Top 5 Dumbest (one time) Star Trek Characters!

I, and many others, have done lots of articles on the main cast of Star Trek and all the related shows. But what about the secondary characters, those villains or random officers that show up for one episode and then are gone? Sometimes they are so well done and memorable that they become as popular as the main characters. And other times they are so annoying, so face palmingly stupid you can't believe it.

These are five characters who appear in just a single episode (or movie) of Star Trek that just drive me nuts!

#5.Kivas Fajo (The Most Toys-TNG)

I absolutely love this episode, it's one of the best Data shows that the series ever produced. But that being said, you gotta admit that this guy is a bit of a dumbass. If you don't know this is the episode where Data'S death is faked in a shuttle accident so that Fajo can add Data to his collection. He is a collector of "rare and valuable" things with pretty much no regard for things like laws, ethics, or even life as we find out. This guy kidnaps Data, and actually expects Data to just happily comply with his captivity? I mean I assume Fajo did his research and figured out that Data was a sentient android with free will. Did he really think Data would be flattered to spend his days sitting in a chair for Fajo's amusement? Then of course there is the deception of the shuttle explosion. This episode spans about two days, that's about all it takes for the Enterprise crew to figure the disaster that started the episode was staged, and that more than likely Fajo is behind it. I guess he got away with so much theft over the years he grew complacent. The best part is the end, when he says to Data that he will have him back in his collection one day. Data points out that the collection has been confiscated, and Fajo looks stunned! He really thought he was in a class all his own, didn't he?

Special TV-Disney MGM Studios Theme Park Grand Opening (1989)

This past week we were treated to some excellent articles by our friend Moviefan12 on the TV special's Disney has done for the grand openings of their theme parks. Of course there was one missing. And by coincidence, a few weeks ago I found an old VHS copy of it! So today I decided to take a look at this show.

Before it became Disney Hollywood Studios this was known as Disney-MGM Studios. Why that name was added, and the trouble it caused, is a subject for another time. I don't miss the name, but I do kind of miss the logowith Mickey laughing at the MGM lion. In 2008 the park was officially renamed.But I am talking today about when it first opened, back on May 1, 1989. The day before, as per usual, NBC had a TV special about it!

-Disney MGM Studios Theme Park Grand Opening Special

Plot-

Of course the special is introduced by Michael Eisner. I always liked his intros, it made these specials uniquely Disney.  So the special finally opens on the recreation of the Chinese Theatre, and we pan back to get a special song from Smoky Robinson. The song is, ok. During the song we see actors in different costumes from famous movies. The song is basically them all inviting the audience to come and "experience the movies". Is that replica of the Chinese Theatre still there?   Then John Ritter appears to guide us through the park, showing us all the Hollywood landmarks that were recreated around the working movie studios. There is a storyline in this, sort of; it appears John has less than two hours to get the park ready for the big grand opening!  So basically the special is John checking out all the attractions to make sure they are ready.

300th Blog Special : My All-Time LEAST Favorite TV Shows

 Hard to believe I have made the 300 blog mark. I guess that's what happens when you keep getting ideas. And have lots of time on your hands due to being unemployed and/or laid up from surgery…..

For my 200th blog special I looked at my absolute favoriteTV shows. This time I wanted to look at the opposite, those shows I just flat out hated. Now, here are a few rules:

1.It has to be a show a hated from the beginning. Lots of shows I like until they change something, for instance when Laverne & Shirley went to California.

2.It has to be a show I hated completely. For example as bad as Star Trek Enterprise is, there were a few episodes I liked and even enjoyed

3.It has to be a show I have seen and given a chance. For example I say I hated The Drew Carey Show, but honestly I never watched it. Just going on what I know the show just doesn't seem like one I would like very much. There are lots of bad stuff out there I never saw.

4.Finally, it has to be a show that was successful and even loved by others. It's easy to say you hated a show that bombed after six weeks.

Of course I am not saying these shows are necessarily bad,just that I hated them. As always this is just my opinion feel free to disagree.  Ok, so here are now are some TV shows I absolutely hate in no particular order.

Welcome Back, Kotter

I have talked about this before. I just never got into this show. The Sweathogs were kind of funny, but something about the show just seemed so, fake. I know this coming from the guy who loves The Brady Bunch. But the show never felt real at all, it felt like a sketch on a comedy show. Gabe Kaplan especially, with his mugging and those stupid jokes he told in the teaser and tag of every episode. Then Gabe Kaplan left the show, as well as John Travolta, and man did the show get bad after that!

A Look at Memorable Sitcom Character Death's

This is a sad topic but one worth addressing. We don't usually associate memorable character deaths with comedy shows. Sitcoms are supposed to be, well, funny! But very often a sitcom will kill off a character unexpectedly, and that will stay with us more powerfully than any funny moment from the show. I want to talk about some examples today, and there is one important thing that all of these examples have in common but I will save that discussion for the end.

A few things to remember about this list before I begin. I am talking only about character deaths, where the actor was just fine. No episodes dedicated to a real death in the cast will be discussed, because those are naturally going to be sad. Besides that topic could be its own list. Also these have to be regular moments from ordinary episodes and the death has to be story related and not a stunt. And no episode where a character is killed off due to behind the scenes problems. Shows like Hogan Family and Two and a Half Men did this and in one case the death was just glossed over while in the other case the death was made into a huge joke and not taken seriously. Good Times at least took it seriously when they killed off John Amos's character, that episode is chilling. And finally, no cop out's, the character has to have stayed dead.

So with all that said, here are moments that sneak up on you when you least expect it. These are in no specific order. Oh, and we can argue whether or not some of these are really "sitcoms" all day, but they are considered comedies and that is enough for me.

Seinfeld

This was leaked by the tabloids, and when I first heard it I was apalled! I refused to believe it! Alas, it was true. When the time for the end to the George is getting married arc came, Larry David decided the only way out was to kill Susan off! How did this happen? She dies from licking poisoned envelopes that George picked out. Even for Seinfeld this was dark, and what really got people's attention was the reaction. In most of these examples the death's are met with tears. Of course, you can't have that on Seinfeld where Susan Ross's death is met with...apathy if anything. Of course who can forget the Pony Remark episode where Jerry accidently offends an aunt, who passes away the next day!

Random Thoughts-Why I May Never See "The Man of Steel"

First of all, I am not ripping Les off I know he did something very similar to this the other day. I have been really worried about the new movie, for four reasons:

1. I hated Superman Returns. It was one of the worst movies ever, and such a massive disapointment.

2. Chris Nolan. I am not saying I hate his work but Superman is not The Dark Knight. You can't treat Superman like Batman.Superman is positive and fun, not dark and mopy.

3. The trailer. The trailer seemed to make my worst fears come true. That the movie would be a downer, with a brooding Superman.

4. The reviews. Many of the review have been bad, And I do read the reviews, spoilers and all, and from what I have read.....I may not like this. I wont put spoilers here but I have heard things about this movie I did not like. The fight scene at the end sounds long. I mean, Avengers could do that because there were seven heroes. Just Superman and Zod pounting at each other for a half hour sounds boring.

Why do all heroes have to be brooding these day?? I mean, The Avengers was tons of fun and Iron Man 3 was also good. It's still going to be a week or two before I get the chance to see this, but honestly I may not bother,. I remember when Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls came out and I wanted to see it. I ended up watching it on DVD and was happy I waited. I was hoping this would be a great Superman movie, but maybe I will accept that it isn't before I see it. On the other hand, I didn't want to see Into Darkness and that turned out OK.

So, now I ask for your opinion. Should I see it, or are my fears justifed and I should just pop in my DVD's of Lois & Clark? If/when I do see it I will share my thought and let you know if I was wrong, or sadly right on the money.

Five TV Reunions I Would Love to See (But Probably Never Will)

Remember the old days when TV reunions, whether they be drama or sitcoms, were standard practice? They could be corny and silly, but it was always nice to see our favorite casts together again. The Brady Bunch,Growing Pains, Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazard just to name a few are all examples of series that did do reunion movies. Ok, not all were good (Project Alf? I Still Dream of Jeannie?) but even when they sucked they were still so much fun to watch.

Nowadays we don’t see too many of these reunions anymore. Oh sure they do cast reunions on talk shows or specials which are really clip shows, but what about an actual movie with a new story?  Not sure why these have faded, but if Seinfeldcould reunite on Curb Your Enthusiasm anything is possible. Right?  Probably not.

 Anyway, here are five reunion movies I would love to see-but probably never will.

Everybody Loves Raymond

This is a real morbid one, but I would have liked to see an episode dealing with Frank's passing. As we know Peter Boyle passed away soon after the series ended, so the show never had to deal with it (except one episode which kind of discussed it). But it would have been fascinating to see how this was handled. How would Marie feel? How would Ray and Robert react? And what about Ally who always had a special relationship with her grandfather. This may be the one story this show did not tell, and most likely never will.

Special TV-Superman's 50th Anniversary (1988)

 This was AWFUL! The absolute worst thing ever! I have never in my life seen anything this terrible!!

Um, maybe I should start over.....

 SUPERMAN's 50TH ANNIVERSARY:A Celebration of the Man of Steel

In 1988 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Superman CBS gave us this special on his legacy. Ok, now I have to be fair. When I saw this in 1988 my knowledge of SNL was not good at the time. As a result, I didn't realize that this was satire. If I knew who Jan Hooks, Dana Carvey, or Lorne Micahels were maybe I would have. That being said...this still sucked! Maybe if they had been clear about the direction of the special, mixing real tributes with satirical sketches being played straight just created a confusing mess. My bother and I watched this, and we just had no idea what the heck we were looking at! Was a it a tribute? Was it a parody? Was it something in between? WTF?????

Since this is the 75th anniversary of Superman this year it's a good opportunity to take a look at this program and find out if it really was as bad as it seemed all those years ago. It's not on YouTube but is available as a bonus feature on the Superman II DVD.

Things I Just Love-My Favorite Movie

Usually I tell people my favorite movie is Back to the Future. And why not? It's a fantastic movie which does pretty much everything right. But I have to admit, there is another movie I love maybe more than that film. A film that was made in 1963 and starred Hollywood legends Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Of course I am talking about Charade!

 

This movie is so cool it fits several genres. Romantic comedy, action, mystery, and thriller all in one. I guess it's fitting that I am talking about this now, since this year is the 50th anniversary of the film. I watched this as a kid and something about it just clicked. Was it the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn? Was it the plot which has a very surprising twist,or was it the fantastic cast which included Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, and James Coburn? I have no idea but I simply adored this movie and have watched it more times than I care to count. I tried to get my wife to watch once, but she insisted she hated old movies. Even though she loved The Wizard of Oz and that was made in 1939! But I digress…..

The plot is pretty cool. Audrey Hepburn plays a woman named Reggie who is on holiday when we first meet her. She soon returns home to Paris and discovers that her apartment has been cleared out, and then she discovers her husband Charles is dead. All he left her was a duffle bag containing assorted items. She is called in by a CIA admin named Hamilton Batholemew played by Walter Matthau who informs her that her husband stole $250,000 during the war along with four other men. One of the men named Carson Dyle didn't survive but the other three did. Her husband double crossed them and took all of the money and now they want that money back  But of course the U.S. also wants it since it is rightfullt there's. Cary Grant plays a man named Peter Joshua who seems to want to help Reggie. But Reggie learns that Peter Joshua is not who he pretends to be. He appears to be in league with the three men and then reveals he was Dyle's brother, except that Dyle never had a brother. No one can find the money and the hunt is on. Then the other three men who were double-crossed suddenly start getting killed off one by one. Reggie started falling for Peter, nowc alled Alex, but at the same remains suspicious of his real motives.

A Look at the Brady Bunch Reunions and Movies

So The Brady Bunch went off the air in 1974 after five season, to live forever in re-runs. You would think that would be the end, right?

Nope

The Brady Kids

I guess I can see how this seemed like a good idea. I mean the Brady Kids were a popular singing group with live tours and record albums. But whenever I watched this all it did was make me wish I were watching an episode of The Brady Bunch. I mean, where were the parents anyway? At least It's Punky Brewster still had Henry involved. And it is neat to have the voices of  the kids on the show. I just hate this cartoons that are spun off from sitcoms, but I already said enough about that. It was harmless though.

BRADY WEEK!-Five Brady Life or Death Moments

For a light and fluffy show like The Brady Bunch was, there was an awful lot of life or death moments! Seriously, there are several episodes where the drama is the fact that a character or characters may not live through the experience. Here are five examples of what I am talking about.

#5.A falling ladder just misses killing Peter

In the beginning of this episode, Peter just barely misses being killed when a ladder falls. Bobby pushes Peter out of the way just in time. The rest of the episode is about Peter expressing his gratitude, until Bobby gets carried away and takes advantage. Bobby ends up locked in the closet and rescued by Peter. While not the same, it's enough to make the boys even. This isn't the first time Peter had trouble like this, in an earlier episode he saves a girl from being crushed under a bookcase. He is called a hero, and it goes right to his head.

BRADY WEEK! Five Brady Curiosities

Today I wanted to talk about things on the series that bug me. Either they're episodes which while not bad have a plot so unfocused that I can't help but complain about it or a character that is just confounding.It's nitpicking time!

#5."Sergeant Emma"

In this episode, Alice goes on vacation and asks her aunt to help out while she is gone. Ok, first of all...Why? Carol can't take charge for a week? We have seen Alice have days off before and the family kept running. The story is that Emma used to be a drill seargent, and that's how she treats the family! She wakes them up at 6 am to do exercises, has a chow line at dinner, among other things. Now to be fair, the script tries to make it clear why Mike and Carol do not say something. Simply, because she is Alice's aunt. I NEVER BOUGHT THAT! It's their house and they have more than the right to ask Emma to calm the heck down, it's not Fort Dix! Then of course when the family is planning a welcome home party for Alice, Emma turns it into a going away party for her. Yeah, sure they will really miss her. The worst part is the end, we see Alice trying to do what Emma did, getting the family up for exercises, only this time the family blows her off. So we don't want to upset Emma but we can do it to Alice? One thing I will credit this episode for is showing Anne B Davis is one heck of a talent, since she plays Emma and Alice and they are two VERY different people.

BRADY WEEK!-Top 6 Worst Brady Bunch Episodes

This is tougher than it sounds. A lot of people would say "all of them" I am sure, but there were a lot of good episodes that were funny and told a decent story. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few that just didn't work for me.

#6.The Hair-Brained Scheme (Season 5)

This may strike everyone as an odd choice for the #6 slot. I mean, this was the final episode and so dumb Robert Reed was so angry about it he ended up being written out of it! But to be fair, if you accept the ludicrous plot the episode isn't the abosloute worst. In fact the worst thing is that Robert Reed is not in it, which makes no sense since the story is Greg's graduation and Mike would never miss that! In fact the episode right before it about Bobby thinking Sam was a spy was much more stupid. Don't get me wrong I get what happened and even respect Robert Reed for how he handled it, but his absence is what really hurts this episode. So yeah while it is bad, I can't say it's the worst ever.

#5.And Now a Word from our Sponsor (Season 3)

It seems like everytime a show does an episode where the characters appear on TV the characters have to turn into idiots. So, The Brady's are selected for a commercial and long story short, they learn from a horrible actress to overact and ruin the commercial. This was so stupid Robert Reed wrote a four page letter about it. Why is it stupid? Because the director does not rehearse with the family at all, and rather than just telling them to start again he loses his temper and fires them. Just dumb. To be fair the first half isn't all bad, as they test the detergent they will be selling. But when The Brady's take lessons from the actress it's all downhill. Even as amateurs they should know better. Even for a Brady episode it's just to silly. Maybe if they learned what "Motivating" meant.

Brady Week-Five Common Brady Misconceptions

I freaking love The Brady Bunch! The show went off the air a few months before I was born, and I literally grew up watching the re-runs on my local Boston station, WLVI. For awhile I watched them downstairs in my parents furnished basement, until the TV blew up. I was forced upstairs after that but still watched every day. Now as an adult the show brings back good memories of better times, and what's wrong with that? So all this week I am going to take a look at my favorite show. I will discuss what I love, what I hate, and things which just baffle me. and yes I will even be looking at the reunion specials which are very hit or miss.

My favorite era on the show was the second and third season. The first season was so melodramatic that I always hated those shows. Though there were some good episodes in there. The final season was, well, that dreaded final season. Again there was some good in there, but also a lot of bad. But I decided today to focus more on the good. I am aware that while this show is loved, it gets its fair share of hate. So I present five popular misconceptions about this show and I hope to dispell some of the myths that drive me nuts.

As always this is just my opinion, if you hate this show that's cool. But here are five things picked on about this series which I think are unfair.