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surfergirlSurfergirlTV and popular culture.2NA=1154&NC=1212&DI=4098&PS=74683&PI=7315surfergirlfalsefalsespacernotembeddedsurfergirlAttack of the 50-Foot ActressDana StevensJudy Davis towers over a made-for-TV drama on Lifetime.noAttack of the 50-Foot ActressJudy Davis towers over a made-for-TV drama on Lifetime.noCasting an actress of Judy Davis' caliber in a made-for-TV movie is like hiring Michelangelo to spackle your ceiling. The level of virtuosity and attention to detail Davis brings to her work seems outsized, inappropriate for the slapdash medium of television drama. That said, Davis has pulled off some pretty awesome spackle jobs in the past few years. Her Emmy-winning performance as Judy Garland in the 2001 movie Me and My Shadows is one of the great pieces of biopic acting, less an impersonation than an uncanny channeling of the charismatic and needy actress. In The Reagans, the 2003 miniseries that CBS pulled due to protests from conservative groups (it eventually aired on Showtime), Davis played Nancy Reagan as a Machiavellian control freak who could also be a compassionate human being (watch the scene in which she begs her impassive husband to speak out on AIDS) and a devoted wife.truenotochyperlinkno200612320842PMMondayJanJanuary141/23/2006 7:08:42 PM632736221220000000200612320842PMMondayJanJanuary141/23/2006 7:08:42 PM632736221220000000surfergirlHas-Beens on IceDana StevensFox's Skating with Celebrities is fruity good fun.noHas-Beens on IceFox's Skating with Celebrities is fruity good fun.noLast summer, when ABC premiered the bizarre reality competition Dancing With the Stars, the network was taking a real risk. Sure, you could say that the show was a ripoff of American Idol, but pairing C-list performers with professional ballroom dancers in a weekly televised dance-off was a weird enough idea that it had to sink or swim on its own merits. And Dancing departed from Idol by creating its own aesthetic, with an unashamedly retro set, fruity costumes, and a sunny, supportive panel of judges that left the Simon Cowell humiliation model far behind.truenotochyperlinkno200611844058PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/18/2006 9:40:58 PM632731992580000000200611844058PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/18/2006 9:40:58 PM632731992580000000surfergirlGood Evening, and Good NightDana StevensThe new ABC World News Tonight team has yet to make its mark.noGood Evening, and Good NightGood Evening, and Good NightnoA week into Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff's tenure as the new anchor team for ABC World News Tonight, I see no reason to depart from my assertion last month that it doesn't really matter who anchors the network news. So far, Woodruff and Vargas have come off as smooth, professional, and bland, indistinguishable from countless good-looking talking heads on the cable news channels. Neither of the two has even proffered a signature signoff line as of yet (though Vargas bid viewers farewell last Thursday with the oddly redundant "Have a good evening, and good night.")truenotochyperlinkno200611150046PMWednesdayJanJanuary171/11/2006 10:00:46 PM632725956460000000200611150315PMWednesdayJanJanuary171/11/2006 10:03:15 PM632725957950000000surfergirlHeather ReportDana StevensEmily's Reasons Why Not is another disappointing role for Heather Graham.noHeather ReportHeather ReportnoWhat happened to Heather Graham's career? She was so arresting to watch from the moment she skated onscreen as Rollergirl in the virtuosic first shot of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). And not just because she was hot beyond belief. Her Rollergirl, the wide-eyed porn star who would take off anything but her skates, was a revelation: an overly compliant sweetheart with a damaged and fierce high-school dropout inside. Graham even held her own against the great Julianne Moore (remember the scene where, high on coke, the two women agreed to call each other mother and daughter?).truenotochyperlinkno20061921703PMMondayJanJanuary141/9/2006 7:17:03 PM63272413023000000020061921703PMMondayJanJanuary141/9/2006 7:17:03 PM632724130230000000surfergirlJon Stewart, Oscar HostDana StevensChoose your reaction.noJon Stewart, Oscar HostJon Stewart, Oscar host: Choose your reaction.noReactions to last night's announcement that Jon Stewart will host this year's Academy Awards ceremony seem to fall into three basic categories. Ever since the Envelope, the L.A. Times' Oscar-beat blog, broke the story Wednesday night,* the comments section of that site has been afire with increasingly loopy debate (all of it shot through with periodic denials that the writer could possibly care about anything so trivial as the Oscars). What's most striking about the reaction to the academy's choice of Stewart as host is how intense, and how immediately political, it's become. It's hard to imagine such a sustained and feverish discussion of most other likely choices for the gig: Whoopi Goldberg? Ellen DeGeneres? Jay Leno? But apparently, to be a red-blooded American, you must have a strong opinion on Jon Stewart as Oscar host 2006. Here are your three choices:truenotochyperlinkno20061632142PMFridayJanJanuary151/6/2006 8:21:42 PM63272157702000000020061632142PMFridayJanJanuary151/6/2006 8:21:42 PM632721577020000000200462845427PMMondayJunJune166/28/2004 8:54:27 PM632240384670000000200462845427PMMondayJunJune166/28/2004 8:54:27 PM632240384670000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue200462831354PMMondayJunJune156/28/2004 7:13:54 PM632240324340000000200462831354PMMondayJunJune156/28/2004 7:13:54 PM632240324340000000