In Contention

Tag: MTV

  • Oscarcast puts a little English on it

    When I heard that accomplished, slightly quirky and very British events director Hamish Hamilton had been tapped to direct next March’s Academy Awards ceremony, my first thought was that first-time producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic had made yet another spot-on decision.

    Apparently, however, not everyone in Hollywood agrees.

    Hamilton, who will also mastermind February’s Super Bowl half-time extravaganza, is an experienced and imaginative concert man, having directed slick shows and specials for the likes of U2, Christina Aguilera, Jay-Z and Neil Diamond.

    More relevant to the Oscars however, he’s had immense success helming various editions of the MTV Video Music Awards and some particularly enjoyable Brit Award (the British Grammy) ceremonies.

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  • More with Leary

    Denis LearyJust before I ducked out on vacation last week (big thanks to Guy for keeping the boat afloat), you might have caught my interview with comedian Denis Leary of FX’s “Rescue Me.”  Even though TV isn’t something we cover much around here, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to chat with a personal favorite of MTV’s glory years and the star/co-creator of one of my favorite cable shows.  We talked about “Rescue Me,” of course, but we dived into MTV’s decade-long funk, Leary’s Emerson background and NFL football, among other things.

    Over at the LA Times, Choire Sicha has taken some time out with Leary, with Thursday’s Emmy nominations looming ahead (Leary has been nominated twice for the show but has not won the award yet).  Most of it is softball stuff, the questions pretty pat on the whole.  But it’s branded a “Sunday Conversation,” so I guess a little froth is okay.  As expected, however, Leary offers bizarre insight even if the questions lack it, such as one random (but oddly precise) reaction to a question about his son recently shipping off to college (also at Emerson), a moment he describes as “a combination of jealousy, rage, envy, fear.”

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  • INTERVIEW: 20 questions with Denis Leary

    Denis LearyWe rarely cover television with any real focus around these parts, but as you’ve probably gathered from my sporadic posts on the matter, I’m really digging the new season of “Rescue Me.”  So it was a little difficult to pass up an opportunity to sit down with the film’s star and co-creator Denis Leary recently.

    With the Emmy nominations set to be unveiled next week (7/9), it seemed the perfect time to get together.  Leary was nominated for his performance as FDNY firefighter Tommy Gavin two years in a row in 2006 and 2007, but was unfortunately ignored last year.  Perhaps this new, electrifying season will put him back in the awards saddle as he seeks his first win in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

    Leary, of course, got his first big break on MTV, where his chain-smoking, ranting misanthrope appealed to the pent-up angst of the network’s target audience.  From stand-up to film roles and finally a break-out FX series, now in its fifth season, Leary has continued to stretch himself both as a writer and an actor.  His most recent big screen appearance hit screens yesterday in the form of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”  Leary voices the sabertooth tiger Diego in the successful franchise.

    On a drizzly Santa Monica afternoon last month we met for lunch and discussed his versatile career, from his early years at Emerson College in Boston to his recently released best-selling comedy book, the edgeless MTV of today to his distant cousin Conan O’Brien’s assuming the “Tonight Show” throne on NBC late night.  Oh yeah, and plenty of football talk between fellow devotees, for all the gridiron fanatics out there.  There’s a little something for everybody…

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  • Previewing tomorrow’s interview

  • Remember MTV’s ‘Oddities?’

    MTV crashed and burned in the late-1990s.  The seeds of destruction were planted a little earlier, but once the Britney/Boy Band craze hit, and once hip-hop totally lost its edge, it was all downhill.

    But in those darker years, there were some bright spots.  Like MTV’s Oddities, which didn’t exactly excite me for “The Brothers Grunt” or “The Head,” necessarily, but as a comic nut in high school, the notion of see Sam Kieth’s “The Maxx” play out in serial format was enticing to say the least.

    Well it seems the network is interested in revisiting some of these glory years by offering up episodes of “The Maxx” for your streaming enjoyment.  It wasn’t as controversial as HBO’s “Spawn” series, though it certainly attempted to test certain cable limits.  I watched it when I could, but it was essentially a cut-and-paste from the books, so I lost interest fairly quickly.  Still, it’s nice to relive decent moments from MTV’s history.  If only that network could whip itself back into shape.

    Here are the first four minutes of the “Maxx” pilot.  Check out the rest at MTV.

  • MTV’s 2009 Oscar montage starring Josh Horowitz