By Thomas Chambers

It’s been said that all of television is a soap opera. You might even be able to say that for sitcoms, as in “What are our wacky friends up to now?”
Jockeys has gotten awfully sudsy. And your silks will stay Downy fresh as it’s been announced that the show has been renewed for a second season. This is good for racing with its potential to draw new fans to the game, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what new angles they can come up with because I don’t see any. Does that mean reality (shows) escapes me?
This week’s two half-hour episodes went directly to “As the World Turns, Can It Get 10 Furlongs?” It’s the brink of a breakup as Hall of Famer Mike Smith and his girl Chantal Sutherland confront the many issues of their relationship.

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Posted on March 13, 2009

By Scott Buckner

For anyone either too poor or too Fuck-The-Man because there’s something fundamentally wrong with Comcast charging the gross domestic product of Peru for basic cable, an advantage to the analog TV conversion is the dozen or so additional digital channels you get absolutely free. This is a welcome development for anyone with a lot of useless UHF channels because you don’t speak Spanish or Korean.
Among the digital spawn is NBC’s Universal Sports on channel 5.3, which is pretty much the free-TV equivalent of ESPN2. This is fine by me, because ESPN’s mother channel doesn’t air neat stuff like World’s Strongest Man competitions from Iceland. This week, Universal Sports was busy covering a whole slew of World Cup events like bobsledding, luge, and skiing from Bulgaria and Slovenia. Defend Summer Olympic events like javelin throwing and pole vaulting all you want, but they don’t hold a candle to a ski jumper floating breathtakingly-perfect through the air only to land with the style and grace of someone getting pushed off the end of a pier during a Red Bull Flugtag.

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Posted on March 2, 2009

By Thomas Chambers

Editor’s Note: Thomas Chambers, our man on the rail, continues his review of the debut season of Jockeys. You can find his first two installments here and here (midway down).
In a workmanlike and informative week, the theme of Jockeys is “Competitive,” with a capital “C.” We also get a good look at the many chapeaus of Jimmy the Hat.
Chantal is back, and Ms. Sutherland establishes the idea that when out on the track, every rider, including her love Mike Smith, is just another jockey. They’re out there to win. To drive home the point, we see Mike and Chantal each arriving at the track, in an Escalade and a Corvette, respectively. “She’s so competitive, we don’t even ride in the same car anymore,” Smith says. Chantal replies with a roll of her eyes: “I know I make better coffee than him. But he folds laundry better than me.”

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Posted on February 25, 2009

By Julia Gray

Talking back to most overrated event of the year.
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Question: Whoa, what is Miley Cyrus doing at the Oscars? Is her dad her date? She’s a sure thing, Billy Ray!

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Posted on February 23, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

Once again I returned to Chicago Tonight to watch a panel discuss Roland Burris, and once again I was stunned by some of what I heard. What a bunch of tools we have in this town. The panelists: political consultant Delmarie Cobb, NPR reporter Cheryl Corley, and Laura Washington. Moderating: Eddie Arruza. This is a rough transcript edited for clarity. I was not on the panel, I was just commenting from Beachwood HQ.
*
COBB: I spoke to [Burris] today . . . This whole amended affidavit was done for all the right reasons. The sad thing about it was that it wasn’t done within the context of a media strategy . . .
[Cobb then rues that the media “controlled the message” instead of Burris]
RHODES: In Russia, propaganda controls you.

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Posted on February 20, 2009

By Kathryn Ware

Our look back on the debut season of Ironside continues.
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Episode: Girl in the Night
Airdate: 21 December 1967
Plot: It’s Vegas baby! Detective Ed Brown is on a routine extradition job in Sin City when he meets Elaine, a mysterious chanteuse with a haunted past. Following their five-hour date, a nightcap, and a hot-and-heavy clinch, Ed wakes up in the hospital with a concussion and Elaine is nowhere to be found. Local cops peg Ed for a John but he refuses to believe Elaine is that kind of girl. His conviction is enough to get a visiting Ironside and company on the job investigating the mysterious disappearance of Ed’s one-night stand.

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Posted on February 19, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

Another revealing Chicago Tonight panel about Roland Burris, but not as revealing about Burris as about the legislators who appeared. Namely, what’s the deal with state Sen. Kwame Raoul, the man who replaced Barack Obama in the Senate?
When the political grapevine first started chattering about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate should he win the presidency, I offered up Raoul’s name. Why? I didn’t know a lot about him, but he appeared to be Obama’s designated successor in the State Senate, so why not in the U.S. Senate? In reports I had read, he was always described as a smart, articulate up-and-comer. And he was African American. Perfect!
I didn’t know then that Obama reportedly preferred Will Burns to succeed him in the statehouse. Burns also had the support of Emil Jones, but the Dems went another way.
But I’ve tried to pay at least a little bit of attention to Raoul ever since. And during the Blago affair – and again last night – I’ve been nothing but baffled. Which is another way of saying not impressed.
Raoul appeared on Chicago Tonight with fellow Democrat Susana Mendoza (who once again was the star) and Republicans Dan Cronin and Mike Fortner. This is a rough transcript edited for clarity and space. My commentary is from the couch in Beachwood HQ. Let’s take a look.

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Posted on February 18, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

A rough transcript of Carol Marin’s panel on Roland Burris on Monday night, edited for clarity, with my own commentary added as I watched from Beachwood HQ. Tom Cross is the Republican House Leader; Monique Davis and Susana Mendoza are House Democrats.
CROSS: Nobody knew about [the amended affidavit] except Barbara Flynn Currie.
DAVIS: If there had been any earth-shaking information in it, Rep. Currie would have shared it with us.
RHODES: I can see already that it will be impossible for me to come up with clever lines every time Monique “the rustling of the leaves” Davis says something mind-bogglingly stupid. But bear with me here, it only gets better.

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Posted on February 17, 2009

By Steve Rhodes

I don’t agree with everything Bill Maher says, but then, why should anyone agree with everything anyone says? I’m still a fan, and I think he’s got – like Jon Stewart – far more insight into our politics than at least 99 percent of the pundits who terrorize our discourse. What Maher and Stewart do is what journalists should do: they stand outside the system and see the absurdities for what they are. Most pundits and even reporters stand inside the system and become absurd themselves.
Anyway, while I watched Maher’s appearance in full on Larry King Live last night, I don’t have to rely on my scraggly notes to recreate the best moments. Thanks to the good folks at CNN, I can point you to a transcript of the show, from which I’m going to cull the highlights and present to you here. With my own commentary added, of course.

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Posted on February 13, 2009

By Kathryn Ware

Our look back on the debut season of Ironside continues.
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Episode: The Past is Prologue
Airdate: 7 December 1967
Plot: Ironside must help an old friend beat a 19-year-old murder conviction before the fugitive is extradited back to New York State where an electric chair waits with his name on it.
Guest stars: Harrison Ford! Harrison Ford! It’s Harrison Ford! Oh, and some other guy named Victor Jory.

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Posted on February 4, 2009