BW Manilowe

From People: Aretha Franklin Wears Rose Gold Gown in Third Outfit Change for Last Viewing Before Funeral And... Bishop at Aretha Franklin Funeral Mistakes Ariana Grande for a Taco Bell Menu Item

From CNN: One of McCain’s Final Acts in Office Was Sending a Letter to a New Graduate

I wonder if Whoopi’s been invited/is going to Senator McCain’s National Cathedral Memorial tomorrow or the Naval Academy Cemetery interment Sunday, since Meghan McCain is 1 of her co-hosts on The View? Or maybe she might’ve been invited to 1 of the Phoenix-based funeral-related events for him earlier in the week (though that would be a kinda long, outta the way method to attend both; it’s more workable if she’s gotten over her notorious fear of flying).

I finally saw a clip of Ariana Grande from Aretha’s funeral. ET posted a wrap up report of musical performances & speakers (with some comments by some participants, usually after the performances)that was aired/will air in the show, on at least their Twitter account; but mostly they showed the singers. All I have to say about Ariana’s choice of outfit is, at least it was black (chuckling... I guess). They included Faith Hill too. She may not have been the best, but I don’t necessarily think she was the absolute worst either. And I saw Gladys Knight. I thought she looked like she’d lost some weight; but she didn’t have that “scary thin” look people have when they’re fighting a medical condition that causes drastic weight loss (like Rock Hudson towards the end of his AIDS fight, like Karen Carpenter during her eventually fatal Anorexia struggle, & like Aretha looked in at least 1 pic that I’ve seen more than once since they announced she was sick, &/or that her death was imminent).

From The Hollywood Reporter: Actress Vanessa Marquez, Best Known for Roles in ER and Stand and Deliver, Shot and Killed by South Pasadena (CA) Police During Welfare Check. She was 49. She had the recurring role of Nurse Wendy Goldman on ER & played Ana Delgado, 1 of Jaime Escalante’s AP Calculus students, in Stand and Deliver. If you saw the movie, which I did multiple times, I think Ana Delgado was the student who dropped out because she was apparently needed to help her family run their restaurant, then came back after what felt like a short time, possibly after an “intervention” of sorts, by Escalante, his wife, or both. Reports say police were called by Marquez’s landlord. When they arrived she was said to be having seizures & additional medical help was requested. She later became uncooperative while talking to officers, possibly due to mental health issues, & an LA County Mental Health Clinician was sent to the scene. After talking with them for about 90 minutes, she retrieved a gun & pointed it at the officers; they shot her. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital & it was later learned Marquez’s gun was a BB gun. In October of last year, in a series of Tweets on Twitter, Marquez accused (now former) ER star George Clooney of helping to have her “blacklisted” after she spoke out about alleged sexual misconduct by her male co-stars on the show. Clooney responded, in a statement the same month, that he had no idea Vanessa (felt she) had been blacklisted, but he took her at her word. He said he wasn’t a writer, producer, or director on the show; he had nothing to do with casting; he was an actor & only an actor. Clooney also said that if someone told her that he was involved in any decision involving her career, then she was lied to. He continued to say that the fact that he couldn’t affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that he wouldn’t.

That’s what I wish they’d done with the short-lived Ironside “update”, I guess I’m gonna call it, on NBC that starred Blair Underwood a few seasons back. They should’ve said it was “inspired by” the original, because the only things the people who were responsible for it kept for their version were the show’s title, the lead character’s name, & the premise—police detective returns to work, & solving crimes, after a shooting leaves him paralyzed & a wheelchair user.

From People: The Late Aretha Franklin Was Dressed in Powder Blue in Second Outfit Change for Public Viewing

From TV Newser: Here’s How TV News Is Covering Senator John McCain’s Funeral This is the TV schedule of the rest of the events for Senator McCain’s funeral.

From TV Line— Hawaii Five-0 First Look: McGarrett ‘Suits Up’ for Redo of Original Series’ Pilot—PlusWo Fat Returns...?!

I agree. Meghan’s husband should’ve been next to her; all the spouses/partners should’ve been next to their “other halves” (I couldn’t figure out how else to word that & not have a grammar fail because of the wording). I think I saw Meghan’s military brothers, as opposed to the civilians, consoling her when she got really distraught, though it’s not quite the same as having your spouse do it.

A Special Report, in this case from ABC (&/or maybe their digital-only online news site/app), was posted online (I saw it on Facebook), about the arrival of the motorcade carrying Senator McCain’s casket at the Arizona State Capitol Building. The poster also attached coverage of the Memorial/Remembrance Service in Senator McCain’s honor at that building. As the family was taking their seats, I noticed that Mrs. McCain, naturally, was in the front row next to the speaker’s podium; seated next to her, going farther away from the podium, were her 2 sons, Jack & Jimmy—who are/were in “competing” branches of the military, the Navy & the Marines. Also sitting in the front row on the side which seemed to be reserved for family (or at least immediate surviving family), was their daughter Meghan, co-host of The View. She was quite emotional; I thought she might pass out at some point. What I found interesting about the family’s seating arrangements, though, was that the McCain’s daughter Bridget (might be Bridgette; I’ve seen it both ways), whom they adopted from Bangladesh in 1991, was in the second row of seats and not really visible to the cameras. I don’t know if she wanted it that way on purpose or if it just happened, but the first thing I thought when I saw the seating arrangements was that I hope that nobody thought there were negative reasons attached to her sitting behind her mother, brothers who have served/are serving in the military, & her sister—all of whom are white, while she has the dark skin of her native Bangladesh.

From ABC News Live: Mourners Pay Their Last Respects to Senator John McCain at the Arizona Capitol Building NOTE: This link is live as I post. It may go dead later in the evening.

I realize now that, since I linked to a print version of the letter, I should’ve actually said it was read at a press conference, held at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, by Rick Davis, the Senator’s former presidential campaign manager, who is serving as the family’s spokesman.

From CNN: Senator John McCain’s Farewell Letter to Arizonans and All Americans Read by Rick Davis, Senator McCain’s Former Presidential Campaign Manager who is serving as Family Spokesman.

Apparently, they took a lotta heat, from both sides of the aisle & veterans’ groups, for returning the flag to its normal position so soon. The Pentagon apparently also returned its flag to its normal position when the White House did. From NBC News: Presidential Proclamation Signed to Keep White House Flag at Half-Staff Through the Day of Senator McCain’s Interment This article says that they’re keeping the flag at half-staff until the day of interment and that they’re keeping it at half-staff through the day of interment, which mean 2 entirely different things. (Shrugs & Sighs) Vice President Pence has been asked to offer an address at a Friday US Capitol ceremony honoring Senator McCain. At the request of the McCain family, military transportation of the late senator’s remains from Arizona to Washington, military pallbearers & a horse & caisson transport during the service at the US Naval Academy have been authorized. The decision to raise the flag again so quickly prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) & Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) to write a letter in which they said they wanted flags at all government buildings to be at half-staff until McCain’s funeral & asked for the Department of Defense’s help in doing so, according to Senator Schumer’s spokesman. The Department of Defense says it’s received the letter.

And between Bobby Van & Neil Simon, Elaine Joyce was married (1985-1992) to a producer, John Levoff, with whom she shares a son, Michael, born in 1986 (she & Bobby Van have a daughter, Taylor, born in 1977). Also according to her Wikipedia page (linked above), while Neil Simon’s cause (primary cause?) of death was complications with pneumonia, according to his publicist, he was also on life support after being hospitalized for renal failure & he had Alzheimer’s disease. Neil Simon’s Wikipedia page also has that information & says he received a kidney transplant in 2004 from friend & longtime publicist Bill Evans (who announced his death over the weekend).

I don’t think they have full episodes of SNL on YouTube; maybe on NBC.com. But they do have a number of individual sketches/segments involving him—I think including the 1 with Amy Poehler mentioned upthread, plus a bunch with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin & maybe with the real Sarah Palin (I forget if they were on SNL together, or not).

If you’re in Detroit, or close enough to get their local TV stations, & you’re interested in watching it, the station called “Local 4” (I think the call letters are WDIV) will air live coverage of Aretha Franklin’s funeral. If you’re outside of the Detroit TV stations’ viewing area & wanna watch Aretha’s funeral, “Local 4” (WDIV?) will also stream the funeral online, at the ClickOnDetroit.com website. The funeral is scheduled for August 31st, which I think is a Friday. Live coverage, on TV & online, is scheduled to begin at 9AM, US Eastern Daylight Time (UTC/GMT -4... I think). I added the US to the time in case any posters based outside the US might like to try to watch online too.

The actor who played CJ’s dad is named Donald Moffat, not Daniel Moffat.

From Deadline... ‘Timeless’: NBC Greenlights Two-Part Series Finale of Canceled Time Travel Series

At the time of his death, as his obituary says, he was married to actress Elaine Joyce. People here from the same era as me, &/or people who watch a lotta game show repeats, especially on Game Show Network (GSN)—as opposed to any of the other cable networks programmed with all-classic game shows—would know Ms. Joyce from her many appearances as the kinda ditzy blonde usually in the left hand seat of the bottom tier of celebrities on the mid-1970’s version of Match Game, hosted by original host Gene Rayburn & including regular panelists Brett Somers, actress/ex-wife of Jack Klugman; actor Charles Nelson Reilly; & actor & original Family Feud host Richard Dawson.

This article, from the website for KABC-TV, Channel 7 in Los Angeles, about Senator McCain’s funeral & burial plans, is somewhat more detailed than what’s already been posted. It actually includes specific dates & times for events. It also says that he’s being buried at the US Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland (as you guessed, & which was also mentioned upthread). He’s being buried as he requested, on a peninsula overlooking the Severn River, next to his best friend from his Naval Academy days, Admiral Chuck Larson. Ironically, most of the events connected to Senator McCain’s funeral are on the same days as events connected to Aretha Franklin’s. Senator McCain’s private memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral is the only event from either funeral that’s being held on a day that doesn’t include an event from the other. The last event connected to Aretha’s funeral, her actual funeral, is being held at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit on August 31st. The last event (or almost) connected to Senator McCain’s funeral is his private memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral, in Washington, DC, on September 1st. He will then be interred at the US Naval Academy Cemetery (I think it was said with a private service for the family) on September 2nd. That will be the last event connected to Senator McCain’s funeral.

From Billboard: Kyle Pavone, We Came As Romans Singer, Dead at 28 The cause of death is unknown at this time.

When I was in junior high (75-76, 76-77, 77-78), in 1 of the English classes I took (I’m almost positive it was English, & not Drama), I remember doing something outta a book, or the teacher having a book, that was a collection of scripts from TV show episodes of that time (the ‘70’s in general, if not a specific year). As I remember it had scripts for episodes from both Room 222 & the original version of The Bill Cosby. I don’t remember the name; I’ll see if I can Google it at some point.

Not ragging on you, or Mr. Seinfeld. Just pointing out that since Cosby’s character here was a PE teacher, he kinda would’ve had to wear tennis (gym) shoes for at least the scenes that took place at school/while he was supposed to be teaching/working. It’s kinda hard to do PE-related activities in street shoes. It’s just sad that it turned out Cosby apparently didn’t turn out to be as responsible an adult as at least his TV characters were (& tried to teach the characters of their children to be—which was using the same values Bill & Camille Cosby instilled, or tried to, in their real life children as they grew up).