Celebrity ain’t what it used to be

Posted on July 3, 2006 by Gene

Am I just out of touch? Do I just know nothing at all about popular culture?
I’m watching yet another one of those cable clip shows in the vein of “The 80s Strike Back,” etc. — this time, “100 Funniest Movies.” Let the rest of these shows, it’s short clips from the movies concerned, heavily padded with commentary from “celebrities.” So far, I only recognize Rob Reiner, which really tells you how deep into the barrel they scraped to get people. They seem to have loaded their cast with a bunch of people labeled “Comedian” whom I’ve never heard of, and peppered in a few producers that no one else has ever heard of.
An example of the luminaries who are featured in this show:

  • Shirley Helperin, West Coast Editor of “Teen People”
  • Devin Crowley, writer/director
  • Savage Steve Holland, director, “Better Off Dead” (whatever that is)
  • Billy Ingram, founder of TV Party… commenting on movies, not TV
  • Alisan Porter, actress
  • Carolyn Davis, US Weekly
  • Guillermo Diaz, actor
  • Michael Somerville, comedian
  • Danielle Romano, editor-at-large, DailyCandy.com
  • Colette Hawley, comedian
  • Craig Baldo, comedian
  • Liz Feldman, writer/comedian
  • etc.

In addition to this half-hearted lineup, the clips are non-existent for the vast majority of the films, such as 9 to 5 or The Incredibles or What About Bob?… they’re illustrated by publicity stills, and I’m certain that the producers of this program weren’t interested in paying for clips — in short, this cheapo show is certainly not going to be mistaken for a documentary by the AFI.

I don’t know why I watch these things. Lack of anything else to do on a summer re-run Monday night. Just the demographic they were looking for, I’m sure.

Category: The War with the Customer