Alec Baldwin: At the top of his game
Salon gives Alec Baldwin the honorary Oscar:
his confident bearing, the way he cocks an eyebrow at just the right angle -- speaks of healthy skepticism, an intolerance of idiocy and phoniness. An understated superhero in an age of overstatement, he can zap bullshit with a single glance: His X-ray vision seeks, and destroys, baloney. Baldwin is always both laid-back and on point, which seems a contradiction but is actually a delicate balance that's hard to strike. And although we're lucky to have him now, with his elegant carriage and knife-edge timing -- not to mention that voice, a voice with the texture and suppleness of the silkiest luxury mohair -- he'd be just as much at home in the comedies of the '30s and early '40s: Preston Sturges would have adored him.Speaking of comedy, Baldwin has been outstandingly funny on 30 Rock. In an era where "bringing the funny" means showing people shouting at each other, Baldwin barely speaks above a whisper -- yet he's the funniest thing on an already hilarious show. He understands those things that makes him so good -- "healthy skepticism, an intolerance of idiocy and phoniness...understated superhero...zap bullshit with a single glance...X-ray vision seeks, and destroys, baloney" -- and manages to actually make a parody of it. That's how good he is in this show. Check it out for yourself:
Funniest show on TV -- and Baldwin won a Golden Globe to boot.
I'm not fully on the bandwagon w/30 Rock, but it's starting to grow on me.
I'm addicted to Sorkin's Studio 60 -- and I figured you would be too, Ara.
60 is in touble ratings wise, but I love the show. I wouldn't miss 30 if it were to leave the air, but I'm gonna be sick when they cancel 60 (which is any minute now).
Monday's Studio 60 was it's last ... possibly forever. It is being replaced by The Black Donnellys which, I gather, is not a sitcom about an African American family.
There are six S60 episodes in the can that will probably get shown someday on Bravo or something. Or not.
It was a frustrating show. Someone said it was like watching a Cy Young award-winning pitcher throw one mechanically perfect forkball after another .... and all of them 9" outside of the strike zone.
Bang bang bang bang -- base on balls.
And, yes, you and I were probably the last two people still watching the show.
As for 30 Rock, Miss Julie and I loved it from the moment we saw it and not a little because of Alec Baldwin. Tracy Morgan is good, Tina Fey is good, the minor players are great, Isabel Rosselini and Paul "Pee Wee Herman" Reubens (in the same episode!) were over the moon. Great show.