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(08/24/22 12:00pm)
On Feb. 9, 1958, Steve Allen and the guests of his Sunday night variety series marched through the NBC studios with Dinah Shore over to the set of her own show, singing and dancing all the way. The group followed cameras around hallway corners while performing Allen’s “This Could Be The Start of Something Big.” The final product survives in video form, a wildly impressive technological feat for its decade.
(04/20/22 6:30pm)
“Bon Appetit!” Have those words ever been uttered more lovingly, tenderly, or warmly than by Julia Child as she signed off on an episode of The French Chef? It’s hard to say. Perhaps in France—by a maman to her bébé as she ladled some delicious concoction into a shallow bowl, or by a gourmet chef as he placed the finishing touches on the meal that would earn his Paris restaurant its third Michelin star. But in America? Not one other person can take so much credit for popularizing French cuisine and making it accessible to all as Child, who returned from France with the seminal 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
(04/11/22 11:52pm)
Hamster wheels. Yodeling. A gaggle of grandmothers. You never quite know what to expect in the Eurovision Song Contest, Europe’s annual competition in which roughly 40 countries send an artist to represent their nation with an original song. The contest, which started after World War II as an attempt to heal the continent with just seven countries, has grown into an annual celebration of music, fun, kitsch, and glamor. It’s launched the careers of ABBA, Celine Dion, and Måneskin. It’s created viral moments. It’s even been lovingly satirized by Will Ferrell.
(05/03/22 7:00pm)
Renée Fleming. Joyce DiDonato. Kelli O’Hara.
(03/29/22 2:52am)
“Oh!” is not a very good approximation of the sound that I made upon trying the guacamole at Café y Chocolate, but I can’t think of one that better captures my amazement and sheer joy at the salty, savory, green bowl of heaven that I picked at throughout the meal, often neglecting the rest of my food. The guac was unexpectedly tomato–heavy, which I found surprisingly delightful.
(03/21/22 3:00pm)
Musical films, colloquially known as “movie musicals,” are notoriously difficult to get right. Oftentimes the viscera of the moment is lost when an inherently live art form is translated to the screen. Movie musicals run the gamut from good, to bad, to ugly. The ugliest of these films reach some of the lowest lows in cinematic history—think the disturbing CGI of Cats or the gaudy disco of Xanadu. Sometimes what works on a stage just can’t be recaptured in films, as was the case for The Phantom of the Opera or Les Misérables.
(03/14/22 7:00pm)
I’m absolutely plotzing.
(04/14/22 4:00pm)
“I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry, I tried.”
(02/21/22 4:00pm)
When Mary Tyler Moore died in January of 2017, I was completely oblivious to the fact that the world had just lost a star, someone who had charmed American households over the CBS airwaves for decades. That's because I wasn’t aware of her groundbreaking, aptly–named television program, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The show is a sitcom from the 1970s about a young woman, Mary Richards, who breaks off her engagement and moves to Minneapolis to start a career. She balances her time between the newsroom of a local television station, where she serendipitously lands a job as an associate producer, and her modest, but glamorous studio apartment.
(12/11/20 2:00am)
Recently, a TikTok of Catherine O’Hara recreating an iconic scene from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York has been going viral. It features a clip from this summer's virtual Ferris Bueller’s Day Off reunion, as featured on Josh Gad's John Hughes tribute.
(12/11/20 1:00am)
In 1953, Samuel Taylor wrote the play Sabrina Fair. The play's title is in reference to John Milton’s masque Comus. In ’54 it was made into a film by director Billy Wilder, and then remade by Sydney Pollack in ’95. Looking at the original script of the play and watching the two movies, it is remarkable how the dialogue required only a few changes. Aside from minor pop culture references, much of the remake appears to be identical to the original film. Many films from the past don’t hold up against today’s scrutiny, but the plot of Sabrina is enduring and perennially impactful. Nonetheless, when looking deeper at the storylines, the unique setting of each remake allows for more refined storytelling.
(12/06/20 3:54pm)
The Britannia Awards have been presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Los Angeles each year since 1989. Since then, the ceremony has served to bridge the sometimes disparate film worlds of Britain and Hollywood. The group of honorees over the past 30 years is a select bunch of talented figures in the television and film industries. The addition of the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy in 2010 allowed for new opportunities to highlight the best and brightest within the comedic realm. It also allowed for some excellent acceptance speeches.
(12/03/20 12:37am)
I have probably listened to the vocal group Voctave’s “Prince of Egypt Medley” about once a day since its release. It’s brilliantly arranged, masterfully performed, and extremely nostalgic for someone like me, who grew up watching The Prince of Egypt (TPOE) and listening to its soundtrack.
(12/03/20 12:45am)
Have you ever been obsessed with a television show—perhaps beyond the normal limits of what is acceptable? Have you driven your family and friends insane with constant chatter about your love of a character, a storyline, or an episode? I have. I have a long history of becoming obnoxiously emotionally invested in whatever show I’m watching. Picture the most annoying fan of The Office turned up to eleven, or the most pretentious movie snob you know. In the throes of a new show, I can become all of this and worse.
(12/03/20 12:29am)
“At least it’s not sourdough starter,” is what Ellie Hoffman (C' 21) and Catherine de Luna (C’ 20) have to say about their podcast—a hobby that greatly contrasts other projects people have picked up in quarantine. They’re being humble.
(11/19/20 10:35pm)
I’ve always loved reading stories and watching media that depicts children waking up early Christmas morning and running to open presents. The joy and innocence of awakening with such excitement is precious and fleeting. Growing up in a Jewish household, I never experienced the mad dash to the tree each holiday season. But every year, about one month earlier, I had something similar: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
(11/19/20 10:45pm)
When legendary comedian, writer, actor, director, and all–around mensch Carl Reiner died this past summer, most of his legacy was far too antiquated for many to comprehend. Most of our generation is aware of him through his son Rob’s many famous films or cameos in modern shows as a legend from the past. We probably haven’t been thinking about how impressed we are with his writing for Sid Caesar, or his 2000 year–old man routine with Mel Brooks. But what we’ve been missing out on the most is certainly The Dick Van Dyke Show. Reiner created, wrote, produced, and performed in this masterpiece that defined the sitcom genre in the ‘60s.
(11/08/20 1:15am)
The sad clown is a famous motif based in reality. Many comedians have cited developing a sharp sense of humor as a coping mechanism at a young age, and others have acknowledged struggles with mental health that were a sharp dichotomy to their laughter–filled public personas. Ultimately, the imperfect private lives of comedians have been fodder for the representation of a cruel irony in film for years.
(11/17/20 12:14am)
If Rian Johnson’s 2019 film Knives Out proved anything, it was that the murder mystery is a genre that isn’t going away anytime soon. The film drew a stacked cast, large audiences, and critically acclaim. To the surprise of mystery fans, Knives Out was more successful than Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express from 2017. Its cast was similarly impressive and its viewership was high, yet it wasn’t as well received. Die–hard fans of Christie’s work and its many adaptations found it unimpressive in comparison to the 1974 film starring Albert Finney, and it generally wasn’t considered the dramatic success that many had expected.
(11/15/20 5:02am)
“The United Federation of Planets” is an organization within the Star Trek franchise that bound together over 150 planets and their species by the year 2373. Its title is rightfully filled with grandeur—throughout the various television series within the franchise, the Federation is shown to lead with diplomacy, morality, and in the nature of the preservation of life throughout the galaxy.