“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-14 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of April 28, 2014
(These scripts didn’t get posted on schedule and we’re catching up now. Pardon our tardiness)
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Ovation Rant
A little bit of a rant this week. I’ve mentioned before that my roots are in the Theater. On stage is one of my favorite places in the world and performing there is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced.
Having said that there is a habit among audiences (not just locally but in many places) that really, really bothers me. It has to do with the standing ovation.
For an performer the applause of the audience is a special kind of payment. We are not guaranteed that any given audience is going to like us. That’s where the nerves come from, that’s the energy moving between audience and performer, in the end it almost becomes the purpose of the performance. If we didn’t care what an audience thought we’d be perfectly content performing just for our own amusement.
The standing ovation is the ultimate form of that response. It should be the result of a performance so outstanding that it requires the audience to do more than applaud, a performance that propels them from their seats in exultation.
Too often it appears that it has become the adult version of an appreciation trophy. Everyone gets one. Let me be clear, you can do a perfectly solid, wonderful performance and NOT deserve the O. It is not an insult to the performer to applaud energetically and never get out of your seat.
The only exception I would make to this is for children’s performances. We applaud them for the courage and effort they are putting forth in getting on stage and performing. As they grow older and more expert in their performances the number of standing ovations should go down. For professionals it should have the highest standards of performance associated with this the ultimate accolade.
Beyond diminishing the value of this grand gesture it leaves us with no where to go after witnessing a performance of true virtuosity. If the greatest concert ever performed results in the same audience reaction as a really good one why should the performer worry about whether or not they give their all on any given night?
In the end the audience is robbing both the performers and themselves.
Not Funny
Schadenfreude has a downside as well. It can slip very quickly and easily into a mean spiritedness. When discomfort for the subject of the joke becomes outright pain the humor of the joke begins to diminish. Or at least it should. Past that point it becomes the audience who experiences the discomfort.
Inevitably at that point the person telling the joke gets defensive and says “Relax, it’s just a joke”. It’s an excuse I have never liked.
So when veteran comedienne Joan Rivers used it to explain away an awful joke about the Cleveland kidnap victims I was appalled. Not surprised mind you. Let me note that I have never been a fan of Joan’s. She spends her time too far over the meanness line for me. As with her comment comparing her bedroom at her daughter’s house with the conditions of the three women held captive for up to a decade. When confronted with the outrage Joan just kept rolling. After several other thoughtless comments she wrapped up her assault on common decency by noting (during an interview with TMZ) that the three victims, quoting now, “… got to live rent free for more than a decade…”.
Really? Really? Her explanation was that it was a joke, she is a comedian and all the rest of us need to grow a sense of humor.
Attorneys for two of the Cleveland victims have asked Joan for an apology. Joan has made it very clear that no such apology will be forthcoming. And I believe her. She’s made a career out of being as mean as possible. This story simply adds a little extra mileage to her unfortunate career.
So this may be Joan’s personal moment of schadenfreude. So let’s help her out by simply refusing to laugh at the joke. Let our silence usher Ms. Rivers into her long overdue retirement. The world will be a more pleasant place once that happens.
One of the hardest parts of growing up is losing people and things that we care about. Sometimes we don’t even realize how much we care until they are gone.
I had very much that reaction when I heard that the comic character Archie Andrews is going to die. I had never been a avid reader but the Archie comics were a reliable backup, especially on those long vacation drives jammed in the back seat with my two brothers. There was Archie and Jughead and Reggie and, of course, Betty and Veronica. Veronica Lodge, the wealthy raven haired socialite beauty and Betty Cooper, the beautiful girl next door. If you read Archie comics you had an opinion on that subject (even if it seemed that Archie would never decide). I’ve been a Betty supporter in my life.
Earlier this month the folks at Archie Comic Publications announced that Archie’s death would appear in issue 36, due out in July. Issue 37 would take a look at the lives of his friends in Riverdale a year later.
It should be noted that this is happening in the “Life with Archie” series that looks at Archie Andrews as an adult. In fact they have run alternate storylines showing what his life would have been like if he had finally chosen Betty (the correct choice) or if he had decided on Veronica.
Even with that it’s an odd feeling that rises up in me when I consider the death of Archie Andrews. The character stretches back beyond my lifetime. He first appeared in 1941 and only had one girlfriend, Betty. Inspired by the Andy Hardy movies the comics told of a life in a small midwest town for a group of teens in high school. Over the years the publication tried to move with the times and introduced new characters and issues. Today the “Archie” comics sell a couple thousand copies a month tops (compared to say one hundred ten thousand plus for a “Batman” title). Nevertheless, the character has had a long and successful run. And he will continue on in the other series published by Archie Comics Publications.
After all is said and done that Archie dies while trying to protect a friend seems perfectly in character. I can only hope that like so many other comic book heroes he may come back to us sometime in the future.
Thanks for the good times Archie.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Stories Are My Life 
Leave a comment