Wow. So weird because I've been watching old episodes this past hour. I've always had mixed feeling about Riedel, but it will be weird to not have him on the show. I always did like Jesse Green when he would fill in.
It should be interesting to see who will be these rotating guest co-hosts. I'm hoping for someone other than Jesse Green because I've seen him fill in for Michael Riedel, and I just find Green to be a pretty boring host.
Not going to lie, I'm kind of glad. I always felt like he went out of his way to be condescending and b*tchy, which I wouldn't mind so much if he tended to be correct in his various theories/predictions. More often than not, he wasn't though. Maybe Patrick Pacheco will co-host a few. I always like his insight.
LYLS3637 said: "Not going to lie, I'm kind of glad. I always felt like he went out of his way to be condescending and b*tchy, which I wouldn't mind so much if he tended to be correct in his various theories/predictions. More often than not, he wasn't though. Maybe Patrick Pacheco will co-host a few. I always like his insight."
Which episode was it where Lloyd Webbers daughter was not having it with him? I loved that episode!
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nasty_khakis said: "LYLS3637 said: "Not going to lie, I'm kind of glad. I always felt like he went out of his way to be condescending and b*tchy, which I wouldn't mind so much if he tended to be correct in his various theories/predictions. More often than not, he wasn't though. Maybe Patrick Pacheco will co-host a few. I always like his insight."
I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, he as an unmistakable presence along with Susan Haskins. I get the sense that she "tolerated" him, as one would handle an immature teenager. It really riled me that he seemed to be a conversation hog, at the expense of Susan's time. I would have loved to have seen Susan tell him to put a sock in it, on occasion. I'm curious if he indeed departed voluntarily or was he given a hard "nudge".
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
Apparently I'm in the minority, but I mostly loved him on the show. I think he made it okay for some guests to be a little more open, maybe a little more catty, then they might be normally, because it felt more like a loose chat than a formal interview. (I love how comfortable he and Harvey Fierstein were together, as an example.) That said, I did like the balance with Jesse Green, because he was able to ask more astute questions and dig a little deeper. But Green is not as fun. I'll especially miss the critics' roundtable episodes, where Riedel would roast the critics as much as they did the shows.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
They will need a strong co-host. Susan Haskins seems very well-meaning, but she often ends up on tangents. When Riedel was behaving himself, he was an excellent co-host, usually with good insight. Most importantly, he could progress the conversation. I think he has actually softened a bit throughout the years in both his column and on the show.
However, the first paragraph of his Wikipedia page made me laugh out loud:
His best-selling book "Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway" won the 2015 Marfield Prize for arts writing and is widely considered to be the successor to "The Season," William Goldman's classic 1967 book about Broadway.
If he is, in fact, writing more books about the theatre (and I think Razzle-Dazzle was a good and well-researched read), he also might not have the time to continue his Theater Talk duties.
nasty_khakis said: "LYLS3637 said: "Not going to lie, I'm kind of glad. I always felt like he went out of his way to be condescending and b*tchy, which I wouldn't mind so much if he tended to be correct in his various theories/predictions. More often than not, he wasn't though. Maybe Patrick Pacheco will co-host a few. I always like his insight."
Who ever thought it was okay for the guests to have a package of M & M's and annoyingly crumple that damn thing in an interview... Ready to smash my screen
I'm curious about these rotating co-hosts. If it's any good I might switch from watching On Stage to this. Though the sheer randomness of the current iteration of On Stage means there can sometimes be very fun segments. I could have watched William Ivey Long in his studio for another hour.
I'd never seen that David Rakof/Amy Sedaris interview. Shockingly bad. Riedel is clearly drunk off his ass. Nothing but contempt for his guests being there...and for non-Broadway theater? Sexist as hell, even more explicit than it would be later. Such a tool. Again, good riddance.
He asked much better questions than Susan Haskins ever does, at least. Almost anyone who posts on this board could ask better questions than Haskins, who always seems overwhelmed.
He and Elaine Stritch got along famously well, incidentally.
I'm mixed on this. Riedel was annoying but interesting. I liked the dynamics between him and Green, Pancheco, and Musto on their yearly Tony predictions episodes and other reviews/previews. I just don't see that same dynamic without Riedel even with his obnoxiousness