August 07, 2009

John Hughes, RIP

The famous director of such '80s classics as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Pretty in Pink," "Sixteen Candles," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," and many more has died at the age of 59. Hughes made a whole bunch of great movies in a short period of time, and then went away, skipping the long decline phase of many of his contemporaries.

I turned on MSNBC tonight, and it was the end of Ed Schultz's show, which Lawrence O'Donnell was guest-hosting. At the end of the show, one of the guests said something along the lines of, "you're a Hollywood guy- why no mention of the death of the great John Hughes?" O'Donnell- who was a "West Wing" producer and later inexplicably played Bill's lawyer on "Big Love"- replied that Entertainment Tonight would probably do something great on it tonight.

So I turned to Entertainment Tonight, which was just starting; it was probably the first time I'd watched the show in 15 years. The first story- "Michael Jackson's bloody shirt." Then came two more Jacko stories and something about the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter case. Hughes' death was not mentioned, although there is a brief obit on the show's Web site.

Posted by Stephen Silver at August 7, 2009 01:12 AM
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