The First Great Episode Of Sunday Morning Shootout
My Tivo is probably a little tired of grabbing Guber & Bart’s Sunday Morning Shootout every week. The guys are okay TV… they have much the same problem of Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn… smart guys in desperate need of a host. It’s an interesting coincidence, but I’ve been watching the Super Bowl preview show in between Tivo catchup and the Fox (and other) football pre-show(s) tell the story better than anything I could write. James Brown is not all that interesting. But he knows how to get the four other loudmouth know-it-alls moving through discussion and keeps it moving at a pace. Sunday Morming Shootout has been making minor format changes almost weekly since it started… currently you have 10 paid extras on the fake coffee house set watching the guys talk to talent… they aren’t even pretending to be talking amongst themselves anymore!
Anyway…
My point is that this morning, they had on Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton and it was easily the best episode of the show ever. It was one of the best TV half hours about filmmaking that I have ever seen. It was an image-creating appearance by Amy Pascal, who may already be regretting being so honest and open, but the simple truth is, she was tremendous. And Michael Lynton was fresh and smart and honest. If I were Sony, I’d send out tape of the appearance to every journalist they work with.
And it brought out the best in Bart and Guber, who were more focused and more aggressive in their questioning and more into the interview than I have ever seen them…. no sucking up… not overly aggressive… just right.
The answer to the show may well be eliminating the crosstalk completely… or turning the crosstalk into a journalist’s roundtable. But to do that properly, the show really would need to be an hour long… and it might deserve to be an hour long.
According to the AMC site and my Tivo research, there is no repeat of the show during the week anymore. But this was really strong, interesting television.
Good show.
The replay for the show is posted on Yahoo! Movies site later on during the week.
I have been watching Sunday Morning Shootout. It’s usually kind of interesting, but I don’t know, the way the Peter’s talk can sometimes put me to sleep. But this episode was a kick. I am sure there was interesting stuff said by Amy Pascal after they cut things. Man, you have to wonder which directors she was talking about. Sam Raimi, Rob Cohen, James. L. Brooks, who knows? But fun stuff.
damn those cocksuckers won the superbowl again. I seen Sunday Morning but agree, Peter Barts a boring ass.
By the way, David: Isn’t it “SUNDAY Morning Shootout,” not “SATURDAY Morning Shootout”?
Damn, I was tired!!!
While I like the show and found the execs’ appearance mildly amusing, what did they really say that was so illuminating? That they ultimately give into directors in meetings and essentially abdicate authority? That they get talked into final cut after feigning that they won’t give it up, rendering the whole process a sham? Guber laughed about how great a recap of the business her speech was, but how exactly is that a positive? And, for an exec who says she believes that if you give viewers something good, they’ll set it, how do they explain their 2004 releases on a quality basis? 13 Going on 30, 50 First Dates, Anadondas, Christmas with the Kranks, The Forgotten, The Grudge, Little Black Book, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Spanglish, and that comedy classic White Chicks all were creatively bankrupt. I’ll give them some credit for Closer, Hellboy and getting Johnny Depp in Secret Window, and they didn’t screw up Spider-Man 2.
dave: i’m curious as you’ve seemed to ignore the first issue about Chris Rock as Oscar® host on this episode.
in typical fashion, the white-socks wearing goober, Guber, says this (in typical east coast/quasi-speech impediment style): Chris Rock might say something “off-color and irreverent.” Rock’s humor is routine based on his take of race-relations. i simply don’t think it’s the venue for it. Guber concedes that it’s an “edgy choice” given Rock has only hosted the MTV Movie Awards… well, have you watched a non-Oscar awards show telecast, like the Grammy’s or MTV’s??? they are nightmare trainwrecks, full of people that don’t know how to behave, act dignified, speak properly and respect the forum for what it is; the Academy Awards are supposed to be the classiest award show and grand-daddy of them all (even though “there’s no production value in that show” according to Guber). that’s why i think Rock is the absolute wrong choice.
i sincerely hope Rock acquits himself although i don’t hold out much hope.
I think the producers of the show know what they’re doing. Rock knows this is his one shot at the really, really big time, and he’s not going to knowingly do anything to screw it up. It’s a bold gamble in many ways, I’ll admit (will Grandma stay tuned with “that rude young Black man” hosting?), but I think it will pay off with a whole new audience for the show while still keeping 95% of the old audience.
Hate to disagree with you, Dr. Theopolis, but Chris Rock has ALREADY hit the big time. The guy sells out wherever he goes, has had hit movies (yes, Down to Earth was actually a hit), has had bestselling books, and is routinely referred to as the most influential standup comedian of the past ten years. Infact, he’s probably more big time than Whoopi Goldberg or Billy Crystal have ever been.
And I think his humor is just what the Academy needs. Come on, we all have to admit how embarrassing it was to watch Billy Crystal do his borsct-belt singing, mugging for the camera thing, AGAIN, last year. People forget how profane Whoopi Goldberg or Robin Williams have been in their standup routines, but when it comes time to do an awards show, he knows how to clean it up. I’m sure Rock can do the same.
I’m expecting the Oscars to have extremely low Nielsen ratings this year, mostly because the films nominated were not seen or did not garner large enough audiences to muster up any public interest in this year’s awards. And, truth be told, Chris Rock hosting won’t help matters any. I like the guy a lot and I expect he will do a great job, but I think he does divide audiences. Popular and acclaimed as he is, he is not yet the comedy institution that Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope or even Whoopi Goldberg are/were. And I suspect Rock’s international appeal, a factor important to a globally broadcast show like this, is pretty close to nada.
rock hasn’t had a box office hit yet.
This is a note to Permalink. I was told about last week’s Sunday Morning Shootout with Amy Pascal and wanted to see it but had a probelm where I missed it. I’m just wondering if permalink would be willing to lend or whatever that particular show 2/6/05. I’m actually a regular viewer of that but I would be pretty darn appreciative if I could view that one thatI missed. maybe I could lend you my jazz collection
thanks
Philip
323 874-3518
Delta brings Shootout to disc
Six-disc set launched as ‘film school in a box’
By Scott Hettrick 11/10/2005
NOV. 10 | AMC’s Sunday Morning Shootout is coming to DVD designed as a “film school in a box,” according to distributor Delta Entertainment.
The six-disc set of the first season of the weekly program, which focuses on the business of the entertainment industry, will include hours of bonus features revolving around hosts Peter Bart, editor of Variety, and producer Peter Guber as well as the full 25-minute interviews with guest actors and filmmakers that are cut to about 10 minutes for the half-hour show.
Delta will release Sunday Morning Shootout: The Best of Season 1 on Dec. 27 in association with Davis-Anderson Merchandising Corp. The first season includes interviews with Clint Eastwood, Charlize Theron, Denzel Washington, Harvey Weinstein and Bruce Willis as well as episodes produced on location at films festivals such as Sundance and Cannes.
Noam Dromi, who produced the DVD along with Evan Geerlings, said the discs also include a “day-in-the-life” documentary with Bart and Guber as they go about their regular day jobs and then head to the studio to record another episode of the show. Also offered is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the program.
Anticipating that the DVD will reach consumers who might be unfamiliar with the show and yet interested in learning about the business side of the film industry, each DVD will be presented with a specific theme, such as “The Triple Threat: Actor/Director/Producer” and “The Executive Shuffle: Revenge of the Hollywood Suits.” The six discs will be sold in a deluxe set or in two-packs.
Delta launched the DVD division of the 30-year-old music company in the late ’90s.
“The Shootout experience is a must-have resource for aspiring filmmakers and everyone who loves movies,” said Delta president Eric Diltz. He said the program “reflects the company’s commitment to supply the domestic home entertainment marketplace with quality, entertaining, viable product.”
In its third season on AMC, the Scott Sternberg production is scheduled to reach its 100th episode this spring.
“We always had envisioned DVD as part of our long-term strategy for the series and believe Delta Entertainment is the ideal company to distribute it,” said executive producer Sternberg.