Sebar's Blog

Well following in the foot steps of Indiana Jones 4th sequel now comes BH Cop 4 with Eddie Murphy. Now the first two were stupendous, great plots, subplots, diversions and memorable characters backed by an equally impressive soundtrack and the weird 80's. The 1980's however are long gone and criminals have grown much more sophisticated. Now I am not entirely privy to the plot of Paramounts latest incarnations of the character of Axel Foley and Taggert, but I must say that comments by the hired director that he will go to a PG-13 rating when the other BH series were "R" rated would be disconcerting including wanting to indoctrinate children who are 10 and 12. BH COP was always an adult series with fast talking Foley and the band guys exchanging hilarious curse words, shoot em up action. In essence this has never been a kiddie show and never will be. I have always been an advocate of making every word legal including the curse words and profanity as well, and the reason is that as it gets used more and more, it diminishes the power and royalty of such words, but that is a different topic for a different day.

So after reading blogged comments to the studios including one that a guy was going to kill the Director for taking away the "R" rating, lo and behold, Mr. Murphy himself finally came around and spoke up. He supposedly told the Paramount Execs that he wants to forget the third story and make this fourth one the very best and I agree. So now here is what I would do to fix things for BH COP 4.

1.) Change the name of the flick and create a new series for Mr. Murphy. Call it "Detroit Cop" and concentrate the main character in his own environment with his hard chief and other sidekicks. I honestly liked watching him in Detroit than BH California.

2.) Action plot showing how Foley has grown and is still in the family police unit only in Detroit. Let's see that Chief of his cursing swearing and coming down hard on him as mistake after mistake occurs and let's see Foley get his butt out of hot water for his extraordinary methods.

3.) You want funny. Bring the other detectives on a nationwide exchange of police detectives to Detroit and let Murphy really take them through a tough town, perhaps during the Devil's Night of Halloween.

In just three steps you can see where I would go with this series but there is one last thing and that is series plausibility so let's fix that and make it #0 ahead of number 1 as only a writer would dare do.

0.) Episode three was an Axel Foley bad dream and he never went back to California nor Magic Mountain for a shoot out. This means that everything is as left at the end of episode 2 and it WORKS!

Mr. Murphy wants to preserve the original feel and characters for the series, Sebar has just easily shown him how to do it. Now hopefully the Tinselturds at Paramount will see fit to do what is right than what is so wrong and give us the "R"espectable Detroit Cop 1.

American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!

Yes or no depending on what changes he makes coming in. Talking with a few comedy writer friends who have two different styles, one very famous and another struggling from month to month wondering if she will survive, we came to a consensus. By the way the guy who is a famous writer will be helping this beautiful young lady to a better career...no not what you think. He is married, but I talked him into maybe helping a very talented young lady to a better job where she can finally hopefully start making the money she needs as a comedy writer so hopefully this will work out for her and from time to time I'll let you know.

Johnny Carson an old Nebraska favorite of mine whom I grew up watching weeknights, even with school days back then studying late for tests the next morning. Well, Johnny was a physical comedienne and very good at it too. His work was with generally slapstick, the tougher of the two forms of comedy that exist today.

Jay Leno was a verbal comedienne in that he relies much more on dialog such as a Bob Hope or George Burns but to name a few in that category. Conan falls into the much tougher Carson category, because Conan relies on more slapstick comedy, though he isn't as consistent at it as Carson or Jerry Lewis might have been and that's what lies in question at this point. On the other hand, he is far worse at trying to do those one-liners like Leno or Hop and others did so successfully, which brings up a sort of dilemma for Conan and NBC both.

What to do next?

Well, here is what I would recommend to Conan for a little advice well heeded.

1.) Less band interaction.
2.) Get skits like Carson did and hone them from week to week. A perfect example was Karnack the Magnificent. Carson made people roil all night long with these skits as you will see below. Conan needs this exact sort of thing.
3.) Jay's game show theme with stupid people works great too as a gimmick and Conan could actually expand on that. In fact interaction with the real public would go a long way.
4.) Stay shy of political comedy. Leno pulled this off great but he did it fair and balanced to quote someone else. Conan isn't as good and by going to political jokes end up alienating 50 percent of his market audience, so stay clear of political jokes and comments.
5.) The facial expressions are goofy at best and not very funny, yet if you were dressed up in acting skit roles again like Karnak type materials with those faces, then we have something going.
6.) Sidekick. Remember Ed McMahon the bellowing laughter at every joke or shtick that Carson did? Remember Jerry and Dean bouncing insults off one another? It always works. Get a sidekick who seems like a big jolly person and laughs like that at almost everything. It only takes one person laughing to make everyone else follow and it is a tried and trued method. Now to illustrate the Karnak rule here is a perfect example, check it out.











American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!

Ok my sentimental favorite has always been Christina and I am a huge fan of hers, because she has played honestly and she has the talent to deliver the kitchen Chef Gorden Ramsey wants.

While I also like Petroza, it seems to me that if Chef Ramsey has watched tonight's video of the show, the winner is clearly obvious. Christina had her menu and restaurant nailed very well, and she was much better organized than Petroza. The food taste testers were Chef Ramsey's and I do not believe that the credibility isn't quite there as to their judgments. Likewise, while Petroza won the competition which is highly questionable at this point, it appears Christina has the better team mates to finish the job. As I am not privy to next week's episode, it is my good belief that even if Jen; who seems intent on destroying whichever candidate she is working for, Christina should win this because of her team. I also believe that Jen can easily be leashed in case she acts up against the girls team. However, if Jen goes to the men's team, that should all but seal the men's team's fate. Matt worked well with Christina, it was Ben and Jen that he did not get along with. So barring anything unforeseen, from tonight's posting I will predict Christina the winner of next week's final Hells Kitchen 2008 competition.

Christina Winner!!!
Petroza Second Place...

American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!

Just when you thought they had become a smidgen brighter, the Tinselturds are getting ready for corporate suicide run number two. You know something, it amazes me how they Hollywood exec schmucks at the AMPTP and elsewhere never learned that they should do anything to abort a strike rather than stiffing everyone. Then again, what else is new with these production putzes. From FX loaded features with lousy hack jobs, foisted on unwary viewers to, fleecing their pockets for every dime they can steal off you, to their sheer political arrogance of open Marxisms, the Tinseturds never fail to amaze me.

How about it Charles III, get back to the bargaining table! Your group does nothing other than creating hurt and unemployment. What's with you schmucks? Can't you return this industry back to a few glory days of great acting talents mixed with unhacked stories that truly represent who we really are, not the crap you foist forward onto the American viewer?

Can't you putzes just pay talent for their work fairly? Your strategic antics with the AFTRA group was apparently clear to me, and not only my ears, but that of many others in this industry, so just what are you doing? Playing one against the other, that is your view of doing business? Please spare me the smalltalk. If you want to salvage a regrowing industry and halt a massive strike of angry pickets who are your artists, it's time to sit down now Charles and do what is right, otherwise cause the hurt and go on acting like Tinselturds. Misery loves company and Tinselturds too. In the end the productions lose! Not the viewers, not the artists, but everyone else you decided to stiff for your own production egos. You people are so out of touch with your market and its customers and artists you deserve what you are about to get. AMPTP stop it before it's too late.

American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!

The HBO series was performed and executed in excellent historical detail from the story to the production. The music was also right on target and the best thing is that the author may have a direct relation to the title character Mr. President John Adams.

Rarely do we get films of this era, the late 1700's as we do here and even more rare is the facts that surround this production when it comes to historical accuracy. I did however find that the character of Thomas Jefferson was kept rather cool and calculating which was not the case. in real life. Yes a descendant of John Adams authored this, and that especially gives great insight into many personal issues or facts that outside authors might not have heard of or known. I found it interesting to see how women were dealt with when confronted with Breast Cancer in that age of medicine which was still rather in the dark ages, or no anesthesia being cut open, and no radiation if such a horrible illness should return. The loss of an Adams boy was also very human, between father and son, and alcoholism. The story was far more then just politics as usual and should appeal to Democrats and Republicans alike for its attention to detail, politics and the very, very human issues that affect everyone regardless of their patriot allegiances. This is an HBO 7 part miniseries and so because of its high quality, attention to detail, musical scoring and the rest of the production involved I give this 5 Sebar's out of 5 Sebars and highly recommend you rent or even get the video while it is on sale. It is the kind of series you will come back to at a later time and enjoy with others.


American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!

I guess it's my opinion but a new show with both as co-hosts on entertainment and then about 5 segments covering an hour "formatted the correct way" would do very well. An additional speaker would come in for each segment of the show. A structured show format with aimed topic formats per segment would be enough to hold the viewers interests. If it is done properly, the show could become something never seen before on television. Each show could start out as a news show and end as a reality game show with a winner per show. I know how far fetched this comes out, but it can be easily made to work as a unique format twist, though that is all I am saying for now.

The reason the old TSH "That's So Hollywood" failed as I have mentioned in the past is because of the format followed by other smaller issues, such as no stability on the co-host seats. When Lauren Sanchez had prego number two followed almost immediately by prego number three, that caused a hostess instability situation. While the producers of the old show waited for Lauren to return, the shows chaotic format, rotating co-hosts and other issues brought the ratings down and the show with it. This didn't have to occur, but it sadly did and people lost jobs which I always hate to see in these tough times. A good man like Mark Thompson shouldn't have lost his show, it didn't have to happen, so the big question, is Mark going to dance to weather forecasts or rebound, come out slugging away as a big winner and kicking the television butt ratings where they belong up high? I am willing to bet it is the latter rather than the former. Now why Christine Devine?

Christine Devine in my humble opinion has experience in news delivery, but I think she would make a great co-host alongside Mark in a show, because of not only her professionalism in news delivery, but also her participation on a set as well. While Christine is a top notch news anchor, I believe she has talent to cover a very wide variety of subjects and that the chemistry between her and Mark is there to work and work very well. From a production point of view both Mark and her are delivery tools for media and both have a great (already working) relationship and media delivery nailed to a tee. Along with format change and segments which can include others, I believe this would be a great Saturday, early-evening show, or even a 7 to 8 time slot for a Friday to nab viewers and boost ratings on a variety of subjects on Tinseltown, the craft, the productions and the residents; plus a small game show ender at the end, that will have viewers pulling for contestants each week, with a winner a week. So "That's So Hollywood" may be dead and long gone, but here's to a future show with the right set up that could be nailed big time for great ratings and fun!!!

American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!

People often ask me to please leave the political stuff and get back to the entertainment stuff and so for a while I am going to do just that. I thought that on a brighter note, I would post some of my favorite old DVD picks and not so picks, so like Ed Sullivan once claimed, "We are going to have a really big shewwwww!

First off the new Star Trek HD Remastered DVD set. The fx look cheap for the most part especially the old Enterprise, considering that these are CGI fx as well. On the other hand, in the series there were other fx that were better, and the remastering did wipeout many old film scratches and markings, while extracting vibrant colors to digital. They did this while maintaining the flavor of the old 60's series which still has the feel of the 60's with all the cute girls strutting around in space age miniskirts. Sound fx also were enhanced and some additional music scores added. With HD DVD dead and almost gone and Bluray the new winner it is curious to see that Paramount didn't have the DVD's with the original untouched shows plus the standard shows. My other beef with Paramount is the flip disks. For a series that costs this much, they should have provided DVD's that were single sided. That brings me to my next point. Amazon is selling the HD Star Trek TOS Season 1 at the time of this writing at 95 dollars. That is way too much for all but the diehard trekkies. If Paramount's Tinselturds were a bit brighter, they might halve that amount, but who ever claimed that Tinselturds could think in the first place. The only thing they are good at doing is dropping dead and doing everyone a favor. So with those honest words posted here is my ratings for the HD-DVD Star Trek Season 1 set. Out of a possible 5 stars maximum rating it gets a 2. What brought it down to a two is price gouging, poor quality ship rendering and flip disks for the current pricing. It could have been a 5 star rating if those things had originally been addressed but as it remains such, I say it is two stars and that is because of the original TOS we all love or it could have been a 1 star rating. Buy it at your own risk, or wait till Paramount fixes things for their potential customers.

Crime Story Season 1 and 2. A million bucks a show, but it was the best quality cop shows ever to have come out. Set in the early to mid 1960's, we see Dennis Farina, a real cop, pursuing a thug named Ray Luca, loosely based on caricatures of 60's crime bosses and the syndicate with a Jewish mob leader named Manny Wiseboard, played by a great and wonderful actor Joseph Wiseman (God bless him), who played in the original Dr. No James Bond film and has performed stagecraft for many decades. While the series only lasted two seasons mainly because NBC decided "unwisely" to pay for a top series at a million bucks a show, the shows have easily stood the test of time and actually while overlooked, provided a historical glimpse at a forgotten but active time in America. They also are a historic look at many original Las Vegas casinos long gone. Action packed, historical 60's rock tunes, great story plots, subplots and unexpected twists all add up to a terrific series. Each episode stands alone and there really isn't anything I can say is imperfect except it only lasted two seasons. My rating for this original TV series is 5 stars. If you like gritty crime dramas without all the scientific mumbo jumbo of today's boring and dragged out series, then you will love this and enjoy it over and over again as time fleets.

My best movie release of the week is the Rambo 4 flick. A great actor and fellow writer, Sly Stallone just cannot be beat, whether its boxing gloves or machine guns, Sly has remained faithful to his action genre and gritty tough, yet human characters. Rambo 4 takes place in the recent Myanmar in which a ravaging hurricane recently killed many. With few hotspots to go, we see Rambo at home in the jungles of Southern Asia, the land of the River Kwai, gun battles, explosions and a straight forward, bullet-proof plot support the roundout of this series. What starts out slow quickly turns into a chase, search and rescue flick with Rambo doing what he does best...WAR! If you like this genre film and the previous Rambo's, you will love this flick. This time we get to win a war, erhmmm, our vet does. Could there be more Rambo's in the making? Only a great actor such as Sylvester Stallone and some studio execs know??? Rambo 4 gets a 5 star rating.

Blu-Ray choice: MGM/Fox's Battle of Britain. This old title comes to life once again in the new Blu-Ray format bringing a remastered high quality to the old 1970 MGM historical flick which takes place in late 1940. Plenty of aerial scenes mixed with both live footage and staged shots help recreate this historical aerial battle of the war precursor to the German's bombing of London. Set in a different part of the world's history, the scenes are breathtaking, the action consistent mixed with several intriguing storylines of love and war. Romance in a hotel room during a bombing run, you bet! The "Battle of Britain" is a must see for everyone except small kids, though the aerial scenes may be enticing for them, having a guy's eyes shot out into red tomatoes is not. Because they used black and white historical footage to make up for the color staged shots they didn't shoot, I am giving this a 4 star rating. That aside, it is definitely worth having both as a standard DVD or especially with the new Blu-Ray format. This FOX-MGM title should have had more added to it, but seems to be left pretty much to stand on its own. No specials added, not even an original movie trailer or commentary. Either way, it stands alone and well at 4 stars and is well worth adding to anyone's fine collection.

American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!