The Merrill Dubrow Blog

Both shows are on TV late night. The "Tonight Show with Jay leno" and "Late Show with David Letterman" feature a number of the same things:

• Opening monologue
   
• Guest interviews
   
• Musical guest or a stand up routine

David Letterman has his top ten list and is located in NY, while Jay Leno does Jay Walking, headlines and is located in Hollywood. Clearly both Dave and Jay are professionals and are very good at what they do. They have mastered their craft and rarely stumble on TV. In fact, sometimes they even are so funny they crack themselves up.

• Who do you like better?
   
• Whose personality do you like better?
   
• Who do you think is funnier?
   
• If you are going to watch or TIVO only one which one is it?
   
• Does anyone miss Conan?

I look forward to reading your comments.

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I was watching the Academy Awards earlier this month and was looking at Alec Baldwin and thinking about his brothers Daniel, William and Stephen.  What a family of actors. It gave me a chance to think about other Hollywood families and after thinking about it and doing a little research came up with a few:

Baldwin

• Brothers and actors Alec Baldwin, William Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin and Daniel Baldwin; Alec was formerly married to actress Kim Basinger, and William is currently married to singer Chynna Phillips.

Penn

• Actress Eileen Ryan and writer-director Leo Penn were the parents of two actors (Sean and Chris Penn) and a musician (Michael Penn). Sean was married first to Madonna and later to Robin Wright Penn.  Michael is married to musician Aimee Mann.

Barrymore

• Actress and producer Drew Barrymore is descended from a renowned acting family: Her parents are actress and manager Jaid Barrymore and actor John Drew Barrymore, who was the son of renowned classical actor and playboy John Barrymore. She is also the great-niece of Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore.

Douglas

• Actor Kirk Douglas is the father of actor Michael Douglas and producer Joel Douglas by his first wife, actress Diana Dill; and of producer Peter Douglas and late comic and actor Eric Douglas by his second wife, actress Anne Buydens. Michael is the father of actor Cameron Douglas by his first wife, Diandra Luker, and is currently married to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Bateman

• Actor Jason Bateman is the brother of actress Justine Bateman; their father is producer Kent Bateman. Jason Bateman is married to the daughter of Paul Anka. Televangelist Dr. (Rev.) Miles Bateman is a distant cousin.

Cusack 

• Actors John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack (The Jeff Foxworthy Show), Bill Cusack, and Susie Cusack are all siblings; their father Dick Cusack also took to acting late in life.

I must admit I do like a few of these families. I really like Joan and John Cusack and I always liked Stephen Baldwin from his performance in The Usual Suspects. My favorite is hands down the Douglas family. I love Kirk and I also really, really like Michael. Both great actors!

• Who is your favorite Hollywood family today and what about years ago?
   
• Who do you think is the number one Hollywood family of all-time?

I look forward to reading your comments.

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I had lunch yesterday with AB and RW and during the discussion we talked about what TV shows you watch every week. The conversation led us to "If you could only watch three shows every week–not channels but shows–what would they be?"

I gave it a little time to pause and am almost embarrassed to say what my three shows are:

1. The Office – I like the goofiness of the cast and especially the character that Steve Carell plays in Michael Scott. I love the dry sense of humor and the flow of the show.
    
2. Survivor – I really enjoy the challenges, the competition and strategy of the game. I have been watching it for ten years and truly do enjoy the show.
    
3. Deal or No Deal – I like Howie Mandel and the way he gets the contestants into the show. I also enjoy trying to figure out what the banker is going to offer prior to him offering it. Ok I will admit it I always liked math!

Not sure what it says about me that I picked these shows. Interesting that I picked a reality, comedy and game show!

Ok your turn.

• What do you think of my choices?
   
• What are the three shows you would watch every week?
   

I look forward to reading your comments.

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Fun question for a Friday. Since most of us watch TV I thought today’s topic could be a fun and enjoyed posting. Simply who are some of your favorite TV Characters?

• Are you a fan of Barney Fife?
   
• What about George Costanza?
   
• Or tough guys like Jim Rockford, Jack Bauer, Tony Soprano, or Dan Tanna?
   
• And who can forget loveable Coach from Cheers?
   
• Or funny and goofy characters like Chandler Bing, John Cage and Earl Hickey
   
• And of course there are all characters with super powers like Bionic Woman, Steve Austin and Wonder Woman
   
• And no one can leave out sweet Pam Beesly

For me I tend to gravitate towards two types of characters: funny and detectives. So for me I always loved characters like Robert Urich in Vega$, and Ally McBeal and John Cage were so funny. I also still laugh a ton when I think about Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes and liked the cleverness of Colonel Hogan from the same show.

So I ask you on who are some of your favorite TV characters?

I look forward to reading your comments.

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Every week I get asked to write about different topics.  Today’s post is no different. Well maybe a little. As I was getting my haircut, we (thanks S.Y.) were discussing the new movie that was coming out, New Moon. Much to everyone’s surprise I had NO idea what they were talking about! Quickly they asked me what I thought of the movie Twilight, and besides having a puzzled look on my face I had little to no response. I may have heard of that movie but I don’t remember and I know for a fact I never saw it.

When I don’t know something about a particular blog topic I will do some research. For this one I decided not to do that and have the readers inform me on what I am missing. I have NO idea who stars in the movie, what the movies are really about other than it involves vampires. I have no idea who the director or producer is–in fact I couldn’t even tell you the city in which the story takes place. I didn’t even know until they screamed at me, about the books that were written. Clearly I have been living under a rock and missed all the hoopla. I have noticed people wearing New Moon shirts but that was after getting laughed at while I was getting my haircut.

So please fill me in.

• What are the movies about?
   
• Have you read the book?
   
• Was the sequel any better than Twilight?
   
• Is there another movie planned?
   
• Were you one of the first to see the movie?

I look forward to your comments and seeing what I am missing.

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Last night I was flipping around the stations (like most nights) and landed on Grease. I will admit it I love that movie and the music. During the scene I was watching, Sandy (Olivia Newton John) and Danny (John Travolta) were at a drive-in movie. He was trying to get his ring off as a sign to go steady and then in a minute or two Danny breaks out in a song that starts "stranded in a drive-in, branded a fool" or something like that.

This gave me a chance to pause and thinking about my childhood and going to drive-ins. I remember there was a drive-in theatre in Braintree and Westboro MA as well as a number of them down the Cape. What great memories. Would go with my friends and have a ton of fun. We would go and watch a double feature and laugh all night. Since we didn’t have a ton of money, I remember bringing in our own food and drinks and taking forever to figure out how to get the volume right in the car. Those were the days! 

Frankly I miss going to the drive-in. I think if there was one close I would go. 

• Do you miss going to a drive-in theatre?
   
• By any chance is there one near you now?
   
• What is your favorite drive-in movie story?

 I look forward to reading your comments.

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Over the years all of us have probably watched thousands and thousands of TV shows and noticed lots of different things. For me I always enjoyed what cars the actors and actresses were driving.

Do you remember the A-Team’s GMC C-Series van? Who could forget the Ferraris in Miami Vice – used to love to see Don Johnson driving fast in the streets of Miami while wearing his white suit with white shoes.  Of course Tom Selleck also drove a Ferrari in Magnum PI. And of course there were the funky, crazy Batmobile, the Munster Koach and the Partridge Family bus.

For me there are two shows and cars that were my favorite. I really like James Garner who starred in the Rockford Files. Great show and I really liked the Pontiac Firebird he drove, I also loved the show Vegas. Dan Tanna played by Robert Urich drove a really cool, sleek red 1957 Ford Thunderbird. I must admit I thought Dan and the car were the greatest.

Ok your turn.

• Did you watch a TV show because of a car?
   
• What was your favorite car/van/bus on a TV show?
   
• Did you ever purchase a car because you saw someone on TV drive it?

I look forward to reading your comments.

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I was driving around last night and all of a sudden I started to chuckle. I didn’t think of something funny and I was alone so no one said anything funny! The reason I was laughing is the theme song to "Welcome Back, Kotter" came on the radio. For me it brought back some fun times during my childhood and the show. I still remember John Travolta doing his thing and Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington and Gabe Kaplan! Just a very funny show.

I really like the theme song and it gave me a chance to pause and think about TV theme songs. Here are a few that I came up with and some comments:

1. The Love Boat – I actually liked the star-studded show and thought the theme song was catchy
    
2. Cheers – Being from Boston how do I not put this on my list!
    
3. Mr. Ed – Ok I didn’t love the theme song so much as I liked the talking horse
    
4. Laverne & Shirley and show that has "Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated" in a song has to make the list. I thought the show was hysterical and a great spin-off
    
5. Green Acres – catchy song and a funny show starring Eddie Albert and Zsa Zsa Gabor
    
6. The Addams Family theme song made me laugh

I think my favorite of all-time starts out with "Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful ship . . . " which is the theme song from Gilligan’s Island.

• What is your favorite TV theme song?
   
• What do you think of my list?
   
• Describe the memories the theme songs bring back for you
   
• What theme songs do you know the words to?

I look forward to reading your comments. 

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So there I am in a somewhat quiet house on Memorial Day, Monday May 25th. I am lying on the couch, drinking a bottled water and changing stations quickly, as if I was preparing for an event in the Olympics. As I change the channels I noticed that there was a ton of war movies on. I pause for a minute. Of course there would be, since it was Memorial Day.

I must pause for a minute and take you back to my childhood when it seemed that every Saturday I would watch a war movie with my dad. Because of that when I watch one for a few minutes it brings back some great memories, and I still watch them to not only watch the movie but to see if I can pick out all of the stars that were in the movie.

So on this day here were some of the war movies that were on:

• Dirty Dozen
   
• Hamburger Hill
   
• Kelly’s Heroes
   
• Midway
   
• Patton
   
• The Fighting 69th
   
• The Longest Day
   
• Tora! Tora! Tora!

I am sure there were many more but those are just the ones I saw. The question is what is the best war movie?

For me I can’t get to a number one, but can get to a top three. They are: The Longest Day, Patton and the Battle of The Bulge.

Each of those movies was a classic, had a great story, had good battle scenes, was star studded and kept my interest from start to finish.

• Do you like war movies?
   
• Did you watch them as a kid?
   
• What is your favorite?

I look forward to reading your comments.

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Okay, I love movies! I really love sports movies! The question is, what are your favorite boxing movies? There have been a tremendous number of boxing movies.  To name a few:

• The Rocky series, which I think at this point there are 6 of them
   
• The Hurricane
   
• Diggstown
   
• Cinderella Man
   
• Raging Bull
   
• Million Dollar Baby (which I still have never seen!)
   
• The Champ
   
• Rocky Marciano 

What a list!  And I have probably left off a ton more. When I think about boxing movies, I think about the storyline, the characters, how realistic the boxing scenes are and how vivid they are. When I do that, a few boxing movies quickly rise to the top of my list. The first one was produced in 1980 and starred Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. The movie is great.  I really like the cinematography and the fight scenes are so real.  And I love that the movie was shot in black and white!  What a classic! De Niro is amazing–a great actor.

My second favorite movie is Rocky. I really like the "fight to the top" story and really love the overachiever aspect of the movie. It was cool how the city got behind this kid from Philadelphia. Stallone is really at the top of his game in this movie. I remember seeing the Rocky statue for the first time in Philadelphia (near the Art Museum) and thinking how cool that was.

• Do you like boxing movies?
   
• What do you think of my choices?
   
• What are your favorite boxing movies of all time?

Look forward to reading your comments.

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