Fresh Loaf

Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Perhaps the 21st century should amend the quote to include internet memes, which apparently can circle the world dozens of times before either lies or truth get started. After Barack Obama’s non-State of the Union address Tuesday night, Bobby Jindal’s officially Republican response almost instantly received comparisons to the delivery of Conyers native Jack McBrayer in his role as naive man-child Kenneth the page on NBC’s “30 Rock.” By Wednesday night, Jimmy Fallon’s on-line “Beta-test” version of “Late Night” (to be broadcast on NBC beginning March 2) had McBrayer on the show for his response to the Internet’s response to Jindal’s response:

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To paraphrase “The Simpsons,” it’s currently the start of everybody’s second-favorite TV season: mid-season! “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” returned on Monday, “30 Rock” came back last night (you can watch it now on Hulu) and “24″ launches its seventh season on Sunday, opposite the Golden Globe Awards. For a comprehensive run-down, Ain’t It Cool News has a list in both alphabetical and chronological order, but you might find the CinemaBlend list a little more readable. Apparently you can see the pilot of Showtime’s “The United States of Tara” (starring Toni Collette and written by Juno’s Diablo Cody) online ahead of its Jan. 18 debut. Some notable others include:

“The Office” (NBC) Jan. 15 (with additional episode on Superbowl Sunday, Feb. 1)
“Battlestar Galactica” (SciFi) Jan. 16
“Flight of the Conchords” (HBO) Jan. 18 — now available on FunnyorDie.com.
“Lost” (ABC) Jan. 21
“The Closer” (TNT) Jan. 26
“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (Fox) Feb. 13
“Dollhouse” (Fox) Feb. 13
“South Park” (CC) March 11

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Oh, please let this be true: according to the Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is interested in appearing on “Saturday Night Live” in order to parody Tina Fey, whose Palin impersonations have been the must-see-TV of the presidential campaign. Zwecker says “I’m hearing some sort of Palin tweak of Fey’s American Express commercials is in the works,” which sounds potentially hilarious. (Those American Express ads with the likes of Fey, Jerry Seinfeld or Ellen Degeneres tend to be pretty funny, but they’re also overdue for parody.)

Zwecker alludes to an unnamed “top honcho with the McCain campaign,” which makes the whole thing sound more like wishful thinking than a done deal. “Saturday Night Live” is in reruns this week and returns Oct. 18, but will be producing at least two prime-time “Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday” specials on Oct. 9 and 16, so it might could happen. At any rate, the Sarah Palin/Tina Fey impressions have been a bonanza for “SNL,” giving the show its best ratings in years. If you haven’t seen them, Hulu has her season-opening sketch with Amy Poehler’s Hillary Clinton (NBC.com’s most-watched viral clip ever), the Fey/Poehler parody of the Palin/Couric interview and Saturday’s vice-presidential debate.

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Before this year’s Best of Atlanta fades from our memories, I wanted to share the results of a discussion that came up regarding “Best Local Actor with a National Platform.” In the past, this category has often appeared on our ballot as “Best Local Actor Who Is Not Julia Roberts,” because whenever we’d ask our readers to vote for the “best local actress,” they’d pick the toothy Smyrna native – as they did this year. So frequently we make the distinction between local stage actors like Chris Kayser and Courtney Patterson vs. Hollywood television and movie stars with local backgrounds like Julia Roberts or “The Office’s” Ed Helms.

This year the obvious critic pick for “Best Local Actor with a National Platform” seemed to be Jack McBrayer, originally from Macon, who steals virtually his every scene on NBC’s Emmy-winning sitcom “30 Rock.” Plus, McBrayer plays a Georgian — albeit a hilariously stereotypical one — so he won extra points. A couple of months ago, when I was trying to narrow it down, I solicited suggestions of local actors on the national stage from the Atlanta Theatre Mailing List group, and received a great many suggestions. The term “local” is pretty loose, encompassing virtually all of Georgia and including actors who spent most, but not all, of their childhood here. A list follows the jump: if you can think of more who belong on the list, or would like to suggest that some be stuck, please offer suggestions:

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