When you think L.A., you think sunshine, right?  After all, in every movie you’ve ever seen, when the protagonists go to L.A., there will be three establishing shots: the Hollywood sign, a girl in a bikini, and a palm tree.  All of Los Angeles is located at the beach, or maybe in a convertible.

In truth, those of us lucky/intelligent enough to live on the west side get to experience the annual phenomenon of June gloom.  It’s basically a tendency for the ocean to produce a lot of mist and clouds, such that the mile or so closest to the water is grey and gloomy, even though it might be sunny and bright in L.A. proper and parts east.  It’s been starting in recently, and after a couple of mini heat waves the last couple of weekends, I welcome it gladly.

I was leaving a student’s house Wednesday night and I was struck by a sensation of comfort.  For the briefest flash, I felt as if I belonged here, and I had no idea why.  The house was only a few blocks from the beach, so I knew the cool temperature had something to do with it, but what else?  Then it hit me: wood smoke.  Someone had a fire going, and for that instant, cedar warming someone’s home transported me.

Then I got into the L.A traffic.  The sensation went away quickly.

“I’m staying in this race until we have a nominee.”

We do. It’s not you.

Couldn’t be happier that NBC has consolidated a worthy line-up of comedy onto Thursday nights again.  Between that and ABC marrying Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, my DVR runneth over.

Better still?  Tonight’s episodes of Lost and Grey’s really showed that their creative teams have hit a stride.

Lost has been DELIVERING this year.  My complaints with middle seasons involved too many riddles being tossed at us at once, never any answers.  Sure, there’s still plenty of puzzles and cliffhangers this year, but there are also answers.  Storylines move forward.  The big picture slowly reveals.  Frustration is the good kind, and overarching mysteries slowly unravel.  Sweet.

Meanwhile, Grey’s finally has the one component it’s been missing for years: chemistry.  During all its seasons, Grey’s  has tried to make me care about the central romance between Derek and Meredith.  And I haven’t.  But tonight, in one simple, elegant scene (finally featuring some compelling acting from Ellen Pompeo) I actually cared about the “central” characters more than the peripheral ones.  And they did it all with eyes.  Fantastic.

We are in the Golden Age of Television people.  That’s taken?  OK… Platinum Age.  Enjoy it.

Empire just released its list of the best 50 television shows of all time.  At the risk of getting all meta, I think it’s one of the top lists of the top that I’ve ever seen.  TV Guide made a similar top-50 list a few years back, and theirs included shows like 60 Minutes and Sesame Street.  While there can be no doubt that these are significant televisions touchstones in American culture, they are apples-to-oranges with the rest of such a list.

Empire’s list just compared entertainment.  What’s impressive is the lack of snobbery, yet the complete willingness to sift through the best of the premium cable shows.  Their list includes Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Dexter, the Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc.  And what list of the best television wouldn’t?  They don’t miss small-audience gems like The Shield and Arrested Development.

Of course, their list skews British, being a British publication.  But if you haven’t seen shows like period police drama Life on Mars, maybe it’s time that you do.

And naturally there are a few unforgivable placements, such as Family Guy at #12 while the British The Office is #23?  I don’t think so.

It also has too much sci-fi, even for my taste.  Calling the Dr. Who remake #16 is giving far too much deference to the British icon, given that show’s scattershot character development and story logic.  Babylon 5 belongs nowhere on a list of 50, let alone ABOVE the three flavors of Star Trek included.  At least, in the sci-fi realm, they gave Firefly and the remade Battlestar Galactica highest marks, so I’ll forgive them a transgression or two.  However, to truly qualify as a best of “all time” many of those sci-fi slots should better have been given over to older television hits.  As written, a few 80s classics are the most aged representatives.

Still, I’m on board with any list that ranks Buffy the Vampire Slayer #2.  And they only place it second to The Simpsons, which, body of work-wise, has it coming.  Check the list out for yourself.

Following BrevityTV’s launch we’ve been posting a stump speech from a new presidential “candidate” each day. Well, they’ve spoken, and it’s time for you to cast your vote. Which candidate speaks to the issues of true importance to you? Is this year’s election about health care to you? The economy? Cabbages and Bear Traps?

Having been the guy who edited these together, I can say one thing… I’m sick and tired of “Hail to the Chief.” I think I’d have to actually BE president to be any more tired of “Hail to the Chief.”

So. Vote lots over at BrevityTV.com. (By the way, we here at ScreenwriterGuy.com have officially decided to throw our superdelegate endorsement behind Tommy McCoy, Cancer Boy. Of course, we’re biased.)

Friday:  Writers meeting.  Review applicants for new writers with current writers.  Somewhere that day I did some writing, too, though I didn’t finish.  That’s my curse lately.

Saturday:   Do lunch with potential producer. Audition new actors for our ensemble.  Pool hall gathering with all of Brevity crew to celebrate the launch of our site.

Sunday:  Meet with editor on piece I directed recently (the one of which I’m most proud… coming the site next month.)  Sort Brevity e-mail.  Do post-production on other projects.  Work on site.

Today:  Meet finalist writing candidates.  Three of them, all good, all for different reasons.  Must select only one.  Am I the only one who thinks of a Highlander-style competition?

Life is good.  If only there were a paycheck, I’d have accomplished my goals in life.  As it is, I keep squeezing the whole rent-paying kid ensmartening into the schedule.  Sleep optional. Sigh.  Someone hire me.  I’m good.

Watching the political campaign over the past few months, I’ve been disappointed to see Barack Obama occasionally falter in his effort to elevate this year’s political campaigning.  As he put it, “You get elbowed enough, eventually you start throwing some back.”

I can’t help comparing Barack’s struggle to that of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars trilogy.  Among the things George Lucas got right in creating his masterwork was a cogent examination of how much more difficult it can be to take the high road.  As the Pennsylvania primary unfolded, I realized that the Obama campaign needs no strategy more complicated than resisting the dark side of the force.

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If you’ve been following the daily posts to BrevityTV, you know we’ve been putting up a new third-party candidate stump speech each day. Well, I just recorded the last of them, and it’s starring… (drum roll…) me. (End drum roll with disappointed trumpet fart…) Long story short, we had too many of them, and ran out of actors.

And so, readers of ScreenwriterGuy.com, you will have your chance to see me tackle that other side of the camera. The one where the talking props stand. My piece is scheduled to premiere on Monday, mid-day. Prepare yourselves for a serious slice of ham. To be fair, the beard did most of the acting.

Once all ten are published, we’re going to allow people to vote (assuming I can figure out the code…) and from there select candidates for run-off debates and elections. Please don’t vote for me. I’m going to go shave right now, and I don’t want to have to grow it out again.

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I had good reason: I was in the last sprint of a marathon.  But the work of an entire collective of creatives is now available on the internet.

BREVITYTV.COM is live!

For the first ten days it’s up, we’re posting a new presidential stump speech each day.  After that, the aim is to put a new sketch up every week, usually Mondays.  Don’t know if we’ll pull it off every week, but we do have a lot of material in various stages; so far so good.  Still a lot of work ahead, but this is a cool milestone.

Enjoy!

For the next few days you can hear an online preview of the new R.E.M. album at iLike. They’ve been my favorite band for a very long time, and yet it’s been hard to say that lately. But this new stuff is good! They emerged at the end of the experimentation tunnel with a few new tricks, but they’ve married it to their old sound, and the synergy is quality. Plus, it sounds like recent politics have Michael Stipe pissed off enough to be writing sharper lyrics. ScreenwriterGuy will be listening to this continuously from now till Thursday.

When the very first image on the screen featured a mascot bunny rabbit in a fist fight, I was hopeful.

The premise behind Miss Guided is strong. Becky Freely, who was horribly awkward in high school, returns as an adult to her same school, now in the role of guidance counselor. Smart idea, and fleshing out the concept from there is strong afterwards as well. Our protagonist has a crush on a hunky Spanish teacher, but the new English teacher (who just happened to be Homecoming Queen in the guidance counselor’s senior year) is turning heads. Miss Freely is back in high school, and her new world comes with all the same dynamics as when she was a student.

Judy Greer is excellent as Becky Freely, and the writing is quality.  The world of the show is enjoyable, as we watch teachers who are not a bit qualified for their jobs struggle with their daily lives.  However, overall the first episode’s virtue is more its potential than it’s comedic virtuosity; all the elements are in the right place, except the laughs are few and far between.

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