Noted character actor Harold Gould, who was a familiar face on TV and in major films, has died at age 86. Among his screen credits: The Sting, Harper, Love and Death and regular appearances on the TV series Rhoda and The Golden Girls. Click here for details

The bizarre public behavior of Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix has made him the center of speculation that the actor may be suffering from a mental disease or has been under the influence of drugs. Phoenix has appeared with dark glasses, a ragged beard and on the David Letterman program, was so incoherent that that the audience and host didn't know whether to laugh or call 911. Phoenix is the subject of a new critically- reviled documentary by his long time friend, actor Casey Affleck, which purports to shed light on Phoenix' behavior and the reasons behind it. The only problem is that Affleck now confesses that the film and his friend's behavior has all been a put-on and was never intended to be taken seriously. So, presumably the good news for Phoenix is that he isn't nuts. The bad news is that movie fans now resent him for participating in what may have been an elaborate hoax. Click here for more

By Lee Pfeiffer

Add New York Post TV critic Phil Mushnick to the chorus of movie fans who deplore network's editing of films they broadcast. Specifically, Mushnick hates the recent trend to all but eliminate closing credits by squeezing them into a box so tacky promotions for other shows can be shown. Adding insult to injury, the credits are also run at hyper-speed, making them virtually impossible to read. Mushnick wrote in a recent column:

"When’s the last time you read a book without knowing the author? Or attended an art exhibit, artists not identified?

Then why must we watch movies that don’t include the closing credits?

TV’s elimination or squeezing of post-movie credits — a move that years ago began as a crass, insulting way to include stay-tuned network promotions — has become the standard. Now even a network named the Independent Film Channel — so artsy, so above the commercial fray — sees fit to make the films’ credits unreadable, shrinking them to make room for IFC promotions.

We're with you, Phil. However, we wonder who even watches movies on broadcast TV anymore. They are cut, bleeped, shown in pan-and-scan format and contain endless blocks of TV commercials. Recently my wife was channel surfing and came across Steve Martin's Father of the Bride, a film she likes very much. When the movie went into commercials, we counted 21 ads during the break....that's right, 21 ads. Like any sane people, we turned to another network. However, the vast majority of people are far less discriminating. I recently visiting someone who was in the midst of of watching an action movie on TBS or TNT (is there really any difference?).  When I noted that the movie had been cut and censored, he simply shrugged and said, "That's okay- I don't know the name of it or who's in it, anyway." As long as this line of thinking represents public attitude, TV  will be a wasteland for classic movie lovers. (TCM being the glorious exception, of course.)