Quibbles & bits

Aloha. The Levines are off to Hawaii. My idea of a White Christmas is sand. Daily posts will continue. They just might not be as long.

Writers, I hope you’re happy! Jeff Zucker has threatened that if the WGA strike doesn’t end soon NBC may discontinue its lavish Upfronts parties FOREVER. That’s right. No more would NBC spend between $3 and $5 million dollars each year on huge bashes for Madison Avenue, stockholders, agents, managers, and miscellaneous television executives. Boy, that’ll show us!

Now that the Mitchell Report has revealed that F.P. Santangelo has used steroids, do you think it will keep him out of the Hall of Fame?

While on the picket line at 20th last week a fire engine entered the lot. I thought, wouldn’t this be a great scene? A studio is on fire. The fire engines arrive but won’t cross the picket lines.

I miss Hy Lit. Anyone from Philadelphia will know what I mean.

Funny movie to Netflix (a word that has now become a verb) – FRANKIE & JOHNNY ARE MARRIED. It’s a recreation of the nightmare that TV director Michael Pressman went through trying to mount his own Equity waiver production in LA. Alan Rosenberg proves to be the good sport of the year as he plays the most monstrous actor you’ve ever seen (and he uses his real name). You’ll laugh until you want to kill yourself. Cameos by David Kelley and – unbelievably -- Les Moonves. I should have brought him to "bring an actor buddy to strike" day.

Most big stars will not be attending the Golden Globes this year. Not wanting to cross the picket line is the reason – for one or maybe two.

A furious Roger Clemens insists he NEVER took steroids and all 82 mentions of him doing so in the Mitchell Report are wrong.

How can you take the Golden Globes seriously when not one Judd Apatow movie (KNOCKED UP, SUPERBAD, WALK HARD) was nominated for “Best Comedy”? Nor was ENCHANTED.

The new AMERICAN GLADIATORS have just been announced. They are:
Fury, Helga, Justice, Mayhem, Militia, Stealth, Titan, Tor, Venom, Wolf, Crush, Siren, and Sanjaya.

My Northwestern Wildcat daughter Annie has watched numerous episodes of THE MAN FROM UNCLE with me and feels that Illya always got the shaft. Yes, he was the heartthrob in his day, upstaging Robert Vaughn, but this is what Annie says she observes every episode:

Napoleon: “Here Illya, I’ll seduce this beautiful blond woman while you climb up seven different buildings, while wearing a number of stupid disguises and inevitably get captured by Thrush.”

And Annie loves how Napoleon always is bemused, “Oh Illya, what trouble did you get into now? By the way, have you met Miss Florida?”

Talk to you tomorrow from the land where you never see a Michigan plate.

Mele Kalikimaka.