I slid in to Los Angeles (which is Spanish for “The Angeles”) on Saturday night for the TCA Summer Press Tour. I am taking the place of our editor in chief Barb, who got to go to the Playboy Mansion and see boob. Things are a little more G-rated for me on my first day.
First up, PBS continued its presentation featuring a breakfast with Sesame Street‘s beloved Elmo and the puppeteer who works him, Kevin Clash. PBS will air an Independent Lens documentary called Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. It’s the inspiring story of a kid who wanted to make puppets at age 10, and despite all the obstacles (several of his characters flopped), he went on to voice the super-popular and much loved character. Elmo took some time to take photos with kids (and even some adults who still think they’re kids) and was a huge hit. Also a huge hit was a clip of a Sesame Street spoof of the Spider-man musical:
Of course, being a big Simpsons fan, I was constantly thinking of the episode in which Homer backs out on his pledge to PBS and gets attacked by Elmo, Mr. Rogers and Betty White. “Elmo knows where you live!”
After Elmo, we saw some clips from Seriously Funny: The Comic Art of Woody Allen, an American Masters presentation airing Nov. 20-21. Filmmaker Robert Weide talked about how Allen is incredibly shy and self-deprecating. Allen wouldn’t attend something like a lifetime achievement award, but Weide was able to convince him to do this documentary tribute. Actresses Mira Sorvino and Mariel Hemingway talked about how Allen was a very generous director. He let the actors go with the flow of the scene, let them stray from the script and didn’t discuss things like backstory, character or motivation.
Up next was America Revealed, a series that looks at four systems that hold our country together: farming, energy, transportation and manufacturing. On the panel were Detroit urban farmer Will Gardner, L.A. traffic helicopter radio reporter “Commander” Chuck Street, host Yul Kwon and executive producer Tony Tackaberry. The series is filled with some astounding facts, and gives viewers some graphic representations of the data. In one, we’ll see all the air traffic over New York City at its peak time. Tackaberry says it’s frightening, and he’s afraid to fly back to New York now. Many of the critics seemed especially interested in land zoning for urban farming and how that land is acquired. Meh.
Then on to the Masterpiece: Downton Abbey II panel, which will premiere in January 2012. The critics fell in to two camps on this: There were those who gushed about it, and then there were those who made fun of those who gushed about it. On Twitter, @nprmonkeysee said “I’m not going to lie: More than any TCA panel I’ve ever attended, the title of this presentation is ‘What’s It Like Being Awesome?'” Another compared the questioning to the stuff from the fanboys at Comic-Con.
Arsenio Hall and Robert Klein trumpeted for The Ed Sullivan Comedy Special airing Aug. 6. And, yes, Ed Sullivan is still dead.
The next three panels were devoted to PBS Fall Arts Festival. First up was the American Masters documentary Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, which follows the award-winning choreographer and his production of Fondly Do We Hope … Fervently We Do Pray. It’s a fascinating look at the creative process, something Jones calls “the participation in the world of ideas.” He says some reality TV dance competitions are “obscene.” And he discussed how the artist must weigh the price of passion. “The world does not need another hungry artist,” he says. We also got a banjo performance (and a little singalong) from Tony Trischka for the documentary Give Me the Banjo and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love talked about her career for Women Who Rock.
Aside from Elmo, the most anticipated panel was for Ken Burns’ Prohibition documentary premiering Oct. 2-4. Lots of critics on Twitter were joking about Burns’ big intellect and his use of big words, but then it sort of devolved into every joke about drinking you could think of. Someone asked if Burns and the panel had any good drinking stories. Another asked if there was a Prohibition drinking game they could recommend. Some noted the timing of the documentary to the return of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. (Burns says he’s a fan of the show.) Another asked if author Daniel Okrent could give a little-known factoid for her daughter who has an Al Capone obsession. So yeah, not the most cerebral stuff here. I think it was just the product of a long day and an open bar at dinner. But, of course, Prohibition looks fascinating and shouldn’t be missed. Bottoms up!
