interviews-related stories
Posted Aug 2nd 2009 8:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Daytime, Interviews, Children, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
(Update - 8/3: Added the pic I took with Abby, Cookie Monster, and Sonia. This will be the only time you see me be in a photo with a celebrity here. In this case, I can let my journalistic standards slide a bit.)
Here's a fun thing to help close the first week of the press tour. Before yesterday's panel on the 40th anniversary of
Sesame Street, Sonia Manzano, who's played Maria for the entire run, was outside the ballroom greeting people, as were three of the actors/puppeteers: David Rudman (Cookie Monster), Leslie Carrara (Abby Cadabby) and Eric Jacobson (Grover). Of course, all three brought along their characters to talk to the crowd, take pictures with the critics, and generally make everyone smile.
What I've always loved about the Muppets and the actors who give them life is that, not only are they speaking on a level that both adults and children can appreciate, but they're always so good and improvising. Think about this; it's not easy to say something funny on the spot when a reporter shoves a tape recorder in you face. And that's without a big ball of fur on your right hand. So I decided to goof around with Grover and Cookie Monster and threw them some curveballs. I also spoke to Manzano after the panel was over. All the audio is after the jump.
Continue reading My "hard hitting" interview with Grover, Cookie Monster and Maria - TCA Report
Posted Jan 29th 2009 6:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty, Video, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
I think we can all agree that the infamous Andy Kaufman/Jerry Lawler incident on the old
Late Night with David Letterman show (where Kaufman and Lawler got into an argument and then a punch was thrown) was staged. But when it comes to another infamous incident from the show, where Crispin Glover demonstrated his kicking technique next to Letterman's head? I think that was weird and real.
The Glover interview is on Cracked's
Letterman's most hilariously awkward moments list. Most of them are actually from his current CBS show. Only two of them (Glover and cartoonist Harvey Pekar) are from the old NBC show. Other awkward interviews listed (with videos) include Madonna, John McCain, and Michael Richards (with special awkward cohort, Jerry Seinfeld!).
Continue reading David Letterman almost got kicked in the head once - VIDEOS
Posted Oct 30th 2008 2:15PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Sports, Celebrities, Reality-Free
At the rate they're going, the 2008 presidential candidates will have made appearances on every kind of TV program before voting day arrives. No show is too insignificant, it seems. (Seriously, if only we could have seen Obama and McCain do the cha-cha on
Dancing with the Stars!)
Therefore, it comes as no big shock that on the eve of the election -- Monday, November 3 -- the presidential
candidates are going to appear on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
They will be interviewed -- separately on tape -- by half-time anchor Chris "Boomer" Berman. The anticipated time is 10:15 p.m. (ET), but because of the flow of the game, it could be closer to 10:30.
Continue reading Monday Night Football to feature McCain & Obama on election eve
Posted Jul 27th 2008 5:35PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Lost, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
As I awaited the Lost panel to start in Hall H Saturday morning, I felt bad for the multitudes of people who were still standing in line outside the convention center, behind the convention center and all the way down the road behind the Marriott hotel. If you were a fan of
Lost, but not of
Heroes, you simply had to sit in line and then sit through the
Heroes panel in order to see
Lost; there was no way around it.
The
Lost panel was quite a change from
Heroes, as rather than the entire cast appearing on stage, only Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse made up the panel. Later, though, a "surprise guest" came out: Matthew Fox. However, nearly everything discussed came from Lindelof and Cuse.
Continue reading Lost - Comic-Con Report
Posted Jul 13th 2008 8:45PM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Big Brother (US), TV Squad Lists, Casting
Ah, it's that time again. Hamster watchers around the world are poised to hit that
Big Brother 10 live feeds icon on their computers. The show premiered tonight, back to its summer season and, supposedly, back to its roots -- strangers living in a house. That's right. No previous relationships, no estranged family members, just strangers in the house. To spice things up, it looks like the production staff sought out opposite personalities in respect to political issues. I don't know how keen I am on that aspect, but you know I'll be watching.
Hey, if the ChenBot is wearing Devo glasses, it should be an interesting season, right? Video cast interviews beyond the jump!
Continue reading Six Big Brother 10 cast interviews - VIDEOS
Posted Nov 22nd 2007 3:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, TV Squad Lists, WGA Strike
This doesn't seem like the brightest of TV seasons right now, does it? The fall season wasn't the best to begin with, and now the writers are on strike. But there are many things about the TV biz that a person can be thankful for, especially someone like me who is lucky enough to cover television for a living:
Late night talk shows: All of 'em, from
The Daily Show to
The Colbert Report to Letterman and Leno to Conan and Craig. The writers strike has made it painfully obvious to me that the landscape of late night TV is pretty much a wasteland without these shows. Sure, I could watch the same
Seinfeld and
Scrubs reruns I've seen dozens of times, but those aren't nearly as entertaining as the fresh and topical material I see on the talk shows (even Leno's).
Continue reading What Joel is thankful for
Posted Sep 19th 2007 3:21PM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US)
It's the day after the big (and often controversial) Evel Dick Donato first place win on
Big Brother 8, as well as his daughter Daniele's second place win. Together, they won $550,000. Not chump change for sure, but I'd like to see this show increase its grand prize to a million like other reality shows of its ilk.
Julie Chen interviewed both Dick and his loving Evel Spawn on
The Early Show -- the CBS website has
an extended version of that interview available online as well as the
initial interview itself.
But the kicker is
a set of video interviews with all of the houseguests posted by the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles. Those took place in the yard before the wrap party and include such treasures as Amber telling us she taught America it's okay to cry. Yeah, right. [A tip of the hat to commenter
OrkMommy for the link to the CBS backyard interviews!]
Posted Aug 31st 2007 9:08PM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Big Brother (US)
Now, this is an interesting turn of events. Did you happen to notice that Amber Siyavus (also listed as Amber Tomcavage elsewhere), evicted from
Big Brother 8 last night, was nowhere to be seen on
The Early Show?
After all, it's as traditional as blocked feeds each season that the evicted houseguest gets an interview and some personal camera time with Julie Chen.
So, what's happening? Starting with Amber, there will be no more exit interviews of those going into the jury house this season.
Continue reading Big Brother 8: Media blocked from interviewing evictees
Posted Jun 25th 2007 7:21PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Web, Celebrities
I'm a bit late with this, so forgive me, but it's still worth mentioning.
The podcast Just My Show recently interviewed Marion Ross of Happy Days and Dan Lauria of The Wonder Years.
The interviewer is no Jesse Thorn, and he doesn't so much ask questions as just mention items from the interviewees past and ask for comments, but it's still a pleasure to hear these two TV parents talk about their roles.
Continue reading Just My Show interviews Marion Ross and Dan Lauria
Posted May 24th 2007 1:01PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: OpEd, Animation, Early Looks
I have never seen the original Creature Comforts, neither the Oscar-winning short film by Nick Park and Aardman Animation, nor the British TV series, so I can't compare the new American version to them, but I can say that the upcoming CBS animated series Creature Comforts is one of the most engaging and charming things I've seen in a long time.
Don't expect something goofy and fast-paced like The Simpsons or Family Guy, because that's not the kind of laughs this series is going for. Instead, the series takes interviews with regular people and then sticks their words into the mouths of cartoon animals. For example: two men sniffing wine become two dogs sniffing another dog's butt.
Continue reading Creature Comforts -- An early look
Posted May 9th 2007 11:01AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Late Night, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities
Conan O'Brien, host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Adam McKay, co-writer and director of Talladega Nights and Anchorman and father of the infamous Pearl, have at least one thing in common: they both worked on Saturday Night Live. The other thing they have in common is that they were each interviewed recently by two different publications.
O'Brien was interviewed by StarWars.com to coincide with the recent taping of his show in San Francisco (George Lucas was a guest on the program). This was my favorite exchange:
What was your favorite part of visiting Lucasfilm/ILM when you were here in San Francisco?
The part when Lucas took me into a glass elevator. It smashed through the roof and he told me the entire chocolate factory was mine. That poor man has lost his mind.
Continue reading Interviews with Conan O'Brien and Adam McKay - VIDEO
Posted Apr 30th 2007 9:01AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Celebrities, Documentary
Last year, Brett mentioned that Turner Classic Movies would be showing a retrospective on the life and career of actor Marlon Brando. Well, it's finally here, and you can check out the first part of Brando on TCM tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and the conclusion on Wednesday night at the same times.
The documentary features interviews with Al Pacino, John Turturro, John Travolta, Martin Scorsese and Cloris Leachman, among others about what it was like to work with a man many considered both a genius and one of the most difficult men in Hollywood to work with.
If you can find it, I also recommend Hearts of Darkness, a documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now that also shows a glimpse as to what Brando could be like on set. Of course, by the end of filming on that movie I think everyone had pretty much lost their marbles.
The Hollywood Reporter has a review of the doc here.
Posted Apr 8th 2007 4:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities
On May 6 at 9:00 p.m., NBC will air Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation. The special, as evidenced in the title, will look at the late night mainstay and the actors who called the show "home" during the '90s. Having gone to high school and college throughout the '90s, this is the era that sticks in my memory the most, when folks like Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Norm MacDonald, Phil Hartman, David Spade, Chris Farley and Dana Carvey were just funny guys no one had ever heard of before.
The special will include interviews with former cast members, insight from repeat hosts Alec Baldwin and John Goodman, plus interviews with writers Tim Herlihy and Adam McKay, who went on to successful careers as film writers. If you're a fan of Saturday Night Live, it's probably worth checking out, but especially if you happen to be around my age and these episodes were the ones you quoted and discussed with your friends the next day in school.
Posted Apr 6th 2007 9:01AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live
Over on NBC's site for SNL, there's a new (I'm pretty sure it's new*) section called Saturday Night Live Backstage. The section includes backstage videos (natch) and an interactive feature called "Star in Weekend Update" that allows registered users to edited together clips from the "Weekend Update" segment into an annoying, confusing mess that's not even remotely amusing.
Continue reading Go Backstage at Saturday Night Live
Posted Mar 7th 2007 8:28AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: TV Royalty, Animation, Adult Swim, Celebrities, The Venture Bros.
In my
Comic-Con post, I briefly mentioned The Sound of Young America's
interview with the
Venture Bros.' Jackson Publick, but I suppose I might as well devote a full post to it, since at least five different people have urged me to do so since then.
This twenty-some minute chat provides a very interesting look into the life of Jackson Publick, covering topics like his educational career (he very briefly attended cartooning school before attending community college and Rutgers University), the loss of his mother and this event's effect on the Venture brothers' own mommy-less world, and the show's prevailing themes of disappointment and failure. I always love hearing from the creative forces behind my favorite shows, so this was a real treat for me.
I also enjoyed Jackson's great Brock Samson impression at the very end of the program. I suppose this means that Jackson can also do fantastic impressions of Kronk (
The Emperor's New Groove), Joe Swanson (
Family Guy), and Puddy (
Seinfeld).
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