The Blackhawks' crisis; Dave Attell; Amy Winehouse; and the best horror TV shows ever made
We're back at it, with a variety of topics to cover.
Hi there. I’m back, My apologies for the delay in files. Had a bit of a tough time getting past the one-year anniversary of my mom’s death. Still have trouble with it. But that’s a column for another day. It’s already Wednesday! There’s something to be happy for. Let’s hit you with some links, a song, and a great comedian you may not have heard of.
– The Chicago Blackhawks are mired in a scandal of their own making, and although it has already resulted in notable hockey men losing their jobs – including now-former GM Stan Bowman and former vice-president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac – there’s no sense the independent legal investigation into sexual abuse allegations and an alleged cover-up is going to put this situation to rest. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman soon will interview former Hawks employees Kevin Cheveldayoff and Joel Quenneville, and Bettman must determine whether there is call for one or both of them to be lose their livelihoods for the way in which they dealt (or, indeed, what they didn’t do) with a whistleblower.
It says here the league must send an extremely strong message on this front, and what they’ve done up until now – most notably, a $2 million fine to the Hawks organization – is not going to be enough to satisfy critics. Bettman and his employers, the team owners, must move quickly to address Quenneville and Cheveldayoff’s status. The game has to get to a point where anyone and everyone has a right to basic personal safety – safety from the predators that pockmark the sport’s image. They’re clearly not at that point at the moment.
– As you probably know by now, I enjoy stand-up comedy. It also brings me joy to introduce people to the amazing comedians I’ve been lucky enough to see over the years. Today, I’d like you to get to know the legend Dave Attell.
If you haven’t heard of him, you’re in for a treat. Attell has perfected his personal brand of stand-up, with a cadence that’s all his own, and a work ethic that keeps him on the road, when he probably could coast on his many achievements for a little bit.
Really, you can’t go wrong with any of Attell’s work. Here’s a good starter point:
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Attell is a comic’s comic for good reason: working stand-ups recognize his constant stream of new material, and he’s an original through and through. If he’s playing a comedy club near you, don’t miss him.
– Song of the Day: Amy Winehouse, “Love Is A Losing Game”. Winehouse’s death at age 27 is still a tragedy. She left all kinds of classics for us, but this one is my favorite.
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If you’ve seen the 2015 documentary “Amy”, you’ll know what a sweet soul Winehouse was. And every year that passes adds to her already considerable legend.
– It’s almost Halloween, and since I’ve already ranked the best horror films ever made, let’s switch it up a smidge and rate the best horror TV shows of all time. In reverse order:
5. Chernobyl. It might not be everyone’s familiar idea of a horror series, but make no mistake, this HBO 2019 production is absolutely petrifying. The boogeyman here isn’t a person, but rather, it is the spectre of death-by-radiation in the wake of the 1986 nuclear power plant disaster in Ukraine.
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Series star Jared Harris shines as a nuclear physicist called on by the Soviet Union to contain the meltdown, and his clear sense of dread rubs off on the audience. After watching the five episodes of the series, you’ll never look the same way at a nuclear power plant again.
4. The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. This series, ostensibly, a kids’ show that aired in Southern Ontario in the early 1970s, scared the daylights out of me when I first saw it. Not every scene was horrific – many scenes were quite funny in the hands of series star Billy Van – but his characters like The Librarian:
and Grizelda The Ghastly Gourmet:
were terrifying to me. This series also had the icon Vincent Price
at the start and finish of every one of the show’s 130 episodes. The series can still be seen on Canadian streaming channel Crave TV, and if you want to see a tripping-balls, Canadian take on the horror genre in general, you should check this one out. Here, I’ll start you on Episode 1:
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3. Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The legendary British director produced 363 episodes of TV in the decade his series aired. Virtually every one of those episodes is high-quality, and leaves the audience with unforgettable images and stories:
The series also had astonishingly excellent talent, with Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Walter Matthau, Bette Davis and Vincent Price making appearances over the years.
Hitchcock always had something sinister boiling under the surface of his stories, and that constant feeling of unease and/or sheer terror he conjured is part of what makes his legacy so vibrant. Few, if any auteurs before Hitchcock or after him had his singular vision of what horror could be, and nobody did more to shake the eye of the imagination.
2. Black Mirror. A dystopian future is almost always the setting for this British-made anthology series. But creator Charlie Brooker’s brand of horror is more psychological than gore-fest, and he uses a star-studded cast (including Jon Hamm, Miley Cyrus, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Jesse Plemons) to slowly but steadily unnerve viewers.
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There have been five seasons – some smaller than others – of Black Mirror, and as of now, it doesn’t seem like there will be a sixth season. Brooker and co-producer Annabel Jones have parted ways with the production company attached to the series, and there have been no reports Brooker and Jones are in the process of filming a new season. But they’ve given us approximately 20 episodes of Grade-A horror.
1. The Twilight Zone. Creator Rod Serling earned his fame with this enduring look at the strange, suspicious and often, surreal world of the modern age.
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Many of The Twilight Zone’s episodes are classic works of horror, and, as with Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the black-and-white palette adds gravitas to each show. And, of course, Serling’s personality marks it with all seriousness. Serling treated every episode as if it were true, and he convinced the audience to suspend their disbelief along with him. Almost everyone did, and was highly entertained for it.
– And that’s that. Thanks for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed this, and you choose to subscribe for more where that came from:
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