2008-08-20 12:38:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Basically, I'm a happy enough person. I didn't say happy, I said happy enough. I don't whistle while I work, I tend to have cynical views on things and while I always try to be happy for other people, I admit to a touch of schadenfreude — taking joy in the misfortunes of ......
2008-07-23 14:25:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
We are in prime time blockbuster summer movie territory right now. So many superheroes have passed through movie theaters in the last few months, I'm beginning to think those are the only kind of movies Hollywood makes anymore. Some of them are really well done, but don't worry, I'm......
2008-07-09 12:12:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Staff
My Saturday afternoons are now devoted to watching three shows on BBC America. I'm not really proud of this fact. I'd like to gain my independence from the Brits, but I'm hooked. My addiction begins every Saturday at 11 a.m. with two episodes of "How Clean Is Your House," in which two domestic ......
2008-06-25 09:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
For the past few years I've been a Netflix customer. It's a great way to watch movies. I no longer have to run over to the video store to pick up a DVD (I know, it really isn't a video store if it's filled with DVDs, is it?) and then rush back a few days later to return it and avoid late fees....
2008-04-30 12:17:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Eliseo Roman's Broadway break is full of heart & joy I was lucky enough this weekend to get to see "In the Heights," the new Broadway show that features Lancaster's very own Eliseo Roman, a 1978 McCaskey High School graduate. The folks at Ephrata Performing Arts Center, where Roman got......
2008-04-16 09:05:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Word is that Roger Ebert will be back reviewing movies full time later this month. This is good news. I've missed the guy who has been This Weekend's movie critic since the New Era started the section back in the mid-1980s. For the past few years, off and on, Ebert has taken a break from ......
2008-04-02 13:41:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I was surfing the Internet the other day and I saw a "Style" site that asked which hairstyle looked more stylish on Mary-Kate Olsen. One had her with ratty straight hair, the other with, well, ratty uncombed hair. The site had a number of other pictures of Mary-Kate, marveling at her fashi......
2008-03-19 14:54:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I am in awe. Every year I see the Scholastic Art Awards exhibit at the Lancaster Museum of Art, and every year I am amazed at the work I see from Lancaster County's middle and high school students. Not because it's really great student art, but because it's really great art. Pe......
2008-03-05 14:51:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Like a lot of people, I was upset with Comcast Cable when it turned several channels to digital only, forcing people to get digital converter boxes. If you don't have the box, you can't get two of my favorite channels: Turner Classic Movies and Weatherscan. Sometimes it seemed like Turner ......
2008-02-20 14:43:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
The Oscars are actually happening on Sunday (hooray), complete with splashy evening gowns, lame acceptance speeches and freshly applied Botox. So, it's time for my fearless — and usually wrong — predictions.
Best Picture: The nominees are "Juno,"......
2008-02-06 14:14:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
OK, I decided to forego the Super Bowl on Sunday. There's always too much hype, and the game usually isn't very exciting. Besides, the Steelers weren't in it, so I didn't care who won. I decided to go see "There Will Be Blood" instead. Critics were calling it a masterpiece, comparing it to......
2008-01-23 09:44:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Well, they've announced the nominees for the Academy Awards. The big winners are "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men," followed closely by "Michael Clayton" and "Atonement." Movies about a world with no moral values, a cold-blooded oil tycoon, the hideously corrupt corporate ......
2007-12-26 09:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Here's hoping you had a Merry Christmas. Next up in this hectic holiday season: New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And that means it's time to look at the top 10 entertainment stories of 2007. There were lots of endings and bad behavior this year. Read about 'em and weep.
...
2007-12-12 14:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I went to see "High School Musical," at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center last week. It's the theatrical event of the year for the under-12 crowd. The theater was packed, and the audience, filled with proud parents and lots of young kids, was both enthusiastic and thoroughly tran......
2007-11-28 10:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I really didn't want to see "No Country for Old Men." While the reviews were great, the description of the film left me cold. A psychopath travels through Texas killing people with a cattle stun gun and a tank of compressed air. He is hunting down a man who accidentally found $2 mi......
2007-11-14 09:13:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
The vast wasteland that is television is now in freefall. Thanks to the writers' strike, very little new programming will be getting on the air. "Desperate Housewives," "24" and "Two and a Half Men" have shut down. (I'll take that last one as the silver lining to this strike.) ......
2007-10-31 13:58:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
After an incredibly long barren period, the movie scene in Lancaster is picking up. Last week I saw two absolutely terrific movies — "Michael Clayton" and "Gone Baby Gone" — that reminded me why I love movies. One starred hunky George Clooney, who pops up in......
2007-10-17 11:43:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Many years ago, in a land far far away, television was free. Yes, children, free. Granted, you had only about six or seven channels, but everyone seemed pretty happy. Then cable arrived. We were all going to get great channels, no commercials and it would only cost $10 or $15 a month.......
2007-10-03 12:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
You have to understand, I've still got emotional scars when it comes to computers. There was trauma involved back in those primitive days almost 30 years ago. Those rectangular cards with the little square holes in them still haunt me. (If you don't know what I'm talking about,......
2007-09-19 14:12:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
"Knocked Up," Judd Apatow's raunchy comedy about a one-night stand that turns into a lifelong family values love story, is coming to DVD next week. It was the critical darling of the summer and got so much buzz I had to go see it. After all, I loved Apatow's previous movi......
2007-09-05 11:15:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
My goodness, it's September and a new theater season is about to begin. But before we plunge ahead, it's time to look back at the best and the brightest in Lancaster theater. It's time for my annual Footsies awards. Annual means every year and last year I skipped the Foots......
2007-08-22 09:50:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
You've got to love the Internet. There I was the other day, proofing a story about Toby Keith by my colleague and friend, Kathy Daminger, and I had to find out if "number one" — as in "Number One hit" — was capitalized or not. So I Googled it, and what......
2007-08-08 09:57:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Want to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? They are playing Aug. 25 in the Hamptons. Tickets are only $15,000. Well, that's exaggerating a bit. The group is part of a five-act concert series this summer in the Hamptons, playground of the rich and privileged. Other acts inclu......
2007-07-25 10:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Well, it's all over. The Harry Potter story is complete. No more books to anticipate. No more articles to write about the bespectacled wizard's latest adventure. The New Era has written a lot of stories about Harry Potter over the years, as has every newspaper in America and dar......
2007-07-11 12:30:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
If you've been to a Broadway show, you know how glamorous it is. Great sets, stunning costumes and the best talent in the business. The front of the house — the part that the public sees — oozes with glamour. But as I discovered last week, the back of the house is anothe......
2007-06-27 11:34:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
God bless Turner Classic Movies. Despite the $50-plus monthly fee for standard cable, it's a vast wasteland out there on the television landscape. Commercials run rampant, reality shows gets lamer and lamer, and Paris Hilton seems to be taking most of the available airtime on those cable "......
2007-06-13 13:48:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Well, Lancaster's most famous actor didn't win a Tony Sunday night, but what a victorious night for Jonathan Groff. His Broadway show, "Spring Awakening," won eight Tony Awards, including best musical, and he is fast becoming a Broadway star. Girls scream for him outside ......
2007-05-30 13:56:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Why is it OK to bring small children to the movies ? I'm talking about children who couldn't possibly sit quietly in their seats for more than 10 or 15 minutes — children who feel free to roam the theater, clomping up and down the steps, talking loudly whenever they feel like it. I'm......
2007-05-16 14:24:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
The TV season is coming to a close and a couple of my favorite shows are bowing out for good. Sometimes, when shows say goodbye forever, the publicity goes on for weeks and weeks. Remember "Friends"? I think NBC carved out the entire night for the final episode and spent about a month prep......
2007-04-25 13:49:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
The death of Kitty Carlisle Hart last week took me back to the days when words like urbane, witty and sophisticated could actually be used to describe television shows. When intelligence was something you didn't have to hide. When glamour really was glamorous. When a book publisher like the bow......
2007-04-11 14:10:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I unwrapped my cough drops and placed them in a plastic bag so I wouldn't make any noise when I needed one. I took a super-duper cough suppressant before the show. I bought a bottle of water for $2 at the concession stand. And still, I became the kind of audience member I love to hate......
2007-03-28 12:49:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
I enjoy watching "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" because I like the actors on the show and I'm a sucker for all things "Law and Order." But I gotta tell you, sometimes I get the creeps watching "Law and Order: SVU." The criminals on the show are almo......
2007-03-14 14:33:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Critics love to love "The Sopranos," "Deadwood" and "The Wire," three HBO TV series that go where few TV series can go. Every new season brings endless columns about their brilliance. I can't keep track of how many critics have proclaimed "The Sopranos&quo......
2007-02-28 14:18:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Even my dog got bored during the 79th annual Academy Awards Sunday night. There he was, on the rug by the front door, sighing regularly, wondering when we were going to go to bed. With the show rolling in at three hours and 47 minutes, it was well after midnight by the time the big surpris......
2007-02-14 11:28:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Much has been written about the best actress race in this year's Academy Award nominations. Shockingly, three of the nominees are — gasp! — over the age of 55. I bet you never knew women over 55 are allowed to star in movies. Meryl Streep, who is deliciously nasty in "The ......
2007-01-31 11:17:00
Jane Holahan
They announced the Oscar nominations last week, and from what I've seen of the nominees, it looks like a pretty good group. Small films are vying with big ones, and established actors are competing against newcomers. Unfortunately, as far as suspense goes, the only category that seems at a......
2007-01-17 14:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN
“Dreamgirls” finally came to Lancaster this past weekend after what seemed like the longest, most drawn out film release in history. The movie opened in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day and trickled out to theaters across the country over the next three weeks. This ......
2007-01-03 17:58:12
Jane Holahan
You know, the ones the critics are raving about. The ones that have graced magazine covers and been the subject of long feature articles in newspapers. The ones that will be getting all the Oscar nominations. The ones declared the best movies of the year by critics other than Larry King....
2006-12-20 14:49:42
Jane Holahan
It’s one ugly story after another. Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, Anna Nicole Smith. Ugh. Consider 2006 the year of celebrities behaving badly. Here’s my top 10 — or should I say bottom 10? — in no particular order: 1. Britney Spears had a bad year. Divorce, a new baby, accusations of bad......
2006-12-06 10:09:29
Jane Holahan
What are your favorite Christmas songs? Christmas movies? Christmas TV specials? When did they first appear on the Christmas radar screen? I’ll bet most of them have been around for a while. Of course, you’ll say, nostalgia takes hold. Christmas is really for kids, so you’ll most fondly rememb......
2006-11-22 13:29:23
Jane Holahan
The woman lost her head because of it. Now comes “The Queen,” about Queen Elizabeth II, who is about as different from Marie Antoinette as it’s possible to be and still be a queen. But Elizabeth almost lost her head too (metaphorically speaking) when she utterly failed to understand how deeply......
2006-11-08 12:25:10
Jane Holahan
Despite being a very smart, well- educated man, he was obsessed with taping reruns of “Hawaii Five-O” and “Cannon.” Hey, to each his own. I was busy taping my soap opera, “The Guiding Light.” God forbid I should miss the hysteria and melodrama for even one day. Clearly, the value of having a V......
2006-10-25 13:44:12
Jane Holahan
For two hours, we get to explore Versailles, look at lavish dresses, amazing wigs, stunning food and scenic gardens. Alas, for two hours, we also get to watch the young queen of France lollygag, looking bored, tired and unfulfilled. The more unhappy she is, the more shoes she buys. Clearly, al......
2006-10-11 11:14:44
Jane Holahan
But what you’re about to read here is a true-blue, heartfelt, genuine tribute. Garrison Keillor is one of my heroes. I don’t have too many of them. This is not an era of heroes. We tend to be way too ironic and sarcastic these days, far too eager to find the flaws in people. And let’s face......
2006-09-27 14:20:32
Jane Holahan
But there is one show I just can’t miss. “The Office,” starring the terrific Steve Carell, is the best sitcom on TV right now. I’d even say it might save the sitcom from a long and dreary death. Based on the BBC version of “The Office,” which was created by and starred Ricky Gervais, the Ameri......
2006-09-13 10:49:52
Jane Holahan
When I make the decision to spend the evening reading a book or working in my garden, as I have consciously been doing lately, I just feel better. I think I get a low-grade fever and a sluggish feeling when the TV is on too long. Must be something coming out of the cathode ray-tube. Maybe it’s......
2006-08-30 13:49:31
Jane Holahan
There are serious problems with the Emmys. There are way too many awards. The people who do the nominating apparently don’t watch the shows they nominate, and far too often, the best shows and the best performances are overlooked, while the same old shows and same old performers keep winning year in...
2006-08-16 12:51:20
By Jane Holahan
Yeah, OK, actors always say stuff like that. But in Groff’s case, it’s brilliantly and stunningly true. I wasn’t prepared for the amazing change in Groff when I went to see “Spring Awakening” on its final day of performances before it heads to the Eugene O’Neill Theater on Broadway in December......
2006-08-02 14:17:00
Jane Holahan
Tweens everywhere know what a pop phenomenon 'High School Musical' is.
Never heard of it? Well, the made-for-TV movie, which first appeared on the Disney Channel six months ago, has been seen by 37 million people ' most of them not yet teens but in that middle ground known as tweens.......
2006-08-02 14:16:00
Jane Holahan
Tweens everywhere know what a pop phenomenon "High School Musical" is.
Never heard of it? Well, the made-for-TV movie, which first appeared on the Disney Channel six months ago, has been seen by 37 million people ' most of them not yet teens but in that middle ground k......
2006-07-05 13:58:58
Jane Holahan
It was, she tells the checkout lady, the last one. Could she charge her just for the five? I wanted to say, “Couldn’t you get a different brand of water, lady? I guarantee, they all taste the same.” But no, we had to wait for the manager to come over and figure it all out. So I spent my tim......
2006-06-22 01:07:00
Jane Holahan
The Inca Campers are going to enjoy their concert on the top of the Central parking garage on Friday for a couple of reasons.
It will be outside, so the air will be fresh, with no smoke to worry about. And lots of friends and family who don’t normally hang out in the bars......
2006-06-21 12:49:34
Jane Holahan
There’s a buzz of anticipation in the air, and everyone is hoping to see a great show, even this theater critic. The lights go down, the buzz settles, and the curtain (usually only figuratively) goes up. And it begins. The Over Laughing. I’m talking about the “ISN’T THIS THE FUNNIEST SHO......
2006-06-07 12:08:56
Jane Holahan
But I didn’t review the Dutch Apple show, which opened May 11, because a week or so earlier, I spent a day in Philadelphia with the cast, director and music director and wrote a story about it for our This Weekend section. We laughed, we cried, we visited Independence Hall, walked around Old Town......
2006-05-24 11:06:29
Jane Holahan
A few weeks ago, I went to see a staged reading of a play called “Any Day Now,” which won the 2006 Fulton Opera House New Play Contest. Written by David Rush, of Chicago, it’s the story of a college professor, Frederick Miller (Chet Williamson), and one frantic day at the end of his career, when ......
2006-05-10 12:45:59
Jane Holahan
I’d become a Broadway regular, checking out the latest plays and musicals every other weekend or so. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Lack of energy and lack of money are my problems. My weekends are usually spent vegging and trying to catch up on my sleep. The idea of heading off t......
2006-04-26 12:39:41
Jane Holahan
Back then, in the dark ages of the 1960s, you made decisions like that and you rarely deviated from them. Our motto: We’re a CBS family and we’re going to stay a CBS family. Huntley-Brinkley? John Chancellor? Tom Brokaw? Nope. Howard K. Smith? Babwa Wawa? Peter Jennings? Sorry, no tha......
2006-04-12 11:35:35
Jane Holahan
From the frigid winter of 1777-78, when a weary and tattered army took refuge at Valley Forge, to the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787, when the founders set out to write a constitution, the beginnings of America have been filled with fascinating characters and events. The men and women who helped......
2006-03-29 12:51:32
Jane Holahan
But then I figured I should try to look on the bright side. There has got to be good TV out there. I can’t be paying more than $50 a month to watch pure junk. (And no, that doesn’t include the pay channels like HBO and Showtime!) So I started thinking about all the good shows on TV. Granted, t......
2006-03-15 12:54:48
Jane Holahan
He took film courses but dropped out when he didn’t like the direction of the program. He won first place in a campus-wide comedy contest back in the early 1990s, but then never pursued a life of laughs. Instead, he went into his family’s business. “We used to own Kountry Kitchen, and we ow......
2006-03-01 12:10:58
Jane Holahan
To hear tell, it’s all wrapped up. “Crash,” sneaking in from behind, wins best picture, Reese Witherspoon takes best actress, Philip Seymour Hoffman wins best actor, George Clooney picks up best supporting actor and Rachel Weisz wins best supporting actress. And to sate “Brokeback Mountain” fans ......
2006-02-15 12:52:27
Jane Holahan
The Fulton’s Playwright-In-Residence was the toast of Washington a year and a half ago when his adaptation of “Cyrano” wowed audiences and critics at the prestigious Shakespeare Theatre. The legendary Michael Kahn directed the show and had great praise for Kornhauser’s clever and moving adaptatio......
2006-02-01 12:57:46
Jane Holahan
To nobody’s surprise, “Brokeback Mountain” won more nominations than anything else. And those eight include the big ones like best picture, best director (Ang Lee), best actor (Heath Ledger), best supporting actress (Michelle Williams) and best supporting actor (Jake Gyllenhaal). “Brokeback Mount......
2006-01-18 12:43:41
Jane Holahan
The Globes, given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (whoever they might be), are seen as a precursor to the Academy Awards. And they are usually a lot more fun to watch because, well, they have lots of alcohol flowing at all the celebrity tables. Just ask Harrison Ford, who came o......
2006-01-04 12:43:20
Jane Holahan
I can sit there endlessly watching live coverage of the the U.S. House and Senate (actually on C-SPAN 2). Oddly, I’m glued to hearings, speeches, press conferences, authors talking about their books, and nameless bureaucrats and journalists discussing issues of the day. Where else can a political......
2005-12-21 13:11:44
Jane Holahan
Call 2005 the year of relationships, lost and found. Here’s a look back at the top 10. 1. “The March of the Penguins” was the documentary hit of the year. Yeah, I know documentary hit is an oxymoron, but this movie drew big crowds. Emperor penguins, who live at the South Pole, go to great leng......
2005-12-07 13:10:07
Jane Holahan
Lancaster County is full of such places, including the Hans Herr House, Rock Ford, Wheatland, the Ephrata Cloister and Landis Valley, which all hold special holiday tours. It’s quiet, the skies are dark and there are no dancing reindeer or talking Santas to harass you. And I enjoy being remind......
2005-11-23 10:18:59
Jane Holahan
And once again, an incredible performance brings a legendary singer alive and takes what would have been a standard “E! True Hollywood Story” and turns it into something much more. Joaquin Phoenix is phenomenal in “Walk the Line,” directed and co-written by James Mangold. Phoenix always has be......
2005-11-09 13:04:20
Jane Holahan
The movie is an intense, claustrophobic look at how a network and a newsman, at great risk to themselves, helped bring down a man who’d become drunk and dangerous with power. So what did we talk about afterward? Why, the Natalee Holloway case, of course. That’s what passes for big news on t......
2005-10-12 13:55:13
Jane Holahan
It’s rated R for “strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.” So what do you do with your 5-year-old daughter? Take her along, of course. Why spend good money on a baby-sitter when you can traumatize your kid for a mere $6.50? As I settled in to watch the......
2005-09-28 12:48:06
Jane Holahan
You may be writing furiously, with ideas flowing, but you can never know how your play will translate onto the stage until it’s up there being produced. That’s the great catch-22 of playwrighting. How will actors shape certain characters? Will audiences respond the way you hope they will? Will......
2005-09-14 13:05:18
Jane Holahan
Obviously, I’m not hip enough to get director/writer Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan style or understand the deep complexity of Bill Murray’s quiet performance. Gosh, I just read that last paragraph and I sound defensive, don’t I? I get that way when all the movie critics adore something I find lame. W......
2005-08-31 13:32:28
Jane Holahan
But for us movie fans in Lancaster, the new special collector’s DVD of “Witness” is a special occasion. The DVD, which retails for $19.99 (though I picked it up at Suncoast Video for $14.99), might disappoint those of us hoping to see all those scenes they filmed around Penn Square and other plac......
2005-08-17 13:13:49
Jane Holahan
I’m ready to vent. · Can somebody explain the popularity of celebrity poker to me? Why do we care that a bunch of B-list or soon-to-be B-list celebrities are sitting around playing cards? It would be one thing if they were all witty, urbane people, like a 21st century version of the Alg......
2005-07-20 13:49:07
Jane Holahan
Two weeks ago, “The Fantastic Four” took in more than $56 million in its first weekend. Not bad for a movie that got dreadful reviews. And “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” took in $55.4 million this past weekend. Sweet. But is the slump really over? Not likely. Ticket sales have been dec......
2005-07-06 13:50:45
Jane Holahan
Hey, what could be more entertaining? Alien invasions are a time-honored tradition in the movies, but it was “Independence Day” and its computer-generated technology that really gave the genre new life back in 1996. We could really see the end of the world. Now this summer we’ve got the master......
2005-06-22 12:18:51
Jane Holahan
I’m going to become a cable news star. Like Jennifer Wilbanks, the Runaway Bride. It’s been reported that Regan Media, which publishes books and produces TV shows and movies, has made a deal to acquire all media rights to Wilbanks and her clueless, um, I mean supportive fiancé, John Mason. ......
2005-06-08 13:47:01
Jane Holahan
And after a week of watching the real Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on all the talk shows, it’s very clear that they don’t look much like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Real life was competing with its own Hollywood version this past week after Mark Felt, the number two guy in the FBI back ......
2005-05-25 13:02:27
Jane Holahan
I knew it was coming and I steeled myself for it. Judge Amy Gray and Bruce Van Exel, her intense legal clerk, will never admit their feelings for each other. In the season — and series — finale, we were left with the two smiling at each other as if they were brother and sister. Puleeze! All th......
2005-05-11 13:33:01
Jane Holahan
“Crash,” now playing at the Regal, is definitely not that kind of movie. Paul Haggis, the writer and director of “Crash” (and the writer of the critically acclaimed “Million Dollar Baby”) wants us to look at the real world, America, circa 2005. It’s not a pretty sight. We are scared, angry ......
2005-04-27 13:39:24
Jane Holahan
They both, in their own ways, open the door a little wider on the human experience, and that is a joyful thing. One, The Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre’s “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” is a lavish production with great sets, costumes and an enduring but simple story about how beauty is about what’s......
2005-04-13 14:15:33
Jane Holahan
I always get highly nervous when I talk to writers. Especially writers whose work I greatly admire. I think it’s because I know how hard writing is. A great writer makes it look easy, but writing is tough, hard, often lonely work. “You’ve got to leave some blood on the page,” Wilson told me....
2005-03-30 13:54:27
Jane Holahan
I picked an arbitrary time (Monday, 10:15 p.m.) and, beginning on 1, worked my way up the dial to see what was on all the stations — cable and network —up to and including channel 78, the Food Network. I don’t get the premium stations, so it turned out to be a total of 71 channels. It took 20 min......
2005-03-16 13:11:59
Jane Holahan
We all know you can never be too rich or too thin, right? Well, no. See, if you’re too thin we ridicule you, too, and slap you in the tabloids with terror headlines about the bones sticking out of your back. It’s almost like a revolving door. One week, there are pictures of Kirstie, Oprah o......
2005-03-02 12:29:24
Jane Holahan
It happens every year, proving that the Oscars aren’t really that important in the scope of things. Quick, can you remember who won best supporting actress last year? Yea, I couldn’t remember either. It was Rene Zellweger, for “Cold Mountain.” But I love the Oscars anyway because I love mov......
2005-02-16 12:49:32
Jane Holahan
It’s a joyous night when those two categories converge, which they rarely do. For every Daniel Day-Lewis winning for best actor for “My Left Foot,” there’s too many Roberto Begnini’s winning for the amazingly stupid “Life is Beautiful.” But I’ll keep hoping that the best truly will win those litt......
2005-02-02 13:23:42
Jane Holahan
Unless the person behind you keeps asking dumb questions. Loudly. Or the guy in front of you is snoring for 10 minutes. Or, when a shot of London appears on the screen, someone feels the need to loudly say to her companion: “That’s England!” I complain a lot about people talking and making ......
2005-01-19 14:21:55
Jane Holahan
· Why are there so few movie theaters in Lancaster County? Anyone who heads over to the Regal Cinemas in the Manor Shopping Center on a Friday or Saturday night knows what I’m talking about. The place is packed, the parking lot is a nightmare that makes driving in Midtown Manhattan seem......
2005-01-05 14:02:09
Jane Holahan
Yea, that’s right, women marched for equal rights so we could all get lung cancer. Great! That’s kind of how it feels watching TV these days. Women have more opportunities in society than ever before, yet on TV way too many of them make June Cleaver and Carol Brady look like Susan B. Anthony a......
2004-12-27 14:16:53
Jane Holahan
Like millions of other Americans, I travel on the big holidays, helping to clog highways, airports, bus terminals or train stations so that I can be with my family. A family that’s spread thick and thin through several states and time zones. We all congregate in Pittsburgh, where my entire extend......
2004-12-22 12:37:27
Jane Holahan
1. Ashlee Simpson fakes it. She sang live at her appearance at Donegal High School in October, but the same can’t be said of her gig on “Saturday Night Live” a few days earlier. We were shocked — yes, SHOCKED — to realize that an artist of her caliber would lip synch. 2. That wild and crazy “Da V......
2004-12-08 12:32:14
Jane Holahan
“Sideways” renews your faith that movies can open a window into life in a way no other art form can. So many movies out there seem like loud, empty blockbusters put together by a corporate committee. “Sideways” is wonderfully human and small. Grounded in messy reality, it takes us on a great r......
2004-11-24 12:58:36
Jane Holahan
The 30-year-old software engineer has been a contestant on “Jeopardy!” since June 2, and over the course of 70 games he’s won $2,355,001, more than any other contestant has won on any game show in the history of game shows. Every night, legions of “Jeopardy!” fans tune in to see if the mild-manne......
2004-11-15 13:30:49
Jane Holahan
C’mon, it’s mid-November. The malls are filling up, the traffic is maddening, and your gift list keeps getting longer. Time’s a-wasting. Remember back to the days when your looked forward to the holidays and didn’t dread them? When getting into the Christmas spirit was as easy as helping your mom......
2004-11-10 13:03:34
Jane Holahan
With apologies to those productions I missed, here are my choices for the best and the brightest. Best Musical The Fulton’s incredible production of “Ragtime” was the highlight of the theater season. A huge production, with more than 40 cast members, the show vibrated with life thanks to great......
2004-10-27 13:07:51
Jane Holahan
Yeah, we all know only too well. I love politics, but this has been the longest campaign I can remember, and not a very nice one. And since we live in the swing state of Pennsylvania, we’ve been seeing an endless array of ads for the candidates. We can’t get away from it! Our country is divide......
2004-10-13 12:46:36
Jane Holahan
The program takes a look at just about everything you can imagine in Broadway’s 100-year history, ranging from Florenz Ziegfeld and his lavish production numbers to the genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the international blockbusters of producer Cameron McIntosh. Producer Michael Kantor takes......
2004-09-22 13:00:52
Jane Holahan
How did “Father Knows Best” morph into “My Dad’s a Jerk and We All Know It?” Take a look at the sitcoms on TV, and you’ll see a theme emerge. Wherever there is a dad who’s a regular on the show, he’ll be a fool. Ward Cleaver, who offered up pearls of wisdom to Wally and the Beaver, has been re......
2004-09-08 12:50:56
Jane Holahan
Paparazzi stalk him and his perfect family relentlessly. The poor guy is just trying to be a superstar and they won’t leave him alone. Hey, it could drive anyone to murder, right? Killing paparazzi — who are subhumans — is not only OK, it’s beneficial to society. That’s the premise of the ridi......
2004-08-25 13:00:34
Jane Holahan
If you’re like most people, you’ve got a lot of keys, and they make a lot of noise. You’ve probably got a car key, a few house keys, one or two of those little plastic-key discount cards for the supermarket and drug store, and maybe one or two keys you’ve forgotten about, all hanging from a key chai...
2004-08-11 15:24:40
Jane Holahan
Paranoia is hot. Go to the movies and you’ll get sucked into some kind of conspiracy theory designed to make you afraid — very afraid. Unseen forces are out to get you and all the other good people out there. I’ve seen “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Village’’ in the last week and while they ......
2004-07-28 12:58:33
Jane Holahan
“Cyrano” is the toast of Washington. The critics love it and ticket sales have gone through the roof. Kornhauser told me he heard it was the best-selling show the Shakespeare Theatre has ever produced. Several people have been back to see it over and over. A few weeks ago, the National Public Rad......
2004-07-14 14:02:06
Jane Holahan
But this summer, I’m beginning to understand the appeal, thanks to “Spider-Man 2’’ and a wonderful novel I’m reading about the creation of a comic book superhero. It’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” by Michael Chabon, who also happened to help write the story of “Spider-Man 2.’’ “Sp......
2004-06-30 13:34:53
Jane Holahan
If anyone had told me back then that that guy would not only change the face of community theater in Lancaster but be responsible for a magnificent $2.4 million renovation at the playhouse, it would have seemed like a joke. But after his not-so-amazing debut (all I can remember is the fur coat), ......
2004-06-16 14:49:16
Jane Holahan
Monday night, I watched the “Showbiz Moms & Dads” marathon on Bravo. Oh sure, I had every intention of doing virtuous things like reading, but “Showbiz Moms & Dads” was just way too important. It was the accident on the side of the road syndrome. “Showbiz Moms & Dads’’ chronicles five families......
2004-06-09 13:24:21
Jane Holahan
Forty-one is old on TV. And if you’re a woman? Forget about it! The people who run TV must figure that we’d all stop watching “ER’’ en masse if a middle-aged woman were one of the stars. Stories about her personal life, about facing middle age? Ugh. Better to populate the show with hunky guys in ......
2004-06-02 14:30:34
Jane Holahan
This season will not go down in the annals of history as very interesting. It will be known as the season when a lot of good shows came to an end, not a season when a lot of good shows were born.
It was the season when some excellent shows began to falter. A season when reality TV hit new...
2004-05-26 14:22:35
Jane Holahan
Go to the movie theater, and "Shrek 2'' will be playing on half the screens there.
Yep, it's the old Summer Movie Blast. Movies get so much hype and are pushed in our face in so many different directions we can do nothing but surrender.
People -- including me -- surrendered in drov...
2004-05-19 13:41:16
Jane Holahan
Hey, I know that change is a part of life, but some changes are better than others.
I barely shed a tear when "Friends'' closed up shop. It was definitely time for the gang to say good-bye.
The final, abbreviated season was a disappointment when you think about how clever and poign...
2004-05-05 14:36:57
Jane Holahan
Like, how the heck did Monica lose all that weight she carried around in high school flashbacks? She's a chef and she looks like she lives on bread and water. You'd think there'd be a weight issue there, but I've never heard her even talking about carbs.
Whatever became of Mocholate, that...
2004-04-28 14:58:19
Jane Holahan
Your assignment is to take the ads to a higher level, make them sexier, more mysterious, more appealing.
So you're thinking, hmm, maybe we get a man in there. He can smolder and then the woman wearing wings and a Victoria's Secret bra can smolder back. It will be sexy and evocative.
...
2004-04-21 17:30:04
Jane Holahan
I know "Friends'' is a pop culture phenomenon, but does it have to take up all the air in the room? "Frasier'' was a great show. Urbane and witty, it did slapstick better than anyone and somehow managed to make you laugh so hard your sides hurt. How did they do that? For 11 years, it made making...
2004-04-07 14:36:01
Jane Holahan
The couple got engaged right at the start of their makeover and the show sponsored a fairy tale wedding for them at Disney World. They wouldn't reveal their new selves to each other until the wedding ceremony.
This was meant to warm our hearts. All it did was creep me out, depress me and ...
2004-03-31 14:15:41
Jane Holahan
I've had that problem before with other movies screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has written.
"Being John Malkovich'' was terrifically bizarre and funny until the last half hour or so.
A puppeteer finds a portal on a highway that leads into the brain of the actor, John Malkovich. He can...
2004-03-24 13:59:25
Jane Holahan
I have written in this very column about how stupid reality shows are, but there I am every week, wondering who will be fired and who will backstab whom.
Why am I watching Donald Trump show off his gluttonous wealth and bad taste when I could be watching Masterpiece Theatre? Why am I wast...
2004-03-17 13:15:27
Jane Holahan
In the past decade or so, the Irish film industry has been thriving.
So, instead of going out and drinking green beer today, why not check out an Irish movie. I've selected a few that I think are the best and give a well-rounded look at Irish life today and in the past. There's nary a lep...
2004-03-10 13:48:09
Jane Holahan
Oh, I know the content is radically different from those innocent days when you couldn't say the word pregnant on TV or have married couples sleep in the same bed. These days, sitcoms are all about bathroom jokes, bratty kids and double entendres. All the rude and crude jokes would make Rob and ...
2004-03-03 13:11:23
Jane Holahan
If "LOR'' won for editing, it would win for anything. And it did, taking home 11 Oscars, including for best picture and best director. It swept every category for which it was nominated and tied "Titanic'' and "Ben Hur'' for the most Oscars ever.
Hey, don't get me wrong, it was a great ac...
2004-02-25 12:21:45
Jane Holahan
I am a movie lover and I make the mistake of thinking that the Academy will actually vote for what they think is the best, not to atone for a lost award earlier in an actor's career, or because a movie was a huge hit, or because they don't like someone personally.
But that's what happens....
2004-02-18 14:41:23
Jane Holahan
I may complain about movies a lot, but this year I saw a number of terrific ones. Some have been dark and disturbing ("House of Sand and Fog''), while others have been light and fizzy ("Something's Gotta Give''). If a movie is made well, it's always a pleasure to see it, no matter what its subje...
2004-02-11 14:43:08
Jane Holahan
At 10, girls have lots of opinions, and my sisters thought the Beatles were pretty cool. So, of course, I did too.
"The Ed Sullivan Show'' was appointment television on Feb. 9, 1964 in our house.
I remember sitting around our black and white TV, watching the show and being excited...
2004-02-04 14:30:49
Jane Holahan
I wore more polyester than velvet, my cat was named Harriet, and I had no desire to join the Society for Creative Anachronism, a re-enactment group filled with knights and damsels.
But I slogged through the books, which had, for as long as I could remember, been perched in a boxed set on...
2004-01-28 14:22:23
Jane Holahan
When it came time to go their separate ways after graduation, they decided the heck with that, and the Acting Company was born.
"They were an extraordinarily talented group, and they had created a real ensemble,'' says Margot Harley, co-founder of the Acting Company with the late John Hou...
2004-01-21 13:27:29
Jane Holahan
· There are way too many commercials on TV. The number of minutes devoted to selling us stuff has been growing steadily, and I'm afraid one of these days the balance between how much time is devoted to a show and how much is devoted to commercials will tilt over to the other side.
I...
2004-01-14 13:35:38
Jane Holahan
So I will continue to watch my 19-inch screen at home and go to the movie theater when I want to have the true movie-going experience.
And you know, it's always more interesting to go to the movies than to stay home, even if you do have a 500-inch high definition TV that you paid $5,000 ...
2004-01-07 13:40:07
Jane Holahan
Well, that and all the rumors about Britney hanging out in clubs and drinking so much she needs help leaving the premises.
And that mouth kiss with Madonna last year.
And all the half-nude photographs plastered all over magazine covers.
But doesn't it all seem kind of path...
2003-12-31 14:18:01
Jane Holahan
1. American Idolized. More than 22 million sat at the edge of their seats from January through May, waiting to find out if Ruben or Clay would win. Um, will anyone remember the American Idols a year from now? Just wondering.
2. Harry Potter rules! Just because we've been through this four...
2003-12-17 13:31:45
Jane Holahan
See, shopping used to be entertainment for me. I loved heading to the stores, looking at all the merchandise and then buying something.
Lots of things, actually. My name is Jane H., and I'm a shopaholic.
I didn't buy huge things, and I always went for sales, but still I ended up w...
2003-12-10 13:49:00
Jane Holahan
You've heard the stories about shoppers punching each other to grab the last Cabbage Patch Doll or getting into such heated arguments in the parking lot on Black Friday that they threaten to kill somebody -- while putting the Christmas presents in the trunk.
Hello, disconnect here folks!...
2003-12-03 14:16:01
Jane Holahan
Jackson is a cable news director's dream. A screen writer couldn't have come up with a more sensational saga.
There are the lurid stories about Jacko and little boys, the bizarre plastic surgery, the spending sprees, the Neverland Ranch, and hanging his kid over the rail of a hotel.
...
2003-11-26 12:13:38
Jane Holahan
But don't think you have to search far and wide or even spend hours at Sam Goody clawing your way past Britney Spears fans to find something to help sing -- and swing -- your way through the holidays.
A new, very good Christmas CD can be found in our own backyard.
Almost literally....
2003-11-19 12:54:54
Jane Holahan
Some of the connections seem to be a bit of a stretch.
We watch "Friends'' not because we always have and there isn't anything new on anyway, but because it represents "comfort food'' for our troubled minds.
We wouldn't watch blockbusters any more because they were too violent an...
2003-11-05 13:56:13
Jane Holahan
I'm still smiling, remembering all those shows I watched as a kid.
My family was a CBS family. Back in the 1960s and '70s, you laid your claim by the newscaster you watched on the nightly news.
We were with Walter Cronkite all the way. He was the one who told us Robert Kennedy an...
2003-10-29 12:30:08
Jane Holahan
The comedies aren't funny, the new shows aren't that good, and the dramas seem way too tired.
Take "Ed,'' a show I grew to love in the last few years. It feels anemic these days.
Ed and Carol, who finally have gotten together, don't seem to like each other much. They've had more ...
2003-10-22 12:50:14
Jane Holahan
It did not receive critical acclaim. Syndicated film critic Roger Ebert didn't mince words when he wrote: "A contemptible film: vile, ugly and brutal. There is not a shred of a reason to see it.'' (Hey, Roger, how do you really feel?)
So why did millions of people ignore the reviews and g...
2003-10-15 12:59:44
Jane Holahan
I am changing the categories a bit this year because it was an incredibly strong year for musicals but not so strong for drama and comedy.
So, with my apologies to those productions I didn't get a chance to see, here are this year's Footsies.
Best Musical, Traditional:
The D...
2003-10-08 15:03:02
Jane Holahan
Just take a look at the network lineups.
Sunday nights at 10 p.m., lawyers go head to head on "The Practice'' and "Lyon's Den.''
Sure, various and sundry sharks and barracudas are featured regulars, but both shows see their leading characters as almost saintly people. I swear Rob L...
2003-10-01 12:24:41
Jane Holahan
Being a TV addict, this is a happy time for me.
Being my old set-in-my-ways self, I don't look forward to the new shows half as much as I do the returning stuff.
So, what's what in this infant season? Here are a few thoughts from my television-soaked brain.
·I am m......
2003-09-24 13:31:10
Jane Holahan
Although I'd heard a lot about what many consider Frank Capra's masterpiece, I'd never seen the 1939 movie.
Could it be as good as critics said? How would a movie about a courageous politician hold up in this ironic day and age?
Beautifully, that's how.
What makes "Mr. Smi...
2003-09-17 13:30:34
Jane Holahan
I was hunting down this year's list on the Internet and found a sight that had them all. So, I pressed the print button on my computer and, well, 33 pages of nominees came out. Yikes.
There are a total of 435 nominations in 89 categories. You won't be seeing all of them on Sunday night's ...
2003-09-10 14:49:53
Jane Holahan
New TV seasons are always overwhelming, especially when you've got so many networks vying for your prime time.
So what shows have the buzz and what shows are lost causes before they even hit the airwaves?
It's sad when you see a 30-second commercial for a show and you know, with ...
2003-09-03 14:24:44
Jane Holahan
While television was always about making money, there was a belief in those early days that it should serve the public too.
So the networks regularly scheduled serious documentaries. In the 1961-'62 season alone, the three networks aired more than 250 hours of documentaries. Network news...
2003-08-27 13:31:41
Jane Holahan
And then comes my favorite season: fall.
With fall comes a distinct energy, a buzz of change, a new beginning.
So before I get in a good mood, I've got to lodge a few complaints about the dog days of this summer's entertainment world.
Of course the big news is what may fina...
2003-08-20 13:06:23
Jane Holahan
But something tells me I'll be getting one before the year is out. The worm has turned the way it did for color TVs, CDs, automatic cars and all those high-tech things that replace perfectly good but slightly less high-tech things.
It goes like this: At first you say, "Heck, I don't need...
2003-08-13 13:33:53
Jane Holahan
I am now hooked on "The Restaurant,'' the NBC show that takes us behind the scenes of the opening of an Italian Restaurant in Manhattan.
Naturally, there is very little that's "real'' about the show. Most of the scenes seem contrived. Some are so blatant, it's laughable.
How is it...
2003-08-06 14:28:51
Jane Holahan
Every couple of minutes I drink from my lukewarm bottle of water and fan myself with my notebook, feeling like a wilted flower. I can only imagine how hot the cast must be. After all, they are actually moving and working.
Unlike me, though, they aren't complaining. They've got a lot of w...
2003-07-30 13:53:49
Jane Holahan
I watched until the end, as Rhett bid her adieu and Scarlett, inspired by Tara, proclaims that "Tomorrow is another day!'' The music swelled, I sighed and it was over.
And I got very sad.
Not because of Scarlett's woes -- if anyone can rise above her problems it's Scarlett O'Hara...
2003-07-23 13:05:21
Jane Holahan
Audiences know it when they see an actor comfortable in his character's skin, just as they know when an actor is busy acting. It's intangible, but it makes all the difference in the world.
Good directors know when they see actors cross that line from acting to being. Their main job is to...
2003-07-09 13:41:17
Jane Holahan
It doesn't matter if they are any good, as long as they create a buzz long enough to rake in the dough at the billions of theaters where they are playing.
After breaking the latest box office record -- and there are so many records to break -- the movie drops off the radar screen. Not to...
2003-07-02 13:46:58
Jane Holahan
Katharine Hepburn died over the weekend, and with her went the last breath of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
All the actors and actresses who worked for the studios back in the '30s and '40s and into the '50s, before TV came along and changed everything, are all dead.
Just a few we...
2003-06-11 13:22:47
Jane Holahan
How does it happen?
Three months ago, I began to find out. I sat in on auditions for one of the season's upcoming shows, "Cabaret'' (Aug. 7-23).
Director Ed Fernandez already had a clear idea of what his "Cabaret'' was going to be. Now he needed to find the cast to share his visi...
2003-06-04 13:34:23
Jane Holahan
Sure, there was a "Mary Poppins'' or an "Oliver!'' here and there, but most of the children's movies from the 1960s and '70s are pretty forgettable.
Then there were the animated Disney movies, which fell into decline just about the time I was old enough to go to the movies.
I saw...
2003-05-28 14:00:51
Jane Holahan
It was not a banner season for television. No new series caused a ratings riot, the critics were lukewarm about almost everything, and reality TV took over -- but with decidedly mixed results.
As the season fades into the sunset -- or maybe I should say into constant cloud cover -- there...
2003-05-21 14:50:49
Jane Holahan
No, I'm not a domestic maven who prepares elaborate meals featuring 17 different kinds of mushrooms (all from my own personal bog), homemade puff pastry and an exquisite sake I found on my last trip to Japan.
I do not raise sheep so that I can make my own sweaters or bees to make my own ...
2003-05-14 14:23:48
Jane Holahan
Don't despair. I've got a movie for you. And what's even better, if you've got kids -- especially teenage girls -- you can take them along.
"Bend It Like Beckham'' is a charmer. If you don't leave the theater with a huge smile on your face and a few lingering tears, you better start searc...
2003-04-30 13:02:05
Jane Holahan
Everything is expensive these days.
A ticket to the Anne Murray show at the American Music Theatre Thursday or Friday is $55.
That's nothing compared to the Alabama American Farewell Tour, hitting Hershey on Aug. 16.
Tickets to that event range from $35.75 to $1,000. I don't...
2003-04-23 14:13:23
Jane Holahan
Tedman wants to help me make more money.
And someone named Paul wants to help me get a bigger -- well, if you have an e-mail address, you have a pretty good idea what Paul wants to make bigger.
Ah, the Internet, where your every wish and desire can be fulfilled.
Looking fo...
2003-04-16 14:11:12
Jane Holahan
Ah, the joys of radio.
I know, WITF has a Lancaster signal at 99.7 on the FM dial, but I can't get that at all. I listen to the Harrisburg signal at 89.5, when my radio is cooperating.
I move the dial a millionth of an inch up or down, or jiggle the plug or turn the radio off and ...
2003-04-09 13:51:26
Jane Holahan
Take "America's Most Talented Kid,'' for example.
I know I hate this show just by watching the commercials.
We see lots of miniature "adults'' who should be riding their bikes, skinning their knees and taking spelling tests. Instead, they are all gussied up in evening gowns, tuxe...
2003-04-02 14:09:09
Jane Holahan
I remember mine: a production of "Rapunzel.'' I'm not sure how old I was or how I got there, but I vividly remember Rapunzel's hair and her purple gown and the tower where she lived.
Neither of my parents was a big theatergoer. My mother loved opera and the symphony, so I got dragged to t...
2003-03-26 13:18:30
Jane Holahan
Not Michael Moore's highly charged critique of President Bush. (For anyone familiar with Moore's style, that was probably the least surprising moment of the evening.)
Not even the lip-smacking win by Adrien Brody for best actor. (Though that was probably the biggest surprise for Halle Ber...
2003-03-05 13:25:24
Jane Holahan
He lived about 10 minutes from my house and he worked at the public television station, WQED, which was another 15 minutes away.
I never met Mr. Rogers, though my grandmother knew him and got Christmas cards from him.
And I didn't watch his TV show much. I wasn't a big TV watcher ...
2003-02-26 13:28:08
Jane Holahan
Isn't it a travesty what they keep doing to poor normal Michael Jackson? Thank goodness Fox paid him mega-bucks to tell the real story.
Are you as psyched as I am about seeing Lorenzo Lamas back on network TV in "Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People,'' another terrific rea...
2003-02-19 13:56:00
Jane Holahan
The Fulton is gearing up for its next show.
That's the nature of the theater. Shows exist for a few fleeting moments and then they are gone.
For more than six months I followed the behind-the-scenes world of the theater as the play, an adaptation of the famous John Fowles novel, c...
2003-02-12 13:45:42
Jane Holahan
Don't ask me to give examples from the past. I can never remember who won -- let alone who was nominated -- five minutes after the award ceremony is over.
Quick, what was the Best Picture of the Year last year? I can't remember either.
The Oscars are a tempest in a teapot, much a...
2003-02-05 14:21:33
Jane Holahan
Hirschfeld was the brilliant caricaturist who, with a few deft lines, created indelible portraits of Broadway and Hollywood stars for The New York Times. His portraits graced the pages of the world's greatest newspaper for more than 75 years, the one constant in a world that never stays still....
2003-01-29 12:47:20
Jane Holahan
They died anonymously, shot on street corners like dogs, herded naked into showers with hundreds of strangers only to be gassed and dumped in ovens day in and day out for years. Only the white wisps of smoke floating into the sky proved they had ever existed.
When we go to the movies we w...
2003-01-22 13:11:12
Jane Holahan
Have you noticed? People are eating cow brains and cockroaches. They are lying in a bathtub full of slugs. They are pulling rats out of dead people's mouths and throwing up for all the world to see.
Sorry, I've grossed you out, haven't I?
But let's face facts. The TV repulsion fa...
2003-01-15 13:46:26
Jane Holahan
Last week I wrote about the terrific movie "Far From Heaven,'' now playing at the Point of View Cinema.
Well, I've see another great movie, which is sure to bring yet another Oscar for its star, Jack Nicholson -- if there is any Oscar justice, that is.
"About Schmidt'' is about the...
2003-01-08 13:30:57
Jane Holahan
Was it a campy look back at the dull 1950s, when women wore pearls while they vacuumed and never had a passionate feeling? We could laugh at it and feel smug in our more enlightened age.
Instead, I found an emotionally rich, heart-wrenching movie that vividly reminded me of the sheer emotiona...
2003-01-01 10:35:43
Jane Holahan
It was a weird year, but then it always is in the world of show biz, isn't it?
So, in no particular order, here are my picks for the top 10 entertainment stories of the year.
1. Nice movie.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year and THE ...
2002-12-20 14:32:38
Jack Brubaker
In 1981, Millersville had one traffic signal. Located at the intersection of Millersville Pike and Millersville Road, on the eastern edge of the borough, that signal had minimal effect on traffic actually passing through the borough.
Now Millersville has six signals. The Scribbler drives thro...
2002-12-18 13:46:42
Jane Holahan
I love Christmas carols. For two months or so, we're all humming the kind of melodic songs we don't seem to hear during the rest of the year.
But some of the songs we've embraced have some lame and strange lyrics.
Take "Frosty the Snowman.''
OK, it's cute that he comes to life t...
2002-12-11 13:39:43
Jane Holahan
It will air Friday at 8 p.m. on CBS, and I'll probably watch it yet again, reciting half the script from memory.
Like every great myth, "Rudolph'' only grows more powerful with time. It first aired on Dec. 6, 1964 and never missed a year since.
So why does a TV show about a reindeer w...
