Robert Culp

Image by Nevada Tumbleweed via Flickr

He died yesterday at the age of 79, collapsed on the street in front of his Hollywood home.

Most people probably don’t know who he is but he lives large in my memory because he starred in my favorite TV show when I was a kid, I Spy.

When the show first came on I wanted to see it because I was already a big fan of Bill Cosby, I’d been listening to his comedy albums for years and had them all memorized perfectly, even to the point of having all of Cosby’s voice inflection down perfectly. I was really curious to see how he did as an actor since my 12 year old self thought it strange for a comic to get work as an actor.

The big buzz at the time was the idea of a black man cast as an equal to a white man, but I was so naive about racism in those days I was completely unaware of this at the time and for many years afterwards. It never even occurred to me that something was strange about a black man in a starring role.

Culp played Kelly Robinson, tennis bum, while Cosby played Alexander Scott (Scotty). From the beginning it was Culp who drew my attention even though I watched it because of Cosby. Culp was the better actor and created a character with lots of depth who I found very interesting. No other TV show or movie has done the “buddy” theme as well. The show ran 3 seasons, 1965 to 1968. I managed to find reruns on cable a couple of years ago and found I loved them almost as much now as I did then. The chemistry between the two was still obvious and the stories were still good, for the most part. Parts of it were just pure camp because of the time when it was filmed, but that just added some comedy.

I always felt sorry for Culp because after the show he fell into obscurity while Cosby went on to make TV and comedy history, I thought that was very unfair. Cosby always spoke highly of Culp, saying that he took him under his wing and taught him the acting business and made him feel at home. In 1972 the two teamed up for a movie called Hickey and Boggs where they played 2 old and washed up private eyes, especially Culp who was the older of the two. Word was that Cosby put it together to help Culp out but I don’t know if that was true or not. Don’t know if they ever appeared together again or not.

Robert Culp will always have a special place in my memory and I Spy will always remain one of my favorite shows.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 'I Spy' Star Robert Culp Dies After Fall (abcnews.go.com)
• Obituary: Actor Robert Culp, star of `I Spy,' was a real tennis ace (thestar.com)

Avoiding Disaster

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Remember when the Soviet Union broke up? I remember seeing scenes in Moscow of people standing in lines that were blocks long just to get in to the local grocery store where the shelves were more than half empty. There was sad and quiet stoicism on every face, hiding the desperation underneath. But they all took it without a whimper. Things got pretty bad, no food, no heat, but no one complained - until - they ran out of cigarettes!! Suddenly there was rioting in the streets of Moscow, and I mean some serious rioting, stores being broken into, cars turned over, fires set, not enough police or troops to stop them (hell, the cops and military were probably rioting too).

There is a simple lesson to be learned here - there are some things you just don’t mess with, some things the government just can’t let happen.

Congress averted another potential disaster this week, one that would have had rioting all across America - they postponed the mandatory change to Digital TV for 4 months. It’s said that millions across the country would have had their TV screens go black. Gods, it would have been awful! Just think of all those people out of work not even able to watch TV!

So our congress can make wise decisions when horrible disaster is on the line. Well, sometimes, anyway. The question is will they act to prevent the food riots we might have in the not too distant future?

TV and Teen Pregnancy

There's a new study out linking teen pregnancy to watching TV. Over a certain number of hours of TV watching the rate of pregnancies doubled:

The RAND Corp. study is the first of its kind to identify a link between teenagers’ exposure to sexual content on TV and teen pregnancies. The study, released Monday and published in the November edition of the journal Pediatrics, found that teens exposed to high levels of sexual content on television were twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy in the following three years as teens with limited exposure.

It looks like they added up the number of hours watched then matched it to teen pregnancy rates and decided there is too much sex on TV.

This is absurd, all they have done is show the two happen at the same time, not that one caused the other. Maybe pregnancy causes more TV watching? Maybe they aren't even watching the shows with lots of sex on it.

I think both are symptoms that result from stupid teens (lets face it some just aren't too bright), uneducated teens (abstinence only sex ed), and lack of parental involvement.

But then, I'm just using my own biases to reach a conclusion, just like the study did.

BURN NOTICE

Summer TV is a great wasteland, especially since game shows and reality TV have become popular. At least we have the Closer on TNT and Dr. Who on Sci Fi. Now there is a new one that seemed to spring out of nowhere - Burn Notice.

This is quite a clever show, about a spy named Michael Westen who gets notified of his burn notice on his cell phone while trying to make a deal with some Middle Eastern looking characters. What is a burn notice? It means a spy is done, he is out of work, they drop him in a city and freeze his bank accounts as well as all ID's. He's got nothing and can't even leave the town they dump him in.

Westen is very well played by Jeffrey Donovan. Much of the show is done with him narrating which really adds quite a bit of interest as he explains how and why a spy operates. He has some good supporting people but Donovan pretty much IS the show and he is definitely up to the task. I first remember him in a remake of a British police show called Touching Evil. Donovan's character was supposed to be a little crazy due to a gunshot wound to his head, and he really does have a crazy look about him.

But in Burn notice he goes it one better and adds in humor. He's brilliant at the low key humor and that crazy gleam in his eyes makes him believable as a deadly spy. But the best part is his narration, he gives us a blow by blow of what spy's do and why, how they manipulate situations to their advantage. Often with an idea like this the execution isn't nearly as good as the idea but in Burn Notice it's actually better than the idea. He does stuff you really think a spy would do, like instead of facing the bad guys directly he changes the situation to surprise the other guys and give himself a major advantage. A real spy would know that no matter how good he is he just might encounter someone better or that mistakes can happen and would take steps to make sure the odds are always in his favor, and that is exactly what Donovan does in this show. He is trying to find out who put out the burn notice on him so he can do something about it, in the meantime he has to hang out in Miami, where they dumped him and his home town. He takes on small jobs to earn some money and usually ends up helping people, and the FBI are watching him constantly.

Concept, writing and acting are all just right in this one, and that was right off the bat. Often a new show has potential but needs some time to find their rhythm, but Burn Notice hit it exactly on from the very beginning and has maintained that same level through 3 shows so far. So it has become my new must see show for the summer.

It can be seen on USA channel on Thursday nights, plays at 9 pm in Southern California.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

Saw the last show this week. Once again Aaron Sorkin proves he is too smart for network TV. The show apparently bombed almost from the beginning and Darcy and I loved it from the beginning. A smart and grown-up show on TV! Amazing, this can't last, and it didn't. Ever since the first show of Sports Night came out years ago I knew this guy Sorkin was great. By the end of the first season of The West Wing I knew he was the best writer TV had ever seen, which means I knew he was doomed for failure. I'm still amazed that West Wing was such a hit, most of the dialog had to go right over the heads of most of his watchers, yet it lasted for years. Sorkin leaving the show was immediately evident and it took a dive, but we still kept watching just because the characters were so good, but they never again achieved what Sorkin had, but then again, who could.

So, Aaron, my hat's off to you. Though I feel you are doomed to failure I salute your efforts and promise I will be a faithful watcher of anything you do. I do, however, have one thing to say to you - HBO. Or maybe Showtime, they are more desperate because HBO has kicked their ass for years on weekly shows, with the exception of Dexter.

I think the ones I feel most sorry for in this are Matthew Perry and Sara Paulson, great chemistry and great characters and they put in fantastic performances. Everyone was excellent on the show but those two really stood out.

Stanley Tucci

I've been a big fan of Stanley Tucci for a long time, he's one of the best actors around today (maybe I should start a 10 best actors list). So why do I look forward to him starring on ER with trepidation? Because with ER none of the people on it are big stars, the real star is the show itself. This is why, like Law & Order, the show can continue for years while all the people who star on it keep changing. I don't believe a single member of the original cast is still on the show.

The problem is that Tucci IS a big star and a big personality, the kind who needs his own show. ER can't become the Stanly Tucci Show, that just isn't what it is. So I feel bad that someone I like so much is doomed to failure, after another doctor show of his just went down the tubes not too long ago. And after John Leguizamo did his stint, which wasn't terrible, guys like Tucci and Leguizamo are never terrible, but it didn't really improve either his career or the show.

I haven't seen this week's show yet, it's safely recorded on DVR (one of the great inventions of modern times) so I will reserve judgment until I see it. Maybe he will mesh with the cast and be a great addition to the show and everyone involved will thrive. Last week's show didn't seem like that, though, it seemed like just what I was afraid of, he's just too strong a character. But maybe his presence will make everyone else step up their game a bit so he doesn't make them look bad and chew up every scene.

The Tudors Part 2

They hooked me in again. One comment about Francis of France being capture by the Spanish army and I'm searching the web to find out about it. He was indeed captured and spent some time in Madrid until he was ransomed, he ruled France for 32 years and Carlos of Spain was his nemesis the whole time, and Henry never did get to rule France although the British kings called themselves Kings of France since before Henry's time up until the 1800.

Francis was a good king in some ways, was the man most responsible for bringing the Renaissance to France, a great patron of the arts. He is also responsible for Canada, sent Cartier exploring up the Hudson and appointed Canada's first governor. But when the protestants in France got too pushy he persecuted them hard, practically creating a civil war and even wiped out whole villages. And he was always losing to Carlos, who was the king not only of Spain (and also beat Francis out of being the Holy Roman Emperor) but the king of Germany and northern Italy, so he had Francis surrounded. It is said that when he died he complained about the weight of the crown that he thought was a gift when he first got it.

It's hard work being a king, just ask Bush.

Bill Maher

I'm a big fan of Real Time with Bill Maher and never miss a show. I'm constantly amazed at how knowledgeable he is on so many subjects, but this week he really let me down so I fired off an email:

I was very disappointed with you on Friday's show, usually you are very well informed but you let one lie and one error go from your very annoying English guest. First of all Partial Birth Abortion is not a medical term, it's made up by the Christian right for propaganda purposes, second of all, it is never used on a viable baby. Abortion past the 2nd trimester is illegal in most, if not all, 50 states. This procedure is done only when the fetus is NOT viable and the mother's life is in danger. So no late term abortions of a healthy fetus are happening, yet you let that clown say that's what was happening. What the Supreme Court ruling means is a woman MUST submit to the far more dangerous and invasive C Section surgery.

The other thing you should have commented on was his statement of what happened when we pulled out of Vietnam. Yes it was true but all the years we spent in Vietnam did not prevent that from happening in any way, it just got a lot more people killed on all sides before it happened. This is the same thing in Iraq, whatever will happen there when we pull out, and we must pull out eventually, WILL happen. We could spend 10 more years there, get many Americans and Iraqis killed, bankrupt our country, and it will still happen when we pull out. All we are doing is keeping a lid on things by force, not solving any problems. The longer we stay the greater the problems become as more and more resentment is built up on all sides and the worse our leaving will be. There is no way we can stay long enough to prevent anything from happening. The Soviets held a lid on Yugoslavia for 50 years but all hell still broke loose when they pulled out.

Crossing Jordan

Normally this isn't a show I'd consider worthy of reviewing, I watch it mainly because they have a lot of colorful characters, especially those played by Miguel Ferrer and Steve Valentine. But last Wednesday's show is worth mentioning. In it the medical examiner called Bug (his area of expertise), played by Ravi Kapoor, is abducted by Homeland Security, threatened and interviewed while being accused of all kinds of things he never did and never would have done. He was told he would lose his citizenship and be sent to Guantanamo Bay - indefinitely. He was not allowed to see a lawyer, and then they brought out the electric shock machine, where he said he doesn't know anything that he can tell them. They didn't show the torture scene, probably thought that was over the line. Macy, his boss, enlisted the support of the Boston DA to try and get him him out and she enlisted the aid of a prominent judge to talk to the HS agent doing all this, the agent will not listen to anyone or talk to anyone and the judge says because of the patriot Act he has no jurisdiction. Macy refuses to give up and keeps approaching the agent with new information showing how he got the wrong the idea about Bug. The whole show was very chilling. Macy eventually told the agent that he needs to do his job but the one thing he has to make sure of is that he gets it right, not destroy innocent people, and by wasting his time on the innocents lets the guilty get away. The show ends with everyone at Jordan's apartment when there is a knock on the door and it's Bug, big hugs all around, but Bug has what can only be described as a haunted look. How would it feel to have your government kidnap you without a warrant and torture you for having done nothing and almost made you disappear? That's how Bug looked. The fact that they didn't show the torture but you knew it happened and Bug didn't look damaged except for that look, made it all more terrible. None of his friends really knew what he'd been through.

When I was a kid these were the kind of stories we heard about the Soviet Union, but America was better because we weren't like that. Now, thanks to Bush and his cronies, we ARE like that. I applaud cast and crew for dramatizing this so well, not many would have the courage to tackle this subject at all, let alone so brutally and honestly. Too many of us can't relate to abstract ideas, the idea that Habeas Corpus no longer exists in America is the kind of thing most people don't think about or really appreciate what it really means. It means we are no longer a free country, because Habeas Corpus is required for that. A show like this makes it all personal and people can then understand just how important it is, and also understand that Bush has destroyed this country. Not damaged it, destroyed it, most people just haven't felt all the effects of that yet so are unaware of it. Can we come back? Yes, but I don't have a lot of confidence in the whole process these days. Theoretically, what Bush has done shouldn't have been possible, but the system did not stop him. Maybe a show like this one will wake up a few more people to the danger we are in as a country.

The Tudors

I love English history so I might not be the most objective one to write a review of this, it probably isn't as good as I think it is but it has me picking up the computer and doing Wikipedia searches for things I don't know or have forgotten.

For instance, the Tudors were Welsh and weren't a long dynasty, it started with Henry's father, Henry VII, goes to Henry the VIII, then on to his first daughter Mary for a short reign, then to Queen Elizabeth, and that was the entire Tudor's royal line. Yet Henry and Elizabeth are two of the best known rulers of England and turned them from being a backwater island into the beginning of a world power, and Henry changed world religion as well, not a small feat.

There was one very ironic scene in the last episode. Henry writes a pamphlet condemning Martin Luther and Protestantism and praising the Pope with the help of Sir John Moore. He then tells Sir John to go out and find as much of Luther's writings as he can and burn them. Ironic because Henry later becomes a Protestant himself and breaks all of England away from Catholic Rome, and he had to put down some rebellion - you don't mess with a man's religion - and he had the most prominent Catholics executed, one of whom was Sir Thomas Moore.

My one big objection is that everyone looks far too clean, after all, they were pretty primitive back then, no indoor plumbing, showers and washing machines. I suppose they felt some dirt would cheapen the whole thing but I appreciate realism.

The Tudors is on Sundays on Showtime and plays several times during the week.