Lupo, Bernard, Briscoe, Logan, et al.

Law & Order changed cast members about as often as Mickey Rooney changed wives in its prime time tenure on NBC from 1990 to 2010.  Jeremy Sisto played Cyrus Lupo.  Fans of Six Feet Under know Sisto from his performance as Billy, brother of Brenda and sometimes...

Bush, Gore, and the 2000 Presidential Election

HBO’s 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.  A complex tale involving arcane election law, Recount benefits from an all-star cast portraying the proceedings that Americans...

Maxwell Smart, Spy Extraordinaire

Get Smart parodied the popular spy genre in the 1960s, countering serious offerings, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, Get Smart gave American television audiences a humorous view of espionage during the Cold War.  Don Adams...

King for a Night

Robert DeNiro, a mafia movie icon thanks to roles in Casino, Goodfellas, and The Godfather, Part II, played against type in the early 1980s dark comedy film King of Comedy.  He turns 180 degrees in his portrayal of Rupert Pupkin, a nebbishy, aspiring, and ineffective...

From Gentleman Farmer to Nasty Warden

Today is Earth Day, so designated on April 22nd to honor a pioneer in the environmental movement.  April 22nd is Eddie Albert’s birthday.  The first Earth Day occurred in 1970. Albert is perhaps best known for playing Oliver Wendell Douglas, a successful New...

The Height Plight of Warren Coolidge

A lesson about being thankful for individuality is embodied in BMOC, an episode of The White Shadow.  The episode’s title is, of course, an acronym for the phrase Big Man on Campus.  It accurately describes Warren Coolidge, the star center for the Carver High...