Oscars Flick Picks

Goodbye Jack…For Now?

Let’s say that a long time friend has invited you to a party, along with a whole lot of their other “good friends”, but after a short bit it becomes plain that this party, as opposed to past parties that your friend has hosted, is turning into a real bore. What to do? You really have grown fond of your friend and you can’t imagine not having them in your life. But still…

This has been the dilemma faced by the millions of “24″ fans the past few years. The quality of the writing has displayed a marked decline in quality since Season 5, but most fans, myself included, have continued to tune in and cheer on Jack Bauer, Chloe O’Brien, and the rest of the CTU staff. The breaches of logic, the increasingly improbable scenarios, and Jack’s super human ability to function with multiple injuries, any one of which would level the fittest of professional warriors, all turned the program from a suspense filled thrill ride to an almost campy laugh-fest.

For ME the slide began when CTU was disbanded and the season started with Chloe and former director, Bill Buchanan, running an ad hoc undercover investigation of the nefarious plans of the Nixon-esque President Charles Logan. The sheer improbability of two people running an operation out of their van was just too much to believe. From that season on I began to lose a little bit of interest in the show, but still tuned in faithfully every Monday night, mostly because I like Jack Bauer. But by Season Seven they lost me. The plot seemed to be too much like a college drinking party brainstorming session with people making things up as they went along, a plot within a plot within a plot, like nested Russian Babushka dolls.

By the time that Season Eight’s first episode premiered the talk of this being the end of the franchise was already being speculated upon, along with the talk of a feature length cinema offering of “24″ being planned. But I have to be honest, I don’t believe that it will ever come to pass unless it happens quickly and the writing drastically improves. In fact, Season Eight was SO bad that I’d rather see the whole concept discarded and the film forgotten. Better to leave fans with some good memories rather than reinforce the disappointment that many of us feel.

This now brings me to the series finale aired last week, and still available at Hulu.comJack, having finally reconciled with his daughter, plans on retiring to California to enjoy his grand daughter and relax on the sunny beaches. But wait! One last favor must be granted to President Taylor before he leaves and, well, you know what happens. The only real question was: “How will it end?” Knowing ahead of time that there might be a movie in the works eliminated the possibility of Jack being killed, so most of the drama was immediately eliminated.

My personal fantasy was for Chloe to dump Miles, her worthless husband, and run off with Jack to live in peace on a south Pacific island somewhere. But instead the closest we got was a scene (pictured at right) where Jack tells Chloe “I never thought it would be you who would cover my back after all these years”. WHAT!? Jack had no idea who his friends were? Now THAT was too much to believe! Well, maybe Chloe being chosen to head up CTU comes in a close second in incredulity.

So as the clock began ticking down to zero, we see a close up of Jack’s face as he gazes up into a remote drone, almost as if he were saying “Goodbye” before he escapes the U.S for the safe anonymity of some foreign country. At least until, that is, someone fronts the money for that proposed theatrical release. Never underestimate the power of financial gain to convince him to return.

Overall I was slightly disappointed in the Finale, but that just fits in with the nature of this season as a whole. Recycled plot devices and recycled past villains (Charles Logan and Russian Yuri Suvarov) along with a very unbelievable Omar Hassan, president of a fictional Islamic Republic, and played by an Indian actor, all of these items were part and parcel of what the program had become.

Final quote from Chloe: “Shut it down”

See ya later Jack…

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The Most Influential Celeb Death

And it AIN’T Jackson!

It is said that these things happen in “three’s”, and I’m speaking of celebrity deaths, but this past seven day cycle has see FOUR passings of note.

Of course the most noteworthy of these was that of the “King Of Pop”, Michael Jackson.

Millions upon millions world wide have jumped on the Michael bandwagon now that he’s dead, his albums are selling like crazy again, and internet sites are using up bandwidth because of people accessing anything they can about Michael. That freakazoid who, just weeks ago, was just about as irrelevant as could be is now more popular in death than he was in recent life. And the ones who will miss him the most are the paparazzi and the scandal sheets that glory in the bizarre.

Lost in the “Michael mania” is the passings of three other cultural icons from three differing generations, all household names and affecting millions. Who were they? Read on…

The first was also the oldest: Ed McMahon! Ed became a household name in 1962 as the sidekick for TV’s late night host, Johnny Carson, and later became a pitchman for various products advertised on TV. But what most people remember is Ed presenting the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes check to the winner each year, surprising the recipient with a cold call. “Oh my GOSH, it’s Ed McMahon!!” is heard from the inside of a darkened home behind a closed screen door. Then the usually older woman opens the door and begins screaming and blubbering while the camera rolls. We all loved it!

The next icon was Farrah Fawcett, pictured here in the poster released in 1976 that fed the libidinous dreams of a generation of adolescent boys, and some men too! Farrah’s passing this week at the age of 62 is mourned by many of her fans of the 70′s TV series, “Charlie’s Angels”, which also featured other lookers such as Jaclyn Smith, and later, Cheryl Ladd. The show itself wasn’t much good, but watching attractive gals running and jumping and fighting was good for an evening’s distraction.

But the most significant death was that of veteran pitchman, Billy Mays! “What the BLEEP are you talking about Oscar?”, you might ask. Well, in MY opinion Billy most closely represents all that can be understood of this present generation. Loud, irritating, insistent and ubiquitous, all of these descriptions apply to our present culture of popular consumerism. He was clearly the King of the pitchmen, his only possible competitor being that guy hawking the “ShamWow”, but he got himself in trouble this past March and disappeared from the scene.

With his loud, shouting delivery Billy set the bar for all other TV pitchmen and gave him name recognition that surpasses anyone in President Obama’s cabinet. Not that THAT is significant mind you, but if you ask anyone on the street if they know who Billy Mays is, more than likely they will know.

Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other “As Seen on TV” gadgets on Atlantic City’s boardwalk.

For years he worked as a hired gun on the state-fair and home-show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.

Commercials and infomercials followed.

A tough week indeed!

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Tonite’s choices have never been easier for me!

First, the top three picks, THEN the reasons why…Adam Lambert for the men, Allison Iraheta for the gals, and the next top vote getter…Nick Mitchel

Now, the explanation: Allison Iraheta was just simply a knockout singing that powerful song by “Heart”and I can’t even remember the title! So far, in the past two weeks, there hasn’t appeared to be a gal who can come close to matching Allison’s appeal. And at 16 she has just the right amount of humility and still seems genuinely surprised that people like her. She’s definitely a final 10 selection and the only thing that can stop her is if she falls flat on her face! Somehow I don’t see that happening…

It is NO surprise that Adam out sang AND out performed all of the other guys. He is just a seasoned pro doing his thing and doing it well. When he announced that he was going to sing “Satisfaction” by the Stones I thought to myself “NO, Adam, please don’t!” That song is so boring, musically, the vocal range is no more than five or six notes, PLUS it is waaaay to old for a young guy like Adam. BUT… he did it! By stretching the notes two and three octaves and singing in a way Jagger could only dream of, Adam torched the house! Along with Allison I see Adam reaching the final 10 with a real good chance of taking the whole thing! I feel sorry for the other guys…

At this point in the competition I think there is room for “Norman Gentle”. Sure, he’s outrageous, and, yes, it is only because of his outrageousness that “America” will vote for him, but the judges better learn to deal with it because he’s coming back! Look, if someone like Taylor Hicks (may his image be forgotten) can make it on “shtick” then Mitchell can too! He’s entertaining, funny, and very self aware (he knows that he’s a joke), so why NOT give him a ride?

And under the heading of “Dark Horse” we can find Kris Allen, who sang a Michael Jackson song and did a very good job of it. If Mitchel weren’t in this group Kris would have been my third choice. But as it is I think he’ll be left out. I hope not…

So those are MY picks…how “America voted will follow below…

And the winners are…

For once I got it right! Yahoo!! The one wild card was Nick (Norman Gentle) Mitchel but he didn’t make it, thank God!

Congrats and Best Wishes to: Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert! For once I don’t feel like anyone got robbed, jobbed or stiffed.

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