The Luckiest Man in America whammies out

It's quite curious to me that a movie that would go to the trouble to meticulously recreate Press Your Luck's stunning set piece, that enormous board of slides and flashing lights — one of the best game show centerpieces ever — would then go so far afield with the story of Michael Larson. Always looking for the next scheme, Larson memorized the board's patterns and used that knowledge to break the bank. For all the small details captured, like the accurate rendering of the hidden score and spins readout that only the contestants are intended to see, there are incredible diversions in the story, such as network brass drinking champagne in the background after they decide to cash in on Larson's performance. The reality was quite the opposite. 

I'm not sure anyone coming to this movie with no knowledge of Larson or Press Your Luck would find the story particularly interesting; its scenes are largely confined to the show's studio. And I think many people could have written this better. For example, it seems malpractice not to have a scene of Larson sitting at home, eating cereal in his pajamas, watching the great game show block of The $25,000 Pyramid, Press Your Luck and The Price Is Right. One day, studying those lights bounce around the squares on Press Your Luck, he thinks he notices something and starts taking notes through the use of a VCR recording. The tagline at the bottom of the poster says, "What's behind his winning streak?" That's the meat of what is interesting about Larson, and it is largely unexplored here.

I also think Peter Tomarken, who did a fine job hosting the 1983-1986 game show and spent some of his time providing angel flights to sick individuals, would be insulted by the unfairly smarmy portrayal of him in this production. While the cast includes some fine performers like David Straithairn, and it's clear that Paul Walter Hauser studied Larson's in-the-zone technique, it's not enough to save this misguided script. For those intrigued by Larson's feat, Game Show Network's documentary Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal is excellent and remains the definitive telling of the Larson story.

Verdict: 2 out of 5

Also see // RIP Peter Tomarken

Musical geography and other reflections on the music of 2023

It’s time for the 2024 music wrap-up, and we never did one on 2023. So, here are a few thoughts, because the old traditions will carry on, even if blogging is long dead and the world is burning to the ground as we speak.

One thing that has curiously stuck in my head about the 2023 year in music was the geographical musical matches that Spotify Wrapped presented last year (and didn’t do in this year’s mediocre version). Spotify found my music played during that year to be most attuned to the tastes of Christchurch, New Zealand, based upon plays of Madonna, Meat Loaf and The Motels. It comes as no surprise to me that I am more of a mind with folks on the other side of the globe from me. 

I can explain how Spotify came up with the match:  There’s always a Madonna song in my current playlist; I cycled through several Meat Loaf songs after his death, particularly focusing on Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, and I was also exploring some of his less successful output from the ‘80s; and I had The Motels’ “Remember the Nights” in rotation for a good chunk of the year. It wasn’t one of their big hits, but it’s one of the best songs from those pensive ‘80s pop-rockers.

Overall, 2023 feels a bit unremarkable for me, musically. My most played song released in or near 2023 was Texas’ “After All,” a new song included on a new best-of compilation. Everything but the Girl placed at #53 (based on my airplay as tabulated by last.fm and including songs old and new) with “Run a Red Light,” which I got into late in the year and would make more of an impact in the 2024 roundup. One of the Pet Shop Boys’ best and most haunting songs to date, “The Lost Room,” from the Lost EP, was also split between the two years, finishing at #51 for ’23. Interest in Tears for Fears’ outstanding 2022 album The Tipping Point carried over to make it the most played current album again in 2023.

Click here to go down the rabbit hole of past years' roundups back to 2005.

Movies: Leave the World Behind

I can’t remember the last time I reacted this negatively to a film’s ending. The premise: A vacationing family led by Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke find themselves in an unraveling world — a ship barrels ashore while they are luxuriating on a beach; then cell phones and internet quit working (the ultimate horror). It goes further downhill from there in a what’s-going-on puzzle that continually teases the viewer with vague clues such as mysterious animal behavior. Meanwhile, another couple arrives to add cultural and political tension to the mix (groans). 

The movie strongly reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan’s notorious The Happening (with less wind) and, to a lesser extent, Stephen King’s novel Cell. At its best, Leave the World Behind weaves several tense threads together in thrilling fashion and achieves a compounding sense of dread, but the film then simply ends as things appear on the verge of greater calamity without providing any resolution apart from the daughter's quest to see the final episode of Friends. I know that sometimes a filmmaker wants us to be left with a puzzle to ponder, but it just doesn’t work here. It’s an infuriating ending, and, while I do not condone violence, it left me wanting to throw large objects at director Sam Esmail.

Now streaming on Netflix  //  2 hours 21 minutes  //  2.5 stars out of 5

Some true things about Milli Vanilli

 Ok, Eddie … This one’s for you.

The Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli spends much of its time portraying the fake duo’s surviving member Fabrice Morvan as a sympathetic figure, a victim of show business and, particularly, producer Frank Farian, who lured the naive duo into a contract that they did not read or understand. But, late in the documentary, Morvan has the gall to say that yes, a small part of him still feels that he deserved that Grammy award for all the hard work they put in touring the world for promotion while eating caviar and living the life of a star. The moment underscores the sketchiness that tainted everyone involved.

One of the actual lead vocalists, Charles Shaw, is positively seething throughout the documentary, and rightly so. To its credit, the show brings to light the fact that Farian was a repeat offender who previously undertook similar shenanigans with the immensely popular Boney M. The other person with the most screen time is Farian’s business manager/girlfriend Ingrid “Milli” Segieth, who gives the scandalous details of the real singers sneaking in the back entrance after hours and her love for Rob Pilatus.

The documentary goes on for a very long time — at least a half hour too long as it dwells on Morvan’s lmaudlin reflections — yet it manages to largely gloss over the appeal of the music, a triumphant string of five top five U.S. singles, including three consecutive number ones on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of the songs aren’t even mentioned by name, although Dianne Warren does appear for about 15 seconds to acknowledge her contribution. The song “Girl You Know It’s True” sounded like nothing else on the airwaves in late 1988/early 1989. Farian is a clever producer who also made hits for the likes of La Bouche, No Mercy and Le Click, and I would like to have heard some talk about how he cooked up the winning Milli Vanilli sound. To my ‘80s pop loving ears, the best of the bunch was the version of “Baby Don’t Forget My Number” that appears on the greatest hits album — likely a single remix. Of the album tracks that didn’t get released as singles, most of them are unremarkable, but there was one potential hit left on the table — “Take It As It Comes” — a Climie Fisher co-write that is as instantly catchy as the album’s hits.

Through the whole documentary, there’s a galling lack of anyone accepting any genuine responsibility for what transpired, from record label executives who appeared shifty and unprepared for basic questions to Morvan himself. And there was a surprising lack of consequences once the jig was up. Yes, Rob Pilatus arguably lost his life as a direct or indirect result and there was the public shaming of being stripped of the Best New Artist Grammy, but a lot of people made a lot of money and carried on with their merry lives. It does feel like something that should rise to the level of criminality. When it was discovered in the 1950s that game shows were making up the outcomes, there wasn’t just outraged headlines — there were congressional hearings and strict new rules at the TV networks. But when the music world made up Milli Vanilli, everyone involved said: Ah, just blame it on the rain.

Music that moved me in 2022

The blog reignites this week with a belated look back at the music of 2022. This ritual has occurred most every year since 2005 and must carry on, regardless of what life throws my way.

One of the most interesting developments of the year was courtesy of the Netflix show Stranger Things — I would never have believed Kate Bush would have a big top 5 hit at this late date, and it was great to see a quirky ‘80s tune like “Running Up That Hill” sprinting up the chart.

Looking at music released in or not too far from 2022, heritage acts pretty much defined my year in music as tabulated by last.fm based on both my streaming and local listening. Tears for Fears claims both the album and single crown with The Tipping Point and “No Small Thing,” respectively. Duran Duran’s stunning Future Past was the number two album (it also took the runner-up spot for 2021), and ABBA took number three with Voyage. I was obsessed with the lyrics to “Don’t Shut Me Down” for much of the year (like a dream within a dream that’s been decoded, etc.).

My first reaction to The Tipping Point was to walk away from it, because the pomp and grandeur of TFF does not, at first listen, seem to be there. It is, though, on a more subtle scale. The gentle guitar strums that open the album on “No Small Thing” are a fake-out, as the song gradually builds to an intoxicating crescendo. It is a beautiful album that, in the TFF cannon, bears the most resemblance to the post-split Elemental. This would be a fine swan song, but I hope they have another one or more in them.

The heavy rotation of Future Past placed a stack of songs in the top 50: “Wing,” #15; “Future Past,” #28; “Invisible,” #35; “Nothing Less,” #36; and “All of You,” #46.

I had a pretty good bit of memorial airplay going on in 2022, bringing Vangelis in at #27 with the rousing instrumental “Chariots of Fire” and Olivia Newton-John at #78 with the rousing ‘80s pop of “Physical.” Meat Loaf is in there as well with three six- to eight-minute placings from the Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell album.

What’s so hot about the Hot 100? // This year again finds three points of crossover between my chart and the Hot 100, surprisingly all in the top 10 of the Hot 100.

— As It Was • Harry Styles // #2 Billboard, #72 Me

— Ghost • Justin Bieber // #8 Billboard, #49 Me

— Cold Heart (Pnau remix) • Elton John and Dua Lipa // #10 Billboard, #58 Me. This one actually topped my rolling chart with a long run at #1 in the second half of 2021 and finished at #38 for 2021. I love it that Elton John, after being frozen out of the pop chart for the last couple of decades, made the top 10 of the year on the Hot 100 with this fantastic mashup.

Click here to go down the rabbit hole with past years' recaps.

RIP Christine McVie

Christine McVie's sunny 1984 solo hit "Got a Hold On Me" has always been one of my favorite songs of the 1980s. It was her only substantial solo hit — #10 on the Hot 100 and #1 AC — and it bears the instantly familiar upbeat, buoyantly melodic sound that she did so well. At times, she did that thing I love of juxtaposing the euphoric and the melancholy, as in Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Loving Fun," which contains one of my favorite lyrics:

I never did believe in miracles
But I've a feeling it's time to try
I never did believe in the ways of magic
But I'm beginning to wonder why

In the Fleetwood Mac songbook, her style is a nicely balancing counterpoint to the mystical Stevie Nicks compositions and the eccentric ones of Lindsey Buckingham. Songs like "Everywhere," which is currently featured in a TV commercial, "Hold Me" and "You Make Loving Fun" will always be dear old friends.

While McVie's involvement in the surprisingly excellent 2003 Mac album Say You Will was minimal, it disappointed me that they never all got together for one more. For years, another album seemed possible but always stayed just out of reach, while Say You Will showed the spark was still there.

Wordle rips off Lingo, which is coming back to TV

Where's the lawsuit? 

Wordle literally is the concept of the game show Lingo, a word game cleverly infused with some elements of bingo, which first appeared in 1987. The only differences in the word-guessing portion, really, are that Lingo gives the player the first letter, and Worlde provides a handy grid to help keep track of the used letters that are not in the word. I say the differences will not stand up in court. As has been all over the news, The New York Times snatched up Wordle for a big wad of money.

American viewers will best know Lingo for the Chuck Woolery-hosted Game Show Network version, which ran from 2002 to 2007 with more than 300 episodes — a rare bounty for a GSN production. The show originated with a single, obscure syndicated season (1987-88), and there have been a number of successful international versions. In the Netherlands, except for a five-year gap, it has been in production since 1989. So, the concept has been around, and there have been Lingo game apps for the phone.

Now news breaks that CBS is resurrecting the show for primetime. Seems too much to be a coincidence, but news reports indicate the show was in development long before the Wordle craze emerged.

It's fun to see some of the lesser known game shows get the big-budget, big-network treatment — perhaps there will be a car prize ball — but I suspect an hour of Lingo is going to grow tiresome. It seems more of a small-doses pleasure.

And RuPaul as host? Wouldn't be my on my shortlist, or even long list, but maybe he'll work it.

Not a Dry Eye in the House (RIP Meat Loaf)

It seems to me that one of the things Mr. Loaf aspired to be was different, to be an outlier among the top 40 with operatic bombast and radio edits running 5 minutes or more in the latter days, and I admire that. About seven months ago, upon the death of his longtime collaborator and songwriter Jim Steinman, I wrote about what is probably my favorite Meat Loaf song, "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are." Another favorite, "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through," a reverent ode to the music that gets us through this world, is in my current playlist and in the top 3 on my rolling Last.fm chart.

I want to give a nod to a deeper cut, a latter day single that flopped in the U.S., peaking at #82, but did manage #7 in the U.K. For 1995 album Welcome to the Neighborhood, which followed up the incredible comeback of Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, there were only two Steinman songs in the mix, and Mr. Loaf turned to venerable songwriter Diane Warren for a couple of tracks which would be the first two singles.

The lead single, "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)," seems a rather thinly veiled rewrite and lesser imitation of the massive Bat II hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)." I'll argue that had it not been the lead single with big expectations hanging over it, the song might not have tainted the top 40 (it made #13 in the U.S. and #2 in the U.K.).

But second single "Not a Dry Eye in the House" is, for my ears, one of the best tunes Mr. Loaf ever turned out; it's all high drama and hooks and beautifully produced. I love the bridge (Act 1 … The story's just begun! Act 2 … I fell in love with you!) and the gentle fade-out.

It would be his last charted Hot 100 single in the U.S. (prior to his death, of course), and a fitting curtain call.

Music that moved me in 2021

This year was more fun musically than last, I’d say, with interesting things going on like Elton John and ABBA going to the top of the charts again.

One of the pleasant surprises of the year was Duran Duran’s Future Past, a stunningly good album that begs the question of where their muse has been in the last 20-plus years. Released in October, Future Past ends up as my #2 album for the year but may ultimately have more impact in 2022 as the songs work through my playlist. The Durans are often at their best with downbeat numbers, and the song “Future Past” is probably my favorite since the extraordinary singles “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone” resuscitated them way back in the first half of the ‘90s.

Here’s a look at how some of the songs released in or near 2021 placed in my top 100, which includes songs old and new and is based on play counts as monitored by Last.fm:

#1 Be the One • Dua Lipa // It was a very Dua Lipa kind of year, and this single from her previous album emerged as my favorite apart from her Elton John collaboration. She has kind of taken on the Queen of Pop role that Gaga squandered over the last few albums. Lipa is also in the top 100 at #21 with “Hallucinate” and #74 with “We’re Good,” and she finishes as the #7 artist of the year.

#2 Anyone • Justin Bieber // Bieber has really carved a niche with melancholy and evocative grooves like this and “Sorry.” Dance with me under the diamonds / See me like breath in the cold is one of my favorite lyrics of the year.

#15 Got Me • Laura Mvula // The British R&B singer delivered one of the most interesting singles of the year. Its groove continually makes me think of Billy Ocean’s “When the Going Gets Tough,” in a good way.

#32 Unwanted • Rick Astley // Suggests Astley should still be making albums of danceable pop.

#38 Cold Heart (Pnau Remix) • Elton John & Dua Lipa // It’s hard to describe what this is — sort of a dance remix of 1989 ballad hit “Sacrifice,” (which by happenstance topped my rolling chart last year), wrapped in a very clever mashup with “Rocket Man,” “Kiss the Bride” and “Where’s the Shoorah?” It’s brilliant, but I wonder if it could have been even more so with a bridge somewhere in the second half. It had the longest run at #1 on my rolling chart and would have finished higher if it had come along earlier in the year.

#39 Free Woman • Lady Gaga // Sometimes a song works better outside the context of its album, and I have found that to be true for some of the tunes from the rather monochramatic Chromatica.

#48 Magic • Kylie Minogue // Kylie’s Disco album is surprisingly not particularly disco, sounding instead like just another pop album, really. There’s nothing anywhere near the disco-ness of Kylie oldie “Your Disco Needs You.” Nevertheless, the single “Magic” lived up to its name.

#53 Don’t Shut Me Down • ABBA // The new album Voyage is solid if not the mind-blower we were hoping for after all this time, right? The lovely ballad “I Still Have Faith In You” also makes it in at #89.

#57 Golden • Harry Styles // Not a name I would expect in my top 100, and he gets here by evoking a style of music that was never my cup of tea, but it works beautifully.

#68 Your Fandango • Sparks & Todd Rundgren // The incomparable combination of wit and musicianship that is Sparks ushered in the first time ever that I’ve played Rundgren. Love the castanets and the unmitigated glee of the insanity going on here.

#80 Golden G String • Miley Cyrus // My interest in Cyrus’ outstanding Plastic Hearts album carried over into ’21 enough to make it the #1 album of the year and Cyrus the #9 artist of the year, which opened with synth masterpiece “Midnight Sky” sitting at #1 on my first rolling chart of ’21. The raucous “Night Crawling (feat. Billy Idol)” also makes the year-ender at #98.

#81 Once I Saw the River Clean • Morrissey // The Mozzer never quite fades away, and the electronic sheen on recent album I Am not a Dog on a Chain was a welcome complement to his eccentric songs.

What’s so hot about the Hot 100? // We have three points of crossover this time, up from one last year. These minor miracles are:

— Save Your Tears • The Weeknd // #2 Billboard; #26 Me

— Anyone • Justin Bieber // #74 Billboard; #2 Me

— We’re Good • Dua Lipa // #90 Billboard; #74 Me

A close call was Ritt Momney’s “Put Your Records On,” a quirky cover of the Corrine Bailey Rae song that got inside my head but finished a bit outside my 100 while landing at #93 in Billboard, despite getting no higher than #30 on the Hot 100 weeklies.

Go here to view prior years' recaps.

RIP Anne Rice

I haven't read any Anne Rice in more than 20 years, but I'll always fondly associate her early vampire novels with the time when I was a teen and really getting into reading voraciously (something which came crashing down when I entered the real world of employment/slavery). As a Christmas gift, my aunt bought for me a paperback set of the first three novels, despite her initial objections to buying something titled The Queen of the Damned. 

My book notes reveal that I was reading Interview With the Vampire at the time I graduated from high school in 1991, and I read the next two within a few months. My notes also indicate that I liked Queen best of the first three books, although that was not how I remembered it before digging out those old pages that meticulously document the books I read. I also read The Tale of the Body Thief, the fourth of The Vampire Chronicles series, a few years later, and that concluded my consumption of Rice's work. I think I sensed by that point she had said what she had to say. At times, I felt the series sagged under the weight of excessive historical detail, but I ultimately bestowed highly favorable ratings on each of the first three novels.

I admire Rice's deadly serious approach to the subject matter; she aimed to elevate the genre with an eye to being a lasting influence, and I believe she succeeded. I'm not sure the sophistication of the Sookie Stackhouse and True Blood stories would have emerged had Rice's treatment of the genre not happened. The idea of a vampire living as a rock star was a groundbreaking departure from caped bloodsuckers crawling up the exterior walls of castles to a young woman's window in the dead of night.

We'll be looking to the upcoming AMC series Interview With the Vampire, coming in 2022, as a fitting tribute to the queen of vampire horror.

Netflix's Midnight Mass is a revelation

I've taken note of the name Mike Flanagan. 

I've not seen much of his previous work. I liked Doctor Sleep (2019), the sequel to The Shining. A few years back, I panned his Ouija: Origin of Evil but noted some inspired flourishes; and, more recently, I bailed out on his The Haunting of Hill House series after one episode (we're going to give it another shot). But watching the seven-episode Midnight Mass proved to be a religious experience of the sort I haven't felt since the first couple of seasons of True Blood and, in movies, since the stunning twist of The Sixth Sense.

There aren't many new ideas in horror, and that's where Midnight Mass really delivers, taking the concept of the vampire to a place that some might find blasphemous, but I found its melding of vampire lore and Christianity brilliant and exciting. In terms of good and evil, it turns the concept of the vampire inside out. And it does so at a leisurely pace across seven hours; it takes a bit to fully realize what's going on here as the story establishes its territory with the return home of Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford), a troubled young man, and the arrival of Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), a young man of the cloth who … well, to say much more would enter spoiler territory.

There are no jump scares; it doesn't need them. The music, which often consists of gorgeous choir renditions of sacred hymns, and the sparingly used, something-creepy-is-about-to-happen parts, is outstanding. There are enormous passages of fascinating, hypnotic dialog, often delivered by Linklater, who was good as the brother on sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine and is Emmy-worthy here. Another cast standout is Samantha Sloyan as Beverly Keane, an overly pious clergywoman whose intentions are always suspect.

At times, Midnight Mass becomes a profoundly philosophical meditation on existence, life and death. We immediately watched it a second time — something we never do — to revel in the nuance and the slow-burn dread. We're still haunted by it, still dissecting and discussing the details. As lifetime horror fans, we think it's an important work in the genre. I don't remember for certain if I've ever bestowed a divine 5 out of 5 rating to any piece of entertainment on this blog before, but here one is.

Seven things about Spotify's 2021 wrapped

 

1 // I don't usually post about Spotify's yearly recap because the bigger picture of my listening comes via last.fm scrobbling, which aggregates all of my listening on Spotify and the things that I play from my computer, but this year will be an exception. My overall year-end recap will be forthcoming, of course …

2 // In a bit of a shocker, Wrapped tells me I listened to more music this year than 65 percent of other listeners in the United States. I wouldn't have expected this, since I almost never listen at work, and with last.fm I'm rarely in the top 50 percent.

3 // I was a bit surprised to see Erasure as the most played artist (spoiler: They will not be #1 on the aggregated list). It must stem from the fact that I did not purchase a physical copy of their last album, The Neon, or any of its offshoot releases, such as the Ne:Ep. It's a decent album but not one I feel like I played that much. Their songwriting is not as sharp, in my view, over the last several albums. Wrapped says I was in the top 1 percent of Erasure listeners.

4 // Wrapped says I listened to 63 genres, and that's a good thing — I'm proud to be eclectic. New wave coming out on top is a reflection of all that '80s music, and too much of it gets labeled that way.

5 //  The artists on those top songs are, in order, Bieber, Dua Lipa, Simple Minds, Johnny Hates Jazz and Griff. Then and now, now and then.

6 //  Kudos to fairly obscure electronic / chillwave artist Brothertiger for edging into the top 5 artists. That's largely on the strength of his excellent rendition of Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair album in its entirety.

7 // December 1 is too early to close the chart year — there are weeks to go.

Unmasking Information Society's ODDfellows bonus tracks

I recently got the physical CD copy of Information Society's latest album, ODDfellows, for which the bonus tracks are rather shrouded in mystery. Unless they were described in some "social media" comment thread, there is / was literally no information about them online, except that they are limited to the CD, which appears to only be on offer through bandcamp. So, this is a public service to identify and briefly describe the bonus material:

Track 11 - Might Have Been 4:13 // This is the reason to get the CD. "Might Have Been" is arguably better than most of the proper album; it's got a piano bit that lodges in the brain, and the song is one of the sort of mid-tempo grooves they do so well. It's also a tad dark, as if a pinch of Don't Be Afraid was thrown into the recipe.

Track 12 - World Enough (Phuzzed Up Mix) 5:13 // An unremarkable remix of one of the better tracks.

Track 13 - Escape from Murderapolis 1:02 // An instrumental trifle that seems rather pointless to include here at just a minute in length. Quite possibly from one of the guys' soundtrack work.

Track 14 - Slow-Scan 72 1:40 // This is one of their on-line scavenger hunts that I was never hacked enough to pursue.

Back in 2018, they sort of declared the album format dead and started chucking out a string of singles — "Nothing Prevails," "World Enough," "Room 1904" and "Bennington." These ended up being four of the 10 tracks of the new album, so it feels more like getting an EP's worth of new material here. The romantic rumination "World Enough" is the best of the bunch, another of those mid-tempo toe-tappers. Their 2014 return with _hello world remains the jewel of their late active period and, with Information Society (1988), is one of their two best albums.

Who is 'the host of Jeopardy!'?, part 2

200 // Setting aside any debate over the merits of Mike Richards’ character, this whole hosting kerfuffle has saved Jeopardy! from a wrong decision on host. Richards is not bad as a game show host — I liked him as host of GSN’s brief and surprisingly good revival of Pyramid in 2012 — but he is not The One. I do not condone the trend of random actors and third-tier comics getting game show hosting gigs, and this is a situation that needs something more, a bit of heft, like when Regis Philbin became host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

400 // Mayim Bialik seems to be an acceptable answer. Some stuff has come out about strange things she has said but, thus far, not enough to get her canceled. Her turn as host was very solid, and she would only get better. So why isn’t she making it happen? A sitcom that no one knows about?

600 // Everybody loves LeVar Burton, but his performance did not look like The One. On a side note, I wanted him to stroll out onstage wearing his Star Trek visor.

800 // I had never seen or heard of David Faber, but I thought he did a smashing job. Smooth, engaging and in control, like a classic game show overseer. 

1000 // Ken Jennings would also make sense — he’s now in the DNA of the show and seems to be generally well-liked — but he has the disadvantage of having Tweeted.

Daily Double // As I’ve said before, there was already a very solid audition in the can from Jeff Probst, who nailed it as host of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! (1998-2001). And that completes my shortlist — Probst, Faber, Jennings and Bialik.

Final Jeopardy! // How appropriate that all this drama unfolds as the show gets one of its biggest champions of all time, Matt Amodio, who will resume his reign of terror when the new season opens Sept. 13.

Netflix's Black Summer

It’s like someone looked at The Walking Dead and said: What if we took out all the boring parts? Rather than concocting an elaborate new villian every time the crew moves to a new fracked up town, as The Walking Dead does (at least up to the point that I bailed out, which I think was season 4), what if it’s mostly just about getting from point A to point B? Also, change the zombies from lumberingly slow to super fast. Thus far, it’s a winning formula for Netflix’s Black Summer, a relentless exercise in zombie fight-or-flight tension. It’s best not to get attached to any particular character, because (spoiler) a lot of them don’t make it.

The story does not always unfold in a linear fashion, and I like how they’ve done it, going back to give us a bit of back story on something that just happened. Some have criticized the show for lacking character development, but I think Rose’s character is progressing just fine every time she blows away another non-zombie who’s gotten on her wrong side.

This show is derived from Z Nation, and the good news is that this is far better than that, based on the little bit of Z Nation I’ve seen. I’m not particularly a fan of the zombie genre and am perplexed by its enduring popularity — it seems a daunting task to bring anything new to its apocalyptic storylines — yet I tore through the two eight-episode seasons (season 2 just recently arrived) and was left wanting more when I came to the end. It’s pretty rare that I say that about a new show these days.

Score: Considered merely as escapist fare, it's a solid 4 out of 5.

Eight things about classic Price Is Right on Pluto TV

 A 24-hour loop of current episodes of The Price Is Right might be one definition of hell. But Pluto TV’s 24-hour-a-day classic The Price Is Right Bob Barker-era channel is pretty heavenly.

Some random observations:

• With my (lack of) luck, I’d probably win a sewing machine or a snowmobile. I always feel sorry for those contestants.

• Most of the episodes airing now are circa 1983, when it was apparently a legal requirement that all washing machines and clothes dryers were a sickly yellow color.

• What’s the deal with the 1980s obsession with brass beds? It’s a chintzy look.

• Contestants could reap the rewards of faithful viewership. Watching these shows, I quickly learned that the Haggar slacks are always $30.

• My dream would be to play Punch A Bunch (or is it Punchboard?). Assuming I earned all four punches, I would punch four consecutive spaces on the bottom row. Just because.

• Whoever built the games used too much lattice. Ten Chances looks like something your neighbor is trying to grow tomatoes on and might be a city code violation.

• Bob Barker had his occasional creepy and condescending moments, but he was peerless among game show hosts at building playful drama and anticipation, and I admire his love for game statistics and esoterica (“Has that ever happened before?”).

• It’s streaming on channel 163 on Pluto TV, which, many days, we watch more than “regular” television. That's really saying something, because we loathe sitting through commercials. Come on down!

Jim Steinman died (and we're sad about it)

See what I did there with the title, which would normally just say "RIP Jim Steinman"?

My first real exposure to Steinman's work was not until 1993 when Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell came out, making a big splash with "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)." I actually liked the subsequent singles better — "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" and, particularly, "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are." I am often drawn to different in music, and this was certainly different from the '80s pop I grew up on. The soaring melodies, operatic drama and long, unconventional song structures all ticked the right boxes for me. "Original Sin" is another favorite, released on Mr. Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II and as a single by Taylor Dayne (!) from the soundtrack of the movie The Shadow; her big voice was a fine pairing for Steinman's style. "Original Sin" was originally recorded by Pandora's Box.

There's a magical and poetic quality to the lyrics of "Objects in the Rear View Mirror …" There were endless winters and the dreams would freeze is a line that takes me somewhere. And those repeated passages of building drama and urgency (But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now  / Just like an angel rising up from a tomb) … it deserved better than its peak of 38 on the Hot 100. The song sprawls over 10 minutes in its album version, but this one, via Spotify, is a nice edit:

Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are - AC Edit 3 aka Wild Car

Who is 'the host of Jeopardy!'?

With the final week of Alex Trebek at the helm of Jeopardy! upon us, a few thoughts:

• According to a press release from Sony, Trebek makes notable comments at the top of Monday's show (January 4), and there will be a tribute segment at the end of Friday's show.

• It seems we're maybe going to get a series of guest hosts for a while, and I think that's an excellent idea. There's no need to rush into anointing the successor; take the time to get it right.

• In the following week (January 11), uber-champion Ken Jennings begins his turn as guest host. His aptitude for this seems to have been met with some skepticism among fans, but I say give him his chance. He's had enough time in the limelight to become at ease with it, and his ability to do the schmoozing with contestants might surprise us all. Or not. My gut feeling is that he will not become the permanent host, but who knows.

• Quite forgotten amidst all this is the one fine audition that's already in the can: Jeff Probst's 100-episode stint as host of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! (1998-2001) on VH1; episodes also aired on the Game Show Network for a time. He's a smooth question reader and an amiable personality, and his long tenure on Survivor has only made him more capable. Sometimes the solution is right under your nose …

• Other possibilities? This is difficult, since we don't really have professional game show emcees anymore; Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is now the last of the old guard. As I've said before, it's unfortunate that third-tier comedians and random actors have become the go-to choices to host game shows. It's been reported that politico George Stephanopoulos has expressed interest in the gig. He's a nice chap — give him his turn as guest host — but I don't think he's The One. I think one direction to consider might be a larger than life personality — the Millionaire team had the right idea when they snagged Regis Philbin. It will take someone with gravity and gravitas to successfully follow Alex Trebek.

An episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy:

 

Music that moved me in 2020

Most played (new songs)

For songs released in or near 2020, Pet Shop Boys win the year with “New Boy,” a “b-side” from the “I Don’t Wanna” single. It’s one of those brilliantly maudlin midtempo meditations they reel off effortlessly, like “Only the Wind” and “Always,” which are often buried as extra tracks on singles and are better than most of what’s on the accompanying album.

The runners-up are the Pets’ “Only the Dark” from this year’s Hotspot album and “Do You Feel,” which emerged as the favorite from La Roux’s latest album, Supervision.

Most played (oldies)

Don Henley’s synthy “Sunset Grill” wins by a point over three tied songs — Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years,” The Lighting Seeds’ “Don’t Let Go” and Paula Abdul’s “The Promise of a New Day (7” Edit).” When I went to an Eagles concert in Tupelo with my parents back around ’99 or so, the highlight for me was “Sunset Grill.”

Most interesting

From the first time I heard it, I thought Miley Cyrus’ “Midnight Sky” was the most interesting song of the year. It feels like she’s channeling the dark electronic sounds of The Weeknd on this one, and the whole Plastic Hearts album is sounding strikingly good.

What’s so hot about the Hot 100?

It’s becoming a trend that one song from Billboard’s Hot 100 of the year makes my year-end chart. This year, somewhat surprisingly, it’s Billboard’s top song of the year, “Blinding Lights,” by The Weeknd, which sits at #59 on my year-ender. It’s probably his best since "Can't Feel My Face," although I ended up playing “In Your Eyes,” with that killer sax riff, more (#27 for the year); it is currently in my top 10, having recently topped my chart, and could have finished even higher if its run had come earlier.

Lukewarm

Some of my core favorite artists significantly underperformed with new releases (this, sadly, has been a recurring theme in the last few years). With Chromatica, it’s time to accept that Lady Gaga isn’t going to reach the heights of The Fame / The Fame Monster / Born This Way and, to a slightly lesser degree, Artpop, again. Chromatica, to my ears, has a disturbing homogeneity, particularly when compared to her first few albums. It does land a couple of songs on the year-end chart — “Alice” (#51) and “911” (#56). Then there’s Erasure, whose last several albums have underwhelmed; their lone entry from The Neon is “Shot a Satellite” (#62). And the Pets’ Hotspot had some gems, as always, but it was not at all what I expected for the conclusion of their trilogy with Stuart Price, who has essentially been a Pet Shop Boy for the past decade.

Posthumously

It’s not unusual for me to have a Roxette song in rotation, and the late 2019 death of Marie Fredriksson had me hunting for some deeper cuts. They finish the year with several entries — “Wish I could Fly” (#32), “Queen of Rain” (#44) and “Perfect Day” (#66). And my favorite Eddie Money tune, “I Wanna Go Back,” is in at #78, while the posthumously released George Michael song “This is How (We Want You to Get High)" scrapes in at #95.

Ava Max

“Sweet but Psycho” was big enough to repeat; it was #53 for 2019 and #90 for 2020. “Kings & Queens” finished at #115 this year.

The chart statistics are courtesy of scrobbling via Last.fm.

Go here for recaps dating back to the 2000s.

Movies: The Car (1977)

 Just how much menace and dread can be extracted from the revving engine of a tricked-out Lincoln Continental Mark III with illegally tinted windows? That's explored at length in 1977 horror-thriller The Car, renowned among some as a so-bad-it's-good chestnut; critics had fun describing it as "a total wreck." My grandmother drove a Lincoln Continental back in the early '80s, and I remember it as an incredibly long vehicle with those little panels that would come down and hide the headlights when not in use. I was fascinated by those.

Starring Josh Brolin as the sheriff, The Car followed in the recent dust of highway thrillers like Duel, and its poster is simply fantastic with the car's angry face and the windswept lettering.  I remember it as one of the first movies that scared me as a kid when it was on TV, probably as a "movie of the week" on one of the big three networks back in the days when they aired theatrical releases as Event Programming. The titular auto zips around a desert town terrorizing its residents, seemingly without anyone behind the wheel, and it all looks pretty great in HD. Hammy dialog aside, the threatening face of that rampaging vehicle stirs dread every time it appears. Though the plot may be thin, it has its effective moments; the best one gives new meaning to the phrase "drive-thru" in a harrowing scene involving one of the leading damsels. It all builds to a sudden, fiery conclusion, with the movie never signaling what drove the car to its murderous rampage, literally or figuratively. As with so many things, the journey is more satisfying than the destination.

The Car is currently streaming on Netflix.