Month: November 2004

Jae Lee will be the penciller for HULK #82, a moody, self-contained tragic love story entitled “Dear Tricia.”

PAD

Word is that there will be a fatality on tonight’s “Desperate Housewives.” Last time I tried to figure out who was going to croak on a show, it was the series ender of “Angel” and Wesley was the guy I considered most likely to survive. So with that brilliant track record, let’s see:

EDIE: (One to one odds) The heavy favorite. Last seen having drinks with Richard Roundtree who may or may not have had instructions to kill her. Plus the finger could then be pointed at the long-suffering Susan since her next door neighbor knows about their competition over the plumber.

GABRIELLE: (Five to one odds) First runner up. If her husband finds out about her affair, and puts any of the responsibility for his mother’s accident on Gabrielle, she’s in serious trouble.

As for the rest, frankly, I don’t think any of them at risk because they all have kids and I don’t think the producers want any more motherless children on the show: One’s enough since Mary Alice died in the pilot. Nevertheless…

SUSAN: (Twenty to one) The perpetual hard luck case of the Housewives. I could see her accidentally taking a bullet meant for someone else.

BREE: (Fifty to one) If Carlos discovers her son was responsible for the car accident with his mother, a brawl could ensue in which she accidentally is killed. But I think it’s unlikely.

LYNETTE: (One hundred to one) I don’t know: Can you fatally overdose on that medicine for ADD?

PAD

I have the DVD for Spidey 2 (don’t ask how) and found some fun Easter Eggs. They may already well have been posted elsewhere, but if not, here they are. Both that I’ve found are on Disk 2:

Click on the “Gallery section. Once you get to the screen that talks about Alex Ross being commissioned, click “Up” until the little spider-sense lines emerge from Spidey’s head on the left. Hit “enter” and it takes you to an out take of Alfred Molina, in full Ock gear, singing the first verse of “Rich Man” while the tentacles move in synch.

Click on the “Making the Amazing” section. When you’re in the menu, click “Up” and it causes Doc’s right arm (his right, left on the screen) to light up green. Hit “enter” and it takes you to a behind-the-scenes rehearsal sequence with Sam Raimi and Molina that’s so funny, I don’t want to spoil it.

PAD

So I had eight out of ten in the top ten, had Columbo in the right rank, had the Fonz and Homer in the right order, and had the top three but in the wrong order.

I can see the argument for putting Archie first, because the show was so groundbreaking. On the other hand, considering “I Love Lucy” essentially invented the format now used for filming sitcoms, had Lucy married to her real life husband over the strenuous objections of the network executives (who wanted a different actor), and featured the first pregnancy and delivery on sitcoms, I think we’ve come to take for granted just how groundbreaking “I Love Lucy” was. And the Honeymooners was…what? Forty nine episodes? It’s a sprinter versus a marathon runner. So I still think my top three was better.

However, let us consider something…

Greatest character of all time was an unrelenting bigot. Greatest character number two was a perpetual loser who constantly threatened to beat his wife. Number three had no job and lived only to try and horn in on her husband’s career.

If you tried to bring any of these characters to life now? Wouldn’t even get a pick up for a script. The fact that the characters had immense shadings and were lovable at the core wouldn’t enter into it. Especially Archie. An unrelenting bigot on a comedy using the language he does? On a drama, yes (see: Sipowitz). But a sitcom? uh uh.

PAD

I don’t know if anyone else out there is watching this thing on Bravo about the Top 100 Best TV characters of all time, which has been airing each installment at 9 PM EST. I haven’t the faintest idea who actually came up with this list, but it’s been a lot of fun to watch. Tomorrow they’ll be having the top 20. Here’s my top 10:

1) Lucy Ricardo
2) Archie Bunker
3) Ralph Kramden
4) Captain James T. Kirk
5) Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli
6) Homer Simpson
7) Lieutenant Columbo
8) Cosmo Kramer
9) J.R. Ewing
10) Captain Frank Furillo

I’ve just finished the first book in “The Hidden Earth” series for Tor. It’s entitled “Darkness of the Light.” My guess is that it’ll be out sometime in 2006.

More on details when I feel like it.

PAD

In the brilliant “Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” the Prefect (Jonathan Pryce) of a city under siege by the Turks has brought before him a valiant, heroic soldier (Sting) who singlehandedly took out several Turkish cannons. The Prefect promptly has the stunned soldier executed, contending that his heroism served as a bad example for lesser soldiers who would be incapable of duplicating his feats.

And you laugh at the satirical content of the notion…until you read the following from the preferred news publication of peterdavid.net, “The Week”:

“A California sixth grader was suspended from school for performing cartwheels and handstands in the schoolyard. Eleven-year-old Deirdre Faegre ‘created an unsafe situation for herself and others,’ said principal Denise Patton. She explained that other, less skilled kids might try to imitate Faegre and get hurt. In that case, Faegre said, the school should also ban basketball.”

Suddenly it’s not as funny anymore.

PAD