Curt Schleier is a freelance writer and author who covers business and the arts for a variety of publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tvsoundoff.
Curt Schleier
By Curt Schleier
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The Schmooze ‘The Neighbors’ Celebrate ‘Challoweenukah’
Shades of “Chrismukuh.” That’s the blended holiday celebrated by the blended Cohen family on the TV show, “The O.C.” But Challoweenukah? It’s the holiday that will be celebrated on the October 18 episode of “The Neighbors,” a show about blended peoples. When the Weaver family moved into the gated Hidden Hills development last season, they…
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The Schmooze Chief of the ‘Bad Jews’
Joshua Harmon applied for admission to the Juilliard School’s prestigious playwriting program three times. Three times he was told sorry, try again. On his fourth attempt, “Bad Jews” got him in. No, that’s not a reference to crooked admissions officers. “Bad Jews” is Harmon’s play about relatives battling over a special chai pendant that belonged…
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The Schmooze Journey to the Heart of Alzheimer’s
To paraphrase a famous fundraising slogan, a mind is a terrible thing to watch wasting away. But that’s what filmmaker Alan Berliner does in his moving and lovingly motivated documentary, “First Cousin Once Removed,” premiering on HBO September 23. Berliner’s subject is his cousin, Edwin Honig (1919-2011), the noted poet, translator and teacher, who spent…
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The Schmooze A POW’s Unlikely Friendship in Lebanon
The drama and tension of life in the Middle East are a potential goldmine for filmmakers. Few have excavated that terrain more successfully than Israeli director Eran Riklis. “Zaytoun” (Olive), which opened in New York September 20, is his latest movie to examine the region’s politics in micro-terms. There was an Israeli Druze cross-border wedding…
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The Schmooze ‘Jewtopia’ Isn’t the Jewish Utopia We Were Looking For
One of the toughest tickets on Broadway today is “Book of Mormon,” the hilarious spoof on the Church of Latter Day Saints. It is a hoot. But I distinctly remember how uncomfortable I was as I watched, even while laughing out loud. My personal litmus test in these situations is, what if the writers were…
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The Schmooze Versailles McMansion Couple Returns to Small Screen
The Siegels are back. David and Jackie Siegel, last seen in the Documentary “The Queen of Versailles,” are the first guests in a new CNBC program, “Secret Lives of the Super Rich,” premiering September 25 at 9 p.m. Even in a show dedicated to conspicuous consumption, the Siegels are special. When last seen, the Siegel…
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The Schmooze George Segal on ‘The Goldbergs’ and Playing Pops Solomon
ABC’s newest comedy is called “The Goldbergs.” At least, now it is. Created by Adam F. Goldberg and loosely based on his life growing up in a Jewish family in the 1980s, the show was originally called “How the F***| Am I Normal?” Its new name is likely more acceptable to newspaper TV listing editors,…
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The Schmooze ‘Homeland’ Will Not Shoot in Israel Because of Syria
Producers of “Homeland” have cancelled plans to film third season scenes in Israel because of concerns about the situation in Syria. Deadline Hollywood reports that the show will use Morocco as a stand-in. An unnamed Israel-based producer was quoted as calling the switch “frustrating.” The season three series debut is September 29. At a news…
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