TV/Movies Megathread

[CountDeMoney]

First Sam Simon, now Jenna McMahon.   

Jenna McMahon, who teamed up with Dick Clair, her partner in a comedy act, to create the long-running sitcom "The Facts of Life," died on March 2 in Monterey, Calif. She was 89.

The cause was heart failure, her daughter, Kerry Holden-Dixon, said.

Ms. McMahon and Mr. Clair also created the character Eunice (played by Carol Burnett), and her fractious Middle American family, for a series of sketches on "The Carol Burnett Show." Eunice's mother, known as Mama and played by Vicki Lawrence, became the central character of "Mama's Family," a spinoff series that ran on NBC and in syndication from 1983 to 1990.

"The Facts of Life," which ran from 1979 to 1988, centered on a group of boarding school girls under the guidance of a housemother played by Charlotte Rae. It was a spinoff of an episode of the popular sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," in which Ms. Rae played the housekeeper to a rich white man who adopts two African-American boys from Harlem. That episode, "The Girls School," was written by Ms. McMahon and Mr. Clair.

Ms. McMahon was born Mary Virginia Skinner on May 14, 1925, in Kansas City, Mo., the daughter of George Skinner, an insurance salesman, and the former Mary McMahon, a homemaker.

She moved to New York to study acting under Stella Adler, then transplanted herself to California, where she met Mr. Clair while teaching acting classes. As a comedy duo, they played nightclubs, appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show" and became a leading comedy-writing team during the 1970s and '80s. Mr. Clair died at 57 in 1988.

The two also wrote for "The Bob Newhart Show" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and were jointly nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning three times for "The Carol Burnett Show."

They also wrote a 1987 special that starred Ms. Burnett, Whoopi Goldberg, Carl Reiner and Robin Williams, who won an Emmy for his performance. As a television actress Ms. McMahon appeared in episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "The Bob Newhart Show," "Welcome Back, Kotter," "Love, American Style" and "Dennis the Menace," among other shows.

She also wrote for the comedy series "Maude," "Flo" and "Soap" and was a co-creator, with Mr. Clair and Stu Silver, of "It's a Living," a sitcom about waitresses working in a fancy Los Angeles restaurant. It appeared on ABC from 1980 to 1982 and was later seen in first-run syndication.

Her marriage to James Holden, an actor, ended in divorce. Besides her daughter, she is survived by a brother, Bill Skinner.

[Scipio]

Ide's question:  It is permitted unless a motion for protective order is made to exclude the adverse party.   Check out FRCP 30(b) and the related advisory committee notes, and the protective order section of FRCP 26.

Fair enough.  Maybe it was just weird seeing this billionaire come to his ex-pals' depositions for the (dramatic) purpose of snarking and sniping at them, rather than, you know, running his huge company and sending a stooge.  (On the other hand, I suppose the infringement lawsuit would've been leveled at Zuckerberg personally as well as toward Facebook, the corporation.)

Thanks for the info, all.

Usually, I schedule depositions of the opposing parties on the same day, if we can manage it. Good clean fun. Often spares you a trial.

[The Minsky Moment]

Ide's question:  It is permitted unless a motion for protective order is made to exclude the adverse party.   Check out FRCP 30(b) and the related advisory committee notes, and the protective order section of FRCP 26.

Fair enough.  Maybe it was just weird seeing this billionaire come to his ex-pals' depositions for the (dramatic) purpose of snarking and sniping at them, rather than, you know, running his huge company and sending a stooge.

It's true you don't see that as much in big corporate cases.
Personally, I would not usually advise a principal showing up at an adversary depo for giggles; little good and some bad can come of out it

[Barrister]

Different practice area obviously but I find tremendous value in getting all the main parties together in one room.

[Admiral Yi]

Ide, you sure that Social Media scene was a deposition and not a negotiation/settlement?

[The Minsky Moment]

Different practice area obviously but I find tremendous value in getting all the main parties together in one room.

Not for a depo though.

[The Brain]

Ghost Rider got a sequel??!?

[Eddie Teach]

Fast & Furious is on #7. 

I'd mention things like Paranormal Activity, but they cost peanuts to make.

[Sheilbh]

Last episode of Cucumber. Very happy with the series.

[jimmy olsen]

The bad thing about the Batman-is-mean-to-Hal-Jordan dynamic that Geoff Johns--as far as I can tell--invented out of whole cloth in the mid-2000s, is that I dislike Batman too.  Though I do find him less annoying to read about since there's not four superior versions of his IP hanging around like there is with Green Lantern.

How can you not like Batman?

[HVC]

The bad thing about the Batman-is-mean-to-Hal-Jordan dynamic that Geoff Johns--as far as I can tell--invented out of whole cloth in the mid-2000s, is that I dislike Batman too.  Though I do find him less annoying to read about since there's not four superior versions of his IP hanging around like there is with Green Lantern.

How can you not like Batman?

He's rich.

[lustindarkness]

Fast & Furious is on #7. 

I'm looking forward to it, can't wait to see all the impossible shit they come up with.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Ghost Rider got a sequel??!?

Was godawful. Like a made for TV movie, but worse.

[Ideologue]

Ide, you sure that Social Media scene was a deposition and not a negotiation/settlement?

Don't think so.  The attys were asking questions and all the parties were sworn.

[Ideologue]

The bad thing about the Batman-is-mean-to-Hal-Jordan dynamic that Geoff Johns--as far as I can tell--invented out of whole cloth in the mid-2000s, is that I dislike Batman too.  Though I do find him less annoying to read about since there's not four superior versions of his IP hanging around like there is with Green Lantern.

How can you not like Batman?

He's rich.

And a crybaby, and a deus ex machina.  They maxed out everything that was kind of iffy about Batman and made him a pretty unpleasant character.  Grant Morrison's work on JLA had a lot to do with it, and obviously Frank Miller's take on Batman still informs the character at a fundamental level, but I mostly blame Geoff Johns and the post-Infinite Crisis stuff.  I really liked the part where Bruce Wayne has a ten billion dollar constellation of spy satellites run by an AI that he invented, and which he launched in secret with no help and without anyone knowing.

It's also overexposure: Batman this and Batman that, and suddenly the adventures of one of DC's flattest major characters becomes a little repetitive.

The underlying Batman concept remains sound, obviously.  I do kind of wish they'd left him dead, but I think that's always true--Ollie Queen, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan,* everybody except Superman, because what better for a conscious Christ metaphor than to return from the dead?

*I'm still sad they went Hal Jordan in the movie--Kyle Rayner as the second Green Lantern of Earth--and the last Green Lantern alive--set against a villainous and genocidal Hal Jordan has all the Star Wars appeal you could ever want.