7 posts tagged “stephen fry”

Surely absentee monarch is more fitting given that Jackson hasn't dominated the music scene for at least a decade. Perhaps his come back tour would have set the world alight or maybe gone out like a damp squid like the Spice Girls.   Either way he leaves behind his music legacy, and the gossip columns (and news channels by the looks of it) will squeeze out every last column inch and soundbite from his death. I was never really into his music but I do have two memories. Firstly, is the ace Fry and Laurie sketch about Jackson, and secondly Javis Cocker rushing the stage at the 1996 Brits to protest again Jackson.

Once again, Alex and I have started to try and work our way through Star Trek: The Next Generation because someone says that we can't re-watch Deep Space Nine until we have finished TNG. It's a bit like having to eat your greens before tackling some really tasty deep fried chicken. The last time we tackled this project we managed to get through the first two seasons, and I want to know at exactly what point did TNG get good? Was the tipping point Picard going Borg? The gem from the last few episodes we've watched is Whoopi Goldberg. It was genius to cast her as Guinan and I started to get excited about seeing her. So that got me thinking about which guest stars really bring it. The ones who shake things up, are a nod to the genre or just are just plain annoying (in a good way). In no particular order here are my favourites (and I think they really show my age):

1. Whoopi Goldberg - Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Goldberg appeared in 28 episodes of TNG, she is  the landlord of the Enterprise's bar '10 Forward' whose planet had been devastated by the Borg. Not only is Goldberg an outstanding actress, her characters back story was a great segue into Star Trek's newest villains - the Borg. 
2. Marlee Matlin - Joey Lucas in The West Wing. IMDB is trying to tell me that Matlin appeared in 17 episodes - was it really that many? Over the years that The West Wing has sustained us through the Bush administration there were many great guest stars - Mary-Lousie Parker, Janeane Garofalo, Oliver Platt, Steven Culp, Jorja Fox, Adam Arkin, etc - but if I had to pick just one it would be Matlin's turn as political pollster Joey Lucas.  Her character is bright, and ballsy. She butts heads with Josh, and the pair tip toe around their mutual attraction. I can forgive Matlin for putting on her tap shoes to appear in Dancing With The Stars because I can always dust off my West Wing box sets.
   
3. Maggie Wheeler - Janice in Friends.  The character of Janice was a tour de force. The "real" New Yorker that rubbed the bridge and tunnel crowd the wrong way.  Her laugh shattered glass, she took being annoying to a whole new level and she is the Achilles heel to our Friends. There is no escaping her, and that's what we loved about her most. She was brash, and she irked the hell out the smug set. 
4. Bebe Neuwirth - Lilith in Fraser.  Lilith is like an iceberg. Icy cool, and the most dangerous part of her is hidden beneath the surface.  Her power was in how everyone reacted to her. She doesn't need to lift a finger to keep those Crane boys in check.
   
5. Richard Hatch - Tom Zarek in Battlestar Galactica. Okay, this guest star role isn't perfect but it is pretty fraking cool to have the original Apollo cast as a terrorist. A nod to the BSG's heritage that shakes things up, just like Starbuck being a girl.   
   
6. Stephen Fry - Dr. Gordon Wyatt on Bones. I am still holding out hope that Fry will guest star on House but his three episode on Fox network's sister show tided me over for a bit (and sustained my interest in this procedural drama). Fry was, as ever, a joy to behold as the psychiatrist assigned to help Booth open up after an incident, and truthfully I'd pay to watch Fry pottering about in any TV show bar the truly dreadful Kingdom.
7. Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood & Dean Haglun - The Lone Gunmen in The X-Files.  These guys are the epitome of conspiracy theorists, and brought some colour to Scully & Mulders FBI grey.
   
8. John Barrowman - Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who.  Before Captain Jack took over Cardiff he appeared as the bi-sexual alien with a predilection for vintage clothing and flirted shamelessly with the Doctor. 
9. Supernatural. Okay, this is a total cop out but one of the things that I *love* about this show (other than Jensen Ackles) is that they embraced the genre and incorporate lots of "genre specific" guest stars. Callum Keith Rennie, Amy Acker, and Linda Blair to name a few.
   
10. Dean Stockwell - Brother Cavil in Battlestar Galactica. It's Dean Stockwell as a Cylon. It doesn't get any better than that.
    

I am struggling to stay awake but trying to hang on in there till 10pm.  My mantra of "must beat jet lag" is not working so I thought I'd ramble a little longer.

Sound

I managed to forget my headphones on our little jaunt to Pacific North East so I wasn't listening to anything, but before I left I had been indulging in Stephen Fry in audio form.  I do wish that Sir Stephen of Fry would post more than once a month but we must be grateful for small mercies or podgrams.

Screen: Small

The fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica started a few weeks ago, and it is really good. We have last Friday's episode on the DVR since we were away, and I'll have to maintain a media block out until Alex gets back. I am not sure if I will be able to make it till Thursday but I will try to stay strong.

My birthday, Christmas and the whole 10 days in London were fantastic - absolutely bloody fantastic!  We packed a lot in pre-birthday so by the time the 23rd rolled around I was ready for a quiet day, and a stroll around Borough Market to buy meat. I landed on the 20th, and headed straight to theatre for a matinée production of  La Cage Aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory with Mum, and I couldn't have picked a better production to kick off the festivities. The singing, the dancing, the marabou feathers and sequins, and that was just the boys... BOOM BOOM.

The next day with a newly liberated Alex we headed to Claridges for an early birthday slash Christmas lunch. I love Claridges, and to me it is Christmas. The trees in the foyer, the decor, a slap up meal with exquisite service and the tiny mince pies. This is one of the newer Christmas traditions that we have incorporated into our family and I haven't heard any complaints. Needless to say it was sensational, and to top it all off we were treated to kitchen tour which really was the cherry. I think there were many factors at play for us getting the kitchen tour (and met Mark Sargeant), and it probably helped that this was a repeat visit, and that we were a friendly group really enjoying ourselves.  Needless to say we spent the rest of the day with a full belly and a smug grin on our faces, and I hope that my brother was kicking himself for missing lunch to wood chip a tree in at our Dad's.

On Saturday we had to vacate Alex's corporate abode in Pimlico and relocate to my Mum's. Pimlico turned out to be a

Trojan horse, and really wasn't as exciting as we thought it would be - perhaps all these years in NYC has spoiled us, and at least where my Mum lives has no pretensions. We left Alex to an afternoon of CounterStrike whilst Mum, Jonty and I retreated into our childhood and went to panto. But, not any pantomime the shiny jewel of middle class panto at the Old Vic, and Cinderella penned by Mister Stephen Fry. He had carefully deconstructed  Cinderella and the traditional features of a  pantomime and then  carefully put them back together again with a liberal dash of grownup humor.  Loved Sandi Toksvig has the crossed dressing narrator, Cinderella wasn't in the least bit annoying and they channeled her traditional sappiness into a way of everyone making fun of her, and Buttons is glorious. Normally I hate Buttons mooning over Cinderella but Fry had Buttons mooning over Dandini so he was able to bond with Cinders over their perfect man.

By the time my birthday rolled around I was ready to take it easy, and tried to  spend the rest of  holiday doing as little as possible.  I am happy to report that is something I excelled in!

This post appeared on The Guardian's arts blog a few days ago and it has been irking me. It is one thing to knock Stephen Fry's career with a postmortem of his choices but it is another to say that "Stephen Fry is sweet, but I don't much admire his career" and then not follow through with any substantial comment (and apparently the majority of the people who left comments feel the same way). The writer didn't even bring up Kingdom, a show so woefully slow and painful that even the wonder that is Fry could not get me to sit through one episode (and don't let me get started on Tony Slattery's role), or his turn as a bumbling detective in Gosford Park that had me squirming.  I have very much enjoyed Fry's career he has kept me entertained for many decades and hopefully will continue to do so. Here are my personal highlights from his resume.

First up his guest role in Bones elevated the mediocre, and his rapport with his comparatively young co-stars in Cold Comfort Farm and V For Vendetta electric. Bright Young Things was by no means perfect but you just have to love anyone adapting Waugh.  With  A Bit of  Fry and Laurie two things stick in my mind his turn as Michael Jackson moonwalking on a treadmill and of course the high jinx he got up to in Uttoxeter. And finally, Blackadder and Jeeves & Wooster - enough said.

I kid you not there is NOTHING on television this evening, and nothing on the DVR that tickles my fancy at this exact moment. We lasted less than 10 mins on Fox's "hot" new show Drive... the character stereotypes were SO dull and obvious.

The shows we've lost interest in now out weight the season passes on our aforementioned DVR. Seriously at the moment our must see tv consists of House, The Unit, NCIS, The Daily Show & The Colbert Report (and Supernatural for me). Rome has finished, and The Tudors is not comparable (BTW could the voice-over people at Showtime stop pronouncing  'Tudor' like  a nasally  'tuna').  Battlestar Galactic, Dexter and Psych seasons are over for the moment.

Prison Break got so bad it became unbearable, and after watching BBC America's The State Within the antics of Jack and CTU looked very silly. My suggestion to the producers of how to salvage the shows... send Jack to the same South American prison as Schofield. Bones got a brief reprieve whilst Stephen Fry was guest starring but now his arc is done so am I.

There are about half a dozen shows that I follow and without a shadow of a doubt Battlestar Galactica takes the top spot. In fact it annihilates the competition. Growing up in a pro-scifi environment I never realised the prejudice against this genre. It is a loss to those not tuning in; such a stellar ensemble cast, good writing and direction. You can tell that everyone involved cares and then there are the perks: Ron Moore's podcasts for EVERY episode, round table discussions, webisodes over the summer and a geeky music video (which I have watch an unhealthy amount of times today). The big themes running at the moment are Gaius Baltar's trial (I am confident that the silver tonged genius will get off) and the identities of the final five cylons. There is a lot of speculation on the boards but my guess is Saul Tigh...  Only time will tell. My other top show at the mo is Supernatural. It has shifted up from guilty pleasure to highlight of the week, along side BSG and House (which has a BIG revelation coming about the gruff doctor's childhood tomorrow night!) - such is my exciting Manhattan life.

Supernatural has a Buffy crossed with early X-Files feel about it but with consquences. I am all about cause and effect, it's the Greeks what can I say. There is great chemistry between the actors playing the Winchester boys (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki), plenty of sarky banther and classic rock references. The background is that their mother died in mysterious circumstances and their father dealt with it by becoming a hunter of all things supernatural. This of course leads to tension and resentment as the boys grow up. Sam (Padalecki) eventual leaves to go to college but is reunited with Dean (Ackles) to go looking for their missing father, and that is where season one begins. You need to watch it carefully as there are plenty of good genre cameos: the smoking man, Fred from Angel, Leoben from BSG and Tricia Helfer will be seen later this season!

Being a born again student has eaten into my couch potato time. There had to be cut backs and several shows on parole at the moment. Season passes could be revoked at any time for CSI, ER, Bones, Prison Break and 24. I am not buying into the ER resurgence, and CSI has lost its faux edge. I need to check to see if Danny Cannon is still exec-producer cos if not that might explain the gear shift down to medicoracy. To a certain extent I am enjoying Liev Schrieber as the mysterious fill-in whilst Grisolm treads the boards, he pockets his used coffee cup in a manner of someone with something to hide. Prison Break has got very blah since they crims escaped and I just can't see it going three seasons. If they tied things up neaty at the end of this seasons the principals would be free to head up other shows perhaps Wentworth Miller could turn up on 24. CTU should so hire Michael Scofield. I'll give up on Bones once I have seen the arc where Stephen Fry guests a shrink. How long till Fry & Laurie reunion?

And finally 24. Which totally lost it last week which introoduced last season's bluetooth man as Jack's Bel-Air dwelling brother - WTF.  Everyone knows that Jack does not have family. He was bread in a lab and is a cylon; one of the final five.