'Ray' It Ain't So
Maybe i'm a little biased, being from Cleveland and all, but Patricia
Heaton is the hottest Desperate Housewife who has ever graced your cover!
JOE CRONAUER
joe@wmvx.com
Cleveland
Thank you for celebrating the end of Everybody Loves Raymond (''The Fall
of the Romano Empire''). I was wondering when this awful show was finally
going to end. I was never able to understand why the American public
kept watching this show (and others like Will & Grace and The King of Queens), which thought being mean to loved ones was a thing to laugh at.
What must be in the TV viewers' minds to appreciate the cruelty of these
programs?
MARK CLAPSADLE
prariestyle@hotmail.com
Granville, Ohio
I'm only one of the Arrested Development fans who read your issue
featuring Ray Romano on the cover with a bit of disappointment. Here you
have a great place to put last year's best-comedy Emmy winner on the
list of the next big sitcoms, and yet you passed. The Office isn't a bad
show, but it's no Arrested Development. For a magazine that has more
than enough writers who love the show and mention it as much as
possible, you dropped the ball this time around.
JOSH SPIEGEL
joshspiegel@yahoo.com
Peoria, Ariz.
Funny Valentine
It's about time Phyllis Diller was recognized by EW for her greatness,
her graciousness, and her place in history as the ''most celebrated''
female stand-up comic (''Phyllis Diller Gets the Last Laugh''). May her
wonderful laugh ring on forever, and make us all laugh with her. She's
got to be the spriest 87-year-old in show business. Much love to her for
bringing us so much love and laughter.
PAT ROCCO
patrocco@msn.com
Pahoa, Hawaii
The Reel Deal
It isn't the hiked-up ticket prices and it isn't the 20 minutes of
commercials before the actual movie that have kept my friends and me
away from theaters — it's the fact that the movies thus far this year have
been awful (News & Notes). If Hollywood put more money into interesting,
creative, and intelligent films like Millions or Crash and spent less
time on junk like The Pacifier and any number of horror remakes that
we've seen a thousand times over, maybe they wouldn't be complaining so
much about a 10-week box office slump. In typical Hollywood style, the
blame is placed elsewhere (the theaters, the audience, DVD sales) and
not where it should be — on the studio heads.
JASON STEELE
steelej10@yahoo.com
Chicago
In your article about dwindling box office receipts, you quote Peter
Brown, CEO of AMC Theatres, as saying: ''You can buy the same cut of beef
they use at Ruth's Chris and cook it at home, or you can go out to eat
at Ruth's Chris. People are still going to want to eat out.'' The problem
of dwindling box office could be that movie industry executives see a
film as something similar to a cut of meat. Mr. Brown's analogy is
flawed. A fairer comparison would be to people who are willing to eat a
Ruth's Chris cut of beef at a McDonald's. This accurate analogy helps
reveal the reality of modern theater- going: Ruth's Chris' prices,
McDonald's atmosphere.
BENN RAY
benn@atomicbooks.com
Baltimore
