Great Moments in Broadcasting

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I did a local news show this morning to promote the Maryland Film Festival, where I am introducing one of my favorite films, Funny Bones, this weekend.

Here’s how it started: “Welcome to Baltimore, Laura.”

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36 thoughts on “Great Moments in Broadcasting”

  3. well, mercury is going retrograde; perhaps we can chalk it up to that, on a particularly magnanimous day.

    in a less generous moment, one might think, “Such amasing prep! what an arse!”

    i am not much a films person, unfortunately, so now must goog…i think the last thing i saw was ‘gaslight.’ :)

    //k

  6. laura,

    while that may be true, you weren’t interviewing *her*–and i’ll bet you had *your* homework done.

    but if she had good hair–well, all can be forgiven…

    //karen

  9. Oh those film types. (S)he probably hasn’t read a book in ages unless it’s being turned into a script. Try not to be too hard on him/her. His loss for not knowing your books and your hometown. We know. Just as we know that not all authors live in New York City. Authors are now free to roam the country.

    “Funny Bones” is a wonderful movie even when it gets a bit too messy for its own good. Oliver Platt and Lee Evans have never been better on film, IMHO.

    –Marjorie

  15. Given that I was in the studio on time only because of my superb knowledge of city geography — the major highway through the city was at a standstill — I couldn’t help blurting out, “But I live here!”

    She explained afterward that she had been told that people were coming from all over to attend the festival, she so assumed I was one of the out-of-towners.

  16. I’m glad you picked Funny Bones for the festival. I’ve been telling people to see it for years. And besides being a great vehicle for Oliver Platt and Lee evans (who was amazing, and whom I had never seen before) it had a great soundtrack, which was never released in the US. I had to order it from England.

  18. Oh, boy… reminds me of the morning TV host John Mahoney played in “Reality Bites,” who couldn’t say anything but “Good morning,” without his cue cards.

  19. Oh Laura, you know me so well! At around comment #10 just such a thought entered my head… I was like, “Why are we all dancing around this?” So your comment #13 made me laugh hard. I’m so predictable! But you know, if I don’t take up for Jerry, who will? And nobody say “the French” or I will come to your house and scold you.

  20. hooray re: CF! thx, Marjorie, for posting that. Consider it posted to my Outlook.

    he *is* a bit of a sex pot, and i have many times seen him unable to actually bring up why the person is there in the first place (ostensibly to promote their latest)–he is easily sidetracked by attractive women.

    hmm… too-short skirt + cloth seats and a mike box = potentially interesting camera work.

    next week WSJ article: ‘does the sharon stone effect increase sales?’ :)

    Brian–*that* is a whole ‘nother book…

    //karen

  21. Currently running with Marjorie’s idea, and imagining the skin-crawling effect for Tess if *she* were forced to go the crown ‘n’ gown route… let’s give her a sceptre, too…

    //k

  22. Marjorie:

    I looked at the fuller schedule–it is pretty unusual for CF to have so many authors, particularly in such a short span of time. Wonder why he is doing it? Is he part of The Big Read? :)

    //karen

  23. karen,

    I am not sure except I could be cynical and say that a lot of the big time celebs have already started their summer vacations or their summer shooting and so the show books authors as they are more likely to be available. (Because in general I am thinking that talk show producers think that authors talking about books is not a big ratings grabber and they have to be forced into the bookings!)

    Or…because Craig is a published author (Laura, have your read his book?), he pushes to give his fellow writers exposure. I know he is a big reader.

    –Marjorie (and don’t forget that I don’t know what I am talking about.)

  24. marjorie-

    was thinking along those lines myself vis slow time [not to disparage the wonderfulness of LL's being on the show]. a lot of CDs usually drop aug/sept due to grammy cutoffs, and of course holidays, and it is maybe premature for the summer blockbusters movie-wise… but i am appreciative of him having a slew of authors, in particular, of course, laura.

    and certainly just because you don’t know what you’re talking about does not preclude you from talking about it.:)

    //karen

  25. interesting article in online NYT book section, re: writing about others in memoirish works and so on, and how they feel about it:

    //snip//

    When I went on book tour back in 2000 for my memoir �Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self,� the questions I dreaded most weren�t about me but about my mother. As soon as the Q. and A. began, inevitably someone would call out, �What does your mom think of the book?�

    //snip//

    http://bit.ly/RAG7v

    //karen

  27. Well, I’ll tune in!

    I bet LL wears something green (although she cannot go wrong with the off-the-shoulder top she sported at the Carmel stop, if you ask me!)

  29. Ya think that Larry Block frets over what color he should be wearing on the Late Late Show? (He will be on a week from Monday, by the way. I applaud Ferguson’s support of authors!)

    On the other hand, if Laura dressed up in the same dress and crown that are on the cover of “Life Sentences”…well, that would be something!

    Laura, go for the too short dress. You have a fine set of gams there. Show ‘em off.

    –Marjorie

  31. <i>Thighs — good in life, not so good for television.</i>

    Hah! – Wrong!!

    Women NEVER see the good stuff when they consider their looks (think tirade-Tyra Banks and her horribly cruel modeling show).

  32. Laura,

    I never noticed the trending pattern w/crime writers specifically; of course, maybe now that i have a red Pinto, the road will seem full of red Pintos. I just don’t remember a time when he had such a high volume of authors in such a short span of time, but i don’t watch/have it on every night–maybe 2X/wk.

    BTW, some show this week, the identity of which currently eludes me, made a comment about ‘soylent green;’ it’ll probably come to me in the shower or while running. i thought that funny; i cannot remember the last time i heard anyone [else] say it.

    lol re: CF staying on topic…

    //karen

  34. thx, Marjorie. i think some of the best money i spend all year is for my PBS subscription. i’ll be interested to see the Wallender series.

    also on PBS: Series 3 of Sherlock Holmes, which just started last Thursday, and repeats Eps. 1&2 on Sunday @ 1800 hrs.

    //karen

  35. Karen,

    Thanks for that link. Those who have read Life Sentences won’t be surprised to know that I found it a little narrow in its scope, but it was a good overview. (And, by the way, Thin is the New Happy is a terrific memoir; if I had eleven slots for the Guardian list, it would have occupied that spot.)

    Ferguson has a long history of booking writers, especially crime writers: Lee Child, Larry Block, Dennis Lehane, Ken Bruen. Clive Owen also has been a guest. And he had Branagh on to tout the new series based on — oh dear, blanking no the name, but I think it’s Mankell’s books that he’s doing.

    Meanwhile, I have a feeling he’ll stay on-topic just fine.

  36. Laura? I used to get that all the time when I was “shopping” around for hotels for Left Coast. Letters and phone calls (there might have been a clue?) thanking me for considering Seattle (ok that maybe) and welcoming me. When they actually called, I’d explain that no, this wasn’t some sort of convenience address, I’d lived here since 1990. It’s weird how many of them seemed startled.

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