Jerry Seinfeld, Portlandia Set For Paley Center NY in January

The Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of television, radio, and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public.

NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE
#WhileWeWatch
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
6:00 pm ET
New York
IN PERSON
Kevin Breslin, Director, Filmmaker
Alan Capper, President, The Foreign Press Association
Jesse LaGreca, Writer, The Daily Kos, Journalist
Priscilla Grim, Occupy Wall St Journal, Journalist
Tim Pool, TimCast.tv, Livestream Journalist
Moderator: Pete Fornatale, New York DJ and Author

6:00 pm Screening and Discussion; 7:30 pm Reception

The Occupy Wall Street movement has generated a whole new brand of interactive, participatory media, most notably livestreaming news from Zuccotti Park to the world. Kevin Breslin’s riveting documentary captures this media revolution at its conception, showing how cellphones affixed to laptops can create global social change. We witness the OWS media team taking on city government, big corporations, and police to get their vital message out. As director Breslin notes “Zuccotti Park was loud, dirty, wet, cold and exhilaratingly alive with passion and energy. Intelligence, imagination, information and raw motion ruled every second!” Breslin’s film is a transfixing testament to that insurgent spirit. Key members of the OWS media team will speak after the screening.
A limited number of free tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please reserve at publicprograms@paleycenter.org

Project Runway All Stars
January 19th at 6:30 pm

The Paley Center welcomes members of Project Runway All Stars’ cast and creative team to discuss the production of the new series, which reunites thirteen of Project Runway’s most memorable designers (where’s Andre?) to compete for bragging rights and the most fabulous prizes in PR history. A new judgment day has arrived as the designers must impress a whole new panel with host Angela Lindvall, judges Isaac Mizrahi and Georgina Chapman and mentor Joanna Coles. Please join us as we take a look behind-the-seams of the new show!

In Person:
Isaac Mizrahi, Judge
Georgina Chapman, Judge
Angela Lindvall, Host
Rob Bagshaw, Executive Producer
Austin Scarlett, Designer
Kenley Collins, Designer
Mondo Guerra, Designer
Kara Janx, Designer
Moderator: Joanna Coles, Mentor
THIS EVENT
Members: $15
General Public: $20

Portlandia
Saturday, January 21, 2012
1 pm
With Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.
Co-presented with Geek Chic Daily.

The Paley Center and GeekChicNYC (http://www.geekchicnyc.com) welcome Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, the creators and stars of the IFC original comedy series Portlandia, to discuss their work on the program. A bracingly strange and irreverent look at the curious culture of Portland, Oregon—land of keen cyclists, unreconstructed hippies and new age pilgrims, eco warriors and rock stars and eccentrics of all stripes—Portlandia, now in its second season, has emerged as one of the freshest comedic offerings on television. Please come visit…and put a bird on it.
THIS EVENT
Members: $10
General Public: $15

Remembering Master Storyteller, Jean Shepherd
With Jerry Seinfeld and Keith Olbermann
Monday, January 23 at 6:30 pm

Marshall McLuhan hailed Jean Shepherd as the “first radio novelist,” but Shep was much more, notably a jazz soloist improvising irreverently on his life and times. Broadcasting on WOR from 1956-77, Shepherd enthralled late-night listeners on the East Coast his Scheherazade-like tales with tales, all recited with exquisite detail without a script. His intimate and hilarious remembrances were also adapted into stories for Playboy, shows for public television, and the iconic A Christmas Story. One master comedian who follows in his observational tradition, Jerry Seinfeld, will talk about how Shepherd influenced his work with Keith Olbermann. Friends and colleagues will also discuss how Shepherd practically invented talk radio.
THIS EVENT
Members: $25
General Public: $35

SCREENINGS TO SALUTE 50 YEARS OF COMEDY
Hey, Hey, Hey … It’s Bill Cosby
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
to Sunday, March 4, 2012
12:30 pm ET/PT
New York and Los Angeles
FREE for Paley Center Members
Included with general admission
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Bill Cosby’s professional show business debut, when he first made his splash on the New York nightclub scene, which quickly led to national stardom on television. Thanks to that medium, he rose throughout the 1960s to the top of his profession, winning awards, and breaking barriers for black entertainers.
By the late 1960s Bill Cosby had landed a multi-million dollar contract with NBC that included a new series to follow up his success for them in I Spy, plus four variety specials to showcase his skills as a storytelling comedian. These specials were unique in so much as the first two dispensed with major guest stars or typical sketches; instead allowing the comedian to take center stage and present monologues and humorous stories of the sort that had made him famous. Following his NBC years, CBS gave Cosby his own weekly variety show, an experiment that, while it failed to catch on with the public, proved another worthy showcase for his talents.
All of these programs are among the most rarely seen of Cosby treasures and an important part of his first decade on television. In celebration of “Cos,” the Paley Center will present all four of the NBC specials, along with the first two episodes of The New Bill Cosby Show; Cosby’s unusual and acclaimed monologue on prejudice; the special that launched his “Fat Albert” animated series; and highlights from various variety and talk show appearances.
Screening Wednesdays to Sundays
January 11 to 22, 2012
12:30 pm
The Bill Cosby Show (his first special; March 18, 1968)
Cosby returns to his old neighborhood to “play football” with some kids; tells the story of getting his tonsils removed; and performs his top ten single, “Little Ole Man.”
The Second Bill Cosby Special (April 9, 1969)
Cosby acts out his childhood nighttime battles with his brother, and stages one of his most famous routines, Noah’s Ark.

Package 2
(compilation; approx. 2 hours)

Screening Wednesdays to Sundays
January 25 to February 5, 2012
12:30 pm
The Third Bill Cosby Special (April 1, 1970)
Cosby’s offers monologues on getting into first grade; the dangers of playground equipment; and sports cars. Roberta Flack shows up to sing a few songs.
The Fourth Bill Cosby Special, Or? (February 23, 1971)
This time Cosby welcomes some guest stars, including Burgess Meredith, Nancy Wilson and Dizzy Gillespie. Cosby demonstrates road rage; massacres Edvard Grieg at the piano; and pays homage to his favorite horror character, the Wolf Man. (This is a black and white copy of a show broadcast in color)

Package 3
(compilation; approx. 2 hours)

Screening Wednesdays to Sundays
February 8 to 19, 2012
12:30 pm
The New Bill Cosby Show (Sept. 11, 1972)
From Cosby’s one-season variety series; the premiere episode welcomes guests Harry Belafonte and, in his only appearance in this genre, Sidney Poitier.
The New Bill Cosby Show (Sept. 18, 1972)
Variety series episode with guests Lily Tomlin and Peter Sellers.

Package 4
(compilation; approx. 2 hours)

Screening Wednesdays to Sundays
February 22 to March 4, 2012
12:30 pm
Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert (November 12, 1969; special)
The first time the characters from Cosby’s famous “Fat Albert” monologues were animated for audiences; this led to the subsequent award-winning children’s series. This special has been out of circulation for years and contains innovative animation not use in the series.
Variety and Talk Show Appearances
Highlights from variety and talk show appearances, including The Jack Paar Show, Midnight Special, The Ed Sullivan, Cher, The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show, The Roger Miller Show, and more.
Cosby on Prejudice (1971)
In a serious vein, Cosby does a half-hour monologue on bigotry.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos