SUPER BOWL: The Dave/Oprah/Jay ad was the biggest surprise, especially because it was a promo for THE LATE SHOW. The New York Times’ Bill Carter (eminence grise of the Late Night Wars as the author of THE LATE SHIFT) reports that NBC did sign off on Jay appearing in the promo and he took the NBCU corporate jet to NYC. Jay donned a disguise of a hoodie, fake mustache and sunglasses and snuck into the Ed Sullivan theatre last Tuesday while Dave was doing his show. Oprah managed to get in undetected and the two stayed in a secret green room until Dave’s audience left the building. The spot was Dave’s idea and it was shot in about a half hour.
At first I thought Jay was trying to repair his bruised good-guy image by showing he could be a good sport. Then word came out from TheWrap.com’s Joe Adalian that Conan’s producer Jeff Ross had also been contacted about Conan appearing in the spot: http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/dave-wanted-conan-jay-oprah-super-bowl-promo-13978
If you click that link, you can watch the spot there too. The resulting spot was incredible. Cheers to all three participants for creating something that’s hilarious, unexpected and memorable.
Runner up for best ad was Google’s ad about Paris that seemed to play off the theme “Paris is for lovers.” The storytelling was simple, eloquent and sweet. And it was spot-on brandwise because it was all about what Google is all about: searching. Just brilliant.
TEMPLE GRANDIN: If you didn’t watch this HBO Original Film Saturday night, make a point of watching it as soon as possible because Claire Danes’ performance in the title role is absolutely astounding and sure to win her an Emmy. She’s not acting like Temple Grandin, she becomes Temple Grandin. portraying the autistic woman in her teenage years and through the next 20 years. Grandin became a well-known advocate for autism and for her work in animal husbandry (and especially with cows). I know it sounds like a very odd film but let me reduce it for you this way: it’s really about how Grandin saw the world as a visual thinker. How she formed pictures in her mind of everything she saw and could recall those pictures anytime. It’s about how she learned to calm herself when her autism created almost-crippling anxiety in her. It’s a fascinating story and if you watch, you’ll see that the two hours fly by because you can’t take your eyes off Danes. Director Mick Jackson and writers William Merrit Johnson and Christopher Monger recount the story carefully and lovingly to create a film that’s moving, funny and inspirational.
BIG LOVE: The evolution of Bill Henrickson continues as he won the political nomination he was seeking but has lost a personal connection he treasures (I won’t be specific in case you haven’t watched yet.) Jeanne Tripplehorn continues to do her best work in the show and she turned in another quietly sensational performance in this week’s episode as Barb tried to cope with turmoil at home centered on Ben, Margene and Bill. Without being a spoiler, I love that the writers are using the idea of history repeating itself within the Henrickson family and how that’s causing constant shock waves.
SNL: Andy Samberg stole the show (and I think my heart) with this clip as an apologetic Rahm Emanuel:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/rahm-emanuel/1199682/
As for Ashton Kutcher, I think his best moment was when he ripped off his pants at the end of his monologue to reveal leopard print boxers.
Was anyone else as blown away by Them Crooked Vultures as I was? Love the loud crunchy guitars and the rock legend feel of it because of John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl – who is a legend to me even if he’s not quite on the Zep level yet.
BILL MURRAY ON NO RESERVATIONS WITH TONY BOURDAIN: Tony Bourdain isn’t sure how it happened but Bill Murray is his guest in tonight’s Hudson Valley, NY installment of NO RESERVATIONS. Bourdain isn’t BFFs with Murray and I’m not quite sure how Murray got involved. I’ll be tuning in to find out. The wonderful food writer Michael Ruhlman also guests in this episode. NO RESERVATIONS airs at 10pm on the Travel Channel and they also air an 11pm repeat of the same episode which is a good thing because Monday at 10pm is now a very crowded timeslot.
COMING SOON TO THE VIEW: The cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore; “Snooki” Polizzi, Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Angelina “Jolie” Pivarnick, Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, Vinny Guadagnino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola and Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, will appear on The View Tuesday, Feb. 23 to promote the release of Jersey Shore: Season 1 on DVD.
TODAY’S SURF WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO: Real live Guitar Heroes Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0hk6un_VTg
Tonight’s rundown:
ABC: 8:00 p.m. The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love, 10:00 p.m. Castle
CBS: 8:00 p.m. How I Met Your Mother, 8:30 p.m. Accidentally on Purpose, 9:00 p.m. Two and a Half Men, 9:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory, 10:00 p.m. CSI: Miami
Latenight note: Dave Letterman unveils the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover billboard over Broadway in NYC on tonight’s show and Super Bowl winning Saints quarterback Drew Brees will come by as well as Oscar nominee Sandra Bullock.
NBC: 8:00 p.m. Chuck, 9:00 p.m. Heroes (season or series finale), 10:00 p.m. The Jay Leno Show
Note: this is the last episode of CHUCK until after the Olympics. Savor every moment.
This could be the last episode of HEROES, if anyone at NBC has a lick of common sense. At TCA, Angela Bromstad actually said they were going to meet with Tim Kring to hear his vision for another season and then they’d decide if they were going to renew the show. My jaw dropped in disbelief then because this show lost any momentum it had a loooong time ago. There’s no recapturing it.
FOX: 8:00 p.m. House, 9:00 p.m. 24
HOUSE: It’s a Cuddy-centric episode tonight and I hear Lisa Edelstein is amazing.
THE CW: 8:00 p.m. One Tree Hill, 9:00 p.m. LIFE UNEXPECTED
ABC FAMILY: 10pm: Greek
BRAVO: 10pm: Kell on Earth
FX: 10pm: Damages
TNT: No new MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE tonight. The show returns next Monday with a new episode.
TRAVEL: No Reservations with Tony Bourdain: Hudson Valley, NY
That’s a wrap for now.
