Blog Post
Blast from the Past: 'Eight is Enough'
by erin
Maybe it’s because I was an only child, but as a kid in the late '70s and early '80s Eight is Enough was my favorite TV show. I was devastated when it was cancelled after it’s 5th season in 1981.
Eight is Enough, originally based on the life and memoir of the same name by Thomas Braden, was a family comedy/drama about Tom, his wife Joan, and their eight children, David, Mary, Joanie, Susan, Nancy, Elizabeth, Tommy, and Nicholas, living in Sacramento, CA. Actress played Joan, but the actress became ill and tragically died shortly after the first episode aired. The entire show was retooled and Tom Bradford became a widower.
Abby, played by Broadway star Betty Buckley became Tom's love interest in season two. Son Tommy, played by Willie Ames became a teen idol and would later appear on the Scott Baio vehicle Charles in Charge. The brightest star to emerge from Eight is Enough didn't arrive until the final season: Ralph Macchio caused hearts to go pitter pat when he debuted as Abby’s troubled nephew Jeremy. Check out seasons one and two at AADL. Seasons three and four are on order!
Blog Post
New TV Shows @ AADL: That 70s Style
by manz
The library is always acquiring additional TV shows, be they hot and new, or oldies but goodies. Here are some new series at AADL that got their start during the 1970s:
Laverne & Shirley – Season 1
Laverne & Shirley are a hilarious duo who are roommates and work together as bottlecappers at the Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. See the sidesplitting situations the girls get themselves into - between themselves and with friends Lenny & Squiggy and Mrs. Babish and Carmine "The Big Ragu." (Aired 1976-1983)
McMillan & Wife – Season 1
Revisit TV's favorite husband and wife detective duo as they take on crooks, murderers, and the windy streets of San Francisco in this first season. (Aired 1971-1977)
Eight Is Enough – Season 1 & 2
For fans of the family-based dramas of the '70s here is the first season of this top-rated dramedy. The series chronicled the lives of a columnist Tom Bradford, his wife and their eight children, and their sometimes-comic, sometimes-dramatic exploits. (Aired 1977-1981)
For more TV shows, be sure to check out AADL’s lists for HOT TV shows, as well as NEW TV shows.
Blog Post
Like Downton Abbey? Try Call the Midwife!
by eapearce
If you are eagerly anticipating Season 4 of Downton Abbey but can’t bear to wait until January for it to air in the United States, the British drama Call the Midwife is a great show to make the waiting easier! Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the show also originally aired in Britain and is set in London in the mid-twentieth century, a few decades after the setting of Downton Abbey. The show centers around main character Jenny Lee, a newly qualified midwife who works with other midwives in a nursing convent on London’s impoverished east side. The midwives and the nuns are kept very busy delivering babies and caring for newborns in and around the London area, and each episode typically also features a healthy dose of humor, romance, and interpersonal struggles.
Like Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife experienced huge success when it was first aired on the BBC in 2012, winning the Best New Drama TV Choice Award. It was then aired in the United States on PBS in the fall of 2012. The second season was also wildly popular, and the third season will be airing in 2014 in Great Britain and the United States.
You can check out the complete first and second seasons of Call the Midwife (as well as the first three seasons of Downton Abbey!) at the AADL.
Blog Post
TV Spotlight: The Newsroom
by manz
The Newsroom is a hot, new, critically acclaimed television show that takes places behind the scenes of a television newsroom, reporting on actual news topics. The fictional ACN is home to a nightly broadcast featuring anchor Will McAvoy, played brilliantly by Michigan’s own Jeff Daniels. The prickly McAvoy returns to work after a hiatus to learn that his staff has left to work on another show. He and his new executive producer (also his ex-girlfriend) and the newsroom staff are the focus of the show as they produce a nightly news program under high pressure.
I’ll admit it took more than a couple episodes for me to get into The Newsroom, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Created and principally written by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, the show is an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes and it’s a good group of characters to follow along with as they deal with their own personal dramas amidst the newsroom. There's some really great writing, and since it deals with real news topics it can get emotional at times as well. There have been two seasons thus far, and HBO has confirmed that there will be a season three.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #434
by muffy
Conceived as an homage to his favorite author P.G. Wodehouse, Sebastian Faulks' Jeeves and the Wedding Bells * * * is the first new novel in nearly forty years to bring a welcomed return of Bertie Wooster and his unflappable valet Jeeves.
For almost 60 years, P.G. Wodehouse documented the lives of the inimitable Jeeves and Wooster, and built himself a devoted following. In the new episode, Bertie, nursing a bit of heartbreak over the recent engagement of one Georgiana Meadowes to someone not named Wooster, agrees to “help” his old friend Peregrine “Woody” Beeching, whose own romance is foundering. Almost immediately, things go awry and the simple plan quickly becomes complicated. Thanks to Bertie, the situation could only get more hilarious and convoluted.
"(This) P. G. poseur gets the plot right, but what about the all-important patter, the Bertie-isms and the priceless Bertie-Jeeves dialogue duets? But Faulksie nails it again, evoking rather than imitating, but doing so in perfect pitch." It proves that the Wodehouse estate chose well in authorizing Faulk to pen the first new Jeeves and Wooster novel since 1974.
A good excuse to revisit the Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of the original series, and to introduce a whole new generation to some of the finest British television comedies.
* * * = 3 starred reviews
Blog Post
Marcia Wallace, a.k.a. the voice of The Simpsons' Edna Krabappel, has died
by sernabad
Marcia Wallace, actress in stage, screen, and TV, and most recently the voice of 4th grade teacher, Edna Krabappel, on The Simpsons, died October 25th.
Ms. Wallace's acting gifts were apparent in high school, after which she won a full-ride scholarship to the now-defunct Parsons College in Iowa. From there, she moved to New York, performing in night clubs, on Off-Broadway, and appearing dozens of times on The Merv Griffin Show.
In 1972, after Ms. Wallace had moved to California, TV producer, Grant Tinker created a role for her on the sitcom, The Bob Newhart Show. She played the sharp-tongued receptionist, Carol Kester.
In 1990, she began her most notable career as the voice of Edna Krabappel on The Simpsons, which won her an Emmy in 1992. She charmed audiences with that role until her recent bad health caused the producers to decide to 'retire' Ms. Krabappel forever.
In 2008, Ms. Wallace was in the movie, Tru Loved, in which she played a high school drama teacher who helps students start a Gay Straight Alliance Club.
In 2007, The Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, awarded Ms. Wallace their Gilda Radner Courage Award for her tireless efforts educating American men and women on the importance of early detection of breast cancer, which she herself successfully beat for more than twenty years.
Ms. Wallace, who died of complications from pneumonia, was a week shy of her 71st birthday.
Blog Post
Call the Midwife Season 1 & 2
by erin
The winds are blowing colder, so as you're tucking in for winter and looking for new entertainment, take a look at the spectacular and riveting BBC/PBS production, Call the Widwife. The series, set in east London in the 1950s, is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. Catch up with Seasons 1 & 2 this winter and you will be prepared for Season 3 when it airs on PBS in spring 2014.
The story follows new midwife Jenny Lee and the work of the midwives and the Sisters of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent that is part of an Anglican religious order. The women deal with the medical problems in the impoverished Poplar district of East London. Each episode includes the fascinating, sad, tragic, shocking, gritty and heartwarming stories of the pregnancies, births and challenges of the new mothers and their caretakers. As the series progresses, the friendships and relationships that develop between the midwives and the nuns pulls the viewer in as much as the complex stories of their patients. From Jenny’s culture shock upon arrival to London’s East End to shy, insecure Chummy and the glamorous Trixie, the midwives develop a closeness with the complex Sisters of Nonnatus House.
Blog Post
2013 Primetime Emmy winners announced
by sernabad
The 2013 Primetime Emmy winners were announced in a three-hour, star-studded extravaganza.
The Emmys, hosted by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, are the television equivalent of the silver screen's Oscars. The Emmys are a bit different than the Oscars in that there are several award ceremonies throughout the year. The Primetime and the Daytime Emmys are the most popular.
Some of the big winners are:
Claire Danes, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for her role as Carrie Mathison, a brilliant volatile CIA agent who battles modern day terrorism in the series, Homeland.
Chelsea, MI resident, Jeff Daniels got the nod for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of acid-tongued news anchor, Will McAvoy in The Newsroom.
Breaking Bad captured Outstanding Drama Series. What's not to love (and fear) about a chemistry teacher whose diagnosis of terminal cancer inspires him to go on a crime spree to build up resources to take care of his family when he's gone?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the new Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Veep. Her character, Vice President Selina Meyer, has a lot to juggle -- political land mines, a challenging relationship with the President, and a stressful personal life.
One of the big winners of the evening was the HBO movie, Behind the Candelabra, based on the tell-all book by the same name, written by Liberace's longtime lover Scott Thorson. Michael Douglas walked away with the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. Steven Soderbergh picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, and the film itself was named Outstanding Miniseries or Movie.
For a complete list of the Primetime Emmy winners, click here.
Blog Post
TV Spotlight: Fringe
by manz
Fringe gets recommended to fans of science fiction, police procedural dramas, and The X-Files. At first I ignored the recommendations due to the fact that the main actors were also main actors in Dawson’s Creek (Pacey), Lord of the Rings (Denethor), and The Wire (Daniels) and my brain couldn't handle it. Or the comparisons to The X-Files, which I love. Once I got past all that I was deep into the series and couldn’t stop!
Set in Boston, the show follows members of the FBI’s “Fringe Division” who, under the supervision of Homeland Security, investigate unexplained events using “fringe” science and experimentation that usually leads back to the fact that there are parallel universes and many dire consequences to the science behind their possible destruction. The show focuses on agent Olivia Dunham, former psychiatric hospital resident/scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, and Walter’s genius son Peter Bishop.
The early seasons of Fringe were mystery-of-the-week style, while later seasons focused more on the overall mythology that continues through the final 5th season. It’s fun to watch the relationships among the main characters as they evolve—Everything from the father/son relationship between Walter and Peter to Walter’s obsession with licorice and all things sweet. The show is intense and addicting, and you will see things in a different light while watching, because after all there are two of everything.
Blog Post
The X-Files turns 20!
by manz
This year marks the 20th anniversary of a cult favorite, ">The X-Files. Can you believe it?! In the fall of 1993 TV viewers were introduced to FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and Sci-Fi television was forever changed.
Scully is assigned to work with Mulder on the X-Files, which works on unsolvable cases involving unexplained phenomena. Scully is sent to partner up with Mulder and use her medical and scientific background to keep “Spooky” Mulder’s conspiracy theories in check. His sister was abducted when they were children, and his belief in extraterrestrial life and her abduction haunts Mulder as he obsessively works to find answers to what happened to her, while also trying to solve day-to-day unexplained events. Scully gets more than she bargained for once she too has trouble explaining what she and Mulder uncover while working X-Files cases.
Hideous beasts? Check. Aliens? Check. Shape shifters? Check. Government conspiracy? Check. One of the biggest will-they-won’t-they questions in TV history? Check.
">The X-Files featured the typical “monster of the week” episodes, as well as an overall mythology of a larger conspiracy that spanned the entire run of the show and was woven into many episodes. The show aired for nine seasons for 202 episodes, and eventually two X-Files films were released as well, in 1998 and 2008.
Last weekend some of the cast, writers, producers, and the creator reunited at the San Diego Comic-Con, and discussed favorite episodes, monsters, and the future of Mulder and Scully at a 20th anniversary panel. Their discussion begs the question: Will there be a 3rd film?!