Around the Water Cooler

[Aravis]

Talk about the latest episode of "your" show.

[Aravis]

Over the past couple of nights I have watched two new shows on NBC and really liked what I saw. Which means they'll probably be cancelled soon, but here's hoping...

Anyway, here they are:

Medium - This show is based on the life of a real woman who uses her psychic abilities to bring murderers to justice. Sounds cheesy, I know. But it's really good. Stars Patricia Arquette as Allison DuBois.

Committed- This is a brilliant new comedy! It's quirky and funny and smart. Stars Josh Cooke, Jennifer Finnegan. One of the best characters is The Dying Clown played by Tom Poston. Marni (Finnegan) inherits him with her lease, and he lives in a large walk-in closet off of her living room... ;D

[wordswordswords]

Tonight (Wednesday) PBS (Public Broadcasting System) is airing a 3-hour program, "Do You Speak American?", featuring Robin MacNeil, formerly of the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour on PBS-TV.

If you're interested in regional speech differences in the US, this program may be up your alley.

It's on between 8 and 11 PM Pacific Time.

I hardly ever watch TV but am definitely going to tape this and watch it when I have enough time to give it the attention it probably deserves.

[demgoddess]

words...I missed the program, but it sounds like it would have been interesting. I've been perplexed about regional speech differences ever since a college professor told us that people from the south think that the people on television sound "like them" even though most actors are trained to use Midwestern dialect. I'll have to check if they are planning on rerunning it.

[pinkozcat]

I have just watched the TV news with the latest on the tsunami disaster and I have decided that the one phrase which I NEVER want to her again is "Their loved ones".

I can't think of an acceptable alternative but - help!!

[Nulla]

I saw the last two hours of "Do You Speak American" and it was excellent.... I, too, hope they rerun it... would love to see the whole thing from the beginning....

[pink, I agree with you... perhaps just saying "relatives" might be sufficient?.... some of these "poetic" buzzwords can nauseate after a while.... "hearts and minds" is another I could go without.... ]

[RobertGraves]

Pink, have you been able to avoid the jingoistic and plain embarrassing reporting (and I use that word advisedly) by Ray Martin in Aceh? It reminds me of an episode of the satirical program FRONTLINE.

[wordswordswords]

I saw some of the first hour of "Do You Speak American?"--assuming I was taping it for later viewing.

Something went wrong, and I got the picture but no sound.

I'm just hoping for a rerun--or maybe it will be shown on the other PBS station I have access to.

Or I can watch the visual with the closed captioning, but you really want to hear a program like this.

[Aravis]

I just watched a second episode of Committed, which aired on Thursday, and it's every bit as good as I thought it would be. So now I have another show to watch on Tuesdays, its regular time slot.

[wordswordswords]

Any Trollope fans here? Or Masterpiece Theater fans?

Tonight (Sunday) PBS-TV in the US (I don't know if it is shown elsewhere) is showing a dramatization of He Knew He Was Right, one of Anthony Trollope's novels. It's not one that I've read, but here is what the local PBS channel Website has posted about it:

A startlingly contemporary portrait of an ideal marriage that goes disastrously wrong when a husband allows his jealousy to become a tragic obsession. Broadening this compelling study of human relationships is a catalogue of romances, broken hearts, family feuds and reconciliations.

It seems to be shown for an hour and a half tonight (9 to 10:30 PM Pacific Time) with a second and final part airing next Sunday.

[Nulla]

for the past few weeks I've been watching Boston Legal (ABC, 10pm Eastern) on Sunday nights...about a large Boston law firm, it's billed as a drama, but I see it more as a dark comedy which skewers various current events and topics... one of tonight's subplots dealt with a man who sued the US government for the atrocities taking place in the Sudan... maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it.... ;D

more hype here ---> abc.go.com/primetime/bostonlegal/

has anyone else seen it?

[Aravis]

words, I have never read Trollope though I do mean to someday. Perhaps I'll begin with this one; it sounds interesting.

Nulla, I haven't watched Boston Legal, but I have heard some really great things about it. Doesn't it star James Spader and William Shatner?

[Nulla]

that's the one, Aravis... the cast also includes Rene Auberjonois (Benson) and, as of last night, Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown)... next Sunday's episode will deal with creationism, manslaughter, and sexual harassment... sounds like a hoot!....

[demgoddess]

Nulla...I also watch Boston Legal, and I agree it isn't just a "drama." I loved the part last night where William Shatner said to Bergen, "I know what you were doing in there. You were Bush-Bashing." And then went on to explain anytime you talk about the war against terrorism or humanitarian efforts and how our country isn't doing enough it is Bush-bashing and it's un-American. Bergen stared at him like he was nuts (which may not be too far off the mark given his other antics). In any case, she was much more polite than I am with people who claim being anti-Bush is anti-American.

[wordswordswords]

I've watched the first part of "He Knew He Was Right" (Trollope). So far, so good!

There are some Americans in it. It's always interesting to see Americans popping up in British dramas.

This isn't one of Trollope's "clergy-centered" novels, apparently. Only one clergyman so far, and he is unlikable in the extreme.