Beyond the Rhetoric

When I first heard about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, I was totally stoked about the concept. The show promised to take you behind the scenes of an SNL-style late night variety show, throwing you right into the middle of the action, the centre of the politics, and so forth. The cast would be absolutely electric, with Amanda Peet, D.L. Hughley, Bradley Whitford, and Matthew Perry being the biggest names on the list. More importantly, however, the creator was none other than the legendary Aaron Sorkin, the same man behind Sports Night and The West Wing. The first ten minutes of the pilot was simply stunning, ranking right up there with the best on television not only so far this year, but arguably… ever.

Since then, Studio 60 has steadily been losing viewers. Some say that the show is “too smart” for the average North American consumer. That the humor is “too subtle”. In fact, in the most recent couple of episodes — titled “Nevada Day Part 1″ and “Nevada Day Part 2″ — we see John Goodman, playing a small town judge, outright saying that the show within the show thought it was “so smart.” Maybe so, but that’s almost why I enjoy the Studio 60 that we watch so much (it gets a tad confusing when the show that we watch and the show that is depicted within the show go by the same name).

I recently came across a post on the.[ED]ition comparing Studio 60 with NBC’s other behind-the-scenes-of-a-late-night-variety-show offering, 30 Rock. Whereas Studio 60, in the strictest sense, is more of a drama with plenty of subtle humor thrown in, 30 Rock — starring Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and Tracy Morgan — is a situation comedy.

The blogger lists a series of pros and cons for each show, concluding that, “Clearly, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is the better show of the two and NBC seems to agree as they extend the drama by another 9 episodes for this season. As for 30 Rock, Fey needs to step up her game and take more risks. The show has been fairly paint-by-numbers so far and is not getting the laughs it should. Whoever is overseeing the production needs to take a step back and let Tina Fey run the show.”

Let Tina Fey run the show. Sounds a lot like Amanda Peet’s character on Studio 60.

Personally, I have religiously tuned in to Studio 60 every Monday evening, captivated by every line of dialogue, following each of the characters through all of their trials and tribulations. Sure, every time Matthew Perry appears on-screen, I can’t help but see Chandler Bing, but I’m sure I’ll get over that with time. It’s the same with Jim Carrey in any movie he does: I either see Ace Ventura or one of his outlandish characters from In Living Color. You know what, that’s okay. By contrast, I’ve watched one, maybe two episodes of 30 Rock, and it feels like every other sitcom out there. Sitcoms, for better or for worse, are a dying breed.

Studio 60 “too smart”? Maybe the American (and Canadian?) audience is just too dumb.

Oh, and in case you missed the pilot, here’s a brief clip to whet your whistle:

Remember ten years ago when the first Tickle Me Elmo hit the marketplace and every was amazed by this plush doll? All you had to do was push his tummy and he bust out in a seizure, vibrating like the world’s strongest sex toy cell phone? It wasn’t particularly innovative — there were certainly other talking children’s toys that performed different acts — but there was something strangely appealing about it that got crazed parents to head on over to eBay and pay inordinate amounts of money for the doll, because their kids absolutely had to have it.

They tried following up on its success with a few other renditions, including taking other Sesame Street characters and making them tickle-me-friendly, giving Elmo other abilities, and the like, but they never quite caught on in quite the same way as the original. It’s been ten years since then, and they seem to have found themselves another winner. Dubbed the TMX (or Tickle Me Elmo X), this tenth anniversary edition doesn’t just giggle and jiggle, he slaps the ground, holds his stomach, and begs you to tickle him again.

My friend shot out to the local Walmart some time back and grabbed as many of these as she could. She ended up buying ten. No, not to give to her loving younger cousins or anything like that. This was a business venture. She was going to flip them on eBay. Tickle Me Elmo TMX retails for about $40 or $50, but she ended up selling the ten of them — as a lot — on eBay for a cool g-note (that’s $1000, in case you didn’t know). This is above and beyond the $200 she charged for shipping (although it only cost her $60 or $70 to ship the ten boxes). Quite a profit, I’d say. I’m scared to see what she’ll do when the PlayStation 3 hits our shores on Friday.

Tickle Me Elmo has becoming a money-making whore. What ever happened to toys for toys’ sake.

Anyways, here’s a video in case you’ve been under a rock this whole time, oblivious to the wonder that is Tickle Me Elmo TMX:

Working professionals are finding less and less time to do all those necessary everyday tasks. It’s not healthy to always get take-out, be it pizza, Chinese, or a wonderfully happy meal at the golden arches. The same holds true when it comes to household chores. Thank goodness we’re getting restricted to smaller living spaces… right?

There are several services popping up that will surely grow in popularity as we becoming busier with our working lives. Some pre-prepare your meals, drop them at your door, so all you have to do is fire up the stove and heat it up. Others may come in and clean your home. Personally, I’m not sure if I don’t have the time to do these little things or am I just too lazy to do them.

Don’t worry, though. With all those baby boomers retiring in the next few years, we’ll be feeding into old age pension for years to come with a very slight possibility of getting any return when it comes time for us to file for benefits.

Thanks to my affiliation with The Commentary, I had the opportunity to attend the 21st Annual Gemini Awards at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, BC this past Saturday. The Gemini Awards can be thought of as the Canadian Emmys, dishing out the trophies for Canadian excellence in news, drama, lifestyles, comedy, and so forth. Now, I didn’t get to go to the actual awards ceremony itself — fortunately or unfortunately — but I had full access to the media room where winners were ushered after receiving their shiny profile trophies. I also got to take in the festivities with the red carpet arrivals.

It’s a bit of a shame that I didn’t have true red carpet access, meaning that I couldn’t get up close and personal with many of the stars. That said, I just invested in a beauty of an ultrazoom camera (12x optical zoom), so I could get some okay shots from quite a distance away. There were a couple of stairways and such that I made good use of to get a few of my pictures, but the best stuff came from the media room where I was literally within arm’s reach of such folks as Brent Butt and Shaun Majumder.

But enough talk, I’ll let this sampling of pics and videos do the talking. If you’re looking for the talk, then head on over to The Commentary where my article should be up in the next couple of days.

Eric Peterson and Janet Wright of Corner Gas

Gabrielle Miller of Corner Gas

Rock Star Supernova

Wendy Crewson of The Man Who Lost Himself

Martha Burns and Mark McKinney of Slings & Arrows Season 2

Marilyn Denis of Cityline

Brent Butt of Corner Gas on continuing the success of the show

Shaun Majumder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes on Canadian wit