April 13, 2005

The passing of Prince Rainier (and the Pope) seemed but a build-up for what the Daily Show, whose spin I'm always in, called the "Bride of Chuckie" spectacle. This long dreaded culmination of the very Grimmest fairy tale, wherein the Prince, having disposed of the dazzling Princess, marries the Queen of the Trolls, came off like a Robert Altman directed episode of AbFab, with the principals dressed in a 1980's Dynasty-style tribute to Sir Cecil Beaton. Those huge hats, pragmatically covering all those dour, bitter, intoxicated faces, turned a fetid lot into Sid and Marty Kroft's "Lidsville". Throw in delightfully off-the-wall guests like Joanna Lumley (looking just like Patsy Stone) and Joan Rivers (looking just like Madame the Puppet), not to mention one fashionable young royal who sported a version of Camilla's feather headpiece on her bum, and you have a hit (in the face ... Read More