Word: pattered
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Their shallow preliminary chatter seems irreconcilable with a heartfelt faith. Either they were mindlessly falling into a sort of carnival barker's patter, or they were consciously, and cunningly, manipulating a friendly overture into a "sale." This kind of superficiality is nauseating even in vacuum salesmen. A religious faith should be an unadorned conviction to be candidly and sincerely shared; it should not be the tail-end proposition of a maze of small-talk...
...hosted NBC's professional football coverage before replacing Tom Brokaw on Today in 1982, has rapidly grown into an incisive interviewer adept at cutting through mushy answers. During an interview with Louisiana's slick Governor Edwin Edwards last month, for example, Gumbel kept sweeping away the politician's charming patter to discuss the impact of Edwards' recent indictment on conspiracy charges. For her part, Pauley displays a more empathetic style, laced with a self-deprecating wit, that works best when she is discussing topics of high emotion. Together, "Gumpaul" (as the pair is called in-house) projects a casual, good...
WHITE NOISE is the apotheosis of talk-show patter: every aspect of life is briefly touched upon, from urban alienation to the difficulty of finding good German language lessons, and all are left burnished and gleaming after doing their turn in the Don DeLillo kitschmobile. Where's the beef? Everywhere--shredded like so many ground-up Gainesburgers...
...Shepherd as Maddie not only looks wonderful but proves to be an assured and ; appealing light comedian. As her partner in crime solving, Bruce Willis is more than her match. With his thick-necked macho charm, Willis brings a Bill Murray-esque tone of put-on to the witty patter. The show's dialogue is possibly the fastest on TV, the stories are briskly paced and unobtrusive, and Shepherd gets lots of loving close-ups. Moonlighting is a snazzy entry that deserves a full-time job on ABC next fall...
Some priests have flocks; Father Tim Farley (Jack Lemmon) has fans. The 5:20 Mass is S.R.O. for this Johnny Carson in alb and chasuble, who keeps the customers satisfied with ingratiating patter-dinner and a show for the price of your soul. Off-pulpit, Father Farley is a bit of a sacramental wino but still relentlessly endearing, dodging attacks and responsibilities with an easy quip. Somewhere beneath the show-biz charm, though, compassion pulses. When an angry young seminarian (Zeljko Ivanek) antagonizes his rector (Charles Burning), Father Farley resolves to detoxify the lad's ardor, teach...