TCM Offers A Look Back At Dean Martin, 'The King Of Cool'

I'm a huge fan of Dean Martin, known by all affectionately as "Dino."

He was a great singer, comedian and actor, but he was always so casual about it all, he was called “The King of Cool.”

TCM will air a documentary On Dino on Friday, November 19^th. 

Michael Starr at the New York Post offers a piece on Dino and the upcoming documentary.   

The life and times of Dean Martin were tinged with fame, fortune, worldwide celebrity and a late-in-life tragedy — and they’re concisely and lovingly documented in “Dean Martin: King of Cool,” premiering Friday (Nov. 19) at 8 p.m. on TCM.

The new documentary, directed by Tom Donahue, features a treasure trove of personal photos, home movies, archival television appearances and interviews with Martin’s friends and family, including his daughter, Deana Martin, talking about this performer who kept his inner feelings hidden behind a carefree public persona of a guy from working-class Ohio (Steubenville) who just wanted to play golf and watch television.

Martin’s image is the impetus that drives “King of Cool” as it digs deep into the arc of his childhood and teenage years as the son of Italian immigrants to discover his “Rosebud” (what made him tick) in tracking his rise to the heights of stardom with the comedy team of Martin & Lewis (Jerry Lewis is heard on audio recordings), the Sinatra Rat Pack years, “The Dean Martin Show,” etc. The answer? No one really knows. Martin died at the age of 77 in 1995 on Christmas Day — a broken man, ravaged by health problems who never recovered from the death of his son, Dean Paul Martin, a captain in the Air National Guard who was killed in 1987 piloting a plane during a routine mission.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Why Dean Martin was the 'King of Cool' (nypost.com)

You can listen to Dean Martin’s Italian songs via the below link: 

Just Say I Love Her (Dicitencello Vuie) - YouTube

And you can listen to Dean Martin’s Christmas Album via the below link: 

White Christmas - YouTube

And you can learn more about Dean Martin by reading Nick Tosches' biography of him, Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, as well as his daughter's memoir, Memories Are Made of This. .  

How ‘Hill Street Blues’ Made Us Care About The Police

Michael Starr at the New York Post looks back at a TV cop drama that I and my wife enjoyed watching, Hill Street Blues. 

By the end of its first season in May 1981, “Hill Street Blues” was already a television classic — renowned for breaking barriers and forging a new path in police procedurals that still resonates 40 years later. 

The series, created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, set the gold standard for its “docudrama” approach: its innovative use of handheld cameras and quick-cut editing and the way in which it portrayed the personal and professional lives of cops in an unnamed metropolitan city. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Gritty police TV show 'Hill Street Blues' turns 40 (nypost.com) 

A Look Back At The Classic TV Crime Series 'The Sopranos'

Although I think The Sopranos perhaps should have ended a season or two earlier, and I disliked the finale, I was a huge fan of the classic crime series. 

Michael Starr at the New York Post offers a piece on The Sopranos.

On Jan. 10, 1999, a little-publicized drama series called “The Sopranos” premiered on HBO, chronicling the domestic and professional life of a ruthless North Jersey mob boss living in suburbia with his wife and two teenage kids — and seeing a shrink for his anxiety.

Its large ensemble cast, including James Gandolfini as titular mob boss Tony Soprano and Edie Falco as his wife, Carmela, was largely unknown — as was series creator David Chase, whose TV résumé included “The Rockford Files,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “Northern Exposure.”

“The Sopranos” changed the landscape of cable television and won a slew of Emmys (including three apiece for Gandolfini and Falco) during its six-season run. It ended with an ambiguous, WTF? cut-to-black series finale in June 2007 — panicking 12 million viewers who thought their cable crapped out and leaving Tony Soprano’s fate forever open to interpretation.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://nypost.com/2019/01/09/why-we-still-cant-fuhgeddabout-the-sopranos-20-years-later/ 

Every 'Breaking Bad' Fan Should Embrace 'Better Call Saul'

Michael Starr at the New York Post offers his take on Better Call Saul, the clever, amusing and quirky crime drama that is a prequel to Breaking Bad.

Back in early 2015, I joined the chorus of TV fans lamenting the premiere of “Better Call Saul,” a prequel series starring Bob Odenkirk reprising his combed over, shyster-lawyer character from “Breaking Bad,” which ended its scorching run just 17 months before.

Sure, Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman was a charming, slippery chameleon, providing whatever comic relief managed to slow-drip into the pitch black world of “Breaking Bad.” He was fun to watch, but he was a lateral character who couldn’t carry an entire series. Why not just let “Breaking Bad” rest in peace and move on? Enough already.

I was wrong, and as “Better Call Saul” barrels toward its Season 3 finale Monday night it’s become one of my go-to series. It’s no “Breaking Bad,” but it has carved out its own unique universe (in familiar Albuquerque, no less) and has succeeded in making Saul Goodman (or Jimmy McGill, as he’s known here) a multi-layered person surrounded by equally interesting and colorful characters.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2017/06/16/every-breaking-bad-fan-should-embrace-better-call-saul/ 

At 400-Episode Milestone "SVU" Creator Reveals His Favorite

Michael Starr at the New York Post offers a piece on Law & Order: SVU and Dick Wolf (seen in the below photo), the creator of the long-running TV crime drama.

“Law & Order: SVU” has reached its 400th episode — a milestone celebrated by just a handful of TV shows in the medium’s 70-year history.

Wednesday night’s landmark episode is, fittingly enough, directed by series star Mariska Hargitay, who’s played NYPD Det. Olivia Benson since “SVU” premiered in 1999. (Chris Meloni, who played Benson’s original partner, Det. Elliot Stabler, left the series in 2011.)

“Mariska is much more than a TV actress — she’s literally a female icon for American women from the ages of 14 to 104,” says Dick Wolf, who created the original “Law & Order” (456 episodes in 20 seasons) and its subsequent spinoffs. (“SVU” is the last of the “Law & Order” shows still in production; “Law & Order: True Crime” is on the horizon).

“[Olivia] represents an ideal, in one sense, but a person who is relatable because of her flaws,” Wolf says. “It’s an amazing achievement that Mariska has been able to maintain this degree of focus for this long.

“Emotionally, she’s got the perfect pitch.”

Wolf, 70, spoke to The Post about “SVU,” about what’s made the series so durable and what the future holds for Det. Benson.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2017/02/07/at-400-episode-milestone-svu-creator-reveals-his-favorite/

Former LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman Refuses To Watch FX Series On O.J. Simpson Trial

Michael Starr at the New York Post interviewed Mark Fuhrman, a former LAPD detective who was part of the O.J. Simpson investigation and now refuses to watch the FX TV series about the Simpson trial.

This Tuesday’s episode of FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson” will feature one of the most notorious episodes from the murder trial — the testimony of LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman.  Fuhrman found the infamous bloody glove on Simpson’s property and gave key testimony. He later pleaded no contest to a perjury charge stemming from his false claim on the stand that he had not used a racial slur in the past decade. The defense had cited his use of an epithet to suggest the glove was planted. Now 64, Fuhrman is a crime analyst, an expert for cable news and author of several true-crime books, including “Murder in Brentwood,” his 1997 best-seller about the Simpson case. He spoke to The Post about the television series and the case.

You refuse to watch “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

The last 20 years, I have watched the facts dismissed by the media, journalists and the public simply because it does not fit within the politically correct narrative. At this late date, FX is attempting to establish a historical artifact with this series without reaching out to any prosecution sources. In a time when Americans read less and less and investigative journalism is on vacation, it is sad that this movie will be the historical word on this infamous trial. After all, it was “based on a true story.”

You can read the rest of the interview via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2016/03/06/why-this-lapd-detective-wont-be-watching-fxs-o-j-series/

"The Blacklist" Season Finale Leaves Plenty Of Unanswered Questions

 

Michael Starr at the New York Post offers a piece on the season finale of the clever and interesting crime drama The Blacklist. (Spoiler Alert).

 

‘The Blacklist” closed out its freshman season Monday night with some huge question marks — perfectly setting the dramatic table for Season 2.

If fans of NBC’s hit drama were looking for closure vis-a-vis key plot points, they’ll have to wait until next season.

It’s still unclear whether Red (James Spader) is really Liz’s (Megan Boone) father — he denied this yet again — but his scarred, skin-grafted back, revealed in the final scene, might give the lie to his denials (he told Liz her real father died in a house fire).

And if Liz really did kill her creepy husband Tom (Ryan Eggold), where was his body when cops descended on the scene?

Questions remain.  

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2014/05/12/blacklist-finale-leaves-plenty-of-unanswered-questions/ 

Note: My wife and I are huge fans of The Blacklist. I did not care much for actor James Spader until this show, but I truly like his portrayal of the intelligent and stylish criminal. I also like his hats.