The Kennedy Center Honors

Widely touted as the best Awards show each year this seasons Kennedy Center Honors broadcast aired the day after Christmas on CBS. As our family was still in the midst of holiday travel our blessed TIVO allowed me to tape this.

As usual this years broadcast featured an interesting group ranging from legendary guitarist Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, ballerina Natalia Makarova, talk show host David Letterman and the legendary rock act Led Zeppelin.

On this awards show the inductees do not perform, they do not even speak. They are spoken to, and about, their work is showcased, and in the case of musicians often performed. This can lead to some moments you will not find on other programs.

The actual event is usually a couple of weeks before airing and consists of about three hours, therefore the broadcast at two hours is an edited version of the show. Trying to respect all honorees but pay attention to the audience viewing our ballerina honoree while getting about fifteen minutes did receive short shrift on the broadcast.

Dustin Hoffman was praised for his immense body of work. Looking at Hoffman in a couple of his early movies like The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy and it is easy to see how this man never allowed himself to be typecast. Over recent years we may have forgotten the brilliance of Hoffman's acting but a review of his past work puts that to rest. His presentation also convinced me that I have to view his performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.

Buddy Guy is an incredible guitar player. Being one of the artists that is more well known in the music community than in the real world has it's advantages, but still it is a shame someone with his talents never found mass appeal. For those who sing and appreciate the blues however Guy is a legendary. A clip of Guy performing with The Rolling Stones years ago and being presented at the end with Keith Richards guitar as if Richards is saying he cannot compete was special to see. I myself remember watching Guy perform with Jeff Beck at the recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame anniversary concert, the man is amazing. At 76 years old we can all be thankful that this amazing talent has received one of the highest honers a performer can gain while he is still with us to enjoy it.

Anyone who knows me is aware of my fondness for David Letterman. I love the man and his show. For much of the last ten years Dave has consistently come in second to nobody's friend Jay Leno. It does seem odd to me that this man of the Midwest should lose the ratings in the heartland while Jay Leno an East Coast boy living on the West Coast can with his bland style of humor and interviewing win the mass audience. I'm not bitter though and one guesses Dave is not either. He was visibly touched by this award and in being honored by Ray Romano and Jimmy Kimmel along with countless other of today's talent in spirit Dave is firmly entrenched as today's equivalent of Johnny Carson. This is fitting as Dave revered Johnny and still mists up when he talks of the night Johnny called him over to the couch after his performance. This is the " big breakthrough" for a young comedian, Ellen DeGeneres talks about how it happened for her as well, and it is very rare. It sent Dave on his way. When the men speaking tribute to Dave tell him that as much as Johnny meant to him he means to them it is pretty moving.

Ending the show was the induction of the incomparable Led Zeppelin. Jack Black was in his glory as he spoke of the band, it's influence on him and as he attested " everyone here except those who are here for the ballerina lady." Certainly they have had their influence on both me and my teenage son. The music is really timeless and a great joy of mine has been seeing my son go through his Zeppelin phase. I have even written previously about that transfer of loyalties from a father to a son. Zeppelin was formed in the late sixties around former Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page and was met with universal criticism and universal popularity at the same time. It took a long time for music critics to switch sides with Zeppelin, when they were staging the worlds biggest tour in 1975 to support their sixth album, all had been multiple platinum, Physical Graffiti John Paul Jones, their bassist, heard a radio Deejay ripping them and called in to complain. Whether they admitted it or not, as popular as they were, the criticism hurt and wounded. Still the fame, private airplanes, millions, and the attention of countless women will ease the pain of that one supposes. The band ruled the album charts for years and still sells a million of albums a year off its back catalog. When the band, sans drummer Jon Bonham who died in 1980, booked a charity reunion show in 2007 over four million people placed their names in a lottery for tickets. Still it appears they may be the last holdout of the great dinosaur bands of that fruitful period of the late sixties and early seventies, thus far they have resisted all overtures to have one last gobsmacking world tour. The performance that honored the band was a showstopper indeed with Kid Rick and Lenny Kravitz both taking turns fronting a band as Zeppelin songs were performed. Still without a doubt the showstopper, the moment you will remember, was the performance of the legendary song Stairway to Heaven. The song was performed by Ann and Nancy Wilson until about halfway through as small group of about ten to fifteen folks joined them for harmonies as the song sped up. Then about halfway through the song and the curtain went up for an amazing scene, a full orchestra and choir. The performance became spectacle, albeit spectacle in a very not Led Zeppelin kind of way. The camera panned to the band members high above the stage, Page his hair pure white in a ponytail looking like he belongs in a fine wine commercial was thrilled while Jones, still looking youthful was obviously pleased. The reaction that strikes though was Plant's. Ornery probably would be a generous word to describe the bands lead singer, cantankerous might fit better. Plant at his advanced age looks like a character out of The Hobbit, with long curly locks of must be dyed hair, wrinkles and bags around his eyes that if lines are character make him venerable indeed, Plant was stunned silent as the choir appeared. Wiping tears from his eyes and smiling to Page's nods to him one hopes that Mr. Plant found a peace in his popularity that bypassed all the hurtful things said about the band. Finishing up the touches was at the end of the song seeing Jason Bonham, who sat in on drums that performance in 2007 in his fathers stead, and who also played during the Stairway performance here, stand and salute his " uncles" as it were. It would be a harder man than me not to feel the emotion in that room.

So for another year the Kennedy Honors are complete and each year the show keeps getting better. One might assume that the older one gets the more they enjoy the show, which by then will be honoring the heroes of ones youth. It might well be true.

Ray Romano on Parenthood

This show is incredible. It is wonderfully written with a huge likable cast. Before now Craig Nelson has been my favorite actor in the show, his role as Gus, the family patriarch, is wonderful.

In the new season, now three weeks in we are blessed with Ray Romano joining the cast. He plays a photography studio owner who employs Sarah Braverman.

We love Ray Romano in our family, we still rage against the cancellation of Men of a Certain Age, but my wife does not want his character to end up with Sarah. She would prefer Sarah stay with her boy toy, the younger schoolteacher she is currently engaged to. I told her that his fate was sealed when he insisted on being in the family portrait. The Braverman grandmother, played by Bonnie Bedelia, has had a long rule against boyfriends and significant others being in the yearly portrait. One must marry into the picture. Still he talked his way into it and inevitably sealed his fate.

So much is always going on in this show, and this season is no different. Still here is one vote wishing that Ray Romano goes from a guest star on a short arc to a full member of the cast. He is brilliant in everything he does. As we learn more about his character it is interesting to see that Romano can do more than comedy and easy schtick. He is a much more nuanced actor than one would assume.

However it works out this is must see television in our house. Our middle son even comes out of his cave to watch this with us each week. It must be doing something right.

Men of a Certain Age Cancelled

I am not a television programmer. I like everyone know that there is alot of terrible television shows. The realoty shows whichare cheap to make are too many and so many of our shows appeal to the lowest common denomonator.

This is why the recent news of the cancellation of Men of a Certain Age is so disheartening. I ha e read that there has been quite a bit of. Riticism aimed at TNT for this decision and I understand this. I do not know what the network has to make for ratings to justify a show, it seems however that a network wanting to increase the prestige of its programming and make viewers take it as a viable choice.

My wife and I are finishing up season two and enjoying it very much. The cast of Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula is first rate but even more the writing is first rate. You care about these characters. That is why shortly after some Emmy nominations the choice of TNT to pull the plug was a bit surprising. Part of me wanted to not finish watching the episodes in this season. My wife won the debate and she was right.

TNT made a bad choice. It was a great show. Perhaps it is an indication that good television is hard not only to find, but it is harder to put on television. As in most things we get what we ask for.

Men of a Certain Age

In our quest to find interesting things to watch on that rare occasion where we get to sit down at the same time..usually around 10:30 at night my wife picked up the first disc in this series on Netflix. It was one of those shows we had always intended to watch but the truth is that more and more the idea of watching a show when it is originally on is completely foreign.

Today with the advent of DVD if you miss a couple episodes at the beginning of a show you can just wait for the DVD release. For us this year we did not hook up HBO for the last season of Big Love nor for Boardwalk Empire. In both cases we made this choice so that we could watch the show later on DVD. The fact is watching TV shows in four episode spurts is more convenient that waiting for a episode each week.

So that is my dissertation of the changing nature of watching television. On this show, Men of a Certain Age, Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher play three longtime friends meeting the quandaries of middle age.

I have earlier discussed my affection for Ray Romano. This show does not dissipate that like in anyway. Bakula is likable and Braugher is well known as a stellar actor from his days on Homicide.

One episode into the show I care about the characters. I want to know what happens. I want to know if Joe ( Ray Romano) ever meets the fantasy woman. And yes for those that have seen the show I do want to know if "they" are real. My guess is no.

This is a very good show.

Everyone Loves Raymond

Funny I almost called this blog What About Raymond as that is what I often refer to it as. Perhaps that goes back to the movie What About Bob which I will have to write about someday when I see it again as that is a GREAT movie.

Everybody Loves Raymond was a very popular hot show on CBS in the late nineties through much of the last decade. Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton led a stellar cast that included the late Peter Boyle as Ray's father.

Something about this show works. Recently I have discovered that on Sunday nights when I have got the kids to bed and my wife is exhausted from her " time off " is sleeping soundly that on TVLAND Raymond is on for 5 episodes. And I watch. Each week. I might well have seen many of the episodes before but do not recall. This show makes me laugh.

My son tells me that I do not laugh out loud much. I chuckle but laughing out loud is not my common theme. This show at times makes me laugh out loud. Last night as I laughed in bed as my son watched ESPN in the living room I was so loud my son came in and asked what I was watching. Clearly I need to laugh out loud more.

Some shows work. Seinfeld makes me laugh as well. They are different shows certainly but in the end they both do the same thing---make me laugh out loud. Perhaps we should set up a scale of laughter for middle aged men who do not laugh enough.

This show would set the bar pretty high.