By Kathryn Ware

Our tribute to the 35th anniversary of the debut of Maude continues.
*
Season 1, Episode 4
Episode Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter
Original airdate: 3 Oct 1972
Plot: Maude’s livid that Carol is dating Russell Asher, world famous author and noted lady-killer. Could her extreme reaction have anything to do with the fact that Maude dated Russell once upon a time? Maude insists it’s because Russell is a rake who is twice, no, make that three times Carol’s age.
Russell arrives to pick Carol up for their date. They’re taking a helicopter into the city for his appearance on The Tonight Show . . . with Johnny Carson. Maude insults Russell at every turn. After the couple leaves, Maude worries that Russell will dump Carol the way he did Maude. The next morning, Maude learns that Carol is breaking up with Russell because he called her by her mother’s name.

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Posted on September 5, 2007

By Kathryn Ware

Our tribute to the 35th anniversary of the debut of Maude continues.
*
Season 1, Episode 3
Episode Title: Maude Meets Florida
Original airdate: 25 Sept 1972
Plot: Maude frantically cleans the house in preparation for the arrival of the new housekeeper. Walter’s cranky because step-grandson Phillip kept him awake all night practicing swearing into a tape recorder. Maude is hypersensitive about making the black housekeeper feel welcome and above all Equal with a capital E. It seems Maude has a habit of spoiling black maids (“A black maid says hello and you say sorry”) to the point where Walter has to fire them.
Enter Esther Rolle as Florida Evans, soon to spin-off in Good Times just as Maude did from All in the Family.

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Posted on September 4, 2007

By Kathryn Ware

Our tribute to the 35th anniversary of the debut of Maude continues.
*
Season 1, Episode 2
Episode Title: Doctor, Doctor
Original airdate: 19 Sept 1972
Plot: Carol’s eight-year-old son Phillip is caught playing doctor behind the garage with the next-door-neighbor’s granddaughter. Series regular Conrad Bain makes his first appearance as Maude’s ultra-conservative neighbor Arthur. It’s quickly established that he’s the bane of Maude’s existence. Arthur is disgusted by the boy’s behavior and demands that Phillip be punished. Carol and Maude refuse, calling it “adorable” and defend it as lovely expression of the human body. Arthur becomes incensed and drags homosexuality, wife swapping, and sex education in schools into his argument that this is just another example of how “This country is going to hell on a toboggan!” He storms out.

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Posted on August 29, 2007

By Kathryn Ware

Thirty-five years ago this September, Maude Findlay threw open the front door of her Tuckahoe, New York home, her floor-length vest billowing behind her as she strode into America’s living room for the first time. Like the theme song says, she was “uncompromising, enterprising, anything but tranquilizing. Right on Maude!”
Right on indeed. This popular sitcom, a hallmark of topical comedy, ran from 1972 to 1978 and touched on everything from the Vietnam War to abortion. The show was funny then and it’s funny now. (Unavailable in syndication, Maude finally became available on DVD in March.)
In honor of it’s 35th anniversary, we begin today an episode guide to one of TV’s most groundbreaking shows.
So, step on up to the living room wet bar, pour yourself a tumbler of vodka, and enjoy.

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Posted on August 28, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Last week Robert Feder reported that former Channel 5 broadcaster Amy Jacobson had put her North Side house up for sale.
“With her income suddenly reduced, she and her family are considering renting a place or moving in with her in-laws across the street,” Feder wrote. “But that doesn’t mean she’s leaving town.”
“I still want to stay in Chicago and continue to work here,” she told Feder.
Any chance of that?
Let’s review her resumé.

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Posted on August 24, 2007

By Julia Gray

Welcome to the dog days of summer. It’s hot and humid outside, friends are on vacation in exotic locales like Sturgeon Bay and there isn’t jack cheese on television. So, I’ve decided to make my own fun and dig into my vast DVD collection to see if anything catches my fancy. And what have we here? The 1976 cinematic tour de force Mother, Jugs & Speed – a cavalcade of comedy with an All-Star cast fit for the times.

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Posted on August 23, 2007

By Marilyn Ferdinand

A 2005 film from Australia called The Proposition showed up on cable last week. I was intrigued at the possibilities of a Western out of Australia. How would it differ from American Westerns? What were the unique circumstances of colonizing and civilizing Australia that both paralleled and diverged from the American experience? I’ve been to Australia and know that, like Canadians, Aussies aren’t just Americans with funny accents. However, you wouldn’t know that by watching The Proposition, a cliche-ridden American Western rip-off that revels in ultraviolence (my full review here). OK, just another couple of mindlessly spent hours, not an unusual experience for a film critic.
What really amazed me was what I found when I turned to the opinions of my fellow critics. The 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes left me speechless.

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Posted on August 22, 2007

By Kathryn Ware

No sooner had HBO aired the season finale of John From Cincinnati than it was announced the show had been cancelled. Or, to put it another way, using the show’s own unique phraseology, HBO had “dumped out,” giving John and company the big flush.

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Posted on August 21, 2007

By Julia Gray

I thought I was prepared for Sunday’s episode of Bridezillas with last week’s bride, Stephani, until she blurted out, “I win with a two-carat diamond solitaire. I win in life because that’s just me. I win. I’m a princess. Daddy pays for everything . . . I tell my husband what to do . . . ”

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Posted on August 20, 2007

By Julia Gray

“I wonder if they can put vodka in Starbuck’s coffee,” wonders Stephani, one of this week’s featured brides on We TV’s Bridezillas. This is a request we’ve all wanted to ask our local barista at one time or another, but not while we’re downing a Xanax for the umpteenth time that day, in front of a film crew whilst our portly fiance is driving the car.

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Posted on August 16, 2007