In a promotion for the new HBO Max streaming service, the six stars of “Friends” have agreed to do a reunion show. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be an episode in which their characters get back together. It’s going to be an unscripted event in which the six of them (who will earn about $2.5 million each just for appearing) will share stories about making the sitcom, which went off the air in 2004. The problem is that, while they’re all talented comic actors — meaning they can be very funny when performing words and scenes that professional writers have concocted — none of them is known for being a great storyteller. I’ve seen them all on various talk shows in the last decade-and-a-half and can’t remember a single good anecdote any of them told. But, without the input of showrunners Marta Kauffman and David Crane, this won’t turn out to be Must See TV.
I’m also down on the idea of a fifth Indiana Jones movie, which has recently been announced. Steven Spielberg won’t direct it; he’s handed those reins over to James Mangold, who has several good films to his credit. But do we really need to see Harrison Ford don the hat and whip again, forty years after he played the iconic lead character for the first time? I don’t.
Maria Sharapova announced her retirement from tennis this week at age 32. I still remember going to a St. Louis Aces match in Forest Park (when we had a World Team Tennis outlet) sixteen years ago, when she was a guest player on the visiting team. None of us had heard of her, but as soon as she started accompanying her shots with loud, nearly-orgasmic yelps, everyone paid attention. She easily won her set that night, as Martha and I agreed hers was a name to remember. Just a year later, Sharapova was the Wimbledon women’s singles champion, which she followed with four more Grand Slam titles and a number one ranking when she was 21. She also at one point had more endorsement income than any other woman in the world (her longtime rival Serena Williams is tops now, but Maria is right behind her). However, the 15 months Sharapova couldn’t play because of a doping ban, as well as subsequent shoulder problems, hurt both her game and her rankings. She’ll still be remembered as one helluva player.
And finally, Clint Eastwood did an interview earlier this week in which he endorsed Michael Bloomberg for president, a factoid that got picked up as a big deal by several media outlets. They must have forgotten that whole empty chair thing Clint ad-libbed at the GOP convention in 2012 which, as you’ll recall, made such a big difference in helping to elect that year’s Republican nominee, President Mitt Romney.