IJB's SUMMER 2005 REVIEWS: Part I
The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball
NOTE: Your best bet is just to pick out the shows you watch, and read
those reviews - few people read my whole dang review!
A summary of the grading scheme can be found at:
http://homepage.mac.com/ijball/grading-guide.html
NOTE: Part I of this Review does not contain reviews of the following
series, as they have not finished airing yet.
They will either be included in a Part 2, or as separate reviews.
(And I still have not decided whether I will review BSG - honestly, I'm
leaning against it, so I may not do one unless I'm really motivated...)
Rank TV SERIES GRADE OTHER COMMENTS
---- ----------- ----- --------------
Battlestar Galactica Finishes Fri., Sep. 23
Beautiful People Finishes Mon., Sep. 26
Over There Finishes Wed., Oct. 12
Rock Star: INXS Finishes Tue., Sep. 20
(grade of performance shows only)
Wildfire Finishes Mon., Sep. 12
[Also Note: Yes, my Season-End Reviews will be posted here in the next
couple of weeks (probably in the next week)...]
LIST OF GRADED "SUMMER" SHOWS - Part I:
Rank TV SERIES GRADE OTHER COMMENTS
---- ----------- ----- --------------
Empire B+
The 4400 B
Brat Camp B
The Dead Zone B-
The Inside B-
Beach Girls C+
Into the West C+
EDITOR'S NOTE: There are a number of shows that I saw this Summer, but
not enough to properly grade them. Here are some quick notes about
those:
Ungraded
TV SERIES COMMENTS
----------- --------
Big Brother 6 Not even worth bothering with...
Dancing With the Stars OK, as "summer entertainment".
But I doubt it's viable beyond that.
Reno 911! I haven't seen enough of this show to
fully judge, but my first impression
is that 3 seasons may have been one
too many for an improv series.
The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
issue liberal academia 'talking
points'.
Wanted I only saw the pilot of this, but as
I said earlier in rec.arts.tv, "if
it weren't for this show's cast
(esp. Gary Cole), this show
wouldn't have even gotten a 'first
look' from anybody. It's certainly
not breaking any new ground... "
THE SHOW REVIEWS:
-----------------
Reviewed shows are listed, starting with Sunday shows, and going all
the way through Friday(Saturday) shows.
--
SUN:
BEACH GIRLS (LIFETIME):
Overall Grade for Season: C+
OVERVIEW:
Like "Empire" (see below), "Beach Girls" was a 6-episode 'limited
series' (true "miniseries" have much more spectacle than a show like
"Beach Girls") that aired on Lifetime.
However, unlike "Empire", "Beach Girls" was a show that never seemed
to go anywhere.
Sometimes, even in TV series, it is true that "the journey is more
important than the destination." "Beach Girls" was not one of those
series.
More vaguely diverting than engaging, I tended to like "Beach Girls"
more for the scenery (Nova Scotia, filling in for Maine) and for some of
the actors, than for any "dramatic" developments that transpired.
In terms of the trio of actresses who played the three "Beach Girls",
I'd seen Chelsea Hobbs before, but Kristen Haeger (who played Skye, and
who seemed to have had her acting debut with "Beach Girls") was a solid
find, while Kristin Adams (who played the third beach girl Clare) was
pleasing as much for being a "type" that you don't see much on American
TV as anything else. Of the other actors, it's always a treat to see
Nigel Bennett (here playing an almost "good guy"!), and it's good to see
Julia Ormond back doing something.
But, as I said, while the setting was great, and I enjoyed most of
the actors, the plot sort of meandered around not going anywhere,
culminating in an ending that was far too neat and tidy in tying every
loose end up.
So, while watchable, I guess, on balance, I was a little disappointed
with "Beach Girls".
Nonetheless, I like the concept of the 6-to-8-episode 'limited
series' concept for Summers, and I hope more people(networks) start
trying them. Let's just hope that the next set of writers/showrunners
put more into their series than was put into "Beach Girls".
WHAT WORKED:
Good cast, esp. veterans Julia Ormond, Cloris Leachman and Nigel
Bennett, and newcomers Chelsea Hobbs, Kristen Haeger and Kristin Adams.
Also good was Janaya Stephens (who also single-handedly saved a good
part of "Kevin Hill" this year) as Rob Lowe's also-ran girlfriend,
Francesca.
Nice setting.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Rob Lowe was repressed and restrained to the point of opacity - I
never got into his character, and never understood what all the fuss was
about.
What was the point of all this? That dead spouses can lie? That, if
you wait 20 years, you'll eventually end up with your soulmate? That no
matter how bad things go wrong for three teenage girls, they'll always
be "BFF"? That even frat boys can change from skeevy operators to
"sensitive guys"?
I guess I'm just not sure what this was all about. "Beach Girls" was
too slow to be a "soap", too restrained to be "melodrama", and too
simple-minded to be much in the way of a straight "drama".
In short, if you're going to do a 6-episode 'limited series', there
had better be more going on (and it should *move* FASTER) than "Beach
Girls".
THE 4400 (USA):
Overall Grade for Season: B
OVERVIEW:
Despite the fact that I was highly dissatisfied with the "revelation"
at the end of season #1 of "The 4400", I returned to watch season #2
and, much to my surprise, I enjoyed it more than I thought it would.
It's a general truism with me that the more 'seriously' I take a
show, the less I tend to enjoy it (e.g. because more can go "wrong" when
you care), while the less seriously I take a show, the more I tend to
enjoying (see, for example: "Smallville"). And it's the fact that, in
light of the end-of-season-#1 "revelation", I don't take "The 4400" all
that seriously anymore. But, whatever the reason, I found this season of
the show to be almost "fun".
Not everything is all that great here - while Billy Campbell is his
usual commanding presence as Jordan Collier (but, then again, he's
*always* good), and some of the guest/recurring stars (e.g. Natasha
Gregson Wagner, Jeffrey Combs, Karina Lombard, and Peter Coyote again!!)
are good, several of the main cast of actors ([cough] [cough] Joel
Gretsch & Jacqueline McKenzie [cough] [cough] Patrick Flueger & Chad
Faust [cough] [cough] [cough]) aren't as good.
(To be fair to McKenzie, I think she's improved, and it would be hard to
do much with Skouris if you were an actress...)
But, overall, I enjoyed season #2 of this show. And, really, that's
all I ever ask.
WHAT WORKED:
Despite saddling themselves with a pretty ridiculous premise, the
writers at least managed to do some clever things (e.g. baby Isabelle
making Patty McCormack's Rhoda Penmark look like a piker, Kyle Baldwin's
lost chunks of time leading to an assassination, using Summer Glau's
patented craziness and Jeffrey Combs' patented creepiness to good
effect, Sherilyn Fenn as a gory disease carrier, etc.) with what they're
given.
Again, great work from Billy Campbell, and also Conchita Campbell as
creepy 'seer' Maia. Also, a lot of great guest stars this season (see
above, and also Lindy Booth, etc.)
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
As I said last year, some of the other cast performances (e.g. Joel
Gretsch, Patrick Flueger, etc.) are IMO, less than successful.
Also, I really question how far they can take the premise they have.
THE DEAD ZONE (USA):
Overall Grade for Season: B-
OVERVIEW:
While season #4 (actually, this will be season 4.0, to be followed by
season 4.5 in January of 2006) was admittedly down a bit from the level
of previous "Dead Zone" seasons, I still love this show, and continue to
watch it with gusto.
Works for me!
Beyond that, there's not much to report, because not all that much
happened in season #4.0.
WHAT WORKED:
I even commented on this in rec.arts.tv before, but I was impressed
by a lot of the guest stars in this season of the show (e.g. Jennifer
Finnigan, Dedee Pfeiffer, Patrick Bauchau, Ben Foster (I was perhaps
most surprised by his guest stint...), Lourdes Benedicto, Danny
Masterson, Ed Asner, and Laura Harris).
There were some good to underappreciated episodes this season
("Double Vision" and "Heros and Demons" were the former, "The Last
Goodbye" was the latter).
Anthony Michael Hall just gets better and better in this role.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
No really "powerful" episodes, and a number of clunkers (see, for
example: "Still Life", "Grains of Sand"), this season.
Also, not much movement on the "meta" arc, and with no real strong
episodes this season, there wasn't much to make up for it.
TUE:
EMPRIE (ABC):
Overall Grade for Miniseries: B+
OVERVIEW:
A show that took some hits from RAT's Anthony Cerrato (among others)
for the 'historical liberties' it took, "Empire" was never a show that
was meant to be taken seriously in that way.
Indeed, as I said to Anthony at the time, "'Empire' was escapist
entertainment, pure and simple, and it worked [very] well for me on that
level. I knew the history was bunk, so I just ignored that."
One of the things that "Empire" excelled at *was* "spectacle" - this
show just plumb *looked* great, from the beautiful exterior
cinematography (beautiful shots of flowing waves of grain never got
tiresome!), to the interior sets, to the costuming (which, again, was
probably too beautiful (and clean!) to be believable).
In addition, the casting was generally good, from the commanding
Jonathan Cake as gladiator-turned mentor/bodyguard Tyrannus, to Vincent
Regan as the sneaky-snakey Marc Anthony, to newcomer Emily Blunt as
Veastal Virgin Camane (she so impressed me that I plan to rent her
recent movie, "My Summer of Love", as soon as it comes out on DVD, just
to get a better look at what she can do as an actress in a substantially
different role).
Long-story short: I just plum *enjoyed* this show, and wasn't really
let down by any of the six aired episodes. (The weakest episode was
probably the 'slave camp' episode, "Arkham", and even that one was saved
by a guest appearance from Dennis "Are You In Good Hands?" Haysbert as
Gen. Magonius).
I wish more nets would give us fun escapist programming like this
during summer.
WHAT WORKED:
Jonathan Cake was given the primary responsibility for carrying this
series, and he did the job admirably, giving the role of Tyrannus a good
mix of charisma, fortitude and vulnerability. As mentioned, Vincent
Regan was pleasingly ambiguous as Marc Antony. Also good were James
Frain as the conflicted Brutus (does Frain ever do a bad job in
*anything*?!), Michael Maloney and Trudie Styler as the treacherous
Cassius and Servilia, and the aforementioned Emily Blunt as virtuous
(but still hot!) Camane.
This show *looked great*.
It was also a pleasingly diverting show every time it aired.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Tom Welling knock-off Santiago Cabrera was a little weak in the
pivotal role of Octavius, though in his defense he got better as the
series progressed.
History?! What history?! Hopefully, if you watched this show, you
didn't take it at face value, and it inspired you to look up the *real*
historical developments of the era.
The budget must have been monstrous, and that led ABC to cut the
episode order down from 8 to 6 - this curtailing of the show did hurt
the dramatic (i.e. story) development of the series (though not as much
as I might have expected).
Ratings - people stayed away from this in droves. The Tuesdays at
10pm timeslot was surely part of the problem, but mostly people just
avoided this show, for no good reason that I can see...
WED:
THE INSIDE (FOX):
Overall Grade for Season: B-
OVERVIEW:
Unlike a number of people around here, I wasn't all that "impressed"
with this Tim Minear-led thriller/procedural. Nonetheless, I generally
found "The Inside" to be an entertaining (if lurid) show, and I
appreciated that they were attempting more with the 'procedural' (e.g.
some psychological insight) than is usually attempted.
Also, I found the lead character, Rebecca Locke (Rachel Nichols), and
the "boss" character, Virgil "Web" Webster (Peter Coyote), to be
fascinating (as well as creepy and disquieting) 'head cases'.
WHAT WORKED:
The whole concept of the Rebecca Locke character was kind of
masterful, and the one thing I'll regret about this series not
continuing is not being able to follow this character to see if/when she
was going to go 'screaming off the rails' into full fledged insanity
(assuming the showrunner/writers/network had enough stones to actually
go there - which I am dubious about). (And, ditto, "Web".)
Peter Coyote, who had disappointed me mightily in the first season of
"The 4400", turned around and turned in a great performance on this
show. Also quite good was Jay Harrington as Paul Ryan, the team's
"innocent" (of sorts).
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
The fictional focus on "serial killers" is something I've always
found, 1) highly unrealistic (i.e. because there aren't *enough* serial
killers out there to keep entire law enforcement units afloat in
perpetuity!), and 2) tedious. To keep this show going, it was inevitable
that it would, over time, degenerate into increasingly lurid, and
unrealistic, territory, so that's at least one thing this show's short
shelf-life will spare us.
The other characters, beyond Locke, "Web" and Paul Ryan (e.g. Melody
Sim (Katie Finneran) and Danny Love (Adam Baldwin)) were never developed
in any meaningful way (before the show was pulled), and waiting so long
to develop them may have been a mistake.
While the character of Rebecca Locke was fascinating, I never thought
Rachel Nichols brought enough to the role (in fact, I'm not sure she
brought *anything* special to the role, besides pretty, soulful
eyes...).
'Procedurals'? Did we really need another one?! Esp. during Summer?
BRAT CAMP (ABC)
Overall Grade for Season: B
OVERVIEW:
While knocked by a whole variety of people for being "exploitive" of
clearly "troubled" teens (and parents - and that criticism has some
validity), "Brat Camp" was a 'reality' show that surprised me with a
fair amount (psychological) insight.
During the course of this series we *learned* something about nearly
all of the "characters" (and gained some understanding into why they had
initially behaved the way they did). And that's more than I can say
about pretty much any 'reality' show airing these days.
In my estimation, "Brat Camp" is basically what 'reality' TV should
strive for and *should* accomplish - something of a sociological field
study of the participants.
On this, "Brat Camp" delivered.
WHAT WORKED:
Not only did we learn something about nearly every character (save
maybe Heather, who even at the end came off like an enigma) but, much to
my surprise, we learned that Sagewalk's sort of granola-eco-hippie
approach to these kids appears to have at least a 50% success rate (who
knew?!).
In any case, watching the show as these kids developed - for example,
it was clear early on that this program was working wonders for Lexie,
and doing nothing for Jada (who came off as a Class 1 Narcissistic
Personality Disorder or something equally nasty)! And that's a better
'character arc' than many scripted dramas manage.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Exploitive? I guess.
But, and this is the key point, it wasn't 'exploitive for
'exploitive's sake' (see "Big Brother", post BB1) - if there was
"exploitation" here, it was a necessary and unwelcome side-effect of the
overall effort at learning something about these kids and the process
involved here.
FRI:
INTO THE WEST (TNT):
Overall Grade for Miniseries: C+
OVERVIEW:
Before I start, let's review the six episodes of this miniseries, and
grade them individually:
EPISODE 1 - c. 1827-1832: Jacob Wheeler (fictional character)
signs up with explorer/scout Jedediah Smith (real
historical figure) and journeys all the way to Cali.
Lakota Holy Man, Loved By The Buffalo, prophesies
doom for his people.
GRADE: C+
EPISODE 2 - c. 1832-39: Wagon Train To Cali.! - Jacob Wheeler's
female cousins (including Keri "Felicity" Russell!)
meet all manner of mayhem, rape and death on a
frontier 'wagon train' to Cali.
GRADE: B+
EPISODE 3 - c. 1848-1863: A confused (not to mention didactic and
P.C.) mess of an episode involving Jacob Wheeler's
brother, the Gold Rush (and Sean Astin!), Wheeler's
photographer daughter Margaret Light Shines,
Wheeler's two sons (one a Pony Express rider, the
other a scout for the Army), a massacre of a
Lakota(?) tribe (including Graham Greene!) by an
inexperienced Army officer, and then in, a total
non-sequiter! Rachel Leigh Cook and Quantrell raids
of Lawrence, KS during the Civil War!!
GRADE: D
EPISODE 4 - c. 1863-1869: Transcontinental Railroad: while Jacob
friend Wheeler's son Abe, and his new Chinese
immigrant (played by Garrett Wang!!), help build the
first transcontinental railroad, Rachel Leigh Cook
goes up against mean frontier capitalist (horrors!)
Daniel Wheeler (Lance Hendricksen), Margaret Light
Shines goes... well, "native", and Jacob, Jr.
(fictional character) meets up with a preening
General Custer (real historical figure).
GRADE: B-
EPISODE 5 - c. 1874-1879: A new Gold Rush around Deadwood, ND
precipitates the slaughter of Custer's men (in a
particularly badly staged battle), including Jacob,
Jr., in one of the few victories for the Natives.
Jacob, Sr. (& wife Thunder Heart Woman) come out
to visit Rachel Leigh Cook's Clara Wheeler, and her
hubbie Robert, to see where their son fell.
The Native victory is short lived - the tribes are
utterly defeated, and the result is many of their
youngsters getting shipped off to "residential"
schools out East, where Clara & hubbie Robert are
appalled at the methods employed on the young
natives, and ultimately leave.
GRADE: B
EPISODE 6 - c. 1890: The Massacre at Wounded Knee. As Robert &
Clara Wheeler (now played by Joanna Going), along
with Jacob & Thunder Heart Women (who are both,
still alive at 80+!!), look on, a religious revival
incredibly! among the Natives and some yellow
journalism (courtesy of Richard Speight, Jr.!) leads
ultimately to the final Massacre of Native Americans
(this time, in a brilliantly staged battle) at
Wounded Knee. We conclude with some final thoughts
from Jacob, Sr. and Loved By The Buffalo (also,
amazingly, still alive!!) which amounts to a lot
of hooey.
GRADE: C+
Looking at the individual episodes, what I personally liked best were
those parts of those episodes that steered closest to actual historical
events (e.g. the wagon trains, the building of the railroad, the
residential schools, and the massacre at Wounded Knee), and showed me
subjects and events I either didn't know about, had forgotten about, or
was already fond of.
What I generally liked least were those episodes that exploited
historical events to score modern political points (e.g. the Gold Rush
sequence of Episode #2 was particularly terrible and cartoonish; the
generic anti-military thrust of the entire series; the significant
whitewash (if you can forgive the term) of the outrages perpetrated by a
number of the Native tribes over the course of these times; the rote
anti-Capitalist skewering of Lance Hendricksen's also cartoonish Daniel
Wheeler, etc.)
Perhaps my biggest quibble is the choice of an ending - to my way of
thinking, the logical end of this series should have been in 1893 (not
1890), with declaration at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago that "the
[American] frontier was now closed". (Yeah, I know - the term was
actually first used by the superintendent of the U.S. Census, Frederick
Jackson Turner, in 1890 (when "Into the West", in fact, ended). But the
idea wasn't popularized until 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the
New World ...) Using this date/even would have given the series
(entitled, lest we forget, "Into the West") a logical closing point, and
I was a little disappointed that they didn't go with it. But this is, I
suppose, a relatively minor quibble.
Ultimately, "Into the West" was an interesting, mostly watchable,
though certainly not entirely successful, "miniseries".
WHAT WORKED:
Well, it was... interesting, in places. And it inspired me (and
others, I'm sure) to look up some of the history portrayed.
"Into the West" also, like "Empire", *looked* great - you can't go
wrong with the landscape of the American West!
And the Massacre at Wounded Knee was a very, very well staged
depiction of the event. Almost as good was the 'hat throwing' scene at
the meeting of the Transcontinental railroad in Episode #4, and much of
the wagon train sequences in episode #2.
Clearly, Episodes #2 and #5, were the best in my estimation (the
"residential" schools aspect of episode #5 elevated that episode
significantly; episode #2 was at least somewhat exciting, even if we've
seen all this before); episodes #4 and #6 were interesting, but not as
successful.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Yikes. Where to start?
The #1 problem was the characterizations - in almost no case did we
get a "real" characterization here. There were just so many characters
(and "history" swept by so fast), that none of them really got a proper
portrayal (and many of them didn't even come close to anything of the
sort!) As a result, I can't really fault any of the actors - only Lance
Hendricksen and David Paymer (and probably Graham Greene) made any real
strong impressions, but all 3 of these are long-time veterans, so that's
no surprise.
Part and parcel with that was keeping track of all the various
characters, esp. among the Lakota and Union Army.
Some sequences just plumb didn't work. The choices made in filming
Custer's slaughter at the Battle of Little Bighorn were very, very poor,
and made the outcome of the battle confusing and, worse, unexciting.
Of the episodes, while episodes #1, 4 & 6 had some weak moments,
*nothing* comes close to the disjointed mess that was episode #3. It
wasn't just that the Gold Rush sequence was such a cartoonish clich
("greed destroys the 'white man'"! ooo! that's never been done before!!)
- it was that various discordant elements were *smashed* together in a
mismatched and confusing hodgepodge of history; note to the writers:
don't try to cover 15 years in one episode again! It'll end badly!!
--
CNN, FNC, MSNBC - I'M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP!!
"It is a decision of the Supreme Court... So this is almost
as if God has spoken." - Nancy Pelosi (on KELO), 06/30/05
http://homepage.mac.com/ijball/TV-Blog/
William December Starr
<ijball***SPAM-No***-387070.110...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com>,
"The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball"
<ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid> said:
> The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
> issue liberal academia 'talking
> points'.
What is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it.
--
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball
wds...@panix.com (William December Starr) wrote:
> In article
> <ijball***SPAM-No***-387070.110...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com>,
> "The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball"
> <ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid> said:
>
> > The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
> > issue liberal academia 'talking
> > points'.
>
> What is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it.
It was a 'reality' show on ABC (Mondays @ 9pm, I believe) earlier on in
the summer. Basically prospective college kids were competing for a
scholarship (it may have ended up being more than one).
The premise has promise, but if they ever brought it back (highly
unlikely based on the ratings) I'd want to see some changes in how the
show was executed.
ANIM8Rfsk
ijball***SPAM-No***-FE64A4.092...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com, The Next
SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball at ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid wrote on
9/8/05 9:23 AM:
> In article <dfoor7$oei$1...@panix2.panix.com>,
> wds...@panix.com (William December Starr) wrote:
>
>> In article
>> <ijball***SPAM-No***-387070.110...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com>,
>> "The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball"
>> <ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid> said:
>>
>>> The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
>>> issue liberal academia 'talking
>>> points'.
>>
>> What is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it.
>
> It was a 'reality' show on ABC (Mondays @ 9pm, I believe) earlier on in
> the summer. Basically prospective college kids were competing for a
> scholarship (it may have ended up being more than one).
>
> The premise has promise,
but the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
--
You Can't Stop the Signal
The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball
ANIM8Rfsk <ANIM...@cox.net> wrote:
> in article
> ijball***SPAM-No***-FE64A4.092...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com, The Next
> SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball at ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid wrote on
> 9/8/05 9:23 AM:
>
> > In article <dfoor7$oei$1...@panix2.panix.com>,
> > wds...@panix.com (William December Starr) wrote:
> >
> >> In article
> >> <ijball***SPAM-No***-387070.110...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com>,
> >> "The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball"
> >> <ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid> said:
> >>
> >>> The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
> >>> issue liberal academia 'talking
> >>> points'.
> >>
> >> What is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it.
> >
> > The premise has promise,
>
> but the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
Don't make me hurt you, "Danny Kaye"...
:p
ANIM8Rfsk
ijball***SPAM-No***-D7BF6A.105...@news-rdr-03.socal.rr.com, The Next
SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball at ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid wrote on
> In article <BF45BE7D.5018A%ANIM...@cox.net>,
> ANIM8Rfsk <ANIM...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> in article
>> ijball***SPAM-No***-FE64A4.092...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com, The Next
>> SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball at ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid wrote on
>> 9/8/05 9:23 AM:
>>
>>> In article <dfoor7$oei$1...@panix2.panix.com>,
>>> wds...@panix.com (William December Starr) wrote:
>>>
>>>> In article
>>>> <ijball***SPAM-No***-387070.110...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com>,
>>>> "The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball"
>>>> <ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid> said:
>>>>
>>>>> The Scholar A good premise, marred by standard
>>>>> issue liberal academia 'talking
>>>>> points'.
>>>>
>>>> What is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it.
>>>
>>> The premise has promise,
>>
>> but the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
>
> Don't make me hurt you, "Danny Kaye"...
> :p
Ladies and Gentlemen, that was Mr. Ian J. Ball doing his impersonation of
Sir Lawrence Olivier.
William December Starr
<ijball***SPAM-No***-FE64A4.092...@news-rdr-02.socal.rr.com>,
"The Next SCOTUS Nominee, Ian J. Ball"
<ijball***SPAM-No***@mac.com.invalid> said:
[ "The Scholar" ]
>> What is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it.
>
> It was a 'reality' show on ABC (Mondays @ 9pm, I believe) earlier
> on in the summer. Basically prospective college kids were
> competing for a scholarship (it may have ended up being more than
> one).
Oh right, I noticed the show itself; I'd just somehow never gotten
its name filed into my long-term memory.