Colbert Report suspended!

Last night, I was surprised to see that The Colbert Report was a repeat, even though The Daily Show was a new installment. They always come as a matched set, so something must be wrong. The Huffington Post says, “Production has halted on “The Colbert Report” for Wednesday and Thursday, according to fans who had tickets for the rest of the week’s tapings.”

Does Colbert have a personal emergency? Has Viacom pulled the plug on the show because of the SuperPAC?

Follow-up: The Wall Street Journal says it’s “because of an emergency in Mr. Colbert’s family, according to people familiar with the show.”

Further follow-up: Colbert’s mother is over 90 years old. Just saying.

While we’re waiting for Stephen’s return, let’s watch the latest battle in the Colbert-Fallon Ice Cream Wars. I just eat this stuff up.

Stephen sends a valentine to Jimmy…

… and delivery is made.

TV at its best

After getting all serious from watching Z, on the Roku I’m enjoying a totally weird episode of Thriller — Boris Karloff, not Michael Jackson — from 1960. Mort Sahl has kidnapped Sue “Miss Landers” Randall (from Leave it to Beaver), to protect her from Werner “Colonel Klink” Klemperer, who wants to kidnap her!

Z lives in my memory

I’m watching Z, from 1969, on TCM.

When I was in the 9th grade I saw Z on a school field trip. We took a yellow bus all the way into downtown Boston, which was a big deal in itself. I remember being completely wrapped up in the film, start to finish. Everything seemed to be so real, and not fake like a Hollywood movie. I wasn’t even aware that I was reading subtitles for over two hours, as I struggled to keep up with the story of political intrigue. The ending left me feeling upset and outraged. Z helped to develop my awareness of the adult world, and political corruption, which was further tested a couple of years later, with the news of the Watergate Hotel break-in by Nixon operatives.

P.S. The movie is over, and it occurs to me that it’s similar to Dragnet, in the way it goes through the investigative process.