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Big man on campus

I was in Tel Aviv last week interviewing some people for a story I’m writing on the Israeli version of the hit British and American comedy series, “The Office.”

The show’s been airing on the YES cable network for subscribers only, and much more than its predecessors, focuses on the relations between Israelis of every sort. And it’s basically thrown the politically correct dictionary out the door, preferring to let the characters say what they think about their haredi, Arab, Russian, disabled co-workers.

Nobody is a bigger offender than the branch manager Avi Meshulam, played by veteran actor Dvir Bendak. The portly, jovial presence takes the part immortalized by Rick Gervais and Steve Carrell and transforms it into the quintessential Israeli – arrogant but lacking self-confidence, annoying but endearing, racist but loveable.

We sat outside at a Tel Aviv café near the Habima Theater, and everyone seemed to know Bendak. People would stop and say hello, or wave from the sidewalk or a passing car, the staff was bending over backwards to help him, and other diners kept looking his way.

Considering the bald-domed Bendak wears a toupee in ‘The Office’ and as a result, looks altogether different than Avi Meshulam, I found it a little surprising that he was such a celebrity around town.

Then, it hit me. Bendak is currently appearing in a TV ad that seems to be on every couple minutes on the commercial channels. It’s for Bank Tefahot and advertises their new brand of mortgages. Bendak is sitting outside his home with his wife, and thanks to all the money they saved on this great mortgage, he bought her an anniversary gift – plane tickets to see Manchester United play soccer.

The wife (played by Bendak’s real life wife) is downcast but puts on a brave face. Bendak is clueless and ecstatic in his ignorance. A lot of Israelis must be able to identify with either him or the wife in the ad, because it seems like it’s a popular one – or at least has made Bendak an identifiable figure around Tel Aviv.

Nostalgia Sunday – 60 Years of Army Radio

One of Israel’s many funny ironies is that its hippest radio station is an army unit. Israel Defense Forces Radio or Galei Zahal — GLZ for short (pronounced galatz) — which officially began transmitting in 1950 after having kept the Jewish public informed during the 1948-9 War of Independence, has traditionally been Israel’s most up-to-date radio station for news, programming and music — even the phone-in traffic watch on subsidiary Galgalatz.

GLZ has had a huge influence on Israeli popular culture as the first station to eschew formal Hebrew in favor of colloquial Hebrew. Some say it created “infotainment” in Israel. It certainly has, for generations, served as an unofficial journalism school for soldiers who’ve gone on to become Israel’s leading lights in news and entertainment. Click here for Y-net’s take on the glitzy, glamorous crowd who came to celebrate the station’s 60th anniversary this past Thursday night, and here for the video on Walla!.

In the spirit of celebrating GLZ’s birthday, there was a day of special programming, that can be accessed online. And the IDF’s English-language website presented a list of Five Facts About Galei Tzahal. They are:

1. Army broadcasts were started by Prime Minister and first Minister of Defense David Ben Gurion following the sounds of celebratory trumpets and the national anthem.
2. Galgalatz, a GLZ offshoot that mainly broadcasts music and traffic reports along with reports by the National Authority on Road Safety, was established in 1994. Today it is the most popular music station on Israeli radio.
3. Galgalatz’s name is a combination of the words galgal (wheel), a link to the issue of road safety and GLZ, its parent station’s name.
4. In 1958, GLZ moved from its original headquarters at the Manchil school in Ramat Gan to Jaffa, where its location remains to this day.
5. For years, GLZ’s chief grammar and semantics editor has been legendary Dr. Avshalom Kor, who teaches courses on proper Hebrew for the station’s new writers and hosts the station’s linguistics corner. Language lessons? Yes! Because GLZ is a division of the IDF Education & Youth Corps.

On its Hebrew site, the station created an online quiz entitled “Test Yourself – What Do You Know About GLZ?” that promises to stump even the most die-hard of fans.

And if you’d like to listen to GLZ or Galgalatz not only do they broadcast online but you can take a live peek into the studio too!

Dancing with the same-sex stars

Another first for Israel – this time not in the science or high tech fields – but in the area of the progressiveness of its society.

Israel will be the first country to allow two people of the same sex to dance as a couple on the popular “Dancing with the Stars” reality competition. Called ‘Rokdim im hakohavim” in Hebrew, the Israeli version is just one of 30 that “Dancing with the Stars” franchises out around the world. But until now, there has never been a same-sex couple competiting on any of the shows.

The chosen Israelis are TV presenter, sportcaster and openly gay woman Gili Shem Tov and professional dancer Dorit Milman.

“The challenge to dance with a woman in a public contest interested me because it’s unique and has never been done before. Because I share my life with a woman and have a family with her, to me this is the most natural thing to do,” Shem Tov told the BBC, which has taken an interest in the Israeli series.

The couple will swap “leading” roles in their dances, according to the report. “I have realised that dance is about co-ordination and energy between two people, whether female or male,” Shem Tov said.

The news about Shem Tov and Millman has overshadowed what would have otherwise been a big deal for the local gossip columns – that American pinup celebrity Pamela Anderson will be making a guest appearance on this year’s show as a guest judge, along with doing some dancing.

The former Baywatch actress has been a contestant on the American version of the show, and clearly knows her way around the dance floor. But it’s unclear whether she’s prepared to be upstaged by the duo of Shem Tov and Millman.

No red lights for TV’s ‘Ramzor’

The Israeli hit TV sitcom ‘Ramzor’ (Traffic Light) appears to have no red lights.

First, the rights to the popular Channel 2 series, developed by Kuperman Productions and Keshet, and created by comedian/actor Adir Miller, were bought by 20th Century Fox TV in the US to be adapted for the American screen,

Now, a few months later, the show has now been nominated for an International Emmy award for best comedy. According to a press release from the International Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences, a panel of 700 judges from 50 countries chose the series which will compete against ‘Los Simuladores’ from Mexico, ‘Peep Show’ from the UK and ‘Talok Hok Chak’ from Thailand. The winners will be announced at the Emmy Awards in New York on November 22.

The US version of Ramzor is slated to begin filming in the US next month under the name ‘Traffic Lights.’ Penned by Wedding Crashers writer Bob Fisher, the US version of the show will follow the same premise as Ramzor – focusing on three longtime friends whose romantic relationships with the women in their lives are all at different stages.

“We never imagined the show would reach these dimensions,” writer Ran Sarig told Haaretz after learning of the Emmy nomination for the show, which will soon begin filming its third season.

‘Ramzor’ isn’t the only Israeli series receiving accolades this week. The Hollywood Reporter wrote on Monday that US reality production house Stone & Co. has acquired the domestic rights to ‘Connected,’ (Mechubarot) the HOT reality show broadcast on Channel 3, in which five women are given cameras to document their relationships with their significant others.

“It’s breakthrough television,” said producer Scott Stone who is planning to pitch the show to US networks. “It’s a way of doing user-generated video in a TV show that’s never been done before; you get things that you never thought you’d see. It’s like if you were to give Candace Bushnell a camera before ‘Sex and the City.’” he told the Hollywood Reporter.

The recognition achieved by ‘Ramzor’ and “Mechubarot” follows the trend of Israeli entertainment successes in the US, which began a few years ago when the series “B’Tipul” was picked up by HBO and morphed into the hit series “In Treatment.”

Now if we could just do something about all those commercials on Israeli commercial TV…

Nostalgia Sunday – Duets

Tonight is Erev Tu b’Av, the eve of a minor holiday that’s gained a great deal of popularity in recent years. To celebrate this so-called “Jewish Valentine’s Day” we present a few duets that are oldies but goodies. None of these male-female duos have stayed together (it’s a hard musical group structure to sustain) but the songs have withstood the test of time.

Perhaps it stemmed from Palmachnik prudishness but early Israeli romantic ballads were generally solo songs of longing sung by a lovesick youth, while boy-girl duets tended to be a bit hokey-jokey. Nonetheless, songs like Rina were hits — and the fashions can’t be beat.

Ani Holem al Naomi (I dream of Naomi) is a fun duet, performed by where-are-they-now duo Hedva and David. In its time, Naomi proved popular in other countries as well, with versions recorded in Korean and Japanese. More recently, a drag version was released.

Tni Li Yad (Give me your hand) is a very pretty song. Music is by the great Yoni Rechter with lyrics by Eli Moher, who performed the duet with his somewhat abashed daughter Sharon.

Pay no attention to the silly opener the precedes Shir Ahava Bedoui (Bedouin Love Song), one of the loveliest duets to come out of late 70s Israel. Try to ignore the costumes, too. Best to just shut your eyes, lean back and remember those summer nights on kibbutz…

Shuv (Once Again) is perhaps the most romantic of all Israeli duets. Performed by then husband and wife Josie Katz and Shmulik Krauss, the song describes the emotions of a couple reuniting after a long separation. This being Israel, the implication is that he has returned from reserve duty or perhaps a war. “Give me a moment… Let me catch my breath… Give me a chance to get used to you once again.”

And a happy belated birthday to Josie Katz!

 

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