Jay Leno's presence on primetime

If work long and hard during the day, one needs to relax and cool down late at night. And thanks to cable here at home, Chief and I are able to sit or lie down in our sofa and watch TV. These nights, it is often reruns of Sex in the city for Chief. Me, I would rather just sleep. But before Sarah Jessica Parker, we get to catch a few laughs from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Or even up to David Letterman. One guy we miss on late night TV at home is Jay Leno.

A few days ago, news came out that Jay Leno was moving to primetime TV in the States. That caught many, including me by surprise. I have have heard that Conan o’Brien was taking over his slot soon. And now Jay Leno was extending his daily presence on NBC and entering a new viewing audience.

It was really more of a business decision. It does cost more to produce regular comedy, police or drama series as against talk shows, which is basically just a studio set and the host’s talent fees. And with some primetime shows not getting good ratings, Leno’s move becomes an ideal financial move too for NBC.

Plus having Leno earlier will give the older viewers a chance to watch the complete program. Just like me, I often skip the last segment of David Letterman.


According to an Ad Age report, "The idea of Jay building on in prime time every night of the week not only adds stability to the great lineup, but reinforces us as home of the best comedy," said Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC's entertainment division. Jay was born in New Rochelle, New York and is considered as one of the nicest guys on television and popularly known for his collection of classic cars and motorcycles. I remember that episode with Paul Newman where they “raced” around the studio set.

Did you know that he made his presence in Bosnia in 2001 where he performed for military troops associated with the war in Afghanistan?

In April 2004, he wrote a children’s book “If Roast Beef Could Fly” (from Simon & Schuster) which became a New York Times Bestseller. He also has published four versions of “Headlines,” which tells about bloopers in print media.

He took over hosting the “Tonight Show” for decades which has h won two Emmys in 1995 for Outstanding Comedy, Variety or Music Series, and in 1996 for Outstanding Technical Direction. He has received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Before becoming host of “Tonight,” Leno had been the exclusive guest host on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” since September 1987.

We really need more good laughs on primetime!

Curtis at 83

It is very rare that I watch the live edition of “The View” on cable. But one night last week, Tony Curtis was special guest and I had to catch up with Danny Wilde, the character he played in the British TV series, “The Persuaders.”

Do you remember that TV series? It run for one season and was considered the most expensive British television series produced, estimated £100,000 per episode.

It was filmed in France, Spain, Sweden, and Italy where two playboys, played by Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, got in and out of trouble, using their charm and cars.

Moore played Lord Brett Sinclair is an Oxford-educated English aristocrat. He drove a Bahama Yellow Aston Martin DBS with V8 wheels and markings and personalised number plates of his initials: “ST 1” Danny Wilde drove a red Ferrari 246 Dino, many years before Crockett was blazing around Miami. Hehe.

I was surprised how old Tony Curtis was. Now, he was 83! Wow. And he looked old and far from his role in the Persuaders and in movies like “Some Like It Hot” done in 1959 with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. Now, I remember that he was once romantically linked to M2 (aka Marilyn Monroe).

Did you know that he served in the US Navy during During World War aboard USS Proteus? And he witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945!

And that he is also a painter? Last year, his painting “The Red Table” was on display in the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. Some of his paintings sell for more than 25K!

But I guess, most fans know that he had been married six times and most known wife is Janet Leigh and is the dad of Jamie Lee Curtis. She is one reason why I always want to watch "True Lies" where she played the wife of Arnold S. Remember that escape scene where is handles an Uzi and it falls down the stairs.

He nearly died of pneumonia a couple of years ago and was in a coma for several days. During the interview at “The View” he was just seated and but still carried the charm as he kissed the hands of the hosts!

Scoop? There is a planned movie version of “The Persuaders” and Ben Stiller might… might play Danny Wilde?

Newman passes away

Movie poster image of "Cool Hand Luke" from http://www.filmsite.org/posterpages

Last 26 September, “cool hand” Luke passed away at the age of 83. He died at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, of complications arising from cancer.

And just this morning, I was just watching the animated movie, “Car” at Fitness First. He was the voice behind “Doc Hudson.”

“Cool Hand Luke” was done in 1967 wherein Paul Newman plays the title role as Luke, a prisoner in a Florida prison camp. The movie was directed by Stuart Rosenberg. “Luke” was nominated for an Academy Award

Born Paul Leonard Newman, “Luke Jackson” or “Eddie Falco” is probably one of the few stars who had made his presence felt outside of the cinema in various fields. He was an entrepreneur and an auto racing enthusiast. On the race track, he won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.


Photo of Newman behind a Ferrari 599 taken in July 2006 from
http://www.italiancar.net/site/news/06/0706/PaulNewman/PaulNewman.html

On the supermarket shelf, one can taste his pasta sauces, lemonade, popcorn, and salsa branded as “Newman's Own.” Note that he donated all profits and royalties to charity. Reports say that as of May 2007, these donations had exceeded US$220 million. This company was co-founded with A.E. Hotchner in 1982.

And on screen, he won an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards.

Other movies I remember I watched are “Towering Inferno,” “The Sting” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” One of his last movies was “The Road to Perdition” which I have to watch one of these days.

John Rambo

While in Powerplant Mall last Sunday, Cecile and I bumped into Rommel Cecilio. He had gained some weight but is already a proud father. And like our friends, he was extra happy for catching us on “Mel & Joey” last November, plus even more surprised to see himself in the group photo of “Artistang Artlets.”


We would have wanted to chat with Rommel but we were rushing to catch the 4th edition of the Rambo series. This time the movie is called “John Rambo” and Sly Stallone actually had a hand in writing the script and directed this movie. based on the characters created by David Morrell in his novel “First Blood.”

There have been four editions. First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and Rambo III (1988) and the 4th which was released on January 25, 2008.

The movies chronicles the life of John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran, whose survival skills, weaponry, hand-to-hand combat and guerrilla warfare, has brought him to many wars and conflicts.

In this movie, John Rambo lives a simple life in a rural Thai village near the Burmese border. He catches fish and snakes. Rambo’s help is sought by a group of fellow missionaries so they can bring food and medicine to the Karen tribe members. These people are seen raped, tortured and massacred by soldiers, which is actually happening in that country.

Initially Rambo refuses but is latter convinced by Sarah Miler (Julie Benz), the only female in the group. Rambo brings them into Burma. The humanitarian mission goes well until the village is attacked. Many villagers are killed. Sarah and the missionaries are kidnapped by the Burmese army. The pastor Athur Marsh (Ken Howard) from the missionaries' church comes to Thailand and informs Rambo that he has hired mercenaries to rescue the group and needs Rambo to transport them up river again.


With Rambo’s help, the mercenaries rescue all the missionaries and Rambo cuts down the Burmese general trying to escape.


In the final battle, Rambo using a machine gun opens fire on the Burmese soldiers holding the missionaries hostage. The ensuing battle is long and extremely graphic.
Total body count is 236, more than previous movies.

And in the last scene, Rambo back in the United States, walks past a farm and a mailbox with the name R. Rambo on it. Slowly, John Rambo makes his way down the driveway of the farm and has returned home.

There are talks of a 5th movie. A civil war in Africa?

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate.

Sharapova and Djokovic

Both made their strong presence at the Australian Open this weekend,as they emerged as champions in the 1st tennis grand slam event of the year.

Heath Ledger

We first watched Heathcliff Andrew Ledger in the Mel Gibson film, “The Patriot.” And also in “Four Feathers” which one of my favorite movies as it epitomizes a strong friendship. That was many years ago. And he probably became even more popular in the award winning Ang Lee film “Brokeback Mountain.” And that movie, we never really got to watch. Maybe, now with the death of Heath Ledger, we will finally get to see that movie.

But before that we will definitely see his presence at the Joker in the latest Batman flick, “The Dark Night.”

The Academy Award-nominated Australian actor was born on April 4, 1979 and died yesterday in his apartment in the upscale SOHO district. I was telling Cecile that we were in that area during our recent trip to the States last December 2007.

Here are a few interesting trivia from Wikipedia about Heath’s short presence in this world. His name and his sister, Kate were named after the two main characters in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Catherine. At age 10, Peter Pan was his first acting experiences was in a school production.

In 1996, he already played a gay role in an Australian TV series called “Sweat.”

From August 2002 to April 2004, Ledger had a relationship with actress Naomi Watts, whom he met during the filming of “Ned Kelly.”

On the set of “Brokeback Mountain,” Ledger met actress Michelle Williams, whom he met on the set of Brokeback Mountain. Their daughter, Matilda Rose, was born on October 28, 2005 in New York City.

Did you know that Ledger had aspirations to become a film director? In 2006, Ledger directed three music videos and during a news conference at the Venice Film Festival in 2007, he spoke of his desire to make a film about the British troubadour Nick Drake who died tragically young at the age of 26 in 1974. As a first step, he created and appeared in a short film set to Drake's recording of his 1974 song about depression titled "Black Eyed Dog".

In 2007, he was one of six actors to portray different sides of singer Bob Dylan in the film “I'm Not There.”

On July 18, 2008, Ledger will his presence felt as the iconic comic book villain The Joker in “The Dark Knight.” This is the sequel to the 2005 film “Batman Begins,” opposite fellow “I'm Not There” star Christian Bale.

We will surely watch "The Dark Knight."

Sweeney Todd

Last New Year's day, Cecile and I found ourselves in the heart of Times Square. And since it was a holiday, there were no shows on Broadway. We had already watched two plays since we arrived in the Big Apple. We saw "The Color Purple" which featured Fantasia.... yes, the American Idol winner. We also watched "Young Frankenstein."

And on New Year's Day, we watched Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd." This film is Tim Burton's adaptation of Sondheim's musical starring Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin and Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli.

Timothy "Tim" William Burton, like me, born on the month of August (1958) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American film director and writer. He is noted for his quirky and gothic and dark atmosphere of his films. I remember to have watched "Edward Scissorhands" a few years ago... also with Johnny Depp. This movie is Depp's 6th collaboration with Burton.

Tim Burton also did "Batman Returns" and "The Nightmare before Christmas"

Photos courtesy of Warner Brothers.