Otherwise Known As Kevin Miller (XI)

If you only watch one TV show this year...

Make it Breaking Bad. I happened across the first season's pilot episode last year and was utterly blown away. And believe it or not, things only got better from there. Kudos to show creator Vince Gilligan and crew for making it safe to watch TV again. My only regret is that they never got a chance to finish out the season due to the writer's strike. Stupid screenwriters...

I'm not usually one to rave about TV shows, but I've badgered, cajoled and annoyed pretty much everyone I know into watching this one. I realize a story about a high school chemistry teacher who decides to cook meth in order to fund his cancer treatments doesn't sound like it could possibly have any redeeming qualities. And maybe it doesn't. But it's certainly a fun ride while it lasts.

The new season starts this Sunday night at 10:00 (9:00 Central). Here's a brief recap of season one to whet your appetite:

They've killed before, and they'll kill again...

Here's a trailer for a made-for-TV movie called Toxic Skies that a friend of mine just co-produced. Starring Anne Heche, the film was inspired by the Chem Trails conspiracy theory, which holds that some jet contrails (the vapor trails the form behind jets at high altitudes) are actually toxic chemicals deliberately sprayed at high altitude for an undisclosed but presumably sinister purpose. The film has already aired in Australia, and it should be firing the imaginations of conspiracy buffs in North America and Europe later this year. Have a look:

Update March 11, 2009: The producers of the film just put up an official web site.

Update March 6, 2009: I just heard from one of the co-producers who said they're already receiving e-mails warning them not to air the show in the US. Other people are already assuming that it hasn't aired yet in the US b/c dark forces are trying to suppress it. Fun stuff. Just goes to show you can't keep a good conspiracy down!

Any Smallville Fans Out There?

If so, you may want to keep an eye out for yours truly on this week's episode, which airs Thursday night. It's called "Requiem," and I'm almost 100 percent certain I did not end up on the cutting room floor. Unfortunately, I won't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing until I see the final result for myself.

Nightline story is now online

Last week, ABC's Nightline aired a story about Hakani, a film about infanticide amongst Brazil's indigenous tribes that I worked on earlier this year. They've just made the full story available online. Check it out for yourself.

Set your PVR on "record"

On Wednesday, September 24, ABC television's Nightline will feature a story about infanticide amongst Brazil's indigenous tribes. The issue was brought to their attention by the controversy surrounding the film Hakani, which I worked on earlier this year. Some reporters from Nightline traveled down to Brazil to interview government officials, indigenous people and some of the people we worked with when we were down there. I have no idea what angle they're going to take on the story, but don't bother trying to call me while the show is on.

Roger Friedman shows his true colors

Despite Ben Stein's long history as a commentator on Fox News, reviewer Roger Friedman has launched a personal attack against Ben Stein in his scathing review of Expelled.

Although Friedman's review was meant to discredit Stein and the movie, I think his effort to remove the splinter from Ben's "clear eyes" merely revealed the enormous log in his own. This was most notable in the postscript Friedman added to the review:

PS: Following "The Passion" release pattern, "Expelled" will open wide on the 18th, but mostly in rural and poor neighborhoods. It’s got just one theater in all of New York City, in Times Square, none in places like Beverly Hills or wealthier, better-educated urban neighborhoods where more "evolved" people might live.

In a throwback to the Social Darwinist ideas of the nineteenth century, Friedman seems to be suggesting that people who are poor and lack a higher education are less evolved than those who can afford to go to school. My guess is, the majority of the people in these "less evolved" neighborhoods to which Friedman refers are people of color. So what is Friedman really saying here? Sounds to me like he may have spent a little too much time imbibing Darwin's The Descent of Man. Perhaps I'd better add my own postscript to this post:

P.S. I doubt Friedman is a racist, but he's certainly an elitist.

Ben Stein on Larry King Live tonight!

This could get messy. Here's the show description from King's web site: "Political hot topics! No opinion off-limits!! No telling who'll say what!!! Fran Drescher, Kal Penn, Penn Jillette, Sean Astin, Bradley Whitford, Ben Stein and Stephanie Miller mix it up! Tune in -- and watch out!!" 9:00EST, 6:00PT.

Something you may want to watch tonight

It's called Judgement Day, a two-hour episode of NOVA that looks at the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. If you can't catch it tonight, a transcript of the show will be available on the PBS web site 2-3 weeks from now.

Something else of interest that you may want to look at is an online interview with Phil Johnson, the grandfather of the Intelligent Design movement. He was interviewed for Judgement Day. We also interviewed him for expelled. I think this interview does a great job of presenting the case for ID and explaining where these guys are really coming from. It will likely be a good counterbalance to the negative portrayal of ID that I am anticipating in the NOVA piece.

May the Worst Man Win

I have something to confess: My wife and I pay for a deluxe cable package each month, but we actually watch very little TV. In fact, the only show we do watch regularly is, you guessed it, American Idol. I used to be ashamed to admit that. However, seeing as it's the most popular show on TV, I think a lot of you also share my guilty pleasure.

Lately things have taken a terrible turn on Idol. In case you don't recognize the smiling young man in this picture, that's Sanjaya Malakar, scourge of Idol fans everywhere. Despite a horrible singing voice and a fashion meter that is permanently stuck on "poodle," the guy consistently emerges unscathed from over 30 million voters each week who, if they had any sense, would have booted him off the show the first chance they got.

Heidi and I have been tearing our hair out as we've watched one contestant after another get eliminated while Sanjaya continues to sit in the back row grinning through it all, secretly realizing that he could probably shave his head and perform in a sequined bra and matching g-string and still not wind up in the bottom three. What's going wrong?

Well, the mystery is solved. This morning, I did a little digging and turned up a web site called votefortheworst.com. Turns out this group of merry pranksters are attempting to harness the masses in their bid to undercut the entire Idol voting process by voting for the worst contestants rather than the best. Why are they doing this? Here's the explanation from their web site:

Votefortheworst.com was started in 2004 to support voting for the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol. Why do we do it? During the initial auditions, the producers of Idol only let certain people through. Many good people are turned away and many bad singers are kept around to see Simon, Paula, and Randy so that America will be entertained.

Now why do the producers do this? It's simple: American Idol is not about singing at all, it's about making good reality TV and enjoying the cheesy, guilty pleasure of watching bad singing. We agree that a fish out of water is entertaining, and we want to acknowledge this fact by encouraging people to make an even funnier show by helping the amusing antagonists stick around. VFTW sees keeping these contestants around as a golden opportunity to make a funnier show.Votefortheworst.com was started in 2004 to support voting for the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol. Why do we do it? During the initial auditions, the producers of Idol only let certain people through. Many good people are turned away and many bad singers are kept around to see Simon, Paula, and Randy so that America will be entertained.

It's simple: American Idol is not about singing at all, it's about making good reality TV and enjoying the cheesy, guilty pleasure of watching bad singing. We agree that a fish out of water is entertaining, and we want to acknowledge this fact by encouraging people to make an even funnier show by helping the amusing antagonists stick around. VFTW sees keeping these contestants around as a golden opportunity to make a funnier show.

How can you argue with that logic? I don't know about you, but my feelings toward Sanjaya are beginning to change. He still irritates the crap out of me, but suddenly I'm seeing him as the new poster boy for people power. If the Internet can harness the masses to sabotage the voting process on the most-watched television show in America, just think what it could do in a real world situation. Perhaps Al Gore has a legitimate shot at the White House after all. I'm sure he's already organizing his own "vote for the worst" presidential campaign. In fact, maybe he's the one behind the whole Sanjaya debacle. It could just be his test run...

But back to more important matters: Can Sanjaya win American Idol? Suddenly that's looking like a real possibility. After all, votefortheworst claims to be responsible for Taylor Hicks' victory last year. And if Sanjaya does win, what will that mean for the show? Simon Cowell, my favorite Idol judge, has already gone on record saying he'll quit if Sanjaya wins. I think I would do the same, because suddenly the entire process will have been rendered meaningless. Will I quit watching the show? That's an open question as well. For now, I'm just curious to see how this entire experiment pans out.

Catchin' Flak

No doubt, you've heard the controversy surrounding ABC's upcoming mini-series The Path to 9/11, which was directed by my friend David L. Cunningham. The criticisms sound like a lot of political posturing to me, seeing as no one but the producers have actually seen the final cut. However, if you want to read some comments in defense of the series from David and the writer-producer, I encourage you to visit this blog. As David says in one of his comments, "Watch the movie! Then let’s talk. If you haven’t seen the movie with your very own eyes -- don’t castigate it out of ignorance."