In Contention

Tag: Ed McMahon

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Bombshell upon bombshell

    Michael JacksonWeird, unsettling week, this. Here’s how it went down:

    • In the week’s biggest movie news, the Academy threw us all for a loop by announcing a 10-nominee slate for the Best Picture category.

    • But even that shock was dwarfed in scale by the stunning news of Michael Jackson’s passing.

    • And in a rather bleak week for losing talent, we also said goodbye to Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon.

    • On a happier note, we laid eyes on two of our most eagerly awaited films of the year — “Public Enemies” and “Antichrist” — and liked what we saw.

    • AMPAS continues its tinkering, this time in the Best Original Song category.

    • The “Transformers” sequel opened to critical scorn even accusations of racism, but is the film totally indefensible?

    • With “The Hurt Locker” finally going public today, we caught up with the film’s breakout star Jeremy Renner.

    • We revealed our age by celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tim Burton’s “Batman.”

    • Continuing the reflective mood, this week’s list considered the greatest directorial debuts of the decade.

    • Speaking of debuts, “The Proposal” gave Sandra Bullock the biggest of her career.

  • R.I.P. Ed McMahon

    Ed McMahonOn one hand, I’d be lying if I didn’t say one of the first things that crossed my mind with the sad news of Ed McMahon’s passing was, “He was still alive?”  Indeed, McMahon, a fixture of my childhood, hadn’t exactly planted a flag of relevance on my life for a number of years, but nevertheless, it’s kind of a punch to the gut to wake up to this kind of thing.

    He was Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” sidekick, holding down the couch night after night throughout my youth.  He was the “Star Search” guy, a benevolent figure to a number of today’s entertainers as they got their first big break.  He was the guy you hoped to open the door to with a giant Publisher’s Clearing House envelope in tow.  And, of course, he had his hand in the movie business.

    He was all these things, yes.  He was an American staple.  He wasn’t an artist whose genius will never spark again, but something perhaps a little more.  He was a figment of the entertainment business whose likeness is gone forever and whose passing marks, poetically in league with the recent programming particulars at NBC, the end of an era.

    Here’s a clip for nostalgia.  You don’t get this brand of classic comedy on late night anymore.  Maybe on Letterman from time to time: