THE TKTV NEWSLETTER
Season 2, Episode 14 aired April 5, 1999

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CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. Letters from the viewing audience
3. Kim's Commercial Comments
4. Don't miss
5. Favorite quotes of the week
6. Buffy vs. Felicity
     -by guest writer Allan Jenoff
7. A totally unrelated link

1. Intro

Ah well, Easter and Passover have come and gone. I hope everyone had very happy holidays, no matter what you celebrated. Or if you celebrated nothing. I had a wide variety of friends who celebrated one, the other, both, and neither. I ate lots of eggs.

I am proud, today, to introduce a brand new guest writer. Allan Jenoff is no stranger to writing about TV. In fact, he runs his own personal site, full of well-written reviews of some of your favorite shows, as well as movies. It's called Peripheral Visions, and you can find it at http://www.interlog.com/~jenoff/ . TKTV is very lucky to have his contribution, and we hope he'll write for us more in the future.

Did I mention that you need to watch "Sports Night?" It's the best thing on television.

Does anyone miss TV Ramblings? I haven't had as much to ramble about lately, and I'm not sure that they really made much sense anyway. I suppose I could just stick the occassional ramble in the intro. I need feedback here, folks.

I hope everyone remembered to spring forward their clocks this weekend. There's nothing quite as bad as being the only person to stroll into your office an hour late on Monday. I'd love to hear good stories of people who got screwed up by the time change this weekend.

Enjoy your first newsletter in Daylight Savings Time!

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2. Letters from the viewing audience

From Sam:
Regarding Futurama.... I love the premise; I hate the jokes. My friend described it as "unwatchable." I have some faith that it will improve. I saw the pilot of Family Guy, and it was the best damn thing I've seen in a while. Are all these animated Fox shows successfull? Even the PJ's?

Note from TK: They're doing pretty well. "The PJs" has been getting much better as far as I'm concerned, although I'm not really sure how the actual ratings are doing. "Family Guy" hasn't been getting great reviews, although I really enjoyed the preview episode after the Superbowl... particularly the baby.
From Rob:
So, being an unemployed slob type, I've been watching the tube a bit. Okay, so I watched tonight. That's a lot for me. I have a couple of responses in general.

I really like the fact that Sports Night has no laugh track, or scoring, or any of that. It's a sin to admit, as a sound designer, but I think it makes the producers actually rely on putting out a good product. I don't like to be told when to laugh.

I also liked the fact that, while I had no idea in the world who Isaac was, I understood the tension around his return, and worry about his late arrival. They really built it up well.

NYPD Blue feels different. I really liked Jimmy Smits in it two or three years ago, when I last watched. Partly because he came along and did something everyone doubted to be possible; he replaced a man in a very specific role, and did it better than ever. It's often so hard, when a replacement comes into a show on Broadway - they can rarely pull off the job. But David Caruso's arrogance about his own abilities made Jimmy Smits look even better than he would have originally. So now, Ricky Schroeder is trying to do the same thing... He might succeed, I can't tell. It's certainly more of an ensemble show now than when the Smits/Caruso change occurred. And I think he may be a good actor... although there was a bit much made of the crying scenes tonight...

One thing though. Well, two, actually - does he look falsely aged to anyone else? I mean, his face has an intensely boyish quality, and yet he has the skin of a hard lived 40 year old - really wrinkled, lots of grey and green undercolors, big old bags under the eyes. Yet, when we saw him naked at the end of the episode (gratuitous, both he and the girlfriend, but hey, spectacle sells...), he had the body of a twenty-four year old. So did he do lots of really nasty drugs over the past ten years, or is his makeup a bit heavy handed? And the second hangup is the accent - it's a bit more than I hear anywhere, and I'm a New Yorker by genetics.
From Lisa:
De Niro's hair is for his role as Fearless Leader in the "Boris & Natasha" movie.

Note from TK: Wow! That makes so much sense. That hair-cut is perfect when you think of it in context. Thanks, Lisa!
From Shane:
Ugggh! I will have you know that I have been scrambling around my little email boxes thinking that somehow I could have deleted my current copy of the TKTV Newsletter. I was panicked, I was distressed... and my server never delivers my really cool mail the same day it is sent, forcing me into some sort of parallel universe.

Futurama was funny. Somehow I really ID with the robot, Bender. And I was completely satified with Sports Night. I probably should have stayed in and watched NYPD Blue but instead I had to go out.

Note from TK: No worries. NYPD Blue was a rerun. Sorry again last week's newsletter was late!
From Vanessa:
OK, speaking of phone commercials, here's another strikingly annoying one. What is up with the 1-800-Collect crap? I mean, AL BUNDY & Friends???? Who really wants to see forty-year-old men talk about calling collect, not to mention the lame jokes. I just can't stand these. So for all you who share this opinion, I feel your pain.
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. Kim's Commercial Comments

Wow. What a week! It seems like all I have done is work, work, work. And to make matters worse, there are way more re-runs than first-runs in prime time lately. I can't even look forward to some good television when I finally get home. On the other hand, I have now seen two episodes of Matt G's "Futurama." It's looking like a healthy addition to Fox's all-animated Tuesdays. You guys should all check it out.

Thankfully, advertisers never stop putting out new commercials. This week's picks are for those of you over age 21!

What spot has me laughing? Michelob: Surprise Party

A young wife comes through the front door carrying a shopping bag. On a table just inside the door she finds a note from her husband: "Honey, grab a couple of beers and meet me in the living room."

She reads the note carefully and considers what she'll do. She looks at her bag, then back at the note. We are allowed to peek inside her bag and see she has something lacy and pink inside. A coy smile crosses her face... she's made up her mind.

The next thing we see is the wife, scantily clad in her new pink lingerie, opening the refrigerator door and taking out a couple of beers. She walks into the living room, ready for some good, married fun.

She turns on the light and the newly-visible crowd yells, "Surprise!"

An older man sitting in a chair very near to her says, "Hello honey."

"Hi Daddy."

The shot cuts from her dad's face looking quite odd (perhaps a bit surprised by his little girl), to her squirming and obviously trying to hide a little, to her husband who simultaneously looks afraid (he is the one who got her into this) and aroused (she is wearing practically nothing).

What spot has me cringing? Trident Advantage

This spot is set in what appears to be a regular college classroom. The professor announces that today we will talk about MOLARS! The class goes wild. Cheers echo through the room. It looks like a rock concert. And tomorrow we'll talk about GUMS!

Okay, so I don't know if I have the particulars right on the parts of the mouth/teeth. But what I do know is the commercial drives me batty. I know I seem to repeat myself when it comes to commentary on the spots that make me cringe. But how many different ways can you say something is incredibly annoying? This is just one of those that I can do without.

Until next week...

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4. Don't miss

Finally less reruns coming up.... For details and lots more fun TV to look forward to, see
http://www.tktv.net/index.html?/upcoming.html

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5. Favorite Quotes of the Week

From "Dilbert"
"Do you think the guy who invented the mousepad started with the name? What's a mousepad?" -Dilbert
"Feminine protection for mice." -Wally

From "Sports Night"
"My girlfriend's ex-husband was in her office on a Saturday, and I'm fine." -Dan
"Good." -Casey
"And I'm not saying 'I'm fine' in that dramatic way that's obviously meant to indicate that I'm not fine. That's not what I meant when I said 'I'm fine.'" -Dan
"What did you mean?" -Casey
"I meant I'm fine." -Dan
"Okay." -Casey
"I am." -Dan
"Excellent." -Casey
"Look at me." -Dan
"I am." -Casey
"Don't I look fine?" -Dan
"You look good." -Casey
"I do." -Dan
"You're a good looking man, Danny." -Casey
"Moreover, my girlfriend's in her office talking to her ex-husband, it's all happening on a Saturday, and guess what?" -Dan
"You're fine?" -Casey
"I'm fine." -Dan

From "Jesse"
"How can they call this Miss Universe? There are no other planets represented here." -Linda

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6. Buffy vs. Felicity by Allan Jenoff

I watch Felicity for the same reason I watch a train wreck. I know I shouldn't, I know I'm displaying bad taste, I know it's vulgar, but I just can't turn away. I know that something horrible is about to happen and even though I don't want to see it, I have to. I guess it's the same thing that impelled so many of us to watch that low speed car chase. Every week Felicity takes a moderately interesting idea and some actually intriguing characters and manages just that perfect combination of mundane writing and mediocre acting to turn it into a disaster. There are bodies all over the place.

I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the same reason I reread Lord of the Rings every year or so. It's an old story and it can only have one ending, but it is so good. Every week Buffy takes a hackneyed storyline and shopworn ideas and manages just that perfect combination of brilliant writing and intriguing characterization to turn it into an hour of excellent television.

Now both these shows are about teenagers, Buffy is set in a high school and Felicity in a university. Both focus on the problems that teenagers normally face: getting along with parents, dealing with friends, dealing with romantic/sexual relationships. Buffy adds a layer of fantasy to this while Felicity strives for realism.

I'm old enough not to want to associate with teenagers and young enough to remember what it was like to be one. When I watch these shows I ask myself whether my school days were like that. When I look at Felicity I see young people who are obsessed with themselves, perceive their romantic relationships as the most important thing in the world, and are inarticulate whenever it comes time to say something important. When I look at Buffy, I see young people who are remarkably articulate and witty and concern themselves with the problems of the world often putting aside their own romantic concerns in order to deal with them.

There's no question that my life was much closer to that depicted in Felicity than Buffy. And, unless you led a very strange childhood, so was yours. But thinking back to those years, one question comes to mind. Who would want to relive them? Not me.

And that's the reason Felicity is a disaster (although it might appeal to those who are too young to have lived through the tragedy of the post puberty years) and Buffy is a success. Felicity accurately portrays young adults. And no one in his right mind wants to be around those people. They are boring. They don't know what they want and they spend endless hours anguishing over it. The most insignificant things are important to them. Whether it's writing an essay or having sex, who cares?

Buffy, on the other hand, gives me the kind of teen years I wish I'd had. Yes, they have some angst. But it's a lot better than what I remember. Xander claims to be a geek, but he's a geek who made the swim team. He's a geek who dated the campus queen. And computer geek Willow dates Oz (also a geek but in a band so he's definitely cool). The campus queen is probably the least happy person in this ensemble. And these teens are so witty, so articulate. They constantly make puns and references to great books. At least three of them aced their SATs. And they never seem to go to class. Xander's parents are always absent. Willow's don't notice anything she does. Oz's seem equally uninterested. And Joyce has now accepted her daughter being a slayer.

Buffy and her friends lead the perfect teen life. Their parents don't bug them, they can skip class at will, and they have exciting secret lives. Felicity and her friends lead the real life of school. They cram for exams, their parents keep causing them problems, and the most exciting thing in their lives is going for a latte. Now, there's a lot to be said for verisimilitude; but if I'm going to invest an hour a week in watching something, it ought to be something I haven't already lived through. Something I might like to live through. Buffy gives me that, Felicity doesn't.

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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7. A totally unrelated link

A little out of season, but still cute.

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See how easter eggs are made: http://www.tktv.net/index.html?/archives/easter.html
For viewers over 18 only.