I think I may have covered the topic before in this space, but I wanted to go back and explain my remark earlier that I won’t enjoy the game play of “Million Dollar Password.”

First, for any of you too young to remember any of the iterations of “Password,” I need to explain the game. It was played by two teams, each consisting of a contestant and a celebrity partner. The object of the game was for one partner to get the other to say a secret “password” by giving one-word clues. The teams would take turns working on the same password — first, the person giving the clues for what I’ll call team “A” would give his or her partner a clue, and the partner would give a response. If that response was wrong, team “B” would take a shot at it, and back and forth until one team or the other got it right. Obviously, each team is listening to the other team’s clues and can benefit from them when it’s their turn

The scoring was simple: guessing a password on the first clue was worth 10 points, on the second clue was worth 9 points, on the third clue 8 points, and so on. The first team to get to 25 points won the game and got to play a “speed round” for cash, guessing as many passwords as possible within 60 seconds.

The original rules of “Password” were simple and elegant. They were also strict. Only one-word passwords were used, and only one-word clues were allowed. There were no names or proper nouns or movie titles or anything like that; just words, from a dictionary. (Sometimes, a particular dictionary would be mentioned by name as part of a sponsorship agreement.) Each password stood on its own.

Later, at the bottom of the post, you can see a clip of this format.
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Well, my “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” complete megaset arrived today, and I’m thrilled. I’ve already watched the “Spanish Inquisition” episode — No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! — and I’d forgotten that it was the same episode which also includes the semaphore version of “Wuthering Heights,” which always makes me laugh out loud.

I don’t think I will like the game play of CBS’s new “Million Dollar Password,” a re-working of my all-time favorite game show. But Regis Philbin is an ideal host, and I am delighted to see that Betty White apparently makes an appearance. It wouldn’t be “Password” without Betty, who met “Password” host Allen Ludden when she was a celebrity panelist on the show and ended up marrying him. Ludden is still, for my money, the classiest game show host ever (possibly tied with Hugh Downs, who at one time hosted “Concentration.”)

Here is what my TV will look like in another week or two:

As I posted the other day, I bought a Monty Python’s Flying Circus complete boxed set during a big sale at Amazon.com. I think I made a good purchase — but soon after seeing the Monty Python set, I saw another boxed set for the same price, and I had a little twinge. Should I have bought that one instead?

Well, my youngest brother and his family gave me an Amazon gift certificate for my birthday, and I decided I would apply it towards that second box set purchase. When I got home this afternoon, I discovered the big sale had ended and the box set had returned to its normal price — but I found it on one of Amazon’s “Marketplace” partner merchants for a price that was pretty much as good as the sale, and that allowed me to apply my gift certificate.

Yes, it’s “The Prisoner,” one of the most imaginative and thought-provoking TV shows of its era, and one I haven’t seen in years.

For those of you too young to remember this show (and I was much too young to appreciate it on its original run), it’s sort of a cross between James Bond and “Lost.” Patrick McGoohan’s character is a British spy who suddenly resigns his position, much to the consternation of his superiors. He is gassed and whisked away to a surreal facility called “The Village.” Everyone in The Village is referred to by a number. The top man on-site is “Number Two,” who reports to a mysterious and unseen “Number One.” (”Number Two” is not a very secure job, apparently, and the person in that role changes constantly throughout the 17-episode series.)

McGoohan’s character, Number Six, can’t be sure who the ultimate power is — his own government? The enemy? Some third party? — and so, even as Number Two uses various schemes, ruses and strategies to try to get McGoohan to reveal the reason for his resignation, McGoohan looks to escape and/or to unravel the mysteries behind The Village.

The one thing about the series that did fascinate me as a young child was The Village’s means of capturing escapees — a big, bouncy white ball which chased the fugitive. (You may have seen it lampooned on an episode of “The Simpsons.”)

I haven’t seen this show in many years and can’t wait to see it again, complete and in proper order.

Title	Content
Movie:	"The Prisoner"
Release Date:	1 June 1968 (USA) / Other Countries
Genre:	Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi
Tagline:	No Man Is Just A Number.
User Rating:	1,398 votes, average 9.2 out of 10
Runtime:	52 min (17 episodes)
Awards:	1 nomination
Cast:	...
Others:	Additional Details Close Move Title Content MPAA: County: UK Language: English Color: Color Aspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1 Sound: Mono Company: Everyman Films Certification: Singapore:PG | Australia:PG IMDBTag: Powered by IMDBTag & imdb.com Sound Mix, Aspect Ratio ...
Photos:	N/A
	Powered by IMDBTag

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid ….

My brother sent me a link to this terrific list of the best commercial parodies of all time.

Get Religion, the terrific site which critiques mainstream coverage of religious issues (or mainstream media’s failure to pick up on the religious undertones of some stories), has an interesting critique of a Newsweek story about the battle between online matchmaking sites e-Harmony, founded by a Christian self-help author, and Match.com, which offers commercials scoffing at e-Harmony’s selection process.

Advance tickets sales for the Symphony at the Celebration concert have been phenomenal, and we’re expecting a great crowd Tuesday night. Here, we see Nashville Symphony Assistant Conductor Kelly Corcoran at the Cascade High School theatre — where I once trod the boards as a thespian — rehearsing with Cascade’s band. I believe they are going to do the school proud.

My co-worker Brian Mosely has a great post at the Times-Gazette site about a Charlton Heston movie you didn’t hear mentioned when Heston passed away — and which, Brian says, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas specifically don’t want you to know about.

I thought Craig Ferguson was very funny at the White House Correspondents’ dinner tonight. He had plenty of barbs to go around, from the administration to the New York Times. He displayed his pride at his new U.S. citizenship but wasn’t afraid to aim a few well-placed barbs.

I have a quite unusual movie on the TV this evening; unfortunately, I’ve been busy with a million little things and haven’t been able to pay it the attention it deserves.

It’s a curiosity of which I wasn’t even aware: “The Yellow Rolls-Royce.”

Here are some of the names in the cast, and see if you can imagine them all in the same movie: Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine, George C. Scott, Ingrid Bergman, Omar Sharif, Art Carney (no relation) and Wally Cox (the voice of the original Underdog!).

The way they all fit is that it’s actually an anthology: three mini-movies in one, taking place over several decades, with the car as the one thing connecting them as it passes from owner to owner.

I’ll have to give this a closer look the next time it airs.

Title	Content
Movie:	The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Director:	Anthony Asquith
Release Date:	13 May 1965 (USA) / Other Countries
Genre:	Drama / Romance / Comedy
Tagline:	Everything Happens In The Yellow Rolls Royce!
User Rating:	735 votes, average 6.2 out of 10
Runtime:	122 min
Awards:	Won Golden Globe. Another 3 nominations
Cast:	Ingrid Bergman, Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine, George C. Scott ...
Others:	Additional Details Close Move Title Content MPAA: County: UK Language: English Color: Color (Metrocolor) Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1 Sound: Mono (Westrex Recording System) Company: De Grunwald Productions Certification: Canada:14+ (Ontario) / Australia:PG / Argentina:13 / Finland:K-8 / Sweden:11 IMDBTag: Powered by IMDBTag & imdb.com Sound Mix, Aspect Ratio ...
Photos:	N/A
	Powered by IMDBTag

Some plain talk about zombies from John at Locusts & Honey.

Carl Kasell & Peter Sagal

Originally uploaded by Chion Wolf.



Peter Sagal had a link at his blog to this fantastic Flickr photo set from last week’s taping of “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” which was on the road in Connecticut. It includes great photos of everyone involved — Peter, Carl Kasell, guest star Jane Curtin, and panelists Roy Blount Jr., Roxanne Roberts and Tom (”We’ll leave the light on for ya”) Bodett.

I just watched the “Masterpiece Classics” (nee “Masterpiece Theatre”) production of “My Boy Jack.” The story centers around how Rudyard Kipling, full of alarm and patriotic fervor at the outset of World War I, conspires with his son Jack to get Jack into the service even though Jack can’t see much of anything without his glasses.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Jack Kipling, and it’s a fine performance, serious and intense and quite different from Radcliffe’s better-known role as a certain teenage wizardry student. The elder Kipling is played by David Haig, who is absolutely excellent; nuanced and likable and sad in what could easily have been a one-note portrayal. Kim Cattrall of “Sex and the City” plays Carrie, Rudyard Kipling’s American wife. Her role is written in more of a stereotypical way, but she manages to rise above it.

The war scenes are heartbreaking.

In all, it’s a really worthwhile, meaningful production.