(no subject)

Thursday night I watched my comedy shows and Grey's Anatomy. Here's what I thought about them:

My Name Is Earl. This show cracks me up. And I came to the conclusion that the more I watch the show, the more I fall in love with Jaime Pressley. She is a heck of an actress. She cracks me up. I simply adore her acting. She makes Joy Turner a palatable misfit. This show is about rectifying a bad action into good.

This week's story was about amending the wrong Earl did in aiding Joy in kidnapping the driver of the truck she stole in revenge for not being able to return an unwanted entertainment center. The story was surreal and funny. Needless to say, I laughed a lot.

The Office.  I was so sad last week when Dwight Shrute quit his job. Man, the writers of this show are brilliant. Shrute found temporary job with Staples (what a way to advertise). New blood was introduced. The people at Dunder and Mifflin missed Dwigth, even Jim. Wow. But the best piece of writing of all: Michael is a great boss. He is annoying, uncouth, and clueless. Nonetheless, he is a good boss: A boss who cares about his workers. I love this show.

Grey's Anatomy.  Let's face it, this show is a glorified night-time soap. No way, in real life, doctors behave as sexually charged as these doctors. No way, in real life, do surgeons do procedures on loved ones, friends, and acquaintances. In order to do a great job, you must not be personally attached. In Grey's Anatomy, they do. But, as I said earlier, this show is a glorified night-time soap. However, I love it. I don't know why, but I do. I guess the actors are so good and the lines are superb. And tonight, I cried. O’Malley’s father died, and Christine (a hateful character) said the most gut-wrenching lines. At least, it was gut wrenching to me, because it hit home:

Christine: "There's a club... The Dead Dad's Club. And you can't be in it, until you're in it. You can try to understand. You can try to sympathize. But until you feel that loss..."

O'Malley: "I don't know how to exist in a world that my dad doesn't."

Christine: "Yeah, that really never changes."

My father died on March 13, 1987. That was exactly how felt. The show brought back those sad memories. Like O'Malley, I, too, had to make the decision to let my father go. In my case, we didn't let the tubes in him. I saw him pass away, slowly, peacefully. It was just me and my mother. That was the day that I joined the Dead Dad's Club. I wish none of us were forced to join it.

All in all it was a good TV watching night: Two comedy shows made me laugh. One drama made me cry.

Michael Emerson Gives an Interview to Soux City Journal

The Iowan Who's 'Lost'

By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer

LOS ANGELES -- When Michael Emerson used to tell friends in Iowa he was going to be an actor, "you might as well have said I was going to Oz. I don't think that was ever plausible."

Still, the Toledo, Iowa, native majored in theater at Drake University and today is one of the stars of "Lost," the hottest show on television.

A yellow brick road from Iowa to Hollywood? Hardly.

After college, Emerson tried to make his mark in New York but couldn't quite crack the market. Instead of working at a department store ("I thought there had to be something other than retail"), he took a weekend class in magazine illustration and wound up with a fairly decent career.

"But it wasn't my passion," he admits. "It wasn't me. It was a creative way to put food on the table. I felt less tender about it than auditioning."

Eventually, Emerson got his break. "I felt I'd made it when I got my first role on Broadway (in 'The Iceman Cometh'). It had taken so many years I felt it was an impossible dream."

Still, the door cracked open and Emerson was more than eager to walk through. Television work followed and then he landed a five-episode arc on "The Practice" as a man "who may or may not have been a serial killer." For his performance, Emerson won an Emmy as Best Guest Performer in a Drama. He got the trophy two days before Sept. 11.

A career boost? "At the time, there were so many more important things to think about. It didn't change my life much but it was a nice honor."

Now, the 52-year-old says, that turn in "The Practice" may have been what landed him in "Lost."

"I never had to audition for this part," he says of Benjamin Linus, the mastermind of an alternate group of "Lost" folks. "That's one of those rare moments in my life. Usually, I'm jumping through hoops and fire."

Even more surprising? He doesn't consider himself an action/adventure type. Sure, his wife, actress Carrie Preston, is a big fan of the show. But "I seemed unlikely casting for it."

Instead, the producers felt he had just the right amount of menace needed for the show.

Now, Emerson realizes this could be that "big" moment of his career. He's not taking it for granted. "It's daunting. It's huge," he says with a smile. "And to think I fell into this regular role through the back door is dizzying.

"I have nothing to compare it to...and it does come with worries. What will I do after this? Luckily, the stage will always be a place for me to go back to."

Armed with credits in plays like "Hedda Gabler," films like "Saw" and "The Legend of Zorro" and television shows like "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" and "The X-Files," Emerson isn't just this year's flavor.

As one who struggled for years (and thought it would be a major accomplishment to land a role at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis), he knows how difficult it is to be make a living playing other people.

"It's a very long game. Every career will have lots of peaks and valleys. The only hope is that you can ride it out and have some golden times that will carry you."

Surprisingly, Emerson's parents never gave him "the speech" -- "you need something to fall back on."

"They seemed to be all right with whatever it was I wanted to do. A theater degree was fine with them."

Others weren't as charitable and they'd wonder if Michael would ever make it in the business. "It doesn't matter where you're from. The American way of life doesn't view a career choice as radical as this in any friendly way. Show business only really, really counts if you make it. Anything below the radar seems a non-career to most people."

The fact that millions get to see his work is probably the most rewarding aspect of something like "Lost."

"I have nothing to compare it to. It's wonderful. It's fine. I love the work and the character's not difficult to play. He gets to be simple and earnest and other people do the reacting. I'm not even sure he's telling the truth. People who are liars, if they're any good at all, are very believable, so I don't need to play layers of truthfulness. I just have to play it like I mean it."

"Lost," the story of a group of survivors on a Pacific island following a plane crash, airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC.

SOURCE: SiouxCity Journal