Phil_Shuman's Blog

I had low expectations for the Emmy show Sun nite and believe me I wasn't disappointed...rather, i was shocked at how pathetic it was. With all the funny talented clever smart people in the world of TV and entertainment, how is it possible to be so lame, stupid, unfunny, sexist, out of touch , boring, absurd, old, unimaginative , ( i could go on ) all in the same few hours ? Heidi Klum in particular should be embarrased. I mean.. rippig your clothes off ? Let's see how we can prolong sexy dumb blonde stereotypes shall we ? Can you wink at the cameras a few more times ? I mean give me a break. The producers of that show should resign from the business like immediately if not sooner. It was really just amazing... if I were one of those presenters I woulda run for the hills before I went out on that stage.  Who wrote that stuff ? 1st graders ?

I like Harvey Levin a lot. He's smart and funny and hard working and helps old ladies across the street.. I don't however, like what he represents.. which is an increasingly intrusive 'gotcha' approach into any celeb or pseudo celeb or wanna be celeb who happens to be out to dinner or at the airport. I know he and the kids on his TMZ show and web site have 'fun ' with it and take a different , sarcastic approach ( which I actually love) but still..... enough..i mean.. who cares ???? ... can't Kanye West and his bodyguard/slash/manager get on a flight to Hawaii w/o cameras in their faces ? I know I know.. they wouldn't do it if there wasn't a demand for it.. the paparazzi have to make a living too..... and some ( airheads) like Paris and Britney and Kim seem to thrive on the ''attention' but enough is enough.... Having said that, by the same token, the celebs of the world are happy to come on all our news and semi-news TV programs to tout their latest movies and shows and have us fawn all over them and give them a fortune in free publicity.. that's OK for them.. cause it's on their terms... and they can sit in a studio somewhere with assistants bringing them lattes and cell phone msgs while they patiently answer the same inane questions over and over again via satellite for news teams from around the country ... ( so Mathew... did you have more fun making Surfer Dude or Tropic Thunder ..? . i really wanna know ! ) ...Yet a lot of these are the same celebs who object ( Mathew) to being photographed when they're out in public ...who don't want to be bothered.. who sometimes fight back.... who somehow draw a distinction between being a celebrity when they're ''on'' and being a 'regular person'' when they're at the beach ? i dont think so.... Yes.... they want it both ways.. maybe they'll get it that way someday... new laws ? new ''rules"" ... .. but not as long as we live in Harvey's world.

Dear Ben Stiller..
BLet me just say right off the top that I love you... I love you, your wife, I even love your Mom and Dad...Anyone named Stiller.. i'm laughing...So it is with great regret that I say I have to object to some of the humor in you latest smash hit... Tropic Thunder.   I dont think i'm the first to say that it's tough to make jokes about war and death when we're, i think. in a war ?  The scene that i'm referring to that really really made me uneasy was ( spoiler alert) when the director stepped on a mine and was unexpectedly and suddenly and loudly blown to smithereens.  It was supposed to be funny... and there were indeed some laughs in the theater... but my laugh kind of got caught in my throat because i couldnt help thinking of all of our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan who have died from being blown up from IEDs.... i know it's ''just a movie'' but jesus have some common sense Ben... you did well enough offending mentally handicapped and african americans... you gotta piss off the families of soldiers too ?:      call me if you need script advice on your next project...

Phil