No awards system is perfect, and the TCA Awards is no exception. But arriving two days after the often-inexplicable results of the Emmy nominations, Saturday night's low-key, good-time TCA Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton was a welcome course correction to several especially egregious Emmy oversights. (And, lo and behold, nary a mention of Boston Legal anywhere.)First up: Michael C. Hall, ignored by the Emmys but cited by the TCA for “Individual Achievement in Drama,” for his mesmerizing performance in Showtime's Dexter as a serial killer targeting Miami's lowest forms of criminal life. (Other contenders in this category included Friday Night Lights' Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, also shamefully snubbed at the Emmys.)Friday Night Lights, a near shutout at the Emmys despite its status as a first-year critics’ darling (and recipient of Peabody and AFI awards), was later named Outstanding New Program. (The field also included 30 Rock, Dexter, Heroes and Ugly Bet...
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ABC's Lost wouldn't be our favorite twisty-mystery series if the season-ender didn't bring up more questions than it answered. Here's our take on the most mind-bending moments from this year's finale.
The OthersThey say they're "the good guys" — and we agree. We think "Henry Gale" and Co. are one-time Dharma Initiative members gone rogue. Now they are committed to stopping the Initiative's crazy testing and they need strong-willed Jack, Kate and Sawyer to help them.
The Dharma InitiativeSo the Initiative — with all its testing in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology and electromagnetism — is evil? Hell, yeah. Polar bears in the tropics, a phoenix rising and human guinea pigs — this can't be good.
Widmore L
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Question: What's the longest film title ever? I know Dr. Strangelove, Marat/Sade and one of the Planet of the Apes films must rank up there!Answer: As my regular readers know, I'm always leery about superlatives — "first," "most," what have you — for a variety of reasons. Most people cite Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D (1991) as the longest English-language title of all time, but it's clearly a gimmicky joke — the movie it's attached to is actually Night of the Living Dead (1968) with new, "comic" dialogue à la Blobermouth (1991). So I'd rather go with real movies whose titles are at least nominally straight-faced (note that I did say "nominally"), like The Persecution and Assassination
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Question: It seems like every other movie I see advertised is based on a TV show, like The Dukes of Hazzard. But what about the other way around? I know there was a series based on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but what other TV series have been based on a movie, and were any of them good?
Answer: There have been a handful of top-notch TV shows based on movies. The flop Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) was revived as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); Robert Altman's acerbic M*A*S*H* (1970) became the long-running M*A*S*H (1972-1983); Neil Simon
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Question: Oh, great Televisionary, I vaguely recall a game show where the contestants got a chance to play on a giant pinball machine. Who was the host and how was the game played? Thank you.
Answer: Well, I... uh...
Sorry, Jeffrey — I was stunned into pfumpfery by your shameless worship (not that there's anything wrong with that). The show you're thinking of was called The Magnificent Marble Machine and it aired on NBC's daytime schedule from July 1975 to June 1976. Hosted by Art James, it featured celebrities who teamed up with average-joe contestants to play a 50-foot-high pinball machine. Without getting into too much detail, players were supposed to light up bumpers and earn points using a regular ball and a special bonus ball in an attempt to win cars and other big prizes. Before they could do that, though, they had to defeat another contestant in an initial round, which called for them to identify mys
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