Word: grouching
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Obituaries of Travers--who died last week at 96, and whose real name was Helen Lyndon Goff--invariably (though respectfully) depicted her as a curmudgeonly grouch with a tendency to be "fierce" and "short" with her interlocutors, a woman who didn't "suffer fools gladly," a regular old crosspatch. They all recounted the rounded, well-traveled life she had led. (Before writing the first Mary Poppins book, she had been variously a dancer, a poet, a journalist, a theater critic and a Shakespearean actress.) Still, the implication that seemed to lurk behind the articles about Travers was that she hadn...
...moment, the current fad for sorority movies threatens to fuse the entire genre into a wholesome blur. Was every grandma a font of domestic wisdom? Has Anne Bancroft assumed all the lovable grouch roles that used to be taken by Jessica Tandy? Will Winona Ryder ever get to play an adult? Ryder, Bullock and Julia Roberts all seem to be auditioning for the role of America's Niece, and as a result their films come off a bit prim. "Hollywood is in a postfeminist era," says Sharon Stone, one of the few current grownup actresses with that old movie-star...
Oscar the Grouch: Oscar doesn't get along with too many people. He's ugly, he's cynical, and he rarely showers. Need I say it? He's a Core teaching fellow...
...action pointed up once again the TV networks' anxiety to round off the sharp corners of public controversy. A professional grouch like Rooney cannot always restrict himself to restaurant receipts and faulty tools. As Fred Friendly, a former CBS News president who is director of the Columbia University Seminars on Media and Society, points out, "Andy's paid to be outrageous." Encouraged to be provocative, Rooney could hardly avoid occasionally uttering something imprudent or offensive to a portion of his audience. But against such excesses must be balanced his intent, which was hardly to ridicule, and his overall record, which...
That laudable message has brought the show enthusiastic praise from mental- health experts and TV critics alike. It takes a real grouch to offer a dissent. But even nongrouches may squirm at the sugarcoating this subject has received. Except for a few taunting schoolmates, Corky is drenched in love and support. Life Goes On may have the highest hug-a-minute ratio of any show in TV history. His parents (Bill Smitrovich and Patti LuPone) are unfailingly wise and patient. Only his blunt younger sister (Kellie Martin) worries occasionally about being embarrassed by her brother in school...