Brookswords

In 1959 two television series, the Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond, began. They seemed at first glance like carbon copies. Each featured a charismatic host who would introduce a strange tale, then reemerge at the end to present a coda. The two series even shared some of the same actors, such as the pre-Star Trek William Shatner.

But there was one crucial aspect that separated the two. The Twilight Zone relied on the some of the best science fiction and horror writers of the time, like Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch. One Step Beyond, however, presented an early form of docudrama -- the stories were all based on real events.

Here is the very first episode of One Step Beyond, broken down into 3 Youtube clips. They appear to be  cut at the moment of commercial breaks. (If you want, you could turn on your TV to watch a commercial between the clips!) The starring actress, Virginia Leith, is pretty impressive -- she exhibits a raw emotion that makes me wonder why her career never really got off the ground. She would, however, go on to star in a cult classic, The Brain That Wouldn't Die. It's been presented -- tongue firmly in cheek -- by both Elvira and Mystery Science 3000.

Balloon Boy

What a strange day. News breaks out that a 6-year old boy named Falcon Heene is trapped in a helium balloon high over the skies of Colorado. Hours go by with cable news going nuts, following every twist & turn of the balloon. But then some other twists & turns occur, as some curious information about the parents of the Balloon Boy begins to dribble out. Turns out they've been on a reality TV show that has the creepy title 'Wife Swap'. The balloon lands, and, guess what! No boy in the balloon! Cable news shifts on a dime and begins to cover the more depressing search for a boy who may have fell out of a balloon, anywhere along the balloon's flightpath.

Finally, the mystery is solved when the 6-year old wakes up from a nap in the attic of his family's garage. From the start, the whole affair seemed a bit dodgy. Their appearance on tonight's Larry King revealed there was something very dodgy going on. In the following clips you'll first see Falcon saying to his dad "we did this for the show" when asked why he had been hiding in the attic. Unfortunately Wolf Blitzer was filling in for King -- he's a lousy interviewer, not even knowing how to give a follow-up question. He finally follows up in the second clip--some 40 minutes after his original question! Then, after the shady dad goes after Blitzer for simply asking the follow up question, Blitzer backtracks & gets all apologetic! An embarrassment all around!!

Record Of The Year

I like the music of the troubled songstress Amy Winehouse, with her retro sound and appearance. Her ginormous Ronettes-style beehive and cleopatra eyeliner brings me right back; after all, I was into retro when it was 'now-tro'. I was piqued a couple years ago when she cancelled a gig I'd bought tickets for. But I was bowled over by her string of awards at last year's Grammys. Her beatific rapture upon winning Record of the Year for 
'Rehab' was best described by TV critic Mary McNamara in the next day's LA Times--as she put it, Amy had, upon winning the award, 'the look of fearful joy on her face -- like a beehived Christian mystic catching a glimpse of the risen Christ'.  And, also in the LA Times, music critic Ann Powers said Winehouse was 'the most exciting performer of the evening. Her desperation to do well was palpably human, and her delivery was a gamble -- a harder push, and a more electric one, than you usually see during a staged event like the Grammys.'  But the best take was by  Judy Rosen in Slate: 'Doubtless many viewers had tuned in to witness the latest chapter in the drama—another disastrous performance, or, if things went well, a tear-jerking moment of redemption. What they saw was something more banal, and more uplifting: a professional.'  The entire article is just as perceptive.   

Here's a clip of Winehouse, live via satellite from London, during the Grammys last year; you'll see the professional at work, followed by her stunned reaction upon receiving Record of the Year. I've read she's doing better these days since, contrary to the song, she finally did wind up going ...to rehab.

It's a Morning Show?!?!

Why are celebrities suddenly having trouble sobering up for morning shows?  First there was Danny DeVito's notorious behavior on The View; now we have Paula Abdul's eyebrow-raising appearance on a Seattle TV station:

Echo Park

My neighborhood has been getting a lot of attention lately.  First, there was the film 'Quinceanera', an incisive look at gentrification and cross-cultural issues.   There are so many
picturesque shots of Echo Park in the film, it seems at times like a travelogue-- which might encourage even more gentrification!  D'ooh!

Then there was the news that Jennifer Lopez will be producing a new TV comedy called Echo Park--perhaps influenced by 'Quinceanera', it will focus on cross-cultural issues, but this time for laughs.

Finally, Michel Connelly's 'Echo Park' has just been released.  Connelly is my current fav among mystery writers--and he lives up to my expectations, at least in the following excerpt, where he describes Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, which my apartment overlooks:

“By day a walk down the main drag of Sunset Boulevard might require skills in five or more languages to read all of the storefronts. By night it was the only place in the city where the air could be split by the sound of gang gunfire, the cheer for a home-run ball, and the baying of the hillside coyotes — all in the same hour.”

The cheering sounds for home-run balls come from Dodger Stadium, within walking distance of my place.  My son saw a coyote here one night--and, just a few days ago, a raccoon on my porch scrambled away when I got home late.  It was as surprised & scared to see me as I was of it;  had we been able to communicate, I'm sure we'd have given each other heartfelt apologies.