May 17, 2007
Go Team Venture (and Drinky Crow, too)
Cartoons rule
by Jay Ditzer / WHAS11.com
Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim bloc has produced an ever-increasing volume of original programming. When it works, it works exceedingly well, e.g. Moral Orel, or Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, or Frisky Dingo. When it fails, as it does with self-satisfied tedium fests like Perfect Hair Forever or The Brak Show, well, at least it fails in ways you don’t see on network sitcoms.
The crowning jewel in the Adult Swim line-up, for my money at least, is The Venture Bros [sic], a parody of the old Jonny Quest series and “boys adventure” tropes in general, all undercut with megadoses of post-modern humor, cynicism and the ever-popular “adult themes.” Even better, the show is properly animated, so it’s aesthetically pleasing as well, something that much of Adult Swim’s programming – good and bad -- can’t claim because they’re all done on the cheap (or at least, they look that way).
The Venture Bros. depicts the adventures of the titular fraternal duo, Hank and Dean Venture, who, despite the show’s present-day setting, seem locked in a screwy 1967 time bubble: their dress, mannerisms and vocabulary are all quirkily yet charmingly anachronistic, and their naivety and ignorance both gets them into dire situations and gets them out of same.
The boys are seemingly the bane of their father’s existence, but Hank and Dean are the least of Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture’s problems: While he bills himself as a scientific genius, many of his inventions are flawed, and he is frequently portrayed as a cowardly nitwit. Rounding out the central cast is Brock Samson, the Venture family’s government-sanctioned bodyguard. A hyper-masculine killing machine, Samson is nevertheless the show’s prime voice of reason. He is shown accepting his charges’s various physical, mental and moral shortcomings with a stoic but good-humored resignation.
Typical of the series is “Escape to the House of Mummies, Part II,” from the second season, wherein Team Venture find themselves trapped by a mysterious Egyptian cult – the absolute worst kind of Egyptian cult – who are in the possession of a time machine. After the gang are locked in a death trap, Dr. Venture manages to escape but forgets about rescuing Brock and the boys, so, with the help of Sigmund Freud and Edgar Allan Poe, they arrange their own rescue. Or do they?
“House of Mummies” is a clever send-up of the old cliffhanger serials. It opens with a recap of the non-existent Part I and concludes with a preview of the equally non-existent Part III. The script is therefore full of references to plot events that the viewers will never see, which makes for plenty of comedy, while adequtely displaying the protagonists’s personalities and idiosyncracies. Also, Dean gets decapitated.
Each episode can be enjoyed on its own, naturally, but they all contribute to an ongoing big picture, as bits and pieces of the characters’s backgrounds are revealed, often providing added dividends to faithful viewers as well as those who purchase the DVD collections (seasons one and two are available now at your favorite retail outlet!).
And yet the Adult Swim juggernaut lumbers onward: Last week, the network aired a pilot that could be another winner. The Drinky Crow Show perfectly captures the spirit of its source material, Tony Millionaire’s Maakies comic strip – it’s cartoonishly violent in the manner of classic Tom & Jerry shorts; it’s absurdist without being self-congratulatory about it; its computerized animation looks really, really good (which I didn’t think was possible), and best of all, it’s funny.
(Also: It’s not really appropriate for the kiddies, so parents beware, but then again, if your kids are up at 11:45 on a Sunday night watching cartoons, you’ve got bigger problems than animated segments about an alcoholic seafaring bird.)
It's tremendously cheesy to say cartoons aren't just for kids anymore, but it's appropriate here. Adult Swim is broadcasting some of the most witty, intelligent and subversive programming on TV today. Don't miss it.
Posted by jay.ditzer at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2007
Chasing Larry
While in Sky11 over a crime scene, I was suddenly thrust into the biggest tabloid story of the year.
Pilot Michael Young, Chief Photographer Dan Chesser and I were hovering over Fern Creek when the call came from base. "We need you to get to Louisville International Airport as soon as possible."
Earlier in the day, our assignment desk had heard over the scanners a report of "smoke in the cockpit." That turned out to be only a drill, but it was the first thing I thought of when our newsroom diverted us to the airport.
As we headed west, the true nature of our assignment was revealed. Larry Birkhead had landed in a private jet with his cause-celebre daughter and her nanny in tow. Even those of us who don't read US Magazine or watch the entertainment news shows know Birkhead's name and his claim to fame: being the father of the late Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter, (determined after a protracted, nasty, bizarre circus of a paternity battle).
He had landed at Atlantic Aviation, where travelers don't have to go through a terminal and its associated nuisances.
And so with my limited knowledge of Smith, her husband Howard K. Stern and the baby, I had Chesser open my headset microphone in Sky11 to narrate the unfolding drama to the viewers watching our video streamed live on WHAS11.com. Did you happen to see it? Let me know at joe.arnold@whas11.com.
I was surprised at how much I could remember of the saga, and how surreal it was to be reporting on an "entertainment" story that had already received a ridiculous amount of attention on nearly every media outlet in America and beyond.
And so, I kept my eyes trained on the small jet's stairway and with no resemblance to Mary Hart or her voice, let viewers know when Birkhead stepped off the plane and walked to the gaggle of waiting media, and when his infant daughter was carried to a waiting SUV.
Thanks to Dan and Michael for correcting me on the baby's name. I said "Danielle." For the record, it's "Dannielynn."
Then, it got really surreal. We tracked Birkhead's entourage from the airport to Preston Highway, I-65, I-264, I-71, US42 and finally the Hunting Creek subdivision in Oldham County. I half expected to see OJ's white Bronco in the pursuit. It was that surreal. Sky11 bumped in the wake of another news helicopter. We helped guide reporter Kirby Adams and photojournalist Forrest Clem as they chased Birkhead on the roads.
Finally, with about one minute of fuel left before we had to turn back for Bowman Field, Birkhead's SUV pulled into the garage of a home in that Oldham County estate development. We had gotten all the shots possible, and we turned for home.
Speaking of home... Welcome home, Larry. At the end of the day and absent the glare of the media, this is about an 8 month old girl who will grow up without her mother and whose entire life is predetermined to include constant attention. I pray her fate is happier and different than her late mother's and brother's. Maybe Louisville is just low key enough that she could grow up here and we would live her alone.
In the mean time, Sky11 has quite a zoom lens.
Posted by joe.arnold at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
Best Movie of 2006 on DVD
Hint: It wasn't The Departed
The best movie of 2006 is released Tuesday on DVD.
“But wait,” you say. “ I thought Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan came out two weeks ago.”
Delightful as it was, Borat was only the SECOND best movie of 2006. The best movie of 2006 – and I can say this, as I have seen every single motion picture that was released in 2006 – was Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, which, unlike Borat, was snubbed at the Oscars, proving the general cluelessness of the Academy.
But I digress. Children of Men takes place in a near-future wherein, for unknown reasons, the human race has become infertile. No babies have been born for over a decade and people are, understandably, growing concerned. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the world’s sociopolitical climate is going straight into the toilet, with wars, terrorist attacks and suchlike the rule rather than the exception. Imagine a world in which 9/11 was a weekly event and you’ll get the picture.
Michael Caine, Julianne Moore and one of my favorite character actors, Peter Mullan are all in the cast, as is Clive Owen, who plays a man sleepwalking through this unpleasant setting until a few sharp, sudden shocks pull him out of his torpor and spur him into action. I don’t think I’m spoiling the movie for anyone when I say that a pregnant girl turns up, and hilarity ensues.
Calling this movie “bleak” is something of an understatement, but it’s still heads and shoulders above anything else I saw last year. Check it out. You won’t be disappointed.
Or, you could always get Season 6 of The Jeffersons, which is also released tomorrow.
Posted by jay.ditzer at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2007
Hero Takes a Fall, or:The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth
Captain America is dead -- for now. One media outlet covered it well; another, quite poorly
In the new issue of Captain America, the star-spangled superhero takes a bullet in the gut and dies sprawled on a courthouse’s steps. Heavy stuff, especially for comic books and especially considering that Captain America is one of Marvel Comics’s oldest characters, created during World War II and appearing regularly since the early ‘60s.
Of course, this is all a publicity stunt dreamt up by Marvel’s editorial staff to boost sales. Keep in mind these are comic books here, where death is seldom an irreversible event. Remember when DC killed off Superman in 1992?
Still, it makes for good copy on a slow news day. Two reporters covered this latest shocking superhero death. One did it well, the other, not so much.
In The New York Times, George Gene Gustines wrote about this plot twist with a serious yet detached tone. Gustines realizes that these are comic book characters, but he also seems to be aware that these characters are valuable properties – thus the coverage in New York’s paper of record.
Contrast that with Richard Pyle’s approach. Covering the event for the Associated Press, Pyle instantly dashes much of his credibility by opening his article with the sentence “Holy homicide, Batman! Captain America is dead!” What’s wrong with that, you may wonder. This is a fictional death in a juvenile medium, not a real-life murder of a flesh-and-blood public figure. Lighten up.
Well, for starters, Batman has nothing to do with Captain America: Batman is a DC character, while the Captain is Marvel. That would be like making a glib wisecrack about, say, Mr. Spock when covering the Star Wars franchise: yes, they’re related, but they’re different brands, for lack of a better word. It’s Chevy vs. Ford. Apple vs. Microsoft. Macy’s and Gimbels.
Pyle’s opening witticism might be seen by some readers as cute or amusing, but it displays a smug superiority towards the medium that probably wouldn’t have been tolerated by his editor had Pyle been writing about a prime time television series or a Hollywood movie.
And while I’m up here on my high horse, even if Pyle’s Batman/Captain America juxtaposition had been kosher, the callousness of “holy homicide” is grating, as well. I mean, fictional or not, this is a depiction of somebody being shot to death. Try to contain your glee.
Pyle makes things worse by writing, ”It all happens in the latest edition of Marvel Comics, which hit newsstands on Wednesday.” No, it all happened in the latest edition of Captain America, Richard – number 25, to be exact. This “Marvel Comics” of which Pyle types is a publishing company, not a title.
These little tidbits (I like to call them “facts”) could have been easily verified by either calling a local comic book shop, or easier still, by going to Marvel’s web site, which took me less than three seconds. Nice effort there, Mr. Pyle – or should I call you Gomer?
(See what I did there? I made a cheap joke at Pyle's expense because he shares a surname with a fictional halfwit.)
Pyle was obviously out of his comfort zone when the AP assigned the story. He doesn't understand the “Chevy vs. Ford” aspect of comics, and can't even get the name of the actual book where the character (supposedly) dies correct, while Gustines sticks to the basics, gets everything right and otherwise comports himself professionally. Meanwhile, Pyle’s blatant attempt to show his readers that he’s just a little too cool to be writing about comic books merely makes him look like a condescending ass.
Once again I feel compelled to mention that I am fully aware that Captain America and all the other assorted characters in funnybook land, regardless of publisher, don’t actually exist, and I hardly expect that a marketing gimmick in a low-selling title be treated with the same gravity as troop deaths in Iraq, but Jeez Louise, it is asking too much for journalists to exercise a little taste and craft when hacking out their entertainment section puff pieces? Yes, they’re just comic books, but if you don’t respect the medium, at least respect that other people do.
Posted by jay.ditzer at 03:44 PM | Comments (1)
