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The Bronx Is Burning (split from "All Star Game?")

Farmer Ted Jul 10 2007 04:35 AM

The Teds had a chance to catch up on some HBO programming last night (Entourage and Flight of the Conchords). We flipped to the HR derby to see what was going on. Heard one BACK, BACK, BACK from Berman and promptly changed channels. Was hoping to tape the first episode of Bronx is Burning last night but the friggin derby went long.

metirish Jul 10 2007 07:42 AM

I watched the Bronx is Burning......I dunno,thought Oliver Platt and John Turturro looked just goofy playing Steinbrenner and Martin,I wanted to laugh every time Platt/Steinbrenner huffed and puffed. When Steinbrenner approached Martin in the managers office after losing the 76 WS and vowed to never again be humiliated like that because" this is my team now" is sounded so fucking childish..

Benjamin Grimm Jul 10 2007 07:53 AM

Although he's too old to play him, I sometimes think of Billy Martin when I see Harry Dean Stanton.

Edgy DC Jul 10 2007 08:12 AM

Once and future Mets personnel depicted in Bronx is Burning: Mike Torrez, played by Tim Keinath Willie Randolph, played by Dock Pollard I know there's more than this, but that's all I'm getting online.

Frayed Knot Jul 10 2007 08:13 AM

]When Steinbrenner approached Martin in the managers office after losing the 76 WS and vowed to never again be humiliated like that because" this is my team now" is sounded so fucking childish. Hence, it's perfect.

metirish Jul 10 2007 08:20 AM

Yeah I suppose it is,I should set the scene better. Reds sweep MFY's in the WS,Steinbrenner is furious in the owners box,storms down to the locker room looking for Billy,finds him alone and crying in his office(i think),for a second I thought Steinbrenner was going to comfort him but of course Steinbrenner lays the blame firmly on him with a " how could you do this to me"...

Benjamin Grimm Jul 10 2007 08:26 AM

The thought of watching 61* made me want to gag, so I didn't. (Billy Crystal gets a lot of credit for that gag impulse.) As for Bronx, the book sounds like it might be interesting, and I may one day read it, but I don't think I want to watch the made-for-TV movie. It sounds to me like one of those things where Cybil Sheppard plays Martha Stewart.

MFS62 Jul 10 2007 08:29 AM

The Bronx is Burning seems to be decent fodder for a spinoff thread about that show. Can one of the mods please cut the appropriate posts from this thread into the new one? Thanks, Later

Frayed Knot Jul 10 2007 08:34 AM

The book was a terrific history of that tumultuous year in NYC: riots, blackouts, mayoral races, Son of Sam, etc; with the ongoing Yanqui season weaving its way through the narrative. Baseball is cool in that way in that the everyday nature of it makes it a part of everyday life as opposed to football which becomes a once-a-week escape from it. This mini-series, being an ESPN production and all, is going to be more like the story of the '77 Yankee season with the goings on in the city as the backdrop instead of the other way around. I'll probably record the first couple and watch them when I get around to it even though my expectations aren't too high. ESPN has made movies/series out of Pete Rose, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Knight and a few others and none were too well received.

MFS62 Jul 10 2007 08:47 AM

Thanks for splitting this. I somehow got on the mailing list of a company called Polling Point. I occasionally get emails asking me to participate in on-line polls. Many of them are political. Others are market research polls, involving such things as electronics products, phone/cable services and health foods. Last week I got one about "television". As I got into it, it asked my television viewing habits, the networks I watch and if I'm a sports fan. The survey then presented poll questions about ESPN in general, and specifically The Bronx is Burning. The questions included such things as: had I seen the ads for the show Had I paid attention to the ads Had the ads made me want to watch the show Do I know who will be sponsoring the show Does knowing that make me want to do more or less business with that sponsor Finally, there was a space for general comments. I wrote: "As a Mets fan, why should I care about a show depicting an entire season of Yankee angst?" (I didn't know the book was about what was going on in the City as well as with the team.) It'll be interesting to see if I get invited to participate in future surveys. Later

Vic Sage Jul 10 2007 08:53 AM

I tuned in to ESPN at 10 to see the show and got stuck watching the HR derby, which i have no interest in. Aggravated, I switched over to FSNY to watch the Knicks summer league game (which was highly entertaining by the way... the kid Chandler looked terrific!). Bonehead move by ESPN... highly publicized mini-series gets delayed about an hour? They should have showed it either before the derby or on another night where they didn't have some open-ended show leading into it. Now i didn't see the 1st episode, so its highly unlikely i'll watch any of the rest.

DocTee Jul 10 2007 09:32 AM

It's gotta be better than that insipid series they ran about a fictional big-league football team--"Playmakers" was horrid.

soupcan Jul 10 2007 09:33 AM

I stayed up to watch 'The Bronx Is Burning' and thought it was really good. Oliver Platt and Turturro were excellent. Sunjata ('Franco' from 'Rescue Me') is I think the name of the actor playing Reggie and while he isn't as well cast as some of the others (the guy playing Munson for instance was as close to a dead ringer - no pun intended - for the guy as you can get), he definitely grew on me. After the episode was over they did a 3 minute 'backstory' on the writer who did the 'Sport Magazine' piece on Reggie that was the origin of the 'straw that stirs the drink' comment. In the episode that writer played himself and commented on the interview he had with Reggie afterwards. I was 12 that summer and away at summer camp so I was not in the thick of those sweltering tumultuous few months but I remember those Yankee teams well and seeing the Abe Beame press conferences and The Daily News' .'44 Caliber Killer' headlines definitely brought me back. I was waiting to see some green and white police cars with the dome-type lights on the roof careening through Harlem. Good stuff, I really liked it.

Edgy DC Jul 10 2007 09:57 AM

Good show, 'Can. Rarely do the media recall that, for the greater part of the manhunt, he was tagged as "The 44-Caliber Killer." Few serial killers get one name that scary. Berkowitz got two. Seventy-six, I think, was my Dad's first year as a detective. An early theory on the 44-Caliber Killer spree was that he was a renegade mobster, and he was tailing mid-level wise guys.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 10 2007 10:29 AM

There was a Dave Kingman snippet as part of a MFY-NYM spring training game.

Iubitul Jul 10 2007 10:41 AM

Had to love the Jason Giambi cameo...

soupcan Jul 10 2007 11:00 AM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: There was a Dave Kingman snippet as part of a MFY-NYM spring training game. You mean the overhead shot of #26 swinging at the plate?

Johnny Dickshot Jul 10 2007 11:09 AM

Yeah. It had to be, meant to be, Sky King. No mention of a handsome young actor playing Fran Healy? He didn't speak with a slight high pitch Boston accent so I didn't buy it. Plus he was insightful. Healy and Munson both appearedin scenes wearing their hats backwards -- the time-honored movie trick of indicating they were catchers.

G-Fafif Jul 10 2007 01:27 PM

Healy is listed as a consulting producer or something showbizzy. Glad Fran is gettin' paid for being Fran. Painting the visitors' clubhouse at Al Lang orange and blue was a nice touch (though it could have been red and white for the Cardinals, come to think of it). Book is pretty good. Yankees are not really the focus of it. Jonathan Mahler devoted a segment of it to the Seaver trade, which is the most resonant reason to remember the summer of '77 (ladies and gentlemen, Queens grew quiet). The more buffoonish they make Big Stein, the better. When I first heard of the .44 Caliber Killer at 14, I thought it was an overwrought nickname the News pinned on Jackson. I wasn't paying attention.

G-Fafif Jul 10 2007 01:32 PM

="Johnny Dickshot"]Healy and Munson both appeared in scenes wearing their hats backwards -- the time-honored movie trick of indicating they were catchers. In "For Love of the Game," Catcher John C. Reilly did not wear his Tigers cap backwards but he did wear it away from the ballpark, which is considered a major faux pas. During the replacement player gig in '95, a couple of Yankee temps went to a Fort Lauderdale mall rocking their team-approved headgear and Buck Showalter's coaches went nuts...you just don't do that! Reilly could have worn a fruit basket on his head. "For Love of the Game" was quite possibly the worst baseball movie ever.

Edgy DC Jul 10 2007 01:36 PM

Though that's a hard claim to make, it certainly wasn't good. I'd choose it over Mr. 3000 for instance. You'd be disapponted to hear, Yancy, that 61* is pretty good.

Benjamin Grimm Jul 10 2007 01:41 PM

I have heard good things about 61*. But I still don't want to watch it.

G-Fafif Jul 10 2007 01:55 PM

Edgy DC wrote: Though that's a hard claim to make, it certainly wasn't good. I'd choose it over Mr. 3000 for instance. You'd be disapponted to hear, Yancy, that 61* is pretty good. "Mr. 3000" was dreadful (the Brewers played three home series against the Astros in September, for example), but it was garden-variety dreadful. "For Love of the Game" was overwrought Yankee-loving crap that got just about everything wrong. Costner driving to Yankee Stadium even though he's that day's pitcher for Detroit (and isn't from New York)? The scared rookie being sent up for his first at-bat as the potential last out in a perfect game? The frigging inability of the witless screenwriter to have the bartender at JFK who hates the Yankees not utter four simple words: "I'm a Mets fan"? Lakeland, Fla. being portrayed as a beachside paradise? The mere idea that a ballplayer needs to give his thumbs-up on a trade at the end of September? Geez I hate that movie more than a thousand "Slugger's Wife"s. (Good soundtrack, though.)

G-Fafif Jul 10 2007 01:56 PM

="Yancy Street Gang"]I have heard good things about 61*. But I still don't want to watch it. It really isn't bad but it's not good enough to not let go of that particular "I won't watch" conviction. Why encourage Billy Crystal?

Edgy DC Jul 10 2007 02:03 PM

Well, the idea is to encourage him to do good, thought-out, subly painted, honorable things and not to do Forget Paris, America's Sweethearts, and such. He likes the Yankees. Too bad. But if he's going to make a movie out of it, at least give him credit for depicting the self-destructive cultural hipocrisy in the stands, and the ambiguious characters of icons like Mantle and DiMaggio.

G-Fafif Jul 10 2007 02:07 PM

Good thoughts. But nah. The less Billy Crystal making 62*, 63* and so on, the better. How awkward are those McGwire scenes now?

seawolf17 Jul 10 2007 02:11 PM

I loved "Forget Paris."

soupcan Jul 10 2007 02:11 PM

G-Fafif wrote: ..."For Love of the Game" was quite possibly the worst baseball movie ever. Meanwhile it is my wife's most favorite baseball movie... Such is my lot in life.

SteveJRogers Jul 10 2007 02:15 PM

G-Fafif wrote: Good thoughts. But nah. The less Billy Crystal making 62*, 63* and so on, the better. How awkward are those McGwire scenes now? Insanely awkward. But I'll just give the movie the fact that it was made in (IIRC) 2001, despite everyone "knowing" about McGwire since the late '80s

SteveJRogers Jul 10 2007 02:18 PM

G-Fafif wrote: The more buffoonish they make Big Stein, the better. HA! Everytime Platt spoke I kept thinking of Larry David's "Steinbrenner" from Seinfeld.

Frayed Knot Jul 10 2007 02:18 PM

]Now i didn't see the 1st episode, so its highly unlikely i'll watch any of the rest. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that they're going to re-run it two or three (or eight or nine) times before getting around to episode two. None of which makes it not incredibly stupid that, not only was their highly publicized self-produced series bumped off of its starting time, but that it was done for a contrived event which ran long thru ESPN's own fault to begin with. Fran Healy is one of the consultants for the flick, mainly as a result of his being Reggie's best friend on that team.

SteveJRogers Jul 10 2007 02:20 PM

G-Fafif wrote: When I first heard of the .44 Caliber Killer at 14, I thought it was an overwrought nickname the News pinned on Jackson. I wasn't paying attention. In Spike Lee's "Summer Of Sam" some yos speculate that the killer actually could be # 44. Obviously no one outside of someone suffering from paranoia would think that, but it was just a funny part of that movie.

SteveJRogers Jul 10 2007 02:24 PM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Yeah. It had to be, meant to be, Sky King. Same sequence also saw # 17 Felix Millan, but A) Felix is shorter, B) Felix is not caucasian and C) the batter did not choke up on the bat, It looked more like it could have been Mike Vail or Lee Mazzilli and also # 28 John Milner, and I believe I called it when a pic was posted of an indy league player on "set" in a Met uniform a while back who looked a bit like The Hammer circa 1977.

soupcan Jul 10 2007 02:38 PM

"HANDS UP! I'm taking this thread to Cuba!"

SteveJRogers Jul 10 2007 03:03 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: ]Now i didn't see the 1st episode, so its highly unlikely i'll watch any of the rest. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that they're going to re-run it two or three (or eight or nine) times before getting around to episode two. None of which makes it not incredibly stupid that, not only was their highly publicized self-produced series bumped off of its starting time, but that it was done for a contrived event which ran long thru ESPN's own fault to begin with. Excellent point. They hyped it as starting at 10ish but ended up being 11. Though I'd suspect that they made it that way so the HR Derby would get a late "spike" even if it had Griffey, Bonds, ARod, and other big stars.

cooby Jul 10 2007 05:44 PM

I wanted to watch and forgot...are they replaying each episode?

cooby Jul 10 2007 06:18 PM

Im sorry, Frayed Knot, I just read what you said...but if there is a set schedule if somebody could please post it...I don't watch ESPN much to see what they're airing.

Frayed Knot Jul 10 2007 07:37 PM

I'm not sure what day and time the 8-week series is supposed to air on a regular basis. The first one was Monday and ESPN usually has a Monday night game at 7 so maybe it's going to be after that - which means it won't always start on time depending on the length of said game. I'm sure they'll also find a time to re-air each one at least once during the week and they will re-air episode 1 tomorrow (Wed) at 10PM

Frayed Knot Jul 10 2007 07:58 PM

]When Steinbrenner approached Martin in the managers office after losing the 76 WS and vowed to never again be humiliated like that because" this is my team now" is sounded so fucking childish.. Back to this for a second; I just glanced through the early chapters of the book again and this scene is absolutely as it was reported: Martin crying in the clubhouse after the '76 WS sweep and Steinbrenner coming in to berate him for making him look bad with the loss. Now that doesn't mean that every word of the dialogue is exactly as portrayed but the idea certainly was NOT concocted for dramatic purposes. Nor, btw, was that the last time Steinbreener whined like a spoiled child. Buster Olney's book on the 2001 WS has George yelling at the clubhouse guys as they're trying to do the network set-up for the post-series celebration in the Yankee (visitors) clubhouse because he thought they were "jinxing it" before the series was complete. Then when the Yanx did indeed blow the lead, George is screaming at those just doing their job that the loss was their fault.

G-Fafif Jul 11 2007 12:00 AM

Supposed to run Tuesdays at 10 PM. More info here: http://www.bronxisburning.com/

Johnny Dickshot Jul 11 2007 07:31 AM

Replays Tonight at 10, thurs at midnight I do believe

cooby Jul 11 2007 08:59 AM

How long are they on? I don't think I can stay up until midnight...

Iubitul Jul 11 2007 10:19 AM

I believe it's only an hour cooby.

cooby Jul 11 2007 12:04 PM

If I remember, I will try to watch it

Benjamin Grimm Jul 11 2007 12:18 PM

Meanwhile, I plan to record the Brooklyn Dodgers documentary that's going to be on HBO tonight.

SteveJRogers Jul 11 2007 05:40 PM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Meanwhile, I plan to record the Brooklyn Dodgers documentary that's going to be on HBO tonight. Ditto. FWIW I couldn't get into that documentary that was on SNY last week on the same subject, narrated by David Hartman. Just seemed very cheaply done, culling from dated interviews (which is okay when subjects are dead and all, but sometimes a fresh interview with Duke or Erskine would be better than something done in the 70s or 80s) plus they didn't have the MLB rights so they only used news reel footage, file footage and probably home made videos. Also the lighting on the clips made me feel like I was watching an old SportsChannel presentation.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 11 2007 09:21 PM

I missed the first hour of the Dodgers HBO special but the 2nd hour was excellent. One of the commentators (Shapiro, who was knowledgeable about the Moses-O'Malley dynamic) authored an excellent book on that subject, THE LAST GOOD SEASON. The commentator telling the story of holding the cross during the World Series was very funny. Who was that? Using just a snippet of him with his hands was really effective and funny. Weirdly, today I received a letter from my dad including a recent newspaper clipping of an interview with Johnny Podres. The jist of the note was, look how old he looks!

Edgy DC Aug 24 2007 09:08 AM

Mets trivia in this Yankee thread. Who was batting at Shea when the lights went out?

G-Fafif Aug 24 2007 09:25 AM

Lenny Randle. He thought more than the game was over. A little [url=http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/10/3150860.html]Queens Was Quiet[/url] perspective on the other side of 1977 if anyone is interested.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 24 2007 09:40 AM

I'd feel like a dork for adding a comment now but that was good. Seeing it now I realize I'd begun reading it but never finished.