I’m not the first to put this out there but for whatever reason we lost a lot of good people this year. This may have been one
of the worst I’ve ever seen. Go through a full list you wont believe
it, especially in the world of music. But since my foray is classic TV I
wanted to focus o that area. Because we lost a lot of great talent who
kind of got forgotten by the larger names out there.
So I mean no disrespect to the legends like David Bowie, Prince,
Muhammad Ali, Anton Yelchin, Natalie Cole, Arnold Palmer, Gene Wilder,
Nancy Reagan, Alan Rickman, John Glenn, George Michael, or any of the
talented people who passed away this year. But I wanted to focus on this
specific genre, and yes many of the names I list also have decent movie
careers but I am fousing on their TV work.
So here are twenty names from classic sitcoms, drama’s and news that we lost this year.
Pat Harrington
There are some characters out there that become so popular that even if
you’ve never seen the show, you probably know who they are. I never
watched One Day at a Time but I can still tell you who Schneider was.
Harrington also did a lot of voice over work.
After Home Alone’s amazing success, a sequel was inevitable. And so in 1992, that’s just what we got…
The movie isn’t horrible but it isn’t great
either. It clearly follows the same format as the first, almost note
for note. Though everything is one upped from the first movie, including
those traps which get kind of nuts. Bricks to the head, floor boards
being removed, these guys are covered in paint, electrocuted, set on
fire, and fall three floors into a basement! How many times would Harry
and Marv died in this movie if it had been real life? Also in the first
movie it was Kevin’s house, how exactly does Kevin know how the one in
this movie is set up? Or heck even manage to get around the city so
well? Other things just don’t work. The mother has a lot less urgency to
find Kevin until she gets to the city, and how did they get a flight to
New York with no trouble like that? The reason the family over sleeps
makes even less sense and that closing gag with the father yelling about
the room service bill is painfully forced.
And yes…..
Donald Trump has a cameo, who would have guessed that I would hate that scene twenty-five years later?
Anyway, there are things to like in this movie and here are five of
them. And maybe this time Cinema Sins wont release a video a week later
basically saying the same things I’ll comment on here. Don’t you hate it
when that happens? 🙂
Buzz’s redemption
Last time I talked about what a jerk Uncle Frank was. Well he is still
is here. But I also noted that Buzz gets a redemption in that movie. In
this movie he does also. Even though what he does to Kevin in the
beginning is worst, publicly embarrassing him the way he does is
unacceptable. So much so even the movie makes him apologize to his
family right after. But I gotta be fair and the way Buzz is at the end
when he suggests Kevin open the first gift is a nice moment for an
obnoxious character.
I’ve talked a lot about sitcoms and Christmas episodes. But “Friends” was a strange apple when it came to Christmas episodes.
Usually Christmas was just a part of the episode, and the other part
had little to do with the holiday. In some cases it was had so little to
do with it that you could almost miss it! It would be sooo easy for
this series to appear on a list of great Christmas episodes and a list
of episodes set at Christmas that are barely about he holiday. But
whether it was a small part of the episode or the whole episode, when
they did do Christmas it was usually very memorable.
Here are my top ten favorite Christmas moments from Friends.
#10.Phoebe’s Song from “The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie”
This is a terrible episode. Not only is it barely a Christmas
episode, but the episode itself is just forgettable. The one highlight
is the song Phoebe sing.
I’ve talked a lot about Christmas in TV, movies, and even in books.
The one area I have apparently ignored are comic books. And that’s a
huge oversight on my part. Comic books are great at Christmas time, with
some really memorable stories out there. Christmas has been appearing
in comic books almost since the start of the medium! Not only in single
issues of ongoing series but also one shot specials, either featuring
one character or anthology comics with stories involving several
characters. Some of these specials are reprints, others brand new
material.
Here are some of my favorites. And as usual, all DC since I am a DC
fan. Of course 12 is a drop a in the bucket, consider this a sample.
Justice League of America #110
I am not a huge fan of early JLA comics but this story is pretty damn
good. It starts when a man playing Santa Claus is murdered and the JLA
searches for the culprit. A nice story with a bit of a cop out ending,
but I still like it.
Earlier
this year I talked a lot about ear worms. You know, when a song gets
stuck in your head no matter how annoying it is or how hard you try to
get rid of it? Of course Christmas can be guilty of these. And why not
the way some songs are relentlessly played on the radio over and over
and over again!
So here are ten songs which will always and forever be stuck in my head, no matter what time of year it is!
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (Intro)
This is a great cartoon, doing a fantastic job telling A Christmas
Carol in a very short run time. But the first thing loved, and have
loved ever since, was that great opening song. I once had the song on a
compilation CD and I listened to it all the time.
Home
Alone came around in 1990 and was an enormous hit. It was a smash and
became one of the most successful comedies of all time. It’s also a
pretty decent Christmas movie, with plenty of Christmas music and colors
in the movie. I didn’t take to it right away but these days it’s a much
watch every holiday season. However, while I do enjoy the movie there
is still some things in the film that leave me scratching my head. Here
are five things I hate in Home Alone.
Obvious Stunt Doubles
The stunt doubles are a little to obvious in some scenes. Like when
Kevin goes sledding out the door. Or when Kevin falls from the book
shelf. Or when Kevin zip lines across the wire to the tree house. Or
when he neighbor knocks out Marv and Harry with the shovel. But the most
obvious is when Harry trips on the wire. The stunt double’s face is
plain as day.
When
I was a kid it always fascinated me when I’d see an re-run of an early
episode of a well established series, and some actor who I was used to
appearing in the opening credits was missing. Instead stuck in the
closing credits under “co-starring” or “also starring”, or even “special
guest star”. Why do TV shows do this with characters who are meant to
stick around? Unless they dont want to pay the actor? And I always hated
that term “co-star”, it felt like it was saying yeah they’re in this
but they’re sure not the main star!
Some cases I can see, since maybe the creators didn’t realizes the
character would last and/or become popular. It’s no shock Jaleel White
isn’t in the credits of the first season of Family Matters, who knew
that character would take off? Same goes for Henry Winkler on Happy Days
who wasn’t in the credits at first and then just barely made it into
the opening credits the next season. How about Christopher Lloyd in Taxi
(and Carol Kane later)? Or Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik on Big Bang?
Thy didn’t arrive until season 4. The Cosby Show added names but they
all made sense, being added when their roles were expanded and/or
introduced. It wasn’t well after the fact!
But others, what the heck? Why would you have a main character on the
show and treat them like a guest star? Eventually someone usually wises
up and they do become regular characters, but it really makes no sense
that it took them as long as it did.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show
After Carol Burnett herself, when people think the Carol Burnett Show
one of the names that first comes to mind is Tim Conway. He was a
genius and did some amazing work on that show. He appeared in almost all
the episodes for several seasons. When he started out he was a
recurring guest star. Want to know when he became a regular cast member?
SEASON NINE!! No Kidding! I wonder if Tim finds the irony of that
funny.
Since
there is no where else for me to discuss this here we go. And yes
spoilers ahead if you have not seen any of these episodes but I wont
spoil everything.
This year all four DC TV universe shows, well the one’s on CW anyway,
all crossed over in one mega crossover event. It started in Supergirl
and went right through Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow.This was
pretty ambitious and was eagerly awaited. It finally aired this past
week. So what did I think that crossover?
Back
at Halloween I talked about how very often a Halloween episode will
have little to noting to do about the actual holiday. The holiday
becomes a small B story, if that! Sometimes it’s just decorations in the
background. Of course, this also happens with Christmas episodes.
Usually Christmas episodes are fantastic, but once in awhile we get one
that has almost nothing to do with the actual holiday. So little at
times you almost have to wonder, why’d they even bother? Take for instance the Seinfeld episode "The Andrea Doria" which is clearly set at Christmas..based on the decor and nothing else!
Now of course there’s no rule that says what a
Christmas episode has to be about. I just find it amusing that the
creators would acknowledge the holiday for no real reason. What's the point? Anyway here are some examples:
NewsRadio “Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show”
It’s ironic that the word stupid is used in the title of the episode,
because this is a really stupid episode. Not that this show went all out
ith their Christmas episodes but this one just plain SUCKED. It’s
pretty much exactly what the title says, and is really the excuse for
getting Matthew his job back (long story).
I love A Christmas Carol, it’s a great novel and has made for some
fantastic adaptations on stage and screen. But as you can imagine, the
key word is “adaptation”. When anything is adapted from one medium to
another, changes are inevitably made. Things are kept, others dropped,
and some things expanded on. For better and for worst. For instance did
you know that the house Scrooge lives in was Marley’s? Or that he has a
cold? These are details that just aren’t important enough to be adapted
over. Other times stuff will be added to fill out the story. Some
changes seem so obvious that it amazes me that they aren’t in the book!
So here are ten changes from book to adaptions, some changes for the
better and others not so much. I am going over several of these
versions but of course I can;t possibly mention all of them. Thank you
YouTube! Just to be clear, by “Disney” version I am referring to the Jim
Carey one from a few years ago.
10.Adding Music
Of course this was a novel, or novella, so there is no music in the book
except for maybe the singing in teh church. And the Fezziwig scene of
course. That doesn’t stop people from making it into a musical, and
sometimes this helps. Sometimes not so much. For instance every musical
version adds a song to the scene where Belle and Scrooge break up,
making it go for an eternity! All the musical versions have songs in the
opening which kinda hurts the mood (though The Muppets isn’t the
worst). In the Albert Finney version a song makes Scooge’s walk home
take forever, and he runs into all kinds of people he’ll encounter again
in the finale. The Kelsey Grammar version one up’s that by having the
ghosts foreshadowed when Scrooge runs into them in human form. A cute
but unnecessary touch. The big difference between the Grammar version
and the Finney version is that the songs in the Grammar version take the
place of dialogue from the book. Give the Finney version credit, the
songs don’t intrude on the dialogue! And these have big musical finale’s
which I always think are to much, Scrooge is supposed to be happy but
having him dancing down the street is hard to buy. Albert Finney’s
finale is especially wayyyyyyyy to much. The best? Michael Cain in the
Muppet Christmas Carol handles it a lot of class and that final act is
my favorite.
It’s
easy to have an animated animal in a commercial, having a real live dog
appear is a little hardly. Sure having a dog appear in your commercial
seems to be a very popular idea since dogs are cute and trainable.
Except for Morris you don’t see many big time cat icons because cats
pretty much just, lie there (which is why established characters like
Garfield are often used). But it still takes a special something for the
mascot to become popular. Even harder when they appear in ads for
things other than dog food, though the chuck wagon dog is funny.
Sometimes these ads are so popular and the characters do so well liked
that they are merchandised and become as popular as any celebrity.
Here are five dogs that appeared in commercials who became so popular that they eclipsed the product they were advertising!
#5.Cottonelle Dog
The one dog on this list who is here because he’s just cute. He doesn’t
really have a gimmick, he’s just a Yellow Lab doing his thing. These ads
aren’t the most remarkable, but they’re a lot better than those awful
Charmin animated bear ads where they seem to be enjoying going to the
bathroom WWAAAYYY to much!
Three years in a row now I have celebrated Thanksgiving with a special
review of a Thanksgiving episode or episodes. After doing The Cosby
Show, Roseanne, and Frasier (and with my look at Everybody Loves Raymond
coming next year) the last few years, the next logical choice was an
easy one.
This series didn’t do a Thanksgiving every single yar, but when they did
they really did a nice job with it. Well, for the most part. As I
looked over the episodes I realized that looking them over gives a nice
overview of how this show was so good and then jumped the shark towards
the end. Let me explain what I mean:
“A Frozen Moment” (1993)
This is sort of a Christmas episode also, but only because the B story
involves Tim going overboard with the family Christmas card. Which of
course results in crazy costumes and Tim causing the snow machine to
break the window of the house. All in all, tame stuff. And the
Thanksgiving parts are really nice, you feel like you’re watching
Thanksgiving dinner at a real families house. Yeah I’m sure there aren’t
to many families who literally go around the table talking about what
they’re thankful for, but it is a TV show.
Back
in July I talked about how a lot of movies will have a Christmas scene
or two in them even though there is nothing at all Christmassy in the
movie. But the funny thing, some of these scenes are wonderful Christmas
scenes!
Sometimes the movie is set around Christmas but the holiday is
basically ignored. Like in Gremlins…which I don’t talk about. . Of
course Christmas appearing in movies that have nothing to do with the
holiday is not new. Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, First Blood, Red..just to
name a few! these were set at Christmas even though they are hardly
festive. But then there those other times the movie isn’t set at
Christmas at all..save for literally one scene.
So here are few examples of movies having nothing to do with
Christmas giving us a scene that almost makes you forget it isn’t a
Christmas movie! In no particular order.
10.Star Trek:Generations
So Picard enters the nexxus and experiences his hearts desire (or
whatever) which happens to be Christmas morning surrounded by his loving
family. Nice.
Star
Trek has had some epic villains over the years. From Khan to the Borg,
they are just evil bastards who will do anything to achieve their own
goals. No matter who they hurt along the way.
However, some villains really aren’t evil in my opinion anyway. Just
because someone does something awful doesn’t always have to mean they
are evil. Maybe they are just misguided or immature, or doing things
which are potentially harmful because they feel there is some greater
goal. Here are a few Star Trek villains which I just can’t bring myself
to call “evil”. Do they do bad things? Oh my yes. But evil? Let’s
discuss:
Romulan Commander (TOS-Balance of Terror)
If you ever wondered why Mark Lenard got the role as Sarek, check out
his first Trek role in “Balance of Terror”. Yes I know I trashed this
episode earlier in the year, but to be fair it does have some great
performances. It’s clear that the Romulan Commander (apparently Romulans
in TOS don’t deserve names) is a good and honest person who is doing
what he feels he has to do. You can see the torment he feels in his
actions, thanks to Lenard’s fantastic portrayal. He’s a master tactician
doing his job. In fact the end of the episode he even admits that he
figures if things were different he and Kirk may have been friends.
Ok last one, call it a three part series on food servers, I guess.
Housekeepers are fixture in TV, it’s as simple as that! From Aunt Bee
on Andy Griffith to Rosie the Robot on The Jetsons to Mrs.Featherbottom
on Arrested Development, we have seen all kinds of housekeepers, male
and female. I guess because these characters are always the fun
characters. They have the great lines and quick often, and often manage
to be smarter than anyone else on the show (even if no one else realizes
that!).
So here are my fifteen favorites. Wait, 15???? Yeah there were way to
many to limit this to ten. The only rule is these have to be regulars
on the respective series, and not one shots.
#15.Florida from Maude
Maude was a very strong willed woman, the kind of person that it would
be hard to stand up to. Which is probably why people enjoyed the way
Florida took none of that nonsense. She was so popular they spun her off
to Good Times after two seasons.
Ok I wasn’t going to tackle this one so soon, but since I already thought about it I figured why the heck not?
I discussed waitresses or food servers last time, but what about the
managers of these places? Usually they are colorful characters in their
own right, from Mr.Gaines on A Different World to Han Lee on 2 Broke Girls. Even when a show isn’t based around a eatery usually if the
characters spend enough time there we get to know the staff. For example,
on Coach they spent a lot of time at The Touchdown Club and we got to
know that manager so well he returned for the series finale. Three’s
Company had The Regal Beagle which was as much a part of that show as
any other character. Seinfeld is a perfect example, as we became as
familiar with the owner of Monk’s named Larry, the cashier Ruthie and
several recurring waitress’s as well as any other character on this
show. In fact Ruthie appears in more episodes than any other recurring
character, though she only spoke in one episode.
I am counting as managers anyone who runs the place even if they also
cook and tend bar at the same time. Also no one timers. They have to be
regulars who appeared several times in the series (sorry Soup Nazi).
Finally, they do have to work in a restaurant or bar. So no housekeepers
and sorry but Hawkeye serving Martini’s on MASH doesn’t count.
#10.Ike Johnson from Love & War
Yeah oh this one is even more obscure than my “It’s a Living” choice
on the last list. But I put it here for two reasons. One is that I
always liked the actor, John Hancock, who sadly died just a few episodes
into the series. The other reason is, I thought he was good on the
show! He was the tough but lovable bartender and probably the best
character on that show. This is so obscure I couldn’t even find a
picture to put here (hence the cast photo above). After Hancock died the
role was filled by Charlie Robinson who filled those shoes very
admirably.
There are lots of professions in TV that are popular for writers and
creators. Teachers is a big one, not to mention doctors of all sorts.
Another has to be the waitress. Not sure why that is, but maybe it’s
because we’ve all had experiences with waitress’s. Whether they’re sassy
and smart, ditzy and dumb, or just really attractive we can all relate
to these professionals. So today, I wanted to list my ten favorite
waitress’s from TV shows over the last several years.
Couple rules, one is that this list is only women. Yes I know men can
be waiters and I’m sure they are fantastic but let’s be honest on TV
it’s the waitress’s that keep us interested. I want to limit this to
regular cast members but there is at least one who is more of recurring
character. So let’s say they have to appear more than a few times. Also,
the character has to be have been a waitress for more than a single
episode. Though not necessarily the run of the series. Many shows will
throw a character into a waiter role for a gag (they did it with Marion
on Happy Days when she worked at Arnold’s for instance, or the two
episodes Laverne and Shirley worked as waitresses at a diner and hi
jinks ensued. Whitley on A Different World was a waitress for a whole
day. Buffy was also. And yes Monica on Friends worked as a waitress at a
50’s dimer but only for a few episodes and it was dropped and forgotten
very quickly). Finally, the waitress has to work at an eating
establishment such a bar or restaurant, no housekeepers or the like who
work out of homes. That’s a whole other list.
#10.Max Black and Caroline Channing from 2 Broke Girls
This show has some good points and some very bad points. In fact I dare
say it has one of the worst supporting casts I’ve ever seen in a TV
show. They’re all unlikable stereotypes! So why is this show a hit
then? Because the chemistry between Max and Caroline is irresistible.
They just play so well of each other. They are total opposites but
somehow it works, they’re true friends. I also like how in this show
the girls have a dream and have actively been pursuing it. Some shows a
character will have a dream and do next to nothing to achieve it for the
bulk of the series, until one day when the writers remember to do
something with it. But while they work for that dream they work at
Williamsburg Diner in Brooklyn.
For
a couple years now I have been doing a regular series called Underrated
Trek, where I discuss episodes which, while not that popular if not
hated outright, I like for some reason. But there are some episodes that
even I can’t defend, they’re just bad for one reason or another. Not
the worst ever, but bad enough that I can’t even find something positive
in them. So as we wind up the year I decided it was time to give these
episodes a little attention.
Here are ten episodes that I just can’t get behind.
The Omega Glory
I briefly mentioned this back on the 4th of July for its forced
Patriotism. But the truth is, the episode is just bad. This was one of
Gene Roddenberry’s proposals for a pilot idea. Of course they went with
“Where No Man..” Which was a good call because this episode is just
boring. It’s all over the place and the American parallels are to much.
So much that for once the parallel Earth setup fails, it just feels
silly.
One
of the biggest cliche’s in movies or TV is the yelling of NOOO!!! when
things go bad. This is usually a very dramatic moment, though sometimes
it can unintentionally silly. This has been done so many times that
picking just a few was simultaneously easy and hard. There are dozens of
these, but I managed to find my favorites. Though I decided not to
limit them to a certain number, these are just some of the one’s I love,
in no particular order…
Michael Scott in The Office
Honestly, I am just sharing this because it’s just a cute clip. I
have no idea what episode it’s from, nor do I feel like trying to find
out. But it’s a nice way to kick off the list. Steve Carel is awesome he
can make things that shouldn’t be funny, funny as hell.
Frodo in Lord of the Rings
I don’t think it’s a secret that I have never seen these movies, but
that doesn’t mean I am not aware of some of the things that happen in
them. One of them being the reaction when Gandolf dies, and Frodo’s very
passionate reaction!
Here
is something which annoys me, when a show happens to be set on a
holiday but the plot has nothing to do with the holiday. I mean, at all.
Even a lousy B story! For instance he Seinfeld episode “the Andrea
Doria” is clearly set at Christmas But aside from the decorations the
subject is NEVER brought up. Why bother then? Halloween is no exception
to this. I think a lot of times setting it at Halloween is network
mandated, because the episode is airing at that time. Other times it
could be that the creators have a cute Halloween idea but it isn’t
enough to carry an episode, so it gets a few scenes and then that’s it.
Either way I think it’s a stretch calling them Halloween episodes.
Here are ten episodes where the show is set at Halloween, but you’d
hardly know it. These aren’t bad episodes (mostly) by any means, they
just aren’t good Halloween episodes in my opinion. And this is all in good fun by the way, there is no rule about what makes a good or bad Halloween episode.
The Cosby Show, “Cliff’s Mistake”
I guess this takes place on Halloween but the word is never used. There
is a B story where the kids are making a haunted house (er, basement).
So we get a couple scene of the kids dressed up and setting things up.
But the A story takes up most of the time, and is about Cliff losing a
drill he had borrowed from a neighbor. This isn’t the worst, you could
watch this on Halloween and get enough to be satisfied, but I think that
as far as Halloween episodes go it’s pretty weak. The syndicated
episode ends with Peter being scared away by the haunted house, the
original ends with Cliff apologizing to his friend (he found the drill).
The syndicated version is better.
Full House”It’s Not My Job”
This episode opens with a cute teaser scene where everybody is dressed
up for Halloween. What is the rest of the episode about? Jesse deciding
to resign from his job as an exterminator. Wow, scary! I am guessing
that since the episode aired right before Halloween someone, the
creators or the network, decided they needed some kind of nod to the
holiday in there. But I hate it when the teaser promises something and
you get something totally unrelated! This is one of those times when I
bet it was easy to edit for syndication. There is also a Season Three
episode called “Divorce Court” where Halloween (or a costume party
anyway) is also very loosely connected to the plot. A little better than
the season 2 episode, but not by much.
Sometimes
I can be picky, and for me you can’t call it a Halloween episode just
because it’s scary. It has to actually have something to do with the
actual holiday. Buuuttttt, maybe I am just a nitpicker. For example, one of my favorites is the "A Different World" episode called "Tales from the Exam Zone" which is a Twlight Zone spoof and the epusode goes all out with it. With strange visuals and a creepy atmosphere that makes a great Halloween episode, even though the episode is about mid term exams and not Halloween at all.
So here are
episodes of TV shows which are scary enough to be Halloween episodes.
Even though the holiday is never mentioned.
The Brady Bunch, “Fright Night”
This episode aired the week of Halloween so I can’t imagine that was a
coincidence. It still isn’t a Halloween show per se, it’s just the kids
playing pranks trying to scare each other, but it’s about as close to
being a Halloween episode without actually being one that you’re going
to get on this show. After the boys scare the girls into thinking there
is a ghost outside, they get their revenge by daring them to sleep in
the attic, and scaring them. Then all six gang up to scare Alice in a
scene which is kind of a bit creepy, course having that creepy Hawaiian
Idol music from the Hawaii episodes helps. The episode ends with Mike
reprimanding all the kids in one of his harshest punishments. There is
also a season one episode when Mike wants to sell the house so the kids
dress up as ghosts to scare the potential buyers away. And of course The
Slumber Party episode where the boys try ro scare the girls with
costumes and silly tricks.
Laverne and Shirley, “Haunted House”
This one didn’t surprise me at all. This series covered everything from
earthquakes to hurricanes. In this episode, the girls and Lenny and
Squiggy go to a house for a new couch. The house is said to be haunted.
And we get all the tropes from the sounds of chains being dragged
through the halls to dogs barking at the moon. Even a revolving door and
a piano that plays by itself. The girls get trapped and the episode is
about how they can escape the crazy house. By the way I looked for Happy
Days but while they had a few Halloween episodes it seems they were all
set on Halloween. But either way they are worth checking out. By the way Designing Women did a haunted house episode also, logical considering they were designers.
Villains
are a lot of fun, and one of the coolest things that a villain does is
the evil laugh. When done right, a villain laugh can send chills down
your spine. Usually this comes at a moment when it looks as if they
villain will win, and the right laugh shows extreme confidence. Check
out this clip of Friends where Phoebe explains her plan laugh,and how
the right laugh is key:
Course Friends is a sitcom, when these laughs really work is when it
comes from a truly evil villain.
Here are my twelve favorite evil laughs
:
#12.Cruella De vil from 101 Dalmatians (Live)
Honestly, I hated both of these movies. But you gotta admire how much
fun Glen Close has in this role. And it’s all summed up in this awesome
laugh.
My
plan for next year was to get back to sitcoms, since I have strayed
from them especially with my excessive Star Trek focus this year. I
really wanted to bring back the Analytical Episode Guide’s, and there
was really only one show that made sense to discuss. Everybody Loves
Raymond. I have tried to discuss it in other articles but can never say
all I want to. I have a lot to say about this series, and the best way
to do it is to cover every episode. But I can talk more about that
later, for now since its Halloween I figure I could do a little sneak
preview and review their one and only Halloween episode.
So that being said…Halloween sitcom episodes doesn’t get the respect
that horror movies and specials do, but there are tons of them out there
and some are really good. Today let’s talk about a Halloween episode of
Everybody Loves Raymond.
Can Ray ruin another holiday by being preoccupied with sex? He sure tries.
Before
I begin there will be no spoilers for the season premiere of Supergirl,
this is just my initial thoughts on one aspect of that episode.
Is The New Superman Any Good?
When Supergirl premiered last year it was understood that the focus
was Supergirl, so Superman was around but off in Metropolis. And that
made perfect sense, they did that in the comics for years! But then they
did silly things to keep Superman out of the picture too much. I mean,
we would see Superman and Supergirl conversing over instant messaging
and texts, and that was all! Forget that no on instant messages anymore,
but the two never ever spoke in person! I mean, couldn’t he at least
have a voice? How were we supposed to get the fact they were cousins if
we never saw them interact in any way? We also got told things about
Superman from others, making him even less of a character. The worst was
when situations arose Superman should be aware of, the excuses why he
wasn’t got silly. And it got even sillier in the final episodes when
their attempt to keep Superman out of the story made him look, well,
pathetic!
So when the series moved to CW the creators must have realized the
same thing, so they set out to cast Superman. Who did they choose?
First, I need to point out that those hoping for Tom Welling were
foolish. Not only does Supergirl not fit into the Smallville universe,
but while Welling a good Superman would not have worked in this series.
Instead we got Tyler Hoechlin who has a nice resume including Teen Wolf.
I knew nothing about him, and then they released a photo.
So yesterday I discussed scary music that I love, it’s time today to
turn to actual songs. Some are themes but most were simply songs that
were recorded and released into the mainstream. I don’t even think most
were intended as Halloween songs per se, they just fill the bill so
perfectly by being moody and even scary that we can’t help but enjoy
them when October rolls around every year.
#10.Purple People Eater
Purple People Eater is cute and silly and..I don’t know why I love it.
It’s Halloween!! For a special treat I have a two part article for you
covering something that, much to my surprise, I have never covered
before!
Halloween is a great time for scary movies, cool TV specials, and of
course Halloween episodes of sitcoms and cartoons. But the one thing
that makes the holiday really stand out is the music. There is something
so special about Halloween music, even organ music which normally I
don’t care for but this time of year just works. Now in the past I have
stated that I don’t really consider something a holiday installment if
it has nothing to do with the holiday. For instance a horror movie is
great but what does it have to do with Halloween specifically (except
the few set on that day)? But with music I am more lenient, pretty much
any creepy song will fit the bill. One reason being that finding
Halloween songs are a little bit harder than Christmas music which is
endless.
Today my focus is on theme songs, from movies and TV, which have a
scary and ominous tone. These are theme’s everyone knows, even if you’ve
never seen the show or movie. They’re creepy and dark, and get you
ready for the scares ahead! The big rule here, no lyrics. Just the creepy music (and visuals). I will be covering songs with lyrics tomorrow. Here are my ten favorites:
#10.Amazing Stories
This was an anthology series in the 80’s which Steven Spielberg was
behind. I wish it was more remembered than it is, but it was pretty
cool! I know I may be alone on this one, but I loved this theme!
Welcome
back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek
episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by
most. On my last Trek installment of the year, I wanted to talk about a
special category of episodes. Some are serious. Some are funny. Some are
relevant. Some are stupid, and others brilliant. Then you get an
episode that makes you wonder, where the hell did this idea come
from???? This is one of them:
It seems like every so often Star Trek will do a “Make-up” show,
where the make-up effect is the focus of the attention. TOS had “The
Deadly Years”, DS9 had “Distant Voices”, Voyager had “Threshold”, and
this was one of TNG’S. But is it any good? Let’s discuss it:
As
we enter the Halloween season, and begin concluding my year long
celebration of Star Trek, it seemed like a good idea to discuss some of
the scarier moments from this show. Yeah some may be surprised at that
word but Trek can be many thing. We’ve already discussed how it can be
funny and light, but it can go the other way and can be downright dark
and disturbing too, with visuals which will haunt you dreams for years!
Here are ten examples of Trek moments that gave the willies!
Charlie X (TOS)
Charlie X is about a teenager who has more power than he knows what to
do with. It’s pretty good especially for season one TOS. Toward the ends
of the episode he begins to use that power to punish the crew. Leading
to this disturbing image of a woman with no face!
Welcome
back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek
episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by
most. Comedies on Trek can be hit or miss, for one “Trouble with
Tribbles” we have the dreadful “Profit and Lace”. There’s nothing wrong
with doing a light episode once in while, but man when they’re bad they
are soooo bad. Today I want to single out one light episode for specific
reasons. This is:
I got the idea to do this after reading Pretty Boy’s great article on
this episode, and he commented that he didn’t like it. That’s fine I
totally respect that and he made some good points. The episode does
become a farce by the end. But I always liked this episode. Why? Let’s
take a closer look:
Ok
let’s round out my list of favorite characters with supporting
characters. Course this is a tougher category. Technically, anyone in
the original series who isn’t Kirk, Spock, and MccOY could be considered
supporting characters. And DS9 kind of cornered the market on
supporting characters, and some may be surprised how few made the list.
And villains can often be considered supporting characters, but I
covered that are so no villain characters (with one or two sort of
exceptions).
#10.Soval
I need one from Enterprise and of all the supporting characters, this
was the one one that made an impression on me. I must have a fondness
for Vulcans, every major one has made one of my lists. Anyway, this guy
was just cool. When we first saw Sarek in he original series we didn’t
really understand why he hated Starfleet. Soval makes us understand, his
prejudice for Starfleet is obvious but being a Vulcan he’s cool about
it.
#9.Naomi Wildman
Voyager was a tough one too but I found at least one (sort of two but
we’ll cover that). I did really like this character, for the most part.
She was overused for a bit but that’s ok. She was basically what Wesley
on TNG should have been, a precocious child who wanted to learn more
but for the most part stayed out of the way. She never saved the ship or
showed up the other characters. She felt like a real kid, which is why
people liked her. I especially loved her scenes with Seven of Nine,
somehow Naomi really brought the humanity out in Seven.
So I did my favorite Trek characters it was only natural I do the
villains also. Since I already did movie villains, this is limited to
just one’s that appeared in the various series. And yes I know these
villains appear in other media but just TV appearances count.
#12.Seska
I tried to find a villain from Voyager to put on here, but it was
hard. Amazing that even Enterprise managed one memorable villain but
Voyager couldn’t. The closet was the Borg Queen but since that character
came from First Contact, it sort of didn’t count. Then I remembered
this witch. Man was she a nasty one, betraying Voyager to the Kazon
(who were mostly dull). I hated her so much one of my favorite Voyager
moments was in “Shattered” when a fully Borg’d Seven of Nine takes her
out!
#11.The Gorn
So why in the world is something as corny and silly as a man clearly in a
green lizard suit remembered fondly? Because fans are willing to look
beyond the goofy costume, and recognize what the creators were going
for. The Gorn are nasty bastards, and the fight he has with Kirk is
pretty intense. Usually when Kirk has a fight you don’t really think
he’s in any jeopardy (Amok Time notwithstanding) but “Arena” was a huge
exception to that. You really felt like Kirk’s life was in jeopardy! I
almost put The Tholians here, but they didn’t stand out as memorable as
The Gorn did. And Enterprise did their take on The Gorn and to be
honest, the CGI version was pretty damn cool.
At
the start of the year I discussed the “perfect” Star Trek cast. But
with the criteria involved I picked the characters I thought best filled
various positions, even over a character I liked more. So it occurred
to me, if I take all the criteria away, who are simply my favorite
characters of all the series? Yes some of these choices will be the same
as that earlier list, but for different reasons.
The one rule is these have to be main characters, if I included
supporting characters I think my head would explode. Here are my 15
favorite Star Trek (main) characters…period.
#15.Archer Picking from Enterprise was…very hard. To say the least. And while
Archer is not my favorite captain, as I said that is irrelevant to this
list. Archer was probably the strongest thing in this series, and while
he often did things people disagree with you can’t deny that he had a
certain kind of charm. Scott Bakula did a good job playing him.
Last year after I had done a slew of DC Comics related articles, I
felt it was only fair to give some love to the other major comic company
out there. So I listed off things from Marvel I really really liked.
This year since it’s the 50th anniversary of Star Trek I have done lots
of Star Trek articles. Heck, I’ve done almost 100 articles on Trek since
I started these silly blogs. What about Star Wars? Three, maybe four.
Yeah it’s no shock I am just not as huge a fan of Star Wars. But why is
that?
A lot of people like to compete over what is better, Star Trek or Star
Wars. And while to someone who doesn’t really know these franchises they
can seem similar (space battles, etc) the truth is comparing the two is
like comparing apple’s or oranges. Star Trek and Star Wars are very
different when you really look at them. I have said that the Abrams Trek
movies were his turning Star Trek into Star Wars. That’s because of the
emphasis on action and the downplaying on morals and ideas which is
what Star Trek is really about. The two have their similarities, beyond
space battles. Both franchises have good strong characters that have
become part of pop culture. Who is more popular, Spock or Darth Vader?
Heck even in Back to the Future when Marty disguises as an alien he
incorporates elements from both franchises into his disguise (in one of
the film’s best jokes).
I was trying to figure out why I love Trek so much more than Wars,
and in reading another article I came across the answer. At least one I
am going with. Star Trek has morals, and they tell good stories we love
to come back to again and again. Star Wars is pure fantasy, action and
adventure as we watch our heroes rise up and defeat the bad guys. Trek
is about exploring the human condition, and Wars is a space opera about
heroes vs villains- good vs evil. As awesome as that is, Wars just
doesn’t bring me back time and again (feel free to comment and disagree
if you’d like). Of course it doesn’t help there are hours of Trek and
only seven Wars movies. It’s no wonder Star Wars expanded media has
taken off (which I had mostly ignored for the record). And yes, for the
record, I enjoyed Star Trek Beyond more than Star Wars The Force
Awakens.
Ok this is turning into a rant, I have a list to get to. At one point
I though of doing a a more extensive look at the two franchises back to
back, but decided that has been done elsewhere by others much smarter
than I. Besides this is about giving Star Wars some love. It was
supposed to be ten things, but I added a few, and hey since I’ve talked
so much about Trek I can add a bit if I want.
So twelve things from Star Wars I truly love (in no particular order):
12.The Theme
Yeah it’s pretty hard not to smile when I hear that theme music.
Especially if it’s in the theater. John Williams did a lot of fantastic
music but this melody will always be my favorite. As soon as you hear
that fanfare you know epicness is on its way. And yes the rest of the
music is good including the classic Imperial March, but if I cover all
the music then this list will just be that!
Welcome
back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek
episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by
most. But today, we’re doing something a little different!
Fifty years ago today, September 8, 1966, something remarkable
happened. Even though at the time, it was just another Thursday night
watching Bewitched. Well, at least I am guessing that is what most
people watched. On NBC a little show was premiering for the first time, a
show called Star Trek! Could any of the people who tuned in on that
September evening possibly imagine the silly images they saw on the
screens was starting a phenomenon? I doubt it. It still amazes that back
then, it was just another TV show. I always love to see old clips of
promo’s and interviews the stars gave at the time, they talk as if it
wee just an ordinary TV show. Of course, in 1966 that’s all it was. So
what episode did they see? A little episode called :
I decided the the best way to celebrate the official anniversary of
this wonderful franchise was to review the first episode that ever
aired. Why did this air and not the pilot? I guess it was part of a
sneak preview stunt, and the critics were very unimpressed. It did beat
it’s time slot thanks to the fact it was up against re-runs. But once
the new shows started up the series fell and fell in the ratings. So was
this episode a good start to this series? Let’s discuss.
With
all this talk about Star Trek lately, I think it's really important to
remember the people behind the scenes that helped to make this franchise
what it is today. We all know Gene Roddenberry, who came up with the
idea and was the main force which gave us the "wagon train to the stars"
that was Star Trek, but who else shaped these series? Here are ten
notable names
D.C. Fontana
It might be fair to say that we wouldn't have Star Trek today without
this wonderful woman. She wrote some of the series best episodes
including "Charlie X", "This Side of Paradise" "Journey to Babel", and
"Tomorrow is Yesterday" while also doing re-writes on other stories. She
also did a remarkable job fleshing out the characters, especially
Spock. She tried to work for TNG when it started but her writing style
just didn't mesh with the new show and, well, there's a long story
there.
When
I say TV reunion a lot of things come to to mind. There are reunions on
talk shows for instance. There are also reunion movies or new series
where the original cast will reunite for something new. But I wanted to
talk about a specific kind of “reunion”. It was announced that Katey
Segal would appear on Big Bang Theory this season premiere as Penny’s
mother. Of course, Segal already played the mother for Kaley Cuoco’s
character on 8 Simple Rules making this a reunion for the two from that
series.
It’s always fun when two actors who appeared together in one show
reappear in another, usually as different characters. Not only is it
cool to see the two together, but to see the difference in the character
interactions of these very different characters can be quite striking.
Of course these are not a new thing we’ve had plenty from Robert Reed
reuniting with Defender’s co-star E.G.Marshall on The Brady Bunch to
Johnny Galecki reuniting with Roseanne co-star’s Laurie Metcalf and Sara
Gilbert on Big Bang Theory to Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell
appearing together in Prison Break and Flash as very different
characters. Another variation on this is when two celebrities who are
related in real life appear on their relatives show, like when Missy
Gold’s sister Tracy appeared on an episode of Benson (at the same time
she was in Growing Pains).
Here are some of my favorite TV reunion’s either from previous cast
mates or relatives that I love. This list is in no particular, and only
covers times when the actors appared as a totally different character so
some obvious choices may be missing.
Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd on Spin City
This was a favorite of mine, for very obvious reasons. Yes in one
episode Christopher Lloyd reunited with Michael J Fox (do I really have
to tell you what they starred in?). They even had a few gags calling
back to that fantastic movie. It’s always strange to see Lloyd play a
regular guy (for the most part). And yes Family Ties co-stars Meredith
Baxter and Steven Gross also appeared in other episodes of Spin City.
Welcome
back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek
episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by
most. And as promised, this time I have a bad episode. I realized I’ve
talked a lot about TNG’s early seasons and final year, but not so much
the middle. So I decided to discuss this gem from Season 6 that no one
on the creative team liked when they heard the idea. What episode am I
talking about?
This is sort of TNG’s equivalent to “Spock’s Brain”. But while
Spock’s Brain is hard to sit through, this one is passable. This episode
was bought by Michael Piller and pretty much only he and Jeri Taylor were the
only ones who liked it. But they tried to make something out of it
anyway, so does the episode pull it episode off at all ? Let’s take a
closer look:
