Today, Saturday February 28, 2008, national talk radio host and news commentator Paul Harvey passed away in Arizona. There’s a good article here at The Hollywood Reporter that lists all of his credits and achievements. Paul Harvey worked out of an office here in Chicago, and had a Midwestern conservative slant to his reporting. His distinctive voice and style were instantly recognizable and commanded attention. Whether you agreed with his political views or not, he was always interesting to listen to and presented information and stories you didn’t always get from other traditional news venues.
Back in 1990, my first car caught fire and burned up–after one semester of college. I needed an inexpensive car fast to get to classes and work, and ended up with a 1980 AMC Concord. Much to a college girl’s dismay, my ten year old car not only didn’t have a cassette player, it only had AM radio. The horror. AM radio didn’t pick up much–forget about modern music. Mostly it was news reports and ball games.
I didn’t have much choice, so I listened to what was available. I started catching Paul Harvey’s shows, and got sucked in by the old school style news show. Harvey was more like a really interesting current events professor, telling you stories about the day’s news, historical events, and the people that make the news.
When I mentioned listening to Paul Harvey to my grandfather, he was thrilled. My grandfather loved listening to news programs and talk radio–he used to even carry a little portable radio around the house with him from room to room so he wouldn’t miss a moment. He’d always listened to Paul Harvey’s program, and therefore, growing up, my mom had too. Paul Harvey crossed the generational gap, and gave my grandfather, mother, and I a common interest to talk about. Suddenly that AM radio didn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore.
So I’d just like to say thank you to Paul Harvey, who rose at 3:30am every morning to start his day and gather all of the news and human interest stories to share with so many of us–stories that gave us something to share with each other, too.
I would like to say I’m reserving judgement on this one, but I can’t. I’m judging. Jerry Seinfeld is returning to television by producing a reality TV show called Marriage Refs. Married couples will reveal their problems to various comedians, sports stars, and other celebrities who will give them advice. Why? Seinfeld says it will be comedy, rather than true therapy, but who cares either way? If you’re going to make a comedy about marriage, write one. I don’t really want to see married people, who no doubt have very real problems, getting made fun of on national TV.
Of course, there’s always the possibility these will just be people looking for their 15 minutes of fame, like so many other “reality” programs. There’s also the slim chance the show might be hilarious, who knows? I’m not holding my breath, though. If Jerry Seinfeld were going to come back to TV, I would have preferred it be something in the sitcom realm. I guess anything he did would be scrutinized according to Seinfeld standards, so perhaps he just wanted to go in another direction to save the comparisons.
Whatever the reasons, I don’t think it’s a direction I want to go in.
March starts bringing us new TV again–with brand new shows and returning old favorites. This Monday, March 2, we get one of each:
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, NBC, 12:30am Eastern/11:30pm Central: The long-awaited changing of the guard from Conan to Jimmy is here. Reported first guests were Robert DeNiro and Van Morrison, but now they’ve also thrown Justin Timberlake into the mix. Considering Timberlake’s ridiculously funny sketches and videos on Saturday Night Live, we may be in for some craziness. And I certainly can’t predict how the DeNiro exchange will go. This is definitely one to watch.
Rules of Engagement, CBS, 9:30pm Eastern/8:30pm Central: One of those rare birds on television–not only is it a traditional sitcom, but it’s funny. Following a group of friends in varying stages of life–single, engaged, and long-time marrieds–Rules of Engagement gives us three different perspectives and lots of great banter. Audrey (Megyn Price) and Jeff (Patrick Warburton) have great rapport, with comfortable, drawling zingers directed at one another–but in the end it’s still all about the love. And both couples have fun tormenting the eternally single and sleazy Russell (David Spade), who dishes it right back. The show is clever and fun and good for steady laughs.
Enjoy the shows!
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Buy Rules of Engagement Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD from Buy.com
