Other number ones for the week of 9/22-9/28/08
The #1 movie over the past weekend (9/19-9/21) was Neil LaBute’s latest movie, Lakeview Terrace. The movie came in with $15,004,672 in its first weekend…which for a movie being released in September is pretty good. I was actually looking forward to this movie for several weeks based on the trailers, but when I saw that LaBute was directing, I got even more excited (he is the director of some very provocative movies like 1997’s In the Company of Men, 1998’s Your Friends & Neighbors, 2000’s Nurse Betty, and 2003’s The Shape of Things. I’m trying to forgive him for 2002’s boring Gwyneth Paltrow movie Possession though.) Samuel L. Jackson is one bad mutha (shut yo mouth!) that you don’t want to mess with…especially when he is a police officer who doesn’t agree with the lifestyle of his new interracial neighbors, played by Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington. My girlfriend thought that Jackson was the most evil villain she has ever seen him play (has she ever seen Jules Winnfield from 1994’s Pulp Fiction?) I wouldn’t go that far, but he did command the screen. I highly recommend it.
The #1 TV program, according to the Nielsen Ratings for the week of 9/15/08-9/21/08, was still NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” Normally, I would scan the rest of the top 10 for the show that I do like, and it’s usually NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” but FOX’s “House,” the Emmy Awards, and FOX’s “Fringe” are three other things I enjoy (or I want to enjoy) that got higher ratings than that Jerry Springer-hosted show. I haven’t watched my recordings of both “House” and “Fringe” yet (though I just found out that the Parents Television Council has denounced “Fringe” as the worst show of the week because of excessive violence and gore…now I really want to watch my tape!) I will get to the Emmys in a sec, but let’s get to the seventh highest rated show of the week…Wednesday’s “AGT3.” This week we cut the finalists down to five, which meant some of my favorites were let go. Paul Salos, the Frank Sinatra impersonator, said his last goodbye, and cute little 4-year-old Kaitlyn Maher performed for the last time. I never thought that Maher was going to win, but she was just so darn adorable! I was glad to see Joseph Hall, the “young Elvis” impersonator, leave the building finally. I love Elvis, but an Elvis impersonator winning the chance to be showcased in Las Vegas? How clichéd is that? (Okay…a Sinatra impersonator is a little clichéd as well…but Salos had class!) Onto the Emmys…which I didn’t think were too bad as a show. I loved the little fake tiff that Ricky Gervais had with Steve Carell, the Josh Groban TV theme medley, and the reality host competition where we would find out the results…after the break. I could kick myself concerning FX’s “Damages” and AMC’s “Mad Men,” because I stopped watching them after a few episodes. They just didn’t hold my attention, and now they are winning Emmys. I’m happily surprised that Bryan Cranston won for AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” His portrayal of a brave, cancer-stricken high school science teacher making meth to raise money for his family was probably one of the most impressive 180-degree performances I have seen an actor do since Michael Chiklis did it on FX’s “The Shield.” Chiklis first came to fame playing the balding police commissioner who used humor and creativity to fight crime in ABC’s “The Commish.” His Emmy-winning character Vic Mackey on “The Shield,”…a corrupt cop who uses illegal force to beat the criminals up and pad his own pockets financially in the process…came a few years (and a few hair follicles) later. Cranston first rose to fame playing the clueless dad on FOX’s “Malcolm in the Middle“…and now to see him play a serious character involved in illegal activities (who is also bald, at least by the end of the first season) is remarkable.
The #1 Fiction book according to the New York Times Bestseller Lists is Anathem by Neal Stephenson, and the #1 Non-Fiction book for a second week is Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman.