“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 2013-18 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from the week of September 30, 2018
This Week’s Podcast
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.
End of Year Movies
A couple times each year, I like to take a look at the movies headed our way. The end of year holidays are a big time for movie releases so the list is long! Let’s jump in.
The mandatory comic book movies for the end of 2018 include “Venom”, yet another Spiderman (and I no longer care what it’s called), Aquaman and a Transformers spinoff titled “Bumblebee”. I doubt I’ll see any of them.
In the remake and sequel category, we start this week with Lady Gaga in “A Star Is Born”, Michael Myers comes home in a new “Halloween” with Jamie Lee Curtis returning as well, a new addition to the Rocky-verse with Michael B. Jordan returning in “Creed 2”, the third installment of Rowan Atkinson’s spy of few skills in “Johnny English Strikes Again”, the latest addition to the “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” series in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” plus some aimed more at the kiddies. There we find a new version of “The Grinch” with Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, a new “Mary Poppins”, “Goosebumps 2 – Haunted Halloween”, a second Wreck It Ralph movie, and something for the Potterheads out there in “Fantastic Beasts – The Crimes of Grindewald”.
There are some movies that particularly strike me between now and the end of the year. “The Silence” is a horror film with a striking concept – the baddies trace you by the sounds you make. So the traditional screaming is out. I am not a huge Will Ferrell fan, although he surprises me at times. Along with John C. Reilly, they will be the latest versions of Holmes and Watson. Yes, THAT Holmes and Watson. It will either be great or awful. “Green Book” is the story of a black musician touring the Deep South in the ‘60s using the legendary travel guide for black motorists of that day. “Widows” is a female, buddy, bank robbery movie, with a very interesting cast. “Nutcraker and the Four Realms” takes a shot at giving us the story of the Christmas classic tale.
There are two others that should be worth a look. “Bohemian Rhapsody” puts actor Rami Malek in the challenging position of portraying Queen front man Freddie Mercury in a movie about the rock icons. And for all the Millenials out there tired of hearing how awful your generation is, check out the documentary “Studio 54” which will tell the story of late ‘70s hedonism at its peak.
As always, don’t worry about the hype. Go see any movie that sounds interesting.
NFL Ratings Update
Over the last year, there appeared to be as many people who wanted to dissect the National Football Leagues TV ratings as there were those who wanted to go in depth on the statistics of the actual games. For those fans outraged by the national anthem protests, last year’s ratings slide was pointed to as proof positive that the leagues followers were leaving in droves. Most in-depth looks at the numbers didn’t support that contention. There are a whole range of issues, some of which have nothing to do with the sport at all, that are affecting the overall viewership of television in many forms.
So when the first two weeks of the new season this fall showed a small but noticeable decline, some folks were whetting their knives again. After two weeks, ratings were down about two and a half percent overall. There were some individual bright spots, but it looked like things were going to continue in the wrong direction for the NFL. Two weeks later and suddenly things have begun to turn around.
At the four week mark, ratings for the league’s broadcasts have shown growth. Three of the four time slots on Sunday were higher on a year to year basis, as compared to 2017. Always reminding ourselves of the phrase popularized by Mark Twain, “There are lies, Damn lies and statistics”, some folks will point out that many of the numbers are still below the levels of two seasons ago. That is true, but the more recent trend is headed back up. It will be interesting to see what the numbers look like at the end of the season.
That still leaves the question of why ratings have become volatile for a sport that could, with fair confidence, call itself “America’s Game” just a few short years ago.
There is no doubt that the political theater that has infused the game the last couple years has had an effect. So has the larger movement towards cord-cutting. But there may be more obvious reasons as well.
First, there are the rule change and enforcement issues that have come to the fore over the last decade or so. I can’t remember two seasons that have been more dominated by outrage over the rules and refs than this season and its predecessor. Too many rules no longer make any sense.
But even simpler than that is the lack of blockbuster games on the schedule. Too often what ends up on the screen, just isn’t worth watching.
Laugh Our Way Home
As a student of history, I have every reason to believe two things about the current state of affairs in our nation. We live in a tense, and angry time that we are told is “unprecedented”. History tells us otherwise. The precedents are many, from the anti-war and civil rights upheavals of the ‘60s, to the “Red Scare” and anarchist violence in the early parts of the 20th century, to, let us never forget, the Civil War. The other thing history teaches us that the fact that this has happened before doesn’t make it any easier to live through in that time and place.
So is there a way that the media can help us make the transition through these hard times? Can they aid us in confronting the different ways that people think and act, to find a way through as a society? The first reaction is to say that they need to present the facts, to shine the light into the dark corners and onto what is false to show us a better way. That’s a wonderful idealistic concept. I’m just not sure that’s it’s the best or most important way to move us into discussions with one another that will take us where we want to go.
So what can help? History may have another lesson for us here. Maybe, just maybe the way to settle these acrimonious disagreements is to find a way to laugh together. Not to mock and deride, but to find the ancient truths about human frailties and foolishness which have formed the foundation of comedy for thousands of years.
When did that work, you ask? How about “All In the Family”? Considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time, it offered a main character who was racist, reactionary, and narrow minded. Through Archie Bunker, and his equally narrow minded liberal daughter and son-in-law, we found a way to laugh at our own shortcomings in a time of political upheaval and racial tension. I wonder if we might be able to do that again.
Shows like the re-launch of “Roseanne” and the revived “Last Man Standing” offer characters from one side of the political divide, while “Murphy Brown” brings us comedy from the left. I am not saying any of those programs deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with “All In the Family”, but it may offer a formula that will allow us all to take a moment in the midst of the troubles.
A moment to laugh.
That may be the most idealistic concept of them all.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2018
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
Stories Are My Life 
Leave a comment