robert de niro

The sad news just keeps on coming: comedian and impressionist Fred Travalena passed away yesterday, losing a battle with cancer at the age of 66. For those of you who have no idea who I'm talking about (and, believe me, those numbers are legion), Travalena was big on the talk show and game show circuit in the '70s, doing impressions of everyone from Robert De Niro to George Burns to Jimmy Carter.

As a nerdly kid who rarely left the house after school, however, Travalena is best known to me as a panelist during the latter years of my favorite game show, Match Game. After the jump is the only MG-related clip I could find with Travalena, where he does an impression of De Niro on the short-lived Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour in the early '80s. (Warning: you need to turn the volume up to hear it).

I've been waiting for Crash the TV series to materialize ever since I heard about it shortly after the movie premiered in May, 2005. The Starz/Lionsgate series will feature 13 episodes with a different cast of characters from the film.

Now I have even more reason to be excited, because Tom Sizemore has joined the series in a recurring role. He'll play Detective Adrian Cooper, whose unorthodox methods cause havoc when he investigates a police-involved shooting. Sizemore joins Dennis Hopper in the series, with Paul Haggis serving as executive producer.

I've had a major crush on Sizemore since he played Sgt. Vinnie Ventresca on China Beach during the 1989-1990 season. Sure, he's had some challenging times. According to his IMDB.com page, in February, 2005, he failed a court-ordered drug test after he was caught trying to use a prosthetic penis to fake the results. And that was the second time he was caught trying that.

(S02E06) How do you round off a series like Extras?

Well, nabbing someone like Robert De Niro for the finale is probably one of the best places to start, and as sad as I am to see this fantastic show come to an end (let's hope I'm wrong), I'm happy with the way Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant let their characters walk off into the sunset.

With the UK's top chat show host, Jonathan Ross, kicking off the episode in his typical Friday night interview style, and a sterling appearence from British actor Robert Lindsay -- not to mention a sublime performance from De Niro (as himself), I can happily say goodbye to Andy Millman, Darren Lamb, Maggie Jacobs and the rest of the Extras cast, without feeling the urge to demand more.

However, I wouldn't say no to a Christmas special -- just to round everything off after my turkey dinner on the 25th December.