CityCynic.com

Cynicism has been taken a lot of high-profile hits lately.

Late night talk show host Conan O’Brien, who certainly could have become cynical after the way he was treated by NBC, mentioned cynicism during his final show:

“All I ask of you, especially young people…is one thing. Please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen.”

Now, being a self-proclaimed CityCynic, I feel I have to explain that being cynical doesn’t always just mean becoming jaded. O’Brien was right on with his statement. In life, you don’t always get what you want and reacting to that by thinking that nothing will ever go right is absolutely the wrong way to live.

But being cynical doesn’t necessarily mean you think nothing will ever go right. Cynicism is actually about having a healthy skepticism of certain institutions that society leads you to believe can be trust unconditionally.

“Trust No One.” That was what the poster said on Fox Mulder’s office wall on The X-Files. Now, David Duchovny’s character certainly had valid reasons not to trust anyone and perhaps what he demonstrated was the jaded brand of cynicism Conan O’Brien called out on his final show.

Luckily, most people don’t live a life that would provoke such a severely negative reaction. And even with the entire federal government after him, Mulder still was able to find that “The Truth is Out There” and to say “I Want to Believe.”

And that’s the flipside to cynicism, the idea that while you can’t always believe everything that is presented to you and that doing so might actually endanger your life MUST be balanced by the struggle to discern the truth and the goodness in life from all the distractions that are in the way.

Separating the proverbial wheat from the chaff enables the value of cynicism to emerge. Cynicism can be used as a tool to navigate life. It’s all about how you use it, of course.

American playright Lillian Hellman put it this way:

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

Cynicism is just a way to get at the truth. Many people would rather avoid the truth in certain situations because sometimes it might be easier to just pretend everything is okay even when’s it not. But being oblivious to the truth or ignorant of a situation because you want to avoid it can’t be a healthy way to get through each day.

And lastly, I just want to say that cynicism is not the opposite of optimism. I can see that it may be easy to draw that comparison because a lot of being cynical can often be construed as being negative or pessimistic. That couldn’t be further from the truth in my experience.

I suppose cynicism used improperly can be no better than being pessimistic, however when it is used properly as a tool to navigate through your life, it can help you to hold on to optimism because once you see how things really are, you are able to adapt and thrive.

And isn’t that really what Conan was really getting at? Members of Team Conan would certainly hope their favorite talk show host will see through the nonsense Conan was presented with by NBC so that he can adapt and thrive on another network.

So don’t be negative and jaded, but don’t be ignorant or ignore the truth either. Take the time to investigate life so that you can live a better one.

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The Jay Leno Show (airing at 10pm weeknights) will go on hiatus on Feb 1 and Jay Leno will return to 11:30pm weeknights after the Olympics end, according to a report on TMZ.

NBC is moving Jay Leno back to 11:30. What about Conan? (Photo credit TMZ.)

NBC experimented with a late night comedy show before the local news in order to save money and because they really didn’t have anything besides Southland to put on at 10pm. (And we all remember how that turned out.)

The move to 10pm proved to be a poor lead-in to the local newscasts, prompting stations to complain about The Jay Leno Show experiment being a ratings disaster.

NBC hasn’t yet announced exactly how they’re going to be able to put Jay back at 11:30 since Conan O’Brien has been in that time zone since he took over The Tonight Show from Leno. It would likely go the way of one of these possible scenarios:

1. NBC moves The Jay Leno Show to 11:30, but shortens it to a half hour and then runs The Tonight Show at 12:00 and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 1am.
2. NBC moves The Jay Leno Show to 11:30-12:00 and also shortens The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien to a half hour from 12:00-12:30. Jimmy’s show stays the same, cause everyone’s already sleeping anyway.
3. NBC moves The Jay Leno Show to the 11:30-12:30 slot and Conan’s Tonight Show moves to 12:30-1:30. (This is probably the least likely scenario, since Conan fought for years to get the 11:30 slot and would almost definitely not go back to 12:30 on NBC.)
4. NBC gives The Tonight Show back to Jay Leno and Conan gets the $50 million buyout in his contract and is free to entertain offers for the 11:30pm slot on ABC or FOX.

You’d have to figure that if scenario #4 happens ABC would jump at grabbing Conan for 11:30 and push Jimmy Kimmel back to 12:30 to compete with NBC and CBS. Conan – Kimmel? I would so watch that!

And FOX would love to have Conan at 11:30 to have a late night comedy show that would actually COMPETE. (Remember The Magic Johnson Show? Enough said.)

While it remains unclear as to which path the network will take, one thing is crystal clear: NBC doesn’t know what the hell they are doing.

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Alaina Reed, who played friendly neighbor Olivia for 12 years on Sesame Street, passed away from cancer Thursday at the age of 63:

Actress Alaina Reed-Amini, best known for her long-running roles as Olivia Robinson on the children’s program “Sesame Street” and Rose Lee Holloway on the comedy “227,” has died.

Reed-Amini lost a two-year battle with breast cancer at St. John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, on Thursday, according to reports.

Reed-Amini, who changed her named from Alaina Reed Hall after she married Tamim Amini in 2008, turned 63 last month. In 1976 she joined the cast of “Sesame Street” as Olivia, a professional photographer and the kid sister of Gordon the teacher. She left the program in 1988 for a role on the NBC sitcom “227.”

When I heard the news, I didn’t even recognize the name, but then I searched on YouTube and found this video from Sesame Street in the 80’s. All the childhood memories of watching Sesame Street flooded back and I realized that it was Olivia from Sesame Street who had died.

So thanks Alaina, for playing a part in my development during my formative years. You will always have your place on Sesame Street:

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Oddville, MTV ran one season on MTV in 1997.

Every once in a while, I daydream back to a time when MTV didn’t just show music videos, but rather experimented with original talk show programming.

And while I see Tom Green way too much these days to try to limit him to only daydreams, there was a show that pops up from time to time in those aforementioned daydreams: a little show I like to call Oddville, MTV.

Oddville, MTV (1997) was a variety talk show that originated on NYC public access as a show called Beyond Vaudeville (1986-96) and was hosted by Frank Hope (Rich Brown).

The original show featured New York City eccentrics and other real life characters who came on to showcase their “unique” talents. When it was brought to MTV, it went on to include celebrities and eccentric people with special talents from all over the place. Although to be fair, the level of the guests’ talents varied widely — from a nose hummer to a roller skating grandmother to a guy with a third nipple to a bilingual midget.

Frank always had a sidekick named David Greene who would always remain silent throughout the show, never reacting to any of the weird stuff going on in front of him, and sometimes just resembling someone in a catatonic state. Oddville also had a cute announcer named Melissa Gabriel who provided someone that Frank could talk to during the show.

Oh yeah, and Joey the Dancing Monkey.

Here’s how a typical interview segment went on the show, this one featuring the WWE’s Sunny:

Celebrity guests included Kathy Griffin, Blink 182 (one of their first TV performances), Jessica Biel, Reel Big Fish, Sugar Ray, Stephen Baldwin, Kenan and Kel promoting their smash-hit Good Burger, and the U.S. television broadcast debut of a three-brother band known as Hanson:

Whereas I always enjoyed the show for its cheese factor, obviously some people didn’t agree, since the show only lasted one season (episode guide) and inspired negative reviews from viewers like this one:

When I watched the show on MTV, all I saw was the same boring things. There was a host who always acted in a nervous manner, a guy who just sat there and didn’t talk, pointless interviews (the interviews weren’t even interesting because they seemed to be so short), and a bunch of losers being brought out to showcase their talent. I remember seeing a guy do bad impersonations of celebrities while he was laying down on the floor.

But anyway, it’s nice to daydream sometimes and remember a simpler time, like 1997, where bands like the Bloodhound Gang would actually fit in somewhere when performing their song “Why is Everybody Always Picking On Me,” while a dancing monkey and a cute announcer would dance around to the song, as a catatonic co-host and nervous show host looked on:

That was Oddville, MTV.

RELATED: Check out the original 1997 CNN article about the show: ‘Oddville, MTV’ shows off weird things people can do

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Listen along with me as we check out the progression of “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap.

The original:

And then the second chorus was heavily sampled in Jason Derulo’s “Watcha Say”:

And of course “Hide and Seek” made an appearance on Australian Idol in Season 5 by contestant Ben McKenzie:

What really made the song famous was it’s inclusion in a scene of the (now-defunct) teen drama The O.C.:

That inspired a Saturday Night Live Digital Short parody of The O.C. finale, called “Dear Sister”…

Check this out here (it was playing automatically).

And then someone parodied the parody on YouTube:

And then, of course, there are parodies of the parodies and parodies of the parodies of the parodies. And parodies using Lord of the Rings scenes and parodies using The Office, etc.

So what does Imogen Heap think of the sampling, at least in Jason Derulo’s hit version of the song?

She spoke about it recently with the BBC:

Finally, I have to ask you about Jason DeRulo’s single Watcha Say – which samples Hide and Seek. It seems to have split fans right down the middle: Some love what he’s done and others are literally out for his blood. What do you think of it?

I really believe a song has a life of its own, so when I heard his version, I actually thought it was pretty good.

Even the first time? I found it took a bit of getting used to…

First time I heard it, yes. I understand that for some people, it’s their favourite song and it feels like he’s butchered it and butchered their memory of it. But, to me, I’ve heard it in so many contexts – by a choir, by a marching band – I loved that it was completely different.

You just can’t keep a good song down!

Thanks for listening along!

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Sometimes when I walk by my dad sitting on the couch watching TV, I wish he had the game on.

Or maybe more accurately, I wish he called in to me from the other room and asked me if I was going to watch the World Series with him.

Dad and me at the last game at Shea Stadium.

Its a strange position to be in. I mean, my dad is who originally got me into baseball when I was 5.

It was a sunny afternoon in 1985, the Mets were taking on the Cubs, and I was sitting in the upper deck “red seats” at Shea Stadium as airplanes roared overhead.

He could have taken me to a movie. He could have taken me to the local park and pushed me on the swings. But he decided to take me to a baseball game at the age of 5 and that decision has shaped many aspects of my life ever since.

Not only did that $9 ticket and hot dog experience give me an amazing baseball team to root for over all these years in the Mets, but it gave me something I thought would be a common connection between me and my dad.

But that connection isn’t here in 2009 and I don’t know why.

That’s not to say my dad and I don’t discuss baseball. I’ve given him World Series updates throughout the Fall Classic and Mets injury updates throughout the 2009 season. But that’s not the same as experiencing the ups and downs of a game and bonding over trade rumors and the latest stats.

Upper deck seats, 2009.

I don’t really take all of this personally — my dad really doesn’t follow any sports these days. And maybe he never really did. Instead, maybe that day in the mid-80’s wasn’t a vote for baseball, but rather a vote for father-son bonding. I don’t really know, but the effect it had on me is evident in the license plate frame on my car and the multi-pack of Mets tickets I buy and use each season and the drive to visit Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, which I finally accomplished with Melissa at the beginning of October.

It made me a diehard Mets fan — I bleed orange and blue — and I just don’t understand why my dad doesn’t also.

Its not like we don’t have things that we bond over. We can talk Obama and politics like nobodies business. Or bring up a sociological principle evident in today’s society and we’re off running, often talking for hours. Bring up the economy and the pros and cons of the death tax, the rise and the fall of the stock market, and the strength of the dollar are sure to follow. And there are other things we both seem to “get” enough to discuss.

Its just that none of these things are baseball. None of them involve rooting on a team through a 162 game season. None of them involve believing in something so much that not making the playoffs makes you cry.

Goodbye Shea... Thank you!

I know other people’s fathers watch every baseball game they can, the big game every Sunday, and any other assortment of sports events that come along. They curse at the television, throw back a couple beers, and quote baseball history like the gospel.

So yeah, sometimes I wish my dad had the game on.

But maybe, just maybe, our shared baseball experience almost 25 years ago was supposed to be only an example of how much my dad loves me.

And baseball is supposed to be a gift I share and enjoy with others in my life to show them how much I love them. Hey, I like the sound of that.

It sure could have been worse though… he could have taken me to a *gasp* Yankees game all those years ago.

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Al Roker’s Han Solo wig and Ewoks took over the Halloween episode of the Today Show yesterday. Hilarity ensued:

Word is that NBC is considering a spin-off sitcom that would star Al Roker in that wig and the two Ewoks called “Roker’s Star Wars Apartment.” Hell, I would watch that, wouldn’t you?

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NBC has done it again… cancelled a critically-acclaimed drama with a good fan following. The network announced the other day that Southland, which had just five weeks ago been given a second season run, would be cancelled before premiering this season.

The reason: the John Wells (“ER”) produced show has a “dark tone” that wasn’t suitable for the 9′o’clock time slot. What does NBC have on in the 10pm slot? Oh right, 5 nights on the Jay Leno Show, which happens to be bleeding viewers left and right these days, as Jay Leno struggles to get into a groove with his new digs.

The cancellation of Southland brings back all the bad feelings towards NBC that I had when they cancelled The Black Donnelly’s, another critically-acclaimed drama that was beginning to establish a solid fan base, but never got the chance. Starring Olivia Wilde (“House“), the show about an Irish crime family brought a fresh perspective to primetime crime dramas and was the subject of constant discussion and fan promotion on the Internet.

But all of that wasn’t good enough and NBC cancelled the show over the objections of fans and critics alike.

And let’s not forget the Patricia Arquette drama, Medium, which NBC showed to good ratings for years, but then abruptly cancelled. Only to see CBS purchase to solidify its Friday night schedule between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers.

And now it has happened again, although the situation with Southland, a fresh-faced and gritty cop drama staring Benjamin McKenzie, is further complicated by the face that NBC’s reason for cancelling it is NBC’s fault to begin with… that it’s “dark tone” should be shown later on in the night at 10pm. Of course, that’s exactly where NBC stuck the Jay Leno Show EVERY night of the week, preventing them from showing ANY shows with a “dark tone,” viewers would be led to believe.

Except that when you look at other shows on NBC that one might consider to have a dark tone, like Law & Order: Special Victims’ Unit or even the original Law & Order, which NBC scheduled at 9pm and 8pm respectively this season. Are those shows less dark than Southland? They certainly are capable of carrying the same amount of gun use and violence, if losing a bit of their grityness over the years, and NBC hasn’t used the 10pm time slot excuse to pull or otherwise shift the timeslots of those shows, have they?

Upon further review, the cancellation of Southland really comes down to a money play by NBC, steadily running as the fourth-place network these days. Stone Philips’ Dateline is currently in the 9pm slot that was supposed to become home to Southland and has been carrying ratings similar to those of the cop drama’s performance last season.

So why has NBC chosen not to follow their plan if it would get them similarly good ratings with a critically-acclaimed cop drama with a proven ratings past? Well, Southland is produced by Warner Brothers Studios, which would require NBC to pay some hefty licensing fees as part of airing the show.

Basically NBC decided that they’d rather pay less for similiar ratings, damn what the fans of the show think and damn what the critics say.

Not only should NBC be arrested for such a selfish decision, but they deserve the reduced ratings they will get because of it. The much-younger skewing demographics for Southland will not be tuning in for Dateline and will look for another show to follow, preferably on a network not known for cancelling popular shows on their updraft.

At 9pm on Friday night, that might very ironically turn out to be CBS’ Medium. Or maybe ABC’s Ugly Betty. Or the additional viewers may flock to FOX’s Dollhouse, giving the struggling drama the jolt in viewership it might need to be renewed.

Maybe NBC is happy with it’s dueling hospital dramas the network desperately clung too in the absense of John Wells’ ER going off the air. Mercy and Trauma both seem promising scripted vehicles, if not both carrying the same excitement factor. But two hospital dramas on the same network isn’t likely to work for very long. I wonder if NBC realizes that.

Either way, NBC continues in it’s tradition of making stupid decisions that all but guarantee it staying in fourth place. And even Jay Leno can’t help them with that.

RELATED: Southland’s Michael Cudlitz Will Never Work for NBC Again (NY Mag)

ALSO: Solving NBC’s 10PM Problem: Talib Morgan thinks NBC’s best bet is to really mix up their scheduling, with a 12-minute drama.

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Well baseball fans, it’s that time of the year again… the playoffs!

And despite watching my Mets fall to injury after injury, I’m still a huge baseball fan and I’m excited about the 2009 postseason.

Watching the Dodgers clinch was amazing this year and seeing the Yankees win 103 times just boggles my mind. Who can stop the Phillies from repeating (with Pedro Martinez onboard this time around) and are the Cardinals really unstoppable with slugger Albert Pujols on fire? The Angels looked good all season long and the Red Sox never stopped fighting. Do the Twins or the Rockies even stand a chance? Its gonna be exciting!

Not to mention that this is my first baseball postseason following along on Twitter (and tweeting at @citycynic, check it out!).

And like every year since running this site, I’m back with my picks. So here we go…

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Rockies vs. Phillies - Rockies in 4.

The Phillies are a very strong team, but the Rockies have the added drive to win their first ever World Series. Look for them to come on ultra strong and find a way around the Phillies’ homerun sluggers and defense. The Rockies are a younger team that always seems to dig deep to win.

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Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Dodgers in 5.

The Cardinals have been as hot as Pujols’ bat all season, but even with a slowdown at the end, the Dodgers, led by Ethier and Kemp, have always found a way, even with some shaky bullpen pitching. While the Cards’ starting pitching may make this series a bit bumpy for LA, they’ve proved they can power through any obstacle this season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Twins vs. Yankees – Yankees in 3.

While the Twins could certainly put something together with the great talents of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, the Yankees have been chomping at the bit to put in a good playoff bid, after missing the playoffs last season, and will likely run right over Minnesota, who seemingly put it all out there in their AL Tiebreaker game against the Tigers.

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Red Sox vs. Angels – Red Sox in 4.

The Red Sox may have the most-feared starting pitching in the playoffs this year. The Angels’ running game is something they will have to contend with, as they haven’t thrown out so many runners on the basepaths this year. If the Red Sox can keep their bats swinging away and avoid making any costly mistakes, they will take this series from the Angels.

WHO I’M ROOTING FOR

With the absence of the Mets again this postseason (sorry, had to plug my team again), I am looking towards the most exciting team in the National League this season to win it all. That would be none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers with my buddy Joe Torre at the helm. Won’t that just burn the Yankees brass! They have looked great all season and have just been rolling along. Keep on rolling, Blue!

As for the American League, I would love to see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim get past both Boston and the Yankees to bring a no-holds barred super Freeway Series (much like the 2000 Subway Series) to California this year. Heck, they can certainly use the tourism revenue, right Arnold? But this Angels team is certainly not the strongest team they’ve brought to the playoffs, so I’m going with the Red Sox to outlast the Yankees and bring a “We have Manny and you don’t” matchup in the Fall Classic.

And of course, the team with Manny is the team that wins. Silly, yes. But just as a matter of fact. :P

ALSO INTERESTING

Also interesting is to see that TBS’ postseason coverage includes the Mets’ SNY’s Ron Darling for color commentary. After suffering through ESPN’s and FOX’s terrible coverage this baseball season (Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Joe Morgan, I’m looking at you!), it will be nice to enjoy a division series reprieve until we get back to FOX’s dry and boring coverage of the league championship series and World Series. Not sure how much insight David Wells will add, but I always enjoy Cal Ripken Jr. onboard as well.

Now let’s play some baseball!

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Conan O'Brien with Will Ferrell as a stripper leprechaun

Conan O’Brien will be back on television June 1 when he officially begins hosting the Tonight Show and he has announced his first episode guests.

The first ever guest on the show will be actor and comedian Will Ferrell, who has appeared on Late Night dozens of times, usually ending with him doing a striptease as a naughty leprechaun. (No word on whether that bit will survive the earlier time slot.)

And the first ever musical guest on Conan’s Tonight Show will be Pearl Jam. (No word on whether Pearl Jam, is still around, heh.)

Hurry up, Conan! I enjoy Jimmy Fallon, but Jay Leno has to go (to 10pm)!

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