TV Quote of the Day (‘New Girl,’ on Jess’s Consumption of Reality TV)

Cece [played by Hannah Simone]: “Even Jess didn't want to hear about it, and she'll listen to Schmidt discussing Andy Cohen discussing Bethenny discussing NeNe.”—New Girl, Season 4, Episode 17, “Spiderhunt,” original air date Feb. 24, 2015, teleplay by Berkley Johnson, directed by Steve Welch

Is Jess these days listening to Andy Cohen’s reactions to the following bits of blowback to his reality TV empire:

*Former Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel’s assertion that reality TV exploits its stars?

*Former RHONJ star Caroline Manzo’s charge that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by former Beverly Hills Housewife Brandi Glanville?

*Former RHNYC Housewife Leah McSweeney’s lawsuit claiming that Bravo and Cohen encouraged substance abuse?

How will Cohen keep all his courtroom dates and uncomfortable media interviews straight? And how will I ever manage to write a sentence about the personalities in Cohen’s reality TV franchise without using the word “former” in connection with them?

(This post is for a friend of mine—AND HE KNOWS WHO HE IS!!!—who is quite the fan of Zooey Deschanel, the actress who played Jess, in the image accompanying this post.)

TV Quote of the Day (‘New Girl,’ With the Prelude to Jess’ Breakup)

[First lines, facing camera]

Jessica Day [played by Zooey Deschanel]: “So you know in horror movies when the girl's like: ‘Oh, my God, there's something in the basement. Let me just run down there in my underwear and see what's going on.’ And you're like, ‘What is your problem? Call the police.’ She's like, ‘Okay,’ but it's too late because she's getting murdered? Well, my story's kind of like that.”— New Girl, Season 1, “Pilot,” original air date Sept. 20, 2011, teleplay by Elizabeth Meriwether, directed by Jake Kasdan

I never watched New Girl during its original run, but in the last couple of weeks, I have watched several episodes from its first and second seasons on DVD. I’m still not sure the direction in which the sitcom would eventually take off. 

But the scene that follows this amusing intro by the titular character, Jess Day—i.e., doing an impromptu striptease for her boyfriend, only to find he’s been fooling around with someone else—is both excruciating and hysterically funny. (Indeed, part of the reason why it’s hilarious is because it’s excruciating.) 

A scene like this, by itself, is enough to make an audience come back, even if subsequent episodes might be a bit disappointing, because of the hope that if magic can occur once, it can be summoned once again.

Quote of the Day (Zooey Deschanel, on How She Learned ‘To Work Hard for What You Get’)

“Definitely none of the kids I grew up with would have ever thought, Zooey will be on television and have her own show. I wasn’t the world’s most popular child, which gave me built-in tenacity. Nothing has ever come easy for me, and I think that’s a really good thing. I learned at an early age that you have to work hard for what you get.”—New Girl star Zooey Deschanel, quoted in cover story, “Meet the Faces of ELLE's Women in TV,” Elle Magazine, February 2014

(The image accompanying this post shows the sitcom star in her side gig, in performance as part of She and Him, in concert in July 28, 2008, in Terminal 5, New York.)

Song Lyric of the Day (Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, With a Xmas Song “In Three-Quarter Time”)

" ‘Merry Christmas, may your New Year dreams come true’
And this song of mine in three-quarter time
Wishes you and yours the same thing, too.”—“The Christmas Waltz,” lyrics by Sammy Cahn (pictured), music by Jule Styne (1954)

At one time, this particular tune was among the most heavily recorded in the Great American Songbook, at least around holiday time. Then, for a number of years, it seemed to fade.

And now? Making a comeback, I strongly suspect. Some fairly prominent performers have covered it over the years, including Peggy Lee, Audra McDonald, Kristen Chenoweth, Barry Manilow, Clay Aiken, the Carpenters and, of course, Frank Sinatra.

But this year it’s being covered in a holiday CD from She and Him (better known as Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward). In this YouTube video from their appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," they show that the secret of the song lies in simplicity: stripped-down arrangements backing utterly heartfelt vocals.

As the song began to be played more recently, my frustration in identifying it grew. No hook gave me a clue as to its title--at least, none that I could hear.

In the end, the person who helped me unravel this mystery was the person who had made me cognizant of this tune in the first place: veteran deejay Jonathan Schwartz. Repeated listenings over the radio—especially Sinatra’s near-definitive version—subconsciously made me aware of its almost Old World appeal. What song form could embrace this?

It was probably after Schwartz played a Stephen Sondheim number—maybe the deceptively lilting “Could I Leave You?” from Follies, or, more likely, the entire soundtrack for A Little Night Music—before I tied the song’s form to the phrase that lingers the most in my mind: “this song of mine in three-quarters time.” At last I understood: Of course—it was a waltz. A Christmas waltz.

By the way, this is one of a very substantial list of Christmas songs written by Jewish composers and lyricists. Where would we be in the holidays without Cahn, Styne, Torme, Berlin, Livingston, Evans, Marks, Parrish, etc.? Musically diminished, that’s for sure. For many of us, Christmas is not only about exchanging gifts (and, yes, people, Jesus' birth), but also about love manifested to us each other, seldom more so than in the joy that bursts out in song--including this one, in three-quarter time.

Photo of the Day: Tart and Sweet

Walking through Times Square in the last week, I was immediately struck by the billboard juxtaposing two ABC series, and I just had to take this picture.

The “tart” part of the headline above refers to Jane Lynch of Glee. Her wicked lines as gym coach Sue Sylvester have to be easily the most quotable ones on that series. Take them away, and you’re left with the old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland routine, “Hey, let’s put on a show!”, updated with trendy messages about the importance of tolerance. Hers is the one character whom you can’t wait to hear. (Sample line: “"Hello, William. I thought I smelled cookies wafting from the ovens of the little elves who live in your hair.")

The “sweet” part of the headline refers to Zooey Deschanel of the breakout comedy, New Girl. Have you seen this show, faithful reader? Have you seen any part of the rest of her extensive film and TV work? I confess to only having seen one of her films, Almost Famous, and I forgot (though I shouldn’t have) her marvelous role in it: the rebellious elder sister for the Cameron Crowe stand-in, William Miller. (Sample line, hurled at her mom: “This song explains why I'm leaving home to become a stewardess.”)

Well, anyway, ABC’s publicity machine calls her character in New Girl “adorable.” But a friend of mine (and he knows who he is!!!) might have a different term for her. It’s one he once applied to Jenna Elfman of Dharma and Greg: “Goofy cute.”