Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Last week I suggested that Disney ought to put out a set of high quality golf clubs. Talk about something that needs some serious Imagineering. I've been reading up on clubs in Golf Digest (and other places) and there's an incredible amount of technology and money behind them. Disney already puts out golf clothes, tees, and balls, why not clubs too?
Sunday, March 1:
8:00 – 9:30PM
Highland Heartbeat. Surely the heartbeat of the highland is scotch… okay, not scotch, whiskey. After all, they don't call it "scotch" in Scotland, that's like calling it "coals" in Newcastle (they call it "bread and butter" there). Okay, fine, it's Fiona Kennedy and a bunch of other folks performing in Glasgow, but my idea might be better.
9:30 – 11:00PM
Visions: The Great Cities of Europe. Ah, Venice, I love Venice. I've never actually been there, but Indy likes it, and if he likes it, I like it. London and Paris I've been to, and this show will be there too, and a lot of other places as well. We'll be getting overviews of them. It's the fourth best thing to being there.
Monday, March 2:
8:00 – 10:00PM
Yanni Voices: Live from the Forum in Acapulco. Ummm… really? There are so many possible jokes here, I hate it when PBS sets me up like that. I'm never quite sure what to do in cases like this. I'm like a kid in a candy store, so many possible choices.
10:00 – 11:00PM
Heart Healthy Yoga: Yoga for the Rest of Us. Imagine it like a party in June, a big, huge, massive party in June. A festival if you will. No, not a festival, a Festivus. A Festivus for the rest of us. That's the way I see heart healthy yoga.
Tuesday, March 3:
8:00 – 9:30PM
You: Inner and Outer Beauty with Dr. Michael Roizen. Okay, this has to be a Pledge Drive, it just has to be. PBS hasn't shown anything they normally do, and now there's this – learning to be beautiful inside and outside. Isn't one or the other enough for most people? Why do people need to have everything?
9:30 – 10:30PM
Paul Simon: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The title here really says it all, and how could it not, because, after all, it’s quite a long title. If you were wondering though, the award is for a body of work, not a specific song (though, let’s face it, if it were for a specific song it would have to be “You Can Call Me Al”… I LOVE that video).
Wednesday, March 4:
8:00 – 9:30PM
Chris Botti in Boston. The trumpeter with… nope, sorry, can't come up with anything that rhymes with trumpeter. Thumpeter? Lumpeter? Stimpmeter? See, I got nothing. Botti, however, has a trumpet. He plays it. This time he's going to be playing it in Boston. Boston. And, with Yo-Yo Ma, and Katharine McPhee (I totally still have McPhever), and other people.
9:30 – 10:30PM
Eckhart Tolle: Awakening in the Now. Pledge Drive has to end. It just has to. I'm begging it. Not that there's anything wrong with Eckhart Tolle. He is, after all, a best-selling author and this is a series of excerpts from a lecture of his. Good old Eckhart, he's the best thing about the Pledge Drive.
Thursday, March 5:
8:00 – 9:30PM
A Moveable Feast with America's Favorite Chefs. There are many a different schools of thought in terms of cooking in this country. More than one tradition exists, more than one set of practices. It's just how it is. PBS will be exploring six of them (or thereabouts tonight). Ming Tsai will be there. Rick Bayless too.
9:30 – 11:00PM
Be Well Now! With Nancy Snyderman, MD. Snyderman is, apparently, the chief medical editor of NBC News. See, that sounds like a great job to me. I wonder if she gets to work out of 30 Rock. I used to work out of 30 Rock. I used to be cool… or, at the very least, cooler than I am now.
Friday, March 6:
8:00 – 8:30PM
Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal #4835. Another whole week has gone by and good old Gwen Ifill and National Journal are here to fill us in. For the record, I like to pretend the National Journal is a sidekick, like Robin to Batman, Starsky to Hutch, or chocolate sauce to chocolate ice cream.
8:30 – 9:00PM
NOW on PBS #510. It’s the Emmy award-winning weekly newsmagazine. It looks at issues facing our democracy. The show is hosted by David Brancaccio. And, even better, they still send me e-mails (I think that makes me cool and them nice). Thanks, Now, you guys are awesome!
9:00 – 10:00PM
Bill Moyers Journal #1247. It’s Bill Moyers. It’s his 1,247th journal (not really, but I’m not going to explain to you the way in which TV shows are numbered at this point in time, maybe later if you’re nice). He’s a good journalist so I assume this will be good journalism (at least the odds are it will).
10:00 – 11:00PM
A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert. The Conspirare? Weren't those the bad guys in Angels & Demons or The Da Vinci Code? I never remember which of those books was which, they were, after all, nearly identical. I really liked the one I read first, not so much the one I read second.
Saturday, March 7:
7:00 – 9:00PM
Celtic Woman: The Greatest Journey. I've seen the Celtic Woman perform (no, not when I worked at 30 Rock). They were good. Fun. I rarely saw them all singing at the same time though, but maybe I just wasn't paying quite enough attention. That's definitely a possibility.
9:00 – 10:30PM
Great Performances – "The Police Certifiable." Now this, I believe, could really be a great performance — after all, it is The Police. Who doesn't want to hear The Police sing. They're… arresting. Okay, fine, that joke's been made a ton of times before, does it matter? The good ones never die.
Okay, so creating a line of golf clubs would require a huge outlay of cash, but I think it could be a really worthwhile idea. I'm not advocating that Disney go out and figure out a way to make a Mickey laughing sound every time someone hits a swell shot on the driver, but I think there are probably ways to appropriately Disney-ify the clubs. Tweaks here and there if you will. Those we'll discus next week (oh come on, you don't think I'm going to give it all away for free on the second date, do you?).
