THE TKTV NEWSLETTER
Season 1, Episode 2 aired October 27, 1998

CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. Responses to Episode 1
3. New stuff on TKTV
4. Has television made our imaginations lazy?
     -by guest writer Daphne Matalene
5. TKTV's favorite TV ad
6. Don't miss
7. TKTV's favorite new sitcoms
8. TKTV's totally unrelated link


1. Intro

I think there is some terrible disease going around New York. My entire office was out sick last week, even poor Dave who just back from his honeymoon (congratulations, Dave!). I, myself, came down with the king of all colds. I got to relive my childhood while hacking up a lung, suffering from a fever, and watching lots and lots of television. Television through feverish eyes is different than normal television. You forget to analyze and criticize and instead you just sit there like the overheated vegetable that you are and giggle at the jokes.

I'm looking forward to the onslaught of the Halloween specials. They're usually better than the Christmas specials because there aren't any family-based redeeming factors. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because really the only point is to have fun (Fourth of July and New Year's are also favorites for the same reason). You're not supposed to get together with family, or reflect upon your own good fortune, or even give presents. You're just supposed to dress up in a silly costume and eat candy. This year I'm going to be twelve years old for Halloween, which means I get to eat candy until I'm sick.

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2. Responses to Episode 1

Okay, so two people let me know that they do, indeed, have panic buttons for their cars. I stand corrected. I must have missed this trend somewhere along the line. Can I have a panic button for my life now please?

My mom told me Episode 1 was too long. She has also told me all my life not to watch so much TV. Now you know why this episode is even longer than the first. Sorry, Mom!

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3. New stuff on TKTV

The biggest news is that a wonderful woman named Dana Hagerty has joined TKTV with her incredible "Ally McBeal" fan site. Even if you don't watch the show you should check this out. It's just a testament to great fan sites everywhere. She updates it on an almost daily basis, and has episode information, magazine appearances, reviews, music info, guest stars, her own updates newsletter, links, previews, and so much more. So many people, when they heard I was starting TKTV, told me I absolutely HAD to check out her site, and I'm so glad I did. TKTV is proud to welcome Dana and her "Ally McBeal" site to the small but growing family.
http://allymcbeal.tktv.net

TKTV has recently added a funstuff page as well. We have a great spoof on the Fall TV line-up, and the "Hardest Sitcom Trivia Quiz" by Alan Flett.
http://www.tktv.net/funstuff/

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4. Has television made our imaginations lazy? by Daphne Matalene

Due to circumstances quite beyond my control, I was forced to stop watching the fourth and final game of the World Series when the Yankees were leading by one and Andy Pettite had one out in the bottom of the sixth. I raced home and found the game on AM radio; the seventh inning stretch was nearly over. Though I am a newspaper junkie and planned to read every word of the sports section the following morning, there was no way I could wait until then to find out the outcome of the game.

So I sat in bed, glued to my digital alarm clock, going crazy because I couldn't SEE any of the action. I turned out the lights and tried vainly to conjure up a mental picture of the Yankee relievers loading the bases in the eighth, cursing the cable man for missing my service appointment. And then it occurred to me that my father -- a lifelong Yankee fan -- learned to love baseball just exactly the same way. Before there was television, just hearing "... the throw to first base from Williams... he's out! The New York Yankees have swept the 1998 World Series! Mariano Rivera drops to his knees, the Yankees jubilantly tackle him...." would be enough for him to conjure up the picture that appeared on the front page of Thursday's Times.

The question is: has television made our imaginations lazy?

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5. TKTV's favorite TV ad: Mazda Protege

Have you seen this new Mazda Protege ad? It almost seems like it should be a Volkswagen ad, but even Volkswagen hasn't been this funky:
"Gina was a driving girl with geographic memory,
Karen dumped her boyfriend Jim, forget that slacker misery,
Charlie works in cyberspace, backslash dot com all day long,
Pamela, she couldn't sing, but kept a beat and kept it strong."
A change from all your high maintenance relationships.
Get in. Be moved.
It's this girl driving around in her Protege picking up friends who live in buildings made out of blocks, and the perspective is always changing, and the building blocks that make up the town are falling apart.... Okay, I'm describing this poorly, but if you've seen the ad you'll know what I'm talking about. It's amazing. Not only is it impressively filmed, but just the underlying concept of the whole thing... well, I just want to meet the guy who thought this one up. I hope this becomes a full-blown campaign, I can't wait to see more.

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6. Don't miss

Lots of Halloween specials, like favorites from "The Simpsons," a Wes Craven movie on ABC, and of course, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

Also:
For details and lots more fun TV to look forward to, see
http://www.tktv.net/upcoming.html

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7. TKTV's favorite new sitcoms

If you're looking for funny new TV, but you don't know what to watch, here are my highest recommendations, in order.
  1. "Sports Night" http://sportsnight.tktv.net
    Tuesdays at 9:30 on ABC

    Well, "TV Guide" is calling this a dramedy, and I think that label makes sense, but since it's half an hour long, and it's hilarious, I'm fitting it under the category of "sitcom" for the purposes of this article. This is by far one of the very best new shows on television, no matter what category you put it into. It's lightening-fast, well-written, well-acted, and even well-filmed, which is not something I would say about any other sitcom. The characters are sympathetic without being pathetic, and the situations are very realistic. It's also nice to see Robert Guillaume (Benson) back on TV. Even though his role is one of the smaller, he keeps the same wry wit that made him a sitcom hero of the eighties.

  2. "Will and Grace" http://willandgrace.tktv.net
    Mondays at 9:30 on NBC

    "Will and Grace" was recently written up in "Entertainment Weekly," and the author of the article marveled at how no one was freaking out over the fact that Will, one of the main characters, is gay. I think it's because Will and Grace together are a perfect couple. So they don't have sex. Big deal. In every other way they're like a second "Mad About You." James Burrows is my sitcom hero, directing both "Will and Grace" and "Conrad Bloom" this season. He can create comical situations without making them stupid. What I particularly love is that whenever there is a perfect setup line in this show, which comes out sounding plastic and stupid on most other sitcoms, the character almost seems to know that the setup for the funny line was just a little too perfect, and sort of winces as they say it, so that you end up laughing at the setup instead of the stupid line. I'm not sure that I said that very well, but perhaps you get the point anyway.

  3. "Conrad Bloom" http://conradbloom.tktv.net
    Mondays at 8:30 on NBC

    I really do like Mark Feuerstein. He's the perfect actor for the too-good-to-be-true New York advertising executive named Conrad Bloom. Ever Carradine is also great as his bouncy sister. The wonderful James Burrows, once again, is directing. However, what blows all of these things out of the water is Linda Lavin, who plays Conrad's recently widowed mother. The scenes between her and Conrad are just perfect, and she delivers her lines with a steel precision that is too often missing in today's sitcoms. Let me buy a drink for whoever convinced her to come back to television.

  4. "Jesse" http://jesse.tktv.net
    Thursdays at 8:30 on NBC

    "Jesse" just got totally harshed upon by "Entertainment Weekly." The strongest criticism in the article, which I must say I agree with, is that the supporting cast is lousy. Okay, I wouldn't say they're lousy, but they're not so great. However, Christina Applegate has totally come into her own. She plays a very realistic single mother caught between her family responsibilities and the fact that she's young and wants to have a life of her own. Okay, so her arms are maybe a little too rip for the part, but otherwise she's really great. If you turn on the TV looking for Kelly Bundy, you'll forget what you were looking for in a matter of moments. Now if I could just figure out why her next door neighbor Diego is the perfect man, everything would make sense.

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8. TKTV's totally unrelated link

http://www.yankees.com
Congratulations to the Yankees! World Champions for the second time in three years. And this time I didn't have to watch the winning game from a hospital bed....

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