Wednesday, September 19, 2007
* SPECIAL ISSUE !!! (The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards)
ROAD TO THE EMMY's 2007
No single show dominated the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, which spread awards around like it was going out of style. "30 Rock" and "The Sopranos" were the Comedy and Drama Series winners, while America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty") and Ricky Gervais ("Extras") were named Outstanding Comedy Actress and Actor. Who else took home a coveted Emmy ?
2007 Fall Preview
ABC
Private Practice
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 9pm
This "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff stars Kate Walsh (aka Addison Montgomery) as she makes her way from Seattle Grace to sunny southern California.
Dirty Sexy Money
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 10pm
Relatively upright lawyer Nick George (Peter Krause) gets more than he bargained for when he takes on the Darlings, one of New York's wealthiest families, as his clients.
Big Shots
Premiere: Thursday, Sept. 27, 10pm
Four dysfunctional CEOs -- including Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan -- best buddies and confidants, are willing to do whatever it takes to stay on top.
Cavemen
Premiere: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 8pm
And you thought your life was hard! Find out how difficult it is to be a caveman in a working man's world. Based on the popular Geico commercials.
Carpoolers
Premiere: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 8:30pm
Four guys living different versions of the modern suburban life try to figure out the world on a daily basis as they navigate the carpool lane to work.
Pushing Daisies
Premiere: Wednesday, Oct. 3, 8pm
A man with the ability to bring dead people back to life finds he's unable to touch the one person he most wants to -- the girl he loves.
Women's Murder Club
Premiere: Friday, Oct. 12, 9pm
A homicide detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter and a young assistant district attorney work together to solve homicides.
Samantha Who ?
Premiere: Monday, Oct. 15, 9:30pm
A psychiatrist (Christina Applegate) suffers from amnesia and is forced to find out who she really is -- and it turns out she wasn't a very nice person.
CBS
Kid Nation
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 8pm
40 children, 40 days, no adults - and a ton of controversy. Can a group of kids ages 8 to 15 create their own society, pioneer style ? And did the show violate child labor laws ?
The Big Bang Theory
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 24, 8:30pm
They're two brainiacs who have a ton of knowledge -- sadly, it has little to do with real life. Can their pretty new neighbor teach them about how life and love work ?
Cane
Premiere: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 10pm
Jimmy Smits stars as the newly-proclaimed heir to his family's sugar cane and rum empire. But beneath the family ties lurk battles for power, love and success.
Moonlight
Premiere: Friday, Sept. 28, 9pm
Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) is a private investigator, and a man who's truly seen it all -- especially since he was bitten by a vampire over sixty years ago.
Viva Laughlin
Premiere: Sunday, Oct. 21, 8pm
Small-time casino owner Ripley Holden (Lloyd Owen) dreams of opening up a big-time resort on the Laughlin Strip. Based on the BBC murder-mystery-musical series "Blackpool".
CW
Gossip Girl
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 9pm
Enter the world of the privileged prep school teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where the all-seeing, super-secretive blogger Gossip Girl knows all -- and tells all.
Reaper
Premiere: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 9pm
The day that slacker Sam turns 21, he finds out that his parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born -- and now he has a permanent job as Satan's bounty hunter.
Aliens in America
Premiere: Monday, Oct. 1, 8:30pm
Cultures collide when a young Muslim student from Pakistan moves in with a white-bread Wisconsin family, but teens Raja and Justin find out they have more in common than they expected.
Life Is Wild
Premiere: Sunday, Oct. 7, 8pm
A veterinarian moves his blended family from the wilds of New York to the true wilds of a broken-down lodge called The Blue Antelope, located on a game reserve in South Africa.
Fox
Nashville
Premiere: Friday, Sept. 14, 9pm
From the people who brought you docu-soap "Laguna Beach" comes this portrait of a group of young people and their dreams to make it big in the country music capital.
K-Ville
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 17, 9pm
Two police officers patrol the streets of New Orleans two years after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in this drama about reclaiming and rebuilding the Louisiana city.
Back to You
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 8pm
Emmy winners Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton return to TV as a pair of news anchors with great chemistry on-screen but who can't stand each other when the cameras are off.
Kitchen Nightmares
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 9pm
Fiery chef Gordon Ramsay hits the road in this new unscripted show, in each episode taking on a restaraunt in crisis and whipping it into shape -- in just one week.
The Next Great American Band
Premiere: Friday, Oct. 19, 8pm
The producers of "American Idol" embark on a search to find the next great American music group.
NBC
Chuck
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 24, 8pm
When a computer geek accidentally downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain, he's catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent.
Journeyman
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 24, 10pm
A San Francisco reporter suddenly finds himself able to travel through time and change people's lives. He's also able to reunite with his long-lost fiancee, complicating his present-day life.
Bionic Woman
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 8pm
A new take on the '70s cult classic finds a young Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) given superhuman strength thanks to cutting-edge technology -- but how will she adjust to her new self ?
Life
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 10pm
A former police officer (Damian Lewis) returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years. His life irrevocably altered, he sees the world through very different eyes.
The Emmy Entourage
(From left) Masi Oka, America Ferrera, Sally Field, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jeremy Piven
Sept. 17, 2007 issue - Maybe this is silly, but we've always found it charming when famous people get nervous around other famous people. When two-time Oscar winner Sally Field arrived for our first-ever Emmy Roundtable, America Ferrera, the radiant young star of ABC's freshman hit series "Ugly Betty", stayed bolted to the floor. "I'd go up to her, but I'd just say something dumb", Ferrera said. "All I could say is 'Hi'. I mean, what do you say to Sally Field ?" Fortunately, "Entourage" nominee Jeremy Piven broke the ice during the photo shoot. "Is it awkward if I do this topless ?" he asked. Then our five guests sat down, fully clothed, with NEWSWEEK's Devin Gordon and Marc Peyser for a two-hour conversation about Emmy’s 2007.
Sally Field: Uh, Burt Reynolds. [Laughter] So I went to the thing, and I didn't win. Which was fine. But being me, I thought to myself, "Oh, of course. Why would I win ? I'll just crawl back into my worthless hole". But then they decided to resurrect the Emmys. It was all done very quickly, and I just didn't feel like it was real. I thought, "Wait, first it's not happening, now it is happening... and I didn't win the last one, and I don't have a dress, and I'm working, so I'll have to get on a plane, and Burt doesn't feel good... " so I just didn't go. I guess I should have.
America Ferrera: You're going this time, right ?
Apparently she's going with Jeremy. Seriously, who are you taking ?
Field: Probably my youngest son, Sam.
Masi Oka: I want to take my mom, but I can't get her to come.
Why not ? Is she playing bridge with Jeremy's mother that night ?
Masi Oka: She's very shy. She doesn't like cameras. I can't convince her. She says if I force her to come she'll fly to Japan. [Laughter]
Did any of you know that Masi, in addition to being a terrific actor, is also a visual-effects wizard ?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Wow, really ?
Ferrera: I heard something about this.
He worked on "Star Wars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Perfect Storm" for George Lucas's company, Industrial Light & Magic. Do you still work for them ?
Masi Oka: I'm still on their payroll, but just for one day a week. It's more like consulting now. "Heroes" is definitely my top thing.
Louis-Dreyfus: So you really are like a superhero !
Masi Oka: Supergeek, maybe.
Piven: Do people come to you and go, "Look, man, you've gotta help me out with this situation with my computer" ?
Masi Oka: I do get that a lot, actually. Even on our show, they'll ask me about some of the effects. Sometimes they go, "Hey, maybe you can do this for us for free".
Do you guys watch much TV ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I have a 10-year-old son — I almost brought him today because he's addicted to your show [to Oka].
Field: I have a 19-year-old son who's addicted to your show [to Piven].
Sally, do you find TV and movies to be very different ? Are they less different now than when you started in the business ?
Field: I started in sitcoms in 1965, and at that time, television was the poor step-child of the motion-picture business. I did three television series before I was 25, but people were telling me they didn't want me to read for any films — my own agent was, too. I remember what he said very clearly: "First of all, you're not pretty enough. And second of all, you're not good enough". And I said, "OK. Goodbye".
Ferrera: I had a very similar experience to Sally. I didn't start acting professionally until I was 17, and I had a really small agent and manager, and they were sending me out for anything — bail-bondsman commercials, whatever. And I never got a single callback for anything. Because they'd always say, "Can you speak English with a bad Spanish accent ?" They were always, like, "We don't get it — you're Latin but you don't sound Latin". Even my own family, my own friends, they would say to me, "Look, we think you're really talented, and it's not that we don't believe in you — we just don't believe that industry is accepting of any kind of variety".
Jeremy, you probably didn't have a tough time convincing anyone you could play Ari.
Piven: I knew that Ari's energy was so interesting that if I did it right, then I could make it something bigger. There's a reason why certain people are blowhards and want to take up all the space in a room, you know ? At some point in their lives they were crushed and they had to overcome it. I remember I had this mantra for Ari: $40 million by the time he's 40 or he'll kill someone.
What happened to Ari ? What's his secret pain ?
Piven: That's something I keep pitching to our writers. I came onto this show late in the game as a hired gun. So I would love to be more a part of... Oh, I'm saying all the wrong things now.
Keep going, Jeremy. [Laughter]
Piven: I don't care about titles or whatever, how you're billed on the back of your chair, any of that stuff. I just like to be in the mix, you know ? So you asked: what is Ari's secret pain ? I think this show can keep exploring these characters. Like, for instance, what is Passover like at Ari's house ? Why does he desperately need to prove himself ? It's kind of tragic. I mean, when people meet me, they're usually surprised that I'm so calm. They're disappointed that I don't bark at them.
Do people still identify you with Elaine, Julia ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Yeah. Still.
Is it annoying ? Or do you find a way to be
Louis-Dreyfus: I find a way to be very gracious. [Laughter] Look, it has its challenges, but ultimately what actor wouldn't want an experience like that ? To complain would be moronic.
Piven: You know the way Elaine would shove people ? Has anyone ever done that to you ? Like, literally pushed you ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Nobody's ever pushed me. But people do feel they can be very close to me. Maybe it's because I'm short.
Field: Oh, they do that to me, too. I'm sure you get that, America.
Ferrera: Oh, yeah. They touch you.
Field: Yes ! They'll grab you.
Louis-Dreyfus: I think it's because you're in their homes. They're very familiar with you. But it's important to remember that it's very, very fleeting. This is an incredibly rough business, and 10 years from now, who knows ? Look, I'm assuming everything's going to be great for everybody at this table, and I certainly hope so, but who knows ?
Let's talk about the ceremony. Do you prepare a speech ahead of time ? Do you practice your expression if you lose ? Julia, you've won and lost a few times.
Louis-Dreyfus: I've lost more than I've won. So it makes me uncomfortable to prepare. Which may be a mistake, but I always think I'm gonna lose anyway, so let's just leave it be.
Now we have to ask you, Sally.
Field: [With mock irritation] Yes ? What ?
Do you prepare your speeches or are you in the moment ?
Field: Whatever do you mean by that ? [Laughter] I've always been in the moment — that's the problem. That's always been the problem.
Piven: And there's your quote.
That famous speech, of course, is misquoted all the time — you never actually said "You really like me". You said: "And I can't deny the fact that you like me right now. You like me".
Field: Yes, totally misquoted.
So why did you say that ?
Field: Because I was scared s – tless ! When you're sitting in that room, your heart is literally beating outside your body. Like, it's sitting in the chair in front of you. And I never feel like a very glamorous, graceful sort of person, so when I got up to walk up there, I was afraid I was going to go topsy-turvy over myself. Like, literally fall on my ass.
Louis-Dreyfus: I know what you mean — you're thinking, "Just please don't let me die up here".
Field: Yeah ! Your body can't tell the difference between going down on the Titanic and getting up and accepting an Oscar. Your body is saying, "Dive ! Dive !" So when I won for "Norma Rae", I just kinda got up and said, "Thank you very much and I'm glad to be alive", and then I got off the stage. I don't even remember being there. So then the second time I thought, "You know what ? This belongs to me. I want to remember it. I want to look out at it. I want to feel it". When anyone says to you, "Good job, first rate, you really did it", then you have to own it. If you don't own it, then you don't have the strength to go the next 150 miles of bad road before you get that next great little twinkle.
Have you guys had parts that you've desperately wanted and didn't get ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I'm not sure I want to go down this road. There are a lot of parts I wish I'd gotten and didn't. But then I got some big parts, so I focus on that.
Piven: I wanted to play Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker's role in "The Last King of Scotland". [Laughter]
Field: The part that sort of changed things for me was in this tiny movie that Bob Rafelson directed called "Stay Hungry". When I went to read for it, I heard Rafelson yelling from the back room, "How dare you let her in here. I have better things to do than see Sally Field !" But by then, I knew how to use the fury, the rejection. The "I'm not good enough, I'm not sexy enough". Certainly "I'm not sexy enough" was a big one.
And this audition was for a very sexy, risqué role, right ?
Field: Yeah. By then I had learned that people go with whatever they've seen you in last. Because they have so little faith in people knowing how to act. So I had to convince them that everything they had seen me do before was acting and what I really am is this absolutely sleep-around tart and, gosh, that Flying Nun sure was hard for me to pull off because this is who I really am.
So did you dress provocatively ?
Field: Oh, yeah. And I straddled the guy I was reading with. I, like, sat on him.
Did any of you ever straddle somebody in an audition ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Oh, yeah. For every job.
How about going to great lengths to get a part ?
Louis-Dreyfus: One time I screwed up an audition very badly, but I really wanted this role and thought I was perfect for the part. So I went back to the hotel where I'd met with the producers and I wrote a note saying, "I feel strongly that I'm this person, blah blah blah, and could you please give me another chance ?" Sure enough, they called me back in again — and I still didn't get the part.
At what point in your career was this ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Early on.
So you were still willing to humiliate yourself.
Louis-Dreyfus: You always have to be willing to do that. You have to be willing to write that note because you have to put yourself out there. You've got to fight.
Ferrera: I had a friend who is a writer, and he wrote this beautiful, beautiful script and I fell in love with it. I said, this is me, I have to do this. For a while it was a possibility and then it was, like, Well, listen, the producers don't want — they're looking for someone who's blond and who has, you know, lighter skin. And basically that was it. I didn't even get to fail on my own. It was the first time I felt really angry. And so I went out and bleached my hair.
How old were you ?
Ferrera: I was 17, and it was the first time I'd done something out of anger. I bleached my hair and put on lily-white powder makeup — whiteface, I guess. But my friend called me up and was, like, "I get it, I understand that it's warped and twisted and it sucks. But you still don't have the part".
Do you feel a certain obligation as a role model for young women and Latina women ?
Piven: I do. Oh, I'm sorry. [Laughter]
Ferrera: I feel like what the show is doing — and not just what they've done for Latinos or for young girls but for the gay community — has been immense. The show does it, so I don't feel like I have to go about my days preaching it.
Masi, have you found that it's hard to get roles as an Asian-American ?
Masi Oka: For me, being a minority has made it easier to break in, to be perfectly honest, because there are a lot of small parts that go to the minority of choice because of affirmative action or something. "Oh, we want to show diversity, so we'll give this small part to him". But the ceiling is very low, without a doubt.
Sally, you did an extensive Playboy interview years ago.
Field: An interview.
But there was a really interesting line in it. You were talking about your father very candidly, and you said, "I'm trying to do my job and be honest here". Do actors really want to be honest and candid with the press ?
Field: I grew up feeling very isolated. That's part of being a celebrity. And I think that part of me wants to talk to this big audience of people. Of course it isn't all the truth; it's just a bit of the truth. But it's important to me that it not be all full of b.s., that I'm revealing something real.
It seems like most actors today believe that there's a risk to being candid.
Louis-Dreyfus: Well, there's a camera everywhere now.
Masi Oka: Especially with the Internet. And blogs. Things spread so quickly. We're all humans. We all make mistakes. But it gets difficult when you have cameras everywhere. It's part of our job to be in the public. I accept that. But at the same time, I don't want to think of being human as a job.
Louis-Dreyfus: It's a whole new universe. In the last 10 years the celebrity culture has utterly changed. It's jaw-dropping.
Ferrera: Anyone with a phone is a paparazzi. They sit there and take pictures with their phone and they think you don't see them. They don't even ask. Sometimes you feel like an animal in the zoo.
Didn't you expect this ?
Ferrera: I don't know. I understand where it comes from. I mean, I grew up worshiping people like Sally Field, and when you meet them, they mean so much to you that you're hoping that it'll be a life-changing experience. But you just can't be that for everyone you see. It's exhausting. When do I get to shut it off ? I know that sounds like complaining, but at the same time there is a lack of respect.
We can't have an Emmy Roundtable and not talk about "The Sopranos". Julia, as someone who was on a legendary show whose finale also got mixed reviews, what did you think ?
Louis-Dreyfus: At first I thought, like many people, that my TiVo was broken, and I got on the phone and started screaming. I'm kidding. Then I felt totally ripped off. And then, the next day, I thought it was absolutely brilliant television. I thought it was fantastic. I loved it.
The reaction to the finale had an interesting subtext, because it became an argument about what the creator of an enormously popular show owes us. Are we owed an ending for our years of loyal viewing ? Or is an artist only obliged to do what he believes is right for the show ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I don't know what being "owed" an ending means. I think you owe your best work, and David Chase felt that this was his best work. If he doesn't, he should.
But you said you felt initially ripped off, like a lot of people, which suggests that they were owed something in some way.
Louis-Dreyfus: Oh, I guess—just in that moment, yeah, I guess for a moment I thought, "Wait a minute, can't I hear the rest of the story ?" But then when I stood back from that... I mean, at the risk of sounding haughty, it was like when you look at a piece of art or at first you don't like it, but then you step back and you say, "Oh, yeah, that is interesting". And I think Chase achieved that, really wonderfully.
Did you like the "Seinfeld" finale ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Well, you know, I was in it. It was like a high-school reunion. There's the Soup Nazi ! We were just sitting there at that table howling laughing. We got a kick out of it. But I couldn't believe all the attention it got. That was remarkable to me. That kind of attention was very surreal.
Wasn't the finale something of a commentary on what Larry David thought about television, being held captive to it ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I don't think he was necessarily commenting on television. I think he was commenting on these people who should all be in prison, and he did it. And also I know he wanted to bring back the dialogue from the pilot episode of the show. So the dialogue within that jail cell was in the pilot, which is why I didn't say anything — because I wasn't in the pilot.
How sick are you of hearing about the "Seinfeld" curse ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Well, I'm thrilled you brought it up.
We did make Sally talk about her Oscar speech.
Louis-Dreyfus: I thought it was just so absurd, and I still do. I think there's the curse of showbiz, which is to say, it's really hard to hit it out of the park. It wasn't a "Seinfeld" curse — it was a "Seinfeld" blessing. Lots of people have success in their lives and then try to have it again, as they should. And sometimes they get it and sometimes they don't. And that's life.
We're almost out of time, so let's end with a question about the big night. Is there any part of it that you're not looking forward to ?
Ferrera: The red carpet is the most nerve-racking, isn't it ? The focus is all on something I'm just not comfortable with. The whole point is to stand there so people can criticize you — What are you wearing ? It's a meat market.
Louis-Dreyfus: Who are you wearing !
Ferrera: I'm not saying I'm against red carpets, but what's really wonderful is sitting there and being a part of the celebration. And that red carpet doesn't feel like a celebration.
Couldn't you boycott, just not do it ?
Louis-Dreyfus: My sister said to me, "I think you should just keep wearing the same dress over and over".
Field: I think we should just rebel and all go in sweatshirts and jeans and say, This is it, folks !
By Devin Gordon and Marc Peyser, Newsweek
No single show dominated the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, which spread awards around like it was going out of style. "30 Rock" and "The Sopranos" were the Comedy and Drama Series winners, while America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty") and Ricky Gervais ("Extras") were named Outstanding Comedy Actress and Actor. Who else took home a coveted Emmy ?
2007 Fall Preview
ABC
Private Practice
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 9pm
This "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff stars Kate Walsh (aka Addison Montgomery) as she makes her way from Seattle Grace to sunny southern California.
Dirty Sexy Money
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 10pm
Relatively upright lawyer Nick George (Peter Krause) gets more than he bargained for when he takes on the Darlings, one of New York's wealthiest families, as his clients.
Big Shots
Premiere: Thursday, Sept. 27, 10pm
Four dysfunctional CEOs -- including Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan -- best buddies and confidants, are willing to do whatever it takes to stay on top.
Cavemen
Premiere: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 8pm
And you thought your life was hard! Find out how difficult it is to be a caveman in a working man's world. Based on the popular Geico commercials.
Carpoolers
Premiere: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 8:30pm
Four guys living different versions of the modern suburban life try to figure out the world on a daily basis as they navigate the carpool lane to work.
Pushing Daisies
Premiere: Wednesday, Oct. 3, 8pm
A man with the ability to bring dead people back to life finds he's unable to touch the one person he most wants to -- the girl he loves.
Women's Murder Club
Premiere: Friday, Oct. 12, 9pm
A homicide detective, a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter and a young assistant district attorney work together to solve homicides.
Samantha Who ?
Premiere: Monday, Oct. 15, 9:30pm
A psychiatrist (Christina Applegate) suffers from amnesia and is forced to find out who she really is -- and it turns out she wasn't a very nice person.
CBS
Kid Nation
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 8pm
40 children, 40 days, no adults - and a ton of controversy. Can a group of kids ages 8 to 15 create their own society, pioneer style ? And did the show violate child labor laws ?
The Big Bang Theory
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 24, 8:30pm
They're two brainiacs who have a ton of knowledge -- sadly, it has little to do with real life. Can their pretty new neighbor teach them about how life and love work ?
Cane
Premiere: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 10pm
Jimmy Smits stars as the newly-proclaimed heir to his family's sugar cane and rum empire. But beneath the family ties lurk battles for power, love and success.
Moonlight
Premiere: Friday, Sept. 28, 9pm
Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) is a private investigator, and a man who's truly seen it all -- especially since he was bitten by a vampire over sixty years ago.
Viva Laughlin
Premiere: Sunday, Oct. 21, 8pm
Small-time casino owner Ripley Holden (Lloyd Owen) dreams of opening up a big-time resort on the Laughlin Strip. Based on the BBC murder-mystery-musical series "Blackpool".
CW
Gossip Girl
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 9pm
Enter the world of the privileged prep school teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where the all-seeing, super-secretive blogger Gossip Girl knows all -- and tells all.
Reaper
Premiere: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 9pm
The day that slacker Sam turns 21, he finds out that his parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born -- and now he has a permanent job as Satan's bounty hunter.
Aliens in America
Premiere: Monday, Oct. 1, 8:30pm
Cultures collide when a young Muslim student from Pakistan moves in with a white-bread Wisconsin family, but teens Raja and Justin find out they have more in common than they expected.
Life Is Wild
Premiere: Sunday, Oct. 7, 8pm
A veterinarian moves his blended family from the wilds of New York to the true wilds of a broken-down lodge called The Blue Antelope, located on a game reserve in South Africa.
Fox
Nashville
Premiere: Friday, Sept. 14, 9pm
From the people who brought you docu-soap "Laguna Beach" comes this portrait of a group of young people and their dreams to make it big in the country music capital.
K-Ville
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 17, 9pm
Two police officers patrol the streets of New Orleans two years after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in this drama about reclaiming and rebuilding the Louisiana city.
Back to You
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 8pm
Emmy winners Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton return to TV as a pair of news anchors with great chemistry on-screen but who can't stand each other when the cameras are off.
Kitchen Nightmares
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 9pm
Fiery chef Gordon Ramsay hits the road in this new unscripted show, in each episode taking on a restaraunt in crisis and whipping it into shape -- in just one week.
The Next Great American Band
Premiere: Friday, Oct. 19, 8pm
The producers of "American Idol" embark on a search to find the next great American music group.
NBC
Chuck
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 24, 8pm
When a computer geek accidentally downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain, he's catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent.
Journeyman
Premiere: Monday, Sept. 24, 10pm
A San Francisco reporter suddenly finds himself able to travel through time and change people's lives. He's also able to reunite with his long-lost fiancee, complicating his present-day life.
Bionic Woman
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 8pm
A new take on the '70s cult classic finds a young Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) given superhuman strength thanks to cutting-edge technology -- but how will she adjust to her new self ?
Life
Premiere: Wednesday, Sept. 26, 10pm
A former police officer (Damian Lewis) returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years. His life irrevocably altered, he sees the world through very different eyes.
The Emmy Entourage
(From left) Masi Oka, America Ferrera, Sally Field, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jeremy PivenSept. 17, 2007 issue - Maybe this is silly, but we've always found it charming when famous people get nervous around other famous people. When two-time Oscar winner Sally Field arrived for our first-ever Emmy Roundtable, America Ferrera, the radiant young star of ABC's freshman hit series "Ugly Betty", stayed bolted to the floor. "I'd go up to her, but I'd just say something dumb", Ferrera said. "All I could say is 'Hi'. I mean, what do you say to Sally Field ?" Fortunately, "Entourage" nominee Jeremy Piven broke the ice during the photo shoot. "Is it awkward if I do this topless ?" he asked. Then our five guests sat down, fully clothed, with NEWSWEEK's Devin Gordon and Marc Peyser for a two-hour conversation about Emmy’s 2007.
Sally Field: Uh, Burt Reynolds. [Laughter] So I went to the thing, and I didn't win. Which was fine. But being me, I thought to myself, "Oh, of course. Why would I win ? I'll just crawl back into my worthless hole". But then they decided to resurrect the Emmys. It was all done very quickly, and I just didn't feel like it was real. I thought, "Wait, first it's not happening, now it is happening... and I didn't win the last one, and I don't have a dress, and I'm working, so I'll have to get on a plane, and Burt doesn't feel good... " so I just didn't go. I guess I should have.
America Ferrera: You're going this time, right ?
Apparently she's going with Jeremy. Seriously, who are you taking ?
Field: Probably my youngest son, Sam.
Masi Oka: I want to take my mom, but I can't get her to come.
Why not ? Is she playing bridge with Jeremy's mother that night ?
Masi Oka: She's very shy. She doesn't like cameras. I can't convince her. She says if I force her to come she'll fly to Japan. [Laughter]
Did any of you know that Masi, in addition to being a terrific actor, is also a visual-effects wizard ?
Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Wow, really ?
Ferrera: I heard something about this.
He worked on "Star Wars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Perfect Storm" for George Lucas's company, Industrial Light & Magic. Do you still work for them ?
Masi Oka: I'm still on their payroll, but just for one day a week. It's more like consulting now. "Heroes" is definitely my top thing.
Louis-Dreyfus: So you really are like a superhero !
Masi Oka: Supergeek, maybe.
Piven: Do people come to you and go, "Look, man, you've gotta help me out with this situation with my computer" ?
Masi Oka: I do get that a lot, actually. Even on our show, they'll ask me about some of the effects. Sometimes they go, "Hey, maybe you can do this for us for free".
Do you guys watch much TV ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I have a 10-year-old son — I almost brought him today because he's addicted to your show [to Oka].
Field: I have a 19-year-old son who's addicted to your show [to Piven].
Sally, do you find TV and movies to be very different ? Are they less different now than when you started in the business ?
Field: I started in sitcoms in 1965, and at that time, television was the poor step-child of the motion-picture business. I did three television series before I was 25, but people were telling me they didn't want me to read for any films — my own agent was, too. I remember what he said very clearly: "First of all, you're not pretty enough. And second of all, you're not good enough". And I said, "OK. Goodbye".
Ferrera: I had a very similar experience to Sally. I didn't start acting professionally until I was 17, and I had a really small agent and manager, and they were sending me out for anything — bail-bondsman commercials, whatever. And I never got a single callback for anything. Because they'd always say, "Can you speak English with a bad Spanish accent ?" They were always, like, "We don't get it — you're Latin but you don't sound Latin". Even my own family, my own friends, they would say to me, "Look, we think you're really talented, and it's not that we don't believe in you — we just don't believe that industry is accepting of any kind of variety".
Jeremy, you probably didn't have a tough time convincing anyone you could play Ari.
Piven: I knew that Ari's energy was so interesting that if I did it right, then I could make it something bigger. There's a reason why certain people are blowhards and want to take up all the space in a room, you know ? At some point in their lives they were crushed and they had to overcome it. I remember I had this mantra for Ari: $40 million by the time he's 40 or he'll kill someone.
What happened to Ari ? What's his secret pain ?
Piven: That's something I keep pitching to our writers. I came onto this show late in the game as a hired gun. So I would love to be more a part of... Oh, I'm saying all the wrong things now.
Keep going, Jeremy. [Laughter]
Piven: I don't care about titles or whatever, how you're billed on the back of your chair, any of that stuff. I just like to be in the mix, you know ? So you asked: what is Ari's secret pain ? I think this show can keep exploring these characters. Like, for instance, what is Passover like at Ari's house ? Why does he desperately need to prove himself ? It's kind of tragic. I mean, when people meet me, they're usually surprised that I'm so calm. They're disappointed that I don't bark at them.
Do people still identify you with Elaine, Julia ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Yeah. Still.
Is it annoying ? Or do you find a way to be
Louis-Dreyfus: I find a way to be very gracious. [Laughter] Look, it has its challenges, but ultimately what actor wouldn't want an experience like that ? To complain would be moronic.
Piven: You know the way Elaine would shove people ? Has anyone ever done that to you ? Like, literally pushed you ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Nobody's ever pushed me. But people do feel they can be very close to me. Maybe it's because I'm short.
Field: Oh, they do that to me, too. I'm sure you get that, America.
Ferrera: Oh, yeah. They touch you.
Field: Yes ! They'll grab you.
Louis-Dreyfus: I think it's because you're in their homes. They're very familiar with you. But it's important to remember that it's very, very fleeting. This is an incredibly rough business, and 10 years from now, who knows ? Look, I'm assuming everything's going to be great for everybody at this table, and I certainly hope so, but who knows ?
Let's talk about the ceremony. Do you prepare a speech ahead of time ? Do you practice your expression if you lose ? Julia, you've won and lost a few times.
Louis-Dreyfus: I've lost more than I've won. So it makes me uncomfortable to prepare. Which may be a mistake, but I always think I'm gonna lose anyway, so let's just leave it be.
Now we have to ask you, Sally.
Field: [With mock irritation] Yes ? What ?
Do you prepare your speeches or are you in the moment ?
Field: Whatever do you mean by that ? [Laughter] I've always been in the moment — that's the problem. That's always been the problem.
Piven: And there's your quote.
That famous speech, of course, is misquoted all the time — you never actually said "You really like me". You said: "And I can't deny the fact that you like me right now. You like me".
Field: Yes, totally misquoted.
So why did you say that ?
Field: Because I was scared s – tless ! When you're sitting in that room, your heart is literally beating outside your body. Like, it's sitting in the chair in front of you. And I never feel like a very glamorous, graceful sort of person, so when I got up to walk up there, I was afraid I was going to go topsy-turvy over myself. Like, literally fall on my ass.
Louis-Dreyfus: I know what you mean — you're thinking, "Just please don't let me die up here".
Field: Yeah ! Your body can't tell the difference between going down on the Titanic and getting up and accepting an Oscar. Your body is saying, "Dive ! Dive !" So when I won for "Norma Rae", I just kinda got up and said, "Thank you very much and I'm glad to be alive", and then I got off the stage. I don't even remember being there. So then the second time I thought, "You know what ? This belongs to me. I want to remember it. I want to look out at it. I want to feel it". When anyone says to you, "Good job, first rate, you really did it", then you have to own it. If you don't own it, then you don't have the strength to go the next 150 miles of bad road before you get that next great little twinkle.
Have you guys had parts that you've desperately wanted and didn't get ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I'm not sure I want to go down this road. There are a lot of parts I wish I'd gotten and didn't. But then I got some big parts, so I focus on that.
Piven: I wanted to play Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker's role in "The Last King of Scotland". [Laughter]
Field: The part that sort of changed things for me was in this tiny movie that Bob Rafelson directed called "Stay Hungry". When I went to read for it, I heard Rafelson yelling from the back room, "How dare you let her in here. I have better things to do than see Sally Field !" But by then, I knew how to use the fury, the rejection. The "I'm not good enough, I'm not sexy enough". Certainly "I'm not sexy enough" was a big one.
And this audition was for a very sexy, risqué role, right ?
Field: Yeah. By then I had learned that people go with whatever they've seen you in last. Because they have so little faith in people knowing how to act. So I had to convince them that everything they had seen me do before was acting and what I really am is this absolutely sleep-around tart and, gosh, that Flying Nun sure was hard for me to pull off because this is who I really am.
So did you dress provocatively ?
Field: Oh, yeah. And I straddled the guy I was reading with. I, like, sat on him.
Did any of you ever straddle somebody in an audition ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Oh, yeah. For every job.
How about going to great lengths to get a part ?
Louis-Dreyfus: One time I screwed up an audition very badly, but I really wanted this role and thought I was perfect for the part. So I went back to the hotel where I'd met with the producers and I wrote a note saying, "I feel strongly that I'm this person, blah blah blah, and could you please give me another chance ?" Sure enough, they called me back in again — and I still didn't get the part.
At what point in your career was this ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Early on.
So you were still willing to humiliate yourself.
Louis-Dreyfus: You always have to be willing to do that. You have to be willing to write that note because you have to put yourself out there. You've got to fight.
Ferrera: I had a friend who is a writer, and he wrote this beautiful, beautiful script and I fell in love with it. I said, this is me, I have to do this. For a while it was a possibility and then it was, like, Well, listen, the producers don't want — they're looking for someone who's blond and who has, you know, lighter skin. And basically that was it. I didn't even get to fail on my own. It was the first time I felt really angry. And so I went out and bleached my hair.
How old were you ?
Ferrera: I was 17, and it was the first time I'd done something out of anger. I bleached my hair and put on lily-white powder makeup — whiteface, I guess. But my friend called me up and was, like, "I get it, I understand that it's warped and twisted and it sucks. But you still don't have the part".
Do you feel a certain obligation as a role model for young women and Latina women ?
Piven: I do. Oh, I'm sorry. [Laughter]
Ferrera: I feel like what the show is doing — and not just what they've done for Latinos or for young girls but for the gay community — has been immense. The show does it, so I don't feel like I have to go about my days preaching it.
Masi, have you found that it's hard to get roles as an Asian-American ?
Masi Oka: For me, being a minority has made it easier to break in, to be perfectly honest, because there are a lot of small parts that go to the minority of choice because of affirmative action or something. "Oh, we want to show diversity, so we'll give this small part to him". But the ceiling is very low, without a doubt.
Sally, you did an extensive Playboy interview years ago.
Field: An interview.
But there was a really interesting line in it. You were talking about your father very candidly, and you said, "I'm trying to do my job and be honest here". Do actors really want to be honest and candid with the press ?
Field: I grew up feeling very isolated. That's part of being a celebrity. And I think that part of me wants to talk to this big audience of people. Of course it isn't all the truth; it's just a bit of the truth. But it's important to me that it not be all full of b.s., that I'm revealing something real.
It seems like most actors today believe that there's a risk to being candid.
Louis-Dreyfus: Well, there's a camera everywhere now.
Masi Oka: Especially with the Internet. And blogs. Things spread so quickly. We're all humans. We all make mistakes. But it gets difficult when you have cameras everywhere. It's part of our job to be in the public. I accept that. But at the same time, I don't want to think of being human as a job.
Louis-Dreyfus: It's a whole new universe. In the last 10 years the celebrity culture has utterly changed. It's jaw-dropping.
Ferrera: Anyone with a phone is a paparazzi. They sit there and take pictures with their phone and they think you don't see them. They don't even ask. Sometimes you feel like an animal in the zoo.
Didn't you expect this ?
Ferrera: I don't know. I understand where it comes from. I mean, I grew up worshiping people like Sally Field, and when you meet them, they mean so much to you that you're hoping that it'll be a life-changing experience. But you just can't be that for everyone you see. It's exhausting. When do I get to shut it off ? I know that sounds like complaining, but at the same time there is a lack of respect.
We can't have an Emmy Roundtable and not talk about "The Sopranos". Julia, as someone who was on a legendary show whose finale also got mixed reviews, what did you think ?
Louis-Dreyfus: At first I thought, like many people, that my TiVo was broken, and I got on the phone and started screaming. I'm kidding. Then I felt totally ripped off. And then, the next day, I thought it was absolutely brilliant television. I thought it was fantastic. I loved it.
The reaction to the finale had an interesting subtext, because it became an argument about what the creator of an enormously popular show owes us. Are we owed an ending for our years of loyal viewing ? Or is an artist only obliged to do what he believes is right for the show ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I don't know what being "owed" an ending means. I think you owe your best work, and David Chase felt that this was his best work. If he doesn't, he should.
But you said you felt initially ripped off, like a lot of people, which suggests that they were owed something in some way.
Louis-Dreyfus: Oh, I guess—just in that moment, yeah, I guess for a moment I thought, "Wait a minute, can't I hear the rest of the story ?" But then when I stood back from that... I mean, at the risk of sounding haughty, it was like when you look at a piece of art or at first you don't like it, but then you step back and you say, "Oh, yeah, that is interesting". And I think Chase achieved that, really wonderfully.
Did you like the "Seinfeld" finale ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Well, you know, I was in it. It was like a high-school reunion. There's the Soup Nazi ! We were just sitting there at that table howling laughing. We got a kick out of it. But I couldn't believe all the attention it got. That was remarkable to me. That kind of attention was very surreal.
Wasn't the finale something of a commentary on what Larry David thought about television, being held captive to it ?
Louis-Dreyfus: I don't think he was necessarily commenting on television. I think he was commenting on these people who should all be in prison, and he did it. And also I know he wanted to bring back the dialogue from the pilot episode of the show. So the dialogue within that jail cell was in the pilot, which is why I didn't say anything — because I wasn't in the pilot.
How sick are you of hearing about the "Seinfeld" curse ?
Louis-Dreyfus: Well, I'm thrilled you brought it up.
We did make Sally talk about her Oscar speech.
Louis-Dreyfus: I thought it was just so absurd, and I still do. I think there's the curse of showbiz, which is to say, it's really hard to hit it out of the park. It wasn't a "Seinfeld" curse — it was a "Seinfeld" blessing. Lots of people have success in their lives and then try to have it again, as they should. And sometimes they get it and sometimes they don't. And that's life.
We're almost out of time, so let's end with a question about the big night. Is there any part of it that you're not looking forward to ?
Ferrera: The red carpet is the most nerve-racking, isn't it ? The focus is all on something I'm just not comfortable with. The whole point is to stand there so people can criticize you — What are you wearing ? It's a meat market.
Louis-Dreyfus: Who are you wearing !
Ferrera: I'm not saying I'm against red carpets, but what's really wonderful is sitting there and being a part of the celebration. And that red carpet doesn't feel like a celebration.
Couldn't you boycott, just not do it ?
Louis-Dreyfus: My sister said to me, "I think you should just keep wearing the same dress over and over".
Field: I think we should just rebel and all go in sweatshirts and jeans and say, This is it, folks !
By Devin Gordon and Marc Peyser, Newsweek
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
* ROMANIA's WONDERS *
Romanian Atheneum – Bucharest - A part of funds needed for build him (the construction was started in 1886) was obtained as result of an public campaign to reach funds titled "Get an Leu(national currency) for Atheneum !" ("Dati un leu pentru Ateneu !" in romanian)
Social-Democrats persuade Liberals
The PSD (Social-Democrat Party) has got a hottest week ahead. The Social-Democrats are to make clear their terms with the government and their domestic difficulties. As far as the bill against the ruling Cabinet is concerned, they are aware they have reached the point of no return. As for the effects of it, no one would answer such a question.
There has been no information about the talks between the PSD and the PNL (National Liberal Party) and both sides have often denied such collaboration. Still the PSD leader Mircea Geona is getting ready to put Adrian Nastase aside, as he is abroad this week.
In the meetings due today and tomorrow the Social-Democrats are to analyze the bill against the government. And in today's Senate session they will be trying to dismiss the emergency ordinance on the government restructuring. Some think this would make the government collapse. This is how the Social-Democrats want to persuade the Liberals. Until yesterday there was only rumor on talks between Viorel Hrebenciuc and some PNL officials or between Mircea Geoana and Traian Basescu, President of Romania.
Mircea Geoana got a serious warning from the PSD group in Cluj. Vasile Puscas, a member of the latter group, argued that all the PSD leaders would be responsible for the bill's effects.
Tomorrow is a hottest day also because party members will be analyzing the solicitation that Adrian Nastase and Ion Iliescu should be expelled from the PSD branch in Bucharest, District 1. Party sources opine this is little likely to happen.
Mircea Geoana paid a visit to Prahova yesterday, when Marian Saniuta was appointed to head the PSD branch there. This is how he obstructed Adrian Nastase's lately rumored attempt to take over this branch. Sources also say that to summon an extraordinary congress and sack Mircea Geoana is also unlikely. They comment the PSD president's future is likely to be decided on after the election of MEPs takes place in Romania.
Roxana Andronic
Ziua Marti 18 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
Pension lottery
Romanians under 35 may decide for themselves on how much money they will get after retiring. But the choice depends on both intuition and luck.
The new system of privately administered pensions was launched yesterday and it is compulsory for young employees. Each of them is to subscribe to one of the 14 funds accepted in the system by January 17, 2008. This is optional for those Romanian employees aged between 35 and 45.
Pension funds estimate a yearly growth if 5-7% of the accumulated sum, but they may as well use the future retireds' money for bad business. The law guarantees only the money paid in the course of time, minus the commissions. The latter are 2,5% of the monthly contribution at most plus 0,05% of the money already in the fund.
Inflation isn't going to be taken into account. Take a contribution of 20 Euro a month in 30 years, for instance. In such case the pension will reach 135 Euro a month.
Varujan Vosganian, Romanian's economy minister, says the state pension system will survive for a time. He promises that, no matter the employer's conduct, the contribution to the private pensions will be paid. It starts from 2% of the gross wages and it is to reach 6% in 8 years' time.
President Basescu: A reasonable political compromise
The launch of the private pension system is a "reasonable political compromise", a satisfying, but an insufficient one. It was the President of Romania Traian Basescu who expressed this opinion in yesterday's conference "September 17, 2007 - Start of Compulsory Private Pensions in Romania", arranged by "Ziarul Financiar" (the Financial Daily).
According to the President, the launch of the private pension system is "the first action striking the paternalist state bad". The Romanian President argued that the private pensions could become an incentive for Romanian economy and citizens' welfare, provided that the political factor granted the conditions necessary for the private pension funds to have a positive evolution.
President Basescu highlighted how important the transparent administration of these funds would be. (...) And he commented more: "I think the establishing of the private pension system can stimulate fairness on the labor force market so that some of those participating in the private pension funds would become vigilant guardians of the correct registration of wages and other payment in employment documents".
Ovidiu Banches & C.S.
Ziua Marti 18 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
Collapsing education system
Catalin Croitoru, a union leader of the National Education Federation in Romania, warned in the very day the 2007-2008 school year opened: "In Romania there is no strategy for education. There is neither a national programme with clear objectives to make things progress naturally so that the education system will recover step by step. In the last 17 years, every education minister tried to put his 'seal' on education, which thus turned into a character with scars and deep wounds. There have been lots of inventions, ceaseless shocks and inappropriate impulses on the system and right now we have reached a crisis. The system is on the verge of collapsing. (...)"
The official claims it is because of the lacking national strategy and he argues: "A national system involves millions of people. Almost a half of Romania's population is one way or the other involved in the education system: students, parents, teachers and businessmen".
M.S.
Ziua Marti 18 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
The official claims it is because of the lacking national strategy and he argues: "A national system involves millions of people. Almost a half of Romania's population is one way or the other involved in the education system: students, parents, teachers and businessmen".
M.S.
Ziua Marti 18 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
BOR to meet with CNSAS
CNSAS (National Council for Research on the Communist Secret Service Archive) member Laurentiu Tanase is to meet with His Beatitude Daniel, a Patriarch of the BOR (Romanian Orthodox Church) on Wednesday and talk about the questioning of the high clergy.
Because several BOR representatives refused to undergo questioning by the CNSAS members, the latter institution assigned Laurentiu Tanase to talk to the Romanian Patriarch about it. The CNSAS official mentions "there is a negative media image because of a seeming conflict between the CNSAS and the BOR". He argues that all the CNSAS members do is apply the law, as no professional category is above the law.
The BOR announced last week the start of checks on the clergy's activity under the Communist regime to be proceeded to by the committee the Holy Synod established. The outcome of the checks is to be released the following months.
C.A.
Ziua Marti 18 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
Monday, September 17, 2007
* ROMANIA's WONDERS *
The Adamclisi Monument - It was build between 106-109 as ordred the Roman Emperor Traian, to commemorate the Roman Victory of 102 Year against the dacians (The inhabitants of ancient Romania)
Our Putin
Ex President Emil Constantinescu opines that President Basescu is guiding Romania to the Russian pattern, but behaving like "a political jester", in spite of being "a mere clown" in the hands of the secret services.
In his latest interview to Mediafax, the ex President talks about the similarities between the two heads of state: attempt to consolidate personal power in disfavor of democratic institutions, categorization of oligarchs in bad and good. Putin saw that Hodorkovski was arrested, Berezovki was exiled, and the Romanian President saw that Dinu Patriciu was investigated and arrested, in his attempt to put pressure on adversaries Adrian Nastase and Miron Mitrea.
And there are more points in common: the fight against corruption as pretext to make use of obedient prosecutors to eliminate those in competition against friends:Deripraska, Abramovici, Medvedev for the Russian President, and the Golden Blitz group together with the Bittner, Udrea, Cocos and Casuneanu group in Basescu's case. And there are also the conflicts against the Parliament and the independent press.
Putin consolidated his power by making use of the young generation in the secret services. President Basescu too tried to consolidate the services' power by promoting a set of national security laws. Putin has decided on elections for the Russian Parliament when his party, "United Russia", enjoys 45-52% in polls. The Romanian Presidents wants early elections at times when the Democrat Party has got 40-45% in polls.
The difference between the Russian pattern and the Romanian one is that Basescu is but "a mere clown in the hands of the secret services and he was elected because he can be manipulated". The ex President argues: "There emerges the difference between authentic and caricature". (...)
D.I.
Ziua Luni 17 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
Mocking politics
The representation of Romanians' interests in the Parliament isn't worth a penny in the eye of many political leaders in Romania. They only care about direct and uncontrolled access to power and about favoring their own clientele networks and groups of interests. These are not mere critical opinions, as they rely on available data, such as politicians' attendance and activity in Parliament sessions. A recent report by the Public Policy Institute unveils those politicians most fond of playing truant when the Parliament is to vote: Ion Iliescu, Adrian Nastase, Mircea Geoana, Crin Antonescu, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, George Copos and Viorel Hrebenciuc. In other words, ex Romanian presidents, PMs and vice PMs, ex and present presidents of parliamentary parties and leaders of some parliamentary groups. Some of them are worn out, skeptical and even morally exhausted politicians. Although Ion Iliescu and Adrian Nastase are still trying to make some things change in the PSD (Social-Democrat Party), not even the party branches are putting up with them now and they have even threatened to expel them if they oppose the bill against the Tariceanu Cabinet.
Some are still in politics because they haven't lost the skill, if they have ever been skilled in some field. They are parasites in the Parliament, they don't care about the laws voted there, since they no longer take pains at voting. Even if they made it to the Parliament due to polls for common lists, the way they vote or if they vote is known anyway. I am really curious if the uninominal vote system manages to eliminate some of the top truants from the Parliament. If electors know the elected don't even care about attending the voting, they won't vote for them, naturally.
Political despecializing is not parliamentary parties' monopoly. Maybe a word such as "despecializing" lacks descriptive accuracy, because it involves previous specializing, which is not the case many a time. Some months ago I talked to the leaders of fields in a non-parliamentary party and I could see they didn't even know a political party dealt with political activities. They didn't know about political parties' functions, but they did politics. If ever reaching the Parliament, the poor them won't even be in trouble, since well-known politicians from parliamentary parties are no better. The most illustrative examples come from the PSD and the PNL (National Liberal Party), As they are unable to analyze and elaborate political and electoral strategies all by themselves, these parties' leaders paid some foreign advisers and companies much money. The outcome was disastrous, although the respective foreign advisers can't be said to be as amateurish as their clients. They are not amateurish, but they are unable to understand the state of things in Romanian politics.
A requirement such as professionalism is actually useless in Romanian politics. How can one ask for professionalism, since in Romania we can't get rid of the "it works so too" syndrome ? It will "work so too" until the electorate realizes it too. But the electors will have to prove better skill in politics than the ones they elect in order for this happen. This is a vicious circle. But, just as in logic, in politics the solution can consist but in the solving of aporias and dilemmas. Or we will have mocking politics forever.
Dan Pavel
Ziua Luni 17 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
Criminal cases loom
According to the leaders of the PC (Conservative Party), the DNA (National Anti-Corruption Department) is going to start an aggressive campaign for the time preceding the election of MEPs. The campaign is said to be against government members and representatives of parties in the opposition, meant to intimidate the adversaries of Traian Basescu and the PD (Democrat Party).
The PC has mentioned by press release: "The DNA is going to take action against some government members in the next two weeks. The pension raise has brought more points to the President's adversaries and Traian Basescu his adversaries to be perceived as corrupted before the campaign for the election of MEPs in Romania".
The party headed by Dan Voiculescu argues that the DNA, an institution ruled by Daniel Morar, pursues to establish a political balance to favor the PD before the election of MEPs.Razvan Gheorghe
Ziua Luni 17 Septembrie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
Sunday, September 16, 2007
* Sunday Fun *
* First taste of sex *
A young man goes to a whorehouse to expierence his first taste of sex.
The madam suggests that he start with 69. He decides to give it a try.
The prostitute leads him to a room, gets undressed, and instructs the young man to eat her pussy. Unfortunately, just as he starts she farts.
The young man quietly says to himself, "phew", but he goes down on her again.
A moment later she farts again. He says "phew", but continues.
Once more she farts. This time he immediately gets up and starts walking out. She asks him what's wrong, and he replies "I don't think I can take another 66 of those !"
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* Relationship secrets *
1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home, who cooks from time to time, cleans up and has a job.
2. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.
3. It's important to have a woman who you can trust and who doesn't lie to you.
4. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed and who likes to be with you.
5. It's very, very important that these four women don't know each other.
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* Super Market mistake *
This guy is in line at the Super Market when he notices a hot blonde behind him has just raised her hand and smiled hello to him.
He is stunned that such a hottie would be waving to him, and although familiar he can't place where he might know her from, so he says "sorry do you know me ?"
She replies "I maybe mistaken, but I thought you might be the father of one of my children !"
His mind shoots back to the one and only time he has been unfaithful, "Christ !" he says "are you that stripper at my bachelor party that I had on the pool table in front of all my friends, while your partner whipped me with some wet celery and stuck a cucumber up my ass ?"
"No" she replies, "I'm your son's English Teacher"…
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* Camel time *
There was a tour bus in Egypt that stopped in the middle of a town square.
The tourists are all shopping at the little stands surrounding the square.
One tourist looks at his watch, but it is broken, so he leans over to a local who is squatted down next to his camel. "What time is it, sir ?"
The local reaches out and softly cups the camel's genitals in his hand, and raises them up and down.
"It's about 2:00", he says.
The tourist can't believe what he just saw.
He runs back to the bus, and sure enough, it is 2:00. He tells a few of the fellow tourists his story,
"The man can tell the time by the weight of the camel's genitals !"
One of the doubting tourists walks back to the local and asks him the time, the same thing happens !! It is 2:05.p.m.
He runs back to tell the story. Finally, the bus driver wants to know how it is done.
He walks over and asks the local how he knows the time from the camel's genitals.
The local says "Sit down here and grab the camel's genitals". "Now, lift them up in the air.
Now, look underneath them to the other side of the courtyard, where that clock is hanging on the wall"….
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* Castrated *
- "Doc", says Steve, "I want to be castrated".
- "What on earth for ?" asks the doctor in amazement.
- "It's something I've been thinking about for a long time and I want to have it done" replies Steve.
- "But have you thought it through properly ?" asks the doctor, "It's a very serious operation and once it's done, there's no going back. It will change your life forever !"
- "I'm aware of that and you're not going to change my mind -- either you book me in to be castrated or I'll simply go to another doctor".
- "Well, OK.", says the doctor, "But it's against my better judgment !"
So Steve has his operation, and the next day he is up and walking very slowly, legs apart, down the hospital corridor with his drip stand. Heading towards him is another patient, who is walking exactly the same way.
- "Hi there," says Steve, "It looks as if you've just had the same operation as me".
- "Well", said the patient, "I finally decided after 37 years of life that I would like to be circumcised".
Steve stared at him in horror and screamed, "Shit ! THAT'S the word !”
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* Old lover *
At 85 years of age, Morris married Lou Anne, a lovely 25 year old.
Since her new husband is so old, Lou Anne decides that after their wedding she and Morris should have separate bedrooms, because she is concerned that her new but aged husband may overexert himself if they spend the entire night together.
After the wedding festivities Lou Anne prepares herself for bed and the expected "knock" on the door. Sure enough the knock comes, the door opens and there is Morris, her 85 year old groom ready for action. They unite as one.
All goes well, Morris takes leave of his bride, and she prepares to go to sleep. After a few minutes, Lou Anne hears another knock on her bedroom door, and it's Morris. Again he is ready for more "action".
Somewhat surprised, Lou Anne consents for more coupling. When the newlyweds are done, Morris kisses his bride, bids her a fond goodnight and leaves.
She is set to go to sleep again, but, aha you guessed it, Morris is back again, rapping on the door, and is as fresh as a 25-year-old, ready for more "action". And, once again they enjoy each other.
But as Morris gets set to leave again, his young bride says to him, "I am thoroughly impressed that at your age you can perform so well and so often. I have been with guys less than a third of your age who were only good once. You are truly a great lover, Morris".
Morris, somewhat embarrassed, turns to Lou Anne and says: "You mean I was here already ?"
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* Tax Return *
There was a man who computed his taxes for 2005 & found that he owed $3407. He packaged up his payment and included this letter:
Dear IRS:
Enclosed is my 2005 Tax Return & payment. Please take note of the attached article from the USA Today newspaper. In the article, you will see that the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat.
Please find enclosed four toilet seats (value $2400) and six hammers (value $1029).
This brings my total payment to $3429.00. Please note the overpayment of $22.00 and apply it to the "Presidential Election Fund", as noted on my return. Might I suggest you the send the above mentioned fund a "1.5 inch screw". (See attached article... HUD paid $22.00 for a 1.5 inch Phillips Head Screw).
It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year. I just saw an article about the Pentagon and "screwdrivers".
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