PBS ROBS ME OF 2 NIGHTS

Don't you hate when TV robs you of two nights of your life?

"American Masters" was showing on PBS as a 2 part of the Martin Scorsese film "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" which avoiding TERRIBLE stuff on the tube such as "Dog the bounty Hunter", I decided to watch. I was tottering on that and a "mystery DVD" that arrived in a surprise package from Ebay of the film "Running Man".

I'm not a big fan of Bob Dylan, but I don't hate the guy either. "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" consists of some fantastic stock footage and stills showing the early years of Dylan up to his 1966 motorcycle accident.

The doc spanned over two evenings and last night finished with a sit-down interview with Martin Scorsese, being interviewed by Charlie Rose.

Could Charlie Rose offer any more of a blowjob to Scorsese? It was getting to the point on penal worship and you wanted to scream "Enough!" Yeah, the film was good (it wasn't excellent, but it was good) but Rose went on almost as if Scorsese shot the footage himself (he didn't).

If your doc refers to previous events, and you need lots of stock footage, your end statement will only put people "in the mode" when it's reflective of strong file film. This is where "No Direction Home" shines with great footage from the Newport Folk Festival, various pressers around the globe, and even a great Andy Warhol screen test.

I thought that the interviews were good (Scorsese didn't do them, he just assembled the thing), but too bad it didn't cover his recordings which created the first bootleg albums (thank Dylan for that!) and creating the subculture with that.

Anyhow, it was a good film, but I'll wait for PBS to bring back my beloved FRONTLINE for the next season, or offer a meatier doc.

However, it did make me want to see the mid 80's doc by the BBC on The Velvet Underground. Anyone ever see it?