“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. 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 moment’s 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 2013-16 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of February 8, 2016
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.
Missing The Old Days
I’m watching the whole satellite/cable/broadcast TV world change and I’m beginning to wonder when we are all going to start pining for the good old days. The days when we relied on satellite, cable and broadcast TV.
The change is coming in the form of more original content from streaming providers. At the moment, Netflix is the leader in this area. With hit series “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards” plus continuations of series canceled by other networks like “Arrested Development” plus miniseries, specials and film, they are the current hot model. And given that they even picked up an Oscar nomination in 2013, that’s pretty impressive. The plan at Netflix is to launch almost twice as many new series this year.
But they are far from alone. Amazon Prime just had some success with “The Man in the High Castle”. As yet they haven’t scored the kind of landmark hit of Netflix but expect them to launch a boatload of new content this year. The same goes for the number three provider Hulu. Joining the fray are also folks like HBO Now and Showtime. While they have extensive track records in creating some of the best programming available, they arrive slightly late to the party for streaming content. Comcast will be doing more in this area as well.
To be honest, there has never been a time when so much high-quality content has been available. So why do I think we will soon be yearning for those golden days gone by? Simple, you will have to pay an extra fee for each one of these services. While “cord cutters” anticipate savings based on not paying the satellite/cable fees, there will be plenty of fees added on if you want to see a wide variety of this programming.
The one great advantage that the current system has is that you largely just pay once. For all the hassles and shortcomings of the current system, or even the older broadcast television system before it, it did have the advantage of one-stop shopping. Want movies? Got ’em. Sports? Flip the channel and they are there. Specialty programs or niche channels? Lots of them lurking about.
Of all the new alternatives, it’s the add-on services like the one from Comcast that comes the closest. But then they are basically just re-creating what was already being done. Bundle some local channels, some networks, and HBO and add fifteen bucks to you Xfinity Internet bill.
With pay TV still holding on to some eighty-three percent of the American households, they are probably not going anywhere anytime soon. The real question moving forward is what programming is important to you, and who and how much are you willing to spend?
Super Bowl Ads Review
Well, now that the game is over (which was utterly unimportant since it didn’t involve Pittsburgh or Buffalo), I can finally focus on the only thing that was really important to me this year, the ads. Sadly, the commercials mirrored the game. A few minorly interesting moments in the midst of an awful lot of ho-hum.
Let’s get the bottom of the list out of the way first. Way too many constipation/intestine spots on this Super Bowl. Seriously, while I’m glad I have intestines, I don’t want to see them walking around on television. And the puppy monkey baby? Please don’t ever make me go there again. That was weird beyond the call.
What scored at Casa Phlipside? My daughter is just the right age to get excited about the Pokemon tribute ad. I remember the Pokemon days with a certain glazed look in my eyes. I was told many, long stories about them back in the day.
Our cute meters pretty much pegged out with the Heinz wiener dog stampede spot. Daschunds dressed up like hot dogs racing across a field towards families of condiments may sound ridiculous but it works on TV. Oh, and having the small condiment child dressed as a ketchup packet was a cute touch too.
The Ant Man versus Hulk Coke mini-can spot was an amusing concept. As was the Super Bowl babies NFL promo. Apparently some people got caught in the “Wait, that means my parents did WHAT?” thought cycle. Some things don’t need to be over thought people.
Sir Anthony Hopkins was obviously having some fun with the Turbotax.com spot was fun. But then anything with Anthony Hopkins in it is probably going to be fun.
There were three spots that jumped out at me. I really liked the Mini car spot called “Defy Labels”. Mini lined up some great stars to talk about the labels they had to struggle with as an example for the challenges the car has had to face over the years.
My top two favorites were easily clear of the rest of the field. The Helen Mirren don’t drink and drive ad from Budweiser was fabulous. The image of the elegant actress sitting with a beer and a burger just ripping into idiots who drink and drive was sublime. It was everything that has made me a Helen Mirren fanboy.
But if I had to pick just one favorite it would have to be the T-Mobile spot with Steve Harvey. The big cellular carriers have been sparring over the spot originated by Verizon with all the little balls racing down the track. Harvey stepping in with a riff on his Miss Universe gaff was just priceless. Perfect ending to that meme. So let’s all just let it go.
Just would have been nice if the game was a little more interesting to watch.
The Other Oscar Flap
In the middle of the other flap about the Oscars that we discussed a week or so ago, there is a second flap that is flying under the radar. But I think it’s time to give it some attention.
There are currently 24 Academy Awards, or “Oscars”, handed out each year. We all know the big ones, four for actors, Best Picture and Best Director. Two for Screenplays (adapted and original), two for animated movies (feature and short), two for documentaries (feature and short), Live Action Short Film, Foreign Language Film, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and finally the originals – Original Score, Original Song, and Original Story.
There is a push to create a brand new category. Why isn’t there an Oscar for stunt work? The historic reason is that Hollywood has always liked to pretend that stunt men didn’t exist. While some stars have done and still sometimes do some of their own stunt work, the preferred illusion for Hollywood was that the stars did all their own stunts. The problem with that is that stunt work is inherently dangerous. Risking your big star, along with all the investment in that actor, just to get a film stunt done is bad business. At the same time, Hollywood is all about the illusion. So, no Oscar for the stunt folk.
Long time stunt man and stunt coordinator Jack Gill believes that should change. For a quarter of a century, he has been butting heads with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about creating a stunt category. So far there’s been no interest.
I find that kind of appalling. This is a vital part of the on-screen story telling for a large number of movies. This is a job that can kill you. I mean, that’s why stunt men and women exist, right? Because it’s too dangerous for the big name stars. At least five have died since 2000, over thirty died between 1980 and 1990. And there are a dozen injuries for every death. Jack Gill has a titanium plate in his neck because of his work. Seems like that kind of dedication deserves a little recognition.
The good news is that there may be a change in the wind. Gill is starting to get support from some of the big names in the movie industry, including Johnny Depp, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Brad Pitt. There might even be a little flex showing at the top levels of the Academy.
It’s not like the Oscars haven’t changed over the years. Since the first awards in 1928, only four awards remain basically unchanged. This is another change that the Academy needs to make.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2016
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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