Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for the ‘TV’ Category

Is anyone else getting bored with Project Runway? The designers don’t seem to be as talented as they have been in past seasons. There definitely should have been more excitement for that challenge where they teamed up with a school art class. There was so much inspiration there from the young artists, but the same lackluster array of clothes was trotted out. Pitiful!

When I think of “Runway,” I think of glamor and extraordinary fashion. I want to see some gowns and cocktail dresses coming down the runway, not tailored pants and jackets constantly. What fun is there in that?

The avant-garde challenge should have been evening wear.

There should be a different red carpet challenge every season. Let’s see the difference between a Grammy Awards red carpet as opposed to what we might see on Oscar night.

With so many Hollywood-type events to choose from, the best they could come up with was the Nina Garcia challenge? I have never seen Nina wear anything electrifying, and why in the world would I want to see her in clothes she would wear to work?

And the challenges themselves are getting old and stale. Okay, making a garment from stuff you can buy in a pet store was fun the first couple of times, but come-on! And then to put one designer down for using umbrella material, while rewarding the designer using fleece wasn’t even a fair assessment of the project, especially when the guy who made a dress out of birdseed was the clear winner.

And by the way, the bully in the playroom should’ve been kicked off the show, not one of his victims. But, oops, I forgot–the ratings. Maybe people are looking forward to more hysterics and mood swings. I, for one, would like to see more “out of the box” design and less drama.

As with my list of men, I won’t be listing any American presidents–oops, we haven’t had any female presidents–no American politicians, or religious leaders. This is a random list, no ranking intended.

1. Eleanor Roosevelt – Human Rights were her passion. She fought for the youth of America, for the poor, for black Americans and for women at home and abroad. She was a suffragette. (Yeah, Eleanor!) Her accomplishments are too vast to enumerate.
2. Audrey Hepburn – For me she will always be My Fair Lady, but her glowing achievement was working as UNICEF’s Ambassador. She traveled the world, gave countless interviews and appeared before Congress, working tirelessly to make children’s lives better.
3. Gloria Steinem – Where would women be today without Gloria and Bella Abzug?
4. Lena Horne – I think she was probably born 50 years too soon for Hollywood.  But in spite of some really Stormy Weather, she clung to her star status throughout her life. Her sultry voice caressed. Her music should be cherished.
5. Margaret Thatcher – Britain’s first female Prime Minister. History will decide her successes and failures. All the same, I loved listening to her speak.
6. Jackie Kennedy – She entered my life as the wife of a president and she enchanted me for the rest of her life.
7. Ginger Rogers – For the many hours I spent at the movies and in front of the TV watching her dance effortlessly across the screen with Fred Astaire.
8. Pauly Perrette – Plays Abby on NCIS. This seems like an unlikely choice, but what many don’t know about Pauley is she uses her celebrity to help children, animals and the homeless. She is active in so many foundations, it would make your head spin.
9. Rosa Parks – Where does this type of courage come from?
10. Sandra Day O’Conner – First female member of the Supreme Court. She was a ground-breaker from the minute she graduated from law school.

Ain’t women grand?

I’m thinking about my next list, which will be my ten favorite ladies, but in the meantime, let’s make room for a little fluff. I definitely needed something sort of fun and mindless to watch on Friday evening after viewing a week of CNN coverage from Egypt.

So, if you haven’t tuned in to The Defenders yet, you should give it a try. It’s not Shakespeare, but it hits the mark as lightweight, non-violent entertainment. Jerry O’Connell and James Belushi make terrific sidekicks. Besides that, Belushi pulls off wearing pink dress shirts with panache. His wardrobe is deliciously daring, different and delightful.

And by the way, order in the southern fried chicken ’cause Justified on FX is coming back on Wednesday at 10 p.m.

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This is my question. If Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) won an Emmy last season for Best Supporting Actress, why have the powers-that-be given her “half” the screen time this season? Her character was beginning to shape up into a complex, fascinating personality. Getting a glimpse of her private life had kept me interested.

The new character she is sharing time with, Blake (Scott Porter), as another private investigator for the firm has, thus far, been unexciting.

Another thing that has the hour dragging is this sudden interest in the kids–boring.

Alright, All My Children is one of my guilty pleasures.  I’ve become addicted. I tape every episode.

I was so happy to see Michael Nouri (Caleb) join the cast. He’s been a favorite of mine for years. I hope the writers keep him on for a long time.

And it will be interesting to see if Vincent Irizarry (David) can rise from the dead. (As I understand it, this type of thing happens all the time on the soaps.)

What I’ve noticed lately is the ladies on this soap opera are withering away. It’s like watching skeletons walk across the screen.

Susan Lucci has always been petite, but now there seems to be a lot of slimming down going on. Alicia Minshew, who plays Kendall, is tall and painfully thin. Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) (where did they come up with that name?)  and Christina Bennett Lind (Bianca) aren’t far behind.

It was refreshing to see Jamie Luner’s character, Liza, in her underwear recently. She actually has a “real” woman’s body.

I hope the skeletal look doesn’t become a trend.

That said, here’s a little something on Scott Chandler’s character.

I remember when the news was delivered on TV in an unbiased manner. You were free to interpret it whatever way you liked. What a surprise–we were intelligent enough to do that for ourselves.

Enter cable TV and Internet.

Now we have “pundits.” People who give opinions in an authoritative manner through mass media. (That definition is straight from the dictionary) These pundits pose as learned individuals. But it seems to me what they really do is stir up a lot of hate. It’s all about the ratings, folks.

And when did we turn the corner of humanity and find that public humiliation was a fun form of television entertainment?

When did bullying become deadly?

I mean, for Pete’s sake, this awful girl named Vera used to sit in the desk behind mine and pull my ponytail.  She was a bully. So was Jesse. She always grabbed my scooter and wouldn’t give it back unless I begged. (which, for the record, I wouldn’t) What a bully she was!

Here’s a little something to ponder on cyber-bullying. And to think I was worried about Vera and Jessie.

When did we become reticent, if not scared, to engage in political talk with someone who held an opposing point of view?

Of course, there was no Internet or Reality TV or Pundits back then.

But right now, in this time and space, living in a country that is so filled with hatred is becoming burdensome and frightening.