'Jeffersons' star Sherman Hemsley dies in El Paso

Sherman Hemsley sang Zat You, Santa Claus? by Louis Armstrong and other... (Times file photo)

Television star Sherman Hemsley, who was part of a wave of African-American actors who made inroads on television in the 1970s, died Tuesday at his home in far East El Paso. He was 74.

Hemsley was best known for his exaggerated strut, wisecracks and boisterous attitude while playing the character George Jefferson on the popular sitcom "The Jeffersons" (1975-1985).

Neighbors said the Hemsley they knew was a regular guy who would wave hello and goodbye and who would walk to a nearby Albertsons grocery store because he didn't drive.

"I got a call from one of his staff members. It's very tragic, sad news. I lost a good friend and El Paso lost a good resident," said U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte, who befriended Hemsley when Almonte was with the El Paso Police Department.

"He was a great person," Almonte said. "He loved El Paso. He was living here full time. El Paso was his home."had lived in El Paso off and on for more than 10 years before moving to the city full time. Hemsley, who was involved in local charitable causes, said in a previous interview that he liked El Paso's "peacefulness" compared with Los Angeles.

For the past three to four years, Hemsley lived in a middle-class home with a Spanish-tile roof on Tom Ulozas Drive near George Dieter Drive. Neighbors said Hemsley lived alone.

Hemsley's death was first reported on the celebrity news website TMZ.com, which also said Hemsley's body was found by his nurse, who initially thought he was sleeping. Information on funeral services was not immediately available.

Neighbors reported seeing police at Hemsley's home at about 11 a.m. and seeing a body wheeled out.

"We found out it was Mr. Sherman," said Antonio Ceballos, 25, who lives across the street.

Police Department officials said Hemsley was found dead in his home. A ruling on the cause of death is pending an autopsy and no foul play is suspected, officials said.

A biography on the Internet Movie Database website stated Hemsley was born in Philadelphia in 1938. He served in the U.S. Air Force before joining the Negro Ensemble Company in New York.

In early 1970s, Hemsley was hired by Norman Lear for the role of Archie Bunker's neighbor George Jefferson in "All in the Family."

In 1975, the Jeffersons spun off to their own show when they moved on up to the East Side to a deluxe apartment in the sky.

Lear's shows touched on race relations, poverty and other social issues that had often gone unmentioned on TV.

After "The Jeffersons" ended, Hemsley played a deacon on the NBC sitcom "Amen" (1986-1991). He also had appearances on other TV shows.

"Being in show business is weird," Hemsley said while performing with the 62nd Army Show Band at an El Paso park in 2005.

"You never know what's going to make you popular. What made me popular? That stupid walk," Hemsley said before launching into a rendition of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way."

Dave Eller, 62, remembered the day he met the celebrity next door. "I called him 'George.' He said, 'It happens all the time,' " Eller recalled.

Gregory Kennebrew, 52, was surprised the first time he spotted the former TV star walking in his neighborhood.

"I was riding my motorcycle and I saw him walking down the street," Kennebrew said. "I made a U-turn and asked him for a photo. We started talking after that. I was very surprised, shocked because I saw him on 'Amen,' on the Archie Bunker show and, of course, 'The Jeffersons.' "

After that meeting years ago, Kennebrew said he would often chat with Hemsley while giving him rides in a vehicle to the supermarket.

"He was one of the top icons," Kennebrew said. "He made everybody laugh."

source: elpasotimes.com

Sherman Hemsley: A tribute to the great George Jefferson, and more

Sherman Hemsley, the man who brought George Jefferson to vivid life, has died at age 74. The accomplished stage actor achieved his widest fame in a role he raised to comic greatness: George Jefferson, the egotistical, strutting centerpiece of The Jeffersons.

Hemsley took a part that could have been clownish and exaggerated — George Jefferson, the braying entrepeneur striving to, as the show’s theme song said, “move on up”  — and made George a vital, three-dimensional character, and an important advance in the depiction of black characters in sitcoms. George’s ego and selfishness were often brought into line by his wife, Isabel Sanford’s Louise Jefferson (George’s beloved “Weezy”), but the force of the character derived from the tremendous ambition, frustration, and anger George felt toward the world.

You can credit producer Norman Lear for helping to conceive the character, first in All in the Family and then as a spin-off in The Jeffersons, but it was clearly Hemsley’s performance that fueled its power. Hemsley had come up through the theater, in straight dramas as well as musicals (he came to George Jefferson initially fresh from a run in the raucous, Ossie Davis-derived Broadway musical Purlie), and Jefferson brought a rhythmic musicality in the way George moved onscreen. His erect posture conveyed George’s pride, his perpetually affronted expression was a mask against the injustices, correctly perceived or imagined, by George; his harsh voice was the sound of a man who would not be denied his place in the world. Watching George Jefferson was to witness a man comfortable in his own skin — and that that skin was black was significant. From Hemsley’s performance, you could build an entire philosophy of the man he played. As a black man of his generation, George was as likely to have taken his civil rights cues from Malcolm X as from Martin Luther King, Jr. And while his business acumen placed him squarely in the capitalist tradition, George was a Black Panther-inspired figure of action, emboldened to make his opinions heard, his actions felt in the world around him.

The Jeffersons aired for a decade, 1975-85, and Hemsley’s performance embodied George’s move from the working-class to the middle-class as the owner of a chain of dry-cleaning businesses. George’s pride, his radar for any trace of racial exploitation, his ease at dismissing someone who’d offended or condescended to him as “honky” — these were all elements that could easily have put off mass America. Instead, because of Hemsley’s skill, charm, and energy, they became the elements that endeared the character to the country.

Hemsley went on to other roles. He was a rascal church deacon in the sitcom Amen; he provided the voice for an imperious character in the puppet sitcom Dinosaurs. These were, in a sense, variations on George Jefferson, who will live and rant and remain lovable and admirable forever.

Source: watching-tv.ew.com

Big Brother: Here We Go Again. Wheeeeeeeee!

Let's get something out of the way up front: Big Brother is one of the worst shows on all of television. The people who compete on it? Even worse. BB is typically filled with ignorant, shallow, and emotionally stunted dolts who might look good bathing out in the Los Angeles sun but don't appear to be able to do much else. Which is actually a good thing considering Big Brother asks them to sit around a house/set, talk themselves in circles for 24 hours a day, and once in a while, take part in a "competition" that usually involves A) embarrassing costumes B) single entendres and C) shockingly inane trivia.

So, to review: Big Brother is simply the worst. And I wouldn't change a single thing about it.

Somehow, I've seen nearly every single episode of the show's previous 13 seasons, with my attention wavering only during the WGA strike-induced winter season that involved couples and a winner who is—surprise—a horrible person. I'm not such an egomaniac that I'd call myself a Big Brother expert, but suffice it to say I've spent a great deal of my short life using terms like "HoH" and "Power of Veto" with a straight face.

In any event, I'm really happy to be able to talk about the show's premiere with you folks because the beginning of any Big Brother season—or that of any competition reality show for the matter—is crucial to its long-term health. As much as the producers want to mix things up with new (also: dumb, desperate) gimmicks to keep the gameplay fresh (read: fall apart less than halfway through the season), it's the casting that matters most here.

If it seems like there are compelling personalities, people I can love or people I can complain about endlessly on Twitter, I'm sold on a season from the jump. If the cast isn't too engaging, it's much easier to start spending more time worrying about who picked out the Chenbot's wardrobe or whether or not the competition buzzer we hear on televised episodes is actually what the competitors hear. Trust me, you don't want to be thinking about the buzzer longer than you have to, it leads to dark places—like thinking about applying to be on Big Brother in order to learn the true answer.

Therefore, it's pretty easy for me to say that this season is, at least right now, on the right track. The show's new blood is typical BB: A bunch of young white people filling surface demographics like Nerd (Ian); Punk/Rocker (Jenn); Gay (Jenn and Wil With One L...I think it's on his birth certificate like that); Slightly Old Person Who Can At Some Point Say, "Wow, These Kids!" (Joe); Token Minority (Jodi); and Blankly Attractive (Everyone Else). I guess you could say that the casting department mixed things up this season by latching onto two more recent trends with JoJo, an abrasive bartender from Staten Island, and Willie Hantz, brother of Survivor's uber-villain Russell. Progress!

The cast introductions are always my favorite part of the premiere episode, because I can never get enough of forced, edited-to-death false shock that transitions into didactic, surface explanations of one's life. So Danielle's classic "I'm a southern girl" routine about loving makeup and shopping and Kara's subtext-fueled "Hey, I'm a model and all these are just my girlfriends and not fellow Playboy Playmates" are right in my wheelhouse. It's during these introductions that I pick who I'm going to root for. That process might seem flawed, but I like to analyze my Big Brother like most contestants play it. So, solely based on the 45 seconds we spent with them at the beginning, I'm all-in on: Frank (He's unemployed, and in this economy! It's topical!), Ashley ("People like to think I'm dumb, but I graduated from a Big Ten school"...so I could start my own traveling spray-tanning business), and Willie (I'm ready for the Hantz redemption story, y'all).

Once the houseguests made it to the house, things were immediately less interesting. This cast doesn't seem particularly cut-throat, which is both good and bad, and this season's big twist was hanging over the proceedings like one of those massive, whipped cream-covered bananas these goofballs will eventually have to slide around on.

About the twist: I like it. I understand the frustration with reality competition shows constantly bringing back old contestants, especially in consecutive seasons, and I'm terrified of what could happen if Mark Burnett watches this season of BB and decides that Survivor needs coaches. Nevertheless, Big Brotheris such a psychologically draining game—well, it helps when you cast people with mush for brains—and allowing folks who have faced that grind before to come back puts additional pressure on the newbies.

Fans are really annoyed with Big Brother because the show has drawn from this well on multiple occasions lately. Last season's inclusion of older houseguests was train-wreck television at its finest, with Evel Dick leaving in the first week and the miserable Jeff/Jordan and Brendon/Rachel pairings so heavily dominating every single thing that happened between all other houseguests.

With that in mind, it was smart to bring back older players as coaches. It keeps that veteran gimmick alive without, theoretically, allowing those former houseguests the opportunity to influence and/or poison everyone else. With Big Brother, you never know how things are going to work moving forward, as it seems like year after year, twists and gimmicks get blown up way earlier than the producers want, but the four people the show has brought back for this season are diverse players (who apparently spent all their post-BB time getting hitched and having babies, thus creating tangible reasons for why they returned to the show—goodness, these people are smart).

Obviously, everyone's mileage varies—but I have loads of affection for Mike Boogie (ChillTown, bro), and Dan is probably one of the most likable, normal, and admirable people who's ever been on the show. I personally hate Janelle but she's a tremendous pick to be a coach. Britney was the one weak link in the coach cohort and her team won this first competition, alleviating some of my fears.

Plus, already in the first episode, the show is already reaping the benefits of the coach set-up. The school-yard draft should have included more diary room explanations for why certain people were chosen, but it was still an entertaining little exercise. And Dan having to evict one of his team members after the first competition set a harsh tone for what's to come. It's supremely unfortunate that the one black person was eliminated before the game really started, but now the houseguests should be more aware that while this game is unbelievably stupid, it can all come to an end really quickly. Let's hope this season's intrigue doesn't end any time soon.

Additional Thoughts:

– The chatter about Willie being Russell's brother was a welcome occurrence for me. I don't want to spend six weeks with people whispering or Willie yelling into the camera about it.

– Acknowledge CBS's shameless Hantz obsession and move on. Get to know Willie, or vote him out.

– I was a bit disappointed that the first competition didn't require the houseguests to hang onto something inappropriately shaped while chocolate rained from the heavens. Then I saw that everyone was in pajamas and running for stuffed animals and everything was right in my world.

– The layout and design of the house looks very similar to what we've seen for the last handful of years, which is disappointing to me.

– Mike Boogie looks old, Janelle looks Janelle-y. And be honest: Did you even remember Britney? Season 12 was a bit of a non-starter and almost entirely defined by its male houseguests. So, you know, it makes complete sense to bring back a female.

– Raise your hand if you lost a few days off your life when Rachel's face flashed across the screen as Julie described the coach twist. I may have thrown a remote through my TV were she back again. And then I would have gone out and bought a new TV before Sunday, so that I'd be able to watch and complain about her more.

– Which team—or individuals—looks the most primed to dominate? I thought Dan's team of all ladies had a good chance but it's clear that they will struggle with challenges (assuming things stay the same). Mike and Janelle's teams are well-balanced. Kara is my early favorite.

What do you think of the new crop?

Source: TV.COM

DirecTV-Viacom Dispute May Affect Access for 20 Million Customers

The business strategies of television distributors and programmers, including the bundling of channels and the online streaming of TV shows, were back under the microscope on Tuesday because of a contract dispute between two of the biggest such companies, DirecTV and Viacom.

On Monday night and into Tuesday morning, the dispute was publicized by both sides, first by Viacom, which warned DirecTV customers that they could lose access to Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and its other cable channels early Wednesday morning because contract talks with DirecTV had “reached an impasse.” DirecTV, in turn, said in a statement that it had offered Viacom “increased fees for their networks going forward; we just can’t afford the extreme increases they are asking for.”

In YouTube videos and blog posts, Viacom used characters from some of its most popular franchises, like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Jersey Shore,” to persuade fans to register their complaints with DirecTV. “No Daily Show, no Colbert, and no Snooki,” one of its Web sites warned.

On Tuesday evening, neither company publicly commented on the status of the contract negotiations, suggesting that a channel blackout was still possible after midnight Eastern time on Wednesday.

Fights over programming fees crop up from time to time; this one involves 17 channels and affects almost one-fifth of the households that subscribe to cable or satellite television in the United States — 20 million total.

Some of the 17 channels are well known among customers: Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, BET, CMT, TV Land, Comedy Central, Spike. But some of the others bundled with them are not, including Nick@Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, NickToons, VH1 Classic, Logo, Tr3s, Centric and Palladia.

Programmers have traditionally sold channels to distributors this way, in a big bundle, but as distributors try to resist price increases, they are increasingly challenging this strategy in a public way.

“Programmers like Viacom typically won’t allow anyone to buy their channels individually, but we hope to change that,” DirecTV said in its statement on Tuesday morning. “We currently pay them hundreds of millions of dollars every year already, and if Viacom thinks their networks are worth a billion more, then you have to be able to select what’s most important in your own living room. It’s your money, so you should be able to decide.”

The debate about bundling comes as the practice is being examined by government regulators and lawyers for evidence of anticompetitive behavior. Some regulators are concerned that the practice inhibits innovation by online video upstarts and other companies.

One of DirecTV’s competitors, the Dish Network, spoke out about bundling in a different way last month when it announced that it was taking three channels owned by AMC Networks — AMC, IFC and WE TV — off its television lineup. It said at the time, “AMC Networks requires us to carry low-rated channels like IFC and WE to access a few popular AMC shows. The math is simple: it’s not a good value for our customers.”

That said, distributors like DirecTV and Dish generally do not want to sell channels on an à la carte or individual basis to customers. They just want more control over what they put in the packages they sell to customers.

Both DirecTV and Dish, in their separate spats, have also pointed out that some popular cable programming is now available on the Internet on a time-delayed basis. That is a big change from 2005, the last time Viacom and DirecTV signed a big carriage contract. On Tuesday, DirecTV promoted a tool, “Other Ways to Watch,” that linked to Web sites where Viacom-owned programs are available.

Analysts noted that DirecTV may feel emboldened by the fact that Nickelodeon has suffered from some ratings weakness in recent months. The channel remains, however, the most-watched cable network among DirecTV customers, according to Viacom.

Notwithstanding the current fights, a vast majority of negotiations between programmers and distributors are never even publicized. The last public feud between Viacom and a distributor was at the end of 2008, when the company warned Time Warner Cable customers of a possible blackout starting on New Year’s Day. But the two companies came to a new deal without any interruption in programming — the most common outcome in cases like this one.

Source: mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com