My Six Best/Worst for 2013

Well my friends, we come to the end of an amazing year for me here. I have done so many blogs, especially at the start of the year. One thing I can promise for 2014 is that you will not see quite so much from me. But we can discuss that later.

I wanted to wrap the year up with a look back of some kind. But I did a mistake list a few months ago. And I sure haven't made that many since then. Well, I did somehow confuse STar Trek-Nemesis with Star Trek-First Contact. I also confused Mrs.Garret from The Facts of Life with Mrs.Johnson from Punky Brewster (the actress was Susie Garrett, so an honest mistake I guess). But still....

So instead I am going to look back at six articles I am especially proud of, and six articles that I think were a bit of a miss.

Let's start with the good stuff. These all pretty much have one thing in common, they started from a nothing idea and I never thought they would go anywhere. Instead they turned out great. My five favorite articles from the past year (in no particular order) :

#6.Top 12 SNL Recurring Characters/Sketches

There are a few articles like these this year including dumbest husbands, non-human characters, Favorite Characters, and best TV villains but I decided to pick this one as my favorite because this list was near impossible. How do you choose from all the characters SNL has had over the years? Not easily! But in the end I was satisfied with my choices and think this turned out well.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/32746602-top-12-snl-recurring-characters-sketches

#5.Special TV-Superman's 50th Anniversary

The great thing about this site, well one of them anyway, is that it gives me a chance to talk about things which I have never been able to before. I was able to rewatch this and share my thoughts on this awful special, and found others also remembered it and hated it. When I started "Special TV" I knew I had to talk about this, and it ended up being a nice aticle which got a very good response. This series has been very succesful and I could have chosen almost any (except two which I will discuss below). I hope to do more of these in 2014.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/28116550-special-tv-superman-s-50th-anniversary-1988-

#4.Top 6 Muppet Productions Best Forgotten

I did a lot of talking about The Muppets this year, including two of their specials, but I liked this one. It's only fair that some of there stuff sucks, and I managed to highlight six failures (or what I consider failuers). By the way there is a new movie coming ot next year which looks real interesting.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/32936892-top-6-muppet-productions-best-forgotten-

#3.A Look at Superheroes on TV (with special guest Les)

This one was amazing! It sarted as a goofy idea one morning, and then I asked Les to add a cameo just for a cute gag. It blossomed into a full blown crossover and is just one of the best things I ever worked on. I was so happy with how it turned out and the response, and Les deserves a lot of thanks for turning this silly idea into a strong article. By the way my Man of Steel article w Les may have topped this but I chose this since the MOS one came out two days ago.

www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/32567435-a-look-at-superheroes-on-tv-with-special-guest-les-

#2.SPECIAL Face Off-Peanuts vs Garfield

I only managed to get a few face-off's off the ground this year, but this was far and away my favorite. It started, again, as a silly idea but the idea really grew. I think this is a very good analysis of the Peanuts and Garfield franchises, if I can blow my own horn, and I am just so happy with the way it turned out. Everything I love and hate about these franchises is in this article and I really think it turned out very fair.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/33318925-special-face-off-peanuts-vs-garfield-

#1.Favorite Faces of Mickey Mouse

Sometimes you have an idea and are just not sure if it will work. This one was something I had wanted to do, and was very happy with the result. It is a nice look at how Mickey has evolved over the years, and the response was very good. I did want to do a Christmas version with Santa Claus, alas that did not materialize.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/34960353-favorite-faces-of-mickey-mouse-

And now we reach the other side of the coin. They can't all be gems, and for various reasons these just failed in my eyes. Just a note, there has to be a reason I think these failed beyond sloppy grammar and messing up pictures. I have to think the article was a total failure or just did not get the respnse I was hoping for. So I will explain each choice. Here they are now (again, in no particular order).

#6.Special Look at Roseanne Thanksgiving Episodes

This was just done a few weeks ago, and it didn't get the response I was hoping. Roseanne is more famous for the Halloween episodes, and maybe that is why. But it did give me the chance to do some reviewing and I hope to do more episode reviewing next year. I want to start taking requests, not sure how to do that yet.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/37176157-special-look-at-roseanne-thanksgiving-episodes

#5.My Top 5 Worst Walt Disney World Experiences

I covered this in my mistake list but it bears repeating. I was trying something different, and what I ended up doing was whining about how much I hate Disney World. Which isn't so. Sometimes it's hard to tell how others will interpret things you say and what was meant to be silly stories were read as hateful whining.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/22238249-my-top-5-worst-walt-disney-world-experiences

#4.Things I Just Love-Boston Red Sox

Yeah I am not sure where this went wrong. Much like the Disney article this was an attempt to do something a little different. I guess there aren't a lot of Baseball fans out there. This was as you can tell a chance for me to talk about my local team that I love (and who won the World Series this year!) but it landed with a thud.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/25151643-things-i-just-love-boston-red-sox

#3.Special TV-Saturday Morning Previews

This was a failure for what I think is a simple reason-no one remembers these. So this article just didn't land, eben with my friend Les helping out. but I had fun writing it and reliving these shows. So I guess that counts for something,

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/26728467-special-tv-saturday-morning-previews

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

So I found this old tape, added to the fact Moviefan12 had already covered other specials like this, this seemed like kismet. And yet, the article bombed out. I guess because the special is a bit obscure, not to mention really bad, this one failed.

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/29107031-special-tv-disney-mgm-studios-theme-park-grand-opening-1989-

#1.A Look at Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (Special Review)

I said these were in no particular order, but this really is the #1 failure this year. I knew it was going to be a risk because this was a cheap fan film, not a mainstream movie. But what really ruined this was my own fault. You see, I had planned to nitpick the plot as I often do. But in a foolish decision I added the nitpicks to the plot summary using ( ) to separate the jokes from the actual plot summary in places while other times I just stop the summary cold to ask a nitpick question. Added to that fact that my "summary" was a tad long. What I ended up doing was making it very hard to read and the whole article fell apart. I had high hopes for this one because I figured it was something different that hadn't been tackled. But it turned out to be a big failure. But hey, what's life if you dont take any chances once in awhile?

http://www.manic-expression.com/apps/blog/show/29467741-a-look-at-star-trek-of-gods-and-men-special-review-

So, what's ahead in 2014? That is a great question. Things will not be as busy because I do not have the time I did. I am also not returning my Analaytical Episode Guide. It's just to much work, the Friends one was a pain and I was unemployed at the time! I want to do episode reviews so I may just pick random episodes and discuss them. First is "A My Name is Alex" from Family Ties. I will be looking at Star Trek episodes I love that are not that popular. I also want to start some essays discussing aspects of shows in depth, from character psychoanalysis to other stuff. I did have an idea about reviewing the JLA animated movies but am shelving that for now.

As you can see I still have ideas and I wont be going anywhere for awhile. Thanks to Manic Expression for giving me a place to talk about stuff I love with good people. It was an amazing 2013, who knows what is in store for 2014. Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone!!!!