EastGirlsWest

It’s come to this. The earliest episodes of SESAME STREET have been released on DVD, with the following warning:

These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.

Virginia Heffernan’s take on the undiagnosed addictions and depressive disorders of the original puppet cast is pretty funny. I grew up thinking it was completely normal that Big Bird couldn’t see Snuffy, not realizing that he may have been exhibiting a serious social disorder. And so what if Oscar was a major cranky pants? To a five-year-old fan: funny.

Of course I understand that SESAME has evolved for good reason. Similar reasons, in fact, that kids no longer roll around in the way back of big station wagons without seatbelts starting at the age of three. And hey, remember when all our mothers smoked and ate soft cheese through pregnancy? Still, as someone raised on the original kids TV formula, I can’t help but feel a bit defensive of My First Media. The children’s shows on PBS today are excellent, but they’re a long way from the SESAME STREET of 1975. As Heffernan says, “Anyone who considers bull markets normal, extracurricular activities sacrosanct and New York a tidy, governable place — well, the original “Sesame Street” might hurt your feelings.”

Substandard urban housing, unchecked cookie consumption and a neurotic group of friends and neighbors? Perhaps the old school SESAME was my first exposure to reality TV.

Mask

…livin’ crazy is the only way.

Girl’s Night

Soundtrack: Michael Jackson ‘Off the Wall‘ (yes, we danced)

Cocktail: Rivola Sardon del Duero 2003 (still enjoying leftover wedding wine)

Dinner: Pasta Primavera (Tay says this dish is from the 90’s, but it was delicious anyway)

Activities: purifying facial masks, wine knowledge flash cards, outfit consideration and packing for France

Dessert: popsicles

TV: Carnivale (season 1 finale)

Tay and I have a phrase, or rather a phrase structure, that we like to use when we’re being definitive about something. For example, while the onset of sleepiness may be expressed as such, true exhaustion merits the declaration “I’m tired like tired.” A particularly fine meal is “delicious like delicious.” And occasionally, the phrase will feature a noun rather than an adjective to highlight a particulary urgency, as in “I need wine like wine.”

So Tay emailed me yesterday to ask, “Is it hot like hot?”. To which I could only reply, “It’s hottest like hottest.”

I now feel there can never be enough of the following items:
1) SPF
2) Bottled water
3) Light cotton fibers to protect one from the sun and absorb sweat from the body

I can’t really complain though, because while I did spend a fair amount of time outdoors yesterday, the nature of my duties here allowed me to spend many hours in the air conditioned (ish) dining tent. The crew, on the other hand, has spent four days building the set, the production control room, and everything else on site from scratch. They’ve put up lighting, set up cameras and cables, unpacked loads of equipment. In the heat. All day. Every half hour or so they would come into the tent and grab two bottles of water, pour one over their head, and drink the other. I’m in awe of their perseverance.

We were at the site until 11pm last night, and right before rehearsal a dust storm kicked up. Winds were battering the tent, convincing us all we’d be lying under a pile of canvas and metal rigging in no time. Walking outside required - I’m not kidding - sunglasses at night. Dust in nostrils, eyeballs, hair and every possible crevice of clothing. Mouth closed. I just tried to pretend it was all very The English Patient and I was Kristin Scott Thomas (not a problem for me to immerse myself in that fanstasy).

But despite the heat and the wind, it is beautiful there. This particular corner of the Judean desert is stark and gaunt, monumental and very impressive. It’s a grand setting for tonight’s show.

Slane Castle, County Meath, Ireland

I really was there. You can spot me in the lower left corner, in a red sweater. The photo was taken on day three, right before the concert rehearsal started.

The Bad

• This castle was the ONLY thing I saw in Ireland, besides my hotel room and the Dublin airport.
• The food. Served up in a tent on the castle grounds by two older Irish women who conformed to every stereotype of the Mean Lunch Lady. Every meal included boiled potatoes, and some kind of vaguely stewed meat.
• Severe sleep deprivation, long work days, and no small amount of stress.

The Good

• Our shoot, and the entire production, went really well. Can’t wait to see the footage! Look for the Celtic Woman concert on your local PBS station in December.
• Did mention I was at a castle? In Ireland?

Fun Fact

• U2 recorded The Unforgettable Fire in this ballroom in the castle.

Angela and I decided that the three sweetest words in the English language are “begin cool down.”

Also, we both have a HBO problem. There are three episodes of Deadwood left, and I’m already feeling the pain of withdrawl. Meanwhile, the only thing that got Angela through our workout was the promise of starting season two of The Wire last night. When I left her in the parking garage she was twitching in anticipation of her trip to the video store to rent the DVD’s. All this because she couldn’t possibly wait another 24 hours for it to show up On Demand. Season Four premieres on September 10th, and it can’t come soon enough.

And finally, according to Vanity Fair, Sofia Coppola is out there living the life we’d like to have. BFF with Wes Andersen? We’d like that. Fashion muse to Marc Jacobs? We volunteer. Then we’d have much more exciting weekends to discuss during Monday’s elliptical time, making the whole ordeal go by faster.

Begin cool down.

While there are many, many things going on in the current administration that qualify as “obscene” in my book (let’s start with the war in Iraq, and go from there), my wrath has been focused lately on the FCC, who seems to want to be everyone’s Mommy and Daddy. They will protect our innocent ears and eyes from anything resembling a profane word or exposed flesh! Soldiers at war shall say “heck”. Blues musicians are not an “appropriate artistic context” for swear words. And there will be no glimpses of nudity, which as well all know leads to sex, which is very, very dirty and wrong.

Have you noticed that even John Stewart is being bleeped on the air now? What the fuck is going on???

Violence, however, is fine with the FCC. Bring it on - the more graphic the better. Beat someone’s skull in, remove limbs with a blunt object while wading in a pool of blood, set fire to the corpse and bomb the shit out of the building where it all took place. Shoot a couple of bad guys at point blank range with an automatic weapon on your way out the door and put it all in prime time. Now THAT’S family viewing.

I mean, there’s just a teensy, weensy bit of hypocrisy in all this. Plus unknowable rules that remain a moving target. And some frighteningly emboldened media “watchdog” groups.

Now that I’ve used both the “F-word” and the “S-word” in this post, I may as well go for broke and share this video. It was sent to me by a fellow public broadcasting colleague.

Enjoy!

I know I’m a little late on this, but I’ve been trying to figure out a way to honor Aaron Spelling here at EGW. As you know, he passed away last week at the age of 83.

I watched and adored both Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 in their time - and like so many others my age, the wardrobes and exploits of Brenda Walsh, Donna Martin, Amanda Woodward and Michael Mancini will be taking up precious space in my memory forever. But there is one Aaron Spelling show that I truly loved, one that I looked forward to with breathless anticipation every week, one that captured my devotion and admiration like no other: The Love Boat.

My parents called it ‘The Dumb Boat’ (clever, Mom and Dad), and would not let my sister and I watch the show without first giving us a lecture about it’s complete lack of merit, insulting portrayal of women, and potentially harmful effect on our brain cells. But their attempts to use Spelling as a Teaching Moment and impart some media literacy did not deter us! We soaked up every vapid, campy moment that we could, and prayed the parents would forget about us upstairs long enough so that we could catch most of Fantasy Island, as well (it was on next). At the first notes of The Love Boat theme song we’d start singing along, hoping for at least one young, pretty woman to appear among the guest stars popping up inside the life saver.

We also practiced the Julie McCoy wink over and over and over.

I could go on and on here, but the point is this: I have finally found a fitting tribute to Spelling’s most genius hour. Thanks to Wikipedia, here is a comprehensive list of The Love Boat guest stars over the years. RIP Aaron.

P.S. Julie McCoy is back in the form of Angela Carone, who has become an accomplished cruise director when it comes to gathering and entertaining our cocktail clatch every other week. Now if only she’d bring the wink into her repetoire…

I don’t just have a birthday day. I like to streeeeetch it out over many days, at least a weekend, up to two weeks if possible. While I don’t particularly like getting older, I do love celebrating. Because “celebrating” means food, wine, gifts, socializing and getting final approval over the celebration plans. It’s the best.

Celebrating can also involve pampering oneself, so Angela and I kicked off Birthday Eve with a trip to the spa for facials. What better than glowing skin and lingering scent of lavender in my nostrils to help face the onset of The Big Three Five? Plus, Robert the esthetician raved about my skin to me, which was very kind. The Boyfriend pointed out that I was paying Robert for his services, and it was probably a strategic retail decision for him to rave about my skin. To which I said shut up, he was totally being sincere.

Saturday night brought a differnet kind of celebration: the annual Emmy Awards ceremony for the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Boyfriend was nominated, along with our uber-talented friends Michael and Nick, the charming and inspiring Will Marre, and many other colleagues. Turned out to be a big night for our crew! Michael and Nick each made multiple trips to the podium - once with The Boyfriend - winning for this show and these spots. When you get to the spots, watch the one labeled “Sisters” - it’s the winner, and damn good, in my humble opinion.

Now we have a pretty gold statuette in the house. And I got a second chance to wear a really fabulous dress that I bought for a wedding last year. So pretty much a successful night.

And then we went home, where I enjoyed my LAST hour of my 34th year watching a procedural crime drama on the DVR.

Angela and I are both watching Big Love and obsessing. Although she missed on Sunday, which nearly killed me because when we got on the elliptical machines yesterday for our Monday Workout I had to spend a torturous 40 minutes NOT talking about Big Love. It made the workout feel more like 120 minutes. Thank god she caught up last night.

Anyway, a few observations so far:

• it’s good. damn good.
• it’s completely made us reverse our stance on hating Jeanne Tripplehorn, which was a result of her vicious turn in Sliding Doors.
• it’s oddly relatable. HBO is so good at this, aren’t they? Taking an outrageous, surreal situation, then adding sympathetic and very real characters. Next thing you know, you’re hooked. Rooting for the polygamists, mobsters and drug dealers to just find their way in this crazy world.

So much more to cover here, but I thought I’d let you know we’re watching. Are you?