be positively decrepit by now and the aunts? Them too. Haven't aged a day. To me, that is a major flaw and shows poor production values. We get no true sense of time passed, except for them flashing \"12 years later\" on the screen and ask us to believe it. (Saskia) Did anybody besides me think that the ensemble that Irene was wearing in Paris was really ugly. Sign me up for this club. Hideous, but perhaps was all the rage in Paree. ;-) At the risk of antagonizing the SADL, he's is driving me nuts. Good grief! I cannot have a shred of sympathy for such a character who still thinks he can get Irene back to bear him a child. BTW, Soames' passing of those diamonds is an apt description. ;-) Having not read the book, Fleur seems like it might be Soames-Annette's child, given that the name is French, but that is merely conjecture on my part. Mama had pound signs in her eyes, and one wonders what Annette saw in him too. After having watched YJ and Irene in Paris, I can see far more of her appeal to men. Soames was in love with her at first sight, which is attraction of a physical nature. Therefore, she represented beauty for that era. But you can see how her personality lights up when she was with OJ and YJ. You need a lie down. Always been a fav of mine. CF says something very similar to Gram in MLSF, when she's had too much of the sherry trifle."}, {"response": 368, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (02:25)", "body": "I haven't watched tonight's show yet, but catching up on last week: (Eliz), Damian Lewis is acting his hindquarters off. (Moon)I agree! (Evelyn)Agree. But it's getting so one dimensional . I think he's *over-acting* his whatever off.... any minute I expect him to twirl his mustache and say 'dastardly' -- off with him completely as far as I'm concerned. (Barb) did YJ get to do what OJ only wished he could do? (Terry) I don't think YJ got any (Moon) YJ did not get any yet YJ didn't get any, darn it. I wanted more of those two in Paris almost as much as he did! Nice chemistry even if we only saw a few minutes. But, I think there's a very good chance that Montie got a little 'welcome home' gift!! After the \"Montie's back\" scene and before the son came home. Montie and Freddy seemed very relaxed in the second scene.:-) And will someone please find another leading role in a good movie for Amanda Root? She's wonderful. (I loved it when she said she was going to \"keep\" Montie.)"}, {"response": 369, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (02:50)", "body": "BTW, that *is* Ben Miles in 'Coupling' - too bad they're not keeping him for the US version: BBC Wednesday, 19 June, 2002, 13:09 GMT 14:09 UK British sitcom set to follow Friends Coupling follows the lives and loves of six friends BBC sitcom Coupling has been bought by US television network NBC as a possible replacement for Friends. The team behind Coupling said NBC saw the show \"as Friends with sex\" and were enthusiastic about its potential to replace the top-rated US comedy, which is coming to an end after nine seasons. Hartswood Films, which makes the British show, said the mother, daughter and son-in-law trio behind it will also be responsible for the US version and will not water-down its risqu\ufffd story lines. It follows the lives of six thirty-something friends \"making their way across the minefield of love and relationships\" and was criticised after its launch for imitating Friends too closely. It is thought the US version of Coupling will be filmed in Los Angeles using American actors. Friends is due to end after its ninth series A Hartswood Films spokeswoman told BBC News Online a pilot episode will be completed in October, with a decision on whether to go ahead with a full series to follow soon afterwards. Ben Silverman, the producer overseeing the project for NBC, said: \"We think Coupling would be a perfect show for the fans of Friends. \"It's kind of a next-generation sitcom. It is really honest and edgy.\" British writer Steven Moffat based the show on his relationship with his wife, Coupling producer Sue Vertue, and their friends. Together with Sue's mother, executive producer Beryl Vertue, they were invited to the US to make a pilot programme after NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker fell for the British version. Beryl Vertue was also part of the team behind Men Behaving Badly, which was a huge hit for the BBC in the mid-1990s after being axed by ITV in 1992. But a US re-make of the series fared less well and was cancelled after two years. Coupling stars Jack Davenport, Sarah Alexander, Richard Coyle, Kate Isitt, Ben Miles and Gina Bellman. The storylines which won it fans include a look at what happens to missing socks. Another focused on how one partner could hide porn films from the other. To prove a successor equal to Friends, Coupling will have to do extremely well. At its peak Friends attracted 24 million viewers an episode in the US, making multi-millionaires of its creators and stars."}, {"response": 370, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (10:13)", "body": "It's me, from the Damian is perfect club.;-) He broke my heart last night, practically making love to that red dress. Thanks to Gill for this interview: From the Sunday Times: Interview: The charmer Smooth, confident and raring to reinvent himself, Damian Lewis is just the chap to play Jeffrey Archer, says Lesley White This is the actor Damian Lewis describing Jeffrey Archer, whom he plays in the forthcoming BBC comedy, Jeffrey Archer \ufffd The Truth: \"He is a charming innocent, constantly hard done by, an ordinary man trying to do his best in a difficult world...\" Correction: that was Lewis echoing the disgraced peer\ufffds view of himself, and rather confirming the actor\ufffds real opinion of his subject. \"It wouldn\ufffdt surprise me if he were a little ill,\" says Lewis. \"You know, mentally unhinged.\" When we meet on the Pinewood set of the slapstick satire, written by Guy Jenkin, creator of Drop the Dead Donkey, Lewis\ufffds flaming red hair is dyed brown, the make-up department has achieved a not totally streak-free job with the fake tan, and, with his funky shorts, he is transformed not into Jeffrey, but a cross between an Ibiza raver and a boy scout. As Greta Scacchi is playing Margaret Thatcher, we can assume no attempt at impersonation is being made. In some ways, Lewis, 31, and the celebrated fantasist have more in common than it might first appear. While the latter has spent his adult life embellishing his biography for public consumption, the actor went through a period of reverse self-invention. Rather than admit having attended Eton, for example, he told early interviewers that he went to boarding school, then changed the subject before they could ask which one. \"I tried to sever all ties to my posh upbringing. It made me feel as if I couldn\ufffdt be a genuine moody actor. I\ufffdm desensitised to that now.\" In real life, Lewis is the sort of echt young toff that Archer so admires: rich insurance-broker father, St John\ufffds Wood childhood, mother on the development boards of the Almeida and Royal Court theatres, the whiff of Brideshead about him, in a modern sort of way. And then there is Eton, where he acted in a production of Nicholas Nickleby with Archer\ufffds younger son, James, the former Flaming Ferrari. Lewis played Wackford Squeers, James an incorrigible young scoundrel he took great delight in thrashing. After the show, Archer p\ufffdre, with that typical mix of grandeur and encouragement, congratulated Lewis on the certainty of a great career, asking to be sent front-row tickets for his West End opening night. \"It was a sweet thing to say to a 16-year-old, but he gave the impression I was being summoned by royalty, and even at that age, I wasn\ufffdt at all sure he warranted that.\" After Eton, he enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and subjected himself to real discipline for the first time in a charmed life. \"I was whipped into shape by a few people I thought I knew more about life than, but didn\ufffdt. When I left, I was sure I was going to be a sensation, get all the major roles and transform British theatre.\" By the time he landed his first significant television role \ufffd in Warriors, Peter Kosminsky\ufffds story of young British soldiers in Bosnia \ufffd that had changed, and he feared he would never be any good in front of a camera. Full of energy and ego, he wanted only to be onstage, wrestling with the great texts in front of 2,000 people. \"The camera was intrusive. I was always darting around it, looking for my audience, just wishing it wasn\ufffdt there. Now...\" He stops and smiles. \"You\ufffdre gonna ask if I love the camera. Come off it! Oh, all right then, yeah, I do. I love it.\" Lewis can\ufffdt help fizzing with confidence. He is the sort of boy who could charm grannies, dogs and leading ladies, who could walk into any party, onto any set, and make it his own: funny, smart, irreverent and with manners so beautiful you could frame them. Tea with the Queen, one gets the impression, would pose no problem, while his mockney mode would rival Guy Ritchie\ufffds. When his savoir-faire accidentally fails him, he looks almost comically stricken. \"I think you\ufffdre quite edu-cated, at least well- informed,\" he opines, in the manner of a kindly, condescending great-uncle, when I comment on his theatre work. \"Quite? How very kind of you,\" I reply, and he looks momentarily mortified. \"I, um, mean that in the American sense, where \ufffdYou were quite good\ufffd means \ufffdYou were wonderful\ufffd.\" Hmmm. When it counts, however, he knows how to play the meetings, winning over Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for his breakthrough role in Band of Brothers, against the cautions of all those who thought him too untested and the wrong nationality. Playing the quietly indomitable Major Richard D Winters in the \ufffd80m second world war epic, with perfect pitch and a creditable American accent, was the high point of his career. He has been watching the recent reruns on late-night TV, even calling his friend and fellow cast member Rick Warden to congratulate them both on good work. \""}, {"response": 371, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (10:17)", "body": "Last night episode was the best so far. Soames's seething was disgusting. High praise to Annette when she disobeyed him at the restaurant. I like her. He seems like he will dote on Fleur. Brava Karen for having guessed right. Sorry to see JY died. But it was needed to underline the birth of John. I am guessing that in the next part John and Fleur will be a couple? ;-)"}, {"response": 372, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (10:20)", "body": "(Mari), It's me, from the Damian is perfect club.;-) He broke my heart last night, practically making love to that red dress. What a great scene! I'm with you Mari. Thanks for that interesting article."}, {"response": 373, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (10:42)", "body": "Thanks for the interview with Damian Lewis; glad Speilberg has picked him up. BoB was a fabulous series. (Mari)He broke my heart last night, practically making love to that red dress That was his episode last night. Displayed very emotion in the book.From wrath at the restaurant , to sadness at his father's death,eroticism with her clothes. Agree about the red dress, but it was seeing him literally melting when he picked up Fleur that got me. Well, Irene Herron is the winner....finally living in the lap of luxury at Robben Hill (built by her former lover),with her newest Forsyte husband and son. Oh, I forgot...step- mother to her former lover's financee. Have to agree with Moon..looks like thrid generation will feature Fleur and John. These families have to get out more and meet new people!!"}, {"response": 374, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (10:43)", "body": "(Mari) He broke my heart last night, practically making love to that red dress. Oh my! *shaking head* Did we have different reactions to that scene. I fully expected him to get off on that dress from the way he was stroking it. Lots of good chuckles last night from Monty-George and Aunt banter. Wish I could remember them (and did not tape), but I'm sure someone else will have done so. I especially liked the looks exchanged between Monty and George, when Annette meets the family and tells them about the restaurant in SoHo. My vindictive self did enjoy the scene when Soames and Annette walk into the restaurant to see YJ and the very pregnant Irene. Touche!! Much as I want to be able to say \"Poor Soames\" because he didn't get his son and now Annette cannot have anymore children, I cannot. Until he picked up Fleur and carried her around, that look on his face as he glanced down on the babe for the first time was positively scary. *shuddering* OK, now Monty has aged and James did finally look older in this episode before he died. June is a complete enigma to me"}, {"response": 375, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (10:54)", "body": "LOL at Dartie who yearns to be back doing the tango in Argentina."}, {"response": 376, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (11:14)", "body": "June is a complete enigma to me She was beaming last night. Never looked better. Could she end up an old maid? Surely not!"}, {"response": 377, "author": "kathness", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (13:02)", "body": "(Karen) I fully expected him to get off on that dress from the way he was stroking it. LOL! My thoughts exactly! Thought it was a tad pervy. (Karen) Until he picked up Fleur and carried her around, that look on his face as he glanced down on the babe for the first time was positively scary. *shuddering* (Evelyn) but it was seeing him literally melting when he picked up Fleur that got me. Very interesting change of heart, I'd say! Looks as if he really fell for Fleur in a big way. Thought DL was magnificent last night! I still don't like his looks, but what a tour de force! (Karen) Lots of good chuckles last night from Monty-George and Aunt banter. Wish I could remember them Plenty of funny lines to go along with the drama, including, \"it seems like only a month or two ago that they were married.\" \"It was only a month ago!\" (Evelyn) These families have to get out more and meet new people!! Really!! London's such a big city -- must they only socialize with their family? It's getting rather icky. ;-) Good episode!"}, {"response": 378, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (13:07)", "body": "(Karen) Much as I want to be able to say \"Poor Soames\" because he didn't get his son and now Annette cannot have anymore children, I cannot. Until he picked up Fleur and carried her around, that look on his face as he glanced down on the babe for the first time was positively scary. *shuddering* I agree. I can't feel sympathy for someone so contemptable. He got what he deserved. Which is a testimony to DL's fine portrayal. I hated him. Job well done. (MoonD)(Karen) June is a complete enigma to me She was beaming last night. Never looked better. Could she end up an old maid? Surely not! I always wondered about June. Surely she's an excellent catch and much to savvy to give up on men. I wonder what will happen to her."}, {"response": 379, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Nov 18, 2002 (15:26)", "body": "(Mari) It's me, from the Damian is perfect club.;-) He broke my heart last night, practically making love to that red dress. Don't have time at the moment to read any other posts but this one from Mari, but this is the one scene I wanted to comment on all day. Even though this is MT/PBS, I thought that's where he was headed. And that really weirded me out. And the bizarre sobbing that he obviously tries to control as he's doing it. That man is quite ill."}, {"response": 380, "author": "Ebeth", "date": "Tue, Nov 19, 2002 (00:33)", "body": "Damian Lewis describing Jeffrey Archer, whom he plays.. Now this I have GOT to see, let's hope it makes it across the pond. The red dress skeeved me too; he slipped right into letting his obsession out of its box...that was truly creepy. What got me about the end was the way his smile started as an evil grimace and cracked into softness as he opened up. I presume the next episodes are completed and will be aired sometime in 2003?"}, {"response": 381, "author": "mari", "date": "Tue, Nov 19, 2002 (10:03)", "body": "I am guessing that in the next part John and Fleur will be a couple? ;-) Wouldn't you love to be at their wedding reception? \"The groom's mother will now dance with the bride's father.\" ;-)"}, {"response": 382, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 19, 2002 (10:09)", "body": "Anyone have episode 5 (next to last on tape), please email me (terry@spring.net). I have all the episodes except this one taped."}, {"response": 383, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (00:40)", "body": "(Mari) Wouldn't you love to be at their wedding reception? \"The groom's mother will now dance with the bride's father.\" ;-) I certainly would. LOL. Sorry Terry, wish I could help. Missed that one myself."}, {"response": 384, "author": "susanne", "date": "Thu, Nov 21, 2002 (12:41)", "body": "Review of the Forsythe Saga DVD http://www.the-trades.com/column.php?columnid=1484 Widescreen anamorphic format Closed captions. Three discs, two episodes each, eight chapters per episode. Making-of \ufffdThe Forsyte Saga\ufffd featurette Behind-the-scenes gallery Biography of John Galsworthy Cast biographies Presented as the premier and only original series for the 2002 season of \"Masterpiece Theatre,\ufffd \ufffdThe Forsyte Saga\ufffd will be completed in one more Sunday. However, we can already find out how the drama plays out on DVD. The box set for \ufffdThe Forsyte Saga\ufffd includes six discs, offering two episodes a piece, sectioned into eight chapters per episode. A balanced and lovely presentation, Acorn Media Publishing has put together a gift set just in time for the holidays. Produced by Granada Television, \ufffdThe Forsyte Saga\ufffd is based \"The Man of Property\" (1906) and \"Chancery\" (1920), the first two novels of John Galsworthy\ufffds trilogy known as \"The Forsyte Saga.\" The events of the third novel \ufffdTo Let\ufffd (1921) will be explored in the second installment of episodes, which is in production now. That series will play in the United Kingdom and then eventually, make its way to \ufffdMasterpiece Theatre.\" A season I imagine many will look forward to. Although the original 1967 BBC version -- a 26-episode major event that launched \ufffdMasterpeice Theatre\ufffd into must-see TV -- remains in the hearts of many, I believe this version will likely win new fans and will certainly not offend anyone who favors the original. The story revolves around Somaes Forsyte (Lewis), a man of property, who has always gotten what he\ufffds wanted in life and who never accepts no for an answer. If anything, rejection makes him all the more ardent in pursuit, which is exactly what Irene Heron (McKee) finds out after they first meet in Bournemouth. He is instantly drawn to her beauty and after only one meeting, proposes to her. But while he has made up his mind that they are a match, she is not as convinced. She declines his proposal. His reaction: \ufffdYou are charming beyond words.\ufffd She finally marries him for practical reasons. This being Victorian England, Irene has no real alternative to marriage. She was not born to work for a living. Her stepmother forces her to decide and on a fateful day, she goes to Soames and tells him of her decision, agreeing to marry him on one condition: that he let her go if their marriage is not a success. Soames agrees and in truth would have agreed to anything, believing in his heart that their marriage could be nothing but successful. This of course does not turn out to be so, and it is their relationship that ends up affecting the entire Forsyte clan. \ufffdOf all people, it\ufffds Soames who should carry on the family name.\ufffd Their marriage was seen as the start of a new era and the enormous pressure on Soames to produce a son is ever-present. But after two years of marriage, there are no children and Soames and Irene are unhappy. While one is still in love, still enchanted, the other is in utter depression. Yet they remain together. Eventually, her dislike grows to hate and nothing could make her see him any differently -- save letting her go. At the same time, she exercises a power over him. For years, even in separation, he is obsessed with her and wastes much of his life waiting for her to love him back. She disarms him and time and again we see Soames unable to deal with that reality. Despite his faults, he inspires our sympathies. The Forsyte family is full of characters, from gossips and snobs to artists and liberals. The family grows as the story progresses, with grandchildren being born and growing up. The Boer War and Queen Victoria\ufffds passing serve as backdrops, as points in time that add to the drama of the Forsyte family's saga. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much of the success of the series is thanks to the wonderful acting of its star Damian Lewis (so good in \"Band of Brothers\"). Being of the privileged class, Soames believes money can buy anything -- even love and forgiveness. A painting, a necklace, a house. Lewis lets us see Soames\ufffds side in his relationship with Irene and while we do feel sorry for her, we can sympathize with both. At times he seems lost, and it is when Soames is onscreen that the series moves at its swiftest pace. We can see his mind working, turning. We can feel his sadness with every rejection. From the way Lewis raised or lowered an eyebrow to the way he smoked a cigarette, he breathed life into the starched-shirt of Soames and made him much more than a repressed, controlling force hopelessly in love. At the end of the series, Soames has a wonderful, defining moment: a true smile, a true expression of bliss that he had never betrayed before. As Irene, Gina McKee had to go from cold and seemingly selfish to warm and comforting. With Soames, her character is a different person than when she is with others, such as Old Jolyon and later Young Jolyon. With them, she s"}, {"response": 385, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Thu, Nov 21, 2002 (15:29)", "body": "From the way Lewis raised or lowered an eyebrow to the way he smoked a cigarette, he breathed life into the starched-shirt of Soames and made him much more than a repressed, controlling force hopelessly in love. At the end of the series, Soames has a wonderful, defining moment: a true smile, a true expression of bliss that he had never betrayed before. But you had to get past the expression right before that. It *was* truly scary. As Irene, Gina McKee had to go from cold and seemingly selfish to warm and comforting. With Soames, her character is a different person than when she is with others, such as Old Jolyon and later Young Jolyon. With them, she smiles and expresses a warmth of character that is lacking with Soames -- which is the point. Isn't this exactly what I've been saying? :) Thanks, Suzee!"}, {"response": 386, "author": "lafn", "date": "Thu, Nov 21, 2002 (17:19)", "body": "\"At the end of the series, Soames has a wonderful, defining moment: a true smile, a true expression of bliss that he had never betrayed before.\" Agree with the above. Also with Karen: But you had to get past the expression right before that. It *was* truly scary He exhibited a gamut of emotions in a few minutes solely with facial expression...never uttering a word til the end. Then the smile : \"We'll name her Fleur\" \"Cut\"! \"Bam!\" \"At times he seems lost, and it is when Soames is onscreen that the series moves at its swiftest pace.\" Agree. Other times, ho-hum. He definitely 'drove the bus'. I'd love to see the interviews and outakes, but I'm not going to spring to buy it for that. Thanks Sue. Great find."}, {"response": 387, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Thu, Nov 21, 2002 (19:05)", "body": "This is an interview with Damian Lewis from the PBS website for The Forsyte Saga . It is interesting to read what he has to say about the character Soames Forsyte, Irene's relationship to him, the rape scene and the Forsytes in general. An interview with Damian Lewis Whether they realized it or not, viewers of the popular Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks miniseries Band of Brothers were watching an English actor in the starring role of Major Richard Winters, the taciturn American hero of an airborne unit during World War II. The real Major Winters is salt of the earth from Pennsylvania. The actor Damian Lewis is from London's Abbey Road and attended Eton. Otherwise, you'd never know the difference. While on hiatus between the production of series one and two of The Forsyte Saga, Lewis played Jonesy, a possessed college professor in the forthcoming film of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. Lewis recently talked by phone from London about the Forsyte remake, Soames's inner life, and what it's like to play an alien. Have you read all of Galsworthy's Forsyte novels? Yes, absolutely. I also bought a couple of books on Victorian mores and social customs. And I have some quite useful printouts from the Internet about the roles of wives and husbands in Victorian England. So I've got a wealth of information to go on. Did you watch the 1960s BBC adaptation as part of your research for the role of Soames? No, though I have seen little clips of it. That was a seminal piece of work, and a whole generation loved it. But I find that television dates very quickly. The language of the camera has moved on since then, audiences have become more sophisticated. We would find it very sedentary compared to what we expect now. Our cast is a lot younger than theirs, and I think the relationships are scripted in a slightly different way, more ambiguous perhaps. I'll see it someday, but I don't feel the need to go to it for guidance. Who is Soames Forsyte? He's fastidious, smug, and conceited. But he's also a person capable of love, though unfortunately unable to express it in a satisfactory way, especially to a young woman. He understands life in terms of contracts, property, and duty. And if any of those things is threatened, he falls apart. He can be cruel and small-minded, but that's often generated by this repressed passion that he's unable to express fully, or successfully, or healthily. I went to English boarding schools and grew up around people very much like Soames and in a milieu very much like the Forsytes's, even down to wearing tails, and stiff collars, and cravats. So I feel quite at home in the environment in which The Forsyte Saga takes place. But I'm a more ebullient person than Soames is. How do you perform such a conflicted, complicated character? You're hitting at a central point about acting, which is that for all the research you do, acting is finally an instinctive craft. My responses are not governed by some piece of information I have, but by what Gina McKee or Ioan Gruffudd or Rupert Graves is saying to me on the set. The scripts helped, and also the conversations I had with Sita [Williams], the producer, and Chris [Menaul] the director. We didn't want a simple villain in Soames. I think it's more challenging for the audience if they're presented with a character they hate but also feel sympathy for, who presents them with moral questions and has them thinking, God, I feel so sorry for Soames, but he just raped his wife! That's far more interesting. That rape scene is very famous. It's famous because in 1967 it was so novel to see something that explicit on TV. Now we're used to images like that, and the question in everyone's mind becomes, how graphic will it be? Our rape scene isn't at all graphic. It's suggestive, but still terribly shocking within the context of the drama. It should be shocking -- psychologically and emotionally shocking. Is it very difficult to do a scene like that? Yes, it's horrible to do. And it was all the more horrible because we happened to be filming it on September 11th. Gina and I were doing this harrowing scene as news was filtering in about what was happening in New York. It was a very weird, very upsetting day. We were just acting, and meanwhile this real thing was going on. Do you think Irene is a little hard on Soames? The best way to look at it is that Irene has married under duress. Her stepmother has said 'we are poor, we need to make this marriage, he's a good man, and he loves you.' But she can never love him. They don't share any of the same passions. Perhaps there's an element of self-loathing in her repugnance of him. She has agreed to do this thing that she really doesn't want to do. And it's for her convenience, really. In the beginning, there's no reason for her to hate him. He hasn't done anything bad, wrong, ugly, or cruel. He just represents something that she knows she can never love. There are hints that the Forsytes have an inferiority complex about their origins as"}, {"response": 388, "author": "FanPam", "date": "Thu, Nov 21, 2002 (21:40)", "body": "(Saskia) DL Interview: My responses are not governed by some piece of information I have, but by what Gina McKee ...is saying to me.... A most arduous task with this actor IMO. Well done DL. Thank you for great articles Suzee and Saskia."}, {"response": 389, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Fri, Nov 22, 2002 (18:45)", "body": "(Damien Lewis)They thought, this guy has all the qualities we're looking for...I guess I'm just good at playing repressed individuals. I'm lucky because those are often the roles that catch people's eyes. It's the Steve McQueen element, all that bubbling energy bottled up inside. It's a very compelling quality on the screen. I've been lucky that I seem to be able to pull it off Not exactly a modest fellow, is he? (Re GM & DL)Fittingly, they are the only two actors who speak in the featurette Why is that fitting? I would love to hear from some of the other actors. At the end of the series, Soames has a wonderful, defining moment: a true smile, a true expression of bliss that he had never betrayed before But only because he's thinking that this is *his* (his alone, his property,etc.) - he can control it and no one can take it away from him.. (Emphasis on the \"it.\" Hopefully he will not kill \"it\" as he did the kitten LOL) \"At times he seems lost, and it is when Soames is onscreen that the series moves at its swiftest pace.\" (Evenly)Agree. Other times, ho-hum. He definitely 'drove the bus' Not for me. I could have happily hit fast-forward when Soames was the only focus - especially after the first night. My \"bus drivers\" ;-) were McKee, Redgrave, Graves - and also Miles and Root when they were around. (Evelyn) I'd love to see the interviews and outakes, but I'm not going to spring to buy it for that My son bought the DVD yesterday but I haven't looked at any of it yet. Also, a few scenes are edited differently, just a few seconds here and there cut from the PBS presentation This is interesting because on another site, someone did a scene-by-scene comparison naming several very brief scenes that were in the PBS version and *not* on the DVD. I can't remember exactly which ones and I'm not sure I would know even if I watched the entire show again on DVD. I'm interested in another look at the costumes though after the comment about the colors. (Thanks for the article, Sue)"}, {"response": 390, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Fri, Nov 22, 2002 (23:03)", "body": "(Suzee) Hopefully he will not kill \"it\" as he did the kitten LOL You haven't been reading ahead have you, Suzee? ;-)"}, {"response": 391, "author": "suzee202000", "date": "Sat, Nov 23, 2002 (11:52)", "body": "(Karen)You haven't been reading ahead have you, Suzee? ROTFLOL! (I had to read that twice!)"}, {"response": 392, "author": "freddie", "date": "Fri, Nov 29, 2002 (03:43)", "body": "OK I went and saw Ioan Gruffudd today in Sydney at a book signing. I'll post what happened on his topic...151"}, {"response": 393, "author": "Saskia", "date": "Wed, Dec  4, 2002 (19:39)", "body": "\"At times he seems lost, and it is when Soames is onscreen that the series moves at its swiftest pace.\" (Evelyn) Agree. Other times, ho-hum. He definitely 'drove the bus' I couldn't possibly agree more with you Evelyn. It really was Damian Lewis's show. But I don't think that it was all because of, as Suzee might phrase it, the arrogant Mr. Lewis, himself. Don't get me wrong, I did find DL phenomenally good in the role of Soames. I also found him really sexy which oddly enough worked for the \"slim, dandified Soames\". Well it did for me. I am speaking only for myself here. If anybody thinks that I have bad taste or no taste that's okay. But I liked him, so there. Please don't be upset with me Suzee. I do respect your opinions and have enjoyed your posts. If you found DL to be rather arrogant I can understand that. I have read of him being described as \"very confident\". Maybe it his attending Eton which is the cause. (Suzee) But only because he's thinking that this is *his* (his alone, his property,etc.) - he can control it and no one can take it away from him. From what I remember of the books it is Fleur who is very much in control of her relationship with her doting father. Soames thinks that Fleur is a spoilt cow yet is aware that he is largely responsible for that. Here's another article about Damian Lewis and his playing Soames. Soames role gives Damian bad rep' By Jonathan Donald Heart-throb Damian Lewis's tortured role in The Forsyte Saga has forced him to abandon being a good samaritan. Lewis, 31, who plays Soames in the costume drama, was stunned by the response when he tried to rescue a drunken damsel in distress. \"It was 3am in Trafalgar Square and she looked too well presented to be in such a terrible state,\" he said. \"She was lying on the pavement and I thought I've got to get her a cab. \"I tried to get an address from her but she was so far gone she couldn't remember where she lived. \"I was staggering with her towards the taxi rank when she suddenly started screaming, 'you're that horrible Soames man'. \"I thought the cops were going to come so I just ran.\" Lewis has been delighted by the diversity of responses generated by his Soames role. His fiendish deeds in the ITV1 drama, which returns next year, have included raping his wife. Lewis said: \"Reactions range from screaming to feeling sorry for him. \"It's what I wanted - I didn't want him to be a stereotypical villain. I wanted ambiguity and that has been vindicated by people's reactions.\" http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/021125/128/dffjh.html"}, {"response": 394, "author": "lafn", "date": "Wed, Dec  4, 2002 (19:51)", "body": "If anybody thinks that I have bad taste or no taste that's okay. But I liked him, so there LOL... So did I. But don't go up to Fan Fic on #172 when I just contradicted myself about bad boys. DL\"I wanted ambiguity and that has been vindicated by people's reactions.\" He sure nailed ambiguity."}, {"response": 395, "author": "Moon", "date": "Thu, Dec  5, 2002 (07:45)", "body": "Thanks Saskia! That's a funny story. I think he made it up. ;-) I just saw the preview to the Steven King film he's in. Looks very creepy."}, {"response": 396, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Fri, Dec 19, 2003 (10:40)", "body": "From my MT newsletter: THE FORSYTE SAGA, SERIES II Sundays, February 8 - 22, 2004 What better way to follow the re-airing of THE FORSYTE SAGA, SERIES I (Sundays, December 21 through February 1, 2004), than with the continuation of the story? SERIES II, based on John Galsworthy's book To Let, is a powerful story about the intensity of first love for the next generation of Forsytes. Damian Lewis, Gina McKee and Rupert Graves reprise their roles as Soames, Irene and Young Jolyon; Emma Griffiths Malin (THE CAZALETS) and Lee Williams (Billy Elliot) take on the major roles of Fleur and Jon."}, {"response": 397, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Fri, Feb  6, 2004 (10:50)", "body": "I now declare this topic open again for business. *making my final lap around the oval* Reminder: First episode airs this Sunday."}, {"response": 398, "author": "Brown32", "date": "Fri, Feb  6, 2004 (11:09)", "body": "Mild Spoilers.... The NY Times Review - February 6, 2004 TV WEEKEND | 'THE FORSYTE SAGA II' Stiff Upper Lips Set to a Jazz Age Beat By ALESSANDRA STANLEY Members of the English upper class wriggling to ragtime in evening clothes can be an alarming sight. But there are few more effective ways of conveying the decline of the British Empire after World War I. The discomfiture, the yearning to keep spirits as blithe as they never really were and the undignified scramble to adapt to a faster, alien rhythm are all telegraphed in a few incongruous dance steps. That England is the setting for Series II of the \"The Forsyte Saga,\" a beguiling three-part mini-series that begins Sunday on \"Masterpiece Theater\" on PBS. Or at least it is England as Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis) views it from his bitter, sidelined perspective. This sequel to \"The Forsyte Saga\" that was shown on PBS in the fall of 2002 is based on \"To Let,\" the third novel in John Galsworthy's trilogy, written in 1921 by an older, more forgiving author than the one who scathingly mocked his own caste in the 1906 opening novel, \"The Man of Property.\" The television adaptation is also more sympathetic to Soames, the priggish bourgeois who loved and married but could never own the magnificent Irene (Gina McKee). So much so that at times whole scenes are filmed as if seen through his eyes, from ungainly jazz parties to gauzy close-ups of Irene. Now wrinkled, stiff-jointed and prone to Bloomsbury-style hats that make her look like Virginia Woolf, Irene regains her full beauty only when Soames is looking at her. Soames is obsessed with money, but he is not a philistine, and it is his sensual appreciation for music, painting, architecture and English garden landscapes that enriches the screen. There is a reason that viewers are still so drawn to mini-series set in England's Edwardian and post-Edwardian age: those times have a pull that goes beyond escapist nostalgia for grace, manners and perfectly manicured lawns. The world has not changed so very much since 1880, when the saga began, and we recognize ourselves more in a fragile society bracketed by Freud and World War I than in other, lustier eras of faith and certitude. One can smile at Galsworthy's quaint equation of truth and beauty, but his themes of loss, greed and clan loyalty have a familiar ring. \"The Forsyte Saga,\" be it this version by Granada Television of England and WGBH in Boston or the 26-part black-and-white BBC series shown on PBS in 1969, is almost as impossible to dislike as \"Gone With the Wind\" or the Harry Potter books. But Series II, which ends with Fleur's marriage, makes it a little easier, partly because tragic love triangles, when repeated in a second generation, tend to verge on farce. The sequel centers on the clandestine love affair between Soames's daughter from his second marriage, Fleur (Emma Griffiths Malin), and Jon Forsyte (Lee Williams), the son Irene conceived after she and Soames divorced and she fell in love with Soames's cousin Young Jolyon (Rupert Graves), the bohemian black sheep of the Forsyte clan. (Just that tiny bit of exposition helps explain why the tale is called a saga and the film versions are invariably described as \"high-brow soap opera.\") The two scions of feuding branches of the Forsyte family meet only once as children, in a garden at a tea party, but when they bump into each other again in an art gallery when they are 18, a spark is rekindled, horrifying their respective fathers, who unite only to keep the young lovers apart. Soames turns out to be a little less gothic than Jolyon and Irene about the family taboo, but then, he has less respect for tragedy. At the theater to see \"King Lear,\" Soames testily sums up the plot this way: \"Father, daughters, inheritance. The usual thing.\" World War I, which had just ended at the time of the lovers' meeting, is alluded to only elliptically, mostly as a reflection of a character's moral compass. When Soames complains that the war \"changed everything,\" he is referring to the vulgarity of low necklines and women riding horses astride, beggars on the streets and shopgirls with \"short skirts and common airs.\" June Forsyte (Gillian Kearney), Jolyon's daughter by his first marriage (he ran away with her governess and had two more children before meeting Irene), is Soames's opposite, all high spirits and generosity. She embraces modern art as an antidote to the horrors of Verdun and the Somme. \"People are bored with sentiment,\" she tells her father, a traditional landscape painter who is pained by an abstract sculpture of lovers in June's art gallery. \"Love has been bombed to smithereens. What does it mean anymore?\" Jolyon is aghast. \"Everything,\" he mutters. \"It still means everything.\" Fleur is as passionately in love with Jon as her father was with Irene, but she is Soames's spoiled, willful daughter, with a healthy dose of girlish callousness stamped into Forsyte DNA. Dancing with Michael Mont, a former officer who i"}, {"response": 399, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (09:56)", "body": "Nice to see the Forsytes again last night. Monty is still the slime ball he was last year.Winifred (Amanda Root never disappoints) still getting rejection. Looks like things are heating up between Annette and the French gigolo;-))) I like Fleur, what a flirt;LOL..even with her father.She's a predator like her dad...full of passion.But I wish she would hook up with the handsome Captain Mont instead of farmer Jon who looks like a wet fish. Poor Jolyon looks like he's checking out.(At least this time, the characters are getting older.) Loved Soames at the garden party in the striped blazer and straw boater. That's a wonderful era..clothes, music. But how about that background music, I could hardly hear the dialogue. Irene-ee is still a pill."}, {"response": 400, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (10:15)", "body": "Oooh! Wasn't it good last night. I have to admit I was a bit confused with some of the characters at first. June really threw me for a loop. Now, she doesn't look like she's aged a day. I probably should've watched the repeats of the first season that PBS had replayed. Fleur and Jon were adorable, and I didn't think Lee Williams, who plays Jon, was piscine in the least. Adorable. He looks a bit familiar, but other than playing a dancer in Billy Elliot, I haven't seen anything else he's done. Did you agree with Russell Baker's assessment that Galsworthy has made Soames much more human in the book (To Let) that formed basis for this installment? Perhaps as it relates to Fleur, yes, but not really toward anyone else. What June said still appeared true. (Evelyn) Poor Jolyon looks like he's checking out.(At least this time, the characters are getting older.) Loved Soames at the garden party in the striped blazer and straw boater. Yeah, that new outfit took years off Soames. LOL!"}, {"response": 401, "author": "kimmerv2", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (12:58)", "body": "Caught the Forsythe Saga last night, due to your recommendations . .for some reason thought it was a re-ariing of the original production, not a continuation of it;) . .I had caught just a bit of the end of the original some time ago . . . must rent it . .Netflix here I come. as well as picking up the 6 novels . .I belive the series is based upon . . . ooh . .the woman who played Winifred . .that was the woman in Persuasion . .w/ Ciaran Hinds . . . correct? Thought Fleur was a little imp . .totally had daddy wrapped around her finger . .poor Soames in the garden party outfit . .that look on his face when he first stepped out of the dressing room . .and when Fleur suggested the boater with the pink ribbon;) Jon . .fishy???? . .I dunno about that . .but did like the Michael Monty character . .would be rather interested to see Fleur's relationship with him develop rather than the one with Jon . . . Am eagerly awaiting the next part of this 2nd series. And though it probabably already has been posted: Here are the 2 official sites for the 1st and 2nd Forstythe saga series;) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/forsyte/index.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/forsyte2/index.html"}, {"response": 402, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (13:01)", "body": "It was nice to see Soames \"feel the love.\" :-) Fleur is his weak spot, she has him wrapped around her finger. And see how nicely he responds when someone truly loves him? I can't figure out why someone doesn't just tell Fleur and Jon that Soames and Irene were married, it ended bitterly, and that's that. And why try to separate the two young people for something that wasn't their fault?"}, {"response": 403, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (13:19)", "body": "(Mari) I can't figure out why someone doesn't just tell Fleur and Jon that Soames and Irene were married, it ended bitterly I know. Drove me nuts. What's the big deal? Seems like everyone and their charwoman knows the truth but those two idiots. But I did enjoy Fleur's investigative work and conclusions. ;-) Another series highlight: Soames being cuckolded. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy LOL! Didn't Jon say that his father had had two wives? So the mother of the two other children (Holly and ??? though not June) wasn't Jolyon's wife. They did marry, didn't they? If so, why wouldn't Jon realize that Jolyon had three wives? Or is he just a simpleton farmer. ;-)"}, {"response": 404, "author": "kimmerv2", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (13:30)", "body": "Random odd questions . .as one who has not seen the previous series nor read the books. . . That Degas pic . .the woman trying on hats . .the one from the post card in Paris and the one Soames bout at the auction . . Was Irene unknowingly the subject of the pic? . .For some reason looking at it reminds me of her . . (Mari)I can't figure out why someone doesn't just tell Fleur and Jon that Soames and Irene were married, it ended bitterly, and that's that. And why try to separate the two young people for something that wasn't their fault? I was curious about that . .was there such a large scandal when Irene left Soames? . . . .I guess bitterness over the situation/long holding grudges are a possibility . . .are we sure that Jon is definitly Jolyon's and Irene's son? . .I know that sounds so soap opera-ish . .is ther a slight possibility that Jon and Fleur could be brother and sister as opposed to just \"distant cousins?\""}, {"response": 405, "author": "kimmerv2", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (13:34)", "body": "Didn't Jon say that his father had had two wives? So the mother of the two other children (Holly and ??? though not June) wasn't Jolyon's wife. Karen - was checking out the family tree on the Forsythe web pages . .looks like the Holly and the other child . .were Joylon's through that governess from the first series . . Helene D.? The other child . .a son . .by the name of Jolly D. Can't really tell if they were married or not from the tree . ."}, {"response": 406, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (14:18)", "body": "(Kimberly) looks like the Holly and the other child . .were Joylon's through that governess from the first series . . Helene D.? But they eventually married. (thanks for the family tree tip, so I won't be saying whatsername) He left Frances for the governess, lived in sin for a long time, but eventually married. The kids all know they had different mothers. But I'm sure Jon said his dad had had two wives only. Might replay the tape. Was Irene unknowingly the subject of the pic? . .For some reason looking at it reminds me of her . . Really, it's supposed to look like Fleur, which is one reason Soames had to have it. was there such a large scandal when Irene left Soames? LOL! This *WAS* the entire first series! are we sure that Jon is definitly Jolyon's and Irene's son? Well, it sure wouldn't have been Soames'. The kid isn't constipated enough looking. ;-)"}, {"response": 407, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (14:32)", "body": "Jolyon had June with first cold fish wife...then he ran off with governess and had Holly and a boy...don't you remember how they lived in S. London in squalor? Kimberley you're going to have to rent Series 1. Or this series won't make any sense to you. Also liked seeing Robin Hill...the Frank Lloyd Wright;-) house."}, {"response": 408, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (14:44)", "body": "yeah, yeah, yeah...but didn't they marry eventually? I don't remember what happened to Frances, though recall she played the wronged wife to the hilt. Did she die? She wouldn't have given Jolyon a divorce unless she had somebody else lined up. Kim: This is total soap opera, masquerading as Nobel Prize-winning lit. ;-)"}, {"response": 409, "author": "kimmerv2", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (14:52)", "body": "(Karen)Kim: This is total soap opera, masquerading as Nobel Prize-winning lit. ;-) And I get confused working on One Life to Live! . .the first series now is a must see;)!!! are we sure that Jon is definitly Jolyon's and Irene's son? Well, it sure wouldn't have been Soames'. The kid isn't constipated enough looking. ;-) Perhaps the constipation hasn't surfaced yet;) But . .according to Evelyn. . .he might be the fishmonger's kid;)"}, {"response": 410, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (14:54)", "body": "Naw, I thought him adorable. Definitely from the genes of a Rupert Graves... ;-0"}, {"response": 411, "author": "mari", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (15:07)", "body": "(Kim)is ther a slight possibility that Jon and Fleur could be brother and sister as opposed to just \"distant cousins?\" Oooh, wouldn't that be delicious?! Shades of John Sayles' Lone Star. Actually that thought crossed my mind while I was trying to recall the first series, but then realized that years had gone by between Irene's divorce and her marrigage to Jolyon. Also, wasn't she married to Jolyon's father before the old boy keeled over, or was she just living in his house? BTW, Kim, you do know that Soames raped Irene in the first series, right?"}, {"response": 412, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (15:21)", "body": "Also, wasn't she married to Jolyon's father before the old boy keeled over, or was she just living in his house? They were just friends/companions, and I don't think she was actually living there. She visited a lot."}, {"response": 413, "author": "kimmerv2", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (15:32)", "body": "(Mari)BTW, Kim, you do know that Soames raped Irene in the first series, right? Really??? . .oooh I feel a wonderful melodrama evolving;) . . . .hurry up netflix!!! Also, wasn't she married to Jolyon's father before the old boy keeled over, or was she just living in his house? They were just friends/companions, and I don't think she was actually living there. She visited a lot. See this is where I caught a bit of the 1st series . .Old Jolyon persuaded Irene to teach young June piano, right? . .And the poor man died out there in the garden/patio ( I remembered the white furniture). .right where in this series Jolyon told the older June that his heart was bad and he was dying . ."}, {"response": 414, "author": "lesliep", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (16:44)", "body": "(Mari)BTW, Kim, you do know that Soames raped Irene in the first series, right? Only found this out by reading through the PBS website today. Was it while they were married? Was it the final impetus for her to leave him? (Mari)I can't figure out why someone doesn't just tell Fleur and Jon that Soames and Irene were married, Yes, it does seem like much ado about nothing, but probably reflective of the age in which it was written. I'd assumed that something far worse had occured until I read the website today. (Evelyn)Kimberley you're going to have to rent Series 1. Or this series won't make any sense to you. Thank you all for helping to fill me in. Like Kimberley, I missed the first series but was motivated to catch up last night based on your recommendations. So whenever you get that first series from Netflix, Kimberley, perhaps you'd be willing to send it my way before it goes back? It's obvious that it's a must ...particularly after eyeballing that family tree. At the very least, this is a pleasant diversion while I wait for that long awaited copy of HS to get here in April."}, {"response": 415, "author": "lafn", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (17:11)", "body": "Oh goody...the more, the merrier.Love having a spirited discussion. Last time, was great fun."}, {"response": 416, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (17:42)", "body": "Hurrah! It repeats here late tonight. Fell asleep very early last night and missed it. Must catch up to have my share of the conversation. ;-)"}, {"response": 417, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Mon, Feb  9, 2004 (22:22)", "body": "I caught the Russell Baker's intro to the second to the last episode of series one tonight (confusing, huh?) on the Indiana PBS station. Anyway, the important thing was age. When Soames was about to marry Annette, RB said he was 43 yrs old and Irene had been gone for 12 yrs. OK, Fleur looks to be somewhere about 18-20ish, so do you think Soames looks 60+!"}, {"response": 418, "author": "kimmerv2", "date": "Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (12:26)", "body": "(Karen)OK, Fleur looks to be somewhere about 18-20ish, so do you think Soames looks 60+! I was looking at the aging of the characters . .I'm always facinated with that makeup wise . .Irene looked great . .just some wrinkling around her eyes . .how old was she supposed to be in the 2nd series? Soames . . . 60ish? .. .I'd have to take another look next Sunday;) I did think they over did the liver spots on Montague . . .I think I recall a shot of his hands . .as he was overlooking some of his bills/debts . .and I thought to myself . .well someone's just taken an eyeliner pencil and tried to create a dot-to-dot puzzle type thing on his hand! Wanted to get a wetnap and rub half of them off;)"}, {"response": 419, "author": "firthworthy", "date": "Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (12:47)", "body": "Irene looked great Somewhere, perhaps in Russell Baker's introduction, I heard the comment that Irene always looks younger in Soames' eyes, and I really noticed that in the newest episode. To us she's showing some age, grey hair, eye wrinkles, etc., but when we're looking through Soames's eyes -- when he saw her for the first time in years -- she looked much younger and more lively. I'll have to watch for that in the next episode to decide if it is intentional differences in her makeup, or if that comment was so suggestive that I just saw it that way."}, {"response": 420, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (13:25)", "body": "Irene would probably be a good 10+ yrs younger than Soames. She had an affair with June's beau (Bossinnay, played by Ioan G), who also designed Robin Hill for them. You really must watch the first series!"}, {"response": 421, "author": "lafn", "date": "Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (13:45)", "body": "(Deb)when he saw her for the first time in years -- she looked much younger and more lively. Irene-ee lively? With Soames around ? Nevah. (Must go watch that one again.) What I did notice ,was the first time Soames sees her at June's gallery , the shot is taken through an opening of the Cupid sculpture. (Karen) so do you think Soames looks 60+! Yes. Except when he's dancing with Fleur. He adores her."}, {"response": 422, "author": "gomezdo", "date": "Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (18:51)", "body": "Boy, that Fleur is a pip! And a flake, though a cunning one. She's full of joie de vive, which I like, but I'd need a break from her. A bit too much for me sometimes. She and Jon are cute together, but he's an easily led boy. Give me the *man*, Michael Mont. Mmmm, mmmm. I got kinda creeped out a few times with Fleur and Soames. :-/ I don't think Soames looks 60-ish. The makeup is fair, a few age spots on the face and a few wrinkles. Of course, he could just be aging well. ;-) He just walks slower and holds his body stiffer, esp his neck, to denote advanced age, IMO. I found it distracting. But Kimberly, you're right about Monty's age spots. Looks like they multiplied like Tribbles. I'm sad for Jolyon. :-( He's such a cutie. Poor Irene, too. They've been so happy. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 72, "subject": "Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David and Cheryl Hinds", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (13:25)", "body": "There have been some great episodes and the last one was awesomely funny, especially the ending to the last episode. I did a tivo instant replay at least 5 times on this ending. Talk about helplessness and irony and priceless looks on the faces of Larry, Cheryl, Ted Dansen and the other supporting character. Priceless! Club Soda and Salt was one of the funniest episodes ever. This season just kicked off last Sept 15th, along with the first episode of Sopranos. So there are a lot of new episodes coming up. Here's a good NPR piece from last year on the show: http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat/features/2001/larrydavid/011027.larrydavid.html"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (13:35)", "body": "They do a ten episode season, each episode is 30 minutes. I'm listening to the NPR interview via realaudio from the above website. It's a great interview. Larry says the real Larry David isn't this guy, good thing. He \"expresses a lot of things that people are thinking about\" \"the stories are difficult to write\" \"I write it for me, I'm the audience. I write it to amuse myself.\" \"People are invariably dissappointed when they meet me.\" \"It's all ad libbed\" !!! Sunday nights on HBO."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (15:19)", "body": "from the npr.org piece: In its excavation of the darkest, most humiliating corners of Mr. David's personality, the show is indeed not unlike Seinfeld. But there are other comparisons to be made. It is somewhat akin to, but not really derivative of, The Larry Sanders Show another reality-blurring cable vehicle that explored mid-life male angst and self-loathing. In some ways, it's a more-controlled version of the comedy of neurosis-king Richard Lewis, who has appeared as a guest star. But, based as it is so closely on Mr. David, it couldn't help but be truly original. One episode, \"The Thong,\" had Mr. David plotting to escape his therapist, a pudgy, middle-aged gentleman whom Mr. David saw wearing the offending garment on the beach. The site was so ghastly, so horrifically traumatizing for Mr. David, that he simply couldn't bring himself to face the man any longer. But he was equally afraid of telling his therapist why he was leaving, so he pretended to be cured. In this, he was less than convincing."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (15:25)", "body": "The official show site: http://www.hbo.com/larrydavid/ New season of Emmy\ufffd-nominated HBO series gets critical raves! The third season of Larry David's critically-acclaimed HBO comedy series continues with episode 24, The Nanny, premiering Sunday, October 6 at 10pm ET/9pm C. Larry, Cheryl, Jeff and Susie encounter a \"nanny from hell\" whose reign of terror is thwarted by--ten sponge cakes! Guest stars include Cheri Oteri, Tim Kazurinsky, Michael York and Richard Lewis. Can't wait? Catch an encore airing of episode 23. Tom Shales of The Washington Post says about the new season, \"If we gave out stars with reviews around here... Curb Your Enthusiasm wouldn't get four; it would get four hundred.\" Missed the first two seasons? They're currently re-airing on HBO Comedy."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (08:46)", "body": "Amazing episode. Larry plays a Jewish gangster on a Scorcese production, and wyou won't believe how totally different he looks with the big head of hair. It's double take material. And the bit about his mom's death. Or it's more about the dead mother excuse. It's tinged with the Sopranos and Six Feet Under!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:08)", "body": "That was a really great Larry DAvid episode. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 73, "subject": "Sean Bean 1991 Clarissa", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct  6, 2002 (23:48)", "body": "You might find it on amazon's used books, what are we going to talk about in this topic that you've started, javahotpot? Can it be a topic to talk about Masterpiece Theater in general and can I use my hostly powers to re-direct it somewhat so your specific plea can be in the context of a topic of more widespread interest to our community?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:09)", "body": "Clarissa (1991) (TV) Sean Bean is such a scene stealer that he should had gotten flogged for his ... this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Clarissa (1991) (TV) ... www.imdb.com/title/tt0101066/ tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 74, "subject": "Smallville", "response_count": 7, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 20, 2002 (23:18)", "body": "Does anyone else like this show, or am I still just a kid at heart? I loved the Sueprman series growing up. Is Lana Lois? And what about Lex Luthor, he's Clark's best friend not his enemy. I have to say I like this twist but we know what the future holds someday in Metropolis. Or do we? Is the relationship between Clark and Lex taking on Xenalike, homoerotic proportions? I've read this elsewhere on the net, but I never would have gone in this direction. Of course, I haven't followed the Xena/Gaby relationship. could someone inform on this?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (07:12)", "body": "One interesting weblog comment from: http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=thamiris&itemid=107917#cutid1 Better Dead Than Red: Clark, Lex and The Demise of Moral Ambiguity in Smallville In discussing \"Red,\" I could spend hours talking about butch!Clark and all the naked images he inspired, or the unbelievable slashiness of the Clark/Lex interaction, but that would just be an endless series of horny grunts and groans. Instead, I want to talk about how under his leather Clark Kent is Lex Luthor, and to consider the implications of this. When I first saw the teaser for \"Red,\" before the episode aired, I actually wondered if somehow Lex had taken over Clark's body. The scene where a Ferrari-driving Clark revels in the possibilities afforded by his talents as Jonathan looks on, horrified, demonstrated the kind of brash, bottom-line arrogance that Lex might show with his own father, that need to get the hell out of Dodge and take over the world. The paternal relationship can turn Lex's bravado on overload, where he's forced to play big to match his father, and Clark's behavior seemed very familiar on that count. At the same time, I kept tripping over my sense that this Lex I was positing wasn't quite matched by what Lex is, a morally-ambiguous guy who's often able to choose morality over money, despite his father's will. Lionel says, \"Cut twenty percent of the workforce at the plant,\" and Lex finds a way to save the workers' jobs (\"Hothead\"). Lionel says, \"Return to Metropolis,\" and Lex stays there, being a friend to Clark (\"Reaper\"), running a coffee shop that doesn't turn a profit (\"Heat\"), trying to bond with Jonathan Kent (\"Drone,\" \"Vortex\"). So why did I feel like Clark was somehow behaving like Lex, when Lex really isn't all about the money, sex and power, but a lot more? As I started to record my response to \"Red,\" I realized why I kept seeing Lex in Clark's behavior: it wasn't Lex as he is, but Lex as he's believed to be by nearly everyone around him, the selfish, amoral, greedy son of a capitalist. I'd even suggest that perhaps Clark has internalized these glimpses of who Lex could be, that perhaps Clark's behavior reflects his worries about who Lex is. Others have pointed out that in \"Red\" Clark begins to dress like Lex, at least once he gets rid of the leather jacket of Badititude. That is, the further along he goes, the more Clark becomes the darker version of Lex, not so much Lex we meet in Smallville, who's capable of incredible kindness and generosity, but the public face of Lex Luthor, the one about whom Carrie Castle writes her article, the one whose irresponsibility shut down the plant, the one who would be capable of robbing a bank for the thrill of it. This is the Lex Luthor who, when telling Clark in \"Shimmer\" about the watch his mother gave him, compares himself to Napoleon and presents his life in terms of conquest: \"Napoleon\ufffds mother couldn\ufffdt make it to his coronation. But when he commissioned it, Napoleon told David to paint her in as if she were there, right in the center. Even though she couldn\ufffdt be there physically, he brought her into his life through sheer force of will, there to share in his greatness.\" Consider the similarities between this public image of Lex, this possible version of Lex, and Clark's behavior in \"Red\". Clark has no scruples about using women, about divorcing emotion from power-plays and sexual games. While he's obviously physically attracted to Jessie, he doesn't seem to feel more than that, and gloms onto her as his ticket to freedom. He plays her off Lana, which I think he does as deliberate payback for Lana's recalcitrance: Clark mentions that he's noticed Lana's jealousy for the attention he's paying Jessie, and admits that he likes it. He uses that jealousy to force Lana to come around, manipulating her quite overtly, without regard to his ability to hurt her, which he does as the ending of the episode reaffirms. Similarly, in the darkest version of \"Zero,\" Lex uses Amanda in a game against her fiance, Jude. While his motives could be altruistic, in the darkest version he's setting her up so that he can bang her, playing on her emotions in a selfish way to get what he wants. The same applies to his relationship with Victoria, whom he's using to get back at his father (and at her for betraying him), or with Carrie Castle in \"Drone,\" for trying to ruin his reputation. That is, superficially Lex's relationships are more about power than anything else, less about genuine affection, and the same can be said for Clark's. There's a sexual component to both, but Clark seems to be living out Lex's words to him about women and love in \"Shimmer\": \"Relationships aren\ufffdt always about love, Clark. Sometimes they\ufffdre about mutual goals.\" Later Lex adds about his relationship with Victoria: \"We\ufffdre playing chess, Clark. It\ufffds a game.\" more at http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=thamiris&itemid=107917#cutid1"}, {"response": 3, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (11:17)", "body": "Funny article! Does anyone else like this show, or am I still just a kid at heart? I loved the Sueprman series growing up. I am a faithful follower. Clark is a doll! Is Lana Lois? No. Lana is Lana. Chloe is (the future), Lois. And what about Lex Luthor, he's Clark's best friend not his enemy. I have to say I like this twist but we know what the future holds someday in Metropolis. It's safe to say that they will become enemies in the future. I like the way the story sets them up as friends first. Is the relationship between Clark and Lex taking on Xenalike, homoerotic proportions? I don't see it. But my mind is not always looking out for homoerotic pervertions as many are in Hollywood."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (07:43)", "body": "I'm glad someone else watches this show besides me moon, I thought I would be all alone. I think it's a well done show with interesting actors, great music and a fantastic spin on the ageold superman legend. I'm glad they've gone in to a second season, I understand the show is doing well in the ratings, as it should."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 23, 2002 (08:57)", "body": "Pretty decent Smallville site: http://www.kryptonsite.com/"}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 30, 2004 (14:47)", "body": "Pretty good Smallville site: http://t_d_farrin.tripod.com/smallville/ Here's a sample description of the most recent episode: Jason has a meeting at LuthorCorp to meet with Human Ressources. It looks like people know about Lana and Jason. Lionel, still in prison, plays chess with another inmate. Lionel claims that he's a changed man and wants to help his fellowmen, his cellmates, and that he wants to stay in prison! Chloe and Clark go on a secret field trip at LuthorCorp where things are too quiet compared to usual. An accident involving the meteor rocks happened at LuthorCorp and several employees are unconcious. The infected personnel are quarantined and the other employees are trying to fix the leak. They were working on a military project to create a toxin that would invoke people's worst nightmares so that the Army could disable the enemy without using force... but someone who visited the plant is now in the hospital could it spread? Will they find the antidote in time because the human body cannot withstand that amount of fear for very long. OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: TOXIC WASTE - Lex's secret experiment at Luthorcorp goes awry and causes a dangerous toxin to be released into Smallville. Those infected by the toxin, including Clark, Lana, Lex, and Jason imagine their greatest fears come true and then fall into a coma. Desperate to find a cure, Clark gives some of his blood to Lex and is stunned at what Lex does with the antidote. Allison Mack, John Glover, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star. David Carson directed the episode written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson. http://t_d_farrin.tripod.com/smallville/episodes/season4/10.html"}, {"response": 7, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:11)", "body": "I'm still a huge Smallville fan. This season's finale really rocked but it opened so many questions that are going to be tough to resolve next season. I grew up with Superman and this show is about my favorite on tv. http://www.kryptonsite.com/ is good but the ads are kinda gross. Don't go to ti if you hate popups and flashing ads. Tom Welling Throws \"First Pitch\" In Baseball Game Special thanks to: Maria Tom Welling made a rare public appearance at the Boston Red Sox vs. New York Mets game on Thursday, June 29, as he threw the ceremonial first pitch of the game. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 76, "subject": "David Letterman", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (07:16)", "body": "Talking about how windy it is in NYC these days. \"Yeah, walking through Central Park on my way to work today, it was windy, boy, and I saw a couple squirrels lashing down their nuts.\" \"First sign of autumn up in Chapaqua Yeah, the first frost of the season. Hillary Clinton came home for the weekend.\""}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:12)", "body": "Top Ten Signs You're At A Bad Fireworks Display 10. What you call a fireworks display, the police call arson 9. Best part was when the bug zapper fell in the pool 8. Only celebrity they could get is the Geico lizard 7. Al Gore shuts it down because of atmosphere-warming sulfure emissions 6. It starts at noon 5. It's just a couple of guys yelling, \"Ka-Boom!\" 4. Finale of show: A stick of dynamite blows up your car 3. Fireworks form a colorful image of CNN personality Larry King 2. You're handed a program and a business card of several peronal injury attorneys 1. When you complain that it's over after an underwhelming two minutes, your wife says, \"Tell me about it\" tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 77, "subject": "Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "Moon", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (11:23)", "body": "I agree about Leno's monolog. Letterman is not as much fun as he used to be when he had more hair. ;-) I use top watch Letterman everynight on Late Night when it was really late night. I love Paul S. He's a brilliant comic. I wish they gave him more time to talk. Love \"Jay Walking.\""}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (18:27)", "body": "I'm glad someone else watches this show besides me moon, I thought I would be all alone. I think it's a well done show with interesting actors, great music and a fantastic spin on the ageold superman legend. I'm glad they've gone in to a second season, I understand the show is doing well in the ratings, as it should."}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Oct 21, 2002 (20:15)", "body": "What the f***?"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 22, 2002 (07:43)", "body": "Ooops, posted to the wrong topic. The above response should have been in \"Smallville\"."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan 27, 2005 (03:12)", "body": "\"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno\" drew a huge audience Monday night for its tribute to the late Johnny Carson, The Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday. http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=1001600"}, {"response": 6, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:12)", "body": "It's about the guests. Monday, July 03 # Kate Beckinsale - Click # Jim Norton - Comic # Music - She Wants Revenge Tuesday, July 04 # Ellen DeGeneres # Scott McClellan - Former White House Press Secretary # Music - Goo Goo Dolls Wednesday, July 05 # Jack Black - Nacho Libre # 'Car-parazzi Kids' chase & film exotic cars # Music - Hard-Fi Thursday, July 06 # Dana Carvey # Nicholas Hearon - 8-year-old dental expert # Music - T.I. Friday, July 07 # Adam Sandler - Click # Rosie Perez - Yo Soy Boricua, Pa'Que Tu Lo Sepas! # Music - John Fogerty UPCOMING GUESTS: Kate Hudson - 07.10.06 Kevin Smith - 07.10.06 Soul Asylum - 07.10.06 Owen Wilson - 07.11.06 Lance Armstrong - 07.11.06 Chris Isaak - 07.11.06 Matt Dillon - 07.12.06 Parker Posey - 07.12.06 Smokey Robinson - 07.12.06 Rosario Dawson - 07.13.06 Cedric The Entertainer - 07.13.06 Dashboard Confessional - 07.13.06 David Hasselhoff - 07.14.06 Natalie Morales - 07.14.06 Morningwood - 07.14.06 tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 78, "subject": "CSI", "response_count": 7, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 25, 2002 (10:49)", "body": "\"Pucks, bucks, and . . . chicks\" \"When did you become interested in beauty Grissom?\" \"Right after I met you.\" And, Marge's bulbous, uh, er, breasts. What more could you ask for in a tv show?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "AlFor", "date": "Tue, Nov 19, 2002 (19:35)", "body": "Well, we could ask for intriguing characters and plot lines, but that would be superfluous 'coz CSI's already got 'em! It reminds me a little of \"Strike Squad\" and \"CI5: The Professionals\". OTOH, the only thing one could ask for with \"CSI Miami\" is cancellation. Maybe that's a bit too drastic; they could try getting rid of David Caruso first. 50% Grissom + 50% of his character from NYPD Blue = 0% of anything interesting."}, {"response": 3, "author": "AlFor", "date": "Tue, Nov 19, 2002 (19:40)", "body": "For \"Strike Squad\", read \"Strike Force\"."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (06:25)", "body": "The pucks, bucks and . . . chicks comment was the Marge Helgenberg character. I don't know about Strike Force and CI5, what was it about these shows that you liked, blob? Agree about CSI Miami but for a different reason, it's too gruesome. They are trying to outgruesome CSI and they're going way overboard with the spilled guts routine."}, {"response": 5, "author": "AlFor", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (18:48)", "body": "Both shows are about teams of cops using their wits and experience to catch crooks. The interactions between the characters and the lengths to which they go are amazing. They are also not very flashy shows, \"Strike Force\" more surprisingly so being an American series. \"Strike Force\" is also the only show I've seen in which Richard Romanus plays a good guy, albeit a somewhat sleazy one. Probably the best part of \"CI5: The Professionals\" is the interaction between Doyle and Bodie; they are partners but not friends."}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (20:04)", "body": "I like the science in CSI, they go to great lengths to use interesting scientific evidence. The characters in the original CSI are very good and the dialog is pretty good. Los Vegas has turned out to be a good locale for this show."}, {"response": 7, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:13)", "body": "CSI is at a lost to explain why three masked but unarmed teenagers were brutally gunned down near the Las Vegas Convention Center. Two of the victims are found sprawled on the street, the other dangling high up on a palm tree. None of them have I.D. Grissom notes a large retro \"Flavor-Flav\" clock necklace on one kid's neck, a bullet hole fixing the T.O.D.s at 3:17 am. A bloody staple gun near teen #3 suggests these kids were \"snippers\"--rap artist groupies hired to put up promotional posters. Dr. Robbins arrives and quickly discovers that teen #2 (lying at the base of the palm tree) is a female and that a car tire has crushed her legs. A two-foot tapered steel rod is found underneath her body, probably belonging to the getaway car. The scatter pattern of several nine-millimeter shell casings indicates a drive-by shooting. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 79, "subject": "24", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov  7, 2002 (09:13)", "body": "Official episode guide: http://www.fox.com/24/guide.html"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:14)", "body": "from the official http://fox.com/24/episodes episode guide. 6:00 A.M. Logan and Martha put their clothes back on after having sex. 6:01 A.M. Jack takes a chopper pilot uniform from a locker in the outbuilding. Chloe lets Jack know that she and Novick found a way to pull the co-pilot from the flight. 6:02 A.M. A Secret Service agent removes the real co-pilot from the helicopter because there is something wrong with his paperwork. 6:03 A.M. Novick prepares Jack\ufffds Marine One identification papers. Martha lets him know that she has stalled Logan as much as possible. Novick calls Pierce and warns him that the reassignment documentation is being faxed to the outbuilding. 6:04 A.M. The co-pilot enters the building to find out about his paperwork. Jack knocks him out. 6:05 A.M. Wearing the uniform and the pilot helmet, Jack walks out and shows his paperwork to the agent on duty. He boards the chopper. 6:06 A.M. The Presidential limo pulls up to the outbuilding. Novick has Martha find an excuse not to be on board. She tells her husband that she thinks he should step out of the helicopter alone because it will make for a better press image. Logan agrees, and gets on the chopper. It takes off. 6:07 A.M. Once the helicopter is in the air, Jack warns the pilot that he will kill him if he doesn\ufffdt keep flying. Jack orders him to dismantle the flight communication on his helmet. 6:08 A.M. Jack goes to the back of the chopper and stun guns the two Secret Service agents to make them pass out. He handcuffs Logan, who is shocked to see Jack. 6:09 A.M. Chloe radios to Jack a coordinate to land the helicopter at an empty warehouse. Logan asks Jack what he wants, but Jack remains silent. Logan goes on to try to explain his actions. 6:10 A.M. Chloe calls Morris, who is heading towards where the chopper will land. She instructs him to handoff something when he arrives. The pilot lands next to a warehouse and shuts down the chopper. Jack stun guns the pilot, who passes out. 6:11 A.M. Jack forces Logan into the empty warehouse. Logan tries to bribe him. Jack removes all the objects from Logan\ufffds pockets and cuffs him to a pole. 6:12 A.M. The confused Morris pulls up to the chopper and goes inside the building. He carries a briefcase. 6:13 A.M. Jack finds Morris and takes the briefcase and a piece of equipment from him. Morris sees President Logan and is stunned. Jack orders him to leave. 6:14 A.M. Jack calls Chloe and she tells him that he has less than ten minutes until the response team comes after the President. 6:18 A.M. Jack sets up a camera on top of the briefcase and tells Logan that he wants a confession. Logan insists that he will not do so. Chloe watches this over the video feed. 6:19 A.M. Jack starts to ask Logan questions about the Sentox gas being given to the Russian separatists. He wants to know the truth about the deaths of Palmer and others. Logan insists that everything he is saying is a lie. Jack lets him know that Cummings, Henderson and Nathanson all confirmed they were involved in a conspiracy before they were killed. Logan refuses to say anything, and accuses Jack of attempting to torture him. Jack tells him that he won\ufffdt torture him but will kill him unless he confesses. 6:21 A.M. Jack recalls how, a year and a half ago, he was told his life was in danger and faked his own death to protect himself. Now he is sure that Logan was the source of this danger to his life. Palmer and the others who tried to help Jack are now dead. \ufffdI have absolutely nothing to lose,\ufffd Jack says, assuring Logan that he has no problem shooting him. Jack is confident that Logan will face justice. 6:22 A.M. Jack raises his gun and starts to count to three. Logan is afraid, pleading that his death will only make him appear to be a martyr. Shaking, Jack gets to three but doesn\ufffdt pull the trigger. Logan is relieved that Jack could not kill him. 6:23 A.M. Suddenly, a TAC team swarms the warehouse. Jack hears them and lowers his gun. He gets on the floor and puts his hands behind his head. At CTU, Chloe types something and quickly shuts down her laptop. 6:24 A.M. The Secret Service captures Jack. Logan grabs all of the things removed from his pocket. He tells the agents that Jack is delusional and needs to be put in solitary confinement. 6:29 A.M. The naval chopper lands at the airfield where Novick and Martha are waiting. Novick tells her that Jack wasn\ufffdt able to get the confession and is now in custody. Martha panics. 6:30 A.M. Palmer\ufffds casket is removed from a hearse with full pomp and circumstance. It is placed near a podium. Martha breaks down, accusing Logan of being a murderer. Logan has the Secret Service agents take her away into a hangar. \ufffdHe\ufffds not fit to be President!\ufffd Martha cries out. 6:32 A.M. Logan goes to the hangar. He smacks Martha and checks to see if she\ufffds wearing a wire. Logan accuses Martha of delaying him with sex in order to get Jack on the chopper. He asks her why she did it. Martha explains that he had Palmer and other"}]}, {"num": 8, "subject": "What are you watching on tv right now?", "response_count": 91, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Feb  9, 1997 (21:50)", "body": "I'm watching a show on CBS with Jean Triplehorn about folks out on La. on the bayou. Pretty good so far. Great costumes and scenery."}, {"response": 2, "author": "Donna", "date": "Fri, Feb 14, 1997 (14:08)", "body": "At this very moment we are watching \"Rich In Love\" with Albert Finney on Lifetime. He has an American Southern \"drowl\" with an undertone of his great Eng/Irish accent.I am not sure if he is English or Irish,but it is great. I have never seen this before."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Aug 21, 1997 (23:24)", "body": "I'm flipping between Letterman and Leno and Politically Incorrect."}, {"response": 4, "author": "ijagnes", "date": "Thu, Oct  9, 1997 (22:40)", "body": "just new to this web site"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  9, 1997 (23:14)", "body": "Welcome Aurelia, tell us about yourself!"}, {"response": 6, "author": "stacey", "date": "Fri, Oct 10, 1997 (10:44)", "body": "not watching again."}, {"response": 7, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Oct 10, 1997 (16:36)", "body": "We watched the \"Big Comfy Couch\" earlier (I wasn't alone!), but tonight at 11:00 I'll be riveted to \"Homicide\" on Lifetime. The episodes are from last season, but hey, I don't mind watching two seasons simultaneously."}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Oct 11, 1997 (18:47)", "body": "I'm watching the video I took at the Whole Life Expo last weekend and snapping some stills. Is on the front page at http://www.spring.com . Has anyone seen it?"}, {"response": 9, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sun, Oct 12, 1997 (11:28)", "body": "FOX NFL pregame with Terry, James Brown, Howie Long and Ronnie Lott. Talking about the Packers stock sale and today's games. No Packers game on tv!"}, {"response": 10, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (12:51)", "body": "Did you choose not to watch the Packers game or was it just not televised in your area? I actually was near a tv yesterday and watched game four of the indians/orioles playoff series. Ooooh... from the hottub! Obviously it was NOT my house."}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 13, 1997 (19:14)", "body": "The Indians won but the Braves lost, it's still possible to have a totally politically incorrect World Series if the Braves make a comeback and the Indians win another."}, {"response": 12, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Oct 14, 1997 (11:37)", "body": "politically incorrect is all in perspective. You simply can't not offend some of the people some of the time. I hope it's Indians v. Marlins"}, {"response": 13, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sat, Oct 18, 1997 (12:07)", "body": "Siskel and Ebert reviewing the Devil's Advocate (up/down) and the new David Dukovny movie."}, {"response": 14, "author": "stacey", "date": "Mon, Oct 20, 1997 (10:00)", "body": "Isn't that the guy from x-file?? He's not in Devil's Advocate. BTW \u0001 a FANTASTIC movie as I elaborated (but only briefly) on in the movies conference."}, {"response": 15, "author": "legaffe", "date": "Sat, Nov  8, 1997 (18:04)", "body": "It is the guy from the Xfiles."}, {"response": 16, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Nov  8, 1997 (23:20)", "body": "I've never watched that show, but I saw an interview with him yesterday on (I'm embarrassed to say it) Howard Stearn's \"E!\" show. Hey, what can I say? There's not much on at 11 p.m."}, {"response": 17, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Nov 14, 1997 (13:41)", "body": "Is anyone else holding their breath in anticipation of tonight's \"Homicide meets Law & Order II\"? These are my 2 favorite shows."}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 14, 1997 (15:36)", "body": "No, but thanks for the alert!"}, {"response": 19, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sat, Nov 15, 1997 (11:20)", "body": "You didn't need to bother with the \"alert\"--what a disappointment! I have lost all respect for both shows. I've never seen such a poorly contrived, ill-written episode. Oh well, it's sweeps month. Guess they knew they'd have a captive audience by combining the 2."}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 16, 1997 (22:19)", "body": "C'est la vie I guess. I'm watching the video I took today of the Brewfast in Austin, now playing at http://www.spring.com Check it out!"}, {"response": 21, "author": "autumn", "date": "Mon, Nov 17, 1997 (22:47)", "body": "Terry, that is so cool how the pictures are in a loop. It still looked pretty chilly to be standing around drinking beer, though."}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 18, 1997 (10:56)", "body": "Everyone had so much beer they seemed oblivious to the cold. Actually, I barely noticed it. I got drunk on images."}, {"response": 23, "author": "stacey", "date": "Tue, Nov 18, 1997 (11:29)", "body": "*chuckle* you are too much!"}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov 18, 1997 (11:29)", "body": "The Giants game. Just got home from Armageddon. I took Shey, who's visiting from California."}, {"response": 25, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Jul  1, 1998 (22:51)", "body": "who won?!?!"}, {"response": 26, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Jul  2, 1998 (01:28)", "body": "Shey probably!!!! . . . ."}, {"response": 27, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (00:05)", "body": "The Flintstones"}, {"response": 28, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Jul  3, 1998 (00:45)", "body": "Oh! I loved the one with John Goodman - he can be surprisingly handsome at times when he's less fat. He's very masculine."}, {"response": 29, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (01:36)", "body": "The Banana Splits"}, {"response": 30, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (01:43)", "body": "figures!"}, {"response": 31, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (02:03)", "body": "Now, the Hair Bear Bunch is on..."}, {"response": 32, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Jul  4, 1998 (08:17)", "body": "and being watched by the king of hair in all kinds of places . . ."}, {"response": 33, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sun, Jul  5, 1998 (22:12)", "body": "Cow and Chicken"}, {"response": 34, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Jul  5, 1998 (22:27)", "body": "I have really got to check this show out that's getting rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic!!"}, {"response": 35, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Jul  6, 1998 (01:03)", "body": "YOU MUST!!! Wer, last night I saw the one where Chicken joined the plastic surgery team of his school, and where they had to make the photo realistic beaver at the end - I was a'crawling! Did you see that one?? Lord, that's one funny cartoon!!"}, {"response": 36, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (02:18)", "body": "nope, I've missed that one... currently watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show..."}, {"response": 37, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Jul  8, 1998 (04:11)", "body": "Don't know that one. Rocky and the Bullwanker, you say? Interesting."}, {"response": 38, "author": "osceola", "date": "Mon, Aug 31, 1998 (13:48)", "body": "Autumn: Homicide and L&O are my two favorites also. Homicide isn't as good as it used to be, unfortunately. The network wants them to be more traditional in their filming and storytelling to attract more viewers. But let's face it, that show is never going to be warmly embraced by the average TV-watching American. I think Andre Braugher is the best actor on TV, it's too bad he left the show. NYPD Blue is a joke next to these shows."}, {"response": 39, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Mon, Aug 31, 1998 (22:05)", "body": "currently watching Dexter's Laboratory (the episode where Dexter meets Mandark)"}, {"response": 40, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Sep  1, 1998 (00:44)", "body": "Mandark? How does that one go?"}, {"response": 41, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Sep  3, 1998 (12:55)", "body": "George, I really miss Crosetti, Beau and Kay Howard and feel they \"made the show\" for the first few seasons. But with the loss of Braugher, nothing will be able to resurrect/mainstream it to receive the popular as well as the critical acclaim (sigh). As far as NYPD Blue goes, you obviously are not \"smit\"ten with all things Jimmy Smits (especially his butt). All joking aside, though, this one is the grittiest and by far the most disturbing of the 3 cop dramas. It is the only one that interferes with my sleep."}, {"response": 42, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Sep  4, 1998 (00:36)", "body": "Ooh, I like gritty cop dramas - hope it'll show here too."}, {"response": 43, "author": "osceola", "date": "Fri, Sep  4, 1998 (12:04)", "body": "Unclear, Autumn, which one do you think is grittiest? Homicide, right? I always felt Frank and Tim were the center of the show. When it began Tim was the new guy, so he served as the POV character for the audience -- we learned about the Homicide squad through him. And Frank with his religious values provided a strong moral voice to counteract the cyncism. BTW, did you see Wednesday's Law and Order rerun? It was about the retarded girl who got raped by her classmates but acted like she consented to it because she didn't want to be thought of around school as \"the retard who got raped.\" Very powerful, especially the last few scenes where she explains this to the attorneys willing to keep on fighting for her. One of their best episodes; I was very moved by it, especially that actress' performance"}, {"response": 44, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Sep  4, 1998 (22:28)", "body": "No, no, no! NYPD Blue is the grittiest cop show BY FAR. Law & Order is the intellectual one, and Homicide is somewhere in between. I did not see that re-run but remember it very clearly. Now which L&O cast is your favorite? I for one cannot get over Chris Noth's departure, and as engaging as Sam Waterston is, I still miss Ben. One of my favorite episodes (there are many!) is the Colombian hit-man Guytan (sp?) who shoots up the couple in the restaurant. Cerreta is wounded (his final episode) by a bl ck market gun dealer and everyone associated with trying to bring Guytan down winds up falling out of a window or something. The ending was downright chilling. (re: the episode this week; I suppose the actress isn't really mentally retarded, huh? The characters on these shows can really act!)"}, {"response": 45, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sat, Sep  5, 1998 (17:03)", "body": "i'm not watching anything but my monitor..."}, {"response": 46, "author": "osceola", "date": "Tue, Sep  8, 1998 (13:14)", "body": "I don't know why, but for some reason I never saw L&O until a few years ago. I never saw any with Noth or Michael Moriarty. I like Jerry Orbach's character the best"}, {"response": 47, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Sep 10, 1998 (20:26)", "body": "Yeah, he's got a great character. There's a lot going on with him this season! Will he avenge his daughter's murder? Tune in and find out! You can catch re-runs of L&O on cable channel A&E network twice a day--I practically have all the scripts memorized! I saw an ad tonight for a new show \"brought to you by the creators of Law & Order\"--New York Undercover? Something like that. Have you heard of it? I'm not really looking to add another program to my lineup (between the TV and the computer I don' spend much time on things I should be doing)."}, {"response": 48, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Sep 17, 1998 (21:33)", "body": "Imagine, if you will, Riette watching Jay Leno in Switzerland!"}, {"response": 49, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Sep 27, 1998 (03:29)", "body": "Last night was a particularly good one. Lord, that man is funny! We're always behind, so you always have to think, what happened that and that week. But last night he had the one about Clinton's biggest horror being an intern with braces. HA-ha!!!! And the frog expert from Australia who brought a big bull frog, and said the way to get him moving is to blow softly on his rear regions. And Jay said, 'Just like with Clinton, really.' !!! That was stunning!"}, {"response": 50, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Sep 29, 1998 (19:56)", "body": "I can't talk about his routine then, cause it would be a spoiler if you're running behind Ree."}, {"response": 51, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Sep 30, 1998 (06:08)", "body": "How cruel you are, Mr. Walhus!"}, {"response": 52, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct  2, 1998 (06:32)", "body": "And I thought I was being kind! You know I have the tv programmed to flip on for 15 minutes on NBC at 10:35 pm every night just to catch the opening monologue."}, {"response": 53, "author": "riette", "date": "Sat, Oct  3, 1998 (04:49)", "body": "Oh, that's clever! Do you think my tv could do that? That way one doesn't have to remember to switch over. I also watch it mostly for the opening monologue - the actors/singers are normally not half as funny as Jay. I love it when he asks people on the streets these questions about animals and so on - some of the answers are hysterical! And his Clinton jokes are unbeatable."}, {"response": 54, "author": "stacey", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (19:26)", "body": "I saw some program about this guy who gets a paper a day early and then spends and hour (well his whole TV day) making sure the bad things don't happen... I did not find it very compelling. That's the only tv I've seen since some time in August when I saw Conan O'Brien for the first time. Now that man was FUNNY!"}, {"response": 55, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Sun, Oct  4, 1998 (20:09)", "body": "that show was called \"Early Edition\" and i did not think it was that great, either. and conan is *the* funniest late nite talk show host, period."}, {"response": 56, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Oct  5, 1998 (02:13)", "body": "No way! Conan isn't HALF as funny as Jay!"}, {"response": 57, "author": "osceola", "date": "Mon, Oct  5, 1998 (12:50)", "body": "Riette, you've gotta be kidding. Conan, Andy and Max are great. Im especially like the guy who does the Clinton imitation, and the one who does Don King."}, {"response": 58, "author": "riette", "date": "Tue, Oct  6, 1998 (10:29)", "body": "I'm not, George! I honestly don't find Conan particularly funny. Perhaps he's too subtle - after all, I AM a Boer. The only thing about Conan that I find hysterical, is his head - he has the biggest head I have ever seen on a person. Physically, I mean."}, {"response": 59, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Oct  7, 1998 (15:01)", "body": "You people stay up way too late!!"}, {"response": 60, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Oct  8, 1998 (10:54)", "body": "And when do you go to bed?"}, {"response": 61, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  8, 1998 (13:23)", "body": "Wow, little ree ree! What happened to you last night? We're getting addicted to your presence!"}, {"response": 62, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Thu, Oct  8, 1998 (17:31)", "body": "no kidding. missed you riette!"}, {"response": 63, "author": "autumn", "date": "Fri, Oct  9, 1998 (22:32)", "body": "On school nights, 11:30. The girls have to get up at 7:30. (*sigh*) I miss summertime, and getting up at 9:00 every day."}, {"response": 64, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 13, 1998 (11:18)", "body": "Still no Riette, this was her last known post. :-("}, {"response": 65, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Tue, Oct 13, 1998 (13:12)", "body": "i sent her an email and no response. i am getting quite concerned."}, {"response": 66, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Oct 13, 1998 (16:53)", "body": "Yep. Wonder whta happened, she's been so constant and she didn't say she was going on a trip or anything???"}, {"response": 67, "author": "stacey", "date": "Wed, Oct 14, 1998 (09:09)", "body": "WER might know something... he's been gone for awhile too though."}, {"response": 68, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Oct 15, 1998 (12:51)", "body": "Sonja here: Ri\ufffdtte has told me alot about this Wer man - I hope he comes back before I go. He is the kitchen mafia man, isn't he? I have to say I don't find Conan funny at all. He reminds me of an old boyfriend who was also a bad clown impersonator."}, {"response": 69, "author": "autumn", "date": "Thu, Oct 15, 1998 (19:39)", "body": "Ahh...Riette's busy entertaining her evil twin! :-) Hope you are enjoying your visit to Zurich, Sonja. Haven't your little nieces grown since you last saw them?"}, {"response": 70, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Oct 16, 1998 (02:29)", "body": "Sonja here: Hi, Autumn. Ri\ufffdtte's taking the little ones to playgroup right now - we'll be going to our favourite town, Chur, today to do some shopping. Apart from the odd bit of sulking on her part, we're having a great time. And yes, my little nieces are alot bigger than last time. Last time the little one, Elza, only started walking, and was really babyish. Now she walks, and climbs, and chatters away incessantly - and one understands every word of it. She's a really clever little thing. And Isa, the bigger o e seems very mature. Like, she makes her own drinks even! Gets a chair and a glass, pours a bit of syrup into it, then some tap water, and that's it - doesn't give her mom any problems. Even butters her own bread. At three! Don't think we learned that until we were six or so... And the most amazing phenomena about this child is: she actually ties her own shoelaces. They're an incredible pair!"}, {"response": 71, "author": "ratthing", "date": "Fri, Oct 16, 1998 (09:00)", "body": "i think i was learning how to wave bye-bye when i was six. ;)"}, {"response": 72, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Oct 16, 1998 (11:07)", "body": "Well, they've got the quickness from Sonja. She used to be my interpreter when we were small - she was talking by 18 months, and I by three. No wonder Mum thought I was slightly retarded!"}, {"response": 73, "author": "jgross", "date": "Sat, Oct 17, 1998 (23:13)", "body": "I am retarded, but then so is Mum. She would consider this a compliment. She really likes me cuz I say stuff like this to her all the time. She still shows me how to eat my food. She uses her mouth when she does it, but that's still a little hard for me to pick up. She's very positive and tells me it won't be long and I'll get the hang of it.....but all the effort sure wears me out. I really try, and every day I work on it some."}, {"response": 74, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Oct 18, 1998 (00:52)", "body": "You know, I know JUST how you feel! But sometimes I don't try - sometimes I don't remember to."}, {"response": 75, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Oct 20, 1998 (08:50)", "body": "Have fun in Chur--have taken the train thru there on our way to my husband's favorite place, Flims."}, {"response": 76, "author": "jgross", "date": "Tue, Oct 20, 1998 (15:11)", "body": "Thanks. Had a really great time. While we were there, Riette and Sonja and me bought lotsa postcards of Flims....and saw 2 films....and one movie. Didn't have time to catch any flicks, though. If we'd just gone to Flims, we coulda managed it all, easily. We also bought 14 postcards of Baltimore. I came so close to almost forgetting to mention that. But I didn't forget. Or wait, did I?"}, {"response": 77, "author": "riette", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (03:10)", "body": "And did you stop off, Autumn? Don't you find it just the most beautiful stretch of railway? Jim: No, you didn't. Baltimore was great - best ostrich trifle I've ever had. Can you remember which films we saw in Flims? That's the part I keep forgetting. The movie was 'Red Sonja', that much I remember..."}, {"response": 78, "author": "jgross", "date": "Wed, Oct 21, 1998 (21:59)", "body": "One film was called \"Sonja's Red Fiat\" The second film was \"16 Sonja Nights, 17 Riette Days\" They both started out with scenes where a woman was found dead in an elevator with the wrong husband, and then the elevators got cleaned up by Sophia Loren in a red kimono. But these films turned out to be about fertility dances that Freud used to teach his patients. They were reinterpreted by ginkgo birds at different pubs around London. Sometimes,too, a sheet of light would be pulled over a sheet of dark, and that was from a slight distance of scattered blue. It was after one of those that I heard a fly buzz and out of this room came this professional ice carver whose face looked like a horseface, plus you could hear his heels tapping on the tiles as he walked, but he says this to the main character (who had just swum the English Channel all the way from Boston to the Florida Keys), \"That was my dad in there, in that room I came out of, I saw his last moments alive and he spent them saying this to me---\"If I were death, I'd at least say hello\"---and then I stayed in there with him to see how the dead bury the dead, but it didn't happen, he just lied there like a shovel on his bed and didn't move.\" I realize now that they were the kind of films that Autumn is really moved by and can't get out of her mind and has to go back to and see again and again. Do you see her alone on the mountain? She's wearing a blossom in her hair. Oh, and there goes Sonja again, we better hurry and grab her---she's chasing down her Boulevard dreams this time."}, {"response": 79, "author": "riette", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (03:04)", "body": "Oh yes, I remember now. It was very gothic - but was it art?"}, {"response": 80, "author": "jgross", "date": "Thu, Oct 22, 1998 (18:31)", "body": "Is art really art? The art that we think is the greatest work of art may be looked down on by the person who created it---that person might feel that something created when they were a kid, and was rough and unsteady, might be the only art they ever created. And they might feel that everything that came after their kid creation was just accomplished facility or ability but was done under competitive strain, and no real true feeling did they feel when they created it. A person looking at a crummy work of art can say it's great art, because of what it does for them every time they look at it. And if what it does for them is what great art does to people, maybe art is just in the eye of the beholder. But is it really art? Is art really art? Don't we wonder whether art is really an acquired taste? Did I know I'd say all this when I started it off? Sheesh, no, it just blurted out. What can I say? Nothing? Should I have said nothing?"}, {"response": 81, "author": "riette", "date": "Fri, Oct 23, 1998 (00:41)", "body": "You don't know how often I've thought whether art exists at all the past few weeks. I wonder if there is any truth in the art that comes after kid-hood. I'm not so sure at all. For example: I've always thought of an artist like Beuys as a truly BAD artist. But what if what his creations (be it a pound of butter slapped onto a white wall or not) are indeed a true expression of his creative energy? And what if the 'good' artist really just do what they do to impress, to make art look like ART? To please? Where is the truth in that? Where is the art in that, except the art of self-glorification? Then there is the other side. Is it really possible to create something that isn't inside you already? But if that is true, then who can tell what art is? Who can say this person is artistic, and that person not? Is the 'lesser' artists expression of himself not just as worthy as that of the 'good' artist? And if so, then WHY has art become such a factory?"}, {"response": 82, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Fri, Oct 23, 1998 (13:28)", "body": "\"You don't need pants for the victory dance.\""}, {"response": 83, "author": "jgross", "date": "Sun, Oct 25, 1998 (00:07)", "body": "And ya don't need victory to dance without yer pants. I wonder if the word art is haunted. It's such a loaded word. And that question, 'but is it art?' is bandied about so rhetorically. I think art has to do with the expression of one's sense of beauty. And isn't there also beauty in ugliness? Doesn't art, to be art, have to be creative or original, at least for the person who's creating it? Doesn't it have to get at or present something that the creator is just then coming upon? An opening to something spontaneous and full of surprise? Doesn't it have to have a realness about it....in other words, a real impact that takes beauty in where it can be genuinely felt like a breakthrough of some kind, however personal or naked in its dance? Doesn't it dance through you and touch you? Doesn't it touch off stuff inside that takes chances with courage and some experienced truth? It might be like nothing or something someone's watching on tv right now...."}, {"response": 84, "author": "riette", "date": "Sun, Oct 25, 1998 (01:02)", "body": "Perhaps. I've not felt that spontaneous 'realness', that sense of surprise for two years. The work I did for my first exhibition - now THAT was what touched me, what surprised me. There was such a sense of expectation and excitement with each of those first works. And I still consider them to be my best. And then I started getting attached to galleries, and everything just changed. The one boss would want to see how my work works in 3-D, the next wanted to see the kind of lines and colour I use in human figures, and so on. And that's what I had to produce to get exhibitions that I thought would be important. Producing what others thought I'd be good at. They still thought it was good - but for me they were unnatural leaps. How much fun it would have been to discover those things by myself, in my own time! It makes me miserable to think I let myself be categorized like that."}, {"response": 85, "author": "jgross", "date": "Sun, Oct 25, 1998 (17:09)", "body": "If we do things because we conform to outside forces that compel us to act against our will, we create internal resistance which turns into an auto-immune disease (one where the body turns against itself). Art needs freedom. To be free, we have to understand what's going on in our reactions, otherwise what's going on in them (the ones that are impinging on our art) will parasitically subsist on us by eating away at our generative capacities, our creative spirit. If we don't feel free with each thing we try with our art, it will affect not just the art, but also our sense of what's going on in how we create it. This is probably going on in what most anyone is watching on tv right now."}, {"response": 86, "author": "autumn", "date": "Sun, Oct 25, 1998 (22:48)", "body": "Way to bring us back on topic, Jim!"}, {"response": 87, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Oct 26, 1998 (02:24)", "body": "Yes. Sorry about that."}, {"response": 88, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Jan 31, 2000 (23:42)", "body": "Boring stuff."}, {"response": 89, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Fri, Feb  4, 2000 (23:45)", "body": "Fortunately it is in the other room with the guy who stares at it all the time. I am in here with the most intelligent people on earth...much better in here!"}, {"response": 90, "author": "sprin5", "date": "Sat, Feb  5, 2000 (12:01)", "body": "I've got some Clint Eastwood movie off to the site, it's not my main focus (the tv)."}, {"response": 91, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Feb  5, 2000 (12:41)", "body": "Yeah, I know...I have some sort of sports on which does not captivate me right at the moment. Like some of those interminable pre-ProBowl hype programs or local golf which would put me to sleep otherwise. I love great golf, btw, just not the small time stuff pro-am going on behind me. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 80, "subject": "Sopranos", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "AlFor", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (17:50)", "body": "What, James Garner's in it?"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (19:09)", "body": "James Garner isn't in Sopranos. I've heard it's gone downhill this season. I have watched it only occasionally. I have friends who swear by it. It's James Gandolfini or something like that. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 81, "subject": "Connections and other James Burke documentaries", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov 20, 2002 (06:26)", "body": "I saw the first episode and I agree on both counts. Great show and, yes, we need a preview and/or edit function. The latter is not a minor change though, but I will explore it."}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Oct  2, 2005 (18:12)", "body": "This is my all time favorite series on TV. I moved my copies of the show all the way from Hawaii to the midwest. As far as I am concerned, he can entertain me and I need little else to watch. Absolutely brilliant !!"}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:15)", "body": "Welcome to the home page of the Burke Institute for Innovation in Education and its flagship project, the Knowledge Web. Founded by James Burke, the author, host, and narrator of the acclaimed television series Connections, the Institute exists to encourage innovative uses of educational technology. The Knowledge Web today is an activity rather than a web site\ufffdan expedition in time, space, and technology to map the interior landscape of human thought and experience. Thanks to the work of a team of dedicated volunteers, it will soon be an interactive space on the web where students, teachers, and other knowledge seekers can explore information in a highly interconnected, holistic way that allows for an almost infinite number of paths of exploration among people, places, things, and events. The Vision: New Ways of Thinking The Project: Mapping the Accomplishments of the Past and the Possibilities of the Future About Us: The Institute and the Team We invite you to share the excitement of both the Institute and the Knowledge Web by browsing this site, and we encourage you to participate in the adventure of mapping the landscape of historical and scientific knowledge and to become a user of the Knowledge Web when it is complete. Question: How was Napoleon important to the development of the modern computer? Answer: Napoleon's troops in Egypt buy shawls and start a fashion craze. In Europe the shawls get made on automated, perforated-paper-control looms. This gives an American engineer Herman Hollerith the idea to automate calculation using punch cards. Which get used to control ENIAC, the first electronic computer. \ufffdFrom The Pinball Effect, by James Burke, Back Bay Books,1996 from http://www.k-web.org/ tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 82, "subject": "John Doe", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Dec  7, 2002 (06:37)", "body": "From an excellent article at http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/1112johndoe.html LOS ANGELES - While the title character of \"John Doe\" searches for his identity, the new Fox drama is on an even more crucial quest for viewers. Its mission is helped by an intriguing concept, that of a man who washes up on a Seattle area island lacking any memory of himself or his life but with boundless knowledge and the ability to quickly master a skill. That sets up clever scenes in which Doe, who becomes an amateur crime-buster while trying to solve his own mystery, rattles off enough factoids to fill a CNN Headline News screen and is an instant pilot, race car driver or whatever's needed. Another plus for \"John Doe\" is its handsome star, Dominic Purcell, who manages to make his know-it-all character both likable and swagger-free. (snip, end quote) Wow. Gabrielle \"Scent of a Woman\" Anwar enters the scene in the most incredible episode yet in this series. I missed last weeks because of a crashed tivo but I'm glad I caught this ep'. Meanwhile, the series keeps edging closer and closer to CSI with every episode. Why not, just like the hero, the show itself is desperately seeking an identity and watching this identity crisis is very entertaining. Friday night on Fox at 8 pm."}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:16)", "body": "John Doe was the main character on Prison Break. They finally escaped. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 83, "subject": "The Bachelor/Bachelorette", "response_count": 4, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "autumn", "date": "Tue, Apr  1, 2003 (20:23)", "body": "I watched ONE episode of \"The Bachelor\" last year and thought it was so offensive. It reminded me of the Miss America pageant, except the \"winner\" gets a shallow, commitment-phobic guy instead of cash and prizes."}, {"response": 2, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Tue, Apr  1, 2003 (22:09)", "body": "I started this topic for people who watch it and want to talk about the weekly installment. If people get trashed for their interests, how can other conferences on Spring flourish?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "autumn", "date": "Wed, Apr  2, 2003 (16:03)", "body": "Excuuuuse me...I thought by your subheading describing the relationships as doomed, we were free to comment on the obviously flawed nature of the concept."}, {"response": 4, "author": "airstream", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 2003 (00:11)", "body": "i can't decide if the bachelor looks like a young wayne newton or the guy from that old show \"herman's head\"...... just a thought......... tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 84, "subject": "Survivor Amazon", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Apr 26, 2003 (12:26)", "body": "In the last episode, everyone is feeling bad for Jena who didn't get your letter from home like Christy did. So then they open the bidding for another letter from home. Jenna bids 80 bucks. Then Heidi bids $100. Duh. Just a minute ago Heida you were crying friend whose mom had a brain tumor couldn't get news from home. Now you're upping the bidding. Figure? The producers of the show weren't too campassionate either to make Jena's communication with her mom a bidding war. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 85, "subject": "HBO", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (10:17)", "body": "HBO looks at lifestyles of the rich and young By Lewis Beale, Special to The Times NEW YORK \ufffd Cody Franchetti believes it's ridiculous to feel guilty about having inherited wealth. Guilt is just an offshoot of a Puritanical culture, he claims, and should be reserved \"for old women and nuns.\" Easy enough to say when you're handsome, cultured and one of the heirs to the Milliken textile fortune. But even if Franchetti is completely unconflicted about living the life of a pampered aesthete \ufffd a classically trained pianist and clothes horse, he's a more refined version of the Hilton sisters \ufffd he's not necessarily representative of his peers. At least that's the message of \"Born Rich,\" an HBO documentary debuting tonight, which looks at how the children of the wealthy \ufffd the Bloombergs, Trumps, Newhouses and others \ufffd relate to their money. \"The subject of discussing wealth calls into question people's right to have the wealth they possess,\" says Jamie Johnson, who directed the film and is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. \"In America we're supposed to live in the land of equal opportunity, where everybody is supposed to be able to earn their fortune if they have the superior skills to do so,\" he adds. \"That's obviously not true, and the film forces that subject to the forefront of people's consciousnesses.\" Johnson is a slim, quiet-spoken and unpretentious student at New York University. He's been interested in the subject of wealth for a long time, especially because, as he puts it, a lot of people in his family \"seemed to live lives that weren't that productive, and sometimes were even miserable and tragic.\" So he asked 50 friends if they'd be willing to participate in a documentary about what it was like to be young and stupendously rich. But most of them turned him down: Some were told by their parents not to do it, others refused for fear of being cut out of the family will. And still others simply didn't want to violate the social taboo that says it's tacky to talk about money. More: http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-beale27oct27,2,2733192.story?coll=cl-calendar"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:18)", "body": "stuff that's on hbo right now. Date/Time Channel Title Rated Min Genre 7/1 8:00 PM CINEMAX - EAST THE SHADOW PG13 107 Suspense, Action 7/1 8:00 PM Max High Definition - EAST THE SHADOW PG13 107 Suspense, Action 7/1 8:00 PM ACTION MAX - EAST ALEXANDER R 166 Biography, Drama 7/1 8:00 PM HBO High Definition - EAST MUST LOVE DOGS PG13 97 Romance, Comedy 7/1 8:00 PM HBO LATINO - EAST MUST LOVE DOGS PG13 97 Romance, Comedy 7/1 8:00 PM HBO - EAST MUST LOVE DOGS PG13 97 Romance, Comedy 7/1 8:00 PM HBO COMEDY - EAST MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS PG13 115 Crime, Comedy 7/1 8:05 PM OUTERMAX - EAST TNT R 89 Action 7/1 8:20 PM WMAX - EAST WHITE SANDS R 101 Thriller, Drama 7/1 8:30 PM HBO FAMILY - EAST BLACK BEAUTY G 88 Family 7/1 9:00 PM 5STAR MAX - EAST THE TERMINAL PG13 128 Drama, Romance 7/1 9:00 PM HBO ZONE - EAST BATMAN PG13 126 Adventure, Action 7/1 9:00 PM HBO2 - EAST ROME 03: AN OWL IN A THORNBUSH TVMA 44 Drama 7/1 9:00 PM MORE MAX - EAST CITY OF ANGELS PG13 114 Drama, Romance 7/1 9:00 PM HBO SIGNATURE - EAST THE UPSIDE OF ANGER R 116 Drama, Romance 7/1 9:10 PM @MAX - EAST STEAL THIS MOVIE R 107 Biography, Drama 7/1 9:40 PM OUTERMAX - EAST THE ROCK R 136 Suspense, Action 7/1 9:45 PM HBO LATINO - EAST ENTOURAGE 25: DOMINATED TVMA 25 Comedy 7/1 9:45 PM HBO High Definition - EAST ENTOURAGE 25: DOMINATED TVMA 25 Comedy 7/1 9:45 PM HBO - EAST ENTOURAGE 25: DOMINATED TVMA 25 Comedy 7/1 10:00 PM THRILLER MAX - EAST THE RING TWO TVMA 127 Drama, Horror 7/1 10:00 PM Max High Definition - EAST FEVER PITCH PG13 103 Drama, Comedy 7/1 10:00 PM CINEMAX - EAST FEVER PITCH PG13 103 Drama, Comedy 7/1 10:00 PM WMAX - EAST TERMS OF ENDEARMENT PG 131 Drama, Comedy 7/1 10:00 PM HBO COMEDY - EAST DANE COOK'S TOURGASM 03: THE UNITED STATES OF INSANITY TVMA 29 Comedy 7/1 10:00 PM HBO FAMILY - EAST THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD PG 96 Fantasy, Adventure 7/1 10:00 PM HBO2 - EAST THE WIRE 28: DEAD SOLDIERS TVMA 58 Drama 7/1 10:15 PM HBO High Definition - EAST INDEPENDENCE DAY PG13 144 Science Fiction, Action 7/1 10:15 PM HBO LATINO - EAST INDEPENDENCE DAY PG13 144 Science Fiction, Action 7/1 10:15 PM HBO - EAST INDEPENDENCE DAY PG13 144 Science Fiction, Action 7/1 10:30 PM HBO COMEDY - EAST ONE-NIGHT STAND 53: COMMAND PERFORMANCE: GILBERT GOTTFRIED TV14 29 Stand-Up, Comedy 7/1 10:50 PM ACTION MAX - EAST POINT OF NO RETURN R 108 Action 7/1 11:00 PM MORE MAX - EAST HOTEL EROTICA CABO FEATURE 11: LAST TANGO IN CABO TVMA 108 Fantasy, Sex 7/1 11:00 PM HBO SIGNATURE - EAST TAXI PG13 97 Action, Comedy 7/1 11:00 PM HBO2 - EAST RAY PG13 152 Biography, Drama 7/1 11:00 PM HBO COMEDY - EAST CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM 11: THE CAR SALESMAN TV14 29 Comedy 7/1 11:00 PM @MAX - EAST SPIDER-MAN 2 PG13 127 Science Fiction, Action 7/1 11:10 PM 5STAR MAX - EAST THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS R 89 Comedy 7/1 11:15 PM HBO ZONE - EAST THE SHAPE OF THINGS R 96 Romance, Comedy 7/1 11:30 PM HBO COMEDY - EAST P. DIDDY PRESENTS THE BAD BOYS OF COMEDY 05: TVMA 26 Comedy 7/1 11:40 PM HBO FAMILY - EAST URBAN COWBOY PG 134 Drama, Romance 7/1 11:45 PM CINEMAX - EAST SEX GAMES CANCUN 08: HANDY TVMA 29 Fantasy, Sex 7/1 11:45 PM Max High Definition - EAST SEX GAMES CANCUN 08: HANDY TVMA 29 Fantasy, Sex tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 86, "subject": "TV sets and TV gear like VCRs tuners etc.", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (09:18)", "body": "Going Digital WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a government rule requiring all but the smallest new televisions to have tuners that can receive digital TV signals by July 2007. The makers of TVs, VCRs and DVD players tried to block the Federal Communications Commission rule, saying it would make sets more expensive and is unnecessary because cable and satellite viewers don't need the tuners. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the FCC, which said the requirement was needed because the industry was not moving quickly enough to make tuners available. The first phase of the tuner requirement begins next year, when half of all TV sets 36 inches or larger are required to have the tuners. By July 1, 2007, all TVs 13 inches or larger, and all VCRs and DVD players, must meet the new standard http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/10/28/digital.tv.ap/index.html"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 29, 2003 (09:24)", "body": "WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a government rule requiring all but the smallest new televisions to have tuners that can receive digital TV signals by July 2007. The makers of TVs, VCRs and DVD players tried to block the Federal Communications Commission rule, saying it would make sets more expensive and is unnecessary because cable and satellite viewers don't need the tuners. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the FCC, which said the requirement was needed because the industry was not moving quickly enough to make tuners available. The first phase of the tuner requirement begins next year, when half of all TV sets 36 inches or larger are required to have the tuners. By July 1, 2007, all TVs 13 inches or larger, and all VCRs and DVD players, must meet the new standard http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/10/28/digital.tv.ap/index.html"}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:19)", "body": "Bob swears by his new high def tv and dvd recorder. I'll get you the full details. Bob Nagy. http://bobnagy.com tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 87, "subject": "Survivor - Pearl Islands", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov  2, 2003 (22:19)", "body": "Rupert shows off some of the less attractive parts of his personality when he almost snaps Jon in half for having the gall to vote for him. There's no voting in Survivor! Meanwhile, things are getting threadbare at Morgan as they continue not to master fishing, and Osten is starting to look like he's running out of steam. At the challenge, something happens that is very surprising to anyone who doesn't read spoilers -- all of the booted contestants return as part of a \"ghost tribe\" called the Outcasts. The Outcasts best both Morgan and Drake in a three-way challenge, meaning that both of the still-corporeal tribes have to go to tribal council and boot somebody, and then the Outcasts will vote for which two of them will get to return to the game. Back at Camp Drake, Rupert, Christa, and Sandra get ugly with power, forcing Shawn and Jon to beg for their lives. In the end, they boot Shawn, proving that they're a lot more patient with Jon's personality than I am. Over at the Camp of the Damned, to no one's surprise, Osten finally reveals himself for the weenie that he is, telling the tribe to send him home: he quits. This being his second attempt to quit, they don't really try to talk him out of it. At their tribal council, Jeff Probst just about takes Osten's teeth out with the brass knuckles of his contempt, and having obtained Morgan's unanimous consent, he doesn't even take them through the exercise of voting. Instead, he says to Osten, \"Go home.\" That was awesome. Tune in for Rupert's meltdown, Jon's backpedaling, Burton's bold effort to loot Trish's booty, Andrew's weird power plays, and especially Ryan S.'s buff that reads \"DIE JERKS.\" Heh. from http://televisionwithoutpity.com"}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:19)", "body": "More http://televisionwithoutpity.com Don't cry for her, Archie-tina Bridezillas - So, finally the Marchie trilogy has ended, but only to make way for the Regina one. Now, Regina's certainly a bit of a nightmare, but watching Archie completely lose it for the better half of the show made me cringe so hard I threw out my back. Naturally, Marsha did nothing but exacerbate the situation by\ufffdwell, being herself. And after all that fussing (and, apparently, $83,000), their wedding is the tackiest piece of crap I've ever seen. Nice taste. Deadwood I See Your True Colors, and That's Why I Hate You Deadwood - Langrishe and Aunt Lou arrive in camp. Al mopes around after his ego-deflating confrontation with Hearst. Doc may have TB. Farscape The Fractioning of the Fellowship Farscape - Crichton kisses a lot of girls and yells at Aeryn. Aeryn kisses Rygel and yells at everyone. D'Argo and Chiana kiss each other and yell at Crichton and Aeryn. Pilot and Zhaan are lucky they stayed on Moya. The Real World The Real World recaplet - The latest episode in a nutshell The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency recaplet - The latest episode in a nutshell Windfall Leggo My Nest Eggo! Windfall - A greedy non-winner annoyingly claims Kimberly's share of the lottery jackpot. Even more annoying? People believe her. Which is only fair, considering some of the crap this show expects us to believe. The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency You Have No Call To Get Snippy With Me; I'm Just Trying To Do My Job Here! The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency - Janice and Peter have at it over a model from Fargo with blonde hair and big boobs. What's to fight about you say? Plenty, if you're a fan of the pretty. Meanwhile, Janice adds a transsexual, Michelle from America's Next Top Model, and a girl who just happened to be discovered right outside of the agency, to her roster of models. Also: pubes. Farscape The Stars Look Very Different Today Farscape - Crichton's competent, Aeryn's compassionate, Zhaan's useful, Rygel's helpful, and D'Argo does nothing but yell. It's Opposites Day in the Uncharted Territories as Crichton realizes he's no longer in the non-alien majority now that he's a spaceman. The Real World The Miscast And The Spurious: Florida Drift The Real World - \"Boo!\" \"Ah! Oh, hey, Ghost of Mary-Ellis Bunim. I've been waiting for your visit. I'm so proud of this week, M-E. This is the big Hurricane Wilma episode!\" \"Is this where you put the kids in a hotel you knew was about to get nearly destroyed by the hurricane, instead of evacuating them to true safety farther north?\" \"Yes. But even more dangerous than all the flying metal and broken glass -- we let Paula's abusive boyfriend Keith come visit!\" \"Great. Sigh.\" \"C'mon. You should be really happy for me. What's with the long face?\" \"We finally got a Blockbuster Video down here.\" \"Sounds like a good thing. What's wrong with that?\" \"All they carry are copies of The Real World Movie: The Lost Season.\" Deadwood My Fellow Americans Deadwood - The citizens of Deadwood gather to hear the speeches for the upcoming elections. Alma's pregnancy comes to a bitter end. Also, remember how you totally loved watching Simon & Simon because Rick was all cool and had a great mustache? Yeah, I hate that bastard now. Bridezillas Crappily ever after Bridezillas - Dude, I can't believe Marsha's back. Even worse? She's back next week, too. Obviously, she's the worst thing the producers could find (and granted, she's baaad), but three weeks? Come on! There have got to be other Bridezillas out there, and I know now that their names are not either Nikki or Yoshie. Honestly, I'm so disgusted with Marsha right now I could puke her pants. Farscape Pilot Error Farscape - Tubey's Kids - When Aeryn and the rest of the crew learns that she was aboard Moya before and helped turn the previous Pilot into turtle soup, Crichton sticks his pretty nose in her business in an attempt clear everything up. I think he gets more than he bargained for when he learns that he was not the first to stir her Peacekeeper heart with a spoonful of love. As Zhaan, Chiana, and D'Argo run around tsk-tsking Aeryn, Rygel just starts trouble. As usual. Windfall Take Me Home Windfall - The things people bring home when they win the lottery. Nina and Beth bring home a bunch of expensive clothes from Paris. Kimberly adopts her kid's school, while Damien more or less adopts Galina's family back home in Russia. Zoe and Sean bring each other home, and then Zoe disappears. And Cameron brings home a crack baby. The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency Whatever His Name Is, He Has a Nice Ass The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency - Janice's business relationship with Peter Pork takes an interesting turn as we discover that he is the mean one. A few of the ladies are told that they need to tone up or ship out, which is necessary but still upsetting. Sorin/Soreen gets buck naked to the delight of anyone with eyes. And, in fact, even th"}]}, {"num": 88, "subject": "Alias", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Nov  8, 2003 (06:05)", "body": "Some Alias episode guides if you want to catch up. http://www.neloo.com/alias/epguide/ an episode by episode recap http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show.cgi?show=75"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 19, 2004 (06:54)", "body": "ABC's announced that ALIAS will move to Wednesdays at 9, returning on January 5 with a 2-hour season opener."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov 19, 2004 (06:54)", "body": "After Lost."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Mar  8, 2005 (08:41)", "body": "The new season's underway and there are a lot of twists and changes. A lot of torture this time around."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Dec  1, 2005 (11:40)", "body": "Alias is canceled -- BREAKING NEWS! Posted Nov 23, 2005, 8:56 PM ET by Anna Johns Filed under: Drama, ABC, Industry, Alias, Programming aliasIt's all over for Sidney Bristow in May 2006. ABC says, instead of winding down, it wants Alias to go out with a bang. The network is promising a big finale to wrap up this, it's fifth and final season, but it doesn't really reveal exactly why the series is coming to an end. Was it ratings? Jen Garner's pregnancy? If there's a bright side in all of this, maybe Alias creator J.J. Abrams will have more time to devote to messing with the minds of Lost fans. http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/11/23/alias-is-canceled-breaking-news/#c114266"}, {"response": 6, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:21)", "body": "Jennifer Garner is circling a co-starring role in the upcoming Universal thriller \"The Kingdom.\" If Garner commits to the Peter Berg-directed project, it would be her first feature role after \"Alias\" reaches its series conclusion later this month. The film focuses on an FBI team investigating a terrorist bombing in a Middle Eastern country. Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper are already in place and, according to the industry trade papers, Garner would play a member of the FBI team. Production on \"The Kingdom\" is expected to begin in June. Garner ends her run as Sydney Bristow on ABC's \"Alias\" when the spy drama has its finale on Monday, May 22. The new mother already has the romantic comedy \"Catch and Release\" in the can. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 89, "subject": "Battlestar Galactica Revisioned", "response_count": 8, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan  6, 2005 (14:31)", "body": "The series is starting up January 14th at 9 CST on the SciFi Channel."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 25, 2005 (13:49)", "body": "The new series has already had 3 episodes, and it's up to the promise of the pilot, which has also been rerun. Best sci fi since Star Trek."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Feb 13, 2005 (05:33)", "body": "http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/episodes/season01/101/ is the episode guide if you're trying to catch up for figure out how all the shows tie together."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Mar  1, 2005 (09:05)", "body": "from sci fi wire Galactica Returns This Summer SCI FI Channel announced that the second season of its hit original series Battlestar Galactica will premiere this summer, with 20 new episodes. The channel added that the entire ensemble cast will return for season two, including Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. Also resuming their roles are executive producer and writer Ronald D. Moore and executive producer David Eick. Galacticar will resume production in Vancouver, B.C., in March and will again anchor the channel's SCI FI Friday block of prime-time original series. The series, which premiered on January 14, has been averaging over 3 million viewers per episode and has quickly become SCI FI's highest-rated original series and has received unprecedented critical acclaim. Galactica airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET, part of the channel's successful SCI FI Friday lineup, which also includes Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Galactica ends its first season with a finale episode on April 1. \ufffd"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Mar 12, 2005 (08:06)", "body": "Dark Wendigo Gave GALACTICA 1.10 Five Stars!! 'Hand of God'!! I am \ufffd Hercules!! Those tribal war drums playing over the smoke-filled starfields in that OC \ufffdSith\ufffd trailer? Did they remind anybody of anything? VCR ALERT: This episode starts half an hour later than usual due to a supersized \ufffdStargate.\ufffd Or something. Check it: 1.10 was actually reviewed on this site well before the limeys saw it on Jan. 3. Here\ufffds what \ufffdDark Wendigo\ufffd said on Dec. 20: Battlestar Galactica 1.10 FAQ What\ufffds it called? \"Hand of God.\" How does it begin? What can I say? All that jumping uses a lot of energy. They're almost out, just enough left for two jumps, a new source of fuel must be found. Madam President starts having hallucinations in public and Starbuck has some new shoes to fill. Things get mighty tense on Caprica... also, could Boomer be pregnant?!? Didn't they already have resource shortage episode?! Yes, yes they did. Thankfully this episode takes things to a whole new level! Enough fuel to jump to their heart's content for several years... except for that pesky lil' Cylon base sitting there on top of it. This ep had me glued to my frackin' seat... if there's one thing this series has done well it's that we care about these characters AND BOY do they mess with our emotions here! Let's just say, a desperate Galactica vs. a well-armed Cylon base... Whew... TENSION! So what else is going on then? Turns out that the Kamala extract is doing some messed up things to the madam president. Starbuck doesn't like her new role AT ALL and we get an absolutely amazing moment between father and son Adama. Oh and there's a prophecy. What happens? Not exactly what you'd expect. Unless you expect some people to die... then you'd be on the money. Who dies?! Now that would be telling... But for those of you who are afraid, don't worry it's no one important... yet What's Good? The pacing in this episode had me glued to my seat, I think I've still got nail marks in my palms. The father and son talk. Is it just me or is the soundtrack to this series F*ckin insanely good?! Starbuck, Starbuck, Starbuck. Holy crap. It feels like every episode thus far has been building to right here, maybe a bit of an overstatement, but I haven't been this satisfied with a bit o' television in a LONG time! What's Bad? Only a few gripes, most of them personal. Not a big fan of 'prophecies' in my television viewing, tho' they do do some nice foreshadowing that just 'cause it's prophesied doesn't mean that it's a good thing. Also, I wish they'd move things along on Caprica... it sucks getting only lil' tiny snippets. How does it end? Baltar comes to the only possible, logical conclusion: \"I am an Instrument of God.\" \ufffdDark Wendigo\ufffds\ufffd rating for \ufffdBattlestar Galactica\ufffd 1.10? ***** The Hercules T. Strong Rating System: ***** better than we deserve **** better than most motion pictures *** actually worth your valuable time ** as horrible as most stuff on TV * makes you quietly pray for bulletins 10:30 p.m. Friday. SciFi. from http://aintitcool.com Found this while failing to find \"Super Volcano\" review."}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 20, 2005 (19:54)", "body": "Galactica Renewed For Season Three SCI FI Channel announced that it has renewed its original series Battlestar Galactica for a third season. Production on the 20-episode order is slated to begin in Vancouver, Canada, in February 2006 for premiere later in the year, the network said. http://scifi.com"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Mar 11, 2006 (13:13)", "body": "March 11 2006) - The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the second season finale of \"Battlestar Galactica.\" Harry Kim. Hahaha! With all the reviews that already are online and will be coming for the second season finale of \"Battlestar Galactica,\" I thought I would kick things off with something unexpected. But \"Harry Kim\" should NOT be an unexpected way to start things. Why? Just think about it. Think who Harry Kim was. Oh come on, you have to remember. \"Star Trek: Voyager\"? You're stuck in space for seven years, and have saved the ship countless times. Yet, the producers are so afraid to muck up the works that no one really progresses anywhere. Harry Kim, the token Asian character on the show, remained an ensign the entire time (except in alternate universes and in time travelling). It was kind of annoying, because it felt like \"Voyager\" never really progressed. It never really tried anything different. I'm sure when Brannon Braga and Rick Berman tuned in to the second season finale of \"Battlestar Galactica\" on SciFi Channel, they probably made a significant mess in their pants. It's bad enough that Ronald D. Moore and David Eick keeps changing everyone's rank and such ... but who would've ever thought that things would become shaken up so much, that characters would go through major changes ... and that we would spend a year AWAY from the fleet? I had some spoilers going into this episode, so I knew about the fact that Dean Stockwell's character was a Cylon, and that he would be bringing an olive branch of peace. But I refused to spoil myself any more than that, and sat and watched the episode sans knowing much about it at all. When the camera pulled away from Baltar (James Callis), I was shocked ... absolutely shocked ... that a year had passed. I was so hoping that it would be a dream. That Baltar would wake up. That it couldn't be true. But it was. All of it was true. Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) grew out her hair and decided to go Brokeback on her boyfriend (no, they aren't doing kinky stuff ... they are simply living and boinking in a pup tent near a mountain). Cmdr. Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) put on some weight (I know I ain't one to talk). Col. Tigh (Michael Hogan) became Grandpa Jones. And Adm. William Adama (Edward James Olmos) decided to turn back into Super Mario. Baltar is the same. Well, OK, about the same as Anakin Skywalker was after his secret wife got pregnant. That's right, Baltar is turning to the dark side. Hey, don't take my word for it. That's what Moore told Scott Collura of Now Playing magazine in an interview that ran this weekend. I doubt that Baltar would begin wearing a black costume and develop and asthma problem, but Moore (jokingly, I hope) said it wasn't out of question that Baltar might end up in a big swivel chair overlooking the Cylons. more at http://www.syfyportal.com/wip/news.php?id=2440"}, {"response": 8, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:23)", "body": "http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/ June 6, 2006: Watch a dozen new Deleted Scenes from \"Season 2.5\" episodes of Battlestar Galactica on SCI FI's broadband channel, SCI FI Pulse. May 18, 2006: Actor James Callis (\"Gaius Baltar\") talks about season three of Battlestar Galactica in a SCI FI Wire exclusive video interview, taped at the 32nd Annual Saturn Awards. May 8, 2006: Visit the new SCI FI broadband channel, SCI FI Pulse, to watch all your favorite Battlestar Galactica deleted scenes and exclusive content. April 21, 2006: NEW PODCAST: Listen in on the final hour of the writers' meeting in which the producers planned the second-season episode \"Scar.\" April 6, 2006: Battlestar Galactica has been honored with a Peabody Award for distinguished achievement in electronic media. It is the first time a SCI FI Original production has won a Peabody Award. April 5, 2006: PODCAST: Listen in on the second hour of the writers' meeting in which the producers planned the second-season episode \"Scar.\" March 24, 2006: PODCAST: Listen in on the first hour of a three-hour, closed-door writers' meeting and hear how the producers planned out the gripping second-season episode \"Scar.\" March 13, 2006: Returning to its Friday night slot with a complete 20-episode order, season three of Battlestar Galactica promises even more of the drama, intrigue and action that viewers have come to expect from the series. One of television's most critically acclaimed dramas, Battlestar Galactica has captured the minds of a new generation of fans, distinguishing itself with the intensity and present-day relevance of its stories and the riveting performances of its ensemble cast. The entire Battlestar Galactica ensemble will return, including Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. As previously announced, Lucy Lawless will also join the cast for a 10-episode arc, reprising her role as D'Anna Biers, a Cylon. Production on season three begins in Vancouver in April. March 10, 2006: Play the new Battlestar Galactica Mobile game! Start as a rookie pilot, take over the controls of the Colonial Viper Mark VII high-performance fighter, and plunge right into the ongoing interstellar war! Fight your way through 11 levels and a variety of missions in this action-packed shooter game, then put your skills to the test as you battle head-to-head with the deadly Cylons. (Available from Cingular and T-Mobile. Check back for additional U.S. carriers.) March 10, 2006: Battlestar Galactica now offers an Enhanced Podcast to its podcast subscribers. The new-and-improved podcast features chapter stops (no more beeps at the commercial breaks) and bonus images from each episode. To use the enhanced podcast, users will need to have the most recent version of iTunes and an iPod with a color screen. March 3, 2006: SCI FI congratulates Battlestar Galactica writer-producers Bradley Thompson, David Weddle and Carla Robinson for their shared Nebula Award nomination for Best Dramatic Script, for the two-part story \"Act of Contrition\" / \"You Can't Go Home Again.\" tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 9, "subject": "Politically Incorrect", "response_count": 14, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Mar 16, 1997 (21:31)", "body": "A sample from a recent show to give you the flavor: \"Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher\" Aired March 13th, 1997 Guests on this program were: Mike Farris Sheryl Lee Ralph Billy Bob Thornton Dom Irrera Bill: Thank you, folks. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [ Cheers and Applause ] Thank you. I appreciate it. [ Applause ] Thank you. Thank you. Whoo! Whoo! Bill: Lot of barking today. [ Laughter ] Which brings up our first issue, cloning. They've -- the Senate -- have you seen this? They've been having hearings on this. And yesterday -- I thought this was really interesting -- Senator Tom Harkin -- Do you know who he is? Iowa, anybody from Iowa? He's the Senator. He said, \"Human cloning will take place in my time \ufffd\ufffd in my lifetime, and I welcome it,\" which is pretty interesting. And then he got the Scottish scientist who cloned the sheep to admit that they've already got something in a petri dish that looks a lot like Mickey Rourke, so -- [ Laughter ] [ Cheers and Applause ] No, no -- Well. Well, good news for -- I believe it's the Cheyenne Arapaho tribe. They just got a hundred -- [ Laughter ] What? What's funny about that? They just got back $107,000 from the Democratic committee, because they gave this big donation. The Democrats had to give it back. It's kind of a long story. In 1869, they had some land robbed from them by -- Ulysses S. Grant was president, who they called \"The Great Right Father. So last year they went to see Bill Clinton, who they called, uh, \"Little Big Horny.\" That's their -- [ Laughter ] And, well -- [ Applause ] And they're complaining that they didn't get, really, the proper respect. They said not only did the Democratic committee pressure them to give a big donation, but they purposely threw litter at the chief's feet to try to get him to cry. I mean -- [ Laughter ] [ Applause ] The other big fund-raising scandal is the big feud between the White House and the FBI. You know they've been calling each other liars, and yesterday Janet Reno tried to smooth it over. She said it was a misunderstanding, which may seem like an understatement to you. But remember, Janet Reno called the waco thing a \"house warming.\" So -- [ Laughter and applause ] Now, for those of you who watch your cable bills, they will be going up very shortly. TCI, which is the biggest cable provider, just raised their rates 7%, which seems bad, but remember, that is a small price to pay when you consider the alternative is having to talk to your family. So -- [ Laughter ] And -- [ Scattered Applause ] And finally, this story -- a divorced transsexual in Missouri, in the state of -- anybody from Missouri? Wonderful state. He was just denied -- a judge denied him the right to see his two sons. Now, this is a man who had the operation and became a woman, and he wants to see his two sons. The divorce -- the judge said, \"No, that is not possible, because it would traumatize the sons, especially because it's the 'Show Me' state.\" [ Laughter ] Anyway, thanks for coming. It's all been satirized for your protection. [ Cheers and Applause ] Thank you, folks. Bill: All righty, welcome to the show. Let's meet our panel. He is an actor/comedian who will be at the Improv in Tempe, Arizona, March 20th through the 23rd, Dom Irrera! [ Cheers and Applause ] Hello, pally, how are you? Dom: Very funny monologue. Bill: Thank you. [ Continued Applause ] He's President of the Home School Legal Defense Association, author of the child welfare thriller \"Anonymous Tip,\" Mike Farris! [ Cheers and Applause ] Mike, thank you for being here. She is a fabulous singer, actress and co-star of the hit sitcom \"Moesha,\" Sheryl Lee Ralph! [ Cheers and Applause ] Hey, baby. Sheryl Lee: How are you? Bill: God, you look great. Sheryl Lee: You look great. [ Continued Applause ] Bill: And finally, he is an actor/writer/director who has been nominated for two Academy Awards for his phenomenal film \"Sling Blade,\" Billy Bob Thornton! [ Wild Cheers and Applause ] Ouch! A deafening round of applause. There you are. Okay. [ Continued Applause ] Wow! Look at that. Isn't that great? That a little film like that has gotten this kind of acclaim. And I'm glad you're here, because your film brings up a couple of good issues for us, and one of them, I think, is do parents have, really, 100% ownership of their children, or should at any time government agencies be able to step in? Because, I mean, the character you depict in that film had a terrible childhood, he was sleeping in a hole in the dirt. Have you seen this movie? I mean, it's -- And then, the guy, when he gets out of the insane asylum, he goes and lives with another kid who is being abused. Now, some people would say the government has no right to do that, but I would think that they would at a situation like that. Mike, I know you're for -- Mike: Well, I believe in parents' rights, but nobody owns children in the sense of property. But children need to belong, like belonging to a team. And where they "}, {"response": 2, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr  8, 1997 (09:25)", "body": "Well, you transcripted a particularly good show--I was so excited when PI first showed up, but after a few viewings I gave up in disgust because the guests were so annoying. They tend to just snipe at each other and no one listens to anyone else--they just want to get their point across so it ends up being a series of monologues in strident tones (and since they're often not experts, just celebrities, they're arguing from a position of ignorance). Of course, I'm not a very good audience for this kind of show since arguing vociferously makes me nervous, and ignorance drives me nuckin futs! (I'm new to this kind of chat--what are the limits for cussin like a sailor?) Hmmm, since I hate McLaughlinesque shows, why am I even wasting your time!?"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr  8, 1997 (23:00)", "body": "Are there any talk shows you like, the others seem so bland compared to Politically Incorrect because the guests always seem to be plugging their movie or something and that's not the case on PI. I like it that they pick guests that clash."}, {"response": 4, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (15:04)", "body": "You're right, PI does pick unusual guests for the topics, compared to the usual McLaughlin format where they're all either politicos or journalists. It is refreshing to hear new voices. I just wish they were a little more informed when the topic is more complex--did you catch Arianna Huffington (sic) ripping into everyone the night she was on? whether or not she had anything to say. So, no there aren't any that I watch because the shouting each other down aspect just ties my stomache in knots. Hmmm--a e you comparing PI to talk shows like Letterman et al? I guess I put it in a different category and therefore judge it by a stricter standard--heck yeah it's better than the Leno/Letterman style of guest-host suck-up-fest."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Apr  9, 1997 (21:15)", "body": "Hmm, I thought Ariana was being overly ingratiating and was going to take everyone home with her after the show. She's rich too. Real rich."}, {"response": 6, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:44)", "body": "Plus I couldn't understand her accent totally--maybe I misinterpreted her hauteur as snippiness. Or am I confusing her demeanor with that of Georgette Mossbacher? Or am I now inventing a fictional episode in which G Mossb appeared? Oh, I misread you--I thought you said A Huff is \"too rich\" and I was about to riposte the old saw about never too rich/too thin. I will definitely set up my VCR and record a few shows to see if I'm just being oversensitive to the banter. Maybe Bill has learned how to wade in when the chat jumps track (tho that's often when it gets most interesting!)."}, {"response": 7, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:46)", "body": "Plus I couldn't understand her accent totally--maybe I misinterpreted her hauteur as snippiness. Or am I confusing her demeanor with that of Georgette Mossbacher? Or am I now inventing a fictional episode in which G Mossb appeared? Oh, I misread you--I thought you said A Huff is \"too rich\" and I was about to riposte the old saw about never too rich/too thin. I will definitely set up my VCR and record a few shows to see if I'm just being oversensitive to the banter. Maybe Bill has learned how to wade in when the chat jumps track (tho that's often when it gets most interesting!)."}, {"response": 8, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:47)", "body": "now I see all those bozos who repeat themselves on these chats are simply the victims of bad transmitters! Mine is REALLY acting out today: is it the horrific weather? or am I nuts"}, {"response": 9, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (10:51)", "body": "Short messages seem to transmit better (and they actually get read!): I was really disappointed by James Carville's buffoonery--I haven't read his book yet, but he seems like the only intelligent and fast-talking/quick-witted Democrat out there, and it turns out he's just as annoying as the one-note, foghorn Republicans--again, my biggest beef is when it's a series of vehement monologues that have NO common thread. I want DIALOGUE: when someone brings up a difficult point, I want the opposing team to b FORCED to answer it."}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 11, 1997 (21:02)", "body": "I missed it all last week. I need to program my vcr to capture it next week. It's fun to get a whole weeks episodes and fast forward through them. The transcripts are always on the website but they're nothing like the real thing."}, {"response": 11, "author": "aubrey", "date": "Tue, Apr 15, 1997 (09:11)", "body": "Hmmmm...maybe the transcripts would be better than actual viewing, for a weak nellie like me--I can get the gist without the gut-twisting tonal quality. Let me hie myself over to the aforementioned website and peruse a few!"}, {"response": 12, "author": "riette", "date": "Mon, Jul 20, 1998 (09:24)", "body": "Wish we had a few politically incorrect programmes over here. Whatever isn't American, is wholesome German Heimat. It's so utterly boring. Thank God for BBC Prime."}, {"response": 13, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (17:06)", "body": "hmmm...I liked PI before it went network...it was better on cable..."}, {"response": 14, "author": "KitchenManager", "date": "Sat, Aug  7, 1999 (17:21)", "body": "Terry: Anyway to get aubrey back? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 90, "subject": "Peoples Choice Awards CBS", "response_count": 42, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:26)", "body": "Survivor, one of my favorite shows, got the reality show award. Charlie Sheen, one of the hosts, pointed to Oprah in the audience and asked her to run for President. \"Take the pay cut\", he said. Some categories are being picked live online by the people at home. Genevieve Gorder, one of the stars of Trading Spaces, told us how it worked. The Internet voting is for favorite new comedy and dramatic series and one other. Drama Msuical Group of Brand It's at http://cbs.com"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:40)", "body": "Fav' Talk show host Letterman Leno Oprah The winner? Oprah."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:41)", "body": "Oprah looked good. She had on black leather and it highlighted her hair. She was strong."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:48)", "body": "Favorite Female TV Performer, Jennifer Anniston."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:51)", "body": "CSI - with Marg Helgenberer Law and Order, SVU - a show I don't watch, should I? What's it up against? ER - don't watch this either. I should tivo it. The winner CSI, which I do watch."}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:52)", "body": "Marg Helgenberger accepts the award. Woo. Woo. What a great cast. \"The coolest cast anywhere\" she said."}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:53)", "body": "Favorite Male tv performer up next."}, {"response": 8, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (20:59)", "body": "Favorite tv comedy seris Raymond Friends Will & Grace Winner Friends. Mattt Leblanc and Matthew Perry accepted. The women loved Matt."}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:03)", "body": "Jamie Goertz and Mark Addy from Still Standing gave the award for Favorite Male TV performer. Kelsy Grammer Martin Sheen Ray Romano And the winner, Ray. He brought his twin boys on stage. It was their birthday. Cute kids."}, {"response": 10, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:11)", "body": "Next up favorite female singer. Reba did a nice recap of past winners. Shania Twain. A Canadian. Beyonce. Crazy Right Now. Faith Hill. Past Winner. And the Winner. Faith Hill, favorite feamile musical performer. *and* Beyonce. A tie!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:18)", "body": "music video Toby Keith - I love this Bar Ludacris - Stand Up - with the giant afros and brake dancing Stacy's Mom Fountains of Mane Won by Toby. Faith Ford presented it."}, {"response": 12, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:22)", "body": "Favorite Picture Johnny Depp - who did the pirate movie Denzel Washington Mel Gibson - shown in a balding role with Robert Downey Jr. Winner: Mel. His 6th."}, {"response": 13, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:28)", "body": "Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture, presented by Steebergen and Dantzen Master and Commander. Russell Crowe. LOTR Two Towers. Mystic River Winner Lord of the Rings Two Towers. One of the Hobbits accepted."}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:30)", "body": "Cold Case Joan of Arcadia The OC which gots a lot of cheers \"the rich and horny of Orange County\" Obviously, Joan of Arcadia."}, {"response": 15, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:37)", "body": "Babe of the Night. Brook Burke. Who presented the babes of the night in a musical night to the Pantene women of the past. What a great visual that is! Julia Roberts won for favorite motion picture actress over Austin's Sandy Bullock."}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:39)", "body": "Fave Musical Group or Band, Lance Bass presenting. Internet category. Alabama. Matchbox 20? Brooks and Dunn. And the winner, MATCHB OX 20"}, {"response": 17, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:51)", "body": "Grammy's Feb 8 also on cbs, the commercial says. Mark Harman and ??? gavbe gthe award for fave comedy movie. Finding Nemo. Elf. Bruce Almighty with Jim Carey. won by Bruce Almighty. I didn't see this or anyof the other njominees. Carey ran to the exit door and then sprinted down the whole aisle giving high 5s and slapping hands. The guy has a lot of energy. He ran out and grabbed several women to face the men and say thank you. Burr cut Carey said \"I like people\". But it was the way he said it and the expression. Priceless."}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (21:59)", "body": "Eight Simple Rules kids cast members paid tribute to John Ritter. It was emotional. New tv comedy series. Hope and Faith Two and A Half Men Whoopi Winner. Two and a Half Men. Which I haven't seen either. The kid accepted. Is he the half man?"}, {"response": 19, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (22:02)", "body": "Tom Hanks got favoite all time entertainer."}, {"response": 20, "author": "KarenR", "date": "Sun, Jan 11, 2004 (22:53)", "body": "Terry, Please delink this topic from Drool."}, {"response": 21, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (20:51)", "body": "As I speak, I watch the People's Choice Awards. I have to annoint Jessica Simpson as the Sultress of Slur. Sexy boots are made for walkin' rendition. Not quite up to my all time favorite opening number award, Madonna kissing Brettney Spears at the MTV movie awards a few years back. But the number makes the cut. And they went way back in to the woodwork for a late night comic, Somebuddy Freguson. \"... just another immigrant doing a job an American doesn't want.\" \"... billy bob ganesh\" outsourced Country Music awards from India. Uh, late, late, late night. Never saw this guy before. When he said \"Who the hell are you to someome in the audience, why didn't they do a cut in? Lots of cuts to Ellen and her girlfriend. Ok with that. \"Well done to the seat fillers tonight . . .\" First award to fave leadin' lady. A category \"dominated by women\" Cameron Diaz. Reese Witherspoon in the Johnny Cash movie. Renee Zellwegger. My fave' Winner Reese. from Walk the Line. I guess I'd like to see that. She has a broad face."}, {"response": 22, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (20:52)", "body": "Fans fave hair Faith Hill Nicole Kidman Jennifer Garner. Uh, ok."}, {"response": 23, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:03)", "body": "Jenna Elfman. presenter. Ray Romano Charley Sheen Keifer Sutherland You know Jack Bauer. Fave Male TV star. Winner Ray Romano. Oh well. I was pullin' for Keifer. He already did a \"Where are they now\" photoshoot. What a cheesy wallpaper background. Too long on stage. Two stars from My Name is Earl. Fav Daytime Talk Show Host Ellen Degeneres. I like Ellen Regis and Kelly. Please not. Oprah. I love Oprah. Sometimes, when she's not too shlocky. Winner: Ellen. I'm not with that. I'll do a little dance for Ellen. She's in a white suit. She has a camcorder. Shot of Mathew McConaughey. Hook 'em. Next, fave male action star. Bongo boy's up for that."}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:12)", "body": "Onward Shrine Auditorium. What's that cheesy background. Cross hatch. David fromholtz and Nicolette Sheridan presenters. fave reality competition Surviver. American Idol. Fear Factor. I vote Survivor. Winner: American Idol. Nooooooooo..... Randy Jackson accepts. Then, star of Paparzzai Action fast paced fun Favorite Male Action Star mathew maconaughey for Sahara Brad Pitt for Mr. and Mrs. Smith The Rock for Doom I vote MM. Local boy. Hook 'em. The winner. The winner is. The People. Mathew David McConaughery. Good for him. He held that crystal statue up like Vince Young did in the Rose Bowl. Hook 'em Matthew. Bless up. Viva la Evolution. Just keep livin'."}, {"response": 25, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:13)", "body": "Hang loose baby."}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:19)", "body": "If I shut off the tv now it would be a great night. Star of Hitch presents. Eva Mendez. presenter. Fav male movie star. Nick Cage. Johnny Depp. Samuel L Jackson. Tough choice. Toss up. Three great ones. Winner. Johnny Depp. from a distant tropical location. wearing those trademark thick rim glasses."}, {"response": 27, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:23)", "body": "Star of Glory Road Josh Lucas. presenter. Female singers. Kelly Clarkson. Faith Hill. Gwen Stefani. Have to go with Gwen as my fave. The winner. Kelly Clarkson. Peace out y'all."}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:30)", "body": "Next up, Harrison Ford. presenting Favorite Movie. Goateed. The films. Batman Begins. Hitch. Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith didn't see any of 'em yet. no favorite. but rooting for Star Wars. Winner: Star Wars. Harrison Ford was no accident. George Lucas accepts. Harrison Ford laid his hand on Lucas back and walked him off the stage."}, {"response": 29, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:35)", "body": "Onward. Favorite group. Music. Presenter. Doris Roberts. Black Eyed Peas Destinys Child Green Day Tough choice. Don't know. Guess Green day. Winner. Green Day."}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:38)", "body": "heavy eye shadow. Next up, Dominiq Monahan from Lost. female tv star Jen Garner. Alias. Teri hatcher Desperate Housewife Jennifer Love Hewitt. Ghost Whisperer. I pick Teri. Winner: Jennifer Garner. OK."}, {"response": 31, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:39)", "body": "Off to bed. Good night."}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:48)", "body": "Best. tv comedy. Everybody does't love raymond."}, {"response": 33, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:51)", "body": "Fav oh rite new tv comedy. And favruht movie shahh female."}, {"response": 34, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (21:54)", "body": "Commercial. Support your Spring. Get your sports tickets on http://sportcalendar.com coming April 2006. Donate to the Spring. http://spring.net/paypal"}, {"response": 35, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:01)", "body": "fave female movie star Sandra Bullock Angelina Jolie Nicole Kidman My vote tossup Angie and Sandy Winner sb"}, {"response": 36, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:04)", "body": "yeah Austin Texas."}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:06)", "body": "best new comedy everybody hates chris how i met your mother my name is earl my vote is for earl winner earl"}, {"response": 38, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:07)", "body": "Didn't the Dixie Chicks slaughter Earl?"}, {"response": 39, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:17)", "body": "fav song movie 32nd Annual Peoples Choice Awards jena big blond hair elfman presenter of misc awards tyra banks presenter movie song 1 thing hitch nelly these boots are made for walkin jessica simpson dukes of hazzard winner is boots. My choice too. who adores willie nelson jessica simpson who wouldn't be cute without us. csi, deperate or law n order next."}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:20)", "body": "csi wins"}, {"response": 41, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Jan 10, 2006 (22:22)", "body": "That's it folks. You'll have to pick up misc awards off the website. http://pcavote.com is where you vote."}, {"response": 42, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:23)", "body": "Favorite Female Movie Star Sandra Bullock Angelina Jolie Nicole Kidman Favorite Male Movie Star Nicolas Cage Johnny Depp Samuel L. Jackson Favorite Leading Lady Cameron Diaz Reese Witherspoon Ren\ufffde Zellweger Favorite Leading Man Jamie Foxx Brad Pitt Adam Sandler Favorite Female Action Star Jennifer Garner Angelina Jolie Catherine Zeta-Jones Favorite Male Action Star Matthew McConaughey Brad Pitt The Rock Favorite On-Screen Match-Up Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt in Mr. and Mrs. Smith Chris Rock & Adam Sandler in The Longest Yard Vince Vaughn & Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers Favorite Movie Comedy Hitch The Longest Yard Wedding Crashers Favorite Movie Drama Batman Begins Coach Carter Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Favorite Family Movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Chicken Little Madagascar Favorite Movie Batman Begins Hitch Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 91, "subject": "top 100 comedians", "response_count": 3, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 30, 2004 (14:08)", "body": "The list of the top 100 standup comics. 1. Richard Pryor 2. George Carlin 3. Lenny Bruce 4. Woody Allen 5. Chris Rock 6. Steve Martin 7. Rodney Dangerfield 8. Bill Cosby 9. Roseanne Barr 10. Eddie Murphy 11. Johnny Carson 12. Jerry Seinfeld 13. Robin Williams 14. Bob Newhart 15. David Letterman 16. Ellen DeGeneres 17. Don Rickles 18. Jonathan Winters 19. Bill Hicks 20. Sam Kinison 21. Dennis Miller 22. Robert Klein 23. Steven Wright 24. Redd Foxx 25. Bob Hope 26. Ray Romano 27. Jay Leno 28. Jack Benny 29. Milton Berle 30. Garry Shandling 31. George Burns 32. Albert Brooks 33. Andy Kaufman 34. Buddy Hackett 35. Phyllis Diller 36. Jim Carrey 37. Martin Lawrence 38. Bill Maher 39. Billy Crystal 40. Mort Sahl 41. Jon Stewart 42. Flip Wilson 43. Dave Chappelle 44. Joan Rivers 45. Richard Lewis 46. Adam Sandler 47. Henny Youngman 48. Tim Allen 49. Freddie Prinze 50. Denis Leary 51. Lewis Black 52. Damon Wayans 53. David Brenner 54. DL Hughley 55. Alan King 56. Colin Quinn 57. Richard Jeni 58. Larry Miller 59. Gilbert Gottfried 60. Jeff Foxworthy 61. Bobcat Goldthwait 62. Eddie Griffin 63. Jackie Mason 64. Richard Belzer 65. Cedrick the Enter. 66. Shelley Berman 67. Kevin Pollak 68. Dave Attell 69. Pat Cooper 70. Wanda Sykes 71. Red Buttons 72. Bernie Mac 73. Billy Connolly 74. Paul Rodriguez 75. Eddie Izzard 76. Robert Schimmel 77. Paul Reiser 78. Sinbad 79. Dom Irrera 80. Bobby Slayton 81. Dick Gregory 82. Howie Mandel 83. Norm MacDonald 84. Drew Carey 85. David Cross 86. Jay Mohr 87. Brett Butler 88. Paula Poundstone 89. Kevin James 90. Dana Carvey 91. Jim Breuer 92. Louie Anderson 93. George Wallace 94. David Alan Grier 95. Andrew 'Dice' Clay 96. Joey Bishop 97. Sandra Bernhard 98. Louis CK 99. Janeane Garofalo 100. Gallagher"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Apr 30, 2004 (14:13)", "body": "My personal list is a little different. 13. Robin Williams 39. Billy Crystal 5. Chris Rock 6. Steve Martin 12. Jerry Seinfeld 16. Ellen DeGeneres 18. Jonathan Winters 19. Bill Hicks 40. Mort Sahl 41. Jon Stewart 90. Dana Carvey 1. Richard Pryor 2. George Carlin 3. Lenny Bruce 10. Eddie Murphy 14. Bob Newhart 20. Sam Kinison 27. Jay Leno 38. Bill Maher 4. Woody Allen 11. Johnny Carson 15. David Letterman 17. Don Rickles 21. Dennis Miller 25. Bob Hope 28. Jack Benny 29. Milton Berle 30. Garry Shandling 31. George Burns 32. Albert Brooks 34. Buddy Hackett 35. Phyllis Diller 42. Flip Wilson 45. Richard Lewis 70. Wanda Sykes 82. Howie Mandel 92. Louie Anderson 97. Sandra Bernhard 7. Rodney Dangerfield 8. Bill Cosby 22. Robert Klein 23. Steven Wright 24. Redd Foxx 33. Andy Kaufman 36. Jim Carrey 44. Joan Rivers 46. Adam Sandler 48. Tim Allen 49. Freddie Prinze 50. Denis Leary 51. Lewis Black 52. Damon Wayans 53. David Brenner 54. DL Hughley 55. Alan King 56. Colin Quinn 57. Richard Jeni 58. Larry Miller 59. Gilbert Gottfried 60. Jeff Foxworthy 61. Bobcat Goldthwait 62. Eddie Griffin 63. Jackie Mason 64. Richard Belzer 65. Cedrick the Enter. 66. Shelley Berman 67. Kevin Pollak 68. Dave Attell 69. Pat Cooper 71. Red Buttons 72. Bernie Mac 73. Billy Connolly 74. Paul Rodriguez 75. Eddie Izzard 76. Robert Schimmel 77. Paul Reiser 78. Sinbad 79. Dom Irrera 80. Bobby Slayton 81. Dick Gregory 83. Norm MacDonald 85. David Cross 86. Jay Mohr 87. Brett Butler 88. Paula Poundstone 89. Kevin James 91. Jim Breuer 93. George Wallace 94. David Alan Grier 95. Andrew 'Dice' Clay 96. Joey Bishop 98. Louis CK 99. Janeane Garofalo 100. Gallagher 9. Roseanne Barr 26. Ray Romano 37. Martin Lawrence 43. Dave Chappelle 47. Henny Youngman 84. Drew Carey"}, {"response": 3, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:24)", "body": "Top 100: Stand-Up Comedians RANK NAME VOTES 1 Mitch Hedburg 9 2 Al Katz 5 2 Charlie Laborte 5 2 Mickey Joseph 5 5 Blaine Capatch 3 5 Dane Cook 3 5 Dante 3 5 Dave Atell 3 5 E.C. Winkler 3 5 Jeremy Hotz 3 11 Brian Regan 2 11 George Carlin 2 11 Jim Gaffigan 2 11 Marc Maron 2 11 Sarah Silverman 2 16 Alan Schwartz 1 16 Bob Oschack 1 16 Bobby Slayton 1 16 Brett Leake 1 16 Brody Stevens 1 16 Chard Hogan 1 16 Dan Rothenberg 1 16 George Lopez 1 16 Jackie Flynn 1 16 Jake Johansen 1 16 Jeffrey Ross 1 16 Jim Mendrinos 1 16 Jimmy Pardo 1 16 John Hoogasian 1 16 Lewis Black 1 16 Louis C.K. 1 16 Norm MacDonald 1 16 Pablo Francisco 1 16 Richard Jeni 1 16 Rob Twohy 1 16 Robert Schimmel 1 16 Robin Williams 1 16 Roger Rittenhouse 1 16 Ron Morey 1 16 Ron Shock 1 16 Ted Alexandro 1 16 Wendy Liebman 1 from http://www.heylady.com/tk/top100comedians.php tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 92, "subject": "Apprentice - Donald Trumps ratings", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 28, 2005 (06:17)", "body": "http://www.theapprenticerules.com/ a bit outdated. Applies the rules of business to the show."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 28, 2005 (06:20)", "body": "http://theapprentice.typepad.com/ January 25, 2005 Episode 2 - MOTEL 666 Magna and Net Worth face an almost impossible task and one candidate caves under the stress and walks off the show during an emotional and poignant episode. The teams descend upon the Jersey shore to fix up and run their own not-so-five-star motels. Both teams pull all-nighters to win the hearts and minds of their guests. A mutiny brews at one team while a candidate may or may not quit the other group. The winners set sail on a luxury ship while the losers feel the heat of the boardroom when Donald Trump fires the second candidate. 01-27-2005 8:30PM (1.5 hours)"}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Jan 28, 2005 (06:21)", "body": "The above site is definitely the most up to date source."}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Feb 11, 2005 (10:24)", "body": "Mark, Trump was on blasting you and Sir Richard yesterday morning, Mark. Trump and the Survivor producer made this deal to do the Martha Stewart Apprentice show, a second version of Trumps show. She has to get out the \"clinker\". If you have tivo, it came at the 2:08 timeframe of the show. I'm sending this not to embarass you but to motivate you to blow this Trump guy out of the water. And I'll tell you how I think you can do this in my next email to you. * * * * * * Trump: Actually, We thought about Mark Cuban, but he failed. And we thought about Branson. And you know those were two obvious choices but you know they've gone on . . . we've done automatic research, we've done automatic research on those two, the various networks gave us automatic research. Imus: Both of those guys that jerk Mark Cuban and that other moron Both came out of the box . . . Cuban came out of the box badmouthing you, you would have thought they would get kept their mouths shut. Trump: Cuban came out and he said, Trump is a really bad guy he won't shake peoples hands. He lives in one of my buildings in New York. I understand he likes it very much because it's a great building.. He came on strong and he went down. He went down like dogs. Flies watch this show. And then Branson came out and said Donalds a great guy, then said Trumps a horrible human being. His first thing on his show was an imitation of me getting out of a limousine. His show almost did as badly as Cubans. * * * * * * Mark, you've already addressed this before in your comments on your success given the size of your market. Your response to this should be to launch the greatest reality show of all time, one that will put the Apprentice to shame. Next time, do something that has no resemblence to the Apprentice. Reach out and come up with a reality show that will change the world like Branson tried to do but in a bigger way, come up with a show with people that are really the best and brightest in their fields, and come up with something that will blow Trump off the map. I'm really pulling for you to make a great next move and I'm filled with great ideas on the next generation reality show. If you call me I'll play that couple of minutes for you off my tivo because I believe it will inspire you to make the next reality tv show move. Paul Walhus 512-699-4000 http://spring.netq http://realsocial.com Building social business networks posted on http://maverickblog.com by yt."}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Apr 12, 2005 (10:12)", "body": "\ufffdApprentice\ufffd bad boy busted By Diane Holloway | Monday, April 11, 2005, 10:11 AM \ufffdApprentice\ufffd contestant Chris Shelton, the lone remaining major-league jerk on the show, was arrested for disorderly conduct early Sunday morning at a casino in Tampa, Fla. You remember Chris. He hasn\ufffdt been fired yet but should have been. He\ufffds the real-estate millionaire in the original group of contestants without college degrees. It doesn\ufffdt take a college degree to know this 22-year-old hot-head has a tempter unbecoming a business executive. Or a civilized human being, for that matter. Chris is one of six remaining \ufffdApprentice\ufffd candidates vying for a job with Donald Trump. All but a couple of the shows were taped in advance, so the arrest won\ufffdt have an impact on the finale. But it\ufffds probably safe to assume this guy won\ufffdt make it to the Final Three. The Donald has bad hair, but he\ufffds not stupid enough to hire Tantrum Boy. The scene of the alleged \ufffdChris Crime\ufffd was Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where he exploded over a $20 cover charge in the hotel bar. Yelling and cursing in the lobby, he was arrested and hauled off to the clinker. He was released on a $250 bail. What a loser. href=\"http://www.austin360.com/calendar/content/custom/blogs/tvblog/index.html;COXnetJSessionIDbuild71=CbU1CDlf1ycXzbhdMQ0KkE8KhwD4u2csjZVIsfBtjgd8rryydhxU!-1418940952?urac=%60LcQbLbKYYaXTR[YUX[YXYbY\\V^Y^Y]YYXWX]XUTbYXYZXUSZTXT[TcT^TcT\\T]S[U[YXW]WXSaXXY\\R%60Y^VTWVV[X%60W]S_STV^YUV[ScYTV^YVXZYWRVR^R&urvf=11133145599820.9902090319350848\">Diane Holloway 's TV Blog."}, {"response": 6, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (21:25)", "body": "une 08, 2006 MarketWatch is watching TheApprenticeBlog.com For Sale\"Turn out the lights, the party's over,\" Baranko says in his Internet Daily column for MarketWatch.com (and on his blog), \"TheApprenticeBlog.com is for sale on eBay.\" However with the new season starting ~fresh~ on the west coast this might the perfect opportunity for Mark Burnett to revive The Apprentice, like he has done repeatedly with Survivor. Or at least I hope someone will think so because I'm trying to sell this blog! Baranko's article is not exactly the media endorsement to buy-buy-buy that I'd like to see, but his approach was predictable given the performance of the show in the last season and the general downward slide away from Business lessons towards soap-opera drama. It's unlikely that Burnett will swing as far back towards business as I, and the previously untapped viewer demographic of professionals making $100K+, would like to see. However, there is still an audience base for the show, including those who just want the drama (and to see suits screw up) Interestingly enough, someone has already commented on Baranko.com that they are disappointed about the publicity because they are interested in buying the site, cheap. Hey, it's still going for just over $200. Links: MarketWatch.com, Barnako.com une 06, 2006 TheApprenticeBlog.com for SALE Have you ever thought: \"Hey, I could do a better job than this 'Lex' chick\" Well, given my crappy job this season, you are probably right. AND Now is your opportunity to show your stuff. Buy TheApprenticeBlog.com on eBay You can make TheApprenticeBlog.com your very own. With separate blogs for all 5 seasons of Donald's Apprentice and even the 1 season of Martha's Apprentice. I'm even throwing in the remaining typepad hosting, which will give you the ability to host and launch an unlimited number of blogs until January 1, 2007. More details on eBay, but I wanted to post this part here: Community: While TheApprenticBlog.com has not been updated regularly in the last season, due to the same personal reasons I am selling it now, there is still a very active fan community which requires only minimal support to keep them coming back, commenting, self-moderating and adding their own content to the blog. In fact, one season I was cut off from technology for the final 4 episodes, TheApprenticeBlog.com community kept things rolling without missing a beat. Of course you are feel to do what ever you want with the url and the blog once you own it, I ask that you respect the great community and people that already participate on TheApprenticeBlog.com. If it's so great, why am I selling? After writing and maintaining the blog for 5 seasons, I am uninspired. Rather than hire someone to maintain it, or continue to let it slip downhill, while cashing the google checks, I'd rather sell it and let someone else take advantage of the leg-work we've done to establish TheApprenticeBlog.com as a credible authority on The Apprentice over the last 2 years. It's also perfect timing if someone on the West Coast wants to take it over as the series heads west for it's 6th season. I have no idea who's going to end up buying TheApprenticeBlog.com, but I hope one of you guys will consider it. You've all been a part of building it, you should get to reap what reward may come. I'll put up one more post when it sells, but before that I want to thank you all for the great ride, comments and enthusiasm. You've made it fun, educational and kept me on my toes. Buy TheApprenticeBlog.com on eBay Tags: the apprentice, donald trump, finale, buy this blog, the apprentice blog, ebay, blog for sale http://www.theapprenticeblog.com/ up for grabs. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 93, "subject": "Don Imus in the Morning - MSNBC and radio", "response_count": 6, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 20, 2004 (07:27)", "body": "Hot babe wonk alert. On this morning's Imus show. Fans and grumblers agree: Maureen Dowd's twice-weekly column on the opinion page of the New York Times is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in American journalism. From that perch, she dissected the impeachment of President Clinton and won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary for her \"style, insight and faultless instinct for hypocrisy in high places.\" Democrats cringed at her take-no-prisoners assessment of the self-made man from Hope brought down by his own hubris. Now it's the Republicans' turn, as her first book, \"Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk,\" climbs the best-seller list. Just out from Putnam, it's a collection of columns framed by her quirky Shakespearean take on the Bush administration. The first section of the book, titled \"The Old King Is Deposed: In Which the Black Sheep Usurps the Dutiful Brother,\" opens with a 1992 column called \"Poppy Packs Up.\" A section titled \"The Regents Enter: In Which the Old King Encircles the Dauphin With His Trusted Counselors,\" includes the columns \"Freudian Face-Off, \" \"Bushfellas\" and \"A Babysitter for Junior.\" The relationship between George W. (\"43\") and his father (\"41\") fascinates her most. She has observed the two at close range since her days as the Times' White House correspondent during the first Bush administration (1989-93). In the introduction to her new book, she writes: \"With each passing day of the Bush restoration, it became clearer that we were entering the primal territory of ancient myth, in which the son must define himself by vanquishing the father.\" \"I didn't want my first book to be columns, but this was a rare opportunity,\" she said, citing what she calls the compelling \"story arc\" of the Bush family, plus what she sees as egregious behavior on the part of the current administration. \"The Bush administration had misled people so much that 80 percent of Fox viewers believed there was a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. When it turned into a dark, hyperpower, apocalyptic, bullying administration, it became a fascinating tale,\" Dowd said. \"I'd always loved Joseph Campbell's writings on myth, which is what 'Star Wars' is based on.\" (When you hear pundits refer to Vice President Dick Cheney as Darth Vader -- the dark father -- Dowd said it first.) \"This is the greatest father-son story,\" she said. \"They're going to be studying this for a long time.\" That would extend \"Bushworld's\" shelf life as an alternative history or, as Dowd sees it, a corrective. After Cheney's GOP convention speech last week, Dowd told CNN host Aaron Brown: \"Everything they say is the opposite of the truth.\" After getting an earful from eager-puppy pundits earlier in the show, Brown seemed relieved by her bluntness. \"When Bush said the war on terror was unwinnable, it was the first time he darted out of Bushworld,\" she said this week. \"But terror is a tactic and you can't win against a tactic.\" Dowd may distract with her humor, but those are boxing gloves she's wearing, and she's got a lethal left. Her coquettishness, which can put men, in particular, off guard, seems to clear the way for her to say what others are too skittish to utter. \"The son campaigned on 'compassionate conservatism' and a humble foreign policy,\" Dowd said. After he took office, she was astonished when \"he started blowing off the Atlantic alliance that his father and grandfather had worked on, instead of going after Osama bin Laden.\" Her style infuriates some and delights others, as does her free range of cultural references, drawing on everything from Shakespeare's tragedies (her college specialty) to Orwell to Hollywood comedies. A self-proclaimed \"equal- opportunity skeptic,\" she notes that the Clintons may soon be in her scopes again. \"If Bush wins, that's the beginning of Hillary's campaign,\" Dowd, 52, said by phone last week from a room at the Four Seasons in New York, where a handful of girlfriends were madly helping her groom for a post-convention TV appearance. \"I've made a lot of fashion mistakes,\" she said, noting that David Letterman recently asked her why she was dressed for the prom and Don Imus told her she looked like a Charlotte Hornets cheerleader. Her problem, she explains, is that she wears mostly vintage clothes, and that means floaty dresses and beaded sweaters. Her friend the New York Times reporter Alessandra Stanley had just called to say \"No Siegfried and Roy,\" which means no sequins. Dowd noted that to be safe, she borrowed a dress for the CNN appearance from her pal Michiko Kakutani, the Times' book critic. We had to ask: What are Bush's chances? \"I never make predictions.\" Did the Republican convention push him over the top? \"It was like watching a Doberman gnawing on a rag doll.\" from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/09/DDGUT8L37R1.DTL"}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 20, 2004 (07:59)", "body": "Correction, she's on *tomorrows* show."}, {"response": 3, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Mar  8, 2005 (09:20)", "body": "Contessa Brewer has become the Imus in the Morning whipping babe. She's so clean and pure, perfect scumbag target. She didn't have a choice. She says."}, {"response": 4, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct 15, 2005 (16:59)", "body": "I always enjoyed Don Imus when I was in Hawaii, but not because I agreed with him all the time !! I wonder what happened with that audit of his ranch - or was that more hype to sell junk press periodicals at supermarket checkout lines?"}, {"response": 5, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 16, 2005 (14:36)", "body": "I don't know, I kind of lost interest in his show. It probably dissipated."}, {"response": 6, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (20:26)", "body": "The Daily Imus Imus and gang are off on a scheduled vacation from Monday June 26, 2006 through Tuesday July 4, 2006. \"Imus in The Morning\" will return live on the radio and on MSNBC on Wednesday July 5, 2006. Don't forget.. Live performances by The Beach Boys, Thursday, July 6th and Big & Rich Friday, July 7th. Have a happy and safe 4th of July! tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 94, "subject": "John Stewart - The Daily Show", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Oct 25, 2004 (09:31)", "body": "Sixty Minutes just did a great story on Stewart. He's really gaining stature and shows no favorites. It should be real interesting to follow his show down the stretch of the Presidential race. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 95, "subject": "Bill Maher", "response_count": 0, "posts": []}, {"num": 96, "subject": "Desperate Housewives", "response_count": 1, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 20, 2004 (07:22)", "body": "Interesting show. I really like Felicity Huffman and Teri Hatcher. And the woman playing Bree, the Martha Stewart robot, is fascinating. I like the way it's unfolding with little hints and subtlties along the way, like the measuring cup left in the fire started by Teri Hatcher's character. And the plumber who has a gun, the guy Hatcher has the hots for. Don't base your evaluation of Hatcher on those horrid Radio Shack ads she does with Howie Long. She's waaay better in this. All the the women on this show have one thing in common. They're desperate. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 97, "subject": "Lost", "response_count": 43, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Jan 27, 2005 (08:20)", "body": "Last night was a rerun. Next new episode is Feb 9th."}, {"response": 2, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Apr  9, 2005 (20:08)", "body": "4/13 Rerun of episode 14 4/20 Rerun of episode 16 4/27 new episode 5/04 new episode 5/11 new episode 5/18 new episode 5/25 two-hour season finale That's the rest of the season schedule."}, {"response": 3, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep  2, 2005 (18:50)", "body": "i am addicted to this show! can't wait for it to start back up again!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Sep  3, 2005 (23:07)", "body": "Same here. The season ender left a lot of possibilities. The raft got pirated. The vault in the ground was about to be opened."}, {"response": 5, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Sep  4, 2005 (13:26)", "body": "the vault WAS opened and all you saw were stairs leading down.....am really worried about walt..."}, {"response": 6, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Sep  4, 2005 (18:50)", "body": "I guess you call it a vault. It looks like a big concrete fallout shelter. Does it contain a whole underground world like in the old Forbidden Planet movie? I hope so."}, {"response": 7, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Sep  4, 2005 (21:06)", "body": "Sept 21, Wednesday is the premiere!!"}, {"response": 8, "author": "shutdupboi", "date": "Wed, Sep 14, 2005 (07:47)", "body": "wtf"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 23, 2005 (07:09)", "body": "Anyone watch episode 1? Reaction?"}, {"response": 10, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sat, Sep 24, 2005 (20:15)", "body": "i did....it's really messing with my theories! at first, i thought the guy in the arena was an angel, but why would an angel need shots? i know the outer part of his shaft/cave is quarantined but from what? y'know?"}, {"response": 11, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Sep 28, 2005 (20:41)", "body": "The Laws of the Jungle By LORNE MANLY ON \"Lost,\" one of last season's most successful series, some four dozen plane crash survivors confronted a Pacific island infused with mystery. A monster devoured a pilot. A polar bear rampaged through the jungle. An enigmatic paraplegic could walk again. The first season ended last May with dual cliffhangers: two characters peered down a hatch they had found, only to be greeted by the spooky darkness of an unending vertical shaft, while another group of characters, attempting an escape by raft, were thwarted by scary strangers who sailed off with a child. But the biggest puzzle the producers of \"Lost\" face as they enter their second season this Wednesday may well be how to avoid alienating the audience that has made it one of ABC's first water-cooler hit dramas in more than a decade. The creators of shows like \"Lost\" - serialized dramas steeped in their own elaborate mythologies - face a dilemma. Audiences compulsively desire, even demand, answers. But reveal too much, too soon, and they might just bolt, as \"Twin Peaks\" discovered in the early 1990's.Or dole out only tiny hints about how the pieces fit together, and viewer obsession can curdle into frustration or even disdain, as happened in the latter years of \"The X-Files.\" \"If you get to the point where you're just vamping,\" said Mark Frost, who created \"Twin Peaks\" with the filmmaker David Lynch, \"just to withhold the trump card about the central mystery, you will start to see the series slipping.\" \"An audience will put up with being toyed with for only so long,\" he added. \"But if the audience responds to the characters, the rest will take care of itself.\" More: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/arts/television/18manl.html"}, {"response": 12, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Sep 29, 2005 (20:30)", "body": "we finally get to see \"the others\" and i'm a might bit disappointed.....of course, maybe it'll be different than what i'm thinking when the episode airs next week. and, in preseason talk, i heard that a couple more characters are being introduced, guess Desmond is one of them. the AM thinks he is an angel but...did anyone catch the part where he says to jack \"see you in a next life\" or was it some kind of customary salutation? and what's up with the song that the dude keeps playing, it's like he's stuck in the 70's (oooooh, that could be another theory)..... did you guys see what was on the shark's tail? the emblem desmond has on his overalls and all over the equipment in his shelter."}, {"response": 13, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (11:13)", "body": "I haven't figgered out the Desmond thing, what's up with Desmond? Yeah, stuck in the 70s. Though it's still cool to have vinyl records."}, {"response": 14, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (18:54)", "body": "well, desmond, when he met jack, was training to race around the world. maybe he ended up on the island too because of a plane crash or something but that wouldn't make any sense--he's totally stocked up on everything! did you see the hash marks on his walls of counting days (like cartoon prisoners do)?"}, {"response": 15, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (21:07)", "body": "Yeah, I saw those. How can can he hold off the masses? Why can't he be nicer about sharing his pad ?"}, {"response": 16, "author": "wolf", "date": "Fri, Sep 30, 2005 (21:26)", "body": "do you remember when sayeed found the french woman? do you remember the metal cord he found that went off into the ocean on one end and then into the jungle on the other? i've wondered why he didn't try to see what it connected to in the ocean. and in desmond's bunker, how does he have all that electricity? and what is up with plugging in the bad luck numbers? oh, in mike's flashback to giving up custody of walt, did you catch that it was a polar bear stuffed animal he was trying to give the boy?"}, {"response": 17, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct  5, 2005 (22:08)", "body": "didja'll catch it tonight? so are those the others? i dont' think so anymore--i think they're just the folks who were from the other part of the plane and they think Jack and crew are the others. we have the answers about desmond too--he was on a race and crashed there, saved by one of the scientists who unwittingly drew him in on the plan to push buttons for years and years! the AM thinks there's another button to be pushed and that's why the real others wanted to take the baby and succeeded taking Walt. they need a young person to keep pushing the button. ok, so what's up with the book that Locke moved to get to the film? did you catch the full title? something about a screw in time or something? i think they're in the bermuda triangle (because of the strong electromagnetism mentioned in tonight's episode). but i'm still not attaching the numbers to anything. and Jack is going to have to face up to the fact that he wants to believe but is afraid to. i loved it when Locke said that it wasn't easy to believe. i wanted to clap my hands and say Amen, Brother!! he is so right on there. these people (the writers) are clever and they're throwing in a ton of hints and we just have to be wise about them. did you see the polar bear in the orientation film? and they're on island 3, so where's 1 and 2 and are there any more?"}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Oct  6, 2005 (11:18)", "body": "Ooops, I didn't see it yet. Holds up hand to block wolf's post. I'll be back."}, {"response": 19, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Oct 13, 2005 (18:12)", "body": "ok, not going to spoil it but didja catch last week's and last night's episode?"}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Oct 14, 2005 (07:54)", "body": "Not last nights. Not yet. It's on tivo. Good morning wolfie!"}, {"response": 21, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Oct 17, 2005 (13:44)", "body": "c'mon terry, hurry up and watch em so we can spill the beans!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Oct 17, 2005 (13:45)", "body": "check out this website: click here"}, {"response": 23, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Oct 19, 2005 (21:38)", "body": "new episodes of lost won't be seen for the next three weeks! *yikes* terry, have you caught up YET?"}, {"response": 24, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 19, 2005 (22:01)", "body": "Yep. Caught up."}, {"response": 25, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Oct 30, 2005 (08:40)", "body": "i'm so glad i didn't miss a new episode while i was abroad. so what do you think about it, terry?"}, {"response": 26, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Oct 30, 2005 (09:47)", "body": "What's up with the symbol? Any idea what it's based on? Yin Yang? What was Locke's riddle, I didn't get that. And that button! Someone should just push it and see what happens."}, {"response": 27, "author": "wolf", "date": "Tue, Nov  1, 2005 (20:01)", "body": "oh no, i forgot the riddle, what was it? which button? the one they have to push every 108 minutes? i think the magnetism deal (and the fact that the island has an extraordinary magnetic presence) has to do with the bermuda triangle. but i have no idea what would happen if they didn't push the button. there must be something radioactive going on for the boars to be so large (and the polar bears too). have to take another look at that symbol."}, {"response": 28, "author": "terry", "date": "Tue, Nov  1, 2005 (20:21)", "body": "Yeah, there's so much symbolism and conundrums with this show. Yeah, the one they have to push every 108 minutes, wouldn't that drive you batty?"}, {"response": 29, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Nov  2, 2005 (20:08)", "body": "YES!! i'd hate to be tied to that thing. think i'd go nuts!"}, {"response": 30, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov  3, 2005 (03:31)", "body": "Especially since it might blow up the planet or something, that would be disconcerting."}, {"response": 31, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Nov  3, 2005 (17:56)", "body": "or maybe it doesn't--it's just a way to keep people there. the experiment is actually on them ."}, {"response": 32, "author": "terry", "date": "Fri, Nov  4, 2005 (08:26)", "body": "Yep, a distinct possibility. One of these shows, someones going to fall asleep at the switch. This is something you should trust to one person (the end of the world as we know it)."}, {"response": 33, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Nov  6, 2005 (19:48)", "body": "i think this wed is a new show..."}, {"response": 34, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov  7, 2005 (11:28)", "body": "Great. TiVo is ready."}, {"response": 35, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Nov  9, 2005 (10:30)", "body": "A 'Lost' Ship With Leaks By KATE AURTHUR At the conclusion of the Oct. 19 episode of \"Lost,\" a sonorous male voice narrated a preview of the next original installment of the popular ABC series. \"Every season, there's one episode people will be talking about all year long,\" he intoned. \"This is it.\" Over spliced images of various cast members in peril - Sawyer collapsed, Shannon screamed, Ana-Lucia pointed a gun - the narrator made a promise. \"Three weeks from tonight, one of these survivors will be lost. Forever.\" Here we are three weeks later - and indeed, someone is going to die on tonight's \"Lost.\" That the ABC promotions department alerted viewers to that plot twist last month was meant to create excitement for the episode, which is the first \"Lost\" during the November ratings sweeps period. But among a certain segment of frenzied fans, the information was not new at all. From its debut, in September 2004, \"Lost\" has inspired a devoted base of followers who pore over every episode searching for answers to the show's many mysteries. Gossip about television flows freely on the Internet. Advance information about plot developments - referred to as \"spoilers\" - is regularly slipped to reporters, to writers for entertainment Web sites like Ain't It Cool News and onto message boards. These leaks are a constant source of anguish to the creators of shows like \"Lost,\" who, naturally, don't want the surprises they've planned to be ruined. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, two executive producers of \"Lost,\" said they have no idea how the purveyors of spoilers get information about their series. They have put in place a numerical coding system to keep track of scripts, but it doesn't seem to fix the problem. At the end of last season, when the writers were determined to keep a kidnapping in the finale a secret, they were driven to extremes. Internally, the scene was referred to only by a prosaic nickname: \"the bagel.\" And only the actors in that particular scene received script pages. It worked. \"We were really surprised, but really pleased, that that did not get spoiled,\" Mr. Cuse said. Casting changes, on the other hand, might be impossible to hide. More: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/arts/television/09lost.html"}, {"response": 36, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Nov 16, 2005 (19:24)", "body": "new Lost episode tonight--we get to find out what happened to the other half of the plane! *woohoo*"}, {"response": 37, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov 17, 2005 (16:42)", "body": "I know, it's on TiVo and I'll check it out tonight."}, {"response": 38, "author": "wolf", "date": "Wed, Dec 28, 2005 (21:00)", "body": "ok so why is everything a repeat on Lost? is it so we don't forget what's going on while they make new episodes?"}, {"response": 39, "author": "wolf", "date": "Thu, Feb 23, 2006 (18:49)", "body": "ok, what's going on with lost? why are they showing last season's shows? and the story is starting to stress me out--is it me or is everyone losing their minds? am not finding clues like i did in season 1 either. (but i'm gonna keep on watching)"}, {"response": 40, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Feb 25, 2006 (08:47)", "body": "Cool, meanwhile Battlestar Galactica keeps coming out with better and better shows, and it's already the best show on tv. Last night's ep... hey I'll take it to the topic later."}, {"response": 41, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (22:57)", "body": "Taking it to that topic."}, {"response": 42, "author": "pmnh", "date": "Mon, Jul 17, 2006 (11:58)", "body": "damn this show like idiots we watched an episode, a few months ago now we're hooked (i don't have time for this)"}, {"response": 43, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Mon, Jul 17, 2006 (14:41)", "body": "I pretty much agree, Lost is lost time. tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 98, "subject": "cooking shows on tv", "response_count": 23, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "terry", "date": "Wed, Oct 20, 2004 (08:01)", "body": "Some of the cooking shows: - TV show that features recipes for quick meals. America's Test Kitchen - official site for the show featuring the chefs and editors behind Cooks Illustrated magazine. Americas' Family Kitchen With Vertamae Grosvenor Barefoot Contessa (2) Barely Cooking - cooking show featuring pairs of naked chefs, wearing strategically-placed aprons, exploring the relationship between sex and food. Best of Taste - series featuring Chef John Sarich. Includes episodes, biography, press, and links. Biker Billy Cooks With Fire Chef Doug: Thyme in the Kitchen - bringing together the natural beauty and unique culinary flavor of Florida's Emerald Coast. Chef Jim White - includes recipes, shopping tips, contests, and cookbooks. ChefEasy - weekly video-on-demand cooking show featuring recipes, video tips and techniques, and a contest. Christina Cooks The Whole Food Way - includes information about the show, recipes, glossary, and more. Coastal Cooking - features chefs from the Gulf Coast cooking with natural gas. Consuming Passions - ABC cooking show with Ian Parmenter. Cooking with Caprial - featuring advice and recipes from the PBS series with Chef Caprial Pence. Includes information about the bistro which offers ethnically influenced Northwest cuisine. Cucina Amore - companion site to the PBS series featuring recipes, episode descriptions, and a look behind the scenes. Dutch Oven & Camp Cooking - hosted by Cee Dubs. Features dutch oven and camp cooking. Emeril Live@ Entrada - Journeys in Latin American Cuisine - companion site to the Public TV show features recipes and travel details from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Puerto Rico. Essence of Emeril, The - bringing Cajun and Creole cuisine from the Bayou to the big time. Food 911 - official site from the Food Network, with recipes, schedules, fan forum, and information about host Tyler Florence. Forever Summer (3) From Martha's Kitchen - Food Network series featuring highlights from the Emmy Award-winning Martha Stewart Living. Full Bloom Show, The - illustrates cooking in the heart of California. Every week we go to the environment of the item we're going to prepare. Gondola on the Murray, A - companion site to the cooking program hosted by Stefano de Pieri. Good Eats (5) Great Chefs Online - provides recipes and chef biographies from the Great Chefs TV shows. It also has a shopping section that features Great Chefs cookbooks and videos. Grilling with Chef George Hirsch & George Hirsch's Know Your Fire - program information, recipes, and products. Huey's Cooking Club - Ian Hewitson offers recipes, hints, and reviews to members. Appears on Huey's Cooking Adventures, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise, and other shows. In the Kitchen with Arlene Williams - recipes and helpful hints spiced with home-spun wisdom. In The Kitchen With Chef Tell - his delicious recipes in cyberspace. Inn Chef, The - series hosted by Chef Michael Smith on the Life Network. Shot on location at the Inn at Bay Fortune in PEI and a variety of locations in Atlantic Canada. Iron Chef (19) Jacques Raymond Secret Recipes - recipes from his ABC-TV cooking series. Jewish Cooking in America With Joan Nathan - companion site to the PBS series which uses food to explore Jewish culture and history in the United States. Includes recipes and historical stories. Jo Seagar - presents recipes, cooking tips, and cookbook details. Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home - companion site to the 22-part public television series includes information about Julia Child and Jacques P\ufffdpin and each episode. Kocoa's Kitchen - cooking show featured on Chicago's WGN-TV Channel 9. Lucy's Classic Cajun Culture and Cooking - family cooking secrets with Lucy Zaunbrecher. From Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Martin Yan's Chinatowns - follow the master chef as he travels and teaches cooking in Chinatowns around the world. MasterChef USA - the Olympics of amateur cooking. Includes competition information, featured menus, and contestant entry rules and application. Mcdang.Com - includes recipes with archives, webboards, and food-related articles. In Thai. Mollie Katzen's Cooking Show: Vegetable Heaven - author of the Moosewood Cookbook. Site includes cookbooks, recipes for vegetarians, and food preparation tips. Naked Chef@ Nick Paine's Exotic Kitchen - culinary archeologist presents a study of exotic and historic tribal foods filmed in the Peruvian Amazon. Program aired on Real TV, the Travel Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Nigella Bites - official site from the Style Network. Includes video clips, recipes, and Q&A. Occasional Cook, The - features recipes from chef James Reeson. Origins with Burt Wolf@ Paula's Home Cooking - official site from the Food Network for the home cooking show hosted by Southern chef Paula Deen. PBS: Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs - official site from PBS features a video database of techniques, recipes, and tips from master chefs. Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares - looks at w"}, {"response": 2, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Wed, Nov 17, 2004 (15:50)", "body": "When Spring's Chef mentioned a Food channel I was aghast that anyone would ever watch. Hilo got it before I left and I found it captivating. I love watching other people work! Now if only we could sample their output."}, {"response": 3, "author": "WERoland", "date": "Sat, Aug 27, 2005 (19:41)", "body": "That would be very nice, yep!"}, {"response": 4, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Aug 28, 2005 (19:49)", "body": "indeed! i love watching unwrapped (where they show you origins of different foods from candy to sandwiches) and how they're made today."}, {"response": 5, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sat, Oct  1, 2005 (18:40)", "body": "I liked Emeril before he got so full of himself. Lets have our own resident chef on the telly. I'd watch ! Heck, I'd get cable just for that !! Even though we don't get to taste anything."}, {"response": 6, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Nov  7, 2005 (18:37)", "body": "i'd watch too!"}, {"response": 7, "author": "terry", "date": "Mon, Nov  7, 2005 (20:52)", "body": "Get wer o land to do a pizzacast?"}, {"response": 8, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Nov 13, 2005 (17:09)", "body": "Even if it is \"just\" on Terry-tv at Spring. I'd pay to see that !!"}, {"response": 9, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 13, 2005 (20:03)", "body": "Hey, you're on it, if you're payin' it's happenin'. I'll do a little video podcast next time I order a pizza from wer 'o land."}, {"response": 10, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Nov 13, 2005 (21:05)", "body": "kewl!!!"}, {"response": 11, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Nov 13, 2005 (21:10)", "body": "OH joy!!! how much is this gonna cost? I guess he is my Christmas present this year. Watch out Wolfie, we're gonna get the good stuff."}, {"response": 12, "author": "WERoland", "date": "Mon, Nov 14, 2005 (14:59)", "body": "And I missed it...people were in town casting for the second season of Hell's Kitchen and I found out too late to go...*sigh*"}, {"response": 13, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Mon, Nov 14, 2005 (15:26)", "body": "*bigger sigh* Ah wellm Terry has to eat at least once daily. There will be other times. (fingers crossed)"}, {"response": 14, "author": "terry", "date": "Thu, Nov 17, 2005 (16:43)", "body": "I just haven't made it in to town yet, I'm such a hermit."}, {"response": 15, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Nov 17, 2005 (19:44)", "body": "Enjoy your solitude. We are hermits, too. It is especially great if you have found a fellow hermit to share this lifestyle with. It is the best !"}, {"response": 16, "author": "terry", "date": "Sat, Nov 19, 2005 (21:44)", "body": "At least it's quiet and peaceful."}, {"response": 17, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Sun, Nov 20, 2005 (15:09)", "body": "Indeed. If you get to where the silence is too dense just pop around to the local mall. That usually cures us or a meal at a busy pizza place with a great chef, perhaps..."}, {"response": 18, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 20, 2005 (16:45)", "body": "They had a cooking segment on CBS Sunday morning today. They showed how to make great cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving and they had a segment on \"high tech\" food served at a couple of Chicago restaurants. Pretty amazing."}, {"response": 19, "author": "wolf", "date": "Sun, Nov 20, 2005 (18:18)", "body": "i saw that too--rachel ray was on there as well."}, {"response": 20, "author": "terry", "date": "Sun, Nov 20, 2005 (18:32)", "body": "Those Chicago restaurant dishes were of the \"don't try this at home\" variety, weren't they?"}, {"response": 21, "author": "wolf", "date": "Mon, Nov 21, 2005 (18:16)", "body": "exactly!"}, {"response": 22, "author": "MarciaH", "date": "Thu, Nov 24, 2005 (12:48)", "body": "Ah, the new bride. Missed that one."}, {"response": 23, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (22:57)", "body": "Cooking show update? wer? tv conference Main Menu"}]}, {"num": 99, "subject": "HDTV - high definition tv", "response_count": 2, "posts": [{"response": 1, "author": "Breea", "date": "Tue, Mar 15, 2005 (21:16)", "body": "I already have a HDTV and I love it. I get my programing through directv and the reception is great. i highly recommend it."}, {"response": 2, "author": "cfadm", "date": "Sat, Jul  1, 2006 (23:57)", "body": "I just got a tiny hdtv/computer monitor. It's a Viewsonic. What a great experience to see tv in high def. tv conference Main Menu"}]}]}