Before Rob Reiner had to deal with Archie Bunker on All in the Family, he had to deal with the Penguin on Batman. How awesome was it to the 19 year old with a full head of hair and no beard in that 1967 episode?
Ever since The Beatles split almost everyone has blamed Yoko Ono for breaking them up. Well it has been over 50 years since they called it a day and Paul McCartney is finally talking about it. According to The Guardian during an interview with David Frost that will air next month on The BBC he said, “She certainly didn’t break the group up, the group was breaking up.” He then added this when talking about John Lennon’s inspirational song Imagine, “I don’t think he would have done that without Yoko, so I don’t think you can blame her for anything. When Yoko came along, part of her attraction was her avant garde side, her view of things, so she showed him another way to be, which was very attractive to him. So it was time for John to leave, he was definitely going to leave [one way or another].”
Anyone else wonder what took him so long? And why hasn’t Ringo Starr ever said anything and why didn’t George Harrison? I mean that rumor has existed for most of our lifetime’s and not one member of the band refuted it until now. Or at least I don’t ever remember any of them contradicting rumor, do you? Maybe because it is all I have ever known, I am still going to blame her as the why reason why they broke up, even though I am sure what Macca said is the case.
So now back to the man that was once rumored to be dead, what is on his horizon? He told Frost, “I’d like to retire soon, and the way things are going I might be able to.” The world won’t be as musical when that happens.
ABC is the last network to either pick up or cancel a new show and today they finally made a decision on the fate for one of them. The network has picked up The Neighbors for a full season. The sitcom about humans that move into a private community full of aliens gets funnier and funnier each week as they teach their neighbors about our ways. Like last week when they learned about Halloween-ween. I can’t wait until The Weavers teach them about Thanksgiving and Christmas. That should be interesting and even better it should be a laugh riot. I will be clapping so loud that they will lose their human skin and turn into aliens.
So if you haven’t seen this original sitcom yet, why not start now because The Neighbors aren’t moving anywhere anytime soon.
BTW ABC also picked up Scandal for a full season.
As I reported The Late Show ain’t going to let a thing like Hurricane Sandy stop them from broadcasting tonight, so the CBS late night talk show is doing the hour without an audience. Here is a preview of what it is like for David Letterman to do his monologue without an audience and more importantly without any laughter. Plus CBS also released a clip of Denzel Washington appearing as a guest on the show at 11:35p. It is so weird to have a guest come out without any applause. I don’t think anyone especially them could imagine the difference. But they didn’t let the silence ruin their enthusiasm and they went on as though all of those seats were filled.
I respect The Late Show staff for going on with the show and not letting Mother Nature ruin their day. But I respect them more for putting the audience’s safety before the show’s needs.
Now I pray that everyone who works on the show either gets home safely or finds a safe place to wait out this Frankenstorm.
Since The Late Show with David Letterman did the show for us, let’s do something for them and watch it tonight on CBS at 11:35p. I am DVRing on all my TVs and I will stay up to watch it live to give it as many viewers at possible. Especially because they are losing a big chunk of viewers thanks to the power outages due to the storm.
UPDATE: David Letterman wasn’t the only one who did his show without an audience, Jimmy Fallon did the same with Late Night that airs on NBC at 12:37a. He did a cold open which was more like a windy one because he braved Hurricane Sandy for the opening. Then he went inside and did his monologue for the staff members that were sitting where the audience would’ve been. Have to say it is a completely different feel than the normal monologue and because of that it turned out really cool.
And just like the staff of The Late Show, I respect the Late Night staff for doing the show and putting the audience’s safety above the show’s.
Hurricane Sandy is huffing and puffing her way up the East Coast and will be passing over NYC sometime later tonight. As we all know she is a scary storm and because of that the North East is becoming a virtual ghost town with television shows shutting down production until she blows over.
Well the late night shows that tape in NYC all said yesterday they were going to go on as is, but today they are all changing their tune. Jimmy Kimmel Live, who flew across the county with his staff to do a week of special shows in Brooklyn, cancelled tonight’s taping. The ABC late night host Tweeted, “Though it pains us to do it, JKLfrom #Brooklyn tonight is cancelled. I’m disappointed too, but we want you to be safe.” No decision has been made as of now per his rep, if they will reschedule Chris Rock, Kelly Ripa and Alicia Keys for another night or if they will stay an extra day to make up for tonight.
While Kimmel is a guest in the Big Apple, Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman are not. The NBC Late Night host Tweeted, “We sent our audience home just to be safe. But we are doing our show tonight anyway. Should be fun. #LateNight” He said that after Tweeting, “Everyone in tonight’s studio audience gets a free Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. #LateNight #wehave10peopleinourau”. I sent an email to the show’s rep to find out if the scheduled guests would be there and as of now have not heard back. When it comes to The Late Show, a CBS rep says that they also will be taping without an audience tonight and that Denzel Washington and musical guest Paul Banks will be there. I mean it is Denzel after all, and he ain’t afraid of anything! In all seriousness, I think they made the right choice in choosing the audience’s safety over having them in the background for a few laughs.
This will not be the first time that a late night show has gone without an audience, Craig Ferguson tried out for fun a few years back. But in his case there was no Frankenstorm coming his way.
Now having written all about how the late night shows will or will not go on, I pray that everyone on the East Coast in her path will be safe. That is the most important thing.
UPDATE: The Late Show just Tweeted this, “Studio audience in place and ready for tonight’s all-new #Sandy show with Denzel Washington & Paul Banks.” At least they still have a sense of humor about it all.
