Saturday afternoon Fox, not Fox Soccer Channel, will televise the UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. This is a huge milestone in the history of soccer in the United States because it will be the first time ever (or at least in my lifetime, but I am pretty sure ever) that a non-American club match will be shown in English on free television. (The Spanish-language networks televise the Mexican league and have shown European finals in the past: I became a Manchester United fan after watching the 1991 Cup-Winners' Cup final between United and Barcelona when I was 11. I was rooting for United because I liked their uniforms better, and I was impressed that Mark Hughes scored both the goals.)
Paradoxically, although much more live soccer is shown in the U.S. than ever before, the amount of it on free television has decreased because ABC no longer shows the MLS Cup or the MLS All-Star game; they only televise World Cup matches. I am unaware of any other network showing any professional soccer since the NASL days. Thus it is huge that Fox is showing the UCL final, which will be the first match on free English-language television since the 2010 World Cup final. It shows a commitment to the sport from Fox that is encouraging. The fact that the final includes two of the world's most famous clubs, who are both popular in the U.S., is also helpful.
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday Night Live
Last night's episode of Saturday Night Live was just about perfect, as the season finale should be. The opening sketch about Europe's financial problems was well-done, highbrow and hilarious at the same time, and the show went from there. Generally this season I have disliked the opening monologue songs that have become an almost weekly occurrence, but Justin Timberlake's about how he wouldn't sing during the episode was spot-on.
I also enjoyed Lady Gaga's acting cameos, especially during the What's That Name? sketch. Every time I see her perform I am more impressed. The twist of having her actually know people's names was a refreshing revision to the sketch's usual pattern. She was good in the digital short, too (which was better than "Mother Lover," but not as good as "Dick in the Box"). Her performance in it was subtle, but it pulled the sketch together.
And, of course, I was thrilled by the Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch. I am inordinately fond of Jimmy Fallon. The theme song always makes me giggle.
The only way the episode could have been better was if Amy Poehler had made an appearance for "Really?!? With Seth and Amy." Seth Meyers did a nice job with it by himself, but it just wasn't the same. It's the season finale, have more guest stars!
I also enjoyed Lady Gaga's acting cameos, especially during the What's That Name? sketch. Every time I see her perform I am more impressed. The twist of having her actually know people's names was a refreshing revision to the sketch's usual pattern. She was good in the digital short, too (which was better than "Mother Lover," but not as good as "Dick in the Box"). Her performance in it was subtle, but it pulled the sketch together.
And, of course, I was thrilled by the Barry Gibb Talk Show sketch. I am inordinately fond of Jimmy Fallon. The theme song always makes me giggle.
The only way the episode could have been better was if Amy Poehler had made an appearance for "Really?!? With Seth and Amy." Seth Meyers did a nice job with it by himself, but it just wasn't the same. It's the season finale, have more guest stars!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Abbey Road Revisited
I just listened to the Beatles' Abbey Road for the first time in several years. Here are some random thoughts:
What is up with "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"? This was one of my favorite Beatles song as a kid, and I have always had a fondness for it as a result, but listening to it now it sounds much more sinister than playful. Especially the women in the courtroom "screaming 'Maxwell must go free'." Very Charles Manson-esque.
Anyway, the entire album is darker than I used to give it credit for. For instance, while the ending medley (side two on the cassette I had as a kid [this is a separate issue--due to individual song downloads, young people these days have no sense of what an album is, of the cohesiveness that makes all of the songs better, let alone any sense of how a single side has to work together within the structure of a full album]) is fun, and according to George Harrison in the Beatles documentary that was on ABC in the mid-1990s (1994 or '95, when they released "Free As A Bird"), it was meant to be funny, the last two songs of the medley, "Carry That Weight" and "The End," are just depressing in light of the band's breakup shortly thereafter. They also had special resonance for me tonight since I am completing my last week of graduate school.
Also, while "Octopus's Garden" is a happy kind of song, one has to wonder what Ringo was going through to feel the need to express his desire for "hiding [...where] we can't be found"? The song's vision is happy, but the catalyst for that vision is not.
What is up with "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"? This was one of my favorite Beatles song as a kid, and I have always had a fondness for it as a result, but listening to it now it sounds much more sinister than playful. Especially the women in the courtroom "screaming 'Maxwell must go free'." Very Charles Manson-esque.
Anyway, the entire album is darker than I used to give it credit for. For instance, while the ending medley (side two on the cassette I had as a kid [this is a separate issue--due to individual song downloads, young people these days have no sense of what an album is, of the cohesiveness that makes all of the songs better, let alone any sense of how a single side has to work together within the structure of a full album]) is fun, and according to George Harrison in the Beatles documentary that was on ABC in the mid-1990s (1994 or '95, when they released "Free As A Bird"), it was meant to be funny, the last two songs of the medley, "Carry That Weight" and "The End," are just depressing in light of the band's breakup shortly thereafter. They also had special resonance for me tonight since I am completing my last week of graduate school.
Also, while "Octopus's Garden" is a happy kind of song, one has to wonder what Ringo was going through to feel the need to express his desire for "hiding [...where] we can't be found"? The song's vision is happy, but the catalyst for that vision is not.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
On the watching of baseball
I've been slowly reading through Roger Angell's Season Ticket over the past few weeks. Today I came across an intriguing statement in it from Roy Eisenhardt, former president of the Oakland A's. He says, "The delivery systems of baseball are a great concern now [...] televised baseball is is almost an auto-immune disease [...] Baseball can't really be taken in on television, because of our ingrained habits of TV-watching [which teach us to expect instant gratification ...] Baseball is a terrific radio sport by contrast, because radio feeds our imagination" (92-93).
My baseball-watching experiences jive with this statement. Although I now do a large majority of my baseball-watching via television, I would never have developed a love for baseball without first seeing it live. I became a baseball fan when my dad took me to a Mets game in 1985 when I was five years old. The Mets destroyed the Braves that day something like 13-3 or 14-4, and the two most mythical Mets of the era, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry (whose names along with those of Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter I knew even then, even though at that point in my life I knew basically nothing about the outside world), played important roles in the outcome - Strawberry hit a homerun and Doc got the win. I was hooked. It wasn't just the fact that the Mets had shown that they were an entity to be worshipped with awe and devotion which converted me, but also the communal aspect of watching the game with thousands of other excited fans. The woman sitting next to us kept yelling "Yay Darryl Strawberry!," and gave me some wafer cookies, my favorite at the time. Once I was initiated into the community, I was able to take my appreciation of baseball and apply it to my watching of it on television, but this appreciation probably never would have been developed if I had just experienced televised baseball.
Once I became a fan, I did grow to love watching the Mets on WWOR-TV Channel 9 with Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver announcing. This was back when McCarver was still a serviceable analyst, in large part because he respected Kiner as former player and therefore didn't feel like the burden of offering inside scoops to the viewers about the game rested solely on his shoulders. Now, when he is teamed up with Joe Buck (who is the most insufferable play-by-play announcer of this era) on Fox's baseball telecasts, McCarver tries too hard, he sounds like he thinks he must be brilliant every time he opens his mouth, and as a result is just shrill and annoying.
I also loved listening to the Mets on the radio on WFAN 660 with Bob Murphy, and later Gary Cohen. Aside from the food and the people, the thing I miss most about New York City is WFAN. In junior high I would come home from school and spend the afternoon listening to "Mike and the Mad Dog," and during the winter I would listen to Rangers hockey games at night with Marv Albert or Howie Rose doing play-by-play alongside Sal "Red Light" Messina. During the 1993-94 season when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, I listened to so many of their games that I learned the Canadian national anthem by heart, something I've still been unable to do with "The Star-Spangled Banner," which is the worst national anthem ever - "America the Beautiful" would be a much better choice.
My baseball-watching experiences jive with this statement. Although I now do a large majority of my baseball-watching via television, I would never have developed a love for baseball without first seeing it live. I became a baseball fan when my dad took me to a Mets game in 1985 when I was five years old. The Mets destroyed the Braves that day something like 13-3 or 14-4, and the two most mythical Mets of the era, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry (whose names along with those of Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter I knew even then, even though at that point in my life I knew basically nothing about the outside world), played important roles in the outcome - Strawberry hit a homerun and Doc got the win. I was hooked. It wasn't just the fact that the Mets had shown that they were an entity to be worshipped with awe and devotion which converted me, but also the communal aspect of watching the game with thousands of other excited fans. The woman sitting next to us kept yelling "Yay Darryl Strawberry!," and gave me some wafer cookies, my favorite at the time. Once I was initiated into the community, I was able to take my appreciation of baseball and apply it to my watching of it on television, but this appreciation probably never would have been developed if I had just experienced televised baseball.
Once I became a fan, I did grow to love watching the Mets on WWOR-TV Channel 9 with Ralph Kiner and Tim McCarver announcing. This was back when McCarver was still a serviceable analyst, in large part because he respected Kiner as former player and therefore didn't feel like the burden of offering inside scoops to the viewers about the game rested solely on his shoulders. Now, when he is teamed up with Joe Buck (who is the most insufferable play-by-play announcer of this era) on Fox's baseball telecasts, McCarver tries too hard, he sounds like he thinks he must be brilliant every time he opens his mouth, and as a result is just shrill and annoying.
I also loved listening to the Mets on the radio on WFAN 660 with Bob Murphy, and later Gary Cohen. Aside from the food and the people, the thing I miss most about New York City is WFAN. In junior high I would come home from school and spend the afternoon listening to "Mike and the Mad Dog," and during the winter I would listen to Rangers hockey games at night with Marv Albert or Howie Rose doing play-by-play alongside Sal "Red Light" Messina. During the 1993-94 season when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, I listened to so many of their games that I learned the Canadian national anthem by heart, something I've still been unable to do with "The Star-Spangled Banner," which is the worst national anthem ever - "America the Beautiful" would be a much better choice.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday Night Live's return
Saturday Night Live's first new episode after the writer's strike last night was decent, a low B. The opening sketch about journalists fawning over Obama was hilarious, though Fred Armisen's Obama impersonation needs some serious work - he seemed to have so much trouble merely speaking in a deeper voice that he had no energy left to make this deeper voice sound like Obama's. The opening monologue with a cameo by Steve Martin was also good, though I am biased here because I am a total sucker for Steve Martin cameos. Once he comes on camera my ability to think critically vanishes quicker than Hillary Clinton's chances for the Democratic nomination. (thank you! I'll be here all week.)
Speaking of Hillary, "Weekend Update" was mind-blowing, and not in a good way. Tina Fey's pro-Hillary rant was funny, but politically irresponsible. I understand that it would be great to have a female president, and I felt guilty voting against Hillary in the Illinois primary for this reason, but Obama has a much better chance of beating McCain in the general election, and it is absolutely necessary for the US's welfare that a Republican not be elected. Not to mention that Obama is the most exciting US politician since Bobby Kennedy. (Stepping off of my soapbox)
Mike Huckabee's cameo, though again somewhat funny, was extremely confusing to me - politicians go on SNL to try to convince people that they are cool (e.g., Obama's appearance this past fall, or Al Gore's appearances in the past few years), and the time for this convincing re: Huckabee has long since passed. Also, I'm sure the number of people who watch SNL and would be interested in voting for Huckabee is around three. Was he intending it as a sort of concession speech? I don't know. Anyway, the baffling nature of his appearance overwhelmed whatever humor it contained.
The rest of the show was so-so, the only skit that really stood out to me was Jason Sudeikis's drunken best man speech. Simple and well done. Samberg and Hader's digital short was a respectable try, but not as good as the shorts usually are.
Speaking of Hillary, "Weekend Update" was mind-blowing, and not in a good way. Tina Fey's pro-Hillary rant was funny, but politically irresponsible. I understand that it would be great to have a female president, and I felt guilty voting against Hillary in the Illinois primary for this reason, but Obama has a much better chance of beating McCain in the general election, and it is absolutely necessary for the US's welfare that a Republican not be elected. Not to mention that Obama is the most exciting US politician since Bobby Kennedy. (Stepping off of my soapbox)
Mike Huckabee's cameo, though again somewhat funny, was extremely confusing to me - politicians go on SNL to try to convince people that they are cool (e.g., Obama's appearance this past fall, or Al Gore's appearances in the past few years), and the time for this convincing re: Huckabee has long since passed. Also, I'm sure the number of people who watch SNL and would be interested in voting for Huckabee is around three. Was he intending it as a sort of concession speech? I don't know. Anyway, the baffling nature of his appearance overwhelmed whatever humor it contained.
The rest of the show was so-so, the only skit that really stood out to me was Jason Sudeikis's drunken best man speech. Simple and well done. Samberg and Hader's digital short was a respectable try, but not as good as the shorts usually are.
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