Surfers Protect McConaughey, Attack the Paps
A brawl broke out on the beaches of Malibu Saturday afternoon when a group of surfers attacked paparazzi who were snapping pics of Matthew McConaughey.
One shutterbug told police that a mob of surfers approached the photogs near Paradise Cove where the often-shirtless actor was surfing with friends. The surfers demanded everyone stop filming and taking pictures, but when that didn’t happen, things got physical.
“[The surfers] formed a semicircle in front of his camera and they said [McConaughey] didn’t want him to film,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Los Angeles Times. “They got into an argument, and [the photographer] indicated that he received injuries…[The surfers] took the video camera and threw it in the water.”
There are reports that another paparazzo suffered a broken nose.
Detectives are investigating the melee, which was caught on tape by TMZ.com and X17online.com.
McConaughey’s people have yet to comment.
When will we be able to see the first season of Life again?
Or Chuck, or Pushing Daisies, or Private Practice for that matter. With the announcement that FOX was going to offer a marathon of The Sarah Connor Chronicles starting on August 10th I got to wondering about the other freshman shows that made an impression on viewers before the Writers Strike abruptly ended their seasons. Many of these shows haven’t been seen since the end of last year.
For Life, the last original episode to air was December 5th. With the second season premiere slated to air during the first week of October, it will be nearly a year since viewers had a chance to bond with Detectives Charlie Crews and Dani Reese. That’s a bit of a concern when it comes to this show. On the surface Life is a criminal procedural. However, underneath there has been an second story about Charlie’s quest to clear his good name for a murder he didn’t commit. While the first arc of this story was completed in its “season finale,” there is plenty of story to tell.
Question is, who is going to watch Life when it returns? Fans may or may not come back to the show just to see how the story wraps up for Charlie. But, what about new viewers? Will they hook on to a show that already has an underlying story that they need to catch up on? Especially in its new time slot of Friday of 10 pm?
That’s why a rebroadcast of the first season of this, and other freshman shows, is most important for this upcoming season. Due to the Writers Strike, there was much more retention when it came to primetime schedules, which means shows like Private Practice, Chuck and Pushing Daisies were given second chances to prove themselves. If the networks don’t promote these shows by airing their first seasons ahead of time how will they be able to make any headway with their fans and new viewers?
Sure, you could argue that viewers could go online to watch these shows to get some idea about characters and plot. However, the image they would get of some shows would be incomplete. Take Chuck, for example. Doing a search on Hulu, this show only has three episodes available for viewing — all of them from the beginning of the series. As the tone of the show changed from those first few episodes viewers may not be able to get a feel for what the new season will be like. Then, there’s the intimacy issue of watching these shows online. While Hulu offers all 11 episodes of Life’s first season on their site, there are still viewers who would rather watch the show in the comfort of their living rooms rather than on their laptops.
Despite the opinions of some experts, television is still very important when it comes to the popularity and life of primetime shows. By airing the freshman seasons of these programs the networks have a chance of bringing in both the advertisers and the fans for the new season. By not airing these shows sometime during the summer, the networks run the risk of losing the fans they already have and filling empty spots that, due to the Writers Strike, they just don’t have the material for.
In Plain Sight: Mary Sunshine (series premiere)
You know that commercial that says, “The real question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?” Well, over at USA Network, the question isn’t whether “Characters Welcome” is their slogan, it’s “Do I want to welcome these characters into my world?” In the case of their newest drama, In Plain Sight, the answer is…I don’t think so.
The series presents Mary McCormack (The West Wing) as Mary Shannon, a U.S. Marshal for the Witness Protection Program, living and working in Albuquerque, New Mexico. To say that Mary is a bitch is an understatement. She’s aggressive and grumpy and hard to take. As the pilot played out, Mary showed glimpses of a softer side, a need to fix the problems of others that led to her career protecting and serving those in the Witness Protection Program. However, unlike USA’s other quirky character dramas, In Plain Sight doesn’t have the charm of Burn Notice, the wit of PSYCH, nor the whimsy of Monk. It may be that this pilot was just overstuffed with too much of Mary’s life, but overall, there’s not much in Mary Shannon’s life worth watching.
In Plain Sight depicts the marshals of the Witness Protection Program as part baby sitters, part detectives, and always on the clock. Nobody will be signing up for this service based on what they saw of Mary Shannon and her partner Marshal Marshall Mann — get it?. As played by Frederick Weller, Marshall is a laconic foil for Mary’s over-the-top histrionics. He’s cool and collected, and even though he reminds Mary that he’s not her assistant, he’s the one doing the scut work and interfacing with the boss. The boss is completely ineffectual and doesn’t seem to know what’s going on with the case or even how to buy a gift for Mary. It’s her birthday, which apparently is more important to everyone else than it is to her. When she’s forced to a surprise party thrown in her honor — “There are 60 people in there waiting to scream surprise” — it makes you wonder if she even has six friends, let alone 60.
As hard as it is to put up with Mary’s attitude, she’s a walk in the park compared to her flaky, floozy mom, Jinx, and Brandy, an obnoxious, criminal little sister. With family like these two, it’s a wonder that Mary hasn’t placed them in the system and relocated them where they could be someone else’s headache. Mary also has a hunky Hispanic boy toy, Cristian de la Fuente, who sounds like Fernando Lamas and shows off his pecs. No dancing, at least not yet.
There was a case to be solved. The teenage son of one of Mary’s mob witnesses is murdered along with a girl who seems to be an innocent in all this. Mary is pissed off because the boy was her responsibility, and her investigation involves local cops, Mexicans, Native Americans, mob witnesses and such. Yes, there’s lots of local color. The script skirts around the procedural aspects of the case, and the voice over narration which is meant to help tie in all the details, isn’t very helpful.
Overall, In Plain Sight isn’t without some moments that work. Bobby D, the local detective played by Todd Williams, is fun. Although why he is attracted to Mary — “Is she seeing anybody?” — is anybody’s guess. Okay, I realize Mary McCormack is beautiful, but Mary Shannon is like John Wayne on estrogen. Not a nice mix. In the end, I’m not thrilled about the prospect of spending more time with Marshall Shannon. Maybe one more episode to see if it improves, as is the case with many pilots. However, if In Plain Sight doesn’t click by then, it’s going into my closed case file.
Other points of interest
— Creator David Maples (Huff, Rugrats) drops in an occasion pop culture reference, like the Amazing Kreskin. Mary doesn’t know who Kreskin is. She does, however, wish she had a Columbo question when she wants to bring down a snotty Indian, and pulls a fake Meg Ryan orgasm when trying to smoke out a mob guy on the phone. In that instance, she says her name is Nomi, as in Nomi from Showgirls. Really, I’m not kidding.
— Great crack at the Witness Protection Program, Bobby D refers to them as “The branch of law enforcement that puts criminals back on the street.”
— Mary is supposed to be a fixer, but does the Witness Protection Program really offer breast augmentation for witnesses who want new boobs? Maybe it was just more quirky storytelling.
— Living up to his name, Frankie Nuts, Mary’s mob witness, tears through a morgue, unzipping body bags to find his son.
— Running gag involves Mary’s purple Ford Probe, a piece of dreck car that she uses to transport witnesses and everything else she has to do.
— Why is Mary wearing layers, including a jacket, when it’s 112 degrees in the desert? When you live in a desert town or the tropics, dress appropriately.
– Did you see the commercial with Vincent D’Onofrio from Law and Order: Criminal Intent knocking on the door of Mary’s house, introducing himself as Detective Bobby Goren and welcoming her to the USA Network with a strawberry-rhubarb pie? That was funny.
The Game, Fellow Rappers Sound Off for Sean Bell
The Game isn't playing with this one.
In light of the shooting death of 23-year-old Sean Bell and the subsequent acquittal last week of the NYPD officers who fired the fatal shots, the SoCal-bred rapper has penned a musical response that in no uncertain terms lets us know where he stands.
"911 Is a Joke," which doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to the issue of police brutality, is set to debut tomorrow on the Game's website.
"I'm outraged and speaking out for my generation that are afraid to speak out against police brutality and murder," the Game said in a statement. "I grew up in Compton and had to stay silent because of the fear that was prevalent in my community, but now that I have a voice I'm speaking out.
"This could have easily been me, my brother, my family. So this song is for Sean Bell from my heart. My deepest condolences goes out to his family and wife Nicole Bell."
Bell was shot Nov. 25, 2006, outside a Queens strip club, where his bachelor party had just taken place, the night before he was to be married. One of the detectives charged had been working at the club undercover when he witnessed a confrontation between Bell and a stranger and heard a friend of Bell's say, "Get my gun."
After Bell got into his car, he refused to stop when one of the plainclothes detectives flashed his badge, and then he ran his Nissan Altima into an unmarked minivan being driven by one of the other officers.
The three cops fired more than 50 bullets at Bellwho, the defense argued, they thought was carrying a gunand his two friends, both of whom were wounded. None of the men was armed.
The local response to their acquittal has been largely peaceful, minus a few scuffles that broke out on Friday, the day the verdict was announced, but the varied reactions of activists such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and, thanks to the Internet, anyone with an opinion, can be heard loud and clear.
And, while there are at least two sides to every debate, the Game isn't the only member of the hip-hop community who has spoken out on what he perceives to be a gross injustice.
Ice Cubewho as a founding member of N.W.A. rapped against police brutality on the seminal "F–k the Police" called the verdict "just another example that the justice system in America views a black life as worthless."
"First of all, rest in peace to Sean Bell and I want to send my condolences to his wife, kids, family and friends and all the Sean Bell boyshold your head," Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy, who's currently behind bars on a gun-possession rap, said in a statement.
"We lost a lot of battles, but we will win the war. The decision in the Queens courtroom on Friday, April 25 was simply a display of power. The NYPD is just a branch of corruption connected to a giant corrupt tree called the United States government. This tyrannical corrupt tree has its roots planted deep into the United Kingdom."
"The Sean Bell murder itself was a reflection of how expendable black men are in the eyes of many," Queens MC Cormega said. "The verdict was a far worse crime because it stripped a dead man of his rights and it stripped a community of hope. We came so far as a people yet gained little momentum, but I would like to thank society for re-opening my eyes to the myth called equality and the justice that eludes just us."
Meanwhile, UGK rapper Bun B, whose other half, Pimp C, died earlier this year of an accidental overdose of prescription medication and sleep apnea, added: "The verdict is almost as tragic as the incident. I've already lost [a] life, and now we've got a loss of justice and loss of reciprocation for what's happened. And it cuts you on so many levels."