Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) None Too Happy about MTV’s New Reality Show, “Buckwild” … described as “The Jersey Shore of Appalachia”

WOW, the folks at MTV are not too original now are they? MTV’s next venture in the realm of cheap and exploitative reality show that will make fun of West Virginia called “Buckwild”. Like that is new and original. It has been describes as ‘The Jersey Shore” of reality shows. Great. The show will just be an exploitation and play to the stereo-types that people already have of West Virginia  Needless to say, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is none too happy about it. I cannot say I blame him. It probably won’t take one episode before they make an incestuous cousin joke.

Trailer – Buckwild … Honestly, just watching this will cause you to lose brain cells

The show is scheduled to debut next month and follows a group of nine twenty-somethings living in and around Sissonville, W.Va., a town of just 4,000 residents. The program has been described as “The ‘Jersey Shore’ of Appalachia,” referring to the now-canceled reality show that earned the ire of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and state lawmakers.

In the case of “Buckwild,” Manchin said he’s only seen previews for the show — but that the teases that staffers showed him were enough to compel him to send a letter Friday to MTV President Stephen Friedman asking that the network “put a stop to the travesty called ‘Buckwild.’”

A disgusted Joe Manchin went on to further say, “Instead of showcasing the beauty of our people and our state, you preyed on young people, coaxed them into displaying shameful behavior — and now you are profiting from it. That is just wrong.” Sadly, that is what TV programming has become. Even more pathetic, that is what I guess most Americans want to see as if there was no market for these ignorant, exploitative shows that thrive on the misfortune, making fun of and stereotypes … there would be no more of the foolish reality shows. Thus in the end, it is not MTV that is to blame, it is the people who actually tune in.

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, August 22, 2012 – NBC Ratings in the Tank Again After Olympics

• Viewer boost from Olympics is short lived. ABC’s Good Morning America beat the Today Show last week, right after the Olympics concluded

  Daily Commentary – Wednesday, August 22, 2012 Download

Veteran Hollywood Film & Broadway Actor Ben Gazzara Dies of Pancreatic Cancer at Age 81

Another Hollywood and Broadway icon has passed away … Ben Gazzara, Rest in Peace. 

Ben Gazzara, best known for his collaborations with director John Cassavetes, has died at the age of 81 from pancreatic cancer. As reported by NBC, Gazzara fittingly died the same day that Cassavetes did more than twenty years ago. Gazzara had a 60 year acting career on statge, film and TV. The veteran actor appeared in more than 100 film and TV movies.  Gazzara is survived by his third wife Elke Stuckmann, their daughter, and an adopted daughter as well as Gazarra’s brother, Anthony.

Ben Gazzara in “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.”

Ben Gazzara: 1930 – 2012 … Rest in Peace

From the NY Times:

Ben Gazzara, an intense actor whose long career included playing Brick in the original “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, roles in influential films by John Cassavetes and work with several generations of top Hollywood directors, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 81.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, his lawyer, Jay Julien, said. Mr. Gazzara lived in Manhattan.

Mr. Gazzara studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in Manhattan, where the careers of stars like Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger were shaped, and like them he had a visceral presence. It earned him regular work across half a century, not only onstage — his last Broadway appearance was in the revival of “Awake and Sing!” in 2006 — but in dozens of movies and all sorts of television shows, including the starring role in the 1960s series “Run for Your Life.”

How could the New York Times not mentioned ‘Road House’ with Patrick Swayze in their list of movie appearances?

IMBb – Ben Gazzara’s film career.

Great obit at the LA Times.