New TV-poker math: three pair beats two of a kind

On the first day of the cable networks' portion of the semi-annual TV press tour, here's one duo that added nothing to my day:

Conan and Jay.

Despite the fact the Hollywood rumour mills were abuzz all Thursday afternoon with reports that NBC's late-night muck-up was finally being resolved -- with Jay Leno being handed The Tonight Show's 10:35 p.m. timeslot after the Winter Olympics end, and Conan O'Brien being handed a big cheque and shown the door -- their now-oh-so-tired antics just felt like more of the same.

On the other hand, HBO's late-afternoon cluster of new-show-related interview panels produced three pairings that were waaaaaaay more than worth waiting for:

1. Al Pacino and Susan Sarandon

The two big-screen superstars are part of the cast of the upcoming HBO bio-pic You Don't Know Jack, which chronicles the life of controversial end-of-life advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a.k.a. Dr. Death. In clips shown from the movie, Pacino (who plays Kevorkian) is a slightly shabby, agedly stooped, grey-haired and bespectacled old fellow; on the interview panel, the 69-year-old Oscar winner opted for a decidedly I'm-still-young-and-hip image, wearing a neatly tailored black suit, a crisp, open-necked white shirt, sunglasses, a goatee and a wildly spiked hairdo.

He told the assembled TV-critickal mass he had no misgivings about stepping away from his feature-film schedule to take part in this Barry-Levinson-directed made-for-cable movie.

"You're going fast with highly tuned people who are there and who are with it," he said of the brisk pace of TV-movie production. "They're not going so fast that they're negligent; it's just the nature of the beast. You have to do it, because ultimately, it's all about how much money you have to do these things.

"I remember, at one point, we did 16 scenes in two days. That, to me, is a lot of stuff in two days. But at the same time, it was exciting because a lot of that lent a kind of energy to the thing, and again, you're in the hands of Barry Levinson; you're in the hands of a consummate person and film-maker."

2. Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks

HBO's second tandem of Hollywood heavyweights was on hand to discuss the upcoming Second-World-War mini-series The Pacific, and Hanks, in an expansively conversational mood, went on at length about creative tensions between their production team and HBO executives about scenes that open each chapter of the 10-part epic that lend "context" to the stories that follow.

After a rambling and mischievously repetitive explanation of the to-and-fro of demands and compromises, Hanks suddenly realized that there might be some in the press-conference auditorium who misunderstood his good-natured barbs:

"Now, I'm going to assume that all you crack members of the fourth estate can appreciate sarcasm when it comes your way. ... I don't have any true complaints. I just have sarcastic ones. So please report my sarcasm in the spirit in which it was presented."

3. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

The brains behind the original Brit version of The Office and the wildly popular HBO series Extras were on hand to discuss The Ricky Gervais Show, a new animated comedy that combines the audio tracks from the immensely successful Ricky Gervais Podcast with some retro-style animation (in which Gervais somehow ends up looking like a 21st-century cousin of Fred Flintstone).

As they talked, in a very funny fashion, about the cartoon series -- which features Gervais, Merchant and perpetual conversational-punching-bag pal, Karl Pilkington -- Merchant was suddenly seized by a moment of concern.

"I'm just a bit worried," he told his longtime writing/producing partner. "They just had Spielberg and Hanks in here, talking about the most expensive drama ever, The Pacific. And before that, they had what's-his-name, Pacino, as Dr. Death. And here we are, talking about Karl watching a grub eating a biscuit -- I'm just worried that we may be, sort of ...

Gervais finished his thought: "Dumbing down?"

Merchant nodded in agreement, but Gervais quickly put his concerns to rest:

"I was next door, listening, and (the critics) weren't laughing at all."

It was a great way to end a very impressive afternoon. Talk about three winning pair.

Brad Oswald, Winnipeg Free Press