In Remembrance - from Dwayne McDuffie to Ken Finkleman

[dewline]

One of the things that sticks in my mind about Dwayne is this: having grown up in Detroit in the days before cable, his family was able to get the local CBC TV feed "over the air". So he got to grow up with Mr. Dress-Up and The Friendly Giant like most of us on my side of the line did. He got to enjoy Hockey Night in Canada right along with us, too, and as he grew up his tastes evolved.

One part of that evolution included his enjoyment of The Newsroom, a satire of the Canadian TV news business created by and starring one Ken Finkleman.

Finkleman just got interviewed yesterday by Jian Ghomeshi on Q, and I wasn't quite sure what I was hearing. To be sure, he said a number of things that a lot of Canadians would agree with. Particularly Canadians who were participating in the G20 protests in Toronto last summer, and are far gone into genuine rage over what happened there.

No doubt, Dwayne might have been able to parse the whole thing a lot better than I, and figure out what I was really hearing. Did Finkleman take over the interview, did he say what he actually meant to say, and if the answer to the latter is "yes", what was his real intent?

Not sure myself yet.

Comments

Might have to watch

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Finkleman's stuff more in theory than in the watching, but I think I'll have to give him another try.

I heard the interview yesterday and just took the time to watch it now. My reaction is only strengthened: I wish to hell Ghomeshi had scrapped his schedule and kept going with Finkleman — I was really enjoying listening to him make live radio live.

Yes, Finkleman took over the interview and yes, I think he made Ghomesi uncomfortable, especially when he (rightly) went after Margaret Wente's "analysis" of the media coverage of the cop funeral.

Intent? I think his intent was to have fun while doing the promotional rounds for his new program; possibly not a good career move.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Perhaps not, but it left me scratching my head in a productive way afterwards. Seemed like an efficient way to make multiple points all at once, and it doesn't feel like a "Billy-Bob" moment at all to me. Whatever it actually is, it's not that.

Definitely not B-B

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Agreed. If the comparison applies at all (and it doesn't, but what the hell), Ghomeshi would have to play the part of Billy-Bob Thornton.

Jian?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

He was flustered, to be sure, but not melting down any more than Finkleman was.

Re: Jian?

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Well, I did say the comparison didn't really work. But I also got the feeling (probably erroneous, I admit) that he contemplated screwing with the show's schedule and bringing Finklemn back for another round.

I wish he had.

Round Two?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

That would be appointment radio.