A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not...
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For the past few months, the Post has been detailing the problems of apartment mold at a new condo conversion - and how they have forced longtime New York City local news personality Kaity Tong out of her home. In September, Tong had been living in Gramercy Park Hotel for many weeks, as the floors and wall in her Chelsea home started to buckle, seemingly caused by the conversion of the O'Neill Building, on...
Bill O'Reilly continued to claim that he wasn't being racist when expressing his surprise that a dinner at Harlem soul food restaurant Sylvia's was extremely pleasant. Media watchdog group Media Matters distributed text and clips of O'Reilly's radio show where the conservative talking head explained, "I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship."
Bill O'Reilly is making people wonder "Oh, really?" after the conservative talk show host shared some thoughts about famous Harlem soul food restaurant Sylvia's. O'Reilly told radio listeners that he treated the Reverend Al Sharpton (because Sharpton frequently appears on The O'Reilly Factor) to dinner at Sylvia's the other night. He said he had a great time, but couldn't leave it at that, noting "all the people up there are tremendously respectful." And then:
I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship.Continue reading "Bill O'Reilly: Unfamiliar With Black People "
A look at some noteworthy television this week:
Fox News Channel blowhard Bill O'Reilly and fellow Foxie Geraldo Rivera were in a heated argument on last night's edition of The O'Reilly Factor. The tiff was about a drunk driving illegal alien in Virginia killing someone and devolved into yelling and actual finger pointing with Geraldo starting out by pointing out to Bill that he was wrong. Since we usually avoid cable "news" like the plague, we were tipped to this morning, saw a bit on Fox 5 Midday, and was given a YouTube link. We can only imagine what MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who is a foe of O'Reilly, is going to say on his show tonight.
American Experience: New York Underground (Monday, 9:00 p.m. WNET 13) Channel Thirteen re-airs this 1997 documentary about the building of the New York City Subway.
EVENT: Tonight head uptown to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Beats, or more accurately, of Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg's Howl. Join writers, scholars and more. The event will feature Laurie Anderson, Ann Charters, Joyce Johnson, Hettie Jones, Bill Morgan and recordings of Ginsberg. And if you haven't watched this video yet, do it now.
- And New York magazine looks at why viewers OD'd on The O.C., but let's face it, we all wanted Marissa to die.
CBS 2 World Exclusive
canceled by the News Corporation! Apparently being criticized nonstop since last week, with threats from all parts - even its own Fox News ranks - finally knocked some sense into Rupert Murdoch and friends. Murdoch's statement:
I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson.No word on the fallout for publisher Judith Regan, who got the rights to publish the book and conducted the interview, or what will happen to copies of the book and TV special (to be destroyed or put on the Internet?).
Oliver Stone may have already unleashed on moviegoers his melodramatic vision of 9/11 with but even if you don't want to see the wreckage recreated on screen, there's way more filling New York movie screens.
This is what a hot real estate market has wrought: One of the city's oldest Jewish cemeteries has had construction debris fall onto dozens of tombstones in Chelsea. Congregation Shearith Israel built three cemeteries in Manhattan, and the Chelsea location, at 21st Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, was in use in 1828-1851 (one is at 55 St. James Place and another is at 76 West 11th Street). It seems like mortar from The O'Neill Building, which faces 6th Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets, fell in the cemetery, and experts have been called in to see how it can be carefully removed. The O'Neill's developer, Elad Properties (which is also renovating the Plaza Hotel) was told by the landmarks commission that it would need to "bear responsbility" of the cleaning and repair tombstones. Elad is working with the congregation to "monitor" the situation; the NY Times reports that protective scaffolding was set up to "cover the tombstones closest" to the O'Neill building. [Another interesting thing: The congregation agreed not to build anything in the cemetery that would block O'Neill residents views.]
The Tribeca Film Festival is coming up fairly soon (April 25th to May 7th). We'll be covering the fest - from films to panels, but in the meantime, we just received this important news from a press release:
Move over Brooklyn Vegan, now there's something leaner. And tastier, too. Mmmm, meat. Hello, I'm Catherine's Pita (henceforth known as Gothamist), and I'm here to tell you about the shows most likely to satisfy your hunger for the rock this week. Here's what's on the menu:
- A man tried to kidnap a five year old from her school's cafeteria!
- A case of boysenberry jam and a bucket of Mrs. Knott's chicken from Knott's Berry FarmThis is like a big FU, implying that we have no sun and beachy good times and can't sing have a theme song by Phantom Planet. Gothamist wonders who gets the swimwear and surfboard when NYC will collect the booty - we really don't want to be forced into seeing some Mayor B photo op where he's in swimwear...though wiping out on a surfboard is another matter entirely. And will his staff act from The O.C. script - clearly, Mayor B would be Caleb Nichols.
Desperate Housewives and Will & Grace both received 15 Emmy nominations today, proving that like every other awards organization, Gothamist just doesn't jibe with the voters. Sure, we're happy that Arrested Development, Scrubs, and Lost got some recognition. But there is no love for programs we'll actually stay at home to watch: Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck, Gilmore Girls. Even The O.C., which faltered last season - you have to give Peter Gallagher some credit. And why won't the Academy acknowledge the brilliance of America's Next Top Model? But of course we'll watch because Gothamist we can't wait to see the expressions of the Desperate Housewives that don't win.

Why does "Bronx" have to be prefaced with "The?" Why not "A Bronx" or, most reasonably, just plain old "Bronx?"
The NY Times noted the similarity between this incident and Burke O'Brien's death on Orchard Street two years ago. The O'Brien murder also occured in the early morning, around 4AM. This makes Gothamist think that even though the Lower East Side is hopping with bars and activity, like any part of the city, it's vulnerable at night.
They have set up a site, burkeobrien.org, with information about the crime and press coverage of the crime. The Post spoke to the O'Brien family about their new outreach to get more information about Burke's murder. While watching the NYPD 24/7 episode will be tough, they hope the exposure will move the investigation. Gothamist is optimistic that the police are trying to keep the public safe, but it is upsetting to think of how many crimes go unsolved every year in the City.
Gothamist doesn't know why we bothered with the 2005 Emmy Nominations because they were boring, except that we're ruthless TV watchers and awards show fiends, so we're painted into the corner. The actors, actresses, and programs nominated were all fine and very talented, but it's the same crew every year! James Gandolfini...Allison Janney...The West Wing...Will & Grace - which wasn't even as good as the subpar non-nominated Friends this past season...four writing nominations for the Sopranos...blah blah blah. David Chase has a death grip on the Academy, even with Cousin Tony! This is almost as bad as when Helen Hunt and Candice Bergen would...keep...winning...even after their characters and shows lost steam seasons ago. There was even a posthumous nomination for John Ritter! Yes, he's a great comic talent, but come on. There needs to be a way for newer shows to get their feet in the door, like Nip/Tuck, The Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Scrubs. But here are some nominations we were happy about:
Gothamist is more interested in what happens on some other shows, so we're tracking the dates of some other finales to note, thanks to Zap2it's Season Finales roundup...we're more interested in Scrubs, The O.C., Angel, and Law & Order (which didn't make their list).
Other places catfights occur: Alleys, offices, sample sales.
Gothamist recently reported on people who plan to protest the Repuplican national convention by signing up as volunteers and then not showing up for their assignments. In the spirit of bipartisanship, websites such as shadowprotest.org are encouraging would-be protesters to volunteer on both sides of the aisle, so to speak, and then not follow through with their jobs in order to protest this country's two-party system. In the most highly-realized versions of the shadow protesters' goals, chaos - bible-thumping fundamentalists double-booked into hotel rooms with Log Cabin Republicans, left-leaning vegans served giant Big Macs - would bring both conventions to a grinding halt.
Tonight is one of the final episodes of Angel, the much beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff. These days, when not getting sucked into some other demon hole or something, Angel has been beat up by The O.C. or The West Wing in the ratings. Variety TV editor Michael Schneider has been getting lots of "Save Angel" mail from the dedicated Angels fans (photo, above):
They came from all over the globe: Oklahoma, Ireland, Australia, Denmark, England... even several postcards from soldiers in Iraq. And they all want to save "Angel."I suppose it would be too easy at this point to lament the fact that all of that energy could be better harnessed to feed the hungry or shelter the homeless. But hey, there's a TV show to be saved here!This reminds of the first "Save this show!" letter Gothamist ever wrote: It was to Bob Iger, to save Twin Peaks. Everyday we wonder if TP would still be on, had the power of the Internet been harnessed carefully, but we're still unsure. Anyway, Gothamist would like to take a moment and salute Angel, a show that can turn its leading actor into a puppet for a time and still scare the dickens out of us.


