Oh, great! Never heard of this show, but it sounds interesting. 

If you have seen the Charlie Rose interview, I would expect much the same type of interview from Tavis.  He only has one  (or two guest occasionally) on at a time and they get the full half hour to talk uninterupted (no commercials on PBS). 

Tavis is an experienced interviewer and a very smart man whose enthusiasm and intelligence shines through when he is talking to someone.  He also has an uncanny knack (which a lot of interviewers don't have) for listening to (really listening to) his guests and drawing subjects to talk about further from their answers (he doesn't usually rely on a checklist of questions that he rushes through to get them all in).  He also isn't afraid to disagree (always very politely though) with his guest when disgussing controversial topics (such as things like "states rights" with Mike Huckabee).   

To me Tavis is the best current TV interviewer in the business, followed by Charlie Rose.   A Canadian interviewer George Stroumboulopoulos was just as good as Tavis (and CR) when he started out on CBC (I loved his show The Hour) but he has moved on to be a hockey broadcaster on another network so he isn't around to enjoy in the same capacity. His shows were a little more "fan-ish" and noisy but man, could he do an interview!!  Shame he isn't around to interview BC.

-Val

I love watching Charlie Rose interviews, they are so intimate. Just black around them, I think you are more open when you have the feeling it's just you and the interviewer

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

The interview with Ben isn't up on the PBS Tavis Smiley archive yet but we watched the show last night live (and taped it and watched it a second time).  The archive (which I provided the link to in my initial post) should have it up soon (within a day or so).

It was a great interview with lots of details about his feelings concerning his father's encouragement following him seeing Ben in a uni play.  Tavis really likes to get into someone's motivations and of course BC is more than willing to talk about his love of his parents. 

They chatted quite a bit about how he decided to go into acting. 

I think he was just a bit nervous at the beginning (you know with him rubbing his thigh and all that) - since he had never met Tavis, but Smiley has an enthusiastic, intelligent manner that is really engaging and he gave Ben his full attention, so I think that really relaxed him as the interview went on. 

Tavis is especially interested in father/son relationships so he got deeply involved with the conversation Ben had with his dad following a play that he did early on - where his dad told him just how good he thought Ben was (better than he ever was even at Ben's young age) - his way of being totally supportive of Ben's acting ambitions. 

I especially loved that when Tavis said, during their conversation, that he (meaning Tavis) was still trying to live up to his own father's standard, Ben immediately jumped in with a comforting and kind comment, saying that he imagined that Tavis had probably done that, but just in other ways.  I think it really showed the soft side of Ben - that he wants to make sure that people - if he perceives any vunerablity on their part - feel good about themselves.  He genuinely cares about people in general - even folks he has just met. It was a really human moment. 

The interview definitely took place after the Oscar nominations occurred.  Ben talked about filming Sherlock for about a week and how he will be flying back to the set within a day.  

He talked a lot about TIG (most of this we have heard before).  Tavis had seen the film and was obviously really impressed by it. 

There were also some really funny parts in the interview - surrounding British actors taking over PBS!  All in good fun (and it was great to hear both Tavis' big roaring laugh and Ben's giggling).

There was a lot more but I will mention one thing stood out in my mind - Ben said that just before he came on Tavis' set he was checking the internet (and he said it was absolutely not a wise thing for him to do) about his appearance on the GGs to see how his bit with Jennifer A. went (he was worried because his plane had been delayed in London and he got there only an hour before the show started) and happened to see some rude comment about how if he should win an oscar he should dedicate it to his unborn child.  He said that he couldn't imagine anything more disgusting. 

He didn't dwell on that ignorant remark too long (thank goodness) but I can imagine it really had irked him to the point that he had to mention it.  I feel sad that he had to see something like that but he handled it well I thought.

I will have to watch it again (and again ) if not to just enjoy his beautiful voice, but also to absorb his remarks more fully. 

Oh, and one more thing - Ben said that he is really pushing for the Christmas Special for Sherlock to be broadcast simultaneously in the UK and USA (which mean Canada as well - Yay!). 

If anyone wants more detail (until the video is up on the web) I can provide more.  Just let me know.

-Val



 

Yes, but from what I understand he must have felt quite hurt by the things he stumbled into in the internet: I read the article he is probably referring to (lainey gossip) and it is incredibly mean and vicious.

I watched the interview last night (well, technically this morning, as it aired at midnight in NYC), and I thought it was very good...and that if Benedict just HAS to go on the internet, he should ask some nice person to filter first, to weed out the really rage-inducing pieces. (I'm sure he'd get a few volunteers!)

'Truther fans', really?  Is this what they actually dain to call themselves?
How very dare they!
'Vile scum', would be my term of choice.
This really is the very worst of the so called fandom and I had been dreading it.
It wouldn't have mattered who Benedict fell in love with or if he'd started a family or not.
The amoeba at the shallow end of the gene pool, would still crawl out  of the slime anyway.

Last edited by besleybean (January 23, 2015 6:41 am)

the whole interview is online

http://video.pbs.org/widget/partnerplayer/2365408410/?

 

I don't think he's a bad person for using the word and I can sense how mortified he is from his statement so I do feel sorry for him.
But - I've got to say this - I can't believe he was so ill informed as to say it.
He's an intelligent guy who is always willing to give his views on social/political issues, yet he's so out of touch as to use this outdated, and frowned upon, term?
Since stories emerged of his ancestral links around the time 12YAS was released, this is just the kind of story some people have been waiting for - and he's walked right into it.
I want to see so much more of his fantastic acting, but I really feel that he needs (or his PR team does) to cut back on all the interviews and appearances for a while; since the beginning of last year, he's been jetting around doing publicity stuff, even when there was no film or TV show to promote.
TIG promotion also could've been done a little more selectively, imo, to avoid the situation where his character is more of a story than his work.
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but lately I've been feeling that it's a real shame that his work is being overlooked while people focus on what he said/did on this red carpet, or in that interview.
And now, sadly, he's made one mistake too far and for a while this will mean that - again - his WORK is overshadowed.