Well, this one won’t make the new owners happy. On MSNBC’s Last Word tonight, a story about the career of Dog Day Afternoon director Sidney Lumet included a clip from his final film, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. That film’s considered a masterpiece, but it’s also a film filled with graphic sex, violence and language–and one that would obviously need a bit of editing before airing some of it on a news channel like MSNBC. Or, perhaps not?

In a tribute package that included classic clips like Al Pacino shouting “Attica! Attica!” and Peter Finch‘s “mad as hell” speech from Network, comes the last clip–Philip Seymour Hoffman in Devil, shouting “it’s not fair, it’s not f—ing fair,” only without the dashes.

The line dissolves into a lovely graphic of Lumet holding an Oscar and off to a break they go. And Twitter lights up with a flurry of tweets about O’Donnell and his unexpected “f-bomb.” Now that’s just the kind of thing MSNBC’s new owners, straight-laced Comcast, probably won’t find funny.

Watch it here, from MSNBC:

As the face of media evolves, it’s important to honor the figures who helped define, shape and set the standards in their industries. These are some of the most prominent members of the media who passed away over the past 10 years.  Take a look back with some snippets from their respective New York Times obituaries.

2000

Who: Charles Schultz
Major Accomplishment: His ‘Peanuts” strip reached readers in 75 countries, 2,600 papers and 21 languages every day. Schulz drew more than 18,250 strips in nearly 50 years.
Legacy: His saga of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy and Linus ”is arguably the longest story ever told by one human being,” Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, observed.

Who: Steve Allen
Major Accomplishment: In more than 50 years in show business, Allen demonstrated his talents in many areas. An accomplished pianist who never learned to read music, he composed more than 5,000 songs, some of them hits.
Legacy: Allen was keenly interested in social justice and wrote pamphlets on a variety of issues, including the problems facing migrant workers, as well as capital punishment and nuclear proliferation.

Editor’s Note: Mediaite has been rightly called out for a big, glaring error: On our list of 28 media leaders we’ve lost this decade there was not a single person of color. Not a one. Read Mediaite editor-at-large Rachel Sklar‘s entire mea culpa here and on page 11, we’ve added 5 of the deceased black media leaders that should have been mentioned initially.

>>>NEXT: In 2001 we lost William Hanna and Katharine Graham…

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/print/a-retrospective-28-media-leaders-who-died-this-decade/feed/ 7 http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/presidential-panel-pardon-why-the-bushclinton-event-would-have-been-a-disappointment/ http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/presidential-panel-pardon-why-the-bushclinton-event-would-have-been-a-disappointment/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:16:40 +0000 Danny Groner http://www.mediaite.com/?p=42805 I was ecstatic last night when I read that Presidents Bush and Clinton would be participating in a panel this spring. As I read more about it, I grew surprised and a bit skeptical. As a regular columnist covering New York City panels, I’ve grown to expect that the speakers will reveal extremely little. So when I read that the presidents would “square off,” I wondered what that actually meant.

Not because I don’t think the two men have much to say; rather, I questioned what they actually would say. Would they be critical of each other? Would Bush blame Clinton for leaving him with unresolved issues, and would Clinton, in turn, point whatever blame back on his successor? Billed as a match of a lifetime, this event promised more than I expected it would deliver.

Although I didn’t expect the panel to be canceled – and so quickly – I did recognize what spokesman Matt McKenna did: This wasn’t going to be the event that had been advertised. It was slotted as a “moderated panel discussion” but promoted as the biggest draw in political history. Imagine white limos pulling up outside Madison Square Garden and seeing Christiane Amanpour walking a red carpet to get inside.

Panels don’t work that way, especially with big names listed on the program. After the hype had spiraled out of control, organizers did what they needed to do. Letting it sit until February and then pulling the rug out from under the audience would result in disappointment and negative reviews. Chalking it up as a miscommunication might appease people in the short run, but wouldn’t resolve the fact that the event would never match expectations dating back several months. And for that reason, despite whatever controversy the cancellation itself may spark, this was the right decision.

I’ve been to dozens of panels over the past year, many of which I enjoyed and wrote favorably about. Yet, in some cases, events have been organized, run and led so poorly that I couldn’t find much to compliment. In two of those cases, it was obvious to me that there was a blatant disconnect between the organizers and the participants.

When I heard Sidney Lumet speak in July, it was pegged as a movie night with him and his daughter. I looked forward to learning about what a great director like Lumet saw when he watched his favorite films. However, the night didn’t go as structured. Instead, I sat restlessly in my seat, listening to the Lumets share loose, random thoughts instead of cinematic insights.

The other example took place in August when Regina Spektor and Kurt Andersen shared the stage. It was immediately evident from the layout of the furniture that Spektor wouldn’t be an active member of the discussion between the moderator and Andersen. I hoped for an eclectic and unusual mix of commentary tying literature and music together. Instead, a discussion and as concert alternated every few minutes resulting in the worst of both.

If Presidents Bush and Clinton wouldn’t offer what was pledged, there was no good option to proceed. A disconnect between the promotional materials and announcements and the execution lead to panel’s doom. Had organizers carried on, forcing the presidents to conduct the panel as planned, audience members would have gone home more than merely unsatisfied. They would have been disillusioned by the panel process.

What: The Wall Street Journal’s “Movie Night with the Lumets”

Where: Walter Reade Theatre

When: July 21, 2009

Thumbs: Way Down

It’s difficult to spoil a night of discussing movies with legendary director Sidney Lumet and “Rachel Getting Married” scribe Jenny Lumet, but “Movie Night with the Lumets” proved that although difficult, it is not impossible. The evening was moderated by Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern who badly mishandled the event by structuring it around the viewing of an inordinate number and seemingly unrelated group of movie clips. For much of the evening, Morgenstern and the Lumets simply sat in directors chairs, watching the 30 or so pre-selected clips. It all had the feel of a much less interesting VH1 special; let’s call it “I Love Joe Morgenstern Talking About Movies.”

The weak structure probably still could have worked, though, if the audience would have been given a little more information and background. The vast majority of movie clips were played with no setup at all. Instead of telling the audience what movie clip was about to be screened or why he was screening it, Morgenstern often declared “let’s see the next clip,” and summed it up with “don’t you just love that?” He did not do nearly enough to clue the audience in to what was being discussed, nor did he amply mine father or daughter Lumet for insight. Morgenstern and Sidney Lumet also had too many discussions of individual people without explaining who they were. A five minute discussion on “Pauline,” turned out to refer to New Yorker critic Pauline Kael, but it took a Google search after the event to find that out. Google was not as immediately generous in discerning the “Candy” who was discussed for another few minutes.

The disappointing panel was even more of a shame because the isolated moments of interesting discussion were riveting. Sidney Lumet delved into two real topics – the technological advances of digital film making, which he loves for color presentation, and the importance of tempo to story telling, and how he likes to make the audience work. Mr. Lumet was also able to describe intricate questions about scenes from movies shot decades ago and acting techniques of old stars like Paul Newman, Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando, and Spencer Tracy. But those moments were too few and far between in the two hour discussion. Mrs. Lumet, who was so expressive in her speaking that she seemed to sit actively, was also wasted. There is no doubt Mrs. Lumet could have added much to the conversation, but next to her father and Mr. Morgenstern, she often came off as the youngster peppering the adults with questions as they showed off slides from their vacation.

What They Said

“It’s apt now, much more than having a black president.”

- Jenny Lumet explaining why she is pushing her father to direct Othello.

“Don’t pick a kids movie, pick what you like… they’ll at least get a connection to you.”

– Sidney Lumet offering some fatherly advice for family movie nights.

“This next movie, I hope needs no introduction and we’ll certainly not get one.”

– Joe Morgenstern introduces a clip to a movie. We can’t tell you which movie because it apparently needed no introduction.

“Most critics know nothing about movies, in terms of how they’re technically put together.”

– Sidney Lumet explaining his general frustration with critics, and why he invited critic Pauline Kael to see how he made movies.

“I married a Latin man because of Raul Julia.”

– Jenny Lumet, in what we hope wasn’t new information for her in-audience husband, explaining  the extent of her love for old movies

What We Thought

• This whole evening would have probably been better as a conversation between father and daughter. Jenny Lumet had a lot of questions for her father about his films and decisions. With Morgenstern there, her inquisitiveness was not put to good use. We would have much rather watched an up and coming writer ask questions to a brilliant director. The moderator here only took away from the evening.
• Because Morgenstern set the order of movie clips beforehand, there was no way for him to tailor his questions to the actual tempo of the discussion. Instead, he would wait for the conversation to die down and then ask for the next clip.
• Joe Morgenstern showed clips that neither Sidney nor Jenny Lumet had ever seen before. What was possibly the point of that?
• A number of people walked out early. That’s always a very bad sign.

PANEL RULES!

Some audience behavior seems to repeat itself panel after panel. We’ll be updating a running list of “PANEL RULES!” that will help ensure that you are not the dweeb of the Panel Nerds.

Panel Nerds don’t like…. Bogarting Moderators

Don’t bogart the mic, moderators; Let the audience take a turn – This panel featured no questions from the audience. Uncool, moderator. Uncool.

Want the Panel Nerds to cover your panel? Email them here: PanelNerds@mediaite.com