Friday, January 14, 2011

Friday Free-for-All: Jay Mohr's Action on media violence

Back in 1999, there was a short-lived TV series on Fox called Action, which followed the exploits of Hollywood action producer Peter Dragon, played by Jay Mohr. It's often remembered as brilliant, and though that might be a slightly-too-generous recollection, it was frequently funny and had some sharp Hollywood satire that hadn't yet been beaten into the ground. Alas, it was a series probably better suited for HBO and it lasted barely half a season. It's probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that it paved the way for series like Entourage.

This is perhaps my favorite scene from the series, where Peter Dragon is hauled before a Senate hearing on media violence - perhaps the only location in the country where the oily producer might find himself out-sleazed by his company. When a politician tries to score some easy points against him, Peter fights back by saying what any creative person in Hollywood wishes they could say to these scumbag grandstanders who are more concerned about the damage inflicted by fake guns than real guns.

2 comments:

  1. Great scene!
    Shame this series didn't last.

    Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have an unrelated question.

    When I write I try to ferret out orphan sentences. You know:

    xxxxx xxxxxx xx xxxxx x xxxxx xxxxx
    orphan.

    Where the text wraps around for just one word. It helps save space, plus it's kind of annoying.

    However, I know readers want to get down the page, so is it annoying to find many end-to-end single sentences.

    xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx.

    Then dialog.

    xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx.

    And another long, single line description. Couplets look nicer on the page.

    xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxx,
    xxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx x xxxxxxx xxxxxx.

    Or am I oversensitive since it's not something anyone even gives a second thought? Readers are notorious for their trivial complaints.

    ReplyDelete