What I'm Watching

Remembering Soft-Shoe Silhouettes

NOTE: I originally wrote this post in the spring of 2006 while working on the now-defunct Pan and Scan blog. Since the archives there are long gone, I'm re-posting here.

If you never watched the '70s children's television show, 'Electric Company,' you may want to skip this one.

A month ago, we wrote a post on the new 5-disc 'Best of Electric Company' DVD box set, where we surveyed the web for clips from the show.

The experience re-awoke nearly 30 year-old memories, and honestly left me wanting more. So I picked up the new DVD, took another deep dive, and wasn't disappointed.

Fans of the show likely remember some of the recurring characters: Rita Moreno as "The Director," Morgan Freeman as "Easy Reader" -- all are included in the set, but the sequence I found most trippy nearly thirty years later was one I'd hardly remembered:



Dubbed 'soft-shoe silhouettes' by the show's producers, these short sequences were frequently used as a bridge between the more popular skits on the show.

Apparently I'm not the only ones with a fondness for the sequence -- after rooting around a bit more online, I found this homage from an episode of 'Family Guy':


Does anyone else smell a pop culture renaissance for the silhouettes?

My Favorite DNC '08 Moment

Who says veteran CBS newsman Bob Schieffer can't get down? (Note Jeff Greenfield behind him, too...)

Bob Schieffer Dancing
by caphilljed

Canned Applause on SNL?

A strange thing happened this weekend on 'Saturday Night Live.' As host Hugh Laurie began his opening monologue -- and after the applause from his introduction had died down -- a second, quieter track of seemingly canned cheers and applause continued as Laurie spoke, only to abruptly fade out several seconds later.

Listen for yourself, in this clip recorded from the live east coast broadcast of the show: (Click the play button in the video window below.)

Yes, it's subtle. And yes, like you, my first instinct was to write it off as simply a clumsy audio mix of the actual live audience. But if you listen to it carefully, there's something about the timing and ferocity of those last four or five seconds of applause that just seems off. UPDATE: The fact that NBC removed the suspect audio from the west coast feed of the show seems to back up our suspicions (Defamer has just posted a clip of the same sequence as it was broadcast in LA).

And while it's not unusual for pre-recorded television shows to "sweeten" the applause or laughter recorded from a live studio audience, it would seem a most disingenuous move for 'SNL.' In fact, in distancing himself from the Ashlee Simpson lip-syncing incident two years ago, 'SNL' creator Lorne Michaels told '60 Minutes' that had he known she'd planned to lip sync, he would have said stopped her, saying that pre-recorded audio goes against the show's essence of being live.

So is 'SNL' sweetening its live audio? And if so, can we assume this includes laughter, in addition to applause?

Vintage Ronald Reagan Satellite Feed

If you know me personally, you know I loves me the raw satellite feeds. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across this vintage satellite feed of Ronald Reagan from January 20, 1985, the night of Super Bowl XIX.

The San Francisco 49ers had just defeated the Miami Dolphins, and then-President Reagan was set to deliver a congratulatory post game call to 49ers coach Bill Walsh, live via satellite from the White House as part of ABC's post-game coverage.

In this nine minute feed, we see the President as he prepares for (and ultimately delivers) his message to the coach.

As you might expect, Reagan is clearly at ease in the front of the camera, although he seems surprised that he won't actually be holding a telephone as he delivers his message, saying, "I thought I'd at least be pretending I was phoning."

Click the play button below:

Suri Cruise Vanity Fair Photos Unveiled by Katie Couric in CBS Debut

Following in the grand tradition of Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite, viewers tuning into tonight's debut edition of 'The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric ' were treated to an unexpected "get" -- a first look at Suri Cruise's top secret photo session with Vanity Fair:

The "Yes, Suri, She's Our Baby!" Vanity Fair hits newstands Wednesday.

The New 'Soy Bomb'

It's not an awards show without someone taking the stage uninvited.

Tonight's unwelcome guest at the MTV Video Music Awards was someone who calls himself "6" -- or maybe he spells it "six," like the girl from 'Blossom'? UPDATE: It's "Sixx," of course... and apparently he's done this before.

In any case, he jumped on stage from the audience just as Panic! at the Disco arrived to accept the night's final award for Video of the Year. Grabbing the microphone from one of the band members as they walked on stage, he said something about MTV not giving him his own show, then plugged his web site -- mtv6000.com (which promptly crashed) -- before being tackled by security and ushered off the stage.

Jennifer Lopez (on stage to present the award) was impressively cool, refusing to hand him the band's moon man, despite his best efforts:

UPDATE (9/1/06): According to their now semi-functional web site, Sixx and friends are selling a DVD ("From the Hood to Hollywood") about how they crash music awards shows:

"From the Hood to Hollywood chronicles the story of an upstart film company founded by two struggling film makers Nicholas "Sixx" King and Brooklyn Jhonn. After years of being snubbed by the record industry for A-list music video jobs , Sixx and Jhonn decided that the only breaks ever given in show business are the breaks you give YOURSELF! The questions like Who are you? And what have you done would soon be unecessary . The duo along with their intern Tyla planned to pull the ULTIMATE independent project that would irradiate any such questions. They decided to film their rise to stardom by joining the music industry's celebrity's [sic] in their moments of glory. Sixx captivates audiences worldwide with humorous antics at the world's most prestigious award shows. "

CNN Airs Anchor's Bathroom Conversation During Bush Speech

About ten minutes into President Bush's speech yesterday in New Orleans, CNN accidentally aired audio of a conversation between CNN anchor Kyra Phillips and a female colleague which apparently took place in a CNN restroom.

Phillips was wearing a wireless microphone while on a bathroom break as she small talked with another woman about her "handsome, passionate" husband and her "control freak" sister-in-law. The conversation can be heard for a full ninety seconds over the President's speech -- and only ends after someone else enters the room and says "Your mic is on. Turn it off. It’s been on the air."

Here's the video, along with a scrolling transcription of the (sometimes muffled) conversation:

CNN has apologized for the incident, saying in a statement: "CNN experienced audio difficulties during the president's speech today in New Orleans. We apologize to our viewers and the president for the disruption."

The anchor in question -- Kyra Phillips -- was mocked last year for confusing U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton with soft rock impresario Michael Bolton:

[ via TV Newser and NewsBusters ]

When Willard Was Ronald

I'd heard that The Today Show's Willard Scott had been the original Ronald McDonald in TV commercials, but I'd never seen him in that seminal role until now:

[ via AdFreak ]

Madonna's 'Papa Dont Preach' Nipple Flash

Quick, somebody alert the FCC.

Hidden in Madonna's 1986 "Papa Don't Preach" video is a split-second shot of her left nipple. And while the sight of Madonna's bare breast isn't terribly notable (her boobs may as well have their own IMDB entry), the fact that this nipple flash has been broadcast thousands of times on MTV and other G-rated media outlets is pretty remarkable.

The actual nipple appears only in two frames of video, and is barely evident to the naked eye. But if you look carefully -- or if you slow the video down -- it's definately there:

If you're questioning whether this was actually aired on TV (I was initially a doubter, too) here's a somewhat more dingy version of the clip from a 1995 airing on MTV:

Fox News Yawn

'Your World with Neil Cavuto' boring? Someone at Fox News seems to think so, as revealed by what would appear to be an accidental camera switch during Cavuto's interview on Monday with Former Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger:

As of this writing, the entire interview (yawn included) can be watched on foxnews.com