Beren

With the explosion of news magazine shows on the prime-time airwaves, it is useful to remember the long-running program that producers are trying to emulate: 60 Minutes.

This show combines investigative journalism, celebrity profiles, and features about interesting organizations and events. When it's a serious subject, you feel like they have fairly and objectively reported the story. Even with lighter topics you get the impression 60 Minutes has captured the essence of the story.

Each segment is about 15 minutes long; we get three in every one-hour show. When the subject is something serious, the viewer has the option of following up in detail on other sources.

Sure, it's a formula, but the 60 Minutes people perfected the formula. No one else on commercial television does such good journalism.

Why has this show consistently placed near the top of the ratings for three decades? Because it's damn good. Why do people tune into 60 Minutes every week, despite the fact that during football season it is often delayed due to long-running games? Because they know that 60 Minutes will deliver.

Jack and Shana's debates in the 70s were a little much to take, and I can't stand Andy Rooney's musings, but the core of the show has remained solid.

Code of Silence is a straightforward action film with nothing special. It's just a very good example of its genre. Exciting, involving, and fun to watch Norris blow away the bad guys.

I thought Chuck Norris would become a real movie star after this performance. He never made it big and had to settle for a steady, if unspectacular, television role.

Director Andrew Davis had an even bigger hit with The Fugitive, but other than that has had a lackluster career.

Reasonable people can have different candidates for "best concert movie ever", but The Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense is surely a contender. Jonathan Demme wisely forgoes backstage preparation footage or overlong shots of the audience. It's the show on the stage that matters.

The best concerts approach the ecstasy of religious celebration, where primal instinct takes over from rational thought. Is it any wonder that so many people in knowledge-intensive desk jobs were fans of the Heads? They preached about how pointless so much intellectualizing is. Life is a party; you just have to look at it the right way. Dilbert should have seen this film.

Why does David Byrne wear that big suit? Who knows? Who cares? It's all part of the show, which is largely beyond words. Do the Heads' lyrics make sense? No, their songs are more than words, too. The title of one of their songs, and of the movie is, Stop Making Sense! Good advice for everyone, once in a while.