THE FOUR OF US ARE DYING

Friend Greg Woods commented on my previous posting (TWILIGHT ZONE AT 50) that his favourite episode, of the classic series which ran for five seasons, is about a cheap hood who can change his face.

The episode "The Four of Us Are Dying" immediately came to mind as did a couple of the actors who played various incarnations of the crook. I took a minute to read up on this installment on Wikipedia...
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_of_Us_Are_Dying

... my Lordy, talk about a who's who of 50s/60s character actors: Harry Townes, Ross Martin (the other name that came to me), Phillip Pine, Don Gordon, Beverly Garland, and Peter Brocco.

Terrific episode. And one efficient in its storytelling.

TWILIGHT ZONE AT 50

Early this morning I read that the anthology television series The Twilight Zone premiered 50 years ago this week. For whatever reason (trying to scare up more work, maybe?) I had forgotten about this marker.

While I do not regard the series as the finest of its type -- I give that to The Outer Limits (1963-1965), even though one is fantasy while the other, more Science Fiction -- Zone is absolutely one of the best.

As a matter of fact, and this was not part of any celebration (read above) I have been checking out, from the Toronto Public Library, various compilation DVDs of the series. I watched three episodes last week: "Elegy" (good), "A Drink From a Certain Fountain" (okay), and "The 30 Fathom Grave" (excellent, with a dynamite punch-line delivered by actor John Considine, in one of the hour-long installments).

For me, Zone consisted mostly of misfires, more than upper crust successes; to be expected of a series that ran 156 episodes. We tend to remember the outstanding examples -- the fact is most were just okay. But still better than most of the crappola (to borrow a "Bunkerism") run on television over the years.

In summary, the original The Twilight Zone, when it was good, was great.

WHAT A DRIP

My friend Greg is concerned, after reading my post from yesterday (TV FAME), that I have not been taking my Prozac.

Well, I have an surprise for him. I checked: The Prozac I.V. drip is fine.

TV FAME

Oh my... I turned the tube on; I flicked to SunTV and recognized an actor -- Debbie Allen. Took no time to identify the series, one I did not watch when it first ran back in 1982 to 'too long': Fame.

Oh, my, God! It is so bad. I cannot laugh... can only stare in disbelief.

Please, if you are reading this just after I put it up (it is 4:25pm, Saturday) and you happen to live in the Toronto area, turn on Fame. Un-beeping-believable. Quick, there is still over half an hour left in this episode.

... just learned that SunTV is running eps back-to-back; that's right, Fame is on again at 5pm.

CRONENBERG ON THE FLY

I am polishing off a book on Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg; I take a break and, on the Net, read that he has just signed with 20th Century Fox to remake his 1986 take on The Fly.

Terrific movie, by the way. It was my favourite (mainstream release) that summer. Jeff Goldblum was perfect in the lead role; as a viewer, you felt the bizarre transformation (into a '67 Chevy... if memory serves) along with him.

Like many people my age, I was introduced to the 'man turns into a fly' (I was kidding about the Chevy) idea by director Kurt Neumann's 1958 classic picture, The Fly. Al (later "David") Hedison does a believable (?!) job playing the part of a man victimized by his own experiments. Oh, and the cat sound effect... it is so chilling I laughed when I saw The Fly again last year. It alone is worth the price of admission. I loved that cat.

NHL GOONS FIGHTING ON ICE

Well, it had to happen. After a lot of talk of putting fist fighting in the National Hockey League (NHL) to pasture, the whole sane notion gets put on ice...
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/article/700160

That's just great. What happened, in simple terms, is several high-profile "goons" (fighter-morons) made it known that they want to be able to do their jobs without retribution. Hey, makes sense to me. So too does this: I hope the NHL dies a horrible death.

The league likes their goons simple... I mean, likes their goons, simple... simply... simply put, the NHL likes their goons.... simple.

WORTHINGTON'S WORST U.S. PREZ

There are days -- you know the kind -- where you wake up in a bad mood; sometimes it's because you know there is an issue that must be dealt with or some potential which must be thwarted before it takes hold of your life.

Generally the happiest part of the day for me is the first few minutes after I get up. I was in such a state when I got up this morning. But it got even better.

Toronto Sun columnist Peter Worthington provided me with an additional smile and a first chuckle of the day. He opened up today's prose by suggesting the a case can be made that ex-U.S. president Jimmy Carter is the worst president in "living memory".

Now what the heck is he talking about? Does George W. Bush (baby) not contend for this coveted honour?

Wait a minute... Worthington is right, in a way. He was speaking of a "president".


(Please pardon the name-dropping, but I have met Peter Worthington as I used to do video work for him -- he's a very pleasant man, even if our political views are polar opposite much of the time.)

RISEBOROUGH AS THATCHER

Right this minute TVOntario is playing a British TV movie by the name of Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (2008). The actress who is playing Maggie as a young woman just nails the famous Iron Lady. Her name: Andrea Riseborough; I have never heard of her before but she might be someone to watch (as the saying goes).

Was Maggie Thatcher really that cute when she was young?

Beware of the young woman who will ultimately close coal mines and put lots of men and women out of work.

ED WOOD'S HAUNTED WORLD

My favourite filmmakers are Stanley Kubrick and Edward D. Wood, Jr., albeit for slightly different reasons.

This documentary, which I have seen before, is essential viewing for some of us...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIBNWqfQV_k

MAPLE LEAFS GOALIE

New Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson -- known as "the monster" -- had a heart operation the other day to help alleviate a racing heart. After a practice his heart would not slow down to its "rest" state, but would keep on ticking as though no one told it to relax.

Well, the above is the official line; the nasty rumour is that he did not have the heart to play for the Leafs.


(I thought about that one all by myself, while eating my bowl of Fruit Loops this morning.)