July 24, 2006
"Rod rocks; The real daytime (and nighttime) drama!"
Just got word that "Hot" Rod Stewart, music legend, awesome "American Idol" guest geezer and Palm Beacher, is following his "Great American Songbook" series of standards with a different set of classics. "Still The Same...Great Rock Classics of Our Time," comes out Oct. 10 on J Records, and it features some undisputed radio gems.
Just don't expect the upbeat 'Tonight I'm Yours"-esque Rod, because these selections are solidly in rock ballad territory, like Bob Seger's bitter "Still The Same," The Pretenders "I'll Stand By You" or Bonnie Tyler's raspy classic "It's a Heartache." Others, like Elvin Bishop's admittedly "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" don't even seem all that rock to me at all. I'm sure it'll be fun. But I would love him to pull the skintight purple leopard trousers on and challenge Def Leppard, whose latest album "Yeah" is a valentine to Rod and other glam rock vets, to a rock-off. I bet Rod would give Joe Elliott a run for his Union Jack-loving money.
Sick of GH? Try HBO Sports!
Judging from the bitter, bitter snarkings on the "General Hospital" message boards on Television Without Pity, my favorite small-screen Web site, I'm not the only former fan who's fed up with the show's seemingly unstoppable sinking. About a year ago, I wrote about its bizarre obsession with mobsters and violence, propping up characters who are straight-up criminals at the expense of the town's lawyers, cops and doctors, who come off as uptight fancypants. It's morally dismal, and dramatically dopey.
The ratings are tanking, and they deserve to. I'm about to tell the TiVo to stop recording it. If I have to sit through one more scene of Sam (Kelly "Dancing With The Stars" Monaco) plotting against her long-lost mother Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) just because Alexis is the DA and is trying to put Sam's stupid mob boyfriend in jail, I'm gonna hurl...something at the TV.
Every once in a while, GH seems to rally - it shines every time they feature vets Tristan Rogers (Robert Scorpio) Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) and Rick Springfield (Dr. Noah Drake, as well as a close friend of Jessie's Girl.) But then it just slides right back into this weird adamant defense of the defenseless. It's awful. But I 've got a suggestion for drama-hungry GH fans about to jump ship - try a sports documentary.
"But wait!" you're saying, trying to drink the scenery-chomping acting of GH's Maurice Bernard off your mind. "I don't know anything about sports! Why in the world would I wanna watch the story of a bunch of sweaty dudes running around trying to kick, hit and bat objects long distances?"
First of all, soap operas are all about the sweaty men, and it's fakey-fake sweat anyway. Also, you probably didn't know anything about mob hits, monkey viruses and Oxy-Cotin addiction, and that hasn't stopped you from watching "GH" every day, has it?
I am a sports fan, admittedly, but my love of these shows, like HBO's excellent "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," or the "Legendary Nights" series about classic boxing showdowns, goes beyond the stats. I think that people get really passionate about sports, and the people who play them, because they identify with them somehow. "So You Believe in Miracles" is about the 1980 US hockey team, but it's also about the need of a struggling, gas-starved nation to have a cohesive, overwhelming victory over a foe that seemed unbeatable.
And the "Legendary Nights" episode I just saw about the rivalry between golden boy Sugar Ray Leonard and ordinary joe Marvelous Marvin Hagler, seems like the tale of a puglistic Mozart/Salieri. In short, they're all about the human condition, scandal, passion, bitter jealousy and crushing defeat.
In other words: drama.
If you want to venture further into the genre, put PBS' "American Experience: The Fight" and "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" on your Netflix list. (Boxing is all about the drama!) The first one's about the legendary battles between Joe "The Brown Bomber" Louis and Nazi Germany's Max Schmeling. It's incredible, all about the social forces that made these men forever linked, and the countries whose hopes depended on them. And 'Blackness" is a heartbreaking look at how racism, money and pride fueled the notorious Jonhson.
Like the best of soaps, there's a healthy helping of sex, danger and have/have not rivalry. Best thing: No mobsters threatening to put out hits on the mothers of their children!
Posted by Leslie Streeter at July 24, 2006 12:20 PMLeslie,I couldn't agree more about GH.This whole mobster thing has been done to death.The vets(Springfield,Rogers,etc.)are such a joy to watch.The sad thing is there are some good actors on this show(Nancy Lee Grahn is one of them)who are not being used to their potential.They need to give the current writing staff their walking papers and try to hunt down the writers that were on staff in the 80's. E.Sterling
Posted by: Elizabeth Sterling at July 24, 2006 9:28 PMI love GH. I too, enjoy the fact that they have brought back some of the veterans of GH. I am really looking forward to Laura's return in November.
I have to agree with you, I am sick of all the mob scenes. I really thought when Sonny got out, that would end it, but so much for guessing.
I would like to see them bring back Jason's memory, that he lost in the motor cycle accident, years ago.
That would end alot of this wanting to play mobster all the time.
This on and off, Sam and Alexis thing is really getting on my nerves.
I used to watch GH faithfully. Now I hit and miss. They got to do something different.
I wish they would give more air time to the veterans they brought back. S. Anderson
Ever see the documentary about Bille Jean King?? I've watched it twice now!
And, I just watched the doc on the women's US soccer team's rise to glory...ya know. The one with Mia Hamm and the Chastain girl who took her shirt off.
Both on HBO.
Posted by: hollyanne at July 26, 2006 4:16 PM
