Category: Soapbox

The Grammy’s do the award show thing better than the Oscars or Emmys in a number of ways. No host means less wasted time and you get to see lots of performances, many of which wouldn’t happen anywhere else. For the most part, this year’s performances were worth tuning in to see.

John Legend, John Mayer and Corinne Bailey Rae did a soulful singer-songwriter set. Mary J. Blige delivered her usual powerful performance. Justin Timberlake skipped the humor and went all serious musician with “What Goes Around”. Later in the show, Timberlake performed again, making the risky move of performing with an American Idol-like winner who could have easily crumbled under the pressure but didn’t; she held her own with Timberlake and T.I. on their song “My Love” (which I think is better than any of the tracks from Timberlake’s album). Gnarls Barkley performed a more lush version of their hit “Crazy” with Cee-Lo looking calm and cool in the pilot uniform, even during the high note in the chorus. And Shakira’s truth-telling hip shake never fails to disappoint (although Wyclef’s performance was sub-par, especially his opening).

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Gary LaPierre has been on the radio since 1964 and today was his last day. If you don’t know Gary, you might be thinking that after 43 years on the radio, he’d sound like Paul Harvey – old and crotchety. Not at all. Gary hasn’t changed in all the years I’ve been aware of him and he was there for all of my 38 years! And as everybody has been saying, he is the voice of newsradio in Boston. Or at least he was until today. I don’t begrudge him his retirement – he sure has earned it. In a time when good news is being shut down, Gary’s passion for the news, interviews, and Boston in general will be missed.

Yes, I know, the war on Christmas is old news and getting weary.  But people keep harping on it!  So, allow me to do a little harping too.

If you genuinely want to spread good “Christmas cheer” – you know, be kind to others and generally make people happy – then say “Happy Holidays”.  You won’t make anyone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas feel inadequate and you’ll show an effort to be inclusive.

To those that are offended by “Happy Holidays” who believe that the absence of “Merry Christmas” is an attack on their religion: stuff it.  If you believe that “Jesus is the reason for the season” then clearly insisting on saying “Merry Christmas” to those that may not be Christian is a form of proselytizing, even if it is small and unintentional.  Wouldn’t “Happy Holidays” actually be the Christian (inclusive, do unto others, etc.) choice?

And to those who are offended by “Happy Holidays” because it represents political correctness and a change to what you grew up with: get over it.  If you aren’t religious and don’t care about the religious connotations of Christmas, then you have no right to care about the words or how they are used.  If you are just hung up on the fact that it is what you grew up with, take a minute to think about all the other wrong terminology you grew up with – all of it worse than “Merry Christmas”, but still proof that the way you grew up isn’t always the way things have to remain.

For anyone that didn’t already know, Channel 56 has been purchased by Sunbeam Television Corp. In Boston, Sunbeam also already owns Channel 7. Bostonians may recall a time in Boston’s local news history when the news was a little less, umm, dramatic than it is now. That time was before Sunbeam arrived and before Fox’s Boston affiliate had a local news show. Sunbeam changed the news format for Channel 7 and the other local stations followed suit.

That is, except for Tribune‘s Channel 56 which remained somewhat old school, running a non-sensationalized hour-long news program Monday through Thursday nights and half hour program Friday through Sunday nights. That’s all going to change now that Sunbeam has acquired Channel 56. “The 10 O’Clock News” staff are all being sent packing. In its place, Sunbeam will be airing yet another version of its already ubiquitous news program.

Does Boston really need yet another sensational newscast? These newscasts work like the National Enquirer: drop an outrageous tease (“Will the world end tomorrow? Tune in tonight to find out”) and then deliver no actual news content (“the world will not end tomorrow; coming up after the break, how to keep your kids safe on the Internet” etc.). A steady stream of junk news intended to string you along as long as possible – the dietary equivalent of all sugar and no meat.

I had been hopeful that Channel 56’s defiance of following the pack would earn them praise, recognition, and viewers. And by extension, some cash to keep it going. They definitely deserved to be rewarded. And to their credit, they kept it going for 24 years.

Two of the visible news staff deserve special mention. Karen Marinella anchored the news for 8 years – not since Liz Walker has a news anchor been as genuine or as underappreciated. And Mike Wankum, while continuing the tradition of funny-named weather person, broke the trend of weather persons being either unlikable, vapid, or uncomfortable on camera. Wankum is likable, smart, and very comfortable on camera. Since Marinella is married to a Channel 7 anchor (there’s some irony), it’s unlikely that she’ll be leaving the area – here’s hoping that she resurfaces on one of the other Boston stations and classes up the joint. Wankum is more likely to be poached by another market but I hope a Boston station picks him up too.

Good luck to Marinella, Wankum, and the rest of the Channel 56 news staff. You will be missed. And for those of you who haven’t watched before or in a while, tune in Monday night for the final newscast to see how local news should be done.

It’s nothing new, but I’m really getting tired of TV characters getting involved with other series regulars.  It worked okay on Cheers because Diane and Sam were introduced as a will they or won’t they couple.  But it didn’t work as well with Rebecca and Sam later, because it seemed forced.  Similarly, with Friends, Ross and Rachel worked because it was introduced at the beginning, but then they made a mess of things with Rachel and Joey.  I was initially against Monica and Chandler too, but somehow that ended up working out – that’s the exception, though.

The latest offenders are Studio 60 and Battlestar Galactica.  On Studio 60, Amanda Peet’s pregnancy may have forced a storyline not previously expected, but they didn’t have to hook up Danny and Jordan.  Why not find somebody new for Jordan?  And on Galactica, the tension between Kara and Lee has been around from the beginning, but I felt like we had gotten past that by now.  The recent episode with the boxing devolving into hugging was the worst of the 3 seasons of the new Battlestar Galactica.

We know Aaron Sorkin can write interesting characters – why not a new interesting character for Jordan’s helper through her pregnancy?  And Kara already had an interesting character for a husband on Galactica and the marital problems resulting from the Cylon deception were believable without some bizarre infidelity backstory.

TV writers need to not be fearful of bringing in new characters as potential love interests for our main characters.  After all, that’s what happens in real life.  And like in real life, if the characters don’t work out together, ditch the love interest and examine what happens to the main characters when their SOs are gone.  If their SOs are other main characters, you end up stuck with stale relationship for the duration of the series.