the groundhog day project

Before I get into Tru Calling , I must wonder aloud--or whatever the onscreen text version of aloud is--have I shared Noel Taylor's (1993, February 12) review of Groundhog Day ? Back in '93, Taylor wrote a review for the Ottawa Citizen and, well, he didn't really like the movie. Probably because he's a Canadian fool, but I can't be sure; I don't know the guy. Anyway, the title of his review is "Even Bill Murray can't save repetitive comedy." And, he says, somewhat accurately, "Murray being nice is less fun than Murray being insufferable," and less rightly, "He does his best, but Groundhog Day is one of those comedy routines Murray should have been glad to escape from." Counter that with Bill Provick (1993, September 3), also at the Ottawa Citizen : "If only Bill Murray could be this funny all the time. Perhaps he should always co-star with a groundhog. He was hilarious as in Caddyshack as the crazed groundskeeper stalki...

Two things to talk about today: 1) Paul Hannam's (2008) The Magic of Groundhog Day and 2) a few more episodes of Tru Calling . For the record, I have not finished reading Hannam's book. And, I might not do so. Mostly because, somewhat appropriately, the book is fairly repetitive. Hannam made his point early on, and then he's repeated that same point in slightly different ways a few chapters since. I may sample a bit here and there in the later chapters, see if he takes it anywhere interesting. But, I've got other books I need to be reading on this summer break. How about some highlights? In the meantime, Tru Calling 's "The Getaway" is messing with time again... in the annoying way, I mean. New guy--Jason Priestly's guy whose name I haven't noticed yet for some reason--is just starting work, which would be how long after his interview in the previous episode? This is television so no interview process takes more than a week, I'm sure. But,...

Watching another episode of Tru Calling (episode 12 - "Valentine") and it's shaping up to be the most like Groundhog Day yet; a blocked road, an isolated location (even no cell service--which was not an issue for Phil in the movie but was an issue in Ramis' drafts; Phil drove up in his own car and had a car phone which cuts out at one point.). But, it's Tru Calling so there's a murder. (For the record, I called which guest star was the murderer, but then he showed up dead... but with what looked like scratches on his neck like maybe he tried to kill again and got scratched. I'm not ruling out the possibility that I am wrong.) Something occurred to me while watching Groundhog Day today. Ned is not interested in getting reacquainted with Phil. At least not in the film version. In Ramis' drafts, Ned is excited just to be recognized by Phil. But, in the final product, Ned is just trying to take advantage of their past relationship to make a sale. C...

Note: I've only read half of the recently discovered "third revision" of the screenplay, so I won't get into picking that apart just yet . Today, I've watched 3 more episodes of Tru Calling and, while I don't intend to go episode by episode like I did with Day Break , I figured I'd share some thoughts. Also, I've had some thought about the future of The Groundhog Day Project after Day 365. First, Tru Calling : Episode 6 - "Star-Crossed" - Turns out Davis (Tru's boss) knows what she can do, so there's a brief conversation about it, and she's got a great response to Davis calling her repeat-a-day gig "a gift." She says, "Candles are gifts, boots, bath salts maybe, but this is... I don't know what this is..." My first problem (for this entry, not my first problem with the show; that would be the lame, 90s-indie-band-that-never-made-it-big theme song) here is the more Tru does this, especially now with h...