Is HBO's Entourage The Next Big Show?

Is "Entourage" on the verge of finally becoming a legitimate break-out hit and exploding into the national consciousness? See what people are saying about this extremely funny and brilliantly executed show. Sunday, April 8th is a big, big night for HBO and it's new flagship show.

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Entourage Returns April 8th!

The boys are back! The much-anticipated premiere of "Entourage" is almost here. After being off the air for over 6 months, "Entourage" is back with a vengeance.

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Is “30 Rock” the New Seinfeld?

Ya, Burnt!

To me “30 Rock” is the most consistently funny and brilliant sitcom since the glory years of Seinfeld. Is that sacrilege? Does that mean it’s too clever for its own good? Probably. Check out the clips and decide for yourself!



On the surface it has almost nothing in common with that very clever and hip show “about nothing” save that it takes place in New York City and is on NBC. But delve deeper and you find many similarities, such as the show really isn’t about anything, and the outstanding chemistry between the leads. And most importantly it doesn’t take it’s audience for idiots and actually counts on peoples intelligence to keep up (very scary thought). It’s also about putting characters into everyday situations that are flat out crazy and seeing their reactions. And like Seinfeld, 30 Rock also ventures into the surreal and isn’t afraid to take wild chances. Hell, even the theme song is unusual, just like Seinfeld, and the show has already delivered many catch phrases that are working their way into the American vernacular. This show has taken up the mantle of “water cooler” worthy and has run amok with it. It’s also important to note here that like Seinfeld the ratings for the first season (so far) have been dismal. Creator and writer Tina Fey has struck comedic gold in creating what is the craziest ride on TV today. With the landscape of network TV littered with crime dramas, reality shows, game shows and family friendly schtick, it is utterly refreshing to see the chances she is taking every week with the wittiest, sharpest and down right hilarious sitcoms on TV.

Now, I’d like to take a moment and discuss why I think this show is so damn funny and why (if NBC lets it) it is destined to become a classic.
The first and most obvious thing is Tina Fey herself. She plays Liz Lemon, the single, (and never married) thirty-something, head writer on “The Girlie Show” which is much like Saturday Night Live. She plays her character with just the right amount of physical humor, attitude and sexuality. For those of you that caught Tina as the anchor on SNL’s “Weekend Update” you knew that she already possessed oodles of sexuality with her horn rimmed glasses and crooked smile while gaining the reputation as "the thinking mans sex symbol". But what she does here is nothing short of marvelous as the center of an insane bunch of wackos trying to produce a weekly sketch show. And yes, she is extremely sexy and attractive, in fact the only weak point of the show is that Fey portrays her character as a geeky but lovable loser with self-image issues. Despite of this the show goes out of it’s way to showcase her cleavage and she has often worn revealing outfits and in one classic episode she has her dress ripped off of her by Isabella Rossellini (a must see episode) and you see her completely bare back all he way past her waist. Shocking!!

The supporting cast is large and while that has slightly hurt the character development, there still has been excellent and standout performances across the board. Chief among them is Jane Krakowski playing Jenna, the star of “The Girlie Show” who is the prototypical aging blonde “starlet” who has watched greater fame pass her by, only she is too vapid to see it. This could have been a caricature along the lines of Joey in “Friends” but Krakowski throws herself into the role with such wild abandon and adeptly imbibes the character with innocence, naivety, sexiness and believe it or not, street sense. I never really liked her as an actress before but she has won me over with her great sense of comedic timing and willingness to make a fool out of herself.



Tracy Morgan plays the Martin Lawrence-esque character of Tracy Jordan, a troubled “movie star” who has burned so many bridges he is relegated to TV. I never saw Tracy Morgan before as I didn’t watch SNL or see his ill-fated TV show. But I gotta say that he plays this role perfectly, with just the right amount of craziness and halting delivery. I don’t think I can ever see him play another role again, he’s that perfect.



Rounding out the cast are relative unknowns (but hilarious) Scott Adsit (frustrated, but kind producer), Judah Friedlander, Keith Powell and Lonny Ross as the childish show writers, and Jack McBrayer as the unnaturally perky and upbeat network page, Kenneth. Of course no show would be complete without a very hot young girl wearing skimpy clothes prancing around. And even this show is no exception, but I think that the reason for this is to really convince us that Liz Lemon has self-esteem issues. Nice try!



But I’ve saved the best for last. The real revelation here is the metamorphosis and brilliance of Alec Baldwin who plays the new inexperienced TV boss Jack Donaghy. Jack has been brought in as the “Vice-President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming” at NBC and his performance is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on TV. He has all the best lines and he delivers them with so much sarcasm dripping from his tongue I half expect to see drool. Baldwin won the Golden Globe this year and I for one thought it was a sure thing. He has proven again that not only can he deliver knockout dramatic performances at will but he can do comedy better than almost anyone else. As they say in “Team America”, Alec Baldwin IS the greatest living actor!



Wow, okay. I started this article to tell the world that “30 Rock” is destined to be a comedy classic and national phenomenon like “Seinfeld”, and I’ll end it on why I feel that this is a show that we need to have on the air.

Some of the great things this show does is that it’s not afraid to tackle sensitive issues with humor like Jenna confusing Barack Obama with Osama Bin Laden and a whole show about the worst name you can call a woman, yep the “C” word (they called out runt instead). That episode in particular showed how editing can be used in a brilliantly funny way. Which leads me to the another editing gimmick used very effectively which was really highlighted in the episode where Jack is despondent over his divorce and as the camera moves in to a close-up it cuts to Jack in another location or when Liz has baby fever and when she gets to hold one she playfully spins the baby around and voila she is suddenly in her apartment. Or when the “special” music plays whenever Tracy imparts his warped words of wisdom such as; “I believe that the moon does not exist. I believe that vampires are the world's greatest golfers, but their curse is that they can never prove it. I believe that there are 31 letters in the white alphabet . . .” Or Jacks classic line; “I like you. You have the boldness of a much younger woman”, and many, many other very funny and clever and dry witticisms.

Alright, in closing I gotta say that not only is this show brilliant in it’s timing and execution but it’s attention to detail and flashback scenes are clinics in acerbic, adult comedy. I have not laughed this hard and for this long since the heyday of Seinfeld and anyone who was a fan of that show should absolutely love this soon-to-be classic piece of television. That is if the network will allow it. NBC has had a long track record of sticking with critically acclaimed shows even when the ratings suck, but they recently announced that the show is going on a 5 week hiatus. So, let’s hope that that the show can and will be saved.

But this show will probably fail as the dumbification of society has already begun in earnest and with full force. As long as the people of this country watch (in record numbers) shows like “American Idol” which are scripted in every sense of the word, then real scripted shows like “30 Rock” which actually require people that watch to have at least a quarter of a brain will fail miserably and seeing this the networks will be less inclined to air “smart” comedies and continue to make banal and brainless (and cheaper) reality shows.

But, when did I know that this was an absolute classic in the making? During the pilot episode Jack informs his new staff about G.E’s new tri-heat technology in it’s convection/microwave ovens and Baldwin said it with so much dry humor and convolution that I thought it was a very clever joke and then when the actual commercial break came on there was a commercial for an ACTUAL G.E. tri-heat microwave oven, I fell off of my sofa and spit up my drink! I thought wow, this show is really something special.

So will “30 Rock” make it? No such luck I’m afraid, which is so very sad.

Pan's Labyrinth "A+"

Hi! Are You A Fairy?

Amazing. Breathtaking. Utterly spectacular. Viciously sadistic. These are just a few of the words I can muster up to explain what I thought of this remarkable achievement in film.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” is director Guillermo del Toro’s acid trip take on a fairytale. And as everyone out there knows fairytales often have very disturbing elements in them. This one is no different.

I won’t go into the plot as I think everyone who wants to see this film has already seen it. But I will say that this film is a work of art on every level. Hell, I’m just glad this is an original work and not one based on a book, a play or a remake. For once in recent memory no one can bitch, “waaaah, the book was sooo much better”. The genius of this film lies squarely on del Toros’ shoulders. Who knew the director of “Blade 2” and “Hellboy” could make such an important contribution to film history? I sure didn’t.

Much has been said of the violence in this film, so let me say that yes, this film is very violent. Yeah, yeah I know it’s Rated R but nothing and I mean nothing in the trailer or the advance talk prepared me for the sudden and devastating violence I saw. Not that I mind . . . I like the fact that even though I had many expectations I was still very pleasantly surprised. I was so engaged in this story I didn’t even mind the Spanish subtitles!

However, I think the film could have been marketed better. Case in point, as I was standing outside the theater waiting for a friend, when two couples came up and looked at the films playing and one of the men was asked (a Mexican I might add) if they wanted to see Pan’s Labyrinth and he responded by saying; “Oh that’s a Mexican film and I haven’t heard anything good about it”. I thought to myself, wow, now that says it all as this is considered to be modern masterpiece by all the critics and the majority of filmgoers.

Do not be put off on the Spanish subtitles or the violence. See this because you owe yourself a trip to the fairytale world of your youth. See this must see film at any cost.

Faith of the Matter on the Big Screen Part 2

Second screenshot!

Faith of the Matter on the Big Screen Part 1

This is a screenshot of my film “Faith of the Matter” I took from my cellphone. I entered the film in the Peoria Film Festival and even though I didn’t win anything, I will not be deterred!

The good news is that I got to see my film (and myself) on the big screen as well as having a whole bunch of people applaud afterwards. But hey, what do people know that judges don’t? Yep, you guessed it.