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      Chris Rock Re-edits a Special, and the Result Is Fascinating

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn ComedyChris Rock Re-edits a Special, and the Result Is FascinatingWith “Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut,” the comic effectively erases the stamp of the original director, Bo Burnham, and turns in a less intimate show.The comedian served as the director of the new version of “Tamborine.”Credit…NetflixJan. 12, 2021Updated 7:13 p.m. ETIn film, directors have all the power, less so in theater. But they are omnipotent compared with the director of the stand-up special, who, to borrow a metaphor from Chris Rock’s already essential 2018 special, “Tamborine,” has not traditionally led the band so much as stood on the side and played the tambourine.But in recent years, directors’ status has shifted, becoming more like bass players or even drummers, in part because of specials like “Tamborine,” directed with style by the innovative comic Bo Burnham. His auteur vision didn’t just showcase Rock in concert. It engaged and interpreted his work, sharpened its focus, while applying distinctive aesthetic flourishes.“Total Blackout: The Tamborine Extended Cut,” released on Netflix on Tuesday, will be fascinating for comedy nerds, not just because it adds new jokes, with almost 40 minutes of extra material from arguably the greatest living comic. It also represents a key turning point in the balance of power between comic and director, with Rock reclaiming control. He effectively erases the stamp of the director, even replacing Burnham in the credits with his own name, and produces a new special with most of the same shots, whose differences are subtle but significant.“Extended Cut” has more jokes, longer setups and more mess. Rock, who has himself directed features, even introduces a part where he misspeaks in setting up a joke, saying “bullies rule the world” when he means “nerds.” Burnham’s slick cinematic flourishes are taken out. Gone is the triple repetition, along with quick-cutting camera angles, of the first three words of the opening joke. (“You would think that cops would occasionally shoot a white kid, just to make it look good.”)But the most important contrast is in the comic’s discussion of his own infidelity. Until “Tamborine,” Rock was known as a social commentator who mostly kept his private life at a distance. But addressing his divorce and his responsibility for the failure of his marriage, Rock made the most vulnerable, introspective comedy of his career. Burnham was clearly drawn to this aspect of the set and focused on it. This material, including jokes about marriage, divorce and sex, takes up about half of the special, as opposed to around a third of the extended version.When Rock confessed his mistakes, Burnham moved into a rare close-up. And he stayed on the star’s face, with no cutaway shots, as Rock talked about cheating on his wife. When the crowd chuckled, Rock looked grave, emphasizing that he wasn’t proud. He said he knew what people were thinking: “What is wrong with men?”On this line, Burnham did something dramatic: He shrank the frame even more, moving in on Rock like a microscope, so close to him that it obscured part of his head. It’s an aggressive move, and one that both underlines the question of what is wrong with men and broadens it, giving this personal story a new weight, especially since it came out just months after the Harvey Weinstein exposé and inevitably evokes the #MeToo movement.A year later, Kevin Hart released a special, “Irresponsible,” in which he also discussed cheating on his wife. He was more oblique, briefer in his contrition, and the special cut away from him after a joke to show the crowd laughing. Whereas Burnham kept the audience out of it, “Irresponsible” took a more ingratiating route, with a shot that indicated it was OK to laugh before keeping things moving.Rock’s extended version remains tougher-minded but moves closer to this posture. He removes the extreme close-up, which, along with its role in drawing attention to the material, is something of a signature Burnham shot. He used it at the start of his direction of Jerrod Carmichael’s game-changing special “8” — whose filmic aesthetic inspired Rock to hire him. In place of that touch, Rock adds a new shot, a mouse-eye view of the star from the front of the stage partly obscured by what appears to be a member of the audience. This new angle looks up at a performer, in awe.What sticks with you in the original is the setup — the admission of cheating with three women and the specificity of the confession. In the extended cut, it’s the punchline, as Rock anticipates the audience response and contrasts the shock from women with the more blasé response of men. (“Three? That’s it? Just three?”) It’s the same joke, but the direction changes the effect.The original version of the special moved in on Rock like a microscope.Credit…NetflixThe new version is a more conventional, if unvarnished, stand-up production, but it also may be truer to the experience of the concert. As someone who saw the first theater show in 2017 on the tour that resulted in this special, I was happy to experience certain jokes again, many of which zero in on the economic angle of a hot-button issue, like his take on how “prices are the new Jim Crow.” He goes on to explain, “The Four Seasons hotel does not say, ‘No Blacks allowed.’ But a $4,000 a night hotel suite sure does.”Rock’s diagnosis of police brutality also returns to money when he says cops are poorly paid “and you get what you pay for.” The streamlined cut emphasized the personal, but the extended version is a reminder that Rock has always been a materialist alert to how the bottom-line colors almost every issue.In a departure from the swaggering, pacing Chris Rock in his big-room shows, Burnham emphasized intimacy in the quiet, jazzy open that showed us the back of the comic’s head waiting for the show to start, observing. The extended cut dispenses with this image of the solitary Rock and adds celebratory scenes hanging out with other comics. We see Eric Andre, Dave Chappelle and Arsenio Hall. The new version is also more straightforward about his fame. Rock places clips of appearances on talk shows he did to promote the special as a way to flesh out certain jokes.This new version does not erase the old one, which remains on Netflix, but it will supplant it for many fans. So while both are worthwhile, if you are going to watch one, my recommendation is to go with the original. It’s more stylish, ambitious and unusual. And its direction represents a step forward for the art, one that inches the special closer to the status of feature films.Stand-up comedians are often control freaks. It’s part of why they go into a job where you not only write your lines, but also deliver them. There are real benefits to this kind of control, but there is also virtue in collaboration, particularly for work that aims for more thematic, aesthetic and narrative complexity.The audience wants comedy that feels most authentic to the animating vision of the artist. But that is not the same thing as work done without filters or assistance. Sometimes you need other voices to help you be the best version of yourself.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The Office’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Top List of 2020's Most-Streamed Shows

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeHoliday TVBest Netflix DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyViewers’ Streaming Favorites? Old Network TV Shows“The Office,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds” each accounted for more viewing time than any other show or movie on streaming platforms last year, according to Nielsen.Credit…Illustration by The New York Times; Photos via Getty ImagesJan. 12, 2021Updated 4:20 p.m. ETForget buzzy new shows like “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Normal People.” The three series that people spent the most time watching on the major streaming platforms in the United States in 2020 all premiered on network TV more than a decade and a half ago, the research firm Nielsen found.“The Office,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds,” network shows with hundreds of back episodes available to stream on Netflix and other services, each accounted for more viewing time than any other show or movie, new or old, Nielsen said on Tuesday.The most-watched movie of the year was “Frozen II,” one of several movies that attracted viewers to Disney+ in droves. The most-watched series that premiered on a streaming service was the Netflix crime drama “Ozark,” according to Nielsen.The list seemed to confirm earlier findings that Americans favored comfort and escapist entertainment, in addition to news, as the nation confronted a public health emergency, massive social unrest and a searing presidential election.This is the first time that Nielsen — the 98-year old company that provides ratings information for broadcast and cable networks — has ranked the most-streamed shows of the year. It started releasing weekly most-streamed lists in 2020.Most Streamed in 2020 More

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      Rupert Grint Sees a Stage Mother in His Daughter’s Future

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRupert Grint Sees a Stage Mother in His Daughter’s FutureThe former “Harry Potter” actor, now starring in Season 2 of Apple TV+’s “Servant,” puts miniature pottery, backgammon and John C. Reilly’s unsung alter ego, Dr. Steve Brule, on his list of cultural must-haves.Credit…Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images For ReedpopJan. 12, 2021, 2:16 p.m. ETRupert Grint wasn’t too put out when, in March, the pandemic halted production on “Servant,” the M. Night Shyamalan psychological thriller about a couple who replace their dead baby with a doll.His partner, the actress Georgia Groome, was pregnant with their daughter, Wednesday, and the lockdown meant that Grint could savor the early months of her life in the sanctuary of their North London home. He could also purge his mind of the freakish, claustrophobic “Servant” world — a Philadelphia brownstone cluttered with baby paraphernalia, including, rather eerily, the same stroller they’d bought for Wednesday.“I guess it’s not the best show to be involved with when you become a father,” said Grint, who plays the doll-baby’s brash, hard-drinking uncle, Julian. “The set does have this kind of weird energy because the tragic event that has taken place does linger in the walls. I’d often feel a sense of relief when I snuck off.”Still, new fatherhood helped him to better understand the psychology of Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose), the show’s tormented mother, once he returned to set this fall.“It’s something I wasn’t aware of about love,” he said, calling to discuss his cultural must-haves as Wednesday babbled in the background, “and how you’ll do anything to get your baby back.”These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1. “Rose’s Turn” From “Gypsy,” the Ethel Merman Version Weirdly, I’ve never seen the show, never seen a movie version. I don’t know how I’ve escaped it because I know it’s huge. But this winter, around Christmas, I heard the song by chance on the radio and got obsessed with it. There are just so many different levels to it. I know the context now, and it really moved me. I saw Imelda Staunton [Dolores Umbridge in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”] perform it on YouTube, which is absolutely incredible. But I love listening to Ethel’s version. Just the maternal kind of passion that comes through. I also think I’m going to be a huge stage mom, so maybe I was connecting to that.2. Children’s Books by Tomi Ungerer I think Wednesday is still slightly young for them, but we’ve got a massive library ready for her. And these are great books — so ahead of their time and so beautifully illustrated. There’s one called “Otto,” and it’s the autobiography of this [teddy] bear, and I was an absolute wreck after reading it. It goes through his whole life, but I guess you could say it’s really about Auschwitz and how the bear experiences the camp. It sounds not suitable for kids, but I think Ungerer is not afraid of showing the darkness of humanity.3. Miniature Pottery This has been a lockdown hobby that I’ve taken up. You actually throw pots on a proper wheel, which is about the size of a dollar coin. The wheel is something I’ve always been in awe of, just making something from something as raw as a blob of clay. It’s such a therapeutic thing, and you completely get lost in thought. They’re so quick as well. I’ve made some really cool things, like miniature vases, cookie jars, teapots. They’re an inch or a little bigger, kind of a doll’s house scale. They’re all completely useless.4. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Revisionist History” This has been my go-to nighttime podcast for a while now. He has a great way of dissecting moments in history that I had no idea about and subverting them, making me understand what happened. It’s quite short and easy to digest. A really good one was the redo of the McDonald’s fries and how they changed the recipe over the years. Another was about Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah,” the struggles he had writing it. It goes quite in depth about the kind of minutiae that I always, always love.5. “The Curse of Oak Island” I have always been intrigued about this group of treasure hunters on this island off Nova Scotia. It’s this great ensemble of personalities of these quite weathered, denim-wearing men just obsessed with this treasure that possibly isn’t there. There’s something quite tragic about it, but also it’s just beautifully made. And the real treasure is them finding each other to do this thing that they can only do for a few months of the year. It’s never-ending.6. “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” It’s sheer escapism. I’ve always loved the Zelda world. It’s not like I’m some huge pro gamer, but this game absolutely took hours of my life. It has incredible stories, beautiful graphics. You can forage for berries and cook on a campfire. I haven’t completed it in its entirety, but it’s a really special piece of work. I don’t think gamers get enough credit for what they create. There are amazing worlds where you can completely immerse yourself when they’re done well. I think Zelda just may be perfect.7. Backgammon I’ve always loved board games and got a huge collection over the years. Probably about four years ago, Georgia and I got a backgammon board and taught ourselves to play. We take a board everywhere we go now. Everyone’s mad about chess after “The Queen’s Gambit.” But backgammon, I think, is an older game, and there’s an element of luck that involves the dice. We went through a phase of playing like 10 games a day. It really changes the brain.8. Middle Child Sandwiches It’s an absolute go-to place that I discovered when I first went to Philly, and Philly is such a great place for food anyway that you don’t have to go far. Middle Child does one thing perfectly: The hoagie is the space it’s playing in. They’re simple but they’re just so good. And the décor is very hipster, very cool. I go for the Shopsin Club or the Surfer. You can’t go wrong there.9. Urban Beekeeping I’ve done this for four years now. It’s not easy, but it’s absolutely fascinating. I’m not sure what prompted us to get into it, because I am terrified of being stung. Bees are such an important thing and watching them in this hive is just incredible — how hard they’re working and how each has a different job. There are nurse bees, and undertaker bees that carry out the dead bees like coffin-bearers. It’s insane to watch. I have one hive in our backyard, just in a quiet corner. They keep to themselves. You think you’d be invaded by bees everywhere, but they’re very deliberate. They know exactly where to go to get pollen. It’s a really happy colony. I am in absolute awe of the queen.10. “Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule” I think he never really admitted it, but I find it fascinating that [John C. Reilly] has created this character that really is a whole different person. It’s just such an absurd character and so well-formed that he can let us know what they’re thinking. It’s a real skill to create something like that. I’m getting into more American comedy. Lots of old “S.N.L.” and “Tim & Eric,” which is where Steve Brule was born from. I love that anarchy and chaos they create.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Resistance’ and ‘Finding Your Roots’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat’s on TV This Week: ‘Resistance’ and ‘Finding Your Roots’A historical drama with Jesse Eisenberg airs on Showtime. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a guest on Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s PBS docu-series.Jesse Eisenberg in “Resistance.”Credit…IFC FilmsJan. 11, 2021, 1:00 a.m. ETBetween network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, Jan. 11-Jan. 17. Details and times are subject to change.MondayALL AMERICAN STORIES 8 p.m. on the CW. The life of the football linebacker Spencer Paysinger was the inspiration for the CW sports drama series “All American.” Paysinger co-hosts this documentary special, which profiles eight athletes who have overcome extraordinary circumstances in their own lives — including the Paralympic sprinter and long jumper Scout Bassett, the Olympic champion shot-putter Michelle Carter and the Paralympic sprinter David Brown. The special is divided into two hourlong parts (the second airs Feb. 1).TuesdayFINDING YOUR ROOTS 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The ancestral roots of the broadcast journalist Norah O’Donnell, the fashion designer Zac Posen and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be excavated in the Season 6 finale of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s long-running familial history show. Highlights include a sequence in which Pelosi pores over the passenger manifest of a ship that arrived in New York in 1912 carrying her grandfather, her grandmother and their children, including Pelosi’s mother. “I take great pride in the courage that they had to come to America,” Pelosi says, “and to take a chance on America.”WednesdayCALL YOUR MOTHER 9:30 p.m. on ABC. Kyra Sedgwick stars as a mother who shoehorns her way into the lives of her young-adult children in this new sitcom from Kari Lizer (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”). The series has been described by ABC as a “coming of middle-age comedy.”ThursdayEthan Hawke in “First Reformed.”Credit…A24FIRST REFORMED (2017) 7 p.m. on Showtime 2. Paul Schrader’s knack for steady-building dread, once used to fuel his “Taxi Driver” screenplay, is put on potent display in the much more recent “First Reformed,” which Schrader both wrote and directed. Ethan Hawke stars as Rev. Ernst Toller, a worn Protestant minister at a small old church in upstate New York. The movie follows Toller as he becomes increasingly agonized — by his failing health, by a modern megachurch nearby and, eventually, by a tragedy. He also develops a closeness with a younger local, Mary (Amanda Seyfried), who becomes perhaps the least bleak presence in his life (though the bar is low). “It is the portrait of a soul in torment,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The New York Times, “all the more powerful for being so rigorously conceived and meticulously executed.”FridayMaria Callas, as seen in “Great Performances: The Magic of Callas.”Credit…PhotofestGREAT PERFORMANCES: THE MAGIC OF CALLAS 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The classic 1953 recording of Puccini’s “Tosca” with Maria Callas was a hit when it was released and has often been spoken of as being among the greatest opera performances ever committed to tape. (The Times’s chief classical music critic, Anthony Tommasini, wrote in 2017 that “it’s hard to think of a recording of any opera that nails a work so stunningly, that seems so definitive.”) So when, a little over a decade after that recording was released, Callas returned to that opera’s title role, she had big shoes to fill: her own. Her career was also in need of a comeback. That period is the focus of this latest entry in PBS’s “Great Performances” series, which focuses on Callas’s late-career 1964 performances of “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House, in London, while also reappraising her life at large.BELLE COLLECTIVE 10 p.m. on OWN. A group of five Black female entrepreneurs in Jackson, Miss., are the subject of this new reality show from the production company behind “Love & Marriage: Huntsville.” The women’s businesses include a radio show and hair care and dentistry practices. Some of the action revolves around efforts to revitalize Jackson’s Farish Street Historic District, which was a hub for Black-owned businesses for much of the 20th century.SaturdayRESISTANCE (2020) 8 p.m. on Showtime. In this biographical drama, set in Nazi-occupied France, Jesse Eisenberg counters Nazi oppression with wit. “Resistance” casts Eisenberg as the French actor and mime Marcel Marceau. It follows Marceau’s efforts to help Jewish orphans survive Nazi-occupied France, and his work for the French resistance. (The story is based on a young Marceau’s real life.) Juggling the work of a jester and a rebel is a challenge for Marceau, and for the film itself. This is a movie that douses its audience “alternately in treacle and ice water,” Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in her review for The Times. “The problem,” she added, “is that Marceau’s whimsical attempts to entertain the children dilute the growing atmosphere of menace on which the story depends.”Viola Davis, left, and Cynthia Erivo in “Widows.”Credit…Merrick Morton/20th Century FoxWIDOWS (2018) 10:30 p.m. on FX. The director Steve McQueen and the actress Viola Davis each released acclaimed projects at the end of 2020: McQueen with his film anthology “Small Axe,” and Davis with her performance as the blues singer Ma Rainey in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” A couple of years earlier, they worked together on “Widows,” a downbeat heist movie directed by McQueen. Davis stars as Veronica, a woman who works for the Chicago Teachers Union. She’s also the wife of a bank robber (Liam Neeson) who dies during a botched theft. Veronica picks up the mantle from him, with the help of three other women (Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo). The resulting movie, A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times, “is a fascinating and sometimes frustrating hybrid, a film that tries both to transcend and to exploit its genre.”SundayMASTERPIECE: MISS SCARLET & THE DUKE 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Kate Phillips and Stuart Martin star as private investigators in this mystery series, which aired on the British channel Alibi in 2020 and makes its stateside debut on PBS on Sunday night. Set in Victorian London (no security footage or D.N.A. samples to help catch criminals here), the series follows Eliza Scarlet (Phillips), a woman determined to prove herself as a detective. That mission requires her to solve mysteries and to convince a sexist society that she’s up to the job. She teams up with William Wellington (Martin), who is both a sleuth and a Lothario.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese Seek a Missing New York in ‘Pretend It’s a City’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese Seek a Missing New York in ‘Pretend It’s a City’The Netflix series, featuring Lebowitz and directed by Scorsese, offers acerbic commentary and a sense of yearning for a pre-pandemic metropolis.Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz, as seen in the new Netflix documentary series, “Pretend It’s a City,” are longtime friends. “It’s about being around Fran,” said Scorsese, who directed the series.Credit…NetflixJan. 7, 2021Updated 2:24 p.m. ETHad this past New Year’s Eve been a normal one, Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese would have spent it as they usually do: with each other and a few close friends, in the screening room in Scorsese’s office, watching a classic movie like “Vertigo” or “A Matter of Life and Death.”The year they got together to see “Barry Lyndon,” they watched a rare, high-quality print made from the director Stanley Kubrick’s original camera negative.“And I said, ‘What’s a camera negative?’” Lebowitz recalled in a group video call with Scorsese on Tuesday. “And then all of the movie lunatics glared at me, like I admitted to being illiterate.”In previous years, when they were feeling especially energetic, Scorsese said with some audible melancholy, “We used to have one screening before midnight and then have another screening after.”But this time, their annual custom had to be put on hold. Instead, Lebowitz explained: “I talked to Marty on the phone. We commiserated about how horrible we felt, how awful it was not to be doing that.”Lebowitz, the author, humorist and raconteur, and Scorsese, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker, were speaking from their individual New York homes to discuss their latest collaboration, the documentary series “Pretend It’s a City.” They are longtime friends who, as they continue to wait out the coronavirus pandemic, have lately been unable to see much of each other or the city with which they are irrevocably associated.A similar, bittersweet air hangs over the seven-part series, which Netflix will release on Friday. A follow-up to Scorsese’s 2010 nonfiction film “Public Speaking,” “Pretend It’s a City” (which Scorsese also directed) chronicles the acerbic Lebowitz in interviews, live appearances and strolls through New York as she shares stories about her life and insights about the city’s constant evolution in recent decades.Of course, the Netflix series was initiated before the pandemic, and Lebowitz and Scorsese are supremely aware that it depicts a bustling, energized New York that now feels just out of reach — and which they both hope will return soon.In the meantime, “Pretend It’s a City” offers a tantalizing snapshot of New York in full bloom, along with Lebowitz’s lively and unapologetic commentary on what it means to live there.As she explained: “I don’t care whether people agree with me or not. My feeling if someone doesn’t agree with me is, OK, you’re wrong. That is one thing that I’ve never worried about.”Scorsese gently replied, “I had that impression.”Lebowitz and Scorsese spoke further about the making of “Pretend It’s a City” and the impact that the pandemic has had on them. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.”I have lived in New York long enough to know that it will not stay the way it is now,” said Lebowitz, who moved to the city in 1970.Credit…NetflixI was surprised to learn from “Pretend It’s a City” that neither of you recall when you first met.FRAN LEBOWITZ That’s because we’re old and we have many friendships. I don’t mean old in the sense that we don’t remember things, because I believe we both have perfect memories. But because there’s so many years and so many people. I guess we met at a party, because where else would I have met him? Obviously, I go to a lot more parties than Marty. That’s why Marty made so many movies and Fran wrote so few books.MARTIN SCORSESE I really recall us talking the most at John Waters’s 50th birthday party. It was after “Casino” came out.LEBOWITZ Of course, you were not averse to hearing how much I loved it.SCORSESE No, I was not at all.LEBOWITZ Even though I’m not as Italian as you might imagine [laughs], Marty’s parents and a lot of my father’s relatives — all of whom were working-class Jews — have a lot of parallels that are very well-known. The big difference is, the food is better in Italians’ houses.SCORSESE We liked the Jewish food better.LEBOWITZ No, no, no, there’s no comparison.After working together on “Public Speaking,” what made you want to collaborate on another documentary project?SCORSESE I enjoyed making “Public Speaking.” I found it freeing, in terms of narrative. But primarily, it’s about being around Fran. I really would like to know what she thinks, pretty much every day, as it’s happening. I’d like a running commentary — not all the time, but one that I can dip in and out of during the day.Do either of you worry that Fran is a finite resource and you will eventually exhaust her supply of wit?LEBOWITZ You mean, am I worried about running out of things to say? No. I am worried about running out of money. But it never even occurred to me that I would not have something to say. It’s just there. It’s like having a trick thumb.The series is divided into fanciful chapters like “Cultural Affairs” and “Department of Sports & Health.” How did you settle on these subjects?SCORSESE We always felt we should have topics. She’ll start on a topic, and then it’ll go off like a jazz riff into a thousand other places. Eventually, we might be able to pull it back. In a lot of the films I make, the types of actors I work with, the dialogue is like music — it’s the timing and the emphasis. She has that.LEBOWITZ Of course I am the world’s most digressive speaker, but what you’re really seeing at work is editing. I don’t remember how many days we shot this but I’m confident that it was an infinitesimal amount compared to how much time it took him to edit.SCORSESE I try to get that kind of freedom in my narrative films, but I very often am stuck to a plot.LEBOWITZ I am plot-free, so no problem. [Laughter.]Among the locations where you filmed Fran is at the Queens Museum, where we see her standing amid the Panorama of the City of New York, a highly detailed scale model that Robert Moses had built for the 1964 World’s Fair. What was it like to shoot there?LEBOWITZ I did knock over the Queensboro Bridge. The guy who’s in charge of that, the day we shot there, was in a panic the entire time. And I proved him right.SCORSESE That was the only time that I ever yelled “Action!” I don’t know what possessed me. It must have thrown you off or something.LEBOWITZ I did not destroy it, I just knocked it over.SCORSESE By the way, it is magnificent, that model.LEBOWITZ I’m not sure it makes up for Robert Moses. [Laughter.] It made you realize that if only Robert Moses had done everything in miniature, we wouldn’t hate Robert Moses.How did the pandemic affect the making of this series?LEBOWITZ We shot it way before there was a virus. When the virus happened, Marty said, “What should we do? What can we do?” At the height of the shutdown, I went out walking around the city, and Marty sent Ellen Kuras [the director of photography on “Pretend It’s a City”], and what she filmed was incredibly beautiful. But I said to Marty, “I think we should ignore it.”SCORSESE We tried it. We edited sequences. It was OK, and then a week later, the city changed again. All these stores were closed and they had boards up. A week later, something else changed. So I said, “Let’s just stop it.”LEBOWITZ We’re not journalists. We don’t have to be on top of the news.The series was filmed before the pandemic shut down much of New York. Looking back, what Lebowitz and Scorsese seem to miss most, aside from maybe hanging in person, is dining out. Credit…NetflixDoes the series feel different to you because of the pandemic?LEBOWITZ There’s a difference for sure. I thought of the title, “Pretend It’s a City,” when New York was packed with morons who would stand in the middle of the sidewalk. And I would yell at them: “Move! Pretend it’s a city!” The people who have seen it since then — an agent of mine said, “Oh, it’s a love letter to New York.” Before the virus, it was me complaining about New York. Now people think it has some more lyrical, metaphorical meaning.Do you worry that New York won’t fully return to what it was before the pandemic?LEBOWITZ I have lived in New York long enough to know that it will not stay the way it is now. There is not a square foot of New York City, a square foot, that’s the same as it was when I came here in 1970. That’s what a city is, even without a plague. But I’d like to point out, there were many things wrong with it before. After the big protests in SoHo, I saw a reporter interviewing a woman who was a manager of one of the fancy stores there. The reporter said to her, “What are you going to do?” And she said, “There’s nothing we can do until the tourists come back.” I yelled at the TV and I said, “Really? You can’t think what to do with SoHo without tourists? I can! Let me give you some ideas.” Because I remember it without tourists. How about, artists could live there? How about, let’s not have rent that’s $190,000 a month? How about that? Let’s try that.Has the pandemic ever made you feel more vulnerable or aware of your own fragility?LEBOWITZ It makes me feel angrier. Luckily, I have managed to distill all human emotion into anger. It doesn’t matter what the initial emotion is: It could be despair, sadness, fear — basically I experience it as anger. It makes me feel angry because this didn’t have to happen at all.SCORSESE I actually don’t know where I belong on the island. I grew up downtown when it was pretty tough in that area. Now it’s very chic. It’s no longer home for me, certainly. I’ve grown old, and out, in a way. I have been locked in and working on FaceTime. I have been trying to make this movie [“Killers of the Flower Moon”] since March. Every two days, they say we’re going. And then they say, no we’re not. It’s a state of anxiety and tension. But in any event, I really haven’t gone out that much. I can’t take a chance, either.The day the pandemic is over — there’s no longer any risk of the coronavirus and we can all return to our usual lives — what’s the first thing you do?SCORSESE First thing I would say is, please, to go to a restaurant. There’s a few that I’m missing a great deal. I’ll never eat outside. I don’t understand how you can sit there and the fumes from the buses come in. I don’t get it. It’s not Paris.LEBOWITZ I’ve been eating outside. There is no greater testament to how much I hate to cook than the fact I will sit outside in 28-degree weather, trying to eat with gloves on. I would like to eat at a restaurant. Also, I would like to crawl around underneath the tables in the rare book room at the Strand and when I bring the things to the register and the guy goes, “Where did you find this?” It was under the table. “We haven’t priced it yet! You’re not supposed to take it out from under there.” Well, I did, so how much is it?AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      On Alex Trebek's Last ‘Jeopardy!,’ Johnny Gilbert Gives a Final Introduction

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn Alex Trebek’s Final ‘Jeopardy!,’ a Last Introduction From a FriendJohnny Gilbert, 92, started on the game show with Trebek in 1984. Now, he must imagine a ‘Jeopardy!’ without his longtime colleague.“I have never thought of anyone as host of the show except Alex,” said Johnny Gilbert, who had been with the show for as long as Alex Trebek. He’ll have to adjust to introducing new hosts.Credit…Jeopardy! ProductionsJan. 7, 2021Updated 11:45 a.m. ETFor more than 36 years, Johnny Gilbert has said the same 10 words, with the same mixture of razzle-dazzle and lofty cadence of a practiced showman: “And now, here is the host of ‘Jeopardy!’… Alex Trebek!” Trebek would appear with a wave and a smile, and the game would begin.He has delivered some version of that familiar warm-up more than 8,000 times, ever since Trebek’s first episode, which aired on Sept. 10, 1984, when the newly minted host strode onto the stage sporting a dark, bushy mustache and a pale pink pocket square. But on Friday, television audiences will see Gilbert’s final introduction of a longtime colleague who had become a pal, as the last episode that was filmed before Trebek’s death in November is broadcast.Johnny Gilbert introducing Alex Trebek on TV for the first time.“As much pain that he was in, I just never thought he was actually dying,” Gilbert said. “The day I heard that, part of me left this world.”Next week “Jeopardy!” will return with Gilbert introducing a new name: Ken Jennings, a record-breaking former contestant, who will be the first in a series of new, interim hosts.“It was a very bizarre feeling,” Gilbert, 92, said in an interview on Wednesday. “I have never thought of anyone as host of the show except Alex.”After Trebek’s death, Gilbert, who has had a roughly 70-year career in entertainment, said that he wondered whether it was the right time to leave. At that point, because of the pandemic, he had not been working at the studio, in Culver City, Calif., but had been recording his announcements from a bedroom in his Venice Beach home.“I thought, ‘Gee, can I go on doing this? Can I still do what the show needs?’” he said. “And I decided, yes, I would go on. I would go on because Alex wanted the show to go on.”When Trebek died at age 80 in November after battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, the show’s producers made clear that there would be no rush to fill the role of a man who had been the face and voice of “Jeopardy!” for so long. Only 10 days before his death, Trebek had been in the studio filming, and the show had enough episodes to finish the year. Instead of finishing in the last week of 2020, a chaotic week for television and for viewers, the show decided to push Trebek’s final five episodes to this week.The show also recognized that Gilbert was among many who felt unsettled by a new host delivering “Jeopardy!” clues. Instead of choosing a permanent successor right away, they opted for a series of interim hosts. Jennings, the only guest host who has been officially announced, has already taped 30 episodes, a spokeswoman for the show said. (In recent days, Jennings has received some flak on social media for posting insensitive tweets in the past, for which he apologized, raising questions about whether he would be in the role permanently.) The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Katie Couric had been signed as another guest host, but the show would not confirm that.Gilbert, the announcer on “Jeopardy!,” started with the show’s first episode in 1984.Credit…Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic, via Getty ImagesGilbert and Trebek, who both worked in television in the early 1980s, met at a party in Hollywood a couple of years before Merv Griffin decided to mount a new production of “Jeopardy!” Gilbert was already a known entity in daytime TV, having worked as a golden-voiced announcer for “The Price Is Right” and Dinah Shore’s daily talk show.In his memoir, published last summer, Trebek wrote that he had recommended Gilbert to Griffin: “How could you forget a voice like that?” (Gilbert’s voice wasn’t just used for announcing; he was a singer early in his career and recorded two albums in the 1960s.)What resulted, Gilbert said, was a friendship that involved a lot of chatting in dressing rooms, good-natured teasing in front of studio audiences and a deep mutual respect. On the set of “Jeopardy!,” Trebek would often poke fun at Gilbert’s age, joking that he had been the announcer for Abraham Lincoln.“We’ve been together longer than either one of our marriages, and we’ve never had a cross word,” Trebek wrote of Gilbert in his memoir.Wearing one of his many “Jeopardy!” branded varsity-style jackets, Gilbert would warm up the audience before the tapings, urging them to talk to Trebek during commercial breaks and ask him any questions that they might have. When the time came, Trebek would talk with audience members endlessly, Gilbert recalled, adding that more than once Trebek’s involved chats with members of the studio audience would outlast commercial breaks.Gilbert recalled how Trebek continued to work through his illness. When Trebek was receiving chemotherapy treatments, Gilbert said, there were times when he was clearly in great pain. Sometimes he was too unwell for the usual banter between episodes with the production staff.Trebek wrote in his memoir that there were days during his illness where he could barely walk to production meetings. But after Gilbert delivered his trademark introduction — “And now, here is the host of ‘Jeopardy!’… Alex Trebek!” — Trebek wrote that he would feel like himself again, and be able to walk out onto the stage.That transformation was apparent to Gilbert, too.“Regardless of how he felt when he walked out onstage,” Gilbert said, “when I introduced him, there was Alex Trebek.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in January

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in JanuaryOur streaming picks for January, including ‘Cobra Kai,’ ‘Bump’ and ‘One Night in Miami …’‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3Credit…NetflixJan. 6, 2021Every month, streaming services in Australia add a new batch of movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for January.New to NetflixJANUARY 1‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3The second season of this fast-paced, nostalgia-spiked martial arts melodrama ended in a big brawl, leaving some of the show’s feuding characters nursing their wounds while others were left to deal with the consequences from the authorities. Season three picks up in the immediate aftermath of the melee, and continues to focus primarily on how all this trouble affects the lives of the series’ two main adults: Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka), from the 1984 movie “The Karate Kid.” As always, “Cobra Kai” balances action and angst with just a touch of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness.JANUARY 5‘History of Swear Words’Nicolas Cage brings his weirdo charisma to this fun docu-series, which delivers exactly what it promises: compact lessons in the history and etymology of our most popular profanities. Cage’s host segments and narration fill the gaps between the whimsical animated interludes and the interviews, which feature both insights from knowledgeable scholars and comments by foul-mouthed comedians. While the tone of “History of Swear Words” is goofy, the content is genuinely informative.JANUARY 7‘Pieces of a Woman’Reminiscent of other gripping “everything falls apart” dramas like “Uncut Gems” and “Marriage Story,” the at-times unbearably intense “Pieces of a Woman” stars Vanessa Kirby as an expectant mother who endures a nightmarish labor, followed by a long legal battle that tests her values and exposes the fragility of her personal relationships. An outstanding cast — which includes Molly Parker and Ellen Burstyn — brings some spark to a story that has very few moments of brightness or hope. The writer-director team of Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber want audiences to live through something terrible, and to learn something from their characters’ worst experiences.‘Pretend It’s a City’Credit…NetflixJANUARY 8‘Pretend It’s a City’The director Martin Scorsese and his crew turn their cameras on the outspoken New York humorist Fran Lebowitz, and then just let her riff at length about the past, present and future of human existence. Scorsese and Lebowitz collaborated previously on the feature-length documentary “Public Speaking,” about her life and career as a writer and raconteur. But the docu-series “Pretend It’s a City” is much less formal. It’s more of an extended hangout session, edited together from different interviews and public appearances, shot all around the city — New York — that these two love the most.JANUARY 11‘Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy’In the 1980s, some enterprising drug traffickers figured out how to convert the high-end luxury narcotic cocaine into a form that was cheaper, more potent, and easier to mass produce. Almost overnight, crack began devastating Black communities across America, raising alarm in the media and giving a few Reagan-era politicians new ways to terrify their constituents. In Stanley Nelson’s fascinating documentary “Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy,” the filmmaker reflects on the origins of the epidemic, considering the many ways powerful people used it to exploit the vulnerable.JANUARY 13‘Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer’During a booming economic era for Los Angeles in the mid 1980s, the city was terrorized by a serial rapist and murderer dubbed “the Night Stalker.” In the chilling four-part docu-series “Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer,” some of the people involved in hunting down this criminal — eventually identified as Richard Ramirez — talk about the stress of the pursuit, and how difficult it was to catch a man whose pattern of behavior defied logic. What emerges from this story is a study of someone who seemed drawn to evil for its own sake, as the ultimate way of disturbing the peace.JANUARY 15‘Disenchantment’ Part 3The two-part, 20-episode first season of the animated fantasy spoof “Disenchantment” introduced the story of an unconventional princess nicknamed “Bean” (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), who’d rather have rowdy drunken adventures than marry some drippy prince. As the second two-part season begins, Bean’s wild wanderings around the kingdom have caused major problems for her family, provoking a crisis. The show’s creative team (led by “The Simpsons” and “Futurama” creator Matt Groening) clearly have fun riffing on the trappings of sword-and-sorcery sagas; but all the while they’ve been making a pretty good one of their own, with a story that gets more involving with each new batch of episodes.Also arriving: “Headspace Guide to Meditation” (January 1), “The Minimalists: Less Is Now” (January 1), “Nailed It! Mexico” Season 3 (January 5), “Surviving Death” (January 6), “Tony Parker: The Final Shot” (January 6), “Charming” (January 8), “The Idhun Chronicles” Part 2 (January 8), “Lupin” (January 8), “Stuck Apart” (January 8), “Bling Empire” (January 15), “Double Dad” (January 15), “Outside the Wire” (January 15), “Daughter from Another Mother” (January 20), “Spycraft” (January 20), “Call My Agent!” Season 4 (January 21), “Blown Away” Season 2 (January 22), “Busted!” Season 3 (January 22), “Fate: The Winx Saga” (January 22), “The White Tiger” (January 22), “The Dig” (January 29), “Finding ‘Ohana” (January 29), “We Are: The Brooklyn Saints” (January 29).New to Stan‘Bump’Credit…StanJANUARY 1‘Bump’In the high school dramedy “Bump,” Nathalie Morris plays Oly, a gifted Sydney teenager whose plans for her future are upended when one day she goes into labor and has a baby before any of her family members or classmates even realized she was pregnant. This situation is ripe for farce or for social satire, but here it’s played more for poignancy, as the grown-ups in Oly’s life realize they don’t know much about her — or her fellow teens, for that matter.‘Gossip Girl’ Seasons 1-6When “Gossip Girl” debuted in 2007, its twisty story of romance and betrayal among wealthy young New Yorkers became a sensation. When the co-creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage wrapped the show after six seasons, it had become hugely influential on the tone and style of high school melodramas that followed. These 121 episodes are filled with enough intrigue and emotion to overshadow a dozen imitators.‘The Watch’ Season 1Based on the beloved Terry Pratchett fantasy fiction series “Discworld,” this off-kilter police procedural is set in a futuristic city on another planet, where — in Pratchett’s books at least — multiple varieties of genre fiction and classical literature converge. The TV version strips away some of the elements of parody and homage, aiming for something more like a familiar serialized cop show, liberally spiked with anarchic zaniness. Pratchett fans may be disappointed that “The Watch” isn’t a more straightforward adaptation of the books, but newcomers might appreciate the show on its own kooky terms.‘Search Party’ Season 4Credit…StanJANUARY 14‘Search Party’ Season 4It’s hard to believe that this increasingly unclassifiable series started out as a darkly comic mystery, about a group of self-absorbed young New York pals who make a succession of terrible choices while acting as amateur detectives, investigating an acquaintance’s disappearance. As “Search Party” begins its fourth season, it’s become much deeper and heavier than it once was, with story lines that involve murder, kidnapping and courtroom drama. The one constant throughout has been the remarkable lead performance of Alia Shawkat, playing a woman whose simple boredom and disaffection have led her to serious trouble.JANUARY 15‘Survivor’s Remorse’ Seasons 1-4One of the best sitcoms of the 2010s — although it failed to draw much support from viewers or critics during its four years on the air — “Survivor’s Remorse” is about the pressures facing a young basketball star after signing his first big professional contract. The show’s creator Mike O’Malley finds plenty of humor in the culture clash that ensues when a family that used to eke out a living suddenly has millions of dollars to throw around. But this series is also impressively cleareyed about how hard it is for a promising Black athlete to find his voice when his fans would rather he shut up and play ball.JANUARY 23‘Britannia’ Season 1A sense of ancient history as an inherently alien landscape charges up “Britannia,” an action-packed drama set in the first century A.D., during the time when the Romans tried to extend their empire to the British Isles. The show contains all the sex and violence common to similar adventure series, combined with some historical inquiry into the moment when two very old civilizations pitted their strengths — and their belief systems — against one another.Also arriving: “Arrival” (January 1), “Gossip Girl” Seasons 1-6 (January 1), “8 Mile” (January 2), “Babe” (January 3), “Babe: Pig in the City” (January 3), “The Hateful Eight” (January 6), “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” Season 2 (January 6), “Inglourious Basterds” (January 9).New to Amazon‘One Night in Miami…’Credit…Amazon StudiosJANUARY 15‘One Night in Miami …’The premise of Kemp Powers’ play “One Night in Miami …” goes like this: In 1964, not long after the boxer Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion, he met with his spiritual adviser Malcolm X and two of their equally famous friends — the singer Sam Cooke and the NFL star Jim Brown — in a motel room, where they talked about what they’d already accomplished and what they could do going forward to inspire Black Americans. Or at least that’s which extrapolates from these four men’s real history and friendship to imagine what their conversations must’ve been like. The director Regina King’s film version of the play is as fascinating as the idea behind it, and is brought to life by a stellar cast: Leslie Odom Jr. (Cooke), Aldis Hodge (Brown), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Malcolm) and Eli Goree (Ali).Also arriving: “Tandav” (January 15), “Jessy and Nessy” (January 22).AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More