|
|
|
List-Mania! |
Editorial/December 2005 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
On Entertainment Tonight's
tabulation of the 25 most
important show business stories
of the past quarter century,
Barbra Streisand and "Yentl"
made the list. Natch. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rosters, Tabulations,
Litanies
December 11, 2005
What
do the
AFI,
VH-1,
TV
Guide, SNL,
ET, et
al
have
in
common?
The
all
have
LISTS.
Yes,
we are
living
in an
age of
endless
tabulations,
rosters
and
litanies.
Seems
every
entertainment
related
outlet
has
concocted
an
excuse
to
compile
a
grouping
of
past
events,
construct
a
list,
and
flood
the
airwaves
with
their
newfound
revelations.
These
lists
seem
to
serve
absolutely
no
purpose
in the
grand
scheme
of
things,
except,
perhaps,
to
provide
some
lighthearted,
innocuous
entertainment.
 But
just
as I
was
about
to
disassociate
myself
from
this
type
of
mind
numbing
entertainment
once
and
for
all,
along
came
Entertainment
Tonight
this
past
weekend
with,
you
guessed
it, a
new
list.
Theirs
was a
compilation
of the
25
most
important
show
business
stories
from
the
past
quarter
century.
And
yes,
you
guessed
it
again,
Barbra
made
the
cut.
But
this
was
not
your
typical
Streisand
blink-and-you-miss-it
mention.
ET
devoted
a
solid
six
minute
segment
to
Barbra's
life
and
career
and
included
lots
of
rarely
seen
archival video.
Barbra
at the
"Yentl"
premiere,
and
footage
of
Diana
Kind
singing
were
some
of the
highlights.
So,
what's
the
conclusion?
Television,
in
general,
is in
a
state
of
malaise.
Creativity
and
good
writing
are
rare
commodities
as
some
of the
more
inane
reality
shows
prove.
And as
far as
Listmania
programming
is
concerned,
well,
we can
do
without
another
"Top-100
Greatest
Anything"
list.
That
is,
unless
they
can
offer
up
something
unique,
rare
or
new.
The
high
quality
of
ET's
piece
this
weekend
was an
industry
anomaly,
I
fear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
