Watch It! For January 21, 2009: Get “Lost”
Season 5 of “Lost” begins with an extravaganza, including a needed 7 p.m. recap and a two-hour premiere at 8 p.m. tonight on ABC, and it could not come a moment too soon. After the election supplied far more entertainment than any narrative series this fall, it seems the real TV season started this week, beginning Sunday with “Big Love” on HBO and tonight with a return to the island.
When we last visited “Lost,” the Oceanic Six were mostly miserable in their post-island existences as a result of lying about their experiences on the island and what happened to the other survivors of Oceanic 815. So now, with the help of Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), Jack (Matthew Fox) is trying to assemble the Six, most of whom aren’t speaking to him, and return to the island — which, by the way, has been moved.
Yes, the recap will definitely help. And for those with a taste for shrill novelty, there’s the Brooklyn-based (of course) duo Previously On Lost, who devote entire songs to summarizing individual episodes of the show.
“Lost” has its detractors, especially those who came in late to the party and have no patience for purposely labyrithine plotlines and red herrings, but for the rest of us, there’s no other option:
Watch It! for January 15, 2009: Crooked X Edition
Coweta hard rock band Crooked X, made up entirely of kids who are two young to drive but old enough to rock your damn face off, perform at 12:05 a.m. tonight (or tomorrow morning) on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC. This is not just novelty — rock on with your bad selves.
Ricardo Montalban, 1920-2009
We will all greatly miss the man who welcomed us to “Fantasy Island,” drove Shatner insane and “knew his own needs” for ’70s luxury. May his afterlife be lined in soft, Corinthian leather.
“Slumdog” Hits Golden Globes Jackpot
Freida Pinto and Dev Patel at Sunday’s Golden Globes.
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
“Slumdog Millionaire”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Kate Winslet, “
Revolutionary Road”
BEST MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Colin Farrell, “In
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
“Slumdog Millionaire”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“WALL-E”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
”The Wrestler,” The Wrestler (Bruce Springsteen)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
“Slumdog Millionaire”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Waltz With Bashir” (
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
“Mad Men”
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
“30 Rock”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
“Anna Paquin,” True Blood
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
“John Adams”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Paul Giamatti, “John Adams”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Laura Linney, “John Adams”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Tom Wilkinson, “John Adams”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Laura Dern, “Recount”
With Ben Lyons, Suddenly Rex Reed Doesn’t Seem So Dependably Awful
Other than the Luxor in Vegas, this is the BEST PYRAMID EVER!
Ben Lyons, the new co-host of “At the Movies,” rose up from that bastion of fine entertainment journalism, the E! Network, to inherit the televisual seat formerly occupied by Roger Ebert. The new regime does not sit well with professional critics, many of whom view the son of Jeffrey Lyons as being endemic of the general decline of film criticism.
This LA Times story not only chronicles the growing “hate storm” surrounding Lyons, but the perilous situation many critics now find themselves in as major dailies thin their ranks and studios pride themselves on releasing “critic-proof” summer movies of the “Wild Hogs” variety.
Either/Or, Episode 13: Christmas Edition
In Either/Or, we take two people in similar pursuits, and you choose between them. It can be based on any criteria: professional ability, personality, intellectual prowess, physical pulchritude, or who you’d want backing you up in a knife fight. It really doesn’t matter: just choose Either/Or.
Either The Grinch:
Or Heat Mizer:
Either Elizabeth Banks in “Fred Claus”:
Or Zooey Deschanel in “Elf”:
Who Plays Rod Blagojevich in the TV Movie?
Hacky screenwriters, start your laptops: disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will undoubtedly be the subject of a quickie TV movie on Lifetime Movie Network or Fox News Channel, so now it’s time to cast this freak show. Who gets to play Blago?
Is it Wayne Newton?
Javier Bardem and his “No Country For Old Men” hair?
The ghost of Herve Villechaize?
Kevin Connolly of “Entourage” (with a suitable wig)?
William Devane in “The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training”?
Cast this thing now before someone with fewer scruples sells it to the highest bidder!
Watch It! “The Atom Smashers” on “Independent Lens,” 9:30 p.m. on OETA OKLA, 2 a.m. on OETA DT
This documentary on Fermilabs’ search for the subatomic particle known as the Higgs Boson follows a group of scientists dealing with Bush-era science cutbacks and competition from other countries, and as a bonus, it was co-directed by my cousin-in-law, Clayton Brown, who is known as Jeff to us. It was on last night, and is being rebroadcast at 9:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. on OETA’s digital channels, so program the DVRs, now!
Ben Affleck Does “Countdown”
As a frequent viewer, I don’t think Affleck gets the Keith Olbermann cadence quite right here — it lapses into a patrician accent when he really should be affecting old-school CBS radio voice. But he does capture Keith’s Orwell obsession and his tendency toward mania during the special comment about being denied an apartment by a co-op board because of his fuzzy kitty.
My guess is that Olbermann will be featuring this prominently tonight. He tends to be a good sport about these things.
Music Review: “Yo Gabba Gabba”
Rating: 65
Parents go through the gauntlet on children’s entertainment, and after a few years of separating the educational food pyramid of options from the sugar-coated fat bombs, a few things become clear. If it looks and sounds condescending, skip it. If it seems designed to indoctrinate your toddler into the malevolent maelstrom of modern marketing, hang on to your wallet. And if it makes parents jump out of their skin every time it lands in the music player or on television, it’s probably the equivalent of un-reading a book.
The first song collection from Nick Jr.’s “Yo Gabba Gabba!” doesn’t reach the level of They Might Be Giants’ “Here Come the 123′s,” a must-have for adults and children, but the ingredients are there. The show is a great place to see first-rate indie-pop bands playing for the small set: The Shins, the Postmarks, Shiny Toy Guns and Cornelius all appeared recently. This disc features a ton of filler from DJ Lance Rock and show’s various fuzzy creatures, but a few glimmers of goodness lie therein.
The Roots’ sweetly soulful “Lovely, Love My Family” and Tahiti 80′s “Train Ride” will show up on adults’ iPod playlists, and Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters delivers a “Bedtime Lullaby” that is almost preternaturally beautiful. Hip-hop clown prince Biz Markie hits with “Biz’s Beat of the Day,” but while the Ting Tings turn in an energetic cover of Altered Images’ “Happy Birthday,” the original is vastly superior. A mixed bag, but as the lead track from Lance Rock implies, “Yo Gabba Gabba!” is more “Party in My Tummy” than stomachache.
