My Tribute to Tom Hanks – On TV

Tom Hanks is one of those actors no one can possibly not love. Why? Because he excels at everything. Acting in comedy movies? Yup. Acting in dramatic movies? Yup. Acting in Romantic Comedies? Yup! Voice over work in animated movies? Yup. Producing? Yup. Hosting Saturday Night Live? Yup!! Ok not every movie is great, for every “Apollo 13” there’s a “Joe versus the Volcano” (anyone remember that?), “Bonfire of the Vanities” or “Money Pit”. But he’s been in a ton of great movies and need I mention won two Best Actor Oscar’s? I’ve been a fan almost since the start, seeing “Splash” in theaters way back when. It was awesome. Then there was “Big”, which was also awesome. After that we had “A League of Our Own”, “Dragnet”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, “Toy Story”, “Castaway”, “Catch Me if You Can”, “Polar Express” and this is just to name a few! I even saw “Punchline”, anyone remember that either? It was awful, but I digress. Tom Hanks is great because you;d never guess how funny and/or good an actor he can be but he really is!

 

One thing that is often overlooked is his TV appearances. Oh yeah, Hanks started out on TV doing sitcoms and TV movies like most people do. The funny thing about these is that with almost all of them you can see that Hanks is a cut above the usual guest actors on these shows. It’s no shock he would soon launch into bigger and better things. Here is a look at them, and I am referring only to episodic TV not talk shows or SNL appearances.



Love Boat
According to IMDB his first appearance, after a horror movie which Cinema Snob reviewed, was an episode of Love Boat. I guess not every episode was top tier celebrirties, as Tom Hanks was not at the time.

Five Things I Hated in “The Dark Knight”

It’s time to show my love for another great movie by nitpicking its faults. The Dark Knight came out ten years ago and as much as I hate this phrase, was a true game changer. Chris Nolan gave us a superhero movie that could be taken seriously but still had good action and great performances. And it was amazing, but was it perfect?

 

I think its the performances that make it work. Not only was Heath Ledger’s Joker great but Aaron Eckhart’s Two Face made me realize just how awful that “other” Two-Face really was and Gary Oldman just knocked it out of the park as Gordon. Michael Cain’s Alfred is great, almost every word he says is quote worthy, and of course Morgan Freeman is always a delight. The action was pretty intense too, though as we’ll discuss it may have been to intense. As I  mentioned before I could see seeds of “The Killing Joke” in the plot, and from what I’ve read the movie also borrows heavily from “The Long Halloween”.

But no movie is perfect and here are five things I did not like in this amazing movie. As always, just opinion and please feel me to correct me if I get a detail wrong.





Too Damn Long

Yeah this is a really lame one, but man is that movie a long one. I mean it’s not a hard watch by any means, and I know I was riveted the first time I saw it, but it just goes on and on. There could have been a lot more trimming I think. The worst is that stupid side quest Bruce goes on to China. Was that really necessary? I mean it’s just fifteen minutes of undiluted filler. It’s not pointless, but man is it boring. Wouldn’t it have been better if Batman just dropped the guy off, and we had to guess how in he hell he did that? And the trial scene is ridiculous what court would ever do anything that nuts? I mean even the opening bank scene, cool as it was, could have been cut altogether.

Five Superhero Replacements Who Rocked

Comic books like to shake up the status quo, and will often have another character step in and take up the mantle of a hero from the traditional character. For example, when Bruce Wayne was believed dead Nightwing became Batman for a time. Of course Azrael became Batman when Bruce’s back was broken. When Superman was dead, there were four others out trying to take the Man of Steel’s place. Two were spun off into permanent heroes. And there’s Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown who were both Batgirl for a time while Barbara Gordon was paralyzed. Course the fact the two were popular, and Barbara was awesome as Oracle, didn’t stop DC from finally restoring Barbara to the Batgirl role. But still.

Usually the replacement is temporary, if not an all out failure (Artemis as Wonder Woman anyone?) and the status quo is returned. Sometimes however the new character really clicks, and becomes just as popular if not more popular than the original. Here are five examples of what I mean :






Dove Dawn Granger

Hawk and Dove were created by the late, great Steve Ditko and never really took off. They had their own series, and appeared in Teen Titans, but were always B list. Hank Hall as Hawk was angry and his brother Don Hall as Dove was the pacifist. There was brother vs brother stuff but that was all. When Don was killed in Crisis, Dawn Granger would pick up the mantle and was just such a better character. I really liked the book before it was cancelled and DC screwed the two characters over for Armageddon 2001.

Top 5 Favorite Friends Episodes

Seven years ago my friends. That is how long since I started this silly blog about nothing. Now, seven years and closing in on 900 articles, I just felt like I needed to stop and acknowledge that. True this blog hasn’t made me rich or famous, but it has been a place to go when I needed one and I love Manic Expression for that. Anyway enough back patting,

I just did my favorite Seinfeld episodes and since my very first article was the Top 5 worst Friends episodes, it’s only fair to do the opposite at long last. Yeah I used to prefer doing “worst” lists than “best” lists because very often a BEST list will have the same episodes on them over and over. But now I am older, and I say so what?





Friends was up there in my list of favorite shows and I still watch it all the time. The characters clicked, and I love how they grew and learned. The show could also be damn funny I still laugh out loud at certain jokes on the series. Ok it wasn’t the most intelligent or challenging TV show out there. And no it wasn’t perfect, and you can peruse my episode guide for more on that, but when it was good it was pretty damn good. And since I did an extensive episode guide, this will just be a short and sweet list.



Here are my favorite episodes, and as with Seinfeld this is “favorite” not necessarily “best”. Also again, in broadcast order.




“The One with the Thumb”
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 Tough call between this and “The One with the Blackout” but I choose this because all the Friends are together in this one. Unlike the blackout episode where Chandler has no scenes with the others. Which is fine they’re good scenes. This is a favorite because it was the first episode that i really started to pay attention the show, and find it good.

Top 5 TV and Movie Finger Snappers

I talked awhile back about how certain clothing can actually remind you of a TV show or character. Course, sometimes actions we take can have the same effect. For example, snapping the fingers. Yeah it seems like a simple thing, everyone does it, and yet some characters manage to make it their own. When done correctly snapping fingers can convey confidence and power, and in the case of Thanos can even wipe out an entire universe!

In comics DC gave us Snapper Carr early on, who was the JLA mascot in the silver age and his gimmick was obsessively snapping his fingers. It’d take to long to get into this character’s history, suffice to say he has a long history with DC and even had powers for a time. And forget that awful version in Supergirl where they took the name and made it a totally different character.




Here’s my top 5:



#5.West Side Story
So you have a musical about gangs. You want to convey that these gangs are serious, but you don’t want them to playing with guns or knives. What do you do? Yeah West Side Story shows us that finger snapping can be serious.

Top 10 Favorite Seinfeld Episodes (20 Years Later)

 

It’s been a long while since I did anything about my favorite show ever. Of course a good reason for that is because six years ago I did an episode guide where I talked about every episode. Has it been that long? Speaking of “has it been that long?”, guess what turned twenty this year? The final episode of Seinfeld aired twenty years ago in May. You know me, always first to cover a milestone. Anyway, the final episode is now twenty years old…
and I still hate it. Ok I am no longer irate about it. I am not kidding when I say that at the time, I swore to never watch another episode again. Yeah I still watch the show every day so that sure didn’t last. I’ve seen the episode enough times again that I can accept it, flawed as it is! But I did some digging and found about a dozen articles on that final episode 20 years later, and how it pissed so many people off. So I decided to do something a little different. I never really discussed my favorite e episodes. I discussed the one’s that are not my favorite, why back when, but what about the one’s I personally love?

 

So to celebrate twenty years since the finale, almost thirty years of Seinfeld, here they are. Not necessarily the “Best” episodes, just the one’s i have a real fondness for. These aren’t just episodes I can (and probably have) watched 1,000 times but episodes I still get a laugh from. They are also episodes that bring back a special memory and I can even recall watching them the first time. I did limit to ten, which was hard, at least one per season. And to make it easier on myself, in broadcast order.





The Library

No Season 1 so let’s go right to Season 2 where I can’t believe how young I was when these aired. Man do I have memories of this one. First of all, when Jerry does his bit on school says at the end I remember still being in high school and Man am I old. Second, there was a time in my English class when my teacher was talking about what people do with yearbook’s and half the class said “put it on a bookshelf” obviously recalling the scene in this episode where Jerry gets his yearbook out. It’s a memorable episode with the Library cop and of course that final scene where we find out what happened to that book after all. Clever and funny. “The Phone Message” is great too, I still remember the laugh when George announces his father wore sneaker in the pool. It just barely made it here.

My 15 Favorite Batman Comics

When I talked about “The Killing Joke”, which I love, I teased that it was time to discuss other Batman stories I love.

Well my friends I like to keep my word, so here are a few Batman stories that I love. I know, I did more for Superman but as I have discussed many times Superman is the character I love. Why is that? I think that the dark tone most love about Batman turns me off. I like the more upbeat and positive stuff. Which should come to no surprise considering how many “dark” movies I’ve discussed. On the other hand, the really old stuff is reaallly lame. That silver age junk is a little to upbeat, or ridiculous! Batman does need a little angst about him though i do love the Adam West TV show.

 

(one of the first Batman comics I ever remember reading)

So what do I love about Batman? First and foremost, I love the detective angle. Yeah so many of the movies forget that he’s the world’s greatest detective. And the fact he is just a regular guy is a cool thing, the skills he uses are really impressive. Comics have changed how and when he acquired his skills as the character evolved but it’s basically always been that he was trained by the best and brightest and pushed himself to be smarter than everyone.

 

(I talked about this before, I fantastic done in one)

So here is my list, and you’ll forgive me if there aren’t to many recent stories on here. Like the Superman list these aren’t the GREATEST Batman stories, just my personal favorites. But unlike the Superman list, I needed to open up the criteria a bit so it can be ANY Batman comic book story even if they aren’t in an official Batman book.





Detective Comics #457

Dennis O’Neil failed to revamp Superman in the 70’s, but he was successful with Batman. He managed to get the caped crusader out of the silliness of the 60’s and began the darker stories that would eventually become the norm. They could still be silly, compared to modern stuff anyway, but it was an improvement. For the record, Batman in the 70’s was a LOT better than Superman in the 70’s!! “No Hope in Crime Alley” is a great example, it’s probably been reprinted a million times because of how good it is. Even if it is dated. The issue introduced Leslie Thompkins who has come and gone from Batman lore (yes she’s appeared in “Gotham”) and shows an interesting angle on the whole murder of Bruce’s parents.

Underrated Trek:Violations (TNG)

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. Today we have an episode that really fits that. I love it even though lots may not, because it tackles a sensitive issue but to be fair it doesn’t do it as well as it could. It seems to be playing it to safe at times. This is :

 

How can an episode do so many things rights, and others so wrong? Let’s talk about it.

Batman:The Killing Joke-Two Years Later

So I had a chance to catch up on a few DC Universe animated movies. And the results have been, mixed. Ok I HATED Superman:Doomsday. But I also checked out Superman/Batman:Public Enemies and Superman:The Elite. I was impressed with how close to the comics they were. But one thing that irks me is that in both DC tweaked the story and usually in a lame way. I can’t explain why without spoiling but let’s just say that in both endings the movies are not identical to the one in their original stories. And that isn’t the worst thing. You have to make changes in an adaptation, especially when you realize you audience may not be familiar with a certain character or situation. But it does seem to be a thing with DC, making stupid and unnecessary changes. Which leads us the crown jewel of examples for this:

Yeah this came out two years ago, in theaters, and man were people hyped. The Killing Joke was written by Alan Moore and is one of THE most acclaimed comic books out there, not to mention one of THE quintessential Joker stories ever told. So people were anxious to see the results. However, it didn’t work out so well when they discovered DC had done it again. But this was more than a minor detail or small story change, this was a slap in the face! How? Here’s a clue:

A Look at TV Closing Credits

I’ve talked about opening credits which are memorable., Of course, they have to be since the idea is to make you want to keep watching. They have tell you about the show, tell who’s in it, and give you incentive to stay tuned. Some TV openings are so well done they are as popular as the show. But what about when the show is over?

Now some may be confused since closing credits are kind of a dying art in TV. Yeah of course they still have them but back in the day they would play take time to actually show the credits clearly, not have it so quick you almost miss them. And you could read them! It’s one thing to have opening credits that make you want to stay tuned, but I argue closing credits are just as important. Not only do they keep you from changing the channel, but there have been lots of times when I ran into the closing credits for some show and was so curious I wanted to find out what it was I had missed. More than that, they gave us a break to relax for a bit before being rushed into the next program. Imagine a time when the credits came before and after commercials, rather than it is in today’s world of bing watching and network’s afraid to lose your attention for a second. I miss the days when you could breathe between shows.

Ok true most closing credits just have the names go over stills or scenes from the show. And there’s nothing wrong with a reminder of what you just watched. But once in awhile a show will do something a bit more. Seinfeld gave us more stand up for example, in the earlier days anyway. Here are some of my favorite’s for being so memorable.



The Muppet Show
I always loved the end credits to The Muppet Show. Not sure why, I guess it’s because it;s the band playing it. It’s very upbeat, and of course we can’t leave without one last insult from Waldorf and Statler. The Muppet Show is one show I have to watch from the very start to the very end! And they did mix it up like the time the band went on strike forcing Rowlf to carry the closing all by himself.