THE TKTV NEWSLETTER
Season 2, Episode 5 aired February 1, 1999

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CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. Letters from the viewing audience
3. TV Ramblings
4. Don't miss
5. Julia forgives Ned on Party of Five
     -by guest writer Jessica Vazquez
6. Favorite quotes of the week
7. A totally unrelated link

1. Intro

Ah well, the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl. Again. That's about all I have to say about that. Anyone have any good Super Bowl party stories?

Everyone feel free to tell Rebecca how much they miss her column this week. She was unable to find the time to write it. We'll give her copious lashings with a wet noodle and she'll be back next week.

I'm going to see the Broadway show "Fosse" this week. I'm so excited. I just read an incredible review of the show in "Entertainment Weekly." I got these tickets before the show even opened in January, and I'm so glad I did, because everything I've heard about it since then has been positive. For those of you who don't know, Bob Fosse was like the most incredible choreographer to ever grace a Broadway stage. He more or less defined what is now considered the Broadway style. I hear that the show doesn't have much of a plot, but for what it is, which is basically a showcase of some of Bob Fosse's greatest work, it's fabulous. I can't wait. It's good to get out of the house and away from the TV screen sometimes.

I'm looking forward to the TV Guide Awards tonight, although you gotta wonder why they scheduled them a scant week after the Golden Globes. Seems like a bit of overkill. Should be nice and fluffy, and at least it's TV only this time. I want to see Christina Applegate actually win. For more info on these awards, see the TKTV page.

Sad sad news. The lovely show "Cupid" has been cancelled by ABC. There is a big online movement to save it. If you've enjoyed the show, or even if you haven't, check out TKTV's page to help save the show. Believe me, it's worth it.

Okay, so this intro is completely disjointed, but I guess that just sort of reflects how I'm feeling these days. In any case, enjoy the newsletter. I promise I'll be more put together next week.

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2. Letters from the viewing audience

From Caralyn:
I have just a few thoughts on the Golden Globes for the class. I wrote before how annoyed I was with some of the Globe noms, and unfortunately, my dismay proved all-too-justified. To concur with TK--- Keri beats Kim.... um, hel-lo? I am truly at a loss. However, as a whole I thought the show was very good (except for that 1/2 hour I missed while watching "That 70's Show" -- sorry, Kelso & Jackie did it. I couldn't miss THAT). Anyway, I thought that the presenters were all pretty cool, i.e., no mass projection of personal views on world affairs, and a few winners really stood out. As nauseatingly enviable as the Calvin-clad luckyshitwhogottosleepwithBenAffleck&BradPitt Gwyneth Paltrow can be, I thought that her acceptance speech was truly the most gracious of the night. Hell, anyone who can make Tom Hanks misty has GOT to be sincere. I also thought that Jenna Elfman hopping down to the stage to D&G's theme song was really cool, too.

In response to Rebecca's "Keeping the Pace", I must agree that while a crush on a 16-year old may be a bit impractical/illegal for a 20+ year-old, who can blame anyone for wanting Pacey? Tall, yet not gigantic. Sensitive, yet not wimpy. Experienced, yet naive enough to keep securely wrapped around your finger. Sounds good to me.
From Rachel:
Nice comment on the Camryn speech. I am right there with you babe, enough already! We watched Scully's big moment, taped the Globes. My fashion comment would have to be Kelly Williams. What the hell was that? A sari? Interesting.
From Amara:
Qu'est-ce que le with Jim Carrey winning Best Dramatic Actor. Were the members of the press sniffing something before they cast their votes?

Keri Russell's outfit was abominable. A halter top at the Golden Globes? I thought she was wearing a bathing suit at first until she got on the stage, and I realized she had a skirt on. Of course, my boyfriend and his testosterone-filled roommates thought she looked hot. As for her winning the award (although, keep in mind, I haven't watched a whole episode of Felicity), I thought Kim Delaney should have won. I watched her as Jenny on All My Children and cried for days when she was killed off. She was my favorite character on AMC, and I think that she has done an outstanding job on Blue.

Kudos to your point about Blue and Law & Order. I have watched L&O since its first season, and love its fast-moving script injected with a cop's smart-aleck sense of humor. When they tried to inject some personal plot lines a la Blue, I tuned out because those themes don't work with the show's original concept--Law and Order vs. Sex and Sex, but have reverted back to watching it every Wednesday. I think the guy who plays Lenny (whose name escapes me right now, but he's a famous Broadway actor) deserves a Best Actor award. And, I'm glad that they got rid of Carey Lowell (she annoyed me), but I am still a huge Claire Kincaid fan.
From Debbi:
Loved the Golden Globes and have some definite opinions about clothes and hair. What was that on Cameron Diaz's head?
Letters from the viewing audience are always welcome. Please email any opinions, questions, comments, or random thoughts to TK at tk@tktv.net with the subject of "letters." Letters may be edited for length or content.

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3. TV Ramblings

They couldn't possibly be tranquilizing the animals on "Providence," could they? I have never seen such calm animals in my life. The pilot had a cute sleepy yellow lab puppy. I have had many a yellow lab puppy, and except for when they're actually unconscious, they're almost constantly squirming. This last episode I watched there was a ferret and a bulldog calmly co-existing on a table. A ferret and bull-dog! They would both be freaking out in real life....

How long is Matt going to put up with Kelly's crap on "90210?" Argh! Her holier than thou attitude is really getting to me....

Wow! Sean Hayes, who plays the fabulous Jack on "Will and Grace," is all over the airwaves. Y'know that Budweiser commercial where a husband accompanies his wife to a department store, and is sitting around bored until he finds all the other husbands inside a circular rack of clothing watching sports on TV and drinking Budweiser? Well, Sean Hayes is that husband. How about the Geico Auto Insurance ad with the man with three heads, and the outside heads are trying to go hit on this gorgeous woman, but the middle head (the middle-man that Geico is trying to get rid of) refuses to go with them? All three heads belong to Sean Hayes. How about that famous Doritos ad where two men are in a laundromat trying to do cooler Doritos crunches, when a gorgeous woman walks in, puts the Doritos in the dryer, and has a Dorito shoot out of the dryer into her mouth as she does a flip and lands in a split? One of those two guys is Sean Hayes. His character on "Will and Grace" is so flamboyant that I never realized how non-descript he could be when he wanted. I'd love to see him featured in some different roles to see how versatile he really is. It's so hard to imagine him as anything other than Jack now....

"Fantasy Island" went out with a bang. In what I believe is the last episode of the show that will air, one of the storylines was about two dried-up old stars of a great cop TV show, and their fantasy about being big stars again. They end up starring in an episode of their old show, "Hard Squad," but without scripts or stunt doubles, and with real bullets in the guns. They employed camera angles and zooms reminiscent of "NYPD Blue" and type-written location statements on the screen like "Law and Order." The criminal that they were hunting was a Chinese gangster by the name of Lo Fat, and they made a fabulous casting choice with Dwight Shultz (best known as Mad Murdock on "The A-Team") as the informant, Greasy. The two heroes (with their heroine) are tied up in chairs, and there's a bomb about to go off, and they're busy declaring their love for her rather than strategizing a way to get out. As the show cuts to commercial, the tension builds, as there's only ten seconds left before the bomb goes off. When they come back from commercial, the bomb has 45 seconds to blow, and they spend at least three minutes arguing and strategizing while the bomb counts off the slowest seconds in history. All in all, it was really well done. As always, it's a shame to see a show start getting good when it's been cancelled.

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4. Don't miss

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

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5. Julia forgives Ned on Party of Five by Jessica Vazquez

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Dammit!!! Why can't they just get rid of this guy?! He's been a pain in the ass ever since he came on the show and I was hoping that finally he did something so egregious that it surpassed any kind of threshold for keeping him on. As far as I can tell he has no redeeming qualities. Every time I think that maybe he's a nice guy I find out that he's somehow off his rocker as he flies off the handle about some random thing that Julia's done. And when he hit her, well, that was the point of no return. Good grief, next to him even old-Griffin looks good.

Maybe they'll kill him off or something....

OK, not that I put that much emotional energy into TV shows or anything :), but it seems that Party O' has a real tendency to make Julia's boyfriends real jerks at first and then "fix" them later on. Griffin is a great example. I remember really disliking him when he came between Julia and Justin, and again when he gave in to temptation and cheated on her. However, he always maintained the kind of humanity that characterized POF characters. He was and is flawed, but at least it seemed to me that he was always honest about his love, meaning that you could always see that he loved Julia even as he was being an asshole.

Ned follows the same tradition, yet his flaws cross the threshold of redemption. His love is possessive and self-serving, and he obviously lashes out when he doesn't get what he wants. It's a psychological thing, and his family life apparently screwed him up pretty badly, but when all is said and done I can't stand it when people don't take responsibility for their own actions. That's what I see him doing. Nothing he does from now on will redeem him in my eyes, and I'd much rather see him chopped out of the show. Mmm, maybe a cameo now and then, I mean hey, I don't have anything against the actor. It would even be OK if Ned groveled every time he saw Julia, or maybe they could be friends, but she should never take him back as a boyfriend. She can't trust him, and she should know better. Then again, I'm still holding out for her and Griffin getting back together.

Anyway, I look forward to this week's show with some trepidation since to a certain degree I already know what's going to happen. I could be totally wrong in this rant, maybe the writers will do something to "fix" Ned, but I'm not holding my breath. I have a feeling Julia's just going to give in. Is it true to life? Maybe, probably, but I want her character to be smarter than that.

In other news, have you noticed the weird chemistry between Griffin and Claudia?

TKTV is always looking for new guest writers. Do you have an idea for an article? Write to TK at tk@tktv.net with the subject of "guestwriter."

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6. Favorite Quotes of the Week

From "Beverly Hills 90210"
"I'm beginning to feel like I wandered into an episode of 'Joanie loves Chachi.'" -Matt

From "Becker"
"Y'know? All right. I don't like rap music. Is that okay with you? Y'know, I don't like polka music either, but I like Polish sausage. I hate Chinese checkers, but I love french fries. I hate Belgian waffles, love German Shepards, can't stand English muffins. Here's a real puzzler: hate Danish cheese, love cheese danish." -Becker

From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
"Occassionally I'm callous and strange." -Willow

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7. A totally unrelated link

How can this be true?

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"When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country." -Elayne Boosler