THE TKTV NEWSLETTER
Season 3, Episode 4 aired January 24, 2000

CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. Letters from the viewing audience
3. Kim's Commercial Comments
4. Don't miss
5. TV Trivia
6. Jen's Pick of the Season
7. Favorite Quotes of the Week
8. A totally unrelated link

1. Intro

Another classmate spotting! Fellow Yalie Obi Ndefo was an alien "protector" on last week's episode of "Star Trek: Voyager." That means he has now been Bessie's black boyfriend on "Dawson's Creek," a singles' joint bartender that got possessed by a burrowing demon on "Angel," and an alien caught in a different time-space continuum on "Star Trek: Voyager." That's a pretty neat resume when you put it all together.

So, who watched the Golden Globe Awards last night? I've always liked the Golden Globes. They're prestigious awards for both TV and Movies, yet they don't take themselves too seriously. Although, this year, perhaps the producers of the show could have taken things a little more seriously so that Shirley MacLaine's four day tribute to Barbra Streisand could have gotten started on time instead of making her vamp while they figured out the teleprompter.

And now, onto the TKTV Golden Globe awards.

Worst dress award is tied this year, between Courtney Love and Liza Huber. Courtney looked like she found her dress in the trash after a fire, and I swear one nipple actually popped out in one of the shots of her sitting down and clapping. Liza Huber, however, could not have chosen a worse dress to wear as this year's Miss Golden Globe. As the one person always on stage throughout the entire show, I think the one requirement for her dress was not to grab attention away from the stars. Instead, she wore a creme de menthe prom gown that made my friend Mike actually scream every time she glided into our line of sight.

Worst trend award goes to exposed breasts. Why is it that some people seem to be confusing formal with risque? Courtney Love was, of course, the worst offender, but Minnie Driver would have looked much better if her dress hadn't been so ridiculously low-cut, and Keri Russell was really only showing off her well-muscled chest in that pink number she was wearing. I also saw a few too many sides of breasts during the arrival procession. Even Hilary Swank could have had her dress start to become see-through at least below her butt. Everyone watching from my kitchen could tell that she was wearing a thong.

Worst hair award goes to Danny Devito. I can understand if you want to dye your hair so that people can't tell that it's going white. When I get visible white hairs, I'll probably do the same thing. But Danny, did you have to dye your hair that strange reddish-brown? Wouldn't a standard dark-brown have sufficed? Honorary mention has to go to Gwyneth Paltrow, who looked like she had long brown sticks on her head. Some year I would love it if Gwyneth's hair looked at all natural... a natural color, a natural texture, anything!

Best combo award definitely goes to Claudia Schiffer and Seth Green. I knew he was short, and I knew she was tall, but I really had no idea how much until I saw them together.

Most random combo award goes to Jennifer Love Hewitt and L.L. Cool J., although they did manage to work together fairly well. Their award presentation, however, was another example of how the relaxed Golden Globe producers could have been a little more on the ball. Why did they not know that the person who won their award wasn't present? Keri Russell did a smooth "we accept it on their behalf" for her missing awardee, but Hewitt and Cool J. just stood there like idiots lookin' around the audience.

Most edible looking dress award goes to Halle Berry, who I swear was wearing a strawberry shortcake. And, um, Halle, what is womanship anyway?

Most endearing award definitely goes to Pedro Almodovar, who muddled along in his heavily accented English, apologizing all the way, and not getting off the stage when the producers flashed "Wrap up" at him because he said he couldn't understand it.

Best quote award goes to Ray Romano, with an honorary mention to Jim Carrey:

Ray Romano: "I feel like this is a dream. And I apologize for how I dressed some of you."

Jim Carrey: "I am the establishment I once rejected. Now I know what it's like to produce 'Frasier.'"

Last but not least, I just have to say that no one I wanted to win, won. "The West Wing," with quite a few nominations, didn't win a thing, the fabulous Felicity Huffman ("Sports Night") was robbed of a best actress award, and "Will & Grace" was totally denied, even though it's one of the most brilliant comedies on TV. *sigh*

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2. Letters from the viewing audience

From Alice:

We watched The Sopranos' first show of the season. After all, we got HBO just to see it. Too many swear words, too many characters in and out without a clear relationship to Tony. I was disappointed and really don't care about mid-life crises in middle-aged gangsters and their dysfunctional family life.

On the other hand, HBO's movie re-make of Cinderella last nite with Drew Barrymore and Angela Huston was refreshing and well acted.

From Beth:

I WAS a dedicated fan of Party of Five since it began. I loved to watch this show every week, and had withdrawal symptoms over the summer breaks. I hate to say that since the beginning of this season, I have only been able to watch 2 episodes. I have fretted about this for sometime. Am I not the die hard fan I believed myself to be?

This occurred to me last night when I saw a commercial for the show. Should I record it and watch it later? Then I realized I recorded last week's too. And I had not watched it as of Monday. I have lost interest in these people I once felt so involved with.

Please let me know that I am not the only one who feels sooooooo disappointed with this show. I feel like such a traitor. Party Of Five was once the only show I watched on a regular basis, and now I just can't do it and feel as satisfied.

Note from TK: Many other online fans of "Party of Five" have expressed your same disappointment in the quality of the show as of late. In face, general opinion of show in the last few years has been going down, and since this season's move to Tuesday nights, the ratings have been going down as well.

From Brandi:

I have a question that maybe you could answer for me. I was wondering if Glenn Quinn, most recently on "Angel," is the same actor that played Mark, Becky's husband on "Roseanne?" If you can let us know. He's a babe and should never have left "Angel." THANKS!

Note from TK: Well, this is not normally the sort of thing I include in the letters section, but Brandi's return address didn't work, and I really wanted to answer this. A friend recently suggested, actually, that I have an "Ask TK" section to the newsletter, although I'm scared I'd then be stumped way too often. Anyway, the answer is yes, Glenn Quinn was, indeed, Mark Healy from 1990 to 1997. He was great on "Angel," but one of the neat things that the producers said about his departure is that it shows that no one is invulnerable on the show. Even regular cast members can get hurt and die. Interesting....

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

What a week. I apologize in advance if I make no sense. Hopefully, TK will catch anything incredibly ridiculous before my column makes it to you guys. I've barely known if I'm coming or going all week, so I hope you guys will cut me some slack. I know you will. Anyway, it's been a really draining work week and I haven't managed to watch much television. In fact, I didn't even watch Third Watch (from Monday night) until Saturday night, so you can imagine how far behind I am. It may be weeks before my television viewing is back to normal. Anyway, on to the real purpose of this article...

What spot has me laughing? Budweiser: Wazzuupp!

Okay. I'm going to come right out and admit this. I'm pretty sure that the only reason I found this spot to be funny is because the first time I saw it, I was in the room with my husband and his friend who just rolled on the floor laughing. Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

I'd been seeing posts about this spot on several websites for the past couple of weeks, but I still hadn't seen it myself. It won't be difficult for me to describe it to you, so here goes. A man is sitting/reclining on his couch watching "the game." He gets a phone call. His friend on the other line greets him with a booming Wazzzuuuppp! Then, we hear his call waiting beep, letting him know he has another call. He answers the phone and again hears Wazzzuuppppp! Then, the caller gets a beep from call waiting and we see/hear the same thing again until we've gone through about three sets of friends screaming Waazzzzuuuupppp in to the phone. Eventually, we are taken back to the first guy sitting on his couch.

I don't really know what's so funny about it. I'm leaning toward a Bill & Ted type humor factor. In any case, we all laughed at the pure silliness of it. Maybe it's to remind us that, at least sometimes, life should be about good times!

I don't know if commercials are getting better or if I'm getting to be more easy-going, but it seems like I'm having a harder and harder time picking a commercial that I don't like each week. Maybe you guys can let me know if there's any particular campaign you'd like me to address. Otherwise, I'll keep my eyes and ears open for those spots that just get under my skin!

Hope you all have a great week!

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4. Don't miss

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. TV Trivia

Last week's question was: what is a WENUS?

First prize goes to David A., who correctly answered that a WENUS is "Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics" - a processing term used by Chandler during the first season of "Friends." He wisely looked it up on TKTV.

Second prizes go to Allan J., jenoy, Bethany G., and Danielle - the only other people to answer correctly.

Hey hey! It looks like we might actually have a sponsor for our little Trivia Quiz, which means that we are actually going to offer prizes soon. Keep an eye on this space in the next few weeks. And brush up on your trivia!

This week's question is from Lelah. What television actress is Gordon of Sesame Street's daughter?

Send answers to TK at tk@tktv.net with the subject of tvtrivia.

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6. My pick of the 1999-2000 TV season: Jack & Jill by Jen Oyama

Here's a funny, appealing and sharply written dramedy about twenty somethings and their lives after college. I highly recommend this show to anyone who's gotten tired of the "Friends" ensemble, or would like to see what an hour of "Friends," with strong acting, writing, and characterization, might be like.

When I first saw the promos for this show, I wrote it off almost immediately, thinking that yet another "Wasteland" or "Popular" was in the making (i.e. boring ensemble of pretty people who whine too much). Jack and Jill has exceeded my expectations, though, and it's one of those shows where you find yourself thinking about the situations long after the show is over, or pondering the characters' quirks as if they belonged to someone you knew personally (and no, this is not the result of a lack of reality on my part, though a boring job, maybe). Combine this with dead-on, situational humor, and the fact that despite the multitude of pretty faces, these characters actually have depth-- and you have the ingredients for an appealing new series.

"Jack and Jill" was created by Randi Mayem Singer, who co-wrote "Mrs. Doubtfire," and has graciously acknowledged comparisons to "Friends" with flattery -- though "Jack and Jill" has much more to it than one liners. For those of you unfamiliar with the premise, Jacqueline Barrett is a journalist played by Amanda Peet, known as "Jack" to her friends, and Jill, the show's other namesake, is David Jillefsky (Ivan Sergei), a toy designer whose main desire in life is to recreate Mr. Potato Head. Jack and Jill have obvious chemistry between them, but due to their other romantic entanglements (Jill was dating Jack's co-worker and Jack was left at the altar by her philandering fiance), they never quite seem to make it there.

The excellent cast is rounded off by Audrey and Barto (Jaime Pressly and Justin Kirk), two polar opposites --she's a promiscuous dancer, he's a serious medical student-- who have slowly evolved as the most solid couple on the show. Then there's Mikey (Simon Rex), a womanizing bartender who lives at home with his parents even though he went to college with Jill and Barto, and Elisa (Sarah Paulson), who works with Jack at the newspaper and has spent several episodes fantasizing over a man she's never met (that, and doing a dead-on impersonation of Neve Campbell). Mikey seems to have his eye on Elisa, and Jack and Jill, despite their fondness for each other, have decided to be just friends -- even though there is an obvious, mutual attraction. Over the course of the season, these characters have developed in surprising and intriguing ways.

Perhaps the best thing about the show, though, is the dialogue. The characters sound like real people who say things that real people say, without the pretension with which most writers characterize young people (i.e. "Wasteland," "Dawson's Creek," etc.). And unlike many ensemble shows that sport lead female characters -- "Ally McBeal" and "Felicity" being two main examples -- the women of "Jack and Jill" are just as interesting and funny as the men. Amanda Peet is particularly noteworthy as Jack, turning in a sharp, witty performance each week that works well with Jill's character, and on its own. Though Singer has captured the essence of twentysomething life through humor, it is the well written and relatable characters -- reflective of a generation to which most shows have not done justice -- that make this show more unique than most. There are also plenty of twists and turns, making what could be a predictable "will they or won't they" subplot more complex than it seems.

Though "Jack and Jill" has been picked up for a full season, its not-so-good timeslot (Sundays at 9) leaves its end of the season fate up in the air, and the low ratings of its lead-in, "Felicity," are not doing much to help. If nothing else, check it out for a humorous dose of twenty something life a la "Friends" if it were an hourlong show (and better written). The "easy on the eyes" cast probably won't hurt, either.

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. Favorite Quotes of the Week

From "Ladies Man"
"You know, this suit that you loaned me... it doesn't fit really well." -Donna
"Oh, it's a thong." -Toni
"Heh, we used to call them wedgies." -Donna

From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
"Mausoleums. Big freaky cereal boxes of death." -Buffy

From "Two Guys and a Girl"
"Nothing ignites true love more than jealosuy and insecurity." -Sharon

From "Becker"
"Psychology, yeah right. How hard can it be? Hi. You hate your mother. That'll be a hundred bucks." -Becker
"As opposed to, get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids, that'll be a hundred and fifty?" -Reggie

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8. A totally unrelated link

Find a picture of yourself online from the FBI database

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I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks.
Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to show up.