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If you remember Howard Cosell - Flick worth watchinG tonight
January 14, 2002 -- "Monday Night Mayhem"
Tonight on TNT at 9
IN my house, Monday night was party night. My dad, my brother and all his friends who wanted in on the free chips, candy and sandwiches, would huddle in our living room to basically go berserk for several hours. The cause?
No, not a stripper - "Monday Night Football."
While most of them were Giants fans, (or fanatics, more like it), I always knew it was Howard Cosell that they secretly tuned in to watch. While they hated him with a passion normally reserved for rapists and Commie dictators, and they also knew Cosell (unlike his sports casting team mates in the booth) was usually right, which was even more maddening. The living room noise level was equal to any stadium during any game.
But hey - this was another time and place - before TV sports became the hyped-up, over-marketed variety shows that they have since become. (Now, they have strippers -but they're called cheerleaders.)
While that time was fun, the last thing I'd ever figure is that it was worth making a movie about. It was bad enough when TV networks started recreating the lives of rock stars, and then rock stars wives for TV movies. Now this - tonight's made-for-TV movie about TV football - "Monday Night Mayhem" on TNT.
So, as you can imagine, I was looking forward to watching this with about as much enthusiasm as I usually reserve for a mammogram. Necessary but hardly what you call a joyful experience.
And I was wrong. The movie's a hoot and a half.
This is especially interesting because TNT is the station that usually has great posters and horrible movies. This time, they've actually got a really fun flick to go along with a poster.
Written by The New York Times' TV writer, Bill Carter, from a book of the same name, it's the behind-the-scenes stuff you never saw on-air between Cosell, Dandy Don Meredith, Frank Gifford, Pete Rozelle, Roone Arledge and the show's director Chet Forte. So what we've got here is a TV movie about a TV sports show, by a guy who writes about TV for a newspaper. Whew! Really, it should stink. But it doesn't.
So, what didn't we see when we tuned into the three men in the box? We didn't see that a gambling, womanizing, very funny guy named Chet Forte (Nicholas Turturro) was the real brains behind "Monday Night Football." He created all that stuff that has since become commonplace -multiple cameras, the close-ups of the game and the fans, the miked refs and so on.
What we also didn't see was that Cosell (John Turturro) did not like or get along for a minute with Don Meredith (Brad Beyer) or Frank Gifford (Kevin Anderson). Cosell was really the odd man out because he wasn't an ex-jock.
In fact, in one particularly good shot, during a game between the Cowboys, and the New York Giants (yes, they once belonged to a city before they ran off to play on the toxic dumping ground), Cosell says on-air: "I must tell you gentleman that I have not seen much from either of your respective teams."
Without missing a beat, Meredith shot back "Well, at least, you know, we have respective teams, Howard."
And that brings me to the actors. John Turturro is so good as Cosell that it's scary.
He's just on the edge of being a big cartoon - but then again, so was the real Cosell. His brother in real life (they must have different parents), Nicholas Turturro, as Forte, will be everybody's favorite character. He plays this boozing, gambling womanizer with such empathy that you love the guy.
The big surprise, however, is Brad Beyer as Meredith. He's not only good, he's downright adorable as the smarter-than-he-ever-appeared Dandy Don.
The script is first rate, the acting is terrific all around (Patti Lupone as the 1970's bedecked Mrs.Cosell is perfect).
TNT finally made a movie worthy of a poster.
Tonight on TNT at 9
IN my house, Monday night was party night. My dad, my brother and all his friends who wanted in on the free chips, candy and sandwiches, would huddle in our living room to basically go berserk for several hours. The cause?
No, not a stripper - "Monday Night Football."
While most of them were Giants fans, (or fanatics, more like it), I always knew it was Howard Cosell that they secretly tuned in to watch. While they hated him with a passion normally reserved for rapists and Commie dictators, and they also knew Cosell (unlike his sports casting team mates in the booth) was usually right, which was even more maddening. The living room noise level was equal to any stadium during any game.
But hey - this was another time and place - before TV sports became the hyped-up, over-marketed variety shows that they have since become. (Now, they have strippers -but they're called cheerleaders.)
While that time was fun, the last thing I'd ever figure is that it was worth making a movie about. It was bad enough when TV networks started recreating the lives of rock stars, and then rock stars wives for TV movies. Now this - tonight's made-for-TV movie about TV football - "Monday Night Mayhem" on TNT.
So, as you can imagine, I was looking forward to watching this with about as much enthusiasm as I usually reserve for a mammogram. Necessary but hardly what you call a joyful experience.
And I was wrong. The movie's a hoot and a half.
This is especially interesting because TNT is the station that usually has great posters and horrible movies. This time, they've actually got a really fun flick to go along with a poster.
Written by The New York Times' TV writer, Bill Carter, from a book of the same name, it's the behind-the-scenes stuff you never saw on-air between Cosell, Dandy Don Meredith, Frank Gifford, Pete Rozelle, Roone Arledge and the show's director Chet Forte. So what we've got here is a TV movie about a TV sports show, by a guy who writes about TV for a newspaper. Whew! Really, it should stink. But it doesn't.
So, what didn't we see when we tuned into the three men in the box? We didn't see that a gambling, womanizing, very funny guy named Chet Forte (Nicholas Turturro) was the real brains behind "Monday Night Football." He created all that stuff that has since become commonplace -multiple cameras, the close-ups of the game and the fans, the miked refs and so on.
What we also didn't see was that Cosell (John Turturro) did not like or get along for a minute with Don Meredith (Brad Beyer) or Frank Gifford (Kevin Anderson). Cosell was really the odd man out because he wasn't an ex-jock.
In fact, in one particularly good shot, during a game between the Cowboys, and the New York Giants (yes, they once belonged to a city before they ran off to play on the toxic dumping ground), Cosell says on-air: "I must tell you gentleman that I have not seen much from either of your respective teams."
Without missing a beat, Meredith shot back "Well, at least, you know, we have respective teams, Howard."
And that brings me to the actors. John Turturro is so good as Cosell that it's scary.
He's just on the edge of being a big cartoon - but then again, so was the real Cosell. His brother in real life (they must have different parents), Nicholas Turturro, as Forte, will be everybody's favorite character. He plays this boozing, gambling womanizer with such empathy that you love the guy.
The big surprise, however, is Brad Beyer as Meredith. He's not only good, he's downright adorable as the smarter-than-he-ever-appeared Dandy Don.
The script is first rate, the acting is terrific all around (Patti Lupone as the 1970's bedecked Mrs.Cosell is perfect).
TNT finally made a movie worthy of a poster.
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