This is very sad ...

I guess some people just need to be the center of attention, no matter who it might hurt.

In a 9/11 Survival Tale, the Pieces Just Don't Fit

Dirty Sexy Money promo

Review: "Dirty Sexy Money"

Okay, I'll admit it: I just wanted to have a blog entry titled "Dirty Sexy Money." With out of the way, here's a review of this, the big new New York City show of the fall.

Basically it's about a good natured lawyer named Nick George (Peter Krause, "that guy" from Sports Night and Six Feet Under) whose dad was the consigliere to an insanely rich family, the Darlings. The Darlings are like a Kennedy/Rockefeller/Hilton nightmare clan, so reckless and irresponsible with their lives that cleaning up after them keeps many people employed. One of them was Nick George's pere, who was devoted to them full time, at the expense his son and (now ex) wife. The show begins with Nick's father having died in a mysterious plane crash and with Nick is determined to find out why. In the meantime, sucked into the Darling orbit, he agrees to take his father's place. Hilarity doth ensues.

I'll let you watch this show to decide if it's any good but I enjoyed it for what it is: entertaining fluff. Krause is great and Donald Sutherland is a commanding presence as the family patriarch. The rest of the cast is good, especially William Baldwin as the oldest son, the New York Attorney General/transvestite hooker patron.

This show is a throwback to the nighttime soaps of decade yon: Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, etc. And it's a great show if you like shows and movies of fantasy-land New York: big offices, big apartments, no traffic, disposable income, and gorgeous weather. Dirty Sexy Money is a Tiffany catalog brought to life, the kind of New York that doesn't exist but we all wish did. And ain't that reason enough to watch?

Yes, it's been 25 years ....

... since Howard Stern hit the airways here in NYC. September 19, 1982, is when he signed on at the now defunct WNBC and radio - and media - has never been the same since. His quarter century of outrageousness has brought the fringe into the mainstream, brought the weird into the ordinary. Love him (as many do) or hate him (as lots do), he's one of the most important people in broadcasting history.

Before he was the King of All Media, a movie star, a bestselling author, and now a satellite radio entrepreneur, he was just a local afternoon DJ at a music station. But this Channel 2 News story about Howard from the early 1980's, however, shows just how much he was shaking things back then.

Happy Silver Anniversary Howard

Joe Franklin Show

Here's a sample clip

The King of Nostalgia

Joe Franklin has hosted radio and TV shows here in NYC for more than 50 years and he's called the King of Nostalgia. He's a living time-capsule of old New York, a time when rents were cheap, the city was safe, you could smoke in restaurants, and there were no cell-phones anywhere. Check out his Memory Lane website and his Wikipedia entry.

Happenings Around Town

Here at Mr NYC we try to be upbeat about the state of our beloved city. But sometimes we suffer setbacks. A couple of interesting articles from NYC papers demonstrate that.

It curtains for the proposed water park on Randalls Island. It was a lovely idea and would have provided fun and jobs for the many but sadly, the money just wasn't there. With Financing in Doubt, City Cancels Plans for Randalls Island Water Park

While NYC may be boomtown, the middle-class is disappearing. Sad, but hopefully Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC will turn that around. Census Show Middle Class in Flight From New York

Some good news, however. After last month's subway flooding disaster, the state government and the MTA are promising fixes. We won't hold our breath. After Flooding, M.T.A Plans Subway Fixes

Oh, and the MTA is promising subway cell phone service in stations because that won't be annoying.
M.T.A Makes Deal for Cellphones in Stations

Good night and good luck.

Sundays Go Best with Mr NYC

Gentle Readers - work and school have made it hard for me to blog during the week. However, I will do my darndest to post several items on the weekend. Thus may I suggest checking out Mr NYC every Sunday. Yes, that's right, after your done with the Sunday Times and the morning chat shows - and before you head out for brunch - dial up Mr NYC. Think of it as a refreshing break from the tyranny of Sundays. Or, better yet, check us out on Sunday evenings. We're a great antidote to the Sunday night blues and we're less annoying than the ticking clock on "60 Minutes" or most of what's on HBO these days.

"There's nothing intelligent to say about a massacre."

I tried to find something original to say about the 6th anniversary of 9/11 but I couldn't. Words are simply too inadequate to capture all the thoughts, feelings, reflections, and realities a humble person like myself felt and continue to feel about it. Sadly, this tragic event was, as is the American way, rapidly turned into a commodity, one to be used for financial and political gain. But then maybe that means the terrorists really have lost since it didn't change any of our old bad habit. Anyway, I think Kurt Vonnegut put it best in his book Slaughterhouse-Five when he wrote "There's nothing intelligent to say about a massacre."