Best Actor, Actress and Farewell to 'Just Seen It'

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just_seen_it_logoI’m always up for a rousing debate about who will and who should win the Oscars for best actor and best actress, but the panel discussion I recently participated in on the PBS review show Just Seen It was particularly bittersweet. It was the last segment of the show I’ll ever appear in, on the last episode of the show anyone will ever appear in, because, sadly, the show is no more.

Just Seen It was the brainchild of David Freedman, one of the original creators of Moviefone, who mixed USC film students/graduates with professional critics for insightful discussions on the latest movies and TV shows. At first David converted his own living room into a professional studio, and then he moved the production facilities to a studio on Sunset Boulevard. The show aired on hundreds of PBS stations nationwide, and I’d appear as a guest critic every so often–adding what I hope was an energetic and engaging perspective.

But alas, sponsorship was incredibly hard to come by, and, after four years and countless airings, Just Seen It finally shut off the cameras. I like to think we helped make millions of viewers’ film going experiences more enjoyable. Personally, I’m sure I made lifelong friends whose exceptional talents I’d like to support.

still AliceFor my last segment on the show, we started out with the topic du jour, the unique lack of diversity in Oscar acting nominations, with particularly interesting insight from Leah Aldridge and Aaron Fink (see video below, or watch it on Hulu.)

We then went on to chat about Best Actor and Best Actress — who we thought should win, and who we thought would win. The general consensus was that Julianne Moore both would and should win for her radiant performance in Still Alice. I thought Eddie Redmayne would and should take the Best Actor award for his brilliant take on Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, but the other panel members thought Michael Keaton would and should take the prize for Birdman.

I don’t think I’ll remember whether or not our predictions were accurate so much as I’ll remember the good times we had on Just Seen It. It was a great effort on the part of David and all the others involved, and I honor them for all they accomplished.

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Lisa Johnson Mandell

Lisa Johnson Mandell is an award winning journalist, author and film/TV critic. She can be heard regularly on Cumulus radio stations throughout the US, and seen on Rotten Tomatoes. She is the author of three bestselling books, and spends as much of her free time as possible with her husband Jim and her jolly therapy Labradoodle Frankie Feldman.

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