Greatest Song Evah 7/12/24

Jackie Wilson Said

Sometimes there is a huge dichotomy between an artist’s public persona and the type of art which they create. Van Morrison has released some of the most beautiful records ever made, yet his personality can be charitably described as “prickly.” How could such a cantankerous curmudgeon create the music that he has? Human beings are a real mystery.

Jackie Wilson Said is a tribute to the great soul singer - his hit song Reet Petite is name dropped in the opening lines - as well as to the power of a great love song in general. This tune is 3 minutes of pure joy; it is fitting that the chorus contains the phrase “I’m in heaven.” Morrison sounds like he has been transported to a different plane. Part of the legend of this song is that he nailed it on the first take. That’s amazing.

Some of the production touches on this track are obvious, yet still effective. The heavy bass drum that accompanies the lyric “you make my heart go boom, boom, boom” is a perfect touch. Just as perfect is the saxophone section. Best of all is Van Morrison himself. It’s not just his vocal performance, it’s his asides as well. “Watch this.” All of those da-da-da’s & ting-a-lings.

Sometimes I wonder if Morrison’s inherent unpleasantness as a person has marred his artistic reputation, particularly as he has ramped up that crankiness exponentially in his later years. But then you listen to something like this, and it serves as a reminder of just how great he is.

More Olympic Previewin’

A few days ago NBC sent out a press release listing the broadcast teams for each individual Olympic sport. It notably mentioned which ones will actually be on site in Paris & which ones will be calling the action remotely in Stamford, Connecticut. It looks like more than half of the teams will remain stateside. That is basically limited to what NBC classifies as the minor sports, but still. I understand the argument for doing so. As we remember from the COVID baseball season, a telecast loses something when the announcers are not actually there. Not only are they limited by what they are able to see on the monitors, but it’s also difficult to place the atmosphere in perspective if one is not actually there. On the other hand, all of the broadcast crews for the sports that take up the bulk of NBC airtime will be on site. If the network needs to save a few bucks by not flying announcers to Paris and paying for their lodging as well if their events will only be shown off hours, can you really blame them? On a related note, the surfing events - which are being held in Tahiti - is one of the sports that will be called remotely, but… One way in which NBC will differentiate its primetime coverage, which due to the time difference will not feature any live events, is to build up a show business presence in that day part. So in addition to highlights and features there will be celebrity commentators adding their own perspectives. That is where viewers will see the likes of Snoop Dogg & Leslie Jones. As for the surfing? The event broadcasters will be sitting in Stamford, but Colin Jost will get to spend some work time onsite in Tahiti. That lucky SOB; it’s not enough that he’s married to ScarJo, now this? Fun fact - Colin Jost & I graduated from the same high school, several years apart. Our lives have veered in different directions, which makes me question where I went wrong.

I had earlier mentioned which Olympic sports I am most looking forward to watching; the flip side is the ones that I will either only briefly sample or ignore entirely. There were several new sports added in Tokyo; few of which caught my interest. The problem with surfing is that the event takes a long time to complete, and NBC doesn’t have the bandwidth to do it proper justice. They really only had time to show snippets, which isn’t enough to get a sense of how the event is developing, and I can’t make the time commitment to watch the whole thing on the Peacock stream. I am going to try and give sport climbing more of a shot this time. It looked like it could be interesting.

One sport that I have tried to give a few chances to but now might be ready to give up on is fencing. It’s one of the longest established Olympic sports, but it’s not terribly TV friendly. Rules vary slightly depending on which sword is being used, but the basic goal is to strike a target on your opponent’s torso; electronic sensors on the target light up when it is hit. The issue is that the competitors are so skilled that they often strike each other simultaneously. That leads to each removing their masks and celebrating, while the judges look at the monitors to determine which one in fact struck first as well as if it was a legal touch. As we know from watching basketball, nothing is as exciting as watching officials huddle around a monitor. All this does is kill any sort of momentum.

Another type of sport I have trouble getting into is one in which the broadcasters do a poor job of making the rules clear. If it’s something I am only watching every 4 years I’d like to know what I need to look out for. In Tokyo I was watching a match in which one competitor knocked the other one out. The referee immediately disqualified the athlete who had struck the knockout blow. The announcers said that a foul was being called, but never informed any of us laymen viewers what the violation was. I’m not saying that the people sitting at the mics need to hold our hands, but they should at least have a basic awareness that a significant portion of the audience is watching the event blindly. Bottom line, I don’t feel like spending time beforehand reading the judo rule book which makes it unlikely that I will spend much time watching Olympic judo. Sorry.

50 Years Ago - Rhoda

“New York, this is your last chance!” With those words, Rhoda Morgenstern explained why she left Minneapolis to return to her hometown. A spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, this series gave one of television’s most beloved supporting characters her own series. In a nod to the classic intro from MTM, in the credits Rhoda attempted to duplicate Mary’s famous hat toss while in the streets of New York, only to drop the hat and sheepishly walk away.

The new series expanded a bit on Rhoda’s back story. Her parents had previously guest starred in some MTM episodes, but now that she was once again living in New York, America was introduced to her younger sister Brenda. (Hello, Julie Kavner.) Before long Rhoda got into a romantic relationship with a regular Joe, conveniently named Joe. They quickly got engaged and Rhoda’s wedding episode became a pop culture touchstone.

That episode remains one of the highest rated sitcom episodes in history; at the time it was only surpassed by the I Love Lucy episode in which she gave birth to Little Ricky. The attention was helped in no small part by the fact that several of her old Minneapolis friends travelled to New York for the festivities. The old Rhoda/Phyllis rivalry for Mary’s friendship continued; it was Phyllis’s job to transport Rhoda to the wedding, but she forgot to do so. That led to the classic image of Rhoda riding the subway in her wedding dress.

Rhoda was massively popular in its first couple of seasons, but audiences fled after a crucial creative decision. The producers felt that she lost part of her essence as a married woman. As a result, Rhoda and Joe eventually separated & divorced. A lot of viewers felt betrayed by that decision & ratings took a big drop. It’s also worth noting that a big deal was often made about Valerie Harper/Rhoda’s big weight loss. That shows how brutal it is to be a woman in the public eye. At her heaviest, how big was she really? 5 pounds overweight? 10?

I should note a couple of other memorable supporting characters. Brenda’s long time boyfriend for most of the series was named Benny Goodwin, which most people heard as “Benny Goodman.” It didn’t hurt that the actor had a superficial resemblance to a young Benny Goodman. The running gag was that whenever she would introduce him to others, an exchange like this would take place: “This is Benny Goodwin.” “Oh, I love your father’s music.” There was also, of course, Carlton your doorman. Perfectly voiced by the wonderfully named Lorenzo Music, he ranks up there with the great unseen characters in sitcom history.

All told, Rhoda ran for 5 seasons. It was nowhere near as good as The Mary Tyler Moore Show - few sitcoms were - but in a TV landscape filled with unnecessary and unwanted spinoffs, Rhoda was one of a select few that stands up well on its own. I believe that New York proved it deserved that last chance.

Updates

The Athletic reports that the new NBA TV deals have been finalized. As had been long reported, the league’s broadcast partners beginning with the 2025-26 season will be a combo of ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video. The official announcement is expected to come shortly before the Olympics; one of the holdups is that WBD intends to make one final attempt to match, which will almost certainly prove futile. All of which confirms that this upcoming year will be the final one for Inside the NBA. On a related note, the new deals will bring a massive increase in revenue to the league, which will in turn spark a huge jump in the salary cap. We’re only a few years away from seeing the first player with an annual salary above $100 million. Is it too late for me to work on a jump shot?

There has been a major change in the Wander Franco story, as Dominican law enforcement has now officially filed criminal charges for alleged sexual exploitation of a minor. This move allows the Tampa Bay Rays to formally place him on the restricted list, as opposed to the administrative leave that he had been on during the investigative process. What this means is that Tampa Bay is no longer obligated to pay his salary, nor will Franco accumulate service time. As soon as the charges were made public, the general assumption had been that he is unlikely to ever again appear in a major league game; the allegations are that heinous.

Shelley Duvall 1949-2024

When I first heard the news yesterday that Shelley Duvall had died, my initial reaction was “f*** Dr. Phil,” but that wasn’t fair. She doesn’t deserve to be remembered for the way a TV vulture exploited her mental state, she deserves to be remembered for having been a quintessential 1970’s actress.

With her large eyes and thin frame, she had a real gift for embodying a haunting quality to her roles, a skill best seen in what proved to be her most famous film. Long before she spent a winter at an isolated hotel, she was a frequent presence in Robert Altman’s films - movies such as Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville, and in what was my favorite performance of hers, 3 Woman.

1980 would prove to be her crucial year, bracketed by two movies with radically different levels of success. It’s hard to imagine any other actress handling the role of Wendy in The Shining so well. The way she played her imploding sense of terror worked so perfectly in contrast to Jack Nicholson’s increasing insanity. She then went on to portray Olive Oyl in Altman’s notorious flop Popeye. After that she started to act less frequently but she still maintained a strong presence in Hollywood.

As host & producer of Faerie Tale Theatre & then later on Tall Tales & Legends she presented well produced versions of the most legendary stories in literature, with star-laden casts. Those shows, especially the first, remain beloved touchstones for viewers of a certain age. She still acted on occasion - I was a big fan of her work in Steve Martin’s Roxanne - but by the time the 80’s drew to a close she was largely retreating from the public eye.

She spent most of her later years living quietly in Texas. Whenever I would come across one of her old movies I had the same reaction - she was really good, I wonder what happened to her. Nothing unusual about that, it happens to a lot of once famous people. What I did not realize was that her mental health had severely deteriorated.

She briefly re-emerged with an appearance on the Dr. Phil show under the guise of an intervention, but the episode was heavily criticized for publicly exploiting a clearly damaged woman. It made people wonder if there was anyone looking out for her best interests. I found that this article from 3 years ago painted a better picture of her state of mind. However sad her final years were, she put together a very impressive body of work. There was no one quite like her.

Closing Laughs

This hot spell has now officially lasted long enough that I’m growing irritable and lethargic. Don’t worry, I won’t take it out on you good people. Have a great weekend everyone, please stay hydrated, and I’ll see you all again on Monday.