Sunday, October 22, 2006

Easy Prediction

On the next Daily Show With Jon Stewart: A clip of George W. Bush on This Morning With George Stephanopoulos saying, as he did, "We've never been stay the course," followed by — I'm guessing — at least eight clips from the archives of Bush saying "stay the course" over the last year or two. I have no inside info that The Daily Show is planning such a spot but some things are pretty obvious.

Mr. Stewart has said in several venues that one of his major objections to Bush is that our Chief Exec talks to the American people like he thinks he's talking to the feeble-minded. Here's a pretty good example.

• Posted at 10:34 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

We haven't heard much lately from the striking writers on the TV series, America's Next Top Model. So let's hear a little something from Lewis Black...

• Posted at 8:57 PM · LINK

What is "An unpleasant game show experience?"

I wrote the other day here about what I thought was wrong with the new NBC game show, 1 Vs. 100. It turns out that Jeopardy! mega-champ Ken Jennings, who was a part of the first few episode of 1 Vs. 100, thought some of the same things were wrong, as well. Here he is on his weblog telling of the experience. Sad to see that the taping sessions are the same Bataan Death March that the same producers put the audience through on Deal or No Deal.

• Posted at 3:17 PM · LINK

Double Dealing

On October 23, the folks behind Deal or No Deal are taping what is apparently the pilot for a daytime version of that show. Rumor has it that the rules will be a little different and that Howie Mandel will be supplanted by Arsenio Hall. A further rumor is that this is not a syndicated effort but rather, that it represents a desire by the NBC network to get back into the business of daytime game shows.

Once upon a time, there were a lot of them but they all went away...all except for The Price is Right. (Every year or three, I try watching The Price is Right, which I enjoyed once upon a time. I now have trouble remembering why. I guess Bob Barker was always that smitten with himself but he didn't used to be so insufferable about it.) All the quizzes and games with the buzzers and lights and cases of Turtle Wax were replaced by things like The View, which is a great show if you want to see a bunch of people who don't seem to like each other very much all try to talk at the same time.

I wouldn't mind seeing daytime game shows make a comeback but it strikes me that more Deal or No Deal is a colossal mistake. First off, the prime-time version is already reaching the saturation level. By its very nature, the show gets repetitive — same set, same sound effects, same twenty-six cases...and the contestants keep coming to pretty much the same decisions, time and again. The show is really only interesting when a really huge cash award is in the balance, and I'm assuming those will be fewer in number on a daytime budget. Will a daytime Deal even be able to afford the twenty-six lovely models to wield the cases?

So not only may a daylight incarnation of the show not work, it may hasten the demise of the nighttime version. Sounds to me like the producers are taking a big gamble. If I were them, I'd grab the next offer from the Banker and get out.

• Posted at 12:50 PM · LINK

Mad Men

Above is a photo from last night and you can ignore the guy in the middle. That's only me, surrounded by two of the world's greatest cartoonists, both members of The Usual Gang of Idiots, as people who work for Mad Magazine are often called. Jack Davis, at left, was a Charter Member of The Usual Gang, having drawn the first story in the first issue of Mad in 1952. It was nowhere near his first job in comics but it was probably the turning point...the moment the world discovered what a brilliant and funny illustrator he was. A decade or so later, the Jack Davis style would be everywhere — movie posters, magazine covers, advertising, etc. Often, that meant that some Art Director had demonstrated the wisdom to hire Jack Davis but not always. The colorful and funny "look and feel" of a Davis cartoon was often simulated by others...and why not? When you saw it on a movie poster, for example, it instantly made you think that the film would be colorful and funny.

Much of that also applies to the gentleman on the right in the picture, Sergio Aragonés, except that Sergio made his Mad debut much more recently...1962, as I recall. Though Jack left Mad some time ago, Sergio is still in every issue. (Jack claims to be "semi-retired." From all evidence, this means he only draws about as much as your normal fully-employed cartoonist.)

Last night, both men were honored at the annual banquet of the Comic Art Professionals Society, a Los Angeles-based group founded 29 years ago by the late Don Rico and everyone in the above photo except for Mr. Davis. Jack and Sergio received the first two statuettes of a new bestowal called — wait for it — The Sergio. Funny story of why it's called that. Not long ago, the current CAPS board decided to present an annual award that would honor some great cartoonist's lifetime achievements. Sergio was asked to do an appropriate design sketch, and he did. It featured a generic cartoonist. This sketch was then turned over to master sculptor Ruben Procopio to turn into a statue, which he did. Along the way, it was decided to make two adjustments without Sergio's knowledge. One was to make the generic cartoonist look like Sergio. The other was to call the award The Sergio.

And actually, a third decision was made by the CAPS Board without Sergio knowing of it at the time. They decided that at the dinner to present the first one to Jack Davis, they'd also surprise Sergio and hand him the second.

That's right. Sergio Aragonés has now won so many cartooning awards that in order to receive any more of them, he has to design them himself. Here's a photo of him getting his last night. The gent at left is Ruben Procopio and to the right of him is Chad Frye, the current president of CAPS.

You can also see Jack Davis in this picture...and take a look at the expression of delight on his face. One of the outstanding memories that everyone at the event carried home is the overwhelming affection and admiration that Sergio and Jack displayed for one another. (A third great Mad artist also displayed plenty for both and the feeling was mutual. Paul Coker Jr flew in to be with his colleagues.)

The room was packed with great cartoonists and I'm only going to list ten selected at random: Dan Spiegle, Kyle Baker, Bill Morrison (who was among the hosts), Bobby London, Tim Burgard, Paul Power, Gordon Kent, Scott Shaw!, Floyd Norman and Phil Ortiz. Nice to see Tom Hatten there...and actor Daniel Roebuck, who also hosted some of the festitivies. And Earl Kress and June Foray and Steve Wyatt and when will I learn not to do these lists because I always wind up leaving someone important out? Oh, yes — the lovely Carolyn Kelly was present and there's someone very important, and not just because she accompanies me around.

There was a buffet but the real feast was all the Jack Davis artwork on display, most of it from the private collections of various CAPS members. The room was ringed with originals and you couldn't help but look at them and realize what an amazing, jaw-dropping cartoonist this man is. That Sergio guy's pretty good too, but the main thrust of the evening was all about Jack. All around him, you could see his peers wondering two things. One was how he manages to draw that well. And the other was how he can draw that well, have so many admirers and still be that humble and charming about it. Must be a trick of some kind. Nobody's that wonderful.

• Posted at 12:20 PM · LINK