Beaneball - Television

Maybe Mr. T is pretty handy with computers!

jasonw@beaneball.org (Jason Wojciechowski) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:19:37 -0600

Has that occurred to you, Mr. Condescending Director? I love this World of Warcraft ad. Click. Shut up, fool!

Community colleges commercial

jasonw@beaneball.org (Jason Wojciechowski) — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 15:48:07 -0600

I have a new favorite commercial:

Open on 911 operator, middle-aged African-American woman, in call center. Operator: Hello, 911. Cut to frail blond woman in nightgown sitting on her bed with the phone. Her husband, scrawny, dressed in boxers and a t-shirt, is looking out the window nervously holding a wooden tennis racket. Wife: Someone's trying to break into the house. Cut to closer shot on operator. Operator: Sorry, ma'am, our local community college had its budget cut, so we're a little short on police at the moment. Back to the bedroom, where the husband starts to move toward his wife. Wife: What? Back to the 911 center. Operator: Yeah, do you happen to have a rolling pin or a golf club? Back to the bedroom, where the husband is now standing in front of his wife, knees slightly bent, cradling the flimsy tennis racket. Wife: Uh, n-no. 911 center. Operator: Can you do any kicks or pressure holds? How 'bout jujitsu? Bedroom. Wife: Kujitsu? Looks up at husband, who gives a disbelieving, exasperated gasp. Blank screen with text: 83% of first responders. VO: Less support for higher education means fewer trained police. Fade-in below earlier text: are trained in community colleges. VO: [Reads text] Back to 911 center. Operator: Are you limber? Can you run? [End matter, website, more VO, etc.]

The commercial is absolutely made by the actors, particularly the 911 operator, whose delivery of the final line absolutely slays me. Technorati: Community College, Commercials, Comedy

The LeBrons

jasonw@beaneball.org (Jason Wojciechowski) — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 16:35:40 -0600

Those new "The LeBrons" ads for LeBron James's Nike shoe are sheer brilliance. They bring a beautiful mix of smoove seventies style with pure oddness (the dance-off; Kid LeBron's daydream about dunking his biscuit with the cheerleader watching) that might be unmatched on TV right now. Plus, I didn't even realize just how not hidden the sexual metaphor of that daydream was until I wrote the phrase "dunking his biscuit." There went any pretense that this is a family blog.

Law Firm cancelled

jasonw@beaneball.org (jason) — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:04:20 -0500

As other people have mentioned, and I've been late in piling on, the Law Firm's been cancelled, which is of course the reason why I didn't post a review of episode three last Friday. I could watch the remaining episodes on Bravo, but it's not worth the effort to set up the TIVO, then watch them, etc. etc. I know, that makes me sound lazy, but I'd actually really not been looking forward to it as much as I thought I was, or as much as I wanted to be. Back to Law and Order, I guess, if I want solidly entertaining legal media.

The Law Firm; Episode 2

jasonw@beaneball.org (jason) — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 17:14:21 -0500

On last night's episode of The Law Firm, we saw Anika and Elizabeth's dismissals. Anika's firing was completely predictable, as she'd done a poor job two weeks in a row, capped this week by deviating from the strategy her teammates had laid out for their trial. Elizabeth was a bit of a surprise. I wouldn't call it unjustified, since Roy Black correctly criticized her effort to prepare their witness for cross-examination. In light of Olivier's utterance of "Bullshit" in response to losing his case, though, as well as the willful misdirect perpetrated by Black at the dismissal ceremony, I may have gasped a little bit when Black said Elizabeth's name. As regards Olivier, I think Black likes his style; had it been Deep or Chris blowing up like that after losing, they would have been fired. Both of them are quieter types than Olivier, and I don't think Black sees much potential for great trial attorneys in quiet types, though from what we've seen of both Deep and Chris, they're certainly capable. Meanwhile, what was up with the judge in the arbitration (the dominatrix case)? Did he seriously ask to see the website? I could see why Olivier got a little upset, because (though I acknowledge how little of the actual proceedings we see due to editing) the judge seemed way more interested in the website than in the legal matters of what contract the two parties may have had between them. I'm curious to hear from some of the actual lawyers out there what they thought of this particular case, though the facts available to us are certainly scant.

The Law Firm (now that everyone's watched it)

jasonw@beaneball.org (jason) — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 16:31:23 -0500

Don't read this post if you've TIVO'd The Law Firm and haven't watched it yet, for spoilers abound. So Roy Black's dismissal last night of Kelly looked totally justified. She looked completely lost in something as simple as an opening statement and, whether the judge was being difficult or not (she wasn't, she just wanted Kelly to do what she told her to do), as Black pointed out, you have to get the job done, and she didn't. It's to Michael's credit, by the way, that he didn't out-and-out stab her in the back when Black asked him how she'd done on the case; his response was just as "lukewarm" as Black stated it was, but that's in shart contrast to the assassination that was going on at the other side of the table. I eagerly await Yin's sure-to-be-forthcoming post about the episode. Speaking of the other side of the table, Jason's dismissal disturbed me in more ways than one. Sure, he has my name, and I always want to see people named Jason succeed, but more importantly, it really seems like he got fired for a mistake that everyone tried to make a big deal out of but was really just a slip, the type of mistake that everyone (even the "legendary Roy Black," I'd wager) makes at some point in their life. Who should have been removed instead? The way the show was cut, it was hard to see the performances of anybody who wasn't eventually involved in the dressing-down ceremony at the end. That said, what did Anika do for her team? During every argument between Olivier and Regina, she just seemed to sit there, staring blankly, waiting for it to end. The personal disagreements probably affected their case, so didn't Black have the best case for firing one of those three? I think he wanted to make an example the first week by firing attorneys from the winning teams, to make perfectly clear his point that nobody is safe, even if your side wins. Speaking of dressing-down, what was up with Black's lambasting of Chris (easily my favorite on the show so far), who, at least according to the way the episode was cut, probably did the best job of any of the twelve players? Black's claim was that if he wanted a researcher who would sit behind the scenes, he would have hired a researcher, but he wanted a great trial lawyer. My question: if he doesn't want them to quietly and competently go about researching their cases, then why doesn't he hire researchers to work under the lawyers? Brash and loud obviously don't always get the job done, as Olivier showed, so a little more respect for the behind-the-scenes worker, please? By the way, the bios on the official web site give insight into why Olivier acts the way he does: perusing the US News and World Reports law school rankings for 2006, he went to, by far, the highest-rated school of any of the associates (George Washington), so maybe you can see some arrogance coming of that. Plus, he's easily the best dressed guy on camera (that includes Roy Black in his awful pinstriped power suit that he doesn't have the body type to pull off). UPDATE: The reviews are pouring in, including Yin's and, (via Yin), Eric Goldman's. Goldman brought up the point that most disturbed me about the show, but that I forgot to mention above: the three-legged dog. The plaintiff's lawyers in the dog case decided to bring the dog to court, in a transparent attempt at garnering sympathy from the judge. The defense argued that this was ridiculous and the judge agreed, saying that if this were not a TV show, he would have declared a mistrial and sanctioned those lawyers. Roy Black, on the other hand, showing his true (despicable) stripes, lambasted the defense for not being ready for the dog, saying that things like bringing the dog in are what good lawyers do. As Goldman says, "Ethical qualm? Not in Roy Black's world! Like any good plaintiff's lawyer, he wants the team to push the ethical limits, and sympathy-inducing stunts appear to be both fair game and perhaps required." In addition, of course, the argument that the defense wasn't ready for the dog, while it may be true, isn't really applicable because the defense did argue effectively against the dog and won that argument. The only reason the case was not dismissed was because this is a TV show. Black willfully ignored that detail, because it didn't fit his overall theme, and, at least to me (and Goldman), doesn't come off well for it.

The Law Firm

jasonw@beaneball.org (jason) — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 03:10:20 -0500

I watched the first episode of "The Law Firm" tonight and I think it can become a regular Thursday evening event for the rest of the summer. I won't post details or my rudimentary analysis (complaints) because I don't want anyone to stumble across any spoilers, considering it hasn't even aired yet in the two western time zones and is just starting in Central. Suffice it to say that trial law doesn't appeal to me and that Roy Black, however talented he may be as a trial lawyer, isn't who I aspire to be. Again, more tomorrow.