Land of Punt’s new favorite show is getting a new character. NCIS: Los Angeles has cast Monet Mazu to play Callen’s (Chris O’Donnell) love interest.
Mazu will play Natalie Buccola, a secret service agent who becomes smitten with the mysterious Callen. Poor LL Cool J, always the bridesmaid.
Buccola will make her first appearance in episode six. Will it be her last? Maybe not. The character may appear in more than one episode.
Sunday, two-time Tony Award nominee Tony Roberts fell off the stage at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Roberts is currently in a production of The Royal Family.
In his first appearance on stage Roberts spoke incoherently. He took a seat on stage but still couldn’t speak clearly. Co-star John Glover, while still in character, ushered Roberts off the stage. Moments later the curtain fell and the production asked if there was a doctor in the house (yes, they actually do that).
The show was soon cancelled. Sadly, it was a preview show for critics. The show is scheduled to open Oct. 8.
A hospital spokesman says Roberts is in stable condition (stroke?).
Mitchell Hurwitz and James Vallely are currently writing the script for the movie version of Arrested Development. Hurwitz will director the film.
It better be good. This movie has the hype, at least from its 100 fans, that is usually reserved for a big budget action flick.
Hurwitz and Vallely didn’t want to begin script writing until all the principal actors have signed on.
If all goes well, production may start in the spring.
Land of Punt has never understood the appeal of Dr. Seuss.
LOP finds no excitement, joy, or pleasure in his writings. In fact, we find his rhymes rather dull.
Why are the eggs green? What is a “who” and why did Horton hear it? And have you ever tried putting a hat on a cat? It’s not all that putting a hat on the cat.
However, there is one story we do thank the good doctor for giving us and that’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
The story involves two of our favorite things, Christmas and the word “how.”
In 1957, HTGSC! began life as a book. Then in 1966 it became an animated television special. Then in 2000 it was turned into a live-action movie starring Jim Carey.
But in 1994, HTGSC! was turned into a musical, How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical or HTGSC!TM.
It debuted in of all places Minneapolis and then it began playing in of all places San Diego (we don’t quite know if it’s odd to have musicals playing in Minneapolis or San Diego, we just like using the phrase, “of all places”).
Finally, in 2006, it debuted on the Great White Way at the Hilton Theatre. Running through the holiday season, the production was noted for being the first Broadway musical to offer 12 performances a week. That’s a lot of Grinch.
It was also notable for ending Wicked’s 100-week stretch as Broadway’s top grossing production. While blasphemous, we’ve been able to look pass this indiscretion and still accept HTGSC!TM into our hearts.
The show returned the follow year and immediately found itself in the middle of the Local One stagehand strike.
Since a dark theater is bad for a seasonal production (you might even say a “Grinch” to a seasonal production), lawyers were called in and eventually a deal was worked out.
Fans of the 1966 television special will be happy to learn that composer’s Albert Hague’s work is preserved. Two of his songs, with lyrics by the good doctor himself, are featured in the production: Welcome, Christmas and You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch.
The rest of the music is written by Mel Marvin with lyrics and book by Timothy Mason.
The sets and the costumes are inspired by the original Dr. Seuss illustrations and the story is narrated by Max the Dog.
This holiday season, HTGSC!TM is playing at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Tickets for How The Grinch Stole Christmas! are being sold for a run that begins Nov. 10, 2009 and ends Jan. 3, 2010.
The entire production runs about 90 minutes and there’s no intermission (apparently the producers are Grinches when it comes to bathroom time).
Then they decided to have Neil Patrick Harris host every awards show on the “Eye.”
Then they gave us NCIS: Los Angeles.
They they routed Dan Rather in court.
Now CBS is once again making our hearts swoon. Coming next season to the Tiffany, a Criminal Minds spin-off.
Land of Punt was hoping Emily Prentiss would be cloned and featured in the new Crim but the spin-off will have an entirely different team.
This new team will be part of a Criminal Minds episode this spring. Sounds similar to what NCIS did for NCIS:LA.
Certainly the new team will have similarities to the current team. Why mess with a winning formula. However, it will be interesting to see if they create another “Reed.”
While Reed is a strong character, it’s clear that he’s more of a story telling device than anything else. He’s puprose is to fill in the blanks for the audience. Without him, a Crim-like show could be hard to follow.
Of course if they did away with the quote at the beginning and the end of the show we wouldn’t mind. Really, we wouldn’t care… Not one bit. Please!
Executive producers Ed Bernero and Chris Mundy will create the new series. Mundy will pen the script.
A Crim spin has been in the works since 2008, but the “Eye” put it on the back burner, an interruption if you will, to focus on NCIS: Los Angeles.
By the way, Crim’s season debut won the night with 15.8 million viewers and its best rating ever in the highly sought after 18-to-49 demographic.
It’s a conservative calendar with Conservative women.
The Clare Both Luce Policy Institute just released its fifth annual Great American Conservative Women Calendar. The calendar features 12 women who are highly prominent in the Conservative movement.
One such woman, which you can behold for the entire month of October, is Carrie Prejean, the ousted Miss California.
“I was so honored to be in the calendar as one of the great American conservative women. As a former beauty queen, it’s refreshing to be taken seriously,” the lovely Prejean said in a statement.
If you remember Prejean was dethroned for supporting traditional marriage and speaking out against gay marriage during the Miss USA pageant.
Interestingly enough, Prejean has achieved a far greater level of fame for standing up for what she’s believes in then she ever would have received from being crowned Miss USA.
“It’s so important for young women on college campuses to feel comfortable standing up for their conservative ideas. Conservative women need to be vocal in the public, and get involved in the media. I hope to have encouraged, and inspired other conservative women out there to not hold back, engage in intelligent discussions, stand up for what you believe in, and get involved. We cannot see a change if we don’t start with ourselves.”
The calendar is free to college students. For everyone else it’s $25 for one or $50 for three. Proceeds go to bringing these women, and others like them, to college campuses to lecture on conservative topics.
Also featured in the calendar are Kate Obenshain, Clare Boothe Luce, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Marji Ross, Kellyanne Conway, Michele Bachmann, Bay Buchanan, Phyllis Schlafly, SE Cupp and Star Parker.
Land of Punt is refreshed to see 12 beautiful Conservative women completely and 100% non-objectified. Accompany their picture is a patriotic and inspirational statement they’ve written themselves.
This calendar is all about their minds.
Still, we’re a warm-blooded, quasi-pseudo mythological land. For next year might we suggest adding Sarah Palin, Dana Perino, Cindy McCain, Laura Ingraham, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Land of Punt called it the two greatest hours of television in the history of humanity. Today, our hyperbole is vindicated. NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles were top rated shows for Sept. 21-27. Combined, the dramas attracted over 38 million viewers.
For the season, Sunday Night Football is prime-time’s number one rated program.
More than half the shows in the top twenty aired on CBS. Only one program, the aforementioned Sunday Night Football, belongs to the Peacock network. All three Dancing With The Stars and the all three CSI’s made the Top 14.
The season-to-date rankings are in parentheses. An “X” in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
List appears courtesy of the Nielsen Co.
1. (2) “NCIS,” CBS, 20.6 million viewers.
2. (3) “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 18.73 million viewers.
3. (4) “Dancing With the Stars” (Monday), ABC, 17.79 million viewers.
4. (1) Sunday Night Football: Indianapolis at Arizona, NBC, 17.47 million viewers.
5. (5) “House,” Fox, 17.16 million viewers.
6. (6) “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 17.03 million viewers.
7. (8) “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 16.01 million viewers.
8. (9) “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 15.84 million viewers.
9. (X) “Dancing With the Stars” (Tuesday), ABC, 15.367 million viewers.
10. (X) “Dancing With the Stars” (Wednesday), ABC, 15.356 million viewers.
11. (11) “The Mentalist,” CBS, 15.07 million viewers.
12. (11) “CSI: New York,” CBS, 15.06 million viewers.
13. (13) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 14.88 million viewers.
14. (14) “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 14.20 million viewers.
15. (15) “The Good Wife,” CBS, 13.71 million viewers.
16. (15) “Desperate Housewives,” ABC, 13.64 million viewers.
17. (15) “Two And a Half Men,” CBS, 13.63 million viewers.
18. (7) “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 13.35 million viewers.
19. (19) “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 12.96 million viewers.
20. (20) “Modern Family,” ABC, 12.61 million viewers.
Recently, while performing on stage in a Broadway play, Hugh Jackman was interrupted by a ringing cell phone. He immediately broke from the script and addressed the interfering culprit. The audience cheered after Jackman asked the offender to turn off the noisy device.
For some odd reason, the ringing persisted and Jackman fiercely reiterated his position. The entire ordeal was captured on video by an audience member and posted on TMZ.com (see below).
When it was all said and done, the interruption caused a substantial break in the action not to mention a break in Jackman’s character.
As general entertainment news sources dissect the humor and/or rudeness of the situation, Broadway is pretty much ignoring the incident all together.
The three biggest Broadway websites, Broadway.com, Theatermania.com, and Playbill.com, make no mention of the interruption. This obviously speaks to the fact that incredibly rude behavior is frequent on the Great White Way, even if it’s seldom captured on video.
It also a testament to the importance of the Jackman’s play. While the general entertainment news media focuses solely on Wolverine’s outburst, on Broadway the play–called A Steady Rain and also stars Daniel Craig–is a huge event.
Inevitably, the production is far too important to be associated with something so trivial as a cell phone interruption. Land of Punt was able to find very few news stories that did justice to the play.
Already A Steady Rain has broken the mark for highest grossing non-musical, and it officially hasn’t even opened (more on that later). In the week ending Sept. 20, the play grossed $1,167,954. For the week ending Sept. 27, it grossed $1,153,779. Those amounts are impressive for a musical they are mind boggling for a play.
Generally, the only productions that reach the million-dollar mark are insanely popular musicals like Wicked, Billy Madison, Jersey Boys, The Lion King and West Side Story. Recently, the highest grossing non-musical has been God of Carnage. It usually hauls in between $700,000 and $900,000 a week.
For Broadway, A Steady Rain is like a Bond movie or X-men: Origins (yes, the analogy was intentional). It’s television equivalent would be Glee or Community.
The play, written by Kevin Huff, opens tonight (Sept. 29). In case you’re wondering, the aforementioned occurrence took place during a “preview.” The play has been available for preview since Sept. 10.
The two character drama was directed by John Crowley. Theater fans can see Jackman and Craig walk the boards at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
Producers of the play explain it thusly: “a new American play that tells the story of two Chicago cops who are lifelong friends and their differing accounts of a few harrowing days that changed their lives forever.”
According to Playbill the “production features set and costume design by two-time Tony Award winner Scott Pask, lighting design by two-time Tony Award nominee Hugh Vanstone and original music and sound design by Mark Bennett. Michael J. Passaro is production stage manager.”
While we’re dropping Tony awards and Tony nominations, Jackman is a Tony winner (The Boy From Oz) and Crowley a Tony nominee.
Craig has had substantial theater experience in England, but A Steady Rain marks his Broadway debut.
The cellphone incident was comical even though it highlighted the ever growing coarseness of our culture and probably deserves a mention or two. Unfortunately what is lost in the boorish interruption, and the media blitz it encouraged, is A Steady Rain.
An “F-Bomb” was dropped on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.
When we heard the news we immediately thought someone said “Fallon.” But after further investigation we realized a cast member actually said the mother of all dirty words live from New York.
Brand new cast member Jenny Slate uttered the forbidden expletive during a sketch called “Biker Chick Chat.”
Wow, SNL spoofing a talk-show they almost never do that!
Throughout the sketch Slate frequently uttered the pretend f-words “frickin’ ” and “friggin.’ “As soon as she let the real thing go, she puffed her cheeks as a countenance of career-ending fear washed over her face.
SNL boss Lorne Michaels stood up for both his foul-mouth actress and his wilting show. He said Slate should be spared because she’s a rookie and he doesn’t want the première of the show’s 35th season to be remembered for one word.
Michaels is right, the premiere, which starred Megan Fox and U2, will be remembered for one word—unfunny.
While it’s heartwarming for Michaels to stick up for his actress, he’s probably leaping for joy that his old, bloated, tedious comedy show is actually being talked about.
However, who would have thought that a show with Megan Fox would be known for someone other than her saying something stupid.
The most famous utterance of the F-word occurred in 1981 and came out of the mouth of Charles Rocket.
Because Slate waited until 12:40 a.m. to talk like a sailor, she probably won’t face disciplinary action from the FCC.
NCIS‘ seventh season premiered Tuesday and the series debut of NCIS: Los Angeles followed. It was, beyond a shadow of the doubt, the greatest two hours of television in the history of humanity.
In NCIS, Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee (Sean Murray) travel to Africa to rescue Ziva (Cote de Pablo) from the clutches of terrorists. It was a Dinozzo centered episode and it give plenty of airtime to television’s most underrated actor, Michael Weatherly.
The relationship between Dinozzo and Ziva advanced about an inch. There’s is the slowest moving romance in the history of television and it’s awesome. Once they hook up the show is over so they can move as slow as they want.
Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is seeming to grow closer to Director Vance (Rocky Carroll). In fact, one may even say there’s becoming friends.
Land of Punt was disappointed when our girl Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) was killed. We had a huge crush on Director Shepard and enjoyed her relationship with Gibbs. However, in a season and an episode Director Vance has become a fascinating character and we appreciate his presence.
The episode was short on Abby (Pauley Perrette). Dr. Mallard (David McCallum) was hardly in it and there was no Palmer (Brian Dietzen).
Bottom line, NCIS is back and it still has it’s energy. We are looking forward to an outstanding season.
As you would imagine, NCIS: Los Angeles has a different vibe and a different dynamics amongst it’s cast.
Immediately, you realized that the show will center around Callen (Chris O’Donnell) with a strong emphasis on Hanna (LL Cool J).
Callen is a lot like Gibbs only instead of losing a family he’s an orphan. And of course Callen is much younger.
Hanna looks like he’ll be brawn of the show and Callen’s glorified sidekick. That’s fine because the characters have great chemistry. Even with that said, Hanna is engaging and very likable. His character appears to have a wealth of experience from his days as a Navy Seal.
The periphery characters need some work but two really stand out. Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) is not only interesting but drop dead gorgeous. She lit up the HD screen every time she was on. Beyond her dashing good looks, Blye is an intelligent and capable agent. Needless to say, we’re looking forward to seeing more of her.
The show was nearly stolen by Henrietta ‘Hetty’ Lange (Linda Hunt). Part boss, part operations manager, and part mother Hetty is becomes the focus of every scene she’s in. She’s simply captivating.
The other three characters, Dominic Vaile (Adam Jamal Craig), Eric Beal (Barrett Foa), and ‘Doc’ Getz (Peter Cambor) need some work. Getz especially has us scratching our head. Why does the show need a operational psychologist when utilizing a psychologist is out of character for all the characters? Vaile and Beal might just need more airtime.
It appears that NCIS: Los Angeles will focus on Callen going undercover and conning the bad guys more so than investigating a murder. The spin-off also seems to employ more cutting edge technology than the original–much to the chagrin of McGee.
Another difference is the set. NCIS: Los Angeles has an infinitely more interesting set than the original. It’s almost a character unto itself.
After one episode, NCIS: Los Angeles was very good. We can’t wait until this good show finds it stride.
There are two very interesting aspects concerning Lyle Lovett—three if you count his music.
First, he’s the country music artist liked by people who don’t like country music.
In the world of popular music, where what you listen too is what you are, Lovett is perceived as the only acceptable choice in the otherwise beer-swilling, gun-toting, cattle-rustling arena that is country music.
In other words, it’s cool to like Lyle Lovett but you’re an ignorant redneck if you listen to Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn or Brad Paisley.
None of that is true of course.
But what do you expect from people who say things like, “I was a fan of Death Cab For Cutie before they went mainstream,” or “Avey Tare is a musical genius.”
These supercilious music fans wouldn’t be caught dead at a Rascal Flatts or a Sugarland concert but they would definitely buy Lyle Lovett concert tickets and then pretend to know all the words.
Yet, the only Lovett songs they’re really familiar with are “That’s Right (You’re Not from Texas)” and the one about penguins.
The attraction to Lovett is he’s subtle and that’s somewhat or a rarity in country music (see Toby Keith or Alan Jackson). His lyrics aren’t literal; his music isn’t heavy with twang; he has a sultry, smoky voice; and he focuses on songwriting not the boot, scoot and/or boogie.
Lovett isn’t the only artist of his ilk in the genre of country music but the pretentious music snobs are too busy secretly listening to the Black Eye Peas and Taylor Swift to find them.
The second fascinating aspect of the man, the myth, and the legend known as Lyle Lovett is the clandestine nature of his existence. He’s quite a private individual.
In fact, his Wikipedia entry is amazingly short for someone who’s been in the music business since 1980. Terrorists have longer Wikipedia entries than he does. The Land of Punt has a longer Wikipedia entry and we’re probably not even real.
Besides his great music, there are two things most people know about Double L. One was his marriage to actress Julia Roberts. They were married from 1993 to 1995. Since then you’ve heard nary a word about Lovett’s romantic life. You probably can’t even name his current girlfriend (it’s April Kimble by the way).
The other thing you know about Lovett is he was in a ranch accident in 2002. A bull rammed him into a fence at his uncle’s farm in Texas. Lovett had to quit touring for six months.
By the way, isn’t getting in a ranch accident with a bull one of the greatest ways to suffer an injury? It beats a motorcycle accident or a hang gliding mishap by a country mile.
Being coy and shying away from the media is very refreshing. Ultimately, it’s what we want out of our entertainers. Sing your songs, record your albums and then go away.
Lovett’s newest album, Natural Forces, is set to drop on Oct. 20. His latest collection of songs was recorded with the Large Band and co-producer Billy Williams.
Lovett wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs, including “It’s Rock and Roll” with Robert Earl Keen. Songs from other composers (all of them Texans) include:
David Ball – “Don’t You Think I Feel It Too” Vince Bell – “Sun and Moon and Stars” Tommy Elskes – “Bohemia” Don Sanders – “Bayou Song” Eric Taylor – “Whooping Crane” Townes Van Zandt – “Loretta”
Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” will be released as a single on Oct. 12. The track, which has not been released before, feature background vocals by Jackson’s brothers. There are two versions of the song and both are included on the soundtrack to the documentary “This Is It.”
The song can also be heard over the closing credits of the documentary “This Is It,” which will offer advance screenings starting Oct. 27. The film will have a limited run of two weeks.
“This song only defines, once again, what the world already knows — that Michael is one of God’s greatest gifts,” said John McClain, a co-producer of the This Is It film and soundtrack and a co-executor of Michael Jackson’s estate.
The soundtrack and the film will be available for consumption starting October 27th.
The soundtrack is a double album. The fist disc contains original album masters of the songs featured in “This Is It” and in the order they appear in the film. This disc concludes with the two versions of “This is It.”
The second disc contains previously unreleased versions of the King of Pop’s hits as well as an unreleased spoken word track of a poem written by Jackson titled “Planet Earth.”
Fans will also be blessed with a 36-page commemorative booklet stocked with photos of Jackson’s final rehearsal for his planned This Is It concerts.
