Tue, July 8, 2003

The photo of Bob Costas on the website for his weekly talk show On the Record depicts the 5' 6 1/2" host sitting on a stack of phone books. Diminutive he may be (though 5' 6" is beyond tall – practically venti – by Hollywood standards) but his intellect and charm tower above his many colleagues in the talk show universe. A top scorer on Celebrity Jeopardy! and a veteran of news and sportscasting, Costas is an insightful and fascinating interviewer and while you might expect his guests to be primarily sports-centered, this isn't true at all.

Years ago, Later with Bob Costas never really found its legs on NBC. It became a Greg Kinnear show, struggled through some more guest hosts, and finally died out. Maybe the autonomy that comes with HBO is what Costas needed and maybe the weekly format is easier to work with than the daily schedule. On the Record is a richly entertaining and engaging show.

This week, Costas talked with tennis champion Pete Sampras about his career, his future, and his marriage to Bridgette Wilson (the hot chick from Billy Madison). I don't follow sports and certainly not tennis, so I know who Pete Sampras is even though I don't know much else. What impresses me about Costas is similar to what impresses me about Carl Sagan or Richard Feynman – the ability to make it accessible, even to a newcomer. Athletic Reporter co-creator Joe Mulder talks about how his sports parody articles are constructed so that even if you aren't familiar with the news item being parodied, it's included in the setup. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart follows a similar approach. And Costas reminds me of that. I found the Sampras interview engrossing despite not really caring about Pete Sampras. (It helps that I've always liked the hot chick from Billy Madison.)

Costas's other sports-related story was about the French reaction to Lance Armstrong, who has won the Tour de France for the past four years, despite a battle with cancer. The show seemed to focus on the concept of Armstrong's repeated domination beginning to wear on the French more than it focused on the so-called strained relations between America and France, but both were in there. I think any argument against Armstrong is as preposterous as the argument on Boarding House: North Shore by local Hawaiian surfers who want guaranteed spots in the surf contests held in their back yard. If you're hosting a worldwide sporting event, it seems like anyone should be allowed to enter and, based on his/her talents, win. The locals would seem to have an advantage because of their familiarity with the terrain; other than that, no special favors should be extended. One French official attempted to explain possible hostility towards an American continuing to win their race. Essentially, his argument (through a translator) was that Europeans are not raised in a culture of wanting to be the best at everything. Succeeding at any cost isn't part of their mind-set, so it frustrates them to see someone like Armstrong – a competitive American who is willing to put all of himself into his performance. (I was boggled that this guy kept a straight face. In essence, he was saying "We have no interest in pushing ourselves to win, and it really pisses us off that someone else who is more motivated should be allowed to walk away with the trophy.")

Costas also offered two entertainment segments. One was a 25th Anniversary look back at Animal House with stars Tim Matheson and Peter Riegert and director John Landis (the man who took away Jennifer Jason Leigh's Daddy). I've never been a huge Landis fan and I've never seen the movie but I like Matheson fine and I've loved Riegert ever since I saw him in Coldblooded with Jason Priestley and Kimberly Williams. (It'll be on HBO; check it out, you'll enjoy it.) The Animal House segment was thoughtful and funny and it made me want to see the film. The segment with hip-hop/R&B fusion artist Ashanti was also interesting even though I'd never heard of her before.

To close the show, Costas did a little history wrap-up sort of thing and the show used The Kid Stays In The Picture-style still images along with the voiceover. This is where rather than just displaying archival stills or panning across them Ken Burns-style, the photograph's subject and background are digitally separated and then they're gently animated against each other so it looks kind of like a kaleidoscope or one of those pens with the little scene in one end and a piece of plastic suspended in water, so that when you tip the pen the image on the plastic moves in front of the background. I think it's a very stylish effect (one of many reasons I adored The Kid Stays In The Picture) and it's much better than the Biography method which involves twisting and swish-panning across the images so that it gives me a headache like I've spent a few hours on one of those motion simulator rides.

So, I went ahead and programmed a Season Pass to On the Record on TiVo, because I was that impressed. (It's summer, so Season Passes are a little easier to merit. I set one up for Stan Lee's Stripperella, too. Just for fun.)

Program Note: Next week, Costas will be airing a segment with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog – not to be missed!

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